In other news...

Lately I have been thinking about my spiritual views/opinions. Going through Mark at Southside, I've seen Jesus interact on several occasions with the Pharisees. I think for some time I've felt self-justified in being sure that I am not a Pharisee. I of course am much more loving and maybe less conservatively minded than those I would think of as Pharisees. That sounds bad even as I type it. Anyways, lately I have convicted that just because I think of myself as less legalistic, I still in many ways see myself as having God and my relationship with him all figured out, and often see myself as better than others who hold more or less rigid views. I guess as I get older I just learn that there is more and more I really don't understand, and I really am a prideful person. It's funny because adults tell you this kind of stuff all the time growing up, but you only start to see what they are seeing as you live through various life experiences. So in the end, I guess I just have to ask God to guide me and make me less of a Pharisee.

On a different subject, I just finished recording a better version of a song I arranged in Columbia. I say arranged because I took an old hymn, switched some words around, and gave it a new tune a chorus...it's the cool thing to do these days. You can find it here.

I built a fence and now I'm tired...

...the two aren't really related. I would like to get back to blogging, but alas, my life gets more and more crazy. I was reading through posts the other day and realized there is a bunch of stuff I said I was going to post that I never did.

First of all, I did build a fence. The process was not as hard as I thought, but was more time consuming than I thought. In the end though, it is so nice to be able to let Lucy roam around outside for as long as she wants. Oliver is actually also a big fan of the fence as he spends time each day chasing bugs in the backyard. Here's some pictures of the process:











In general our yard is really coming along. We've got some great bushes and flowers, and they are all doing well. We had a bunch of sunflowers come up from the birdseed, which we were happy about. The bees and stinkbugs (don't ask me why) have really enjoyed them:







I have started nursing school and also a job at Applebee's. I am unable to work much during the day, so I am down to 8 hours a week at Southside just running sound really. I don't miss the constant organizing so much, but I do miss the people and the money. On the other hand I have really enjoyed being a waiter, and I love the people I work with at Applebee's. The tips have been not as good as I thought though, and all the work and school makes me very tired. Kristi and I don't get to spend as much time together, and I don't have time to do much around the house, which is also discouraging.

I've really missed playing music lately, to the point of frustration. It stinks having no real outlet for the main thing I enjoy. Playing drums for youth at Southside is fun, but I haven't been able to do that since I started working at Applebee's. I have had a chance to do a few interested sound related projects. One was running sound for a Refresh featuring Rodrigo Rodriguez. It mainly stressed me out, but I think I did a pretty solid job. The other was recording a special musical night for Resonate, Southside's college thing. I used the Mackie HDR and a firepod, but I haven't had a chance to see how the tracks turned out yet. Hopefully good since they were kind of depending on me...

I think that's all the news I've got for now. It will be a busy weekend with lots of work and studying for my final in my first nursing class. By the way, does anyone want to buy a 1995 Buick LeSabre?

It's a boring night when everyone else is asleep by 9...

So the past few days I've found myself driving through some pretty rural areas of South Carolina, and this has reminded me how much I like to drive. I am easily impressed by the beauty of nature, and you might be surprised to see how beautiful the great state of SC is once you get out of the suburbs.

In other news, I've written some new songs as of late, but only one has made it to Soundclick so far. I did this weird thing where I recorded drums with 2 OH's and then went back and played only the snare drum with the recording (remember I only have 2 inputs). I would like to say that I'm such a machine it worked perfectly, but actually I had to align almost all of the hits perfectly so it would sound better. Either way it came out sounding pretty decent. I am especially proud of some of the guitar sounds I got. Here it is.

You know, one of the best sounding recordings up there is that ludwig snare test, which is funny because I didn't plan any of that, I just played some random stuff on drums and then added some guitars with minimal mixing. It always seems to be like that, I think it has something to do with being able to free myself up mentally when I'm not trying to nail something systematic.

Tonight Kristi, Oliver, and Lucy all went to sleep before 9, so I have been laying here perusing musical things on the internet. I was watching Andrew Osenga play "When Will I Run" on YouTube, and that reminded me of this old bootleg of Vertical Horizon I have covering "Fast Car" and then going into their song, "Wash Away." Does anyone else have this bootleg? It is incredible, and it got pretty popular on the internets back in the day. It was back when VH was still more of an acoustic rock jam type thing...so good. Not that I don't like their stuff that got popular, I do. Oh, and here's the vid of Andrew Osenga, also amazing...




I think that's all I've got for today. Tomorrow is Kristi's and my 2 year anniversary, so it should be a good day...but man, I am getting so old.

Back to blogging...

I think it's about that time. I've got some good ones coming, I promise...new songs, new pictures, new life experiences...get excited. For now I'll start slow and leave you with 2 thoughts...

1. Compressors

Who was the person that thought of these, and how did anyone ever run sound without them? I think the greatest benefit of having a digital mixer for FOH at Southside is the fact that I have a compressor on every single channel. I was reminded of how amazing these things are when I ran sound for a rehearsal for kids worship upstairs this week. I got things sounding OK, but I was pushing the system hard to get a volume I needed, sometimes clipping the main bus, and often clipping some of the individual channels. After rehearsal Joe reminded me that he had some compressors I could use...they are Behringer, and I do admit I tend to have a negative attitude about said company, but I took one unit up to the room today am already excited about the difference it is going to make. A little compression/limiting on the kick, snare, bass, and master bus and we are going to be in business.

2. Music

I just love it. I watched this movie recently called "Last Chance Harvey" and while the cast was the only thing I really enjoyed, one aspect I really identified with was how Harvey had such a love for music, and in his own way was extremely musically talented, but somehow didn't seem to fit into a mold of a performing/professional musician. I had the opportunity to play lead guitar and sing for the first time in a really long time the other night, and it just felt like a release....almost like running can be for those of you who enjoy exercising. Still I feel like it is becoming more and more clear to me that I am of better use in supporting musician or tech roles that as an up front leader/organizer. There's something about the personality mold that just doesn't fit me. I could be wrong, but this is what I've been feeling lately, and this is after all my blog. Anyways, tonight I sat here with my eyes closed listening to some of my favorite songs lyrically and musically and was just reminded of the appreciation I have for the art and how thankful I am that God created it.

Thanks for listening, I've been building a fence and writing songs, so stay tuned!