Music Teacher (F) (3 obs, updated April 12, 2019)

[I love Alan Rickman]

I have a cello teacher named M whom I’ve written obs about in the past. I’ve written obs of her sneezing as well as blowing her nose. I’ve written both allergy and illness obs with her in them, too. Here are the allergy sneeze obs and the illness sneeze obs if anyone is interested in those. I may go back and put more detail in them in the future since I still remember them well, but the more recent ones of both are much better detail-wise than the first ones. 

Since I just recently remembered about this part of the forum, I thought I should start putting the nose blowing obs separate from the sneeze ones. That is unless she sneezes and blows her nose the same day. Then I’d put the nose blow on both but with a bit more description here. If you want me to share past nose blow obs from her here too, I can do that. I will post future ones here. This will be for both illness and allergy nose blows, and I aim to label each ob individually with “Allergies” or “Illness” at the beginning.

I take lessons with M over Skype, which works surprisingly well. We are also have more than just a teacher/student relationship. We’re like best friends, too. She’s in her mid-twenties, lean and probably about 5’8” tall. She has wavy light brown hair that flows delicately all the way down to her elbows, gorgeous dark brown eyes, and a slightly tall, medium-sized nose with narrow nostrils. She also has a very friendly smile and is the kindest person I’ve ever met.

 

To be confirmed, likely Illness

This past Tuesday, I had another lesson with M as usual, and she stated at the beginning, “Just as a disclaimer, I know every single week these past few months,” she shook her head a little bit as if she were disappointed in herself, “I’ve just been so tired. But I am really tired again, and I really hope I’m not getting sick right now, so...” She made a click sound with her mouth and nodded as if saying “And that’s it.” As usual, I assured her it was okay, and she smiled slightly. But then she looked at me apologetically and continued, “But I just want you to know if I say anything that doesn’t make any sense, I’m just kinda fuzzy.” She gave a deep sigh.

“It’s alright,” I stated kindly, and M smiled a little more.

M was sniffling and rubbing her nose a lot for a while, so eventually, about 15 minutes or so in, she said, “Augh, I’m gonna get a tissue real quick.” She stood up and walked off camera, and I heard her grab a bit of toilet paper from a roll nearby. I glanced up and saw her coming back, wrapping that tissue paper around her hand as usual when she’s about to blow her nose. She did that to wrap it over itself to make a few layers of tissue. I looked back down for a few seconds and wrote a bit more in my notes. 

When I looked back up, I saw M’s nose twitch a little as she gave a slight sniffle, and she turned to her right (my left), clutching the tissue to her nose and blowing her nose liquidly. It was much less delicate than I usually have heard from her, and it was quite productive-sounding too, as if she blew out quite a bit of mucus in that one, relatively short blow. I’ve never heard her blow her nose like that when she’s suffered from allergies, even if it was a bad allergy day. I’ve only heard that productive of a blow from her when she’s been sick in the past. 

And usually, when she was previously sick, M would try for a delicate, feminine blow first and then end up blowing wetly afterwards, but this time it seemed like she just went for it the first time to get it over with. Or maybe she’s getting more comfortable blowing her nose in front of me, because she always used to blow her nose off camera, but recently she’s been fine coming back and sitting down in front of the camera to blow her nose. She turns away when she does, but I think that’s improvement and shows she’s more comfortable. And for the first time, she didn’t apologize for having to blow her nose. Maybe it was because I didn’t really say anything, or maybe it’s because she’s realizing I mean it when I say it’s okay. But even though she saw I had watched a bit and obviously heard her, she actually for once didn’t seem very embarrassed. Usually she was quite embarrassed even if I wasn’t looking at all or if she blew her nose off camera. So perhaps she is warming up to the topic of nose blowing and sneezes, which is excellent.

Either way, M paused and looked around for a second just with her eyes as if in slight embarrassment, rubbed her nose, almost as if she were massaging her nostrils a little, sniffled, and sighed afterward and snuck a glance at me when I snuck a glance at her (which was a little awkward, not gonna lie, though she didn’t really seem bothered or embarrassed). She also rubbed her nose a few more times with the tissue shortly after as we talked a little bit about what I was previously writing down to work on. About a minute later, she discarded the tissue to the side. 

