A "Bit of an Edge" Guitars

THings are moving forward

2010-06-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

I will be starting up the Luthiery program at Roberto -Venn near the end of August. I move to Phoenix on August 1st, got my apartment all set up; its a studio apartment with a bed in a cabinet, a kitchen with a breakfast bar, a pool outside with fruit trees all over. I have been pondering what kind of guitar I want to make; the body style, amount of frets, scalloping the fretboard or not, body woods, the pickups and so on. There are so many options it is mindboggling. I would like to replicate the neck on my Charvel SoCal, it plays so well but I want to do something a bit different with the body. I am looking forward to learning so much more about the instrument that has been such a major part of my life.

A few people from Portland will be living in the area, a kid I watched grow up (I was his Sunday School teacher) and an older retired couple...it will be good to have some familiar faces around.

I am wondering about the end of the program and what job I might have. I would love to be able to live in a sunny climate near the beach if at all possible. I wish my current home was closer to the beach rather than 20 or so miles away...glad to be at least that close though.

Now I am working on some new music. I wanted to have a new album done by August, we shall see if that happens...I need to get off my dead ass and start hacking at it.

something happening...

2010-03-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

I was accepted into the Guitar Craft Program at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood...sadly, I was only able to get enough financial aid to cover almost half of the tuition. That left me in need of upwards of 38K to cover the rest of tuition, I wasn't able to get any private student loans. So I am not going to be attending that program.

I went and visited a school in Phoenix AZ, Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery. I applied and was accepted. I have yet to know how much I am getting for financial aid but the tuition is MUCH cheaper than MI, not to mention that the cost of living is much cheaper in Phoenix than it is in Hollywood. After crunching numbers, I figured that my cost of living and tuition for Roberto-Venn will be less than half of what it would cost me to go to MI. So classes start on August 26th. I have paid $250 so far towards tuition and fees and I am saving money between now and then. I need to find a place to live over there as well. I hope to either get a furnished apartment for the 5 months I will be there or to buy a futon and a desk and or table and have them shipped so I don't have to move all of my stuff only to move it again only a few months later.

Who knows what is to come at the end of the program in January but I am looking forward to being a certified luthier(maker and repairer of guitars). Meanwhile I am teaching guitar part time as well as working in the yard and doing some remodeling for my mom in order to make ends meet.

New Year...here's hoping its better than last year!

2010-01-04T11:58:00.000-08:00

So now I have been in the San Diego area for a little over 3 months now...I have joined and quit a band (unprofessional behavior from one of the members and excessive drinking...not my scene, not to mention the sense of foreboding I had any time I thought about the band; that I needed to get out of there) and started and then been released from working on an album with a songwriter only now to be back working with him for some performances at some church things as well as some open mic things. I have had one person take a guitar lesson from me only to tell me he will contact me after the new year, then another person has contacted me about lessons for her daughter; I hope I hear back from both of them and more soon. I need to repost my add again. I have been talking to a few ladies via eharmony...we shall see what happens in that department. I need to get my CA driver's license as well as get my car registered in CA. I have to go to court on a ticket on January 26th. I have no idea how much the fine is, there is no monetary amount on the ticket though the officer could have had my car impounded and given me a ticket for well over $5000. Thank God he didn't. I am making effort to be more positive because I cannot stand being bitter and angry all the time, I need to look for the positive in all situations no matter how dire because this is killing me. I used to be much more easy going but now I have little to no patience with things, the stupider the situation the less patience I have and there have been an overabundance of stupid situations/people...God help me!

I haven't posted in a while....

2009-11-23T11:58:00.000-08:00

I am at the point of believing that to share the way you feel about someone is about as useful as shooting yourself in the foot...especially when you already have a little bit of a feeling of how the other party feels. Guess its time to stop listening to what everyone says around me and go on my own intuitions.

I indirectly told my good friend Nadia I was into her...I asked her what I was to her and she replied that I am a very good friend who has always been there...f'n yippee for me. If I hear that one more time I am gonna start shooting people! I guess I have my parents to thank for instilling in me such grand values that do nothing to assist my love life, only help me develop a vast portfolio of "friends."

Couple this with getting stood up last week by someone who has about as much command of the English language as I do Vietnamese I am done with dealing with women and all their bullshit. THe entire population of women in this world can all line up, kiss my ass and then go f'k themselves. I am done bein nice to everybody, its done nothing for me but bring me loneliness. Sure I have friends but that's not enough.

On the lighter side of things...I am now involved with two different musical projects...one of which I am playing guitar and doing some vocals in a touring band that plays predominantly rock/punk/metal with a little of whatever we feel like throwing in the mix and the other is more adult contemporary singer/songwriter stuff where I am producing the album, playing guitar, doing some live vocals (for whatever performances occur), and programming. We shall see how things develop. My album has not been selling which is disappointing but that may change with these projects.
I am also building another guitar from parts I bought off of ebay...got a few more parts to get and then all the pickups need to be sautered...I am debating on doing it myself so I can learn how its done, but I don't wanna mess anything up.

I am moving!

2009-09-10T23:51:00.000-07:00

I am moving to El Cajon CA, just a little outside of San Diego. I will be moving in with my mom and two young ladies, one who has a baby daughter. I have never met the childless girl, the girl with a baby went with my mom and I to Disneyland on my birthday...she seems like a pretty cool gal.

I have no idea what is going to happen, I jus tknow that I need to get the hell out of the Portland area. I am being punished for being honest by the unemployment office. I worked as a consultant for a janitorial company (self employed, I will get a 1099 at the end of the year) and also have been teaching guitar part time (I have spent far more on teaching materials and music equipment this year than I have made in the last couple of years teaching). Anyways, the lovely folks at the employment department have decided to suspend my benefits pending investigation...I had been reporting earnings and this past week I didn't report any...shouldn't have listened to either of my parents or any of my friends...so I had called the unemployment office to find out what I need to do with my moving to California...then the guy laid on me all these questions about what work I was doing. I told him it was all self employed stuff, I will get a 1099 and he says something about my benefits being suspended pending investigation(a 3 week process) to determine whether or not my self employment (or whatever it is they seem to think it was I was doing) interferred with my search for employment or not. THere is a severe lack of logic and common sense in this case....I am beyond livid with this stupidity. So now....I have over $400 in bills, hardly any food in the house, I need to come up with somewhere around $1000-1600 to get my butt moved, AND I need to buy a new EGR valve for my car ($153 part). I currently have a little over $300 at the moment in my checking, I will finally get a check from the consultant work I was doing which puts me at the $700 + mark but that still isn't anywhere near enough to get things done. I have a form to fill out for unemployment numerous questions...I also am awaiting two different financial assistance applications for two different medical bills. I need to get my unemployment insurance going on my credit cards because i don't have the moeny to pay for some of them...I am not in a good place right now. HELP!

I have posted some of my furniture on craigslist but I have only gotten spam in reply. I would really like to keep my furniture because i am not going to be at my moms forever and it took a long time to acquire what I have...waiting for buyers. I am hoping that its all going to get better from here cause this freakin blows in ways I cannot even begin to describe.

Whats goin on now...

2009-08-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

I lost my job on July 1st...got laid off...so now I am looking for work once again, only this time I hope to get a job that I will truly enjoy. I now have my music available on itunes worldwide, if you search MLP Reclaiming Glory you will find it. Currently I have two students...one twice a week and the other I am not sure what interval he will be taking lessons...

I am now seriously considering moving to California...a new scene, change of pace, regular sunny weather...I have been trying to get more guitar students but I am not having much luck with craiglist here in the Portland area and while I do have some cards up at the local music store, I haven't been getting much business that way either. Additionally, I haven't been able to acquire a new job...applied to at least 40 different places since I got laid off...and only one interview and they called me back just as I was about to walk in the door...they had just hired who they needed but since I showed up they at least interviewed me...it would only have been a part time thing. I am kinda done with Portland.

I am working on some new music and also working on some music with some friends, very different projects but that is what makes it fun...my music is all over the place but mostly rooted in rock and metal so its nice to mess around in other genres; otherwise I get REALLY bored.

its been a while

2009-04-10T02:21:00.000-07:00

things have been a tad bit crazy over the last few months...work is a never-ending rollercoaster it seems; we get some sort of equalibrium established and then someoen comes along and throws a monkeywrench in the works and we have to fix it all up again...its getting REALLY old. I turned 35 on March 19th...spent that at Disneyland with my mom and her neighbor and daughter...had a hell of a lot of fun there, especially Splash Mountain. I am in the back of the log.

I have also acquired a new guitar and amp, upgraded computer and recording software, and so on...I have been taking steps to begin marketing my music because I know when I am doing music I am truly happy. If I can make some money from my music all the better. Everyone keeps telling me I should be doing music and I want to, so instead of talking about it and dreaming about it I am stepping back out there bit by bit. I was almost signed once and now things are so much different than when I was out there playing shows in the mid 90s, the artist has much more control over their career and the rights to their music with the net.
I signed up at one site that does marketing for you (www.numberonemusic.com), I currently have 459 people on my mailing list from all over the world. Once I get my music copyrighted I will put it on itunes and other internet music sales places and then I will step it up on the marketing end as well.
I just got back in touch with the bassist from my first band I was in just out of high school...he has gotten a lot better than he was back in the day...he wants me to get back out there playing as well, maybe do some shows with him. I am game...just need to have a way for the money to flow in to take care of bills and such...responsibility is sooooo much fun.

2 months later

2008-11-22T17:19:00.001-08:00

Work has been crazy lately...one of my fellow supervisors had a heart attack and is now going to be out fro a month...that means I and another supervisor are having to cover his buildings. So now some of the employees are attempting to put one over on the two of us, slacking off here and there, whining about needing help, trying to play one of us against the other, and a litany of other things...it is DRAINING to say the least. On top of that I had a review with the interim Project manager and the new Project manager (my boss)...it didn't really seem like any kind of review to me. I filled out my own thoughts on how I was doing and what I would like to accomplish within the scope of the job and my boss only said, "that's good" and made some remarks about initially being concerned about my attitude when she took over the interim position but she had seen marked improvement and she can't promise a raise. Needless to say, I didn't get a raise. I have been at this job for 6 months + now and I have not received any kind of promotion. I have been given a number of "pats on the back" for good things I have done but those last about as long as a one night stand when it comes to any sort of fulfillment in the job...show me the freakin money, I got student loans to pay off.

