Quit Ego

Welcome to my blog-site dear relatives, extended relatives and friends. This site is a work in progress: ‘quit ego’. I plan to expand on this, starting as a brief narrative and maybe turn into a book later. When I look into the individual life of relatives, friends and patients (instead of patients, even clients do not suffice as they help me heal. Maybe colleagues in the experiment of life is a better term). One is always at a crossroad in everyday life, the demarcation line of which is measurable. However this yardstick is often unbeknown to us. I subscribe to ‘quit ego’ and I hope to transmit to my fellow sentient or impermanent beings (all life is temporary or impermanent, there’s nothing to hold on to). I recommend removing the ego or self identity in our awareness as a permanent life-style. Our lifelong self assigned self image is what we have nurtured throughout our life up to this point. I recommend a departure or the opposite (to these natural tendencies of identification with our self-image, ego, or egocentricity).

Why is the ego necessary and what are the disadvantages of the ego? [edit].

Once we no longer identify with our self imposed identity, this new awareness, the egoless person emerges. No more filters of the past anxiety. They’re no longer relevant to the present. And no longer influenced by the anticipation of future worries over death and other parallel horrors that are associated with this primordial or ‘the mother fear’. This new set of vision forces us to focus on the one and only real thing in life: the present, the continuous everlasting and narrow here and now. English author William Somerset Maugham called this ‘the razor’s edge’.

We become enlightened, we feel light (as in the innocence and creativity of the young child), and we become free of the burdens, and energies that are associated with pain bodies, the sub-part of the ego where all negative or heavy feelings of anger, hatred (protracted anger), depression (anger turned inwards), remorse, alienation, jealousy, paranoia and frustration – are kept in our mind.

The term ‘pain bodies’ was coined by the author Echkart Tolle. These emerge as the consequence of supporting and maintaining the never-ending and always incrementally building demanding needs of the ego. It’s universal to all, meaning we all have these without exception. It varies in amount, density from people to people. It tends to be denser (higher in density) with women. Pain bodies has emerged as having a mind of itself, just like the ego. Pain bodies exert effort in us to perpetuate itself like a ‘virus’ of the mind, and it wants itself to be spread around to others like an ‘infectious agent’. It thrives on causing pain.

A person with heavy pain bodies evolves like this: during early childhood, he or she reacts to the dominant opposing parent either as part of the pain of natural growth or more so (as the growing evidence shows e.g. psychotherapist Alice Miller, author of The Drama of the Gifted Child) as a consequence of the cruelty of his or her parent/s. In other words, any parent would naturally have pain bodies as everyone else have their own issues usually from their parents (or our ancestors). In course, the child’s ego (whereby he or she is the hero) in reaction to the dominant parent turned the parent into the anti-hero. And this starts the drawing of the line across the sand in a long journey of action-reaction not realizing by each party who started the ball rolling in the first place. This means the child’s alienation to the parent in turn feed backs to the parent reinforcing one’s suspicion and cementing each other’s position that their alienation of each other is justified and thus creates the love-hatred relationship. Love triangle is the usual setting. Only people looking from the outside ‘see this scenario’ as the 2 principal players are too close to see, too blind to see.

Pain bodies may lie dormant, but it can always be triggered to surface by the right circumstances. Here’s a primer about pain body. And here’s a link to a discussion about pain bodies: Echkart and Oprah: an example, “Not getting sucked in by the pain bodies of an alienated mother”. And the “Lack of power over us by thoughts from the past“. “Stillness. Presence.” Being present is intrinsically there in our life already. One need only be aware. Get rid of the repetetive compulsive thinking by the egoistic mind. Your thoughts and beliefs may be good as pointers, but these should not be confused as identical to one’s mind.

Echkart & Oprah: Breaking Free Of Worry

The egolessness state according to expert teachers of the zen subject believe is difficult to achieve, maintain and kept permanently. It behaves elusively as the displaced (Mara, the demon or the) Ego in the background would want to wrestle out the enlightened part. Glimpses of egolessness when once experienced would be best set as a good beginning into one’s journey of always coming back to it. One can liken it to a good clean addiction.

Resistance to any change or adherence to the status quo is the position that many of us will normally choose, as the journey to the egoless state will be full of pain and difficulties. One has to travel back to the path that has caused the original trauma in our psyche in the first place. The bridge we broke off past our path has to be rebuild up before we are able to cross it. It is like “putting a knife deeper and moving the knife side to side sadistically causing more unbearable pain”. In Filipino, “dinudutdut ang sugat” or crumpling over a (painful) wound. Daniel Mackler author, filmmaker, psychotherapist of New York City covered this as the first of the 4 stages of emotional growth or healing starting from the most primitive way to highest development: 1) Dissociation or splitting off 2) Depression or suffering 3) Grief and 4) Enlightenment. Mackler did several youtube videos dealing with this subject. He likened childhood trauma to having swallowed poison and we protected our psyche by splitting off from the conscious mind to one side, the unconscious or subconscious mind. This is what Mackler called the first stage splitting off or dissociation. In order for one to get over the permanent dysfunction caused by the childhood trauma, in order to get over the poison in the body, one has to relive the life experience he or she went through earlier in life or as in the parallel, one has to vomit up and out the poison he or she had swallowed. This is the most critical concept regarding mental and emotional health whereby one’s course in life as to whether he or she gets over this dysfunction or not.

The Bell Curve ( With its Phases ) as above 'Product Lifecycle'. Or One's' Life Cycle'. 'Pain Cycle'. Any Event-cycle.

The journey towards egolessness follows the typical bell curve: the first part up-curve is the critical moment which when at this stage will feel like as though it’s forever and where most people would freak out and retreat. Retreat is when one stays in the limbo state of dancing at the crossroad or fork of the road waiting to choose between one route over the other. It’s my opinion that the majority of the world are in this stage and another group, the equally large group which is the stage of ignorance (of the need to know who we really are). Remember the quote “ignorance is bliss”? And some people stay here forever some till death and some eventually choose to finally face the upcurve (journey to egolessness) so late in life, actually at their deathbed. The journey towards egolessness is met with the reaction no different from any passages through life: as in the time of death of a loved one, or the “flying tire moment” (each of us will have this moment I’m told) or when you receive a bad news of you having a terminal illness like cancer.

