Things you'll never hear a drummer say:

from drumbum.com newsletter...

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1.) Yea, I was the one speeding up.
2.) You guys take a break...I'll get the rest of the equipment loaded.
3.) No thanks, I'd rather not play any tune that showcases any sort of interesting rhythmic twists or kicks.
4.) Maybe for this song we should get a drum machine.
5.) Where can I find a Hello Kitty bass drum head?
6.) What's a rudiment?
7.) Does this throne make my butt look big?
8.) My drum solo is waaaay too long. We should cut it out and put in a guitar solo.
9.) The chick singer is way too hot. She's gonna have to go!

bits and pieces from last week...

02/12/2007
-in my bio11 class, we started to skin our own preserved frog specimens.. i named my frog, "kokak" - he was such a nice frog (im sure he's a 'he' because his stomach wasn't bloated with eggs).. it was my first time to skin (and later, dissect..) a preserved frog. back in highschool, our bio professor didnt even dream of letting us hold of the frog specimen - he knows he's gonna see the frog on the ceiling, or on one of our classmates pants (or skirt..) if he let us. so there i was - i tried to figure out what to do.. how to cut a clean "I" or a "V"..and not to look bad if something disastrous happens.. i found out that skinning a frog was a bit stress releasing.. and the smell of the formalin even adds to the bliss..
i even remembered eating fried chicken, or steamed fish, or tinolang manok, or isaw, while skinning kokak.. i was already enjoying it, but thanks to my own frog skinning expertise, i sliced the gracilis minor muscle with kokak's skin and became one of my teacher's privileged example for the class -
"ayan, tingnan nyo si billy..yan ang hindi nyo dapat gayahin.."

oh well.. at least i learned something - it pays to be patient.

02/13/2007
my 1:00-2:30pm class was dismissed early..i decided to go to the college of music's library, and finally look for some drumming books. it was my first time to enter their library..i searched for joe morello's "Master Studies" in the opac, but argh..it wasnt on shelf.. the librarian might have seen my despair, so he willingfully offered me some books. one of them was Peter Erskines' "Drum Concepts and Techniques" where i learned some ideas, and copied some drummer-quotes. one of them was stated by Professor Jiggswhigham from the Musikhockschule,

"there are no limits out there...if you can conceive it, you can produce it on your instrument with work.."

..even his name was funky..

5:30 onwards
- we walked from esbi tambayan to KFC tandang sora (o ha, o ha..), not because we didnt have wheels or we were saving cash, but because we didnt have wheels and we were saving cash..(o_0) then went to monci's place for the SVCF Gents night. other details are not for public consumption.

wahaha! (as if ure curious...)

02/14/2007
-i went home after the gent's night..then slept the whole afternoon (1:30 to 4:47pm).. then went to church to submit our youth ministry proposal to our senior pastor..but i wasnt early enough so i had to wait for 2 hours.. thankfully, its my dads bday on the 15th, so there was a caldereta treat for the prayer meeting.
then i went to esem north for juddy pearl's (anak kong makulit.. (>_<) bday treat at sbarro and shakey's ice cream bar. arrived home at 11:30, slept late again.. what else?

02/15/2007
-we continued our dissecting adventures in bio class.. we finished early, and our class enjoyed enough that we even proceeded to go to the digestive system. poor kokak. =( i was supposed to be interviewed at 2:30pm.. waited in esbi tambayan for an hour..exam on a major subject the next day, but i didnt have the energy to study after i saw kokak's inner parts.. but maybe it wasn't heavens will for me to be interviewed-yet..muhaha! re-scheduled tomorrow afternoon..so help me, God.

02/16/2007
-tiresome.
even just thinking about last friday makes me tired right now..
8:30-10:45am - Basic Fitness Dance Class. our main workout focused on 'aerobic circuit training', which i think was used to torture prisoners of war.. the treadmill was 'invented' when soldiers once tried to torture their prisoners by making them run non-stop on the ancient treadmill. but to their surprise, their prisoners just got fatigued but adapted and ran longer after some time.. maybe the aerobic circuit training workout was also once used to torture prisoners - prisoner/students..
10:20-11:33am - took my dreaded hk115 exam.. the exam was supposed to be easy - i knew it was easy, but i didnt have enough time to study the day before..so i said goodbye to my hopes of getting a good grade on that exam..
11:45-1:00pm - went directly to UPIS for the regular ISCF fellowship after i left my bag on esbi tambayan. we only had three students when we started because it was their 'teachers day'..two other students added to our group and were just in time for the conclusion part of our bible study..but i was still blessed because of their perseverance and desire to meet..i pray that God will use the iscf in upis for the students to know Christ more, and prepare them for his kingdom..
1:15-2:00pm - i (literally..) ran from upis back to the acad oval to get an ikot ride to the chk gym..thankfully, we didnt have any serious lesson or activity in class.. and i still got to write my name on the attendance sheet and wasnt considered late though i arrived at about 1:35pm..2:45-4:15pm - one-on-one FG with james (until yang arrived at 3:15..?).. he lead the bible study on the topic "Sovereignity of God." i evaluated him and was blessed on all his efforts, even though the applicants enrolled in our group were nowhere to be found..
5:30-6:15pm - fulfilled my emcee duties (for the first time) for the bigf..
7:00-sat afternoon - Student Leader's Retreat!

