the road -- my life

tumblr.

2010-10-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

I have decided to switch over to a new blogging service, which I like a lot more, called tumblr. You can find my tumblr page at amomentinthelife.tumblr.com. I plan on it being more photo-based, because pictures say a thousand words :)
Also don't worry, I'll still be reading through your guys's blogs, whoever still posts here...:)
Later gaterzz

this deserves it's own post.

2010-03-13T17:25:00.000-08:00

Ok. I admit it. I'm a little over-excited about this wheel. But it just looks so amazing! I painted it a color close to the color of the car's body. I'm going to do the same to the rest of the wheels. These wheels show how much character VW's have. It makes me happy :)

Not actually the 100th post/Urban Exploration

2010-03-10T13:14:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it turns out that 9 of the alleged 100 posts are actually just drafts. So I still have a ways to go lol.

Anyway.
Urban exploration. Urban exploration is a hobby that includes exploring and sometimes photographing abandoned and otherwise derelict and neglected locations. Popular sites are hospitals, insane asylums, factories, houses, and drains. It is not limited to that though. Any place abandoned or off-limits counts. Anyway, I find urban exploration to be very awesome, and would like to do some of it myself. Surprisingly, many urban explorers are very legal about their activities. Visits to defunct properties many times require permission, and a lot of explorers respect that. They also have a motto: 'Take only photos and leave only footprints'. They don't vandalize. The whole thing is based on the photo ops and just how interesting it all is. Awesomely enough, many explorers have their own websites where you can spend hours enjoying entertaining and often creepy photos. The best ones are the ones that actually care about the photos they take. A lot of them just take the pictures to document the trip (although they are interesting nonetheless) and are pretty all-around not-so-great pictures haha. Others are actual photographers and take really good pictures. This is the best website I've found so far: http://www.opacity.us/
And some more:

--http://www.forgottenoh.com/abandoned.html (Forgotten Ohio. I know the photo at the bottom is weird, but none of the other photos are like that so don't worry about it. He does tend to swear occasionally though so don't read the captions out loud lol)

--http://illicitohio.illicitohio.com/ (Illicit Ohio, one of the first I found, but not my favorite. He does have a lot of photos but he doesn't have a lot of locations, and he doesn't update very much.)

--http://sbno.illicitohio.com/ (SBNO, run by the Illicit Ohio guy. Strictly amusement parks. Very cool and creepy.)

--http://anc.funkybuu.net/ (AbandonedNC. Cool cause it's all around here)

--http://www.abandoned-places.com/ (Abandoned Places. Some really good photos here but the site is rather tricky to navigate.)

Have fun with those sites. I've spent hours on them. Just don't spend too much time at once, or you'll see it all in one day. It's interesting enough that you need to savor it. So limit yourself to just a few locations a day or whatever. It's kinda addicting though. Just be careful lol

These sites have really sparked up the photographer in me. I've found myself pulling out my camera more and more often. And I already use it all the time anyway.
So here are a couple of pictures of mine for ya, just cause. Enjoy :)

And one more photo, not one I took. It's a favorite of mine from the AbandonedNC website. The caption says "I'll leave this one to your imagination."

lalalala.

2010-03-08T05:20:00.000-08:00

So, I decided to take this week off of Facebook. I don't really need the constant contact with friends. Plus I just don't like having all this stuff to keep up with on the internet anyway. I think I'm gonna try to stay off everything but email actually. It's nice to take a break every once in a while.
I think I'll use the extra time it'll give me to save money. The next part of the Bug project is gonna cost about $200 O.O

I found some old car in the woods (last picture), and apparently it has a lot of valuable parts in it. I am going to ask the people that own the property it's on if I can take some parts from it. It could buy me, oh I dunno, an engine and wiring for my car :D So hopefully that works out.

Oh and random disclaimer: please don't get the impression that cars are 'my thing' or something. I'm doing this because I like vintage things, and I like making old things look better. Not much past that. k? :) Alllllllrighty well that's it for now folks. See ya next time on my 100th post...haha

:P

2010-03-02T17:28:00.000-08:00

^I love that face :D

So, Bug update. I got everything ready to take the body off of the chassis, and started to pull it off, and then of course ran into a problem. I had to quit for the day, but then I figured out what the problem was, so I was ready to try again. The problem was the steering. Well, I thought it would be an easy task to disconnect the steering, but it turned out I was wrong. Me, Adam, and Josiah worked on it for like 2 hours last night and we couldn't get it disconnected. So that's sorta disappointing. I hope to figure it out soon enough cause I really want to get that body off!

alrighty, that's it for now. ;)

post numberrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr 97.

2010-02-26T06:24:00.000-08:00

Well I'm almost to 100 posts, after like 2 years or something haha.
Anyway. I did my second photoshoot today (the first was for Nathan):D Exciting since I might be going into photography for a career. I took some senior pics for Josiah and Marissa Graf. This Saturday I am taking some pictures for my friend Will who is starting a solo music project (check him out: http://www.myspace.com/behindtheperceptions). So yeah, fun, awesome stuff :)
Also, I recorded a song! And I actually like it. It is a 2-minute acoustic thing called Open Windows. It was inspired by the beautiful sunny day God gave us yesterday :D You can check it out here: http://www.purevolume.com/MattD
Let me know what you think! ;)

And here are my favorites of the seniors I took:

Oh and if you want to see them good quality, you'll have to full-view them by clicking on them. Then download them to your computer. If you just full-view them without downloading, they will be like twice the size of your monitor xD

Cheers and peace homedawgs. haha

I got my dream car :D

2010-02-18T11:18:00.000-08:00

So, most of you prolly already know about this by now, but I figured I'd post about it anyway, since I haven't posted in forever. So yeah, I did get a VW Beetle at the beginning of the year. It needs a lot, but I wanted one to work on anyway ;) It's a 1974, Sahara Beige in color (although someone spray painted over it, I'm removing the spray paint and the original paint is easy to get to). I've been working on it constantly, so I may post updates here every once in a while. Pictures:

places I wanna go.

2009-12-17T17:50:00.000-08:00

1.Ireland
2.Southern California
3.Britain
4.Everywhere else.

all these BIRDS O.o

2009-12-15T14:25:00.001-08:00

We all know the song, the 12 days of Christmas. It's a classic. Well, you know how, in the song, 'me' lists /all/ the gifts /every/ day, then adds the new gift? Well, I figured that meant that, every time a new gift was given, it started a sort of 'tradition', and that same gift was given every day, along with all the others and a new one for each day. Basically, 'my true love' gave 'me' more than just 1 partridge, 2 turtle doves, 3 French hens, etc. So I made a calculation. I figured out just how many of each gift 'me' ends up with on the 12th day. The calculating was simple - since the day the gift was first given corresponds with the amount of the gift, I just multiplied the number of the day by the number of days left, including the current day. So for example, at day two, there were 11 days left, so multiply 11 by 2 to get 22 turtle doves. Make sense? Probably not lol. But here's what I got:

'Me' ends up with 12 partridges in pear trees, 22 turtle doves, 36 calling birds, 40 golden rings, 42 geese a-laying, 42 swans a-swimming, 40 maids a-milking, 36 ladies dancing, 30 lords a-leaping, 22 pipers piping, and 12 drummers drumming.

That's a lot of birds! haha

Merry Christmas!

what am I thankful for..?

2009-11-26T15:14:00.000-08:00

simply everything :D But here are a few specifics:

My God: If all I ever did for my whole life was praise God, I could never give Him enough credit :) He is the epitome of amazingness, awesomeness, stellarness, radness, etc, etc! I can't thank Him enough for anything :D

My family: God has blessed me with a loving and caring and large family. Do you know how many people /don't/ have that? Me either, but I do know this - it's a lot. So it's only natural that I'm so darned grateful for them :)

My friends: You guys are at the top of my list of things I'm thankful for. Your support, encouragement, inspiration, and most of all, your love for God really helps me through life. I don't really know if I could live without you :) Thanks.

I have a roof over my head: Again, do you know how many people don't have a roof over their head? A lot. Way more than you'd want to know. So it's simply amazing to me that I was born into a family that has more than just a roof, we have a 3-story house. Is that cool or what? I do not deserve this...

