Fajita Chicken

Johnny B's Tips for Healthy, Thrifty Eating: Number 2

For those looking to eat real, affordable food that they can cook themselves with a busy life, here is my biggest source of meals throughout the week: FAJITA CHICKEN.

Fajita chicken requires a couple things besides ingredients: a George Foreman-type grill, and the foresight to marinate the chicken a day or two before cooking. You can cook it on a skillet, but this takes forever, and burns the outside. So, pick up a double-sided electric grill at a thrift store for $5. You'll save more than that the first week you eat this instead of going out!

Here's the process:

Buy some boneless skinless chicken breasts. Frozen or fresh, but avoid chicken "tenders." They're just cut into smaller pieces, and they cost more. I get a 5-pound bag at Wal-mart and keep it in the freezer, thawing 6 or so at a time. It should cost about $2/pound - incredible value for meat.

Pop the chicken in a gallon Zip-loc bag, add ~1/4 cup water and a splash of olive oil (optional), and dump in a packet of taco seasoning (about $0.75). Close the bag and mush it around till the seasoning is thoroughly distributed. Put the bag in the fridge and leave it for a day or 2. Don't forget about it! Raw chicken goes bad fast even in a fridge.

On cooking day, preheat your grill, and cook the chicken breasts for 10 to 12 minutes. Sometimes there are really thick pieces, so I'll cut into them to make sure they're not a little translucent in the middle.

Set the cooked pieces on a plate and let them cool. Then cut them into strips or smallish cubes, dump them into a leftover container, and keep it in the fridge. Voila! You have the core of a full meal sitting there, available to pull out at a moment's notice!

Here's what I do with the cooked, sliced pieces:

• Fajitas. This requires tortillas, cheese, sour cream.. whatever else I want to put on them. I don't do this much anymore - too much time to prepare.
• Mexican Rice Bowl. This has staved off starvation on many a rushed afternoon. I often have cooked rice in the fridge, and I just dump some into a leftover container, throw in some chicken, cheese and sour cream (salsa if I have it), and heat it in the microwave. Filling, easy to eat in the car, and delicious.
• Fajita Chicken Salad. A staple of my diet. Chop/tear up some lettuce, chop up some vegetables if you have them (broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, celery, etc.), and top with chicken chunks and some ranch. I also add cheese, sour cream (less salt than ranch), salsa if I have it, and crushed-up tortilla chips (so good!). For a bonus, microwave the chicken and cheese separately and dump on top. Tasty, and lots of veggies!

That's it, folks. Marinade (5 minutes & thinking ahead), cook (~30 minutes), and use (4 minutes for rice bowl, ~10 minutes for salad). Chicken is cheap, lean, and you control the amount of sodium in it. With cheese and dressing it's a bit salty, but still a far cry from a burger and fries, or anything at Taco Bell. A few strips put over a big salad is as healthy a meal as you could want while still feeding an active human.

That's it for now. Eat well! Don't cave to the system of over-priced prepared foods!

Cool Fruit Smoothies

Johnny B's Tips for Healthy & Thrifty Eating: First Edition

It's starting to warm up (at least here in Tennessee), and when you start craving something cool and refreshing, don't run to Sweet CeCe's or DQ! Make a smoothie at home, with about 50¢ worth of supplies!

[Note: this tip requires a modicum of foresight. Have a couple bananas a day past ripe? Got some fresh berries at a good price? Got a can of peaches sitting around? Lay them out on a tray and pop them in the freezer. Once they're frozen, stash them in a Zip-Loc bag for some future date. It will be well worth your while.]

Two weeks later, it's 85°, sunny, and you want a cool treat. You're in luck! Grab that bag of frozen fruit, your jug of milk, and a couple ice cubes. Unless you have a top-notch blender, start with the ice first. This works for food processors or blenders, food processors just require more patience to get things blended up well. Blast the ice until it's not getting any smaller, then add the frozen fruit, bananas last. The point is to put the stickiest/wettest things in LAST, so everything else can get busted up pretty well by bouncing around and hitting the blades. SO, go ice, then, say, strawberries, then peach slices, then banana chunks, stopping and stirring as necessary to break up clumps. I even shake my Cuisinart while it's running, to dislodge things. At last, pour in just enough milk to make a homogeneous mixture. You will find, to your delight, a thick, smooth creamy treat more like ice-cream than your typical watery smoothie. You can add more milk to make it runnier, if you want. I like mine thick like frozen yogurt.

Here's a ratio I've used with good success (makes 1 big serving):

3 ice cubes

5 to 8 strawberries (sliced and frozen)

4 peach slices

~1/3 cup whole milk (whole milk = very rich and creamy)

If you're looking to be knocked over the head with intense flavor, this isn't it. But if you want a COOL, HEALTHY, CHEAP snack, plus the satisfaction of making something yourself and beating the over-priced retail food market, this is it!

Additions to try:

Vanilla extract

Fruit jam to intensify the flavor

Lemon or lime juice to intensify the tartness

Honey if you really want more sweetness (dont' give in! Train your tastebuds!)

If you try this, let me know how it turns out! If you have any requests for ways to eat healthily and cheaply, let me know, and I'll try to cover them.

Cheers

The Secret to Audio Engineering

Are you ready for it?

I really should charge for this post, because this is the sum total of everything I've learned from the past year of reading a bunch of books and magazines, recording two albums, listening to hundreds of tracks, hanging out in a slew of Nashville studios, and talking with a bunch of professional engineers and producers.


