kingkeld's Journal, 17 July 2012

Good morning, Fatsecret.

Today is a sad day for me.

Yesterday, the world lost one of the grand old rock and roll grand fathers, one of the people who taught me the true values of good rock music.

Founding member of Deep Purple, organist Jon Lord, passed away from cancer, 71 years old.

He has been such an inspiration for me through my entire life.

One of my very first vinyl albums were given to me when I was around 6 or 7 years old by my brother. I got a few, and I forgot what they were - except for one:

Deep Purple's Made In Japan.

How could I forget? The gold gate fold cover. The rising sun on the inside. And the amazing, amazing music. This truly changed my world, and I will be forever thankful for this.

When it comes to keyboards and organs, there is nobody that is able to match what Jon Lord did. He was truly unique, developed a truly unique style and sound that has been copied so many times, but without anyone really, truly getting close.

Same thing with Don Airey, present keyboard player in Deep Purple. He's a great guy, a great musician, but his playing suffers severely from the fact that he is not Jon Lord. Not his fault I suppose. To me, a very large chunk of the Deep Purple sound comes from Jon Lord, not the organs.

As you can tell, this moved me a lot, hearing the news of his passing away. Today, I will be watching DVDs and hearing music in his honor.

If you haven't heard of him, you should check out some of the work he did. It is really amazing. He was one of a kind.

Here is a video, showing some of the stuff that I really like from him. This was recorded in Melbourne in 1999, a few years before he decided to back out of Deep Purple due to health reasons.

This is a live organ/piano solo, with one of his grand prize songs following.

This is right after the band plays Smoke On The Water, which he does a classical improvisation over, and then goes into the song Lazy, which is one of the grooviest rock songs ever. Pay note to how a tiny little melody becomes a HUGE groovy riff when put in the hands of Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice. It's amazing stuff. I could only hope to ever play in a band like that.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5fZBiqVjEhw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Yesterday was a rough day.

I felt GREAT in the morning, as you could read from my journal. I had energy in a way that I haven't had for the last month, I slept great, and it was all good.

I went to my work place, and had a good talk with them about coming back to work. I really want to, but my energy levels are all over the place and it's so damn unpredictable, so it's really hard to do the work I normally do. For me to do my job, I need to set up appointments a week in advance, and right now I just can't guarantee that I am up for the interview once the person shows up.

So I have agreed with my team leader that I will come back Friday, and she will see if she can find some administrative tasks for me to do, away from the public to begin with. Maybe some phone calls and stuff like that too, things that don't require appointments.

Then I will slowly ease back to my normal duties.

I plan on starting work Monday, and I'm looking forward to it, though I am also a little nervous. It's a big mouthful for me right now, after the surgery. It's hard to me to handle the lack of energy, but with the understanding from work I think it'll be okay.

I went to see Wife at work after talking to the people in my department. She was going shopping for work, so I decided to join her to do the shopping I needed to do for dinner.

We were out max 30 minutes, and I insisted on carrying the backpack with the groceries home. Nothing heavy, maybe 6-7 lbs.

When I came home, I was drained from energy. Batteries were FLAT. I sat down and ended up being semi-asleep all afternoon. I took a nap in my chair and it helped, but it never was really good.

After a while I started aching and it just went downhill. I was grumpy, and probably a pain in the rear to my surroundings. I hate when I'm like that, but it's so hard to find comfort in anything when I feel like I felt yesterday. I try to not be too bothersome and just stay quiet, but Wife is so sweet and wants to help me get comfortable. She really wants to help, but it's hard to say that you just want to be there, zone out and do nothing. No communication is sometimes better.

Last night I slept well. I feel pretty good, though still tired. I feel more or less like yesterday morning, though weighed down by the sad news of the loss of one of my Rock And Roll Grandfathers.

Right now I am listening to the Deep Purple album Machine Head (the one that has the original version of Smoke On The Water). What an amazing album it is. 40 years old, and STILL fresh. I'd like to see any new release accomplish that. This is the sound of a band. It's not a band recording an album. It's a band playing together!

Speaking of Machine Head, it has the song Highway Star, which I am learning to play on bass. This is a killer. It's fast, it's long, it's relentless for the poor bass player. It is, however, and awesome exercise in speed and stability, and that's how I use it. It's a cool song too. Yesterday I literally played my fingers to blood practicing it. Did I mention it's relentless for a bassist? :) Still, I'll be back working it out again today.

Today I don't have many plans. I need to go buy a few things for dinner tonight. Yesterday we had ham, and I'm gonna turn the leftovers into something else. Essentially free food. :)

...

I keep forgetting to weigh in. I realize after I get dressed had water to drink, etc., so it really doesn't give any kind of right measurement to do it at that point.

However, I have a clear feeling of getting heavier and I don't like it.

I know. I know. Take it easy. Focus on recovery. Yadda-yadda-yadda.

However, I can not let this slide. I can not get out of my surgery recovery and suddenly have gained 5-10 kgs of fat. I don't want this to happen. I have promised myself to NEVER be overweight again, and to make this journey and surgery count. I will not fail that.

So I have to look more into what I am doing. I have to be a little more diligent on my food choices.

I know what to do. I know exactly what I am doing right and wrong. It's just a matter to seeing it when the urge is there and to not justify that it's okay to make choices that I know perfectly well are not okay to make.

So here I go. I'll set myself a goal of being back down to at least 82 kgs by Saturday morning. I think I am around 84 today, but I know a lot is fluid.

I can drain myself like that if I want. And I want. So here goes. Wish me a happy journey.

EDIT:
I want to clarify that I am NOT gonna go on a full weight loss blast here. Not now. I will simply cut out the "reckless things" that I may have opted for when they weren't necessary. Trouble is, I have way too much time on my hands, I get bored, I want food. Not good. So I will have to start asking myself a little more whether the food I want is good for me, and whether I really want it, considering the consequences of having it. I made a promise to myself and I will keep it. Eat healthy. Recover. Be smart about it.
END OF EDIT.

I think I have recovered very well so far. I have no signs of infection. I have no other "real" issues, except for the fluid. It'll come off after a while, and I have the draining sessions also. I'll be going in for one of those tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it, as the seeping has stopped and I feel that there is more goo that is ready to come out.

I don't think it's so much that it'll actually count as weight loss though. These are smaller amounts, nothing like that first time. Still, it's such a relief to have it done, and I am really looking forward to it.

...

Today, I'm thankful for:
- Learning about Jon Lord some 35-ish years ago, and being able to enjoy his music through so many years. Not many musicians make an imprint like he did.
- Sunshine! I'll be looking forward to my little walk.
- Morning coffee.
- Bass Practice! I can do more, and I will.

Happy Tuesday. Life is good!

---

1604 kcal

Fat: 70.37g | Prot: 67.39g | Carb: 179.85g.   Breakfast: Sliced Ham (Extra Lean), Rye Bread, Egg. Lunch: hamburgerryg, Mashed Potato (from Dry). Dinner: ham rice. Snacks/Other: ice cream, pop corn. more...

2810 kcal

Activities & Exercise: Music playing - 1 hour, Walking (moderate) - 3/mph - 30 minutes, Sleeping - 8 hours, Standing - 1 hour, Sitting - 13 hours and 30 minutes. more...