Head spinning

Too much to process over then weekend. I promise to give you an overview and recap of lessons learned.

But not quite yet.

WAJ Mini Update

It is 3:15 pm and this is flying by WAAYYY too fast.

More at 11.

Helpful site for lovers of the language

Enjoy...

Common Errors in English

Catching a breath

Things have been rather hectic of late. Spent last Friday until 1 am at the church installing a sound system. Something old, something new...you know the story. Our sound system was from the early 70's. Someone generously donated a mixer board (from the end of the same decade). Another kind saint purchased a set of speakers (new, incidentally). A few new mics,a new amp, etc. Even with the Jurassic mixer the difference in sound was night and day. Well, night and twilight. Better than it was. The sun's still coming up.

Most of the afternoon Saturday was spent tweaking sound and practicing for Easter. My Pastor's son, Matthew, was trying to get through a new song we had slated for the morning service (Once Upon a Cross - Gina Boe/Marty Funderburk) but just wasn't feeling up to it. He ended up missing the whole service. Stage 3 pancreatic cancer at 23 years old. His liver enzymes have skyrocketed and he has swelling that the doctors can't explain. An emergency CAT scan is set up this week. Please keep him in your prayers.

So, I'm actually going to the WAJ/MFTS seminar at the end of the week. Of course, being the meticulous planner that I am, I have yet to get songs finished and demoed for critiques. Just got a new firewire interface this week, but I'm not sure I can learn how to use it in time to get a decent recording. At this point I just need to pick which, if any, songs I will take. Oh, well. It's cool that I am even going.


I'll try and recap the event sometime next week for both of my readers.

Rhymes with orange

Been perusing my pocket rhyming dictionary. Several things have occured to me...

1. I want to write a song one day that rhymes "dolly" and "tamale". Just because.

2. The English language is way too complicated.

3. "Yippee" rhymes with "hippie". Never thought of using them in a song...until now.

TANGENT ALERT - I never had even heard of a near rhyme until my 1st Write About Jesus. Actually, I was pretty clueless before WAJ. Still am, really.

5. This handy little book is really not going to help me very much without a great idea.

6. Point 4 above just disappeared. Poof! No explaination. Didn't even say goodbye.

7. Orange is not in here.

What does this have to do with anything? No clue. I just wanted to type. Really.

Two Years

Lately I've noticed that "two years" is my buffer zone, as it were. It is the "safe" time period I use to push aside failure, risk, and, frankly, success.

"I'll finally be ready to pitch songs in two years"

"I'll be ready to launch the new business idea I've been working on forever in two years."

"I will be ready to ______ in two years." "In two years I will be in a better place so I can..."

One year is WAY too soon. That would require commitment and discipline and productivity. Three years seems so long away. Two years satisfies the need for immediacy, yet postpones the real heavy lifting. Sort of an underachieving goal procrastination. Giving the appearance of ambitious goals, all the while knowing deep down inside I am capable of so much more. But that is a discussion for another blog posting, isn't it?

I seem to be averse to goals. If I don't have something to shoot for I can't miss, right?

The big question is am I afraid of failure, or am I afraid of success?

I'm not sure exactly how to answer that, and it is driving me crazy.

The record is scratched and the volume is stuck on HIGH...

I know my office is not the only one with the coworker that tells the same (boring) stories over and over and over. The stories that are supposed to be relevant to the current conversation, but have nothing to do with...well, anything.

Sometimes it feels like my office is the only one. Please tell me that my office is not the only one.

Tell the truth. Be honest. You know one of them pretty well - always talking and never saying a blessed thing.

Don't be that person.

PLEASE.

P.S. If you don't know that person, or if no one comes to mind , even after considerable thought, well... you might want to listen to your stories a little closer.

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Now playing: Kirk Whalum - Fairest Lord Jesus
via FoxyTunes

Half baked

Sitting here before a co write going over ideas. It has occured to me that there are ideas that I am not ready to write. Not yet.

They are good ideas. Maybe even close to great ideas, but I'm just not ready. It seems that I long for my soul to be set aflame by the passion that could be, but isn't yet.

Does that make sense? Or should I beat the flying monkey to the punch and simply say that I don't want to write a "half baked" song?