My cousin's (Jimmy) wife (Myrina) threw a party for family and friends for her 40th birthday. It had been snowing all afternoon and evening and it was somewhere in... Buffalo Grove? Arlington Heights? at a development's clubhouse that they rented. They catered dinner and had stocked-up drinks and appetizers.

The main room with couches and tables and chairs was a bit... uncomfortable. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice room. It just reminded me of... a funeral parlor. I mentioned that to some of the relatives and we all went scampering around to change the lighting to make it feel "different". It was the fluorescent indirect lighting around the top of the walls that was the issue.

The "highlight" of the evening - if you can call it that. - was a live Family Feud game. We formed two groups of 5 people each - one was Myrina's Family and the other was Myrina's Friends. Prior to tonight, Jimmy had emailed a survey to everyone that was attending loaded with questions that would be asked during the game.

Jimmy had a laptop and LCD projector and a flash piece of software that was a self-contained complete Family Feud game, with all music and sound effects, ability to build all of the Survey Answers on a replica board and a complete lightning round at the end of the game for the winning group.

It actually turned out REALLY well and was a great time!

The last thing I remember as I was sitting on the couch last night was seeing about 5-7 seconds of the Scottie Pippen number retirement during the Bulls Game. Next thing I know, it's 3 in the morning, the TV is still on, and I'm alone sitting on the couch. I had fallen asleep while watching TV, sitting up, resting my head on my right hand, while my right elbow was on the armrest of the couch. I hadn't moved in hours. I sat up, taking my hand away from the side of my head and realized I had a problem.

I couldn't hear anything with my right ear. ANYTHING.

the whole side of my head felt weird as I must have stop proper blood flow to the skin on my scalp, and my earlobe was tingling. And there was this slight ringing in my ear.

But if I put my finger in my left ear, I can't hear a dam thing.

As the house started to wake-up, I could "work" on my ear and if I tug on it a certain way, I can get some partial hearing back. But it would go silent again.

I made it through lunch, thinking maybe eating something will get the jaw movement to move something around somewhere to get my hearing back. I just couldn't clear my ear.

It's not getting any better, so it's time to have it looked at. There's no Immediate Care places around us, so we decide to go to the Emergency Room of our local hospital.