Chapter 23 - Moving up the Line-up

November 1, 2010 Monday – All Saints Day, no classes due to it being a public holiday. Tayaw woke up late at 10 am after a whole Sunday of learning new songs. He also could not sleep the previous night because of a certain someone he met yesterday afternoon.

While shopping at a certain convenience store, he saw Ike, a friend of his in his previous life. Ike was the drummer in Percussive Corrections. The guy with well-to-do parents, who got a job with the help of his father's connection after graduation. If nothing much changed compared to his previous life, then Ike is currently a freshman student majoring in Mechanical engineering. Ike was also the one who named the band "Percussive Corrections". He based the name on people who slam or hit their tools or machines when it stops working, hoping that hitting the thing will make it work again. The name had nothing to do with music; it's just catchy with a little funny story behind it.

Tayaw didn't approach Ike because he was with his girlfriend, a girl Tayaw never saw before. Tayaw remembered how smooth Ike is with the girls and can get a girlfriend relatively easily, to the jealousy of the rest of the band. Based on how touchy Ike is with his girlfriend, Tayaw figured that they must be a new couple who may have just met in college. Because Tayaw has no recollection of the girl no matter how much he tries, he realized the girl must be one of the girls Ike dated casually and will not last for at most two months.

Tayaw found it unfortunate that Ike did not yet pick up the habit of carrying a drumstick in his back pocket everywhere he went. That would at least give Tayaw an opening to talk to Ike like "Hey, you play drums? How about we jam together some time?" or something. Tayaw could only shake his head as he watched the couple walk away.

Shaking all these thoughts, Tayaw got out of bed and changed to his gym outfit. He went to the public stadium of East Ouigab and started his exercise with a few stretches. He then went to the running track and started jogging along the first lane. He jogged two five round sets with five minute breaks in between. In total, he jogged around 4 kilometers. After a fifteen minute break, he pulled out his jumping ropes and started jump roping in place and kept going until he reached 100. Jumping rope was fun but his arms and wrists already started burning so he stopped at 100. Who knows how it will affect his guitar playing if he was injured. He then walked towards the stands and started running up the stairs. After a few minutes of running up and down the stairs of the stands, he decided that was it for the day. It was also time for lunch, so after his exercises, he was especially hungry.

He decided to start building up his endurance because of the recent style of playing he is using in his gigs. Playing newly learned songs, improvising, and adlibbing for an entire hour is actually draining. Tayaw is slowly getting used to playing this way after two weeks of gigs but he figured if he can improve his physical endurance, it will help his stamina on stage as well.

It was already 1 PM when he arrived to his apartment. He took a quick shower, set up his alarm clock to 3:00 PM and quickly fell asleep on his bed. He learned to never nap in an afternoon for more than an hour and a half no matter how late he went to bed or else it will affect his sleep cycle. Falling asleep later in the night will be the last thing he needs because of his early Monday morning.

After waking up from his nap, he was now ready for his main activity for the day; looking at his View Points and reviewing the sales numbers that Topaz has sent him today. With anticipation, he focused his vision of the View Points. "View Points – 367917" Tayaw read it in delight. "HAhAAHAhahahaA! It reached hundreds of thousands!" Tayaw was punching the air as he celebrated. From the previous 45000, the view points increased by more than 320000 in only a month. 367000 people have now read his books in Teungeb, to his joy.

He then excitedly opened his laptop to check the sales report from Topaz. In the month of October, the Children's version sold 53,000 paperback copies and 3,200 hardcover copies. The a.d.u.l.ts' version sold 45,000 paperback copies and 5,300 hardcover copies. The numbers coincide with his estimations that he based on his view points.

The earnings he got from the Children's version are as follows. The paperback copies sold 53,000 copies with the net price of 12.5 BGC; with this he earned 132,500 BGC from his 20% royalties. The hardcover sold 3200 copies at the net price of 17.50 BGC. He has a royalty of 15% in the 900 out of the 3200, which netted him 2,360 BGC. After that, his hardcover royalty increased to 20% so the remaining 2300 hardcover copies sold netted him 8,000 BGC. In summary, his earnings from the Children's version totals to about 142,900. Deducting Chala's shares of 18% from Tayaw's earnings, Tayaw is to expect a deposit of 117,200 BGC in his bank account.

The earnings he got meanwhile from the A.d.u.l.ts' version are as follows. The paperback copies sold 45,000 copies at the net price of 12.50 BGC; with this he earned 112,500BGC from his 20% royalties. The hardcover sold 5300 copies at 17.50 net price and with his 20% royalties, it netted him 18,600 BGC. In total, he earned 131,100 BGC and deducting Chala's 12% share, Tayaw was left with 115,400 BGC he can keep all for himself.

He then opened his browser and looked for reviews of his books in a book review website. He saw that the average rating of the Children's version is at 8.5 out of 10 stars, while the A.d.u.l.ts' version is at 8.9 out of 10 stars. This gave Tayaw a sense of his mission being accomplished. A Fairy Tale book that is received overwhelmingly positively is basically a great achievement in modern literature. "Wait til you see the other stuff I got from the roulette." Tayaw chuckled to himself as he closed the laptop and got ready for his next schedule, the ROH Factory.