In one month I got my contract turned around, where we were once receiving multiple complaints weekly to where we receive one/two a month if that. Where there was once animosity between the company I work for and the contract contact there is now a rapport. My contract looks better than it ever has since PHC took over the janitorial contract for the City of Beaverton and this doesn't garner any sort of a raise? WTF!? I did this in less than two months (thank GOD). All by being honest with my client and communicating with him, something no one at the company had successfully been doing in the time they had the contract. This has left a very bitter taste in my mouth; I have been working my ass off and now I get no return for my efforts. In addition to the work I do for my contract I am also assisting my fellow supervisors in any computer work they have to do because of their lack of abilities (one of them is blind and the other doesn't have the knowledge needed to be effective timewise, I even assist the other supervisor from time to time because he wears himself out so much his attention to detail goes in the crapper).

THe Project Manager that did my review said something about buying into PHC, or living it (something I am not willing to do for any job, there is no amount of money one can give me to sell my soul to their company) if I wanted to move up. I told her when I am at work I give my 110% (There is no way in hell she can call me on that either, my track record speaks for itself).

So this present predicament has me looking back at grad school in education, only this time I want to go to a different school than PSU, get a change of pace and maybe a program that has been updated in the last five years. I am thinking of doing special education, that puts me working in small groups and working with those children left behind by no child left behind like I wanted to initially when I was seeking to work in Elementary Education. I am not overly fond of adding to the already HUGE student loan debt I have accrued already...this job I currently have is certainly not going to give me the salary needed to cover my living expenses and student loans. Something needs to give, I will tell you that much.

things in transisition

2008-09-20T00:07:00.000-07:00

Well...my boss got fired. He was found guilty of sexual harassment as well as neglecting his duties. It has been a bit of a pain in the butt with all the transitions occurring. We will have an interim project manager...no idea who the final one will be. My supervisor had planned on at least bumping me up to a lead supervisor or site manager position which would mean more money. Not sure if I am in the running for my bosses position, there are others more qualified but the one supervisor most qualified out of my coworkers and I is legally blind so he is not able to do all of the duties needed as a project manager...hard to do them if you don't drive. I guess we shall see what happens. I am really mentally fried right now because of all the stuff with work. The next few weekends will be interspersed with floor care so I may or may not have a life for a while...depends if our truck mount gets fixed or not.

its been a while

2008-09-08T12:47:00.000-07:00

its been a few months since I last blogged...I finished up a couple tunes, been working my butt off...one of my fellow supervisors is legally blind so I wind up helping him a lot more than the other supervisors as I have more ability on the computer than they do which basically doubles my workload. I am not a fan of doing two people's work without two people's pay.

There seems to be some ethical issues with my boss and some of the other employees, his being too forward with them. It doesn't appear possible to go to his superiors due to the fact that they are all in eachother's back pocket, the president of the company's sister is the operations manager, it goes even deeper than that...its an ethical nightmare.

My supervisor was asking me about my thoughts about the job...at that point I was debating about going back to school and or looking for other work. Anyways, he said something to the regard of a promotion for me, saying I am head and shoulders above the other supervisors. They each have their positive points but I have an attention to detail that he likes. He is either planning on setting me up as a site manager once the Hillsboro contract comes online or to make me the lead supervisor.

In light of the ethical issues and the fact that I despise with an unholy passion the swing shift I am working I am really not wanting to stick it out with this job. We are understaffed and expected to still fulfill contractual obligations, or make the client believe we are. I cannot live with myself doing that, my word is my bond. I am not willing to compromise my integrity for money.

I have had thoughts of going back to school to finish up an English degree and do technical writing, maybe go to a school in Missouri that has a technical writing degree, or go back to grad school and finish my ed degree but do Special Education instead of elementary education. Another friend of mine is suggesting I work for the local mass transportation company Trimet. Having a set schedule would be nice not to mention the pay there is at least twice what I am making right now. Being on call 24/7 gets really old. Guess it never hurts to turn in an application.

Moving along

2008-06-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

Things with the new job are going well...the last couple weekends have been a bit rough, having to do the quarterly cleaning of the floors in Beaverton's city buildings. We had to go back into one and redo a couple spots in the City Hall but they are worse for it IMO...they need to bite the bullet and replace the carpets instead of demanding the miraculous in turning a 20+ year old carpet into virginal perfect carpet...its not gonna happen. I have yet to meet the city contact for the contracts we have and I already want to beat him senseless.
I have not been able to spend as much time as I would like on my music as of late. I did get to jam with a buddy of mine this last friday. It had been a while since I had been able to play so it was like I got some fresh vigor to play; wound up pulling off some cool licks I had never really done before and garnered several "DAMN!" comments from my buddy. It was nice to play.
This next weekend looks to be busy as hell...Saturday the company I work for is having an awards BBQ at 10am, then I have a guitar student at 1pm and at 4pm I have a couple friends getting married. I have had a couple people ask me if I am playing for the wedding but I haven't been asked...oh well.
I have had a number of my younger friends get married in the last couple of years. It stings a bit. People, that is, family and close friends, are trying to figure out why or give suggestions as to improve my chances...UGH! "Maybe if you lost weight" or "you need to get a good job" or some other random spaced out comment like "you're a bit rough around the edges"...its like F'OFF already! Yeah, I want to get married...but only once and to the woman I will spend the rest of my life into the golden years with; though with each passing year I am getting closer to the "golden" years(still got quite a while but given recent history it doesn't look to be changing anytime soon). I do not want to have a bunch of notches in my bedpost for all the girls (conquests) I have had nor do I want to be one who has married and divorced multiple times. Sometimes you need to step out and take a chance but I haven't felt as if its time to take the plunge with any one person.
There have been fleeting crushes or the desires of friendship to turn into something more but I haven't quite had the irrepressible urge to take it to that level with any of these people though thoughts do cross my mind. I am beginning to think that I may have cursed myself when I mocked my step-moms cousin for not ever having gotten married till he was 40. I had considered him pathetic for it and its beginning to feel as if I am reaping what I sowed. Who knows...no idea when things may change, and working swing shift certainly doesn't improve my chances. Mike out!

Friggin FINALLY!!!

2008-04-30T17:21:00.001-07:00

I finally got a job...I am training to be a Janitorial Supervisor. I will be the head of a crew of God knows how many people that have some kind of disability. I work for Portland Habilitation Center; a non profit that helps those people with disabilities get into some kind of gainful employment.
I am not overly fond of working swing shift but I am glad to finally have a job. I am starting out at $2300 a month salary. I get free medical and dental benefits, I have a certain copay when it comes to the services I receive but its not too bad. I get to wear a pager...my plan is to make sure the job is done so well there is no need to page me. Of course now that I will be working swing shift I need to figure out my life...everything I was involved with up to this point is now not going to be happening, or if does then it will be in a much smaller capacity. I equate it to taking a deck of cards and throwing them into the air and then trying to reorganize them all.
When approaching my door from coming home from work I saw a notice...rent is going up $50...$525 up to $575. Kinda lame...but I doubt I will be able to find any other rent for that cheap unless i get a number of roommates...not something I really desire to do.

The job Hunt

2008-01-04T14:44:00.000-08:00

One job offer that didnt have enough hours to pay the bills and a bunch of applications later and still no job. I am waiting to hear back from the Springdale Job Corp Center as they are looking over my qualifications to see if it meets their needs, they sent me a letter saying as much along with an affirmative action form...taking it as a positive, need as much of that as possible right now. I have been doing some recording here and there but I have yet to finish any of the things I have started...I get tired, run out of inspiration, get to busy...some of the stuff I need to practice a bit to get my chops up to play the parts I have in mind for the song because I haven't been keeping up on them as much lately. I need to buckle down and finish up these songs. God help me!

That was quick...

2007-10-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

I am no longer in grad school. I had been mulling it over fairly regularly whether or nto it was the path for me and this past Monday I stayed home from where I was student teaching because I was sick and hadn't slept worth a crap from the nite before. I called and told the teacher I was working with as much and she seemed only to hear that I hardly slept at all that nite before so I wouldn't be coming in...it was the straw that broke the camels back for her apparently; she sent an email to my cohort leader saying she didn't want me in her classroom anymore. Truth be told, I don't think she wanted to have a student teacher at all, there were all kinds of passive aggressive things she would say and do. A part of me would love nothing more than to call her and give her a piece of my mind but when it comes down to it my energy can be better spent doing other things, she is far from worth another millisecond of my time. So meanwhile I will be licking my wounds and praying, looking for guidance on what to do now. I will also be petitioning to get a refund on my tuition and consolidating my student loans. I need to find a job that will pay my bills and then some...and on top of it all, I need to take some time to myself, I haven't had any real time off in AGES!!!!!!!! Pray for me.

