rash, haydn, reed, & asimov

My rash seems to be getting even worse. Last night I used a martini and some wine to self medicate. I’ve got to stop doing that. This morning I took a oatmeal bath. We had an envelope of this stuff specifically for easing skin irritation. It helped a tiny bit. Then I called my dermatologist’s office but they still can’t see me before Nov 12. The person answering the phone encouraged me to call again next week and check for cancelations. This is a bit weird because I thought they would call me with this information, but you can bet your bippy I will call again next week.

Paquito D’Rivera Quintet

We have tickets to hear Paquito D’Rivera Quintet at the Great Performance series this evening. Right now, the plan is to order our Friday evening pizza and then go to the concert. The idea of sitting in an auditorium for an hour or so doesn’t sound like a comfortable time for me with this damn rash, but we missed the first one. I have some little tubes of hypo allergenic moisturizer I am planning to bring along. At this point I use a ton of this stuff each day in order to discourage my scratching. This is not working very well.

Last time my rash flared up, they were unable to diagnose it. It simply got a little better on its own. I’m hoping the dermatologist will have some creative ideas about how to deal with this other than just suffer through it.

I finished playing my way through my first volume of Haydn piano sonatas yesterday. I have played all the way through these before but I’m trying pay more attention to how Haydn evolves his ideas about the formal aspects of these pieces. So far they basically work close to a stereotypical understanding of sonata allegro form when he uses this form. I know that he evolved from studying his symphonies.

I also finished Flight to Canada by Ishmael Reed and the third Foundation novel, Second Foundation by Asimov. The copyrights on Asimov’s books are consecutive: 1951, 1952, and 1953. I checked because I think his prose style improves from clunky in the first book to not so clunky in the last. A little poking around on the interwebs reveals that at least the first book began its life as a series of short stories. I found criticism of the ideas in the book but no one pointed out an improvement in making sentences.

Maybe I just got used to his style, eh?

I have a Dr. Birky appointment today. Those usually help my mood. We’ll see.

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