Muse-sings

Like what I promised, an update. I didn’t win the bidding because my mom was using the (family) laptop at around 10pm and I can’t ask her to step off because she was playing. I lost it to this lhordpaolo guy…too bad. Then again, I guess I don’t have to shell out Php1200 for that top, it isn’t too pricey for me but the thought of paying something like this may not be worthwhile in the long run, since this top is trendy, not a classic wardrobe. I guess back to Top Man then.

Last Saturday, I rehearsed with our Church’s band for the performance the following day. It was rather different, in that there were seven (7) songs, rather than just six (6). The rehearsals went pretty well, although on my part, I was thinking and thinking of violin in-between intermezzos for all 7 songs. That is NOT easy, especially because some of the songs sound alike, has the same key signature and as if just part of one big song sang with different lyrics. Tough, but I weathered it out, by promising to brainstorm on it that night. What I like about this rehearsal was that I got a real violin solo part during the first song, I like it like that but those times are rare, unless some songs part of the repertoire have interludes like that. Anyways, during the rehearsal, I was pressured to think of references I can base my interludes, at the end of the day, it all boiled down to The Corrs. I tried alluding Bond but to no avail, Bond is too classical to fit in Christian Pop. After the rehearsal, I went to megamall, ate lunch in Bubble Tea, my new Tokyo Tokyo (albeit more pricey) circa 2004. As far as ubiquity is concerned, that train of indulgence ended when I lost twice in a row in Soul Calibre, and I was using my 2 top guns, Kilik and Seung Mina, guess you can’t win them all. Bad luck spilled through the Samurai shodown arcade, the arcade itself was broken, the joystick to be exact, and because of that, I can’t move the character, making me end up with this futuristic successor of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Yoshitora, kinda hot, but is actually like those Asian Pop stars turned anime (ergo, exaggerated looks). I made it to Sankuro but never got past him (duh, Mina’s the only one who can beat the hell out of that cheating character, like I would rather lose to Yumeji than him).

Come Sunday, the actual performance day, we had a little rehearsal form 7-8am, right before the start of the service (which is like the equivalent of a mass). We kinked a few verses left and right and then we were ready. We usually perform before the service proper, which is the lecture/homily. The performance went well, from my point of view, but it wasn’t a stellar performance, I don’t think the band has ever given a remarkable performance, in my perspective, not that it matters anyways. So after our mini gig we went to a small room and had our breakfast, yes, some of us just go to the church after taking a bath and fixing ourselves up, without eating breakfast because they serve breakfast there. During the breakfast, the other players were talking about certain things, like this previous drummer who will be flying off to Cambodia, then to China, I think. Ok, so I don’t know anything about that, so I’m mum on that. One player told us EVERY Sunday, after the service they go to Rockwell and eat, one player says Rockwell is small and that there aren’t very many choices to eat there, unless you want to eat in Cibo, Kaya, or whatever fine dining restaurant, Ok, I agree that Rockwell is small and I disagree that there aren’t very many places to eat because at the ground floor, they have a lot of restaurants and cafes there, from Jollibee to Delifrance.

Probably the most interesting thing I heard was that one player said that the back-up singers don’t back-up the lead as much as they should be. I concur, I barely hear them when the lead singer belts it all out, and the lead’s voice is kind of thin and as if gasping for air at times so she throws it to her back-up, so she can rest a bit and of course share the spotlight. The back-up don’t know what to do, too bad. It’s like playing volleyball where the server puts the ball in play, receiver gets it but tosser didn’t set the ball for play. I personally noticed this but I was mum on it because, the hell I know about them. As long as my interludes are heard I’m cool with that.

I realized that whenever I play in lower notes, I don’t hear myself, it drowns out in the entire band. When I play higher notes, I float, sometimes, because the guitar solos and at times, riffs are really loud, and I know exactly why. Its microphone is plugged in the instrument itself, did I mention it was an electric guitar? Funny how in the rehearsal I sounded so dominating but in the actual performance I kind of got saturated. Some players were saying maybe it’s like that there but in the “house”, it’s mixed already. Well Ok, that’s fine but my instincts tell me that if I don’t hear myself on the monitor, I am NOT heard. I’ve had experiences with this. DLSU Chamber, on their major concerts, microphones are tested and checked if we register on the monitor, and if both are positive, the mixing is considered. I guess the same thing goes there in Wordcom. I understand blending but to the point of dissolving? Well, I could be wrong. I did, one time hear the recorded performance and my theory is right, lower notes (those notes played in G and D string first position) aren’t very audible, higher notes steal the show (wahahahahaha). One of these days I’ll prove that by uploading or embedding (how am I gonna do this?) the video my parents took.

That has been my weekend, its mundane but its great. Until next time, au revoir!

Updates...

So what has been up with me?

This coming Saturday I will be rehearsing with our Church’s band the songs to be performed this coming Sunday and the repertoire are as follows:

Come Now I s The Time To Worship (D)
Hear Our Praises (A)
Blessed Be Your Name (A)
We Worship You (C or D) ... edited
I Worship You Almighty God (G)
Oceans Will Part (B)
Shout To The Lord (chorus only) (B)

The letters indicate the key signatures of the song. If you’re a musician, you pretty much know what key signature means. Surprisingly, there are seven (7) songs, but I don’t mind; more songs, more time to shine, more opportunities to play for God. My issue regarding this is, even if I have heard almost all of the songs, I’ve only managed to come up of violin riffs for one song, and that is Come, Now Is The Time To Worship, argh! 6 more…but I guess I have the entire Saturday to rehearse and come up of riffs, ay it’s better than riffs, parang violin mini solos, which don’t become mini once I belt them.

