| WooHoo! |
[Jan. 24th, 2006|12:31 am] |
Okay, so I haven't updated this thing in ages. Well, couple of cool things:
-Berklee Audition Feb 2nd.
-School started and I'm back in
-Nice raise at my job and I actually have some $$ to save
-Finally told the love of my life exactly how I felt and well, things are very good :)
My birthday was last week and because of everyones busy schedules and a monster snow storm on Friday, noone was able to do anything. However, Saturday and Sunday were an absolute blast. Went out Saturday with some friends and celebrated another friends birthday(as his was 2 days before mine) and had a great time.
Sunday was the really great day though. One of my best friends called me up and wanted to go out for my birthday, so of course I went to meet her and off we went. Then back to her place for drinks and well, I said to myself that if we got together on my birthday(or somewhere near it) that I'd finally just tell her how I felt....we've sort of had a few things happen and for a couple months now I've been trying to find a way to bring everything up. Well, last night was that night......things went very well.....to say the least. I'm just glad that with the looming prospect of leaving for another city that I got a chance to say everything I wanted to say to this person rather than leave and not say a word. Who knows, perhaps they'll join me? Heh, as a joke, I asked her to marry me, hahaha....the exact reply..."why would I leave one loser just to go with another one?"....and this is the girl I love? Yup.
Well, I have some video editing to do with something I'm working on. See you in another 3 months. |
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| Knowing Something You Want Is Something You Might Never Have |
[Nov. 9th, 2005|12:41 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  depressed | ] |
Ever come to a realization that something you really want might not ever be yours? No matter how you feel or how right something is, it might just not ever materialize for one reason or another...
It's hard to deal with something like that, especially when you realize you could have had what you wanted....but maybe you passed on it because at that particular moment....it just wasn't right.
I realized last night that someone I've been close to for 6 years now is someone that I'm very much in love with. It has nothing to do with looks(though I happen to think she's gorgeous), but everything to do with how she is as a person. Everything about this person is simply amazing. I've always kept this quiet, and people that know me personally know that I happen to adore this person and when they see us together they always comment on how funny we are and all that mushy garbage. She's just such a great friend...the kind of friend/person that makes you want to be a better person. In a very selfish way too, I love having this person around not always because of what I can do for them, but how they happen to make me feel.
We were out last night(a few friends and the person I happen to be writing about)and all I kept thinking was how badly I wanted to tell this person how I felt, but..it wasn't the right time.
Something kind of funny though....she and I were leaving the house of a couple friends and saying goodbye(or in our case, "bye jerk, call me later")and I was thinking of calling her on my way home...no reason in particular....just for the hell of it. Then, my phone rings and it's her. Ha, she wanted to make sure I knew where I was going in order to get home. We talked for a bit, then we both had gotten to our respective destinations and it was time to say goodnight.
.....it's weird though, this person means a great deal to me and because of some things that have happened, I feel closer to her than ever, but at the same time, our friendship is heading somewhere that maybe neither of us expected it to go.
I dunno, I have so much to say about it and I can't really say anything at all...
Okay, I'm tired.
I'm heading to bed. |
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| I Am An Idiot |
[Oct. 22nd, 2005|05:09 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  irritated | ] |
The subject title says it all. Without going into great detail about anything, some stuff has been going on between myself and someone very close to me. Some things happened last week and this week it's pretty much intruded on everything I've tried to do.
I've talked with this person several times, everything seems normal, but I haven't seen this person in person yet. I'm just irritated. I'm actually supposed to be out right now, but at this point, I don't feel like doing a thing.
So much bullshit going on right now and I got some other great news today as well...I just feel like an idiot and all of this stems from last week. If I did the right thing, how come I feel so stupid right now?
Fuck it, I'm done for now. |
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| Shawn Lane |
[Oct. 3rd, 2005|12:18 am] |
Okay, so this is my other entry for tonight. When I was younger and a novice(not that I'm still not)student in the crazy world of guitar, my teacher had told me about a guy by the name of Shawn Lane. At the time, I was a know it all, I knew who I wanted to listen to, who I thought was the best ever, and who's solos I wanted to learn in order to be the best guitarist ever.
Anyway, as the years went by, my tastes changed and as I got into different types of music and different styles of guitar, my playing grew and I tried to expand my playing by incorporating all the different concepts I had heard/learned through the various artists I'd been listening to.
Fast forward to present day....
