Don’t Over-romanticize the Destination

When we make travel plans, many of us tend to fantasize about how wonderful the experience, how beautiful the scenery, and generally how much better than daily life the trip will be. Many people find exactly what they expect, others discover the destination is better than they thought, while some idealize the location so much that they’re destined for disappointment.

One common occurrence of this disappointment to the extreme is known as Paris Syndrome, which is described below:

Paris syndrome (French: Syndrome de Paris, Japanese: パリ症候群, Pari shōkōgun) is a transient mental disorder exhibited by some individuals when visiting or vacationing to Paris, as a result of extreme shock resulting from their finding out that Paris is not what they had expected it to be. It is characterized by a number of psychiatric symptoms such as acute delusional states, hallucinations, feelings of persecution (perceptions of being a victim of prejudice, aggression, or hostility from others), derealization, depersonalization, anxiety, and also psychosomatic manifestations such as dizziness, tachycardia, sweating, and others, such as vomiting.[1] Similar syndromes include Jerusalem syndrome and Stendhal syndrome. The condition is commonly viewed as a severe form of culture shock. It is particularly noted among Japanese travelers.

-Wikipedia, Paris Syndrome

Over-romanticizing your travel can make you physically ill. I personally didn’t believe disappointment could cause illness when I first read about this a few years ago, but it makes sense. When you believe that a certain planned experience will make your life better, and you rely on that belief through the trip, the fact that the trip you go on can never fill that enrichment leaves a strong emptiness inside you. It’s like a drug addict who gets high every day tries to experience the world sober once, then feels painful withdrawal symptoms. In this case, the drug is desire for Paris, and the withdrawal is experiencing Paris as it is and realizing that it isn’t what you thought.

I don’t recommend blowing off travel because you fear you may be disappointed, but I do recommend lowering your standards for what to expect when you travel. The best way to never be disappointed is to have low expectations (but not so low that you never go where you want to)! Examine why you want to travel, be realistic with your expectations, optimistic about getting there, and diligent to make it happen.

Best of luck to you all!

-Andy

Side-note – I personally have a huge trip coming up, and I am doing my best not to over-hype it. I’ll be spending about 2 months abroad – a week in Korea and ~8 weeks in Japan – and it’s getting dangerously close. I’m trying to balance my excitement for it with pushing it back in my mind so I don’t let the excitement get the best of me. You’ll eventually read about whether or not I had as great a time as I’m hoping for when I write about it though!

In my recent travel experience with my band to Anime Expo and MAGfest, I had moderate expectations and was absolutely blown away. Let’s hope my East Asia trip goes the same way!

Anime Expo 2017: Ocarinas, Traffic, and the Smell of Piss

DISCLAIMER

This is a post from nearly a year ago. I never published it due to some major personal relationship issues that happened around the same time. I made some edits for privacy, to fix typos, and to add some side-notes, and decided to finally publish it. As painful as some of these memories became in hindsight, this still was one of the best trips of my life, and I shouldn’t let the bad get in the good’s way.

Recently, I went on my first non-school related trip without any form of supervision! To many readers, you may be thinking, Wow, why am I reading the blog of a f***ing baby, to which I say…. you’re right. The trip was busy and fun though! Because it was long, I won’t go in to too much detail for each day’s activities.

Some major details and background information before we get started: I joined the United States Ocarina Ensemble, led by David Ramos (also known as docjazz4 on YouTube), and we had rehearsals and a lot of street performing during the con. Without further ado, here goes a summary of my 10 day trip to Los Angeles!

Day 1 – The Drive

I woke up super early, grabbed my things, then went to pick up my ex. There were a few delays, but we were on the road before 8. We drove Highway 101 down, which as many Californians know, is the longer way to go between the Bay Area and SoCal. However, it is scenic, has a lot of towns along the way, and has much nicer weather than Highway 5, the fast, boring, hot way. my ex slept most of the way, but we stopped in Goleta for In-n-out burgers around noon, then finished the drive to LA.

Then the traffic began. LA is notorious for its traffic, and due to several lane closures on the highway we were on, it took us over 2 hours to go about 25 miles from Hollywood to my family in Orange County, but we got there, ate dinner with them, and set ourselves up in the basement. They have a cute dog with a nubby tail, which may have been my ex’s favorite part of the entire trip.

Day 2 – Meeting the People

The Ocarina Ensemble arrived from their various locations that afternoon, so we visited them in Long Beach at a Chipotle. It had been two years since I had seen David, and I had never met the others in person. Everyone was tired, but we had a good time. My ex and I went back to Orange County, had dinner with family, and grabbed boba from a place called BobaYa in Fullerton, which had great quality and low prices. If you enjoy boba and live around there, I highly recommend them! I played Pokemon GO with family, took my ex and my cousin out to a Mochi Gelato place called Mochilato (wow so creative), went to Barnes and Noble, and somehow ended up in the Manga section because my ex and my cousin are weebs. We then went back and slept.

