Nightmare of choices

Posted on February 21, 2023 by Joshua Sanchez

Having a million options is something that sounds good on paper, but can cause nightmares in practice. You’ve probably been there. You’re scrolling through Netflix or YouTube with a snack in a bowl, finding the perfect show or movie to watch while eating. By the time you choose something that you might watch, your food is either cold or it’s almost finished. You just spent more time trying to find something to watch rather than watching it.

Your childhood experience with having too much to choose from is probably the toy store. You might not have figured out what exactly you were interested in yet. Without that many options that you can try, you automatically just gravitate toward toys that look good. You beg your parents to buy you more but they can’t allow you to. This leads you with having to choose one toy. You’re there for a bit before your parents beg you to just go or choose one.

Another childhood experience you might have gone through is picking colours for that drawing you made. You want all 96 colours in that big box of crayons on your drawing but you can only pick a few that work. Unless you had a good understanding of colour theory or you had a general idea of what you were drawing, you had no idea what colour to choose.

(Phil Roeder / Flickr)

One of your first experiences with having to choose something serious was fonts in Microsoft Word. Before you had to write something that was in Times New Roman, you were choosing between Comic Sans (which you should never pick by the way) and Impact. In the end, you probably regret the font you chose for that assignment that you had to type.

Your biggest trap as an adult is clothing stores. You’re in that shirt section, trying to find something that looks cool. You see around 10 options that you would really like to wear, but can only afford one, maybe two. You try out every single shirt in the dressing room, some of them don’t look as good as you thought they did but rather than just eliminating them, you try to convince yourself that you’ll have a use for them. When you finally decide to buy a shirt and wear it, you instantly regret it but you can’t return it now.

One of my biggest death traps is music and video game stores. Music stores are easily my biggest nightmare because of how much I already want to own. I was at Everyday Music in Portland, Oregon last weekend, hoping to find what I want quickly. It took me well over 40 minutes to decide on two vinyl records and two CDs that I know I enjoy. I already regret capping it at those four because I could’ve bought one more vinyl that I know I’m not going to find in the future, which was a copy of Gone Forever by God Forbid. Every time I go through a music store these days, I usually come out with only one option or empty-handed because I can’t always justify my purchases.

(David Seibold / Flickr)

We also went to Powell’s Books in Portland. If you’ve never been there, think of it as a wonderland for books. It’s a lot bigger than my local public library which can make it hard to find books. My sister was the one that wanted to go there the most but she ended up coming out empty-handed because she said to herself, “I can just get these for free at the library,” which is true. Unlike the library where you don’t need to commit, buying a book is something you need to commit to. At least with library books, you’re more committed to reading the book because you have a limited amount of time to read it, whereas owning a book means you can just finish it at any time, which doesn’t give anyone a good incentive to read the book as soon as possible. We were in that store for a solid 30 minutes before leaving after she decided that she didn’t want to buy anything.

https://flic.kr/p/6ybZ73

(Kari Sullivan / Flickr)

Video game stores are also a huge death trap. I like buying games but sometimes I need to know if I really want to play them. The last time I ever bought a game was back in 2020 but that was only because I needed something to hold me over during the start of the pandemic. Other than that, I’ve never been able to choose a game. I almost bought one for my birthday last month but ended up not buying it because I wasn’t sure if it was going to be the right choice. Considering my energy levels these days, I can’t justify buying a game I know I won’t play as much as I want to.

Restaurants are everyone’s biggest problem when it comes to choosing dishes. Sometimes you can’t even choose a restaurant. There are a lot of places you like but always have a reason to not pick them. Either it’s because it’s too expensive, you’ve had similar food recently, or it’s just a place that you can’t justify buying from. When you finally get there, you either already know what you want or you’re sitting there for a while not knowing what you want. Food is something that’s mostly final sale so whatever you pick is something you’ll have to stick to. Since you know you can’t finish that much food, you know you can’t order a lot. People will be fighting over what you order, or they can’t decide at all. I’ve been at a few restaurants where I couldn’t decide what to eat to the point where I needed help from my family just to pick something I know will enjoy, which is weird because I should be the one who knows what I want.

(Geoff Peters / Flickr)

Having to choose between things at stores, restaurants, or even online will always be a nightmare. You either have too much to choose from that you can always go back to later, or there’s too much and you can only pick one. Regardless, you’ll either be happy in the end or regret it.

Dress codes that make your mind explode

Posted on February 21, 2023 by Joshua Sanchez

You’ve probably seen that person at a wedding or a funeral before. They probably wore light-wash blue jeans, a white polo, and black square-toe shoes. That person did not read the dress code for the event. Their family is entirely embarrassed to be around that person while everyone else judges them. If only that person followed the dress code, you think to yourself.

Your first experience with getting dress-coded was probably during school. There was that one person wearing something highly inappropriate such as a hat. There isn’t a good reason why hats (not including religious headwear) aren’t allowed in schools. The big reason that people give is that they want to be able to tell right away if someone is dangerous. If that’s truly the case, then intruders would just not wear hats in the school. You’ve probably always wanted to wear a hat in school but because of the dress code, you weren’t allowed to. These rules technically only count in the actual school building, more specifically the hallways. If the teacher allows hats in their classroom, that’s completely fine. I once had a class during elementary school that allowed hats only because we were in a portable. That was helpful since it can get cold in there at times. Women’s clothing was a completely different story. They couldn’t wear stuff like mini skirts or anything that was “revealing” (which was usually stuff like shoulders). The schools’ reason for this is that “boys will be distracted.” That is 100% not the girls’ responsibility to make sure boys aren’t distracted. That’s up to boys to learn on their own or to be taught by their parents. What a girl wears is never a reason for boys to be distracted.