Reflections of the first three weeks of student teaching

2007-09-19T12:21:00.000-07:00

It has been interesting working with the fourth grade class at Jackson Elementary. My cohort leader and the teachers and principal at the school have suggested i get the dual endorsement which means i will be working with younger elementary school kids. I have spent a a little bit of time with a second grade class, the kids are adorable but I am not sure that level is doable for me. There is a little bit too much crowd control and noise suppression that has to happen at that level. By fourth grade you can tell the kids to keep their mouths closed and they will more often than not keep them closed or at least keep the noise down to a dull roar. I had to be the main overseer of things while the second graders were looking up things in the dictionary while the Cooperating teacher was doing reading assessments. Whenever she told the students to quiet down they would listen and then a few minutes later it would get loud again. Anytime I told them to be quiet it was as if I was talking to myself. I don't know if my voice is too deep or what; I don't want to have to yell thats for sure. If I shhhh them then things quiet down a little so I am kinda at a loss right now.
The cooperating teacher in my fourth grade class suggested that I look into teaching music at the elementary level because she saw me light up when I talked to the music teacher at the school. I don't have a music degree and when it comes to the praxis test, even music majors have a hard time with it...that kinda scares me since I don't have anywhere near as much music courses in theory and arranging as a music major does. I do have a lot of experience playing in ensembles and arranging music myself, that is my own music, and I have also been an interim music director for a cabaret theater company due to the ineptness of the one they hired. I guess I am going to look into what I am lacking in order to pursue music education because I am not interested in a music performance degree. Of course that is something that needs to be taken care yesterday. With my CT and everyone else seemingly forgetting that I don't have a music degree but them thinking I am gonna teach music makes me wonder if there is anything to it. Hearing what the teacher shows the kids, even the older kids, I would have no problem. I would need to get my sight reading skills in a more operational state as well as my piano skills. I have been flying by the seat of my pants for the last few weeks, now its beginning to feel like I am gettin a wedgie. i am glad next week things get a bit more structured and I will only be the school twice a week, my bootie is kicked right now.

One Down, Four More To Go

2007-08-04T10:36:00.000-07:00

The first term of Grad school is over. It wiped me out but I made it through. Subsequent terms, while with more credits should be a bit easier because it will be spread out over ten weeks rather than four. Of course i may be wrong, wouldn't be the first time. We've got a pretty good group of folks that I am going through this craziness with over the course of the year. There are 27 people only five of which are guys. Definitely some lovely ladies in the cohort. Now i am vacationing in San Diego for a couple weeks...got one more week here and then its back home for two more weeks off...YAY FOR RnR!!!! I am still not quite sure where I am going to be placed...one teacher said Chief Joseph Elementary School and then the one who does the placement has no idea as of yet...OH JOY! Some wires are crossed or something; a bit of a lack of communication if ya ask me. Until next time............

It has begun

2007-07-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

Grad school is pretty reading intensive...and the costs at least double that of an undergrad. I didn't expect my costs to jump that much. I knew tuition was going to go up but the amount of books and miscellaneous materials I needed to buy has also jumped up. Last week was the first week of a 5 week term, it kicked my ass. I was exhausted by the time friday came around, it took a lot for me to do much of anything that day. I fortunately have a few days off, monday- wednesday which helps on the recovery end of things. I still have to catch up and try to get ahead with my homework. I am house-sitting/dog-sitting for this week. The dog is pretty sweet but at the same time its difficult adding the dogs usual routine into mine...I have had to go back to my place in order to get some peace and quiet to study and take naps since the dog won't let me rest. I hope to be refueled by the time thursday rolls around.

Grad School comin up

2007-06-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

IT starts on the 25th...then i will be crazy busy for the next month, then a break and then back at once the school year starts back up in september. I am not sure what to expect out of the program or what the workload will be like. I hope that I can handle it all. Apparently there is no Masters thesis, only a protfolio of some sort turned in at the end of the program that includes all of my reflections, lesson plans and whatever else I have accumulated over the terms in grad school.
That makes it a little bit easier. I am a tad anxious at the moment, not knowing all what to expect. I would love nothing more than to skip ahead in time to graduation day getting my Masters Degree in Education; I hope my teachers are decent, I am tired of stuffed shirt pompous know-it-alls cramming their BS down my throat. Wish me luck!

I GOT IN!!!

2007-04-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

I stopped by the grad office to find out the status of the letters of acceptance/rejection and I found out I have been accepted to Grad School in Education at Portland State University starting this coming summer. I will graduate at the end of the summer in 2008. TIme to get the nose to the grindstone and kick some ass...get this done and over with. One more year and I am DONE!!! God willing that is...

Twiddling my thumbs...

2007-03-27T00:05:00.000-07:00

I find out sometime next week whether or not I am accepted into the Grad School of Education at Portland State University. I take the ORELA test on the 14th. I am not that anxious about it at all though I not looking forward to taking that obnoxious test that asks questions about information that no one ever thinks about. On the 19th of March I turned 33. I hope this year is better than last year...graduating was cool but that stuff with Wendy sorta put a kabosh on everything; took the wind out of my sails. I am attempting to get back on the rockin horse now. It hasn't been easy. A friend of mine who is a few years younger than me is getting married to someone ten years his junior...they make a good couple but I am so tired of seeing people younger than me tying the knot...its as if I missed the train and its never gonna come round the mountain again for me. More to come once I know about Grad school...

Grad School

2007-02-05T00:37:00.000-08:00

I submitted my application to Graduate School on the 1st of February. I should know sometime in March if I am accepted. My three letters of reccomendation are excellent labeling me as an outstanding candidate to be a teacher so we shall see what materializes. I still need to take the ORELA test...a general information test that asks some of the most random questions about some of the most useless information possible...at least that is what the practice test has led me to believe. I hope to pass that one, I will be taking it in April.
Since my last blog...some days are better than others. Sometimes someone will say something that will set me off(they not having a clue about anything) but I am not ready to throw in the towel just yet...I am too damn stubborn. There are plenty of lovely ladies in this world...time to start fishing with some different bait; see if I can reel in someone that is on an even keel and on the same page as I am. Thanks for the supportive words Fred. Best of luck getting through High school for you and your family.

Heartbreak

2007-01-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

I recieved an email the other day from a friend of mine...I don't know if I can call her a friend anymore...This is a girl that I have been friends with over the last four or so years, I have been there for her when times were hard, was a shoulder to cry on and gave encouragement when it was needed. A year ago she moved in with a guy up in Alaska. I was bummed when that happened, she was supposed to come down to Portland for a while but otped to move in with the boyfriend instead. Our contact was cut down to email and rarely would we be able to talk via IM. for several months she was going through all sorts of doubt and probelms in her relationship. I and another mutual friend didn't think it was the ideal relationship for her but we remained supportive regardless. One of the times she was going on about how useless she felt or how she would feel if her current relationship ended...she said that she felt that no one would want her. I had been hearing that for quite some time from her. I finally plucked up enough courage to tell her how I felt about her. I liked her from the moment I met her. So following that bearing of my heart more emails and IMs occurred and she began to have feelings for me, which wasn't reavealed till she had decided to stay with her BF. Once she did that I didn't hear from her for a while, she said she needed some time to clear her head. Whatever. Anyways, we got back in touch and remained friends. Recently her and her BF moved to Anchorage. I was happy for them and also happy about the possibility of being able to stay in better contact. That was not to be...
Monday the 22 of January I recieved an email from her in response to mine asking her how thigns were going stating that this will be my last email...that our contact will be limited via email/IM. She has insecurity issues as well as self esteem issues which made her demand of her BF that he could no longer recieve emails or phone calls from his Exes and or female friends once they move to Anchorage. He complied. He spotted her talking to me via IM as well as saw the email I had sent her so he called her. He called her on her bullshit, her double standard and left it at that. She felt guilty because she had hidden the IM as well as the email when he came around; he had to ask her to see them. He saw that I had signed off love ya and she felt even worse. Then she says that she is sure I will be offended by this (DUH!!!) and she apologizes, its not her intent. She told her BF that my saying love ya was harmless. I DON"T SAY THOSE WORDS WITHOUT MEANING THEM!!! Then she says you will probably want to respond to this but it would be better if you didn't because I wouldn't be able to read it. WTF!!! (SCREAMED FROM THE ROOFTOP )
SOoooooooooo, she says that we remain friends but there will be no contact.
Thats like going to a all you can eat buffet that has no food on it...really its the equivalent of someone dying. I have had friends that have died and I still carry my love for them but you cannot say they are my friend anymore because they have ceased to exist. There is nothing to nuture and grow upon, no communication and sharing of life experiences. Her cutting off of contact has essentially made each of us dead to one another. What friendship...what relationship of any kind can be maintained without contact?! I could definately say that I truly love and care for her. I had thoughts of spending the rest of my life with her despite her foibles...not like I am perfect by any stretch. I came to accept the fact that she decided to stay with her BF, try and make a go of it. Despite any feelings she may have had for me she felt that she wanted to marry this guy...had thought that before I had said anything so I ahd the short end of the stick from the get go. Now all that is dashed to the ground into billions of pieces.
Upon reading her email, I had to refrain from repeatedly smashing my fist through the walls of my apt. I was and am still livid over this. I am unable to convey exactly how I feel at the moment other than to say I feel helpless, hopeless, and heartbroken. I vacilate between hatred and love regarding this constantly.

Part of me wants to write her back and tell her F**K YOU I NEVER WANT TO SPEAK TO YOU OR HEAR ABOUT YOU AGAIN! but then I can't. It won't solve anything to go ballistic like a little child. I haven't reponded to her email and I won't. I can understand where she is coming from but that doesn't make what she is doing right. Jealousy is never profitable. To cut out people from your life puts you into one hell of a lonely situation. There is a little something called trust...to demand that a person in a relationship stop talking to people they have known for years (exes, old friends, male/female friends) is childish. If you cannot trust someone to be true to you in a relationship then you have no business in one. In her demanding such a thing of her BF puts her under the same regulation. The only time to cut out a person from your life is when they are detrimental to your life, they cause more damage to you than they do building you up, they are bad influences on you. The only way I can see myself as such a person was my having feelings for her and her beginning to have them too so I have to go away so she can stay true to her man. Well goodbye Wendy. I hope you and Ryan have a wonderful life together, that both of you grow out of your insecurities and learn to trust one another. I will never be speaking to you again (not for lack of wanting to), I highly doubt you will even see this blog...you haven't commented on it in ages...I will pick up the pieces of my broken heart and put them back together and go on with my life. I have lost a good friend and it hurts right now more than I can describe.

MY NEW CAR!!!!!

2006-12-13T21:04:00.000-08:00

Just got it today...a 97 Toyota Camry. It has 112,221 miles on it and I am the third owner. I know the previous owners and they did regular maintenance so this car could last quite a while...God willing it will.
My 93 Ford Escort either cracked the head or blew the head-gasket and there is also the possibility of some bearing problems because there is some severe knocking...so I am laying it to rest...once I remove the stereo from it.