Also traffic was awful, but at this point that’s a given, and we all hate it.

Day 3 – Traffic, Rehearsal, More Traffic, Sightseeing, and more Traffic

We went to Long Beach to rehearse music, which went really well and was a ton of fun. For lunch, we had a few members who had never eaten at In-n-out burger, so it was absolutely required that we go there. Finished with our burgers, we rehearsed a tiny bit more before going to North LA to see Griffith Observatory, which was featured as the Planetarium in La La Land. The drive to get there wasn’t great, and the parking situation was confusing, but the short time we spent up there was really fun! There were some great views too.

Afterward, the ensemble went to Burbank to go to a mixer for film students that one of David’s friends invited us to. It began with a presentation that would be riveting if you were in the industry, but incredibly boring to outsiders about lighting and some other things, which we all sat through to be polite, followed by a brief mixer with some food. We kept to ourselves mostly, but I think David did some networking, so hopefully it was worth the incredibly long drive to get there and boring presentation!

Next, my ex and I drove for a half hour back to Orange County, grabbed Korean food for dinner (I had bibimbap, she had tofu soup), then got more boba for ourselves and for my cousin to try for the first time. While it was a productive day with cool sightseeing, I think I spent 4-6 hours driving, which was NOT fun, especially because it was in… LA.

Day 4 – Parking Ticket and Moving to Downtown LA

We packed our things, filled the car, left my family’s house that they graciously let us stay in for free, then had morning rehearsal in Long Beach. I noticed the street the ensemble’s AirBNB was on had no parking from 8 AM-12 PM on that day of the week for street cleaning, so I pulled over to text them to move their car. However, they were all playing Ocarina, so they didn’t notice the texts. So, I quickly parked and went out to tell them, and as I was just telling them, parking enforcement stopped by. I quickly moved my car, thinking I evaded a ticket, but I got it in the mail after coming home. I am contesting that like crazy, since it seemed like punishment for doing the right thing by trying to clear the street. Life is life.

Side-note – I had to pay the ticket. I said my reasons, and they made me pay anyways. Thankfully it was only $50.

Venting aside, the rehearsal was extremely productive. We ate food in the room, then at the end, my ex and I drove to Downtown LA to check in to our AirBNB. We had to park about a quarter mile away, so moving all of our luggage through the piss-scented streets of Downtown was no easy feat. Shortly thereafter, some friends we were sharing the room with arrived and we helped them with their luggage. We looked around our surrounding area, grabbed Poke from OkiPoki, soft serve from the social media-famous Little Damage, then eventually got to sleep.

Day 5 – Killer Workout, Last Rehearsal, Group Bonding

My roommates Vince and Alex went to a nearby gym with me, and Vince got us in for free because the gym he works at is a sister location to the one we went to. Vince led us in the most intense bicep workout I’d ever done, so intense that I could barely lift my arms for the next couple days. I met my ex and her friends for Mexican food for lunch, who spent their timeat Day 0 of Anime Expo, then I split from her and went to the Songbird Ocarina Workshop for a tour and our final private rehearsal.

Songbird has been one of my favorite Ocarina companies for a while – I volunteered for them at Fanime 2016 – so visiting their workshop was a blast. Our final member, a busy LA musician also met us for the first time there, and he was super nice. During the rehearsal, David’s friend and large YouTuber Roxy (RoxyRocksTV) visited us and gushed at how happy she was to hear the songs we were playing as Ocarina Ensemble pieces. She too, was super nice.

After rehearsing, we all went to dinner near my AirBNB in Downtown LA at an indoor plaza with lots of food choices. It was great getting to know everyone in the ensemble better. I walked back to the room, stayed up a bit too late due to being in a room full of night owls, then slept. This was my last day of driving in LA traffic!!!!!!!!!

Day 6 – Day One at Anime Expo

We met in the morning, perhearsed (perform-rehearsed) some music, then played some easier busking songs that only had 1-3 ocarinas and had extra backup instruments. Our busking repertoire included songs from Zelda, Mario, some Anime, some pop tunes, and a lot of other types of things. Because everyone there could play another instrument, I was lead ocarinist on most songs, and hopefully I played well enough for people to throw money in! I visited the Songbird booth between perhearsing and busking, then picked up my convention badge afterward with two other ensemble members.

Side-note – Anime Expo was the most crowded convention, let alone single space I’d ever seen. The con had around 100,000 attendees in a large convention center, and it was absolutely insane how many people there were. Insane and overwhelming, but a great opportunity for busking tips 😉

My ex invited me to an expensive sushi restaurant for dinner, but my wallet said no. So, I had two dirty dogs (hot dogs wrapped in bacon, covered in grilled veggies and sauce) for dinner. They are delicious, and I have no idea where you can get them apart from just outside of major events sold by street vendors. If you have any leads, let me know!

I went over to the Staples Center’s plaza to wait for my ex to finish at the sushi restaurant, and I saw a really cool inflated Shenron from Dragonball. It was rad, and after waiting a while, we went back to the AirBNB for much needed rest.

