Such a Long Time
I haven’t posted here in over four months. Every so often, I look at the list of items I’ve thrown in my post-about queue, get discouraged, and decide to figure out a catch up schedule some other time. I’ll take this opportunity to recap the last four months and, if I get around to filling in the gap, everyone act surprised, okay?
January:
I went to MacWorld Expo, which was really fun, because I got to meet Seth, whose rides in the Pan-Mass Challenge I sponsor annually. [He’s riding again this year, so I’ll be donating again very soon and I hope some of you do, too.]
I got wet in Half Moon Bay with my friend, Ozreiuosn, in Sea Kayaking II, which taught me more skills in the cockpit. I think I’m going to have to take that class again, though. My confidence level in the kayak isn’t where I’d like it to be before moving on to Surf Zone, a class that teaches us how to navigate the breaks.
At the end of the month, I accidentally deleted the home directory of my computer in a move so stupid that it’ll probably be commemorated on postage stamps 100 years from now. Sadly, I lost all the music I’ve written in the last eight years, although the data recovery people managed to recover a bunch of my files. Soon, I’ll try to recover the music up until last September from my old 12″ PowerBook’s hard drive.
February:
I spent an inordinate amount of time going to parties in February, trying to find my missing groove. Found some of it, lost some of it, still working on some of it. Worked on building some idea about what I’m doing.
March:
I started the process of developing a musical practice routine that will have me mastering my instruments by my 40th birthday, at least enough to play in public. To that end, I started buying some new instruments, starting with a virtually brand new Jupiter flute. My major instrument in college was the flute and if I had this Jupiter 14 years ago, I’d have my degree in music. I can’t believe how beautiful every note sounds on it. Following in the next four weeks, I got a clarinet, an alto clarinet, a bass clarinet, and a tenor saxophone. We’ll see which of these I master and which of these I end up restoring and eBaying.
Later in the month, I developed a fairly annoying case of Labyrinthitis toward the end of the month, which kept me dizzy and in bed for a week. After that, I jumped on a plane and flew to take my children on a road trip. First, we were going to go to Yellowstone, but the day after I landed in Idaho, the Intermountain West acquired a blizzard. So, we headed west instead and explored Portland, Astoria, and found the End of the Oregon Trail. Road trips are always fun.
April:
I’ve been studying my jazz theory rabidly. I’ve also just this week come down with a throat infection that has stopped my practice routine for the time being, at least until it’s cleared up. I’m on antibiotics now and hope to try out the new (to me) horns and mouthpieces I’ve recently acquired. And then, on with the music.
I’m going to try to update this site more frequently. Again, I may fill in the gaps, or I may just aim forward and keep marching. We’ll see.
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