For the record...

...I love my Antonio Sanchez guitar. Really, I do.

But today I came to the painful realization that what Teacher O was saying was right. Antonio Sanchez can no longer help me.

OK, I admit it, Teacher O knows his stuff when it comes to guitars. He said it 3 months ago, Teacher M said it today, and I also felt it myself since 2 weeks ago.

Now the question is what make, which style, and what strength. The sky is the limit now.

Do I want "Romantic" Spanish?

Do I want "Baroque" German?


Do I want rosewood, cedar, or mahogany?

How much am I willing to pay?

Frankly, money is the other issue now, these things ain't cheap. In fact the closest affordable kin to Antonio Sanchez costs 8 times more than 'him'.

AAAArrrrrggghhhh. I wish I was rich.

I'm going to get a cup of cocoa and strum this misery away with Antonio Sanchez.

Baby, you and I will have to make do for a while now.

It's a very hot day...

Yeah, no kidding, it's been like this for a week now, 33-37C (about 93-100F) and 100% humidity, everyday. The air is so thick and you can cut it with a knife!
This makes it really difficult to go about your routines and even try to lead a normal life. You just can't think. And this alone makes the days completely unbearable.

I'm still bummed with this. This weather makes it even worse, the heart that usually forgives finds it really hard these days. My sister will always advice that something is a big deal because we make it one, so I definitely should switch my state of mind to make it a no deal at all.

I have to say it's hard, though. The heat and humidity really isn't helping. So, last night I made a list on what 100-times-better things to do than seething in grudges:

1. Taiko drumming, of course!

Oh I am so looking forward to my taiko practice on Sunday and the Earth Celebration next week!! There is nothing in the world like drumming that never fails to pick up my mood to the 7th heaven. You can give so much to taiko and guaranteed it will give you back the equal amount of energy. It's always funny with musical instruments, you get back as much as you give them.
Not to sound melancholic or cheesy, but there was a time when I had to go through a really terrible unfortunate situation. Details unimportant, but it involved a lot of unhappiness.
The following morning after the most horrible situation took place, I went to my taiko class, thinking that beating on the drums would take my mind off it. It was one of the most intense meditative experience that I have had with the drums, I laughed when the song was joyful, cried when the song was sad, bopped around as the song went funny, cried out with ridicule when everybody made mistakes during the songs. After very intense 4 hours, I left the practice feeling deadly exhausted physically but the heart felt a great deal lighter and I was able to smile again.

Yes, taiko is my other life. Indeed it is, I feel a lot better already now thinking about it.

2. Eat chocolate cake.

I want to eat chocolate cake. I want to eat a LOT of chocolate cake. The fudge one.

3. Bake the chocolate cake so it can be eaten

I am going to cook Nigella Lawson's chocolate cake. It looks really good in her cookbook!

4. Be a couch potato in an air-conditioned room.

Watch a whole bunch of DVDs that my sister sent me on some TV series that I like, ranging from Desperate Housewives, CSI: Las Vegas season 7, Grey's Anatomy, and Ugly Betty. This will be fun

5. Piddle with Antonio Sanchez la guitarra mi corazón!

Yes, teacher M gave me a couple of homeworks that she will test on me on Monday. She said that if I could keep up until level 5 exams songs, she'll have a chat with the school's guitar orchestra and see if I can take an apprenticeship training with them. I'm giddy with joy just to have that prospect. FUN!

6. Thank goodness it's Friday!

The weekend is coming up tomorrow! YEAH! Finally, a full real weekend. I forgot what it's like to have a real weekend. How fun it is to be able to sleep in, go to the gym, or I can also NOT do anything at all whatsoever.

7. Daydream about Earth Celebration 2007

This event is my annual pilgrimage. I go and join the celebration every year and schedule all of my work in August around this event. Ah, days and nights of fun, happiness, drumming, laughing, swimming, outdoors concert, camping, road trips, foods. Words truly can't explain just how fun it is to be there at the celebration. Believe me, I've tried so many times, you just have to go there and experience it yourself!

Ah.... there are indeed many things that are 100-times-better than the thing-I-thought-about when I started this post. Better dedicate energy to those! It's now long forgotten.

Please excuse me, now I need to continue my daydream about Earth Celebration 2007.

An early birthday present!

Oh, I'm so excited!!!

I know my birthday is not until next month, but I've decided on an early birthday present for myself. Yep!
I signed myself up for a guitar class!

So... I picked up the beloved instrument back late last month. Since then, whenever I'm home, I rarely find myself without Mister Antonio Sanchez in my hands. Got myself some music books, equipped with the tablatures. As an ambitious objective, I set myself up to master "Cavatina" for a small gig scheduled in September.

A month has passed and I have gone as far as 2 pages in Cavatina (the entire music is about 7 pages), and I'm nowhere near smooth in playing the parts. Looking around Youtube, the darned Xuefei Yang and Ana Vidovic sure made it look so simple and easy. I wonder how many years of training they went through to be able to spread 4 fingers across 5 frets, with different emphasis, on all different strings, too!

Again I came into the realization that I am not much of a self-teaching kind of pupil. I never was one. And doubtful I will ever be one.

So, off I went to Niibori Music School last night to see what they need me do to be able to start my education (other than money, of course).

I walked into the small classroom with 3 advanced students looking at me in their utmost bemused expression. Yeah, picture this: after finally locating their classroom in Yoyogi, I decided to rush over to the class that very evening.
I had shot them an e-mail on Monday afternoon, but they have not got back to me with a visitation schedule. I had only two nights free this week to investigate this further, one was Monday night, and the other was Tuesday night. I figured, why don't I just poke my nose in, worst case scenario would be when they turn me down until a visitation schedule is set. With that in mind, I decided to just go with the best intention to get there before 8 PM.
I cycled over with my giant gym bag in tow, unshowered, all sweaty and my hair was in complete disarray. The elevator was stuck in one of the floor and with 10 minutes to spare, I made a split second decision to run upstairs to the 5th floor where the class is located. While huff-n-puff-ing, I found the class and walked right into a class of 3 advanced guitarists. I mean, literally, right into the MIDDLE of it all. I bet they never had such a comical interruption.
Heck, how was I supposed to know if the classroom is also the reception area.

Putting that aside, and pausing the class for the 10 minutes I was there, Ogiwara-sensei went through the curriculum and explained how I could just easily ease into the system. And to my pleasant surprise: all classes will be one-on-one basis, unless I request otherwise. Heck! This is GREAT. Much better than my group class with YAMAHA years ago.

So, my trial class will be on Saturday and if I like it, I can start as early as next week.

I'm sooooooo excited!!! Can you tell?

I've got my eyes set on this one...

Yamaha C-40R

Yeah. I need to go get myself one of this baby.
After a relatively long absence, I just spent an hour with my Takamine PT-108. After this long stressful week at work, this served as a much needed break.
A brilliant session, yes, but the steel strings butchered my fingers. Sure, this baby is good for performances, which was the sole reason why I got it in the first place. Since the band split a couple years ago, however, I don't see why I should continue bearing the pain of steel strings. Now I begin to remember why I haven't touched the guitar in nearly a year...

Nylon strings and classical guitar, that's the way to go! Must make a stop at Shimokura in Ochanomizu on Friday, no doubt.