Life.Music.Games. | In my imaginary mind

So Long 2011

January 1, 2012

I’ve never been a person to celebrate new year or really care about new beginnings (except if it is Chinese New Year since it is tradition celebrated with family and a crapton of food!). However, this year has been full of mixed emotions personally and professionally.

December has been a roller coaster. First starting with the resignation of my (good and close) boss. In less than two weeks the vice president manage to make our team’s transitions the most uncomfortable, uninformed, and unaware impact on the morale of the team. It became terribly obvious the vp did not know what my team does and how we contribute to the company. He’s made ignorant remarks that truly highlighted his lack of appreciation. The more I think about it the more angry and sad I get. In December I hit five years at my work and I believe it is time to go. As much as over the last three years I’ve been feeling the urge to leave and move on, I felt compelled to stay to learn to really excel in community management. Now with my boss gone I feel there is nothing left for me. I still believe loyalty should be rewarded and this place does not foster any loyalty. I could go on all day on how I feel and list out all very reasonable issues to how I feel is justified but I am going to leave it as that. Simply put it is time for a change. I am very nervous about it but I hope to find a place that I can foster and apply my skills!

The end of the year brought upon another situation I’ve never experienced in my life. Two coworkers passed away in a span of two months. While both tragic the worst of all was losing a coworker, who left the company to pursue better interests in no more than two weeks prior to starting his new job, die in the hands of a drunk driver. Just fucking tragic. This world is a cruel place and it really shows our time can be short and unpredictable.

On top of work related stress I’ve been handling a lot of family-related issues. Mom has recently left the state to pursue a new money opportunity while leaving my 14 yr old brother in my grandma’s care (and my care). It is frustrating when you have a teenager who is fairly apathetic and doesn’t want to listen to you because he thinks he knows better yet knows he doesn’t. FRUSTRATING. One of the reasons why I don’t want to have any children of my own, haha. On the other hand I’ve been handling business for my cousin. I can’t get into it just because of the sensitivity of it and it ain’t anybody’s business!

The drama llama has really shown his head this year… So in 2012 I am making a commitment to better myself. New job and pursuing the interests I love. Let’s do this people. Time is ticking…

Posted by £ in Life.

Paying for DJ events

July 11, 2011

L says (1:23 PM)
I never understand Monday night events!
Dada Life at Play House -_-;
Em says (1:23 PM)
whaaaa
L says (1:23 PM)
Just read my tweets /sigh
Em says (1:24 PM)
pfff presales were 40
L says (1:24 PM)
Fuck that.
Em says (1:24 PM)
seriously
L says (1:24 PM)
On a Monday night -_-;
Em says (1:24 PM)
i spent 40 on rusko and doorly… and that was a stretch
L says (1:24 PM)
I only drop that much for Gareth xD
L says (1:25 PM)
HAHAHA haaaa
Em says (1:25 PM)
L: singlehandedly supporting gareth emery’s career, 5 years and counting
L says (1:26 PM)
LOL!

Posted by £ in Music.

Recapping Miami Music Week 2011

June 27, 2011

I can stop thinking about. Even though Miami Music Week was back in March I still find myself thinking about how epic taking a week off my daily routine to dance every day for 5 days to the music I love. I recently made a list of the DJ I remember seeing in Miami to use that as a theme for my next one or two mixes and my gawd was that a decently long list! It doesn’t even include the DJs I wasn’t too interested in as my sister and I were tent hopping at Ultra Music Festival. Granted the Trance DJ list is much longer than the Housey-er I think I’d like to see the Housey-er DJs next time!

I can rave on and on about how awesome that week of my life was. Essentially the weather was good and the events were good. During the day we hit the beach parties, Radio 1, Beatport and in the evening we attended the club events like Gareth Emery Re-Lit album launch party, Markus Schulz at Space event #2 and Above and Beyond at Ice Palace. Even a freakin’ yacht party with Cosmic Gate!

