thank God it's over! 1st midterm over! and not only that, i have a REALLY GOOD FEELING that i did well... thanks a lot God, i owe you one...actually, i owe you more than a couple ;)

jon went to berzerkeley to visit some friends, while i'm still stuck here in davis doin my own thing... how boring of me. but then most of the ppl from MVHS who went to berzerkeley are nerds, ppl who i wouldn't care about. so desolate on saturday here in davis.

what i think so far of the fellowships i've gone to:

College Life: well-intentioned, great worship band, friendly, but possibly over-friendly(they literally won't leave you alone)
ABSK: just-right friendly, good speaker, but a bit large, and i still don't know about how well their worship is
AACF: think CTCC size... somewhat friendly, good worship attitude, but they didn't really talk to me, aside from the get-together times and this one girl who was a bible study leader... ahhh, feels just like CTCC youth group when i was a freshman... heh heh.

i think my song's lyrics need tweaking... figures, you can't figure out the lyrics and expect ALL good guitar fills to go along with it.

Giants: 1 game, Angels: 0

btw, while i was walking around today in davis, i noticed some recycle trash can with a small hole in it: on the top, a label: "cans, ass, plastic." ok, so the ass was really glass, with the gl part off, but it was so funny to me... think about it... small hole, etc. made me crack up for a good 15 sec while no one was luckily around... how childish of me.

yeaaaa.... 1 last test, and it's math! study? are you kidding? i could fall asleep in that class and still do ok(which i do often, heh heh)!

you won't believe the free stuff you get from on-campus christian groups; what i've gotten so far... 4 new testaments(i've been running past the gideons guys for about 2+ times, and got a paperback one(!?!) from an on-campus christian fellowship), "The Case For Christ" by Lee Strobel, 3 christian CDs(2 are multimedia, one is a sample of an underground music group, one is a "witness CD" and the last one is a collection of some of the common christian artists), a weird yoyo, a drawstring mesh bag, tons of candy/munchies, and 2 free dinners.

steak dinner yesterday... great.

phil hartman's hilarious, so are peter and stewie griffin.

one man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth -proverbs 13:7
the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding - proverbs 9:10

chorus, delay, or phase pedal?
(after looking at the online prices, i am so freaking shocked; ~$100/pedal?!? ack; worship isn't true worship unless you sacrifice something, but oh man...)

paper down, 2 tests to go this week; i feel a trip to the library coming... today. and i need scantrons.

haha... snl... w/phil hartman(his voice's so funny when he's trying to act funny)
-may i introduce you to the classic b**ch electric shaver... but when i say classic b**ch, i mean it in a good way! it not only shaves, it pulls and tangles your hair up... or you can get the classic lesbo electric shaver!
mwhahahahahah! ;)

in SAS1, we were discussing environmental problems as well the current UC strike going on and one guy brought up the thought of "what can we do to help? i dunno where to start." and i replied, "well, we can do either big or small actions." we don't need to do anything big; there are ppl who choose to picket, but we can just do everyday small decisions, like actually eating all the food that's placed on our plate, instead of throwing some away. it doesn't matter whether the actions are big or small, they'll add up, and make a difference. just like how we can't see the difference our misdeeds make in the short term, ditto with our good deeds; we might not even be able to see the fruits of our labor in our lifetime. but it all makes a difference. and who cares really how the other countries act towards us when they don't realize that we HAVE helped? do hungry ppl need to really know where food is coming from?
and that's how i view our ministry of christianity; we don't need to get on the streets and preach to make a difference; the way we live our lives, the kindness we show to others, the gratitude we give, it all adds up. we may not see the fruits of our labor in our lifetime, we may even get insulted and falsely accused for not helping others, but do the hungry really need to know who helped them, as long as someone from God brought them back to him? do they?
(maybe SAS1 IS interesting... still a lotta work though, but i'm getting there)

guess how many free pocket bibles i've gotten from gideons international at davis so far ;) come back to me with an answer

http://www.lpfan.com/main.php3?page=video; currently like looking at the Linkin Park live videos of:
Conan: 1 step closer
House of Blues: Papercut
House of Blues: Pushing Me Away

