Love's Tempo

Finding your passion

I walked around the Araneta Center in Cubao since there’s a lot of musical instruments stores there.  I guess, luck is really on my side since apparently, all those stores are now on sale.  I stopped by JB Music store, they sell Pearl drum sets and from my research, they do have a compact version which is more suitable for my studio.  When I got there, the store was almost empty in spite the sale.  I went to the percussions section and found this guy playing the drums.  He seem good that I let him finish before I moved around to check on the items on sale.  When he’s done, I asked him what would be the suitable model for beginners.  Then he just looked at me like asking what I was talking about.  So I repeated myself “Hi sir. Which one would you recommend for beginners?” but nothing seem to change.  He just looked at me as if he does not understand what I am asking so I decided to speak in the vernacular. Guess what, he still just looked at me and said nothing.  Then I looked at his shirt and realized that he is not working for the store.  He is wearing a green polo shirt while the rest of the crew are wearing black with JB’s logo on it.  Still, he knows how to play the drums, how difficult is it to answer my question anyway?  I tried to think that way but at the back of my mind, I really want the earth to swallow me. I can feel the heat of embarrassment on my cheeks.  

He must have noticed. He smiled and reached out his hand “I’m Patrick”.  For some weird reason, I automatically shook his hands and gave him my name “Erika”.  

I can still feel the heat on my cheeks when he said “ I don’t work here but I can help you out.  So you’re a beginner. Taking lessons?”  

“Oh yeah. Beginner. Not taking lessons yet. Probably youtube for now.”  

“Ah ok. That’s cool.  For beginners, I will recommend Pearl target.  It’s on sale now and I just tested it. Sound’s good for the price and it’s also compact.”

“Cool. Can you do another demo?” what was I thinking, asking him to do a demo?  I probably thought he’s really good or probably testing if he wasn’t bluffing and was telling me the truth when he recommended the target.

“Sure,” then he sat on the throne again. “What genre do you like listening to?  Will jazz be good?”

“oh, I love jazz music,” liar! I don’t like jazz at all. Why did I lie to this guy? Am I trying to impress him?

Then he went on with his demo, and I decided I do love jazz after all.  He played so effortlessly and he seem to be having so much fun playing. He ended up assisting me with my purchase.  He even joined me while waiting for Uber to pick me up.  

“In case you are free, I teach at UP every Saturday. You can drop by to see how the lessons go then you can decide if you want to enroll” he handed me his card.  I took him and smiled.  I really don’t know what I would say so good thing the uber driver is here already so I just assisted the JB guys with my purchase then waved at him.

Got home excited to try out my drum set.  I checked on youtube on how to set it up. Why is it that those people on youtube makes it appear like it’s soooo much easier than it actually is.  Just the set up, screwing this and that, took about 4 hours of my life that I didn’t have the energy to try to play anymore.  Anyway, I can do that tomorrow.  It is Saturday anyway so I have all day to practice.  

Woke up at 7am, my usual waking time during weekends. Went on with my routine.  Stretch a bit, made coffee, put the bread on the toaster, put some spread, have breakfast, take a bath, brush my teeth then lie down again.  Seeing my drumset, I checked on youtube for tutorials.  Started playing but something seem to be wrong all the time.  I feel rather anxious.  You know that feeling when something seem to itch inside you that but you cannot do anything nor do you know what you can do to relieve the itch.  I decided to check on Patrick’s number.  I was probably looking at his card for at least 5 minutes, blank thoughts when my fingers started dialing his number on my mobile.  Then another 10 minutes before I decided to press the call button.