Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Another Blow to My Male Ego

I went to the doctor yesterday. I have to get a hearing aid. It will cost me $2,300. Insurance does not cover it because they figure you can live without a hearing aid. And indeed, you can -- if you want to spend the rest of your life saying, "What? Could you repeat that? Once more, and enunciate, please."

How will I ever attract another woman with a piece of plastic in my ear? My life is over...

11 comments:

Bezzle said...

2,300 my ass. Shop around.

Wolfgang said...

2 300 $? Not bad. The prices in Germany are between 350 and 1 500 Euro, and 1 500 Euro means top quality. "Universal health care" covers between 350 and 500 Euros.

Tenure said...

It sucks, but you can get some pretty good hearing aids these days, ones which are mostly invisible and slip into your ear quite inconspicuously.

And look on the bright side: now is the time to grow long hair. Experiment with some wicked styles. How about braiding?

The possibilities are endless. :)

Just a little round of cheering up for you Mr Myrhaf - your commentary on politics, philosophy and culture are invaluable to me (or, I should say, are VERY valuable to me, but you know what I mean) and I don't want to think about you all unhappy-like.

Myrhaf said...

Thanks, Tenure. I'm not really unhappy. Just engaging in some faux self-pity to make drama. I am an actor and a playwright. I do drama.

Anonymous said...

I'm coming to that sooner or later. Thirty years of having rock shows jammed into my ears in directors' headsets is starting to tell.

At least, I might be able to tune my guitars consistently again by ear.

Bezzle said...

http://www.google.com/products?num=50&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=Er1&q=%22hearing%20aid%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wf

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=746003

Myrhaf said...

Thanks for the info, Mike. I think it's the Phonax Max model that my doctor wants to use. It's around $700 less on the internet.

Bezzle said...

That's still $1,600, which is about a bill and a half more than a widget which does nothing but amplify audio ought to cost. I smell a MediCare racket boarding on outright fraud in the pricing of these things.

Find out what features the model your doc recommends has, then look for the same stuff in other models. I figure these things are like cell-phones; they all do the same thing, but you pay ten times more for the model that's 10% smaller or 10% "cooler".

Jennifer Snow said...

You may lose on the "self-reliant" end but you probably gain in the "needs looking after" end so I'll bet it's a wash with the ladies.

Mike said...

No, don't sweat it, man. One of my buddies is hard of hearing and has the in-ear dealies. The guy is swimming in women. You just have to make sure you have that swagger, just as you ordinarily would. Women respect the Alpha male. It's hard-wired into them. They won't even notice, or bother to be concerned if they do notice, that you're wired up -- as long as you exude the stoic confidence and comfortable humor they're innately drawn toward.

Myrhaf said...

Jennifer and Mike, I'm glad to hear it. On the bright side, hearing aids are getting stealthier and harder to see, one more benefit of digital technology, I suppose.