Hey y'all, just wanted to give a little update on how things are gonna go for a bit.
As you may remember, ya boy just finished hair school. The most exciting part of that is that I already have a job lined up in the hair field to go into, I just need to take my test.
The flip side of this is that I was mostly unemployed during school and, as such, my funds are in a bad place. Because of this, I have also picked up a part time third shift job. The hours at the barber shop and the hours at my third shift deal are actually perfect opposites, 10am to 6pm, and 10pm to 6am. Yes, this is a hellish schedule that I know is going to be exhausting. Only two days of work should overlap though, so I think I'll be safe
The effect of that here though, is that the quality of these posts will devolve even more than they are now, which I'm super sorry about. I'll try to write more in advance, but there's always a chance that I'll not do that because I'm not always the most organized when I'm tired.
Here's to that not happening though, amirite? Cheers, enjoy the song.
Band: The Beatles
Song: Lady Madona
Album: Single (1968)
Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Rock
Fun poppy piano stuff, have fun.
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Band: North Point
Song: Death Was Arrested
Album: Easter 2016 (Live)
Genre: Worship
So firstly, apologies for the hour long video here. It's like, an hour long, but I cued it up to the start of the song I want. I couldn't find it separate though, so you get North Point's entire 2016 Easter service. This is my favorite performance of the song, so we're gonna have this one.
Figured it was as good a time as any for a life update though.
I've mentioned that I was done with school, but it's honestly been a big year, so let's do a quick re-cap.
At the end of last July (2017) I left my job of 5 years at Chick-fil-A to start at Toni&Guy. It was a good job, loved the people, but it was time to move on, yeah? Well last Sunday (the 10th) was the end of my about 4 years at First Alliance Church. I was media there and, once again, it was a great job, but it was time for a change. It's been a wild year honestly. I left both my long term jobs, I finished school, about to start my new job, and I might even be coming back to Chick-fil-A for a part time gig. Super pumped man, it's a good time.
So yeah, there's my little life update.
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Artist: Israel Kamakawiwoʻole
Song: Over The Rainbow / What A Wonderful World
Album: Unforgettable Genre: Folk
We're gonna take a second from the mini series I'm running to talk about me for a second.
I don't do too many of these, but I think we're way past due for an update into my life, especially since I've got a lot of changes going down.
For the last 5 years I've worked for Chick-fil-A. Say what you will about the owners beliefs, but they are a fantastic company to work for. I made some of my best friends there and learned a lot. I worked my way up from a part time evening worker, to a full time opener, to a shift leader, and finally these last 8 months I've been the closing kitchen manager. You know, your typical rags to riches story, but actually nothing like that.
In this time there's been good times and bad, stress and smooth work days. In the time I was there our store increased in sales by a solid 250% from when I started till now. All of us put in our time and energy and it was a blast to see the business soar while we all worked toward it.
The two guys here on the left are Nick and Kyle from left to right. I met Nick on my first night and I met Kyle on my second night. These two are the only ones left from my original kitchen crew. There's a couple people from the front still around, and there's a few leaders too, but as far as the people I worked the trenches with these two are it.
Un-pictured are so many people, but I'd love to make a shout out to Kelsey and Jozy. Jozy was there before me, but he went back to school like, the day before I started. Kelsey started maybe 2 weeks after I did and I actually got to train her on a couple spots. She quickly moved past where I was though cause she was driven and I was just kinda there for the ride at first.
Jozy and Kelsey are currently the Back of House directors, with Jozy specializing in scheduling & inventory and Kelsey with employee morale. They turned out to be some of my favorite people at the store and I'm probably gonna miss working with them the most.
Still though, it's time for me to move to a different field. I didn't really want to stay in food service anymore, and since I'm going to Toni & Guy in the fall to become a barber I finally have a new direction to try out. It's good to have a goal again.
Here, have a sappy, sentimental, clichéd song. It's fantastic.
I would have had this live at midnight, but I had something happen which I will explain further down the post.
This last week has been a pretty intense thing for me. A couple weeks ago I officially picked up my second job as Producer for First Alliance Church. Basically what I do is I make the Sunday services as nice sounding and looking as I can. I'll tell the band what needs detail work, I'll tell the tech team what sounds off, and I do what I can do dodge actually talking to people who have complaints.
It's actually loads of fun and I even get paid, but with the thing I do at EYA in addition to picking up new responsibilities at work and this second job I'm just a little overwhelmed.
Case in point, I slept from 3pm Sunday until 3am today. I feel fantastic.
Band: Kanye West feat. T-Pain
Genre: Hip Hop, Rap
I picked this because I suppose the reason I'm doing so much stuff right now is because I just want to have the freedom of funds to be able to do whatever I feel like. Granted, working in fast food and part time at a church will not grant me the funds that I personally would like to have at my disposal, but it does give me enough to let me do fun things, and that's what counts.