Slowly Getting There

2006-12-10T23:46:00.000-08:00

The quarter is over...I have yet to get all my grades back but I expect that I did ok...I know I have an A in one of my classes, having gotten more than the required amount of points for the course. I took the CBEST test, its a general knowledge test for those who plan to go into education. There was a reading and math test and then I had to write two essays on the given topics...I think I did ok, though i was beating myself up for some screwups on some of the questions and essay format after the fact...as it was running through my mind. I will never take a test like that again around finals...my brain was fried.
I got the apartment, put down my deposit; moving in at the beginning of the new year. It should be pretty cool, its a larger place compared to where I am now and the rent isn't that much higher and the manager is good there...he used to manage the apartments I am currently. With the good of getting the apartment comes a difficulty. My car decided to give up the ghost. I went to get the oil topped off at Jiffy Lube and the guy comes to my window with the dipstick...it looked like it had been dipped in almond butter or Kaluha...so either my head is cracked or my headgasket is blown...that basically means the engine needs to be rebuilt. I am not sure if its worth it or not to go to the trouble, it has over 160 thousand miles on it so if the engine is out now then the transmission can't be too far behind...The money spent to fix it could be put towards a newer car. So these next few days will be a bit hectic. Packing up my apartment and attempting to find a car. Some friends of mine have some cars for sale but their asking price is a bit high for what I currently have on hand.
I head down to San Diego for two weeks to spend the holidays with my mom and get some more dental work done. I had a wisdom tooth pulled a couple weeks back because a cavity in that tooth was making its presence a little too apparent to be ignored any more. With my luck the dentist in Cali will want to pull my other upper wisdom tooth since it has a cavity in it as well. Then when i get back from Cali I get to move...then classes start up a week after I get back so the move has to happen quickly. Things are changing, hopefully for the better.

Still Breathing...

2006-11-18T20:27:00.000-08:00

I got the private loan to pay for classes this year and now the Financial Aid Dept. says I need to fill out a petition to allow me to take more classes sine I am about at the allowable limit of 270 credits for a undergrad degree. I called them asking about the fact of my being a post bac student and I was told I need to fill it out anyways...so strange. Pending the outcome of the petition, I may or may not get a new apt; it would be a bit larger than the one I have and it would also have a dishwasher but the rent would go up $90 from what I am paying at the moment ($435). I hope that the petition goes through, otherwise I may have to move back home with the parents...not a pleasant thought...though San Diego might not be too bad though I am not a big fan of earthquakes or tsunamis; the area my mom lives is really flat. I am a good swimmer but not that good.
I am now registered to take the CBEST test; a pre req for grad school in education. D-day is Dec 2nd, right before finals week. Fortunately I am able to take the test here in town. I hope to get a good score on it...I haven't taken a test like this in ages. The ORELA test is another test I need to take but it is offered on the same day and costs more. Apparently i can postpone my taking the ORELA but I can't with the CBEST in regards to my grad school application.
I have finally gotten a little bit of recording done using the recording software i got a couple years back. I had to buy a new input pre-amp to connect to the computer. I also bought a decent condenser mic and some good headphones. I have some more mics and other recording nic nacs on the ol christmas list...we shall see what materializes.
Wisdom teeth leave really big holes when they are removed; had to have one removed this past thursday, a cavity in the tooth got to the point of major annoyance so it has been removed. $313 later...I don't have dental insurance in this state, I may have insurance through the school but since I am taking only 8 credits I am just under the amount of credits for when they automatically deduct the insurance fee. Thankfully it hasn't been that painful, a little soreness in my jaw and very slight tenderness in my gums surrounding the area where my tooth was...not to bad. THe worst part of the whole thing was the wierd unnatural feeling of having the dentist pulling my tooth out. I was waiting for the pain but he had numbed me good enough; it just felt very strange having the tooth yanked from my head.
Meanwhile....I take life one breath at a time...to homework I go...............................

So many curve balls, I picked the wrong career

2006-10-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

I should have taken up baseball with the amount of curve balls that keep comin my way. I was checking some things with my school records and saw that my financial aid allottment had been reduced dramatically from the already low $4285 for the school year to a utterly pathetic $23. How in the bloddy hell am I to pay for tuition, bills, etc with that...I could get a tank of gas and thats about it. I call the financial aid office to figure out wtf happened and they tell me that the student loan database hadn't updated by the time they did the initial allotment so it wasn't taken into account that I had gone to school during the summer. Come to find out, there is a $46,000 cap on undergrad/post bac student loans...which is good but that sort of thing needs to be made known to students at the beginning of their college years and reminders sent as well. The guy I spoke to says that its published...RIGHT! click on this link and you find it...that is the equivalent of posting a bulliten in the deepest darkest basement in one of a hundred dusty file cabinets. Its not something that is easy to find unless you are really looking for it, the information should be included as soon as you apply for any sort of aid, included on the main page rather than hidden in some small type or remote link...you get the idea. I am beyond furious wiht the BS I have had to deal with from this school...the only other place on this earth that is as much if not more so of a clusterF*** is the whitehouse. *NO, I AM NOT BITTER* (MASSIVE SARCASM)

So now I am stuck having to apply for a private loan since I don't make enough to pay as I go...and now I am waiting on the edge of my seat and on the grace of God to see whether or not I will recieve this loan, otherwise I have to hit my mom up for tuition for this term...God only knows about subsequent terms...UGH!!!!

I still need to take a couple tests for grad school in education...gotta get to the practice tests this week and then schedule them, get them out of the way, hope I score well, then take care of the application. Needless to say....its not too much fun being me right now.

Graduation at Last and a trip to sunny San Diego

2006-09-02T11:52:00.000-07:00

The grad ceremony was one for the books...the president of the college decided that he wouldn't give the speech he planned since it was going to be 90 degrees (it was an outdoor ceremony after all) instead we will commence with the ceremony and handing out diplomas. He got a standing ovation from the grads. The spring graduation lasted at least 3 hours and mine was over in just over an hour. Sounds perfect to me. So the pics are of me with my two younger brothers, my baby bro Dave on my right and the middle bro Tim (who is crouching, he is just as tall as Dave) on my left. After the ceremony was a BBQ where a bunch of my friends and family showed up. The following day I was in San diego...
Other than getting some dental work done (my jaw still hurts from the docs trying to set a crown on my lower left side) the trip was alright. We got to go to theSan Diego Zoo (the Orangutan/ape of some kind), Sea World (Shamu and the Dolphins), as well as Balboa Park where we went to the Automotive museum (me and the Lamborgini). I also went to church down there, saw some folks I haven't seen in a while (people I knew that moved away from Portland). Until I went to church down there, the thought of moving to anywhere in So-Cal did not appeal in any way, shape, or form. Of course, the very idea of moving back in with either of my parents doesn't appeal...still have some things to figure out.
Now i am signed up for a few classes Post Bac to get some of the other pre reqs for the school of Ed., will also be trying to take my tests and get my application together as well. Head down that road and see what doors open or close. I may wind up in So-cal after all, who knows but right now...its continue with school; otherwise I may never get my masters.

GRADUATION AT LAST!!!

2006-08-04T15:01:00.000-07:00

Been a while since I have posted, busy with school and work...life in general. Welllll, Its finally happening...still haven't completely determined what will happen afterwards...I have applied for admission Post bac, still waiting to hear back on that. I go down to San diego for a week the day after graduating. I may wind up moving down there if I like it, we shall see.
In work news...aquired a new student that actually practices. He came in with two years on the instrument, a heck of a lot more ability than I had when I had been playing as long as he has been. Now we are filling in some holes where he is lacking...theory, knowledge of the fretboard and so on. He could be a monster player.
Nothing profound to say at the moment...

Practicum/school almost over/here comes summer term

2006-06-02T17:17:00.000-07:00

Today I taught spelling and will continue the lesson on monday. The teacher I am working with, Martha, was complimentary immediately after I finished, saying I have a calming voice yet with some authority. It wasn't as wierd as I thought it would be, I have been teaching guitar long enough so its not like teaching is a foriegn concept to me. Funny thing is, I dropped the class that the practicum is for but I have come to enjoy working with the kids and an abrupt exit wouldn't be good. THere are only a couple weeks left so i decided to stick it out, see what more I can get from the experience.
Since I dropped that class I am now going to be going to school full time this summer. The first half of the term will be in American Fiction and The Psychology of Learning then the second half I will be in the History of Guitar. I am hoping it will be somewhat easy but at the same time I know it will be a little bit hectic with the classes only lasting 1 month. We will be meeting mon-fri for 2 to 3 hours for each class, a lot of info to absorb in such a short time, but at least with this they are cutting away all the fat and getting down to the gist of the class.
Come August 19 I will be graduating. I am still unsure as to whether or not I will pursue a masters in education, Oregon is not a hotbed of opportunity when it comes to teaching jobs, the state of education here is in shambles. I have thought about going into some form of law, and I would still love to go to a school of luthiery (guitar making) or musical instrument repair. I have really enjoyed working on people's guitars as well as my own over the years. My mom has been buggin me about movin to San Diego, I am not so sure I want to do that. I will be going down for a visit after graduation, I will see what I think of it and where God is leading me to be. I know living in an area that is consistently sunny would do a lot for my disposition. I hate rainy weather, I have lived in the Pacific NW all of my life, a little change might be good. We shall see what the future brings. I need to do some research on schools down in that area as well as some other places...I have thought about moving to Austin Texas...right now its just a thought.who knows...more to come

New Term, New Challenges

2006-05-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

THis term I am taking 12 credits. One of the classes has a 30 hour practicum attached to it as well as three papers and reading, one is a Lit. class (ten different books to read), another is a survey class that has some reading and interviews/papers to write and then my one credit geology field trip that happens in two weeks. Its kinda insane. I am currently behind in all of my class readings, its hard to stay awake for some of it, not interesting enough and my eyes get tired. Since I am doing 12 credits this term that means come summer I have to do eight credits and then August 19th is graduation day. I am SOOOOOO looking forward to that...of course i will be back in school again a little over a month later trying to finish up my pre reqs for grad school. It never ends.
My practicum...I am in a fourth/fifth grade classroom assiting the teacher and she has even said that she would let me teacha class so I can get the most out of the experience. I am not even doing my student teacher internship yet, I am just supposed to be tutoring. I told her I would like to get more acclimated to the kids before making a decision. She wasn't forcing me on the issue, its not required anyways. That sort of thing is grad school, but doing a little now may not be too bad. We shall see.
I got a new toy/songwriting/practicing device. Its called a Jam Man. I am able to record musical phrases and then it will loop those phrases and I can over-dub to my hearts content. I have over 20 minutes of space on the memory card. It is helping me in working out harmony parts and figuring out the different ideas I have for songs. I ams till learnig what it can do...its loads of fun.