No matter the song, style, or instrument, here is what you need to get a great sound recorded. In exact descending order of importance:

1) A great player
2) A GREAT PLAYER!
3) A quality instrument, properly set up and tuned (by the great player)
4) Your ears. Do what sounds good!
5.1) A microphone that's not garbage (a $250 AT 4033 is perfect)
5.2) A great preamp (this is the expensive part. Gonna set you back about $2000)
- If you're dedicated, you can acquire equivalent preamps for more like $500. It just takes patience, connections, and/or willingness to learn electronics and solder.

The end.

And really, 5.1 and 5.2 should be in smaller type or something.
Their importance pales in comparison to number 1 and 2.

Oh, and would you also like the secret to being an all-star producer and making hit music?
One thing.
This is it!

A. GOOD. SONG.

There.
That is the oxygen of music.
All the vitamins in the world won't help if you ain't got no air :/

I wish I could convey the mountains of books and articles and discussions and obsessions in the audio industry that are all eminently superfluous to what's listed above. It's so simple, but we all keep hoping that buying the right compressor will make the mediocre song performed by mediocre musicians sound like magic!

Perhaps some day I'll look back on this post and smile at my audacity. But this is what I've seen walked out in a thousand ways. And I think it makes sense, in the cosmic simplicity of the universe.

So there you go. I take cash and checks. Paypal is good too :)

A Very Good Friday

Today was a great day! Many good things happened within these hours that I always want to do but don't often end up accomplishing.

It started with a wake-up phone call from Justin at 6:45am. (Earliest I've gotten up in a LONG time)

Followed by Bible reading while eating a grapefruit and a tangerine.

Then, I admit, I took a shower and crawled back into bed for awhile. It was supposed to be a 7:45 wake-up, but the time zones messed things up. I was bitter cold too - the ground floor here is always bone-chilling! :-(

Got back up and headed to Sal's. Reese Wynans (Stevie Ray Vaughn's keyboard player) came in at 10 to lay down piano for a Tom Douglas demo. It was a rollicking honkey-tonk tune, with gritty lap steel guitar and drums that made you smile. He took it up another notch with just the right feel, and easy command of a thousand amazing riffs.

After he left I gradually talked Sal into giving Taco Bell another try. He had gotten severly burned out after eating it almost every night for months back when he was touring. I explained that they had delicious steak and chicken now, paired with cheese, wrapped in a crispy fried tortilla, and bursting with quesadilla tastyness. My euphoric language eventually got to him, and we ended up having a great lunch at the Franklin Taco Bell.

We kicked it back at the studio for a few more hours after lunch. Sal worked on Tom demos, and I read up on Beat Detective in the ProTools manual. Learned a lot of great stuff about something I've been using in ignorance. The last thing we did before I headed out was jam out on piano and guitar. Sal showed me some jazz chord progressions, and especially the "Sharp fourth substitution," which is rocking my world!

At 4 o'clock I headed north to Nashville for a GUITAR LESSON! Yes indeed, after watching a show at 12th & Porter and feeling yet again utterly inadequate musically, I had the idea to take lessons while I'm here and get some much-needed external input for my playing. I got a recommendation for a good guy at Rock Block Guitars, choked slightly at the cost, but ultimately decided to go for it. I spend money on plenty of things, few of them as beneficial as this will (hopefully) be.
The lesson was good, but not in a cool flashy "look at all these licks I learned!" way. We talked about what I hope to learn, I played for a bit, and he began showing me that my left hand posture is very wrong. My fingers are all scrunched together and my wrist is twisted at an angle. All of that feels fine, but weakens and constricts my motion. I've got a set of exercises to work on to drill in proper wrist position, finger separation, and elbow movement. Ehhhhh, it's always like this learning a worthwhile skill! Gotta work to make something very weird become natural.

Sal texted me as I was heading out and invited me over for "Pizza Friday" at the Oliveris. We did this last week too, so now the kids think it's a tradition :) I was quite happy to enjoy Tina's great pizza and hang out with the fam. Sal's kids are something like 8, 6, 3 and 2, so there is a TON of energy about EVERYTHING, and no lack of talk or excitement. I love it! Hanging out with kids is like a huge blast of fresh appreciation for every little thing in life. Make the stuffed lamb breakdance on the table, and you're more entertaining that Jerry Seinfeld! :-) I have been really blessed by Sal and his family's friendship to me. Great folks!

After dinner and hanging out I popped over to Billy's. Billy Whittington is Sal's go-to engineer and mixer, and I've been going over to his house-turned-studio every couple days since I got here. It was 7:30 on a Friday night, but there was no doubt Billy would be camped out in his chair, mixing and editing away. Such was indeed the case. Lights glowed through the windows, Billy's pickup was parked outside, and I gingerly opened the noisy old back door (in a house that's a studio you never know if somebody might be recording live) to hear the monitors thumping from the mix room. Billy is a great guy - friendly, welcoming, ridiculously hard working, and really good at what he does. I took a seat and watched the screen for a good 30 minutes as he worked. Asked a question here and there, and eventually Anna Johnson and Billy #2 arrived. Anna is a (extremely talented) musician who's been recording her debut album with Billy W and Billy Smiley (producer, guitar player, co-owner of the house studio, and quite commesurate with his last name). So she listened to the mixes Billy had been working on, people started coming in and out, and after looking at some of Anna's drawings and paintings (which are also really good - gosh!) I headed out.

