Never before has Miyabi's had competition for the birthday dinner...but this year the decision will be tough!

What beautiful weather today! I woke up a little after 8, and after watching Sportscenter and facebooking went for a run. It keeps getting easier, but legs still feel really tired and tight alot of the time. My lungs are good, and I think it has to be all the huge hills. I know I repeat this alot, but it is just bugging me. Usually this far into running my legs would feel pretty good...but maybe it really has just been that long.

I took Lucy for a walk right after I got back and then took a shower and got ready. After that I debated whether I should eat hot dogs or an eggwich for lunch, but the eggwich ended up winning out. Does anyone have other good ideas for things I can make quickly at home? I am getting tired of them since I eat at home most days now. Other things I am tired of include pizza and frozen pot pies.

After lunch I spent some time working on the mastering of the song I recorded. I really don't know anything about mastering as it isn't something we covered in school too much, and pros are pretty nebulous about it on forums, so what I do is just trial and error. Today I used a multi-band compressor into an EQ into a limiter. I use a spectrum analyzer too which helps me see if I have any out of control frequencies. Here's a screenshot of my mastering setup, in which you can see all the different components I was talking about at work:

Another interesting note about this mix is that other than the multi-band in the mastering setup, I didn't use any compression on anything in the mix...only limiting. I read this interesting thread on http://www.gearslutz.com/ by a producer (sketchy name, but some of the biggest names hang out and post there) where he talked about seeing compression as changing the envelope and limiting as not changing the sound and just evening the waveform out. While that idea has some holes, because limiting is definitely changing the feel and sound, it also really makes sense, and ever since then I have used alot more limiting and alot less compression. You can listen to the newer version of the song here. It's alot better, so you really should.

Anyways, I had some extra time before class when I was done with that so I played drums for a while with Hillsong stuff. It has been awhile since I played along with some of the songs, and the fact that they were so much easier makes me think I must be getting better.

Around 1:40 I left for class. I had a really hard time paying attention today, and so I ended up drawing most of the time. I always wonder if my teachers think I am taking very detailed notes or if they can tell I'm doodling. I think I would go crazy if I couldn't doodle during class...that's probably why I never sit in the front.

After class I decided to run a few errands, and called Kristi to check in. She reminded me that she had a school function and wouldn't be home for dinner, which left me wondering what I should eat. I thought about just picking up Zaxby's, but since I had to stop at Petsmart at Greenridge anyways, I decided to call Joe and see if he wanted to eat at Oriental House. Sure enough he and Tim didn't have any plans, so we met around 5:30. I love Oriental House...pretty much everyone I have introduced it too loves it also, so if you haven't been you are missing out.

After that I came home, played with the pets, talked with Kristi, and then it was time for bed. I did eat my last piece of cheesecake tonight, which was a little sad. I think I am making in another in a few weeks for community group though, so hopefully there will be some extra.

That's it for today. Tomorrow should be pretty uneventful. Let's hope the weather is as nice as it was today!