Song 1, Unfinished, Guitar 1

Me w/ Black Charvel. 

Been kicking this one around for like a year and keep changing it. Someday I'll finish it. w/e. Any thoughts? Ideas?

The Dream

I've been pretty distant from here, unfortunately, but with summer approaching I hope I can make this more of a constant thing.

A few points for now:

School is ending in a couple weeks, which is why I haven't really been on here. I've got finals the week of May 11th, so all my projects and papers and tests are starting to build up and they're really getting to me. I'm constantly second guessing my schedule and checking to see if I'm missing an assignment. It gets rather aggravating at times, but I suppose it's worth it in the end. 

I've done a good job BSing my way through my Operations Management Class, which I think I'm doing the best in. Got an 85% on my midterm which I was sure I bombed (it took about 4 hours to take), and got a 98/100 on my literature review (which was on the Supply Chain Management of Vaccination creation and distribution), and have turned in all homework assignments and even earned extra credit which he never said we'd receive in his class. All I have left is another literature review, a take-home test and the final and that class is over. 

My Physics lab IS over and I got a 90%, which'll show up as an A- (curse the plus minus system!), but that's good, since I think this'll be the first A I've received in 3 years that WASN'T the orientation class or a music class. 

Physics turned out to be a little more difficult that I originally thought. All that I have left is the final (which is 60% comprehensive, I believe). I'll probably get in a study group for that if the people around me end up having one. 

Music class has been easy. I set the curve on our first test, so, 100% on that (i think I already mentioned that), and the second test I got a 90% on, so technically I've got a 95% in the class. All that's left is to take the final (which is mostly about musicals, movie music, and newer-age composers) and write a 6-8 page paper on a musical topic that pertains to the class. 

Managerial Accounting I've got 1 homework assignment / quiz left, and I have a test next week, then the final the week after (it was a bitch last year, and i'm sure it'll be a bitch this year). I'm rocking a 90.6% in that one, but after my lowest homework/quiz are dropped it should go up a percent or two. I only need to get a B in this class to advance, but, I'd like the A for GPA's sake. 

And lastly... I'm doing terrible in my Business and Professional Writing class. I think I've done bad on every assignment, and this last project I'm working on (that I'm currently at the library procrastinating on), is due Friday, completed. Then next week my partner and I have to give a 10 slide, up to 10 minute presentation on it. If I can get a good grade on this I HOPE I can pull off a B in the class. Otherwise i'm probably screwed. I wish she's explain our assignments after she gives them to us to do. But, since she doesn't, no one does good except the two suck ups that have already taken her classes before. 

So that's school!

PTN played a couple shows this month, a battle of the bands that we didn't win, and we played at the Sound Fest a couple weeks ago. We're done playing for this semester and summer. This fall Dave wants to start up a metal band, and if Tony doesn't want to play bass I know a guy who may want to. If my friend Will moves down we may have a rhythm guitarist (if he wishes to play). So we'd just need a drummer. 

I've been working on my technique lately. Just trying to be able to get from one end of the fretboard to the other without messing up to bad, and trying to hit a bunch of notes in between. That and trying to obtain a little style to my playing. If anyone has ever watched me play I'm sure they've seen me do the same simulated 'blues' thing I do, and honestly, I'm sick of doing it, so, I'm not going to anymore. 

My friends and I have begun working on a zombie story, but I doubt i'll get to do any work on it till summer comes and I don't have a ton of classes to go to and do homework for. Other than that I'm still plotting things for my own stories in my head unsuccessfully. I may start writing stuff out on here. Oh inspiration! Thou escapest me!

Last thing for now, my 22nd birthday is in a week. I demand cakes and gifts of all my subjects!

We are his legacy. This is his legend. Light up the darkness.

I'm back! And hello to my new friends, I hope my boring life (to me, that is) gives you something to do for a few minutes out of your day, or even helps you with your English! 