Tonight, probably after my exercise, I’d have to finalize on the things I’ve practiced, apart from what I plan to come up for the other songs. I wonder what kind of influence should I bring in? Français a la Larusso? François a la Midnight Garden by Bond? Pachelbel? I guess it depends…who knows, it could be Tchaikovsky or Astor Piazzola, you never know, it just pops like a bubble.

Another thing that has been me is that I am currently bidding for this sportswear top and the bid is at Php1,160.00, courtesy of moi and this lhordpaolo guy in multiply. See, the said auctioned apparel was already bought but by a sudden change of thought, the original buyer backed out, therefore, the seller planned to auction the item and…as they say, the rest is history, online history. If ever I do win the auction, I’ll post here the picture of the outfit, and hopefully I can get it before Sunday because, of course I wanna wear it, styling would come much later, knowing me, I could probably pull of a Bottega Veneta look or Miu Miu feel or those overrated Asian fashion trend, which doesn’t suit my taste either. Anyways, I guess I need research on how to make something sporty chic; like something Miu Miu into something Michael Kors, or Bottega Veneta, actually Miu Miu IS sporty chic.

This bidding kind of reminded me of this financial, or rather economic term called “asymmetric information”. It means one party knows more than the other and he uses that to his advantage. For instance, in stocks, there are numerous stock brokers bidding for the price of one stock. As usual, the highest bidder gets the stock, the seller gets the most profit out of that. Now, let’s go into the anatomy of bidding; first of all, before any bidding takes place, one has to ascertain the quality of what he is bidding; what makes this thing so unique that you’d place a sum of money over its head (figuratively) and so on. When that is identified, further information is searched for so to bolster that quality’s je ne sais quoi-esque feature.

Ah fudge…why am I alluding finance once again? Let me use this predicament as an example: I like the piece, it’s chic to a certain extent and sporty (but ain’t Michael Kors) and when you normally see these kinds of apparels, their price ranges from Php2K-Php3K, and they’re not even French Connection, nor Armani Exchange. Since the starting bid was at Php480, which ballooned to Php1,160 because of me and lhordpaolo guy thankyouverymuch, I guess you can say that we know certain qualities about this top that we think is valuable enough, that we bid it at such Eiffel Tower-esque prices.

You can also say we’re just too desperate to find chic clothing at cheap prices (Cheap and Chic Moschino? Ahahahahaha). You can also surmise that we’re just caught up in the hype of bidding, this ain’t even close to Marc Jacobs, and I’d rather spend my cash on Marc’s than this…

Anyways, I realized I’m not into finance anymore, I want to bid Finance, au revoir, adieu, and where to hello? I don’t know…fashion? Well, the closest I can get to fashion is through retailing, it’s not like it’s a walk in the park when you want to become a fashion editor, even something subordinate to that. I guess making a career in finance is out of the question, I should resign yes? I don’t even bother to read anything about finance, the word is like a cuss to me now, ugh!

I am into reading the Cut Blog in New York Magazine website. Their posts are great, from The Hills (eww) to Paris Haute Couture Fashion Shows (aah). I love it actually, but I didn’t read their entry on this reality show The Hills. I am not interested in that, some reality stars wanting to perpetuate their fame by doing fashion, which is a complete abhorrence to the field. Lauren Conrad released her own line, very department store-ish but priced kinda like Gucci. Heidi Montag has her own line too, affordable compared to Lauren’s but it’s slutty all animal prints, at least Lauren’s isn’t Stella McCartney circa 2002 (her own line). If Stella McCartney became a hit after improving her hoe-ish playboy obscene debut, lackluster Lauren can do something better, oh wait?! Stella studied fashion (ergo, she has a degree) Lauren studied Academy of Art University for 5-6…months, then transferred to Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. Stella became Chloé’s chief designer from March 1997 to 2001, Lauren interned at Teen Vogue for a year. Hmm…so who’s better, Lauren or Heidi Montag, as if this question was worth raising (though I’m routing for Lauren, Heidi Montag just proliferated the sleaze animal prints have, sluts are never fashionable, not even in Dolce Gabbana’s (look) book). Forgive the digression of thoughts but yes, the Cut Blog is amazing.

Well that has been me, adieu finance, bonjour façon (fashion).
After rehearsals tomorrow I’m planning to play the arcade, Soul Calibre and Samurai Shodown…whew! They’re cool! I finished those games! I like Kilik and Seung Mina though in Soul Calibre, their weapon (guan dao and staff, respectively) is good for middle-range attacks. Ivy’s snake sword is cool too, if you know how to use it. In Samurai Shodown I used Mina because she’s an archer (I am too – DLSU?) and her attacks are really good, for long-range attacks. I was able to beat that stupid Sankuro Yorozu, wielding a huge mallet as his weapon which really takes a lot of your life point when you get hit by it. Charlotte’s pretty cool too, she’s French, you know, Couture and stuff, but she’s more Joan of Arc than haute couture model. Her style is fencing, her rapier is cool. Ukyo Tachibana rocks too, very Battousai, his iaijutsu technique is so model-esque.

That's it for me, Ciao!