To doc or not to doc

Sore throat, but not red and angry looking  Combination of allergies and dry air? Probably. So... Keep on keepin' on and hope it goes away? Sigh.

On the upside, I had two great lessons last night. First student practically came skipping in proclaiming, "I practiced!" Second student couldn't wait to tackle the next piece in the book, so we jumped in with both feet. Good stuff. Makes a teacher feel good. Just when I start to wonder if I'm a good teacher, somebody reminds me that I am.

A change is a-gonna come...

Everything that I regularly use is now with me in Coralville. My apartment is looking scary. There's a bed, empty closets, empty dressers, a barren kitchen, and a futon sitting there, waiting, kept company by pictures and paintings hanging on the walls, apparently for no reason. The pictures look out of place now. It's almost eerie. Three more weeks and everything will be here. And I can't wait. I'm getting very anxious to have my whole life in one place after having been divided for so long. 

We spent most of the weekend working on it, moving stuff, taking stuff to the dump, and cleaning cleaning cleaning... Vacuuming with the HEPA vac, trying to get the dust bunny revolution under control. It seems like there's just so much dust in here lately, I don't understand why. I guess we've stirred a lot of it up with our relentless shifting and moving and rearranging and getting rid of some stuff to make room for other stuff. We have really pissed off the dust bunnies good, I fear. Maybe that's why my nose won't stop running... 

What a band

Had a really good rehearsal last night with the Nephews. Things are really gelling, the music is starting to cook exactly the way I wanted it to. Just like the voices in my head were playin' it. This is turning out to be some tasty shit, and I am grateful, grateful, grateful. We're still working through some rough spots, but boy it's coming along. You know it's good when there's a moment of silence after you're done with a song, and then somebody says, "Uh, we just did that."

Special kudos to Jake Niederhauser stepping up to the plate and OWNING the rhythm section, holy shit. I'm so used to being the whole band that it was a HUGE personal... Thing for me to hand over the keys to the rhythm section, but damn, he showed us last night that it is in GOOD hands. I have this feeling that we are all learning so much from this process...

I'm learning that I need to practice more, so I'm gonna get the fuck off the internet and pick up the fiddle and keep working my ass off.

Two Full Weeks

Okay, just let me wax evangelical ONCE MORE and then I will stop. I love the CPAP, and I always will. I don't care about the little discomforts. I will do whatever it takes to feel like this.

Now, back to MUSIC, which was the initial purpose for this blog way back in the day... I have been learning my own music on fiddle, and it's trickier than I thought. Approaching it as another side-man has made me very aware that I don't write normal stuff. Oh well, I don't write normal stuff. That's good, right? I'm an original, unique, different. Yes, Me, that's a good thing. I have spent a few days playing through the songs and just getting the shape of things, and starting tomorrow I dig in, drill down, take one song a day and  work it with all I've got. Get it really, really right. It's got to be really, really right...

Allergies

I have to confess, nasal allergies and the nasal pillow mask don't go together so good. However, the only time I can really breathe is at night when I'm breathing HEPA filtered, humidified air... But boy is my nose sore. This too shall pass. It's supposed to freeze tonight. Please.

Allergies suck.

Otherwise, I'm still feeling great, the deep, profound, excruciating fatigue seems to be a thing of the past. I can't find words to express how grateful I am for that.

The Read Out

I took my CPAP chip in to be read by the techs today, and WOW!!! They were blown away at how well it is going! My "events" are under 1.7 an hour per night. Yes! The machine knows all, and I have had several nights of blissful, beautiful sleep in a row, for the first time in possibly decades.

Now, if we'd just get a nice killing frost to take care of the stupid mold allergies, I'd be in hypoallergenic cotton...

Day... Um... Seven? Has it been seven now?

Yes, I got the CPAP on Monday of last week, so it has in fact been a full seven days.

So here is me, seven days after getting the CPAP. Up at 6:45, dishes put away, teeth brushed, breakfast and coffee, change the water in the betta fish tank, wash breakfast dishes and coffeemaker, clean CPAP mask, remember to send lunch with the man as he goes off to toil in the salt mines... Check email, 20 minute walk, 30 minutes Yoga, 60 minutes fiddle practice, go to the Coop to get apples and baking soda, visit with an old friend, get home, make cornbread to go with supper tonight, have lunch, get a shower, blog, and get ready for the second practice-my-ass-off-because-my-own-music-is-kicking-it session of the day... And it's only just gone 3PM. After my lessons tonight, we are going to do a massive clear-out of a room downstairs and move the outdoor plants in front of the south-facing window for the winter. And take another walk. And read the final few pages of "Someplace to be Flying..."

It's 3:14PM and I'm wide awake, energized and ready to spend another hour on music. Two weeks ago, this would have been Fantasy Land.

Once again, I will remind you, Gentle Reader, that the only thing that has changed is that I am breathing normally and getting REM sleep at night. No drugs, no tricks. Just oxygen and good sleep.

It's Monday, I had three gigs this weekend and I'm functional...

Okay, the true test! I had three gigs, two of them three hours, one of them a shortie but quite intense, and I am not only functional, I got up at 6:40 and started getting stuff done. I slept just over 8 hours last night, had one dream I remember and one I don't, and never got up one time for anything.

My life is already transformed, and it's been one week. Oh how I wish I had done this years ago!

Alright, got stuff to do!