In one of my alternate-route explorations of Franklin I had passed this immensely intriguing "Battle Ground Brewery." It had been bouncing around in my head since then that I needed to check it out, and I figured this Friday night was as good a time as any. It didn't seem that big from the outside, but I went in, went up a big flight of steps, up some more steps, and through a big seating area into a room, hunting down the enticing blare of live music. Ah me oh my, what a great way to wrap up the day! It was a huge old Civil War-type house, great feel. They brew their own beer, and at the far end of the room was a 4-piece blues band just tearing it up. That's one of the great things about Nashville - all the musicians are stinkin' GOOD! These guys knew what they were doing, and both guitar players were loaded with chops. So I sat there editing my latest batch of photos on the Macbook Pro, sipping the best pale ale I've EVER consumed, and listening to fantastic guitars just sailing away.

AND, I'm wrapping all of this up by writing it up in a blog post! Also one of those things that I always want to do, and that weighs on me when I don't do it for awhile. I'm propped up against the wall, laying on my air mattress bed, tucked nicely under warm blankets and my hoodie hood. The warm glow of the touch lamp leaves most of the room in pleasant obscurity, and Steely Dan is spinning away on the record player. Oops - just finished the side. Guess I should shut it off and hit the sack. G'nite y'all!

Cross-section

Spurts of laughter erupt intermittently from behind the Pastors College classroom doors. The whole place is empty except for those students and a couple other folks who are staying late after the Christmas breakfast. I'm hunched over my Bible, stabbing white plastic fork-fulls of salad from my bowl, alone in the Sovereign Grace break room. Keith Foley--Christmas music that I've been listening to all my life--stirs up great swells of Christmassy feelings and sentimentality as it plays on the little boom box next to my table. It's 3:30pm. Lunchtime in my heedless schedule. There's a sense of finality--of completion--, as I just came back down from playing guitar for the last choir performance of the year - an all-school Christmas chapel. I feel like I should be wrapping up the last few stay ends in the office and heading off to somebody's house for Christmastime bustle and warmth. But the guys are coming at 6, and every hour from now till then will be used to get the studio ready for the recording session.
More cool and different stuff to do.
That's what my life has right now.

Running a studio!! Dinners at Leaches'; Playing live music at Starbucks! Playing at church this Sunday; Random stops up in the CLC offices to chat with folks; The rare trip to a grocery store or somebody's house for care group; Helping with high-school/middle-school choir; Trips up to Philly! Late night after late night in the studio, at this desk, in this deserted building.

Cool and different stuff.

Even going home for Christmas is strange: Flying from here down to Florida for a holiday spent between 3 trailers in an RV park. I won't be back in Pittsburgh at all this Christmas season!

My excitement for all this is a bit tepid right now. It's been a long stretch without a home base. I'm sick to death of myself, and I don't think I'm the only one. My musical well is nearly dry, plus I'm sick, a bit low on sleep, and I haven't gotten nearly enough Bible in me this week. [Aha! Methinks perhaps me found the biggest cause, no?]

Tomorrow Sovereign Grace is closed, so I think I'll get some sleep and not come in till lunch time, which will be awesome. Mauricio plays at La Tasca at 10:30pm, and maybe I can even drum up a friend or two to go see him with. I have a Starbucks gift card to use, which will brighten up the afternoon, and a Christmas bonus which pleasantly changes the financial landscape. The Spanish album to-do list before I leave on Monday is by no means small, but it feels eminently doable and useful. All my packing and arranging to leave, however, isn't so neat and tidy, and I know Monday will be upon me before I blink twice. Alas! The carrot of peace is held a little further out in front of me :)

So there you go. For better or worse, a cross sectional slice which, though thin, goes through most of the varied elements of my life right now. I would have scoffed if you'd told me 10 months ago that this is what I'd be doing! Crazy how the times change.

Hm. I really need a back rub.

And salvation.

Well, at least I have salvation.*

:-)

*[Just so there's no possibility of misunderstanding, that was poignantly ironic understatement, meant to address the folly of my heart and underscore the massive undergirding of security and good news that my life unfolds upon. Thanks be to God for His incomprehensible mercy! ¡Gracias al Señor por Su misericordia incomprensible!]

Many Changes

It's been awhile since I've posted! 10/5 was my last entry, and that was more than a month and a half ago. A good, long, packed month and a half.

When I last wrote, I didn't have a key to the Sovereign Grace studio, I worked mainly up in the CLC offices, I lived at Greg's townhouse, and I didn't know what I was going to do after the end of the year.

I now not only have a key to the studio, but I pretty much live down there, making only brief trips to my new quarters in Germantown. When the year is up I will work full-time for a month at Sovereign Grace finishing an album, and in February I'll move to Nashville! Yes indeed :)

So that's the short story. To fill in a bit...

After my last post, I got pretty involved doing video work for Bob, and had the opportunity to sit in on Josh Harris' recording sessions for the audiobook of his latest work: "Dug Down Deep." Lots of great truths and applications of Christianity that have been floating around various sermons and conferences and teachings, all condensed and organized into a well-written and encouragingly small book :)

I had a fantastic trip to Pittsburgh in mid October, and really enjoyed some quality time with folks there. I also had a great weekend in Philly, enjoying the quality friendships that I've been blessed with in my sporadic visits up there.

As October slipped into November, I became more involved with the high school choir, which I had originally just been accompanying on guitar. I actually found myself alone in a room full of high schoolers, teaching a sectional for an hour. Quite an eye-opening and exhausting experience. I've been leading sectionals regularly now, and we had our first performance at an all-school chapel last week. My boys sang well, all things considered! I also started teaching guitar lessons, and wrapped up a lot of my tech team and Ken Boer projects.

