whoohoo!

Layna & Joel!! They just got engaged today! whoohoo!

yeah, my cousin Joel popped the question today & is now engaged to Layna! Congrats to them & whoohoo! I'm excited to have another girl in the family! geez!
anyway, tonight i'm typing from my hotel room in Austin. Here for a business seminar. i've already met some interesting & friendly folks. i sat at a table tonight that was full of people from the east coast... we talked about NYC... and it kinda made me miss it... i'm definitely going to have to make a NYC trip every couple years (at least). going on trips solo makes me more outgoing. i made friends with a New Yorker in the car rental line... and we raced each other out of the airport parking lot. who says New Yorkers aren't friendly??
can i just say that i HATE Austin's roadways!! Good Lord!! what the heck?!?! luckily i have a GPS system in my rental car... but even the GPS system can't figure it out quite right! when i realized it was leading me in the wrong direction, i turned around and told it to reconfigure... and then it was fine... but that was a close one!
on the plane trips here i sat next to women on both flights. and both of these women were mid-fifty and pleasantly plump(i don't know why i say pleasantly... it's just the nice thing to say i guess). and both women were very friendly... but they didn't force me into any conversation... you know, sometimes i just don't want to chat on planes... sometimes i do... but sometimes i don't... so it was nice not to have to. both ladies could easily be characters in movies or on tv. they were funny... and had fun personalities. the flight attendants on my second flight were crazy. they were yelling at passengers and were very short-tempered... yikes!
my hotel room is nice... there are 2 beds... and 7 pillows on each bed! i'm thinking i'm going to surround myself with 14 pillows tonight and drift off into a blissful, pillowful sleep.
well, i'm going to go ahead and jump into those pillows and try to get some sleep... i have to get up early tomorrow! hope everyone is doing well! ciao for now.

fun times

Why do I do this to myself? Why do I start writing something late at night? Ugh! I need more sleep in my life! Especially as of late… 16 hours in uncomfortable shoes on Sunday was enough to cripple me… I’ve been hobbling around for the past 2 days… trying to act like my feet aren’t still killing me. Geez! Anyway, that being said, don’t judge me for my poor punctuation skills tonight.
So I’ve been meaning to write for awhile… in fact, I wrote something about a week ago… I wrote this huge long thing… and right as I hit the “Submit” button, it was all deleted. 2+ hours down the drain. Yeah, I said 2+ hours… needless to say I was annoyed… but what could I do but just wave it good-bye and go to sleep? So that’s what I did…
Anyway… to Bethany, Steph, and whoever the rest of you are who occasionally read this… yes, I had a great time in NYC. A better time than I expected… but I guess part of that would be because I had no idea what to expect to begin with. I bought a camera the night before I left… and I’m so glad I did. I took tons of pictures. Spent a lot of my time in the Manhattan area… it was such a colorful experience. The sights, sounds, smells, people… the energy really was captivating. Easy to get caught up in. Talk about a romantic place! It was a very surreal experience… I felt like I was literally in the movies for the first couple of days but then I got into it… I started to become accustomed to the busy way of life… I started walking the way they walk… I started crossing the streets the way they cross (there’s a way)… I started to communicate & talk the way they talk(just the facts please)… I started living in it… and I liked it. BUT I don’t think I could live there permanently… I could definitely do a vacation home or something (yeah, like $ isn’t a factor). We went to tons of places and saw tons of things but we still didn’t have time for it all. Thanks to myspace, I was able to reconnect with Matty G and he showed us around a bit… took us to fun places like Little Italy, Chinatown, Time Warner Center, and tons of other stuff. Ingrid & I went to Macy’s and just walked the city one day. It was a lot of fun… eating dogs in Central Park, strolling down 5th Avenue, touring the Empire State Building, taking a Harbor Tour and seeing the Statue of Liberty… good times.
Yeah, so thanks for asking Blee… I can send you (any of you) some pics if you’re interested. It was interesting just to live in the NYC world for a little bit… totally different than anything at home. GEEZ, the taxi rides alone were definitely life-changing experiences! Brought me closer to God I tell ya! I was praying for forgiveness & salvation, recommitting my life to God in those first few taxi rides!
Well, I’ve been listening to some great music tonight… the kind that makes me think about climbing mountains & busting down brick walls & driving at 100mph… the kind that makes you think crazy world-changing Big Ridiculous Impossible thoughts. The kind that spurs dreams that you can’t escape… the kind the rekindles the fire inside. I say all of that to say that I could write all night… and go on and on about stuff… and change the world and everyone in it with just this one entry… but it’s raining and it’s late and I need some sleep… and I think tonight’s rain will help me sleep… but I’m going to write some more stuff soon… so look for it. Hope everyone is doing well. Ciao for now.