So yeah. Those are just a few of the things I'm so very grateful for, and I can never thank God enough for them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

life is amazing, don't you think?

2009-11-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

I love you guys. Every one of you (and yes by 'one' I mean one because I only expect like one person to read this ;)). My friends and my family are the biggest things in my life besides God and my faith. And that's because they help me through my faith. I have no idea where I would be if it was not for you, my friends, and my family. Oh, how I've been blessed :D Sometimes I can get so down, and depressed because of certain things, and you guys really help me pull through those times. Thanks.

So I've been looking for a car lately. Preferably a fixer-upper. I'm looking for a vintage VW Beetle or VW Karmann Ghia. A running engine is not a requirement lol. I'm not planning on spending very much on the car itself, but the restoration will probably cost around $1000. So yeah. If you find one, let me now :)

When I pray to God, I am often overwhelmed and at a loss of words. There is nothing more amazing than my God. I cannot begin to thank Him enough for everything he has given me - me, a sinner. Ah, I love Him more than anything :)

Well, my band is recording in studio every Wednesday this month. I'm so happy that we have this opportunity :) Please pray that we will do awesome and of course play to the glory of God :)

See you guys later, and thanks for reading :)
I'll try to get back in the routine of posting at least once a week ;)

Peace

oh dear.

2009-08-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

So I cut up a tree this morning. Yeah. We're having an outdoor storage building put in Wednesday so we had to cut some massive limbs off of a tree to get them out of the way. It took all day Saturday to get it cut down and all morning today to cut it up and get it by the side of the road.

After that, there was huge news. We checked the AMP email and it turns out we're supposed to be interviewed for a radio podcast Wednesday! On top of that, we have a band meeting tomorrow, and other stuff going on later in the week. So yeah. I'm like out of it right now I guess. I really really need to get some sleep. Being really excited and really tired at the same time is not a good feeling.

I guess this is one of those times where I just have to sit back, stop trying to run my own life, and let God have the controls. Really I should always let him run my life but so many times I just forget that He's the one that hold my next breath in his hands, and he has a plan for me, and it's all gonna be ok. Times like these are so humbling. It makes me realize how small I am and that I'm God's creature, I was put here for a reason. It's really annoying to me that I can forget Him.
So anyway guys, pray for me, (and the band on Wednesday!), I'm not feeling all that great right now.
I guess I gotta go now. I've got to leave tomorrow at nine for a band meeting!

Thank you guys so much for reading...and for being my friends. I couldn't live without you guys :)

Til next time.

In case you're wondering...

2009-07-31T06:14:00.001-07:00

about the new blog I just made...ignore it, lol. It's for a costume party. So yeah. I'm gonna delete it later.

I'll try to make an actual post soon...

water-skiing and stuff.

2009-07-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I was out on Lake Norman all afternoon for a family reunion thing. They wanted Adam and I to try to water-ski. So Adam went first, he did great, had a lot of fun. Then I went. I could not get the hang of it. I tried 100 times. So yeah. There were even some 9 and 12 year old girls skiing quite well. lol. It was pretty funny actually.

Tomorrow 3/4's of the AMP band are going to play at the library. We're doing a really awesome-sounding acoustic version of This Final Breath. Come see us if you can.

I've been so post-dry recently, haha. idk why but I just can't think of much to post about.

Happy Birthday Emily!

2009-07-14T07:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks for being a great friend :)
Have an amazing day!

the beach, my recent purchase, some random thoughts, some pictures, and a bit of good lyrics

2009-07-07T16:33:00.001-07:00

So I've been at the beach. I was there for a week. Thus my lack of recent posts.
The beach was a lot of fun...I actually only got in the ocean about 3 times but I swam in the pool a lot lol. I also met some cool people and I'm keeping in touch with them through email and chat. I think long-distance friends are cool.

I bought a ride cymbal.

I like liver mush.

I had some random thought I was gonna post about but of course I forgot it.

^full view them pitchers

Hallelujah, All I have is Christ
Hallelujah, Jesus is my life

okay I apologize profusely....I have no idea why this post is so boring. It just is. bleh. goodnight

sad but true.

2009-06-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

"Sometimes we are more zealous in prayer than in faith."

I was so tired Sunday that I could barely stay awake in church, but of the few things I picked up from the sermon, that quote is one of them.

So nobody tagged me but I'm gonna do this thing anyway:
[The Rules: Answer the following questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention and add one more question of your own.]

If you could live anywhere in any house, where and what would it be? Some 100 year old house in the country.

What are you wearing now? my pajamas

What is on your desk? My camera bags and some pencils

What would you like to learn to do? drive a jet ski

Name a song you are currently obsessing over: none but I have a lot of them going through my head

What was the last thing you bought? a camera bag

What one item are you currently wanting? a lot...particularly some cymbals and stands

What languages can you speak? English

What is the last book you have read? idk...I started reading Multiple Choice but never finished it

What do you want to be when you grow up? a human

What are your favorite websites? facebook, gmail...blogger...hulu

If you were to pick up a pen right now, what would be the first thing you'd write? "i don't know"

If you you could be anywhere in the world at any point in time, where would you be? IRELAND IN THE SUMMER

If you could be an animal, what would you be? a bird duh they freaking soar

What are you looking forward to in the near future? beach trip!

If you could open up your own store or business, what would it be? idk

Like Christianne, I didn't really dislike any of these so I didn't change them.

ugh.

2009-06-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 3 this morning with a seriously painful stomach. idk where I got it from, I guess it was a virus or something, my sister had the same problem a week or so ago. It was really bad and I couldn't sleep...but thankfully I'm feeling better now. I haven't eaten breakfast and I might not...but we'll see. Hopefully I'm completely better by tonight.

oh and I got my 4 gig memory card woo!

so...

2009-06-17T06:53:00.000-07:00

Strangely, I've been really really busy lately. If you've known me long enough you probably know that I'm not usually up to much. But, for the past week or so there's been a lot going on. Saturday (I don't even remember if it was this past Saturday or the one before lol) my mom told me to take everything out of my room, cuz we were gonna paint. So we just finished getting most of that stuff put back in there yesterday. It was all a huge mess in the next room for a while. It looks so good in both rooms now that everything is back where it goes haha.
Here are some before and after pictures. I don't have any good 'before's with the stuff in the room, and I took all the good 'after's after we put the stuff back in. But you can still tell the difference of course...haha

Full view all those if you want to see them in better quality. A lot of them are kinda blurry because the lighting wasn't all that great..
You'll notice that the guitars are all lying around in corners...we haven't gotten anything up on the walls yet, including the guitar hangers, so yeah.

I started writing my first song the other day. All I have is the music and the title, but I'm going to get together with Nathan sometime and he's going to help me with lyrics. He's saying that we might do it with AMP and put it on a record, which would be really cool.

Oh also, I finally got around to painting my old bike again...I found it in a creek last summer, and fixed it up til it was rideable. I started painting it earlier this year but stopped for a while. My grandma encouraged me to finish it so I could take it to the beach in a couple of weeks.
I have a picture of it before it was painted but when I went to take an after picture, my camera lens kept fogging over...I guess cuz it was so humid or something. I'll post pictures of it later though.

So I need to get a camera bag and a big memory card...we're going to the beach on the 27th and we're staying through July 4th and I really don't wanna bring my camera with no bag and room for only 47 pictures.

So that's the yearly update. Until next time! jk

HAVE A HAPPY DAY :D

this week.

2009-06-04T17:49:00.000-07:00

Well this week has been interesting...
Monday afternoon Adam and I drove into Charlotte to my uncle's house to house-sit for him. We brought tons of junk food and movies and had a lot of fun lol.
Tuesday and Wednesday we hung out with Nathan and Torie, which was a lot of fun, but we invited a ton of other people but they all either couldn't come or couldn't answer their phones or something. We were supposed to go to frisbee today but it was raining so we didn't. We went to the Sweigart's and put together the amazing studio computer.

So a random thought I had...some people need a lot of encouragement to get through life, others don't. So what I was thinking was, if you don't need a lot of encouragement, is that a good thing? And what if you do? Is that bad?
What do you think?

some pictures...