Day 7 – More Music, fun Dinner

We went to the convention, met up, and played a whole lot of music for tips. We also did many run-throughs of our septet Ocarina pieces, which all went well. We had a great location for that, so we had a wonderful audience! The playing went fantastically, my ex and I shared a sushi burrito for lunch, and then the music resumed.

Side-note from 2018 – I also managed to fit in time to visit my friend Robert who was working at a booth in the Artist’s Alley. It was incredible how many friends from home I ran into at this con. The trip felt a lot less weird with that support system all around in addition to my friends and Ocabanda.

Side-side-note from 2018 – When I meet people now who went to Anime Expo, when I mention that I was in the Ocarina band that was playing outside, about 2/3 of people remember us! That publicity attempt definitely worked.

After all our music-ing, we grabbed dinner in Little Tokyo with people from the Songbird booth. It was really delicious, didn’t hurt my wallet, and there was great company. We finished up, and I met one of my roommates nearby to Uber back to the AirBNB. Loking back, that was the most millenial moment of my life thus far – Ubering back to the AirBNB.

Side note – I haven’t used Uber or AirBNB since Anime Expo (as of May 2018). I guess I’m not a real millennial.

Day 8 – Recording Videos

Today was the pinnacle – our rehearsal led up to our recordings. We dressed in matching clothes, found quiet spots, and did a few takes of most of our songs to make promotional videos for a Kickstarter project and other publicity. We deifnitely played all those recordings fairly well, so hopefully the recordings turned out! Next, we made the most of our matching clothes and performed our septet songs a few more times for our largest audiences yet, followed by a tiny bit more busking.

We finished early, so i looked around the convention center to see what I’d been missing, met with some of my ex’s friends, walked with them, then met with my after she went to a concert by the con. We went back to the room, and stayed up even later watching dumb videos and fighting the urge to get ice cream. It was good fun, but personalities were beginning to clash due to the extended time together in a confined space.

Side-note – The personality clash was at least half my fault. I was in charge of the AirBNB reservation, so I was a little too crazy about keeping it in good condition which led to me being a bit bossy. If any of my roommates are reading this, I apologize!

Day 9 – The Final Day

This one was hard. Friends who never met until a week ago became like family, and leaving was hard. Thankfully, we had until the afternoon. That morning, I used my share from busking to buy two more ocarinas, resisted making more purchases, then met with the group for our final busking session. We played our last set of busking songs, then people had to start going home. We made goodbyes, then split ways. It was really great spending time with that ensemble. I’ve always been passionate about ocarinas ever since I bought my first in middle school, but I never felt like I had much of a community to belong to for them until now.

Side-note – This was a fresh wound at the time of writing, but the final song we played was All Star by Smash Mouth. A Twitch streamer suggested it, and I knew the melody perfectly after playing it in…. middle school band. We had a perfect improvised run of the song, as we finished, one of our members, Steven, dropped his ocarina and it shattered on the ground. He and David managed to fix it, but the irony of smashing an ocarina to Smash Mouth was… a bit too perfect (and terrible).

After those bittersweet moments, I met with my ex and many of her friends to go to Little Tokyo for dinner and ice cream. I had bibimbap, which was good, and an over-the-top Korean soap opera was on the TV while we ate. It was fantastic in how overly-acted it was. The ice cream afterward was fantastic, and we walked around Little Tokyo a bit longer before returning to the AirBNB – intending to pack, but staying up late watching dumb videos again instead.

Day 10 – Going Home

We woke up fairly early, around 7:30 to pack and then get breakfast. There is a restaurant called Eggslut that has delicious… eggs. All AirBNB residents and some other friends met there. The food was great – I had a cheeseburger with an over-medium egg on it, and it was fantatsic. Vince and I grabbed cars while the others returned to the AirBNB, then we loaded the luggage – in front of the AirBNB this time.

Then we left.

I took Highway 5 to drive home, since we had a late start. We stopped for gas in Hollywood, then for McDonald’s in Coalinga, and only had a bit of traffic. And the 5 was so boring. We made great time though! We first dropped my ex off, finally giving each other much needed space after 10 days together. I dropped another friend off, then went home for dinner. We went out for sushi, and that ends the trip!

Side-note – Looking back, this was the tipping point for the relationship with my ex falling apart. While we are definitely better off without each other, I definitely made some mistakes after all the pent-up frustration that weren’t the right thing to do. Oh well, live and learn.

What’s Next for the Ensemble?

The United States Ocarina Ensemble will meet again! We plan on going to MAGfest in Maryland during January. As soon as we have our promotional videos done, I will share those as well!

This entire trip, due to split costs in the AirBNB, finding family help when possible, and being somewhat frugal was not too expensive. It definitely could have been cheaper if we went out less and bought fewer things, but the total cost to me was less than $650 for 10 days in LA. I’d say that’s pretty decent, as a longer-than-normal trip goes! If you have anywhere you want to go, see how cheaply you can make it happen, since you might just be able to afford it. If you’re a musician who can busk for tips, even better!