The whole time as we talked about things shortly after she blew her nose, it was all casual, and she didn’t even seem very embarrassed except for that split second right after she blew her nose. In fact, she was smiling pretty much the whole time as I talked about the thing we were working on. It was like a normal conversation in the lesson. Even though she had just blown her nose (and used to be a bit embarrassed or nervous for a few minutes after), it was still nice and casual. Hopefully that means she is indeed warming up and we can get some more good obs from her in the future, both for nose blowing as well as for sneezing. She rubbed her nose quite a lot throughout the rest of the lesson, too, (and even retrieved the tissue to dab at and massage her nostrils a bit again) but no more nose blows. And if she did get a cold, she might blow her nose again this Tuesday. I’ve learned that it seems like her nose is runny up to about a week after she gets a cold.

I hope you enjoyed this ob, and I’ll keep you all updated.

Edited April 15, 2019 by I love Alan Rickman
Mentioned third ob (and updated tags)

[ThePokeFan599]

Great ob Alan Rickman's #1 Fan! All that nose rubbing would have kept me on my toes the entire lesson, hoping that the continuing itch would result in a sneeze or two. I find it odd that someone would use toilet paper to blow their nose, unless that's all that was available. You mentioned she turned away when she blew her nose, but did she dip her head too? Or was it level like before she started blowing? I'm guessing that because it was a relatively short blow, that her head didn't bob during the nose-blow. I've seen that happen when someone blows their nose harder than they should.

Odd question, but I have to ask. Did she discard the tissue with her right hand or her left and, and was it discarded to her right or left? After she blew her nose and started talking again, was her voice a little congested when she first spoke, but rapidly turned back to her normal tone for the day?

Yes, definitely keep us updated. A prolonged runny nose, though insufferable if you have it, creates a lot of possibilities during the observation. Although I'm not big into nose-blows, I did enjoy this ob very much.

[I love Alan Rickman]

7 hours ago, ThePokeFan599 said:

Great ob Alan Rickman's #1 Fan! All that nose rubbing would have kept me on my toes the entire lesson, hoping that the continuing itch would result in a sneeze or two. I find it odd that someone would use toilet paper to blow their nose, unless that's all that was available. You mentioned she turned away when she blew her nose, but did she dip her head too? Or was it level like before she started blowing? I'm guessing that because it was a relatively short blow, that her head didn't bob during the nose-blow. I've seen that happen when someone blows their nose harder than they should.

Odd question, but I have to ask. Did she discard the tissue with her right hand or her left and, and was it discarded to her right or left? After she blew her nose and started talking again, was her voice a little congested when she first spoke, but rapidly turned back to her normal tone for the day?

Yes, definitely keep us updated. A prolonged runny nose, though insufferable if you have it, creates a lot of possibilities during the observation. Although I'm not big into nose-blows, I did enjoy this ob very much.

Thanks! (And that nickname you gave me. Amazing ) Honestly, though! She was rubbing her nose quite a lot for the rest of the lesson, and I kept hoping she’d sneeze. She didn’t, but at least we got a good nose blow instead of nothing. You know, I didn’t think about that, but now that I do, she did dip her head about an inch or so to blow her nose. And she also had her arms and elbows almost against her body as well as she blew, which is just a bit closer than when she rubs her nose.

No, her head didn’t bob (probably because yes it was a short blow, which lasted about a little less than two seconds at most. But she did move her head just the slightest bit to the sides as if moving her nose around a little to get everything, if that makes sense. It’s sort of hard to describe! I’ve been able to tell she has just moved the tip of her nose around with her hands when blowing her nose before, so it makes sense.

No, good question! Even though she’s quite right-handed, she rubs her nose with her left hand most of the time, same with discarding a tissue. Though sometimes she will rub holding a tissue with both if she just recently blew her nose. But mostly, she rubs with her left hand but occasionally her right.