I was playing around in the musicians forum on Megadeth.com and found a thread where someone had posted a link to a Shawn Lane instructional video. Now, as I mentioned, I was vaguely familiar with him from what my former teacher had mentioned. I knew he was an incredible player, but definitely couldn't say that I had listened to enough of him to say whether or not I liked his music. So I watched this video and I have to say, it's totally changed my outlook on combining scales, grouping notes, technique, everything. It's also changed the way I visualize the fretboard. See, I'd been in a bit of a rut with my guitar playing and I was getting frustrated with where I was at. I was learning new things, but none of them were widely different than things I had covered a million times over. I can play fast, great, who can't? I needed something that would help me visualize things differently, something that would help me to find notes I was missing with my playing...to better help me put what I heard in my head onto the fretboard.
The video itself is about an hour long. I must have watched this thing about 20 times by now. Just the different methods that this guy shows on how to approach the instrument are just so awesome. The crazy thing is, this guy plays a totally unique style, BUT, it's based off of some of the simplest material ever. I really like(enter guitar terminology) he explains the different ways to jazz up the sounds of penatonic scales. What he does that makes it so easy is he takes you through your 5 positions of the penatonic scale. He shows you how to finger them, where they are on the fretboard and how they can apply to any key(he plays in the key of A for his example). After he covers the positions and fingering methods, he helps you to visualize odd notes and runs through examples of how to group different notes together in ascending and descending manners. Instead of playing a penatonic scale in a 1-2-3-4 pattern, he shows you how to visualize and play penatonic scales in positions 1-5 in rhythmic groupings of 3,4, 5, and 6. Then he covers how to change up the groupings all together, by starting with a 1-2-3 then 1-2-3-4-5 then back to 1-2-3 then into 1-2-3-4-5-6. It's one thing to see/hear someone do it, but when they actually present you with a very applicable method on how to visualize and approach it, it makes a world of difference.
Another thing I love about this video is it's got me thinking about the tricks I like to use as a guitarist when I solo. I started breaking down some of the things I use and found that there are a lot of other really expressive ways to play interesting patterns without having to change up my style. I can still work within the context of my style while applying Lanes formula to scales I already know. It's got my brain working in a totally different way. Using augmented patterns and finding the 1 or 2 notes that help you jump back into key. Lane also played a lot of things I was already familiar with, but wasn't ever sure about how to apply them with what I was already doing. I'm now finally able to visualize how I want to use some of the weird 2 note arpeggio ideas I've had and how they'll work within the context of the music I write. Plus, it's got me trying out new things with the vibrato bar and using a neat little trick with bending down instead of always bending up, which is another concept I never gave much thought to.
It's expanded my playing and I've spent about 3 days now just playing for hours with this video. The thing is, I'm not trying to learn Shawn Lane solos. Shawn Lane solos are Shawn Lane solos, but what I am doing is applying what he shows into what I do, and it's made all the difference in the world. I can't remember the last time I was this enthusiastic about playing....now all I want to do is play. I feel like I'm 10 years old again with my first guitar.
Shawn Lane R.I.P. |
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| Back To Update This Mofo.... |
[Oct. 2nd, 2005|11:56 pm] |
Okay, so it's been quite awhile since I've updated this thing. At the insistence of a friend, whom we'll call...oh, I dunno...say "Chuck N."....no wait, how about "C.Norris", I'm updating this thing.
Not sure where to begin. Lots going on. For starters, I'm at a new position within the company I work for. I work 3 in the afternoon to 11:30 at night. The hours work well for me because I'm someone that likes to go out and hang out with friends frequently. I also make better money, which is a definite plus. One big drawback is that I'll miss Monday Night Football, but I guess that's what TiVo is for(even though I don't have TiVo). I'm also going back to UWM after January(Winter)break. I've got 2 classes in particular that I need that I know I'll have no trouble at all registering for, so that way, if I change schools and stick with the same major, I can jump right in regardless of where I wind up...hopefully.
The nicest part about this job is that I get to spend time with my friends again, which is a huge plus for me. Many of my friends work late, so when they'd get done with work and want to stop over or hang out, I'd have to pass on the opportunity because I'd have to be up at 4am to get to work. I also like that I get to hang out more with my friend Crystal, she bar-tends, so she's usually finishing up when I'm getting done with work. So after work, we head out for a bit, bitch about our day, catch up, talk trash about people we don't like(and could you believe there are people that don't like us??) and just unwind. The other major benefit to this job is that I personally am alot happier than I was before. I simply hated what I was doing so much that I wound up inadvertently taking it out on other people, which is not right and inexcusable. I just became so angry with my situation, the people I worked with, everything that it started to reflect how I was with other people, particularly the people I care about. I found myself having to apologize to several people because I'm not just someone who's angry and hard to be around....I'm usually pretty laid back and just like to have a good time. This new situation has helped me to get back to how I was before, and everything has improved. It's been 2 weeks and I physically ache less, I'm not dead tired when I come up, I'm happier and it shows when I get to be around my friends and family. All in all, it's an awesome situation and I can honestly say that I don't know why I didn't just do this sooner, ah well....
