Underneath The Mask

Trilok Gurtu

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:30:00 +0000

Master Percussionist Trilok Gurtu. He has many albums with his band Trilok Gurtu Project featuring very percussive resonating world music and/or chillout songs. Damn, this guy can play percussionist instrument. He can probably make boxes and water bottles sound so good. Just check out the video below.

I'm going to throw away all my percussion instruments now. LOL!

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League of Legends

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:33:00 +0000

For all you hardcore gamers out there, DOTA (Defense of the Ancients) has been the staple custom map that has prolonged the life of the old Warcraft 3 game created by Blizzard. 2 sides, 3 lanes, a whole slew of heroes to choose from, intertwine it with RPG elements, and obviously IceFrog has definitely made a winner.

There are a number of DOTA-esque clones around. But this post is about one of the popular ones out there.

The game is called League of Legends created from scratch by a company called Riot Games. Riot Games claims to have some of the veteran members that created DOTA for Warcraft 3. I suppose the remaining members of the original team are still with Icefrog now that they are essentially working for Blizzard.

It is very similar to DOTA in design. But Riot Games has extended it further with a whole new set of "champions", items, and persistent RPG element which are Summoners. Summoners are essentially the players themselves, who summon champions when they go into a match. The Summoners level with each match that they play, allowing you to level your Summoner skills. These skills add a new dimension into the skirmish matches.

Below are some of the video trailers that Riot Games posted on League of Legends.

Here is an initial walkthrough video that Riot Games posted as well.

A friend of mine told me that there is a healthy Filipino community in League of Legends. He pointed me to this community forums. It seems like the community forum is still starting out. But the Filipino players are trickling in. It's got some nice character build guides there already. Definitely worth checking out. Click on the logo image below to head on over to the forum.

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Looking at the Past as Reminders...

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:21:00 +0000

I have an acquaintance in my Yahoo Messenger that for days has a status message about not looking at the past because it destroy's one's future. Something tells me that that status is there more to convince himself of this rather than to teach other people a lesson.

I, on the other hand, severely beg to differ about not looking at the past. Looking at the past doesn't have to be wielded as something destructive to one's self. rather, it can be harnessed as a reminder on how to compose one's self in the future.

So just an exercise for today, let's look to my past few years in order to prove my point.

Reminders Based on One's Own Past Actions

There are moments in anybody's life that we all remember and to the following knee-jerk reactions:

1. Remember the memory and vividly picture the event.
2. Cringely close your eyes. (Facepalm is optional)
3. Utter softly to yourself, "Stupid".

I challenge anyone who doesn't have a whole slew of of these experience in their lives. With each cringing reminder, one personally vows to never be that stupid again. And these tiny vows for every cringing experience ultimately guides one's future actions.

Whether it's saying the wrong thing at the wrong time to girl back in highschool, or making a mistake at work by mixing your personal life with your professional life, these moments if wielded properly guide you on how you compose yourself in the future.

Reminders Based on the Past Actions of Others

This part of the point I'm trying to make will be the emphasis of this post. Looking back at other people's past actions is for me, one of the strongest reminders of one's own morals and values. And therefore guides one's future actions.

I will iterate certain actions that people in my life have done in the past.

1. When a person can look at a friend in the eye, and lie without blinking an eye.

Admittedly, I'm no angel myself. I will admit that I have lied countless times in the past. However, in my perspective, a white lie here and there never hurt anyone. It's the lies that are told to a person over days, weeks, or months, continually weaving in more and more fictional details, that are what I feel truly are evil.

To people that have done this to me in the past, whether it's came from someone who I loved, or see as good friends, I am surprised to this day at how non-challantly you can do such things. To look at someone and lie repeatedly without guilt or anxiety.

2. To steal large amounts of money and throw the responsibility one someone else.

Out of desperation or just plain greediness, a person found it in himself to intertwine his false tales to have some degree of monetary gain.

3. To engage in activities that break one's contracted professional ethics for monetary gain.

I will not expound this any further than this. Basically, this item pertains to the fact that it's perfectly fine to break professional ethics due to disappointments with their current employer and monetary greed.

Conclusions Based from these Reminders of One's own and Other People's Past Actions

What has looking in the past taught me? I will enumerate them as follows and intentionally give a proverbial slap in the face to certain people in the process.

1. Treat everyone like you wanted to be treated.
2. Never initiate negative actions on anyone. If others initiate it on you, defend yourself.
3. One's own professional ethics have to be held to the a certain level of consistency. Breaking them should be for very good, life or death reasons.
4. Upholding the 1st 3 items keeps your conscience clean.

A clean conscience is something I hold dear to me and has only strengthened as each year passes. And with each painful situation that comes, it is a relief to not feel a heavy weight in my chest due to a clear conscience. Do any of you have that same benefit?

To those who have done these evils to me, I sure hope that you don't teach your current or future children your ways. How your children would be so proud of you when they inadvertently find out some day. I sure hope that you don't affect the people around you to do the same evils to others. I hope you are able to sleep well at night knowing that you have lost yet another person in your lives.

The one thing people around me should be scared about is when I stop caring about them. And yes, caring ceases today. When I would usually stand in front of you when a freight train comes roaring in, I will merely step aside and watch it go by.

Ultimately, I would like to thank all you people, for reminding me of what I should NOT be as a person. Well done you people. I applaud you all for being utterly stupid and idiotic. May the temporary happiness you gain from your actions last you longer than the next evil deed that you do.

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Final Fantasy XIII

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:24:00 +0000

I've lost track of Final Fantasy since the Playstation 1 days. But the series seems to keep going and the presentation keeps getting better and better as they lengthen the epic story further. Below is a video I found that showed the trailer for Final Fantasy XIII for the Playstation 3 at the TGS 2009. The gameplay shots are exactly the same quality as the cinematics, and it seems like the game flows between the two very seamlessly.

The game looks so beautiful from just the trailer. I actually might consider buying a Playstation 3 just to play this game. LOL!

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Dead by Sunrise

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:05:00 +0000

Last year, I blogged about a song performed as an acoustic version by a side project band that Chester Bennington of Linkin Park was involved in (http://sundowndos.blogspot.com/2008/07/let-down.html). There were no other signs of this band on the net, apart from a few live videos taken from one of their rare live performances.

A year later, the band Dead by Sunrise finally comes out with a full length album. I was so glad to find out about this and immediately searched the net to see if the song "Let Down" was part of the album. Lo and behold, it's one of their carrier singles. I like the acoustic version of the song. But I love the album version even more. I've been listening to this song over and over for days, and even rekindled my guitar playing because of the song's relative easy in playing.

Below is the audio of the song along with the song's prose again. The music video was uploaded by the band on their official channel. But the idiots at Warner Music Group, yanked all signs of it all over the net. I don't see why the band who actually wrote and plays the song can't post the music video for themselves. Too bad. The music video was done really well.

