Busy Busy Busy

My life, is quite a bit of music.

Specifically, last week was Shaun Barrowes' first benefit concert, which is part of a tour he'll be doing to several different High Schools, raising money for music programs across the U.S.

This tour is specifically called the "Live for Music" tour. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of his Music, but his general idea of helping others is pretty cool, and most of the people I know actually do like his Music, so it's probably just me being extra picky.

Afterward, the Jazz Band I'm in went to State Fair and the judges told us "You're amazingly energetic, now just get quiet enough when the music needs to be quiet, because you're loudness is amazing." The whole dynamic contrast speech, and such.

Before that I actually did an audition to be a part one of Caleb Chapman's groups, and I made it into the Voodoo Orchestra. The Voodoo Orchestra won a Downbeat Award last year, and is an altogether amazing group, and I'm incredibly lucky to have gotten into that band. To tell you a bit about Caleb Chapman's groups, the Crescent Super Band is their flagship group, and has won several awards, and all the groups play with several professionals in the Music business. A few of the ones they've played with before include Dave Weckl, Abe Laboriel, and Jeff Coffin, but they've played with over 200 Guest Artists of that caliber.

Basically, they're a group of High School students that play at the Professional level, both in skill and in who they play with.

It's grand.

This Last Week

I've been spending most of my time at school, despite school not having started yet.

I think it's called Band Camp. What I get to do is stand behind a large piece of wood cut up into bits and strapped together by strings, and hit it with a piece of wood attached to rubber, with a bit of yarn wrapped around the rubber.

It's rather quite fun, if you think about it. I suppose the idea is to make the weird metal things and the odd round things sound cooler when they all get hit and spit at at the same time.

Marching Band, it's interesting.

Birth Order, Personality, and Mistakes

(Note: The Human brain is basically magical. We can overcome anything that we start out with, all it takes is quite a bit of effort.)
I've been reading a few articles here and there, and watched a TED speech today, and more and more they seem to be finding that we're very much controlled by our genes. Our personalities tend to be similar through-out our lives from 1st Grade on, while our behaviors change throughout the years, or rather, how we act out our personality changes due to our experiences in life.

Evidently when you were born is actually a bit important to how your personality gets set, so long as your siblings are still around before 1st grade. Of course every family life is different, but there is a general idea for the average family. You can check out the article that explains it a little more in depth here.

Finally, there are some mistakes that the majority of us make that are completely and utterly genetic. Specifically, this research was done on a sort of financial level, where they found people didn't look at the beginning and end result, but they thought of finances as relative to what you have to what you'll get.

In other words, if someone offered $1000 and one of two choices for extra money, those two choices being:
Take a Risk                               Play It Safe
Flip a coin-                                Get another $500.
Heads = Extra $1000
Tails = $0

Most people would play it safe, but when offered $2000, and given two options, being:
Take a Risk                               Play It Safe
Flip a coin-                                Lose $500
Heads = Lose $1000
Tails = Lose $0

Most people actually choose to take the risk, but in both situations you have the choice of $1000 or $2000, or a guaranteed $1500. Not to be completely discouraged, monkeys make the same mistake. See more on that in Laurie Santos' TED speech here.

Weird, I sure went on one there.....

Search on.

Hm.. Odd

A lot of people have been saying "Oh dear" to me lately. Apparently it's happening to other people, too. To be honest, this doesn't usually happen. I know, you're thinking I just haven't been noticing, aren't you? Well, you're wrong. Usually people just give me weird looks instead of actually voicing something, so don't give me any of that!

Oh dear..

So, I've Made an Executive Decision

We'll call it here. I didn't practice for a week, and it was rather torturous. I've begun to go insane, from lack of human contact and instrument practicing (I had a bit of bad timing, as I found out after I'd decided to do this practice ban, my best friend decided to inform me she was going to be gone for a while >.<, oh well, not her fault). From this moment on, it shall be said that I tortured myself for a week, and that is it.

Look at the bright side! It's got me in the habit of doing a blogpost every day. We'll see what I end up blogging about tomorrow, or maybe even later today, eh?

Today's my new band's first practice, we'll see about giving it a name and such, and I'll tell you all about it later.

Keep up the torture, but don't go insane!

These Are Getting Exciting.... ... HA! (Day 7)

See, I fooled you, cause really, it was another day of absolutely nothing! I'm so tricky, I know, I know, you can bask in my trickiness later, but for now, let's put on suits!

Now that we've cleared up that little situation, let's clear up another. I'm not a drinker, and I shall never be, but those suits... are pretty snazzy. I can't even pretend not to be jealous, what about you? I thought as much! Also, I didn't practice one bit today, despite my fingers desperate attempts at trying!

At any rate, I have a song you may want to listen to. It's a pretty cool song by The Shins, called A Comet Appears. YouTube link! Enjoy!

Just keep fooling, just keep fooling...

Well, This /Was/a Prior Commitment (Day 6)

I played my Gig today, which was planned far before my decision to do this no practicing deal, but, it was a performance rather then a practice, so let's go by technicality that it doesn't even count, yeah? Either way, I ended up with blood blisters on my fingers, which happens when you don't practice for ages, then play for 45+ minutes straight. Well, on to tomorrow, which will be the last of a week!

Keep it technical!

Sorry for the Late Update (Day 5)

I apologize for not updating you guys at the end of yesterday, in my attempts to distract myself I forgot to type up a blog post. Nothing happened yesterday, to be honest. I did my best to distract myself, but it didn't really work. I didn't practice one bit, despite the immense temptation to, but beyond that, there really isn't much to say.

Band Meeting! A Promising Venture (Day 4)

Today I had a meeting with a Band that's looking promising. We've got things scheduled out, and we're planning on doing many a practice. Only once a week, but that's great, because I know the Singer and Drummer pretty well. They're good, and not at all annoying, while the two guitar players (whom I've just met) are pretty awesome people, and definitely do not suck at their instrument. It's the first time I've been musically excited in a long while.

What kind of band will it be, you may ask. Well, it's not going to be a hardcore band, or some indie nonsense band (not that all Indie bands are nonsense, but lately...). We're going to be a bit experimental, and genre mixing. It'd be cool to start a new genre, but ya know what? A band devoted to making a new genre becomes a lot of nonsense. We're going to be a band devoted to the Music we're playing, and we're going let Music take us where it wants to go.

Well, that was longer than I thought it'd be. Here's where I mention, though, that I did not play or practice any instrument whatsoever, so no worries, keeping my challenge!

Keep jammin'!

Field Painting and Insanity (Day 3)

So, the entirety of my day nothing has happened, except this morning where I helped mark a few fields for painting. This will enable the Marching Band to have many a choice when it comes to practicing their drilling.

Beyond that, completely uneventful. I sat here. I then proceeded to sit here some more, and I'm slowly going insane. I did a few push-ups, but beyond that I've just tried to stand up every 30 or so minutes and walking around a bit. I'm at a loss for things to do. Try not to mind so much if the next few posts are INSANE.

