Greensleeves again, this time with more confidence.

 I tried to make a video of me playing Romance from A Little Night Music, but between the tripod not cooperating and me not being really ready with that piece yet, all I made was myself angry. 

I had my wisdom teeth removed today.

I opted for twilight sedation, because why would I want to be awake for that if I had a safe alternative.

They put me on nitrous first. It did nothing for me. Annoying.

Then put an IV in my hand and started me on Fentanyl for pain, telling me I'd feel a hot flash. Which I didn't. Getting a little more annoyed. Dentistry without pain relief is kind of a nightmare for me.

Five minutes later I poked myself with a finger nail and didn't feel much so at least there was that.

Then they started me on Versed. I was having conversations like I don't feel anything, should I feel something? And they said Well you should feel like you've had a drink or two. And I'm like, nope. And they said, well, you get more before the procedure starts. And I'm like, I hope so!

Surgeon shows up at some point and says, "okay let's get started" and they up the sedation, finally I'm feeling a little less like I'm staring at a ceiling for 20 minutes and more like minutes are kind of sliding into each other. I still feel dude freezing up my gums though. 

And at some points there was a lot of yanking and whatever, but it is not very concerning, which is pretty much when I accept that I am going to get the sedation I paid for.

Time stops telescoping around when they remove the IV, and I get sat up and walked to the recovery room for a review of Teh Rulez which include not drinking hot fluids until the freezing is gone -- that one I am ignoring, like seriously, I need my fugging coffee. Also gauze pads to chew on until I stop bleeding so much. Which I have changed a few times. 

And now I'm having oatmeal, just pouring it down my throat, because the last food I had was about 24 hours ago with one thing and another.

There's antibiotics and Tylenol-3 to pick up at the pharmacy later. Apparently I will look like I got in a fight and lost in a day or two.  Whatever.

So that's how I spent my early afternoon. I'll probably spend the rest of the day reading or whatever. I'm sure the pain will kick in at some point, but if it never really does that's fine with me. 

I’ll be honest. The practicing for 30 minutes a day or 3.5 hours per week thing is not 100% accurate. We were out of town for a bit. Since “30 minutes a day or 3.5 hrs/week” and “16 units of information” does not equal predictable results, I’m finding it harder to explain what the results are. It feels like problem solved or puzzle cracking, but it barely feels like music. 

Anyway, here’s Wonderwall. Plenty of mistakes. You can also hear Sassy playing in the background. 

A result I can guarantee with 100% accuracy is that no matter how well you can play a piece, as soon as the camera is on, you will make mistakes. 

The good news is that I can now move on to learning about sharps & flats, which means the work will sound less boring. Yay for leveling up! 

EDITED TO ADD: this is the next piece I have to work on, which I believe is standard issue for every high school marching band in America. 

All I can think of is the episode of Strangers With Candy when Gerri is in the school jazz band, as a scat singer. 

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/c1ljug/strangers-with-candy-trash-talk

EDITED TO ADD AGAIN: I got Half Time Band and Greensleeves in a pen. Not captured, but in a pen. I think another day of muscle memory practice will do it. 

Me: “If for some reason NASA wanted to send me to Mars, I would go.”

Son: “You can’t even watch a 3-D movie!”

It’s true.  But hey, I survived Mission: Space at Epcot! (barely)

I practiced for an hour & seven minutes today, according to my stopwatch. 

Worked on G pentascales and stuff that seemed boring and pedantic, then moved over to this innocent-seeming li’l ditty. 

After about 40 minutes or so or practicing, my left hand can do the left hand part perfectly, my right hand can do the right hand part perfectly, but as soon as I start the metronome and try to sync up the bass clef and the treble clef, a giant concrete wall forms between all the right-hand-left-hand stuff in my brain, and I’m sitting there paralyzed, holding down two notes, while the metronome goes tick... tick... tick...

It’s not fear. It’s just like my brain can’t do it. It’s pat your head & rub your tummy stuff.  I managed to pound my way through it, and measures 3-4 and 7-8 are passable, but 1-2 and 5-6 have given me a headache and a hand ache. I even went back and did the G pentascale exercises to try and make it easier. 

At 67 minutes, I made a mistake that sounded familiar, and started picking it out, or something similar. 

After this, it’s Turkey In The Straw, a theme by Mozart in G major (your guess is as good as mine), and then...SHARPS & FLATS! Finally I can get some variety in here. 

I just realized that as of today, this has been a five month experiment. 

I haven't posted on OPW since last year. 

I have a bunch of drafts, but none post-worthy.

Work has picked up; band stuff is busy; winter makes me want to spend all other free time huddled under the covers. 

I managed to avoid the flu and plague that everyone else had that knocked folks out for 2-3 weeks at a time, so I've become even more vigilant about washing my hands so I keep this non-plaguey streak going.  I get nervous around crowds because I don't wanna get sick. I don't want this to turn into a "afraid of crowds For Realzies," of course.

In other news entirely, if you feed birds, make sure you leave fruits (blueberries, slices of apple, soaked raisins, soaked dried fruits) out for the robins, because they don't eat seeds. They only eat worms and fruits, which is why they typically migrate south, with only a few opting to hang back. In recent years, more robins have chosen not to migrate (they're not sure why), so we should leave 'em some fruit-food because worms aren't out right now. 

(Related: TIL that seeing your first red-breasted robin isn't the tell-tale sign that it's spring... especially because so many of them are spending their winters here. Instead, *hearing* your first robin should be your sign, because they don't sing until it's mating season, i.e., spring.)

Okay bye. :)

Just a little something I cooked up since I just finished the first dozen characters for one of my clients. It's nothing really, but I thought he might be able to use it for promotional purposes and the like. Figured I would share it here in case you guys were curious. 

If any of you find yourself curious enough to want to try the game out, it's available on DriveThruRPG:

Tall Tales! Core Rules (Note, this does not contain any of my art, but is required for playing)

Tall Tales! More Classes (Note: This is available as a Pay What You Want product, does contain some of my artwork, and is a supplement to the Core Rules.)

If this far side cartoon doesn't lighten your spirits, take your sense of humor in for service. It's obviously broken.

I recently mentioned that I'm working on my plans for my illustration work. Well, I've put up a pretty big (for me anyway) post over on my site. If you're interested in such things, I welcome any thoughts you have on the subject.

I think I'm going to write a manifesto. Largely because I like the thought of answering the constant "what are you up to?" questions with "writing my manifesto". Step one, look up what manifesto means. I'm guessing it is writing down what you want to manifest. 

I have learned in recent years to take February off. "No Fun February" is what I need to recharge after the holidays, which for me started early November and won't wrap until February 4. (Philly! Thanksgiving! New Orleans! DC! Christmas! Philly Again! Richmond for NYE Decemberween! DC Again for sheep* knapping! DC again again for sheep brain updates! NYC for Golden Fest! E's Birthday! DC again again again! . . . plus things I may have forgotten). It was wonderful, but I'm worn out.

So when February hits, I'm planning to slow it way down. Way way down. Meaning, not leaving the state (i.e., Delaware.)(ok, maybe once); not drinking alcohol (ok, maybe twice). It's time to get back on top of my life. I'm going to cook more planned meals, go on more walks, read more books.

But more than that, I'm putting forth a goal to create something every day (with upto 3 days off). This will mostly be with my laser cutter, unless something else inspires. And also, a goal to write a manifesto (whatever that means).

There, I said it. Now that I'm posting this, I'm changing the title from "Commitment Issues" to "Commitment Issued".

*BTW, I have a large plastic lightup talking sheep named Aries Ramball, now in my living room.