Stages in the face of death or near-death: the usual stages of 1. stage of awe or surprise or “I can’t believe this”. 2. stage of resistance, denial or “this cannot be”. 3. stage of contemplation or “I am getting convinced, but I’m not ready”. 4. stage of acceptance “I am convinced”. 5. stage of relapse (into the earlier stages below stage 4).

THE BELL CURVE COURSE OF THE JOURNEY TO KNOWING WHO YOU REALLY ARE

Before reaching the peak, the moment of near peak phase is so critical the mind or the person-hood in it’s instinct (or no instinct) to survive may choose to die, to get insane or to survive it. I recommend to most survivors (of trauma and most of us are) that you employ someone with more experience or be guided by one who is enlightened at this moment because of the serious potential consequences.

The peak stage is when the pain is experienced to its fullest, and there is no returning or retreat; that the only recourse would be to surrender or give in or give up, as though one is ready to accept the ultimate or death.

Post peak stage: then one survives. This is the beginning of the downcurve stage. Nirvana. A feeling of inside happiness. Elation. One feels light. The energy that we carry (the baggage we hurdle or lug with us all our life) associated with the ego and of the pain bodies are lifted off our shoulders. The burden has been lifted. One sees things without the bondage of the ego. One is free. One feels the timelessness. One sees things as they are, the “Such-ness”, or the “Is-ness”.

John Lennon from John Vondracek's FB site

The late Beatles John Lennon had seen the ego-eccentricity of our society. He expressed this in his songs like the classic “Imagine” and in “The Revolution”. During karaoke sessions, I often sing “Imagine”. I’m always moved because of the love lyrics, the beautiful melody, and the combined melancholy and at the same time the hopeful thrust of his message. The Revolution was commented on in an article I found by Google’ing ‘egoless’ and ‘John Lennon’. Henry Vyler wrote this thesis precisely with the same thoughts I have in mind in elaborating this lead blog article. Because of Vyler, I did not have to write it myself (or reinvent the wheel). Henry Vyler’s article: Egocentricity of our Society. (Microsoft Word .doc format). Pdf file article in pdf file.

I hope the above is not seen as too radical or wild. I believe happiness on earth is actually achievable through this route. One need not wait for a future ‘better time and place’. True happiness happens now, and not as promised in the future time and future place.

I plan to expand on the following:

1. UPCURVE PHASE: Evolution side: what happened, how it happened, how it hurts. Teaching: symptoms of dis-ease, descriptions, definitions.

a. Love (and attention) as an addiction. This is what one can never have enough of; one of the ‘big set-ups’ in life: the blind side. Self discovery’s blind side: we never can see the way it is until others feed-back to us. Its importance, how ‘one cannot live life in an island’. A good example is the Scrooge character of Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. The Ghost of the Past gave him feedback by reviewing how he became cold-heart-ed up to that point in his life.

b. Artificial environment of our family in childhood as opposed to the real world (outside of the first family), another of the ‘big setups’. This baseline creates one’s bar of expectation from the world. The original angst, everybody gets trauma and suffer their own post-traumatic experiences. In the equation ratio of stress or Happiness Index: what one expects (numerator) / divided by… the event, or what life gives or what is (denominator).

One seldom sees her or his participation of the numerator and therefore blind to the fact she or he is the author of her or his own dissatisfaction and emotion. A parallel: After the ecstasy (of childhood), the laundry (the tough or difficult part of adulthood).

after the ecstasy, the laundry (courtesy of same titled book by zen author Jack Kornfield)

c. Emotional growth; emotional IQ (or emotional intelligence). The ‘frozen’ stage versus moving on to a higher stage of (emotional) growth. The Wiki definition: the ability to monitor one’s and other’s feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions. Another way of defining this is: the first part, the ability to sense one’s own feelings as well as other’s (feelings) she or he’s engaged with. The second part is to use these informations as feedback to one’s own thinking and actions. Here’s one instructional video link to a primer (by Marcus Freudenmann).

d. Emotional phobia or the fear of negative emotions. A direct quote from Miriam Greenspan: “We all want to sit at the happiness banquet and feast on the bread of contentment, the wine of joy. We’d rather skip the emotional food that doesn’t go down so well. In life’s many meals, not everything is equally palatable; but it all needs to be digested. We can’t laugh heartily unless we know how to cry. We can’t be fearless unless we know the taste of fear. We can’t be happy if we’re afraid to feel sad. Our faith is not faith until it’s tested. To be at peace, we have to be at home with all of our emotions, to get comfortable with vulnerability.” She wrote the book “Healing Through the Dark Emotions: The Wisdom of Grief, Fear, and Despair” and there’s more in an interview on this. A blog writer Ronna Detrick wrote a good review on Miriam Greenspan’s book. The readers’ feedback shows ordinary people’s reaction to the book.

In my opinion, taken to the extreme, a person afraid of having negative emotions develops a complex equal to the anal retentive: one who tolerates only the outward appearance of positive image and good life, without conflicts or any reminders of negative emotions. She or he would live in a very controlled, sterile and a glass-like house or living environment. There would be lots of rules in the household or in one’s relationships to maintain such high bar of expectations. The subject most often is unaware of such stiff requirements. There wouldn’t be spontaneity in his or her life, as everything is preconceived and calculated. There would be very high anxiety and high maintenance in this character. There’s a lot of energy spent here as the basis of the character is the anxiety-driven-response for survival. This tendency to deny natural negative emotions in my opinion will paradoxically be overcome by what one had always been afraid of and had been running away from. I agree with Miriam Greenspan that one has to live (as Nature’s way) with full vulnerability. To be dogmatic with rigid rules to achieve security against negative emotions creates lots of negative consequences to one’s relations. The topic in itself could fill a whole book.

I remember very well the character of Mary Tyler Moore for study here in the Robert Redford’s 1980 movie Ordinary People. I understand the character’s self protective instinct for survival must have worked well to a certain degree to the point of becoming totally immersed in that life and be convinced that one was on the right tract, reinforcing and justifying his or her original position.

Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Sutherland, Timothy Hutton

I’ve seen characters lived this way and were and are unaware of this condition until someone gives them a feedback. Usually the subject would have already been through or in the middle of a depression that would be difficult to understand and or difficult to shake off. After a feedback, it is not easy to change one’s character overnight, if at all.

