Stress and Strings

I’ve been having stress headaches that are translating into a feeling not unlike having daggers shoved through my eyes, and I can feel myself getting crabby and squinty when it happens. They’re exacerbated by sinus issues, but those, at least are mitigated by the effective, if unattractive, method of tracing the path of my sinus passages with Ben-Gay, or any other menthol based ointment (um, the skin on the forehead over the sinuses, not the ACTUAL passages.)

I’ve also learned some things this week, which aren’t particularly exciting, but in lieu of actual content, they’re what I’m offering.

1) It’s a really bad idea to tune a cello with the pegs without loosening the tension on the fine tuner first. I’ve broken my C-string, and even though my current strings are medium-grade (D’Addario Helicores, if you must know) a single replacement will cost $35-ish (though I’m told that certain online places, at least, give free shipping if you spend at least $35.)

2) I’m better at drinking water when I have a house full of sports bottles to pick up and carry around, this despite the fact that we only have them, right now, because Arrowhead left extra water in this week’s delivery because we’re getting a new delivery schedule AGAIN, and they were concerned we’d run out…no idea why they’re in little bottles. But hey, it makes me drink more water.

3) I’m sick to death of teriyaki. I made chicken teriyaki the other night because Fuzzy brought home chicken breast tenders, instead of actual chicken breasts, and I was too far into prep to figure something else out. So, into the frying pan-cum-wok they went, along with a bunch of veggies and some Island Teriyaki sauce. Fuzzy liked it. I’m teriyaki’d out.

4) I really want to trade my Stringworks 4/4 Virtuoso Cello in for a Stringworks 7/8 Soloist Cello. The smaller size is a better fit for my teeny hands, and the step up in line should mitigate the smaller tone from a “lady’s” cello. Anyway, I’m just a hobbyist. But, the trade will cost $5-800 and I can’t really justify that right now.

In other news, I’ve been cooking a lot this week. I don’t really LIKE wrapper-food, and we need to eat more veggies. So this week I’ve made a pasta primavera torta, the afore-mentioned teriyaki chicken, and tonight, linguini marinara and caesar salad. Fuzzy’s been helping in the kitchen more, but he still interprets “clean up” as “bring everything to the kitchen” not “do the dishes.”

Organic strawberries do not make my lips itch OR give me allergy attacks.

I miss blue fish.

And I’ve run out of things to write about tonight.