Ok...no post in a long time, so...I will now post...
March 7 came and went. If anything, I was anxious. Obviously, I wanted to get it over with. I was also very cynical, and very pessimistic. After 18+ plus months of various therapy, costing well into $1000, you can see reason for my cautious optimism.
So after going through March 7, I can only say one thing: Being AWAKE in an OR (only local anethesia, they only numbed the area they were operating on) is by far the most WEIRDEST and UNCOMFORTABLE feeling ever. Now, I couldn't see anything they were doing because I had a sheet over me, for sterility purposes. But for 13 minutes, I felt in a perpetual limbo, with my left hand tourniquetted and being worked upon. I felt a little faint from the numbing medicine, and they gave me oxygen. While it was happening, though, I couldn't help but feel really lucid. I started talking about...music, drums, how important they were to me...basically, if the nurse that was monitoring me asked me bank account passwords or pin numbers, I would told her them at that point.
So...almost a month later, and how do I feel? GREAT. It feels as if I never had numb fingers, and the scar looks right now like a bad scratch. My issue is, I am still in this 6 week window, where it feels like anything can happen and I shouldn't use it too much. For a while my hand would get tired, but now I don't know if I should kick it up a gear to where I am using it %100 as I did before.
So right now, because of the window, I am only playing once, maybe twice a week, usually rehearsals, and I let them know that if my left hand needs a break it's going to take it. I am basically playing as I was when I had CT. Just now, my fingers don't go numb.
So I guess patience is in order here. Patience and April 25, when I'll be in the clear, as far as the 6 weeks is concerned. After that, I plan to play every day, just like I did when I started. It's like part II. Now, I have no excuses. It WILL be only a matter of time, that I acheive in some way, what my mission statement says.
Now, I only hope my right hand keeps up and doesn't go my left hands route. Not for some time, anyway...
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Ok, so I don't post everyday...so what?
...could it be possible that I have people who actually READ this blog, and look forward to any updates?
Cool...that makes me feel important...
Well...I made a mistake of sorts....I bought one of these:
I didn't know what to expect when I bought it...
...I didn't know I bought the media equvalent of CRACK!
....mmmmm, crack...(visions of Tyrone Biggums..)
so...my nights after work, when not in rehearsal, is spent playing the afore mentioned Gamecube. So much so, that I bought Zelda on ebay....the ORIGINAL, for NES, released in '87...
old school, baby...
it even has Zelda II, and the two N64 Zelda games...
A PERFECT NIGHT OF LIQUID MEDIA CRACK...
...why I wonder why I don't have a girlfriend...should be fairly obvious by now. Except to me...and I wonder why I am repressed?
I SHOULD BE PRACTICING MY DRUMS...instead, I'm dreaming of Triforces, boomerangs, arrows, fairies, rupees...visions of beating Ganon dancing in my head...
I will control my addiction, I promise...
SUBJECT CHANGE________________________________________________
This was from a recording session we (the Vedas) did earlier this month. It went really well. I'm getting the hang of recording, and capturing it for the moment. I am always fascinated with drummers like Jack DeJohnette, who can play for the moment and what they play is ALWAYS right. It sounds to me that way, anyway.
The things is, I am real nitpicky. I did not record a take that was 100%. There was a bit of compromising I had to do on my part...but why? Is any musician 100%? Ever?
I had to get over myself...there was no real chance of me being satisfied with a take 100%
When I find a way to post the mp3s I will post them. When you listen to them, you'll probably think...that I was playing Gamecube too long. What could be wrong with my playing, you would probably ask? But we're all our own worst critics. I have to learn to be constructive...concerning my playing. It will take some time, and it won't be 100%, but then again...I would most likely stop playing if I was 100% all of the time...
so...there you go.
....looking at the picture, I could afford to skip a few meals...maybe eat a vegetable or two? It won't kill me...
......and life goes on and on and on.....
Okay, bye!
Cool...that makes me feel important...
Well...I made a mistake of sorts....I bought one of these:
I didn't know what to expect when I bought it...
...I didn't know I bought the media equvalent of CRACK!
