And with it came the light.

Alright that's IT!!
I'm going to stop being a chicken and just WRITE.
SO HELLO. i hope you feel I am being forceful, as that is what I intend to imply.
Why am I chicken? Well that's none of your goddamn business, nosey!!
Life right now... I must say, is not at all bad. I just got my macbook pro in the mail on friday. in the shower when it arrived, got out and saw the package leaning against my door. I feel bad making all those weird noises whenever I get a package in the mail. Like, 'GAHHHHH!!! YAAHHH!!! WOOOAAHHH!' something like that.
I couldn't even wait to dry off/put clothes on. I just ripped opened the package and started setting it up. It felt so weird. this awesome piece of machinery belongs to ME! I get to put my name in it's system, I get to fuck it up with music downloads and unstable sites. Yay!!

Most importantly, I have no any excuse not to be putting out new music. So as much as I've been looking forward to getting this thing, I've also been dreading it. From here on out, it's all hard work. Dang it. But yay :D
So Friday I got the puter... on the same day Barbara asked me if I would play at the Lab for the Artery Art Opening on December 4th.... and today I had a jam sesh with Mr. Jones. Got Adam on the bandwagon for the show as well. Tried to records a little today in between the jamming and going to the Blank Tapes show in Laguna, but realized it's a little hard to record when I don't have headphones so that ended abruptly. However, when we met up with Ben before the show I told him about wanting to record and gee golly, that guy gave me a pair of headphones, a mic and a mic cord to hook up to my interface. Love that guy.  Seriously, best guy ever.

SO. tomorrow, after my 10 to 5, I'm probably going to be held-up in my room blowing shit up. On my compy. I'm still testing this thing out though. Seeing how it does with my huge amount of photo downloads right now.
Awesome. This thing is awesome. It may take a little getting to know, a little feeling up, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I just keep accidentally enlarging and shrinking the screen occasionally.

BUT, I am officially, a mac user.
And I officially have no excuse. So. Anyone wanna jam?? Hit me UP.

On a different note (sort of), it's no fun having to wear work clothes all week long. It sucks. There's barely any room for personal expression. Although, I must say, I love my job(s). I love all the people I'm meeting everyday. Making connections with people, but if I don't think it's genuine, I don't bother. Let's not waste each others time, right?

Oh my, Mother's. It's awesome. I love the people I work with. Everyday is an adventure. I mean, it's work, but at the same time, seeing these people every week, whether we'd like to admit it or not, we're growing together, we're learning together. We experience the same atmospheres, the same ambiance in the same place.... basically wearing the same clothes. How can we not be connected? I feel it.
Kean is the same. I feel like we really try to hold onto our difference from other workplaces there. We don't let the fact that we're at work effect our personalities. What really makes that work is that Keanians (as I like to call them) are all very personable. I mean seriously though, check out our ratings on yelp.com. We get a 4.5/5 stars with 255 voters. That's fucking great. And personalized latte art on every hot cup (with foam of course), I mean honestly, I'm not being bias, we're awesome. But we don't have overstuffed chair(s), I don't know why you lie so. Yelpers should ALMOST never be trusted. They tell people we have big couches and overstuffed chairs... really? Where are they? We have one couch. And you weren't the first to sit there. Just sayin.
Alright well! On that positive note, I'm off. We've had enough.

Next time  I post, I almost promise a video.... probably not though but hey, crazier things have happened.

p.s. just finished Factotum, wishing I had read more slowly as it was amazing and I would have liked to savor his genius, but people were giving me funny looks. I guess I don't look like your typical Bukowski reader, but what do 'those people' look like anyway??
Anyway, I need a new book now so I'm open to suggestions.

Expressing an Interest in Taking it All Off

It's weird, no? Having your own thoughts online for people to read... to scrutinize? It's so weird.
But still, there's something about it that appeals to me. The idea that maybe the words you put out there are reaching someone on more than just a surface level. And I think, for where I want to be in the future, how exposed I am as a song-writer, as a lyricist... I'm already naked. Literally just the physical nakedness is left to expose. And I'm not getting naked for you so don't ask.
But who really CARES about all the outside stuff anyway? I believe that none of these outside effects really matter. The good stuff is on the insides. The guts. The guts are the good stuff that people have. If you have rotten guts, no matter what kind of FREAKISH things you do to yourself on the outside, to your shell, people will eventually get a whiff, of the stench that lie-th beneath. And BOY, can it smell.
I think this principle applies in multiple situations. The connotation I'm making seems to directly relate to looks and altering ones outside appearance, but that's not what I mean.
What I mean is the daily person one presents to the outside world. The everyday "hello," or the passing fake smile or the complete disregard for life or a lacking in human compassion, that stuff smells. And though one may be able to fool others for a while with their potpourri smiles and their "new car" scented teeth, someone will smell it. It will seep out and it just spreads from there. So honestly, it's understandable that some are afraid of this concept. I think people appreciate traits with more depth than the shallow attempt at interest in another or some how falsifying even general kindness. Traits that are hard to come by.
Such traits may include but are not limited to :

1. Sense of Humor
2. Sense of Humility
3. Acceptance and Admittance of Wrongful Actions
4. Honesty

Does anyone else feel like I do, like when you find a person that has even ONE of these qualities, you're just... drawn to them. There's nothing I like more than a person who can laugh, who can laugh at themselves and one who can admit they're wrong. Combine that with a person who will be honest with you when you REALLY need it, it's absolutely priceless.