And well, she was mostly listening to me right after blowing her nose, but when she did talk after about a minute of me saying things about what we’re doing and stuff, her voice didn’t seem congested. It was before but didn’t seem to be after. Though again, there was about a minute between when she blew her nose and when she spoke after. When she’s spoken shortly after blowing her nose before, her voice has been a little congested and then settled to be back to normal.

Will do! And yes, that’s a very good point. Hopefully we get some more next week! And I’m glad.  

[I love Alan Rickman]

@ThePokeFan599 

Another new observation from yesterday! 

Allergies

M was super sniffly and congested yesterday from her allergies, and she blew her nose several times in the lesson. The first time, she sniffled, stood up and placed her cello down on its side as she stated, “Let’s do that again. You play that. I’m gonna go get a Kleenex. Sorry.” She came back and stood with the tissue. Thank the Lord the piece was soft anyway, I had an excuse to play softly and still hear her blow her nose.  She blew her nose once fairly softly, a second time a bit stronger, a third time stronger again with a slight honk and was cut off as I finished playing. “Very good!” She stated and then apologized saying, “Sorry, I sound like an elephant over here. Please ignore.” She sniffled thickly.

“It’s okay!” I insisted.

”Um,” she began, about to sit before turning again, leaning forward a little, and blowing her nose forcefully and productively to finish it off. “Uh, that sounds good,” she continued.

”Allergies?” I asked sympathetically as she sat down and dabbed at her nose gently with the tissue. She sniffled again before answering.

”Yeah,” she responded, looked to the side, rolled her eyes, and shook her head. “Augh,” she groaned. Then we went back to working on what we were working on, and she sniffled a few times, but she wasn’t embarrassed for very long at all, and she got back to being her smily self.

The second time, she had just explained she had an idea to collaborate on a cello duet piece as part of a gift for my birthday (which is today) and said I could listen to it. She sniffled. “You can listen to it now, actually. I’m gonna get more tissue, sorry,” she said, pointing over to the side. 

“It’s okay,” I repeated and started to listen to the piece.

M came back a few seconds later with more tissue and blew her nose loudly and productively once more. By how forceful this one was, it sounded like her nose was even more stuffed up this time than the first. She then blew a second time a bit softer. Then she sat back down and rubbed her nose a few times with the tissue and looked up at me. “It’s so pretty!” I said.

”Isn’t it?” She asked with a smile. I listened some more.

”I love both parts, they sound great!” I pointed out. M nodded, held the tissue to her nose again, and turned, blowing her liquidly nose one last time. She sniffled, dabbed her nose a bit, and looked back at me.

”It’s really cool because it’s like the focus shifts from one part to the other instead of one solo part and one accompaniment,” I pointed out.

”Yeah!”  M agreed and smiled.

”Ohhh that harmony!!” I said, and she laughed.

“So that’s nice?” She asked as I stopped listening and said I’d listen to the whole thing if I didn’t stop listening.

”Yes, I absolutely love it,” I stated.

”Yayyy!” She said, clapped, and laughed. “I’m so glad.” Then we continued to talk about the piece, and she still sounded quite congested, though not nearly as much as before she blew her nose. We also talked about the other parts of her birthday gift for me. One part is a thirty minute Skype call for today to just chat as friends. Which is super cool!

”[M’s name], you are so good at giving gifts!” I said with a smile.

”I like thinking of gifts,” M stated. “I’m not usually very good at it, but I feel like—at least with you—I know you well enough that it’ll work.”

”Yes, they’re incredible,” I responded. “I’m not very good at giving gifts.”

”Oh, well all the ones you sent me have been great,” M stated. I smiled and thanked her.

We talked for a bit at one part, and M stated, “Alright, so let’s get back to this stuff.” Then she sniffled thickly and paused for a few seconds, her brows slightly furrowed and her lips parted slightly. I watched her. She looked like she might sneeze. But then she sniffled again and continued talking. I was gonna ask her, “Did you have to sneeze?” But I chickened out   Then she said let’s get back to the Beethoven. 

