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I can’t remember the last time I raised my hand to play in a gig, or as what Sandy (director of Sax-And-The-City) would call it – adventure. I think it was when the Blacktown Community Band came around in Christmas 2007 to carol at our home. My “Mary Kate” (that’s my alto sax) was sitting on the stand, so I grabbed it and played with them.

When Jill emailed me last December that she just signed up for this year’s Sax-And-The City at the Sydney Festival, I was encouraged to do the same. Jill and I had the same relationship with our sax playing. We have enough skill to enjoy playing in an ensemble or band – but perhaps a bit anxious to blow on solo.

As I walk through the streets of Sydney on my way to the rehearsal, I had butterflies on my tummy. I have not read any music sheet in all of 2009, can I even manage a lick. As I enter the hall, hundreds of players are getting ready each one had already memorised the music as it was published in the web. I wasn’t expecting it, I thought it was a sit-down concert and music will be distributed this day. Double worry – then Jill tapped me on the shoulder, and god-bless her, she had the music printed and ready.

After a few rounds I’m feeling more confident and started to enjoy the ‘adventure’. That rush of joy when you contribute a note or passage is sheer pleasure. I just wish I could do more and blow like those wonderful players around me – but for now I shall content myself and vow to play more in this year.

How the night went:

Call out was at 5:30pm at the City Recital Hall. We were told to leave our cases there, and register to get our wrist bands. Then we marched into the back of the Mint. We have a NO KNOODLING POLICY. Knoodling? (spell) – it’s a new word to me too – but it basically means – no one is to blow their horn for practice. Everyone were pretty disciplined about it – though it is really tempting to blow a lick or two.

At 7:30pm we had our first set. Our group, stayed at the lower balcony of the Mint. We did well, except for the Street Party, where we muddled up the ending, but it was cool. Jeanne got separated from me as we passed through restricted areas – and she had to detour. She missed our first set.

In our second set, we were at the top balcony of the Mint. Just like in the first, we played our 4 pieces and that’s the end of it. On the 3rd, however, a Scottish Bag Pipe Band passed through Macquarie Street as we were finishing up. We tried to drone (play long and loud note) them. They played a tune, we answered with a dragged down version of our Blues. They played another tune and we answered them with stabbing notes (well it’s a battle of the band afterall). As they play another one, the advance player of our group played Bona Lee – a fast and playful sax piece – just to show them who is the better band. Then the bagpipe band played their signature song – “Scott and the Brave”. The crowd looked at us expecting an answer, instead we played Scott and the Brave in unison with the bagpipes. The crowd roared and cheered as the band marched out off the street.

Following is a YouTube clip of the battle with the pipe band shared by a member of the Sax-and-the-City

Before our fourth set, Brazilian Festivale dancers were on the balconies of the Mint. These drew in a large crowd into Macquarie Street. We basically have a repeat of the battle with the bagpipes. But I think it was less effective this time because the bagpipes are muffled by the huge crowd.

We then marched to the Chifley Square where some were ushered to the top of the ANZ Building and others to the balcony of the Chifley Building. We did not really play up there – we are so high noone would have heared us if we tried. This was done solely for the cameras. As the camera panned, the images are being projected on the ANZ building (see photo on the left).

From here we marched to Hyde Park, where the circus act and aerial display is being held. We provided the finalle backing for the show. We didn’t do much but it gave us a chance to witness the other acts of the Sydney Festival.

On our way back to the Recital Hall to collect our cases, the NO KNOODLING policy is off – and we just had impromptu solos and improvisations as we traverse back to the hall – it was mad, really awesome ‘adventure’. And that’s how the night went.

Selected photos between 11-Dec to 13-Dec 2009 of the Saint Louis Campo Filipino (formerly Holy Family Academy) Class 79 High School Reunion. Photos were taken by Annie Echevarria and Rommel/Jeanne Pascual.

Selected photos between 24-Nov to 24-Dec 2009 of our trip to the Philippines, excluding photos taken on our High School Reunion.

Not only is this the centennial anniversary of Baguio, it is also the 30th anniversary of our high school class. With anticipation, excitement and a bit of anxiety, Jeanne and I returned home. For me, this was not just a Boys High Reunion, it is also a reunion with family, friends in Girls High 79 and of course friends in Holy Family Class 79.

