Jameson

It was about 3 months ago when good buddy Edesel made his annual announcement of gathering the gang for his August birthday party/jamming. To be honest, I am always stressed by this as it requires us to study a number of songs to play in time for August.

Now this should be easy to do ---if I had the time. It was difficult to juggle this between family, work, and run/bike training so I had to fit it during the only free time I had left: lunch breaks and late nights.

I prepared for the inevitable list of Beatles/Metallica/Megadeth songs (Paul McCartney was a bad ass in his bass playing, mind you) but I was surprised/glad that Edesel toned it down this year with Eraserheads, Nirvana, and a TheCure song ("Just Like Heaven") which eased me up a bit (a couple of Beatles songs were still in the mix so that's still a challenge).

I concentrated on the EHeads and Nirvana songs during my free time with the hope that the Beatles songs won't be played (it would depend on John, another member of the band who loves Beatles songs, if he will be able to come. The Beatles set list will be scrapped if he didn't).

I relied heavily on ultimate-guitar.com (good thing we have this these days vs tablature printouts of old), and a mini-amp I bought from Lazada.com to spice up the practicing.

By the time we jammed a week before the party, I was ready ---except for the Beatles songs which I HAVEN'T started any of it yet. 😆

We played well at the studio in BF, thanks to a bottle of Jameson which Marlon, one of our drummers, brought in much to the (drunken) delight of Pedro, our other drummer. Hahaha...


D- DAY

To cap it all off, last night was a success for everyone. I only felt a tinge of nervousness as it was only a small crowd (roughly 30-40) attending the party but they applauded our music playing nonetheless.

Adding to the confidence was that John (unfortunate for him but fortunate for me) was MIA, which meant no Beatles songs for that night. Whew!

I enjoyed playing live tbh and I hope to do it again ---but not anytime soon as I would like to have my free time back. 😆


HANDOVER

As a post note to this, Lucas my eldest, now 12, decided with his friends who attended the party to play Mundo by IV of Spades then and there. He got my bass guitar and was able to play the 2-chord song (he said it was only 2 chords so it was supposed to be a synch until the latter part when he discovered there were more chords there hahaha) along with his friends ---not perfectly but with confidence of a real band. Hehehe...

I guess this would be a good time to teach him to play the bass, as this'll be a good time to pass him the torch for future parties and jammings to come.

Missing Japan

Spending my lunch break in solitude is one I long for the most. Yes I would also go out with officemates but I am not the type of person who longs for lunch companions in the office as a priority. Don't worry, I am COMPLETELY alright with the peace and quiet.

I get to choose where I want to eat ---except when the missus requires that I bring packed diet food for lunch (which is almost everyday). She has lost a lot of weight with a good combo of gym zumba and body combat classes, and a healthy dose of delivery diet food.

The packed lunch is a double whammy to me since (1) I don't get to eat what I want, and (2) I am forced to eat brown rice with fish (it is rare that I get pork or beef or chicken since the missus has first dibs the night before when the food gets delivered. I may have to do some ninja moves one time so that I get to switch packed meals to my favor. Even so, it's still with brown rice. #sadface).

Still, I get to walk around busy Ayala for a Starbucks fix. I have trained myself to take coffee without sugar thanks to their Cold Brew offering. Of course, I order it with a dark macadamia cookie on the side ---warmed--- to complete my post (brown rice) lunch compensator.

So I was having my Starbucks fix sitted in a comfy 4 chair low cushioned chair with a small square center table that is typical Starbucks when 4 Japanese (I assumed they were Japanese due to small Niponggo-like phrases) businessmen with one of their Filipino counterpart in suits entered the cafe. The place was full so finding a seat was a problem.

I tried not to look, but then I just automatically rose up and offered them my table. I was on my lonesome anyway so the stools by the window is ok for me, I thought. The Japanese men, as I quietly predicted, bowed and repeatedly thanked this wannabe millenial for the gesture.

It is their continous gratitude to me that made me thank myself in return. You see, long before this encounter, I have sorely missed Japan since our last trip in 2016. The kindness and discipline of the people there just left a mark on me that cannot be removed. Even when the missus insists that we try other countries for our family trip, I would still vote for Japan which of course does not win with the missus. Korea first, she said, to add to the list of countries in our passport (as if these were Starbucks stamps for the ever awaited planner).

Sigh, I guess the longing for kindness (and gratitude!) itself in the everyday hussle and bustle in Manila has reached a tipping point for me.

And only going back to Japan can bring it back to its proper balance.

Upgraded from an iPhone 6 to a Samsung S8 Plus

photo grabbed from assets.mspcdn.net

I've had my trusty iPhone 6 for almost 2 years now and it has served me well. Unfortunately, the GPS (and WiFi) has been acting up very frequently ever since I upgraded my iOS to 11.2.

The GPS specifically, has stopped working entirely in my Waze app ---which I use almost every day when I drive from/to work. I have somehow lost the advantage that Waze gives me for a shorter trip from/to work because of this. I have confirmed that the GPS is not working at all even when I switched to Google Maps.

The phone's WiFi radio(?) seems to have taken a hit as well. Our home router is just at the next room and the phone is attaching erratically to the WiFi signal. Hence, a very bad internet experience just before I sleep, wanting to catch up on my social media feeds before the day ends.

I browsed the net and even went to my friendly mobile-phone repairman but it seems that only a factory reset is a (possible) solution. However, I just found the issue to be a good chance for me to upgrade to a new phone.

And so, I bought a Samsung S8 Plus. (grin)

photo grabbed from cnet.com

I didn't consider an iPhone 8 or iPhone X as I got too traumatized by the iOS 11.2 upgrade. Maybe the GPS/WiFi issue I encountered could be inherited by those higher models, I feared. Plus, the S8+ was a cheaper option that I found online by about 30%.

So, almost two days onto using my new S8+ and it's world's apart from my iPhone 6. Ideally, it would be best to compare the S8+ with the iPhone 8 or 8+ which should be a better match up. But I'm coming from an iPhone 6 so what follows below is based entirely on MY personal experience between the two phones:

The S8+ trumped the iPhone 6 big time although I am missing the Apple podcast app dearly. Except for that, the S8+ looks to be a phone that I could be using for quite a long while. I highly recommend it. :)

But then, the Samsung S9 is coming 2018 Q1.

(wink)