(Rondo Estrello / Flickr)

My grandma once told me about how my dad didn’t want to dress up for his high school graduation. He wanted to wear a t-shirt and basketball shorts to it and she had to tell him no. I can’t blame my dad for it. High school graduations are notoriously long and the last thing you want to be during it is uncomfortable. My dad has always been known as someone who doesn’t follow the dress code. He would wear a t-shirt and jean shorts to church while not highly inappropriate, could be a lot better. This screwed my grandma and me over one time when she wanted to visit a chapel. My dad brought us along with both of us dressing nicely. We learned right after that we were also doing a walk around Granville Island while we were dressed in our nicest clothing in the hot weather. When I told my dad that he should’ve made that clear, he said “Just look what I’m wearing,” and it was exactly what he wears to church.

(Robert Sheie / Flickr)

My family also has weird standards about formality. They always thought that jeans were formal because they had belt loops. I only learned later on that belts are actually not as formal as I thought they were. The only reason why belts were introduced in more business attire was that making pants with a lower rise was cheaper to make and adding belt loops were a solution to suspenders not being long enough.

As someone who did music during high school, there was a dress code for our concerts. You had to wear a black dress shirt, black dress pants, black dress socks, and black dress shoes. You could technically get away with wearing black jeans as long as they didn’t obviously look like jeans. You could even get away with all black sneakers as long as they were in the more converse style. The least formal piece of footwear you could safely get away with were boots, which was what my section sore at almost every concert. You could get away with wearing a white shirt but only if you’re also wearing a black suit jacket. Tie colour was the only thing they never cracked down on. One of my friends did forget to bring black dress pants on a trip one time. He improvised by buying black duct tape and taping over the white stripes on his black Adidas pants. Thankfully he was able to get away with it since he wasn’t sitting on the very end. Black dress clothing can be painful to wear during the hot weather sometimes. One of my friends had to take her shoes off one time while running through Whistler village one time because they started to hurt.

(Gregg Tavares / Flickr)

Weddings are easily the biggest place for dress codes. The last wedding I went to kind of had a dress code or rather just expectations. My family did wear formal clothing such as suits and dresses. However, we did see a few people wear polo shirts which are not formal pieces of attire. It wasn’t even hot outside that day and we were inside anyways. You do not have an excuse, in this case, to not show up in formal attire. There’s also the case where you are not allowed to wear a white dress at a wedding because the bride will be wearing one, and you want her the be the woman to have the most attention at a wedding, not you.

The chances of you needing stuff for black-tie or white-tie events are insanely low unless you are a person of a higher class. That’s why “formal attire”, can be intimidating because people think you need expensive clothing. Realistically, all you need is a dress shirt, dress pants, and dress shoes. As long as you stick to formal colours, you can’t go wrong with what you’re wearing.

Dress codes will always exist. They’re not there to force you to wear what everyone else is wearing, but rather to make sure it’s appropriate. Having punishments for not following them is pretty harsh, however. While it’s clear that person is wearing something that’s not appropriate, they shouldn’t be crucified for it. As long as you’re wearing clothes, that should be good enough.

What orchestral instruments do

Posted on February 17, 2023 by Joshua Sanchez

You either have seen or will see an orchestra in your lifetime. Whether they’re performing As someone who has seen their fair share of symphonies, seeing musicians get together and play bombastic pieces. The different instruments that come together make up this insane texture that can’t be replicated in any other form.

(slgckgc / Flickr)

Violins are one of the two instruments you think of right away when you think of classical music (the other one being the piano). Orchestral violinists generally start playing their instruments at a young age and dedicate their lives to it. Considering how little room there is for tone shift plus the overall difficulty, it makes sense to start it early on.

Viola is an instrument that you would’ve only learned about if you were into classical music. They are about 20% bigger than a violin and have their sheet music written in the alto clef, rather than the standard treble or bass clefs most music is written in. People love to joke about how it’s the instrument that mediocre violinists play just so then they can have a better chance at making it into an orchestra. You will normally see the parts split into two

Cello is something that you at least know of. It’s not as popular because of its size which can be a hassle for smaller players. It provides a nice foundation for the string section. However, it can only handle so much of the low end before it needs help.

Contrabass, upright bass, double bass, or whatever you call it, is the instrument that makes the low end. Full-sized basses are just above six feet tall. Despite this, smaller players will still find their way to play this instrument. It’s an easier instrument to get around playing since there’s a bit more wiggle room. I even learned how to play it to some extent in one hour. Since it’s tuned similarly to a guitar (but an octave down) or electric bass tuned to E standard, those who can play those instruments will have an easier time learning the instrument. In a typical orchestra

Woodwinds make up an interesting texture of the orchestra and make all the interesting twinkles.

Flutes are the instrument you think of right away when you hear “woodwinds.” It’s an interesting one to play, as you have to blow across the mouthpiece rather than into it. You also have to hold it sideways rather than straight down. Piccolos are fundamentally the same instrument except that it’s an octave higher.

(Mark Bonica / Flickr)

Oboes are often described as duck noise makers. There is a lot of great repertoire written for the oboe such as Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky. It is not an instrument that you should be starting out with. This instrument uses a double reed where two pieces of cane flap together to produce sound on it. You should only play this instrument after learning to play another woodwind. English horns are part of the same family and fill up the alto and tenor roles of the woodwind section.