Let Down
by Dead by Sunrise

And the tears fall like rain
Down my face again
Oh the words you wouldn't say
And the games you played
With my unfoolish heart
Oh I should have known this from the start

Oh the winter and spring
Going in hand in hand
Just like my love and pain
How the thought of you cuts deep within the vein
Oh this brand new skin stretched across scared terrain

I don't want to be let down
I don't want to live my life again
Don't want to be lead down the same old road
So I don't want to be let down
I don't want to live my lies again
Don't want to be lead down the same old road

All those years down the drain
Love was not enough when you want everything
What I gave to you and now the end must start
Oh I should have listened to my heart

'Cause I don't want to be let down
I don't want to live my life again
Don't want to be lead down the same old road
So I don't want to be let down
I don't want to live my lies again
Don't want to be lead down the same old road

Oh...

I don't want to be let down
I don't want to live my life again
Don't want to be lead down the same old road
So I don't want to be let down
I don't want to live my lies again
Don't want to be lead down the same old road
Don't want to be lead down the same old road
Don't want to be lead down the same old road
Don't want to be lead down the same old road

Found a live version of the song in their official YouTube channel. At least they didn't yank the live videos. Here it is.

I got the full length album just a while ago. Their sound is totally experimental. It's rock that has grunge, punk, and industrial elements weaved into it. I dig. :)

EDIT: I found the music video elsewhere on the net. Wooooot! Here is it below.

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Bad Day: The Tweets I Didn't Put on Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:11:00 +0000

meeting... cleared someone's name... some people unsatisfied... more cases to come...

boss asks me to go on home and come back later tonight for client conference call... as if i can afford to go home...

mouse wheel broke... can't scroll properly... productivity hampered...

reporting analyst asks me if billable data is okay... it was innaccurate... had to make a decision to go with lesser revenue... finance in a hurry...

marketing complaint regarding lack of staff... have to find someone to bring in for her myself...

player reports a invi-hacker... asked for SS... no SS because the hacker is invisible... can't help him...

IT guy explains troubleshooting process with VOIP solution provider... had to listen intently...

korean asks for help... no data?... yes, no data... no data?... yes, no data... gave him proper positioning to make the sale...

explained sensitive issue to people... hot heads... explained some more... hotter heads... flipping out goodness... felt like shit even though i was not obligated to explain...

manager calls about billable data... explained the decision i made because people are in a hurry... again...

me grimlock: the solutions provider... i should really charge for this shit... epoints will do...

more marketing complaints... i'm starting to hear charlie brown's parents instead of discernable speech...

korean doesn't want to talk to white people for pricing... talks to me for pricing solution... kept coming back because price is too high... asked him what price he wants to give... he shakes his head... gave him pricing solution he liked... korean glad he doesn't have to talk to white people anymore...

10 yahoo messenger and 4 skype chat windows open... people queuing right beside me... my cellphone keeps ringing... all about issues... none are personal...

people pissed at me... i suppose that's the thanks i get for trying to make things work around here...

manager pings asking me if latest client email suffices... i answered yes... she kept asking... i answered yes...

eye bags so heavy that i feel like i'm lifting weights...

crap... haven't even started on my work... people keep throwing me their's...

"boss asks me to go on home and come back later tonight for client conference call... as if i can afford to go home..."==> obviously i couldn't afford to go home...

internet conneciton goes down... manager reports it to me... i go talk to IT... IT fixing something for VOIP solutions provider...

korean pings me to say thank you for all the help i gave him today... the one and only thank you i received today... from the korean of all people...

apparently the company christmas party venue and assured participation of people is my problem now too...

boss comes over asking about the stuff he gave me to do... haven't even started because of everything i was busy with...

finished boss assigned stuff....

but wait... there's more...

managed to slip in dinner... i wasn't planning on eating dinner... cracked up jokes for the first time all day...

client call in a few minutes... i'm seriously running on fumes...

i caved... told a girl i missed her... not sure if i got the message across... oh well...

client conference call... i'm talking more than my boss... wait now he's talking more... client seems impressed...

still in the office... erg...

headache now... feel the pain at the back of my head... at least it's not a cluster headache... or should i say a cluster fuck headache...

finally got home... i opened both my Skype and Yahoo Messenger on my PC... i never open skype unless i'm at work... geez, i'm obviously still wired from work...

logged into my favorite mmo game... felt unwelcome... went to fish...

someone pings wanting attention... i should really charge for this shit too...

headache getting worse...

smoke a cigarette... nicotine doesn't work to calm me down anymore...

sees face in the bathroom mirror... pulls the finger in front of the mirror...

play guitar for a bit... large crowd tonight... audience of one...

sleep?... hopefully...

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Nothing Box

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:11:00 +0000

I saw this video posted by a friend on Facebook a few weeks ago and it literally cracked me up. It kinda explained a lot of things about myself that I actually knew all along but didn't realize it. This video snippet is part of a whole video seminar that this guy Mark Gungor sells on his website. http://shopping.laughyourway.com/

Nothing Box! Cracks me up every time. It's so true. I go into my Nothing Box every weekend. Especially this particular isolation-fest weekend. LOL!

From what little I've viewed, it seems very good for couples. I'm completely single. But I can appreciate what's being taught, weaved in with all of Mark Gungor's over the top humor.

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Broken

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:11:00 +0000

Amy Lee of a band called Evanesence has mesmerized me ever since the band's first album. It's rare to come across a female vocalist that weaves her angelic voice amongst heavy guitar riffs. To be honest, I was kinda irked when I found out that the band's positioning to become famous was that they were a Christian rock band. Don't get me wrong. I believe in God and adhere to Catholicism to a certain extent. I just find it a little more a marketing ploy than anything else. I soon shrugged that off when I watched their live concert DVD. Especially the cool cover they did of a Korn song.

The song I've been crunching on is actually a song by another band called Seether. The band re-released one of their songs featuring Amy Lee as the second vocalist. I like the re-released version better. Amy Lee's voice blended well into the song and added a much needed female component to the song's lyrical content. And of course, the lyrical content fits my current state of mind the past weekend (LOL!). Below is the video of the song along with its prose.

Broken, Featuring Amy Lee

by Seether

I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

You've gone away, you don't feel me, here anymore

The worst is over now and we can breathe again
I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away
There's so much left to learn, and no one left to fight
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

[x2]
'Cause I'm broken when I'm open
And I don't feel like I am strong enough
'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

You've gone away
You don't feel me here anymore

As always, I found a live version of the song. The crowd got very excited to see Amy Lee walk up from the crowd. I'm sure that was an awesome surprise for the crowd. Here is the video below.

I learnt the chords of this song and I'm able to sing it. Fairly simple. But I think you need to downtune your guitar half a step to get it exactly on the right key. I'm just plain lazy to do that. And won't work when your drunk in some inuman jam. LOL! So I think I'll just stick with standard tuning and leave it off key when I play it. Works for my limited noobilicious guitar skills.

Now, I wanted to share another video that has nothing to do with Seether. This is just me crunching off of Amy Lee really. The video below is an acoustic version of a song by Evanesence. I like it better minus all the rapping of the studio version.

(Sigh)...

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Turtle Shell Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:01:00 +0000

I've been turtle shelling into my own world this past weekend. Although, this weekend has been relatively pleasant being in the solitary confines of my appartment. I just need to put some of my more negative thoughts down. Yes, I'm essentially just talking to myself once again.

