I was joking.

Thanks for clarifying. I didn't mean to be touchy.

but generally people choose what instrument they play. Not so much with voice type!

Yeah, although I can see there being cultural issues behind the way the various sections are represented, and I can see myself not being at all aware of them back in HS.

My vocal range is not great, but it crosses soprano and alto although I'd say I'm more a natural alto. But the choir teacher needed another soprano, and there you go.

I think a lot of the vocal stereotypes develop out of the situation. Like, tenors are often in short supply, so tenors may very well be a) loud and b) used to being overpraised and in love with the sound of their own voice.

Whereas it's easy for basses to hide at the bottom, so they sometimes drone and sing flat.

And the high parts are the showiest! And the altos do hold it all together.

I don't even know if I'm a soprano or an alto.

And the high parts are the showiest!

And if they're always treated as special snowflakes, they start to behave that way, I bet.

Does anyone wear computer glasses? Do you have reading glasses, too? The screen I'm using right now is smaller and I wind up needing my reading glasses, but they're not exactly right either.

I think it's mostly focusing on the screen so consistently all day suddenly, but I'm getting nasty headaches by the time evening rolls around.

At my drama school about 80% of the women in choir (It was a required course.) were altos. It was really weird. I think there were 5 of us that were true sopranos. And I don't have a strong voice or much range either. I always preferred the alto parts.

So, when I first skimmed, I read altos as altoids and I kept thinking, "What do these people have against curiously strong mints?

Shit. I need a break.

Today I took Grace to two different doc appointments at UCLA, which took ~4 hours and included a blood draw (YIKES) and a chest xray. What surprises me is what good spirits she was in until the blood draw, which we did last. At the last pedes appointment, she got a shot (woe!) and had her ears lavaged out (so cool). Today, she keeps telling me that the doctors tickled her when they checked her glands at her neck. True, and I hope that's her big takeaway.

We're also changing her breathing treatments from nebulizer (which is effective like crazy) to inhalers, which is faster but less effective. I think this is the intervening weaning step.

AND she wore her speaking valve all medical time before the blood draw (why increase the volume for that?) and was great about it. Not panicking, and just really happy. We're bribing her with screen time to get it to work.

I still can't believe how mellow she was after spending all day at the doctor's office. Such a great kid!

She was pretty mellow. She slept for half the car-ride home. Then she was pissed that I woke her to go to the bathroom and then CVS, which I get.

I'm trying to figure out her med situation better. I'm so tired I can barely see. Perhaps this not the best time to do this?

Yeah, if you've got what you need for tonight dealt with, then try the improvements tomorrow. You had a big day, even if Grace was a trooper. Get some rest.

So the hide glue stuff seemed to go pretty well. I'll leave it tonight, and nothing will get stressed until Wednesday at least.

I also finished the mechanical side of the electronics, as far as getting them mounted (too close to the neck, oops, will have to notch that out). I'm trying to decide if any of the rest of the electronics work can be done ahead of the assembly, but I don't think so.