Best of luck,

-Andy

Saying “No” to Your Friends

You just finished class for the day. You check your phone, and a friend says, “Hey, let’s treat ourselves to some sushi today.” You, without thinking, agree. Then you check your calendar – you have a term paper due in 3 days, a midterm in 4, and a group project in 6 on top of regular homework assignments. Not to mention a checking account at a sad $67 – you’re not getting paid for another 4 days, you’re not going to dip into your savings.

Sushi comes, and you have a blast. You and your friend eat your fill, hang out together afterwards, and 5 hours and $40 later, you have immensely mixed feelings.

It was so fun! But I really needed that time for work. Not to mention, I can’t spend at ALL until my next paycheck. I love spending time with my friends, but this was a major setback. I’m definitely losing sleep tonight to catch up on work.

Every college student has had some situation like this – having to choose between friends, responsibilities, or rest. I personally have to make these decisions every week, and while I am privileged enough to have more flexible spending than some of my peers, choosing to go out with friends more than I should has taken its toll. So, when you need the extra time, money, or both, how can you say “No” to your friends?

Be Honest

If you and your friends are all students, they will 100% understand that you are short on cash, need to do schoolwork, or any other legitimate reason for dipping out of this occasion. However, there will be times when they try to persuade you to come anyways.

It’s just this one time (despite it being the 7th or 8th time this month)

It’ll be cheap, I promise!

It won’t take toooooo long!

Treat yo self, life is hard

Come oooooooooonnn!!

If you are on an absolute time crunch, your resolve will be impenetrable to these persuasion attempts, but if you have wiggle room in your schedule or budget, it’s much harder to say no, and it may not even hurt you to go along with it. I recently have been going out with friends on a roughly weekly basis, and despite knowing that I could be spending my time and money on more personally productive things, I still go and enjoy it. But I will never stop telling them that it stops being “treat yo self” when it happens every week. We could have just as much fun grabbing something cheap on-campus, but our love of delicious, slightly-pricey variety has been too strong.

My personal example only shows my weakness in saying no when I don’t have priorities I must attend to. If I have anything on a time crunch, if my bank account is feeling sad, or if there’s a bit of both, I can reject the heck out of my friends. What it comes down to is being honest with yourself to understand your priorities and if you have the capacity to go out in the first place, then being honest with your friends about your situation and simply getting the “No” out there.

It’s tough to feel like you’re letting your friends down by saying no, and it’s even harder when you feel like you’re missing out on the fun things they’re doing. Here are a few things to consider to overcome that difficulty.

You’ll worry about yourself instead of being present with your friends

If you go and spend your time and money with your friends while you really shouldn’t, you won’t be present with your friends. You’ll be worrying about whatever you just sacrificed to spend time with them. It’s fear of missing out on success in exchange for not missing out on your friends.

Host/Organize events so you can guarantee it works with your life

If you don’t go this one time, you’ll have plenty more opportunities to spend time with them. If you have the space for it, consider hosting hangouts, study sessions, or low-key parties at your house or organizing them on campus. I recently had a fantastic, inexpensive time with a few close friends just hanging out at my house and playing Super Smash Brothers for an afternoon and getting a cheap lunch together. We had the time for it, the money for the cheap lunch, and the timeliness of de-stressing during finals week. Having this as an option greatly reduces the stress of possibly missing out on quality time with friends. You have the power to create it.

Whether or not you’re there, your friends will still like you

If you have any level of anxiety, worrying about being liked can be a major burden. You may do things you otherwise wouldn’t to try and stay in your friends’ good graces. Here’s the thing – if they’re real friends, they won’t hold it against you if you have to prioritize yourself. You might miss a meetup where some major binding happens, but that doesn’t decrease your bond with anybody (as long as you don’t say no to everything). As of writing this, I’m not quite drinking age, and my of-age friends do alcohol-related activities from time to time. I miss out on those, and it hasn’t hurt my relationships with them in the slightest. On the opposite note…

Accept that some people aren’t right for you

You may have some deep personal goals, like physical fitness, mastering a skill, starting a business or working on some other major passion. You try to surround yourself with like-minded people who enable that personal-goal-driven nature, and some friends may simply be keeping you from reaching that goal. There is a distinct need for goal-driven people to treat themselves every so often, but for some it can be too much. I’ve had the opposite problem of being too goal driven, and I’m working more to surround myself with social people and find a balance between a social life and pushing myself. There is a common saying – You are the average of your 5 closest friends – and it is extremely true. This topic deserves its own blog post, but I’ll leave it at that. If your friends don’t align with your goals, you may need different friends, and that’s okay.