Miami was amazing. I would definitely go again next year if I could. It was amazing meeting so many people from #trancefamily. I think it is truly passionate when people who don’t even know each other get together to share one similar thing.

Right now I have lots to do. I’m working on a couple of mixes as my recap or tribute to MMM. Hopefully I will be making progress very soon! :>

Posted by £ in Music, Updates.

The Term “Rave”

July 5, 2010

As lover of electronic music and never witnessing the supposed rave scene back in the late 90s and early twenty-first century, I always felt the term rave died then when underground scene died. Electronic music is no longer an underground category. Everybody secretly loves electronic music and even my mom does but she doesn’t know it. The word rave to me describes an illegal, drug-laced electronic music party. This really isn’t the case nowadays with legitimate promoters encouraging a clean, fun environment to enjoy electronic music. These legitimate “raves” are dubbed massives or as our European-counter part would say, festivals. Coachella is a festival so what makes Electric Daisy Carnival any different?

Recent events such as a the death of a 15 yr old girl at Electric Daisy Carnival has brought to question the safety of raves in Los Angeles. However, is rave really the term to describe it? Is taking “raves” away from Los Angeles going to change the usage of drugs with electronic music? Sorry, folks, “raves” don’t exist anymore. Though we do still use the term to describe the event due to the type of music and crazy laser and light shows, but these days it’s a whole different flower. By banning these festival events from Los Angeles, you’re basically asking for these events to go underground again; to be run by non-legitimate promoters that will not encourage the safety of others. When you hold big events like Electric Daisy Carnival in Los Angeles it is a huge liability and risk to take on. And the promoters know what the heck they are getting into. So what needs to be changed? The promoters? The audience? Probably both.

I chatted with a colleague of mine and he believes what needs to be changed is drug education, awareness, and enforcement. The promoters need to raise the awareness of the dangers of substance abuse and educate the masses. This would be a wise thing to do because one, it covers the promoters ass by basically saying “hey, we’re doing something!” and two, all the drama surrounding “raves” they can’t really say the promoters aren’t doing anything. I know my views tend to be simple but do we really need to over-complicate situations? I just feel this entire drama llama was simply a lack of accountability. People simply refuse to be accountable for their own actions. So I believe the media has blown the entire situation out of proportion. Let’s here the truth and not protect the victim’s mistakes just because she’s dead. Let’s learn from them.

So it seems I have started to rant but the point is these events aren’t raves. It’s a massive or a festival. Come on, do you really fucking think people at Coachella aren’t dropping?

Posted by £ in Music. Tags: edc, electric daisy carnival, festival, massive, rave

Harmonic Motion – DJ Lange 2nd Artist Album

June 5, 2010

2010… the year of artist albums. Markus Schulz ‘Do You Dream?’ is releasing soon; Armin van Buuren is putting the last touches to his album; Gareth Emery’s first is due out later this year; and something totally not Trance-related, Roxanne Emery’s solo/artist album is due as well.

I’m happy to say I’ve been a Trance enthusiast for over a year. A year seems quite short but the year has been filled with amazing musical experiences. From deciding I wanted to aspire to be a DJ to traveling across the world to London to see a friend and experience the superclub, Ministry of Sound, and to meeting my favorite DJ five times (and counting I hope). If this hasn’t been a musical journey for me, I’m not sure what would be considered one.

One of my favorite DJs, Lange, is releasing his 2nd artist album in less than 30 days. I’m quite excited for this one as I’m suspecting the sound would be quite an evolution from the first. The first single ‘Live Forever’ is already rockin with amazing remixes. Before I rant too long about remixes, I did feel the remixes for ‘Live Forever’ is justified as it brings out many different elements of the tune. Sometimes I don’t understand why some tunes have remixes if the dang remix sounds like the original a little too much. Anyways, it’s going on loop now.