The negative modeling against such upbringing in my life brought me the affinity for the opposite: to be laid back, easy going, relaxed, spontaneous, often vulnerable to all range and extremes of emotions (from not withhold crying in sad movies at the risk of being looked down on like a child, to the other extreme of laughing out loud to my hearts delight to humorous events or jokes). I’ve been called lazy, messy and dirty, disorganized. I now realize, to my relief that it was not all those. It must have been all a rebellion against the rigid rules, the domination of these rules and expectations over me. A reaction to an action. My first impression was the spoiled and protected upbringing me and my siblings had. I think it’s more the former reason rather than the latter, if not a combination of the two, but tilted more on the former. The above discovery may be a part or glimpses of a state of egolessness.

Another movie example is the 1978 Woody Allen’s “Interiors”. The mother character, Geraldine Page is well portrayed here, as well as that of the first born daughter played by Diane Keaton. Geraldine Page played an interior decorator and to me was a classic anal retentive whose life followed the usual course of having the husband get alienated, graduated and moved on with another partner leaving her depressed and suicidal. She never realized she got it coming. And Diane Keaton’s character was an artist who was also in the same mold as her mother’s.

Interiors (1978) by Woody Allen

e. Hyper-extension; protecting our soft part; or shield; the shell of resistance. Author of Zen books Pema Chodron wrote about this in “When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice For Difficult Times”. Thomas A. Harris wrote best seller book “I’m OK, You’re OK” in 1972. I loved this as this was the first attempt to demystifying psychiatry (called Transactional Analysis) using lay people’s language complete with labels, diagrams. Assertiveness training. Author psychiatrist Eric Berne followed this with “Games People Play”. Life as a ‘past-time’. Upmanship. The emergence of all addictions. Coping mechanisms against our feelings of discomfort, tension, or stress: here’s a complete list. Mythology as resource for parallels.

f. Promising: the unique-only-to-humans quality; and the life scripts that we make.

g. Learning to learn, obstacles to learning. Heuristic. Biases. All or nothing, black and white. Overflowing Cup of Tea:

The Zen Master poured his visitor’s teacup full, and then kept pouring.

The visitor watched until he could no longer restrain himself.

“It is overfull. No more will go in!”

“Like this cup,” the Zen Master said,

“you are full of your own opinions and assumptions.

How can you learn truth until you first empty your cup?”

h. The nature of the mind; the unwisdom of what’s been taught by good intentioned parents, institutions and society. A few memorable quotes related to instutuional teachings.

Dogmas–religious, political, scientific–arise out of erroneous belief that thought can encapsulate reality or truth. Dogmas are collective conceptual prisons. And the strange thing is that people love their prison cells because they give them a sense of security and a false sense of “I know.” Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks.

Religion, to a large extent, became divisive rather than unifying forces. Instead of bringing about an ending of violence and hatred through a realization of the fundamental oneness of all life, they brought more violence and hatred, more divisions between people as well as between different religions and even within the same religion. They became ideologies, belief systems people could identify with and so use them to enhance their false sense of self. Through them, they could make themselves “right” and others “wrong” and thus define their identity through their enemies, the “others,” the “nonbelievers” or “wrong believers” who not infrequently they saw themselves justified in killing. Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth.

A corollary relating to the difference between Nature teaching versus Ideologies teaching (of good versus evil, right versus wrong), from the movie Avatar…

Avatar: Jake Prays To Eywa, The Great Mother

Jake Sully: [as Jake pleads for Eywa's help in attacking the "Sky People"] If Grace is there with you – look in her memories – she can show you the world we come from. There’s no green there. They killed their Mother, and they’re gonna do the same here. More Sky People are gonna come. They’re gonna come like a rain that never ends. Unless we stop them. They chose me for something. I will stand and fight. You know I will. But I need a little help here.

Neytiri: Our great mother does not take sides, Jake; she protects the balance of life.

Jake Sully: It was worth a try.

i. Feelings. Thoughts, Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs). Emotions. Verbal and nonverbal communication; body language; mind’s antenna; cues. Premonitions. Intuition. Action and Reaction. Energy or force.

j. Drama queen; drama king. Narcissism in our life. Equality and non-equality, the root or seed of narcissism. Superiority complex. Narcissistic parent. Child of narcissistic parent alienation. Narcissistic predator. Narcissistic pet or favorite child and the non-favored child. Prey or victim; the martyr or proxy. Messiah complex.

Drama Royalty

2. Peak phase: Self versus self side: the drama, what’s happening. Teaching: dramatization, “getting it”, role playing, the learning proper.

a. Paradoxical intention; a mind-boggling approach; outside the box move. The buck stops here. Where one needs the ‘leap of faith’. Surrendering to the now. Feel the pain. The bell curve.

b. True responsibility as defined by the zen or dalai mind science.

c. Self love. The golden rule.

d. Forgiveness, the power of forgiveness. As in the Lord’s Prayer “as we forgive those who trespassed against us”. The forgiving of ones’ self (for being a victim of trauma) is more important than forgiving our violator/s. Quote from the movie “Good Will Hunting” (psychiatrist to Will): ‘It’s not your fault!’. Here’s a teachers group’s take on the review of the film. From this blog site is a notable direct quote:

“Good Will Hunting traces the successful treatment of Will’s attachment disorder, providing an excellent basis for studying the origin and treatment of this psychological condition. Filled with wisdom and compassion, the movie shows the power of talking therapy and gives an example of the life-changing insight that can be provided by psychology. The film is also a springboard for discussions about the role of dependence, independence, and interdependence in human life and the importance of love and consistency in parenting.”

“The movie also shows the young male culture of cruelty and demonstrates that the need to be tough, to never show vulnerability, weakness, hurt, or sadness, leads to a dead end. (The underline is my emphasis). Will’s friends are loyal and want the best for their friend — the essence of a caring friendship. The film can also reach some of the several students in every class (as many as a third) who have been physically or sexually abused.”

From the same mentioned movie, post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD effects are demonstrated as ‘Will Hunting Syndrome’: the incessant fear of abandonment. Avoidance of long term commitment or love as a coping mechanism (surely subconscious or unconscious to avoid being hurt by the treat of a future abandonment). See in this scene when girlfriend Skylar played by Minnie Driver was about to return to California, the breakup.

e. The journey, not the destination. Task oriented, the goal oriented.

