In My Mind’s Zen Garden

Sorry, I haven’t been much of a writer and blogger lately. So, I’ll just post a few pics instead.

This is the most popular photo in my flickr collection. And, looks can be deceiving though. In reality, this room is a mess right now. Must clean it up and bring it back to its pristine state. And, those computers are old now. Like, the newest computer is 5 years old! I like collecting computers I guess, and you can still access the world wide web on all of them.

And here’s another photo of my two sons. Don’t worry, they are just striking a “tough guy” pose (I think). Trust me, they smile a LOT more than this.

Anyway, I haven’t felt like writing much these past few weeks. A lot of things happening in my life. Some of them not so great. But, you deal with it I guess. You have to “roll with the punches”, right?

Okay. Hope everyone has a fantabulous weekend. :o)

The boys and I gave my wife white roses in a vase for Mother’s Day…

White Roses in the living room.

Last Friday, the family attended my youngest son’s Jr. ROTC Awards Banquet. And here are just a few pictures from that event:

The Boys just before leaving for the Jr. ROTC Awards Banquet

Cameron, Jordan and Kim

A Group Photo Opp

Receiving an award from the Lt. Colonel

I had been contemplating for almost a year on getting a new cell phone; one that would fill my need for a really good planner/organizer, feature a good “physical” keyboard for text messaging, handle all my email accounts exceptionally well, and still looked elegant yet had the ability to hand the business aspects of my life.

Belief it or not I had been using a hodge-podge of various methods, software, and the like that would be considered quite embarrassing. For the longest time I had even been using a paper planner/organizer! Those poor trees!

The two “smartphones” I was keeping an eye on for almost a year has been Apple’s iPhone and the Blackberry Curve. Obviously, the iPhone has garnered the most interest (and hype) since it first came out.

My big problem was having to switch from T-Mobile (have been happy with them for years) to AT&T just to get an iPhone. And, I hadn’t really investigated the methods used to obtain an unlocked iPhone, but it just seemed more hassle than it was worth.

So, after considerable thought, waiting patiently, studying the features of both the iPhone and the Blackberry phones, and checking out other possibilities as well… I settled on the Blackberry Curve (titanium) via T-Mobile, and extending my family plan and service another two years.

Note: Oh yes! Because I text so much, I prefer using a real keyboard in which you can really feel the keys. And this user’s review of the iPhone vs. Blackberry somewhat convinced me to go with the Blackberry. :o)

TUAW Faceoff: iPhone vs Blackberry Curve

However, even though I’ve grown used to the iPhone’s method of text entry, I still found entering text on the Blackberry easier for me due to its keyboard. It makes typing easier if I can actually feel the keys under my fingers. What usually happened during my two weeks of testing is that I could type longer, more accurate emails and texts on the Blackberry than I could on the iPhone. With the iPhone, I found myself having to go back and correct things more often than on the Blackberry.

Flamenco Nova was cool, calm and collected, despite the police!

A Photo of Flamenco Nova at Le Papagayo

At the last wedding reception we performed in, the police actually came because someone complained that the music was too loud. I mean, we were playing light Flamenco music at a small wedding reception in a cafe.

A note from the bride and groom:

Despite the noise complaint (not their fault) and the threat of going to Jail if the police were forced to return, the band rocked. I’m sure the noise restriction forced them to change a few things but you wouldn’t know it. Everyone in the band was extremely friendly and very talented. Everyone at the party enjoyed the music. I would recommend them to a friend for sure.

Just glad the wedding couple really enjoyed us, despite the visit by the police. We were professional enough to bring the volume to a soft whisper. And a few times we just let Jordano (the flamenco guitarist) do one or two solo numbers. I used brushes and my hands for the rest of the evening.

All in all, a great wedding reception and the couple looked gorgeous!

I’ve been somewhat of a longtime follower of Halcyon, and he’s been very active on the internet since day one… interesting stuff about Eckart Tolle and HugNation.

Okay, enough Disney stuff… let’s get down with some New Orleans Jazz-Funk with the Kenny Garrett Quartet LIVE in Montreax Switzerland, performing “Wayne’s Thang”.

Please forgive my going down memory lane with the Disney classics… but, I just love this Swedish version of the song “Belle” from Beauty and the Beast…

Just felt like posting this. I like the melody.

I’ll repeat what one commentor said… “How do you get that many hot ladies that know how to play in one spot? Don’t say band camp.”

Okay, this is my video contribution for today.

I’ve been so busy in real life… and not in much of a mood to write, so I’m trying to remedy my writer’s block with yet another “friday’s feast”.

Appetizer
When someone smiles at you, do you smile back?

Yes, I always smile back when someone smiles at me. I think it’s the proper thing to do, to acknowledge that someone has smiled at you by smiling back. What I find tragic is sometimes I smile at someone first, and they don’t return the favor. And, sometimes they are even showing a frowning face or showing a look of disapproval. Why would people do that? It’s not very nice.

Soup
Describe the flooring in your home. Do you have carpet, hardwood, vinyl, a mix?

