Channeling my Inner Rock Star

One of those spur of the moment purchases I did last week was Guitar Hero World Tour which came complete with a drum set, guitar and mic for the Wii.

Boy was I hooked!

I could really play "Are You Gonna Go My Way" when I was in college but years of lack of practice has made my fingers rusty. Not that Guitar Hero actually improved your skills in guitar playing (far from it), but the fact that I was jamming again brought back memories of all that guitar playing I did in college. Credit some of that skill in helping me to woo my then girlfriend-now-wife.

One of my other discs, Guitar Hero Legends of Rock really brought on the nostalgia, especially since one of the songs there was Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love". Our band back then ("Elephant Gun" as it was called) did some college gigs and this was one of the songs we did. I remember our lead vocalist pasting the lyrics of the song on the floor because when he gets stage fright he forgets them! This classic was one of the coolest we did I think, back when the day when grunge was the "in" thing. Although we did do our fair share of Pearl Jam at that time ...

Caitlin is now getting to appreciate the legendary rock songs like "Welcome to the Jungle" , "Bulls on Parade" and "Black Magic Woman". She's my drummer in this little rock band we have and hopefully when Inigo gets older he will have a more active participation. Bass player maybe?

Hmmmm ....

Panic at 35,000 Feet

On my way back to Manila from Munich via Amsterdam passengers on the flight got a scare from an old guy who was a row in front of me. As we entered into Russian airspace this man, who would be in his '60s, suddenly went into some sort of seizure. His seatmates suddenly stood up and the stewards announced on the PA whether or not a doctor was on the plane.

Two doctors, one Chinese-American lady and one Filipino came up along with a Dutch nurse to assist in the emergency. The man seemed to be choking up and couldn't respond to the questions by the doctors how he was feeling and what was wrong. The prospect of landing in Moscow seemed imminent since the situation seemed to be quite serious.

Things calmed down afterwards once the doctors were able to get some tranquilizers (!) from the first aid kit. The guy was ok all throughout the flight after that. Turns out that he fell on the ice and hit his head while vacationing.

It was a sobering experience, the effects of my in-flight alcohol immediately cleared up in less than 30 seconds, faster than really bad turbulence during stormy weather.