This is an intensely personal problem for me. I love my friends deeply, and I want to spend as much time with them as I can, but that has caused some strain with my personal goals. I’ve gained weight this school year thanks to eating more and working out less, and my grades are slightly lower on average than previous semesters. I’m slowly trying to steer my social atmosphere towards something that works better for myself and everyone without having to face the saying “No” problem, but it’s a work-in-progress.

Lots of the things I write about are personal issues I face, and writing about it helps me organize my thoughts to figure out a solution for those issues. I look back and see how I’ve unintentionally remedied a problem in the past, log it down here, and have it for reference in the future. If it helps anybody reading, that’s simply an amazing added bonus.

-Andy

Ocarinas – How I Found Opportunity From a Niche Hobby

When people ask me about my hobbies, whenever I mention that I play Ocarina, they invariably say things like this:

You mean the thing from Zelda?

Oh cool! ….what are they?

Ocawhatta now?

I expect these answers, so I don’t mind it, but the point is: Ocarinas aren’t well known, at least in America. They’re fairly common in places like Italy (where they were invented), South Korea, Japan, and China, and even used to have a bit of a foothold in America under the name Sweet Potato. There was an American Ocarina Ensemble called the Sweet Potato Tooters, Ocarinas were featured in music for movies like The Wizard of Oz, and they were even used with musicians like Bing Crosby With the intense marketing and growth of the recorder however, the Ocarina fell into obscurity until Japan brought it back.

Image result for sweet potato tooters — Sweet Potato Tooters

Nomura Sojiro, a Japanese Ocarinist, made the instrument popular in Japan in the mid-80s, which caused it to be featured in many media that found their way to America – including some Anime movies and most famously, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This created awareness for Ocarina in the states, but mostly in nerdy culture and not much outside of that. As of now, there are some American Ocarina companies such as Songbird and STL who make, import, and sell Ocarinas to musicians and collectors in the states. In fact, it was these companies that made me and many others realize that Ocarinas aren’t a fictional instrument invented by the Japanese and actually very real, full of history, and capable of so much beautiful music.

New 12 Hole Plastic Zelda Tenor Ocarina in C Major with Zelda Songbook — They don’t make the specific model I bought anymore but here’s the closest thing.

I bought my first Ocarina from STL at Fanime Con 2011, around 7 years ago as of writing this, and since then have amassed a collection of around 25 instruments from various companies (though most come from Songbird). When I started learning how to play, I had a short musical background of playing trumpet in middle school band, which definitely accelerated my learning, but here’s the thing – Ocarinas are easy to learn.

Within a month of obsessive practice during summer break, I surpassed my 4 years of trumpet in terms of confidence on the instrument, and I was trumpet section leader in middle school. I became crazy passionate about these little goose-shaped instruments – fun fact: Ocarina literally translates to Little Goose in Italian because of their shape – and made it a personal mission to educate people about them. My current close friend, but at-the-time Ocarina role model David Ramos already had been doing his part online, so I decided to work locally.

Come 2012, I attend yet another Fanime Con and nervously start playing some songs I know. Lots of people approached asking about the instrument, complimenting my playing, and I even received (without asking) a few tips. I was ecstatic, discovering what I could do with this little instrument and subsequently became even more obsessed with them. Outside of conventions, I’d occasionally bring it to school and play or lurk The Ocarina Network forum.

Image may contain: 1 person — Photo from Fanime 2013 in my really bad Link-ish cosplay

The next Fanime, having had another year of practice under my belt, I was ready to be a bit more ambitious. I probably spent around 6 hours a day playing music around the con, jammed with various people including members of Super Soul Bros (and was even asked to join the band, but had to decline due to being to young to even drive), and had easily one of the best convention experiences up to that date. At this point, I am starting to realize that Ocarina could be more than a hobby, but don’t act on that thought.

Time goes by, and I gather more Ocarinas, but I practice less and less – until each Fanime. Nothing uber-noteworthy happens in 2014 aside from some fun jams, but in 2015 it heats up.

Image may contain: 2 people, indoor — One such jam from 2014 – we were playing *Careless Whisper*

Remember David Ramos, the YouTuber I mentioned looking up to earlier? Well, in Fanime 2015, he showed up while working for the Songbird booth. You can hear some of his playing at his Ocarina panel as well as some highlights from the con itself in my video-recap of the con on my old YouTube channel.

Back to meeting David – I was browsing the vendor’s hall, doing my routine search to find the Ocarina booth. There’s an anomaly – there are two of them! STL comes every year, but this year Songbird came too! And they had David Ramos working the booth. Needless to say, I was starstruck and asked if he needed any help advertising the booth or anything. He handed me some business cards, and as I galavanted through the con making music, I’d hand that card to curious listeners.

Later that night, he had an Ocarina panel, which you know I went to, and I managed to talk with him for a bit. Apparently, I had built a reputation as the Fanime Ocarina Guy and people asked if he knew me. I didn’t even know I had such a reputation, but it was nice to hear, and it was even nicer to know that my efforts sharing the Ocarina had been successful. After he finished working at the dealer hall one night, he comes out while I’m jamming away and starts playing. My palms got real sweaty, but we played the title theme from The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker together, one of my favorite songs, and that made my entire con.

