25 January 2013

I had chafed for a long time at having to buy packages of cold medicine that included two different kinds of pills, one for the daytime, and one for the nighttime, since I rarely need ANY kind of cold medicine in during the day but frequently need one at night to keep of from tossing and turning all night to clear alternate sides of my sinuses. It's particularly annoying that the packages all contain MORE day pills than night ones! When I mentioned it to the pharmacist yesterday, she showed me one that I could take at night. She warned that it could make a person drowsy, but, as I replied to her, isn't that the point of a nighttime pill? So I bought two packages and took one of the pills last night. And, boy was I glad I had! I slept better than I had for numerous nights. David slept pretty well too, but he took a half of one of his prescription sleeping pills (not the new ones I bought for me).

I felt better today, but I still have a pretty bad cough. I expect that it will take some time to get rid of it. Late today, it began affecting my voice, as well (more on that a little later). At any rate, I was glad that I had taken yet another sick day.

I walked down to the bakery around the middle of the day and bought challah and cinnamon rolls, the latter for David, who really likes them. A little later, we drove over to Il Pentolino and ate lunch there.

When it came time to light candles and make Shabbat this evening, my singing voice was completely shot, so I had to just say the blessings instead of singing them. That's when I discovered that, while the wine and bread blessing were just fine, I really only know the special kiddush Shabbat blessing by memory when I SING it! Oh well.

This evening I have been working on my music. First, I did some more editing on the Flor Peeters Prelude that I am transcribing for orchestra. I made the first crescendo longer and more gradual over several of the opening measures. Then I got the auditorium defined and figured out a good placement scheme for the players. The net result is that the piece is beginning to sound really nice! After working on it for a bit, I went back to my Folk Song for Strings, applying some of what I had learned to that piece, as well. It's also continuing to improve.