Okay, so.. I don't really have any muscle (Day 2)

Today was completely (and utterly) uneventful. No, really, nothing happened today. I did a few pushups and random other work outs today. When I mean "a few", I really do mean "a few", and those few really got me out of breath.

So yes, I have no arm muscles whatsoever, and what little leg muscle I have will slowly disappear if I don't do these spontaneous workouts, which to anyone who had even a teensy bit a of muscle would call a warmup!

Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little bit, but honestly, I'm a twig anywhere there isn't fat, so if I can't practice music, I might as well be slightly less of a twig, right?

The Internet is a Cruel Mistress (Day 1)

On the first official day of my ban on instrument practicing, I found my internet going in and out, until it finally just shut down. For several hours. In fact, it only just came on, and it shut down about 10+ hours ago. Having spent most of my days on the internet and practicing instruments before, I lost them both on the same day o.o It wasn't entirely fun, but I did get out of the house and had a short visit with my best friend (which was quite fun).

At any rate, hopefully this doesn't happen again tomorrow. If it does, I don't really know what I'll do >.<

Just keep chargin'

No Instruments for a Week and a Half

Except for the rehearsal(Thursday) and performance(Monday) I have to play at, until the Monday after that performance, I will not be touching any of the instruments I play. I will also not be touching my drum pad, for those who don't consider that an instrument.

I am taking a week and a half off. Something I haven't done since I was forced to due to having no access to them. I've hidden them away in various corners of the house where I will not see them, and put all my music and books under piles of things.

This is going to be an experience. Especially when my most favorite people will be gone for most of it. I won't have anyone to help me get through not playing the instruments, so this will be the ultimate test of willpower.

Bahahahahahahaha.

Test on my friends, test on.

Listen

Can you hear that? Now try to hear it with your eyes, try to hear it with your fingers. I didn't say see it, I didn't say touch it, I said hear it. It should sound very different through your eyes and through your fingers, but you should hear it all the same. Try facing your hand away from the sounds. Do you hear it? Try facing your hand towards it. Can you tell the difference?

Listen, always listen. If you cannot listen, you cannot speak, if you cannot  hear you cannot talk.

I Can Cook. By. My. Self.

Yesterday I baked a cake. I  made it from scratch, I put it in the oven, I watched it, I took it out. Some sneak took them out of the pans, but luckily I didn't let that same sneak frost it.

I frosted it while it was still slightly warm, where it was cool enough to frost, but still a bit fragile. You know what I didn't do? I didn't ruin the cake one bit. I frosted, it, frosted it right, and it tasted great.

It's a rather dark cake. Made using Hershey's "Special Dark" Cocoa powder, which actually made it quite good.

You know how I did it? I followed the recipe, exactly as it was. It's weird, I know, but following recipes can give a pretty good result. Sure, being a master at cooking usually involves being able to tell how strong stuff is or isn't, and changing the recipe on the spot so flavors are still balanced and such, but I can at least read the notes on the page, and follow the dynamics just as it says.

Yes, I just changed a cooking tale into a music tale. Sure, with music I can follow the song's dynamics. The unwritten ones that you can just feel should be there, those are the song's dynamics. The page is just a few hints here and there, but music is more then a sheet of paper. Why only learn from that sheet, if there's so much more?

So these things, they apply to all things, don't you think? If you want to master something, you have to be able to feel it out, and if you'd like to be good at something, you have to know how to read the page. That's life.

Keep learning. I know you can do it.

A Shirt Got Me Thinking Today

(Note: The first rule of this post is to not be offended, but look at it as a lesson of perspective. Not everyone is you, and not everyone is me, and so you may completely disagree, but that doesn't mean you can't learn to understand people)
I was in a meeting today, and I noticed someone had a shirt, and it said something I found.. intriguing.

"Who needs RUBY slippers when you have PRAYER."

It amazes me, sometimes. Now, I'm not an Atheist, but also not one inclined to believe that bowing your head and saying a few words will make any difference in the world. I'm also not one inclined to give the credit of everything you and I do to a higher power, because that defeats the entire idea of free will.

Why do my ruby slippers have any less of a chance getting something done then a prayer? I wish for something, it happens, or it doesn't, just as everything else.

Now, you, my friends, are very lucky if you're Christian and American. Why? If you announce your faith as being Christian, you're very unlikely to be attacked for that fact. If you put a Christian bumper sticker, you're car is less likely to be vandalized.

Agnostics like me, we're in a middle ground. Most people doesn't even know what being Agnostic means, so having Agnostic paraphernalia about my car would make any sort of difference in the world with what will happen to it.

Atheists, however, have a lot of issues. Mainly, Christians, and other Theists attack their ideas constantly. There's a comic, which at this moment I can't find, but it has two panels. In the first, there is a Priest screaming at an Atheist insult after insult and hitting him with a cross. In the second panel, the atheist is holding the cross over his knee, about to break it, and the Priest? He's pleadingly saying "Now now, let's have some respect here." It's got things right on the dot, and the fact that so many of us are that immature is ridiculous. Also, Atheist stickers in most big cities almost guarantees your car to be vandalized within a few weeks.

So, I suppose this post is mostly just a rant about how tiring it is for a country based on Freedom of Religion to be so religiously biased... but that's alright.

Live on and be respectful* to others, no matter their faith, or lack there of.

*There is a difference between being respectful, and speaking out about your beliefs. We have Freedom of Speech, but there's nothing that says you can destroy other peoples lives or the stuff they own because you disagree with them.

That Artist Suggestion I make About Once a Week

There is a man who is basically awesome. He sings, he plays piano, he rocks at piano, and he rocks at singing.

No, Ben Folds and Billy Joel did not have a baby, but the way they describe this man involves both of these names.


Now, a long while ago, he was part of a Five For Fighting music video. You may have seen it, 100 Years anybody? The kid in the very beginning of the video is Matthew Jordan. Since then he's done several covers of this and that, my favorite of which has been a cover of The Script's "Man The Who Can't Be Moved", here's the video.

But he's not just a cover artist. In fact, he's done quite a few originals, such as Blink. It's one of my favorites, but you can go check out more of his stuff on his YouTube channel and website.

I rather suggest checking out more of his stuff, it's quite amazing.


Keep on chargin', and don't ever let 'em move ya 'til you're satisfied.

Once upon a Technology Made. Also, Metronomes.

Many of us have become used to having technology do a lot for us. Despite these things only being invented in the past century or so, we seem to feel like the world owes it to us that these always work, and that they work fast. Weary be the person who's sending little messages made of text to their friend halfway across the country because it took a minute or two to receive it.

You should see some of the outrage that comes every time one of Google's servers has a glitch, whether it's a power outage in the area, or they're replacing a server that broke down, man does the internet start raging. Sure, the internet is some people's only source of revenue, but they knew the dangers of it before they decided to rely on it, and you don't see them constantly complaining.

I'm kinda sick of all that complaining, ya know?

Anyways, now that my rants out of the way, I'd like to introduce you to the friendly metronome. It will click forever if you let it. It's a very useful tool.

If I had dreams, I'd probably be having nightmares of this thing. I've used it off and on(usually on) for the past few weeks. It's probably clicked for 30+ hours in this room in that time.