Fast forward to early 2016, and David messages me on Twitter asking if I could help at the Songbird booth that year. I immediately accept, and while he himself wasn’t attending that year, I was so excited to actually be giving the Ocarinas to people. Several long workdays at the con come and go, I make some great memories, and I learn the difficulties vendors face at conventions. Sales weren’t great due to the cramped nature of the hall, but I got my foot in the door for something bigger.

Half a year later at the end of 2016, David messages me (on Facebook this time, since we were in a group chat for Fanime where he remotely helped us) and asks if I can read sheet music. I misinterpret the question and think he means sight reading, answer, “yeah, but not well,” which leads to me figuring out what he meant, saying “oh wait, yeah I can do that,” and then…

David invited me to join the United States Ocarina Ensemble.

I give a tentative yes so I can find out more details, but I am wired. This small, obscure instrument I picked up on a whim and had become such a big part of my life was finally taking me somewhere. During summer, 2017, we all come from our different home states to meet for the first time to perform at Anime Expo as a test run. After lots of rehearsal and bonding, we perform around the outside of the convention to a great response, and the seven of us become fast friends.

The test run is an absolute success, we give ourselves the name Ocabanda, and we move forward for our next plan: MAGfest. I have a detailed log of all we did at MAGfest, so I’ll spare the details. In short, we bonded even more, all roomed together for most of it, did some great promotion in the gaming music community, and even recorded an album yet to be released. That weekend (just a month ago as of writing this) was easily one of the best experiences of my life, and it’s just the beginning for Ocabanda.

What was the point of that somewhat self-congratulatory log of my experience with Ocarinas? It’s to show that you can do something with your weird hobbies that nobody else seems to know about or understand.

I practiced Ocarina for 6 years before Ocabanda began, and most of that practice was alone. I had friends who made fun of me for playing Ocarina, an ex who called it my “stupid flute thing,” and not much of a community to work with. It’s really hard, to build a skill by yourself, which is why it’s so important to build your community. My mission from the start with the Ocarina was to spread awareness for the instrument, and in doing so hopefully meet other Ocarinists. I’ve made a few Ocarina friends at Fanime, and because of the people I met playing Ocarina, I’m in a band that travels the country a few times a year.

Yes, there has been a lot of being in the right place at the right time, between happening to choose the Ocarina, happening to meet David, and happening to have made an impression on both him and the people at Fanime – but I unknowingly stacked the deck in my favor. Because I obsessively practiced, I became good enough to be considered for the band. Because I performed around Fanime so much, I built a reputation for building the Ocarina community (and matching David’s mission for Ocabanda). Because I reached out to David when I had the opportunity, I got on his radar in the first place.

I didn’t do any of these things to try and be recruited into a band, but taking steps to be skilled in my niche, build a community, and reach out to others within that niche allowed me to find opportunity in what I thought was just a hobby I was passionate about. There is absolutely no certainty that taking similar steps in a different niche will guarantee that you can move up in that world, but they certainly won’t hurt. You’ll improve your skills, meet like-minded people, and spread your love for your craft at worst, which is still a pretty great outcome.

Whether your passion is underwater-basket-weaving, playing the Xaphoon, or drone racing, you’re not alone. By having no ulterior motives and wanting to get deeper in the Ocarina communities, a I have improved my life. The opportunity to be in a band was icing on the Ocarina-shaped cake, and who knows where that cake will go next.

The point is: get involved with what you’re passionate with, even if it’s just a little bit. You never know what could happen.

-Andy

Ocabanda @ MAGfest 2018 – A Recap

Ocabanda @ MAGfest 2018 – A Recap

Day -1 – Coming In

Tuesday night, the day after New Year’s Day, my heart is racing in the airport while I anticipate my flight to leave San Jose. For the first time in six months and the second time ever, I am going to see my family – not biological, but through the Ocarina. As I wait for my red-eye flight to start boarding, I reminisce about our last time together, at Anime Expo during the summer.

Ocarinas — One of our photos from Anime Expo

David Ramos had the idea of starting a United States Ocarina Ensemble and asked other ocarinists to join him in this journey. I was lucky enough to have met him, gotten on his radar, and practiced the ocarina enough to meet his standards, and he asked me and five others to join and form a septet (as ocarina ensembles are traditionally structured). The seven of us, all coming from across the country, went to Los Angeles during the summer to meet, make music, and get our band started, and that time spent with them is one of my fondest memories. They, after a short time, became a second family.

Fast-forward a few months, and we name ourselves Ocabanda, we have a member swap, and we begin a crowdfunding campaign to pay for our next trip to MAGfest (Music and Gaming Fest) in Maryland. Between the crowdfunding and family/friend donations, we scrape by to pay for the essentials of the trip and make the plans definite, and all of us are ecstatic to meet again and to finally meet our new member.