Manhattan(s)

yesterday, late afternoon, I surrendered and joined myspace. yup, sure did. still haven’t worked on my page… haven’t done the about me or anything yet… but I’ll get around to it… :) anyway, here it is: http://www.myspace.com/playintune

my parents came over last night to hang out for a bit… and they brought Marie Callendar’s pie with them. oh hallelujah… yum.
boy, am I one sleepy kid today. stayed up kinda late again. and my neighbors didn’t help… they were making all kinds of ruckus last night! the joys of living in an apartment.

I’m headed to Manhattan, KS to a friend’s wedding this week… leave on Thursday. They call it “The Little Apple”… how cute. I like Kansas… it’s under-rated.
anyway, get back from all that jazz on Sunday. Then I’m going to turn around and leave for the “Big Apple” on Tuesday morning! Yup, I’m headed to Manhattan, NY!
I get to visit both Manhattans within a few days of each other… how funny is that?
Anyway, it’ll be my first time in NYC. I’m really looking forward to it… and I’ll be sure to take plenty o’ pictures! If anyone has any “must-see” suggestions, email me!
ciao for now!

McFreakinAwesome

i have a little toad friend who's recently showed up... he greets me and welcomes me home in the evenings when i get home after dark. he's not always there... but i look for him and wonder how he's doing when he's not there. i think that a lot of people have toad greeters or toad doormen. i know for a fact that my friend sarah does... and i can think of a couple of others too. hmmm... i guess that toads are friendly little buggers... must be socialites. i wonder if they having a greeting committee... maybe that's where he is when i miss him and he's not at my doorstep... at the toad greeting committee meeting.

so about my audio class... i know you're wondering about that Steph! it was a huge HUGE success. basically left class with a huge goofy grin on my face... i always thought that i had a good ear... and it was only proven last night. everyone loved LOVED Rebecca(vocalist). In fact, they loved her singing so much... that they freakin' gave a standing-o! yeah, i'm not kidding. i'm siked. i'm ready to start recording like a mad person! i asked my teacher tons o' questions...

anyway, everyone loved it and my teacher said it was really REALLY great. and that's quite a compliment coming from him. i love GarageBand! i can't wait to learn all about ProTools!

again, it obviously could not have been a success without Rebecca (McFreakinAwesome), Danny, and Joesf... so thanks to them!!!

i'm listening to Blue Merle's cd "Burning in the Sun" tonight. they're good... check them out. i like their life-like sound. does that make sense? sounds like they're right here in my apartment singing... his voice isn't crowded out by the music... it's above the music bed... it sounds great. the sound of Blue Merle reminds me of DMB... but it reminds me of David Gray and others too... but yet it's still original... different in some way. but i don't like some of the songs because they're depressing... so i just skip those when they start to get me all depressed. why don't people make happier music anyway? not that everything has to be happy all the time but things don't have to be freakin' depressing all the time either. Blue Merle's happier songs are the type of music that i would like to paint to... or write to... or drive to. a few of my favorite songs of Blue M so far are "Part of Your History", "Bittersweet Memory", and "Places".

okay- i'm out- later ya'all- i gots to get some sleep tonight.