Birthday, School, Work....Life I guess

2006-03-29T23:50:00.000-08:00

My birthday was on the 19th of March. For the first time in the five years I have lived in the Portland area I had a decent birthday. After church, I was invited to go out to lunch with my friend Emily and her family (thanks Em, I really appreciated that); had some good conversation about life in general and some things regarding a good friend of ours (miss ya lots Wendy). Later than evening, another friend from church calls and invites me out to dinner. All in all a pretty decent birthday.

THe term is over. YAY!!!!! Of course spring break is way to short, I have to start back up on monday and do it all over again. I have to take 16 credits spring term and then I will only have to take four over the summer and then I will graduate. I am still trying to decide what ceremony I want, the large one at the end of spring term or the smaller on at the end of the summer. I am leaning towards the summer one.

Work! I had a new student start up that pays $75 and hour. I go to her house, We charge $40 an hour at the studio so we account travel time...heck the studio set the rate and they are willing to pay it so I have no qualms with making that kind of bread in an hour. Most people have to work a full day to make that much. I also have another guy starting up this next Tuesday, an older guy (he's older than me by almost ten years)whose daughter is taking drum lessons from one of the studio owners and may eventually take guitar lessons from me. I may also wind up getting the daughters friend as a student too...we shall see, I guess I have to pass through the dad first.

I also have a new student (a 9 year old girl) starting in my home this friday. I got her through some networking. A gal at my church teaches piano and one of her students also wants to learn guitar so Diane directed them my way. From what I am told, she is very musical and likes to create her own music. It should be fun.

Recording...I hope to have some the track done in the next few weeks, there are a lot of paying sessions and I have to go in in the breaks. I am hopeful that it will turn out well. I want it to have a semi orchestral metal sound to it...like Nightwish or Ayreon, or Rhapsody. We shall see what we can pull off in the time we have.

an actual music post

2006-03-08T13:56:00.000-08:00

This Saturday, at some point I will be going to lay down some scratch tracks for a a tune I am doing for the studio website. Its an older tune that I have improved upon over the years (written in 96). I will be haivng the same drums and bass as I had on the last tune only this tune takes a bit more work on their part, there are more changes, its not straight forward. I still need to finish the melody of the tune and figure out some harmonies for some parts. I gotta get my reording software up and running here on my home computer so I can at least dork around with parts to see if what is in my head is do-able. So many ideas, I just lack the patience to figure out the dang computer...I have started working towards it though; why have the software if you aint gonna use it?

It seems the crap just keeps comin

2006-02-25T21:36:00.000-08:00

I went to speak with an advisor this past friday (10 minute walk in appt) to make sure i was on track to graduate this spring, make sure I I knew what classes I need to take and ask some other questions about some classes that had been suggested by my advisor who is actually out on maternity leave. Lo and behold, the class I dropped because of being sick turned out to not only be a pre req for grad school but in some twisted way also applied to my degree...meaning...I don't graduate this spring. I could've freakin killed someone, I was so pissed, it still annoys the hell out me. I have a half hour appointment with an advisor on the 10th of march...Par tof me hopes that the gal i was talking too was freakin clueless and stupid and somehow missed something...i had already planned on going next fall to take care of any other pre reqs or maybe even take some of the grad classes if I could as I got the application together after taking the summer off. I will know more then and will be able to map something out, some sort fo battle plan to get this mess done. I was ok with it after talking with some friends and family but now that I am dredging it up again here its pissin me off again. People have suggested taking whatever classes i need to take during the summer and then i would be done. that is more money than I have right now, and I am already having a hard time with school, I want to be done so bad. I am so fed up. So far it seems that the only way i would graduate next term would be to take 20 credits, 19 of them upper division...that would literally kill me and I wouldnt pass anyways. So apparently God has other plans...i wish I would have just kept the dang class instead of dropping it, and played the catch up game but no...I cannot fix what has already been done. ___________!!!!! insert expletive here

these are the days of my annoyance.

2006-02-12T21:42:00.000-08:00

My Biology teacher needs a serious boot to the ass, maybe even upside the head. To say he is disorganized is to understate the situation. The homework I had to do most recently; couldn't find most of the answers in the chapter we were going over, and then half the material in the chapter wasn't even covered. A week or so ago he posted Homework for the endocrine system...well there was only one question relating to that subject where the rest were ones we did a few weeks earlier for the cirulatory system...I am beginning to wonder how the hell this man got his phd to teach at a university. I posted my complaint about it on the class board online and there was one response to it and now my posting is gone...strange. My ending line was "someone needs to pull their head out." Maybe I pissed off the teacher, wouldn't be the first time I have done that over my educational career.
Then there is math class. UGH! I hate the metric system. Leave it to the English to hold onto such a f'ed up measuring system. We are having to do conversions in class and on the HW, it would be one thing if we only had to do the problem but we ahve to be able to explain how we got it, IE understanding it. The very little bit that I was liking math more because of this class is diminishing fast.
I had to drop my childrens lit class because of the bronchial infection. It is a pre-req for grad school. I will either have to tack it onto next term or take it post bac. I hate getting behind, then you are constantly trying to catch up, way to much stress.
Not so annoying....I have two new students starting this wednesday night. Mo money, mo money, mo money! Not a lot but any helps at this point.

PHEW!!!!!

2006-02-01T23:46:00.000-08:00

Got the results back today from my blood test and urinalysis. I am all good healthwise, no sign of diabetes or anything. Adult onset diabetes does run in my family but the wierd nausea and dizzniness was part of the infection I had apparently. I am thinking of getting an std test for the hell of it, its been freakin ages since I have done anything of that sort but for the sake of peace of mind I may have a test done. I guess the little episode where my airway got blocked has me a bit more aware of my mortality. Of course i explained to the doctor the situation and his thoughts were that I would be at a very low risk since its been as long as it has but he did say it could be done just for peace of mind.
Lookin forward to seeing the Seahawks take out Pittsburgh on sunday. GO HAWKS!!!!

Doctors!

2006-01-27T11:02:00.000-08:00

This past wednesday, I went to the Doctor to figure out what the heck was up with this cold/sickness. I had a hard time determining if this guy was sincere or what, at times it seemed as if he didn't believe a single thing I had to say. In any case, I am at the tail end of a bronchial/upper respitory infection. The Doc. gave me an asma (spell?) puffer to help with the coughing (what a God send) and to do a check up on my health he took blood and urine samples. I find out how I am on wednesday of this next week...adult onset diabetes runs in my family and a couple times during this infection I have had some wierd experiences of nausea/dizziness when i was really hungry. Ordinarily I get a headache and I get irritable when i am hungry but this was so much different. I figured it was worth checking out sicne i am no longer ten foot tall and bullet proof as I was in my late teens/early twenties. A couple major injuries proved that point to me over the years since. More on this soap opera to come...

Its a Miracle!!! and other stuff

2006-01-22T19:14:00.000-08:00

THE SEAHAWKS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!! and in my lifetime. Talk about a dominating defense! I am so stoked. Now they need to win the Superbowl. I have been a Seahawks fan as long as I can remember, my dad got me Curt Warner's autograph back in the day(still got it somewhere).
In other News.....I have been sick the last few days. Basicaly a cold of sorts but accompanied by headaches. Now it seems that its only a cold, i am coughing periodically and I will be glad when it has finally run its course. I had a near death experience last thursday...I stayed home from school to rest and try to get well; laid down for a knap and woke an hour later unable to breathe in. I had my heater on and whenever i ahve it on at night I wake up with a dry throat. Well, with this cold, all the build up in my throat kinda glued my airway shut. I got out of bed and after much effort was able to muster up a cough and was finally able to breathe. Talk about freaky! Other than that, not much else is happening...

PS

2006-01-16T23:36:00.000-08:00

oh yeah...comments on the tunes I have posted on myspace (can be accessed a few postings down) would be appreciated. :)

New Quarter

2006-01-16T23:25:00.000-08:00

I am taking 15 credits again this quarter. I am debating on whether or not to drop the CHildrens lit/Library Science class cause of the work load and that most of it is online and group stuff. When i registered it said nothing of it being online and to make matters worse, the online system is in beta so God only knows what could happen. I will be talking to some others that have taken the class, see if they had to take it online or if it was all classroom work.
I have a couple new students, one of which is starting tomorrow and the other questions why he even needs the knowledge i can give him...duh...don't you want to be able to communicate with other musicians on a professional level? He is in his 40s so I guess he is kinda like me(though i am at least 10 years younger than him), wanting a practical application for everything instead of wasting time on random BS. My death metal student has been arguing with me over a part in this song he wants to learn and its driving me nuts. I ahve been playing longer than he has been alive and he is trying to say that the way i have been going at the song is wrong. The dude doesnt even practice what i give him nor can he really play anything other than noise so i am about to put him in his freakin place. That or I will have the other teacher that is teaching him piano help me out by helping this lil putz to understand rhythm and time, cause the kid is freakin clueless and he is going on a live version of the song which is different from the studio recording and there is also the possiblity that he is looking at the worng guitarist since there are two different guitar parts going on according to some music I ahve for the tune. The joys of dealing with know it all teenagers (ie I am a teenager and I have my head up my backside can you direct me to the exit?).

HAPPY NEW YEAR and....

