Physical and musical exercise

[annathepiper]

LOTS of walking today. Got in my new morning mile, and also some walking in the evening, as I took the bus home rather than riding home with spazzkat--he had to go by his old apartment complex and do a walkthrough with his former landlord, to get formally moved out and stuff. So I got in 2.25 miles doing that, with both the Montlake-to-U-Village and LFP-to-home walks coming into play. Felt good all around.

And for extra energy spending goodness, I did a round of the Great Big Guitar Workout tonight. "Mari-Mac" perfection continues to elude me, for lo, I cannot belt it out quite properly in the key of E minor, and I am not quite sure yet what key I like better. A minor is good for my voice--but the chords don't have quite as much body as they do in E minor. Also, I still can't sing either "Ordinary Day" or "When I'm Up", and I'm not sure if this is a matter of not knowing the chords solidly enough yet; I can't quite get into that necessary zen state for playing them without thinking about it, while singing at the same time.

Unfortunately, the Walk to Rivendell has no accommodation for burning calories through vigorous guitar playing, although I think it damn well should. Middle-Earth would be immensely more lively with a Great Big Sea soundtrack.

Tuesday miles: 3.25
Miles out of Hobbiton: 262.65
Miles to Rivendell: 195.35

Comments

[waywardwords.livejournal.com]

Somehow, I think Merry and Pippin would love GBS. ;)

[annathepiper]

Not a doubt in my mind, especially given the large quantities of Guiness that get consumed at any given GBS concert.

Of course, an audience of hobbits gives an entirely new look to what happens when Alan bellows "VERTICAL MOVEMENT!"

[kathrynelaraine.livejournal.com]

I think if we got a few pints in the wee hobbits, they would be singing along to GBS in no time :-D

The above fluffs up amusing images in my mind. :)

I sing in a very high key, and what you were saying reminded me of the time I tried to pick out STSO by TOFOG, and was getting confused because i had to first pick out the lower key, them make my way up higher. Though, by the time I was done, I botched the song so horribly, no one knew what the song was, lol.

I can't quite get into that necessary zen state for playing them without thinking about it, while singing at the same time.

Ug, I so understand that. This is why when i had my band, I refused to play any instruments as I needed to focus on singing. How you do it baffles me, and you are a hero in my book ;)

[fleetfootmike.livejournal.com]

A minor is good for my voice--but the chords don't have quite as much body as they do in E minor.

Capo. That way you keep the same chord voicings.

Doranna Durgin

[moadeep.livejournal.com]

did you know you're one of six people with doranna durgin in your interests? just sayin' .

[annathepiper]

I've tried that already--still pondering F# minor and G minor, and I think those keys may still be too deep for my voice. Kind of the same problem in general too with the lack of depth of chords! My little bitty guitar loses a lot of that when I capo. It's got a sweet tone on the higher notes, but that's not exactly what you want for GBS' version of "Mari-Mac". ;)

Re: Doranna Durgin

[annathepiper]

I hadn't checked! Huh. Pity, I really love her books; she clearly doesn't get enough attention. :)

[annathepiper]

I can see Merry and Pippin's faces lighting up now, indeed. :)

Ah now, when it comes to TOFOG, I rarely have problems matching Russell's range. Are you a soprano? I seem to be more in the mezzosoprano/alto ballpark, so usually Russell's notes are pretty good match for me. (Not always--I can't sing "Somebody Else's Princess" in its recorded key, for example. But!)

And awww gosh. *^_^* I'm still not particularly expert at the whole Singing and Playing at the Same Time thing, but thank you! So far, as near as I can tell, the way it seems to work for me is #1, not think about it too hard because if I do I'll screw it up, and #2, to try to think of the act of making a song as something that my hands and my voice have to work together to do. Sort of an extension of having my hands doing different things when I'm playing my guitar or my bouzouki, really.

Re: Doranna Durgin

[moadeep.livejournal.com]

I'd have to agree. I try to get my friends to read her books, but it just depends on what the library has, y'know?

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

I'm just glad to hear you're getting some walking in! At least the weather is cooperating (unlike here) and it does make you feel good! Sometimes it's so hard finding the right walking music though -- I used to walk to Act I of Turandot LOL Hey -- it had a lot of various paced music.

Re: Doranna Durgin

[annathepiper]

Indeed. I've recommended her around to a few folks as I can, to do my part. :)

Re: Doranna Durgin

[moadeep.livejournal.com]

question, do you like elizabeth ann scarborough?

Re: Doranna Durgin

[annathepiper]

She's not bad; I've read a couple of her books, though not very often. I've got two or three of things on my shelf, anyway. I didn't care for Channeling Cleopatra, and I'm a bit waffly about the Godmother books I've read, The Godmother and The Godmother's Apprentice. I did rather like The Lady in the Loch, though, as I recall.

I've also read the Peytabee books she did with Anne McCaffrey, though I found them kind of fluffy. And I've got Songs from the Seashell Archive's first volume, but I haven't read that in ages.

[annathepiper]

I have been grateful indeed that it hasn't been as hot here as it has been in the rest of the country lately. It's been years since I lived in Kentucky, but boy howdy do I still remember the hot and humid Kentucky summers. :) (And I've actually turned into a heat wuss; though it's been comparatively cooler here than it has anywhere else, it's still been too hot and bright for my tastes. I've definitely acclimated to the greater Seattle area.)

I like walking with music on the treadmill--otherwise it'll drive me nuts. If I'm walking outside, though, I actually prefer to have no music at all these days. I'm just kind of grooving on listening to the wind and the birds. Once I get down to the bottom of the hill I live on I have to deal with traffic noise, but that's only for a few minutes. Happily, the noise doesn't carry very far up the hill at all.

