Australia!

Next year I plan on accomplishing 1 of the things I'd like to do before I die. I'm going to Australia!

All this came about so strange. I recieve a message from a young lady claiming that she is from Australia and coming to the US. At first I thought "okay, yeah, so what, why the hell are you telling me"? So, I replyed anyway haha. Turns out that she was coming to Mass and also attending Metal Fest. Which is extremely close to me. So after some more talking, it came to be that she also knew/was going to meet lots of people I knew in the Western Mass area. So needless to say, I then became interested in meeting these, what turned out to be 3 females from the country of Australia.

from left to right: Ashleigh, Kirstie, Kristy & me! I'm very glad that I got a chance to meet these 3 ladies. They are extremely nice people and seem to have no attitudes at all. They were all very funny and witty ladies and we got along great right from the get go, it was fantastic. I had a lot of fun being around them and hanging for what was sadly the one and only night I got to spend with them. I didnt think they would be as awesome as they were! I do feel I missed out but having to work on weekdays and them spending their time in Mass an hour and a half away prohibited maximum hangs, but ill make up for that next year!

Kristy was sweet enough to just GIVE me money from her Country. One of the questions that I had asked her was if Australian currency had Kangaroos on it. Since anything to do with Australia, I always assume it has to do with Kangaroos. It turns out it does! Australian dollar coins are WAY cooler than the USAs Sacagawea dollar coin, that thing is stupid! Theirs has cute animals on it! The large 50 cent coin also has Kangaroos on it! Im very much pumped on having money from Australia and I definitly plan on using it! Since Ive met nice and awesome people from there, it has given me lots of ambition to actually get going on it. I now have friends to see and a place to stay so the stress of going on this trip completely alone is now gone! After I finish paying for my drums that will be finished in the next few months, I have nothing else to save for. They were the most expensive goal in my life, other than buying cars. So now that thats out of the way, its travel time!

It feels nice to have a goal. One that I know I can reach. Because the only thing thats holding me back is the money for a plane ticket. Which is something I can easily raise. I love to travel, I know there is a whole world out there and I want to see it! Im surrounded by it always, friends are off in bands, doing something they love and I also love, MUSIC. I wish I could catch a break on that part of my life. Though it doesnt matter, music will always be there, its something that im always going to be doing or trying to do. If I cant mix traveling and music together, so be it. Its not going to hold me back from raising the money to go off and see other places. It just makes it easier haha. Ive filled out my passport form. I'm going to go get my photo taken in the next coming week and then drop that off and await the 1st very small step towards making my journey to a beautiful country to arrive in the mail.

Plus I have this to look forward to!

Im going to be hanging out with all these ladies! Its going to be awesome! Hopefully there wont be much singing involved! HA!(this is actually them! this isnt a random video I picked off youtube!). I cant wait to see all the cool things the country has to offer from scenery to FOOD and Of course holding a koala bear! I'm not sure where Ill be going in the country but im sure that I wont be disappointed.

July 2010 here I come Australia!

Experiments

2009 seems to be the year for them. If you could even call them that at all. Speaking for myself of course and since absolutely nothing thus far has been going my way, I've come to notice that positivity is hardly with me anymore like it was in January where all this "new lease and outlook on...(add variable X here)" started and im starting to wonder if I've just been shitting it all out with every afternoons BM. So in retaliation to my most recent blog entry(the one below this one) I've taken it upon myself to do something about "it".

My plan was everything but well crafted last night as I made the decision to not listen to ANY music, at all, for an unknown period of time. Since I find myself confiding in music always, searching for solace without much result of making things any better. So whats the fucking point? I kind of find it impossible however to not listen to anything, even though I have not tried it yet, the sounds of nature, life, the city, the hum of my vehicle as I gracefully disobey the speed limit, just wont cut it.

Im still going to try though, today was the day of Snapcase. I think I really just have to apply myself and say "no, dont listen to that" and try to focus on other things and listen to other things that I just find myself not caring to relate to and ignoring. I see it the only way. What Id like to help, isnt helping and if I want to do things different this year, I have to actually fucking do it.

"Problems" weight me down easy. I feel that I could have always done better, done more, I have trouble letting go, I have trouble accepting. I beat myself into the ground so hard I feel the warmth from hell, Id swear that Ive almost reached it a few times but in order to cast all these things away, really isnt up to any band or any song or any single person but myself. So in reality, what should it matter what I listen to? Well that is something I cannot answer, for some reason, it matters, in my world. If it hurts, why fucking deal with it any longer?

I really need to cut the shit with these rule breakers.

Which Came First?

A lot of the time I think about this very thing. Maybe I need to branch out more and find new music? Even though I know within that new music, whatever it may be, I will search for substance, meaning, a connection, which I or anyone should see nothing wrong with since its something I think everyone does. Im coming to the conclusion that what Im attracted to and the kind of person that I am, is what never gets me out of the holes I find myself in yearly, usually over the same thing. So maybe its me? Even down to the books that I read, whether a fictional story or a philosophical book by a writer who has a far better grip on his/her own case of fucking... melancholia, than I will ever have. They all have one thing in common, dark, evil, depressing shit about loss, death, confusion and the shere burden of being given life.

I need a new playlist...or maybe a renewed sense of being.

"My bright, is too slight, to hold back all my dark"

Sorry for this Blog rule breaker.

Dark Horse Percussion!

Thats right! After MANY years of dreaming up kits and talking to friends trying to get the hook up from the company they play. I have reached the end of the line. I have found a Company that is awesome and gave me an excellent price on a custom kit!

It feels weird. Its been SO long and now its finally happening. Im super pumped! 

heres what I got:

SIZES:

24x18 kick
16x16 floor
12x8 rack
13x8 snare (10ply)

chrome 2.3 mm hoops
chrome Diecast hoops on snare only
chrome mini tube lugs
floor tom mounts for legs drilled into the shell. 

kit color: Custom Navy blue with a glitter finish
kit stripes: 2 Donkey white abalone stripes
Snare finish: wrapped in Donkey white abalone.

The kit in look, will be just like this(minus the diff. colors obv.)

and thats that. I asked Anthony if he could photograph the process as best he can and send me shots so that I can blog the process here. I hope this happens!

STOKED!

DARK HORSE PERCUSSION