2006-01-03T00:08:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone (the few that read my blog) had a good and safe new years celebration. My new year festivities were a bit on the lacking side, I spent them with my brother, which was cool but I picked a bad movie, NEVER EVER EVER! get the White Dragon. I was in the mood for some martial arts action and while this one has it it was beyond ridiculous in its plot, storyline, and acting...like I was expecting shakespeare or something (tongue in cheek). I almost want to destroy the dvd but then i would get charged by Hollywood video for the damage.
I now have some of my music posted up at myspace.com. If you would like to check it out go to www.myspace.com/mikeleslieproject. THere are four different tunes there some older than others. I hope to have some newer ones later this year. Let me know what you think. There is some background to the songs under the blog postings on the page.

Changes in Life...its Christmas Time

2005-12-27T12:28:00.000-08:00

Children of Bodom are a Finnish power/thrash metal band. The music sounds very power metal but the vocals are more thrashy.
Christmas this year wasn't anything like last year, in fact it was the polar opposite. Last year i got EVERYTHING on my list and this year I didn't get anything at all. Not that my mom or I wanted to do it that way, its just that she is moving to San Diego in a month and there are a lot of things to take care of and no money for any sort of gifts...I didn't have any fundage either. It was still nice to see her though, I guess next year I will be visiting San diego for Christmas.
I am a bit bummed about her moving down there only cause she won't be 3 hours away...but then I realized some other problems with her moving....I still have a number of friends that I have spent the holidays with for the last several years and now that she is going to be living nowhere near Renton WA it makes it impossible to do such a thing...an end of an era so to speak. Guess I will have to invade my friends homes at other times of the year. They could always come and visit me too but that has yet to happen.
I did get to go to one of my friends/extended family's homes on Christmas Eve and I got a Orange County Choppers beer stein with some mint candies. It was nice to see my friend's new baby and also her older kids that I have known from the time of their birth, even spent their first christmas with them. Other than seeing Nikol and Jim with their family I didn't have that much of an eventful Christmas. It was sad more than anything knowing that its probably the last Christmas I will spend in the NW for a long time or ever. Life goes on, just gotta hold on for the ride.

5 weird facts about me...

2005-12-26T17:59:00.000-08:00

Per RT's request...5 Weird facts about Michael J Leslie

1. My music collection goes from Beethoven to John Denver to Children of Bodom to Trans Siberian Orchestra to Bryan Adams to Def Leppard to Depeche mode to The Cure
2. I like romantic comedies...love to laugh and where is it the easiest to laugh? The Human condition when trying to keep a relationship together.
3. I can be a perfectionist to a fault...case in point, this weekend helping my mom with some work around her condo, i had to work aroudn what was already there without all the proper tools. i would ahve loved to have a radial arm/chop saw combo for this job as well as more stock to redo some of the trim work that was shoddily done.
4. I won the weirdest guy (funny haha) in my class award not only out of my classmates but also out of the entire school (my class was only 26 people total and the school had about 125).
5. Despite my size (always big for my age), I was bullied growing up till I eventually got sick of it and then I stopped taking sh*t from everyone, daring them to step to me.

Grades and Work stuff

2005-12-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

Ok. Grades were posted today. I got an A in Human Development(a slight curve as I originally had and A-); an A in Elementary Art, B in Elementary Math, B in Bio Lab, and B- in Bio Lecture. The GPA is safe for now...
Got a new student that is into black metal...Dimmu Borgir is his favorite band. Fortunately this band, unlike so many in the black metal genre, embraces good production so its listenable. I dig the music but all of the satanic imagery and lyrics coupled with the cookie monster vocals kinda make it difficult to listen. He wants to learn some of this stuff. He is also taking keyboard lessons from one of the other instructors who is hoping that I can widen this kids palette of music...it should prove interesting; the kid is very close minded when it comes to music, I can remember being kinda like him when I was younger too because this kid can be a bit snooty about it as I was when I was younger and still can be at times. Nothing like having a new challenge...now to figure out some of the music from this band.

FINALS ARE DONE!!!!!!!

2005-12-07T15:21:00.000-08:00

I am bouncing off the walls here. Got an A- in Human Development, B- in Biology, B in Biology Lab, A in Art, and my math final went well so i expect a decent grade out of that class to. Now I have a month off. Gonna be working on a couple different songs; Yngwie Malmsteen's Black Star and Steve Vai's For the Love of God over the break, as well as get my butt back into the gym. My ankle is not healed competely which is wierd but I should be able to ride bikes and treadmills just fine. Now to relax......ahhhhhhhhhh!

Holidays and Finals

2005-11-30T17:07:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was a fun time. I spent it with some friends and their families, first at one families house and then we all went to another families house...people from my church. Once at teh second families house we watched War of the Worlds...so so movie, nothin to write home about. I missed being with family a little bit but I was with a sort of extended family. The bad thing about Thanksgiving was that I wasn't able to make any money on Thursday, I don't get paid for holidays...at least I don't think I do.
Next week is finals. I have so far gotten my Human Development quiz grades up to A, B, and C level and the final is worth 80 points. I already took my Bio lab final, went well for the most part. My bio lecture final is Tuesday and my math and art Final are on Wednesday. The Human Development final is going to be done over the weekend as it is online. I have two chances to take it and I get to keep the better score. I think things should come off pretty well after all this quarter as long as I keep my nose to the grindstone this weekend.
Tonight I get to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra for the fourth year in a row. Each year the show gets bigger and bigger. I hope they play more new material this year. I am really looking forward to the release of Nightcastle (their upcoming release, God knows when they will finally release it). The stuff I ahve ehard so far is far and away better than the stuff they have done previously.

life goes on...sometimes without me

2005-11-19T00:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I sorta put a gun to my head when it came to studying for my latest biology test...I got a B. That will certainly help my grade. Still have a few more weeks to go. I have to catch up in my Human development class. I am of half a mind to drop it cause I am so behind. All the quizzes, essays, and final are on the internet so it made it way to easy to be lazy. I didn't keep up with the reading so its bitin me in the butt. We are able to take the quizzes as many times as we want until the quarter is over but the esays are a one time shot and I am sure the final is such as well. So my weekends for the next few weeks are gonna be full of biology and human development studying in the hopes that i can pull my fat ass out of the fire. I will be so glad when graduation comes this june...of course i need to keep on top of my classes or else I wont be graduating...my family would kick my ass.
I just took on another day at work, one of the other guitar instructors is full on Tuesdays and Tuesday seems to be a popular day and I havent been getting to many signups on thursdays and saturdays so I am hoping that my tuesday will be filled fast. I need money like yesterday. We have our last instrument petting zoo tomorrow, though I guess its gonna become a regular once a month thing for a while. Hopefully we will have a good number of people show up, I hate giving my time without any sort of benefit (ie new students). Maybe the Tuesday thing will help out. i do have a new student starting tomorrow but at the same time I had one student quit, her finances aren't where she can take lessons as often as she should. She was doing both vocal and guitar lessons. Hopefully she will start back up when her finances are better.

Petting Zoo and more tests to come

2005-11-12T17:03:00.000-08:00

Yippee! I have yet another midterm in Biology and math this next week and then finals are in the first week of December. I am so looking forward to winter break, we have almost a month off. I need to meet with my advisor and apply for graduation, get the ball rolling on that. For the last few weeks we ahve been ahving a muscial instrument petting zoo at work. The idea is that people can come in, meet the instructors, check out/play various instruments (brass, woodwinds, drums/percussion, acoustic/electric guitar, bass, and piano), and also see the facility in hope that we would get more students. Our first week we had only two families show up, one which took some flyers to her elementary school that she taught at. the second week...no one but oen woman that is doing some promotion for us with the Parks and Rec dept. This week we had two different families show up, one kid wants electric guitar lessons and his parents want him to learn to read music/learn music theory as well. I am hoping to get him as my student but if they decide to put him in the theory class then the other guitar instructor may get him because the days I teach (thursday and Saturday) dont have music theory being taught on those days. We shall see what happens. We have one more petting zoo before the thanksgiving holiday, I hope more people show up for this one and then get more students from it as well. Then I guess we will start having the petting zoos once a month. This past wednesday we were on AM Northwest. We almost didnt get any mention because we were unable to get 10 people to show up that were affiliated with our group. They hooked us up anyways. It would be nice if they would do an interview segment with us as well, thats something we are looking into. Now to do a little work on a guitar and do some studying....

2005-11-04T23:06:00.000-08:00

me in a penguin outfit at my brothers wedding. The tall guy is my baby bro.

Life, crazy life!

2005-11-03T13:02:00.000-08:00

Work has been interesting, had some new students start up a little while ago, some are doing better than others. My 8 year old lefty learning to play right handed gets so much homework she hardly has any time to practice...my God people, she's a kid for crying out loud, not a college student. Several parents have gone to the teacher about it but she won't let up. The teacher is just out of college so she is a bit wet behind the ears I would say...it would be sad if the parents had to go to the school board about it.
Also at work we for the next few weeks are having a musical instrument petting zoo. We had our first one last week, only two families showed up but one of them is a teacher at an elementary school so she took some flyers so maybe this week will have more people. All of us teachers are a bit wary about the potential students touching our instruments so we have to watch them like hawks. The whole dea behind this promotion is for parents and potential students to meet the instructors in hope that some might sign up. Getting paid for it so its all good, makes for a long saturday though.
My math mid term went fairly well, I got a B. My art midterm went ok too; as long as I do my homework and shwo up for class I get an A in the class. I skipped biology today, not feeling so hot last night and this morning. Now to track down some food...

Mid Terms are almost done...

2005-10-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

I lived through it but I know I should have studied more. My biology mid term didn't go so well, I got a 26 out of 40. I gotta buckle down and study more. I did study three out of the 6 chapters but I got bit HARD by the lazy bug thinking my good judgement would help me in the multiple choice test. Not to good judgement i guess...on all counts in this situation. I had my math midterm today and I think it went well but we ahd a quiz a couple weeks ago that I thought went well and I got a D on it because I didnt check my work; I had made some stupid errors. This test was easier though. My final midterm is for my art class. I have to draw a picture in pencil on a 12X18 pice of paper, not allowed to use color but can use shading and it is going to be put in an art show. I am still not so sure what to draw yet, I may get all my guitars out and arrange them in some form to draw them. So I still ahve my work cut out for me this quarter; can't slack off to much if I want to have decent grades.

