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.