2nd day..

pretty crazy out here... love it though. woke up prety early since i went to sleepy early last night...  but yeah checked out of our crappy hotel, like foreals it was a wannabe tight room it was NOT TIGHT! hahaha. but yes we are at the marriott now... but before we moved hotels we went to church at St. Cecilia's which is literally right across the street from Berklee. 

i was mostly paying attention to the music, and i met the director of music at the church.. turns out he's a berklee graduate and i talked to him about how i played at St. Patrick's for 10 years and it was hard leaving... so i got an accompanist job there! i'm not sure if theyre paying me, but that really doesn't matter as long as i know what i'm doing it for. can't wait to start playing for mass again since i haven't really missed a Sunday in years... it was sad leaving St. Patrick's... im gonna miss it.

after mass, i met up with my friend Tim Woo.. checked in at Berklee... went to the mall and bought some souvenirs, met up with my friend Troy and mom went back to the hotel. i went to go visit the dorms.. they are pretty cool. troy and i helped my friend Jade settle in. can't wait to move in to my apartment.. i'm sharing a room with my friend from high school. 

had dinner at some clam chowda (haha) place... and ate more food at a japanese teriyaki chinese food boba place right across the street from berklee. oh man.. its gonna be an interesting year. everyone that i know so far is a year younger than me... but same grade. i guess thats what i get for taking a year off.. 

i miss you guys more and more each day. everyone keeps wanting to hang out at night time but i just wanna chill. my mom says to go chill with them, but i just say i'm tired, cuz the truth is i just wanna spend more time with mom before she leaves on wednesday. i haven't been away from my mom.. like ever. i'm just kinda being anti-social which is really not like me, but being with mom is the best thing i can ask for. makes me think of home too and family, and friends. i'm going to miss you guys so much.. especially while i'm out here just walking around alone... all i do is think about being around my friends. 

a new day awaits. see you tomorrow Boston.

come visit me soon.

-aj

1st day in Boston...

arrived in Boston yesterday around 12PM est, had to chill at the airport for the longest time becuz mom forgot the name of the hotel we were staying at. hahahha. so that took like an hour calling every hotel in downtown Boston.

so my mom and i were getting super frustrated. we got lost for about 3 hours. hahah. we had to get directions like 5 times. each time we got directions we would end up somewhere else. the freeways are so freakin complicated here. damn it. haha. so finally we ended up at this McDonalds where this random guy let us know where we were at. Boston's kinda small cuz we ended up by Harvard which is on the other side of the river from where we were supposed to be.

anyway, we got to the Chandler's Inn. which is an overpriced wanna-be artsy hotel. so we're moving to the Marriott today. i walked to Newbury Street where i met up with my friend Andrew Rhim whom i met when i auditioned for Berklee last year at the Berklee in LA program. he showed me where the Best Buy was, and the Johnny Cupcakes store, and we found the Karmaloop store. so tight! newbury is so sick... walking along that street is amazing. ya'll gotta come over...

finally he showed me where the school was. it was like a dream come true. i saw the building that said Berklee College of Music and i was trippin. i couldn't believe that i was really here. theres a music store right across the street.. it's amazing. and the McDonalds and Wendy's are all decorated with music notes and what not. St. Cecilia's is right across the street from Berklee. what a trip.

we walked so much last night, my mom and i knocked out early... like 9PM est hahaha. i realized it was only 6PM pst when we went to sleep... i guess i'm used to the time already. 

to everyone who saw me off at the airport & ate in n out with me for the last time since theres none on the east coast: rusoul, jen, stephie, preston, brandon, krissy, bj, nick, nigel, amanda, bri, josh, esther, eric, kris, sam, marlone, kris lumagi, kristina, nessa, christine, andrew, randolph, mike, stacey, anthony, rachel, franz, derek, lydia, lydia paek, roland, dusty, jasmine, rb, marilu, and justine. i love you guys so much. thank you all, it was like a freakin party at the airport. haha. i'm gonna miss you guys!!!! i can't even think about it without being sad. you guys better come visit soon.

i'm finally chillin.... today's just a chill day. tomorrow is the beginning... weird cuz its labor day. but yeah. more adventures coming up soon... 

-aj

my last week in so cal...

this is crazy. 

last thursday we went to six flags! randolph permejo, derek portea, bryan keith, cathy nguyen, my best friend rb, marilu, mike isberto, gabe bondoc and a lot of my other good friends. i only went on two rides cuz i get really sick. haha sucks for me.

friday's show at otay ranch wasn't what i expected... i wanted a MOMENT with the people of OTAY!!! but they cut me off and i could only play one song... i was mad at the fact that we drove over 100 miles to get there and they weren't paying gas money... dusty, jasmine, me, rb, and lydia drove down... i'm so glad i met lydia, she's a super dope person who is very talented and isn't cocky about anything and doesn't let the attention get to her head... she's the real deal foreals...... haha

saturdays show was a different story though... chino hills @ the shoppes, with our host M-Meow from the asian persuasion show, was amazing. there was a pre-show and then andrew garcia opened up the night. christine concepcion delivered 3 songs for us, then marc, and then derek put it down! lydia paek, one of the most amazing singers i have ever met, went up after that. (look her up on youtube! she pwns!) randolph and cathy went up shortly after that, and then a special performance by GABE bondoc. i went on last to close the show, and that meant a lot to me seeing everybody sing along to "I Just Want You" and "My Soldier"... it's always a trip to see how many people actually know and follow my music. thank you all who came to the shoppes. i'll miss you all.

i'm getting flown out a couple weekends of october for shows and for my sisters birthday. so maybe i'll see you guys soon. i'll keep you updated on Berklee College of Music in Boston, and i'll make a mailing list so you guys can keep up with me via e-mail.

i fly out friday at ontario airport. let's hope this is my time to be up there with the rockstars and shiii.

-aj