3. Downcurve phase: After learning side: what’s next. Teaching: how “getting it” feels, after “getting it”.

a. Nirvana’s guilt; reaching out; teaching seminars. the business model patterned after Werner Erhart’s EST of the 1970′s-1980′s. Erhart on Wiki. The kursilistas (Cursillistas) model.

Warner Erhardt and EST 1970-1980's.

Enjoy some of the articles I have written since starting in early 2009. 

The Art Of Karaoke DJ'ing
http://quitego.wordpress.com/2011/07/03

FAAUC Picnic 2011
http://quitego.wordpress.com/2011/05/23

Karaoke 2010 at the Park
http://quitego.wordpress.com/2010/05/15

40th Wedding Anniversary of Tito & Ludy Valarao
http://quitego.wordpress.com/2010/12/28

Reprint of Newsletter Regarding Mommy
http://quitego.wordpress.com/2010/11/12

Pansol Espasol
http://quitego.wordpress.com/2010/07/26

Spider Fighting: Filipino Kids' Hobby
http://quitego.wordpress.com/2010/06/10

Open Letter To Diane Rehm of NPR...
http://quitego.wordpress.com/2010/06/10

Leaving a comment any time is my only way (besides the counter count of visitor which parallels
with website ads which is part of having free web space here at WordPress.com) of realizing
there are people who read and wants to reach out.

I have included images and attached links to illustrate certain points. Sharing your illustrations to help the core message of this blog will be much appreciated. Thank you. pcv updated last 7/22/11, 6/3/11, 5/23/11, 4/26/11, 3/17/11, 01/31/11, 12/25/10, 11/29/10. perpecto@verizon.net or perfectovalarao@facebook.com.

On The 2nd Anniversary Year Of Mommy’s Death

In February of the year 2008, I experienced one of my last visit to her and wrote about this on this column for our local Filipino group newsletter in Harford County, Maryland. Just click on this hyperlink reprint of health connection newsletter.

Nanay and Tatay’s, Undas 2010

The 2 songs dedicated, sang by our school’s young students during the funeral mass were:

1. Tanging Yaman. carol banawa’s version at youtube

karaoke carol banawa’s version at youtube

basil valdez’s version at youtube

karaoke basil valdez’s version at youtube

2. Kahit Isang Saglit.

Martin Nievera’s version

Karaoke Martin Nievera’s version

As postscript to the article above, our brother Bonifacio died in March 2009 which was a blow to my mother at that time. And she died later in October the same year.

I want to dedicate the song Anak by Freddie Aguilar as a 3rd song. I uploaded to YouTube a karaoke version of the song Anak by Freddie Aguilar.

anak freddie aguilar karaoke

Here’s what I wrote in the description:

“On the 2nd year of Mommy’s death anniversary I dedicate this karaoke version of the classic Freddie Aguilar’s Anak. The field of karaokes videoke available are with solo instrumental so I was eager to create a fairly pure karaoke or minus one quality to contribute. Enjoy.”

“The theme is so beautiful I was more the somewhat rebellious child so this somehow was or is pertinent. In my heart there was the reverse parallel in that she was a rebellious child to us her kids and to our father. Regardless, what is life without drama?”

anak freddie aguilar original (guitar accompanimanent)

anak freddie aguilar with lyrics (also guitar accompaniment)

anak (freddie aguilar) performed by charice

While here at my blog site, feel free to browse through other older articles I have written, and engage in conversations by leaving an email reader reaction, or feedback. pcv 10/17/2011 email: perpecto@verizon.net or perfectovalarao@facebook.com

The Art of Computer Karaoke DJing

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KARAOKE DJING is the art of collecting, maintaining and making available karaoke tracks for your karaoke show/s.

The purpose of this article addresses the DJing part as well as the singing part. You may use this know-how from this article for your personal karaoke tutoring (towards a better singer), to showcase your talent to a small family gathering, or to a larger crowd as in an annual FAAUC summer picnic, or you can springboard to even a higher potential such as a professional DJ for a living. This article addresses the audience who would be ranging from the curious person who wants to know more about how the karaoke setup or what’s under-the-hood (the range of the equipments is wide too from a small simple small computer speakers setup to the larger elaborate several hundred watts powered expensive ones, the sky is the limit as what one can afford to buy), to those who would want be a karaoke DJ, or a good karaoke singer, or even a famous professional singer (who started from karaoke singing).

I enjoy this hobby and the more so the sharing. The feedback of seeing someone who has moved to his or her singing prowess is a joy for me to see and experience. Even if one has not moved yet, I encourage all particularly the Filipinos who I believe have innate talent for the beat. And I can never get turned off by an enthusiastic singer who has just started and not been good with pitch, tune and timing. Remember people reach their peak (at karaoke singing) at different times or schedule. This blog piece is my payback to all because of the free fun hobby I have enjoyed thanks for the free resources available through the internet.

Karaoke tracts are digital files such as the original .mp3 files that we keep our songs in our computers and portable hard disks, ipods, and i-phones as well as video files. There is one karaoke number for each titled file. The popularity in the last several years of Youtube.com  and the ability through freeware software 1-Click Youtube Downloader  to convert these Youtube.com-kept videos into our local hard disk has made karaoke digital file collecting much more simpler and easier. The high proliferation of karaoke and videoke (which is the term used in the Philippines) posted at youtube.com makes for a wealth of free karaoke tracts in video file version for our collection. The media player I have used JetAudio , also a  freeware, is a karaoke mp3 player and lyrics editor as well as a video player. The versions 7.5 and 6+, but not the 8+ are capable of playing the old lyric’d mp3 karaoke tracks (and the .flv video files as well), too bad. Older than 6 version may not play the video files.

The files playable with the JetAudio are 1) .mp3 audio specifically pertinent to our topic are audio w displayed karaoke lyrics (would you believe the engineers who designed these displayed lyrics did so via the tag system of the mp3 file), as well as 2) video files like .flv, .flvAt, .mp4 and the older (I believe it’s non-compressed) .avi file. The MacIntosh based Quicktime files I recently discover may be playable with JetAudio, since it is one of the listed supported files.

An Example: Computer PA Karaoke Set-Up

I organized the details in the following order: Collecting. Maintaining. And Making Available (the karaoke tracks).

