Beautiful side of Austin

One more of my favorite walkway, I happen to visit this area of Austin quite often. This morning, I took a 45-minute walk for the first time on Jollyville Rd and Morado Circle.. went through the Misting Falls and came out of Floral Park back on Jollyville. The Morado Circle has winding roads and absolutely stunning views as the road bends down at the feet of the mountains. One of the most beautiful sides of Austin! A great place to drive around too..

Ye Kahaan Aa Gaye Hum... Barton Springs!!

Barton Springs - A magical place for walkers and runners! It is probably one of the best times we enjoy being together!! Every Saturday morning, Mohan used to go for his Marathon practice there on the 13 mile track covering Barton Springs and Town Lake touching i-35, Lamar and Mopac in a loop-like circle around the River Colorado. He usually starts off from the Town lake, along with his team of runners and take the full loop around 13.6 miles or whatever that makes a half marathon. After that he would come home, eat a full meal and sleep in the afternoon or watch a movie. That is yet another blissful time for him and for me as well.. I'd be on my own writing a blog or reading a book, like what I'm doing now ;-)

This morning we had been for a longggg walk in that same loop and covered a 7 mile stretch. This is the third time I'm going with him there for a walk and it was lovely! The weather was pretty good in the morning after a cold front last night. There was no sign of any sun and I usually enjoy the place particularly for one spot where people come there with their kids to feed the birds and the riverside ducks/swans/turtles. We had been there twice before and swore that the next time we go, we take some food for them. So today we went there with a packet of rusks. And birds and turtles just swarmed around us for their day's food. What a serene place and how nice it is to sit there with birds all around you! It was truly joyful.. one of the best hang-outs in Austin if you like being in peace with nature.

Aap Jaisa Koi.. The old bar number

Item songs have evolved from being an ordeal in olden days to a beautiful package these days. But even in those days there were actresses like Helen, Bindu, Aruna Irani and others who really rocked the stages. I have quite a lot of songs piled up in that genre. One of the bar numbers that I enjoy all time is "Aap Jaisa Koi" from the movie Qurbani. Zeenath Amman, one of those types, who played item girl being a heroine, was a great hit those days. This song is really good if played with drums. Anyways I've tried my best. I tried it already a couple of weeks back. But it didn't turn out well, so had to push it off and try it later. Check it out on my Jukebox. 

And check out the video of the song too.. You won't regret it ;-)

Converting FLAC files to MP3 - SWITCH SOUND FILE CONVERTER

This is a new software (SWITCH SOUND FILE CONVERTER) that I found which was really useful. I tried recording a song in FLAC format, to avoid extra jarring , vibrating or echoing noises because of the strumming of Guitar. This option is available on most of the latest sound recorders on PC/Laptop. It is a loss less CD quality output. But the problem was that the output files are over 25 MB per song. It is too big a file to upload the song on an online forum that we use. After a long search I found a converter online which supports Windows7 as well.  It handles most of the file formats for conversion. And it comes with a cool Recorder software too, which has its own music library. I personally liked it. We can try it for home recordings.

http://www.nch.com.au/switch/

Pal Pal Har Pal

Bueno, this was my first experiment after coming here! I had a friend from my college days in Chennai who had a beautiful voice for light music and was so keen in pursuing her suit in music. She used to keep calling me out for performances, somewhere or the other and wanted to never let go off her interests even for years after we passed out of college. I've seen that same fire in my neighbor here at Austin, a good friend of mine. She sings very beautifully and I wanted to record a song with her voice and my Guitar in the background. I had been thinking of doing this for a long time, but our schedules were so conflicting. Now that we both are available, I hope to do this more often.

This is one of my favorite Guitar numbers in Bollywood movies. Its a remake of an old English song, "Theme for a Dream".. It so happened that we ended up recording it with both of our voices. This is our first try.. no practice, no preparations, no time(!), recording quality is also not great.. We wish to improve in the coming ventures.

Click below for Pal pal pal har pal.. or find it on my jukebox! You can listen to it and leave your comments.

http://www.box.net/shared/i35p60t7zt

Nostalgic..

The last two posts were based on how boring life can be at times! For a change I wanted to tell how interesting life used to be ;-)

Its been a week since I played a new song on my Guitar and all of a sudden I felt nostalgic when I heard one online. I was inspired to watch the title of Varanam Aayiram again for it where Surya plays a series of songs on Guitar.. Movie songs are real motivations for me to learn and teach as well. Ahem, I'm sure one or the other of my college friends is going to leave a sarcastic comment after getting to know that I'm teaching Guitar lessons here. Trust me, I'm doing it because I'm liking it.. and I'm not holding to any of those revenges from my college days.. definitely not ;-)

I learned playing Guitar for the first time when I was in the second year of my college, "only" to play a song on the stage in the women's auditions held every year as an Inter-departmental cultural activity. It was supposed to be a cool thing when any team walks up there on the stage with a Guitar and we would be very sure, they are going to take away the first place. That made me say one day, "we will also sing along with a Guitar! I'll learn it! Next auditions we are doing it!" And I went for the classes for six months, came back with all spirits for playing on stage.  We did the old Tamil melody "Kodai kaala kaatrey" - And I remember how hyped our whole team felt! We of course did not win ;-) due to some conspiracies which usually happen in all auditions.. But our team evolved as one of those tough competitors thereafter.. And we also became one of those "hyped" teams yeahh.. Unforgettable moments!

Its certainly nostalgic when we get reminded of the incidents from our college days. School had been equally fun for me, but since it was a girls' convent, it was a different kind of an experience. It will take a lifetime to write about it.. I'm sure everyone has something or the other to cherish from the past.

Hmm.. I've uploaded my version of the song that I was talking about on my Jukebox here!

