No Turning Back

Its been almost a month since I've come by to deposit my thoughts and considering I have a little time and sanity today, I thought I'd dust off the ol' keyboard and offload some of the things that have been bugging me.

I always thought I made good decisions in life. Be it something as trivial as buying the next amazing tech gadget or something as life altering as a career move. Lately, I've come to doubt myself in making these decisions.

For example, when I was 24 and just graduated with a Diploma in Electronics and Computer Engineering, I had a choice of one of two paths. The first was one that I dreamed of walking down and being on for the rest of my life - being a radio presenter / deejay. I had the voice (back then, of course), the knowledge and love for music and the lack of fear of the hundreds of buttons, slide controls and flashing lights in a studio. The other, a less glamorous life of being a Computer Engineer.

I grit my teeth and chose the latter for a couple of reasons, mainly because of my father's advice to his playful only son. He said "If you're as good a deejay as you say you are, you can always return to it at any time. But if you leave Engineering now after just graduating, you will find it difficult to get back into it." With all the technical advancements happening around us so quickly, his words were spot on.

Although I don't regret my decision even though I wish I were more excited about my work, lately I've been asking myself "What if I had chosen to join the radio station?" Fame? Riches? Get booted off the air for saying something inappropriate? I don't know and never will. Why? Even if I chose to leave Engineering for good and head back into the deejaying arena, no one in their right frame of mind will employ a pudgy and balding 37 year old jock who's voice is starting to sound a little raspy.

My point is, we often come to a crossroad in life and any of the paths we chose to take is most frequently not paved with U-turn signs. So, when we embark down that road and find that it is not really suited for us, there's no turning back.

Why the topic? I have been re-evaluating my choices in life and wonder if I've made mistakes along the way. Sadly, a lot of these have ended up with "yes" answers and there's no turning back now. I'll share more of these in upcoming posts.

As I always say when I reappear after vanishing for awhile, The Premster is back. But the outlook is gloomy.

You Know The Name, Now Hear The Mix

"Ladies and Gents, DJ Mixfreak is in da house!"

*fans scream and cheer wildly*

Back to reality...

One of the many things I was busy with when I went AWOL from my blog was to get back into remixing. Remixing evolved from my passion for deejaying - and is a whole lot less tiring and stressful. It does help if you own your own studio like I do (ok, ok... I admit that it is strictly home-brewed and nothing like the studios that professional Producers and Remixers work in) and you get to spend as much time in there as you want but only until our 0.5 meter tall apartment warden yells out indicating you've had enough for the day.

Remixing took a back-seat for over a year when I tore down my bedroom studio at our previous apartment to accomodate domestic help when my father became very ill. And I told myself that when everything blows over, I'll get back into doing what I love doing.

So I did. And to spice things up, I entered a remixing competition too! Judging is still in progress but there's no way on God's green earth I'll win considering I've heard my competition. There are some really good 'home' remixers out there.

So, making it's debut on Blogger for the first time, "Highest Mountain" by Robert G, remixed by DJ Mixfreak.

The Other Side Of Premster

Most of the people who have known me from the turn of the century onwards would describe me as a mild mannered workaholic geek. I take that as a wonderful compliment. Aside from enjoying quiet time with my family, I enjoy my work and indulge in gadgets. But there is another side of me that only friends from way back know - and that is I was once... *drum roll please*... a deejay!

"Surely you jest!" or "You've got to be kidding me" would probably be what you're thinking right now. But it is true. I even had a stage name- DJ Mixfreak! Ok, stop giggling. ;)

I started deejaying at the age of 14 when I accidently got roped in to help with a friend's mobile disco (companies that provided disco services at your doorstep). Being one who enjoys music, I was intrigued by how the deejay matched beats and mixed music and that curiousity got the better of me. By the age of 15, I was manning mic and turntables solo, freelancing at clubs and discos when their in-house deejays were on annual or medical leave. I entered a nation-wide deejay mixing competition at the age of 23 - and won. A one year contract remixing for some local performers, deejaying gear and bragging rights were mine.

By the age of 25, I started remixing tracks for local clubs. Most of this was done from my home studio and deejaying took a back seat. I 'retired' from deejaying at the age of 30 due to work commitments and poor health but my enthusiasm for the trade never died. I still remix in my spare time - just for kicks.

By the way, I have an Eid gift for my regular visitors (you know who you are). If you have a Gmail account (or one that can accomodate / receive a file of at least 10MB), please email your address to premster.blogspot.com@gmail.com before 24 October 2006 to claim your gift.

Hear from you soon?