These next couple days have only one word that can describe them... INSANITY

Man, it seems like I just keep getting busier and busier as the school year goes on! It's absolutely insane how little time I have anymore for even the little things like blogging to all you good people out there. This week especially has been crazy. I had a retreat for my Confirmation all day on Saturday, Youth Group all day today, and then tomorrow I have Confirmation Practice, and then I actually get CONFIRMED on Tuesday. Sorry, I think I just absolutely rambled on in that sentence. Oh well, you get my point.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm really excited to finally be getting Confirmed! I feel like I'm just about to take my first full steps into the real Catholic Church, and boy, let me be the first to tell you that it feels pretty dang awesome! I think that the part that really defined the entire experience for me was when I was doing my personal thinking about which Saint's name I would want as my own. Let me tell you, I thought about this FOR EVER! Because you want to pick a Saint who you really want to try and model your life after, and if you don't pick the right one now, you'll be sorry later! So I thought and I thought, and I finally settled upon a pretty cool Saint. His name is Saint Thomas Aquinas. In a nutshell, he's the scholar of the bunch. He is one of the more famous Saints, mostly because of all the different things he wrote about the Church.

But anyways, moving away from my personal Confirmation story, I just want to talk about some music really quick. I've always found that music is a way of expressing myself in ways where words can't. I say this because even now, a few days after the fact, it's hard to write about this. Just this past Tuesday, one of my former teachers died from a heart attack. What does this have to do with music, you ask? Well this teacher was the one who got me started playing the guitar, playing the piano, and just being an all-around geek. He was the kind of guy who you could go to for anything, and he would be able to help. He was kind and fair to every single person he came across, and he treated everyone like family, even if he had just met someone ten minutes ago. Practically everyone that had him as a teacher loved him, along with everyone who just met him in passing.
Well recently, because of this news, my music has become slightly more sad sounding, which I'm sure will dissipate over time though. It's a weird sound of music that I have never before heard from my guitar. I honestly didn't even know that the guitar was capable of making such sad sounds as these. So my point is that your emotions really DO have an effect on the way you play.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read this entry, long and drawn out as it may be. Follow, comment, etc. etc., and I'll see everyone back here on my next post

R.I.P. Mr. Cell. We'll miss you.

-Alex S.

It's Been Crazy!

Man, I haven't posted a blog post in a while now! Oh well, it feels good to be back. Things have been so hectic around here: endless projects and tests, and on top of those, I have Confirmation stuff from Saturday to Tuesday when I actually get Confirmed. It will be worth it though. I've been trying so hard lately to get my religious life back in order, and I see Confirmation as my finish line. I say "finish line" not in the sense that I'm going to give up after that, but that it's the end of me having to try to love God. After this, I think I'll have the skills that I need to coast smoothly along.

I definitely think that being in a band with other members of my Church Youth Group helps a lot. It basically combines religion with something I love: music! And I NEVER thought I would say this, but the Christian music that we play is really good! Something about the melody gives the music an awe-inspiring tone, which i absolutely adore. Best part is that many of the songs are in my vocal range (which doesn't happen often!), so I can easily sing along while I play, which just makes the experience that much better.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm terrible at singing, so any tips that anyone is willing to offer would help greatly. I've got a couple questions for anyone who reads this.
1.) What do you think of Christian Music? Do you like it? Do you find it inspiring?
2.) Is it possible to take an AWFUL singing voice and teach it to sing? [More of a personal question]

Thanks for reading everyone!

-Alex S.

Inspiration Comes in the Oddest of Places

Wow, I can't believe that I finally got that song put together. I'm not sure if I mentioned this in the last post or not (I'm pretty sure I did), but for all those who haven't read that one, I finished writing my first performance-worth song the other day. Where did I get the inspiration for the song you may ask? Nowhere really, the idea just popped into my head, so I did it!

This whole experience has been crazy, full of ups and downs, but it's been awesome. Definitely something I'm looking to do again soon. All through this time though, I've actually been reflecting on a Bible Verse that helped me believe that I could do it. The verse goes like this: "I can do everything through him who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13). Pretty inspirational, right?