The clarinet is the instrument to start out with if you want to learn a woodwind. It’s an easy instrument to learn at a basic level. The likelihood of you affecting the tone in any way is pretty low. In fact, you can not play the instrument for a few weeks and you’ll sound exactly the same. This instrument uses a single reed, where a piece of cane flaps on a solid mouthpiece to produce sound. The clarinet usually fills in the mezzo-soprano and alto roles of the section. The bass clarinet is another instrument in the same family, filling up the bass role of the section.

Bassoon is easily the one with the least amount of transferable skills. Unlike most instruments where your thumbs are there for placement as well as a few keys, most of the action on the bassoon is usually done by your thumbs. The bocal, the piece that holds the double reed, is pretty dangerous since you can poke someone with it. The contrabassoon, despite its name, is another beast and can’t just be played by someone who knows how to play the bassoon. The keys are simplified which might throw off experienced bassoonists.

Brass instruments can overwhelm the orchestra, so you don’t hear from them that much. When they do play, it’s mostly for the most epic moments of a piece. These instruments usually make sound by vibrating (or “buzzing”) your lips on a mouthpiece using air. The faster your lips vibrate, the higher the note is and vice-versa. You also use a series of button combinations to change the series of notes you can play.

The trumpet is the instrument you think of when you think about brass instruments. They are generally the ones to cut through the orchestra. Because of how much power they provide, they are often only used for more fanfare-like moments of a piece. They usually offer the soprano role in a brass section.

French horns are interesting creatures. Despite mostly filling the alto roles, the range of one can be humongous, being able to play from pedal tones up to screeching high notes. This is possible because the tubing is super long but the diameter of the tubing is narrow. It has the smallest mouthpiece with can be difficult to deal with sometimes. Because of the amount of wiggle room the instrument provides plus the size of the mouthpiece, it can be tiring on your lips in a shorter amount of time compared to other brass instruments.

(Bill Smith / Flickr)

Trombones are an interesting bunch because instead of some kind of button to press down like a key or a valve, you use a slide to change the series of pitches you can achieve. Despite not being exactly clear where each position lies, it’s easy to get a hang of if you practice enough. Because of its flexibility, it’s the only instrument (other than the human voice) that you can get perfectly in tune with. They usually fill up the tenor and baritone voices of the brass section.

Tubas are the biggest out of all of the brass instruments and provide the low end. The majority of pieces they shine in are usually solo pieces. It does take quite a bit of air to play but once you practice enough, you can achieve some great results.

Percussion instruments such as drums, xylophones, marimbas, and triangles don’t get a lot of use in pieces, usually only used to spice things up. Because of how rarely they’re used, they will often wait around. People like to joke about how percussionists only play one note for the entire night.

The orchestra is something that will stay. They have provided soundtracks for movies, shows, and video games. They have also been part of more popular genres like pop and rock. If you get a chance to see an orchestra live, you should probably dress up and go.

Social media and its uses

Posted on February 17, 2023 by Joshua Sanchez

Admit it. You’re probably scrolling on your phone right now, constantly switching between social media apps. Each platform gives you a different experience while also feeling the same.

YouTube is probably the first platform you were on. It didn’t require you to have an account which is nice when you’re under thirteen but want some form of entertainment. YouTube back then used to be pretty nice. People at least attempted to make something somewhat original. These days, YouTube videos made by people who do it for the sake of fame feel hollow. There isn’t a pinch of passion made and feels like a festival of nothingness. The best videos these days are the ones with some sort of educational value. Reaction videos made by experts such as doctors, vocal coaches, and other people with some sort of knowledge are the best because it’s more than just reacting to something and seeing if you enjoy it. There’s a level of analysis that’s taking place, offering interesting insight into what they’re experiencing. One of the best features that have been removed is the ability to respond to videos with a video you have on your channel. Since then, people just started responding with videos in the comments section, which can be a little bit cleaner but it can get lost. Contests that required you to respond with a video now have to be sent elsewhere for they to not get completely lost.

(Rego Kerosi / Flickr)

Facebook is probably the platform you think of when you hear the words “Social media.” Back then, it used to be the place when it came to posting whatever you want. You probably just posted pictures, videos, and whatever thoughts you had. You also had games like Farmville which was a fun experience. Everyone started hopping on it and it felt like you were connected to the entire world. Over time, younger generations started to slowly fade away which now makes Facebook the platform that your relatives are on. My experience with Facebook used to be okay. Most of my friends were usually talking about education-related things such as science fairs and music events. Once my relatives found my Facebook page, it hasn’t been the same since then. All I see now are their shenanigans and family gatherings that I don’t care about. At least with my school friends, I interacted with them on a somewhat daily basis. The same can’t be said about my relatives. The ones who I don’t know usually end up being my relatives. The platform has been ruined for me since then.

(Esther Vargas / Flickr)

Instagram has kind of taken over that role. It’s a lot more streamlined with features being accessible in only a few clicks. The only thing that can be kind of annoying is the fact that you can’t do text-only posts (not counting posting pictures of texts or using the create mode in stories). Instagram has been pretty much the same since 2016 until they started messing with people’s timelines. First, they started putting accounts you don’t follow on your main timeline. Isn’t that what the explore page is for? Also, the abundance of ads started to become annoying. I didn’t install Instagram to see ads. I want to see what my friends are up to, not what a company is trying to sell me. One of my major criticisms is the lack of ability to put links outside of your story or bio. People will try to put links in their posts or comments but it’s rendered useless by what Instagram is capable of. Also, the amount of direct messages and bots is concerning. When I used Instagram, there were always bots seeing my stories or in my message box. If you posted on your story anything about them they would never show up. The ones that message you are always asking you to promote their product or want to collaborate with you. The accounts that do this claim to work for a company. If they really wanted to work with you, the company itself would probably ask you from their company account rather than someone message from their personal account. Other than that, Instagram is still fine for what it is, even if some of the changes aren’t that great.