It's given me quite the finger workout on the Bass Guitar, and it got me pretty far through Outbound by Stuart Hamm (Amazon | Official Website | Wikipedia). This song is pretty intensive for anybody who plays Bass, I suggest it for those who are looking for a challenge.

Well, stop whining internet ;P

I've Got Some Respekt

Now, every once in a while I stumble upon artists that end up being pretty awesome. Something that doesn't sound like everybody else, and actually has a deep meaning to it.

Heck, music that has a deep meaning that isn't plainly obvious or easily decided because there's so many ways you could look at it. The first time you hear the song you'll be thinking that some guy has some pretty big issues. The second time you hear the song you'll start thinking about the connections between it and Russian history.

I discovered one of this artists a little while ago.

Admittedly I've really only listened to her Far album, so I can't say much about the rest of her music. I can only assume her older stuff has it's perks.

But this artist I have discovered is Regina Spektor ( Wikipedia | Amazon).

She plays piano, and sings her music, and the interlocking piano harmonies add flavor to her lyrics, which have meanings you could spend hours thinking about.

Here's some suggested listening(YouTube links):

Genius Next Door

The Calculation

Two Birds


Respekt ;)

Peace

The Boy Who Lived

You know those people who spend their day on the internet? Do you think they're uselessly spending their timing, not doing anything productive? How about those nerds who you think don't get any "real" work done? What would you say if I told you those "nerds", those "lazy good for nothings", those "electricity suckers" had actually done something, productive?

Aside from those absolutely ludicrous claims of how lazy these people are, it's all just silly stereotypes. Simple proof of that is going on in Bangladesh, thanks to a ton of those people. These are people taking initiative, people who know giving a bunch of starving kids who can't get any healthy water to drink don't really need shoes quite yet. No, they don't need a swing set or a playground either(See my older post about a certain charity).

They need clean water. They need enough food. They need a school building, and that's something this village got, thanks to small donations from all across the country. Cheers to the Uncultured Project!

New Movie Out In Theaters!

Yeah yeah, see, it's called GENERIC. It'll have random people we found on the street that girls will go crazy for and guys will go "Dude... she's hot."

No, they can't act, so don't worry theater people, you're name will only be tarnished a lot.

Oh, and don't forget, the plot line involves random scenes mixed with super-fast-ultra-action-and-over-done-effects and slow-and-sweet-music-with-awkward-romantic-moments!

Wait 'til you see the trailer! We'll show you every hilarious part, and all of the best action scenes so you get excited ;)

And, just as a spoiler, the hero doesn't actually die in the scene just before the last conclusion scene. You'll see him when he comes back and and beats the bad guy by some incredible feat of 3-D animation and flashy effects.

...........................

Or you could see another movie. I'm sure you'll get the same exact plot out of it, with ever so slight variations.

Yeah.... go read a book. There's actually some plot lines and story ideas you haven't even considered yet in those, and I'm not talking about J. K. Rowling or Stephenie Meyer.

The End.

A bit of this and that

There is a ten-minute short. It's called Skhizein. It was made by a genius.

Cause it's not about how far off you are, because you are where you are now, and it's not a bother anymore, cause where else are you but where you are?

Redundancy is grand, I know, but it makes sense.

Something may throw you off where you wanted to be, but that shouldn't stop you from doing what you can do, yeah?

At any rate, I ought to have some sort of thing I do every week. Maybe an Inspiration Friday or a Random News Wednesday. Song Suggestion Thursday? I dunno, we'll see.

Video Games

http://screwattack.com/videos/The-Only-Thing-I-Know
(Basically, my thoughts on the video)
You know, I can't completely agree with him, do to some newer games and advancements that actually do help you become smarter and such, such as Brain Age, Lumosity, and many Puzzle games.

But I do agree with the overall message. Video Games can be an immense drain on your life, especially if you obsess over them, and aren't planning on going into the game developing business.

For someone planning to be a game developer of any sort, it makes a lot more sense for them to be obsessing over Video Games (but not exactly in the normal sense). They've got to play them, but they've got to look at the process by which they're made. Or, rather, they've got to look at the process by which their factor (Programmers looking into how the code was written, Designers looking at how it was planned, etc.) was developed.

Beyond that, Video Games are just a bit of stress relief or something to criticize on the Internet, and not something to spend your life doing.

I've got to say, too many of my friends declined social interaction for sitting around playing World of Warcraft, and it was lame.

All while I didn't even have the chance to decline social interaction, but that's another story :p

Keep being productive, as the world benefits from your real life achievements.

A Show of Hands : Victor Wooten's Debut Album

A Show of Hands is an inspiration to all Bass Players who are looking for something more to do with their instrument, but aren't quite sure where they can go with it.

It was all recorded through a little box called an ADAT. Basically, you plug in your cable directly to the box, and record it directly on a computer, or some other device with music recording capabilities.

So, basically, he recorded it all raw, only using one Bass track(Meaning all the Bass Guitar is being done on one Bass Guitar all at once, rather then there being three different tracks, one playing the lower part, one playing the mid part, etc), and some Vocal tracks. This is something that shows you what a Bass Virtuoso can do, and if you listen to it enough, you may just be able to figure out the Music on your own ;) You can get it over at vixmerch.com

Happy listening.

I want you to use your imagination

I'd like you to imagine that there is no such thing as a country. It's not very difficult when you realize we're all humans. There would be nothing to kill or die for. There probably wouldn't be any religion either.

You could imagine, for just a moment, that all the people are living life in peace.

Now, I know I may seem like a dreamer, but I'm sure there's more people like me out there.

Maybe someday you'll be a part of us, and the world will be as one.
(John Lennon's "Imagine" rephrased)

Now, I know the internet may have ruined some of our imaginative processes (Why bother imagining what something looks like when you've got Google image search?), but it has also given a lot of facts. But there's something else it's done.

Every fact you read, every article you find, every study you discover, is surrounded by ads.

Every ad you see distracts your brain from fully absorbing the facts, so despite having every fact at the tip of your fingers, your brain won't remember it as well as when talking to someone about it, as people don't usually wear fifty ads, or stop in the middle of a discussion to point out that company A sells product B, and site C helps you discover D.

For some these ads are necessary for their lives. For instance, many YouTubers rely on ad revenue from YouTube to pay their bills, but there are other sites that simply have ads to make even more money than society has decided is enough to live on and still be able to buy some songs off of iTunes and a game on Steam every once in a while.

Like Facebook, which not only doesn't need all that ad revenue, but it abuses people's privacy just to give them ads it has deemed more relevant to you, or the people who use your computer.

Find those websites without ads, and you'll start really learning new things ;)

Keep up the imagination, and give peace a chance.

Today

I decided I was going to a blog post.

I wasn't sure what I was going to post, so I decided I'd tell you a little bit about Rocket Surgery.

Rocket Surgery can be defined as three things.

1. Performing surgery with rockets. (Attach surgical instruments to rockets, and go at it)
2. Performing surgery on someone while riding on a rocket.
3. Performing surgery on a rocket.