Sunday started out as a pretty lazy day, if I do say so myself. I woke up around noon to a text from my friend Pat, telling me he was back in town, and we decided to go eat after I showered and he did some cleaning. So I got in my Grand Am (The Red Car of Fury, or, Fury, as he shall henceforth be known) and picked Pat up at his apartment. It was beautiful outside. The sun was shining, and even my sickness wasn't gonna dampen my mood. We drove to Chipotle cause Pat wanted to have a beer with his food, and made our way inside.

The store was pretty busy, but that was to be expected given the nice weather. I ended up getting the usual: a vegetarian  burrito (rice, black beans, chili corn salsa, small bit of sour cream, lettuce, and guacamole - a VERY delicious combination I suggest to all), which ended up being really good. Pat told me about his trip home, and told me about the movie Watchmen. We finished up and decided to go across the street to The Exchange - a video game, music and movie trade-in store, cause Pat wanted to spend some birthday money on movies he didn't get. He ended up buying 2 movies and a game, while I spent 7 dollars on the movie "Mallrats" (the last movie from Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse that I didn't own). After that I needed to finish up my schoolwork, so I dropped Pat off at his place, parked Fury, and headed back to my dorm.

I got about 3/4ths of the way through Mallrats, finished my accounting problems, and had just started my accounting quiz when suddenly there came a tapping, as if someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. It turned out to be Matt and David who decided they were going to kidnap me and Tony and we were all gonna eat at their place after a short band practice. I had until midnight to submit my accounting quiz, so I put on my shoes, grabbed a few Halls cough drops and left with them to get Tony. We stopped at Acme (a local grocery store) and picked up some bratwurst and buns and got to the apartment. 

Matt started baking some potatoes, and we all talked for a while, having a good time. We ran through a few of the songs and talked about changes that we wanted to make, then finally started eating. We each had a baked potato, there were enough for about 3 bratwurst apiece, with 2 leftover for Matt's room mate Kevin (who was at work), and salad which I took home with me. We took a few 'band pictures' that we needed to do for a long time now, and then David took Tony and I back to our dorms. 

After that I took my accounting quiz (95%, Hooray!), finished Mallrats, took a shower and got into bed.

Monday I woke up at about 6 am with the worst headache and sore throat imaginable. While half asleep and in the dark I managed to take a couple Tylenol and made myself a cup of hot Chamomile Lemon tea (also delicious and a good throat soother), which I drank about half of before falling back asleep. I woke up feeling just as bad at 10:30, rinsed off my night sweat (the only time I really sweat at night is when i'm sick. It's gross. I cannot wait till I'm better.), got dressed and rushed off to my Professional Writing class. 

I still felt bad, so I put my head down when I got there and everyone started talking to me all at once (of course! On a day I don't feel good, and right after I've woken up!). Justin (my partner on our first project) started talking to me about how I was in the paper the week before, The Professor asked if our class time was disturbing my nap time, and Neil (my second projects partner) asked if I had been up all night. So I had to tell the story of my month-long reoccurring sickness, and then they all backed off. We got together with our current partners and started 'workshopping.' Norman and I started working on our Business Memo for our project, and the Professor handed back our last assignments (a resume with video handshake), which I got a 23.5/30 on, which is a high C, and gives me a 79.8 in the class. A little lower than I want right now, but if I can end the year with a B average i'd be more than happy. 

After class my dad called, saying he could be in the area after my last class if I wanted to go pick up some 'sick stuff,' as he called it, from Walmart. I agreed, and said that my class wasn't until 4:25, and if he wanted to get it out of the way earlier (and was able to make the time), that we could do it before class so he wasn't sitting around waiting for me all day. He said he'd call me back and let me know what he came up with. He called me back around 1, saying he would be waiting in the Walmart parking lot at 2 o'clock, and that I should look for the big black truck.

I got back to my room and checked my blog and facebook, where I learned that I got my room mate sick (sorry Jason!) and that we were scheduled to play in the battle of the bands in a few weeks. I tried to take a nap, but ended up watching Animal Planet for a little bit. 

My dad and I met up and did some shopping at Wally World. I got some Dayquil, Excedrin, and a bunch of food supplies, and exchanged stories we'd obtained in our everyday lives, he gave me a few bucks and we departed, him needing to go to the yard to drop off his trailer and some keys, and I had to get to Physics. I unloaded my food, went to class and met Pat afterwards to study for our music class. 