Twitter is easily the one people laugh at today. It’s mostly text-based posts and people will post anything on their mind, regardless of how ridiculous it is. This is the place where people will get into feuds over anything such as politics and current news. The number of ridiculous takes is crazy, especially the ones that are explicitly discriminatory. Twitter is often the place where you find out people’s views, which can be disappointing at times. Political Twitter is something you should avoid as much as possible unless necessary. Most of the time it isn’t useful and all it is are people arguing over basic human rights rather than discussing real issues. If you ever retweet a news article, the platform will now ask you if you’ve read it yet just to make sure you’re actually informed, rather than the title alone. This doesn’t guarantee that people will read it but at least there’s a good warning.

(Esther Vargas / Flickr)

While people like to talk about how TikTok is popular, it’s not the giant as it seems to be. Sure, there are 1 billion active users, but most TikToks don’t even become popular through the platform itself, but rather people re-uploading the videos on other platforms. TikTok is pretty much YouTube but can be easily scrolled through, which can lead to lower attention spans. It’s shocking how a platform like this was able to become popular since Vine, a similar platform that become popular, was shut down after platforms such as Instagram started adding videos.

You do have other platforms such as Snapchat, Reddit, and Twitch, but those are their own entities compared to more traditional social media.

Social media is here to stay whether you like it or not. How your experience is like is up to you to decide.

Being on time can be hard

Posted on February 17, 2023 by Joshua Sanchez

Punctuality is something you have to deal with. People need you to be present at certain times of the day and if you’re not there on time or don’t give people a heads up, people will lose a little bit of trust in you. However, people shouldn’t be too quick to judge someone’s tardiness. Things happen, life is unpredictable, and yes, people will be late.

(Mark Woodbury / Flickr)

Schools are the first place they will give you this talk. If you were late, you would have to get a late slip most of the time and it would be shameful to enter. It does feel a bit weird to tell a kid to control something they can’t control. Most of the time, kids’ parents are the ones dropping them off. There are parents out there who just don’t care about if their kids are going to be late or not. Kids can be ready an hour before school is supposed to start but if the parents are being lazy and just drop off their kids whenever then it’s pointless telling them to come in on time if it’s out of their control. If there is someone teachers should be having this conversation with, it’s the parents. Parents know that kids should show up on time so the fact that they’re not taking that responsibility isn’t helpful.

(zaphad1 / Flickr)

I was late quite a bit during the early days of elementary school. To be honest, I don’t know why. For some reason, my dad would never make me go to the office and get a late slip. He would just make me go to the classroom, which eventually led me into going to the office and telling them I was late for attendance reasons.

High school is weird when it comes to telling kids about being late. You only get a few minutes to get from one class to another and depending on the size of the school, you would have to run just to make it to your next class. However, teachers will do the thing where they go “The bell doesn’t dismiss you, I do.” This was the worst thing to experience especially if you have something important for the next class that needs you to be there. There was a class that didn’t let people go until after you cleaned up, which would eventually lead up to you being late for the next class. The teacher would still ignore your reasonings and just tell you that you should’ve been on time.

Then there is being late to a party. People will have a time set for what time to show up since it’s the time they can guarantee to be ready. I’ve never shown up early to a party before. I don’t like being too early just in case I’m the first one there. Small talk can be a little awkward, especially if the person that’s hosting is someone you don’t talk to regularly.

Some families are known to just never show up on time. I can confirm as someone in a Filipino household that we are never on time for a party. We were always an hour late to every party we were invited to. Honestly, no one cares if you’re on time for a party or not. As long as you show up, they’re more than okay with it. Being late can be quite embarrassing for someone who had to go to church every Sunday. Considering that church is a quiet place you’re going to attract some attention. Normally, you would hang in the back and just find a spot while everyone is standing and speaking, or you would just go completely unnoticed. The way to go somewhat unnoticed is to never walk in the center while mass is being held. Instead, you would go from the other side of the pew if it’s towards the center. However, some people are still pretty loud when they’re late, talking among themselves about which spot they’re taking.

(Dennis Jarvis / Flickr)

Sometimes, you’re locked out if you’re late. This can apply anywhere like school or any other event. One time in my science class, a few people showed up late and my teacher didn’t allow them to go inside until after he talked with them. As far as I can remember, only one person got out of the talk early since she had a real excuse. For the others, they were just told the same old things that every teacher says, saying they should’ve known better. Sometimes, you’re just never getting in. My brother once had a seminar that enforced this. Once the seminar started, you were just never getting in. He arrived at his destination late and he couldn’t get in. It was a work-related event and he had to make up for it later than usual.

At the very least, it’s time to change up the attitude around this. Teachers might be disappointed that kids show up late but at least they did. The statement, “I can’t believe you’re late.” is super discouraging. Instead, teachers should say, “I’m glad you’re here.” It shows that the kids’ efforts to make it to school were still good despite any obstacles. Sometimes, kids are going through things that cause them to show up late. Imagine if they woke up to the worst thing in the world and they show up late as a result. Then when they arrive, the teacher just makes it worse by putting them down even more while disregarding what the child is going through. Sure, they might be on time for the rest of their lives but these aren’t the conditions that they should’ve been under.

Being late is something that will happen to you every once in a while. If you ever have kids, you might even be affected even more since life can be chaotic and unpredictable. You can either berate people for their tardiness, or you can be nice about it and thank them for still showing up.

