Just an Update

Been a good week. Many many blessings in my life and Angela's. Hopefully as everything pans out, I'll share everything. One great thing, the car is back - and not sick anymore. It's been running great.

Practice on Wednesday went really well. Ran the loop like Id hope to, not in the "way" I wanted to (loop + click / seperate tracks)...but, I cranked the loop in my ears so that I could stay on tempo. Set was very very good....great blend of songs. We're doing "Glorify" and what's cool about that song is that everytime I play it, I remember just how much I like it. The team does a great job with it, and that's always good. It is cool hearing the little lead part on piano. Very excited about Sunday AM stuff...

Well, maybe more later....
Peace!

Busy Again

Getting busy with Reason work again. Ryan is possibly doing "All Praise and Honor" this week and I had to dig up the loop I had built back last winter. I sequenced it so that I could just hit play and go...so hopefully it turns out alright. It's pretty exciting that I may use a loop in the AM service...haven't done that before.

Things are getting crazy around the house. We're planning for Nick to come home and visit, so that's kinda' hectic. Also, planning all the out of town trips my paren'ts are making. Plus, I am in the process of trying to finish getting dates set for some of the stuff Jonathan and I talked about in May. Got a few emails I am sending out this afternoon and tomorrow to try to get all that lined up.

Don't know who all knew, but Angela's car looked like it may be in for a whirlwind of problems. The Ford place gave us the run around for about a week and a half, but we have the car back with a new transmission and hopefully no more problems. We got it covered under warranty, so that saved a bunch of money. Thank God!

Alright, I am off to finish packing for practice. Hope the loop stuff works.

Peace!

Busy Again

Getting busy with Reason work again. Ryan is possibly doing "All Praise and Honor" this week and I had to dig up the loop I had built back last winter. I sequenced it so that I could just hit play and go...so hopefully it turns out alright. It's pretty exciting that I may use a loop in the AM service...haven't done that before.

Things are getting crazy around the house. We're planning for Nick to come home and visit, so that's kinda' hectic. Also, planning all the out of town trips my paren'ts are making. Plus, I am in the process of trying to finish getting dates set for some of the stuff Jonathan and I talked about in May. Got a few emails I am sending out this afternoon and tomorrow to try to get all that lined up.

Don't know who all knew, but Angela's car looked like it may be in for a whirlwind of problems. The Ford place gave us the run around for about a week and a half, but we have the car back with a new transmission and hopefully no more problems. We got it covered under warranty, so that saved a bunch of money. Thank God!

Alright, I am off to finish packing for practice. Hope the loop stuff works.

Peace!

A Fork in the Road

Road #1: Sanger gig with Jonathan. Really exciting opportunity because playing Jonathan's stuff was a blast last time! It's an out of town gig - which is always fun. I need the experience...and always will. It's a good chance to have some great fellowship with some great friends. Hey, and it's Robert's church...need I say more?

Road #2: My commitment to my church and the praise team of being there and leading the people there in worship. Always an important commitment. Ryan doesn't really have a lot of options for drummers, and though this would be a great chance for him to use Mike or Josh, is it opportune?

The situation: Jonathan called Saturday and reminded me the Sanger gig was this Sunday. Shoot! I thought it was on a Saturday! That threw me off a bit, but I called him back and let him know that even though they were leaving on Saturday, I would still be able to come down on Sunday. I got a call back yesterday evening and he let me know that he would really rather use the same guy for the Sunday AM stuff - understandably. I didn't know they were doing stuff in the AM service. So that's where the tough decision came from...

What I ended up doing: I called Jonathan and let him know, even though I really enjoy playing with him (and the band for that matter), that my commitment to my church is very important. That my church has been so good to me, and I cannot miss another Sunday. I missed almost the entire month of May due to being sick and gigs. I let him know that I really don't want this to exclude me from further stuff...and I don't think it will. But, I think that keeping my word to the church is pretty important. Ryan would have a tough time having one evening to find someone, whereas Jonathan has a couple of ideas already to replace me.

Anyone who knows me, knows I have a problem with saying "no" to folks. Why? I love playing. Plain and simple. I don't turn down opportunities very often because it is a blast no matter who I am playing with. It's one thing I am good at and enjoy, and I think that is really important. Turning down an out-of-town gig is even a bigger deal because I don't get very many of those either. But, I think that I made the right decision.

Why the heck am I telling you guys this...because I want you all to know just how important my church is to me. My church is incredible - we have a great staff and great people and I don't want to create tension by turning my back and going and travelling all the time. Anyways, that's what's going on right now. A very tough deciosn I must say, but, I am glad it is resolved and it sounds like Jonathan has it figured out as far as how to handle getting a different drummer - which makes me feel a lot better.

Peace!

Same Ol' Same Ol'

Just posting to post. Really nothing exciting. Been a bit stressed over my (and Angela's) financial situation for next semester and the ones to come. Other than that nothing. Hoping to get busy, like really soon. Maybe doing drums for a song or two next week. Peace.

Monday Update

Today was a breeze of a day. Was planning on waking up early again and walking (yesterday I woke up @ 4:45AM to walk)...but, decided I need a little more sleep. Woke up later than I wanted to and had a subconscious chat with Todd on the phone. Actually - he asked if Blake Stewart could use my drums and what not for .5ive this week. I will be attending praise team practice with Ryan and the team this week. I am very excited about that.

Went and took Mandi to the vet. She's healthy, maybe a bit too skinny, but a very healthy pup. It was pretty exciting, she learned the "sit" command today - very exciting moment. It is cool watching Angela train her because being a lab/border collie mix, she picks things up really quick. We've been doing a lot of walking lately, twice a day, around the neighborhood.

This evening, I called SoundTechs to go pick up some sticks (left my stick bag in Nac), and it turns out they were out of the kind I use. Mark Saldana and I are the only two that I know of that use these sticks, so he must have just bought a few. So, since I am recording tomorrow, we went to go get my sticks and mics.

That's pretty much my day. I am sitting here watching "King of Queens" and about to head to sleep.

Little re-cap on Ryan's first Sunday at church. Set was really good:

Forever
Arise w/transition
All Hail the Power transitioned into...
Here I Am to Worship
joys and concerns
Open the Eyes of My Heart
Jesus Paid it All (newer version) transitioned into
How Great is Our God (chorus/How Great Thou Art/chorus)

Very very cool set. It sounded fantastic! It was one of those that went well in both services. Did some work on tthe V-Drums and they felt alot better to play on. I think we're going to have to replace our hi-hat trigger due to our other drummers' heavy hitting style. Continuing to play on them isn't helping them, but, what else can you do? Like I said, I will be practicing with the team (which due to .5ive hasn't been happening). I will keep you guys updated.

Anyways, we'll be recording "Part of Your Story" tomorrow. Let you know how it goes. Later...

Inadequate (pt. 2)

I went back and read what I wrote last night. Thinking about everything I said....and I noticed I left out the other part of what I felt.

I have evaluated everything I have done to this point, and everything aide, I have accomplished alot. I HAVE been feeling like a man who is inadequate of some things, but fully capable in areas that many people aren't. Though I have things I can't do....loook, I can play the drums, I can do just about anything with computers (except web design), I can make people laugh (they always say they're laughing with me - not at me...), and I have a great group of friends who take care of me when I can't do something that requires my vision.

Am I OK with that? Of course!!!

Thanks for your support. I wasn't depressed, or upset, just reflecting. Thanks for allowing me to share that with you.