I don’t know why but I thought an ocarina was a kind of mini accordion. So I had to watch this video to see how one would play such a heavy, inflexible instrument. It was a bit of an eyeopener. (You must think I’m stupid.)
No, I get it that /ocarina/ sounds like /concertina/. I knew about ocarinas because in the late 1970s when I was 18 or 19 my girlfriend Julie lived for awhile with a roommate in an all-white apartment-- white plaster, white trim, white kitchen cabinets, white formica counters, white rug. The roommate was a rather magnificent redhaired woman who was a civil engineer for the city. She'd come home from work and watch teevee and play Star Wars music on a red plastic ocarina, over and over, perfecting it. She was a real original Star Wars fan. She had posters, and a cardboard stand-up Darth Vader that I can't quite picture in my memory except that it was at the top of the stairs. I think she might have made it herself. But I can still hear the ocarina playing Star Wars: the theme and the march and the cantina song, along with the chuckly local news people on the teevee talking and talking, with their wig-like hair layered over the upper part of their ears; I've heard the style described as helmet hair. One time there at two in the morning I couldn't breathe, I was so allergic to something, the fresh paint, the plants outside. That was the first time that ever happened to me, so I thought I could tough it out, but I couldn't; Julie took me to the hospital and they gave me a shot of something. I had allergy related asthma a few times after that, but that was the only time that bad. Years after that I lived in a place that was overrun with Scotch broom plants and in summer I struggled to breathe in the night. You could get Chinese ephedra sticks at the health food store and boil them for tea, which, even though it had a buzzy, sharp, unpleasant effect like too much coffee, and if made your heart hammer, it was such a relief after lying in bed for hours struggling to breathe that I went right to sleep. Also they had over-the-counter pills at the drug store with real ephedrine in them that did the same thing, that I kept in the glove box of the car, that saved me at a fireworks show, and a graduation ceremony, and another fireworks show... They can't legally sell that anymore because people started buying crates of it and taking it apart to make recreational drugs to re-sell, though why anyone would want to feel weird and nervous and speedy like that, if they didn't have to to stay alive, is beyond me. Now that I'm old, I'm only barely allergic to anything anymore, and allergies --to pollen or dry redwood dust or cigaret smoke or somebody's horrible powdery cosmetics and perfume in a theater, for example-- mostly go to my eyes, making them itch and burn, which I solve by tipping my head back and washing them out with a squirt bottle of Equate-brand sterile saline solution (Bausch and Lomb brand stings). In allergy season: one bottle in the car, one in the fridge, one next to the bed and one by the door to carry in my pocket on a walk or to work outside. Four 12-oz. bottles are just $12, and that's several years' worth. I just got a two-pack for $5 at Walmart. Equate brand sterile saline solution, man, that's the stuff.
Marco, I’ve had allergy related asthma since I was a little Nag. My first trauma was when my beloved teddy, Pogo, was snatched from me because he brought on hives and asthma. I used to get weekly shots until better medication was invented.
No, I get it that /ocarina/ sounds like /concertina/. I knew about ocarinas because in the late 1970s when I was 18 or 19 my girlfriend Julie lived for awhile with a roommate in an all-white apartment-- white plaster, white trim, white kitchen cabinets, white formica counters, white rug. The roommate was a rather magnificent redhaired woman who was a civil engineer for the city. She'd come home from work and watch teevee and play Star Wars music on a red plastic ocarina, over and over, perfecting it. She was a real original Star Wars fan. She had posters, and a cardboard stand-up Darth Vader that I can't quite picture in my memory except that it was at the top of the stairs. I think she might have made it herself. But I can still hear the ocarina playing Star Wars: the theme and the march and the cantina song, along with the chuckly local news people on the teevee talking and talking, with their wig-like hair layered over the upper part of their ears; I've heard the style described as helmet hair. One time there at two in the morning I couldn't breathe, I was so allergic to something, the fresh paint, the plants outside. That was the first time that ever happened to me, so I thought I could tough it out, but I couldn't; Julie took me to the hospital and they gave me a shot of something. I had allergy related asthma a few times after that, but that was the only time that bad. Years after that I lived in a place that was overrun with Scotch broom plants and in summer I struggled to breathe in the night. You could get Chinese ephedra sticks at the health food store and boil them for tea, which, even though it had a buzzy, sharp, unpleasant effect like too much coffee, and if made your heart hammer, it was such a relief after lying in bed for hours struggling to breathe that I went right to sleep. Also they had over-the-counter pills at the drug store with real ephedrine in them that did the same thing, that I kept in the glove box of the car, that saved me at a fireworks show, and a graduation ceremony, and another fireworks show... They can't legally sell that anymore because people started buying crates of it and taking it apart to make recreational drugs to re-sell, though why anyone would want to feel weird and nervous and speedy like that, if they didn't have to to stay alive, is beyond me. Now that I'm old, I'm only barely allergic to anything anymore, and allergies --to pollen or dry redwood dust or cigaret smoke or somebody's horrible powdery cosmetics and perfume in a theater, for example-- mostly go to my eyes, making them itch and burn, which I solve by tipping my head back and washing them out with a squirt bottle of Equate-brand sterile saline solution (Bausch and Lomb brand stings). In allergy season: one bottle in the car, one in the fridge, one next to the bed and one by the door to carry in my pocket on a walk or to work outside. Four 12-oz. bottles are just $12, and that's several years' worth. I just got a two-pack for $5 at Walmart. Equate brand sterile saline solution, man, that's the stuff.
ReplyDeleteMarco, I’ve had allergy related asthma since I was a little Nag. My first trauma was when my beloved teddy, Pogo, was snatched from me because he brought on hives and asthma. I used to get weekly shots until better medication was invented.
ReplyDelete