More than anything, we met old friends, made new ones and wondered why we never cross path before. To a few like Ric, Egay, Raul and Arnel – I wondered why they were not close buddies way back then. As for the ladies of Girls High and Holy Family, Vicky and Eileen who are just drop dead gorgeous I wonder why I did not even notice them before. I even asked Jeanne to show me High School photos just to make sure they were really there . I missed Vangie but she sent over a dozen text messages on her trip from Baguio back to Gapo. Her text brightened my day as I lay quarantined for a day nursing a bad sore throat from too much partying.I’m keeping her text messages – maybe one day I can blackmail her

Being in Baguio during the reunion is a blast, an experience I havent felt for a long long time. Days when you are surrounded by people who you feel instant connections like Doc Flerida. Rely on calling on Virgillio early in the morning just so you can ask what are the plans for the night. Meet old friends like Rolly, who did not hesitate to exchange his Vancouver 2010 shirt with my shirt in a rest room at Gilligan’s. Walk in a bar and you see people that you know.

Whoever thought of renting a Cottage at the Court of Appeals to act as a 24 hour center for the reunion is genious. It means that anyone could go there and hang out and would always be with friends. It offers a place to crash for anyone who needed it. It also simplified the start of activities ‘cuz all you have to say is meet at the cottage and we’ll go from there.

Baguio was almost transformed to the city we knew – less the traffic and the uncontrolled and seemingly unplanned mushroming of edifices – it still feel like home. Thanks to Ric and Tess who introduced us to the Forest House – a place where they play music of our years, and after a few rounds we even dared singing with the band. It’s like being in a folkhouse in Assumption Road way back then – but this time with a touch of class. Not just drinking beer but red wine or tequilla.

The photos I’ve taken in this trip are not of places and art but of laughter, bright faces and food … food … and lots of food. Our friends and family have shown thier love and affection in a form of rich food. From the moment we landed we were ushered to Cabalen (Kapangpangan Smorgashboard) in Greenbelt. Every meal from there on is a meal to remember, from home cooked breakfast to picnics and endless gathering of friends.

During our short stay, we attended breakfast dates, brunch dates, lunch dates, dinner dates, cocktails, bonfire, family picnics, and meriendas. When Doc Flerida invited us for lunch, they were already cooking merienda while we are still having lunch. We were also planning the coming dinner and cocktails as we pause to feel our bulging tummy. We had a 3-hour break and
reconvenned for cocktail which lasted til 1 am. And if that’s not enough, coffee til 3am in Rumours with Pilar. The exchange of wits and unpleasntries betwen Pilar and Raul kept us entertained until we could not laugh no more. We burst into spontaneous clapping with their great come backs.

Selecting the photos is no easy task – here are some taken of the main reunion. For all other photos please feel free to download your copy off my Flickr Collection

Jeanne and I bought new phones and are very impressed with the new features. It is well worth that bit extra that we paid for these phones. To begin with, we were with AAPT on their 50c plan for a long time. That is right, 50c/month is all we pay for Jeanne’s phone. She could make up to $20 worth of phone calls and still pays just 50c. Like all good things – this rate lasted us about a year and it was back to $15/mo for $20 worth of calls. We also notice that the call rates are a bit higher that we often go over the limit and pay a lot more than $15 per month.

So we decided to take the $19/mo plan from another provider which included the Nokia E63 phone and $70 worth of calls. With an extra $8/mo – Jeanne was able to get unlimited emails, Skype and 100MB of Data. The phone does not have an HSDPA but it can still be used as a dial up modem if you’re desperate. However, the data allowance is enough to do a bit of web surfing and lots of international phone calls via SIP. SIP calls can be very cheap. We subscribe to PennyTel to make SIP calls and it cost 8c per untimed call to Canada and U.S. If you think about it, it is cheaper for us to call our relatives in US/Canada than to call someone locally here in Australia.

What Jeanne loves most is being able to read and reply to emails while on the car on the way or coming home from work. She uses “EMail on 3″ while I use the “Nokia Messaging” to push email to the mobile. I like the “Email on 3″ better as it has native support to OWA (Outlook Web Access) which means that I could have accessed my work email on mobile. Unfortunately this software is exclusive to the “Three Network”, and I’m with Optus. (Oh well, maybe fortunately as I don’t have to deal with work email unless I’m at work!).

