August 18, 2008

7:51 p.m.

Make Some Money, Spend Some Money

Royalty check came in, window accounts, enough to make a little deposit and have some cash to spend at Macy's on very necessary travel items. Socks. Soap. New, great, reasonably priced jeans! Then to the grocery -- a little food, a little wine. I am now nearly dollarless, but rich.

And... I picked up the cello! Rose and Marc are packing to move soon, so everything is everywhere. I located the instrument in its black gig case in their living room. I put it on the couch and figured out how to unzip it. I parted the two halves of the case to get the first glimpse of my very own, very first cello.

The first thing I saw was a little spider, positively frantic to get OUT into the light and have a life. That spider was probably in the storage facility yesterday. I managed to get it out and gently fling it somewhere onto the rug (it was going so fast, there was no way to get it outside) and turned back to my new baby, my new bride. I pulled it out and took a look.

It was dusty, I'd say even mildly grimy. Been in storage a long time, and maybe not in a case either.

It's missing: a tailpiece, a bridge, pegs, and strings. It's just a body with a neck and a retractable endpin.

I wrung out a wet paper towel or two and lovingly coaxed all the dust off, and some woogy stuff that might have been stickum for a pickup or something. I talked to it. I picked it up.

Something rattled inside.

A cello has only the two f-holes so it's kind of hard to see what might be rattling around inside the body, if anything is. I managed to aim it so a little dim light hit the back through one of the holes, and discovered that it was a penny.

A couple of tries and a number of little shakes and jostles later, the penny came tumbling out the f-hole.

I dubbed it my Lucky Penny and put it in my pocket.

After a little more one-sided conversation with Cello, I put her (wait... it was feeling a little him-ish... maybe it's a boy cello) back into the case and toted (it) home.

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The food thing, oy... I'm down to 119 as of this morning. I don't know when I saw that number last. I know I lack the muscle mass I had last year from running, and I'm not exactly scrawny yet, but it could be a little challenge to get enough food on this tour. Given the choice between gastric upset and not eating much, at the moment I'd choose to be a little hungry. My beloved nutritionist has confirmed that magnesium might be a good add, so I'm starting it tonight. I asked her about triphala, an ayurvedic herbal supplement that's supposed to be just marvellous for the digestion as well as other things, and she said it might also be very good but she doesn't want me to start it before I go. Apparently for one thing it has to be stored in a certain way (maybe refrigerated) and I might not be able to manage that consistently when away.

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A nice little hike this morning put me in a good frame of mind. I asked my Guide to arrange for me to have good hiking near my house-to-be.

Nothing pressing me tonight! I think I'll cook my Alaskan Cod and read some more of my great book. Tomorrow, must do some serious book work.