Last gig of the year
The wife and I went to Chinatown in SF last night for her old co-worker's wedding. The Chinese banquet was great with a ton of food but check this out. We were seated with several of her old co-workers in a table in the back. The only problem was that they weren't there yet. We sat at a table getting dish after dish all by ourselves. First the jellyfish, then chicken, then honey walnut prawns, then soup, then scallops, then duck, then rice, you get the idea. Thankfully, some people who were sitting in the vegetarian table who weren't vegetarian ended up joining us.
Later on, when the dancing started, I got the dancefloor moving. Then I noticed the Serato was acting up. It would cut out the song in mid-stream and then catch up later. The whole while though, the song would go quiet. I tried not to panic and ended up trying to reboot and play regular cds for awhile. I ended up doing that for the rest of the night. I've been really loving the Serato because I'm able to pull music left and right without changing cds. I was getting a nice flow but now it was taken away from me and I had to go back to the old way (not that old, but old enough).
The wife and I got to do a little dancing as well since it started to thin out and everyone was just chillin. We were doing our worst "Dancing With The Stars" impression. When we were packed up I ran to the garage up the street to get the car when I was joined but a couple who were guests as well. The wife looked at me and then looked surprised, realizing I was the deejay and that I was also dancing. She said you looked much bigger out there on the dancefloor. But now that I see you you're not that big. That right there made me want to hop on a treadmill and run for miles. If I could only keep that as a new year's resolution for 2007.
All Over The Map
I'm here again at the hotel on an early friday morning. I've been at the hotel practically every night this week, although I haven't stayed all night, just training on what I need to know and then going home for the rest of the night. Tonight though is an "all-nighter" night. Luckily, the houseman with me is cool and we've worked it so that each of us can take a nap while the other stays awake. I'm finally getting the hang of the night audit and am more confident with what my duties are and how to fulfill them.
I'm starting to see the ugliness in some guests. Some people complain about everything. One lady who has been here all week complained four days later that her room smelled of smoke. She's on the non-smoking floor with a non-smoking room. The other day, some couple came in and started taking items from the coffee area like tea bags and sugar. She took the whole bin and was going to take it to her car. Then, she and her boyfriend began taking food from the fruit area, dropped the plate while making a big scene, and then tried to take more food. She didn't even try to clean up what she dropped. She was actually stealing from the buffet and then we ended up calling the police. They had a car with stolen plates, nice. Another night some people were smoking weed in their room and being loud. The lady who complained about the smoke complained about their noise and it turned out there were three girls partying with some guy, drinking as well. We called the cops on them but the girls left. We warned the gentleman that he'd be removed from the hotel. When he checked out his credit card was declined. I wasn't here at that time but I don't know what I'd do at that point. I'd be furious first of all but the customer service in me would get it straightened out.
Merry Christmas baby... And a Happy New Year
I'm here at the hotel, doing my night audit thing. I started at 10:00pm, X-mas eve, and it's now 3:30am, X-mas day. The wife and kids are staying in Concord with her brother and his family. She did such a great job this year of preparing all the gifts and making sure we didn't miss anyone. I'll be getting off at either 6:00 or 7:00am, depending on the person who's coming in after me. It's really dead here. The houseman here with me is kind of new also so we're both winging it, as far as what we're supposed to be doing. I've been working almost every night here trying to get the hang of what needs to be done. I run reports, close out credit cards, all those things involved with a hotel. It's my first night to be by myself and so far it's been pretty easy. I was really scared of doing it considering at this point of the night, the hotel is mine. I'm the manager of a 150 room hotel, yikes.
A lady just arrived as a walk-in. She was Pinay and she flew in from NY via Atlanta. She is the ambassador to South Africa for the U.S. Really nice woman who said she spends a lot of time in Europe, Luxemborg to be exact. I told her about Likha and mentioned that we'll be in Spain and Greece next year and that she should bring us in somewhere. She's also in NY so I said "Send us there!" We'll see since I'll be giving her my card and I now have hers.
