Health update… SOLVED

Friday August 31 2007

My body is getting better. The itchy rash has begun to subside and is now only located on my forearms, hands, and lower legs. Interestingly enough, I told this to my mom and she said “Hm— maybe you have Roseola Virus!” Who’s ever heard of Roseola Virus?!?!?

Well, almost all of my symptoms seem to follow the virus, except that the hives have lasted longer than a day or so, but they are disappearing. Hopefully they’ll be all gone by the time I get to Colorado.

Divorce of Barbara

Friday August 31 2007

Well, Fred the English Horn just couldn’t play down in pitch. So we sent him back to Mr. Hurd. I’m not sure the next step, but I’ll be keeping my eye out for an English Horn again.

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A busy day with Mr. Weber

Friday August 31 2007

Well I just got home from hanging with Mr. Weber, and we did a lot. So much that my brain is fried, but we certainly did a lot.

• I now have my 2nd graf machine up and working well.
• Picked up my Opus 1 machine which was directly sent to Mr. Weber after the updates from Mr. Driscoll. Works well.
• Oboe adjustments, oboe bore rebored (for the 3rd time, keeping it updated)
• Learned how I need to shift my embouchure to get more resonance in the tone.
• Tried other bocals and stuff. Determined that trying to pull out the bocal or putting in a disc into my English Horn would throw off the intervallic relationship between all of the other notes.
• Took down notes and steps on how to make my own shaper tip.

Learned a whole bunch of other information that I need to file away in the back of my head. My brain is fried.

Tomorrow we’ll pack up and head off to Colorado via Santa Fe. We’ll get there sometime Saturday night.

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Still getting better… in Arizona.

Thursday August 30 2007

I’m just about fully recovered. This morning Namju and I woke up at 4:00 am to drive to Phoenix to see Mr. Weber. (4:00 am from Santa Barbara gets us through LA traffic and in San Bernadino by 7:00 am.)

I sat down to make reeds today, only to realize that I haven’t played oboe since Sunday morning when I made two final reeds for Patty. That means I haven’t played in 4 days. That means I’ve lost the feeling in my mouth of what a good reed is supposed to taste like! Oh dear.  Great timing to meet up with Mr. Weber.

Things to do with Mr. Weber

1. Get one of my Graf machines fixed
2. Get a plastic disk made to see if that will fix the EH pitch problem
3. Get my oboe “checked”
4. Get my other two gouging machines “checked”
5. Make a copy of the Rosenblatt English Horn Tip
6. Discuss Interview project
7. Have him gouge me my own EH tube cane (since I don’t have an EH gouger)

Sound busy enough?

Frustrating…

Wednesday August 29 2007

Is the only way I can describe my trip up until now (with the exception of my wonderful visit with Patty). Normally, I am an ultra-organized person who plans things well-ahead of time, and even plan ahead of what could be planned. For example, in order for our trip to Arizona, I ordered Arizona Entertainment Books made careful plans to visit people along the way in order to cut down on hotel fees, etc. Well, a list of things gone unplanned.

Forgot my reed thread
Forgot/Lost (!?!?!?) my shaper tips except my Weber 1-B
Forgot the Entertainment books
Got Sick. Threw off our schedule.

And the list goes on. The good news is my fever is much better and holding. The bad news is those itchy spots have become itchier, and I’m wondering if they’re an allergic reaction to something in this area, or from the Fever virus that kept me down.