COLLECTING YOUR KARAOKE TRACKS

A Sample Search @ YouTube: Michael Buble's "I Haven't Met You Yet" Karaoke

The sources for good karaoke tracks include Youtube, from VCD karaoke disks which are fairly cheap in the Philippines and you may want to digitize the disk into your hard disk as an easily accessible MP3 or video file, some times there would be library CD karaoke for example by the decades’ hits.  One can google search the internet for a particular tract via google search and be lucky. There are about a dozen sources of sites registered at Youtube that you may also search for what they have. If desperate, you have to get a very good, professional background, there are numerous sites who sell them for under a dollar or whatever I-Tune charges for. These vendor sites are very competitive.

When I started karaoke tracts collecting around 1999, the only audio mp3 tracks were available I used the very first P to P networking site called Napster  (the site the famous Sean Parker started).  I still remember getting the first karaoke tracts that I have loved to sing or would have somebody sing it to an audience, the anticipation during the 3-6 minutes of download time as to whether it would be a true good karaoke track or not. When the site was shut down after several years of operation for trademark violation, the next P to P site was Audiogalaxy  . I was happy again with the collecting, lasted for several years, and then Limewire until 2010 when they closed for the same legal entanglement. I remember during vacations to the Philippines in the 2007 and 2008 having shared mp3 karaoke tracks with friends and relatives. And there are half dozens alternative sites including Torrent.com and Bittorrent.com. The wrestle for free file sharing versus copyright infringement keeps marching on. In the meantime with the Youtube’s popularity, broadband’s wide availability, and the advantage of video came along in the past few years – it appears the tilt is towards the free sharing for now. The nature of the march of technology is such that whatever the institutions do to obstruct or block p2p file-sharing, in my opinion it will favor its proliferation. Like a hydra, cut some tentacles and others will take on its place.

1st Step: Highlight the URL Address, then Copy (Ctrl-C)

Working with YouTube and 1-Click Downloader: you may have heard a good song you want to sing and so you may search for the artist or keyword or words of the title. A broader way of search would be either by artist name and karaoke as key words holding off titles, and then choose from the list of hits that are available. Another way is to search the title and karaoke keywords withholding the artist’s name and choose one or several versions by different artists. More often though, we want a particular song by a particular artist.

1-Click YouTube Downloader Interface: Ctrl-v (pastes)

The url address for the Youtube number is kept in the random memory of your computer, held there till you Ctrl-V or paste this (url address) to the Interface field list of the 1-Click YouTube Downloader. If you want to do it by the batch method, 1) copy a longer list one at a time, do so using a notepad or small word processing software in another window. 2) Or while at Youtube, collect your urls then switch tabs or windows adding to the interface list. This may suit your need and may appeal to you are being more productive.

A New Video Title or A Number of Titles Arrived at Your Folder, e.g. MyMusic

After downloading this to your hard disk, wala! You have the new video karaoke tracks in your assigned folder in the directory of your local drive. You have started your collection.

JetAudio's Lyric Maker

When I started karaoke lyrics making through JetAudio’s Lyric Maker, it was hard work. But when one gets used to doing it after the initial hurdle of learning how the software works it really is not difficult. The lyrics are readily available from the internet, copy and paste the lyrics text into your quickword or notepad and you save this as a text or .txt file in your hard disk folder of choice. Import the .txt file into the Lyrics Maker tray and the software automatically break it down for you ready as word for word which I can then edit it further into syllable for syllable (I use Notepad for this) as called for the duration-timing of the music and you’re ready to play the music and click the F9 key for the timing mark. Each text line is one F9 click and is corresponding to the time-stamp of the music from zero-beginning to the end of the track usually less than 5 minutes, average 2.5 minutes.  For a while I spent a lot of time doing this karaoke synchronizing to the vocals hobby. And this was very satisfying to me: timeless, priceless.

Audacity Interface: A Sample Stereo Track

To ease the work of finding the right lyrics’ timing, I use a freeware software Audacity . to line up 1. the karaoke project against 2. the vocal version and work the 2 synchronizing the project track syllable by syllable with the vocal track. Audacity is a full audio editing program, much like working on the audio tape recorder of the olden days, now editing is digital. The nice thing about the editing programs is you can work on the sounds whichever ways that needed to be done but the quality of the original track does not get lost, called lossless editing.

Avidemux, A Video Editing Freeware: The Main Interface

With the ease of obtaining video karaoke tracks at Youtube, one seldom has to work with the Lyrics editing device, except with few rare good songs. I recently learned to use a video editing freeware software, Avidemux  . Sometimes I encounter an off the timing karaoke tracks, and I just have to fix it using this method. With this, I am able to work on the audio track with the Audacity audio editing and mix this with the video.  To me the perfect karaoke is the object. I’d work hard for it to have it for free if I can, at times I am forced to do a little tinkering on it.

MAINTAINING YOUR KARAOKE COLLECTION

C Drive. The Path is: Naming Address of a File. e.g. B. Streisand’s Woman in Love Karaoke Track — “C:\Audiogalaxy\1KarLyrixd\Karaoke – Barbra Streisand – Woman In Love.mp3″

In windows platform, C drive is the root directory likened to the root and trunk combination image of an inverted tree; the branches are the folders. One can name and or rename these folders to suit our need. Each folders may have folders (subfolders) and files of different variety. I keep my musical collection instead of under the default folder My Music, I named mine ‘Audiogalaxy’ in memory of the beloved web site I started with. I keep my mp3 lyrics karaoke files in ’1KarLyrixd folder’. The name is for the purpose of making the folder default on top for ease of archiving and searching purposes. The second folder would be ’1Study’ folder where vocal’d tracks are kept. A friend asked me once when he or she tried a karaoke track that they are familiar with the title but not how to sing the song, this design of keeping the corresponding, original with vocal is very handy. At YouTube search the song of your choice and add ‘lyrics’ for this study track. And I have a ‘MyMusic’ folder for all video karaoke files both vocals and karaoke tracks.

Search the Folder '1KarLyrixd' e.g. Abba

To search your hard disk for a particular artist or song, the ease is worth the effort in the above organization. This way one need only to look for mp3 karaoke in the ’1KarLyrixd’ file or for vocal track in ’1Study’ folder, and for video tracks either karaoke (whereby I’d include in the search the work ‘karaoke’) or vocal tracks in the ‘MyMusic’ folder.