2009-05-26T06:40:00.000-07:00

I took these for Nathan in downtown Gastonia. Also some of these are edited as you can probably tell...
We found a couple of really great places, like alleys with torn up plaster and stuff haha. I wish I had had a bigger memory card though because I could only take like 55 pictures with my lame little 32 meg card.

full view these, they look a lot better that way.

sorry...

2009-05-19T05:33:00.000-07:00

but this is the 'last week of school' and it's really busy, as was last week, so I haven't had a lot of time to post.

Anyway, Friday I got a lens and then went to a play (I didn't get to bring my camera but they didn't allow photography anyway). It was a really great play (despite a few parts...). I enjoyed it. Unfortunately my parents know how easy it is to get lost in uptown Charlotte, so they didn't let us go to Rita's lol.

So my camera is like really hard to use in manual mode...but I'm learning haha. Here are some pictures from it:

the hardest part about manual mode is getting the ISO speed right...that's why some of these are so noisy.

I got an SLR!

2009-05-07T03:57:00.000-07:00

and it's not April 1st! w00t!

I got the Rebel XT. Still not sure as to which lens I want yet though. I hope to buy a lens before the camera gets here.

I'm doing this because I'm bored.

2009-05-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

Most of these pictures really don't work lol

Questions:
1. What is your name? Matthew
2. What is your favorite food? Steak
3. What is your hometown? Gastonia
4. What is your favorite color? Orange
5. What is your favorite movie? The Lord of the Rings
6. What is your favorite drink? Root beer
7. What is your dream vacation? Ireland
8. What is your favorite dessert? Bread Pudding
9. What is one word to describe yourself? Human
10. How are you feeling right now? Bored
11. What do you love most in the world? Friends
12. What do you want to be when you grow up? I'm not sure
13. Favorite Hobby? Photography
14. What kind of books do you like? Good ones
15. What’s your favorite sport? Biking
16.Where do you work? Yard

wavorly.

2009-05-02T07:34:00.001-07:00

I know some of you have heard of them, but if not, CHECK THEM OUT. They're like Muse+Nevertheless+The Afters+Underoath+Becoming the Archetype. Basically pure awesomeness. If you have time, listen to their whole album all the way through. It's much better that way.

sigh...I can't make a decision.

2009-04-30T18:59:00.000-07:00

so yeah...now I'm liking the Rebels again. The Rebel XT especially. I like the cameras with two screens, one for review and one for settings status, but the only Rebel that has that (besides the original which I don't want), is the XT. The EOS 30D also has that but I really like the compactness of the Rebels...it's just really frustrating sometimes because I have such a hard time making decisions. I just hope and pray I do the right thing.
Of course, no matter what, it's God's will which is more than comforting to me. So yeah. I guess I'll be happy no matter what. I'm still frustrated though.

2009-04-30T06:01:00.001-07:00

however I just figured out that I can just use the URL to follow instead...

okay...I've figured it out now...lol. It's still annoying though.

aaaaaaaaand now I follow Chelsea's blog with my google friend connect account AND my blogger account. I just made the problem worse.

...Oh well

Mwahahah I fixed it.
The google friend connect thing is basically useless...

ugh.

2009-04-30T05:56:00.000-07:00

I wish Google wasn't buying out everything and making changes. Now I have to sign in to Blogger with my yahoo account (because I signed up with yahoo and now that I have a gmail, it won't let me switch, unless I just make a whole new account and that wouldn't work), and if I want to follow somebody's blog, I have to sign in with my Google account. So now some of the blogs I follow with google don't show up in my little reading list. It's annoying.

2009-04-30T04:03:00.000-07:00

I've decided to post more pictures. I'm a photographer yet I barely ever post pictures. That's just wrong :D

Well I went outside yesterday and started taking pictures of myself with the sky as a backdrop. Here's the best one. It's my profile picture.

More later. Hopefully I'll have some up every week.

live life to the fullest.

2009-04-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

Live life to the fullest. Ever heard that before? I’m surprised if you haven’t. Anyway, I’ve been thinking , I haven’t been doing that lately. Part of being a Christian is putting off the rags of the old man and putting on the new man. But I haven’t done that yet. I feel guilty whenever I watch a movie or show with bad language or something in it, when I use inappropriate language myself (even if I’m just saying something ‘sucks’ – it doesn’t have to be a ‘cuss word’. Anything unacceptable should be avoided), or anything like that. I think living life to the fullest is living life as pleasing to God as possible. Which means casting off anything unrighteous, whatever it may be. I’ve broken (almost) every commandment, and I’m forgiven for that. But forgiven doesn’t mean just keep on doing it. It means stop it. When I ‘became’ a Christian, I was happy. By repeating the words of the prayer the pastor said during the invitation, I thought I was born again. I was a Christian. I could participate in the Lord’s supper. I didn’t realize until a while after that that being a Christian is a lot more than saying a prayer. It means you change. You can never put off all the things of the old man, but you can do your best. I haven’t done my best. That’s my goal though. I’m sickened by how un-Christian I can be sometimes. I want to do everything I can to please God, and in everything I do, I hope God will be pleased. Also I think it would be more pleasing to other people. And I think it would make life easier. Nothing should make a person happier than pleasing God.

I hope you could follow all that…it seems a little scattered to me.

I have to quote you on this, Emily :)

2009-04-29T12:44:00.001-07:00

"Good things are worth waiting for."

W00T.

2009-04-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

I sold my minibike yesterday :)

I now have enough money to buy one of the cheaper SLRs and it's quite tempting. However I'm still going to wait a while and get a better one. I've talked to my grandpa about it a bit, because he's into photography and has always had a nice camera, and he's trying to get me to buy Nikon...which I knew he would cuz that's what he likes. And they're cheaper so that would be easier...

But anyway, I'm boring you with all this camera stuff, I'm sure lol.
I've been meaning to post something 'deep', or at least something other than 'I did this and this today', cuz I haven't done that in a while, but I can't think of anything right now...whenever I do think of something I can't get to a computer, and then I forget whatever it was I was going to write about. I suppose I could write it down on paper to save it for later...

Well the weather has been amazing these past weeks. I'm really enjoying it, it's really my favorite kind of weather, all sunny and warm...haha

btw..

2009-04-27T18:10:00.001-07:00

if you wanna see all those pictures full size, just click on them :)

pictures.

2009-04-27T16:59:00.000-07:00

First off, the infamous pig photo. We took this on the way home from the movie meeting Saturday. The people who own the mailbox that the pig is on sell BBQ sauce or something. I don't think they were home because nobody came out and started shooting us when we took the picture haha. jk, but I think they would have at least come out to see what was going on if they were home.

Now some jib pictures:

And lastly, I went out for a walk on Sunday afternoon cuz I couldn't resist the awesome weather haha. I brought my camera along and took some pictures. Here are some of them.

My favorite:

A path:

A landscape:

I found a lot of these out there :)

Another of my favorites:

/>

Some cool trees by the creek:

Creek:

And lastly...this rather humorous photo...lol

Well that's it guys. Enjoy!

so...

2009-04-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

I owe you guys a really long post...so I'm going to make two. One text and one pictures.

So I've been really busy lately with school and AMP and whatnot. That's why I haven't posted in a while. Also I kinda like long posts every once in a while better than short posts every day haha.
So how do you guys like the new layout? I went with white for the text, because I just like it better.

I'm still working toward getting an SLR. I've decided that it's best to actually move a level up from the Canon Rebels and get an older semi-professional SLR. I'm thinking of the Cnaon EOS 30D:

It's really a better camera than the Rebels, and it'll last longer cuz it's really durable. There's a lot of other factors that led me to go for this camera, but I won't go into the details...lol
Also in my quest to find the right first SLR, I found out about this Pentax:

It's quite a beauty to look at, but it lacks a lot of features, and it's just really not what I'm looking for. There are more cons but, once again, I won't go into the details, haha.

Well I finally paid off my double bass pedal. Ah the relief of paying off debt.