Mid terms coming...Guitar is done

2005-10-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

I got my project guitar back last night. Unfortunately one of the parts in teh trem system had disappeared so it made it a bit more difficult to set up. i got a replacement part today adn set the guitar up. It took a little while but the guitar plays well and sounds really good but I think there is something wrong with the middle pickup on the treble side, on the clean channel it is really weak. I will talk to the guy who did the work and see what can be done cause there is also a grounding issue, the guitar has a bit of a buzzing problem when plugged in.
Biology midterm next week and then there are some in my other classes but I am more concerned over the biology one...so much stuff to retain. No wonder I didn't go into the science/medical field. I guess my brain isnt heavily geared towards math and science though I can still pull a decent grade out of them...maybe its that I don't like studying, it puts me to sleep...wait...sleep is a good thing, but not when you have mid terms and there is studying to do. So off I go to study...amongst other things.

Guitar Center SUCKS!!! and other rantings

2005-10-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

I have been piecing together another electric guitar for the fun of it; kind of a hobby and I took this guitar to guitar center to have some sautering done...the guy told me 3 to 4 days and then he was gonna charge me $75 for it. Installs usually cost $35 so this guy was a quack...I called a couple different times and my guitar still wasnt done so today i went back to the store and picked it up...the work I need done still isnt done but I know for a fact i can find someone to do the work for much cheaper. A couple of the guys I work with told me that a couple of their friends would be able to hook me up for cheap. I just want to play the dang thing...I am practically feigning for it. In other news....school is tiring. I will be glad to be done in June. I still am not sure about Grad school, I havent even applied yet but I do have one of the three recommendation letters. I would just like to take a long break from school and live for a while. I like to be able to come home and just chill rather than have to break open some books to study.

The wedding

2005-10-02T08:23:00.000-07:00

My brothers wedding went off without a hitch...it stopped raining just in time...outdoor weddings kinda suck when its raining. I was about to start crying during the vows, it was very touching. I am very happy for my brother and i look forward to the lil bambino/bambina that should be arriving around March 17th or so...really close to my birthday. My oldest niece was born 3 days away from my 18th birthday...makes it alot easier to remember how old she is. Can't believe she is 13 already. The receptionwas nice. We had roast beef/turkey and a bunch of other fixins and my step mom and other brother Tim put together a DVD of David and Kristin from baby to their meeting set to a pretty cool rendition of Bach's Jesu, Joy of mans Desiring. Her dad made a small speech welcoming David to the family and speaking of Kristen's tenacity, then I did the same, welcoming Kristin to the family and giving my little brother away by way of saying "for all the years of (I lightly sock him in the arm)...now its her job." I feel very privleged to have been my baby brothers best man. I wish them the very best life that can be had. Now I need to catch back up on my homework...God, I hate school. Glad its my last year...unless i go for the masters...

Back to school. Back to school.

2005-09-26T18:05:00.000-07:00

First day today...should be an interesting quarter. I ahd to spend over 300 on books this quarter but at least I won't have to spend that much next quarter cause I am taking a sequence of courses. I am really tired, I didn't sleep to well for the last couple nights so it makes it a bit more difficult. Tommorrow is a short day so i can come home and take care of some things. Mondays and Wednesdays are long for me, 9-5 with a hour and a half lunch break. That is only three classes in that time so my backside gets a bit sore. Tues./Thurs/Fri. I have only one class though I do have my bio lab right before class on Tues. I think I may like my art class.

Teaching 2

2005-09-22T23:26:00.000-07:00

Well...I was able to break the scales and everything down to where she could understand...though I am sure i will have to explain it a number of more times before it really sinks in. Her folks have tied practice into her homework time so now she may practice more than three times a week which will actually help her get better. It would be nice to see her being able to play chords and songs clearly without struggling to make sure each note in the chord sounds out. It just takes a bit more time since she is trying to retrain her brain to think backwards, her being a lefty playing right handed and all.

Teaching

2005-09-15T22:35:00.000-07:00

I have a number of guitar students that range from the ages 8 to 30. Today I was trying to show the 8 year old some new things, she seemed like she was wanting something a bit different after having spent the last several months working on the same stuff over and over (she is playing it better but it still needs work). A little background...she is left handed trying to learn to play right handed (nothing that I forced on her, she started to learn that way with another teacher and she has made enough progress this way that she has a hard time playing left handed). She is still working on getting her hands to change chords in time with a metronome as well as picking cleanly when going through the chromatic scale...so today sine she wanted some other stuff I gave her a whole thing on the major scale with its modes and told her to just work on the first one (Ionian mode/otherwise known as the major scale). SHe was confusing the chromatic with the major scale so now we will be going down the road of explaining the scale in about 500 different ways so she can comprehend it. SHe is a bright kid and I believe that if she sticks with the guitar and practices enough being ambidexterous (spell) will improve other areas of her life such as athletics. I have to explain things many times but its worth it cause she does have the desire to learn, I am not just baby sitting someone's kid.

Allergic to pain 2 and other stuff

2005-09-07T19:05:00.000-07:00

Went to the hospital today...its a sprained ankle and a strained knee. Lots of ace bandages and an air cast. Fun stuff! Hopefully things will have healed up good enough by my brothers wedding on October 1st, now it turns out that I am gonna be Best Man. There's a first. I am still trying to figure out what track I want to do at the studio for my second mp3 for the website. I have been thinking of re-recording somethign I did on another project where I wrote the guitar riffs around the drums. I think the drums could be done much better than they were on the project I originally wrote it for. Its a heavy track thats for sure. Other tracks to consider include something in the hard rock vein and then there are some other incomplete metal tracks as well. It would be nice to record it all...just need the money to do it all, not to mention have a fulltime bassist and drummer instead of having to bring someone else in that is not as familiar with the parts to pull out a basic track.

Allergic to pain

2005-09-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

I spent a few days down in Roseburg Oregon with some friends and wound up tweaking my ankle/knee. I can still walk on it but it hurts a bit. It didnt swell up a lot and I can move it around but if I move it a certain way it really hurts. I think its just a sprain or a strain...I have yet to go to a doctor as my insurance is not in effect right now. If it gets worse I will definately bite the bullet and go, I don't wanna have any permanent sort of injuries cause something doesnt heal right.

Nerd Test

2005-08-31T15:32:00.000-07:00

Bored out of my mind I took a nerd test. According to the test I am actually cool. As if some online test determines a persons nerdiness...I took the test so that must mean there is some nerdiness somewhere. Oh well. I can hang with cool, I have always been one of those people that can hang out with just about anyone, barring the super arrogant pompous people...they are the ones I would like to remove from the face of the earth.

Recording this week

2005-08-25T15:11:00.000-07:00

THis past monday I did some recording at work that will eventually be posted on the studio website. I will be finishing up one of the tracks tonight and hopefully in the coming weeks do a second track. THis is my first time doing a fully digital recording as well as doing any recording with my newest guitars, the Ibanez SZ520 I got for Christmas this past year, the Breedlove nylon string I got just a few months ago, and there is a possibility that my Ibanez bass will be heard too. Also heard in its first time recording is my Alvarez artist series acoustic. THe nylon string sounds amazing, and this is running it direct into the board. We miked my Alvarez, something wrong with my preamp on the guitar (oh crap...more expenses). We also ran my Ibanez SZ520 through the board for rhythms and leads, gonna be fixing the tones tonight, what went down to disc was not to my satisfaction.
So, tonight is gonna be fixing a few rhythm/lead things, laying down the bass, and vocals; hopefully getting a couple harmonies here and there (I hope it comes out good vocally). Nice thing is that I am getting to do this for free and then on top of that I don't need to haul my amp with me, though hauling several guitars gets to be a pain (I sometimes forget I have more than one).

Ridden Hard and Put Away Wet!

2005-08-18T23:12:00.000-07:00

This has been yet another long week. Camping with 4th through 7th graders...oh joy. I was with a bunch of 6th graders. SOme fo them were really good and obedient and others were bound and determined to contradict and argue with me at every point that they could. I finally had to crack the whip and begin putting kids in theri place, even one of the counselors I ahd to set straight though he had a few things to point out where I could improve as well...the kids were looking at this 17 year old as the prime authority when he was at best a captain or lieutenant where I was the five star general. I love those kids but at the same time I wanted to break my foot off on their butts.
One of the other counselors that was in there with me was also playing guitar for worship...he acknowledges that I can play circles around him yet he still tries to cop a tude with me; maybe I am reading to much into it but I was certainly annoyed by it. Glad its over for now. I am exhausted and my feet are absolutely killing me from being on them constantly for the last four days, I was always having to chase down this or that kid or something else. Now time to rest and recouperate.

Goodfellas or Gangstas?!?!

2005-08-14T22:32:00.000-07:00

This is me and some of my buddies after we spent a few hours shooting on Aaron's birthday (the dude standing behind me, I being in the Notre Dame shirt and Khaki shorts)...it was a lot of fun though the bramble bushes made their mark on my legs.

Weddings and Farewells and other stuff

2005-08-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

My buddy Jorge just got hitched this weekend and then a bunch of my friends took off for Bible school afterwards. Its gonna be interesting to see what develops over this next year. I am really gonna miss my friends but I know what they are doing is as much a benefit to me as it is to them and the rest of our friends.
I spent the night in Roseburg OR last night (the location of the wedding) and saw one heck fo a huge bug. I was trying to fall asleep and then I heard thsi buzzing noise, it sounded as if someone's phone was on vibrate except this was really loud. The dude I road down with jumped otu of bed after the bug got a little to close for comfort. We turned on the lights looking fro the thing and finally found it and flushed it out. It flew up at my friend sending him running across the room as the bug went the other way.
This bug's body was as big as my thumb and had huge antenae, its wings must have been solid and folded on its back cause they were nowhere to be seen when it was walking across the floor. Rather than attempting to squash this beast of a bug I grabbed my flip-flop and used it as a catapult to send the bug out of the room. After shooing another large but smaller bug out I managed to get a little shut-eye.
I get to spend this next week at a kids camp (4th through 7th grade). I have done this camp for the last few years but this time I am staying with the kids instead of my own bed at home. Oh the adventure. I still remember going to camp as a kid and now some of the people I will be working with at the camp were serving with the kids when I was going to camp 20 years ago.