We studied for over an hour on the 7th floor of the library, and it was productive, I got all the terms outlined, and I just have to do the composers now. But when we were almost done, a girl at the next table over was packing up and was looking out the window for a minute and then got our attention, telling us that if we were into that sorta thing, there was a beautiful sunset happening that we shouldn't miss. (it seemed like she didn't WANT to say anything to us, but, I dunno, did at the same time. It felt awkward. I mean. Who tells a random person to look at a sunset? I dunno.) So we did. and It WAS beautiful. I tried taking pictures of it with my Macbook, but there was a glare (due to no polarization, Oh ho ho, Physics class.) and it came out dirty. 

At least I made an attempt though! It was really pretty. Here's a couple other pictures I snapped. The first is of the library aisle that was behind me, It's like it goes on forever. The second is of Pat and I, Pat's the goof holding his butt, and I'm entering from stage right. 

After that Pat went to work out, and I grabbed some chicken at Sunset Strips (a food vendor in the Student Center) and walked back to my room where I ate, watched "I Am Legend," and continued to study for my music test, until I felt it was time to blog something up. 

I'm going to try and include more pictures in my blogs, just because I love looking at pictures, and I think we all secretly wish we were awesome photographers. 

But I should probably get back to studying, so I leave you all with well wishes, fondest thoughts, and hope you have a good night!

Running as fast as they can, Iron Man lives again.

Two updates! I'm on a roll!

Let's see now. Technically it's Sunday so that means I have a day and a half to update you on.

Friday we didn't go over our physics tests, but we received extra credit since there were only a handful of people in our class of 200+, So that'll help my grade somewhat. After class I bummed around for about an hour until Matt called and told me to head over to his apartment so we could practice and eat before our show. Tony called me around 6 and said he'd meet me at my dorm in a few minutes, so I got my car and drove around. I drug the bass amp out of my room and we hauled it into my backseat. That thing is incredibly annoying for one person to move around, so I think I'm gonna rig some wheels on it. We got to Matt's and met a Japanese girl he knows (I apologize, her name started with a K but it slips my mind) and we practiced a little, came up with our setlist, and ate some homemade tacos. Tony and I had a couple Highlife's apiece, and at about 8:30 we decided to start loading our stuff up. So we drug the four guitars, two amps, and bongos out to our cars, Matt dropped K off at her dorm and met Tony and I at my dorm, where we went and picked up my half stack, which we then loaded into the cars and drove over to the Rathskeller's loading docks. 

Matt didn't know which door was the one we went to, so we went in the traditional way, talked with security and Kevin - the guy who invited us to play - and wound our way through the 'behind the scenes' area of the Student Center till we got to the loading dock. We loaded all our shit onto a cart and brought it up. The first guy who played thought it was an Open Mic night, so Kevin let him play 3 or 4 songs. He wasn't bad. Ian something. After that was Kevin and the Guy with Glasses from Jazzman's (coffee shop). They were really good, I'd go see them again. Then we played. (Viva La Vida, Introduction, Rest Your Soul, Arthur, Last Kiss, Who Needs Sleep, 99 Red Balloons, Don't Love, Yellow, and Freaks) For the most part it went okay. My electric was out of tune for the solo on "Don't Love" which aggravated me since I re-tuned all the guitars BUT the electric cause I thought it'd be fine with strings locked down. But I forgot two things: 1) It was sitting out in the cold for awhile, which doesn't help the neck or the strings, and 2) Stupid me had it in Drop C (CGCFAD), and I retuned it to Standard (EBGDAE) for the show, and didn't take into account the fact that the strings were going to attempt to slip back down to C until they had the 'standard feel' again. Which is exactly what happened.I think my guitar dropped the tuning of all the strings by about half a step, which meant I wasn't playing the right notes. Rookie mistake. This will not happen again. 

After the show we dropped the stuff off in my room and Tony and I went to Sheetz and picked up some more Highlife and drank in his dorm for awhile. We found out at about 3am that Rosies delivers pizza now, which is awesome, and I finally headed back and went to sleep at like 4. 