Here are my favourite S60 Applications:

1. WorldMate – Need to know the time in 5 different cities quickly? Great when you want to be considerate before making a call overseas to check their local time. Do you want to get a weather report read to you twice a day of your selected city? Need to convert currency quickly with the rates updated from the net? The premium version even keep track of flight details.
2. SMSDiary – I received a free licence for this great product because I posted comments in  http://mye63.blogspot.com .This software makes it easy to keep track and read SMS messages.
3. Skype – Skype on mobile, best thing since loaf bread. But with news of legal problems of eBay, owner of Skype, concerning the telephony component of Skype, this service might not be free or worst may not be available soon.
4. Nimbuzz – Got this tip from my sister Helen, it connects you to all your Instant Messaging (IM) networks, like Yahoo, MSN, Google, Facebook and Skype. It even make Skype-to-Skype calls very convenient. The downside or upside, depending on how you feel about your perceived online status, is that you would appear to be online on these IM sites all the time.
5. Talkonaut – The native SIP connection of Nokia E63 sounds choppy via GPRS, but great on WiFi. Talkonaut allows you to connect automatically to WiFi when available and GPRS when not. Using WiFi naturally saves your mobile data allowance as it uses an even cheaper ADSL data bandwidth.
6. Mini Opera – Great web browser
7. Putty – Allows you to connect via secure shell to Unix Servers. I use this more often than I thought I would.

There are other cool apps, like Google Maps, Palringo, YouTube, GMail, etc.

A loss in the family also brings out the occasion for family members to come together. This photo is taken just outside the home of the Anada Family in Calgary – 27 July 2009.

From Left-to-Right at the back are: Rove ‘the Popular’ Laroco, Auntie Beth ‘Jet-setter’ Macaraeg, Airee ‘Korean Doll’ Pascual, Dennis Retuntar , Auntie Litz ‘Camera Shy’ Navales, Ralph ‘Vancouver Guy’ Laroco, Louie ‘Debonair’ Anada, JB ‘Cool Guy’ Anada, Liberty ‘Our Darling’ Pascual-Anada, Ryzanne ‘Vancouver Girl ‘ Laroco, Jessica ‘From Down Under Australia’ Pascual, Araceli ‘Best Friend Since High-School’ Balanon, Delexter John ‘The Engineer’ Talavera.

The kids at the front are Arcleah Pascual, Jim Boy Anada and Rhom ‘Omming’ Laroco.

Notably absent in this photo is my sister Khorz – who is quite possibly the person who took the photo or out somewhere stressing on something she won’t care about after.

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When I snapped this photo in Tricia’s wedding, little did I know that it would play a modest role on her final farewell. I almost even have not shared it to Tricia when she asked for photos for Aunt Rosie’s services. I thought, why would she want a solo picture, they must have a lot of it. Besides, what Tricia wanted were photos of Aunt Mary surrounded by the many friends she collected over the years.

I wrote to Tricia the greatest impact made by Aunt Rosie to me. The time when she ask me to join her and a friend for lunch. We had a good time and I also enjoyed the company of her friend, they seem to know a lot about each other – so I assumed they were friends from way back when. To my surprise, she met her at David Jones, Aunt Rosie was the customer and she’s the saleslady. She called Aunt Rosie because she found a new job and didn’t want to lose touch. Such is ease on how Aunt Rosie endears to new friends.

I’ve met other people like her, but often times – friendly people have motives. More often, if they are so nice they may be roping you for an MLM. But not A. Rosie – you know that her interest in you is downright pure. She want nothing from you, in fact she’s working into inviting you to a dinner or at the very least, lunch in the break-out area in the office.

I will miss you A. Rosie. The countless time you came around to say ‘Hi Stranger’ – almost taunting why I don’t come around your desk often. I will miss having to hide my lunch because I know you will quiz me on how it is cooked, though you know very well I don’t know but you want to remind me how lucky I am because I have a wife who looks after me. I will miss the fact that you call us the “cycling team” although we’ve long since stopped having those cycling weekends.

I will miss you but never forget you.

After a year of saving up, losing her job, finding another, working ’til late after school and taking the late train home. And now they made it. The Twins and Jess have been eating 30 burgers at the White Castle and enjoying the site of New York City.

Here are their preliminary photos.