Now, about 3 or 4 months after I explained this to my friends, something strange happened. One of my friends received a "random" shirt as a gift from their relative, one that had never heard the story of Rocket Surgery.

This shirt contained a rather clever line. Do you know what it was? "I'm no rocket surgeon."

This discovery has kept me surprised for a long time, but I think I've realized something. All of the information we need is right there, we just don't pay attention to it. Sure, we can always use the computer to get to it, but what about using our minds? It's something you can't do by concentrating on getting certain information, but rather, you must just open your mind, and when the time comes, you may get a sudden revelation.

It's odd to say, but I believe this to be true, and that it happens quite often. Copyright was a silly thing to come about, to tell the truth, but in the type of life America has built for itself, it seems to be necessary.

Keep up on your rocket surgery books, or you may not pass the class ;)

The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music by Victor L. Wooten

This may be called a book, but it's pages contain a journey that will change the way you see the world forever. Many asked for an instructional book on how to play Bass. The result was instead a journey through Life which leads to an understanding of Music like none other.

This isn't something you should read at once, rather, it's something you should read a chapter of, and take some time thinking about it, soaking it in, and trying some of the things that goes on. It's all a lot to digest, but I don't suggest taking too long. You want to soak them all in a way to keep them all connected to each other.

This shows you the basics of living an amazing life. Teach yourself how to do it, because no one else can teach you.

Overall, I'd give this book a MUST READ label, and I'd hand it around to everybody if I could.

Parades

I don't know what it is, but for some reason, I have an urge to do something on Saturdays.

It involves dressing up in a very hot piece of cloth, with a hat that basically creates a steam pocket above your head, and then picking up some metal round things, stretching my calves in odd ways, all whilst going down the street in the middle of the road. Ignoring everyone on the street is part of it as well.

Why I get the urge to do this, I have no idea, but it only happens during the Summer.

It does sound rather insane, doesn't it? The mass amounts of sweat also agree with that sentiment, but ya know, sometimes you gotta do something like that.

Ya know?

A little update

I've been roughing it out a bit, watching life lamely go by as absolutely nothing happens, and I've quite enjoyed A Show of Hands since I got it. Sadly the speaker system in a VW Beetle isn't quite a match for Victor Wooten's music, the speaker system for my computer is a different story.

I'm about halfway through The Music Lesson, and ought to be done soon.

I'll give you guys my spiel about the both of them soon as I'm done with the book. They're an interesting pair, and I suggest that if you ever pick up The Music Lesson, you ought to listen to one of Victor Wooten's CDs whilst in the process of reading. A Show of Hands is probably the best one, simply because it's his first solo album, and is compromised only of one bass, with the occasional vocal accompaniment, and really shows what he did with the information he learned earlier on in life.

For now, let those wings flap.. you silly rocks.

Clouds

Thunderstorms are interesting things.

They can come and go in little blips that many might only notice because their T.V. blurred.

They can last for ages, and ruin a Computer Fiend's night, and make sure the entire family has to huddle around a few flashlights, while the little kids scream and the dogs shiver and shake.

Course, they can also turn into rainstorms, the loveliest of things. The smell that emanates from those is simply amazing.

Yesh, today's was short, but I've got my The Music Lesson and A Show of Hands now, so you'll get a rather long post soon.

Jobs

Once upon a time I wondered what it would be like to have a job.

My imagination got a bit wild, but most of all, it made me think of how little I'd be able to practice compared to how much I practice now. It was a terrible thought, and I wondered how on earth I could make money and still have my practice time at my age (as the ability to play gigs is not associated with getting gigs at this age, 'lest you get lucky).

I haven't come up with a solution yet, but maybe a camera and becoming a Partner on YouTube could make a very slight contribution towards having practice time? Cause despite there being many a video tutorial on how to play Bass, most of them are wrong. Incredibly so. The first problem being that they speed and skip through a lot of important things, or they teach the basics without letting them understand much about music.

In fact, the very first mistake they make is saying "Here's the tabs for this" or "It's on this fret".

Or you've got the opposite problem of "Take your Bb+7(b5 #11) and start your line on the 3, and have fun with it".

I haven't seen anyone who's started a "How to Play Bass Guitar" from the true basics once, and I'd like to try. Now I just need that camera o,o

Marching Band: A Day In the Cymballine

Well, today I wandered about the parking lot, my feet and calves getting an interesting workout. What it led to was quite the interesting workout, mostly involving rolling your feet, then lifting the heels, and rolling your feet again, all while yelling "AND STEP!", "AND HIT!", and, of course, "AND CLOSE".

Now, you figured that would be enough of a work out, but then I ended up picking up some rather large pieces of metal. I was told I was to hit these pieces of metal together, all while teaching someone else how to hit the piece of metal together. It was quite the interesting mess of a deal, but that seemed not to be enough.

I was told to stand behind some rather loud pieces plastic-type stuff being hit by other plastic-type stuff, and then roll my feet, yell out words, and to top it all off I had to hit metal things together. A lot.

You'd think that something like that would be quite boring, but it's not true. It's actually rather fun, and I think I may sign a contract to do it again out on the grass, that may even involve getting up on my toes, and maybe even walking in between random metal instruments people are blowing spit into.

I know it sounds odd, and it is, but who ever said odd wasn't fun?

Wandering The Streets

Now, I don't know about you, but I don't usually see a lot of people actually walking down streets. If I walk down the street, I'm usual the only person outside, no matter what time of day it is.

Well, I was wandering the streets with my sister, right? We were shooting at cars, with our fingers (you know, when you point at things and say "bang"...). A lot of people were far too focused on the road to notice, despite the lower speed limit and the easy drive that specific road happened to be.

Some people shot back, and it was humorous. Others just waved, not really noticing what was going on.

The best one was a car full of teens. They drove past, but then they slammed on their breaks and turned around.

Pulling up to the curve, they shot at us with their fingers, all of them saying "bang bang bang!". It was the most hilarious thing I'd seen in ages!

So I can say, that the last time I wandered the streets I was involved in a drive by shooting. Beat that!

Dave Matthews Band Binge

Lately I've been listening to a lot of Dave Matthews Band. Nonstop. So much so, that when I try to go to sleep it's stuck in my head. It practically haunts me, and I don't mind.

Some of the particulars I've been listening to have been:

Ants Marching (I suggest the live version over any other)
You and Me (Beats Lifehouse's song any day)
Gravedigger (Only a bit somber)
Funny the Way It (Really makes you think)
Where Are You Going (Used to listen to this on the radio all the time)
The Space Between (Makes a good point, about the same point as Ants Marching, except more personal)

Overall, I wish I had a Dave Matthews Band CD, but for now I'm waiting on my The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten, which is coming with his album A Show of Hands. Expect some initial expectations when they arrive, and some reviews once I've spent some time with them.

Memories and Living Life

Now, I've heard many wishes for being young again, or that they didn't have to "grow up", or that all of those "terrible" things never happened.

I don't think people realize that growing up simply means accepting everyone for who they are, and only disagreeing when you earnestly disagree with what they have to say. The only thing you really do when you disagree is state your opinion and your reasons behind, rather then beat them up about how "stupid" you think they are for having a different idea about things. Growing up isn't saying good-bye to saying odd things, or doing crazy stunts. Rather, it opens up more possibilities.