....mmmmm, crack...(visions of Tyrone Biggums..)
so...my nights after work, when not in rehearsal, is spent playing the afore mentioned Gamecube. So much so, that I bought Zelda on ebay....the ORIGINAL, for NES, released in '87...
old school, baby...
it even has Zelda II, and the two N64 Zelda games...
A PERFECT NIGHT OF LIQUID MEDIA CRACK...
...why I wonder why I don't have a girlfriend...should be fairly obvious by now. Except to me...and I wonder why I am repressed?
I SHOULD BE PRACTICING MY DRUMS...instead, I'm dreaming of Triforces, boomerangs, arrows, fairies, rupees...visions of beating Ganon dancing in my head...
I will control my addiction, I promise...
SUBJECT CHANGE________________________________________________
This was from a recording session we (the Vedas) did earlier this month. It went really well. I'm getting the hang of recording, and capturing it for the moment. I am always fascinated with drummers like Jack DeJohnette, who can play for the moment and what they play is ALWAYS right. It sounds to me that way, anyway.
The things is, I am real nitpicky. I did not record a take that was 100%. There was a bit of compromising I had to do on my part...but why? Is any musician 100%? Ever?
I had to get over myself...there was no real chance of me being satisfied with a take 100%
When I find a way to post the mp3s I will post them. When you listen to them, you'll probably think...that I was playing Gamecube too long. What could be wrong with my playing, you would probably ask? But we're all our own worst critics. I have to learn to be constructive...concerning my playing. It will take some time, and it won't be 100%, but then again...I would most likely stop playing if I was 100% all of the time...
so...there you go.
....looking at the picture, I could afford to skip a few meals...maybe eat a vegetable or two? It won't kill me...
......and life goes on and on and on.....
Okay, bye!
Thursday, February 02, 2006
The Magic Day
...it is settled.
The date was called in yesterday. The day that will determine my future course of events. The day that..will live..in...infamy (not really, but I'm on a roll) The day...that will determine my future as either a famous (soon-to-be) drummer, or a third-rate computer builder. Or a third-rate dishwasher. Or a third rate burger flipper, which, in this country, is now considered a MANUFACTURING job, and devoid of any benefits, affordable health insurance, etc. etc.
March 7, 2006
Carpal Tunnel Release Surgery
The surgeon who will perform this delicate task is Dr. Fink (to answer your question, Jaime.)
Oh, by the way, Happy Six-More-Weeks-Of-Winter Day. Thanks a LOT, Phil!!!
(like i GIVE a shit)
anyhoooo....
yeah...so that's the day...30-somethin' days away. How worried am I? I am confident the doctor will do a great job. But that doesn't answer my question.
How worried am I?
Would I be lying if I told you I wasn't?
The short answer is YES.
as the clock ticks by until that day, I think about what has led me to this point...I think about how it will go, and that it will go well...my brain likes to put these cynical thoughts in itself about this endeavor, but so long as they're just thoughts...
Do I need to start thinking about a rest of a life without drums, if it (GOD please forbid) comes to that point? For 18 years, I haven't thought about much else, except for food (that could be another whoppingly large blog enitrely). I well up with tears just thinking about it. I could play guitar, or piano, or even bass, which I love also. But drums...drums are my second language, much more than Greek has ever been. (oh, for those not in the know, I was born in the US, to Greek immigrants. I speak fluent Greek. Pretty well, I might add.)
I grew up learning piano, and taking piano lessons, but when I moved to Greece at age 11 (yet another whoppingly large blog there, also) I wanted to get back into playing piano, but not really. There was a desire to play MUSIC, in whatever form I could get it. At that time, I began to sing more because that was pretty much my only outlet that I knew of that involved music. And listening. Whatever I could get my hands on, which for an 11-year-old, money-wise, isn't much.
I think of the mix tapes that I made when still in the States recording songs off the radio, or putting my boombox against the speaker of the family stereo and recording my Dad's records that way, because it was a vinyl/8 TRACK stereo. And 8 tracks had JUST gone out of style then. Telling my mom to be quiet 'cause I was recording, when only minutes later the abrupt sound of a vaccuum cleaner would present itself. Or, after a successful quiet run of recording, listening back, only to find out that it sounds nothing like the original (I knew that going into it) and the fact that it didn't sound very good, either. But my recordings off the radio sounded better, so I went that route.