Yes, I get that's not really the point of the song, but I decided to go from that angle. Sue me.
As usual, the music is at the bottom of the wall of text. Skip if you wish.
Me playing bass at EYA
You know what, a lot has happened in the time since we last had a chat post. I've mentioned a couple things here and there, but we're gonna act like I've said nothing and have all the updates in this post.
So I've been running sound at a young adults group called EYA. Facebook link if you're interested. So 3 weeks ago I was running sound for a black gospel band. This was probably the most involved thing I'd done yet since the house band isn't really that big.
Usually I deal with 2 electric guitars, 1 acoustic, drums, a keyboard, a bass, and 2 singers. The gospel group on the other hand had 4 singers, 2 keyboards, a bass, drums, and an electric. The band leader also had some very specific things he wanted me to do with the vocal mixing.
Well it turns out this guy is a kind of big deal in the Cleveland Buffalo Pittsburgh circuit and he was so happy with what I did for him he asked me to travel with them to run sound at all of their shows. You can't tell me that this isn't cool. I'm gonna be actually traveling with this guy and helping make their music sound good.
This is a really funny thing to me, because if you follow the music I post here at all you'll know I'm into Metal, some Rap, and basically anything aggressive and/or guitar-y. In other words, nothing that really screams "Hey, this guy likes Gospel music!" I'm amused by this, so I figured I'd point it out so you could be amused too.
On that vein, I've also started down the path of being a recording engineer and sound producer.
I'm gonna be interning with one of the guys at EYA who owns a studio and used to work with Raven Sound. I hear they're a big deal, and I know that this guy is really good at what he does, so I'm really excited about that.
On the production end of things I've taken the role of temporary producer at church while the current one has some time off.. I'm in charge of making sure the entire event sounds good at looks good, which is something I've been interested in for a while now. I like working at Chick-fil-a and all, but I've been ready to leave it for a while now. All of these things together are, in my mind, the first steps of many to get out into a "real" job.
Wedding day selfie with the groom.
You know what else happened? As you may remember from my post a few days ago, my best friend Matt got married. Honestly this was an emotionally weird time for me since on one hand, Matt was the happiest I've ever seen him but on the other, this was the last member of my graduating class that wasn't married other than me. Now disregarding the fact that I only had a graduating class of 5, it makes me feel really far behind everybody I grew up with. You know what though? It was a fantastic wedding. Even though I wasn't able to get through my full speech cause the maid of honor kinda hit all the same points I did.
Yeah, that's pretty much it. I hope this helps explain why some of my posts have been going up a little late recently, lots of stuff going down.
Music Here
Band: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Punk Rock
Here's something I'm surprised I haven't posted. The song is overplayed, but the band isn't actually too bad. The album is really freaking solid actually. I'll do a legit post for these guys later though where I can actually talk a little more. Enjoy guys, see ya tomorrow.
Hey guys. Yes, I'm as tired as I look. No, I'm not deathly greyish pale. I'm not sure why, but my phone automatically washes out a lot of reds. My hair is currently more vibrant than that, think brighter with black in it. Less brown.
Also yes, as I write this I'm falling asleep on the floor at church waiting for practice to start. Got a great spotify playlist going with a bunch of songs I enjoy going though, so that's nice. I call it my "Enjoyable" list cause I enjoy all the songs.
That's all unimportant though, cause these posts are supposed to have interesting things that I want to brag about without bragging to people in real life.
It's been an eventful bit of time actually, I got a cool new project at work and I started on the sound team at a young adults group I'm a part of. We meet every Tuesday and I'm gonna be doing it every other week or so I think.
The new project is a redesign of the break room, which promises to be really fun. Got some sick ideas already, but I also have to convince the leadership team to be cool with it on Friday, so there's that.
So here's the song.
Artist: Avicii
Song: Wake Me Up
Genre: Electro House, Folktronica
Well I kinda blew my biggest new thing with the tattoo post on Tattoo, but there's one thing that's happened to me recently. Seriously, I'm starting to realize that month to month I really don't do too many things worth mentioning.
I did "Cooking With Alcohol Part 3" recently.
Part 1 was when I made a Rum Ham and I set a small pot of rum on fire. I did manage to blow that out though.
Part 2 was Rum Ham 2.0, and no fires were set.
Part 3 was cooking with loads of wine. Like, half a bottle of wine. I chopped an onion and browned it, then I started cooking it with wine. While I reduced the wine I made some rice to pour it all on to. Once I had reduced the wine enough I put more in along with sliced mushrooms. All of this steamed together for 5 minutes or so till I poured it on top of the rice. It was actually really nice.
I attended my first leadership meeting yesterday as well, and I even got to vote for the next employee of the month. I feel quite accomplished on that front.
As for the second job I mentioned last month, I do not have it yet. Not sure when it'll happen, but it's there.
Song time.
