Music Music Music!

Well this week has been majorly musical for me if you couldn't tell by the post title. Let's see... Sunday was spent with a friend who fixed my floyd rose, retuned my guitar, and we went to buy new whammy bars. Then we played guitar for a few more hours. Then right after was a not-so-dress rehearsal for the chorus concert. OMG the school we did the joint concert with is AMAZING! Of course our director put them in the room with our giant trophies during breaks haha.

Tuesday was the concert which was perfect until the last two songs. I'm usually on the very end of the 1st soprano section but the girl in front of me stopped at the wrong place so I had to keep walking on the next row. Well that pretty much put me between 2nd sopranos and basses with no one near me that sang my part. What did I do? I sang of course! Held down my part better in the hard song than the easy one for some reason but hey it worked. Scariest moment of my life though.

And now it's Wednesday. A friend of mine brought his guitar to school so that was fun. I got to thinking about my favorite song because I realized how much I say "I love that song! It's one of my favorites!" And I'm never lying either. I have so many favorites and the top favorites change constantly. So I figure I'll share my top 10 of the week in countdown form: This is mostly based on what's always stuck in my head.

10. "Looking Up"- Paramore- Top 10 really isn't bad, heck this one moves up and down the rankings a lot. It's fun to sing and just really upbeat and I can relate to it so much.

9. "Single Ladies" Beyonce - Normally I'm not too crazy about most music like that, but I love this song for two reason. 1. It was on Glee and amazing. 2. It's my 2010 prom song. I went single and danced the most to this one.

8. "Beautiful Disaster"- Jon McLaughin- I heard this one a long time ago but recently started playing it on my guitar. It's just always in my head.

7. "Things Can Never Die" - Charles Dickens/Chorus- Yep a chorus song! If I had to pick one from last night I loved learning the most, it was this one. It's just so pretty!

6. "Paperthin Hymn"- Anberlin- This one I've loved for a while. I can't even remember where I heard it, I just love it. Rhythmically difficult to sing but still amazing!

5. "Swing Life Away"- I first heard this song at the SkillsUSA Christmas tree walk. Patrick had my guitar and was playing it and I pretty much fell in love with the song. I went home and bought it on iTunes and put it on repeat for a few hours. Gotta learn that soon!

4. "Taking Chances" Glee or Celine Dion- Ok, it's the Glee version I'm most in love with but it's so much fun to sing! I've been using it as a warmup song!

3. "I Love You"- Martina McBride- I bet that one was a surprise. Well I came across this one when I bought the sheet music book (It was on sale for like $2 while my mom was out antique shopping, I couldn't resist!) for "Runaway Bride" so I started singing it, and it's just fun.

2. "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"- Greenday- Another one that kinda grew on me. I'm learning this one too but it's another sweet short song about living for the moment. Love it!

1. "If It Means A Lot to You" A Day to Remember- My friend Patch was over and he played it and I feel in love with it both lyrically and stylistically. The messages sweet, simple, and different. It was about a guy that has to leave but says "If everyone sings "la, la la la, la la la" that he can come back" In the end the girl gets everyone to sing that simple phrase. Also I love the voices. I can't stop listening this over and over again. Learning it on my guitar currently.

The Lost Get Found

Another line of another great song. Well this is kinda late but Wednesday's service was just amazing! God was there and he was touching lives. I was honored to be able to pray with some of my peers and we all broke down into tears. If any hurting teen is reading this. God is there for you. He has a purpose for your life. No matter what anyone on Earth tells you, you are beautiful and wanted and loved by the Almighty.

This year I wasn't as excited for prom as last year, probably because I have no date this year and I'm crazy busy. My dress is one that's been in my closet for two years that has never been worn. Considering the theme is "Happily Ever After" the black dress is going to stand out a ton, even more fun for me (and that wasn't sarcastic). Then I'll be hanging with my girls after. I'm not the type to go get drunk and sleep around, I have more self respect than that. And tomorrow morning my guitar will be ready for me. A friend of mine is touching up my floyd rose and lowering the strings.

I'm listening to one of my favorite songs "Dismantle. Repair." by Anberlin, the chorus goes "and oh oh oh things are gonna change now for the better. oh oh oh things are gonna change." well that's true. When you're in what you think is the darkest valley, dismantled to nothing, things will look up and you'll be repaired.

I've also learned a lesson from losing my voice a second time. I got sick again last week. I lost my voice. At this point, losing my voice again (because I never fully recovered from when I got extremely sick a last summer) could mean the end of singing for me. Well I kept testing my voice through those scary four days that I didn't have it. Through testing it every few hours, drinking lots of tea, and praying like crazy, I mostly have it back. The first day I got it back, it was still rusty but somehow I managed to sing from a low E to a high C, three octaves on a bad day, not too bad in my opinion. My voice is mostly recovered now, I just need to hope it continues to come back.

Oh Happy Day!

Right now I am saying that my parents are awesome! Yesterday my daddy took me to Durham to buy my guitar!

This is my beautiful Jackson DK2M, maple neck, Seymour Duncan, and Floyd Rose! Then I spent the rest of the day figuring it out. Let the songwriting begin! Well that will happen when I get my full voice back. I'm able to sing again but no hitting high As or anything at the moment.

I do have another song though.

a few months back I was looking through old scrapbooks and found these old pictures of me and my best friend in elementary school. I don't think he remembers me, but I remember him so clearly. Maybe one day I'll see him again even though it's been 10 years... this one's a little rough but I'm working on it.