I’m not sure if I can wait 30 days but I’m sure it is worth it in the end. Check out the album teaser site: http://harmonicmotion.djlange.com/

Posted by £ in Updates. Tags: DJ Lange, Harmonic Motion, Lange, Music, Trance

DJ Lange @ Circus Disco – 05.22.2010

May 26, 2010

DJ Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaange. I was able to catch DJ Lange for the first time at Ferry Corsten’s Once Upon A Night at the Palladium in Hollywood back in April. I unfortunately missed most of Lange’s set because I arrived late and it took a bit to get in. It was great to see a DJ I’ve been admiring since I fell in love with Trance. There were a few tunes that really hooked me in and his tune of “Out of the Sky” with Sarah Howells was one of them.

I must say I’ve gone through a phase of being madly into Dutch DJs/producers since they really dominate the Trance scene. Yet as the year progressed I have really developed my sound preferences and DJ preferences. Oddly I made a 360 lean towards English DJs – Gareth Emery, Andy Moor, Lange, Ashley Wallbridge to name a few. I’m also a big fan of German DJs/producers such as Cosmic Gate and Kyau & Albert. I still have a lot of appreciate for the Dutch DJs. Also doesn’t help I’ve caught 5 events with Gareth Emery.

The biF and I arrived at Circus to see Lange a little after midnight. He had actually already gone on stage. I saw Stacey of course and I asked her when he came on. I only missed 10 minutes. I was sad to see how empty the club was. When I mean empty, I mean there is enough dancing room for everybody and I was able to stand in front with ease. Not that I mind that much as I love to have space to dance and breath without getting stepped on, as a DJ you want to see a full house. It took a bit to get the crowd warmed up but I cheered and danced like a maniac to make up for it. Hehe.

Lange dropped a few tunes I’ve been dying to hear spun. Andy Moor’s “She Moves” and of course Lange’s first single off his upcoming album “Live Forever”. You can see both videos I made from the event on my YouTube page. You can also see the pictures I took of Lange that night. A bunch of people were getting pictures of him looking at their camera posing and stuff. He didn’t get me looking at him! Only one shot when others got like 3-4! I made the biF get one too and he did. Teehee. I also got an autograph. I was surprised at how tall the DJ booth really was when I walked up to it. It seemed shorter. So anyways… there I was with my hand leaned over with a sharpie and a pink paper (obviously asking for an autograph). He took it and signed it. While he was returning it to me I made the heart symbol with my hand (I obviously couldn’t reach him and he couldn’t hear my appreciation of course). He gave me back my notepaper and then extended his hand to shake mines. I was ecstatic as I shook his hand. Had a big grin on my face probably.

His set ended at 2AM, which was perfect I thought. This was time for a picture! Lange was awesome enough to step down and sign some autographs and take pictures with some of his fans. I was patiently waiting for my turn and this other girl was as well. She managed to ninja in and she was awesome enough to shove me in before these 2 guys could snag their pic. I literally slipped in and put my arm around him. Haha. He said something along the lines to me “That was very fast.” I got my picture, thanked him for the awesome set and forced a hug on him. Not sure if he saw the hug coming. lawl.

All in all it was quite awesome first getting the autograph and the hand shake. The picture was definitely a plus. Thank you, DJ Lange for that amazing night!

Posted by £ in Music. Tags: DJ, DJ Lange, Lange, Music, Trance

Wolf Mix

May 5, 2010

Ahh… this mix has been available for a couple weeks now but I’m so lazy to update my blog. I really should but you know me, I’ve said that before.

This mix is much darker than the Cake Mix. I wanted to make something a little more mysterious, haunting and somber. As always, I threw in a Gareth Emery tune of some sort.

It took me a very long time to mix this. I fumbled a lot here and there and had to start all over when I blew a mixpoint. This isn’t the most perfect mix but definitely one I’m happy with so far. I didn’t want to kill myself with the tunes over and over.

Posted by £ in Music.