November saw a transition in the overall feel of my time in Maryland. I moved out of Greg's townhouse, which had been only 5 minutes from the church. My new place is 30 minutes away, and although I have a whole floor to myself and a nicer room, the extra distance makes me more inclined to stay busy at the church than to trek home and hang out there. It's fairly stark, too: the kitchen lacks a cutting board, a scrub brush, a garbage can, dishwasher detergent, and most of the time silverware!

Around that same time--early November--I had a few discussions with Bob Kauflin, which gave me a strong vision for wanting to learn how to record and produce albums. Ken Boer had assigned me to be "project coordinator" for an EP of a few Spanish worship songs that Covenant Life wanted to produce, and as I began to tackle that in earnest, the scope quickly escalated to a "as good as we can make it with some money invested" bona fide album. The realities of peoples' schedules left me as effectively the engineer and co-producer for the album, and as rehearsal dates loomed near, my days became packed with studio work.

Since November started, the picture in my head of my life is centered around the carpeted halls of the Sovereign Grace offices. My little "office" at the desk in the studio lobby, with 2 laptops humming away. Breakfasts, lunches, and most dinners sitting on a tall stool in the sweet break room. Warm Dr. Peppers from the broken pop cooler. Starbucks "Via" instant coffees (quite good!). And the control room and studio rooms becoming like my living room as I spent hours setting up mics, snaking cables around, patching preamps and A/D's, and setting gains. It's strange to think that this is the exact same spot that I entered with trembling and awe just back in August, when Dave Mac walked me in there and we talked about the possibility of an internship.

In a way November is flying past, but honestly, as I look back on it, it has crossed the threshold of busyness, where time passage goes from flying by due to systematic occupation to crawling along in slow motion because every day is packed with a million different, new things. I much, MUCH prefer it that way. That's the way I'd like to live my life. Mike Q nailed it when he said it was like "youth camp mode." Except its a more temporally diffuse goal, and my work happens in a STUDIO, with MUSICIANS, making MUSIC! :-)

Let me tell you about this Spanish album. Which reminds me, I need to send out an email about coming up with a legit name for it :) The idea started about 10 months ago, when a fellow from Iglesia Gracia Soberana began writing some cross-centered worship songs in Spanish. Gracia Soberana is a Spanish-speaking church plant that meets in the Covenant Life facilities on Sunday afternoons. The fellow was Mauricio Velarde, and the vision was to have a disc with some cross-centered worship songs, written natively in Spanish. Virtually all the current Spanish worship songs are either lacking theologically, or are gross translations of English songs, which have great theology but utterly no lyrical flow or artistry to them. The field is wide open for these songs, and as we reviewed what Mauricio had written, Bob decided to expand the scope, since the songs were solid, and we could easily have 10 of them to make a full-sized album. We assembled a crack team of CLC musicians, and together with Mauricio began rehearsls, trying to get a bunch of white guys to play some authentic Latin music :)

Last week was our first tracking session, and the project is in full swing now. It has been highly enjoyable working with these guys, who are seasoned from years of playing. The contrast between this and working in my home studio--scurrying between the computer desk and the microphone, constantly hampered by my own unsteady playing, unable to do much with mic placement--is remarkable. This is a privilege and a joy, and there are very few things I would rather be busy doing.

As I write this, I'm laying in the top bunk of our motor home, which is parked in Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina. The whole fam plus Uncle Keith is on Thanksgiving vacation. Yes, whole fam! Ken flew in to DC on Friday (well, early Saturday morning... long sordid tale), we drove to Pittsburgh that night (morning), and all trucked down to South Carolina to meet UK on Saturday. The weather has been gloomy and gray so far, and I have been quite sick, but it's nowhere near as unhappy as that makes it sound. It's fun just to be together, and dry humor is never far away. Neither is a cold Dr.Pepper, nor a walk to the beach, nor a game of corn hole, nor Uncle Keith's wireless internet :) Nor Daisy!! Ahh, good times. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to try out one of UK's kayaks.

I know there's a lot I haven't covered here, but I think I updated the overall "feel" of things. A few other snippets:
- Leading worship at care group now, and everybody's singin' their hearts out
- Hanging out with Mauricio and his friends, amidst a din of Spanish conversation :)
- I'm learning a TON of Spanish! This is exactly what I've always wanted to do - be surrounded by it, and learn it conversationally.
- Oh goodness, me and Justin's trip to Cleveland for Steve Gole's wedding! Staying at Eric and Bethany's, playing on the worship team at church.. ah, it was a good weekend.
- Fee came and played a concert at CLC, and I got to help with setup and running sound. They put on a kicking show, and I have tons of respect for them for truly honoring and praising God through a rock concert... not an easy thing to do.
- Walking around singing Spanish worship songs all day every day. "Sal - vo, solo por Tu gracia!"
- Google Wave with the tech team. Super-helpful daily to-do lists. Super-fun, though dubiously productive, exchanges of humor and wit.
- Starbucks. Has anyone ever had a Flying Tiger at Starbucks? You should try it next time you go. Let me know what you think!
- Harvest party! Running sound for a bluegrass band, and getting an offer to play mandolin with them.
- Getting dropped into random things like running a camera on Sunday mornings. Good way to learn quick!
- I think I spent one other Monday at the zoo, and then another one at the National Museum of Natural History. Days full of wonderment, but also a great sadness as creature after creature, marvel after marvel was threatened or nearly extinct from mankind's heedless domination of the earth. This wasn't the way God intended it to go, and the planet truly is groaning and dying under the management of fallen humanity. Makes me deeply sad.
- Oh yes, goodness: my plans for 2010. Arg. They'll have to wait for another post. For now, my mind is running full speed, but so is my nose, so I need to go to bed and let my body continue to heal itself.