i've been meaning to say this for a long time, so lemme just get it off my chest:
as far as i can tell; FIRST-BORNS HAVE ALWAYS GOT IT BETTER THAN THE SECOND-BORNS. there, i said it. and you can see it, even today in our beloved CTCC church. for the most part, it's been true. daniel goes to berkeley, mike goes to some community college. joyce goes to davis, sam goes to santa barbara. laura goes to UCLA, jen... i dunno what she's going to get into. grace goes to berkeley, lydia goes to UCLA(marginal here, and arguable, but based on college prestige, yeah, it works). dan goes to berkeley, mandy also goes, but has to start later in the school year. joyce goes to UCLA, carolyn doesn't get into UCLA, but goes to berkeley(now i'm basing it on the fact that she didn't make her 1st choice school). jon goes to davis, lewis goes to... i dunno. and not to exclude me, my AWESOME bro phil goes to UCLA, i get into davis. of course, there's probably going to be differences once in a while(like maybe jerm and his sister, or grace and norman, wes and steph, justin and calvin's a push), but not many times i think. you 1st borns always get it easier; be glad if you're 1st born. ;)
(except for the two albinos Nikhil and Vikas; both of them go to riverside, but they're all cool)

go look at my 10/13/2K2 entry to see my praise to God; i gotta figure out how to play this rant with an electric strat sometime, but i think i'll need to toy around with my flanger. will i need a phase, reverb/delay or chorus pedal? or another AC adapter? i hope not as that means i'll have to shell out even more bringbring. tempting though.

alright; i'm out. been a hectic day of writing, writing, typing, more writing. but yet, i feel that something's been carrying me through, like something "saw me and called me 'gain, pulled me up now i find what it takes to float," to quote myself ;)

final lyrics to my new christian rock song:

Unknown to the world
(the fat of this based upon Proverbs 9:10)

-ReCharredSigh

(everything is rushing right over my head
drowning down right in a pool of thoughts
not swimming just sinking trapped down
in a world of shallowness
now, inside this world knowledge is power
but you saw me and called me 'gain
pulled me up now i find what it takes to float
and i can say)

doom crowds near
word penetrates the filth
unknown to the world
are the secrets you show me
this gives me strength
the fact that i know you
(lost my wealth
kept my hide
they can't take away my faith
only ruin my pride)
the fact that i can rise

(like a flame that consumes inside me again
flaming warmth setting fire so to mend
the spirit of one who loves the weary
his patience lasting for all
they will never extinguish out this gift
the burning for you the warmness of bliss
fearing you now my wisdom is tenfold
to jam in song)

a circle of tension surrounds the loner
the flames nearly consume him
a filter of light peeks outta his chest
and it disperses his pains

doom crowds near
word penetrates the filth
unknown to the world
are the secrets you show me
this gives me strength
the fact that i know you
(lost my wealth
kept my hide
they can't take away my faith
only ruin my pride)
this i cannot hide
(all in all
hype aside
i don't ever wanna leave you
be by my side)
the fact that i can rise

kinda hard to get your 5 fruits and vegetables a day at Davis WHEN THE FRUIT IS SO ROCK HARD I CAN'T SCOOP MY KIWIFRUIT OUT OF THE SKIN, ISN'T IT?!?!? geez, you're actually DISCOURAGING me from my 5-a-day.

still have to edit my lyrics of my new song a bit, then comes the fun part... the guitar filling.

http://www.computerpranks.com/download/images/megaflicks.jpg
mwhahaha! louis was right; megaflicks indeed! ;) (you HAVE to see this)

top this, shakespeare ;)
(this is what i've got so far for my next song)

Unknown to the world
-based upon Proverbs 1:7

(freestyle)
everything is rushing right over my head
drowning down right in a pool of thoughts
not swimming just sinking trapped down
in a world of shallowness
now, inside this world knowledge is power
but you saw me and called me 'gain
pulled me up now i find what it takes to float
and i can say

doom crowds near
a word permeates the filth
the unknown to the world
are the secrets you revealed
this gives me strength

(freestyle)
like a flame that consumes inside of me
a flaming warmth that you set on fire to see
the spirit of one who loves just cause it's he
and never ever forsakes me
they will never put it out this gift
the burning for you the warmness of bliss
fear the Lord and the wisdom begins
acknowledge him and the healing is in

a circle of tension surrounds the loner
the flames nearly consume him
a filter of light peeks outta his chest
and it disperses his pains

talked some w/this girl i knew back from the christian club at MVHS in short calc; weird how i know her name, but she doesn't know mine, but we talked some; mainly it was about math and fellowships though. no introductions to each other though; i guess it's just cause we've seen each other in the club, but never really talked w/each other.