All this runs through my mind, and then it’s time to board my flight. First stop, Chicago, where I have a 3 hour layover and meet up with Steven, another band member, as we take the same connecting flight to Baltimore.

Day 0 – Meeting Up

By now, it’s Wednesday morning, and we arrive around 9 AM. About an hour later, David arrives, then Ella, and then our new member Kaitlyn. Tad and Jordan, our Maryland natives, do not fly in, and Tad takes us to meet with Jordan and have some Chinese food near the airport. We also meet with an Ocarinist named Mark Chan who gives us some supplies and words of encouragement before we leave for Tad’s house to set up our living space, nap, buy groceries, eat dinner, and rehearse. We had a panel at the con the next day, so we had a lot of prep to do for the Ocabanda performance. That prep included sleep, and the dead-tired crew of musicians hit the hay for the night.

Day 1 – The Longest Day

We wake up early on Thursday to arrive at MAGfest by 10:30 to pick up our badges, prep for our panel, then do it. It was David’s panel and we were his assistants in presenting his information about Ocarinas to everybody, and in the last 15 minutes, we did a four-song performance. It went amazingly well, and we had some great feedback from our surprisingly large audience.

Day 1-0.jpg — It’s hard to take quick selfies without at least *some* blur, am I right?

Next, we had lunch in a fairly packed manner on the side of a path in the hotel, then rehearsed in the Zelda Universe crew’s hotel room for a few hours to add songs to our repertoire and improve existing ones. Roxy (of RoxyRocksTV) filmed some of it, and she has been one of our best and most supportive friends through everything since Anime Expo. We finish rehearsing, grab Thai food for dinner together near the convention center without freezing either way, then have some free time.

As a Californian, snow has always been a foreign concept to me and it was mind blowing being in it. In our free time, some of us explore the vendor’s hall, play a bit in the gaming hall, or jam in a designated Jam-pod to play some music. Very late that night, a San Jose-native band named Super Soul Bros had a concert with a youtuber names InsaneInTheRain. As a personal acquaintance of Super Soul, it was my duty to see their concert, and many other Ocabanda members also came to watch (since they have fantastic music). 2:30 AM rolls around, and we leave halfway through their set, though it was magical. We al went home and got as much sleep as we could.

Day 1-1 — If you look closely, you can see me making a peace sign 🙂 – PC: Robbie Benson of Super Soul Bros

Day 2 – The Best Jam Session Ever

It was a late morning, a very late morning for us. We come to the convention after noon, have a lovely lunch provided by Jordan’s parents, then rehearse in the hotel room again. We keep improving, and we perform a set in a Jam pod with a great response! We visit a panel on making Gaming Music for Youtube, grab dinner, then have personal time until reconvening in the hotel room that night to join a jam session hosted by Materia, a gaming music collective. For an hour, we have a wonderful, insane time, jamming to songs from Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, and more.

The pinnacle of the room-jam was an intense group-sing-along of the DK Rap from Donkey Kong 64 (which I suggested 🙂 ). When someone posted a video of that rap, the man who wrote it said that it brought a tear to his eyes, and that made me really happy to hear. Around 11, hotel security comes and kicks the 40-something group of people out of the room, and we continue the Jam in the convention center, which goes on for 3 more hours of pure bliss. Though, Ocabanda did dominate the Jam in terms of starting songs, which I felt a little bad about – but DANG was it fun. We go home late, once again and say “We’ll regret this tomorrow, but not in the long run,” which was 100% the case.

At home, some of us had a cereal party. We, at 3AM, all had a bowl of cereal and quietly, quietly talked to each other..

Day 3 – Photoshoots and Surprise Chipotle

Once again, we had a late morning, and we arrived at noon for a photoshoot with Mark Chan. After a couple hours of making fantastic photos in our formal wear, we prepare for a more official performance at an area called the Jam Space. We perform our full set, film some of it, and then all go to see the most creative panel I’ve ever seen – a Mario themed Opera called Aria Kart. It takes classic opera and musical theater standards and reworks the lyrics for their Mario-Kart plot. The panel was packed, and it was a highlight of the trip.

Afterward, we perform a modified version of our set – modified because David couldn’t make it and we moved some people around while recruiting Felix, a friend of Roxy’s to sight read one of the easier parts. That went surprisingly well, and without asking for tips in the slightest, we made $35. I also discovered that I can do introductions, talking between songs, and hyping the crowd fairly well!

To finish the night, we go to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and had a reservation for 12 people. However, due to miscommunication, our reservation was the wrong day. So, instead of waiting an hour to get in in the coldest day of the trip (-3 degrees after wind chill), we make a surprise run to Chipotle, which goes faster and less expensively than what would have happened even if we had a reservation. I get to know Mark and Felix better, and I met Mark’s twin brother as well during the surprisingly chill evening.