02/18/2007
i had a nightmare.. you were in my dreams..

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i praise God for all His blessings to me this past week..
surely, words wont be enough...

Shout for joy to God, all the earth!
Sing the glory of his name;
make his praise glorious.

Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you.
All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you, they sing the praises of your name."

Come and see what God has done,
his awesome deeds for us! let us rejoice in him!

Praise our God, all peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;
I will come to your temple
with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you—
vows my lips promised
and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble.

Come and hear, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.
I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.

If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer.

Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me!

- Psalm 66

your time has come.

...you hit the cymbals, make a couple of rolls and some mind-cracking and nerve-wrecking fills... you twirl your stick before hitting the splash on your right... bright lights dance while you do some upbeats on your hi-hat... then you let your toms sing their hearts out... your sticks made a few quick but powerful strokes on your floor tom before making their way back to your snare...

you know that the moment you have isn't long - but it doesn't matter.

and then you start your last few rolls... you hit your snare while pounding your bass drum with double peds, as if you're trying to defy a legion of marching bands... the music is still playing in your ears, but your time is now about to end...

and its up to you.

...welcome silence and make music, or let your hands continue to unleash their energy on your sticks and transform the music you produced to noise...

...you made your sticks run their final combinations around the drumset - all over the place...

then you stopped.

but the music is still alive in your veins... it should be. its not supposed to cease.

and its not about the drumset, sticks, or whatever... all that matters is how you relate to the music... you should not get rid of or even try to suppress the music inside of you... just let it play and perculate in your head... if there is an opportunity to practice or simulate whats in your head, then do so... make every effort to translate it to your hands, then to the sticks your holding... and when your time comes again, playing the music in your head won't be of much effort...

you wouldnt even have to think of how youre going to do it, or whats coming next.... you just play.

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“I religiously follow a constantly-evolving practice routine. It’s not glamorous, but for me daily practice is a principle source of growth and inspiration in my playing...”
-Thomas Lang

nyahaha!! astig!

English movie titles you DEFINITELY should NOT translate in Filipino =)

1. black hawk down - ibong maitim sa ibaba
2. dead man's chest - dodo ng patay
3. i know what you did last summer - uyy... aminin!
4. love, actually - sa totoo lang, pag-ibig
5. million dollar baby - 50 million pisong sanggol (it depends on the exchange rate of the country)
6. the blair witch project - ang proyekto ng bruhang si blair
7. mary poppins - si mariang may putok
8. snakes on a plane - nag-ahasan sa ere
9. the postman always rings twice - ang kartero kapag dumutdot laging dalawang beses
10. sum of all fears - takot mo, takot ko, takot nating lahat
11. swordfish - talakitok
12. pretty woman - ganda ng lola mo
13. robin hood, men in tights - si robin hood at ang mga felix bakat
14. 4 weddings & a funeral - kahit 4 na beses ka pang magpakasal, mamamatay ka rin
15. the good, the bad and the ugly - ako, ikaw, kayong lahat
16. harry potter and the sorcerer's stone - adik si harry, tumira ng shabu
17. click - isang pindot ka lang
18. brokeback mountain - may nawasak sa likod ng bundok ng tralala/bumigay sa bundok
19. the day of the death - ayaw tumayo (ng mga patay)
20. waterworld - basang-basa
21. there's something about mary - may kwan sa ano ni maria
22. employee of the month - ang sipsip
23. resident evil - ang biyenan
24. kill bill - kilitiin sa bilbil
25. the grudge - lintik lang ang walang ganti
26. nightmare before christmas - binangungot sa noche buena
27. never been kissed - pangit kasi
28. gone in 60 seconds - 1 round, tulog
29. the fast and the furious - ang bitin, galit
30. too fast, too furious - kapag sobrang bitin, sobrang galit
31. dude, where's my car - dong, anong level ulit tayo nag-park?
32. beauty and the beast - ang asawa ko at ang nanay nya
33. the lord of the rings - ang alahero

if you do not see yourself as a drummer, you wont be able to play like a drummer...