Black Friday

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Exactly a year ago,
I have written here what I have learned about American Thanksgiving.

Apparently,
I have forgotten to mention another important Thanksgiving event.
The day after.

The biggest shopping day of the year.
Or,
The official day for shopping masochists.

Consumerism at it’s ugliest.

For my fellow Canadians to understand this Black Friday,
Close your eyes,
Think “Boxing Day”,
but worsen that experience a hundred times.
You get it?

Not only that,
Malls and Department Stores open at the unholy hours of 5 or 6 in the morning.
And if you can think of each and every person you don’t like or annoys you,
they are all out there with their annoying self.

If I was to go out shopping on Black Friday,
at 5 am,
battling lunatics for a parking spot,
waiting countless hours in line,
and dealing with freaks who are there,
that bitch and complain about how crowded and insane the malls are.

I assure you, if I was out there,
there must be a gun to my head!

In conclusion,
There is only one thing I want to say.

VIVA LA INTERNET SHOPPING!

Where you can shop ’til you drop your bottle of beer!

One more song added.

·

Show Me A Smile
by
The APO Hiking Society.

A classic tune by one of the Philippines’ brilliant musical groups.

When I was younger,
and still learning guitar,
this was one the songs I would play quite often.

I specifically remember one night, I was trying to get some sleep,
but this song was on constant repeat inside my head.

I believe it was 2 or 3 in the morning,
I couldn’t take it anymore,
so I got up and played this tune.

This song just reminds me of a simpler time.
Funny how my life was different way back then.

Anyhow, without further anything,
Here’s Show Me A Smile.



Mobile Player here:


All instruments by – Ty Martell

I hope you like it.

New Song Added

· 2 Comments ·

A couple of months ago, I came across this guitar site called,
Webstrings.com,
which claims that you’ll get amazing tone, playability, durability and sustain,
for a very low price.

So, I thought I’d check these out, since my Ibanez’ stock pick-ups
doesn’t give me the tone and sustain I wanted.
Plus the distortion on my effects processor is quite weak,
so I figured, why not try these strings?

So anyway,
I told you that story to tell you this story.

Remember Prince?
Or “The Artist Formerly Known As Prince”,
or that symbol, “The Tau Cross With Intersecting Hermaphroditic Ankh.”

Remember his movie, “Purple Rain?”
Anyway,
it was on TV not too long ago, and I thought of playing that famous song.
So I found the backing tracks for it, but everytime I play it,
I can’t seem to have enough sustain.

So, I thought I’d put these new strings to the test.

So, here is the song,
“Purple Rain”
by Prince.



Mobile Player here:


Music by – Prince
Background Tracks – From a Karaoke File
Guitars by – Ty Martell

Hope you like it.

Priorities

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Today, the United States determines it’s next leader.
Millions of registered voters flock to their local precincts,
to exercise their patriotic duty and be heard for the betterment
of the nation.

Today, Canada determines that the word “kemosabe”,
the name given to the Lone Ranger by his friend Tonto,
is not a racist term.

Today, I am proud to be a Canuck!

You think I am kidding eh?
Well, you can read all “aboot” it here —-> Yahoo News
and here —-> MSNBC

Home project advice

·

Today, Tracy and I,
painted our living room with a different color.

I must say,
we did a pretty decent job,
considering we started doing it at 10 pm,
and did not finish til 4 am.

We had to wait til Tyler was asleep,
because it’s just impossible for us to do this project
while he’s running around all over the place.

Plus, with my injured back,
I knew everything will just hurt like a mother trucker!
And you know your body will be very sore in the morning.

So, for those people,
who are thinking of doing some home renovations and/or re-decorations,
here’s a word of advice,

“DON’T”!!!!!

So, why don’t we just look at some cool links,
instead of doing something else, like, “work”.

This is the “ultimate” time waster —-> Paper Toss
Now Boys, let’s show them
how to park a car —-> Parking: Battle of the sexes
Check out Rock’s 10 wildest Myths —-> RollingStone.com
Ancient Japanese way of folding a shirt —-> howtofoldashirt.net
Check out the front pages of newspapers
around the world —-> newseum.org

Quite Embarrassing

·

A couple of days ago,
I was having this dilemma,
and I was debating if I should call someone for help or not.

I would have called Tracy,
but she was at work and I did not want to bother her.

I would have searched the internet,
but Tyler was running around, and I need to keep an eye on him.
(Plus, I would get sidetracked looking at “other stuff” anyway.)

I knew it was quite embarrassing,
but I just swallowed my pride,
called my mother,
and waited for her to laugh at me.

(Phone Rings)

Hello?