I ♥ Music.

i'm sitting here listening to Sufjan Stevens... his "To Be Alone With You".
I like it... it's more than what it seems.... it's deep.

anyway... we recorded music tonight. we recorded the song i needed for my audio class. it went really well & it was a lot of fun. Good thing was that i didn't end up having to do the guitar part... hallelujah! i met a guitarist at the music store yesterday... so he played for us tonight. Rebecca did the vocal... and she did awesome... no surprise there. i have a feeling that my recording is going to be better than anybody else's... thanks to Rebecca, Joesf, & Danny. :) It sounds soooo great... love it.

it's weird cause i'm sitting here listening to Sufjan... and i like a lot of his music... but there's some of his stuff that i could do without. so it's funny how you can like one artist and then turn around and really like another artist that's totally different. Guess that's the beauty of music... that it doesn't all have to sound the same to be good... to be enjoyed... by someone. We briefly talked about Janis Joplin tonight... and it's not like she had a stellar sound 100% of the time... I mean, think about Janis trying to make it on American Idol... not too sure she'd be able to make it past Simon in the try-outs!
And i'm sitting here thinking about Sufjan's music... a lot of the titles are whacked out... such as the titles on his Come On Feel the Illiniose! album... read these whacked out titles. Luckily crazy titles don't stop people from loving him and his music.
To each his own... that's all it boils down to.

i think Sufjan Steven's music reminds me of the movie "I ♥ Huckabees" in some weird way. Saw the movie "Little Miss Sunshine" last week and i recognized one of the songs in it as a Sufjan song... i think it might have been the song "Casimir Pulaski Day" or the ending of "The Transfiguration"... the 2 songs can sound similar to me. Not that anyone cares about this besides me... anyway... hope everyone has a great week... it's time for me to hit the pillow... cause i'm half asleep!

Happy 1st day of October.
love ya'all.

stepping out

so as i was buying a bag of "FUN SIZE" Butterfingers the other day I was thinking... why call this little mini-sized candybar "FUN SIZE"? To me, the "FUN" size is not the 1 inch piece of candy... i would think that it would make more sense to call the KING SIZE candybar the "FUN SIZE". I don't know, maybe it's just me... but i think that the more candy you get, the more "FUN" it is. They should call this little 1 inch bar the "JUST ENOUGH". Everyone knows that this is the size that you buy to hide in your desk drawer at the office or in the kitchen cupboards...

Ever have those moments when lights of clarity go off and flicker in your head?? Maybe while listening to a song, while singing a song... or while talking with a good friend?? I've experienced some of those moments- some of those "lights" lately... while doing those 3 things. Don't you love it when that happens? Those are the moments that keep me going... the things that i have to remember when i feel like i'm literally battling... blood, sweat, tears stuff. I pray that God keep you & guide you as you battle whatever you're facing. I pray that you have little lights and moments of clarity that make it all make sense... make it all come together in your head to give you the bigger picture of what it is you are fighting for or against...
or maybe you're not fighting anything at all... i hope you can still experience those flickering light of clarity moments regardless of where you're at in life right now. those moments are important.
speaking of fighting, i read a quote today that almost brought me to a Braveheart battlecry.
even though it may not make sense out of context, i'll share it with you:
"If you are willing to do a frightening thing, if you are willing to run toward the sound of the guns, if you would fight with all your strength against self-righteousness: step out of yourself and see the truth your adversary sees." -Roy H. Williams

no, i'm not a Roy H. Williams groupie... seriously... those people weird me out. any and all groupies weird me out... not just the Roy groupies.

awesome

Lightning photo courtesy of spaceweather.com

So I'm taking this audio techniques class on Monday nights now.