Continued Betrayals

Over two years ago, I was betrayed by someone I absolutely trust. And although, I may have broken that trust on my end a few times, it was always very minor and I always tried to make up for it. You would think that after going through a major betrayal ordeal, and licking your wounds, you would be able to discern who are true people that you can really trust.

Apparently, my naivete continues even in the realm of strong friendship. Even though this friend does have reasons for doing what he did, he fell to cowardice and breaking the very integrity that bonded us together in the first place. He forgot that the I personally uphold the "favor card" concept to my closest of friends. When you pull this card on me, I will go to great lengths to help you on whatever problem you have. However, there are conditions to this concept. These are the following:

1. The help that you need shouldn't break my core sense of values. What is wrong to do will still be wrong even in your time of need. I might be willing to bend my values a little. But I will never make a huge deviation from it.

2. Favor cards are excersized by giving me a "choice". Allow me to make the decision myself to help you. Do not assume I will just come to your rescue one day, while keeping me in the dark the entire time.

I always felt that the two conditions were not too much to ask with a really good friend. But apparently, it is too much to ask. Apologies in this case, seem like lies and ultimately insulting.

This situation along with other similar issues this past month, has left me not knowing who I can really trust. The only remaining people I do trust are my family and friends that I have known for eons. Anybody else are now just mere acquaintances to me. Or at least that's just my knee-jerk reaction everytime I'm faced with a situation with people.

Money Driven People

Continuing the trail of mistrust, what's worse is that money seems to be at the center of how a lot of people treat me.

The betrayal I spoke of earlier involved a considerable amount of my money, which came at the expense of what I can provide for my parents even.

Another friend always wants to have fun more than his monetary means. He keeps asking me to hang. But I keep ending up shelling a lot of money for him. It's getting quite irritaing. A common friend of ours told me that he's just young. Hence why he acts that way. I understand that. But it doesn't mean it doesn't bug me regardless.

I shell out money for this or that in the office as well. What pains me is that it's becoming increasingly an expectation. I have never liquated anything out of the kindess of my heart. But I'm starting to grow unwilling to shell out money.

What is starting to become a pet peeve of mine, is when people take pot shots at me saying "mayaman ka naman eh". I'm nowhere near rich. Yes, I am well off. But I too have to budget my money. So I can pay for my expenses, give money to my parents, live the life I want to lead, and save on top of that. I'm actually not even doing a pretty good job at it. If I was rich, then I would've spent truck loads of money on things by now. If money was no object, I wouldn't mind treating a whole barangay worth of people and not even flinch. So stop people, it's annoying.

The Universal Meantime Concept

Years ago there was this rant that circulated the web from a girl who desribes herself as a "Meantime Girl". For those of you who haven't read this particular entry, here is the link.

http://www.angelfire.com/stars5/themeantimegirl/

The general female populace rose up and started proclaiming this concept to be true, pointing a finger at the male species.

I admit that some of us guys do that to women. But the point I'm trying to make is that women do it to men too. It's just none of you women see it that way, let alone admit that you are doing such a thing.

For those of you who have boyfriends and husbands, you seem to think that some of us guys are the "stop gap measure", who you draw attention and affection from when you feel your man doesn't give you enough. You made your choice. You have made your committment. Stick with that committment. If you feel your man isn't giving you the attention and affection you need, then leave them cleanly. Then pursue happiness the right way. There is a common occurrence with girls that like "playing it safe". Meaning they would rather cover their bases and "get to know" their next guy to be sure their current guy is worth leaving. And women says men are assholes. Girls are so capable of it too.

For those of you that are single, take a good hard look at how you treat your supposed guy friends, and stop wondering why your guy friends start acting strangely after a while when you don't reciprocate all the way through. Guys are capable of having good friends that are girls. But there are actions and words said that are meant to scream that you see them more than friends. If you don't feel that way about a person, then stop doing those things. It's a simple as that. Keep that up and you'll eventually run into some asshole guy. And wonder why you were so maltreated.

Meantime girl, psh. You can easily change the gender of that entry, and watch the throngs of us nerds, geeks, and dorks react the same way girls did upon reading it. It is these kinds of guys that join me in rooting for fictional characters like "Mouth" in this cheesy TV series called "One Tree Hill". Luckily for Mouth, other female characters in the show pine after him as the latter seasons came in.

The Trifecta Result

I love these trifecta results. You'll notice it in a number of my blog entries in the past.

The Trifecta Result this time are the following:

1. I no longer know who to trust.
2. People treat me like money more than a human being.
3. Women should stop "stop gapping" guys too.

I don't know who I can trust anymore; both personally and professionally. I feel like going scrooge on everyone with the money that I have. I just want to stay away from people in general.

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Steve Vai

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:07:00 +0000

Damn. Steve Vai's gettin' old. But he's still the man. Looks like he changed up his guitar from his standard white beauty. Just check out the video below.

That's how violin players should rock! Sweeeeeet...

Ima throw away my guitar now. Vai's too good.

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Tamagotchi

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:06:00 +0000

Years ago, a company called Bandai released these little electronic toys called "Tamagotchi". They're essentially virtual pets that you feed, play with, as you watch them grow. I remember these things getting banned in schools because kids would do nothing but take care of their Tamagotchis.

A good friend missed her old Tamagotchi. So I searched the net for anything close to it that's playable online. I found the flash game below.

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V

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:45:00 +0000

I remember watching an old science fiction TV series called "V" when I was a kid. Okay, I just practically announced how old I really am. LOL!

For those of you who don't know about "V", the story is about aliens all of a sudden showing up on earth, pretending to be the same in appearance as humans. Later you find out they're actually humanoid lizards who love eating mice for snacks, aside from their plans to actually take over the entire planet. That's as far as I'll spoil the story of "V".

Apparently, a remake of the old sci-fi TV show is coming out soon. And it looks pretty good. I hope they do the remake well to do justice to the original. Check out the preview video of the remake series below.

Okay, maybe one last spoiler tidbit. RED DUST baby! LOL! Now I just announced that I'm not only old, but a total geek as well. I'm such a weirdo.

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World of Warcraft Commercials

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 06:40:00 +0000

I admit that I haven't played WoW (World of Warcraft) in the longest time. I stopped playing last year to focus on Dekaron. Then took a break from Dekaron to play WoW. And then I'm back in Dekaron. The next WoW expansion has been announced. And my clunky old PC won't be able to run it well for sure, given how taxing Wrath of the Lich King is on my PC as it is. I wanted to buy a new PC so that I can play WoW again without having to sacrifice quality graphic settings. But a friend of mine just recently broke my trust in him, which eventually equated to a big chunk of money that was meant for my parents and new PC to be selfishly allocated to him without giving me a choice.

Anyway, enough of the bad vibes. I'll eventually be able to buy a new PC again. Just hope it will be before the new WoW expansion comes out. In the meantime, I wanted to share with you some of the TV commercials Blizzard (the company who created WoW) has been putting up on US television to advertise their game. The funny thing about these commercials is that Blizzard hires specific celebrities to endorse WoW, each with its own funny twist. There are a whole slew of commercials. But I wanted to just share with you my favorites.

Mr. T and his Night Elf Mohawk

Mini-Me "I'm a Maaage!"