Those terrible things that happen in your life are part of what shapes who you are. Likely, your most important memories are attached to something "bad" that happened. Most of how you act and why you act like that are also likely attached to some very strong emotions and very different situations that may have done quite the number to you for a while.

This post was influenced by a small realization about growing up, and by The Worthing Saga by Orson Scott Card. I suggest reading it, as it's as strong a piece of literature as any AP book.

A Week of Gigs

On Monday I performed with two Jazz Combos and a Percussion Ensemble. The Jazz tunes were Mercy, Mercy, Mercy and Take Five - I played Bass -, and the Percussion song was Diner's Club.

It went fairly well, on both ends.

On Tuesday I got some musicianship awards, and ate some food.

On Wednesday I performed My Girl by The Temptations on Bass with a choir at their concert.

On Thursday I performed with my trio, currently called "The Vultures", playing Cold Duck Time and Little Wing. And then with the Jazz Band, and out of the 7 songs we played, I was on 6 of them for various things, 3 of them I was on Bass.

On Friday my trio performed at the Talent Show playing Gravity and I played with the Percussion Ensemble for Diner's Club again. At night was Concerto Aria, where I accompanied - with the rest of the Orchestra- five soloists. I was on Bass.

On Saturday we ended up having a gig at a market cause they were doing some sort of drawing, and we played various tunes, such as "Watermelon Man", "Cantaloupe Island", "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", "Freddie Freeloader", "Blue Bossa", "Take Five", and "The Chicken".

It was a good week for performing.

Hey fellow Americans, let's get over ourselves, shall we?

I see it every day online.

I hear it every where outside.

I taste it everywhere I eat.

We have a serious issue.

We've confused being patriotic with being prejudice.

It's proved by our constant refusal to learn other languages. Communication is a very important part of living life, and of fixing misunderstandings, and if you can't even bother with that, then why are you living in the land of the free? The home of the brave? Do you find it brave to refuse to try and understand? Do you think freedom is about cutting down everyone else's freedom?

What are you trying to do to the world?

It's already problematic as it is, so why make it harder for everyone else?

It's a lot of nonsense.

Three Reasons

There's a few people who've kept me from sinking, from losing what makes me more then just another "human", but a person. They're the reasons I'm not dead inside. You want to know more?

"The Friend"
She's the last remnants of my old close friends, and the only one who's personality is still intact. Not a fake, not a lie. Though she does have those moments where she takes pity instead of says the honest thing, not everyone can be that harsh.

"The Girl"
She's not my girlfriend, or anything like that, but I didn't know what else to call her. Perhaps "The Nerd"? But, at any rate, she's my nerd pal. She's the one who puts a smile on my face and leaves it there. Sure, I'm probably just that weird nerdy kid who sits in the band room all day to her, but that's alright. It wouldn't matter either way, cause she means just that much to me.

"The Sister"
This girl is (and excuse my bad English in this section, there's only so many ways to describe awesome) the greatest, bestest, most amazingest twin sister of all sisters in the world of sisterliness... and such. She's the ninja of the Ninja Pirate Llama gang (I am ninja, you are a pirate, llama llama duck!)! And gosh darnit, she had her ax dun go tag that sin! -Don't worry, you're not supposed to get it- And you know what? I don't think anyone else can have as much fun as us sitting (technically I had to stand, but, you get the point) at opposite ends of the room, while playing Jazz even! -Here's what she has to say-

These three mean the world to me, and I could spend hours typing away about them and why they're so amazing, but I've saved you the trouble and did what I'm good at, getting to the point and ranting at the same time.

I'm out.

On Auditions

Auditions are some of the most important things for Musicians, and doing bad at an audition can be rather disheartening, but there's something important about not letting it get to you.

As soon as you look at yourself, and say "I suck" it will end up being true. There are a few exceptions to that, and that's when you overcome the fear of sucking. See, saying "I suck" and giving up never the way to go about getting somewhere. You've got to practice, you've got to keep working, and maybe even find a way to work with the group you'd like to be in, even if that means audition on a different instrument.

As soon as you stop practicing, as soon as you say "I give up", you've lost a very important mind game, and will likely have a very unproductive (at least, in you're musical talent) life.

It's very important to choose a song that you can play if you're audition involves a solo, but it's also important for it to show off you're playing style/styles, so do your best to find a diverse song to play. Most importantly, make sure it's not too long.

Good luck on your next audition!

My next post will be on something a bit different!

Some ol' Poetry

I'm afraid I haven't gotten anything new to talk about today, so instead, I'll give you guys some poetry I wrote a few years ago. Some of them might take a few read-throughs, but hopefully they make sense.

Take that stupid Media
The white men watch,
as the black man sings.
The racist man with no money,
yells out a comment,
and no one pays him heed.
The white man watches,
the black man sings,
The rich one yells,
and dead is he.

Analogies
When the rock falls from the cliff
is the rock running,
or is it being shoved?
Would the answer change be it boulder
Or pebble that was kindly sitting there?
But who's head would this be running through,
the man who pushed the rock,
or the man who stands beneath.

Something with a Moral .. I think
What was it the little bird couldn't say?
For when the little bird can't sing,
Would it talk?
Would it walk?
or would it just fly away from the old man,
patiently sitting on his bench with crumbs in his hand?
For what would the little bird do to eat,
when the old man's time was gone?
and would that old man want to know,
what really happens when time is gone,
if he had already known what would happen?

This a Story about a Lock

Now, most locks involve keys, or a combination of some sort, but this lock is far different from that one, but this lock, this lock is not that kind of lock.

It creeps behind your eyes, and breathes inside your ears.

It slides along your tongue and takes root around your heart.

It tells you to forget reason, and to throw away rhyme, the world is there for you to hate.

It shares it's favorite colors, and whispers which to hate.

Whether it's the color of their skin, or the kindness in their eyes, you lock yourself away from them without knowing your way out.

Blues and Jazz

This is a piece of the world of music that people are missing out on. Some people are quite adamant about having people listen and learn solely classical music. I think it's absolutely absurd to say anything of the kind, especially when you're trying to get the group of people who've spent most of their lives listening to Rap and Pop to try out some new genres of music.

There are several genres in between Rap and Classical, but more importantly, it's a far cry to get them to Classical.

You might get them over to Rock, and from there you might get them to Blues, but you might not catch them going past there.

It makes Jazz a bit of an underground genre, though I've seen it coming back in quite a few places.

So here, I make some suggestions:

It's a .. thang...

Jazz Thing by Guru

Rock it up
Frankenstein by Marcus Miller

Good ol' Blues..
I Don't Need No Doctor by Ray Charles (John Mayer version)

Slow it down there..

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy by Joe Zawinul

Get your Latin groove on..
Watermelon Man by Herbie Hancock

Badly Advertised

With so many things advertised nowadays, there's a lot that's getting overlooked. Drumline and Marching Band is one of those things, but school music in general is rather ignored. High School sports are grand and all, but the music programs get no school coverage. Granted, a High School Marching Band gets ton of coverage just by walking through a parade, but how often does the school hear "Our Marching Band won _ at _"?