“Beethoven!” I sang. She laughed. “I’m weird.”

”Cool, so am I,” M replied casually and congestedly. We laughed.

”Battle of the Weirdness,” I stated. “Who’s weirder?” M laughed some more.

My dog started barking at one point since my brother was home, so I had to wait to play. M said she bets he’s a good dog, but he interrupts lessons a lot. She also sniffled quite a lot just in that minute. I honestly felt a bit bad for her. I’d wished I could just reach through the screen and give her a big hug and tell her she was gonna be okay.

Near the end of the lesson, as M spoke, her voice was so incredibly congested that she automatically sniffled thickly. “Ugh, so snotty. I’m sorry,” she said and sniffled again, a little more lightly. 

“It’s fine,” I said. “I understand.”

She also asked me, “Is it okay if I let you go a minute early so a I can blow my nose before my next student?” I told her sure. I told her to drink plenty of tea and don’t forget about neti pots. She said she has been drinking lime water and she loves neti pots and recently replaced her old one.

For tomorrow, M and I planned that thirty minute call for my birthday today just to chat as friends. It was her idea! And she’s also sending me something special. And we’re gonna collaborate. Ah, she’s so great at gifts! I’m hoping she sneezes today during the call, but either way, it’ll be incredible

Edited April 15, 2019 by I love Alan Rickman
Forgot to label

[I love Alan Rickman]

@ThePokeFan599 Finally, I’m posting the observation from Wednesday. Sorry, I’ve been busy, and I just finished writing it. It’s a long one, sorry about that! But I think m is becoming even more comfortable with blowing her nose in front of me. I think she’s perhaps even completely comfortable now.

Allergies

On Wednesday, I had a long conversation with M over Skype. We were able to chat as friends for the first time without having to worry about having to rush so we could move on to the next thing. That’s because prior to Wednesday, I only spoke to M as friends a bit in lessons but then had to move on to the next thing so as to not waste time. 

We chatted for a while. “You know, this is interesting,” I eventually began, looking at M. “I’m so used to talking to you during lessons and having to rush to get back to the next piece. But then today, it’s like, ‘Oh, wait, no, we have time to just talk this time.”

“I know, I almost grabbed my teacher’s notebook out of habit,” M stated as she reached for a toilet paper roll nearby and grabbed some of the tissue. “Like, ‘Okay, were going to take notes today!’” She said, writing with her pen in invisible ink in the air. We both laughed, and she wrapped the tissue around her hand.

“That’s funny,” I responded, and M turned and blew her nose. It sounded productive but more liquidy than yesterday as if her nose was more runny than clogged this time.

“Sorry,” she stated.

“It’s okay,” I said. She blew again, and this time it sounded thicker and stronger. She took a deep breath and blew even harder and stronger. She sighed, and I saw her rub her nose with the tissue a few times. “Oh my gosh,” she stated as she turned back toward me and rubbed her nose a few more times with the tissue. “I was getting over this allergy thing, and then today,” she sniffled and discarded the tissue to the side, “we actually had a high wind warning. I have to find this, ‘cause I want to tell you how fast it is.”

“Oh no! That wouldn’t help,” I said sympathetically.

“Hm-mm,” she replied and shook her head.

“Awww, and you were just getting over it, too?” I asked with surprise. She nodded.

“I was so mad,” she replied. “I was actually able to sing yesterday, but then today, it’s like, ‘NOPE!’”

“Aww, that’s sad. I’m sorry,” I responded.

“Let’s see...the wind is at 31 miles per hour right now,” She stated.

“That’s pretty fast!” I exclaimed.

“Let me see,” she continued and said, “Well okay. Okay, let’s see.” She held her hand up with her index finger extended as if saying, “Well technically...” She continued, intentionally a bit sassy, “To be classified as a hurricane, just to give you some context, the maximum sustained winds would be at least seventy-four miles per hour, so...” she shrugged. We both laughed.

“Well, that’s compared to a hurricane!” I exclaimed. 