To God be the glory for the merciful, undeserved grace He has been pouring out! I do not know where this road will lead, and I don't need to right now. He has given me work to do that delights my heart and advances His kingdom, and He has provided a next step to take down the road of music production. Nothing could be more undeserved, but He is good and kind. My greatest desire (other than to see Him and be like Him) is to start every day on my knees before Him, and proceed in total dependance on God, seeking His help with every task, and His blessing on every decision. Without Him, all is naught. With Him, anything is joy!

Ba daa, baa da daa da da

***I wrote this on 10/5/09, which was 2 Mondays ago. Just realized right now that it didn't actually get posted!***

"Monday, Monday..." I keep thinking of the Mamas and the Papas' song when I think of this day. It's my day off, and after the first one, which I frittered away on thrift stores and some shopping, I have been using them purposefully: doing things I always sit around and say I wish I would do.

Monday #2 of my Gaithersburg venture was my first venture into Washington, D.C., as I chronicled here. (The language of Kings and Chronicles, which I've just ploughed through, comes to mind: "And the deeds of that Monday, its museums and its sunsets, are they not written in the blog of the chronicle of John Behrens?")

Monday #3--last Monday--was my Museum of Natural History day. I got down there a little later than the previous week, and spent the hours from 11:30am to 5:30pm slowly going through three exhibits: Mammals, Ants, and Origins of Western Culture. I hadn't dared to hope this, but in fact I was treated to another perfect sunset, this time with a full battery and my eye to the camera viewfinder. I'm still sorting through all the pictures I took there. They will show up on Facebook and Flickr eventually. It was a spectacular sunset.

As soon as I started in on the mammals exhibit at the Museum of Natural History, I thought "Man - these dead stuffed animals are super cool. I want to see live ones!" So today, Monday #4, I got off a few stops early on the Red Line and walked to the National Zoological Park (aka National Zoo). I had succumbed once again to sleeping in (which is important, to a degree), eating a big breakfast (also important for not getting nauseously hungry during the day), relaxing a bit (not so important), and consequently arriving at my destination later than desired. Fortunatly the zoo stays open till 6, so I still had a good amount of time.

I'll restrain myself and keep it short: I saw Asian short-clawed otters--the CUTEST. CUTEST animal I have ever seen. If I ever become a king, I will have these as my pets. I saw elephant-nosed shrews, sloth bears (which look like something from a cartoon), monkeydudes, a lion and a tiger (who were both waiting to be fed), and MEERKATS! Aahhhh, what a cool animal! Took a lot of time to take pictures of them. I saw scores of amazing reptiles, including a python whose body was bigger around than my thigh. I saw creature after creature that made me stop in wonder and want to stay and stare at it for hours. It was amazing, and I want to go back and see jaguars. They are the coolest animal ever. And Asian short-clawed otters are the cutest.

Once the zoo closed I confirmed by a bus stop map that I could indeed go on down Connecticut Avenue and get to another metro stop. This was happy news. It's a cool area--feels high-brow collegiate to me--and I enjoyed walking down the grand sidewalk. It felt remarkably like a bigger, wider Brooklyn. The metro stop ended up being in a big spat of cool shops and restaurants, and I landed at a tiny Thai place as dusk gathered. Nabbed low low happy hour prices just in time, felt super cool sitting outside on the little patio, enjoyed my deep-fried tofu and shredded chicked with cilantro (and HOT chili flakes), and read Zecharaiah and Ezra. I have found that asking how to say "thank you" in another language is a good cultural ice breaker. The Thai phrase for thank you is: "Kop pun". You're welcome is "Kop pun ka." People like to be thanked in their own language.

Then I sat at the deserted far end of a metro stop waiting for the tracks to be cleared of a stricken train, reading Daniel and feeling like I was in the Matrix. Back at home again, I have limited myself to ONE hour--till 11pm--to do stuff. I need to start disciplining my days the day before, providing for myself the ability to wake up with enough time to read some Bible and stay sane before leaving for work. I can feel the tug and pull to become complacent, as though the fact that all these folks are so appreciative and friendly means I'm doing things well, when in fact it's because they're all wonderful, God-following folks, and I need to hustle my tail every hour of every day or I will leave important things undone and dig for myself unescapable pits.

There are many things I want to do right now. Here's a sampling of a few things that I actually have done so far, but am finding myself unable/struggling to keep up with currently: writing songs; learning the ropes of my synth; playing synth or guitar along with a metronome to learn good timing; playing electric guitar; taking pictures, threshing them out, and posting them online; practicing drums at the studio; reading "Worship Matters" by Bob Kauflin; reading books about live sound and recording; listening to latino music on the XM; listening to the CD's I bought on Monday #1 at thrift stores; reading 22 pages of my Bible per day; keeping up with this blog; keeping up with folks back home; going jogging; brushing my teeth. I am not unhappy or depressed about this. Right now I'm resolute, and honestly, what a cool setup this is to be able craft my lifestyle from scratch! I have absolutely no attatchments right now. I can do whatever I want, every day, with work being a flexible, grace-filled commitment that I love to do. This is a great "training ground" for time management, as well as a wonderful bit of time to enjoy the pursuits of my choice. I do not expect the rest of my life to be anything like this, so I am thoroughly enjoying it :)