Hi Mother! It’s me.
I have a little problem. Are you busy?

What? No, I am not busy. Are you okay?

No. I am not actually.

What’s wrong?

Well, it’s a little embarrassing,
but I really do not know what I am doing wrong.
I tried over and over again,
but I just can’t get it quite right.

Well, what is it?

Eerrrrr…. How do you make grilled cheese?

Echoes of laughter can be heard here.
I think even our neighbors heard me.

Laugh all you want.
But to me, one of the things that really makes me happy,
is when Tyler eats what I prepared for him.
It really bothers me when he does not eat.

I just think that nutrition is something very important at this age.
Plus, I suppose I got this attitude towards food
while growing up in the Philippines.
Because there, people eat like Hobbits.

And I am also trying my best to be the “Perfect Parent”.
I have even subjected myself to read some parenting books,
research some parenting advice online,
even watch shows of Dr. Phil. (God I hate that man.)

So anyway,
after my conversation with my Mother,
I learned two important things.

First.
There is no such thing as a “Perfect parent”.

And second,
Put the butter on the bread first.

Late night Chat

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One of the best things about being married, (or being with someone)
are the late night chats you have when you are in bed.

You know, just before going to sleep,
you talk about how the day went for both of you,
you share funny stories,
you talk about things that happened,
who and what pissed you off,
and the plans you have for the following day.

But you got to be careful though.
Somehow, somewhere along the lovely chatting,
one of you has to initiate how it’s going to end.

One of you has to know when the chat exchange is beginning to make no sense.
When the topics are going nowhere,
someone has to initiate the closing stages, and end it.
Or else, both of you will just be up all night.

Case in point.

Here is an example of a married couple,
who was having a late night discussion about their day.

Pay close attention, on how one of them
brilliantly finished the conversation
and saved them both some meaningless dialogue.

Watch closely because that moment passes very quickly.

Let’s call this couple Tyrone and Tracy,
because those are the names they go by.

(Enter Scene)

Tracy: ….. and so that’s how my day was. Always, busy, busy, busy.
I am so glad it’s over.

Tyrone: You know sometimes when you tell me stuff about your work,
I keep getting confused about who said what to who.
I keep getting the names mixed up.

Tracy: Okay let me tell you some of the names of the people I work with.
There’s Debbie, Abbie, Ann-Marie, Danielle, Claudia, …… (and so on)

Tyrone: Wow! Now let me tell you the names of the guys I work with.

Tracy: Huh?

Tyrone: Yeah! There’s Bert, Ernie, Oscar, Elmo,
Buzz, Woody, Dory and Nemo, those two are hilarious.
Mike Wazowski, James Sullivan, funny guys, I tell you.
There’s Fiona, Donkey, Farquad, Shrek, Gingi……

Tracy: (laughing) Gingi? Who the hell is Gingi?

Tyrone: Gingi! You know, Gingi!

Tracy: No, I don’t know Gingi.

Tyrone: Well, do you know the muffin man?

(Silence)

Tyrone: Who lives down Drury Lane?

(Deafening Silence)

Tracy: Goodnight! (Rolls over)

Thanks Shabu!

·

My good friend Sherille
has made a gallery of Tyler’s pictures on her website.

Check it out here —-> mishmash

Thanks so much Sher.
That was very sweet of you.

Also,
my very best wishes to Lalaine and Enrique,
on their beautiful wedding.

Congratulations you guys!
May your days be blessed.

When is it gonna stop?

·

I just saw that new iPod commercial with U2.
Something “Vertigo”, I think.

What is it with musicians and bands “selling out”?

First I saw Metallica having a reality special.
(Ozzy doesn’t count.
No one understands what he says on that show anyway.)

I saw Bon Jovi in a battery advertisement,
then I saw Bob Dylan in a Victoria Secret commercial.
What’s next?
Bruce Springsteen endorsing Kotex or Tampax?

This is why I love progressive bands and guitar virtuosos.
For them it’s still all about the “music”.

It’s just sad that nowadays,
it’s all about image and money.
It’s not about the music anymore.

Has anyone watched MTV lately?
They don’t show Music Videos anymore.
The only time they show those videos is at 3 or 4 in the morning!
It’s mostly Nick and Jessica marathons.

Just like sports.
Sports is a business nowadays.
NHL is in lockout, NBA players want more money,
and half the NFL players have a police record.
It’s not sports anymore.
It’s sports mixed with politics or the judicial system.

*sighs*
Sad. Very sad.

It’s a good thing I quit showbiz,
gave up on being a professional athlete,
and refused to be a rock star.

(Hey, I can dream, can’t I?)