We're gonna mention my band again this month. We did a cover of the Beastie Boys song Sabotage, but in a Djent inspired style.
I'm really happy with it, especially with the air raid siren. For whatever reason I'm just really happy with it.
Something to note is that on the last verse I have a couple parts that are doubled, but there is one part that I just get super sloppy sounding in the right way at 3:11. When I say the word "switch" I don't actually have it doubled, but it sounds like it.
Well it's been a while since I did a "normal" type blog post. April got taken over by the A to Z, and for May I just kinda did that Reflections post so I've not had a chance to just say things at all.
For those of you not interested in my yaking, the song is down at the bottom.
So in the last few months not too many things have happened. The last 2 weeks though are a different matter.
Firstly, I got promoted! This is something I've been hoping to have happen for about a year now, and it finally happened. I'm a Team Coordinator and it's my job to make sure the kitchen doesn't fall apart while I'm on shift. For the most part my responsibilities are the same as what I have now, but I have actual authority to make people do what I say. On top of that I'm the only kitchen trainer, so this week for example I'm only on shift Monday and Tuesday cause I'm training Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Secondly, this only happened Saturday afternoon, but I got offered a job at a place I frequent. I have an interview this evening. I'm really excited about this, cause it's a low stress second job that I can pick up that focuses on all things that I love. Music and Video Games.
I mean, that's most of the stuff I have to say, ya know? I've had a weird couple months here and I've honestly been really unhappy with how things have been going, but the last couple weeks I've been working a lot (last week I managed 51 hours and 35 minutes). I really love doing that, and I feel like this second job is the way to get enough money to move into my own place soon.
SONG STUFF HERE
This is a fun song today. It's Boston's song More Than A Feeling, but digitally altered to make it in a minor key. Ladies and Gentleman, I give you Less Than A Feeling.
Here we are, another fun little post cause it's the beginning of the month! I was really looking forward to this, not gonna lie.
So, some blog stuff first:
We have only one more month till the A to Z in April, so that's cool, right? I have all the posts mostly prepped with the exception of Q, it's giving me issues.
The theme for April will be full albums, and you know that's gonna rock, right? Fun fact, there are only something like 13 albums with the first letter being Q. 13. Thirteen. That's not a lot.
In trying to keep music diverse I will fall into some sort of rut from time to time. Like the avoiding Metal rut will bring us Rap and Hip Hop, and vice versa. I will try to get past that, sorry guys.
Other stuff that's cool?
People commented on one of my posts. This is a legitimately big deal, cause the only person so far has been my mom and while I appreciate it it's a lot cooler to see people I don't know reaching out to talk to me. Sorry Mutha', you just don't cut it anymore.
As some of you may have noticed if you are long term readers, Jeff has not made a post in like, 2 months. He decided that the stress to meet a once a month deadline was too much. This most certainly had nothing to do with the fact that I would ask him for the post about a day or so before I needed it, totally not a problem on my end.
On a personal note I got a promotion at work. Instead of just being the guy that knows everything with no benefits I am the guy who knows everything with benefits. Also know 1 of 2 official kitchen trainers. It's really cool, I shape people's minds and stuff. #PowerRush, amirite?
Let's be real, there's no way I'm posting such a popular song without it just not counting like this. I really like it though, and I might be filming a crappy little music video for work that has this song it it, so that will be cool, right?
New thing we're gonna be doing. At the beginning of each month unless circumstances make it impossible I'm gonna have a basic "normalish" blog post. I'll talk about things that are gonna be happening here and such and stuff.
I'll still have a song attached to these kinds of posts, but it will be whatever I happen to want to post regardless of whether I posted the band within the last month or not. Believe it or not I actually do have rules to how I make posts and stuff.
A: I'm gonna start embedding all videos cause I like the way they look on the blog better. If you can give me a better reason to or not to, I'll listen.
2: As you may have noticed from the last couple days miss posting pictures on G+, I am joining the A to Z Challenge during April. I figure that since I post on the daily anyway it shouldn't be that hard to keep up with it. Since I post every day though I will not be taking Sundays off as the challenge stipulates. Instead they will be clearly labeled as a non alphabet related post and I'll put up whatever I feel like.
* I've been reading in the comments recently and I see that a lot of you have been asking for...... Nothing. There have been like zero comments. I don't want to beg, but this does make me a little sad and I'd love to hear back from you guys about whether I'm doing a good job or not, ya know? I read anything that comes up and I will reply to anything you send me, even if it's just to say something dumb.
Finally: I'm going to be doing more themed weeks as an excuse to post certain music in batches. It'll be a great time up till I hit "Sudo-Symphonic-Blackened-Tech-Grind" week.
Side note, more freaking Nuclear Blast putting out good music. Just throwing that out there.
Also Epica is a lot like Nightwish but with occasional harsh vocals, so if you liked them you like this as well.
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