Umm, a couple other items:
- Greg's having the kitchen remodeled, so I have been without countertops, a sink, or a dishwasher. I managed to make lamb chops on the George Forman, but resorted to going over to the Boers' Friday night and cooking for a couple hours. Words can hardly express the delight and joy I had in container after container of affordable, healthy, REAL food, all of which is only a microwave away from being eatable. The whole time here I've only been a meal or two away from having nothing good to eat, so this is a wonderful peace :)
- This weekend Ken had a 34-piece orchestra for worship, in addition to a regular-sized rock band. The setup for all that actually went swimmingly, and it sounded glorious. I ended up running the lights, which was good. Rolling along the lighting catwalks in the ceiling on wheeled creepers is one of the funner things I've done down here.
- I'm taking on the role of coordinator for a Spanish Worship album that CLC will be producing. This will be my first real time in the studio, and it's a perfect opportunity to see the music production process, from rehearsal and song selection to mixing the songs and burning the discs.
- Sunday--yesterday--was the annual Covenant Life staff social. It was a splendid time - just a quality group of people, relaxed and enjoying each others' company. We had a big dinner, and most of the evening centered on an epic ping-pong tournament. I got schooled by Raoul, who is a whiz. Hopefully we'll get to play some more on the table down in the SGM warehouse!
- Before the social, after stage tear-down finished at ~2pm, I joined part of my care group at a "harvest festival" at a nearby farm. It was a huge affair, full of people. There was cow milking and hayrides and a corn maze, craft booths, food booths, butter-churning booths, chestnuts roasting on an open fire... the whole nine yards. It was a gorgeous day, and a good time with care group folks.

It's 11:02pm, so I'm stopping. I'll have to come down later and get my load out of the drier, but I'm shutting down the writing (and hopefully the surging brain activity that accompanies it). Farewell, and live strong.

Today was a good day

I started the day at Sovereign Grace. Got Dawn to let me into the studio (A key is coming soon, hopefully), caught up on Facey-face, and started downloading videos and reading about exporting files from FinalCut Express. Went to the staff prayer meeting, and reviewed several different video projects with Bob and Dave. It was nice to see that my detailed work with Summer Celebration performances and sermon clips (clipization, more accurately) was well-spent. Now I have a bunch of video work to do that will be productive and help get resources distributed that nobody else would have the time to put together.

Enjoyed two delicious fajitas for lunch, along with more pages of 1st and 2nd Kings. This is a sweet spot in my Bible voyage - the stories are interesting, and tinged with the understated grandeur of ancient writings. Then it was off to the Sunday planning meeting, which is always boisterous and instructive. I made the quality decision to stay in the meeting past 1 instead of going down and playing guitar to accompany the high school choir practice. I'm on the tech team this Sunday, so it's helpful to know the ins and outs of what's going on. And they have a piano player on Tuesdays.

Met with Ken briefly after the SPM, set up an audition date for acoustic guitar and voice (looking forward for some honest outside opinion, though I anticipate that it will be painful), and headed back down to Sovereign Grace, squeezing a phone call to Daniel in between.

From there it was more video work, capturing Summer Celebration clips from iso cams and starting to watch and outline Bob's main session message from this year's WorshipGod conference. The workday ended with getting permission to use a drumset, and practicing for a long time to the Psalms album. It was fun, but it will significantly improve when I procure some bona fide sticks. One tipless hickory and a brush don't quite cut it :)

I left the darkened offices at 7 and discovered a new kind of Altoids at the Exxon on my way to care group (Seriously, every time I think they've come up with every possible type of Altiod, they proffer something new. Honey mint, like its predecessor--Creme de Menthe--is delicious). Since this is a fifth Tuesday, my care group and two others got together for pizza, fellowship and Bible trivia instead of a regular meeting. Green team came in second, and I still believe that the ESV had "remain" instead of "abide" in John 15! It doesn't now, but I really really think it did when it first came out. Anyway...

Decided to go hang out with a couple folks at "Buffalo Wings," which turns out to be right by home. "A couple folks" ended up being more than 15, and we had a great time talking and causing a racket. Met an awesome guy who does free financial consulting, had some deepening conversations with folks I'd met in past weeks, and ended up talking outside with the last couple people after the joint closed down. It was one of the first times I've really felt like I had some friends, and really enjoyed hanging out with people here. That may sound mean to say, but it's true, and I don't think it's unreasonable for friendships to take some time to develop. Doing things together is ALWAYS the best way (or at least a really really good way) to go from acquaintances to friendships, and being elected as the care group's quiz leader was perfect for that. I'm beginning to feel like I've got some social-life buds peeking up from the soil.

I came home late, but feeling like writing. I ended up doing a spurt of music research, taking some notes for Grooveshark listening tomorrow, and listening to Stevie Wonder intentionally for the first time in my life. Now I've written this, which makes me happy, and I'm cold, which makes me hope I don't get sick. It's fall now, for sure. Warm sun but cool, crisp air. The leaves are still green, but their days are numbered. Some of the roads are starting to feel like home, and there are people I'm looking forward to seeing in the days ahead.

My goals are to continue my Bible reading challenge with Justin, practice drums, prioritize my widespread projects, intentionally make myself a part of the tech team activites, strive to do everything I do with excellence, diligence and thought, and get together with some of the older musicians to learn, hang out, and learn. I don't feel yet that I am directly moving towards DOING something employable with this whole music/sound area, but to push that too hard right now would, for me, be going outside of God's plan and timing. Be faithful, BE HUMBLE, don't think of myself more highly than I ought, love people, work hard, and turn the wheel over to God. That's the only way.

A new feeling

I miss home.

That sounds simple and stupid, but for me it's not.
I've been travelling since some time in high school when I took David Altrogge up on his offer to "come visit sometime." These trips have come thick and fast since I finished my Christmas album on Mike Hoffman's tape rig and got started with the band Pure Boss in Akron, Ohio. Four weekends in a month doesn't seem like near enough, and I find myself missing sometimes half of the Sundays at home. And never giving it a thought. I love going places and seeing people and getting to do different things and do things differently.