I woke up on Saturday at about noon and my body was killing me. I guess hauling giant amps around all night is a chore for me, so I decided to try and sleep it off. I finally woke up at about 4, took a long shower and popped a Tylenol which didn't help, and ate some Honey Nut Cheerios. Saturday was a pretty lame day really. I decided I'd try and beat Infinite Undiscovery, but that didn't happen. I beat the chick under-boss, and continued on till I got to a part where I have to make my way up this castle and I have to fight two big battles on every floor (one regular enemy fight and one big boss fight) and after about the 4th floor I ran out of revives and ended up dying. I was pretty annoyed so I just quit playing. I read a few more chapters of Time of the Twins and finished a game of scrabble online with Dave. Towards the end of the day, my room mate Jason and I decided to go watch the "Midnight Movie" at the KIVA, which was Iron Man. We've both seen it, but it's just nice to get out and go do something sometimes. We got back at about 2:30 and I listened to Black Sabbath's Paranoid cd, as I now I had a taste for it, and now I'm doing this and listening to "Princess Mononoke."

My incredibly bad headache is still sticking with me, and now I've started coughing hard, so maybe i'll knock myself out with Nyquil and hope for the best. 

Other than that, there isn't much new going on. Been thinking a lot more about some story ideas I had: The multiple zombie stories I've been tossing around, my "Boy saves girl" goofy limited series, and then my "Now-a-days Vikings" webcomic series. But I'm just too lazy to get started on them. I'd like to do the zombie story as a movie, the boy saves girl as an actual comic, but as a limited run, and the Viking one as an on=going comic. The only problem is: I don't have the initiative to write, plan, shoot, edit, and make a movie, write a script, or re-learn to draw, so I'm really at a stand still. 

I guess I'm gonna do a little accounting and hope I either pass out or feel better. Ciao.

To the moon, Alice.

Hello World, my name's Matt and we're gonna try this again here.

I've been trying to get 'into' blogging for a few years now, but every time I try I end up getting turned off by it and forgetting all about it. It's not like I've got a lot to say, it's just that I think about a lot of things throughout the day and do nothing with them, except let them stew in the madness that is my thoughts. I plan on using this as a way to flesh out those thoughts. Those observations. Dreams. Aspirations. Failures. Let's see where we go, shall we?

This semester has been hectic so far. I'm doing a much better job of managing my time around classes, band practices, Matt practices, and hanging out with the guys, but I'm still falling behind. So i'll give you a little background info.

I'm a junior Accounting Major at Kent State University. This semester I'm taking Business and Professional Writing, Physics in Entertainments and the Arts, A Physics in Entertainment and the Arts lab, Managerial Accounting (yet again.), America's Music, and Operations Management. Lemmie break 'em down real quick.

Business and Professional Writing - Exactly the opposite of what I'm doing now in this post. This class has been my biggest challenge as it's the complete opposite from how I normally write. I love including details. I love being able to back up my reasoning. The way 'business professionals' write is clear, concise, 'empathetic', and to the point; so the challenge in this class is trying to maintain my individuality. 

Physics in E and the A - This class is sweet. It's all about how light and sound function in real life. I've gotten a B and a C on the two tests respectively. We're gonna go over our tests today, so the C might improve somewhat. Cross your fingers!

Physics lab - There's a cute girl in the class. That's about the only good part of it. I'll get an A if I just do my own work and don't pick the answers my partners choose. Every time I've done a lab by myself I've gotten 100%, every time they help I get like, an 80% or a 75%. 

Managerial Accounting - The first semester I took this class I got a D. Being retarded I quit going to class thinking the attendance points wouldn't hurt me too bad. Then they killed me. Stupidest move ever. So I took it again with Dave and Bill last semester and attendance wasn't mandatory, and I missed getting an A by a few points, but I passed so I was ecstatic. Then when scheduling for this year, my advisor informed me that my average for Financial and Managerial accounting was at 2.466. You need a 2.5 to continue on, and apparently no one rounds in the real world, so she told me to retake either Financial or Managerial again and all I'd have to do is get a B minimum to advance. I'm running a 92% right now. I plan on keeping it up there. 

