I think this may be my favorite recording thus far. I was fairly annoyed while walking because despite driving down this road each time I go to the office, it hadn't occurred to me that the walking path is primarily right against the road. My motivation for taking this walk was in part because I wanted to hear more of nature, of the water and trees on the other side of the trail.

Last Sunday I ended up in the hospital after passing out during an x-ray at an Urgent Care. Over the last week I had developed an increasingly inconvenient cough and occasional headaches. I'm vaccinated and most doctors have indicated I probably had COVID last January, before there were tests or we were even aware it had arrived here. Since then it's been discovered it may have been in the US as early as October or November 2019.

So, I doubted I had it again, but seemed better safe than sorry since most of my co-workers are not vaccinated for reasons I don't care to get into. All of the pharmacies on my way home from my mom's were booked until the following afternoon. Only a local Urgent Care still had time for tests, albeit with an appointment. After a rather generous raise in June, I finally signed up for healthcare through the exchange, so it was only $35. Fine. Whatever.

They had me wait there for the results, though I'm still not clear why. As I sat and laid down I became sicker and sicker. They had me take an x-ray to be safe (a bill for which I'm still awaiting...) Now, I don't know what's up with my body. There's so many things wrong with it and doctors have generally just waived them all away as not serious enough or labeled my various GI issues as IBS, which another doctor told me means "we know there's something wrong, we just don't know what." One of my issues is that when I raise my hands above my head, I get dizzy. Apparently I was dehydrated this day, so when they asked me to hold my hands above my head for the x-ray instead of simply getting dizzy, I collapsed on the floor.

Passing out is always a strange experience. At least my experiences have been. Each time it's happened to me I have dreamt, usually of my paternal grandparents, and for what felt like an entire evening but was only for a matter of seconds. Each time I wake up it's just like in the movies--first the faint sound of voices, then a bunch of unfamiliar faces, and then a moment of confusion as I realize I am not in fact in my bed, then a sudden and total awareness of where I am and what happened.

Anyway, that's why you'll hear me cough a few times. Also, I guess the initial point was I couldn't hear through my left ear while recording this, so I just assumed the traffic was more overwhelming and annoying than it is here.

Ironically, the constant whooshing of cars flying by (and they do tend to fly by on this terrifying, windy road) ends up sounding kind of like the ocean to me. As aggressive and terrifying as cars seem in real life, hearing the disembodied sounds of them pushing air past them is quite nice. I think this is the most relaxing and consistently enjoyable recording I have made to date.

Sorry about the coughing, though. I didn't wear a mask, so at least you can't hear me breathing this time.