Hmm… wait a tick. Why aren’t I in that group of happy faces? Oh yeah. I wasn’t there! Over the weekend, Linh went to compete in Vegas for her salsa class though I don’t think she spent as much time dancing as she did clubbing. Still, come on. She’s hot! I mean look at her! She’s like…. Marilyn Monroe… in Vegas….. but Asian.Here’s an intentionally emo photo with her dance partner, Dune. Jealous? Me? What?She took some damn good pictures there, too. So while she was running around the Vegas strip, what was I doing? Spending 8 - 9 hours a day proofing parts and the score to TITS. Once I fix a few other parts in the percussion (thank you Samuel Z Solomon for a percussion book that actually has some depth to it), Dobson is going to do an awesome reading and recording session for me after their final concert in about a week. Based off that recording and checking in on a few rehearsals, I’ll have a much better idea of what I’ll have to correct before Manhattan sends it to the printers. All this and papers and finals — fun stuff.

I think I can relate to that first turkey on the left holding some kind of civil war sword. For some reason, I want to think he’s marching somewhere to cut his own head off which is sort of how I feel right now. Late last night around this same time, I finished my third complete draft of Turkey in the Straw (T.I.T.S. as a few of us call it). It’s been almost 11 months since I started the sketches on this thing and it’s not the first time you’ve heard me say I’m ready to be done. I finally really dig probably more than 95% of the piece (which is a lot better percentage than my grades in school right now…) because I’ve tried so hard (probably too hard) to make this arrangement anything but predictable and bandy. So, excited, I’ve sent the MIDI to a couple of people I admire for review. Their comments have been a mixed blessing and now I’m more confused than ever. So, for a limited time, I am offering anyone who wants to listen to the MIDI recording the… well, chance to listen to the MIDI recording. The only thing I ask is that if you do take some time to listen to it, please email me or post a comment and let me know what you’re thinking. It’d help me out a lot. Enjoy~

I just found out yesterday that a friend of mine’s (Kevin) short film “Sitting” for which I scored some music to is going to be shown at the Phoenix Film Festival this weekend. If you happen to be going, it’s among the Art Institute short films playing Saturday night at 7:50PM in Theatre 3 and will be repeated Wednesday night at 7:10PM in Theatre 5. Maybe I can convince Kevin to let me put the film on YouTube so I can link it here. You can at least hear the music on my myspace page if you want.

My brother Kaleob and his girlfriend are finally (with any luck) buying their first home today. The home hasn’t been completely built yet, but it should be ready for them to move in sometime during the summer. To help with the payments, they are seeking a renter or two and wouldn’t you know it, I am more than ready to move away from mom and dad. The only thing stopping me is a steady job.But I’ve got until the house is finished to figure out that detail. Hopefully, everything goes as planned: they buy the house, I get a job, they let me move in. Who knows, maybe I’ll even grow up a little. The bad thing is, since I’ve dedicated my life to music and full-time schooling (I wouldn’t reccommend it), I’m pretty much not qualified to do anything in the real world.
I’ve had one “real job” in my life so far and that was working for the City of Tempe for one of their summer theatre camps for kids. Even then, I was only 16. I haven’t had any real working experience in 4 years! I’m f*cked, to put it bluntly. I’ve applied to Staples (yay), CostCo (double yay), and even a math tutoring position at ASU (yay squared) and haven’t heard anything back and its been a few to several weeks now.
I can only hope I get some more gigs writing music for theatre shows, or marching bands, or regular concert bands, or short films, or shooting documentaries or something. That’s really the only way I’ve gotten any kind of money the past two years. Well, that and mom. Yeah. It’s definitely time to grow up.