I also got a steady job washing my neighbor's car every week, which I'm depending on making up a pretty substantial portion of the money I'll use to buy an SLR.
Also I've got someone interested in my minibike finally...they're coming over tomorrow to see it.

Oh! We had our second movie meeting of the year last Saturday! It was very productive(ful) and fun. We used our jib crane for the first time, which was awesome. The shots we used it for are like ten times more professional-looking than they would have been if we used a tripod or something. I'll have pictures of that in my next post.

Well I think that's about it. I'm really happy right now. This has been a great day.

it fits!!

2009-04-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

w00t!!
if you ever need to change your blog header and need it to fit in the border, make it 648 pixels wide.

:D

new title.

2009-04-27T04:51:00.000-07:00

I really liked that picture so I was trying to come up with a blog name that went with it, and simply "the road" was the best I came up with. Also, I've been told that my blog seems like a journal, and journals are about people's lives. Thus the subtitle.

I'm working on getting the picture to fit the border around it...it should fit but it won't for some reason...I used to just ditch the borders but I think they look good with the orange background so I'm going to try to keep them this time.

btw, sorry I haven't made a post in so long...I've been really busy. I'll post again soon though.

the post-every-day thing really isn't working out...

2009-04-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

so wow guys, i haven't posted in like 2 weeks or something...that's really sad. I guess it's probably because I usually post on weekends and my weekends have been really busy these past few weeks.
So I'll start with the arts festival weekend.
That friday, I went over to CrossWay for a short practice and to setup the keyboard. then the actual festival on Saturday was amazing. There was a lot of great talent there (I'm still Captivated by Abby Bell's performance :)), and the bands did great. Unfortunately I missed Emily's skit, which I was really anticipating since she wouldn't tell me anything about it haha.
After that there was a basically eventless week. We had spring break...sorta. We still had to a do a little bit of stuff but thank goodness we didn't have to do any Tapestry of Grace stuff. That friday we had another productive band practice at Wesley's.
This week we're cramming a lot of school into one week. We're doing two weeks worth of Tapestry, and so far it isn't working out too well, haha.
Also today Adam and I picked up a friend of ours and we tacked up signs around town cuz we're gonna have a protest on tax day tomorrow. I probably won't attend, since I have school to do, but I'm hoping it'll have an effect...
Oh and yesterday Nathan came over to work on the AMP MySpace, which was a lot of fun, and this Saturday we're going to have yet another band practice, here at my house.

I really enjoy being with the Awake Music Project. Music is one of the biggest things in my life and I'm glad to be producing it to the glory of God. I know that a lot of times, bands started by teenagers like us don't last long, and never make it big, maybe only play one local show. But I really hope and pray that this project will be successful. Largely successful. It would be totally amazing if it was.

Well I guess that's all for now. Thanks for reading, guys.

...

2009-04-01T18:06:00.001-07:00

I don't know why the end of my last post isn't showing up...it's supposed to say:

'These are both about living a non-ordinary life and living life to the fullest for God and being known for it. Which is simply awesome :)'

I got an SLR!

2009-04-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

And it's April 1st!

anyway...I've decided, like most everyone else, to follow Emily's advice and post every day possible.
Well today nothing happened. I did school. That's it.

but I do have some cool songs to post! my first time doing this. These two songs both have the same sort of idea.

Casualties
Addison Road

He sees his life just pass by
Just another number in a suit and tie
No purpose here nothing to give
Is this what it means to really live?
His feet never touch the ground
His days fly by, he can't slow down

Casualties of the American dream
Have we lost our vision
Drifting off and living
Half asleep with a faint heartbeat
Just dying to be revived
I want to be revived

She's screaming out,"I've lost control"
Caught in another undertow
She's only barely hanging on
Been holding her breath for so long
Her feet never touch the ground
She's not sure which way is up or down

Casualties of the American dream
Have we lost our vision
Drifting off and living
Half asleep with a faint heartbeat
Just dying to be revived

I want to be revived
I want to feel alive
And in a world so numb
Don't let me become another
Casualty living in a dream

Casualties of the American dream
Have we lost our vision
Drifting off and living
Half asleep with a faint heartbeat
Just dying to be revived
I want to be revived

I want to be revived

Legacy
Sanctus Real

What will they say when I'm Gone, in words
That are written in stone?
Under my name, what will they claim
About me?

Oh, I want to leave a legacy to be remembered
More than just a memory that fades away
Because we only, we only get one life

Free me, my hands are tied
I'm so tired of wasting time
These endless inventions steal my
Attention from real life
And when it's done, when it's over...

And will the world see Christ when they
Look at my life?
Oh, will they world see?

MMM, come on, give me, give me, give me real life
And no more, no more, no more wasting time
Because we only, we only get one life


These are both about living a non-ordinary life and living life to the fullest for God and being known for it. Which is simply awesome :)

wow.

2009-03-31T18:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in what a week??
Well anyway, last Friday I had a lot of fun at game night, played plenty of games and socialized and whatnot..the only downside was that Christianne took my lemonade lol jk
Then after that I went to the Elliott's and slept over, then we had the first real movie meeting of the year! and got a lot done.

This saturday is the arts festival.........wow I'm not ready. also this saturday I'm taking the ACT for the second time. Fun fun.

I'm selling my minibike...with the money I plan to by an slr. I'm leaning towards the Canon Rebel XTi (aka 400D).

oh and I'm finally playing some Rachmaninoff. It's a really great and impressive-sounding song haha. I'm really enjoying it.

I need to slooooooooooow down.

2009-03-19T17:19:00.001-07:00

yeah I've got like tons of different things that I want to buy and one day I want one thing and one day I want another...I need to just slow down and get organized about it...

anyway...my sister was in the regional spelling bee today and she didn't win...:( then she threw up in the car, so I'm sure she didn't have the best day of her life.

on a lighter note..my paw-paw has informed us that he's gonna give us his violin that he never plays anymore. Which is great cuz it's much better quality than that piece of junk that I destroyed...

lalalalalalala.

2009-03-15T17:58:00.000-07:00

well not much to say here I guess...I had an amazing time doing the lights for wes and nate and everybody. Then we had the best pizza in the world...though hard to eat. If you're one of the people who went in the kitchen to eat some of the leftovers, then you know what I mean haha. Unfortunately my dad didn't want us to stay for youth so we had to leave. but I think we might come to game night on the 27th(?)Oh and of course the performance arts...thingy..whatever it's called. Arts festival? well you know what I mean.

So last week my mom got a ton of old tennis balls for something and adam and I made up a game using them. It's called T H E G A M E and it's quite fun.

How to play it: T H E G A M E has not yet been named, but IT IS AWESOME and every single suggestion is welcome. I'll ignore it, but welcome. It's similar to WALL BALL but better.

To play T H E G A M E, you need at least two people, at least one TENEES ball, and at least one wall.

To begin, one player throws the ball at the ground, bouncing it up to the wall. As it bounces off the wall, the other player must catch it and immediately bounce it back onto the wall. The ball has to hit the ground only once on every throw. If it hits the ground on the way back before the other player catches it, it's a dead ball and the first player gets a point. A player also gets a point if the thrower catches their own ball.

Boundaries depend on the size of the wall. Each side of the wall is as far as the ball can go before being out of bounds. If a ball goes out, it's the other player's ball.

TEAMS: Teams are fine and you can do them in whatever crazy combinations you want. For instance, four people in two-person teams or three people in a FREE-FOR-ALL-EVERY-MAN-FOR-HIMSELF-MELEE. Whatever you want.

It's a plus if you make lots of weird sounds and laugh a lot. That's the main point of T H E G A M E. That and speed. Never slow down. Make up weird crazy stupid moves and scream "SWEET MOVE!" If you get into a real back-and-forth situation, scream "INTENSE!" So that's T H E G A M E. Go play RIGHT NOW.

oh and btw...a TENEES ball is the same as a tennis ball....................

bye now.