First Mix: Cake Mix I

March 28, 2010

Alright, this is the moment I’ve been waiting for awhile. Getting all my equipment wasn’t an easy thing and I’m only in Stage 1 of my equipment buying. I currently have the software, studio monitors, and a Numark DJ controller. CDJs are next on the list but these babies are a bit expensive haha… but anyways, after much practice, I recorded my mix that I am decently happy about. Definitely some improvements I can make but I’m not hatin’.

Posted by £ in Music.

2 out of 3 – Gareth Emery Socal Shows

March 7, 2010

So I managed to catch 2 out of 3 DJ sets of Gareth Emery here in Socal. I technically could have attended the one in San Diego but the drive was a bit too far and I don’t have that much money to spend. XD

Mr. Emery is amazing as always. Another good set at Avec. I’m pretty sure he knows me by face now so when his set at Avec ended, I was trying to reach him through the crowd and he saw me. He signaled at me and wee… I hugged him, got a personalized autograph and a picture. Told him I’ll see him Saturday and he exchanged the same words.

Now Saturday. Oh my god… that night was FUCKING EPIC. 4 hour set by Gareth Emery! He kept the whole night rocking! At no point was the even bored. I wish my feet didn’t give so I can dance all night! I can’t even describe how amazing it was and I’m sure Gareth was amazed himself haha… At the end he signed autographs and then came over by where I was to say hello and sign more autographs. I gave him my silver sharpie that I didn’t ask for back. At one point the bouncers were pushing people away after he signed many autographs and had a million picture taken. I had to get my moment before the bouncers didn’t allow any more contact. Gareth signaled at me a bit earlier but I said I could wait. I wanted a longer moment. I didn’t but I still got a great picture with him.

I was truly amazed by the set at Circus and it kind of makes me think if I could accomplish the same feat. Lots of practice and heart me thinks! Gareth Emery for #1!

Posted by £ in Music. Tags: Circus Disco, Gareth Emery, Music, Progressive

New Laptop

January 19, 2010

As always, I’m behind on my blogging. I always want to blog about the neat things I buy or the cool things I do but I just never get around to it. Still better late than never.

Last week I finally got my new laptop that I preordered off Amazon.com. Amazon.com is my favorite shopping website. If Amazon.com has what I’m looking for, you can bet I’m buying off Amazon. For the last 3 weeks I’ve been getting package for myself. I am expecting 1 more until my hiatus at least that’s what I think.

So anyways I first preordered the Asus UL30vt-X1. The UL30vt is the newest edition to the Asus laptop line and with a friend’s recommendation I ordered it. The same friend told me a few days later about the next release off the UL30vt line, UL30vt-A1. The -A1 comes with an additional 1 year global warranty and a larger battery capacity for a small price increase. Since my -X1 didn’t ship, I canceled it and ordered the -A1. The laptop wasn’t expected to ship until the 2nd week of January so holding off was quite a pain since I did all my normal computing on a laptop. Since my friend ordered his before mines he got his shipping notice before I did. I only later find out he cancels it as well! He canceled it because at CES Asus displayed the UL30jt! The jt has an overclocked processor, bigger harddrive, and a better video card. Now we can’t be Asus buddies but hey he’s the one without a laptop now, not me.

This laptop is very nice. It’s widescreen like my previous HP but its slight over an inch bigger which is a definite plus. The LCD is also very bright and the dual graphics card allows for optimized battery consumption. This baby can technically run for 12 hours straight on battery with the appropriate settings. Only downfall for me is the lack of an optical drive. It’s cool because I ordered one off Amazon.com. This isn’t much else I can say about it. It does my normal computing and I’m not hardcore like those other geeks when it comes down to review the laptop. It’s sturdy, I like the keyboard, the multi-touch mouse area is a bit sensitive but other than that, this laptop comes with a good price. And of course I can run my games on it.

Posted by £ in Updates.

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