Hello again, Internet!

Here I am, talking to a box sitting on my desk, so that when I turn around, it can start gossiping to all the other boxes around the world who will in turn secretly tell their owners everything that I've been saying, without me ever knowing anything was said to these people! But to whomever is told this via their fancy big-mouthed boxes, don't worry...my box tells me everything you've done lately too ;) Man...the 21st century doesn't sound very fun when you put it that way. Oh well. Gotta love what words can do.

So I spent much of the day at the church cleaning up the mess I made setting up for Vacation Bible School. I'll be honest...I don't want to see anymore staples for a while lol. We had stapled tons of colored-paper onto the walls all around the Wright Hall building to give an under-sea atmosphere. The theme was Diving for God's Treasure. It took a solid week (many days, 12 straight hours of work were put into a single day) to put everything together, and about 3 hours to clean it all up. But that was a lot of staples to remove.

Anyway, on to the important stuff. I just recently recorded every song I've finished to video, so that I could put it all on a CD and mail it...to myself. I'm just going to let post-office records verify everything until I get everything mastered and have money for the US Copyright Office. It's technically not an official method, but copyright law only requires you have a tangible copy, and it's best if there's a verifiable date on it, so I think this method will do just fine for now lol. I've got 12 songs on the CD -- one more song than I had counted last time, but I can't remember when I last counted, so I'm not sure if i counted wrong, or if I simply wrote my newest song after counting. I won't upload any of those videos because it was a little late, and I don't want to torture the world with recordings that didn't turn out so great. One song did turn out pretty good, and I considered uploading it, until, after watching the video, I realized that I apparently was flipping the camera the bird through the whole song while I was playing guitar. That or it was a weird shadow that just made it look that way. I didn't really care which one it was, it just didn't look right. But I'll try again after I get this whole CD/mail thing finished. The song was called Night Sky, in case you were curious, and it would be part of my Color Series that I mentioned a while back, if I ever write the REST of the series, that is =P.

More important stuff to look forward to. Grace and I plan to do a duet within a couple weeks. We've been considering a duet cover of Hillsong United's "Lead Me to the Cross." Can't wait for that! :D

One last important stuff: I'll be changing my blog's design by the time I release my next post. So don't get thrown off when next time you come back, it's a lot different! Just a head's up!

Okay, everyone say "Bye, John's magic box that tells us everything!"

Tough to top

Well, that was possibly the best fourth of July I've ever experienced. The day started off outstandingly. In the morning church service, We were privileged enough to experience the presence of God all throughout the church building. There was hardly a dry eye in the building. The kids sounded great singing I Have Been Blessed, and their tender hearts reached out to the entire congregation. By the end of the song, so many of the kids were fighting back tears that I was wondering if they would be able to finish. But they did, and it was the most moving thing I have experienced in quite a while. We all sat and thought about the son of a preacher at whose funeral the song was sang, and then proceed to think of Mrs. Jill, and the marvelous work God has done in encouraging and helping her through her trials, and being able to just praise God in the midst of it all. It was incredible. Then, it was like God went and outdid Himself, when Lexi chose to accept Christ immediately afterward. The Lord's message had already been delivered before the sermon even started. All of this before noon. I never again want to take for granted the literally countless blessings God has given me in my life =)

Anyway, after church, I watched Dad's amazement as he realized you could get a Hot-n-Ready pizza in the drivethru in under a minute =P. (By the way, as soon as I figure out where I'm supposed to find real smilies for this thing, I'll use em lol.) Then I had a good friend come to help me with a song (my violinist...she sounds great so far. Hope to record her in one of the upcoming weeks). So this afternoon was a lot of fun. I can't wait to hear the whole thing together when it's all done. I hope you'll all enjoy it.

As if the day needed to be better at all, James brought a great message about choices during the evening service, which really made me stop and think how much every decision I make affects my life and those of others. Thinking about that really makes it difficult for a person not to take the opportunities God gives him in life. I never know when the next person I decide I'm currently too busy to talk to could step out into eternity, and if i could have made a difference and told him about Christ. Every decision we make adds up to something bigger later on down the road. I think we all to an extent realize that, but we definitely need to be reminded more often that good choices will reap good outcomes, and that bad decisions are a lot like Lay's potato chips...because chances are you won't make just one.

So yeah, then to end the day off with a bang (pun intended), a big group of us got together and watched Niceville/Valparaiso put on a terrific fireworks display. It was the most impressive I've seen in quite a while. I can never get enough of exploding smiley faces. I could reword that, but I think I'll just leave the interpretation up to you on this one (big wink)

Got home, watched a movie with the sister (the one that's actually related to me), and ran through a couple new songs in my head. One of them I really like, even though it's pretty simple. Later this week, I'll probably just make a video of it, nothing to fancy -- I just want you to have a good idea of what it is. But until then, Me and Myself bids you all sayounara. I already went to bed.

Well that was fun...ner that being roasted alive

So as most of you know, I've been looking for a summer job. I would really like one in a retail position, since engineering internships don't like like they're going to happen this summer. Electronics retail would be ideal. Well, yesterday, I got an email from RadioShack inviting me to attend a hiring fair on Monday. Pray that goes well! I also went up to Winn-Dixie to ask about an application, and I was told to fill out the online application, and they gave me instructions about which links to click to get there. So i get on the computer and follow those instructions. The link doesn't exist. So I search through every page of the site i can find. Still no luck. I eventually had to google "winn-dixie careers" to find it. Then I started the application. Everything looks normal. Then there's the tax credit questions. About 20 questions asking if I'm white or Latino and if I collect unemployment benefits. After that, they want me to complete a 118-question personality assessment (you know, the kind that ask you the same 8 questions so many times that it's unhealthy). That's right. 118 questions. No, I didn't have the patience to count them all. There were just 24 pages with 5 questions on each page, and only 3 questions on the last one. Anyway, I forgot to answer a couple before clicking next, but it wouldn't let me go to the next page without answering those questions. There was no way out of this assessment. So I spent an hour doing this. I FINALLY get to the last question, and I get a pop-up window that says "This completes the voluntary question portion." I don't want to work for Winn-Dixie anymore.

