The Story of Lori

[LoriDee]

My coach's initial assessment is my voice is in the mid to high male range. My laugh is similar, but my cough is awful. I gotta work on that too. 

[Northern Star Girl]

@LoriDee
Dear LoriDee:
There are so many things that we utilize our voice for.... talking, laughing, and... in my own experience since I like to sing I found it easier and more natural for me to sing in a proper female range, mainly because when singing I am focusing on being on the correct note, but in causal conversation there is very little focus about that so one has to practice enough for it to become a natural expression.

Thank you for sharing and posting... very interesting indeed.
HUGS, Danielle

My coach's initial assessment is my voice is in the mid to high male range. My laugh is similar, but my cough is awful. I gotta work on that too. 

[LoriDee]

I have no talent for singing, but I was told something similar, that singing allows you to raise your pitch effectively. I hope that as I get better at voice control I might be able to do some singing to broaden my effective range. I have always been a fan of Terri Nunn, the lead singer of Berlin. Her pitch is similar to mine, but wowza can that girl sing!

Song Now It's My Turn by Berlin
From the album Love Life
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgaFNC_I_ZkmpklGPTS241unTYKHCTa4K

[ChrissyRyan]

The female voice can be so soothing.

[imallie]

My coach's initial assessment is my voice is in the mid to high male range. My laugh is similar, but my cough is awful. I gotta work on that too. 

That's a pretty good starting point, Lori!

Because the female voice isn't all about pitch... there are LOTS of women whose natural voice is right in that range you are in... but it's then a lot about the shape of your voice, meaning... pitch variability -- male voices tend to be more monotone, while female voices tend to move up and down the vocal range.

And you'll work on resonance... trying to feel your voice coming from your throat and not your chest... "raising up" your voice, and "opening up" your voice, so to speak... which adds more air to the way you speak.

I really enjoyed voice training and it just takes a few weeks for things to kind of click in place... and then it takes a lot longer to really perfect it, I'm sure. I know that once I'm presenting in public I am certain I will need to go back to my coach for a refresher to make sure I'm on the right path.

Good luck and so glad you're having fun!!!!

[Gina P]

My coach's initial assessment is my voice is in the mid to high male range. My laugh is similar, but my cough is awful. I gotta work on that too. 

So much to retrain. Yawns, laughs, burps, coughs. I wonder if I can ever fully do it. Golotoplasty seams like an easier option but even that doesn't work without training. I find I do well reading doing training but as soon as I have to think of what I'm going to say the brain reverts back to old voice. My coach says in time this won't happen but its very frustrating now.

[LoriDee]

I had a Dermatology appointment at the VA this morning. I had been seeing a non-VA dermatologist for several years. The VA decided I needed to be treated in-house, so this was my first visit with this one. She was awesome and we spent some time going over my medical history. I have had seven Basal Cell carcinomas removed over the years, so I have to get checked every six months.

She didn't see anything suspicious that might need a biopsy. So she just froze a few thousand pre-cancerous spots with liquid nitrogen. I have a large spot on my back that I thought was a mole. It is ugly and black and about 2 inches long by an inch wide. The issue is that it is right under my bra band, so it gets irritated. She said it was a "barnacle", benign and she could freeze it. It may fall off or we can just keep attacking it during each visit. I agreed.

So then I am driving home and it is really getting sore from being frozen, my bra sitting across it, and I am sitting trying to drive without leaning back in the seat. Wowza.

I enter my apartment building and my property manager sees my face (red blotches and blisters all over), and asks if I am okay. I asked her if the Violence Against Women Act applies if the culprit is your doctor. We laughed, but I can see a pain pill in my immediate future.

Good times.

[ChrissyRyan]

Ouch!   

I hope the pain subsides for you.

Chrissy

[LoriDee]

Thanks, Chrissy.

The pain has subsided. I had to put Vaseline on my face and bandages on my arms to cover the blisters so I don't rub them against anything. It will be a couple of days then they dry up and start sloughing off. It's a necessary evil that I am willing to endure.

This winter, she will send me two topical creams that will be lots of fun. They work like a chemical peel and eat all the cancerous and pre-cancerous cells. They do it in the winter because your skin becomes super sensitive to sunlight. I can't even go near a window. So I suppose I will become a vampire for a week or so.

For now, I am focused on Voice Training and have my second appointment in the morning. Yay!

[ChrissyRyan]

I would like to sing with a nice woman's voice.

