One Thing After Another

It's been a busy month since I last posted...Thanksgiving, travel, concerts, an unusual amount of snow for Seattle, and getting sick (while on a trip, ugh). I had a nasty bug -- sore throat and coughing (still coughing after 2 weeks) and haven't felt so sick in a long time. I managed to keep from coughing during the last concert (I managed to hold the coughing except during the loud parts from the brass...holding it in during some of the solo parts was really hard)

Where has practicing fit into all of this? It's been tough, especially having to stop to cough and drink hot liquids. But at my last lesson (we had to cancel this week because of snow and the previous week because I was sick) my teacher asked me to think about the weight of my bow hand/arm and to keep applying pressure while staying flexible. So among all of the other things I've been working on I've been thinking about that...and it is helping. I can hear more consistency in tone up and down the stick, and I am starting to feel the string as I move the bow across it. It sounds funny describing this feeling, but it is a good one!

It's Not a Good Idea to Wash the Phone

A few weeks ago my husband and I went for a walk. He has recovered from surgery so quickly that at 6-weeks post surgery, he is able to walk our normal 4-mile walk after a 6-month hiatus! Hooray!

It was raining when we went for our walk, normal weather for the rainy Pacific Northwest. When we got home, he stripped off his wet clothes and left them on the washing machine. Later that day, I just threw his pants into the wash along with the rest of the load of laundry.

When I started the dryer, there was a loud clanking noise. "What is that noise?" says my husband, who proceeds to open the dryer to find the source of the noise. Lo and behold, he pulls out a wet phone from his pants pocket. Oops.

I took the phone out of its carrying case, took off the cover, and took out the battery, and let the phone dry. Later that day, I put the battery back in. The phone actually turned on. But, it started making a hideous vibrating noise, and wouldn't stop. I took the battery out and let it sit overnight. The next day, the phone turned on and could actually make and receive calls....but continued to make the same hideous vibrating noise. I tried another battery (I have the same model of phone). Same hideous vibrating.

So, we took the phone to the local wireless carrier store. "I need a new phone," my husband announced. "I put it in the wash," I said. The salesman replied, "It makes a horrible vibrating noise, right?" "Apparently this isn't the first time you've seen this problem."

My husband likes his new phone.

It's clearly not a good idea to wash a mobile phone.

Infinite Loops

First, my husband is recovering quickly from surgery. He is able to walk without using a cane for miles without pain in his hip. He said that he had actually forgotten what a 'normal' stride felt like. He still can't bend past 90 degrees, so if he can't pick it up with his grabber device, it stays on the floor until I can get it. So he's in his own loop, learning to walk again.

My infinite loop is going back to the beginning days of playing cello. My teacher told me in one of my lessons that he could still see a scoop in my bowing when I changed directions. So I went back and isolated the problem. It was that I couldn't stop my bow on an upbow. I noticed that I couldn't stop the bow movement at the frog without the bow wiggling around a little. Now doesn't that sound basic? Starting and stopping the bow?

So, I started the very tedious process of fixing the problem. For a while every time my bow went near the frog, I stopped the bow. If it wobbled, I played whatever it was I was playing again and stopped it. I even did Emily's scale challenge stopping the bow at the frog every single dang time the bow went near the frog. And guess what, it got better (not quickly, though!). I can now hear the string still ringing when I stop the bow. I still stop and have a 'do-over' if the bow wobbles at the change of direction. One of these days I'll get past lesson 1!

Also, my teacher had me go back and play grade 1, then grade 2, and now grade 3 repetoire again. This time he demanded that I control the tone, the volume, my bowing, and to play even the 'easy' stuff musically. It's quite hard to do, but my husband has noticed a change in my playing...guess returning to the beginning is useful in its own way...

where is the time going?

It's been crazy here the past few weeks.

Get home from Singapore. Try to adjust rapidly back to local time (-15 hours difference)

Following week. Take husband to hospital. Spend days in hospital while he recovers from hip replacement surgery.

Take husband home. He is doing very well but can't bend more than 90 degrees, and is fogged up by pain medication the first days at home. Take his walker up and down the stairs. Freak out the cats because he can't bend down to feed them. All of the chores he normally does around the house are mostly impossible for him to do..

Travel again. Fly out early one morning and arrive home very late the following day. Wake up the next morning in a fog for the 7am conference call. Worry about husband left alone at home (with neighbor on call to help and check up on him).

Oh yes, what about practicing the cello? Ha. Hoping that I get some time to play soon.

Out-of-Body Cello Playing

It's almost time for me to go to bed. I got up in Singapore 32 hours ago. I got some sleep on the way home; but sleeping in the economy class section in a contorted sitting position just isn't the same as lying down in a bed. The problem with arriving home early in the morning is forcing the adjustment back to the local time - I've stayed up all day so that I can go to bed at a somewhat early but still normal bed time.

I tried playing the cello this afternoon and it was quite the out-of-body experience. I didn't sound as bad as I thought I would after not playing for a week and being exhausted, but maybe this was because my expectations were very low (or that my brain is so tired that I wasn't listening very well). I did get some amazing head rushes while trying to remember and then play what my teacher wanted me to practice before my next lesson (and then gave up). I missed my cello while I was traveling and am happy to be home with time this weekend to play it!

There's No Place Like Home

It sure was fun to be in Singapore. The people are so friendly and it is my favorite place to eat. Even the hotel food for the event that I attended was spectacular. None of the usual chicken breast with some sauce. The service at the hotel was exceptional. I finally gave up trying to get myself a cup of coffee during the breaks; the serving people who were supposed to get the coffee/tea for us would get very upset if we tried to get it ourselves, so we quit trying.

I'm trying to work now, but after flying for 17 hours (thank goodness it's faster to fly east) and arriving home about 10am this morning...I find that my concentration is slipping. Good thing I don't have any presentations to make today!

I did get some amusing pictures in the Tokyo airport - of the vending machine with the bottled water "Pocari Sweat" and of the high tech toilet with its volume level controls for "Flushing Sound".

Singapore!

I arrived about 10 hours ago! I'd forgotten how brutal flying to Singapore is - first the 11-hour flight to Tokyo, then the 8-hour flight from Tokyo to Singapore. I arrived at 1:30am local time and love the efficiency - I didn't check any luggage, so got through customs, changed money, and was in a taxi on my way to the hotel within 15 minutes. This is the view from my hotel room:


I love visiting here; I'm stayed at this hotel many times before. It has been at least 5 years since I've visited, but I still remembered how to take the route through 2 shopping malls and an underground link to get to the MRT transit system (took a memory walk this morning - even after the flights I didn't sleep well last night)

I am looking forward to eating here!!! Yum yum!!!!