It just so happened that Neatorama posted this video yesterday. It’s very relevant and describes what’s going on with me. (And yeah, there’s a just slightly subtle dig at Trump.)
Anyway, I went ahead and made an appointment with my #1 choice from among the PHMNPs. That’ll be mid-December, while the primary care doc is in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile I still need to deal with things myself; I do think things are getting a little bit better than they were but I need to keep taking it easy. Here’s what I’m doing:
- no caffeine
- less soda. Carbonated beverages can contribute to bloating, which is one of the symptoms I’m having. Also there’s the “gut-brain connection”; beyond just the discomfort or worrying about symptoms, what goes on in the gut biome influences mood. (There is a lot of feedback between mental and physical health.)
- trying to eat healthy and gently in general, to make it easier on my digestive system and reduce blood sugar extremes.
- drink herbal tea. Lemon+ginger is good for digestion. “Tension Tamer” has some things which may be beneficial for both the gut and nervous system and is pretty tasty too. Chamomile isn’t my favorite, but it’s also calming.
- I’m considering some supplements. Fish oil, ashwaganda, probiotics with inulin.
- Stay hydrated. We do have a whole-home humidifier that stops our skin from drying out too terribly, reduces static electricity and is better for our musical instruments, but it’s still definitely drier this time of year, as my cracked lips will attest.
- I’m going to try to get at least a little exercise. On days when I’m at the office taking a couple of walking breaks is easy; at home we’re not in the best neighborhood for walking but there’s a park nearby I can drive to. Sunlight also is beneficial for mental health, both the vitamin D and the effects on circadian rhythms, and my religious side reminds me it’s Ra-Horakhty’s year.
- Distracting myself. Hobbies and creative pursuits are supposed to be really helpful against anxiety and I find that’s true.
I had a dentist appointment Monday, and honestly it was relaxing for the most part. Is that weird? I mean, getting stabbed in the gums and having my gag reflex triggered a couple of times wasn’t great. But just lying back in the comfy chair and closing my eyes and letting someone else take care of me for a bit? Yes. Plus, I had already had a fairly pleasant drive, sunlight and music on the way there.
Did I mention, my album Suspension was accepted by the St. Louis County library for their “Listen Up STL” program? They’re making a bunch of local music available for free listening. Not that it wasn’t already free on Bandcamp, but still.
I’ve decided to hold off on further modular changes for a bit. I did some fun things with Wave Packet’s F-Sync input which none of my other modules can do. Plus there are a couple of potentially interesting things I have my eye on: Tom Erbe is working on something new for Make Noise, and Fancyyyyy Synthesis teased a new “21st century complex oscillator” which is super intriguing. I mean, this description is catnip for nerds:
Harmonic wavefolding, blended harmonic frequency shifting, damped feedback and asymmetric phase modulation, harmonic stretching, damped sync, and a universal function generator with multiple trigger responses that can drive pulsar synthesis — all combined in a CV-controllable matrix that can smoothly morph between states. K-ACCUMULATOR also features variably spaced harmonic, just-intone or equal temperament quantization, a unique root frequency architecture, and a new type of delta-sigma pattern generator.
That said, the first demo, which has blown a lot of minds, actually didn’t grab me that much sonically. I hear some potential in between the lines, but it also sounds broadly like software synths I already have, and there were no particular moments where I absolutely loved the sound. A lot will depend on the next few demos, and the size and price.