As we leave, Kaitlyn and I are caught talking to Mark and Mike, and get separated from our group. Neither of us had a great sense of direction in that area, and it was an ordeal finding the others and the car to get back to Tad’s. It devolved to me roaming around on the correct floor of the parking lot, making gutteral screeches to try and track them down via a call and response system. It was wild, but we made it home.

That night, we have another cereal party – a truly lovely experience.

Day 4 – Last Day of MAG

Our group of seven had a relaxed final day with our only agenda being to do one final set. I buy a beanie, play some Super Smash Bros: Melee against a pretty decent local player (who was definitely a better player than I was). The time for our set arrives, but we had to delay until 2. On my way over, I ran into someone who was staying in the Zelda Universe room who turned out to be a Bay Area local named Daniel. We already talked after the Ocarina panel and when I saw him in the room, but he decided to come along with me to our Jam Space.

Daniel and I arrive at the Jam Space, and we have an unstructured Jam session for around two hours. David couldn’t make it again, so we decided to run as a 6 person ensemble for our set. However, the stars were aligned that afternoon, since Daniel, who turned out to be in major want of sight-reading material and a skilled Ocarinist, was right there. I asked him/ if he wanted to play the Contrabass part, and he nails it. That whole experience made him really happy, and it made me happy that we had that opportunity for him (and that he kept us as a 7-part ensemble). David managed to make it for our final song, and after praising Daniel, we assumed normal formation for that last run of Dango Daikazoku from Clannad.

We leave the con after a few more jams, and we reflect on what an amazing time it was – but it’s not over for Ocabanda yet. We brought Roxy and David to Tad’s, as they were staying in hotels during MAGfest, and on the way, one car makes a McDonald’s run for nuggets, and the other goes on a sweater run to make ugly ocarina sweaters. We didn’t have enough time for sweaters, but the nuggets were delicious as a late lunch. We rehearse more in Tad’s basement that evening to prepare for our studio recording session the next day.

Day 5 – The Studio and our First Goodbyes

We dress up, have breakfast, and head to Jordan’s friend’s house to record at a discounted rate, There were some miscommunication, and our booking went wrong, so we were pushed back until later. We went back to Tad’s, a little panicked, and rehearse our parts one final time. Then, we have our big, studio, recording session.

We had a time-slot from 1-4, and we only expected to get 4 songs recorded well. Even after 30 minutes of prep, we manage to record 8 songs with over 15 minutes to spare. In other words, it went amazingly, and I couldn’t be prouder of everybody for their hard work. David treated us to ice cream at McDonald’s, where Ella and I get even more nuggets on top of last night’s.

Then, we have to say our first goodbye. Steven had to leave that night, which began the end of our bliss of being together when we realized how impermanent that time was. We all live hundreds, even thousands of miles apart, and every meeting we have requires a parting. It’s sad, but it’s true.

Tad’s girlfriend Tara cooked us a delicious dinner, then we proceeded to have our final, stress-free time together (sans Steven). Roxy, David, Jordan, Tad, Tara, and I stay upstairs and play Settlers of Catan for a few hours, and it became one of the closest games I had ever seen. Our goal was to hit 10 points to win, and in the final turn, at least 3 of us were at that cusp. My tactic was to go all-in with getting Sheep and Wood as resources, which I then claimed the trade ports for to have access to whatever material I wanted. It almost won me the game, but David ended up taking it right before Tara could. It was wild, and we played until 11 PM. For the next three hours, we had an extremely tired, looney hangout. We played some games together, tried to watch Kiki’s Delivery Service, took some hilarious videos, and finally slept around 2:00 AM.

Day 6 – Farewell, All

We all woke up at 4 AM so we could take Kaitlyn to the airport for her stupidly early flight home, then most of us came back to Tad’s to get some extra sleep. David and Roxy also left us to spend time with Mark. In the end, only Ella, Jordan, Tad, and I remained. We had one last jam in the basement before packing and leaving to get to the airport. With all of us holding back tears, Jordan drove back home, and Ella and I were the last to leave at the airport. At security, we had to split to take different airlines, and we each boarded and left. As Maryland went away in the distance, I was happy that I got to spend this time with my Ocarina Family, some of my very best friends.

I touched down in Chicago, checked in with my family (both biological and ocarina), then rushed to my layover to San Jose – but not before getting more nuggets from McDonald’s. On the flight home, I looked out the window as we flew towards the sunset, reflecting on the wonderful week I had with my Ocarina family. I began crying on the plane, which I did my very best to conceal so that the strangers sitting near me wouldn’t notice, since that can just be a huge way to make people uncomfortable. There was an overwhelming surge of emotions, ranging from the joy that had built up to the pain of parting ways with everybody.

Eventually, after a long flight, I landed in San Jose, and my mom was there waiting to take me home. I told her all about the amazing time Ocabanda had together, and by the time I got home, I more or less fell into bed, having to go back to work the next morning at 5:30 AM. All things come to an end, and while this trip was over, Ocabanda’s journey has only just begun. I slept well knowing that I’d see them again soon.