i think i'm finding out more and more i am not really interested in electric guitars; what i mean is that while i LOVE my fender squire stratocaster, when i look up music-related gear on the web now, i find i'm becoming ever increasingly more interested in the various pedals such as those found on bossus.com. i mean, i'm finding more and more that most ppl have stuff that extends beyond the distortion, wah and flanger pedals. besides, if you have about 15+ effect pedals, you can cover up just about ANY mistake ;) i think weaver(12 stones' guitarist) uses these pedals(check this out):

Boss phase pedal
Boss delay/reverb
Voodoo groove chorus pedal
Crybaby wah pedal

and i think he has 3 more pedals. ack; how much money i need to shell out to be able to play like that(not to mention i still can't play riffs that complex). i think though if i can fool around with my flanger pedal so that it doesn't fluctuate the notes, i won't need a chorus pedal(i usually don't use the flanger for that purpose anyhow). that gives me SOME ideas. ack, does that mean i'll have to shell out 20 more bringbring, since i'll be using the flanger a LOT more? after all, i feel the undistorted part of their songs still doesn't sound exactly like it was clear, and it's definitely not overdrive. but i still don't get how the chorus part of "Broken" seems to play at 2 different octaves in distortion; he didn't mention that he uses an octave pedal on the website. (btw thanks george again for fixing the flanger for me); i think though i'm starting to get an idea of when you use certain effects; use overdrive for lead, distortion for chorus, and then chorus for the verse would be good. hooo... i'm learning.

i hate writers' block, and i'm not talking about writing a term paper(although i am, kinda); i'm talking about writing a song, when you feel the lyrics aren't good enough and your ability with the electric guitar just doesn't cut it, as if you can't improv and immediately find something good to work with. hate, hate it.

i think i pulled a lydia; i'm starting to hate school; i don't like chemistry on anticipation of the hard work, i don't like SAS because i need to write a term paper and don't know how to start, and i WILL hate math, although right now i'm ok with it. i know that's not the case w/laura though; probably loves school compared to all the rest of us; me and jon are bored, lydia hates school(seriously, how can you HATE UCLA?), norm wants to transfer, jerm just wants to get away.... i think mandy's ok with Berzerkeley, but i never asked her. me, personally, i kinda would be ok with it, as long as i could crank out as many creative, original, neat sounding songs on my electric guitar, but recently, that's not been happening. auuurrrggghhh! i need to find ppl to jam with(which is going to be so rare based on what i want; do you realize how rare it is to find ppl who love being a christian, love modern rock, some elements of hip-hop AND are musically talented with all the proper gear?)

still miss every1, all you SoCal ppl. and NorCal ppl. come back and jam w/me(those of you who can)!

hey you dummies! cut and paste the link below to see how you should REALLY learn guitar! heh eh
http://www.geocities.com/sage_tripper/guitar_guide.htm

possible topics for next song of mine:
-Graduation(i STILL haven't finished it)
-Being Grafted into God(STILL haven't finished this either)
-Prov 1:7(the fear of the Lord is knowledge; hey; i'm a dumbass in Davis)
-Standing alone(the flame in my heart should never die)

also, should i use freestyling in my song(i've touched upon the fact that i can freestyle while playing power chords)? should i use that WITH a complex riff? or just the riff?

help me out here you guys if you ever come across this! plz! i'm getting VERY bored here! you help me out, i just might come back and PLAY the song i wrote for you guys!

damnit; 12 Stones is touring with Creed, and they'll be in Mountain View, October the 11th! gonna miss a great show(i really like both bands), not to mention i don't buy concert tickets anyhow. what's ironic about the 2 bands is while 12 stones is just beginning to emerge and its members are young, not to mention they lay it on thick like metal, they're christian, and Creed, while they're much more successful so far and more like alt rock, they're searching for God, but NOT a christian band. but who cares; both guitarists are EXTREMELY good. and like i mentioned; both are GOOD. screw you all who can't see a good musical group beyond the singers.

after relistening to 12 Stones - Broken, i think maybe drums don't need to be that audible ALL the time; i still love the sound of drum sets when they're loud, but when you lay on the distortion REALLY THICK, you can't really hear anything else, eh?

