P.S.I. songs

P.S.I. is the current unofficial name for my band, and here is a list of songs we know, or hope to learn very soon.

Unholy Confessions - Avenged Sevenfold
Monster - Skillet
Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down
What I've Done - Linkin Park
Everlong - Foo Fighters
Twist and Shout - The Beetles
The Last Night - Skillet
Bring Me to Life - Evanescence

We also have a few bands that we will pick a song to cover.

Anberlin - Paperthin Hymn or Feel Good Drag
Paramore - That's What You Get or Born for This or Decode
Flyleaf - Beautiful Bride or I'm So Sick or a number of other possibilities
All-American Rejects - Move Along or Dirty Little Secret or Another Heart Calls
Green Day - American Idiot or Holiday or Boulevard of Broken Dreams or (most probable) 21 Guns.

We also have 4 original songs nearing completion. Ideas 1-3 (3 needs a new ending) and one with a working title called The Hey Song that needs tweaking.

I'd also personally would like to learn The Rock Show by Blink 182, and a Sum 41 song as well as a song for Jessica, probably a Blue October song or some other favorite of hers like Hey Soul Sister that would be simple enough to learn. On another side note I had a chance to hear our new singer singing Nine in the Afternoon by PANIC! at the Disco on Rock Band the other day and was impressed, so I may look into it as a possibility. Heck, if she can do the sreams in Unholy Confessions well, and we feel like getting some more metal, Michael and I might bring up What's Your HTML Dude? (HTML Rulz D00d and Hey, John, What's Your Name Again? by The Devil Wears Prada) for a cover. Not my kind of music, but soooo much fun to play when you know it.

We hope to get practices going again very soon since Christmas break is comming up. We may practice this friday afternoon, and likley as often as possible over the break. Hopefully Camielle will be able to come and we can decide which songs to focus on and help her to learn the songs we already know. If possible, I might teach Jessica a piano part in The Last Night by Skillet. It could be exciting if she could play with us. To bad I don't have a keytar for her though. :)

Still Behind

I was starting to get caught up with everything, and looking to finish a few homework assignments before I started working on Christmas stuff and college applications, but then I got sick. It was only 2-3 days last week, but it was enough to set me back to feel behind again. I have to get my make up homework done along with the homework that I just got, and Christmas is literally around the corner. After next week I'm on break.
I guess then I won't have to worry about school, and maybe I can see about college and christmas. I have major shopping to do for everyone, and still need to finish developing my list. My Mom has been constantly bugging me for weeks to look up a guitar pedal I want so she knows what to get, and I'm hopping for a great mp3 player or Zune.
But everytime I start to think about these kindso f things they seem so trivial and unimportant when my grades are slipping so much and I need to apply to UK NOW.

We Were First.

Timmy decided that to celebrate Black Friday this year, he wanted to grab a few friends and go camp out somewhere and be the first one in the store....at Target. He recruited his brother Nathan, Jessica and Me to go with him, and we all headed over to Target at 9:30 on Thanksgiving night without even having any ideas about what we wanted to buy once we got in. We talked abut buying a candy bar, and maybe seeing if they had any nice t-shirts, and I had been meaning to go buy a slinky for a while.

It wasn't until 11:00 until anyone else showed up in line, and even longer before you could really call it a line. It was cold. I was colder than I ever ended up during the ice storm last year. We had a small tent we all squeezed into with a few blankets and coats, and played some music off of Timmy's PSP.

About an hour before open, I was feeling sick I was so cold, but that was when the paper showed up and interviewed us. That was the inspiration to make the last leg of the night, and then
We
Were
First.

In the end we got the candy, I got a shirt and slinky, and picked up Jessica some stickers. By then the line to check out had lapped around the store literally to the electronics department. I didn't get home till almost 8:00 in the morning, and then slept before I had to go to work. It was a few days before I started to feel well again. I guess I don't do well with all nighters, but we were first.

Rug Burn

It's been a while since I've blogged, and I'm falling behind, but I've done plenty to make up with it. I'll start off with something simple and light harted.

Last night was my church's youth Christmas party. It was actually mexican themed (with a pinata and tacos) because of the shoeboxes. They asked anyone willing to take an old shoebox and fill it with small presents for a child in Juareze Mexico as a Christmas present. I had to work so I gave Timmy and Camielle some money to go off before the party and fill up one of Timmy's size 15 boxes.

