Free of the Albatross

The self same moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Major announcement here. Late this afternoon I was offered and accepted a job with a new company. Now my whole life is going to change.

It took me a while to find a copy of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner online, but I just had to quote it. Sam really goes over the top with the poem, but Iron Maiden managed to make it even more farcical with their song of the same name. I would link to a site where the song plays in all of its glory, but I think that might be overkill.

All of this makes me wonder does Iron Maiden still exist as a band? Do the followers of Eddie still punch the air with their fists in unison? Will they ever have Piece of Mind? Will the Trooper Die with His Boots On?

Yes, I have to admit it. Back in 1987, I was familiar with these lyrics and knew people who wore shirts with Eddie snarling from the front of them. Who else could have used backmasking so well in their songs? (My understanding was that it was French played backwards, but I have never been able to confirm this bit of information).

After the second interview, I went to the doctor, because once again I am having ear problems. It has been almost a week since I could last hear out of my right ear. I find it to be annoying and slightly frightening not being able to hear. Plus asking people to repeat things does not make for good conversation.

After peering into my ear for a moment, it was determined that they wanted to flush my ear. Now I am sure that this is a fairly routine little procedure, but I still found it to be a little embarrassing. Here I am nearly thirty years old and I can't clean my ears properly? They did say that it was the water from swimming that loosened up some of the wax in my ear and caused the blockage, but this really didn't make me feel all that much better.

So there I sat holding a plastic container under my ear to catch the backwash as a nurse pumped some kind of solution into my ear. A few flushes later which were accompanied by crackling in my ear from the solution and I could hear again.

Now what I want to know is what is that stuff in my ear anyway? Does it serve a purpose?