Hello, world!

Hello, world!

It's the sixth month already. It's been an interesting year so far. I know I haven't been writing, and I honestly don't know how the first five months of the year has flown by so quickly!

I've gotten to go back to where I spent most of my life, answered prayer since I didn't merely want to go back for 'a holiday'. I got to go back with a team of five others and have an intense eight days of non-stop running around and doing a lot of listening and some talking, a bit of traveling. The happy news is that I will probably make another trip there sometime later this year...maybe?

I got to catch up with a childhood friend who's now a doctor, stayed with the family where my journey over there began (same room as all those years ago!). I got to eat the things I was craving, meet with a couple of girls on behalf of my sister.

I also got to go to a city I'd never been to before and have a taste of 'home' - a church plant by my church back in Lionland. They had mentioned something about a camp at the end of May leading into June which I did consider going back there for, but it never worked out. I was a little bit disappointed but...

...I am so thankful that God never shortchanges us.

Running concurrent with this camp that I was not at, I had an amazing eight days working alongside a cool gal tech from the US, with decent tools (that I can't afford to invest in now) and with a supply of materials and parts (that would cost a bomb to ship over here). During these eight days, I learnt much, achieved more than I thought I would, and got to witness and be part of a full girl-powered repair team of four at work. Also during these eight days, I had my opinion of Yamahas being reliable, durable flutes; and that other make not being great, reinforced.

I worked on a number of flutes, a lot of them needed pads replaced, parts bent back, corks replaced (trill key corks are the worst, especially with the silly 'design' on the make I don't recommend - there were too many of these and I eventually decided to stop caring about replacing these corks because time and also the kids don't use those keys anyway), but my biggest achievement of the entire time was the last flute I decided to make sure I get done - a flute I spent about seven hours collective on.

This darling is older than me, the production years for this model in particular being between 1979 and 1990. I had looked at the case and groaned inwardly, wondering what the battered, old case held. When I opened it up, lo and behold, it was an open-hole Yamaha flute! Yes, it looked like it had seen better days, but I decided then that I was going to make it pretty and restore whatever playability I could.

It was pretty much a full repad job, there were a couple of stuck keys that took a couple of days to get to working order again. The tenons were only slightly bent out of shape - that was easy enough to rectify with the mandrel and vice I had access to. Most of the bumpers had to be replaced, with the exception of the trill keys and the Eb key. There was lots of regulation work done, a lot of minor adjustments that added up. Alas, I didn't have time to shine it up.

At the end of my time with this OH Surprise, shoulders aching, neck stiff, eyes blurry, mind weary...it was all worth it. Perhaps I'll shine him up the next time.

I decided to leave him in his seemingly battered up case - a great reminder that I need to not judge the instrument by the case. I cleaned it out and oiled the hinges, slapped a label on it so the directors know not to assign this flute to a kid who won't bother taking care of it.

I leave you with my masterpiece thus far. The time was completely worth it.

Ain't it purty?

It's time.

I am thankful for turtles and homes and people.

I've been telling myself that it's about time I need to move forward. I've had my Turtleshell for years. The name stemmed from an instance of light banter in a crowded elevator with one of my profs, Dr. Watson. I was a freshman then and it was probably in my first couple of weeks in college. He looked over and told me I had a very nice Turtleshell. I probably giggled. I can't remember. As time went by, my backpack became part of my identity in college. Even out of college, my friends constantly made fun of how 'everything I own is in it'.

After seven long years, with much repair done on the zips, the fabric at the base wearing thin and eventually giving way, and with my losing a pair of my favourite earrings because of a hole that I hadn't realised was in one of the pockets, I finally decided that it was time to hunt for a new one. I spent time and more time scouring the web, obsessing over measurements and prices and colours. There was always a better deal to be found. Narrowing my search down, I made calls, had several unsuccessful attempts to procure the backpack I had decided on. It was frustrating, to say the least.

They say that there is always an instance when you know that you know. Mine finally came when I was window shopping and chanced upon a great deal. Perfect colour - it was what I would have picked from the beginning save that it wasn't available in my region. The circumstances were convenient too, since I had access to a shipping address that enabled further savings on the purchase and my parents who were passing through to pick up the backpack for me.

Yes, it finally happened. And with this, I bid my poor old Turtleshell adieu. It has served me well. Knowing me, though, it will probably end up staying with me and getting repurposed. Eventually. Ha.

Hello there, Turtleshell 2.0 :)