God sure moves in mysterious ways...:)

2009-03-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

There's a guy that lives down the street from me that plays the drums, and I went over to his house to ask him for drumsticks cuz I left mine at the Brown's. So not only did he find a pair of sticks for me, he also showed me his kit, and was talking to me about his brand new double bass pedal....and all the while my eye was set on his old double pedal sitting in the floor...
So then I was like "so you're selling the old ones?"
And he's like "yeah, why don't take it home with you and try it out."
So I was like SCORE!! hahaha
so yeah, he's giving me a real good deal on it and I even get a free trial, and he doesn't care how long I take to pay him....

PICTURE YAY:

that's all for now folks :)
hope to see ya tomorrow.

thank you guys.

2009-03-07T18:11:00.000-08:00

thank you guys all so much for being my friends :) I was talking to Emily the other day, and we were just talking about this and that, then she suddenly said something about me being closer to God and being more happy recently (I know that sounds lame but I don't want to make an exact quote haha). Then I realized that that's because of you guys. You guys are a real encouragement to me. Thanks.

Well this weekend was amazing. Friday afternoon I went over to the Brown's for an AMP practice with Nathan, Wesley, Eric, Mark, Adam, and Zach, which was really cool, then afterwards Adam and Wes and I went over to Nathan's and played guitar and stuff and sang a little bit, then went and ate at Subway and talked about our driver's ed experiences. It was the best time I've had in a long time, haha.

oh yeah and also I did some more yard work for that lady I raked for last fall...she said that I might be able to get a job with her during the summer cutting grass, which is pretty cool.....

sorry this post seems a little rushed, I gotta go to bed haha.

wow....

2009-03-01T17:48:00.000-08:00

I totally forgot how fun snow is haha. I was out there for like an hour...I walked around the 'hood and had a snowball fight with some random people....fun times :)

i so cannot wait til summer.

2009-02-28T18:16:00.000-08:00

It's so hectic with school going on haha! I just want a break...

Well I did good with the piano thing. I got the best ratings possible. That's not saying much, though. It's like really easy haha. Cuz I messed up really bad but I still got that rating...so yeah. but I feel bad for having done so because my siblings all got at least one not-so-good rating I think...:(

oh yeah and I bought a new cymbal stand...can't wait for it to come. However, my drum throne randomly broke so I have to get a new one...I've got connections though and I'm pretty sure I can get one for really cheap.
So that's that. I'm really hoping I can hang out with Nate and everybody else tomorrow. We'll see.

2009-02-24T18:31:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to make this week better than last week. Last week I spent way too much time doing nothing...and I took all day to do school almost every day.
So far I'm doing pretty well this week. I had a math test monday, got a 60...a friend of my mom's who was a math major in college came over and helped me out, then I redid the test and got a 95. Which, needless to say, I'm very happy about :D

Nothing much is happening other than that....oh yeah I have to play some songs for judges this friday. Something I do every year and it's a big part of my piano lessons/experience. Pray for me please!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!

2009-02-20T19:07:00.000-08:00

he probably won't read this...but yeah, I have a 17-year-old brother tomorrow. :)

this week...

2009-02-20T18:52:00.000-08:00

was horrible. I started off on the wrong foot this week apparently. I spent way too much time procrastinating and thus didn't get my school done until really late pretty much every day up until today. Today was much better. My family left me all here alone so I had peace and quiet for a while. So I got my stuff done today. I finally got to play the drums again (I haven't played them all week) and since I was getting all the week's stress out, I ended up breaking a drumstick, haha. Then I discovered that I had a new almost never used pair of sticks in my drumstick bag. So yeah...they'll last me for a while before they break :D
Anyway, though...my week has taken a sharp turn and now I'm happy again :D

Recently I tend to find myself very thankful...I'm constantly thanking God for stuff. Like for everything.

I think I'm gonna call a lady about a summer job tomorrow...wish me luck :)

oh yeah and my little sister won the spelling bee today! I'm happy for her. I never won it myself, haha.

It's been a while...

2009-02-18T09:26:00.000-08:00

yeah...I've just been kinda extra busy with school and trying to get that song put together. but I'm still alive :)
Have you noticed? Lately I've been using smilies, like a LOT recently, haha. I guess that's just because I was deprived of them for so long :)
Well recently I kinda decided that I want to learn to drive manual. I don't know why but I do. I want a manual 60's or 70's Beetle. It would rock my socks.

My dad is having back problems again, but I don't really know why...plus he's got a really bad cold and there are a lot of employees where he works that he basically has to fire, and he really doesn't feel good about that. He would appreciate your prayers.

Prayer is very comforting through hectic chaotic weeks like this one....I have prayed a lot this week. I'm hoping that the week will get better through the remaining days. So far it looks like today isn't too bad. Yesterday was probably the worst day of this week so far. I woke up late, was doing bad in school, and I had a lot of interruptions, so I ended up having to quit. But while I was doing my math, in the video lesson (which is taught by a Christian guy) the teacher said something that inspired me the rest of that day and today. He was talking about how as Christians our main goal in life is to glorify God and use every opportunity we could (in school, particularly) to learn and develop our God-given brains (he words things a bit odd sometimes...). And then I realized that I haven't been doing that at all. I skip stuff just because it gets late and I don't want to do it anymore. Well I decided to start working harder. Today and for the rest of the week, and ultimately the rest of my high school years, it's my goal to be done at a reasonable time, and if I'm not, then I need to keep going until everything, EVERYTHING, that I'm supposed to have done is done.

Playing for Others Songwriting Competition Entry

2009-02-18T09:06:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Emily for writing the lyrics :)

Concert.

2009-02-11T17:22:00.000-08:00

The concert was freakin awesome. I honestly wouldn't have enjoyed it without my friends there enjoying it as well.
I have a ton of great pics, but I'm gonna try to post just a few here, haha. Click on the pics to see them full-size.

The singer from Mile 7:

the annoying guitarist/keys guy from mile 7:

Kimber Rising. good voices but not my cup of tea:

The guy that played guitar for Kimber Rising that looks like Andy Serkis:

Michael from Above the Golden State. He was awesome. Even though it was just him, he was pretty much the best there:

Jason from B429 with the bassist making a funny face in the background:

Jason (at the piano), the drummer, and the bassist playing "Always":

I got some pretty cool pics of Jesse from B429 because I was really close to him:

A bit of the crowd:

I have some videos, but none of them are full songs or anything and they would take forever to load so...that's all for now folks.

once again, I haven't posted for an entire week.

2009-02-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

Was it a week? maybe a little less...
anyway...I WON THE LOLFAST!!!! yeah....so now I can say lol and rofl and :) and :( and all that good stuff again. w00t.
Well tomorrow I'm finally going to another concert. Ever since that first one I went to, I've tried to go to every other one I heard of, haha. This concert features two of the same bands from the other concert, but oh well, there are some others too. Plus, this time I'm going to remember to bring my camera, haha.
so yeah....I think I don't really haev too much to post here tonight.
Well I can tell you about my week.
I got some different video lessons for my math than the ones I've been using and these are a lot more helpful. That's how I only got 2 wrong that time.
Also, I played a little bit of guitar with a friend earlier this week..I rarely get to do that so that was pretty cool.
so....GOODBYE NOW CHILDREN.

YIPPEE!!

2009-02-04T14:48:00.000-08:00

I ONLY GOT /TWO/ MATH PROBLEMS WRONG TODAY!!! AND I'VE BEEN GETTING 6, 7, 8 AND MORE WRONG!!!! OMIGOSH I'M SO HAPPY!!!WOOOOT!!!

woot. I am happy!

2009-02-01T18:33:00.000-08:00

Sorry guys! It's been such a long time since I last posted. Okay a week. But still, that's unacceptable. Anyway...last week, I think I pretty much figured out my math, which is great, and even if I haven't got it down just yet, I do have friends offering me some help. thanks you two, I will contact you if ever I am in need of help.

Other than that math stuff, nothing particularly exciting happened last week. Well actually I got some new uke strings. Which is good, because the stock ones were on there for a year.

Also last week I drew a picture. Rarely do I get the urge and collect the patience to draw a good picture but I think I finally did it again last week. Here it is: Un Pianoforte:

and yes I am happy....I am happy...and sleepy...........

This weekend.