And my all-time favorite, Ozzy Osbourne "I'm the Prince of Darkness!" LMFAO!

"But I've been the Prince of Darkness since 1979." LOL! Cracks me up every single time.

Okay enough with the geekery for now.

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Pamela Lynn

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:48:00 +0000

I rarely come across female percussionists. So I thought I'd share this particular video of a female djembe player.

I'm on the fence whether or not she's super good (not like I'm good at percussions myself). She does have flashes of brilliance in some of her licks. I appreciate her playing regardless. Apparently the song in this video is part of a full length album of djembe based songs. Not bad.

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High and Mighty Color...

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:35:00 +0000

I am extremely bored. So I'm going to keep posting on this blog about whatever is on my mind until I've successfully emptied every thought I can muster from my tiny little brain. So feel free to click the tiny little box on the top right hand corner with an X on it if boredom sets in while reading. (I just love extremely long run-on sentences, don't you?)

Fans of the ongoing anime "Bleach" will like this song for sure. The intro song has been changed practically every season of Bleach. But I like this one in particular. This Japanese band called "High and Mighty Color" created a song that made its way as one of the intro songs for the anime. I looked up the band and found their music much to my liking despite me totally not understanding a word that the two vocalists were singing (Lyrics are in Japanese).

Anyway, below is the music video of the song I'm raving about. My only disappointment is when I found out that the female vocalist actually doesn't do the growling like I originally thought when I first heard the song. The prose to this song is highly irrelevant to those of you who don't understand Japanese like me. The song is just plainly a whole lot of fun.

Ichirin no Hana
by High and Mighty Color

Kimi wa kimi dake shika inai yo
Kawari nante hoka ni inainda
Kare naide ichirin no hana

Hikari ga matomo ni sashikoma nai kimi
Marude hikage ni saita hana no you
Nozon da hazu ja naka tta basho ni ne
Harasarete ugokezu ni irun da ne
Toji kaketa kimochi hakidaseba ii
Itami mo kurushi mi mo subete wo uketomeru yo
Dakara naka naide waratte ite ichirin no hana

Ima ni mo karete shimai sou na kimi
Mujaki na sugata ga mou ichido mitakute
Kimi no chikara ni naritainda
Tatoe kimi igai no subete no hito wo teki ni mawasu
Toki ga kite mo kimi no koto mamori nukukara

(Rap)
YOU SHOULD NOTICE THAT THERE IS NO OTHER.
YOU SHOULD NOTICE THAT THERE IS NO NEXT TIME
YOU SHOULD NOTICE THAT THERE IS NO OTHER.
YOU SHOULD NOTICE THAT THERE IS NO NEXT...
TIME NOTICE THAT YOU SHOULD NOTICE THAT
NOTICE THAT THERE’S NO OTHER

Kimi wa kimi dake shika inai yo
Ima made mo korekara saki ni mo
Tatoe kimi igai no subete no hito wo teki ni mawasu
Toki ga kite mo kimi no koto mamori nuku kara
Make naide ichirin no hana

(Rap)
YOU SHOULD NOTICE THAT THERE IS NO OTHER.
YOU SHOULD NOTICE THAT THERE IS NO NEXT TIME
YOU SHOULD NOTICE THAT THERE IS NO OTHER.
YOU SHOULD NOTICE THAT THERE IS NO NEXT...
TIME NOTICE THAT YOU SHOULD NOTICE THAT
NOTICE THAT THERE’S NO OTHER

Found a live version of the song of course. Here it is below.

The bonus rub is that the female vocalist is pleasing to the eyes. But of course, I liked the song first before taking a gandar at the beauty with a nice set of pipes.

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Global Mala Project 2009

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 05:43:00 +0000

It's been a while since this event. So I'll try my best to remember what happened that day as best as I can given that I turn my brain off during weekends. LOL!

My good friends Dave and Donna invited me to another drumming workshop. This time it was part of a whole Yoga/Wellness event called Global Mala Project. This year's Global Mala Project was on the top floor of Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street. Dave and Donna warned me that there was no budget this time. I just responded that I would've helped facilitate the last time for free. I just want the opportunity to be a part of the Drum Jam Workshop group once again.

As I entered the event area, I initially felt weirded out because of all the Yoga buffs all over the place. I felt like the unhealthiest person around. LOL!

There was a whole slew of meditative and wellness activities lined up for the entire day until the evening. The activities of the event were running late. So we had to wait a while until it was our turn to give a workshop.

I was excited to use my 14 inch fiberglass Pearl djembe once again. That drum doesn't see a lot of action these days. I'm sure my baby is feeling neglected. LOL!

I was glad to see Pepoy again. That guy is something else on percussions. And to think he's better at playing a drum kit than a djembe. We talked for a bit about what's been going on in terms of music for ourselves. There's a slight possibility I might've found the replacement drummer for SunDownMuse. But we'll see how that goes depending on where my bandmates' heads are with SunDownMuse.

The drumming workshop we gave was one of many activities for the day. So it was expected that we wouldn't have a lot of people participating. We had a healthy number given that we had a smaller team of facilitators.

Given that we had a truncated time period for the workshop, Dave decided to just teach only 2 out of the 5 rhythms that we normally teach. The participants picked up the drumming method rather quickly. And soon after, the whole group found themselves jamming with the Planet Zips workshop that was happening at the same time. That was fun. Percussions and Zips really mesh well together.

Dave was invited by Punnu Wasu to jam with him during their Kirtan chanting session later that day. And Dave asked me if I wanted to join them as well. So I tagged along with Dave and Donna to grab a late lunch first before the Kirtan session.

I saw some of my cousins at the event surprisingly. Polly had every intetion to join the event it seems. Her husband, my cousin Jerome and his wife just hung around High Street while waiting for her.

When we got back to Fully Booked, CJ was there to complete the Kirtan dynamic duo with Punnu. I dug CJ's curvey pointed shoes because it really suited his white indian garb. Well he is indian, of course his shoes would suit him. LOL!

I haven't seen Punnu in the longest time. The last few times I saw him were at gigs where Nityalilla was also playing. Punnu was part of the band back then. It was really nice to see him again. Very pleasent guy.

Punnu was wielding some kind of Harmonium instrument, while CJ whipped out his ultra cool Tablas. I always wanted to learn how to play the tablas. But the last time I inquired about it. I was required to spend an entire year at the instructor's house. Apparently, learning tablas before entailed that you immerse yourself in the culture that surrounds the instrument. Dave mentioned that that's not the case anymore and that you can have a pair of tablas made and get lessons with relative ease rather than a year long committment. I forgot to ask CJ and Punnu about it. Oh well, I'm sure I'll run into them again some time.

I actually didn't know what to expect from the Kirtan session. Kirtan is plain and simply a chanting form of meditation. Punnu handed out sheets of paper with the chants already laid out for the participants to chant along. The flower petals that Teresa Herera (one of the organizers of the event) showered around our area was a nice touch actually.

The session as a whole was quite relaxing. It was nice to just clear your mind and focus on the chants reverberating everywhere.

After the session, Dave and I showed our great appreciation to Punnu and CJ for letting us jam with them. And they likewise showed an equal appreciation for us joining them. CJ mentioned that we should definitely jam more often. We'll definitely do that sometime once Dave has some free time.

