Health update… SOLVED

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

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.

A busy day with Mr. Weber

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.

Still getting better… in Arizona.

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…

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.

It’s getting better all the time…

After a solid day of rest, aspirin, and constant fluids (so much that it took me throwing up an entire glass of orange juice to convince my oldest sister I REALLY CAN’T DRINK ANY MORE) my fever seems to have subsided without any medication. We’re going to take it easy and I’m not sure we’ll even leave for Arizona today, but in any case, I’m better, and no Patty, I don’t have meningitis. But thanks for worrying about me.

Health update

The good news is that my fever which was around 103 and spiking as high as 104, broke last night and has now subsided to a mere 99.7. I feel like I have bruising on the back of my neck for some reason as it’s very sore, and I seem to have these odd heat rashes on my body that kinda itch. This is severely putting me behind on my trip to Arizona, and will delay my further travels to Colorado.

And I’m down and out…

We arrived in San Luis Obispo to visit my uncle who is not in good health, and all of the sudden, my health crashed to. I have a raging fever and am medicating myself with large quantities of tylenol, while trying to push on to my sister’s in santa barbara (about 2 hours away.) I need to rest! It sure is terrible getting sick in the middle of a road trip.

The truth about Patty! *GASP*

 My tell-all report of Patty!

1. She’s a wonderful player! She has a great sound, and I’m amazed how well she does on such thick, unresponsive reeds.
2. She’s very outgoing! She always writes about how shy she is, and perhaps she is, but as her sister put it, “When she doesn’t know you, she’s shy, but when she gets to know you, she’s very warm!”
3. Her reeds aren’t THAT bad. They just needed some minor adjustments, which were easy since there was too much left on, rather than too much taken off.
4. She is a very gracious host! After reading her blog for over a year, I’ve kind of got this sense that she’s lived in some kind of gray house 100 feet away from the curb, with the shades pulled closed. It’s the kind of house that nobody sees anyone going in or coming out, except at odd hours at the night. But in reality, she has a GORGEOUS house, in a beautiful neighborhood, and she’s just like your friendly neighbor next door… who plays oboe. Her husband cooked great food for us, and her beautifully remodeled interior looks like a perfect house out of a magazine.

I had a great time with Patty and Dan, and the laughs never ceased from the moment I walked into the door until the minute I stepped out, and Dan was still cracking jokes! I wish I lived next door to her. We’d have a great time sitting around just making reeds with each other. Of course we’d have to make them at my house, because Patty refuses to make more reeds… because she doesn’t want to dirty up her studio floor… or clutter her bookshelf with more reeds. *ROLL EYES HERE*

Thanks for a great weekend Patty!

A busy day!

Trying to move all of our stuff out of our house, while preparing for a week and a half long trip is quite taxing. We’re planning on getting up tomorrow at 4 am (6 hours from now) driving down to San Francisco, picking up a longer bocal and a wider English Horn Tip, and maybe even some extra English Horn cane to mess around with. Then, we’ll continue on to San Jose where I’ll meet up with Patty Mitchell and play duets until we drop! (which won’t be long, if I get up at 4:00 am!) It will be an exciting time, and I’ll keep you all up to date.