Dressing for the weather isn’t easy

Posted on February 17, 2023 by Joshua Sanchez

You’re looking outside to see what the weather is like. “Oh, it’s just cloudy,” you say. You put on that nice sweater and a peacoat. When you walk outside, something feels off. You feel a few water droplets on your head while you’re walking under some trees. You say, “That’s just the water from the rain the night before.” You keep feeling them on the top of your head even more. That’s when you realize that it’s drizzling outside. By that time, you’re already too close to your destination to consider going back home to change.

Yep, this was my morning one day. I was already running late for my bus and didn’t have time to change jackets. I guess the weather report on my phone wasn’t correct when it came to a slight drizzle.

Then there are times when you were completely underprepared. The first time I experienced this was in first grade. I had no real concept of what clothes were appropriate for the rain or not. I came to school in a hoodie, thinking it was enough for the day. It wasn’t raining yet so I thought it was okay. When the rain came, I didn’t expect my hoodie to become wet. I went outside for lunch in my hoodie and the hoodie took most of the precipitation. Thankfully my hair was still dry and I didn’t have to go outside except when I had to get to my carpool. From that day forward, I started wearing appropriate jackets when it was raining.

Back in third grade, we had our annual sports day. Everyone was wearing t-shirts and shorts because of the activities we were doing. We all thought it was okay because it wasn’t raining. We should’ve known that it was going to rain because of the clouds. I didn’t have a jacket or umbrella. Thankfully my sister was picking me up that day and she had an umbrella. Still, I wish I had a jacket to keep me relatively warm. My teacher did say to me before leaving, “The rain isn’t going to hurt you, but you will get wet.” At least she told me the truth rather than being one of those teachers that tell you,” You should’ve been prepared. I came soaking wet and took a steaming hot shower just to combat the chills.

(Becky Stern / Flickr)

No one would be completely unprepared until a few years later when I was in seventh grade. It was a bright and beautiful morning. The sun was out radiating on people’s skin. It was early June which was the perfect time to have the sun out. Just before recess, however, it started to become a bit gloomy. Then the worst happened. It started to rain but no one at school brought a jacket or umbrella. Normally, the school would tell us to suck it up and go outside. However, I guess not a lot of the staff was able to anticipate so they decided to call it an inside day. Lunch monitors had to go to the classrooms they normally lunch monitor at so teachers can still have a break (I did not get the memo. I only learned I was supposed to go after the fact but thankfully the other monitor was there). Every teacher was understanding of this, except one who said, “These kids should’ve known that it was going to rain. We live in a rainforest for crying out loud.” Except for the fact that there was no real way we would’ve known. None of the weather reports said it was going to rain and the sun was shining early in the morning. Nothing about that screamed that it was going to rain that day. Some of the kids in younger grades have their parents dress them up for school and kids usually just listen to their parents because they can’t be horribly wrong, can they (obviously they can be, just look at what happened). Putting the fault on the kids isn’t right in this situation if they were just bamboozled.

Another time when I went to school underdressed was one when I should’ve known better. It was the first day of fall in second grade. I wasn’t great at tracking the dates back then so I thought the sunny day meant it was still summertime. I went to school in shorts and a t-shirt that day. While I was waiting in line to get into my classroom, I noticed people started dressing up a little bit warmer than usual. That’s when it dawned upon me that fall was starting. I might as well have been naked considering underdressed I was. I guess I was ahead of my time because of how warm fall can be these days.

(Russ Sanderlin / Flickr)

When my family first moved to Canada, we didn’t know about this phenomenon. The thought of it being cold with the sun shining wasn’t a concept we knew yet. My mom saw that it was sunny outside and decided to bring me along for a walk. She went outside in shorts and a t-shirt along with a hat. I assume I was wearing the same thing too. She was walking outside with me in a stroller and didn’t think too much about the weather. She started to notice how cold it was despite the fact that it was sunny. She decided to go home immediately, ending our walk abruptly.

(Ruth Hartnup / Flickr)

If weather reports were correct all the time, we would not be running into these issues. People would be able to dress for the weather consistently and people would feel comfortable in the rain. Because of these inconsistencies, I’m forced to bring an umbrella to school just in case it decided to rain that day. I would rather be too prepared and have no need to use the umbrella than be unprepared and get my clothes wet.

Rain is something that’s inevitable, especially if you live in the Metro Vancouver area. You can either be one of those weirdos who don’t fear the rain, or you can be someone who dresses appropriately.

Vocalists: The deciders of sound

Posted on February 17, 2023 by Joshua Sanchez

Bands that change vocalists are nothing new. Lead vocalists sometimes want to leave the band for personal reasons or they pass away. Regardless, if the band wants to keep going, they have to find a new lead vocalist. One of the most classic examples is when AC/DC had to get a new vocalist after Bon Scott’s death. Considering the number of classic songs they made with Brian Johnson, people see this as the best switch in music history.

Of course, not all of them are sunshines and rainbows. Nightwish is easily one of the more controversial examples of this. Back in 2005, they let go of Tarja Turunen, who was their singer since the beginning of the band. She was fired over an open letter, accusing her of disrespecting her position in the band along with her husband. After a year, they started finding a new lead singer. They went through multiple candidates, including Elize Ryd (who would later find Amaranthe), Mija Anderson, Emily Ovenden (who later found Pythia), and even Manuela Kraller (who will come up again later). The two they had to choose between were Canadian singer Cassie Stone and Swedish singer Anette Olzon. Had Anette not sent in another audition tape, Cassie Stone would’ve got the position. In the end, they chose Anette. One of the things the band was looking out for was making sure the new singer did not sound anything like Tarja. Tarja is known to have an operatic soprano voice while Anette’s voice fits in pop rock. They made songs that fit around her voice and it still sounded like Nightwish. When it came to older songs that were made with Tarja in mind, people have mixed feelings about them being sung by Anette, but at least she can still sing them, even if they didn’t sound the same. When Anette was let go in 2012, the band brought in Dutch singer Floor Jansen (previously of After Forever and ReVamp fame) to finish up their tour. Eventually, in 2013, she was declared an official member and has been in the role since, now being their longest-running lead vocalist. Floor’s voice is known to be versatile, capable of doing heavy metal to opera.

