Technology has really improved a lot, even in the offline printing world. The internet did not dampen the spirits of printing companies. Instead, they found ways how they can help their clients even more. It is just a shift in serving. Others who cannot cope simply rely on offline market. After all, paper printing is still needed. People still feel the need to touch magazines, invitations, business cards, etc.

A great example is www.zooprinting.com where they allow their clients to just point and click on available options to be able to come up with the design they needed. Add to that, they have programs that can save you more money by being loyal or by being a client even just for once. They also have weekly coupons available.

By the way, they are not limited to offset printing. They can also serve digitally.

Tomorrow will be the rendering of UCG-Manila Rondalla of Franz Schubert’s Standchen. That means I have to prepare another piece to be rendered sometime within the next 3 months. I was thinking of another but when I was checking my files I remembered that I was having Le Cygne ready. I like the melody and it will be nice with the rondalla playing.

Below is the trumpet version. A bach stradivarius#mcetempurl# trumpet will surely give a good music as long as the player can get the notes right together with the right breathing. Get ready, UCG-Manila Rondalla members. Listen and feel the music. This is your next piece. Will distribute the score arranged and transcribed for rondalla next week.

I used to have a really good memory. The dwindling of memory may be natural for those of senior age but it should not be for younger ones. About 2 decades ago when my memory was at its peak, I was taught a trick to memorize a series of items. Starting with 20 items, I went on to a hundred. Easily.

The main trick, really, is paying attention. If you are not aware, it does not even get past the short term memory to go to the long term memory container in your brain. Somehow there have been a lot of things that I did not pay attention to. I realized, that’s when my memory began to dwindle.

When I was asked last January if there is something that I can contribute to the UCG-Manila Women’s Club meeting for March, I thought, why not about memory? That’s what I gave last Saturday evening. I can say it was successful. I think I began to pay more attention again, too, that during last night’s Passover, I got to memorize who sat where, among 43 people, in less than 5 minutes. I used to take a written note of the names who were present. Now, not only did I not write, I got to memorize where they sat, knowing who was next to or before each one. It looks like I’m beginning to recover and lessen my “senior moments” (which I should not be even having).

Painting in the sky…

When you forgot something, is it not a common tendency to look up to the ceiling or the sky as if the answer was there? Well, it would be there if you put it there, like if you painted it there. You don’t simply write it. You paint it in full color. You do not even have to be a good realistic painter, instead, the absurd and the exaggerated are the key ingredients to painting a good memory.

During the Women’s Club presentation, I asked each person to give me an item to buy, more like a grocery list. I listed each and here is what we came up with:

The story…

Starting with the toothpaste, a cat is licking it because it is hungry, needing cat food. Its tail is sweeping a hill of instant coffee. It had to be wiped clean with a toilet paper. It is not enough. Soap is needed. Sadly, a bottle of cooking oil spilled beside it and a loaf of bread fell on it. There is a bottle of wine beside it so you take a sip and wiped your mouth with wipes. You went to the bathroom afterwards and used the shampoo. After, you locked your long hair to a bun with a pencil and a sanitary napkin stuck at the end. You decided to put it in a tissue box surrounded by vegetables and sprinkled with sugar with different condiments. The last round was powdered milk. As a reward, you have some chocolates.

That story was made up by the whole group. I still remember it. I’m sure they still do, too.

Conclusion

There are different ways to remember. One is to paint it in the sky. The main key, though, is to pay attention. I think I can give memorizing the Morse Code a try.