M laughed, turned, brought her left hand up in a loose fist, and coughed harshly. “Well anyways,” she stated and looked out the window to the side, “The sky looks overcast,” she turned back and shook her head, “but it’s not clouds. It’s just dirt.”

“Wow!” I exclaimed and she nodded. “That’s crazy!”

“Mhm,” she agreed. 

“Well, I’m sorry!” I said.

“Nah, it’s okay!” She insisted and raised her eyebrows a bit. “You know, it looks very apocalyptic right now...in Texas.” She laughed and waved her pen a little in her hand.

“It’s the dirt apocalypse!” I exclaimed, and she laughed.

We ended up getting on the topic of movies, and she wrapped some more tissue around her hand as I spoke. She laughed and then turned with the tissue and blew her nose quite forcefully again. “That’s so funny,” she added to what I said about how I only watch a few movies and that’s pretty much it. She then took a deep breath and gave another forceful, thick-sounding, wet blow. She turned slightly toward me and asked, “What else do you watch?” Before turning back and blowing strongly and thickly again. “Sorry!” She apologized, sounding a bit annoyed at herself. She gave one last quick, strong blow and turned back around as I assured her it’s okay. “I sound like an elephant,” she said with a bit of annoyance and turned around, discarding that tissue.

“It’s okay, [M’s name],” I continued to assure her as she grabbed some more tissue. She looked up at me and said something that almost sounded like, “Thank God,” but I didn’t completely catch it, so I wasn’t sure. She turned and blew her nose liquidly once more. “You have the dirt apocalypse!” I exclaimed as she turned back, holding the tissue against her nose. She laughed. “It’s okay.”

“Well anyway,” M stated with a chuckle, massaged her nostrils a bit with the tissue, and discarded that tissue too, “what movies do you watch?” I told her, and she dabbed her nose a few times as she listened and nodded about the ones she loved too.

Later, M grabbed some more tissue and spoke about a painter she watches on YouTube who she’s learned a ton from. She said I should check her out. When she finished her sentence, M turned and blew her nose forcefully. It started with a soft honk and ended with a general productive blow. She took a breath and blew her nose a second time. The second was similar but with less of a honk at the start and more of just a strong, productive blow. Then she turned back around and rubbed her nose a bit with the tissue, turned again to rub a bit more, and then turned back once more, rubbing her nose a bit before discarding the tissue to the side. She didn’t apologize this time and didn’t seem nervous whatsoever. She was still casual and happy and didn’t show any sign of being embarrassed, unlike the other times previously where she apologized or said she sounded like an elephant. And she even talked about the painter lady while she was still rubbing her nose a bit with the tissue. She didn’t wait until after she was done to talk as she has usually done before if she wants to talk when she’s rubbing her nose. She talked about her favorite types of that lady’s videos, too.

After that last blow, she definitely seemed a ton more comfortable than with the others, as if she finally realized that all those times of me assuring her “It’s okay” were the truth. I think she has finally completely understood (or at least come close to completely understanding) it’s fine when she has to blow her nose, and I’m not going to judge her. So maybe she will be more open with blowing her nose in the future. And perhaps the same will happen with when she has to sneeze, too. 

Near the end of our call, M mentioned that she is changing her diet a bit, and I told her I think she looks fine. She coughed harshly into her fist twice as she explained, “It’s not to lose weight. It’s just to stay healthy. Make sure my body is on the right track, ‘cause I’m tired of getting sick, and...I just...I don’t know.” She paused and looked around a bit. “I’m experimenting with different things so that I don’t keep...” she gestured with her hand in a rotating cycle motion, “falling into this cycle of getting sick, you know?”

“Well, maybe you’re working yourself toohard,” I stated honestly. 

At that, M looked up a bit with contemplation and sighed. “But if I—yeah...I don’t know,” she stated. “But if I don’t work, though, I get really antsy, so...” She shrugged.

“Yeah, I understand that,” I replied. “But sometimes you just need a break.”

She shrugged and said, “Yeah. True.” She looked around a bit again. “True, that’s probably the problem.”