Much to my surprise, the professor is actually going to the trouble of teaching us the VERY fundamentals of sound... for example, we're learning about at what frequencies the human ear hears and things like wave paths. It is fascinating stuff... I'm not sure any of us were ready to leave when class was over.

GET THIS: Do you know what the sound of thunder is??

The sound of thunder is the sound of all the notes in the musical scale at once.

I cannot tell you how cool that is for me... all the notes in the scale... all at once... thunder is... not just noise... it's music. how can all the notes in the musical scale all at once be an accident? Reminds me of the string theory and the theory of everything.

it's awesome... I am so excited about the things I'm learning in this class. And I thought all I was going to be getting out of the class was how to do audio mixing!

and get this: the end of the course project is to record/produce a song.

sounds way more fun than most of the classes i took in college.

hope everyone is having a great week.

later.

coordination skills

just in case you missed this rockin' awesome live performance from the OK GO boys on the VMAs...
here it is: OK GO.

i need more

the long weekend is winding down. bummer. oh well, at least that means that we'll have a short work week. :)
last night i drove down the highway on my way home with the windows rolled down, sunroof wide open, and the music turned way up. and i was happy... i was happy for the invention of cruise control and the invention of the sunroof. the wind was blowing my hair all over the place... it was a wonder i could see anything... it was so therapeutic. it was really great.
i own a pink chair. it's an antique. i acquired this chair from my grandmother... and i love it. i think i've almost decided that it's my most favorite piece of furniture that i have. i got to thinking about why i love it so much... and i think i've uncovered why i love the old pink chair. call me sentimental... but i think i love it so much because i know that my grandfather once sat in it... reading his newspaper... or sleeping... or watching tv... or smoking a cigarette. it was a part of his life... and now it's a part of mine. since he died when i was 1-year-old... there weren't whole lot of opportunities in that one year to get to know each other... and so you take what you can get... and for me, it's the chair. i guess you could say that the pink chair brings us together in a way... it's a part of the family. hmmm... who knew all that could be wrapped up in a chair? seriously haven't ever thought about it until today. funny...

p.s. found a fun blog if you're interested: http://hughe2030.blogspot.com/

nicole, steph, & me

from Steph's visit... out on our girl's night. :)

2 things

1
the scripture of the day:
Many plans are in a man's mind, but it is the Lord's purpose for him that will stand.
Proverbs 19:21 (Amplified Bible)

2
the dictionary.com word of the day:
tete-a-tete \TAYT-uh-TAYT; TET-uh-TET\, adjective:
1. Private; confidential; familiar.
2. A private conversation between two people.
3. A short sofa intended to accommodate two persons.

Tete-a-tete??? i've never once heard this word used in conversation. anyone? anyone?
I'm going to go sit on a tete-a-tete now and have a tete-a-tete. that's right you heard me... a tete-a-tete on a tete-a-tete.

the Fray

have i mentioned that i like THE FRAY? and Issac Slade?
since i missed their concert here, i'm really thinking about traveling a great distance to go see them in concert in September. why not? i need a vacation!! why not make a vacation out of it? man, if i could only pull it off... we'll see.

get this, according to AOL, Isaac mentored a crack-addicted teen, providing the inspiration for the title track How to Save a Life: "I wrote the song about how there's no formula for bringing somebody out of that."

from page 18

so i'm reading this book, Bird by Bird. it's pretty good stuff...
funny thing, i read something in it the other day that sounded very similar to something i wrote here in June... my another fog blog.

anyway... here's the paragraph from page 18:
E.L. Doctorow once said that "writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice about writing, or life, I have ever heard.

is that good or what? because it's so true.

i'm listening to The Fray right now... i love music.