The flooring in the family room, living room and parlor room is light maple wood flooring. And tiles in the kitchen and downstairs bathroom are white ceramic tile with gray grout. The stairs and 2nd story is grey-green berber carpet. Except for the upstairs bathrooms, which are tiled. The master bath has marble tiles.

Salad
Write a sentence with only 5 words, but all of the words have to start with the first letter of your first name.

Causing Catastrophes Can Create Chaos!

Main Course
Do you know anyone whose life has been touched by adoption?

I know a distant relative who is adopted. He’s a successful account with 3 children and lives in La Jolla. I know another person who was adopted and she’s a graphic designer who lives in northern california with her new husband. Both seem to be doing exceptionally well.

Dessert
Name 2 blue things.

Well the two things I love that are blue just happen to be the sea and the sky. Both are seemingly vast and endless, and stir my imagination of places far away.

I’m sure you might’ve seen this on the news recently… Philadelphia police officers apparently “losing control” and kicking, punching, stomping and baton whipping three suspects:

1. I don’t care if the police had justifiable cause. This doesn’t look right.

2. I thought that suspects are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law. Apparently, for whatever reason, the police officers decided to have the trial, verdict and punishment delivered right there in the street.

3. Watching police officers brutally beat people like that… how am I supposed to feel safe? How am I supposed to trust their motto… “to protect and serve”?

4. People need to learn that violence only causes more violence. Only hate causes more hate.

I know there’s a lot of violence out there. But watching this… I feel really sad, folks. This brings tears to my eyes. :(

Okay, it didn’t help that I randomly visited Eric Cheng’s site and found a youtube video of Japanese piano prodigy Aimi Kobayashi… okay, I found another video that’s equally amazing!

So, early today I thought I had a gig at an upscale residence in an upscale part of town. When I got to the door the daughter of the birthday boy greeted me and invited me in. She showed me the options of where our jazz trio would perform, then I asked when the party was going to start because there was no one there yet. Things looked very quiet. And she said that the party wasn’t until June 7th.

OOPS!!!

Okay, today is May 7th. Apparently there was a mix up with the dates. Daughter of birthday boy (he’s turning 100 next month) had to leave to do an errand, then singer and keyboardist arrive in their van. Hehe… when I told them that the party wasn’t until next month… jaws started dropping.

So, no gig… I wasn’t getting paid. And, so I went home…

Okay, getting back to the little Japanese girl who is a piano prodigy… man, that girl plays better than me and I’ve been playing piano for decades… since 5… I’m not jealous or anything but I’m a bit depressed now… well, I’m not really a classically trained pianist, and now I don’t know what kind of pianist I am… hmm…

This is awesome. I need to incorporate ‘green smoothies’ into my raw foods diet.

Also, here’s a very nice Young Coconut Shake recipe I found on WendiDee’s Pure Jeevan site. Awesome!

I’ve been a long-time fan of Zannah’s blog - #!/usr/bin/girl (since the late 1990’s). Here she is testing the new video feature on flickr.com (as she goes through the Starbucks 24 hour drive-thru. Zannah is an “interent rock star”:

Just thought I would post some photos from my flickr account that were recently faved, being that this is a rare occurence:

This is me like, four and a half years ago when I was vegan, though not a raw foodie yet. As you can see I drank a lot of Starbucks soy mochas. And, my Apple Powerbook G4 was working (properly) before I switched to an HP Pavilion Notebook. Hmm… I look quite different here.

A couple of years ago the family and I traveled to the Grand Canyon for the first time. Actually, I had to perform at a lavish wedding in Scottsdale, so we thought about making a family trip out of the journey too. Here is the El Tovar Hotel and Restaurant, along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I had completely forgotten about this pic. Unfortunately, our youngest boy was sick during most of the trip.

This photo is the most popular of all my flickr photos. But it’s kind of misleading… the room is actually much smaller than it looks. And, right now it isn’t that clean. The room looks like a train wreck right now.

Anyways, thanks to all who visit my flickr photos. If you haven’t been there yet, please explore…

I having certain feelings for distant lands toward the East, feelings that are remarkably strong and have come out of nowhere long ago…

Reincarnation is a concept that is very foreign to the Western world of Christianity and Judaism. I always wondered why I had such an affinity for places such as India, Tibet, and the Himalayas. Sometime in my youth I had a dream about living in the Himalayan mountain range, and possibly the northern parts of India. Perhaps, I even wandered through Tibet once, and had seen Mount Kailash. It looks awfully familiar to me.

As a matter of fact, I have these deep feelings from within, that I had lived somewhere in India or Tibet, in past life. My affinity for Indian and Tibetan culture seems to run deep. Though, I am Filipino by birth, and raised an American, I have a strong attraction to Indian culture, Hinduism, Indian music, art and religion… I have read Autobiography of a Yogi many times. Recently I watched Monsoon Wedding and I did watch it when it first came out in the theaters in 2001, but, I like watching movies about India. I have a nice DVD about the Origins of Yoga that documents the lives of the millions of wandering ascetics, yogis and saints. I collect old photos of Indian yogis and gurus, and I aspire to one day live the life of a serious devotee of Yoga.