For the most part this tenure in Maryland has been like that so far. I kept forgetting it was longer than a weekend as I packed for it. I have greatly enjoyed getting to do new, cool things and meet a host of new faces. Starting afresh--completely different than my life at home--has proven as beneficial as I had imagined.

But today I kept feeling myself tugging to go home this weekend. I didn't know why, but it was really strong, and I really wanted to go back to Pittsburgh!
I finally sat down to reason this thing out, since I was genuinely unclear on what to do.

The best way I can describe it is that there's nowhere warm here. The townhouse is great, but my room is pretty stark, and the rest of it isn't "mine." The church building and interior is very sleek and modern, meaning it's not very personal; not a warm place. It's not bad, but it's cool. On another level, no one here really knows me. I've been pretty quick at establishing fun, comfortable acquaintances with everyone I'm around, but there's no one I talk to at the level where we really know and understand and accept each other.
There's nowhere warm to rest myself in.

I can only think that this is what people mean when they talk about missing someone or somewhere. I imagine it's what people feel who move to new places and don't know anybody there.

It took me by surprise, but now that I've figured it out, I'm staying here. I'm staying, determined to push past the small-talk/humor veneer I so easily create, and try to get to know folks. Press past the normal level of relationship and seek for the true fellowship that's possible because Jesus Christ has saved me and these people that I'm around. Invest; ask; go beyond; initiate; reach out. Then and only then, if God blesses my efforts, will I get beyond this adrift state and make real relationships out here. And maybe, just maybe, a corner of that part of my heart which yearns for warmth and friendship will find itself satisfied in Jesus Christ, my Brother and present companion. That would be a great thing.

Day in the Capitol

Monday (my day off) I went into Washington, D.C. for the day.
I decided to suck up the $4.75 parking cost at the Metro stop, which had stopped me last week, figuring (correctly) that it was a far better way to invest money than a meal out or some other more frivolous discretionary expenditure.

I successfully rode the Metro in, despite never being sure I was headed the right way or in the right place, and following a crowd onto another train on blind faith, figuring they were probably headed the same place I was. I was relieved to emerge above ground and see the mall stretching out before me and George's Obelisk stabbing the sky. It struck me how long it's been since I had been there, and how much has happened in that time.

I had one goal for the day, and set about burying myself therein: The Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. Came out almost 7 hours later, full of wonder at America's manned space flights, golden years long gone, and World War II (Had a great lunch, too. Who woulda thought their cafeteria pizza would rank in my top ten?!). It's crazy to put your face right next to a piece of metal that orbited the moon!

I didn't have much of a plan after the museum closed. I didn't want to deal with rush hour crowds heading out of the city, was open to eating dinner if I found somewhere to eat, and mostly just wanted to meaner around a place that most people rush hurriedly through. I talked to Mom for a long time on the phone, sitting on the grass and looking at the Capitol Building, and eventually started heading west, taking some pictures and enjoying the late afternoon light.

As the sun lowered in the sky towards the Lincoln Memorial, I was treated to a once-or-twice-in-a-lifetime lights show around the Washington Monument. The sky was perfect blue. A warm, hearty wind blew across the green grass, stirring the flags at the base of the monument to life. They literally seemed to be lit from within as they flapped in the golden sunlight. Red, white, and blue, in a grand circle. Enough to set almost any heart aglow with patriotic thoughts.
The sun lowered, the light richened, and the glowing flags and monument stood out majestically from the deepening sky behind them. At last I tore myself away and trotted down the slope to the World War II monument, to catch its magnificence in the last rays of the sun.
This was a fitting cap to a day in which I had spent uninterrupted hours studying signs about the war: The grand, staggering, globe-engulfing epic of a world and a people now almost totally lost and gone. The memorial sweeps with fitting scale and breadth, and fountains pour ceaselessly, like the lives poured boat after boat upon the murderous shores of Guadalcanal.
I was sober and affected. Blocks of marble were engraved with names of far-off places and great battles. The Coral Sea. The Ardennes. Battle for Monte Cassino. Okinawa. A wall of close-packed stars (4048 total) was marked with this engraving: "Here We Mark The Price Of Freedom." Each star represents 100 Americans who died in the war.

I sat cross-legged at the edge of the reflecting pool as the sun at last slipped out of view and the world began to dim. The fountains now gleamed brilliantly, lit unseen from below, as if the water itself was liquid light. Farewell, men. Thank you for giving your lives--giving your all--, for a noble and just cause. For freedom and justice. For your country and the protection of the world. You were great.

I headed home quietly, my stomach tearing itself up with hunger the whole way. It had been a good day. I was glad I went. I'll remember that sunset at the Washington Monument for a long time. Even though my camera ran out of batteries as it began to get really spectacular, I blazed the memory into my mind's eye. It was so good-looking that even my atrocious cell phone camera took pretty pictures. WWII has always stirred me, and both in the museum and at the memorial, this day carried that out. I broke my songwriting drought that night, and penned these words, of a fallen soldier to his surviving comrades and family:

So carry on without me
I did my best
Light the torch and toast my name
Along with the rest
I may be buried
In the sands of the East
But you will remember me
As long as you breathe

Show them the medal
That I never saw
Tell them the story
Of their unknown Grandpa
Teach them to live right
And love this great land
Teach them to work hard
With both of their hands

[whistling interlude]

So carry on without me
And the others who fell
Raise the glass in honor
Of men who died well

A collage of life

Hello friends and future self!