current hobbies to pass the time(when i'm not studying) in Davis:
-watch Jon play CS
-chat on AIM w/ppl from back home
-watch Family Guy episodes dl'd from the net
-watch VF tourney videos
-surf the net: VF, effect pedals, music, email
-listen to (christian) rock/hip-hop
-jam on my guitar
-songwrite
-watch TV
-play MVC2, Tekken 3, CVS2 (sigh, no VF4 Evo)

and yet i'm bored... why? cause i can do ALL of those things at home, except the high-speed internet stuff and cable stuff, but that really doesn't bother me: i never really spent too much time online at home. and notice how there's no socializing placed up there, because that's how much ppl keep to themselves! but i guess it's not THAT bad; from what i gather from David's blogspot, it seems the youth group at home is getting just as desolate as well. all in all, all of us are probably looking forward to Thanksgiving when we come back.

yay... david from back home picked up me or bob's habit of typing crud on a website! (see link on left)

i feel so sleepy... 5.5 hours just doesn't cut it. feelin better as the day goes by though... until i have to go to my next class.

oh yeah, my headphones are great... they block out all the noise i heard outside, but everything sounds muffled outside. and since i wear glasses, it hurts my ears.

memorable quote for quite some time: i was in my Science and Society class, and we were discussing the issue of immigration. someone brought up that we aren't as mixed together as we think we are; for instance in high school we are intent on sticking together in our own little ethnic groups. that prompted some line from the professor that went along the lines of:
"so then America's not a melting pot; it's tossed salad?"
;) mwhahahahah

there really HAS got to be more to life than studying, work, and success. how can this ever keep you happy?

... blank for now, and i hate the fact that everything overwhelms me. EE-VEE-RYY-THING. nothing really lifting me up. or it could just be that the amount of work i think i need to do overwhelms me. i dislike the idea that i just can't get everything done right now. and that i have no motivation to do partway work right now.

...maybe i should just try going to the gym.

amp, flanger, (wah,) overdrive/distortion, (octave,) guitar; hmmm.... good setup? technically, i could just lose the flanger, but i'm not too good with the whole foot timing with the wah.

i'd really like to get an octave pedal. the octave pedal enables you to play @2 different octaves in the same key at one time. enables solo guitar playing to sound a bit more "full."

yeah... the wah or flanger CAN work into worship songs; Chris Tomlin - Forever; go back, listen to that(adds that to list of songs to play on Thanksgiving break)

still love the effect pedals.... LOOOOVE them.

pho is good.... it's the only sign of azn-ish ness around here in davis.

oh yeah, family guy is THE SHIZNIT!

recently found a new praise song that i like; or i should be more specific; that i've heard many times but forgot what it was and what it was called: Hungry. if you're sampling from the internet, i suggest the Matt Redman or Vineyard version, cause then you can hear the overdrive sound for the fills and the nice riff. still doesn't beat Not Be Shaken, Forever, and Arise though; i still think those give you the best ability to kick loose and just WORSHIP GOD! YEEEEAAA! and definitely doesn't beat 12 Stones(ok, so they're not a worship group, but they still KICK ARSE! heh heh)

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.

i can tell when someone misses me from my old church, but when you place my name in your AIM profile and tell me that you miss me... man, that's something. goodness, i miss you too. just not the same.
"i'm miSSIng you ReaChArred33 like mad
cALLme"

i think Short Calc is so far TOO EASY; Jon's friend told me he saw me taking notes halfway, then nearly falling asleep, and this was not even halfway into the class ;)
whereas the textbook required for Science and Society was located OFF CAMPUS, on the near outskirts of Davis; oh man, i think i just lost my Freshman 15 yesterday running that far(btw, i saw some Pho/Chinese hybrid restaurant at Downtown Davis, which should be interesting)
Chem, as usual, is annoying as heck.

but maybe i just need a quiet study place, instead of trying to do this next to a computer w/CS going off every single moment ;)

Davis411.com for info.

i remember reading somewhere that you need to break a fast with LITTLE portions. you're stomach's probably slightly shrunk, which is why you need to eat slightly less to let it get used to being filled up again. it's better that way. so, your breakfasts and your fast-breaking should be like that. us CTCC ppl made a mistake in going to Hometown Buffet after a 30 hr famine. BIG mistake. otherwise, if any of you CTCC ppl wanna do it again, do it! (except this time, maybe do activites that actually reflect trying to ignore the pain and concentrating on God)

me and my tall, bony-ass self sitting here in my davis dorm.