Anyway, back to Greece. I was always recording, always listening, trying to find stuff that I liked, and weeding out music that I didn't care much for. All that time, though, I was an ok piano player, but I had no want, no innate desire, to PLAY piano all the time, if at all.
When I came back to the States, I began playing drums that summer('87). What started out as something cool to do, mostly because it was easy, even back then, became an OBSESSION. I was playing my kit, when I got it later that fall, anytime I could. When my parents were home from work or resting, they didn't want to hear "peep", so that obviously meant no drums. But I still wanted to play. My brain wouldn't stop. So, air drumming became a necessary "evil" My ears were always sharp, but my hands, on the other hand, were not.
When you're air drumming with a stick, there is no surface to strike, so there's nowhere for the force to go. Because there is no surface, you are essentially creating the illusion of a surface, and your wrist, in turn, does "double duty" as upstroke AND downstroke. I wasn't using much fingers at that time, if at all. Any movement(force)made by the arm in air drumming is absorbed by the wrist. Now, add to it that whenever my arms or wrists hurt, I dismissed at "growing pains", like "no pain, no gain", right? Add to THAT I was air drumming, my most intensive period of air drumming time was from about 1988 to ....1993, about when I graduated high school. In that time period I was air drumming on average 4 to 5 times a week, 60-120 minutes each session, usually 1 or 2 CDs worth of material.
SO...six years worth of stop-start with my wrists, as I was growing (I think my growth spurt was 13, then again at 16...all of this has contributed to the CTS that I have endured since January of 1996.
So now, this is payback, for all the damage done to my hands...
I could, and hope, to look at it as a new beginning...as a door that will open another door that will help me achieve my goal...I cannot imagine a life like mine without drums...I believe if I didn't start at 12 I would've gotten into them eventually...
I am born...I am on this earth...to play drums. Period. My purpose is to give comfort, to entertain, to inspire the masses, with drums as my medium. The drumset, specifically, is the medium, although I'm not a bad conga player, either. SO, any surgery that will help me continue to play, numbness-free, will be welcome and appreciated. I'll most likely be saying to myself afterward "you should've done this sooner" but I know now the last resort after 18 months of chiropractors, massage therapists, acupuncturists, pressure, trigger points, emollients, low level lasers, and all of this having no long-term relief from ANY of it, is surgery. And I'm happy with that decision.
The door is about to open, and I'm about to walk in.
Wish me luck.
The date was called in yesterday. The day that will determine my future course of events. The day that..will live..in...infamy (not really, but I'm on a roll) The day...that will determine my future as either a famous (soon-to-be) drummer, or a third-rate computer builder. Or a third-rate dishwasher. Or a third rate burger flipper, which, in this country, is now considered a MANUFACTURING job, and devoid of any benefits, affordable health insurance, etc. etc.
March 7, 2006
Carpal Tunnel Release Surgery
The surgeon who will perform this delicate task is Dr. Fink (to answer your question, Jaime.)
Oh, by the way, Happy Six-More-Weeks-Of-Winter Day. Thanks a LOT, Phil!!!
(like i GIVE a shit)
anyhoooo....
yeah...so that's the day...30-somethin' days away. How worried am I? I am confident the doctor will do a great job. But that doesn't answer my question.
How worried am I?
Would I be lying if I told you I wasn't?
The short answer is YES.
as the clock ticks by until that day, I think about what has led me to this point...I think about how it will go, and that it will go well...my brain likes to put these cynical thoughts in itself about this endeavor, but so long as they're just thoughts...
Do I need to start thinking about a rest of a life without drums, if it (GOD please forbid) comes to that point? For 18 years, I haven't thought about much else, except for food (that could be another whoppingly large blog enitrely). I well up with tears just thinking about it. I could play guitar, or piano, or even bass, which I love also. But drums...drums are my second language, much more than Greek has ever been. (oh, for those not in the know, I was born in the US, to Greek immigrants. I speak fluent Greek. Pretty well, I might add.)