Teresa approached us as well, thanking us for joining the Global Mala Project event. She was going to hold a Trance Dance workshop later that night, and invited us to jam with her. But we were all beat, and Dave and Donna needed to bring their daughter home to rest.

I helped Dave load up all the gear that he brought into his car. Dave apologized that he couldn't really give me a ride home given that they have a full car and really needed to bring their daughter home already. There was nothing really to apologize for. I work around the area. So it's not like I didn't know how to get myself home. I took a cab home and literally passed out for a few hours. Not bad for what usually would be a boring Saturday afternoon for me couped up at my place. Not bad at all.

Check out Global Mala Project Manila's Multiply page at http://globalmalaproject.multiply.com/, and our drumming workshop group, Drum Jam, at http://drumjam.multiply.com/.

Photo credit goes to the Global Mala Project group and Fully Booked.

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mobius united

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:37:00 +0000

Just reposting my company's effort to help out.

Do your part in helping those affected by Typhoon Ondoy. Donate mobius ePoints now for relief assistance and rescue operations. Every little bit will go a long way towards helping those in need.

http://www.mobiusonline.net/promo/donate

Collections will be donated to the Red Cross to assist in their relief and rescue efforts.

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Poleo and Papilon

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:17:00 +0000

That's it. I feel like throwing away my congas. Just watch the video below.

They're just too good. I couldn't even tell that they were actually doing 2 separate time signatures. I'm such a percs noob. LOL!

2 Years And It Feels Bittersweet

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:31:00 +0000

Today marks exactly two years since I started in this company I work in. It's funny when the anniversary of something comes around, whether it's my birthday, the new year, etc., that I always take a step back and think about what I've accomplished, where I'm at currently, and where I'm headed. I suppose I did get something from my Atenean college education afterall. But I have yet to figure out whether that is a good or bad thing. ;)

What I've Accomplished...

In some perspectives, I haven't accomplished much. But if I look at the positive side of things (which is very rare for a pessimistic and cynical person like me), I have accomplished a great deal the past two years compared to the last 4 years prior to that.

Joined a gaming company.
Got a director title and a pay raise.
Work shifts became a little more flexible (comes with the job title). Daytime shift! Goodbye GY!
Working in a city that is spacious and way less bustling than my previous job.
Cleaned up a department that used to be in disarray.
Garnered the respect of all my people in my department.
Increased company revenue.
Elevated the reputations of some of my direct reports.
Got promoted to VP of Operations (AVP by title, but VP by responsibility, and introduced to clients as a VP) and a pay raise.
Garnered the respect of almost all my people in the additional department I was given to oversee (all except one actually, which I will not get into heehee).

I can go on and on about every last details of what I have accomplished in my work There is definitely a lot to be thankful to God for.

Where I'm at Currently...

Today was a weird day. I was extremely busy for 3/4 of my day. The weather seemed to be as confused as how I was feeling today. It would rain. Then the scorching sun would come out. Then clouds would come over cast. Then it would rain. Rinse and repeat.

I felt good about deciding to wrangle some of my people in one of the departments I'm handling by calling for a meeting. I finally decided that people come and go. But all the work remains and someone's gotta do it. I felt both relieved and worried at the same time giving those few responsibilities that they have never really handled before. I just kept telling myself that I have to trust my people because I'm no Superman. I need people to help carry the load, else I'll just keel over and die (figuratively, of course). By the end of that meeting, things felt a little more organized and allotted properly. I think I overwhelmed them. But I think it's high time those few stepped up to the plate and start learning more.

On the same day, the other department I'm handling coincidentally was bombarded with delays, setbacks, and reasons for those delays and setbacks. All those reasons are valid. But there's a 2 sided coin called "disappointment" with these setbacks in my perspective.

First side of the coin, is that delays are delays. Whether the reasons are valid or not, getting thrown off the plan or schedule does throw a wrench into things. A good leader can always navigate through those things and still come out on top. But that doesn't mean that one still doesn't get disappointed despite understanding and adjusting to delays.

For the amount of work involved, there seems to be so many spokes needed to make it happen, and the train seems to be chugging along way too slowly. Compare that to the other department I handle. There is A LOT of work involved. However, it requires less people and the work is being coursed through quickly (provided someone is managing resources properly).

The second side of the coin, is the fact that people can be so aloof about delays and setbacks. Getting it down tomorrow or next week, seems to be an easy option. Even I'm starting to slip into that aloofness (if that's even a word).

Delays and setbacks will happen. But it seems that pushing for alternative solutions doesn't follow suit. There are left as delays and setbacks. And it stays that way until I say something about it.

This aloofness also extends to people not doing anything beyond their field of expertise or comfort zone. I think I'm one of very few people in my company that picks up more work and responsibilities that I really know nothing about. Just a willingness to learn, and try because no one else can/will do it is my sole motivation. From sales pitches, to contracts, to simple video editing, right down to coming up with alternative solutions, it feels like I am the sole person trying to pick up the ball on a fumble while everybody is busy blocking or waiting for the pass (pardon the football analogy). This may not be entirely true beyond my perspective. It just certainly felt like it today.

I ended the day, with my to-do list knocked out, and setbacks adjusted to or accepted. Net of net, it was just another day at work. I just wished everything would've come together perfectly for once. At least for my 2nd year anniversary.

Where I'm headed

My long-term professional future, like my personal long-term future is always a haze. I have dreams both personally and professionally like anybody else. But I can't really see past the fog of the immediate future.

My immediate future seems bright and bleak at the same time. A few key people have left or are finishing off their 30 day notice in the company. Some of these people are the largest cogs of their respective departmental machines. Beyond understanding and accepting their motivations for leaving, they do leave work that needs to be done behind. This is where the bleakness of it all comes in. When I see a lot of value in a resource, I am convinced that they are not easily replaced. Unless I hire at least two people to replace them.

The brightness of my future is being able to keep the ship afloat by attaching floaters to it called "hope" and "perseverance". This job is one of the very few things I'm proud of in my life. And I'm not about to give in. I have to remain strong even at times when I feel weak because I realize that there are many that are perched on me for leadership. I am torn between two analogies to describe how I'm feeling. I feel both like a crutch and a tow cable to everyone. It feels great and sad knowing that. It comes with my position I suppose. So I have to live with it in order to keep the dream alive.

2 Years and Counting...

2 Years and counting has left me both living the dream and being surprised as I look over my shoulder and someone says "Hi, how you doing? My name is the world. I'll be on your back for a while." LOL!

Solitary resilience is both my strength professionally and weakness personally. A friend of mine told me today "Well, you can't have it all", which I've heard and told myself so many times in the past. And it still remains true.

As I open this can of San Mig light, I give myself a pat on the back and tell myself "Well done, Dos. You're doing well". Cheers to 2 years.

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On Feasts, Splurge-fests, atbp...

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:04:00 +0000

I normally title these kinds of posts as "Random Thoughts from the Week/Weekend". But I wanted to change it up a little. LOL!

Anyway, on to all my scattered thoughts and my attempt to portray them in all my over-verbose-ness (if that's even a word).