Have fun feeling nostalgic.. 

Fruta fresca

It is one of the assignments in my spanish class. Fruta fresca is a song by Carlos Vives. Listen to the song (actually there's a list of songs and movies given by my teacher).. with the lyrics and sing along with it! That was some fun.. As such i'm the only person in the class who is outstanding! Yeahh.. outstandingly dumb ;-)

This time the class is a mixed group of people, mostly working.. and they're here to learn spanish so that it will help them in their job.. No wonder they are so good at it! I'm the one going there just to add one more language in my resume ;-) so i kind of take it easy for now.. But suddenly last week the teacher decided to change her methods. She told everyone, "Ok, let's all talk!" and guess what? Everyone was actually talking!! I was stumbling with words.. It felt like a big joke for me! And it was not just basics they were talking, like "Hola, como estas?" - I'm still lingering there.. I can't talk one phrase beyond that.. Oh ya, i can say "Sí" and remember there's an accent on the "i". If you say it without the accent it means "If".. I can count numbers till 100, after which i can proceed with the notebook open. I can say greetings, haven't learned the opposites of greetings yet!! It may be of great use when i have to talk to our apartment manager here!! And so i'm trying to make it interesting for myself by doing the assignments on time ;-)

I was watching a movie on the NVUE this morning and was laughing simply at the actions and expressions.. My teacher has told me, "Watch the movie simply, even if you don't understand the dialogues!" - So i just watched it.. All that i understood was the advertisements between the movie scenes.. lol

Anyways the song is good.. Enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwFk-BkcSMI&feature=PlayList&p=4E950B26AD782EE0&

Sooooooo langweilig...

What do you do when you are really so bored?? You write a blog ;-)

Hmm.. Winter is here.. so Spring cannot be far!!

But the last 2 weeks were so busy that i'm unable to accept this boredom now.. Day-before-yesterday i saw the recently released novel-turned-film 3 Idiots.. Aamir, stunningly handsome, has as usual proved that he can be choosy about the subject! Though he has not made this movie, he is definitely an SME (Subject Matter Expert). I had read the novel by Chetan Bhagat already and the movie was equally well-made.. Believe me, i saw the same movie yesterday again!! Yes thats the height of getting bored.. How long can i strum my Guitar.. i have tried five new no.s already this week. Cooking is just out of question, as i had been doing a lot of it lately. Tired of looking out for jobs, sick of weather outside.. Driving is just not possible this week due to a storm alert here.. Music is fun, but i'm not passionate enough to sit with it more than an hour or two. or sometimes three..

I wanted to watch the movie Kurbaan today. I had seen the first half yesterday online, but when i play it today it throws up so many ads in between that i got pissed off.. so i'm downloading it now.. It will be ready only after a couple of hours!! Sometimes i feel, when u really want to do something, thats when it gets impossible!! Thats when it starts troubling.. just like your scooter goes off when you are already running late to office!! Like you don't find your ring that you bought with so much of enthusiasm to wear it to a party! Like you get an anonymous call from some telemarketing executive when you are preparing intensely for a meeting that you forgot about!! Like i forget to make rice when i make a big meal ready ;-)

I'm reminded of this saying...

I never had a slice of bread,

Particularly large and wide,

That did not fall upon the floor,

And always on the buttered side

When you come to think of it, well it is indeed interesting..

Look at this funny cartoon.. Boredom is just a pattern, not a Reality!!

First Winter

Anda ka kasam, Abu ka hukum.. vaapas aagaye hum!! It has been a looonnnggg break.. And this is the First Winter here for me. The time is just 4.50pm but i have to switch on the lights to type!! Wonder if i'm living in Norway!! In southern parts of Norway there is sun until about 20 hours a day in summer, and dark 17 hours a day in winter. Or somewhere near the south pole where sun doesn't appear for 6 months in a year??!! Did you know the period of darkness there this year?? The sun had set on March 23, 2009, at 02:16 am, and did not rise again until September 21, 2009. Woww.. wud luv to see how it all luks like there.. 

So so.. winter's born again,

ohh but its not the same as last winter for me :-(

For Last i was single in brain,

And this one is running one step ahead of me ;-)

I came across Einstein's law somewhere on the web now and was wondering how much energy i wud need to run along with the speed life is taking me thru.. Energy is mass multiplied by square of velocity of light. Gosh, mathematics can't be so crazy!! I better enjoy my winter with hot fatty food here ;-)

Thanks to ssnsfamily

These are some numbers that i have learnt from my Guitar instructor here so far in the last 5 months..

1. Pipeline by Ventures

2. Bad Moon Risin' by Creedence Clearwater Revival

3. Walk don't run by Ventures

4. Buckaroos Instrumental

5. Norwegian Wood by Beatles

6. Yesterday by Beatles (I love playing this one..)

7. Buck's polka

8. Yakety Sax or Wacky Sax by Boots Randolph

9. Sugar foot Rag by Junior Brown

I have been learning these old country and rock n roll numbers so far.. Ofcourse apart from some more chord theory to enhance my very lil knowledge about chords, and some good amount of exercises to handle chords. But i had always somehow wanted to play more desi songs, that i started learning when i just left India. Think about having a nice hot tea in the evening rain when i can sit on my patio and play a nice ilayaraja or ARR tune on my Guitar!! Yes i will start doing it from today happily!! Yeahh.. i found a channel on the Youtube uploaded by a 44 yr old person called Suresh.. Thanks to him for the easy tutoring on the chords and strumming patterns that he offers for each song that he uploads. It's simply awesome! And i'm able to learn the songs better, play it and sing along with it too..

This is his Youtube channel where we can subscribe.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ssnsfamily#play/uploads

You can find all his other videos also on the below link.

http://www.2sol.com/