Hey folks. I am up really early today. I'm starting this entry at 6:45AM. On a Saturday. I have things to do, but I think it will be nice for me to write a little before getting down to tass bracks.

A lot has come to pass since I last updated this sucka. (I wonder if the phrase "come to pass" has ever been used in the same sentence as the word "sucka" ...)

For those of you who don't know, which is probably very few of you at this point, I have recently acquired Adobe Audition and a new microphone. I have been spending a lot of time recently experimenting with the mic and discovering what different effects do to my vocal tracks. It's been satisfying to say the least, especially when I finished my arrangement of "The Freshman" by The Verve Pipe. I've had that arrangement in my head for a long while, but it's not really right for Acappology. It's stayed mostly in my head until now. I'm proud of how the arrangement turned out, but it is also clear to me when I listen to it that I have a lot of work to do to improve my arrangements. Also, a careful listen makes it very clear that I am not very experienced with mixing yet. These are among the reasons that I bought the mic in the first place.

A tangential result of all of this has been this realization: It is simply ridiculous that I haven't learned music theory. I worked on that a lot this week by plucking out chords on guitar and keyboard and by arranging songs one chord at a time. I guess I've known in my heart all along that it was more apathy than anything else that kept me from really moving forward in music theory. This week has been very productive in that way.

I'm beginning to think that I should be making music more than a hobby. It is clear to everyone around me and to myself that music is the only thing I'm truly passionate about. The question is am I willing to stop dead in my tracks and change my life's focus. I feel like I'm way behind in music, but I feel that if I truly focused on it I could catch up and begin to make some serious headway. As always, there are all sorts of different directions I could move in from where I am now.


Aca persists.

I have made a serious effort to be part of the solution in Acappology lately. The group is accomplishing more than I could ever have imagined (mostly toward the goal of recording), but in general people are more stressed out than in past semesters. I feel like next semester will be the semester during which Amy and I come into our own as co-directors. I hope everyone is willing to stick it out with us.

I still love Acappology. I love my Co-D, I love the music...

...and I love Kat Hale. I know Kat will read this at some point, and I want her to know that no matter how hard this semester has been in Acappology; watching Amy and I struggle and misdirect our frustration at times, I can't think of any friend I would rather be going through it with. Acappology will be cavernously empty without you, Kat, but I hope you will still hear and feel the echoes. I'm not sure if I have ever had a friend as true as you, and I don't think you need me to tell you that I refuse to exist without you in my life. Te adore.


Speaking of Acappology, our concert is tonight. When we sang "Hallelujah" this past rehearsal I was almost in tears. It took me an extra second to turn back around and face the group. It sounded the way we've always known it could, and I finally felt the emotion of the song just seeping out of every pore of every person. It is the kind of moment that validates the whole process. It is often hard to find moments like that during live performances because only in rehearsal can we really be equally secure about ourselves as individuals and about the group as a whole. Perhaps there are moments like that coming tonight. I hope so.

And now, the lyrics to "Gronlandic Edit" by Of Montreal...and the lyrics are almost as splendid as the music they're sung to:
(The surrealists were just)Nihilists with good imaginations/I am satisfied/Hiding in our friend's apartment/Only leaving once a day/To buy some groceries/Daylight, I'm so absent minded Nighttime meeting new anxieties/So am I erasing myself?/Hope I'm not erasing myself/I guess it would be nice to give my heart to a god/But which one, which one do I choose?/All the churches fill with losers, psycho or confused/I just want to hold the divine in mind/And forget all of the beauty's wasted/Let's fall back to earth and do something pleasant/We fell back to earth like gravity's bitches(Physics makes us all its bitches)/I guess it would be nice to help in your escape/From patterns your parents designed/All the party people dancing for the indie star/But he's the worst faker by far/But in the set, I forget all of the beauty's wasted/I guess it would be nice/Show me that things can be nice/I guess it would be nice/Show me that things can be nice/You've got my back in the city/You've got my back, 'cause I don't want to panic/You've got my back in the city/You've got my back, 'cause I don't want to panic