You don't have to remember me
I forgot you too
I found and old photograph
From when it was just me and you
We weren't the most popular
But we had each other
I haven't seen you ince
Or know where you are
Maybe with a miracle
I'll find you again

Maybe there will come a day
Maybe I'll see you again
Across the country
Over the seas
You're somewhere in this world
Burned in my memory
Never forgotten

There's a day we were six
Dreaming of when we'd be older
Said we'd always be together
We weren't lying
We honestly forgot
and I'm sorry I did
Maybe one day
There'll be another chance
Cause we were best friends

It was your 7th birthday
At our favorite place
We rode the rides
and played all day
A memory to be
Never forgotten

Almost 17 now
I'm writing our song
Sitting here wondering how you are
Are you still chasing those dreams
Have you ever thought of me?
I've changed so much
You'd never believe it
But I'm sure you have too

Yep, that was really rough, but someday it's gonna be a prettier song. The melody is really rough too... It's still being worked on a lot, just gotta play with it long enough.

Unbreakable- April 12th

Well that's how I feel right now. Upbeat and ready to take on the world. Benefest went pretty good considering all the bands basically dropped out at the very last minute. Brooke played and then it was random jam band for the rest of the show. Does it make sense to have 9 guitars, a bass, a mandolin, 5 harmonicas, a talkbox, and 5 amps but only 3 musicians on stage at a time? Apparently so.

In a few hours will be the start of insanity/production week. I've already stocked up on black clothes and energy drinks. Homework is gonna be crazy, but maybe we won't have a SkillsUSA exec board meeting this week. Hell week is super fun and super stressful at the same time. The entire cast and crew become a family as we work and stress together and the show at the end is always amazing.

In other news, my chorus won grand champion at Baltimore! I wish I could've been there, but I had to stay back for Benefest. We did raise $622 at Benefest, more than the club has ever raised before. However, this is all for charity and none goes to the club funds. Either way, the fact that I know I can raise that much money in one day with only one month of planning gives me a good outlook for future fundraising attempts, especially considering this event was in no way shape or form how I had planned it to be. The recruitment campaign will be starting soon, so hopefully things will be looking up even more.

Lately something that's interested me is quantum theory. Basically it's this big theory about how thoughts become things because of the law of attraction. It's actually Biblical because somewhere in the New Testement Paul said something about believing you will have something. Seems like a huge act of faith to me, maybe I'll finally get that guitar I have my eye on :D. I did find a guitar I really like, and I'm trying to convince my dad to take me to Durham to seriously check it out. The only downside is that it's almost exactly the same as my friend Patrick's guitar, just a different color. It's a really pretty black guitar, think of how pretty hot pink strings will look on it!

He is Risen!

He died for me and rose again about 2000 years ago. Today in church we learned that the correct response to "He is Risen" is "He is Risen indeed!" Just thinking about the pain someone had to go through for someone else just blows my mind. It makes sense to me because who would die such a horrible death for a lie? His skin was ripped off, he was tormented, given multiple chances to get out, and fulfilled every prophecy of the ancient texts.

I didn't really have any Easter plans, but since spring break is coming to and end (I go back to school a day early for theatre) I've tried to reconnect with reality. Let's see, I've got a paper due on Wednesday and another APUSH packet with tons of words to look up due on Friday. Yep, lots of homework. Not to mention I'm bringing my guitar to school on Tuesday so my friend can show me a few things.

It's also the week of Benefest and my nerves are eating me alive. Pray for good weather, it's looking beautiful now but NC weather is so bipolar. Raffle stuff is mostly in, concessions are almost all verified, a couple more donation baskets need to be bought/made. Note the "almost" and the "mostly" and the "couple more" That means it's not done, it's nearly done. Thus the nervousness of the event director. It's funny how people are like "You're 16, and you're trying to direct and coordinate an entire benefit event?" They laugh now but they'll see on Saturday.

Things are looking up oh finally

Well today's another slower day for me. Dyed my hair to a more intense red because I was bored and I just need a change. Even a little change. Ever feel like you just need a change? Like when you just have to start a new notebook to write your songs in or you just have to cut 6 inches of hair off? Yeah, I've done both. Today wasn't one of those days but I just had to dye my hair. I kinda wish it was though. I kinda like the feeling of a fresh start and everything that I get with those changes. Cutting off my hair was a completely new look, not really a new me, but a different me on the outside.

As for my laptop, I got it fixed and the case was pretty messed up when my dad picked it up for me yesterday. I didn't see it till I got home from work but it wasn't good at all. Good news is, today I went back to the repair place and they're replacing the parts for free. Still consider selling this Macbook and buying a Pro but I'll have to see how much money I make in the near future.

Since I didn't have a laptop for the past day and a half, and all my music was on my laptop, and all my homework was on my laptop, I had to have music somehow, so of course to me the only logical thing to do was play guitar. I used my sister's computer while she was at school to pull up chords and tabs and learned "Fifteen" by Taylor Swift and parts of a couple other songs. I tried to learn "Rooftops" by the Lostprophets but that song's in a drop C. The thought of retuning my guitar like that was too intimidating. Maybe when I get an electric I won't be so intimidated...

Even though the title of this post is a song I love, I have yet to try to play it... maybe I'll do that later today...

Well it's only about 2, so maybe my day will get better. It is Good Friday afterall. Today, about 200 centuries ago, my savior gave his life for me. That is something I'll forever be thankful for.