I grew up learning piano, and taking piano lessons, but when I moved to Greece at age 11 (yet another whoppingly large blog there, also) I wanted to get back into playing piano, but not really. There was a desire to play MUSIC, in whatever form I could get it. At that time, I began to sing more because that was pretty much my only outlet that I knew of that involved music. And listening. Whatever I could get my hands on, which for an 11-year-old, money-wise, isn't much.
I think of the mix tapes that I made when still in the States recording songs off the radio, or putting my boombox against the speaker of the family stereo and recording my Dad's records that way, because it was a vinyl/8 TRACK stereo. And 8 tracks had JUST gone out of style then. Telling my mom to be quiet 'cause I was recording, when only minutes later the abrupt sound of a vaccuum cleaner would present itself. Or, after a successful quiet run of recording, listening back, only to find out that it sounds nothing like the original (I knew that going into it) and the fact that it didn't sound very good, either. But my recordings off the radio sounded better, so I went that route.
Anyway, back to Greece. I was always recording, always listening, trying to find stuff that I liked, and weeding out music that I didn't care much for. All that time, though, I was an ok piano player, but I had no want, no innate desire, to PLAY piano all the time, if at all.
When I came back to the States, I began playing drums that summer('87). What started out as something cool to do, mostly because it was easy, even back then, became an OBSESSION. I was playing my kit, when I got it later that fall, anytime I could. When my parents were home from work or resting, they didn't want to hear "peep", so that obviously meant no drums. But I still wanted to play. My brain wouldn't stop. So, air drumming became a necessary "evil" My ears were always sharp, but my hands, on the other hand, were not.
When you're air drumming with a stick, there is no surface to strike, so there's nowhere for the force to go. Because there is no surface, you are essentially creating the illusion of a surface, and your wrist, in turn, does "double duty" as upstroke AND downstroke. I wasn't using much fingers at that time, if at all. Any movement(force)made by the arm in air drumming is absorbed by the wrist. Now, add to it that whenever my arms or wrists hurt, I dismissed at "growing pains", like "no pain, no gain", right? Add to THAT I was air drumming, my most intensive period of air drumming time was from about 1988 to ....1993, about when I graduated high school. In that time period I was air drumming on average 4 to 5 times a week, 60-120 minutes each session, usually 1 or 2 CDs worth of material.
SO...six years worth of stop-start with my wrists, as I was growing (I think my growth spurt was 13, then again at 16...all of this has contributed to the CTS that I have endured since January of 1996.
So now, this is payback, for all the damage done to my hands...
I could, and hope, to look at it as a new beginning...as a door that will open another door that will help me achieve my goal...I cannot imagine a life like mine without drums...I believe if I didn't start at 12 I would've gotten into them eventually...
I am born...I am on this earth...to play drums. Period. My purpose is to give comfort, to entertain, to inspire the masses, with drums as my medium. The drumset, specifically, is the medium, although I'm not a bad conga player, either. SO, any surgery that will help me continue to play, numbness-free, will be welcome and appreciated. I'll most likely be saying to myself afterward "you should've done this sooner" but I know now the last resort after 18 months of chiropractors, massage therapists, acupuncturists, pressure, trigger points, emollients, low level lasers, and all of this having no long-term relief from ANY of it, is surgery. And I'm happy with that decision.
The door is about to open, and I'm about to walk in.
Wish me luck.
Monday, January 30, 2006
....no filibuster...damn...
what a world...
...I never thought that the decision to call to have the surgery is the most difficult I've ever have to do... It's like skydiving...you're psyched and looking forward to doing it, and as soon as you're on the plane and looking down, ready to jump, you FREEZE...and you don't know if you want to follow through. But, you're ready to go, and you've been thinking about it for so long, now the moment is there....what are going to do?
...Tomorrow is another day....
what a world...
...I never thought that the decision to call to have the surgery is the most difficult I've ever have to do... It's like skydiving...you're psyched and looking forward to doing it, and as soon as you're on the plane and looking down, ready to jump, you FREEZE...and you don't know if you want to follow through. But, you're ready to go, and you've been thinking about it for so long, now the moment is there....what are going to do?