 There are only a handful of people I know like that. And there's no need to even mention names, they know who they are.  But I think the only reason I know this list myself, is because we've discussed it in detail. Let's laugh at EVERYTHING. Let's laugh at OURSELVES, cause shit, we funny and we do some really dumb shit sometimes too. Let's just fucking ADMIT when we're wrong! For god-sakes! I'm not going to judge you! You know you're wrong, I know you're wrong, but the only person who needs to admit that, is you! And more important than all the others and the hardest to practice, let's just be honest. Honest about each other, about the world around us, about the future, the past and the present. Because projecting some kind of alternate reality onto the world in front of us isn't going to mean shit. If that continues, one day, we'll wake up, reality will be staring us right in the face, and we wont be able to handle it. And it will be our own faults. 

So, shall we?
Yes, let's.

Oh man oh man oh MAN!
Life is good. Seriously, I am headed exactly in the right direction.
It's so funny how we take these little detours, trying to find out which path to take, but then when you find it, it's like, traffic is smooth, weather is nice and you've got a full tank of gas.
I love it!
Finally started saving up some money for the days to come. I have about 200 in my saving right now and every week a new paycheck in my checking, it's fucking awesome. I love my life.

My new buddy Adam and I have been going to just about every music event we can find in Orange County and let me tell ya, for a place that's supposed to be so "up and coming" in music, there aren't THAT many things happening here! It's all in LA! It's ridiculous, hahah! But I've been meeting so many people and they all ask me what I'm doing and where I'm going and what not. Adam knows E.V.E.R.Y.O.N.E.
Last week I got to see Dagha Blooms practice space where they held their last warehouse party, and let me tell you, I don't think I've seen a cooler space than that. I wish it was open to the PUBLIC! that's how fucking cool it is. They played their new song for us, which is EPIC. I felt privileged, to see the magic in action. I'm very lucky, I realize that more and more everyday.

Not to mention I finally had a few days off to hang with Benji and Yaz-dizzle. I love them, I always have such a good time with them. It's like the good ole days, when everyone got along and egos weren't flaring out of the roof. We're just friends, plan and simple. There for each other, caring about each other, it makes me a bit nostalgic, but then I realize, I wouldn't be where I am today, if it wasn't for all the events that occurred. Everything happens for a reason! It's our job to learn from our past mistakes, and keep making more, heheh :D

Work has been pretty awesome also. We get so many benefits at Mother's and the owner comes into Kean everyday so we're buds. I can't complain. I really can't complain. It's all experience to move me into the next step of my life.
I can't wait till I don't have to work two jobs to pay rent, till I can start playing music full time!!!! GAHH!!
And just wait! Within the next few months I'm getting my iMac and I'll be RECORDING! Hahahah!
My mouth just waters thinking about all the possibilities.... gahhhhh--->mouth watering.

Anyway, visiting Breanna at the end of this month, visiting Portland at the end of NEXT month and December? Who knows about December, so many things could happen between now and then, I don't even want to jinx myself. Let's just say, karma is not always just a bitch, sometimes it is a good-humored gentleman. And we're going to get it on.

hehehe.

OH OH OH! MY camera is up and running again, which MEANS, life is wonderful. This weather has been PERFECT for shooting outside, the clouds create the most beautiful defused lighting you can imagine. Everyone is beautiful in this light, even if they're not happy about the weather.

But I just wanted to write about the stuff that makes my world go round, because sometimes I forget all the ways in which I'm privileged.  I've got friends who love me, family I would die for and I'm meeting more people everyday. I've got a roof over my head, a car, food on my plate and if you didn't know, I'm a progessive human being, everyday means trying to become better in every way. Life. Is. Grand.
Wouldn't dare ask for more, I'll just go out and get it :P

So many pictures to chooooose from! Which shall prevail!?

i think it's time i try this thing out again.
i think it could do me well, and i love to write for fun, so why not, really?
today i had work, again. boring ole work.
i still work at barnes and noble, making perfect lattes for the ungrateful and the unworthy.
i heard kean coffee in Newport Beach is hiring, and i think it might be beneficial to try for a job there.
at LEAST they get tips, right? that would help on a day to day basis and give me actual incentive to attend my job on a regular basis. cause right now, the pay is not even CLOSE to worth it for me.

um... what else did i want to mention... i felt like i had so much to say, now i am speechless... or write... less....
oh man. so i need to work on my lyrics... how can i do that? use big complicated words then rhyme them with things that don't rhyme? i mean, so far that's what it seems like all the other 'serious' musicians are doing.
i mean, it may not seem very cool to write simple, straightforward lyrics, but that's what i do, yo. i can't help it.
my lyrics are sweet and innocent and simple. i like them that way, but i don't think others do. and it doesn't really sound as amazing as it could sound, which i think is my only problem with it.
i mean, i want OTHER serious musicians to see me as a 'serious' musician...
is that so wrong?
it's hard to be friends with a bunch of those types and not have them take you seriously or not believe in you when you think they are amazing. and maybe they're NOT so amazing after all. maybe you're just a really amazingly awesome friend who thinks they're amazing, therefore they seem amazing.
but no, i'm just kidding, all my friends actually ARE amazing at music.

so that's my plan, to work on my lyrics and if they don't workout the way i want them too, fuck it. my regular lyrics aren't that bad by themselves anyway. i can't wait till someone believes in my music in a whole big way.


well, i am going to workout right now, improving for the better when there is nothing else to do.