I was also in Toronto not too long ago. A friend of mine is a system lord on Megadeth.com, and she was nice enough to invite me up for the weekend to hang out at a Gigantour show, which was Dream Theater's last show incidentally, so we got to hang out backstage, meet members of various bands as well as meet new people.It was an awesome time. I have plenty of photos, and when I get around to it(if I do), I'll post a few. I had a chance to see most of Toronto, which if you haven't been there, go, it is an AMAZING city. Great people, lots of things to see and just fun to walk around and explore. I also had a chance to meet with some people that up until that point, I had only known online. It was great to meet so many people and to get to relay some of the goofy stories we've all shared online in person. Everyone was incredibly cool and very generous, and I can't say that enough. I'd go back in a second, show or not, the city was that much fun.
So, other than reorganizing my life schedule for school, hanging out with friends, visiting new cities and just having fun, not much has been going on, just the usual. I'm happier now than I've been in awhile and I'm hoping things continue to get better from here, we'll see I guess.
I have one more entry to make and that'll be it for tonight....
\m/ Fred Savage Rules! \m/ |
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| Bullshit |
[Apr. 6th, 2005|03:32 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | aggravated | ] |
So today we were scheduled to find out what, if anything, we received for our annual raises. To begin with, those of us that were actually getting a raise, were put on notice that the pool was only 2%. For those of you who don't know what that means, bascially, the maximum you'd receive, no matter what your qualifications etc, would be 2%.
Now, I've been with this company 5 years, there's very little I can't do at this point. Couple that with the fact that I've got 2 new people who retain very little of what I show them, and you get someone(me) who feels that they justly deserve a meager 2%(26 cents, roughly).
Long story short, I didn't even get the 2%, I received 1.5%. What the fuck is that? Honestly, when there's nothing you can't do, you basically over-see your department and you do everything a supervisor does(without getting paid like one), shouldn't you at least receive the maximum(minimum really)amount? So I'm basically not worth an extra 26 cents. That's terrific. I'll keep that in mind when my bosses(yes, much like in Office Space, I have several bosses) are asking me questions about things they can't do(which are usually things they SHOULD know). I love it, all that, and I get a shit raise, and, top that off, the 2 new people I've got under me are, well, idiots. I kind of equate working with them to having a computer where the hard drive gets erased every time you shut it down. You can load it up with all kinds of important information, and for the most part, it'll work, so long as you don't shut it down. It's frustrating, to say the least.
In all honesty, when I was told that I wasn't receiving the full 2%, part of me was tempted to tell my bosses that I no longer would be training my two new co-workers and would no longer be constantly rearranging my hours, no longer taking care of the numerous amounts of tedious tasks that need to be done(mainly because my new co-workers are too stupid to do them), no longer taking the time to do anything correctly etc etc etc. I wanted to go off on that, but, luckily for them, and unfortunately for me, I'm not like that. I'd rather things be done correctly, regardless of how much I'm getting fucked over.
This has not been the greatest day....
Now I'm off to put new clasps on my Fender case, then I'll be spending the next couple hours setting this guitar up and getting it ready to send off.
That's all for now. |
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| R.I.P. Fender Stratocaster |
[Apr. 5th, 2005|05:00 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | depressed | ] |
Well, I sold my Fender Elite Stratocaster today.
It's depressing....
R.I.P! You will be missed! |
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| First Live Journal Post |
[Apr. 1st, 2005|01:00 am] |
So this is my first post and to be honest, much like MySpace, I probably won't get on here much. I would have posted something funny from a rather interesting conversation I had today with a fine young lady who has repeatedly called my phone looking for "Kevin". Of course, my good jerk e-friend Tonya already stole that idea and posted it on her page, so if you want to read it, go find it there.
Other than that, I don't have much else to write. It's late, I can't sleep, and I have to be up in 4 hours to get to work.
Be back later.........
Oh, and always remember....
Just Do Right, Just Think Right, Just Know Right, Just Bowright!
-Kevin Bowright
^^
Those are words to live by, seriously. |
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