fly with mhe

Listening to music is evidently my stress reliever. Yesterday, had a one-hour jamming sessions with 2 of the Cugman Boiz and 2 frequent visitors with nice voice who jammed with us for the first time. Yes I had the bass again and some glances at the copies of the songs or to the guitarist. It was amazing!! The songs, our bonding, our time together, the understood glances, the smiles, the laughter, not to mention, it was imprompto and yet brought so much fun. Playing music indeed has become a stress reliever for me as well. For an amateur like me, that is something. Looking forward to more jamming sessions again someday with the Cugman Boiz.

At last, at long last. I had a jamming session with 2 of the Cugman Boiz last Saturday night and 4 of them yesterday afternoon. I so missed being with them, much more, doing our common interest, MUSIC. It started off as a practice for our songs yesterday. Macky in his usual instrument, the drums, Ryjy on the guitar and doing the vocals and since Breaker was not around so I did the bass guitar while singing. During our break, we had a role reversal. Usually, it’ll only be Macky and Ryjy swapping roles, but this time, I was part of that swap. I had the guitar, Macky had the bass and Ryjy on the drums for this particular song only. I only did strums, one strum at a time though. Hehe.. I enjoyed it immensely. Then we had our run off.

Yesterday was different though, Breaker was there. He had the guitar, I had the bass and Ryjy had the drums, Macky was on the microphone with another Cugman Boiz who frequently came also for our practices.

I sorely missed jamming with them. I miss them. I’m glad also that they had patience in teaching me to do the bass. Yesterday, while Breaker was strumming, he would shout the chords so I would hit the right string and fret. They are that patient with me. Hats off to them.

Heavy eyes.

Tired brain.

I was planning to make a computerized lay-out of our assignment, maybe use the Paint or use the Microsoft Word or something. But what the heck! I’m so tired and it would only be a waste of my time anyway since our professor is not really particular with the neatness or on what program we used with our presentation. So went with my initial plan, scan the document, crop it, made some editing through the Paint program then make it into a Powerpoint presentation. Simple as that. Then why am I complicating it? Duh.. We’ll just have to make good with our defense tomorrow, rather, later. By the way, it’ll be our 3rd of the 4-days straight class. I’m so glad Monday is a non-school day. At least I’m not marked absent and I don’t have to inform my students that I won’t be able to handle them and ask my co-teacher to substitute for me. Hahayzz.. But I’ll miss out on the relaxation that I could have enjoyed if not for this class on Monday. Anyway, I’ve enrolled myself into this in the first place. No one else to blame, but mhe.

Thinking of it makes me tired all the more. Last night, I played with my dogs to relieve stress. Tonight, I picked up my acoustic guitar (I’m an amateur guitar player by the way..) and strum a few songs while listening to some of it in my Windows Media Player. Enjoyed listening to the fast shuffle and distinctive afterbeat of keyboards, drums, lead guitar, bass guitar, saxophone and trumpet in the catchy melody of Put3ska’s Manila Girl. The ska. Music.

Can’t imagine life without music. I’m not saying this because I’m stressed. Music do soothe a weary heart and a tired mind. I’m also glad I’m born into a musically inclined family. Truth be told, I haven’t mastered playing even a single musical instrument, frustrated music student eh. But what does it matter? As long as there is good music, that’s fine. But I would really want to make good music other than learning the basics of playing an instrument. Maybe someday, when the instruments would want me to be a skilled one.

I should have gone to bed now. Still have a tiring, draining whole day class later.

=)

Ever experienced being in an uncomfortable situation?

Last week, had an assignment to lead a crowd of about 200 in singing. Though I may be a singing enthusiast but being in front of the crowd and had to say some lines really makes me nervous. I may stumble upon some words and it may sound inaudible. Or worse, no words would come out of my mouth. I would want to stay in the corner and hide. But could not do so and had to face the challenge. It was indeed another experience for me that really needs a lot of my courage and support from others as well.

I am very grateful indeed with my team. We had made it through. Encouraging each other. Supporting one another. Even a single, simple pat on our shoulders helped lighten up our anxiety and nervousness. Its a different feeling when you’re not comfortable with the situation and the crowd (its definitely a big crowd). Though they were as nervous as I was yet they still pushed on.  We had practiced our songs weeks before and had memorized it by heart, it cannot be denied that we were still nervous and lacked confidence. If we could only run and hide, we could have done so. Oh well..

It was not only last week that they proved their worth but countless times already in different occassions and circumstances. They never failed to watch my back and give me support. Kudos to these guys. I’m proud of you.

By the way, they’re also my bass guitar mentors. Woohoo.. 

Tomorrow will be another first for me. The first time that I’d be playing the bass guitar with 5 songs in a crowd (a crowd of about 30 people makes me nervous since this is not my forte y’know). Woohoo… Though I’ve played the bass before but with the usual people in our practices. Thanks to these guys who gave me free lessons, helped me understand finger positioning, the rhythm, so on and so forth. Yes, they had become my teachers in this field. They’re good musicians anyway.

Though my sister is better than me in this and I have no plans of surpassing her skills.