...Tomorrow is another day....
Oh yeah....I have a BLOG that I can update!!!
Well....
It's been a while. I don't have an excuse as to why I haven't posted since September. Probably because no one reads, let alone, konws about this blog. Now that friends know about it, I have to update now, or else...you know, what's the point? Oh, and I know that I should be working, instead of posting, so spare me...my conscience is bothering me enough as it is...
...i've been feeling like my friend the evil monkey lately...not all the time, and not at anyone in particular. Well, all I know is that surgery is imminent...I have CTS and am planning to do the release surgery...so in that time there have been plenty of "shoulda woulda coulda" arguments that go through my head, primarily the first six years I learned to play drums (I am self-taught and went to no one to see if I even was holding the sticks correctly, which I wasn't) but it is my hope that all will go well with surgery and recovery (10-14 days).
What to do while in recovery, and I'm out of work for 2+ weeks??? Well, I could take a poll...I was planning on reading some more (getting back into that Dostoyevsky book)and practicing drums with the right hand only...that would be a good way to get some serious practice time on my right hand....I'll eventually have to do the surgery on the right hand too, but right now the left will suffice.
...eechh..I just had some Zingers I bought from the vending machine, and now I'm regretting buying them....
..one thing I got from the hand surgeons' consultation today was that I have what he calls "big mitts" ....nothing particularly difficult about the surgery, just that the scar will be bigger.
Ladies? If big hands means big you-know-what, then it's TRUE! It's all TRUE! :) Anyway, I have big hands...and...I have big hands....the belly that accompanies it is big also...that's something that needs to be worked on.
A friend of mine says it's part of my image...I see what he's saying, but....the image is not getting me anywhere...except an early grave...sorry to get so morose.
OKAY! Get happy! Plug in your Ipods and play that happy music!
Oh, and REPUBLICANS STILL, AND WILL ALWAYS, SUCK!!!! Filibuster Alito!!!! He is the last piece in the "Fascist" puzzle the Neo-Cons have decided to play with our lives. We're not allowed, not invited. It's only our lives at stake, nothing more...
Happy Monday!
It's been a while. I don't have an excuse as to why I haven't posted since September. Probably because no one reads, let alone, konws about this blog. Now that friends know about it, I have to update now, or else...you know, what's the point? Oh, and I know that I should be working, instead of posting, so spare me...my conscience is bothering me enough as it is...
...i've been feeling like my friend the evil monkey lately...not all the time, and not at anyone in particular. Well, all I know is that surgery is imminent...I have CTS and am planning to do the release surgery...so in that time there have been plenty of "shoulda woulda coulda" arguments that go through my head, primarily the first six years I learned to play drums (I am self-taught and went to no one to see if I even was holding the sticks correctly, which I wasn't) but it is my hope that all will go well with surgery and recovery (10-14 days).
What to do while in recovery, and I'm out of work for 2+ weeks??? Well, I could take a poll...I was planning on reading some more (getting back into that Dostoyevsky book)and practicing drums with the right hand only...that would be a good way to get some serious practice time on my right hand....I'll eventually have to do the surgery on the right hand too, but right now the left will suffice.
...eechh..I just had some Zingers I bought from the vending machine, and now I'm regretting buying them....
..one thing I got from the hand surgeons' consultation today was that I have what he calls "big mitts" ....nothing particularly difficult about the surgery, just that the scar will be bigger.
Ladies? If big hands means big you-know-what, then it's TRUE! It's all TRUE! :) Anyway, I have big hands...and...I have big hands....the belly that accompanies it is big also...that's something that needs to be worked on.
A friend of mine says it's part of my image...I see what he's saying, but....the image is not getting me anywhere...except an early grave...sorry to get so morose.
OKAY! Get happy! Plug in your Ipods and play that happy music!
Oh, and REPUBLICANS STILL, AND WILL ALWAYS, SUCK!!!! Filibuster Alito!!!! He is the last piece in the "Fascist" puzzle the Neo-Cons have decided to play with our lives. We're not allowed, not invited. It's only our lives at stake, nothing more...
Happy Monday!
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