2009-01-24T07:29:00.000-08:00

Well, yesterday (Friday) I was determined, as you know, and I finished school by about 3 or 4 o'clock. I'm very glad I finished it that early because I've had a TON of schoolwork to do this week. Like, probably 12 or more hours worth. The curriculum we use is divided into units, and there's a test and review for each one. I had the review this week and that was about 35 history questions.
Anyway, after school, my grandma came and picked up Adam and I, and we went to KFC for some awesomely tasty chicken and biscuits. Then we went down the road to a concert. It was made up of just 2 guys, one old guy on the piano and a younger guy on the violin/fiddle (at one point someone asked if he liked playing fiddle style or violin better and he said he tried to make it both). They called themselves Pianafiddle. What they did was almost entirely improv. It was amazing. A lot of times they'd start out with like Beethoven or Bach, and then the violin/fiddle guy, who could never help getting in the groove, would suddenly turn it into some kind of wierd bluegrass fiddle tune. But anyway, the whole thing was very good. Check out their website. www.pianafiddle.com. After all that, we went back to my grandma's and watched a couple movies. Number 1: Hancock. I wouldn't reccomend it. Number 2: Wanted. STAY AWAY FROM IT. It was such a waste of time. The whole point of it is to use all those awesome commercials they made for it a lure you into watching it, and then at the end they basically call you an idiot to your face. Not to mention the constant swearing and stuff. Worst movie ever. Don't watch it.

Well I'll post more later...breakfast time.

Today.

2009-01-23T04:07:00.000-08:00

Today I am a determined individual. I woke up early and I feel prepared to do anything.

That's it.

I sure don't post enough do I?

2009-01-22T18:24:00.000-08:00

No I don't. And it's because of school. It's entirely my fault though. All those resolutions? Well i didn't really try hard enough to follow them this week. We had family over all week and I've had a lot of extra stuff to do this week. So yeah, it's been kinda hectic. I still blame myself for it though. And also I'm not giving up on those resolutions. Definitely not.
Also, I'm still having problems with my math but that's okay. I've adopted a new mindset. That mindset is that i just gonna keep on trying until I figure it out. I mean really, it's a simple math problem, right? Yep, and a lot of people I know have had the same kind of problems. I mean, what teenager doesn't? Not many of them.
So....we did get some snow here in G-town. Not too much though...it never even completely covered the ground. It was nice to see some of that good ol' fluffy white precip again though. Here's a nice picture:

and here's another:

and another! I sorta over did the cold look didn't I? haha

Recently I've been thinking of possibly buying a film camera. Since I'm really into photography, as most of you know, and might even pursue a career in that particular area, I've always thought it would be nice to have a good 35mm on hand to experiment with. Also, I really love SLRs. They're capable of taking such beautifully amazing photos. but of course, the new digital ones, which I'd prefer, cost a LOT. Even the cheaper starter kits like the Canon Rebel. So I thought, if I'm going to get a film camera, and I really want a digital SLR but I can't pay for it, why not get a film SLR? Brilliant. Turns out, Canon Rebels have been around for a while, and back in 1996 they made a film SLR called the Rebel G, which you can now find used all over the place for under 100 dollars. In fact, I've seen a lot for 40 or 45 dollars! So yeah, I think it would be cool to have one of those...I'll probably have one before you know it, haha.

Well, that's all for now, folks. Hope that makes up for the week's posts.
G'night ya'll. hahahaha

New weeks resolutions.

2009-01-19T15:59:00.000-08:00

I have goals for this week. Some new weeks’ resolutions, if you will. These goals aren’t something I’m just saying I need to get done, but something I genuinely hope and pray to get done and to apply to the next week and the next and the next, and so on.

#1: I plan to use my school time wisely and quit procrastinating . Too often, I sit around, play guitar, pet the dog…eat – just a lot of stuff I don’t need to be doing, while my schoolwork sits there unfinished. Often times I don’t even finish until sometime very late. So my goal is to finish school by 2:30 or earlier, every day of the week. Also, on a related note, I need to do my schoolwork more efficiently. I tend to do the easier things first, when I really need to do harder things first, because my mind is clearer in the mornings.
And one more school-related thing. Thanks to my clever and smart dad, I have figured out my problem with algebra. It’s simple. I right down as little work as possible, and do too much in my head, and I end up confused (that’s not the problem EVERY time, but it’s a big part of it). So in the future I plan to right down everything and pay more attention, and therefore get much better grades.

#2: I plan to spend less time doing nothing. Once I finally do finish my school, I usually walk around bored and without anything to do for a period of time. Like an hour or two. I realize that this period of nothingness is a waste of the precious time of life. I need to fill these times with something meaningful. Even if it’s something little like cleaning up my room.

#3: number 3 number 3 number threeeeeeee…dang it..there was a number 3 but I forgot it. I’ll think of it later.

Until then, please pray for me to get these things done and established as priorities. Thanks.

hey guys.

2009-01-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

sorry it's been a while...see, there's a little thing called life that gets in the way sometimes. haha

anyway, new vid from Adam and I. we were not serious:

well here we go...

2009-01-01T18:09:00.000-08:00

Well, this is it, the long post i promised, haha.
First of all, i'll say that this has just been an amazing year. I've met so many people and all...i don't know...it's just been great. The best part of this year was all the people i have met and the people i already knew that i've grown closer to. you guys are all awesome.
And some of you won't read this but that's okay...haha

Emily: i've gotten to know you very well in just this one year. you're an amazing friend and i've really enjoyed making the movie with you so far, and i know our great friendship will continue even after the completion of the movie!

Olivia: you're so funny and nice to be around. it's cool how fast i've gotten to know you and...i love all those videos you've made with your sisters...those are totally hilarious!

Nathan: you're awesome! haha. i've really enjoyed the few times i've hung out with you and hope there will be many more.

Marissa: through this past year i've gotten to know you a lot better. you used to almost just be 'Josiah's sister' to me, but thanks to the movie filming you've become a lot more than that and i hope to get to know you even better in the years ahead.

Morgan: of all the people i've met from crossway (besides the Elliotts, of course...) i know you the best. i've enjoyed talking to you (or rather chatting haha) and hope to get to know you much better!

And everyone else: Emily S, Christianne, Wes, Anna, Jessi, Hannah, Mark, Chelsey, BJ - you guys are all amazing and i don't know you very well but i hope i will!

so overall, this year has just been amazingly wonderfully super duper awesomely rockin great and it's gone by so frickin fast!!!!

HAPPY 2009!

WOW.

2008-12-23T18:01:00.001-08:00

can you believe it? Christmas eve is tomorrow. all i can say is: WOW. this year has just gone by so fast. and before the end of it, i'll probably have a REALLY long post about all this year contained...

new changes.

2008-12-20T20:03:00.000-08:00

as you can see, i've finally started making the changes to my layout...i'll finish up soon.

update.

2008-12-20T19:25:00.000-08:00

okay, my dad feels much better now. he went to work yesterday for a little while, and we aren't canceling church or anything else as far as i know.

my maw-maw is out of the hospital and is feeling much better as well.

thanks for your prayers.

well today sure was eventful.

2008-12-17T18:09:00.000-08:00

yeah...my dad somehow like ruptured a disc in his spine or something and he had to go to the doctor, and he's on a lot of drugs, and he feels really bad. so pray for him please. also, since it may take a while for him to get back to feeling completely normal and everything, we may have to cancel some of our holiday plans. we were going to go to visit family in alabama after christmas but that may not happen. also, my dad won't be able to preach this sunday and i don't know if our other pastor has a sermon ready or not, and if he doesn't, he has a lot of work to do. we might actually end up canceling church (which we DO have to do sometimes, but it's rare) so yeah....

also i had a sandwhich today with some turkey on it that smelled like fir trees. that was a rather weird experience....
for some reason my mom keeps getting weird tea. we usually get the wal-mart brand stuff but a week or so ago she bought lipton instead, and it tasted gross, then she finally got the wal-mart stuff again but it was a different kind so it still tastes kinda weird. but at least we have something to drink at all.

oh, yeah, and algebra is really confusing me this week. i'm getting 60's on my tests and i can't figure it out...my dad has tried to help me but it didn't work. so anyway...i have yet to figure out what's going to happen with that....sigh.

YAY.

