27th day sober. After listing Ebay things last night, I got my practice in, a bit over an hour. I did two more pages in the band book, and worked a little out of the fingering chart in the back. I used to do this on trumpet, lots of chromatic scales. Even Mr. Sowlakis told me that he's decided it's best for adult learners to learn the chromatic scale right away because it makes things easier.
I still got a lot of squeaks though. I'd taken the 3 reeds I'm using and scraped the bottoms with my Swiss army knife then polished the bottoms on a piece of paper, which may or may not have helped. I also found or at least felt that I got less squeaks and a bit more resonance if I use a double-lip embouchure. That ought to at least save on mouthpiece wear.
I went to bed at 6AM and woke up at 2. I had coffee and vitamins etc. and packed some things, about 15 of them to be exact. I ate a big bowl of guacamole before leaving, and was out the door at a quarter after 6. I rode by Tom's place and he shouted "Alex!" at me and I just waved and kept riding as I wanted to get to the post office before it closed at 7. Traffic was heavy but then, it's Memorial Day Weekend so I guess people were getting out of town. On the way back, once I was past the Brokaw/880 intersection, traffic went down to near zero.
I didn't look for shipping stuff because I plan to go out tomorrow with the bike trailer also, so I stopped by Tom's place and told him I'd heard him but had to get to the post office etc. We talked a bit and he's looking at going on a vacation back home to Alaska to give his father's girlfriend and now caretaker a break, and says he'll pay me $100 to watch his building while he's gone. I said the best way for me to do that is not only check regularly, but to get rid of the weeds out front and keep the place super clean so it's obvious someone is taking care of the place. He also wants to buy the hard case that came with my Yamaha trumpet which I said I'll sell him for $40.
We talked about stuff and it came out that a guy who'd been a real pain in my ass at the Gilroy place had hung himself. "And nothing of value was lost". I wondered to Tom how, the guy had come into $400k of inheritance and at the time he'd done so, it was possible to buy any of a large assortment of houses on a few acres in that general area, much of which is quite beautiful. But the guy'd just pissed away his money, somehow going through the $400k in about 2 years.
Eventually we were talked out and it was getting cold. Tom had been drinking these cans of Bud Lite or something like that, blue cans, continually. I know the feeling from when I was really alcohol-dependent. Ken'd be over and I'd have to take sneaky shots to keep the shakes at bay.
I got back here and had some snack foods like the rest of the pork rinds I'd bought along with the O'Doul's the other day, and some walnuts I toasted. And I messed around with my reeds more. I found one YouTube video showing "the paper trick" where you just take the reed and rub in in a circular motion, 100 times, on a sheet of paper. This polishes the bottom and very slightly sands it down even. So I did that with the three reeds I'm using.
Eventually I got around to practicing and still had some problems with squeaks but not as bad as the last practice session. And I learned a new note, Bb, just above A in the staff. I practiced a bit over an hour, with each reed getting about an equal amount of time. It's just a matter of putting in that practice every day.
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