An unfortunate high point of the party was the pinata. I didn't get a chance to hit it, but when it busted, I was one of the ones to jump in for candy. I wanted a Reese's and a Kit-Kat. However, Logan thought it would be funny to grab my legs and drag me out from the mad scramble. Let me inform you that the carpet in the room has a lot of rough little fibers in it. The fibers held on to my shirt while my body was dragged, leaving what looked like sun burn all over my stomach that still stings if I touch it wrong. I later also found carpet burn on my wrist and right elbow. It was kinda painfull.

The party was still fun though. I didn't get a chance to hang out with the guys afterwards, but I needed to get home for some homework anyways.

A Day in the Life

I decided to start a series of blogs about what I am up to on a daily basis. Ever so often I will post a new part and then by the end of the year I can look back at how things have changed over the year for me.

For instance, lately I have been looking forward to getting the guys over to Jessica's house to play pool with her full size pool table in the garage with some music playing through the computer. I also like hanging out with her family out there too, but the music isn't always as good. I also have fun when we go to McDonalds or Taco Bell after church and hang out for a few hours.

Jessica's family just bought Wii Sports Resort, and it is an awsome game that we build tournaments on for fun ever so often. I just got my job back, and this week I'm working every single shift of every day they are open, leaving today as my only free day, with church and helping Habitate for Humanity get the Christmas Parade float ready.

I'm a very busy person I guess, but I feel really bad lately about not being home. It hits me ever so often just how often I am not home. Today I hope to bring Jessica over for dinner and Lost though. Also my schoolwork is dropping. I checked my grades last week and was farely satisfied to see that with a few improvements, I may get a few more A's on my next report card, but today when I checked, some of those grades have dropped. I have to be more carefull with that, but it will be hard this week. Looks like I won't have much time to rest.

My Vet

My Papa served for many years in the Navy Reserve when he was young. He married my grandmother just out of high school when he joined up, and the two of them were able to travel and see amazing things. They brought back suveneirs from different countries including plates, class figurines, and other things.

The truth is, even though my Papa is one of the people I look up to the most in my life as a hero, I never even knew that he had served until recently. It is because of him I began to consider joining the Air Force. He has lived an amazing life, and helps me in mine all the time. I will never forget when I used to spend the night at his house every weekend when I was a kid, and all of the things he helped me learn. Even now he helps me and supports me in life.

In this simple blog, I want to thank him not only for serving, but for the countless things he has done for me thoughout my life.

Implosion and Coffee

I set my alarm clock for 4:45 on Sunday morning so that Jessica, Timmy, Nathan, and I could go down to see The Big E for the last time. We woke up so early because we heard that 10,000 people would show up, and we wanted to be able to see, but when we got there a little after 6:00, there were only a handfull of people in site. Later on more and more showed up and there was a good crowed. The implosion was fun to watch because the elevator shaft survived the blast well.

Afterwords, we walked down to a coffee shop around the corner because they had a deal on there drinks that day. Even though none of us like coffee or anything like that, I found some interesting Jones Soda flavors, and met someone to make it worth while. A woman I hadn't met before stopped me and said she was next to me on the roof of the parking garage during the implosion, and heard that I was in a band. She said that the coffee house did open mic nights and shows, and they were looking for bands. She gave me her email address, and last night I emailed her more about the band, so hopefully there is another show in the near future for us. We are having practice today, and maybe going over acoustic songs we might learn for the show.

Falling Behind

Lately it feels like I've been falling behind. In school, I've been putting off projects later than I should, and I know that its going to affect my grades before long if I'm not careful. I almost didn't get registered for the ACT as planned because I put off filling out that packet, and now I'm not testing with my friends.
I keep telling myself that soon I will find the time to clean out my truck, wash it, and put on a little wax (or at least clean the headlights), and then move in the pick up my room, but its been weeks since I started telling myself that.

Then theres College. I've finally decided what I want to do after high school as far as college and military goes, but sometimes when i look at jessica, I still feel far behind. She recieves at least 5 college papers in the mail each day, has started filling out applications, and has 5 colleges picked out to go too, and is reasearching which dorm to move in. I on the other hadn havn't even decided on a major, don't have any backup colleges to UK, and generally feel like theres something I should be doing that I'm not.