America's Music - This is like, the 6th music class I've taken here (I should just minor in music education), and it's enjoyable. We've learned about music in America from the Native Americans up to The Big Band era so far. We had a test last month and I ended up setting the curve on it. We've got another next Thursday so I need to start studying now. 

Operations Management - Ughhhhhghhh. Bleh. This class is horrible. 3 hours on a Wednesday night and he doesn't even teach us anything. It's all about running a business, and I still don't know how to operate one. We have our first test this Wednesday and it's going to be a disaster I think. It's 10 Definitions (easy), 6 Essays (not easy), and we choose 2 out of 4 Computational Problems (CAN be easy since he gave us the problems without numbers). We get a full page (front and back) cheat sheet, which is going to be extremely helpful, but I still need to study hard for this test. 

So for the most part this year I've been on top of everything, but I need to keep buckled down.

From a musical perspective: I'm still playing with Matt and PTN. Matt's friend Dave moved back down here and is back at Kent. Dave's an awesome guy. He's the lead singer of the Lakewood band "Prime Addiction." We also listen to most of the same music. Well. Rock and metal-wise. I still listen to rap, country, jazz, generic rock, all that stuff, but it's nice to talk with someone here with similar musical tastes. We were supposed to play a paying gig at the Rathskellar a few weeks ago, but I ended up having to go to Cleveland. My best friend's dad was in the hospital, which was way more important that some show. I guess the show didn't go so well, but we'll make up for it. Dave has been talking him and I starting a metal band; which I'm all for. But he wants to do it next semester. That's fine, it's just that I'd like to start writing now. But this gives me time to come up with some stuff. 

I don't know what's going on with I, The Arsonist back home. I'm sure Will would still play rhythm guitar, and I'd be fine playing lead, but I don't know if Mark is still into it, or what Beaumont's doing since he was playing with his buddies at Slippery Rock. I talked to Will about him playing drums if I can work some sorta practice/group out with Dave Riley, and have Dave and I on guitar, Will on drums, and possibly Mark on bass if it DOES work out. It may just be ITA but reformed. I don't know. I don't really care either if something can come out of it. 

Also, I don't know if I'm going home this summer. Yeah, I can probably get back in Giant Eagle, but, I may end up staying down here, living in an apartment, taking summer classes, and working at night. Unfortunately for my social life and friends  back home, I think that's probably what's going to end up happening. At this point, I'm pretty willing to shack up with whoever. I'd still like to live with Pat and Dave and Chris and Stu and Will, but, I doubt that'd all work. At one point Will expressed interest in coming back to school and moving down here, and that'd be awesome. Corey, my old room mate also asked me about getting a place. Dave and Pat talked about it. Stu was talking about being an RA, but that was awhile ago. Even Mel said something about getting a job down here and being room mates. Matt talked about me moving in with him, Kevin and Dave. If Dallas comes back I wouldn't mind living with him. If Jason wants to move off campus, I wouldn't mind living with him. 

Like I said, I'm open to whatever. At this point, all I want to do is graduate with good grades and work. Yeah, my relationships with my friends aren't as close as they were. In fact, they're probably the 'worst' they've been since I've met everyone, as I'm never around here or back home, but, I've gotten into the mind-state that I finally need to do something for myself. My whole life I've been trying to prove myself to everyone. My parents, my brother, my friends, my teachers, my bosses. It's gotten to the point where I WANT to do this for ME. If everyone cares for me like they always say they do, I hope they understand that. But it's time I focused on something. SOMETHING. ANYTHING. As cool as it would be, I doubt music will ever pan out to be anything monetary for me. There're way too many good musicians out there now, and a bunch of them probably have more drive to be successful than I. I won't rule it out as a possibility, but, I'm not banking on it. School's my number 1 here. 

I'm gonna go cook up some turkey filets and gather my thoughts, take a nap, and head off to physics. If I can get any thoughts of substance I may fire up another blog, but, until then, Ciao!