It doesn't matter whether or not they did, it's hardly ever announced or talked about by anyone not in the band. It's ridiculous. My High School in particular is ridiculous about it as well, and we've got a darn good Music program here. Every group went off to State, and what do we hear in the announcements? "The Football team lost another game."

It's grand.

That's it for my rant.

An Update: A Busy Bit There

Drumline Clinics and going to State Concert Band Festival took a bit there, so I guess I'll take the time and talk about music today.

There are a few John Mayer songs that you need to check out if you're a guitar player. For the acoustic players there's In Your Atmosphere and Neon. They've got some pretty intense bits, and learning to play them will surely give you a few ideas on songwriting.

For the electric players, you've got to check out the solos in Gravity along with the solos in Vultures. The improvisation going on there is amazing, and if you feel too lazy to learn your scales and chords, there's some inspiration on why you should.

Weird.. I didn't talk about bass, haha, that's a first.

Random Tips and Such

If you can't go to sleep, don't lay there in bed. Get out, move around, and come back again later. It's incredibly helpful for getting a good night's sleep.

It's a good idea to keep your brain active by doing random activities. Many puzzle flash games do the trick, and there's even a site that has a training program. Check out Lumosity.

If you work out, make sure you have food you'll be able to eat sometime afterwards, just so you don't end up passing out, or feeling really terrible for the rest of the day.

The recent ban of toys has done little but make the kids have less fun. I suppose this will end up programming their brains so that later in life they'll immediately associate fast food with no fun, which could be partly useful, hopefully.

A recent "ban" on M rated games in California is likely making many an internet business quite happy. They may be rated M for Mature, but honestly.. if you're Mature, why on earth would you be playing a game like Unreal Tournament or Call of Duty?

Oddly enough, California is probably making their marketplace worse with there various "good ideas to save children". Just another step in the wrong direction, eh?

Music Theory and Jamming

There is a very good reason to learn at least the basics in Music Theory, and that's for being able to have a successful jam session. Sure, if you have some songs planned out, it can work fine, but there's not much creativity going on in that.

Guitar players need to know the name of the chord they're playing. There are several sites on the web that can help you out with that.

Bass players need to be able to hear the name of that chord and know exactly what notes to make a successful bass line. Check out the Bass Player Magazine's website for some tips.

Drummers need to at least understand the basics of time signatures, time changes, and what that means for their beats. Google it.

Going a step farther, they need to be able to know what "I IV V" or "II V I" means. Here's something a lot easier to explain in text, so I'll give you some help on that. My explanation will assume you've taken some theory.

I is the "root" chord. Let's stick with a C Major. All of your chords will usually stick with the same notes, so you won't find anything outside of C Major in your other chords. The rest go as follows -

II - Dorian (Written as D-7 when using C as the root)
III - Phrygian
IV - Lydian (Written has FMaj7 when using C as the root)
V - Myxolydian (Written as G7 when using C as the root)
VI - Aeolian (Written as A- when using C as the root)
VII - Lochrian

So a I IV V in C would be C Fmaj7 G7

Or a II V I would be D-7 G7 C

Hopefully that makes sense. If you have any questions on this, I'll be glad to answer them.

Some Nonsense

I can't say I'm too excited about anything today. In fact, I'm quite down and out of it. For lack of anything I could fill an entire post with, I think I'll just rant about a few things.

There's a bit of a mess in Arizona. See, if anyone has a doubt about the legality of your citizenship here in the U.S. you will be questioned, and likely put in jail. Not only will it cause racial profiling, but it will make the problem of racism even worse in Arizona then it is in the rest of the United States.

We don't seem to understand that racism never disappeared. All it did was (mostly) shift to another skin color. Looking "mexican" has become a reason to kick people out of your store, or an excuse to give them poor service. It's become absolutely ridiculous the way we treat people. Is that truly what America is about? I'll let you think about that one.

Here's a few suggestions if you're looking for some artists on your new iPad(You know, that oversized iPod Touch, yeah?). Matthew Jordan is an amazing Pianist/Singer/Songwriter guy who has recently released an album called "Horizon". Check him out over at his website, eh? There's also a man who goes by the name Zander Zon. He recently released an album called "Sonorous", a CD full of his solo Bass Guitar work. You can at least check out his YouTube, even if you don't plan on buying from him.

I think that's about it for today. Off I go.

The Mind: It Wins Every Time

Many people don't realize this, but the mind has for more control over your abilities then your actual body. Sure, there are the occasions where you have physical boundaries, but there are many a time when it's all right there, in your mind. The one I hear most often is "I can't do math." As soon as you say "can't" you've already made your chances terribly low on being able to do something. Sure, it's not as easy as saying "I can", but that's the first step.

If you tell yourself "I can do it!" You're more then halfway to reaching the goal, being able to do whatever it happens to be. As soon as you've got the expectation that you can do it, you'll have more then enough of a chance, now you just have to do the work.

It happens a lot in sports and music. As soon as a coach, or a director, expresses an expectation of any sort, the group will end up expecting that of themselves. You know what that means? A sudden interest in working to become the expectation.

This works both ways. Low expecations causes complacency and very little improvement in the group. The best coaches and directors expect a lot, but even more, the best people expects even more then that.

Too few say "The goal is perfection, the minimum is excellence." It's something that isn't focused on enough either. I think tomorrow I'm going to do a bit of work on the whiteboard, and see what the Jazz Band does.

A Visit to the Music Store

On my way back from State Solo/Ensemble today, I decided to stop off at Bert Murdock. Now, Bert Murdock has a very large selection of just about everything. Today, I was checking out Bass Guitars, as I've been needing an upgrade for quite a while. The guy at Bert Murdock was very helpful, telling me what he preferred, what a lot of other people preferred, and the good ones of their selection, and let me try out a few.

I'm going to tell you a bit about two of the ones I tried out that I ended up liking.

First there was the Schecter Stiletto Custom 4 String. It's feel is amazing, and it's sound is very reminiscent of most Funk. This is my top pick for someone who likes to keep up a Funk sound. I'm not sure about any other sounds, but you could probably mess with the EQ to get a few sounds, but let me emphasize that this is best for Funk.

Secondly there was my favorite, the Ibanez SR500. This is a beautiful bass with a wonderful sound. The Bartolini pick-ups produce an amazing sound, and messing with the EQ can get you quite a few different sounds. It has a really nice feel to it, and is very comfortable to play on. This is something you'll want to get after you're finished with that beginner bass.

They are definitely ones you'll want to check out sometime or another if your a Bass player.

Music: A Language

Now, you may think that the best thing to do to learn music is to pick up a book labeled "For Beginners" and follow it's steps as best you can, or take a class where a teacher says "This is how you do it."

Now, that's grand and all, but it's not quite there. I don't remember sitting in a classroom and being told "This is how you speak English. First, you take a deep breath, as shown on page 2 of your books." In fact, all I heard was voices, and eventually I figured out how to do it on my own.

