Where were you at precisely 2am?!

Uhh...I was at home. It was there that I made the discovery that I have really weird knuckles. Cuz, you know, I was drawing topo maps on my hands...

No cats were harmed during the making of this ‘music’

The wildebeests have gotten me a Morin Khurr!!! Aka, Mongolian Horsehead fiddle. I’ve been throat singing for years, which is actually going about things backwards, traditionally—you start with the Morin Khurr for 10yrs, then you throat sing.

Oh well, I’ve never been one for conforming....

While I’m waiting for it to arrive, I’ve also decided to get myself an Erhu, aka Chinese violin.
They’re actually quite similar in technique, but not as expensive. That’s why I brought myself the Erhu ;)   Although, price wise if you’re looking for a decent practice violin (which I was), a Morin khurr will cost about the same.

So, why the sudden interest in stringed things? Well, it’s not sudden at all. I’ve been wanting to get all thematic and get my Holmes on for years. However, the few occasions I’ve had to pick up a violin it’s not sounded god awful, I’m sure that’s no safeguard against any serious pursuit sounding like I’m strangling cats. Bearing that in mind, do I sound like someone who gives a ‘flying farnack’?

Unfortunately, because I have trouble with my neck and shoulders, hearing loss, and also holding things... I knew that I’d never be able to play a violin. At least not in the traditional sense ;)
Although, as I mentioned previously, for the same price as a decent practice violin, I could get a Morin khurr.

For me, that sealed the deal. It can be played sitting or standing, only has two strings, and I’ve researched the heck out of the parts...cuz they might be a little harder to find here. But, Local music shoppe is willing to help and showed me parts that could be modified. I stopped in last year to ask about parts and also talk about another love of mine..yaybahars....

Anywho, so yeah that’s coming :)  And the Erhu which is similar but much smaller body (almost like a really long ladle)—so we’ll sound amazing to our neighbors!
Also, as a surprise I got a didgeridoo for the wildebeest with sleep apnea.
I have no idea what kind of ensemble we’ll have if you throw in the sassy space organ...but that’s how it goes around here at the pizza collective

That’s sound of the men working on...

We here at ‘The Pizza Collective’ —I don’t even remember remember how the wildebeests came up with that one—aren’t exactly musically inclined...but we’ve had some exposure and aren’t god awful or tone deaf either.

I used that to make a solid case for scavenging an electric organ we found.
*Somehow* we got into the car ok without removing the legs.
However, I leave the wildebeests alone with the thing, come back, and find it flipped completely over  and they’re freaking out cuz they can’t get it out of the car... and this is AFTER I took the legs off!

So, they’ve got this thing so it’s laying on an angle cuz the foot pedal is wedged under the seat, but the rest of it is nearly flat...ON THE FREAK’N  KEYS!!!
                                                    *face palm*
They’re all flustered and want to stop there, and I very firmly, but gently reminded them that we could get by with the now missing sliders, and newly freed foot pedal, but *really* needed the keyboard to not get fucked up.

So, my blind ass wobbles over and reminds them how the laws of physics work. We get the thing just so we can shut doors of the poor Honda, and the wildebeests wander off the bed...at approximately 7 or so in the morning.

At around noon we all went out and tried again. After I got tired of being the foreman, it took me about five minutes to assess what was happening, explain the physics of it, get everyone in position, and then a few more minutes to make it happen.

And now we have a ‘sassy space organ’! She’s not perfect, but makes really cool sounds (some even unprompted), and most importantly, has a perfectly tuned scale...also she won’t catch on fire. Always a plus.

Initially, I’m thinking ‘Oh! Ear training, yay!’
But, this oh, this gets much more interesting....

I Swear! I’ve not had a drop!

One of the Wildebeests (household inhabitants) has sleep apnea. So, he’s given up drinking awhile ago. But, with pubs and what not  reopening, he’s just gonna order a soda...which he already drinks plenty of anyhow...and then we’ll just start singing ‘Go for a Soda’.

So, yesterday Significant artist and I surprised him with some O’Douls— so we could all celebrate what the world has come to! :)

I am scavenger, and I thrive...

Scored half a case of organic baby arugula this morning! Gotta *LOVE* freecycle! It’s a really cool site I found out about in college, and you never know what’ll turn up on a post. You can request stuff too.

Just sign up for your area, and you’re good to go! Everything’s free! But... you have handle the pickup yourself. So, have fun with that to-scale model of the Starship Enterprise

I Saved a Bird!

Yup! We had a bird get into the porch today.
I was running outside to meet Awesome guy ‘cuz he ran to the pharmacy for me, and as I’m shutting the kitchen door...
THWACK!!! THUD!!! THUMP THUMP *rustle rustle* WHOOSH!!! THUNK.

And then like a potato canon at an astronomy convention, a juvenile robin—under the influence of some fermented elderberries, no doubt (and I’m talk’n like some good shit, yo!)—shot up in a plume of down, and  proceeded  to whack into various things.

So, I left the outside door open and went to grab MY drugs from Awesome guy, who was waiting in the driveway for me. We talked for a few minutes and then I wobbled back to the porch.

The robin was still there, and had wedged itself between a picture frame and the windowsill in ways that defied how living things should bend; much like a toddler. I made my way inside, set down the goods, slapped on a pair of nitrile gloves (er’body’s got ‘em now these days...), and grabbed the big ‘ol bug net.

After moving a few things out of the way to get to the far window—and some cheerleading from my Significant artist—, I scooped up the  undoubtably concussed avian with the bug net. It took a couple tries to get the critter into a position where I could safely support it with my hands, but we got there.

The bird appeared un injured and healthy, so I walked it to the porch steps, and then...whooosh!!!
Off it went :)

The Eyes Have it...

So, I had an additional visit with Dr.Eyeballs yesterday. Don’t worry, I can’t see any worse than I normally can. He just wanted to run a test that was doable in office that no one’s tried yet.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get all the data needed. However, we went over some names of folks for TMJ and eyeball/brain stuff and he put through a referral for me to another eyeball guy.

And, it turns out Dr.Eyeballs knows about my brain being fucked up, and how the medical community is split on the matter and doesn’t know much either. Which sucks, since his answers were the most concise, given how rare and variable the condition is.

Unfortunately, he’s just an eyeball dude and I have a  menagerie of zebras