2008-12-16T17:34:00.000-08:00

my tablet came today. it was weird at first but i got used to it really fast. it's niftier than i thought and it's so much fun.

christianne has ruthlessly tagged me.

2008-12-16T17:25:00.000-08:00

tagged again.

The Rules

1. Copy the questions and then answer them (post it on your blog remember).

2. Tag 4 people and let them know you have tagged them.

3. Let the person [who tagged you] know that you have done a post for the tag.

What are your nicknames?
Matt (most people call me Matthew but you guys know me better as Matt...)

What TV game show or reality show would you like to be on?
i don't know...i don't wanna be on tv

What was the first movie you bought in VHS or DVD?
ummm...i don't know

What is your favorite scent?
i don't have favorites (well not many anyway). if i had a favorite scent, i'd be discriminating against all the others.

If you had one million dollars to spend only on yourself, what would you spend it on?
i would donate some of it to charity, save most of it, pay for college with it (if i go) and buy some stuff...

What is one place you've visited, can't forget and want to go back to?
Gettysburg. i stayed in a 200-year old dilapidated house. the bathroom was at the top of a staircase, and the only door was at the bottom of those stairs, so you had to have someone stand outside the stairway door, haha, fun times...

Do you trust easily?
umm...no...? i don't know

Do you generally think before your act, or act before you think?
the former.

Is there anything that had made you unhappy these days?
yes.

What is your favorite fruit?
pineapple!!!

What websites do you visit daily?
blogs, forums, deviantart, facebook, e-mail

What is your favorite thing to wear?
jeans, t-shirt, hoodie.

Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy?
i guess.

What items couldn't you be without during the day?
anything that plays music. or that i play music with.

What should you be doing right now?
i'm doing what i'm supposed to be doing.

I tag:
whoever wants to do it if they haven't already.

pray for my grandma.

2008-12-14T17:48:00.000-08:00

she has heart problems. they say that one of her heart chambers is stronger than the other, and that could somehow cause a heart attack. so they have four options to try to fix the problem, including stopping her heart to see if it starts back normally, and it's all just really, well, not fun. so please pray for her.

well tomorrow starts the last week of the school year. i've been waiting a lot recently...waiting for this week, waiting for my tablet to come, waiting for christmas, oh how suspenseful it is...

by the way, sorry it's taking me so long to make the layout changes i was talking about. i'm working on it!

sweetness.

2008-12-13T18:49:00.000-08:00

well yesterday i bought this thing called a graphics tablet. basically it lets you draw with the computer. it's very nifty and i can't wait for it to get here. i bought online and it's coming tuesday. stuff i buy online always comes on tuesday....

this recital.

2008-12-09T18:19:00.000-08:00

we had a christmas piano recital today for some people at a nursing home. it was kinda sad and depressing because all the parents were standing around kinda awkwardly, and you could tell they were kinda itching for the whole thing to end so they could just get to the refreshments. a couple of us were late getting there, and half of us couldn't play our songs right. but fortuneately i did better than i expected to. i had three songs to play: a quadret (2 pianos, 8 hands)of oh holy night, a duet of do you hear what i hear, and a solo of carol of the bells. they had a grand piano in the room, which was really nice because in all the previous years they've always had this old little mini-upright thing that sounds like a 50-year-old recording of a sick chicken. trying to sing. anyway, one of the keys on the new grand piano was broken, so we ended up having to play on the keyboard (which we had brought anyway because we had to do the quadret on keyboards). so yeah i guess a lot went wrong but everyone loved it and they said they didn't notice when we messed up. besides, the residents enjoyed it and that's something they don't get to experience very often. it's gotta get so boring at assisted living centers.

oh, and youth group saturday! i had a great time! i loved to be able to discuss the message with my friends because that's something i rarely do at my own church, and i had a lot of fun meeting people and talking and everything. you'll definitely be seeing me there again!

i guess we all have these posts...

2008-12-06T12:20:00.000-08:00

the ones where you feel like posting but you don't know why? yeah, that's what this is.

nothing much, or nothing much interesting anyway, has being going on in my life recently...i finally get to go to q222 tonight and i'm rather excited about that! i'm definitely looking forward to meeting new people and of course spending time with old people. not literally old but you know what i mean.

have you ever noticed how we use 'up' and 'down' interchangeably? slow up and slow down mean the same thing. some of us use 'down there' and some of us use up, but most of the time we really just mean somewhere other than our current position. there's lots more examples that i thought of but of course i forgot them as soon as i started writing this....

i honestly couldn't live without my music. music is just amazing. it can make you sad when you're happy and happy when you're sad, and besides, it's just enjoyable to play and listen to. my instruments and my mp3 player are some of the blessings i'm most thankful for.

i'm pretty sure all of you think the same thing about this past year. it's gone by so fast and it's still flying. i think i've had a lot more going on this year than usual. i've met new people, started my second movie, and so many other things. what do you think made your year go by so fast?

well anyway i think that's about all for now, folks. it's great to be able to get this all out, especially if you have a lot of people reading it.
thanks for reading, guys and girls.

i want my 'LOL's' back.

2008-12-02T19:25:00.000-08:00

but i'm not stopping the LOLfast. not yet.

this week.

2008-11-29T18:26:00.001-08:00

sorry it's been a while since i've posted. we had family over this week for thanksgiving so i didn't get on here much.

we ate an 18-pound turkey and played rock band on wii on thanksgiving. it was a lot more fun than most thanksgivings, haha.

the picture i drew.

2008-11-25T19:13:00.001-08:00

i darkened it a little with the gimp after i scanned it so that's why it's grayish.

i broke the freaking bookshelf.

2008-11-24T18:52:00.001-08:00

i was leaning on one of our cheap press-board shelves from walmart, and it just broke. just because it's so cheap.

so anyway, in other news........i've been tagged by morgan and i consider myself tagged by christianne. so i have to do this game thing i guess.

Rules:1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages)
Lara and the Gray Mare by Kathleen Duey

2. Open to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence, which is:
"Inderb said to give you these."

4. Post the next three sentences:
"She handed me everyone's spare clothes."
"I met her eyes."
"Thank you, Bebinn."

5. Tag five people. Sorry if i tag someone who's already been tagged...
Nathan
Chelsey
Christianne

There's not enough of you who haven't already been tagged.

So now that that's over. yesterday, i created a drawing actually worth posting. i's post it here and now but it's on the other comp so that's not happening.

i guess i'll tell you a summary of the weekend. I got a job raking leaves at a lady's house. She wants me to do it again whenever the leaves start piling up again. so now i at least have a little more of an income than i used to. sorta.

Well this week my aunt, uncle and cousin are coming over for thanksgiving. which means my other uncle will probably come as well. we'll see about that. i think we may just have our own little thanksgving celebration instead of going to my grandma's as usual.

joan of arc's story is so depressing

that's all folks.

i am so INACTIVE

2008-11-20T18:29:00.000-08:00

yeah...i like never do anything. It's just eat, sleep, do school everday, over and over again...so my life is pretty boring overall. i definitely want to do stuff though, i just never get the chance. plus i have no youth group or anything like that church related so...

well anyhow i was so bored today i nearly got out a game to play it with myself. but that didn't really work out.

tomorrow is friday! which is a great day....i hope to rake some peoples' leaves so i can get some money....but my coat is at my piano teacher's house so it'll be too cold....................

blah blah am i boring you guys?

changes

2008-11-19T19:44:00.000-08:00

layout change, anyone? well it's comin right at ya. i plan on making some changes in the near future, so be on the lookout!

haha what the heck

2008-11-14T05:36:00.001-08:00

posting again finally

2008-11-09T17:04:00.000-08:00

so yeah...it's kinda been a while since i've actually made a post. I mean, like a real actual post, not just posting a video or whatever. So here i go again, on another long blog-post-typing journey.
No, I'm not gonna bore you with another post about barak obama ending the world as we know it. I'm just gonna write about what's been going on since my last post.
which could bore you as well. But hang in there.

So I spent the weekend over in Midland, having a little movie meeting/fundraiser with the Elliotts and everyone. The sale went unbelievably well, so yeah...hopefully our movie comes out a little better then originally expected.
So that's about it actually...