Ex-Nightwish vocalist, Tarja Turunen, in 2008

(Roberto / Flickr)

The other symphonic metal band to have the same level of lead vocalist changes is Xandria. Early on, guitarist Marco Heubaum was the vocalist before getting a few more vocalists. They eventually decided on Lisa Middelhauve as their lead vocalist who sang on the first four albums. She left in 2008 and was replaced by Kerstin Bischof, but left after a year and Middelhauve finished up their 2010 tour dates. The band eventually got Manuela Kraller as their vocalist but only for one album. She was replaced by Dutch vocalist (all of the previous vocalists are German) Dianne van Giersbergen. She sang on two albums but left in 2017, due to personal reasons such as tensions in the band. Both Manuela Kraller and Lisa Middelhauve have also stated that they left for similar reasons. The band got Aeva Maurelle to sing in live shows from 2017 to 2019 before getting Ambre Vourvahis in 2022, singing on their latest album along with a new line-up minus Marco Heubaum. Lisa is known to have a more gothic metal voice while both Manuela and Dianne are known to have operatic vocals. Ambre on the other hand is known to have more of a pop-rock voice but can also pull off harsh vocals. People like to compare each singer with different songs, which can be unfair because of how different their voices are.

Now we have Suicide Silence. Mitch Lucker was their vocalist from 2002 until his untimely death in November 2012. The following month, the band held a tribute concert inviting vocalists from other bands including Danny Worsnop (Asking Alexandria), Phil Bozeman (Whitechapel), Johnny Plague (Winds of Plague), Chad Gray (Mudvayne/Hellyeah), and Randy Blythe (Lamb of God). One of their guests, Herman “Eddie” Hermida, sang a song during the concert and eventually became their new lead singer in 2013. People sometimes like to joke that the tribute show was actually his audition for the next lead vocalist of Suicide Silence.

The Black Dahlia Murder is another band that had to change vocalists for the same reason. Trevor Strnad sang for the band from its inception until 2022, when died in May of that year. The future of the band was unknown until the fall when they announced they would continue on. Rhythm guitarist and founder Brian Eschbach stepped down as a guitarist and switched over to lead vocals as a way to respect Trevor’s spot, rather than finding an outsider. Filling Eschbach’s place as a second guitarist is Ryan Knight, who was in the band from 2009 up to 2016.

The Black Dahlia Murder vocalist, Trevor Strnad, in 2016

(Factor Metal / Flickr)

Unfortunately, not all bands want to find someone to fill in the shoes of a lead vocalist if they made up a huge portion of the band’s identity. Linkin Park is a notable example of this, as when Chester Bennington died from suicide back in 2017, the band ultimately decided to go on hiatus, rather than find someone to fill his shoes

One of the main reasons why people don’t like it when bands change vocalists is because they feel like most of the sound is going to change. There is some truth to this as some of the songwriting has to change around the new vocalist. However, if done right, they can still sound the same as before but with a different voice. You can’t really blame people for thinking the sound will change drastically because vocals are prominent in any genre that uses them. Because of how attached people are to certain vocalists, fans will often clash and fight over which vocalist is the best, even if they’re completely different.

Chester Bennington in 2011

(Schen Photography / Flickr)

Bands have a choice of whether to change vocalists or stop playing. There will always be a population of the fanbase who don’t like it when there is a vocal switch. Regardless, as long as the band is still making music, there will be a demographic that will embrace change.

Brain torture

Posted on February 16, 2023 by Joshua Sanchez

Those tests you took (or probably are taking) are something you will never be excited about. You might feel confident but you have to admit you’re not having fun with it.

Your first experience was probably from those spelling tests you took starting in first grade. Feeling the pain of having to memorize for the first time as a child is not fun. As a child, all that was on your mind was the pizza you had in your lunch box or what video games you were going to play that Friday, not how to spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Looking back, those tests weren’t that bad but as a child, they made you want to rip your brains out. If you got a high or perfect score, then you would just shrug it off. If you didn’t do so well, then it felt heartbreaking. Kids know that they learn from failure, but seeing that mark always felt sour.

(Bruce Washburn / Flickr)

Later on, you probably started taking math drills. Those felt like you were running through a war zone. Tests are already timed for the most part but having to do fifty to one hundred questions in a short period of time (maybe five minutes tops) made you want to rip your hands out. You were either the person to race against the clock and didn’t care too much about what answer you wrote down, or you were the person that had to write the right answer, even if it meant you couldn’t finish the drill. While you might’ve hated those then, at least they made you able to do basic math fast enough that it doesn’t take six minutes to figure out what 67 + 45 was. Once you stop doing math every day (like me for example) your ability to do math quickly starts fading away.