Re: Doranna Durgin

[moadeep.livejournal.com]

I rather liked channelling cleopatra and its sequel. Like her coauthored books, but not as big a fan. Have you read any of her older books? like the songkiller saga, or the series that Nothing Sacred was in?

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

The neighborhood next to the complex I live in is on the quiet side, so much so that you almost feel like you're in the "country," until you get close to the main road! I find that the older I get, the more I appreciate the quiet, which is why I'm glad that when my apartment came available when I moved in, I was put on the "garden" side (much more quiet) and not overlooking the parking lot (Blegh).

I miss taking those long walks though. The weather has just been way too hot, and half the time I barely want to go out the door to head into work (especially when the heat index is 95 AT NIGHT). We've had a break the last few days, but they're saying the heat and humidity are on the way back. Yep...just in time for August. :-P

[annathepiper]

Yeah, I used to have a lot more tolerance for noise than I do now. I miss living near all the amenities of the U-district sometimes, but most of what I need is still within walking distance of our new house.

Sympathies about the heat! I've definitely gotten to be more of a heat wuss, as I think I've posted before, thanks to living up here for 16 years now (damn, it actually has been that long). Kentucky heat would probably flatten me now!

Re: Doranna Durgin

[annathepiper]

Those don't sound familiar to me offhand, no. I've just doublechecked my shelves, and I've got only the ones I've mentioned--the double-volume Songs from the Seashell Archives, The Lady in the Loch, The Godmother, and The Godmother's Apprentice. I had a copy of Channeling Cleopatra, but sold it back to a used bookstore--space is at something of a premium on my shelves these days, so I have to be more finicky about what books I keep. :)

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

Trust me -- it would have FLATTENED you like a pancake. I used to not be so bad myself, but I think it hits me more than it used to...and on top of it, my sinuses are getting more and more out of control if I don't watch it. I forgot to take something yesterday and walked outside when I was telling the family good-bye...and felt my sinuses immediately clog up and my head start to throb!

As for quiet....I savor it so much. *g*

Re: Doranna Durgin

[moadeep.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. I have severely limited space. and I'm brain dead. la.

Re: Doranna Durgin

[annathepiper]

Right now, so am I! (Brain dead, that is!) Yay, surgery recovery! :)

Re: Doranna Durgin

[moadeep.livejournal.com]

ren faire recovery for me :). you doin' okay?

Re: Doranna Durgin

[annathepiper]

Whoot, Ren Faires. :) Don't do those, but I've had just enough exposure to 'em to know that they're quite the experience, yeah.

And I'm doing pretty well!

Re: Doranna Durgin

[moadeep.livejournal.com]

Heh, it's all about after-hours at the ren faire. FUN.
Glad to know you're doing okay.

Re: Doranna Durgin

[annathepiper]

Thanks!

[annathepiper]

Mmmm, cool and dark and quiet. I'm especially fond of that being in recovery mode right now. :)

I've been more temperature-sensitive since last year's thyroid surgery, too... it'll be interesting to see if that continues or stabilizes now that I am totally thyroid-deprived.

My sinuses have been crankier since I moved to Kenmore, too. I am pretty sure that it shouldn't be a matter of being in a different climate; Kenmore is really essentially 'Seattle', locale-wise and climate-wise both. The only difference now is that I live on the north side of Lake Washington instead of on the west side. And there's a bit of a difference in altitude as well.

I wind up having to take an antihistamine on a fairly regular basis these days--usually an allergy med, which helps better than just a regular dose of Sudafed. I begin to wonder if I have developed an allergy to something that I just haven't had confirmed yet.

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

Cool, dark and quiet can be ideal!

You know, I never really had sinus problems with the intensity of what my mother suffered, but then after I started using fingerprint powders in my job I think I became more sensitive and the next thing I knew, I was worse than ever! My doctor said he thought the powders might have aggravated it, but since he'd never had a patient who worked crime scenes he wasn't sure.

I have a feeling that THAT, along with other things in the air get me. I can walk out the door in the spring, smell fresh cut grass, and feel my throat tightening up as my eyes water!

[annathepiper]

Grass! That's Dara's big allergy thing. She is bad enough with that that we have to hire people to cut the grass for us. We've got a guy who cuts our yard here at MurkNorth, and a girl who cuts the lawn for us at MurkSouth. I'd do it, except I'd probably drive Dara nuts with my lack of precision with a lawnmower. (Read: probably none, as I have never actually cut a lawn in my life!)

Have you ever been tested for allergies? I need to do that at some point.

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

I've never been tested, but I can tell what sets me off, which I guess at least is something.

I remember when I visited Vancouver one year and my sinuses were just feeling great. The second I stepped off the plane in Louisville -- we were on one of the small jets which deplanes you on the tarmac -- my eyes started watering and my head clogged up! LOL I can't believe that's ALL my imagination either!

[annathepiper]

Some information, even if it's minimal, is a good thing. :)

And no, I wouldn't think that experience with the travel from Vancouver to Louisville would be your imagination at all. They are in two completely different climate zones, so I'd totally buy that you'd get slammed upside the head once you re-entered Louisville if there's something local that irritates your system.

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

Well I've been fortunate this year, if only because I've been staying on my medication pretty much 24/7 because I know what will happen if I don't. There have been too many times I figured I'd be okay and then got a whiff of fresh mowed grass...and the next thing I know, my throat is swollen, I have laryngitis, my eyes are watering...and no, it's not worth it because I'm totally down in the dumps. This is one of those "better safe than sorry" times. LOL

[annathepiper]

I can totally imagine! Were I that sensitive to something, I'd be on the meds 24/7 myself.

Dara orders a New Zealand equivalent of Allegra to take care of her allergies, and gets shots from a local clinic as well. That seems to do the job.