Now comes the hardest part of writing a song: getting other people's takes on it. I hate playing music in front of people (I know, that's probably a bad thing since I play the guitar), but I hate playing my own material in front of anyone. But once that's over with, if they say it's good enough, I may just get it copyrighted. Who knows, I may just have a career in music yet!

-Alex S.

Good lyrics, they're a dime a dozen, but great lyrics, well, they're something else entirely

Well today has been an extremelly productive day in terms of my inner musician! I finally wrote a full, complete song that I think is worthy of other people's ears! And, not to float my own boat, but it's a pretty awesome song. The lyrics by themselves mean pretty much nothing at all, but when put with the music, well.. They still mean practically nothing, but it's a good song in my opinion! And the best part is that it can only get better from here!

-Alex S. (a content musician)

A Very Good Sunday

Well, I definitely couldn't have asked for a better Sunday. Hung out with my best friend most of the day, then went to band practice for Youth Group. I know what you're thinking here, "A Youth Group band? How is that fun?". Well believe me, the other band members and musical director are amazing. Honestly, band practice is my favorite part of every Sunday! Great company, great music, and praising my God all at the same time! Who could ask for more?

I finally got to put my new guitar to good use! This was the first time that I ever brought it to a band practice, and believe me, it made all the difference! We sounded so much better now that my Alvarez was up to par with the other guitars that were playing. We actually got another vocalist too, so we have some very good harmonies going on as well!

So all in all, a VERY successful Sunday!

-Alex S.

Here Comes the Sun!

Ahh, finally a day where I can walk outside and not slip on seemingly invisible patches of ice! All the South Carolina snow (and ice) is beginning to melt, and I couldn't be happier! Snow is great, but it gets old really fast. Best part of today: it's not only dry and snow-free, but its also a decent temperature!

I've began to branch out a bit, because for the first time, I tell you that I'm NOT playing the guitar at the moment! In fact, I'm playing the piano. I'm trying to learn a really good song by the band Five For Fighting called "100 Years". It's a song that pretty much everyone has heard at one point or another. Sad thing is that right after it came out, another one of their songs "Superman" became extremely popular, dwarfing the song's popularity. It's really difficult for me to play this song, so I'm going to be working on this for some time!

If you haven't heard the song, give it a listen at some point. I'm sure you'll find it both a good song and very motivational.

-Alex S.

10 Day Weekends are Great!.... When You're not on Lockdown!

Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not complaining in any way about being out of school. It's just that this VERY long weekend hasn't been too terribly fun, considering the day after it snowed, a thick layer of ice formed over top... Now I'm pretty much trapped inside my house, forced to write blog entry after blog entry! And since I'm writing them, you're forced to read them! Mwahahaha.

Now, before I go any farther, I want to brag about a friend of mine, David Arias. He is an outstanding musician, and is a great songwriter. Please, anyone and everyone reading this blog post, go check out his blog at http://ariasaudio.tumblr.com/. There's a sample of a song he wrote a little while ago, and it's really good.

Well, that's about it, I'm going to go play my brand new Alvarez (still have not gotten over the shock of what an amazing guitar it is)! Like usual, leave a comment, follow my blog, and keep checking back for more posts!

-Alex S.

Snow, Ice, Sleet; and all in South Carolina!

Wow, I don't think I've EVER seen it snow like this in South Carolina! The school board has even gone so far as to cancel school for the rest of the week! So basically I've had a weekend since Friday afternoon of LAST week! And then I have this Monday off too!

It's not actually that fun to go outside anymore, because the snow has been frozen over by a thick layer of ice... I mean really, who wants to have a snowball fight when there's shards of ice in the snowball? I know I don't... But oh well, less school work for me I suppose. More time to get some more songs under my belt on the guitar too!

Just over this EXCEPTIONALLY long weekend, I've learned two more songs (both very simple). The songs "Calling All Angels" and "Hey Soul Sister"; both of which are by Train. "Calling All Angels" is possibly the easiest song I have ever learned to play, but it's a song that has personal value to me, since I've been listening to it since I was little. "Hey Soul Sister" was also easy, but the strumming pattern is hard to get down, since you're essentially playing a hybrid of the guitar and the other small guitar he's playing (not really sure whether it's a mandolin or a ukulele).