When I'm done here I'll be going home to sleep and then meeting the family at my mom and pops place where my side of the family is meeting. My mom is cooking a prime rib so I'm looking forward to that. The boys are going to be so spoiled this year because I know all of their relatives and family friends have hooked it up. Even the wife and I have been spoiling them all the way up to X-mas. After my parents house we'll be going to the wife's side of the family in Lafayette. Thankfully we don't have to drive far this year. I'm actually working again at 11:00pm X-mas night here again so I can't stay out too late.
On a quick note, I've been a big ebay whore, bidding on all kinds of things left and right. I Won a bid for some new Kenneth Cole shoes but the seller sent the wrong shoes as mine were switched with another winning bidder. We're supposed to swap shoes but mine haven't arrived yet whereas his has. Also, we bought the wife a new camera, much like Ms. Luzon's Canon. It should be arriving after X-mas. Lastly I've been bidding on a new MacBook Pro adn use it as a business expense. I'm going to overhaul and redo my whole music list for the year so that I'm not overloading what I bring to gigs and it'll be simplified, I hope... I'm looking to get a 15 or 17in core duo or core 2 duo with at least a 120g hd and 1gb mem. I've lost a couple of bids which I'm actually thankful for as they got pretty high. I've also looked on the apple.com site for refurbished ones. It still looks like the ebay macs are less expensive but you never know if your seller is a bad one. That's a lot of money to be putting out and getting nothing in return. So i'm on the look out if you know of anyone getting rid of one.
Merry Christmas everyone and thank you for all of your love and support in one of the tougher years I've experienced. I'm looking forward to seeing my boys smiles when they get their gifts. The wife and I took care of each other already but we'll take joy in seeing our family go through another blessed year.
Him Got Too Many Jobs Man...
I'm the computer guy, the hotel guy, the deejay, the emcee, the house cleaner... Oh boy, where to begin. So you know that I've had a ton of gigs this month. I've got a couple coming up, one next week and one in January, but nothing like this last rush of parties that I went to in December. Along with that, I'd been trying a new schedule at the hotel. I was going to do Night Audit full-time and be at the hotel Sunday through Thursday. After seeing my paycheck I realized there was no way we could continue that unless I had a gig every weekend to supplement the income. But I don't so I looked around and lo and behold I received two calls, one from BofA, my old place, and the other from the place with no internet that laid me off. After careful consideration, mainly commuting and the kids school, we went with the one that laid me off. At first I felt as if I was tucking my tail between my legs and running back but after looking at it from afar, they rewarded me with one of the biggest breaks I've had in a long, long, long time. Thankfully the wife was so supportive. All of you who helped me get gigs here and there, especially the Tuason's on both side, made my summer for me and my family amazing. I still got to do some projects for the house. We took an amazing vacation this year and I still got to spend time with my sons. Now though, with all the jobs I'm taking on it's been a little tough on the family but it's temporary. I'll be doing part time at the hotel and one of my buddies will be joining me there as well. I've got a whole new position here at the bank, Information Security Officer, with a new duo core PC and INTERNET! They even gave me a cellphone so I'm carrying two around on my belt like a nerd. (Gosh, I never thought I'd need to do that!) I'm still close to home in both jobs and soon enough the wife will be working closer to home with her new startup. Looks like the Laxa family is ending the year on an exciting note and that 2007 is looking bright.
Bring That Beat Back is gettin' busy!
Man, in this month of December, I have had gig after gig after gig. Thank God too because with this house comes a huge property tax and half of it was due this month as well. And with me not working as much and the hotel pay being what it is, it's a welcome dj schedule for me.