So how does this apply to music? How do you take an instrument you've never played before and learn it without someone telling you what to do? Well, that's not exactly what I'm saying. There is a certain point in music where you know most of the basics on how to play and how to make different tones and sounds with whatever you happen to play. However you get there, the best way to help all of that is to listen to a player who sounds like you want to sound. If you don't know what you want to sound like, listen to people in the genre or genres your interested in.

It's more then just listening though. After you listen to it, try to do it. Try to get the rhythmic popping of Marcus Miller, the harmonies of Victor Wooten, or the piercing octaves of Maynard Ferguson. Find the people who speak your language, who speak your instrument, and repeat what they're saying.

Now you see where I'm going with this?

The most important thing to note in all of it, that even if you can't do it with their speed, in their octave, or in their clarity, it's whether or not you think you'll ever be able to that is key to getting there. Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right, and no one can stop you.

Earth Day

Yes, thinking about the Earth only happens once a day! Well, it's a good start I suppose. The teachers I know really didn't bother to do anything about it though. There was only one teacher who said "Ya know, it's Earth Day, let's rehearse in the dark." So that's we did. The lights were off, and we played our music, and it was good.

The only problem, is it's just one day, and even on that one day most people just don't care enough to do anything. Look at me, I'm sitting here posting a blog. The problem is, is we're the problem. We don't do a thing about it, and nobody encourages doing a thing about it.

So, are we going to do anything about it? You might not think so, but I know I'm going to do something. I'm going to turn off this computer, which is weird for me, for the rest of the night. I hope you do something as well.

They Finally Decide Good School Food is a Good Idea... .. Again..

The U.S. Army gets plenty of new recruits every year with the amount of fitness that is required to sign up. They're now realizing that in the future, that may not be so. We feed school children with very unhealthy food, and we notice that obesity rates are going up, so we tell them to eat right. Oh, and we keep feeding them unhealthy food. There's an article about all of this and what retired military officials want to do right here.

On the other end of things, there's someone who actually cares about the health of the kids, rather then the health of the army. Jamie Oliver has been taking the time to go school to school individually, making his own dishes, teaching them how to cook it, and providing some fresh food to kids before they get diabetes. He works with kids one on one and teaches them how to cook as well. You can sign his petition here.

The worst part about all this, is we teach them how to eat healthy. We just .. don't .. feed them healthy food. Why is that? Well, there are several reasons, such as low budgets, laziness, and misinformation. When you've set a standard, why change it? When you don't have a budget, how can you? It's a problem that needs fixing, and this is the project I was talking about in my post "Website Blocking in Schools". Next year I'll be making a petition, with as much information as I can possibly fit on how to solve the problem, rather then just asking them to fix it themselves.

"Family Friendly"

Many of us out there call a few certain words "swear words" or "cussing". Now, the thing about this words, is certain people have decided they are socially unacceptable. In deciding that such words are "bad", all we're doing is saying telling people that the best way to get some attention is to cuss.

With all this, it's caused words to be taken completely out of context.

Now, in the latest "family friendly" movies, you find that no matter who you are, you seem to completely avoid saying anything society considers vulgar. It also decides that "bad" people are very good at avoiding harsh words, and hides any of the problems there are in society.

It creates an illusion that the world is all happy and sunshine, and that "right" always wins.

So, what we're trying to tell our future children is that so long as you do the right thing, you're going to get far in the world. We define right as being happy-go-lucky and thinking either not at all, or thinking far beyond the average person.

Why do you think kids find themselves so easily scared by someone wearing a different style of clothing then Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky?

At any rate, I define "family friendly" as a misrepresentation of most anything, and more of an escape from the world then anything else, and we spend far too much time doing that, and not enough time getting stuff done.

Socialism: What are we worried about?

Now, I hear many an argument about why we shouldn't be paying part of our taxes to poor people. Apparently they're lazy, and are just trying to suck off the system, and not a one are genuinely poor for a reason. They made a mistake early on in life, and that sucks for them, cause we sure as heck don't want to help them out.

Let me tell you about a few of the poor people I know. I know a kid who works his butt off every minute of the day, and doesn't even have a penny to his name. One of his parents got screwed over by doctors by doing the surgery wrong, causing a physical disability. The other one is mentally disabled. Why doesn't he have a penny to his name? Well, somewhere along it was decided that if you became poor, you'd have to be stuck being poor for the rest of your life unless you were incredibly lucky enough to run into the right friends, have the right idea, and start some sort of business that everybody liked.

The amount of poor families isn't quite the amount of new ideas a society can throw money at, at the same time. They can't pay for food, and they definitely can't pay for a new anything if any of their stuff breaks. They are stuck. Why don't we help them? Well, sometimes you'd rather fix someone else's problem. Sometimes you find the pictures of starving African children more appealing to your wallet then someone starving next door.

Sometimes we decide that it's far more important to mock our President by calling him a Nazi, then to get over ourselves and say "Hey, those guys need help, and they live right down the street from me."

We call it socialism, but what's so bad about helping out your neighbor by giving up a small percentage of your paycheck so they can buy enough food to eat, and manage in society, and maybe even manage to be able to give a bit of their own money to help out someone in need.

Who's truly the lazy one?

The Future

Many people have speculations for the future that involve high speed interactions, showing up where you want in a matter of seconds. Well, there are a few who think that's not how things will turn out. People like Alain de Botton believe that not only will we not have a faster way to travel the world, we'll decide to take a slower approach to moving about.

In her article, "A world without planes", she states

In a future world without aeroplanes, children would gather at the feet of old men, and hear extraordinary tales of a mythic time when vast and complicated machines the size of several houses used to take to the skies and fly high over the Himalayas and the Tasman Sea. BBC News, "A world without planes" by Alain de Botton

But is it a likelihood? When people only have a short break to visit somewhere, or have gigs in several different parts of the world, I don't see people completely forgetting about the idea of planes. Now, for those with time on their hands, or maybe someone who takes a few months off of work to do some traveling, I can see a reason for them to decide to take some time to get to where they're going. After all, it's not about the destination, but how you got there.

I suppose as time goes on people will be able to get a job closer to home, or have an easier time moving close enough to their work to be able to take the time and walk the way. Though, this could only be easily achieved if businesses weren't all next to each other, trying to compete for your attention before the other guy.

I guess it's less of a lifestyle change, but more of a market change, to see a change like that. Perhaps someday one business will buy out the rest and there won't be so many advertisements. Let's hope it's not Wal-Mart or McDonald's, they're so meager in good customer service and healthy choices these days.

Website Blocking in Schools

Is it truly necessary for schools to block even half the sites they block?

Social media is a very important part of many people's lives, and yet sites such as Facebook and most blog and email services are blocked. If the prime focus of school is education, why do they try to hide the world from them? Children don't know how to stay safe and responsible on the internet if their prime educators completely ignore the existence of the most visited websites.

Social media is also a prime source for research. If you're doing a research project on some of the big names in anything these days, they will likely have a fan page on Facebook, and likely run it themselves. What's better then reading directly from the person you're researching, rather then some biography written by someone who interviewed them maybe once or twice? If you're lucky enough, you could even get a direct answer for a few of your own questions.