Well I hope all of you have had a good week so far! I know I have! You know the usual, leave a comment, follow my blog, and keep checking back for more new posts!

-Alex S.

Global Warming? Nahhh

Whoever came up with global warming obviously hasn't been to South Carolina. I swear, ever since that theory because universally known, SC has gotten cooler and cooler each year. I mean take today for example! It was the second time in two months it has snowed and stuck! And the weather reports even say that it still may be here tomorrow too (can you say no school)!

But anyways, today was a great day; got to sleep in, got to hang out with my best friend all day in the snow, went sledding, attempted to make a snowman, went ice golfing and bowling (very fun, it comes highly recommended), and now I'm drinking an excellent cup of hot chocolate! :)

So to all my South Carolina friends reading this post (probably not many), have fun in the snow (even though now it's more like ice)! And pray that we won't have school tomorrow, because I really don't want to finish my History homework.

As always, leave a comment, follow my blog, and keep checking back for new posts!

-Alex S.

Hooray Weekends!

First off, just let me say THANK GOD FOR FRIDAYS!! Friday afternoons especially! It's such a great feeling, one almost of freedom to say, "Heck yea! I just made it through a tiring week of school, and now I get my reward!"

So being the geek I am, I finally hooked up my new monitor, keyboard, and mouse to my laptop so I can sit at a desk when I'm on the computer. And yes, before you ask, those were Christmas presents. They're really helpful though, because now I have a bigger screen, a faster keyboard, and an ACTUAL mouse (not just a trackpad)! Very helpful for these blog posts too haha.

So apparently there is a slight chance of it snowing here yet again on Monday, and I am praying with all my might that it happens. I mean, the snow is great and all, but getting the day off of school is even better (in my opinion). And if it DOES snow, that will be the first snowfall of 2011 (hopefully not the LAST snowfall of 2011). So if you happen to remember this when you're saying a prayer, pray for it to snow in South Carolina!

So all the normal announcements; leave a comment, follow my blog, and check back often for more blog posts! And here's a tip, to make it easier to check back with my blog, bookmark this page! That way you can just go to your 'Favorites' tab and come directly back here!

Thanks everyone,
-Alex S.

Phew, Thank God For Weekends!

Man this week seems to be taking forever to go by! And I only just got off Christmas Break this past Tuesday! But I guess that's why God made weekends; to give people a break from the stresses of the week.

So I came to find out some saddening news today at school (saddening for me at least). The men's tennis team, which I have been on since the sixth grade, now has only 3 members, myself included... Why is men's tennis such a neglected sport? I mean, I know that everyone and their mother seems to think that it's a girly sport that really requires no talent at all, but that's defiantly not the case. It actually requires a lot more finesse then people actually realize. But enough of that, no ranting for me tonight.

Anyways, I'm still loving my new guitar. The built-in tuner is so handy! Before, all I had was a really bad tuner, that caused a lot of headache and popped strings, but now I don't even have to balance a tuner on my guitar, because it's built right into the side of it! The thing looks like a dang control panel off of an alien spaceship! It's got so many knobs and buttons and lights all over it, most of which I haven't even used yet because I haven't needed to hook up to an amp yet.

Well that's all for today. I hope all of y'all are having a good week so far, but if you aren't, you can make it even better my commenting, following, and continuing to check back to see if I've made a new post! :)

Alex S.

Happy New Year!

Wow, 2011 already! Only one more year till we all perish in the apocalypse. Haha, just kidding, I don't believe in that sort of stuff.

But anyways, I hope everyone had a really great New Year's celebration! Personally, I went to a party, so that was pretty fun. No fireworks though, since it was really foggy and nasty outside, so that was kind of a bummer. I did get to play my guitar though (yes, I brought my guitar to a New Year's party, get over it). Got a lot of compliments on the new guitar about how it looked and sounded, so that's always a good sign. Apparently now everyone at the party wants free concert tickets... YEA RIGHT...

Anyways, hope everyone had an amazing 2010, and an amazing New Year's celebration! That's all I have for right now, so I"ll see everyone next time! Comment, Follow, and keep checking back for more blog posts!

-Alex S.