Adam & Melissa's wedding

remember my little brother? yup, it seems

jared's all grown-up... weird. :)

i like icecream...

yes, i like ice cream...
and i LOVE guacamole...
but i'm not sure i would have ever thought of Icy Hot Avocado Ice Cream.
hmmm... sounds interesting... i just might try it.
i also found Alton Brown's recipe for Avocado Ice Cream... but i'm thinking the icy hot recipe sounds better.

new

i recently bought some new towels. i love them.
yesterday i bought a new toothbrush. i love it.
this morning my motivation for getting up was the thought of my new bath towels and my new toothbrush. i love the feeling of new. but i have to say that as i was getting ready for work and realized that my reason for getting up was a towel and a toothbrush...
i started to get a little depressed.

but new is good... right? i should be excited about my day regardless of whether any new towels or new toothbrushes are involved... right?
speaking of new, i got a new job... well, same place... just a different job... and yeah, it's a good thing... it's a happy thing.
so now i've got my new job to get me up in the morning... my new bath towels... and of course, don't forget the new toothbrush. but something tells me i'm out of focus... cause as cool as all this new stuff is and as grateful as i am... none of it really matters in the long run. there should be something else getting us up outta bed... i'll stop here before i get too serious & philosophical... i think you all know where i'm going and what i mean. refocusing... i need to do more of it... daily.

back to the toothbrush... seriously... don't you just LOVE the feeling of a new toothbrush or is that just me?

last week Rebecca introduced me to Sudoku.
i've played 5 games so far. i don't remember how long my 1st game took... my 2nd game took 15 minutes... i gave up on my 3rd game... my 4th game took 20 minutes... and gave up again on my 5th. they say the average is 6 minutes. what? average for who? who are they talking about?
you know what? i'd like to see Raymond go after a sudoku puzzle. i'm thinking he'd have it solved in a minute or less... he'd blow the record.

drip... drip... drip...

i recently added the following two quotes to my little quote book… and thought that they were both worth sharing:

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.
-Henry David Thoreau

Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
-Helen Keller


could it be that most go to the grave with the song still in them because they’re too busy trying to attain self-gratification? no, I’m not preaching at anyone… well, maybe a little to myself...
geez… apparently I’m a fan of both Thoreau & Keller… a lot of their quotes have really struck a chord in me.

it’s not a matter of whether or not there’s a song there… it’s a matter of bringing it out… bringing it to the surface... finding your music, your instrument, your rhythm, your voice, your style.
what’s my unique contribution? what’s yours? when do you notice your song playing?
what is it that makes music leak out of your soul?

I can’t believe it’s the end of July already! what?! speaking of which, it's freakin' hot!

p.s. STEPH & MATT are coming for a visit soon! yeah for visits from friends!

burritos, clocks, and billy joel

it's almost been a month since i've thrown a line or two up on here... so i thought i'd go ahead with an update. my gosh! how time freakin' flies! anyway, i'll keep this short and sweet.
woke up this morning and decided to sleep in a few extra minutes... it turned into about 20 minutes. ended up being only a couple minutes late to work. :)
an old friend stopped by to say hello...
had lunch with some coworkers... discovered that Emily eats burritos starting in the middle. she always starts eating them from the middle. hmm.
discovered that another one of my coworkers sets every single one of her clocks exactly 25 minutes fast. another hmm.
had a weird afternoon... but made it to 5pm.
had dinner with my parents.
listened to "easy listening" on the way home tonight... and actually enjoyed a tune from Billy Joel of all people!? what?
decided to jump online and shop for a new phone... still can't find a phone that i wanna buy... but in the meantime i made another impulse buy & bought another ring tone. geez! they get me everytime! (and no, it wasn't Billy Joel!) peace out.

today's Monday Morning Memo

Thought I'd throw in an inspiring excerpt from today's Monday Morning Memo... it's definitely worth sharing... and worth reading a couple times.

While speaking at the Sorbonne in Paris, April 23, 1910, audacious Teddy Roosevelt looked the French coldly in the eyes and delivered his famous admonition, "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

And you wondered why the French tend not to like Americans.

now, is that good stuff or what?

Old Glory Day

Happy Flag Day everyone!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_Day_in_the_United_States