Voice

I caught a bad cold a couple of weeks ago and lost my voice at the beginning of last week. It took me the whole week to get back my voice! I mean, it was the first time to get it hoarse enough to totally mute my voice. I had to whisper to say things until last Thursday night. It was a bit scary, indeed, and very frustrating at the same time because chatting with my friends is one of my favorite things.

My voice finally came back yesterday though it's still slightly throaty. When I went to my publisher's office last Thursday, they just kept telling me to go home that I had to leave there in an hour. I guess they didn't want to catch a cold via me... I don't blame them because I would feel the same if I heard a voice like mine of that day.

A fun job had been already scheduled on the 19th and the 21st, so I saw my singer friend to correct his English prononciation. I was still half whispering the first day and a bit worried what to do if he needed my advice to sing the English lines better but he did a great job! He got them right and no need to correct anything that day. Then, the second day, my voice got more strength enough to communicate with people. Well, there were a few small sounds he could do better, so I gave him an advice. No big deal for him. He just did it right away.

I wrote those English lines with him. It's always so much fun to do it just because what he gives me as a story behind a song triggers my imagination quickly. Somehow it's very easy for me to get into his lyrical world. I always come up with 3-4 versions with different expressions. But he usually chooses the first one or the second one. I've come to think that ones written while my imagination is fresh are better than ones born in my fully inspired imaginative world. Many musicians would say the first take or the second take is often better than the ones after that... hmmm, it must be true.

One song he gave me was a ballad which is the last love letter attached to a gift from a man to his ex-girlfriend who cheated on and left him. There's a great insanity in it to freeze her right on the spot even though it sounds so nice, gentle and full of love for her to the surface. While I was writing lines for the chorus part, my imagination was stimulated so much that I even saw some scenes in my head. Yes, my hidden insanity was gradually but strongly triggered by the time I finished writing the 3rd version.

Suddenly an email from my good friend D came in!! Which brought me back to reality. I immediately replied to him to thank him and told him what I was doing as well as the story behind the ballad. Without him, I would have written something absolutely insane. So lucky to have him as my good friend! Thanks D!! Love ya♡

Just like that, I always get a cue to get me back on track whenever I'm about to go out of my way. And I see it as a silent voice from the Divine saying, "No, no, Miki, come back! Don't go that way!" With such help of the Divine, who- or whatever it is though, I hardly get myself in serious trouble. Am I lucky? Yes, definitely!

Some would say it's just a coincidence but I think it's more of how you see things happening to you. A coincidence often leads a consequence. Many of little things can give you a hint to feel lucky about. Well, I think so.

In real life, however, speaking in silent voice sucks, really! I recently experienced that for 5 days. Since we have a nice instrument called voice -- those who don't have the audio voice actually have a different style of voice called the sign language --, we'd better utilize it to communicate with others. Voiceless days made me realize how important it is to say things vocally. Good experience, needless to say ;)