Broken still has some of the coolest lyrics i've ever heard. great song. makes me wanna get out my electric guitar, except i've got chem in about 30 min; damn chem; you're keeping me from worshipping God with music! ;) www.12stones.com

currently at this moment the As are KILLING their opponents! 9-0; crazy!!

some thoughts about davis:

it's been a common occurance at Davis here for air raid sirens to go off near noon EVERY SINGLE DAY. of course, we then see a fire truck go speeding off in a direction. so we(me, jon, his friends) have been wondering, why the heck every day? there's nothing much around davis, crime rate's probably low. so why? well, pastor dan brought up the thought that it could be that they're on their lunch break ;) yea, i could see that; makes me wanna be an EMT.
-so, where you wanna go for lunch?
-how bout in n out?
-how long's THAT gonna take?
-oh... 1... 2 minutes?

also, there's a common sight of statues called "eggheads" around campus. while journeying towards the Shields library, i saw one with his face planted facedown into a book; that's not studying; that's FALLING ASLEEP WHILE STUDYING; heh heh.

"daily in my sin i take your life"
-how true, 12 Stones; and if you can keep forgiving me Jesus despite all this, that's really something.

just visited the Davis library; oh man; and i thought there were silent places in the world, but oh man! nothing tops this! it's like the closest thing to soundproof booths! really good place for studying! oh problem is that you hear EVERYTHING in there; i think everyone heard my broken sneakers as i was walking through there.

running out of things to do in Davis that are INTERESTING. only thing left? songwriting. yeap.

ok, i should sleep. seriously. the lack of sleep seriously affects my ability to stay awake in lectures; i think i woke up chuckling to myself in SAS 1; i hope no one heard me.

zzzzz
|/
-_-

and i miss the way it used to be in my senior yr in high school. REALLY BADLY. spent nearly the entire day studying. moral of this story? plan ahead; don't procrastinate. so you can get in your break times, instead of cramming in everything at 1 single shot. and find a good quiet study area.

38th Parallel - Horizon
"So you're at the end of this day, when the world is shaded in vain, I will look to blue horizons and watch for you to come, When my hope is tired and torn, when my faith is weathered and worn, I look to the blue horizons."*
The song, according to the band, is supposed to the "sound of hope." Lyrically and melodically. It does seem like that, as it starts out meloncholy, then adds a dash of tension, right into... glory. Too good. Too bad this is probably the best, and possibly only good song of theirs. Their other songs sound more like rock with hip-hop lyrics, with some vocalist sounding like the Guns N Roses vocalist. They have more influence from Korn than some actual hip-hop vocalist, explaining that too.

9/29/2K2 has a quick asessment of what i use for guitar playing.

* the lyrics may not be exactly what they say; i based this upon what i remembered

i FINALLY got that AC adapter for my Boss SD-2 pedal that i needed; thank God! almost like getting a new pedal for the money and the # of batteries that i use, plus the fact that the batteries run down SO FAST. this should be fun. but i still need a good set of speakers for my laptop, or it just won't seem like home.

hey you CTCC guys, check out what i use! maybe you can base the idea of your getting a sunday worship electric guitar on this:
list of MAIN electric guitar equipment that i use:
2 long guitar cables
1 Peavey Blazer 158 mini-amp(has built-in distortion) for the cases that i play by myself
Boss Dual OverDrive SD-2 pedal w/PSA 120 AC adapter(tite reliable pedal; options between overdrive, distortion, and clear)
American Squire Stratocaster electric guitar(which, sadly, i haven't figured how much Phil spent on it yet; sad, really, considering how so many ppl ask me all the time)
1 medium guitar pick
1 set of headphones(face it; not everyone will appreciate your jamming)
price of all this? i have NO idea; i'm guessing $500+; hey, true worship isn't worship unless if you sacrifice something eh? ;)

i usually don't fool around with the DOD flanger and Crybaby wah pedal that i have unless if i feel in the mood(which is rare).

i should study now, or at least go to sleep early so i can wake up early to study.

what else...

i miss all the jam sessions i used to have; "when 2 or 3 are gathered in my name, i am there with them," or some bible verse like that. jamming by myself just isn't the same. i need to find a drummer and bassist.

i miss all the ppl i used to know; can you believe some of the ppl i am mentioning are now 8 hrs away instead of 5 min?

show me the joy of worshipping you God!

Lifehouse-Spin's lyrics:
http://www.air1.com/chart/images/btn_lyric.gif
(really great, if you're listening while looking at them)

bob sez that 38th Parallel sounds like Linkin Park, so i'll look into them later.