Before heading to the ROH factory though, he dropped by an ATM machine to check his account. "236400 BGC". Tayaw, seeing this felt a huge weight disappear from his shoulders. With this money, he can put himself, Payew and Agew through university if talking about just the tuition fees. The average tuition fee in an Ouigab university totals to about 62000 BGC for a four year undergraduate degree, so if Tayaw does spend his money now towards Payew and Agew's education, he will still have enough money left to buy himself a car. Having this much money, he is also trying to figure out how to tell his parents about the source of it.

This money also made him smile bitterly. He was only able to have this much savings after 10 years of hard work in the construction enterprise he worked for in his past life. Seeing this, he was also tempted to drop out of university, which he ultimately erased from his head because it's still too early and his roulette may disappear in the future. Withdrawing just 200BGC, he put away his ATM card and hailed a cab to ROH Factory.

It was already 5:00 when he entered the bar through the back door. His purpose in the bar today is to choose spots for gigs this November. "Good afternoon boss." Tayaw greeted Rudy after walking in through the already opened door. "To you too. Looking for vacant spots?" Rudy asked rhetorically as he pulled out his planner. "By the way, if you want to choose to be an opener this month, then no spots are available. Amelie already took four of the opening spots along with a friend of hers who took the two remaining spots. If only you were here last Saturday, you would have beaten her to it." Rudy said to Tayaw's surprise. "Oh. That's okay. Before I was here, didn't she used to open for five nights a week?" Tayaw asked Rudy. "Well. No. She used to open for four nights. It's just that last August, that time you auditioned, she was opening for five nights. Anyway, you have already proven yourself more than enough to me. Here, you can also consider taking spots up to third performer." Rudy offered Tayaw. "Thanks boss. Let me have a look." Tayaw said as he took the planner.

After a few minutes of consideration, Tayaw finally chose two spots as the third performer in Friday and Saturday nights. "I'm choosing these, boss." Tayaw handed the planner and pointed out the spots he prefers. "Good. I can give you those. As you know, Friday and Saturday nights are our best nights for our business. Can you handle it?" Rudy asked. "Yes sir. I can just keep doing what I've been doing, right?" Tayaw, maybe influenced by the earlier events in the day, replied quite arrogantly, though he masked it in a jesting tone. "Hah! While you're right, don't get it in your head, kid!" Rudy also replied with a chuckle. "Thanks boss." Tayaw realizing he sounded arrogant a little too late was relieved that Rudy took his earlier comment in jest.

"By the way. Tayaw, what do you think about headlining?" Rudy in sudden seriousness, asked Tayaw. "What? Me, boss?" Tayaw was incredulous. "Yes. IF one of the headliners would suddenly not be able to come, can you handle being a substitute?" Rudy clarified. "Boss, even if I have the skills, I don't think I can handle being a headliner alone unless the instrument I play is the piano, which I don't. The best I could do is to substitute as a vocalist or a guitarist." Tayaw replied. He knows that rarely does a solo act become a headliner. In his past life, he only remembered one or two solo acts that headlined in ROH Factory, and those two did so in the time when ROH Factory has not yet expanded. After ROH Factory doubled in size, he is sure he never saw a solo act headline. As the ROH Factory grew, "Also, a headliner starts performing at 10pm. It's already curfew for me by then." Tayaw added. Rudy nodded. Indeed. The reason why he almost never allows a solo act as a headliner is because there's only so much one person could do.

"How about adding a stomp box?" Suddenly, Kiyong appeared by the door and raised a suggestion. "Or a floor tom? Or a beat Box?" Kiyong kept raising suggestions as he walked in the office. Stomp boxes, Floor Toms, and beat boxes are percussion instruments that can be controlled using a foot pedal. They are indeed used by singing guitarists but they only have one pitch of beat at a time. "You have two feet, why not add a cymbal as well?" Kiyong finished as he stopped in front of Rudy's table. Kiyong's suggestion sparked interest in both Rudy and Tayaw.

"This… Good point, Kiyong. Tayaw, if you have those, do you think you can handle headlining?" Rudy, happy with Kiyong's suggestion asked Tayaw. Tayaw, in his past life, never used foot controlled percussions because he has Ike for those. Currently though, he has to consider using something like a floor tom if he wants to grab the opportunity that Rudy is offering him. Ultimately, he is inexperienced in using stomp boxes so he is can't, for now at least. "It's a good idea, boss. It's just I have not played drums with my foot before, so I'm not sure. I can give it a try and if I'm good enough playing them, I think I can do a headline set." Tayaw replied honestly. "Alright then. Nothing's sure for now. Give it a try then, will you? You're still young and you have plenty of years to practice." Rudy just smiled amiably at Tayaw for his honesty and also his courage. "Thanks for the offer boss; I'll give it a try practicing with stomp boxes." Tayaw also felt pleased at the Rudy's encouragement.

"You guys performing tonight?" Tayaw then asked Kiyong who is currently browsing Rudy's planner. "No, but just like you, I'm just here to choose spots for my band. WHAT THE HELL? You already took our favorite spots!" Rudy replied but suddenly exclaimed when he saw Tayaw's name already written in their band's priority choice.