I went to the party of my god-daughter yesterday and hung out with my high school buddies. We got to talk about our antics back in high school (I went to CSA if you didn’t know) and it was funny to hear all the stuff I used to do back then.

Continuing the trend, we went over to Art and Jurist’s condo and watch videos of us back then. In high school, Art and I were known to always have video cameras rolling tape all the time. True enough, we had literally hours of footage of just everyday things in school. We’d even shoot in class. If you’d watch Art’s footage you’d sometimes see me on screen filming. If you’d watch my footage, you’d see Art filming. Funny!

Watching the videos, I saw all the things I was into back then. Things I’ve already forgotten. I used to be into photography. I could see from one tape that I was still shooting stills on my dad’s SLR (a Canon AE-1). I probably wouldn’t know how to work it anymore. There I was running around playing electric guitar playing songs I know don’t even remember.

I still have more tape to go through (must transfer to DVD sometime). Who knows what else I might rediscover about myself?

It’s funny really how musicians tend to be critical of the playing of others. It’s just that we know how to play an instrument and have ideas on how it should be played. It really isn’t fair yet I myself am guilty of dishing out comments. Sometimes though musicians can be really cool and just forget being so uptight and truly have fun. For the past few nights at Capone’s, the house bands did just that.

Members of the Mike Bon Group, Nino Alejandro, Velcro, Craig Davis and the New Waves, Mojo Fly, River Maya and of course Overtone all got up on stage and jammed together. We played anything. U2, The Beatles, Swing Out Sister, Toto; you name it. The best part is no one tried to upstage anyone.

It didn’t matter what we were playing. No pretensions. We were just having fun. In this situation, you can appreciate one another. You feel what the other is feeling through the music as you’re not disconnected from the performance. Sweet!

I'm sad. I'm truly sad. I just watched the last of the Star Wars episodes, Revenge of the Sith, and as the end credits came up I looked at my sister who was beside me and said "It's over".

I haven't been feeling too good physically for the past few days. In fact, I was gigging last Thursday and Friday feeling a little unwell already. Must be the heat that's getting to me. Add the drinking and the late nights and my body just shutdown. I've been nursing a slight cough and a few body aches.

During the weekend, I stayed home and spent it mostly in my room on the computer; trying to take it easy. My mom was worried about me and had me turn on the aircon. She's worried I'd just collapse because of the heat. Her fears are justified though. For some reason, no matter where we move, I always have the hottest room in the house. This summer's temps just make my room an oven. Thing is I can't help but hang out in it. All my comforts are in it. Sweat and the electric fan do not make a good combination. Probably why I got the cough in the first place.

Sunday was much better. My mom woke me and told me that she called over a masseuse and that it was my turn for a massage. Continuing sleep while being massaged is just great. Helped alleviate the body pains too. The rest of the day I spent once again baking in my room but feeling much better. We did go out that evening to have dinner, but before that we dropped by Mercury to get meds.

At Mercury they have a machine that for five bucks gets your height, weight, and blood pressure. I tried it out and to my family's dismay, saw that my blood pressure was rather high. Because of that, my mom is putting me on a no meat diet. Well not exactly. I'm to cut down on my beef and pork intake. She figures that my high BP is caused by my diet. Not surprised. The only thing they feed me at home is steak (normally a steak is considered a luxury, but try having it every day). I really will get ill that way. So now they feed me fish and chicken. Not as exciting as beef but I'll live longer.

Most friends of mine know I'm a huge Star Wars fan (or Star Woid if you will). With all the hype right now with the run up to Episode III, I've been surfing the net for interesting Star Wars sites. As Episode III will deal with the rise of my favorite Star Wars character, It's appropriate then that I tell you about the Dark Lord's Blog. Yes, Darth Vader Blogs. He writes very well and has such great insight on things. You can even leave him comments and he replies. Don't piss him off though or you risk your trachea being crushed. Check out what he had going on in his mind during the historic events of the Galactic Civil War. Visit The Darth Side: Memoirs of a Monster.

There are two sides of me, the techie and the artistic side. You can see this with my two loves, computers an music. Recently my artistic side has been dominating my outlook on things as compared to before where I was a little more balanced. I probably will attribute this to the fact that I quit my highly techie job a while back, leaving me with only the artistic outlet of music (and to a certain degree, writing). I do try to keep myself in tune with the tech stuff once in a while; and is a must for me to keep my value if I'm to someday go back and get a "real" job.

For now though I'm pretty content with appreciating all the notes I get to play, all the sounds I get to hear and all the performances I get to view. I've learned to be "appreciative" of every gig, bad or good. Howlong this will last, I don't know. What I do know is that I'm having more fun now than I was back then.

I spent last Sunday watching TV at home. The history channel had a good program on about the Japanese WWII campaign. It was so interesting to find out the whole story of why the Japanese decided to enter into war with the United States. Discovering that the US and the British were trying to one-up Japan by limiting the size of the Japanese navy yet retain the size of theirs. Typical. Still happens today with nukes. Only the US and their friends can have the best toys. It was also interesting to know that the military commander of the Japanese, Admiral Yamamoto, was against the war. Even though he was the brains behind the Pearl Harbor attack and several other successful campaigns, he was so against going toe-to-toe with the US. He knew they wouldn't win.

The show also delved into the Kamikaze. These people were willing to die for their country. To prevent a foreign occupant to step, in their eyes, on sacred soil. Admirable. On an interesting side note, the commander who thought of the Kamikaze was named Admiral Onishi Takijirou. Onishi. The same name as the Japanese guy I fought with at Kuni. I wonder if their related. I doubt it though. The Admiral was brilliant and had a sense of honor. The guy I fought is neither brilliant, nor possesses an ounce of honor. Their only common trait, besides the name, is that they both sent things to their death. The Admiral sent men, while the Kuni guy is sending the company to its death.

After the show, my family went out to eat dinner (it was mother's day after all). As a perfect way to cap of the Japanese theme of the day, we ate at Bento-ya. I must say, the food was pretty good there. Rather authentic. Prices aren't bad too. In fact I can say it was cheap. I wouldn't mind eating there again. They had my favorite cold tea too (mugicha). I'll probably eat there again sometime. Only downer there is that you leave smelling like Japanese food. Good thing it's so near my house I can change right away.

I realise that despite my bad experience with the Japanese that I worked with in my last job, I am still fascinated by their culture and them as a people. I understand that I shouldn't make generalizations of their race based on the few defects that I worked with. I'm glad that I can still enjoy learning about them. Ja!

These past two weeks have gotten me home with the sun already up. I feel that I might be taking my rediscovered "freedom" to an extreme, but I have to admit that I'm totally enjoying it. I haven't been so gimmick hungry since high school. It's also great that I've found a cool hangout buddy in Debbie. Going out just makes more sense when you have company.

My late nights are brought about by hangging out in Capone's (with the exception of the one movie Debbie and I watched). Man it's hard to believe that there are people who've been doing this type of lifestyle for years. It takes a heavy toll on the body (and the wallet). I can't keep this up for long. Must crash back to the reality of everyday life soon. But for the meantime, "here comes the sun".