Speaking of research, I notice one of the categories of blocked websites is "Music Appreciation". Websites for magazines like Rolling Stone are blocked for this. Rolling Stone has been a great way to find the back story on groups that made it to one of the many Hall of Fames in Music. Why a site like that should be blocked is beyond me.

In most cases, blocking these websites is really just a distraction in schools. Students just spend more time finding ways around it, and most of what the teacher is saying falls on distracted ears. You might argue that giving students their websites back would be a bigger distraction then blocking them, but just knowing you can get to the website without a problem makes it far less likely that they'll actually visit the websites.

I suppose my next project at my High School is to get these sites unblocked. I'll explain what my first project will be another day. I will give you a hint though. Ever wonder what it would be like to see a Health class check the the nutritional value of school lunch?

Donating to Charity... A Fail?

There are many many charities, and many of them claim to do quite a bit of good, but many of them are doing it the wrong way. Most of them look at a country and say "What do we think they need?" and then they ask for money. Once they have enough money, they buy whatever they decided on, and they send it on over. You'd think this would work, but having done absolutely no research on the area.. they failed. One example of such a failure is in Camp Shahraqi Mawijirin in Afghanistan.

A hundred or so paces away from the last hut of crumbling mud brick, a colorful, shiny playground rises out of the barren earth, like a twisted joke played on the 145 families dumped in this forlorn wasteland.

Because who needs a playground, asks Fateh Mohammad, his mouth contorted into a warped smile, when there is no food? Who needs a playground when the houses are falling apart?

Who needs these two red and blue metal slides, four swings, two soccer goals, and a seesaw, Fateh Mohammad demands as the smile fades from this man's sun-browned face completely, when the children are dying?

Anna Badkhen's "A Journey Through Northern Afghanistan, Day 5" at Foreign Policy

Now, this isn't to say that donating to charity is a bad idea. It can be helpful in many cases. One place where the money went in the right direction is the Uncultured Project. Shawn went to Barguna, Bangledesh through the charity Save the Children. He spent his time there building them a sand water filter, bringing them drinkable water. You can watch the video here.

Next time you plan on donating to a charity, do your research. Make sure you're not giving money to give starving children a playground instead of food, a clinic but not water, or job without a house. It could mean the difference between a wasted $5 and $5 that bought a month's supply of food for a family.

A Music Lounge

Our social lives have gotten pretty laid back, but mostly focused technology. I have nothing against any of that, but I think we need to make some time for actually hanging out with friends. Sitting around texting, emailing, and IMing is great and all, but how about sitting around listening to some music, talking to friends, meeting some new people with your taste of Music, and maybe getting a little snack while you're at it? The online music business is lowering the enjoyment of the ol' CD Store, so why not go for something in between? Something below the level of Concert, and not quite a Dance Hall, a... Music Lounge?

I'd like to start a music lounge I suppose. Have a few separate lounge areas for separate music tastes. I wouldn't have them labeled "Rock", "Country", "Rap", etc, but have something like the Pandora engine going on, where a group can go over to the music player and choose an artist or two, have a couple groups intermingle, and such.

Bring in some real, fresh food. Have a kitchen in the back, and a few people working the stoves bringing in some nice non-preservative snacks. It's not necessarily going to be all healthy, but it'll be a heck of a lot healthier then picking up a snack at a fast food joint any day.

Feature some of the local upcoming bands, maybe even have a recording studio attached to it. Local artists could come in and check out what's been popular amongst the customers, and even take some survey's of what they're looking for in music.

Teach some lessons in the basement of the building, renting it out to some of the local musicians. It would be a grand hang out for those who don't feel like the expense of a concert, or the intensity of a dance hall, and would rather lounge around and buy a snack or two here and there.

The Story Behind the Rocks

This story has changed throughout the years, constantly finding itself beaten to death, revived, and rekindled. Where the flying rocks are now can only be speculated, but here is the story of how they came about.

Long ago, when cavemen only knew how to throw rocks, put things in their mouth, and relieve themselves, a rainstorm came about. As the cavemen were doing their usual thing, throwing rocks at each other, a strange happenstance came about. As two rocks collided, lightning striked right between them.

A new creature opened its eyes for the first time, as the poor natives ran away from the "big boom light" that so scared them. The first living rock had just been born, and not one man had seen it. The minerals inside this living, breathing rock were formed into fractals when the lightning struck, which caused this being to have an immense level of intelligence, and it soon learned all it needed to to survive on the primitive planet.

No matter the intelligence, it didn't have a clue how it had been born. This caused quite an emotional complex with him, especially as night came(if ya know what I mean). He had kept his eyes closed any time a felt vibrations in the ground, as he had decided it was better to be an undiscovered creature. He had already realized all the other rocks around him were quite unintelligent, and that the cavemen were quite attracted to hurling them across the vast bits of air above him.

It wasn't for several years until he finally discovered the way one of his kind were born. This made him try several experiments. Arranging rocks on the ground in a good distance for the cavemen to manage hitting them together, he spent ages waiting for thunderstorms of any sort. He ended up with quite a few friends, and got quite far.

Course, this had also started happening in other parts of the world, with very different kinds of rocks, but I'll get to that later.

One day, something a bit different happened. A pigeon ended up between lightning and rock, and something different appeared. A living rock with.. black wings. This made the original rock quite excited. Their only mode of transportation before was intense vibrations to cause a pseudo-hovering motion, but wings... life would be so much easier.

This caused a sudden interest in trying to combine already living rocks with others, in fact, it caused him to try combining three rocks at once. After several tries, he decided it would be far too dangerous to let something that could be potentially more powerful then him be made without being in it. He decided to try something far less likely, and that involved six rocks and a pigeon all at the same time. Several years, hit after hit after hit, each time missing the all important moment he was waiting for.

Eventually.. it worked. He was Lord of the Living Rocks and ruled over them all. Having wings, he decided to move on from the area he'd spent all his time experimenting. As he flew across lands, he caused many flying rocks to be born. Not once did he decide to live among the other flying rocks though, always staying secluded.

By now, there became a distinct variation in what they decided would become separate tribes of flying rocks. There were the Shinies, always so jealous of the Ones of Red, and always the Angries attacking the Peacefuls. They would become the four tribes, and the Lord of the Living Rocks would become The Great Flying Rock, a tribe of his own.

Now, you may ask how I know all of this, but it's quite simple really. One day, I got a cut in my arm that was utterly life threatening. This was caused by a rock that fell down right on top of my shoulder. He felt quite bad, and he decided to save my life. In his unsureness of how to do so, he decided to trade blood with me. The flying rocks have the grand ability of being able to heal quite easily, so he hoped that giving me his blood would work it's magic on me.

It did. The magic of the Flying Rocks is actually quite great compared to anything us humans have been able to accomplish, though we've forgotten how to use anything our ancestors discovered in our arsenal. It's been quite the journey, but I discovered it all by speaking to The Great Flying Rock, as word of the blood trade spread amongst them all. It has been their greatest monumental moment in their history, though I'm still not sure why. Maybe I'll find out later on in life.