Feasts

It's about 8:00PM on a Sunday night right now. I just came back from a mother of a meal in Joey Pepperoni. They just opened a branch less than stone's throw away from my appartment building. I had this sudden craving for piles and piles of carbonara. So Joey's was definitely the way to go for dinner. I'm way too full though because I ordered mushroom soup, carbonara AND pork with rice. Geez, I surprised myself some times at how much food I can consume when I'm really hungry.

I've been going to Malcom's quite often to gorge on their very sumptuous Wagyu steaks. Those things are huge! I keep on ordering it even though I end up having about 1/3 of it wrapped so I can bring it home. Well, at least I have an awesome lunch and take home for an awesome dinner.

I've been feasting a lot these days. Weekends are spent binging on ice-cold beer and good food. I've been gaining weight because of it. But it's fine considering that last last year I dropped 20-30 pounds. Now I'm slowly creeping back up to my weight back then. But who cares. Not really out to impress anyone. Feasting just plainly puts a smile on my face each and everytime. See like this like this. :D LOL!

Splurge-Fests

I have knack of getting interested in expensive gadgets every so often. However, the past few months, I haven't really felt like buying anything huge. I suppose there wasn't anything that came out that I felt I absolutely have to own.

Earlier this week was a deviation from the norm, I dropped a considerable amount of money buying up stuff that "I absolutely had to have".

I bought the preorder of this new online game called Aion. My friend Jhonjee got me so whipped about the game, that I couldn't wait until the game would go commercial live. However, in all the effort I put in to buy the preorder, download the game, unpack it, install it, and patch it, the damn game wouldn't run that well on my PC. My video card would black out on me even though I could hear the game was still running. Aion works somewhat on my laptop. So I guess that'll do for now. Damn, my PC is too old (5-6 years old already). Must buy a new one. It's about time really.

The thing with me and new PCs is that I always feel like getting the best of what's out currently. I walked on over to the PC Express earlier today and found out that they were closed. I found that odd because the last time I went to that shop was on a Sunday afternoon as well. I guess I'll just come back some time during the week before I head to work. Say hello to some Quad-Core processor, dual Crossfire video card, 1.5 Terabyte hard drive luvin'. I calculated how much I will end up spending for my monster rig. And I'm perfectly fine with the cost.

I bought Wii Resort and 2 Wii Motion Plus add-ons for, of course, my Nintendo Wii console. Some friends came over and we tried Wii Resort out. Wii Resort is definitely Wii Sports Part 2. The new Motion Plus technology really capture more movement nuances that the Wii-Mote doesn't capture on its own. I plan to buy two more Wii Motion Plus units. So that 4 people don't have to pass around 2 controllers. Hope I can pull 3 people to come over my place often like in the past. I see my Nintendo Wii as a multiplayer machine. I rarely play it on my own. It's just plainly more fun with other people.

The mother of all hefty purchases I made this week was buying the Zoom H4n Hand Recorder. I bought it primarily because I want better bootleg recordings of our gigs. I've been using my Belkin Tune-Talk attached to my iPod to record gigs for the past 2 years now. And although it does decent recording, it has started to come loose off of my iPod; meaning it at times doesn't record any audio when it comes loose. And depending on the placement at the gig venue, and the volume levels of the amps and speakers, it clips the recording. I have recorded a lot of our gigs that I don't bother uploading online because of this.

So I passed by JB Music in ParkSquare earlier this week, and I asked one of the sales guys there if they have a Zoom Hand Recorder. My drummer in RPSoc (That's my new side project band with some members from SunDownMuse), told me that JB was selling the Zoom H2. But to my surprise, the sales guys told me that something new just came in, and handed me the Zoom H4n. I was literally floored to see it in my hands. The sales guy told me I was in luck because what I was holding as only 1 of 2 units that came in just the day before. With my eyes all wide and glittery, I asked the sales guy without hesitation, "Do you take credit card?". Now, I hardly use my credit card. So this recorder was something I really wanted to get for me to use my credit card. Aside from the fact that I was too lazy to go to the ATM and withdraw.

Further Enjoying Music

Unfortunately, SunDownMuse is on indefinite haitus because our drummer quit the band for several reasons. No hard feelings with Jerrold really. He just wanted to take his music a different direction. The core members of the band decided to give SunDownMuse a rest for now, since we were already looking for a permanent lead guitarist, and now a drummer to boot. So we'll just pick SunDownMuse up some time later on. I'm missing gigging with SunDownMuse though. So many songs that I miss playing.

However, in comes Rolling Paper Society (RPSoc), which is really just a side project band we put together for the fun of it. Briggs and Islaw are also in the band, with Noel (drummer of Pinwheel), and Philip (guitarist of Dahon). The band's music surrounds around the literal interpretation of the band's name (just don't ask me to explain the band's name any further than that LOL!). We play purely covers. A big deviation from SunDownMuse because that band was all about originals. We've been gigging practically every weekend since we started and only slowed down just recently. You'll find us gigging pretty regularly in Tomato Bomb and Route 196.

I love this band. Not only do we get to play old tunes from the Beatles, Cream, Grateful Dead, etc., but we definitely gel as a band given that we're all drunkards and run with "feeling the music". This leaves a lot of room to extend songs and jam. There isn't a single vocalist in this band. Briggs, Islaw, and Philip all take turns singing and at times do back-up vocals for each other. They're trying to get me to sing as well (erm). But I really can't sing much when I'm focused on playing percs.

I've been bringing my darbuka as my main drum for RPSoc gigs, as opposed to my heavy ass congas for SunDownMuse gigs. My darbuka allows me to combine my invented djembe rhythms, and learned traditional congas rhythms. I also felt "bigger was better" when it comes to me wielding a drum at gigs. But this time, a smaller drum definitely feels good.

Having Funds for Happiness

I posted a speech that Ben Affleck made in the movie Boiler Room a while back. He talks about rolling in heaps of money by putting in hard work at some scam company called J.T. Marlon (Or at least that's how the company sounds to me in the movie). Two quotes that I absolute love from that speech are as follows:

"Anybody tells you that money is the root of all evil, doesn't fucking have any!"

"They say money can't buy you happiness, look at the fucking smile on my face! Ear to ear baby!"

Now this isn't me saying that I'm rolling in mounds of cash. I've gotten to a certain level of income that I'm not worrying too much about feasting and splurging. If I feel like buying something I just do it without hesitation. Of course, I'm nowhere near an income level that I can buy a yacht ala-"lifestyles of the rich and famous". It's plainly just nice to have the money wiggle room to indulge when you want to. Several instances come to mind that will explain my point.

-I helped my parents pay for long overdue house repairs. Since they were long overdue, the costs were pretty hefty. We had all the roof gutters changed, the driveway re-paved, replaced whole sections of the roof, and fixed leaks in the ceiling.

-I paid for an air conditioning unit large enough to cool both the living room and dining room.

-When I'm out with my band or friends, if they're short on cash to drink some more, I either lend them money or treat them. I plainly don't want the fun to stop on the account of low funds for the night.