DURING YOUR KARAOKE SHOW: MAKING TRACKS AVAILABLE, SOFTWARES AND HARDWARES

Search Window (Narrowed to 2 Folders with Karaoke Tracks). Highlight Your Choice & Drag to JetAudio's Playlist.

JetAudio’s Playlist is the heart of the computer side of the system in as far as the karaoke DJing-show is concerned. On the background, I keep a search window handy for each request a singer make; I do not have to write the request. I just go right search my collection. And when I have multiple tracks on the search, I asked the singer requesting to narrow it down to for example, by a particular artist if there are more than one version. I always preferred the video tract version over the mp3 tract version, and only resort to the latter when the video version is not able to deliver.

Y-Adaptor: 1/8" (mini) male to a pair of 1/4" male plugs

The PA system is connected to the computer’s soundcard line out or in the case of a laptop where the new technology rid off the line out altogether keeping only the earphone out (besides the mike in). The connecting cord is a male 1/8 inch or mini stereo plug on soundcard out end and goes into a Y that connects to 2 cords, the stereo left mono and the right mono lines ending in either banana male plugs or 1/4 inch male red for left channel and black for right channel plugs to be attached to the mixer amplifiers front in the pair of lines in one of the several channels.

Adobe Flash .FLV Playback at JetAudio. There's usually more than 2 lines.

I saw at a July 2011 Filipino party a KY karaoke system (made in Korea). One gets reminded of the magic mike system, but it did not use

Allan Balagot's KY Karaoke System

any supplied magic mike, Allan Balagot used his own pair of Shure professional quality wireless mikes. You will use a remote controller to punch in the number you will look for in a big volume book list of songs; although the list was ever expanding, so that there are always additional songs elsewhere to look for. Allan designed his system and used a HD flat screen 40 inch monitor. And he used a high wattage amplifier to pipe the music to a pair of 15 inches sub-woofers among other  speakers. And it was a karaoke singer’s dream. The only thing was the background recordings although they were quality recordings of instruments, it was not true karaoke in the sense that they used their band, and not the same quality background as the original vocal hit songs it was derived from. There would be midi or keyboard playing and competing with the karaoke singer’s vocals.

In summary, karaoke djing…

List of Computer-PA system includes

1. Computer. Windows based. It can be a desktop, laptop, netbook or even an Ipod equivalent.

2. Mixer-amplifier or a fairly powerful wattage receiver with at least 2 mike input jacks.

3. Monitors: 1 for your search and playlist activity. 2 for the lyrics display.  There is a y-video adaptor for under 50 dollars for this.

4. Speakers

5. Microphones. Wireless remote preferrably. Wired are more affordable.

6. Chords, connectors, wires.

7. List of Tracts.  It’s a pain to keep the list updated as the list keeps growing rapidly. You may just ask your patron singers to ask their favorite artist, genre and make the search.

Incidentally, if you don’t want to offend the ladies who love to do line dancing, make sure you have lots of dance music in your portfolio. And give them equal time. There are a number of karaoke songs that are also dance music, this way you shoot 2 birds at the same time.

List Of Softwares (all are freewares):

1.  JetAudio. The playback player for both mp3 and video files. It has a

2. Lyrics Maker, editing for karaoke synchronizing.

3.  Audacity. Audio editing software.

4.  1-Click Youtube Downloader.

5.  Avidemux. Video editing software.

List Of Website Sources of Karaoke Files (besides the above listed softwares’ website):

1. Youtube.com. Tip: as in any website available to the public, the quality of audio and video are variable. Most of the time though than less, I have gotten good quality videos from this site. I have little experience with the successors to Napster, Audiogalaxy and Limewire listed below.

2. Bittorrent.com

3. Torrent.com

Peak Music stand is light, portable in a bag, and costs about 30 dollars.

Update 01/03/2012: Karaoke DJing During The Show. I learned from the party of December 30th 2011 at niece Patricia Cruz Godfrey and husband Jeff the use of internet wi-fi connection to Youtube as the major source for karaoke tracts.  We searched choices for the singer in turn, and played from the internet the karaoke tract: versatile and current. The only thing was we had to wait for about 1.5 minutes for buffering.  Otherwise we end up pausing in the middle to a song, buffering.  I wonder if I brought my category 5 cord for wired net connection would there be a need for waiting for buffering?  I still kept the list of songs I have on the wing since these are available on quick search from the hard disk.  I used a Peak Music stand to secure my 10.5 inch laptop.  The stand is adjustable to one’s height as needed.

The last 2 blog articles that I wrote that’s related to karaoke…

FAAUC Picnic 2011
http://quitego.wordpress.com/2011/05/23

Karaoke 2010 at the Park
http://quitego.wordpress.com/2010/05/15

The list of karaoke tracts that I have gathered is in the pdf file enclosed. It is searchable and at present about 1,750 unique titles. Enjoy your karaoke hobby. Do not hesitate to contact me for questions, elaboration, and even new tricks you may share with me. I can always learn from other’s feedbacks. pcv started blog on 7/3/11, edited last 01/02/2012, 08/14/11, 07/29/11. graphics by pcv. perpecto@verizon.net or perfectovalarao@facebook.com.

FAAUC Picnic 2011

Welcome to the FAAUC Picnic June 25, 2011 Saturday whole day at the Capa Field, APG (correction: please use the Route 24 Emmorton Rd and not Magnolia Rd-Route 152 Edgewood entrance just past Trimble Road).

I am hyping up this activity for the karaoke singing part of the picnic.

Let's picnic!

The annual summer picnic is a potluck fiesta held yearly by the FAAUC members, their family and guests. It features eats, play and children’s participatory games, line dancing, and karaoke singing (of course). The association treat as in the past years (this is our 25th anniversary year of founding, in 1985) include bushels of female crabs, halo halo, as well as the party supplies and other services. There’s all kinds of native Filipino dishes and desserts that each of us would want to bring and share. There’s espasol. It’s a full day starting with the early crew of officers and volunteers setting up the tables and the audio visual equipments ending with the same crew plus maybe additional volunteers’ cleanup. I envision a singing contest with 3 judges ala American Idol. That should be fun, with a token prize beside the name award. We also have the usual student scholarship awards. Although there is no election of officers this year (it will coincide with the national election next year), picnic time is the best time to renew the FAAUC membership fee. Officers will be around. I remember in previous years announcing and introducing new members was an exciting idea. We gave them a warm welcome. It may also be a good idea for new members to try karaoke singing. No pressure there. Correction there was our usual mass led by Father Bing and not “miss the mass this year as we cannot get a priest to lead”.