But, today is friday, and I'm gonna be optimistic. I don't have to worry about getting homework done and getting to bed early tonight, and I have the weekend ahead of me now. Hopefully I can use this weekend to get things together, hang out with Jessica, and maybe have a band practice to calm me down. I just have to make sure I get it done before my busy day on Sunday. I'll be at church for most of the day.


P.S.
Oh yeah! One more thing I need to do this weekend is Skates Alive. Today or tomorrow I'm going back to ask about getting my job back. I guess I was technically laid off, but now they have empty possitions at the skate counter. I doubt I'll be lucky enough to get skate gaurd or DJ, but I'd love the chance to work the skate counter and get out of the concession stand. Even though right now, I'd work any job they give me to get my income back. Heres to hopping.

Worship!! (This time with J.P.)

Well, I've been playing bass guitar for the youth praise band at church since we moved into the new building, and now I'm moving up. Michael (who plays drums for both the youth priase band and the big worship band that plays every sunday morning) told me that J.P. is interested in me joining the line up for what I call the big church band.

I talked to J.P. about it and he said he'd love to have me on, and now I'm scheduled to play this sunday afternoon. I won't play during morning church, but afterwards there is some celebration going on that I get to play at. I guess it is kind of a trail to see if J.P. likes how I play or not. I hear the man is very picky. I can't wait to play with them.

The New Game Plan

Well once again my game plan for life after High School has changed again. After talking with Cheif Smith, I am back to thinking that the Air Force may be my best option.

However this time I also plan to go to college. Cheif Smith told me that it would be very benefitial to get a college education before leaving off for basic training. He recommeneded finding a school with a good Air Force ROTC program, and taking the ROTC classes it has to offer while getting my high school education. I can choose to major and minor in classes that will help my Air Force career.


Because of this, I now plan to go to UK. I havn't decided what to major or minor in yet, but I do like the idea of being able to experience college life before joining the millitary. Timmy and Jessica are also planning on going there. Timmy has all along because of the great Engeneering programs at the school. Jessica is looking forward to it because they have the classes she needs to talke to become an adoption counsoler one day and she won't have to be alone for four years, she can still be around Timmy and I.

Logan's heart is set on going to the Cumberlands, and one day going into ministry I believe. He will be about an hour away from us if that happens, but we won't lose touch. Michael however dreams of going to Murry all the way over near Paducah for their great music programs and a successful marching band. Going there will be difficult, but he will do well in the long run there, but I'll miss him alot.

Benro Bash '09!

Well its a little late comming, but last weekend was the big weekend in Nashville. Jessica, Timmy, Logan, and I all headed down for our first show ever. We played 7 songs, and did ok for no warm up before hand. We had the drummer from Paradise Daze (my cousin's band) drum for us, even though he didn't know the songs. We had him listen through the setlist once before we went on, but he had only ever heard of one of them before. We made a lot of simple mistakes that kinda drove me nuts, but the key is not showing it. The audience didn't know the songs well, so as long as you sell the mistake and keep rockin' they love you, and they did. Everyone said we were awsome concidering we had maybe a month of practice and it was our first time.

The drive down and back was interesting too. On the way down Timmy got a semi-truck to honk his horn, but on the way down I ended up carsick in a back of potato chips. But anyway, the party was fun. We all were pyro and played with the barn fire some and had a really great time. I can't wait for another chance to do something like that.

In the Navy?

Yesterday I sat down with a navy representative who talked to me about a scholarship available for students interested in joining the Navy. its funny when I think about it. All my life I NEVER imagined myself to be the type of person to end up joinging the military in any way. I never thought of myself as a military fighter or that they would have any other job for me what so ever. However since about mid summer after talking with my papa, (a retired Aire Force Reserve member) I have been contimplaiting it. I don't have any other ideas about what I might like to do with my life. Other than music, I have no great passions that could lead into a successful, steady career, which is what I really want.

Up until now I assumed I wanted to do Air Force after high school, but talking to him made me stop to think about it more. I understand that each branch of the military thinks that they are superior in some way to the others, so when he compared the navy with the air force he made the Navy sound better because that is his job, but he did a good job of it. I could go to college learning about the navy and the job I will do for them, and then college and be garunteed a job, and have a chance to travel the world for a few years before settling down in the reserve. Today I am taking a practice test afterschool at the local recruitment center. Any recuriter for any branch of military I speak to will ask me about my scores on this test so I hope I do well and learn something from it.

