Under the Weather
I knew it was too good to be true, avoiding sickness thus far during the course of winter. But, it caught up to me and here I sit, stuffed up and sniffly, achy, dizzy..and as of tonight, with a fever. I came down with this cold of sorts over the weekend. On Monday, luckily we only had 2 school concerts, both of which in the morning which meant I could drive home right afterwards and rest. Today we didn't have any concerts so I spent the day resting on the couch. But tomorrow we have 3 school concerts and I have a possible job interview after that. I just hope I can get through it all - not to mention play decently!
Actually, playing oboe with a head cold can sometimes be dangerous. Because the double reed we use is so small, the amount of air needed to play is limited. By the time we need to take a new breath, there is still air in our lungs, which makes it necessary to exhale the "old air" before taking in "new air". There is also an enormous amount of pressure and resistance in the head from the reed, especially when the reed is too hard (i.e. not enough cane scraped off it). Congestion that comes with a head cold puts added pressure on the ears which can lead to the ear drums bursting from the pressure and resistance of playing.
A risky matter, for sure, especially when one considers how unimportant playing for a couple days seems when considering the possibility of losing one's hearing forever! (Might be an exaggeration, but I don't want to find out personally!) Luckily on Monday I had a very light reed (not an optimal sound, but fine for a kid's concert), making for less resistance and therefore less pressure on my swollen ear drums. Besides a few playing examples to demonstrate our instruments and the characters for "Peter and the Wolf", we aren't doing all that much playing anyway. I can't call in sick now for the concerts tomorrow because there would be no time to replace me, so I am going to just hope for the best.
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The job placement agency has finally gotten back to me about the receptionist job from the last post. Apparently my representative at the agency has been unable to schedule an interview with that company for me thus far, but today she mentioned a different, this time full-time, receptionist job in a similar company. So as I mentioned, I may have that interview tomorrow, but I'm not counting on it. Chances are they are looking for someone who can start immediately and I won't be able to start regular hours until Feb. 26th, after I go to Chicago for the audition. But it seems like jobs open up regularly enough that I should be able to find something when I get back.
**
Now I am going to gather my up my blanket and Kleenexes and take my throbbing head back to the couch to drink a tea before going to bed. I haven't bought any "sick teas" yet in America, though I always drank "bronchial-" or "cold tea" in Germany. Even if those specialty sick teas don't really work, they makes you feel like they do!
Actually, playing oboe with a head cold can sometimes be dangerous. Because the double reed we use is so small, the amount of air needed to play is limited. By the time we need to take a new breath, there is still air in our lungs, which makes it necessary to exhale the "old air" before taking in "new air". There is also an enormous amount of pressure and resistance in the head from the reed, especially when the reed is too hard (i.e. not enough cane scraped off it). Congestion that comes with a head cold puts added pressure on the ears which can lead to the ear drums bursting from the pressure and resistance of playing.
A risky matter, for sure, especially when one considers how unimportant playing for a couple days seems when considering the possibility of losing one's hearing forever! (Might be an exaggeration, but I don't want to find out personally!) Luckily on Monday I had a very light reed (not an optimal sound, but fine for a kid's concert), making for less resistance and therefore less pressure on my swollen ear drums. Besides a few playing examples to demonstrate our instruments and the characters for "Peter and the Wolf", we aren't doing all that much playing anyway. I can't call in sick now for the concerts tomorrow because there would be no time to replace me, so I am going to just hope for the best.
********************************************************************
The job placement agency has finally gotten back to me about the receptionist job from the last post. Apparently my representative at the agency has been unable to schedule an interview with that company for me thus far, but today she mentioned a different, this time full-time, receptionist job in a similar company. So as I mentioned, I may have that interview tomorrow, but I'm not counting on it. Chances are they are looking for someone who can start immediately and I won't be able to start regular hours until Feb. 26th, after I go to Chicago for the audition. But it seems like jobs open up regularly enough that I should be able to find something when I get back.
**
Now I am going to gather my up my blanket and Kleenexes and take my throbbing head back to the couch to drink a tea before going to bed. I haven't bought any "sick teas" yet in America, though I always drank "bronchial-" or "cold tea" in Germany. Even if those specialty sick teas don't really work, they makes you feel like they do!
posted by Heidi at 7:27 PM
2 Comments:
Hope you feel better soon pooch!
Thanks Megan!
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