BEN FOLDS ROCKS!

LOL

2008-11-06T06:42:00.003-08:00

watch it peoples:

Concert!

2008-10-30T21:39:00.001-07:00

well, this saturday I'm going to a concert...B429, Addison Road, and After Edmund are gonna play. This is actually the first time I've been to a concert. We'll see how it turns out......

YAY

2008-10-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

Well I just thought I might go ahead and post a post tonight....I don't know why, I just feel like it. In fact, I feel pretty good tonight. Well, okay, I actually feel really neutral, but that's better than usual.
Well, it rained today. I love listening to the rain softly falling outside..lol, it's a really calming, pleasant sound. Weird, I know, but it is...if I had a recording of it I'd probably listen to it all the time.
I kinda feel like posting some pictures. So here we go. I'm not actually on the computer I usually use so I'm not familiar with most of the pictures in here (this is my mom's comp) but I'll find something...

I'll just post a couple drawings and one other pic...

A drumset:

I don't have very good people-drawing skills..lol:

Les Paul (it was just a quick sketch drawn from memory so it didn't come out good):

And my dream car:

That's all for now!

here's the original of my drawing of Emily:

Friday! (and the weekend in general)

2008-10-10T18:54:00.001-07:00

Well, I can't believe I'm the first one to post about today, but well, I am.
Friday is just great. I've finally finished school (and feel so accomplished because of it), and now eaten and taken my shower, and run around the block looking for an ambulance (don't worry, no one was hurt), and finally settled down for my evening computer session. I can stay up late watching my favorite shows on TV and then sleep til 10 o'clock in the morning. And then I guess after that there's no more Friday for another week. But there is Saturday. So much time to get things other than school done! Of course, Saturday goes by pretty quick, and then comes Sunday. Then there's church, and time with friends, (and also a chance to drive, haha).
Then comes Monday again, the weekend is over, and school starts once again.
But there's always another weekend.

Mixing My Friends With the Future

2008-10-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

I think about my friends a lot. I've recently realized how great friends can be a what a blessing they are. Have you ever thought of what it would be like without friends? That includes parents and siblings. No one to talk to, no one to love (and no one to love you).
I also think about the future a lot, and my thoughts tend to mix. So naturally, I think of what my friends might be in the future. Will I still know all of them? I've known most of them so long that it just seems plain ridiculous that I'd somehow lose contact with them. Will they still be the same friends they were? Will I still just kinda know the ones I just kinda know now, or will my relationship grow deeper with them? Will one of them be my future spouse?
Think about that stuff for yourself. It's interesting.

My birthday

2008-10-01T18:37:00.001-07:00

it's today. It's already over so soon, and it won't come back for another year. But I'll just enjoy it while I can. Life is so sweet, and time is so precious - make it last, and make it worth something.

In a World....

2008-10-01T18:23:00.000-07:00

If you're familiar with the late Don LaFontaine - TV, radio, and movie trailer announcer - then you're also familiar with the way he started most of his trailers: "In a world..." Well, I've been thinking on that recently, among other things, and I realized that, not too long ago, there could of been a trailer about some futuristic world - the world you and I live in - and it would start with "in a world". In a world where profane garbage is all that's on TV, in a world where not fitting in has led to mass murder, in a world where the economy is out of control, and it costs $400 dollars a month to get where you gotta go.
All I gotta say is, it may seem scary, but we'll make it through, and it's all good.

My Guitar...

2008-09-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

I love it...and I kinda feel I should follow with a long and flowing poem full of flowery language. But no, it turns out I have almost no poetic ability.
But, I did come up with a poem about my ukulele.

My uke,
my uke,
I play it for you
My uke,
my 4-string,
I play it and sing

My uke,
my uke,
I play a little song
My uke,
My uke, I bring it along

My uke,
my uke,
I play it for you
My uke,
my 4-string,
I play it and sing

There you go.

layout

2008-09-12T18:50:00.001-07:00

I'm redoing my layout right now, so there's a couple of things messed up. Hopefully I'll finish soon.

random songs

2008-09-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

Random songs get stuck in my head all the time. Sometimes it's annoying, because it's just one little part of the song over and over again, and usually when that happens, it's a song I don't really like. Other times, it's songs that I do like, so I enjoy having them stuck in my head I guess. The current song: Tout Doucement (Tuh-doo-suh-mah) by Feist. It's a really weird song. And it's French.

why are watermelons green?

2008-09-12T09:12:00.001-07:00

oops. that's all I can say.
Well, actually I'm perfectly capable of saying many other things, so I will go ahead.
Anyway, on to the watermelons. Why are they green? or are they? I once saw a purple watermelon while on a fishing trip. Rather shocked to find a melon of such hue, I had to ask, "what makes you purple?" The watermelon didn't speak for a very long time, and I finally gave up. My guess is that it was pondering my question for a very long time and finally decided that it was just not going to answer.
well, a couple days later, I found a letter addressed to me, and, to my surprise, it was from the purple watermelon, whose name was Stephen Pickens.
Here is what the letter said:

My dear sir,
I am sorry that I did not immediately answer your (most interesting, I must say) question, and I wish to make up for my mistake. That is the purpose of this letter.
To answer your question, I must first ask a question of my own: "why not?" Why wouldn't I be purple, such a deep, lustrous color, which represents such high things as royalty and upper class? Why are all the others green? [at this point, I stopped, and wondered why, since he had said "a question", he had asked 3. But I read on]
Here is the answer to your question, very simple indeed: think on the inside, not the out.

-your friend Stephen Pickens

After reading over the whole letter once again, I realized that the inside of watermelons are red, not green.
but then I wondered what color Stephen Pickens was inside, and I still haven't figured it out.

hello again

2008-09-11T09:31:00.000-07:00

well , I'm going to try to start blogging here more often. I guess I was kinda inspired (thanks Em, lol) to actually do something with this blog.
so anyway, I will post more later (today i hope) and THAT'S ALL FOR NOW FO'KES!!!!!!
TAH-TAH!!!

posting for no reason/a small paragraph about my interests

2008-08-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

I thought I might post here....really just out of boredom. Alright, basically I'm just typing right now because I can and I like to type. Yep, that's right, I actually extract pleasure from typing....and no, that doesn't mean I have no life - I mean, really, I realize that I'm here for a reason and I mean to make something out of my life - it just means I have weird interests.
I've been moving a lot of furniture lately....I'm not really interested in that....

the road -- my life

tumblr.

this deserves it's own post.

Not actually the 100th post/Urban Exploration

lalalala.

:P

post numberrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr 97.

I got my dream car :D

places I wanna go.

all these BIRDS O.o

what am I thankful for..?

life is amazing, don't you think?

oh dear.

In case you're wondering...

water-skiing and stuff.

Happy Birthday Emily!

the beach, my recent purchase, some random thoughts, some pictures, and a bit of good lyrics

sad but true.

ugh.

so...

this week.

some pictures...

sorry...

I got an SLR!

I'm doing this because I'm bored.

wavorly.

*sigh*...I can't make a decision.

ugh.

live life to the fullest.

I have to quote you on this, Emily :)

W00T.

btw..

pictures.

so...

it fits!!

new title.

the post-every-day thing really isn't working out...

...

I got an SLR!

wow.

I need to slooooooooooow down.

lalalalalalala.

God sure moves in mysterious ways...:)

thank you guys.

wow....

i so cannot wait til summer.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!

this week...

It's been a while...

Playing for Others Songwriting Competition Entry

Concert.

once again, I haven't posted for an entire week.

YIPPEE!!

woot. I am happy!

This weekend.

Today.

I sure don't post enough do I?

New weeks resolutions.

hey guys.

well here we go...

WOW.

new changes.

update.

well today sure was eventful.

YAY.

christianne has ruthlessly tagged me.

pray for my grandma.

sweetness.

this recital.

i guess we all have these posts...

i want my 'LOL's' back.

this week.

the picture i drew.

i broke the freaking bookshelf.

i am so INACTIVE

changes

haha what the heck

posting again finally

LOL

Concert!

sigh...I can't make a decision.