Eagle Spirite '09

I've decided to go all out for Apollo Eagle Spirit day this year. I even dyed my hair blue and white for school. Later on I plan on putting it in a mohawk and dying it again for the big DC game.

Yesterday I stayed out late to work on decorating my truck for the contest today before the game. I had Jessica's dad help come up with ideas since I saw pictures of how he had second place when he was a senior. However I'm going to go beyond for first place. Last night we didn't get all of it on, and some of it washed off over night, but today we are foing to finish putting on some lights, numbers, stars, ribbons, and such stuff.

Band update

Last night Timmy, Logan and I helped dad take some big speakers from the old house to he new one so we could hook them up to a microphone for Logan so we can hear him sing. Timmy also brought over his mom's old bass amp, which is larger than Logan's 20 watt amp and started on practice. We played through everlong successfully for the first time recently, and also realized that we had two other songs that just needed a little bit of polishing up that we could use for the show. (Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down and What I've Done by Linkin Park)

However there is bad news. Michael confirmed that there is a band competition on the day of the part, so now we are drummerless. The three of us have decided to go on just the same without a drummer, and maybe one of the bands down there will know how to play one or two of the covers with us.

Sunday

Yesterday I spent a lot of time at church. I went in the morning for the monring service and sunday school. Michael was asked at the begenning of the month to prepare, write, and perform a drum arangement of trash cans for the end of summer celebration for the elementary school children. He asked me to help and a few days before we spent an hour or so working out some beats to play.

After sunday school they invited us to a free lunch of chinese food as a thank you for helping them out and being involved. After lunch we rehearsed the beats and breakdowns and then relaxed in the conferance room with Timmy and Logan, watching videos, making jokes, talking about the band, and other stuff until we played.

When we performed, I messed up one time only, but the rest of it was a success and the audience loved us. When we were done we headed to the youth room to prepare for praise band practice, which was delayed by technical difficulites.

Once we finally got practice off the ground however we had some great songs lined up to play. I was especially happy since the songs had important bass riffs for me, and one even had something of a solo that was realy fun to play with. All and all it was a good day, but there was one bad thing about it all. Jessica had to spend the day at home and I missed her alot. When I was finally done at church though, I got a chance to spend some time with her, take her to wal-mart, and hunt down her dog when he decided to take off down the street.

Blue October

Blue October is a band that Jessica introduced me to not long after we started dating with the song Calling You (which is now the main song for our relationship). Since then the two of us have started listening to them more and more, finding new music and information about them and they have become our favorite band together.

Blue October's music is amazing. They are more somber and mellow much of the time with dark, deep lyrics. They employ an electirc violin just as much or more often sometimes than any other instrument. They classify themselves rightfully under their own genre Bipolar Art Rock because they're music never stays in the same place for too long on an album. Also, the frontman for the group Justin Furstenfeld(singer/songwriter/guitar) suffered from an intense case of bipolar attacks for much of his life.

There music has such a subtle greatness about it that hooks me into each one of their songs. Simple yet intreguing drum beats, melodical violin that sometimes sounds like it is playing guitar riffs, and some complex lyric structures and meanings have me addicted to this band for life.

I need a job

My job at Skates Alive used to provide me around $100 a week, but once I was layed off I had to learn to do without that money. I started to get used to it but couldn't wait to get a paycheck again when they hired me back. Now however I know that they will not hire me back, or if they do it will be another 4 months probably.

I have a lot of things I want and need to require money, but Papa has been good to me all summer long by paying me about ever week or so for cutting the grass. Hopefully I can do some cutting today because I really need to cash now for some plans I have in my head including gas and other things.

The Band

My band with my friends Michael, Timmy and Logan is begening to go somewhere finally. We've spent a few practices goofing around with a cover or two, but with the recent realization that if we get down to it, write some stuff and learn some songs we could have a gig next month, we have buckled down and started to focus more. I know I can do it, and Timmy and Logan have said they can too, but I only hope Michael doesn't have a marching band competition that day.

Last night my girlfriend (who is helping us by writing lyrics and acting as band manager) wrote song lyrics based off of an old song from an old band I was in, and wrote a new one, along with a few others just from scratch. Then we invited Timmy over and we wrote an intire song in about an hour or so to go with the first lyrics. All that is left is to tweack a few parts and write it out.