In India, a vegetarian and vegan diet is a part of the culture, and is a part of “ahimsa“, a compassion and respect for all living things, to the point of not causing harm to them. It’s part of the philosophy of Yoga, thus… my dedication to Yoga and a Raw Vegan diet is an important part of my personal lifestyle…

One day, i shall visit those distant lands… one day. But for now, I guess I am an Indian or a Tibetan, reborn in a distant land, and longing to come home…

The gig with the Flamenco group went quite well last night. Not that there are times when things go wrong. For the most part the Flamenco group is always a fun gig and we generally do well. But last night was pretty special.

We had a nice crowd there, but it wasn’t as packed as Thursday night. Someone in the band mentioned that Cinco De Mayo is coming just around the corner, so people were probably getting geared up for the partying on Monday. And it’s too bad I don’t have a gig on Monday.

There was a young lady at the gig last night who was very enthusiastic about our music, and was dancing right up front there. It was very apparent that she was digging my drumming, and she called me “drummer boy”, and she complemented me more than once. One of the guys in the band was a bit nervous about her, as if she was rather “stalkerish”, but I had a talk with her after the gig, and she’s a very nice person. Just very enthusiastic about our music, that’s all. And I’m grateful for that. It’s nice to see people really get into what we’re doing.

I wanted to do something a bit different last night. I wanted to re-approach what I was doing on drums and started off playing as minimalist as possible. Sometimes, it’s best to approach the music from the point of “nothingness” and then slowly build from that. And I think it worked very well. I’ll be using this approach from now on.

Drum Solos are the hardest thing to do.

Especially when you play at any venue several times a month, the challenge is to keep things fresh because there are people that come to see you more than once. Sure, there will be times when I’m not as much in the zone as I could’ve been, but the main thing is to keep things creative and fresh each time. I had some very different drum solos last night, which I was happy about. I never want to play the exact same thing each time. And thus the challenge.

But, I’m at a point now where I want to add another cowbell and a woodblock. Mix things up more with the drumset. And get another set of double pedals so that I can strike the bottom of the floor tom.

Anyway, sometimes at the gigs I can feel like I’ve glimpsed eternity… until I get home and find myself once again away from the crowds and the excitement… back to the solitude of home, back to nothingness… until the next gig.

My good friend Pat is afflicted with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease)… my thoughts and prayers go out to you, Pat! This woman seems to have been cured of ALS through faith and prayer. Tonight, I light a candle for you, my friend.

Appetizer
What was your favorite cartoon when you were a child?

Any of the “Merry Melodies” cartoons that included Bugs, Daffy, Sylvester, Tweety Bird, Elmer Fudd, etc… some people say they are violent but looking at them recently… they were pretty tame stuff compared to the violent games and stuff that kids today are exposed to.

Soup
Pretend you are about to get a new pet. Which animal would you pick, and what would you name it?

I would pick one of the many beautiful saltwater fishes. I’ve always wanted to have a saltwater aquarium, but I wouldn’t get one unless it was a large enough aquarium so that the fish would live comfortably.

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy getting all dressed up for a special occasion?

Most of my gigs are special occasions for me, so any special occasion I enjoy dressing up for the occasion. I’m a drummer but I still like to wear suits and the like. It comes from the days when I was in a swing band and we dressed to the nines and bought vintage suits. So, I’d say 10.

Main Course
What kind of music do you listen to while you drive?

All kinds. I have a truly eclectic palate for music. One day it could be some Puffy Amiyumi and Jpop, another day it could be some Tibetan Chant music. But most of it would fall between classical and jazz, and that could be anything from bebop to modern 20th century classical, to a Mozart sonata or a big band. Reggae, Folk, Heavy Rock… not much Pop music, unless it’s the popular stuff from the Great American songbook… Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dinah Shore, etc…

Dessert
When was the last time you bought a clock? And in which room did you put it?

Oh, maybe 2-3 years ago, we bought a digital alarm clock for the master bedroom. It’s got huge numbers that light up with a blue-purple colour. It is really easy to see from a distance. And hopefully it’ll still be around by the time my eyesight gets really bad. Actually, it already is… I’m legally blind but I wear contacts.

If you don’t have an RSS Reader by now, get one now and save valuable time while getting updates to all your favorite sites. For those who use one, which do you use?

We made this video for our friends (and yours) that haven’t yet felt the power of raour friend the RSS reader. We want to convert people and if you know someone who would love RSS and hasn’t yet tried it, point them here for 3.5 minutes.

For starters, today is RSS Awareness Day. And just starting off the month with some cool links:

RSS Awareness Day [ link via labnol ]

Today is May Day

Summize.com - search Twitter in real-time! [ link via dhrumil ]

Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2008 - #1 on the list is His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Identity Theft is the fastest growing “white collar” crime. First step: shred all your personal info, receipts, and credit card offers.

Rickey.org - he’s American Idol’s biggest fan and blogs the show in real-time.

The Truth About The American Idol 7 Contestants?

ProQuo - a great site to help you control your junk mail. You can stop certain junk mail, and you can also request for certain acceptable mail, like catalogs, etc.

Props To WendiDee for having a great raw foods blog at PureJeevan.com.