Those instances aside from my personal feasting and splurging screams that being well-off is a good thing in one's life. I am able to not only bring happiness to myself through my hard work, but bring happiness to my family and friends as well. I'm loving it. ^^

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Farewell Nine Inch Nails

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:50:00 +0000

I've been planning on going to the Nine Inch Nails concerts for months. But I didn't really have anyone to go with. There were 1 or 2 friends of mine that were interested in going. But we couldn't really peg down plans for it. A friend of mine, Chad, texted me a few days prior to the concert asking me if I had plans on going. He offered to buy me a ticket along with his bandmate Tebs, so we can all go together. So I was thrilled to be able to go with people to the concert.

I was giddy like a kid all day at work, on the way to Araneta Collisuem, and up to when we were seated in our Upper Box B seats. I haven't been to a good concert in ages. So my excitement was spewing out of every orifice of my body.

A few minutes before Pupil came up on stage (they were the fronting act), Tebs got a text from her Tita whom she's been bugging for weeks to get her tickets for this concert. The text said to go claim her tickets at the ticket booth. So she went downstairs to go check it out. Apparently her Tita came through for her last minute, and she had 2 tickets right in the front row, smack-dab in the middle. Tebs and Chad were both looking at me because there were only two tickets. I just told them, that I'd kill them if they didn't take the tickets and head down to the front row. They both smiled and quickly ran to their front row and center seats.

The pictures on this post are mostly from Tebs' camera since she took some really nice shots from up in the front row. So photo credit goes to her.

My seat was still good up in Upperbox B. It was at a height were you can see the entire stage and it sounded great. Rather than get all depressed that I found myself in a situation all alone yet again, I just went with it.

Luckily one of the many vendors ferreting around the concert venue had the bright idea of selling beer. He jacked up the price a little of course to make his own personal profit. And he became my insta-best friend. I slipped him 500 pesos and told him to keep the beer coming. I ended up slipping him a few hundred more during the course of the entire concert.

The music was fantastic. It was something else to see Trent Reznor perform live. The dude seems to have shaken off his drug addiction because he was huge! He both looked and sounded like he can kick my ass and then some.

While people around would start getting tired or plainly just don't get the music and sit down, I stood for the entire length of the concert. I was shouting/singing along whenever there was a favorite NIN song that was playing. "Closer" and "Head like a Hole" were my favorites. But I enjoyed every song they played. I so felt the the anger and the hate reverberate across the entire colliseum. LOL!

I took some pictures and even a video of the song "Closer" using my iPhone. But the camera on the iPhone sucked too much to have any form of visual quality with the pictures and video I took. I think I just took a video of one of the songs just so I have video proof that I was there. LOL!

At the end of the concert, everybody was screaming for an encore. Trent and crew obliged by coming back out and picking up their instruments. The last song they played was "Hurt", which was my all time favorite NIN song. The lyrical content is so depressing that you can't help but say "I know what you're going through man!" in true immature adolescent high-schooler fashion.

My age was obvious because I took out my lighter from my pocket and lit it while waving it slowly from side to side. Others were doing the same thing, but they were using their lit cellphones instead. I could've done that too. But I would've felt stupid doing it. Obviously, I'm not "with the times" anymore. Gawd, I'm friggin' old. But I saw a few people raising lighters instead of the cellphones. That made me feel a little better.

Below is a video of the song "Hurt" taken by someone who also watched the concert, along with the song's prose. The video cuts in the middle of the song. But it's the most complete video taken of the song that night that I've seen on YouTube.

Hurt
by Nine Inch Nails

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything

What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
You could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of shit
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here

What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end

You could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way

It was definitely one of the best rock shows I've seen in a long time. I kept talking about how kick ass that concert was for days after.

After the concert, I met up with Chad and Tebs downstairs near the entrance. They invited me to come with them to an after-concert get-together somewhere with their friends. We went to two different places and kept raving about the concert over beer. Definitely a good night cap from an already awesome night.

This concert tour of NIN is apparently their final tour. According to Trent, the band will go on an indefinite haitus. I can only hope that Trent will actually start missing his music and start writing and playing again after some time.

In tribute to NIN, I dug up the video of a version of the song "Hurt" that I love the most. I was surprised that somebody even has a copy of this video, let alone clean it up and upload it on YouTube. It's a live version of the song with David Bowie singing along with Trent. Check it out. It's an amazing version of the song.

Farewell Trent and crew. You will surely be missed.

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Tron Legacy

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:19:00 +0000

Way back in 1982, Disney released a science fiction movie called TRON. A few years later, I was able to watch this movie and absolutely loved it. For those of you who do not remember this movie, below is a custom trailer that a fan put together of the old film.

I even bought the DVD of this movie and continue to watch it every so often even until now. Retro-Geekery, I know. This movie was actually one of the main inspirations/motivations behind me getting into programming when I was a kid. Yet, it's still very astonishing to me that my job career nowhere near involves programming. I still miss programming. I just don't have the time to delve into it these days.

In 2003, a PC game was released as a sequel of sorts of the movie TRON. Below are two trailers of the PC game. I actually loved playing this game given it was in full 3D glory.

A few days ago, a friend of mine sent me a link to a YouTube video that previews an upcoming sequel to the old school sci-fi flick. Below is that preview snippet that was debut at the Comic Con in the U.S..

Pure and unadulterated geeky arousal came upon me when I saw an aged-Flynn (Jeff Bridges) who now seems to be the antagonist of this new TRON film. I can't wait to watch it.

Oh, and this is obviously where I got "END OF LINE" from, that I place at the end of all my blog posts. LOL!

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Drum Jam Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 12:45:00 +0000

SunDownMuse gigs were becoming fewer and far between the past weeks/months. Given that gigging was one of my few escapes in my life, I was becoming increasingly restless. But life at times surprises you with little reprieves here and there, that end becoming some of the most unforgettable memories that you will keep for the rest of your life.

A good friend of mind, Dave Esteban, sent me a message through Facebook, with a very interesting invitation. Dave used to be the percussionist of one of my favorite local bands called Sound. He was one of my personal inspirations to start percussions.

The message was an invitation to facilitate an upcoming drumming workshop that he and his wife are organizing. I was late in responding. But when I actually did text him. Dave said that all facilitator slots have been filled. However, Dave texted me later that day because one of their facilitators backed out. I was weirdly hesitant to accept his invitation given that there was just way too much to do at work these days. But I eventually agreed.

The workshop group was called Drum Jam Workshop. Dave filled me in on the details and I showed up at the orientation/practice for the workshop at the school his mom is running, Esteban School. I left early from work just to join the orientation. I called my "suki-cab driver" to give me a ride to the school. I was so glad that I brought my 14 inch Pearl fiberglass djembe. It's been neglected for so long that I imagine it would grow some feet and runaway from home already. I was at the school early before everyone else, obviously showing my over-eagerness to participate. I ended up hanging out with Dave in his office for a while. Dave was pleasently surprised when I told him I was a VP of Operations in my company. He said I was a perfect fit for the workshop group. But I didn't really fully understand what he meant by that.

When the rest of the facilitators arrived. I was in awe to see them. Dave did warn me beforehand, that the other facilitators are awesome percussionists the likes of Inky, Mang Jose, Pepoy, and Jango. But it didn't really hit me until I was so star-struck to see them face to face. There were other non-percussionist facilitators as well that specialized more on facilitating workshops. But the drumming method is so simple that most, if not all, people can learn it quickly.