Science and social studies were probably the first ones where you had to really memorize everything. As a child, you probably didn’t have good study habits yet and were just reading the material constantly. Admittedly, this is still what I do at times but I get better luck these days. Science tests start as early as third grade and they’re not fun. Sure, they might be easy today because you know basic-level stuff, but as a kid who might be brand new to the content, it can be overwhelming. It all came down to how interested you were in the material. For example, I was never into biology. If there was anything on the human body or chromosomes or RNA, I would probably crash. I was only good at science for two months and that was about it. The last science test was in twelfth-grade Biology where I suffered through the first quiz of the semester. I dropped the class after that which thankfully wasn’t a huge deal because I already met the science requirements for graduation. Social studies were something I was a lot more consistent at. I cared more about life around the world than what is the powerhouse of the cell. I was consistently putting out As and Bs during social studies to the point where it became one of my favourite subjects. I did stop caring for the class over time but once tests weren’t part of the social studies classes I was taking, it became fun again.

(Lead Beyond / Flickr)

Second language tests were always tough because it felt like spelling on steroids. Instead of having to spell words that will become a part of your everyday language, now you have to remember a language you don’t use with anyone outside of class. French is easily one of the harder ones to do especially with silent letters. I took Spanish starting in ninth grade and it was easy for the most part. The tests were alright save for one section. That section was the listening portion and sometimes I wouldn’t be able to catch a single word. That was always a nightmare because once the teacher stopped playing the tape, you were done and couldn’t go back and check.

The types of questions can affect the test in significant ways. The ones where you had to answer in complete sentences were either not that bad or giving you anxiety. If you know the material, it won’t be that bad. If you had no idea what was going on, your mind will go blank and you’ll be making your best guess. You will either get some marks or no marks. Next is multiple choice. These ones are a bit more tolerable because you can at least visualize what the answer is. Sometimes the answer will stick out like a sore thumb, other times you will be confused over which one is the imposter. You’ve probably been in a situation where you went “When in doubt, the answer is C.” I may have done this one multiple times and sometimes it works. However, you might also be in a situation where you pick the same letter multiple times in a row and you start to doubt one of those answers. You probably went back and pick a different answer only to find out later you were actually correct but you let your doubts get the best of you.

(Eric Biederbeck / Flickr)

Then there are big standardized tests. I only ever had to take one which was a numeracy test back in tenth grade. I was not prepared for any of the questions on that test. Nothing that I learned in math over the last how many years was applicable. I never even got to see my mark in the end which was frustrating (then again I may have just been checking the wrong place).

Tests are going to exist for a long time. The one flaw in all of these tests is that they are pretty much there to test your memorization skills rather than see if you understand the concept. Unfortunately, there aren’t better ways to design these tests which means they’ll probably stay the same for a while. Maybe one day they’ll be abolished.

Please move over, you’re blocking our way

Posted on February 16, 2023 by Joshua Sanchez

Oh. My. God. Please move over. You are in everyone’s way. They want to move along and you’re blocking them.

You’ve probably been in that situation before. You’re walking, minding your own business, probably on your way to buy that coffee to keep you awake throughout the day. You see the coffee shop in the distance, and your mind starts to crave that cup of joe. That is until the person that was walking in front of you stops for no reason. You do one of two things, either you stop, or you bump into that person. Either way, you are now annoyed with that person. All you think about for the rest of the day is how annoying it was to have that person block your path.

Imagine if you were in that person’s shoes. You’re on your way to grab some groceries. You leave your house, all fine and dandy. All that’s on your mind is what source you’re going to have with the pasta you’re going to make that night. That is until you decide to stop walking for some godforsaken reason. You do one of two things, either you apologize to the person behind you, or you don’t talk at all and keep going. Either way, you just ruined that person’s day.

You’ve probably experienced this in school. You’re walking to your next class. All that’s on your mind that day is what’s for lunch, whether are you going to have a quiz in class, and whether are you going to hang out with your friends at the park that day or not. You see your class in the distance but all of a sudden the person in front of you stops in the tight hallway. No matter what happens, you are annoyed with that person for the rest of the day.

Once again, imagine being that person who stopped. You’re probably texting your friends while walking despite the fact that you’re going to see them at lunch later in the day, talking about that bald teacher that’s on your case for being on your phone during class while everyone is trying to learn about what is the powerhouse of the cell, and how that nerd’s mom came to the school one day to give an anti-bullying speech. All of a sudden, you decide to stop because all you care about is yourself and the person who was behind you is now annoyed. It became worse because your friends found you and now a bunch of you decide to block the hallway preventing people from going to class. Everyone in that hallway hates your entire group for ruining the flow of traffic.

(David Schott / Flickr)

I thought this was going to be over in college but turns out that isn’t the case. On my first day, I was trying to find a washroom. The hallways are pretty tight and when a group of people decided to block the hall, it made me realize that people don’t learn their lesson and will still continue to block the hallway. If you really want to stop and talk with your friends, at least find somewhere that’s not in the way of people walking to their destinations.

If cars did this, there would be a lot of problems. Imagine if you saw someone driving and they see their friend on the road. If they stop just to talk in the middle of the road, they will probably cause a lot of accidents on top of people being frustrated. This is a pretty extreme example of this but honestly, it’s not that far-fetched.

(5chw4r7z / Flickr)

This is definitely a waste of time for a lot of people. I was getting off the bus one day and was following someone toward the door. I was super confused as to why the person wasn’t going, and then it finally registered in my brain that the person wasn’t planning on getting off the bus. As I got off, I noticed there were maybe five people behind me. Those two seconds alone just affected more people than me. Imagine if one of those people had to catch a Skytrain in one minute. Those few seconds would’ve prevented that person from getting on. If they need to catch a certain bus afterwards, it might as well be too late for them as they’ll have to wait for both a Skytrain and a bus.