“And if you ever do get sick, just know that I sit here and think,” I began and held out my arms, “‘I just want to fly to [M’s home town] and give you a big hug!’”

“Awww!” She stated and laughed. “I’ll take it. I’ll take the virtual hug.”

“Well, I better let you go,” I stated. We were about ten minutes over the amount of time we planned to talk for, and I knew she had to get ready and leave. “Thank you so much. This was very cool, I appreciate it.”

“Of course!” M replied and smiled. “Well, I hope you have an awesome rest of your birthday, and...” she took a breath and clapped and sighed. “I just think you’re awesome, and I’m so excited to see what’s gonna happen for you in the future. I think it’s gonna be so—well, I know it’s gonna be so great. It’s just gonna be great.”

“Awww, thank you!” I responded and smiled. “And I can’t wait for you to go on tour sometime!” She laughed. “Thanks for making my day.”

“Aw, of course,” M replied and smiled. “It’s fun. I enjoy it!” She sniffled and wiped her nose gently. “I enjoy talking to you.” She sniffled again. “Alright, well I’m gonna go. But I’ll see you on Tuesday!”

“Yep!” I replied.

She laughed and said, “K!”

“¡Adiós, que tengas un been día! [Bye, have a good day!]” I replied. 

She paused and moved around a bit with contemplation before deciding on a simple, “¡Adiós!” She laughed.

“Cya!” I replied. We both waved and then hung up.

 

Also, a note from today. M was talking on her Instagram story of an interview she recently finished which will be released in the fall and sounded very congested. She stated, “My voice has dropped an octave because of allergies, so I’m gonna sound like a man in the video, kinda like how I sound now, but—uh—nonetheless, I think it was still a very good interview.” She looked off to the side a bit and said, “So I’ll be excited to share more about that later.” So allergies are obviously very bad for her right now, and we will see how long that lasts and how long it takes until maybe she sneezes.  

Edited April 15, 2019 by I love Alan Rickman
Forgot to label

[ThePokeFan599]

What a wonderful ob this was, and all the cool things you covered in an hour. I hope thanks to this awful allergy that she sneezes too. Do you think the"Thank God" was a sneeze going away, or M finding a little relief during her bad allergies.

I'm sure the windstorm didn't help her at all, with all the allergens flying around. 

[I love Alan Rickman]

41 minutes ago, ThePokeFan599 said:

What a wonderful ob this was, and all the cool things you covered in an hour. I hope thanks to this awful allergy that she sneezes too. Do you think the"Thank God" was a sneeze going away, or M finding a little relief during her bad allergies.

I'm sure the windstorm didn't help her at all, with all the allergens flying around. 

Forty minutes, actually. I thought I’d mention, because it’s even more incredible that we covered all this and got so many nose blows in that period of time as opposed to an hour.   I hope so. And I think it was about my saying it’s okay. She probably thought all her nose blowing would be annoying, so that’s why when I said “It’s okay,” she said, “Thank God.” Probably because she felt she was going to have to blow her nose a lot more. And she sure did! 

For sure! We will see how things go in the next coming weeks, and honestly even months, or really this whole spring! All this this early seems quite promising for a plethora of great obs from M this spring

[rockerer]

I am really enjoying your posts. Thanks for being so elaborate. Looking forward to more!!

[rockerer]

On ‎4‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 5:30 PM, I love Alan Rickman said:

Forty minutes, actually. I thought I’d mention, because it’s even more incredible that we covered all this and got so many nose blows in that period of time as opposed to an hour.   I hope so. And I think it was about my saying it’s okay. She probably thought all her nose blowing would be annoying, so that’s why when I said “It’s okay,” she said, “Thank God.” Probably because she felt she was going to have to blow her nose a lot more. And she sure did! 

For sure! We will see how things go in the next coming weeks, and honestly even months, or really this whole spring! All this this early seems quite promising for a plethora of great obs from M this spring

[Engmanny]

Reminds me of one of my early fetish memories of my violin teacher big nose, terrible allergies only reason I kept playing so long, was terrible at it couldn't concentrate 🙂