Chrissy

[LoriDee]

I had my second voice appointment this morning. Filled out a bunch of questionnaires. Took the whole hour just doing those. The coach said next week we will start working on resonance. She feels that since my voice already has a warmer pitch, by working on raising my resonance, the pitch will follow and should drop me dangerously close to the pitch I am working towards. She asked me about about a voice model. I said Renee Zellweiger. She has such a soft, feminine voice that I love. Even if she screamed at you it would sound like a loud whisper. I want to hit that kind of softness.

The red blotches and blisters from yesterday's dermatology appointment have calmed down. No pain and the blisters on my face have receded into the blotches. The ones on my arms are still the size of quarters and I am not ready to try tearing off the bandages yet. I have to continue keeping everything slathered in Vaseline and stay out of the sun this weekend. So of course, the rain stopped and it is a warm sunny day.

Maybe next week we can get out and do some rock-hounding.

[Northern Star Girl]

@LoriDee
Dear LoriDee:
  SUNBLOCK, HATS, cover arms and neck with a light cotton shirt....
You can't stay out of the sun in the summer, especially when rock-hounding but
please do your best to take necessary protective steps.
        ```````````````````````````````
Several years ago I had a Basil Cell Carcinoma and had "Mohs" surgery remove a
continuously reoccurring spot above my eye.  Freezing it did not prevent it's return. 

If the Basil Cell Carcinoma keeps returning, like it did for me, you
perhaps should ask your dermatologist about "Mohs" Surgery. Mine never came
back years after the surgery but before that it always came back a month or
two later after freezing it.

Mine was done in the doctor's office sitting in a chair like a Dental office
visit, with local anesthetic only.

Most of those procedures leave very little scarring if any if they are caught
early...I don't have any visible and obvious scarring.... but obviously your
dermatologist is your best source of information as it applies to you.

      https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/mohs-surgery/about/pac-20385222

HUGS, Danielle

[LoriDee]

Thanks, Danielle,

I have had seven Basal Cells removed. Five via Mohs and two by ED&C. Hence the reason they have me come back for a recheck every six months. The stuff they are freezing is pre-cancerous. She said none of them looked suspicious enough for a biopsy.

I have to be careful while gold panning or sluicing. Any oil coming in contact with fine gold can make it float. It's the weirdest thing to see. Gold is 20 times heavier than water, but oil has just enough surface tension to make it float.

I do wear a wide-brim hat and long sleeves, (See pic), whether prospecting or just hiking. The nice thing about mining is if I get too hot, I just sit in the creek and wet my shirt.

Pic of me at Teepee Canyon

I apply sunscreen to my face (because the sun reflects off of the water), then wash my hands before starting work. With rock hounding, I have more leeway. Same uniform, but I don't need to be as cautious about cleaning sunscreen off my hands.

[Iztaccihuatl]

That's a very youthful picture of you, Lori Dee! You look like late 20's or early 30's!

I also like all the details of the rocks you show, especially the crystals.

Hugs,

Heidemarie

[ChrissyRyan]

Yes, Lori rocks!

Chrissy

[LoriDee]

@Iztaccihuatl
@ChrissyRyan

Thank you, ladies.

That is one of the few where the lighting was just right, the camera was not too close, and it worked its magic. So it is one I don't mind posting on my website.

My rock-hounding buddy and I are hoping to get back there again soon. Maybe this month. Other rock hounds have been posting pics of their finds out there and it makes me want to hurry up and get there. 

It is about an hour and a half drive from here. It isn't far in miles but the winding mountain roads are only 30 mph in places, like up around Mount Rushmore and going through the Jewel Cave National Monument. It is also almost 2,000 feet higher in elevation. An old survival trick I learned is that for every 1,000 feet increase in elevation the temperature drops about ten degrees. So on a warm 60-degree day here in the city, it is only about 40 degrees up there. Not bad, but we just got some heavy snow two days ago up in the Hills. Forest Service roads are poorly maintained and snow and ice are never cleared, so we wait.

The crystals I found are calcite. I love the peach tint. Crystals are a common find in that area and is how Jewel Cave got its name. Rockhounding in the park is not allowed, but just west of the Monument boundaries is Hell Canyon, and west of that is Teepee Canyon. Both are popular rock hunting grounds.

Jewel Cave fascinates me. It reminds me of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. A couple of gold miners discovered it around 1900. It is still not totally explored. Every year cavers map a few more miles, but it keeps going. At more than 200 miles in length, Jewel Cave is currently the fifth-longest cave in the world.

Jewel Cave Information