Life is gonna be really lonely around here after this week...

2005-08-08T09:28:00.000-07:00

...Several of my friends are leaving for Bible school after a friend of ours gets hitched this next weekend. I am bummin. It looks like another page in my life is turning again...of course I have had a number of people bugging me about going to the Bible school but as of yet God has not put the desire to go within me. The reasons people give me are not good enough..."you can find a wife there" is one of them and I have had the thought that going would just get everyone off my back and then I would be a member of the club. I know a lot of people that have gone to this school and they encourage everyone to go. I hear them talk of their experiences there (ah memories) and then when there is anyone else that has gone then they have some long conversation to which I cannot relate to in any way; my not having not gone to the school sort of excludes me from this "club." Of course the whole "club" mentality or idea is in NO way a reality but sometimes I feel that it is; it gets a tad boring or lonely in my corner of the world when people start talking of their experiences with others that have gone through the school.
In my lack of desire to go people ask me, "don't you want to gain more of the Lord?" DUH! I wouldn't be going to church and as many home meetings and gatherings with people from church if I didn't want the Lord to gain more ground in me. Obviously I am a bit at odds with this...got some things to sort out, see where the Lord is leading.

mowwage is whaat bwings us tegethaa today

2005-08-02T12:09:00.000-07:00

Come Oct. my baby brother is getting married. I am happy for him and Kristen, they had been talking about getting hitched for some time but they are now expecting so that gave the process a violent kick in the butt. I may have a new niece or nephew for my birthday (my older sister had her first child three days before my 18th birthday). I have told both of my brothers that if they get married before me I am gonna break their legs...my baby bro found a loophole...he kinda needs those legs to support the coming child and I cannot in good conscience break em now...gonna have to get him some other way.
There is an order to things...this certainly isn't it...

If I had a brain I'd be dangerous...and other stuff

2005-07-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

Got myself a nice $141 speeding ticket the other day. Not the thing I needed to be getting when the finances are getting tight...I am house/dog-sitting again, this time its not for a week and a half, that was expensive on gas having to go back and forth to my house a number of times. I get to take care of a little Visla puppy; adorable little thing but he bites everything he sees...At this point I think I will keep pursuing the education degree, I am teaching guitar after all at a music school; having a degree in education might help. It would help if I had a music degree but making music academic was making me hate it, not to mention that I don't care for jazz enough to go that in depth and my classical chops are nothing to brag about. Those are the only choices at most universities. Crazy thing is that I can play rock, metal, blues, jazz, a little classical, funk, and other styles. Either way I am glad to have my job teaching guitar and I hope that things with the studio really take off this fall and in the coming years (thinking optimistically).

Pondering the Future

2005-07-24T22:48:00.000-07:00

I have been mulling over whether or not I want to go into elementary education. I like working with kids but after a while my patience disappears and I snap at people from getting so irritated. I love teaching guitar and the place I am teaching out of has the possibility of turning into something major this next school year. I am not sure what direction I want to go in with a masters degree, thats if I even want to spend that much more time in school. I am so SO tired of school right now. I know I at least want to finish my 4 year degree, I will have that by next June. After that I am not sure, I think things at the studio will be flying by then so I could be working a lot there which would suit me fine. I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch but I would at least like to have a battle plan...I thought I did with education but after these past couple weeks working with kids and being with them 24/7 I don't think I want to go that route, I would go insane.I guess I will have to see how things come out this next school year with the studio.

What a Looooong Week!

2005-07-18T11:06:00.000-07:00

LAst week was a doozy! I was a counselor at a Summer Bible School for JH and HS kids. Great kids but after a while my nerves and patience were at their end. Now that the camp is over now I can get going on learning flamenco and my studio recording software. I had stopped to see what lessons might cost...gonna have to wait on that, the dude was a bit pricey. Now I need to get my house back in order...now to the car.........something I had thought was fixed isn't. The heat sensor and thermostat aren't working correctly where the car winds up heating up, not over heating but getting into the high normal area. Having driven the car pretty regularly a few years back I know that it doesnt run normally like this so I need to do some research. I know the engine is doing alright caused it passed emissions no problem. Cars, while good can be the biggest pain in the butt.

Finally got the new car

2005-07-11T16:09:00.000-07:00

My brother drove in with his girlfriend last night with my new car and then he drove off this morning with my truck (now his). I had to take the car to a wash and wax place cause of all the bugs and bird crap. It looks pretty nice now. Its gonna cost me $142 to change over the title, barring that it passes emissions. It will be nice havin AC during some of these hot summer days and the savings in gas are gonna be nice. Feels much different driving a small car as opposed to my old truck. I am sure my bro is happy with it. Now I need to get a car stereo...it never ends!

2005-07-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

Live with Luna' Web in 96'. I am at the right of the picture and Greg is playing my Washburn Nuno Bettencourt model I wish i still had on the left of the picture.

New purchases and random things

2005-07-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

Picked up the bass yesterday; its really light weight compared to many basses I have played over the years. At a scratch and dent sale I picked up a project guitar for 100 bucks. The neck is perfect and the frets are just a little worn, the body has some dings in it and the bridge needs to be replaced as do the pickups. All those parts are now forthcoming. We shall see if I can get this guitar turned into something worth playing. On another note....
I am finally home...been house-sitting for the last week and a half. It was cool to have access to a pool whenever I wanted, though the chlorine levels went off the charts when I messed up the chlorination schedule by a few hours. The day I left the pool was back to normal.
I hope to have my new car by early next week...got myself a costco membership the other day, was hoping to get me some low price tires but I found a better deal at the Tire Factory. Oh well, I got me some huge bulk size food items as well as some decent razors that should last me a few months. I could easily spend several thousand dollars there. And I now have enough q-tips to last me for several years. Some of the packaging there is a bit extreme, as if a person is buying to stalk up a bunker or something, that or to feed a medium size army.
Seen a couple movies recently...Batman Begins and Madagascar. BB was by far the best of the two, surpassing the previously made movies by a long shot; and for lack of a better term to describe it ,I would have to say it was more "realistic" than the others.It was still dark but it didnt have that wierd tim burton twist that permeates all his movies. Madagascar...I should have waited till video, maybe I will like it better then. It was funny in places but when compared to other pixar type films, it pales.
I have gotten into reading again, not just guitar mags and the Bible but actual books. Winter quarter at school had me reading a book from Neil Gaiman called "American Gods," and I have since read "Neverwhere" and will soon start "Stardust." I also bought "The Dirt" by Motley Crue. Been wanting to read that one for some reason or another...

Yet another new guitar...

2005-07-04T14:10:00.000-07:00

I just aquired an Ibanez bass guitar from e-bay. Great price too...$91. I should be picking it up sometime this next week as the seller lives on the other side of the Columbia river from me. Now I need to find myself a 12 string acoustic and I will be set for guitars for a while. Pictures will be short-coming.

what a day

2005-06-29T01:35:00.000-07:00

I am freakin tuckered out! I have been house/dog sitting and also helping some friends clean up their house cause they sold it and are moving. Long days...Today I got my truck stuck out in the field cause I was being stupid in not taking this hill in the field at a higher rate of speed. I got stuck in a small ravine in the field and a jeep had to pull me out. Needless to say I didnt accomplish the goal for which I entered the field in the first place(removing signs). I finally got my settlement check from my car accident from last september. Other than taking care of bills and dstuff I am hoping to get my hands on a decent bass guitar. I am gonna be recording a couple tracks soon at East2West, just need a bass for part of it...not to mention figuring out what tunes I want to do. Snippets from those recordings will eventually be posted at the studio's website. off to bed!!!

OMG!

2005-06-23T23:28:00.000-07:00

I am getting a new car. My dad is hooking me up with his Ford Escortthat may have 100,000 miles on it. He got it with low miles and now most of the miles on it are HWY ones. So I am giving my truck (79 GMC)to my baby bro. He had wanted to buy it when I did but he didnt have the funds so he let me go for it. Now he gets the truck he has been wanting since before he got his drivers license and I can now have better fuel economy and be able to put money away. I am stoked. East2West is located all the way on the other side of town and going out there twice a week on top of all my other driving around makes for several fill-ups. Whats great about the car other than mileage is that its a hatchback, I can easily haul my gear and keep it dry all the while having passengers. What a Godsend! Thank you Lord!

Off to work

2005-06-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

I work at a recording studio/music school called East2West in Clackamas Oregon as well as out of my home teaching guitar. Right now I am out at the studio two days a week, Thursdays and Saturdays. To check out East2West go to http://www.east2weststudios.com/. I have a new student starting today. Off I go!

2005-06-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

my amp rack. A Chandler power conditioner, BBE 362, Rocktron Intelliflex XL effects processor, Rocktron Pirahna preamp, Rocktron Velocity 120 power amp, and Rocktron 1X12 cab.

2005-06-18T10:43:00.000-07:00

my Alvarez acoustic/electric a Koa top and Dao back and sides.

2005-06-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

My customized Jackson Dinky EX. w/ EMG 85 humbuckers and EMG SA single coil, and and original floyd rose.

2005-06-18T10:40:00.000-07:00

Jamming in my living room in 2004 with my Jackson.

2005-06-17T15:24:00.000-07:00

Promo Glossy taken in 93' I still have that guitar though it looks totally different.

2005-06-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

My cameo role (big guitar solo) in American Cabaret Theater's "Rockspell."

2005-06-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

Live with Lunas Web; the band I was nearly signed with.

2005-06-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

Christmas gift 2004