Raymond Gaviola plans to lead a 20 minutes dance presentation by the youth group.

Youth group Presentation

One young singer Apple Ignacio will miss the picnic, but she was gracious to pose still for this blog. I caught up with her during a rehearsal for the June 12th Towson Independence Day presentation. Thanks Apple.

A mix of pictures from the 2010 picnic…

Here are some of the usual (karaoke singer) suspects…

Young Ones: they love to sing!

The Youth: Ready to sing!

The Other Young Ones too: The baritones and a tenor.

Other Young Ones: The altos.

Another Set of Young Singers: More baritones and one falsetto.

I made a revised (unique titles) list here of karaoke materials for this Karaoke at the Park activity.  This list is a searchable pdf file, you can make a find (control-F) for your favorite numbers to sing.  Download the list to your hard disk and bring your laptop to the park!  Your favorite songs are not there? You may want to download (use 1-Click Youtube Downloader) karaoke tracks from Youtube.com at home or while at the park (you need net connection).  It’s how fast the technology has come to. Almost all my materials are now from Youtube.

A recent addition to the list among a few more dozens, this will sure be a hit for karaoke (maybe Mar or Marc Nieto?), At This Moment (karaoke instrumental) by Michael Buble. Don’t know this song yet? Here’s the vocal version for study… Michael Buble – At This Moment with lyrics.

What is Karaoke?

Karaoke (カラオケ^?, a portmanteau of Japanese kara 空 “empty”, and ōkesutora オーケストラ “orchestra“)^[1](English pronunciation: /ˌkæriːˈoʊkiː/; Japanese: [kaɽaoꜜke] ( listen)) is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music (and/or a music video) using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol or changing color and/or music video images, to guide the singer. In some countries, a karaoke box is called a KTV. It is also a term used by recording engineers translated as “empty track” meaning there is no vocal track.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karaoke

Inventor Roberto Del Rosario

At the time of last year’s blog I wrote that  it was only a rumor to me and now after series of lawsuits he won, it’s official that the Filipino inventor Roberto “Bert” Del Rosario of Pasig, Rizal Philippines was the inventor of karaoke. It was presented to the world stage as the first singalong machine (the karaoke word came in later as the Japanese popularized it).  http://kingsrebel.blogspot.com/2009/07/karaoke-inventor.html

JetAudio is an audio MP3 file player with a lyrics editing part used for synchronizing karaoke lyrics (the lyrics part are then played back using the MP3 tag). It also plays back (besides .mp3)  video files such as adobe flash .flv, .flvAt, .avi and .mp4 files. Download http://www.jetaudio.com/download/

1-Click Youtube downloader: converts a youtube video using the link for the track and saved to your hard disk as an adobe flash .flv file or an .mp4 file  http://download.cnet.com/YouTube-Downloader/3000-2071_4-10647340.html?tag=mncol;1

Shazam iphone app:  Sometimes you hear a song, like it but don’t know it’s name or artist. Shazam hears a part of a song or music and in less than a minute (10 seconds) you have all info about it. You can even watch it on YouTube. The discovery of this software app was courtesy of my nephew Jovi Valarao. Thanks Jovi. http://download.cnet.com/Shazam/3000-2141_4-10768107.html

Edited by pcv on 6/26/11, 6/22/2011. Created  on 05/23/11. Graphics collage, other graphics by pcv. All pthe ictures from 2010 picnic courtesy of Raymond Gaviola. For feedback and contribution to this blog article, my email address is perpecto@verizon.net or perfectovalarao@facebook.com. Feel free to leave a message at the comment box below. I’ll be glad to post a reply.

The prior year’s blog article is as follows: 2010 FAAUC Picnic

Further resources:

Karaoke article, history and how http://www.karaokecraze.com/id12.html

Karaoke in Facebook wikipedia http://www.facebook.com/pages/Karaoke/112232205460865?sk=wiki

Karaoke Box http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karaoke_Box

Karaoke Revolution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karaoke_Revolution

http://glee.wikia.com/wiki/Karaoke_Revolution_Glee Nintendo Wii  Karaoke Revolution Glee

40th Wedding Anniversary of Tito & Ludy Valarao

Bohemian days1

Bohemian days2

Merlin Tito

Tito Benig

Tito & Ludy Wedding 1971

Introducing: Zorina Wehrli-Auayang

My dear Valarao family, extended family and friends: Introducing Zorina Wehrli-Auayang.

Sisters Lydia and Ginnie (I don’t know if Kuya Andy) will remember her from the Kamuning-Kamias days in the 1967-68 or 43 years ago (2 scores and 3 years, and a 3rd generation later).

Zorina and I met again through Facebook in November of 2010.  She’s been in Zürich Switzerland for the last several decades, and prior to that New York City.  Please browse over some of her paintings and photos at her FB site.  Married to Daniel Wehrli, a Zürich lawyer.  Rina is active and the current president 2010-2011 of the ZIWA (Zürich International Women’s Association).  Like Ate Oyie (Gloriosa) Valarao she’s a graduate of (the now closed) Stella Marris College.

In 1968 I left the Philippines for Ohio for my medical internship.  I spent my bohemian days (the term is used only in retrospect) in Baltimore Maryland until I met, and later married Ludy Oteyza on January 2 of 1971 (40th year anniversary) – and the rest is history. Thanks to Zorina for the 1967, 1968 photos, and those from her FB profile.  Blog, graphics: pcv revised 10/01/11, 4/6/11, 3/9/11, created 12/16/10  perpecto@verizon.net

Reprint of Newsletter Regarding Mommy

In the later part of October 2010 was the first death anniversary of my Mother /Francisca Cruz Valarao. Little Ludy, my young sister in Bulacan posted a picture of the cemetery plot /puntod during this November All Saint’s and All Soul’s day /Undas on Facebook last week. Here’s a slice of picture of Mommy in so many words. Facebook allows uploads of photos and net links but not .html or .pdf or .doc files yet. Just click on this hyperlink Health Connection newsletter

Nanay and Tatay's Undas 2010

While here at my blog site, feel free to browse through other older articles I have written, and engage in conversations by leaving an email reader reaction, or feedback.