Speaking of Skytrain stations, escalators are easily the biggest issue when it comes to people not moving. By now, we have established that if there are two escalators going in the same direction, you go on the one on the right if you’re planning to stand and you go on the one on the left if you’re planning to walk. If there’s only one going in a certain direction, you at least stand toward the right and walk toward the left. Of course, people are still foolish enough to not know this unestablished established rule. It’s a little more forgivable if two people on different escalators decide to stand since you can probably try to get around them. If it’s two people blocking one escalator, you will probably lose your mind. Those two people just held up an entire escalator and there are ten people late to that thing they need to get to. This is why I try to take the stairs when possible. People for the most part at least move and since they’re wide for the most part, that gives people enough room to pass. Even if the escalator is faster, I will take the stairs because I can guarantee movement. If someone stops on the stairs, that’s when I lose all respect for them. If I bump into them, that’s going to be a huge problem if they’re going down.

(Robert Geiger / Flickr)

People need to learn when to move out of the way. No one likes having to make an abrupt stop whenever they’re walking. If you really need to stop, at least find a place that’s not where people are walking.

The Studio: Killers Of Performance or A Necessary Ingredient?

Posted on February 15, 2023 by Joshua Sanchez

You’ve probably heard music boomers talk about how today’s music isn’t as “raw” as it used to be or how today’s music is “overproduced” or too “polished” or just “not real.” This is just another one of their complaints about how much they don’t like modern music.

(Matthew Keefe / Flickr)

This is what people use to attack pop music. They do have a point where most of it can be programmed except vocals, and even then they will bring up autotune as part of vocal production. However, the point of pop music isn’t for people to obsess over overproduction, but rather to just have a catchy tune out there. When it comes to the vocals, people do cross a line when autotune comes to play. Autotune is on all modern music, whether you want to admit it or not. But once it takes away from the performance and sounds robotic, that’s when people have problems. For instruments, people like to mention how “no one plays real instruments these days.” Pop artists were most likely to never be guitar shredders, keyboard rippers, or anything of the sort. They just want to have a voice out there or want to be famous. There’s no need to learn how to play a “real instrument” if you can make a popular song.

(Dejan Krsmanovic / Flickr)

Rock and metal are also “victims” of “overproduction.” People like to say that rock isn’t what it used to be, they all need tracks now, they can’t play their instruments or sing, they all use the same presets and samples, everything is played to a click and other things that modern production has. There is no such thing as satisfying the boomers in this situation if this is what all of it had these days. Honestly, having these modern production aspects isn’t bad. Megadeth’s “Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?” drum sound is notable among fans for being powerful. That sound was accomplished by augmenting the real drum sound with samples, using techniques such as white noise or enhancing the ring of a snare drum. People like to still trash talk samples without knowing that they were used on classic albums. Even stuff like virtual amps is becoming common practice in modern rock and metal production. Considering the cost of actual studio spaces these days compared to buying virtual amps and cabinets, who wouldn’t want to just have it available on your computer? Besides, the average listener is not going to notice a difference anyways. As long as it sounds good, then it’s okay. This can even apply to stuff like orchestras. Who is actually getting full orchestras these days for the majority of their music? Sure, if you have the budget go for it but if you’re not a big artist, there’s no way you’re going to be able to afford the time for an orchestra. Besides, virtual orchestras are getting convincingly good these days. I was listening to the album “At The Heart of Wintervale” by Twilight Force last month and I couldn’t tell if there was a real orchestra or not. I actually had to check the credits to see if they hired The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra like every other metal band and lo and behold, there wasn’t a single orchestra credited. Another example of an album with intense production is “Time I” by Wintersun. Each song possibly had 200 tracks which is an extreme amount of layers for any song out there. Without studio magic, Jari’s vision wouldn’t have been possible. People still like to bring up how artists should only record what they can play live. I get why they keep putting this onto live shows, but recorded music? The lack of any limitations in the studio should give the artist freedom to do whatever they want. Do they want a full orchestra? They can do that. Do they want more drum sounds than the number of limbs the percussionists have? Go ahead. The artist wants to have a lot of ambient synths and special effects? They can do that. Why limit the artists to a space where they don’t have to be confined by what is possible by themselves?

People like to talk about how much editing has made music “too perfect.” and has taken away feel. But why wouldn’t you want the version that’s made to be immortalized to be as perfect as possible? Why let imperfections that you genuinely don’t like taint the way you see the music? If someone wants to edit that out, they should be able to. Or if an instrumentalist makes a small mistake, they should be able to punch in that one detail. It can be annoying once it starts taking away from the performance rather than fixing it. Autotune is the big one here. There’s a right way to use autotune, and a wrong way to use autotune. The right way to use autotune is it’s almost unnoticeable in the mix or as an effect. If you need to use it to correct performance, at the very least make it sound natural. For it to sound natural, however, the singer still has to be good enough without autotune so it can work. You’ll need to run your autotune through multiple layers but not relying on one to carry the load will help a lot. If you’re just using it as an effect, go nuts, people will be able to see past it. Once autotune is used to mask how bad someone is at singing, that’s when it’s a problem. This becomes a lot more noticeable when that person sings live and they’re singing in the wrong key half the time.

Extreme amounts of production are here to stay whether you like it or not. You can either complain about how it is taking away from music and preventing artists from reaching their full vision, or you can embrace it and let artists go wild in the studio. The studio is a wonderful tool to let you get what you want out of your music that can’t always be replicated live (unless you use backing tracks which is another topic).

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Author Archives: Joshua Sanchez

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Vocalists: The deciders of sound

Brain torture

Please move over, you’re blocking our way

The Studio: Killers Of Performance or A Necessary Ingredient?