As always, I was up sorta late last night working on music. Found out that trying to use Finale to score and try out parts on a jazzy piece like Timeless is simply not an option. (Don't worry, you'll get a chance to hear that one when I finish everything.) I saw some of the weirdest music in my life when I tried to input the music files that I had played through my keyboard. I was looking at a measure with 128th notes, dotted 64th notes, and double dotted 32nd notes all in tuplets with each other. I played it back, and it didn't sound like the song at all. I tried just entering the notes, but I don't know how to tell Finale "Play this song with this rhythm," so it sounds all wrong. All that accomplishes is getting me to look stupid by talking to my computer. So I went back to getting the music right for Meant for Me. I think I have everything I need now (minus the violin, but that's coming soon). I'll just have to work with the takes and get the levels right, and with a bit of luck and a lot of prayer, maybe it can actually sound like a professionally done piece! =D

When I finish it, I'll probably be re-releasing the video. I'd like to compare the final product to the original recording that I did with my guitar, Audacity and a $10 headset from Walmart. Let's hope the new one sounds a thousand times better lol. If you haven't heard the song, it's here.

To tie things up with the beginning of this post, I finally found the employment link on Winn-Dixie's website. You have to scroll to the right, which I was unable to do before, and it's way up in the top right corner in size 8 or smaller font. Scroll to the right? Really guys? I'm sporting a dual monitor setup with a screen resolution of 1280x800 pixels on each monitor, and I STILL have to scroll right? REALLY?! Great planning there, guys...

Oh well, on that note (pretty sure it was an A#) I'm off. Don't forget to water the dog!

Long road ahead

Well, it looks like I'm one step closer to the one thing I've always dreamed of. Funny...it's not to be famous. I really don't care if I sell millions of copies. All i really want to do is release and sell a CD that sounds good. If one person that I don't know buys it, I've pretty much accomplished my goal. Anyway, after doing a count, I have enough songs for a CD. The only problem standing in my way is actually developing more complete arrangements and recording them lol. I've got a friend who's agreed to help me out and play violin for me. Yay! As for other instruments besides piano and guitar, I don't know where I'll get those yet. Maybe 1-800-SAX-FONE will help...I could always use a mail-order saxophonist! I need instrument players. Unless you're reading this and you play the vuvuzela. If you're a vuvuzelist, please don't call me, because my CD doesn't have room for you. I think I'd rather listen to a walrus and a seal doing a duet of "Toxicity" by System of a Down a half-step off-key from each other than hear one more vuvuzela (on second thought, that might sound better than the original "song"...hmmm...). I have to mute the World Cup...it's so sad. Nothing against South Africa, but I do think whoever decided they'd make an instrument modeled after a bicycle horn and give it to 50,000 people to play at the top of their lungs...was on crack.

Ok, scratch that previous idea...apparently calling 1-800-SAX-FONE (729-3663) gets you in touch with a health food company that sells "cayenne pepper heart food caplets." That is possibly the farthest from a saxophone I can get...

Oh well...back to the drawing board.

In other news, another friend wants to record stuff with me! Awesome! Only problem is we haven't figured out what to record. Any ideas for a good guy-girl duet would be appreciated! Meanwhile, I'll be working on a song to sing as a duet. This should be fun. Maybe even as fun as having someone buy me a steak, who knows! Well, it's almost midnight, and I have to press this orange "Publish Post" button before my computer turns into an eggplant, like my fairy goduncle warned me. Yeah...don't ask...seriously...

Well, well, well...

So i must say I've fallen in love again. Sadly though, I can't afford her. No, not that, sicko. I found a guitar. But, sadly, I have rather expensive taste in instruments. So, first thing's first: get a summer job. I've got a pretty good lead on one right now, but we'll just see how it goes, and if I actually get it. Hope so. But of course, that money will have to go towards college anyway, so I hope Miss Martin can wait for me. We met yesterday, when I made my way down to Ye Olde Guitar Center with my friend. He went to get some recording equipment. All I got were guitar strings. Which got me thinking:

Guitar strings are like soccer players on a team. Unless you get the more-expensive long-lasting ones, they can't go too long before you gotta change em out for some fresh ones. But when you replace the old strings with the fresh strings, they have to be really nice and stretched out, or they're going to sound awful. But then it usually still takes a good 15 minutes of playing time with the other strings for them to perform well, cuz they have to get in tune with the rest of the guitar. Ok, whether it's world cup fever or what, I for some reason developed that analogy, and if you're still reading this, I assume that means you didn't hate it! :D

Speaking of soccer, I'd like to applaud the USA team for a good effort. They played a great second half against Ghana. They still didn't make the quarter-finals, but I can't be upset with them, because no team I've ever played on could have lasted one game in the world cup. So, good job guys! Maybe you can make it farther in Brazil in 2014.

In one of the upcoming weeks, I hope to attend Open Mic night at Playground Music. It could be my first public performance of any kind outside of church and high school competitions. Hey, you gotta start somewhere! I have a song I'd like to debut. I don't currently have a band, so it will just be myself playing piano and singing. Stay tuned and I'll give you more information about if and/or when i do it!

Well, that's all for now. Talk to you later, internet!