Surgery Scheduled for Dec. 8

I just heard from UCLA. The donor who was being difficult is now on board. Janet's and my surgeries have been tentatively scheduled for Dec. 8, a little over two weeks away.

A few hurdles still have to be cleared: final blood tests, EKGs, and surgeons' approvals. Suzanne, the UCLA transplant coordinator who works with paired donations, said she would try to get me in sometime this week for tests.

It's amazing to think that by Christmas I could be out of the hospital, have my cute little belly back (no tubing, gauze, or tape), and get an uninterrupted night's sleep (no more continual gurgling and chugging of the dialysis machine, no more of its alarms). This would also mean that I would again have some hope that I might someday be in a relationship. And that I can travel unencumbered (except for the insulin pump, blood glucose sensor, and diabetic supplies).

There will be no caroling for brandy this year. Perhaps those who have caroled with me in previous years will show up at my bedside and regale me. If not, I'm still looking forward to the best Christmas present yet--a new kidney.

Concert in a Private Residence's Music Hall

If you're like me, you've often wondered, "What do the rich do with all their money?" I have one answer: They build a music hall in their home, complete with a two-story pipe organ, a glass-cabineted library, and balcony seating. Yesterday my neighbor Janet and I beheld such an extravagance when I attended a fortepiano concert in Brentwood.

The fortepiano is the precursor of the modern piano. According to a musician I queried at length at the event, the fortepiano's strings are parallel, whereas the piano's are crossed, making for a clearer sound on the former and a more romantic sound on the latter. I heard Andrew Willis play pieces that included sonatas by Bach, Muzio Clementi, Mozart, Scarlotti, and Hayden.

The space is called the Contrapuntal Performances Recital Hall at 655 N. Bundy in Brentwood. It is an addition that producer-screenwriter Bonnie MacBird and computer scientist Alan Kay built onto their ranch-style house. Skylights in the balcony and nearly floor-to-ceiling windows in the main hall provide ample lighting. The hall also features a harpsichord and a piano.

I was once a member of the Southern California Early Music Society and have attended many of its medieval and baroque events over the years. I looked on its web site for venues and found this one. Turns out there are at least two series that allow aficionados to hear early music in private residences. After all, that was how the music was originally performed--in small, intimate settings in the homes of wealthy patrons and royalty.