On Dec 1st I had a gig for the San Pablo Police dept. At the Sevilla wedding I did in the summer an officer was there and liked the work we did for them so he hired us for their X-mas party. It was on a friday night and it was scheduled from 6pm to 12am so we were going to be busy. The PD had a nice ceremony for awards that they gave out, including officer of the year. The Chief was the emcee and he really had his officers clinging to his every word. The winner was a female cop who was also a martial arts champ. When the dinner was over we started the dancing but apparently someone had a couple suites upstairs with a ton of alcohol so a lot of the officers went there instead. It was all good since we still had a good crowd, mostly administration, who hung out and danced. One thing that did surprise me with SPPD, not a lot of black cops. Hmmm...
The next day I had a wedding reception in SF for a nice couple that knew Ledge, who referred us (thanks man!). The bride is a nurse and the groom is a doctor trying to finish up his residency. Also, she was Pinay and he was Vietnamese. The reception took place at Yank Sing in the Rincon center and I was setup in this corner spot with my huge Mackie speakers. I was cramped but it worked out anyways. They had the huge 12 course meal with all kinds of food but I had a vendor plate, one that could have been from Panda Express. It was actually perfect because I was busy doing things throughout the night but seeing those honey walnut shrimp... man. When we finished up the ceremonial portions of the reception we had just over a half hour of dancing. It was cool for me because I could just quick mix my way through the night and get all kinds of music out of the way. Overall, the reception turned out nicely and the couple was happy with the work.
A week later I had offered to dj for my aunt's church function and she invited our whole family. So the wife and kids joined me as we made our way to the Coast Guard facility in Alameda. It was pouring that day. The guard needed both the registration and proof of insurance and I couldn't find the current insurance paper. She was going to make me park in the lot and walk my ass and all my equipment over to the hall a block and a half away. Thankfully, the wife found our current one and we made it in. The gig was easy as the ladies gave me a cd with their favorite line-dance songs. Amazingly, they did the same line-dance to all different songs. Go figure. It was a cross between the electric slide and Saturday Night Fever.
Sunday, I played for the Likha X-mas party but with it being a Sunday night, most people left pretty early. We hung out for a little while with the usual suspects and ended the weekend. Oh, the next day, I had orientation at my new job.
Again, the next Friday I had a gig for the X-mas party of Catholic Healthcare West. We did their party last year which was accompanied with a Monte Carlo night. Most people gamble last year but this year since it was just dinner and dancing the pressure was on me to keep the party going. By the way, I was back at the Rincon center at Yank Sing. That's where they held their party and I got another vendor plate. I got the crowd going with a little Michael Jackson and moved from genre to genre, swing to cha cha to hip hop. By the end of the night, it was mainly hip hoppers and old schoolers and they stayed till the end. Another good gig overall. Thanks Marilen!
Saturday I deejayed a wedding over in Palo Alto on the 280 side. This was a Korean American couple who saw us at another wedding as well. This reception was more chill as the hall itself fit around 110 with a X-mas tree in the room as well. It was mainly eating and speeches but they did stick around a little for some dancing. One touching moment was seeing the father of the bride play saxophone for his daughter. She had a hard time keeping the tears from flowing and he played very well. The bride and groom were very gracious to me and they showed their appreciation with a really nice tip. I was shocked but very grateful.
I still have one more gig, a wedding for one of the wife's old co-workers. This one is on the day before New Year's eve. I don't have a New Year's gig although I would have like to have played somewhere. I think my mixing and music selection has improved and that I could hold my own in a big event. But with December being as busy as it is, I can use the break.
Please Pardon Pinoys Poor Posting
I'm slacking and I apologize. A lot has been going on in the past few weeks but I plan on getting caught up and documenting it all. Many gigs have been going on and I'm working like crazy between the weekend gigs, the hotel and now the bank. Yes, the bank... that laid me off.. yes that one. I'll explain it all but I'm still working as I type. Oh, at least back at the bank I now have internet access. Yes!
A friend in need...
As you may have seen and read from the wife's page, a great friend of ours from our days of college is looking for a bone marrow donor for his son, Harrison. Their struggle is now being documented on
sfgate.com . It's really encouraging to see the outpouring of support they are receiving from the SFFD and we're going to do our part to help him as well.