Within a few minutes of Dave and Donna orienting us on the process flow of the workshop, you can tell that they put a good group of facilitators together. I was both scared and excited to be part of this group. I could see the positive attitude of some and the raw skill of others. And I'm glad that I held my own during the orientation.

I took a vacation leave from work to attend the workshop the next day. So I showed up at the workshop venue, Shangrila EDSA hotel, earlier than everybody else again (talk about eager-beaver huh?). I wasn't early. Everybody else was late. LOL!

The drumming workshop was actually the culminating team building activity for executives of Globe Telecom. They were having a strategy conference and we were supposed to cap it off with a bang. Donna informed us that the people we will be teaching are comprised of the CEO and 2 levels below him. I've been so used talking to clients, and being part of the executive team in my company, to even be remotely nervous about speaking well to the Globe bigwigs. I was in a haze the whole time before the actual workshop.

The participants actually had no idea that they were going to participate in a drumming workshop. So we had to lurk around to prepare for the workshop. Somehow Inky managed to get his "buhat boys" to secretly bring in all the large Sono drums he utilizes for his Samba Marching Band called Brigada. Mang Jose brought all sorts of shakers from his collections. Jango brought one of his custom-made djembe drums. Dave brought practically all the djembe-like drums in his possession; from djembes, to doumbeks, to ashikos. Of course, the only thing I had to show for was my 14 inch djembe, which happened to be the largest djembe amongst all of us facilitors. At least, may pagmamayabang ako kahit papano. Dinaan sa laki. LOL!

Donna was able to pull off getting JB Music to sponsor the workshop by lending us a whole slew of Remo percussion drums and other gear. All of us percussionists felt like kids in a candy store. Kudos to JB Music for finally running with Remo products in the Philippines.

Once the Globe bigwigs took their break. We rushed in the seminar/conference room to place 120 souvenir drums under their chairs. I failed to mention that there were over 100 top management personnel in that seminar. And Globe paid to purchase each and every one of them a souvenir drum. So that they have something to drum with when we teach them during the workshop.

After running around frantically making last minute preparations. We snuck in to the back of the room where the kitchen and cleaning staff were. Dave and Donna's plan was to play this video of some guys having a drum jam in a park, and then a Yuppie/Corporate looking guy came along with his own drum and started jamming with them. As that video was about to finish, we came in playing the same rhythm as what was on the video. That to say the least was a very strong entrance. During that jam, Dave got some of us to adlib/solo one by one. Dave nodded to me to solo as well. Although, my chops were not as awesome as Pepoy's or Jango's, I did okay.

Donna introduced each facilitator one by one, in order to show the strength of the group that have members who were bonafide percussionists or veteran workshop facilitators. To my surprise, this is the only time I finally understood what Dave meant about me being a perfect fit for the group. Donna introduced me to everyone as the "perfect combination of corporate and musician". By the time Donna mentioned that I was the VP of Operations for mobiusgames, the crowd was surprised and applauded. That was quite a feel good moment, mind you.

David and Donna then told everyone to reach under their chairs. You could see everybody's eyes so surprised that they actually have a drum of their own to play with during the workshop

After coursing through the drumming method with everyone, we broke out into groups where each facilitator has to assist in coming up with something creative based on the drumming method that was taught. One group was assigned to just all shakers. Thanks for Mang Jose and JB Music, there were more than enough shakers to go around for that group. Another group was assigned to Inky, where they got to try out the large Sono drums. The rest of the groups were assigned to the remaining facilitators.

Dave emphasized that we shouldn't really be leading these djembe groups. Rather, they themselves are supposed to figure out how to creatively interweave all the rhythms taught to them earlier, and we were there to just assist. So in my group, I told them exactly this:

"I'm sure you all know how this feels like since you are upper management of Globe. I spend all week telling everybody what to do. So for today, I would like you guys to tell ME what to do. How creative this groups gets is all about how much you guys put in it."

The nods from everybody signified that they agreed with me. And to my surprise, they took the initiative to organize themselves. I gave suggestions on how best to go about it. But they came up with the dynamics and flow of the interweaving rhythms we agreed upon.

Then it came to how the group was supposed to end the rhythm collage. The 5th rhtyhm that was taught was actually an ending rhythm. However, the group had a hard time getting the timing right all together as one group. So I suggested to them a "daya" way of ending it. At the end of the rhythm collage, they would all stop. I would then solo for a second or two, then drum really fast. Once I did that, the rest of the group drums really fast along with me, and then we all stop at the same time with an "umph!". It's kind of cheating since we skipped the 5th rhythm completely. But hey, we were supposed to be creative, and I felt I needed to inject that since we didn't have much time left. We practiced it all the way to the ending twice, and the group felt pretty good about it.

We then reconvened and all the groups performed their rhythm collages one by one. I was proud of my group because it was a true collaboration. And our ending was one of the more dramatic endings compared to the other groups.

The last activity in the workshop was a jam by all of us facilitators, and all of the 100+ Globe bigwigs. Inky's skill really showed because he was a conductor of sorts with how he set-up all those people to play the flow he concocted in his head. The room was reveberating with all the drums being struck at the same time. And the ending made everybody cheer with some weirdo happiness/glee.

Ernest Cu, the CEO of Globe, spoke a few words to wrap up their 2 day strategy seminar. After which, myself and the other facilitators jammed on the side of the room as all of the bigwigs started to leave. That jam was fun because I was holding my own with these awesome percussionists.

A few of the Globe bigwigs, gave me their business cards out of the blue, saying they want to do business with my company. I suppose I did make an impression on them. And all of us facilators were greeted with big smiles and thanks.

As I helped everyone pack up all the gear, from Mang Jose's shakers, Inky's Sono drums, to JB Music's gear that we borrowed. I was happy that these percussionists and other facilitators were treating me like equals.

Pepoy and Dave surprisingly were asking me how I do this certain lick that I like doing when I solo. I'm not much of a solo-ist. But it was a good feeling to be asked how I do a certain thing when it's obvious that they are eons better than me.

Donna asked me if I could be part of the regular rotation for the next Drum Jam Workshop. I was really flattered to even be invited back. And apparently Donna was equally over-joyed to hear me say yes.

Dave and Donna offered to give me a ride back home. On the way, we all got hungry and decided to grab a very sumptuous bite to eat at New Bombay near my place. It's the best Indian food around. And apparently, Dave and Donna kept going to that place for a long time before since they knew the owners.

I arrived home contentedly full, yet dead-tired. I literally plopped on my bed as soon as I got home. But I ended that day with a big smile on my face; ear to ear. That day, it was good to be alive.

Check out Drum Jam Workshop's Multiply at http://drumjam.multiply.com/

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Rovio

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:24:00 +0000

My geeky senses are tingling. Just watch the video below and you'll know what I'm talking about. I want one of these dammit! XD

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Happy Birthday!!!

noreply@blogger.com (sundowndos) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:53:00 +0000

Today is my very cute cuuuuuute little niece's birthday. Kami is now 2 years old. I love that kid. Below is a recent picture of her so you know how gigil cute she is even at 2 years of age. :)

Happy Birthday Kami!!!!

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