We also have 2 other songs in the making, and more lyrics pumping out. We are discussing covers to learn for the gig (so far Monster by Skillet and Everlong by Foo Fighters are for sure). Now if we can just decide on a name we'll be doing really good :P Michael came up with one that had something about Eternity in it, and Timmy and I were talking last night about band names like Green Day and Blue October and August Burns Red and came up with Black Friday, but we'll see.

1/8

Officially 1/8 through the last school year. I took I moment to realize that there are already a few things that I will never get to experience again. I will never go home, feeling slightly tired to find myself being asked "So how was your first day back?", or "How are your classes looking this year?"

I've already settled back into the monotonous repeating droll that I will soon come to dread of reliving the same basic two days over and over. I've made it past the time where I was scared of what my lunch shift would end up being and who to sit with, and having to do a lot of thinking to remember exactly what class I am going to next and what homework I had. I'm a few weeks into The Last High School Year in my LIFE. Back to roaming the halls and passing by familiar nameless faces and some aquaintences on my way to class or to see my friends. I already realize how exremely much I'm going to miss it all after these few short months fade to join the rest of my past.

Love is Blind?

"Love is Blind." - Geoffrey Chaucer

I do not believe love is blind. Some people say that when it comes to love looks do not make any kind of difference. I however think that looks are one of the first things that can attract someone. This doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is looking for a certain person of a certain height, weight, clothing, hair color, etc, but that when people meet, they do take the time to look at each other. When people meet on myspace they can look around at pictures. If people meet online and do not share pictures, then we still seem to form a picture in our mind of what they other may look like.
I'm not saying that looks make or break relationships, that people only love when they look pretty, or that it is any more likley to for someone to be in love with a person when they are looking there best as opposed to just waking up from not getting enough sleep, but looks to make some difference in love.

Jessica's Bday

Jessica’s birthday is this week. To celebrate the day, we invited a bunch of friends to go see the movie 9 after church on Wednesday. This is also celebrating Timmy’s birthday since it is the day after Jessica’s. Then on Saturday night we are throwing a big party at Jessica’s house in her garage. Her dad helped hook up a bunch of lights, posters, a disco ball, and other really good things for the party, and is still refining it through out the week. We are going to do what we did on prom night, and use a gas station like shot machine to make energy drink shots. Drinks of choice include Amp and Nos, and to spice it up, we sometimes add candy like Nerds or Gummy Worms, and this time we will try Pop-Rocks. Other than that, we’ve been trying to get our hands on some music for a playlist for the party; we plan to make use of the surround sound speakers set up in the garage. I can’t wait for the party.

Bensrob Bash!

My Uncle Bennie and Aunt Sue have an annual ‘Bensrob Bash’ party at their house. They invite some big local bands and people and party in there driveway. They thought that this year they would not be able to have one, but they decided to go ahead and have one last bash in October. I can’t wait to go and see all of my family again, and see my cousin’s band Paradise Daze play again. This year, if everything happens to go smoothly, then I hope to play a song with them, and possibly have my band play a gig. We will have to figure out a lot of stuff and learn a few more songs before that can happen though.

Good Day

Yesterday was pretty good. My band had its first really progressive practice. Logan couldn’t make it, but Michael, Timmy and I worked and wrote a rough version for one song, and part of another. We’re going to refine it throughout the week, and I have Jessica to help me with lyrics.

Apart from that, the cast and crew for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition had a private party at Skates Alive and since I am still technically an employee there, Timmy invited Jessica and me to go, and I volunteered behind the skate counter. The party started late and I had to get home, but I did get to get a picture with Tye. I’ll probably upload it here later. It was 70’s night so there were some pretty funky outfits floating about too.

New Blogger

I'm liking the idea of blogging rather than keeping a journal for english class. I feel a little more comfertable this way, although I've never kept any sort of a blog before. Its just one of the new things that Senoir Year is throwing at me to start off the year.

Senior year is pretty major. So far it seems like even though I did not get the classes I wanted, I ended up with some good ones. In fact classes I thought would be horrible actually seem like they will be fun.

Senior year is starring me down, and I know it will be hard at times (IB Math and Economics...) but it should also be a fun and great experience. Only time will tell, so I'll be sure to keep you posted ;P