Pansol Espasol

“You’re never fully dressed without a smile”

Welcome to my blog site!

Future exchanges of ideas, complaints-feedbacks etc. will be featured here.

Illustration is derived from image from Google Image 2009.  email: perpecto@verizon.net

to contact me: 410 459-6646 if not available: 410 879-3141

to contact Perry Valarao or Ludy Valarao: 410 410 879-3141;  410 838-3141

To those who currently are in our list, and those future (new) ones including serving Pansol Espasol at your party as one of your desserts – who would want to contact us, please help us secure contact information with us by:

1. emailing us your email address

2. enter your name as the contact name

3. your address

4. enter your contact numbers, eg. land or prefereably for us if you do not mind, cell number

5. preferences as to date and time of drop off. preferred date (eg number of days before drop off day) and contact time for us to get the next list.

I’m researching at present direct delivery by UPS, Fedex or USPS. I have not vetted this method before, it will be trial and error for now how preservative efforts for prolonged shelf life balanced against the cost of sending the package out of town or out to another coast.  Stay tuned. I believe freeze and packaged without freeze pack is viable, but I suspect condensation or moisture formation happens. Vacuum pack is an idea. Which to use to achieve this will be trial and error. Sampling to relatives and friends will be a way of vetting this process. Opinions and suggestions are welcomed.

Again email: perpecto@verizon.net

title or reference: espasol

Spider Fighting: Filipino Kids’ Hobby

I’m reminiscing the days when I was growing up in Bulacan. We got ourselves occupied with collecting “gladiator” or fighting spiders.

It’s the sights and sound that impresses me on this video. Sorry, this kind of spider on the video is not gladiator type I’m familiar with. It’s the jumping kind. But the wild forest sound of nature is powerful to me. The combination of off kids’ voices and the street noise is captured here as well. Good vibrations-connection here. The interface of the world of the timeless – as in collecting spiders in the wild, with the contrast of everyday life needs like: it’s time for chores, homework or dinnertime. That space where the 2 meets is very nice to “see” (looking back in time and even now).

The good spiders have specific color shades of red in the wild shrubs, and trees. But not yellow, green or blue. Never in the house even in the exterior of the house: which usually are in the shades of dark gray and black. And never the kind that jumps. I’m surprised some youtube videos show they fight like gladiators too. This is new to me.

I remember Tatay my late dad got mesmerized when he saw me doing gagamba /spider fighting in a tingting stick. video2. This was one of his favorite stories in his last 2 decades. We had matchbox compartmentalized and we would put /store these prized arachnids in their pad. The other native boys in Angat Bulacan have banana sap for their spiders and I for one appreciated how the young Filipino kids could be very innovative with these portable housing for the fighting spiders. I wish I can locate still pictures of these ‘condos’ for spiders. 6/10/10 pcv perpecto@verizon.net

Open Letter To Diane Rehm of NPR…

I’d like to give my “2 cents medical opinion” on Diane Rehm’s voice condition: spasmodic dysphonia. I read this is an incurable condition; treatable using Botox injections. Symptomatic and probably with anatomical and or structural improvement follows injection of the vocal cords with Botox.

My mornings are filled with listening from 10AM to noontime with Diane Rehm’s Show on the radio. I have identified with her, and her positions in politics, etc. I  feel the depression when on so many times that she’s absent and hear a very able and equally good replacement, 2 or 3 guys and 2 girls: Susan Page of USA Today and a British accent host and commentator.

I believe the “not addressing the underlying disease” in spasmodic laryngitis /dysphonia is what bothers me. I believe she has an undiagnosed subtle GERD /gastroseophageal reflux disease. More specifically called LPRD /laryngo-pharyngeal reflux disease or LPR. Article. Image. LPR induced spasmodic dysphonia. Article1. Article2.

GERD I believe is a very common disease, even in newborns. In adults I’ve seen it associated with lower respiratory conditions: bronchial asthma, pneumonia, and pulmonary fibrosis; laryngeal polyps and cancer. Recurrent upper respiratory conditions: otitis media, repeated pharyngitis, repeated or chronic sinusitis. The GERD symptoms are usually silent and the clinician /physician has to elucidate queries that will implicate the condition. In other words, the high index of suspicion precedes the success in gathering the positive symptoms that the patient was not overtly aware of in the first place and hence called silent or asymptomatic. Article. I recently came across a blog article describing acid reflux outside of the stomach as similar to lava from a volcano  spewing off. What a picturesque and effective parallel!!! (updated 12/21/10 pcv) I welcome any volunteer sketch picture for posting here.

The awareness of this etiologic connection I believe is the start of the healing. In some articles I ran into like reality and disease helps illustrate this point. I’d emphasize the special case with women and those who has fairly high accomplishment like Diane Rehm. They tend to be difficult with compliance particularly with respect to having to give up or restricting diet which is the key to treatment of GERD and LPRD by extension. I’m talking about giving up chocolate, caffeine including decaf products, and tea including decaf products (since they produce as much stomach acid as the original). The addiction to chocolate, to coffee and to tea in itself is a separate, big book topic for discussion.

The combination of strict lifestyle modifications (no corset, tight bra too, waist restriction from jeans or just by habit for vanity or looks; no heavy or regular meal after 630 PM (allow 4 -4.5 hours at least before retiring), elevate head to 45 degrees with a bed wedge, no heavy meals, ok to spread small q 2.5 hrs meals, lose weight if applicable, also quit nicotine, caffeine, tea and chocolate) for anti-gravity measures, acid reflux and acid reduction and avoidance of stomach irritants (alcohol, mints, heavy spices) and the trial therapy of proton pump inhibitors, non prescription Prilosec OTC take 40 mg instead of 20 mg, and Prevacid OTC take 30 mg instead of 15 mg at a double dose or 2x/d for 2 months. And from there slack off to once q night dosing. I believe this should be the start.

Thanks to the “Diane Rehm Show”. pcv 6/10/10.  revised 6/14/10. 12/21/10 perpecto@verizon.net