Reasons I Love SL

I have had a really heavy cold over the past few weeks and was eventually prescribed antibiotics. The infection cleared up but left me with an irritated throat. This has happened before and I had numerous tests to identify the problem. I was diagnosed with hyperfunctional dysphonia (I have funny shaped vocal cords). Part of my recovery the last time was 14 days of complete voice rest followed by six months of speech therapy.

To try and calm down the irritation I embarked on a 72 hour bout of complete voice rest hoping to do away with any need for medical attention - when they start talking about surgery on my vocal cords, I am reminded of how much I dislike blades near my throat!

Part of the reason that I love SL is that it gives me the chance to appear as I would like to be. Another part is that it gives me a 'voice' - I can type my words. Having to write everything down in RL drives me mad! And when I do write stuff down, why does no one ever have their glasses on to read it?!?

Anyhow the bout of silence came to an abrupt end last night when I coughed so severely that I blacked out for a few seconds. Thankfully my throat is much less painful today, however I am still in silent mode - but now it is because my voice has gone almost completely. I could do a lovely whispery background for a horror movie though.

So the next time someone complains about people not using voice chat in SL or has a comment in their profile that they use voice and don't follow local chat, think of me - and remember that a working voice is not something every one of us has.