Here are some portraits of what I've been up to, and what life has been like, for the past week and a half.

Last week I was in the Covenant Life offices all week, working with Dave W (tech stuff) and Ken (music-related projects). Now I'm trying to figure out how things will flow with Bob being back, and hopefully more going on down in Sovereign Grace (The two entities are separate, both organizationally and physically, though they're both in the same monster building complex. SGM is "downstairs."). Today is a decently demonstrative snapshot:
- Up at 7:20am. Shower, relatively hurried breakfast, and out the door.
- Came it at 8:30 to the SGM offices. Got somebody to let me in to the studio, and worked on video editing till 10.
- Met with Bob at 10 and hashed out what clips we want to pull from the WG09 interview. Worked on making that happen until noon.
- Packed up my laptop and walked the long course through halls and stairs and auditorium and lobby to get to the CLC offices. Thereat partook of lunch, which was leftovers from the previous night's singles meeting. One of the few tomato soups I have truly liked.
- Ate and worked at my unofficial desk, which is in an area with 3 admin-assistant girls. This has become the closest thing I have to a home base. It's right by the breakroom, so we see everybody, and there's rarely a dull moment.
- Worked on some low-level projects for Ken on my laptop, sorta twiddling my thumbs, so I rounded up one of the facilities guys (Felix, aka the man) and got him to let me into the infant care room and help me take down the monitor, which has had poor picture quality. Worked on that for a good while, and it looks like a 12dB RF amplifier and some de-sharpening fixed 'er up right purdy.
- Sat in on a webinar in the Luther Room (all the meeting rooms in the CLC offices are named after famous church dudes). It was about a new techy product for church meetings. (How would you like to answer a poll during a meeting, on your iPhone?) Got so hungry I was nauseous at points.
- 4:30pm: Did some reading/work at my "desk," and had some food. Granola bar, slices of Bel Giosso parmesan cheese, chocolate covered espresso beans, and dried cherries. Enjoyed sharing them all. Mm-mm good.
- Headed home about 5:15. Cooked up a dinner of grilled italian chicken, mac & cheese and veggies.
- Ate said dinner, chillaxed briefly on the back deck, and went to choir practice.
- Had a blast joining my voice with others', putting out that glorious rich sound that nothing but a choir can create. At the end Ken told us to sing "The Father's Love" one last time and not to worry about the notes but to focus on the truth of the words. The sound seemed all the richer and more unified, and I could feel God's presence there in that room as we sang. It was a great way to spend an evening.

That was today. Here are some other snippets:

Saturday night - rehearsal for the Sunday service. Dave W explained the lighting system in detail to me after practice was over, and I could feel my brain expanding and taking it all in. It was a great time of learning, and of hanging out with him.

Sunday - everything ran smoothly, so my job as assistant technical director was easy. Joined a big group for lunch, met a guy with a possible band/home recording connection, and returned home for pizza and football with Greg. Potomac Pizza also ranks in my top 10. Fantastic stuff.

Last Friday night Ben, the other full-time tech guy for CLC, invited me out to dinner with him, since neither of us had any plans for the evening. We had a great dinner at Macaroni Grill, affordable-ized by a giftcard he had, and I got to know him better, which was cool. Later that night I went to somebody's house for a theological discussion and some hanging out. Ended up with a small group super late, and played a couple songs of mine. One of those rare, rare times where a group of people is in a state to fully listen to something you play.

Greg is working on selling this place, while the rates are low and Obama is giving out free money for buying a house. He had some contractors in Saturday morning to estimate renovation costs, and this Saturday the countertop will get torn out. This makes me sad, 'cause I will be less able to cook food, and I need to save money chance I get.

I'm still listening to Owl City. It is a precious and rare thing when a song hits some nerve in you, and sends you to euphoria as it plays. I think it happens less frequently as you get older, and it always fades to some degree over time and listens. So I am enjoying it as much as I can while "Fireflies" continues to delight me deep down. Every other song of theirs is also delightful and enjoyable, and I'm so happy I know about them!

The subwoofer adjustment I made last week is blowing my mind. And NOT my ears! I always significantly notice the volume I play music at in my car. It used to be 3 windows closed, 4 open, 5 for rare super-rock-out mania. By the summer it had gotten to 4 min, 5 when I really wanted to listen to something, and 6 sometimes, especially to really kick it. That's when the sub really came into its own and the sound sounded balanced and full. At low volumes the sub was obnoxious and overwhelming and quite unpleasant. NOW, I'm listening at 3 all the time, and it sounds perfect - the low end is all there, and it's well-rounded and eminently pleasant. It makes me so happy I'm having to refrain from pouring more effervescent words into this paragraph!

The roads around here feel very isolated. There's a lot of woods and greenery everywhere - houses tucked back from the main roads, not tons of shopping centers... it just feels like you're out in the country, with not many friendly places around. Hard to describe, but it is very prominent to me. Perhaps later I'll come up with a fitting way to communicate it. It definitely feels different. Everything is pervaded with a different-ness here. I can't think of one thing that feels like it did "back home."

I have my little MicroKorg synth setup in front of a boombox in my room. I've been going through and playing with it, making good-sounding patches and learning the parameters. It's an example of the kind of thing I have always wanted to do, and now am in fact doing since I'm away from all the occupying things at home. I'm also starting to write some music, and I want to play along with a metronome regularly to try to get some good tempo beat into my brain.

There's more I could say, but plenty here. Much new, much to be happy with, and much being learned.

African Proverbs

From the July 09 edition of "Ghana News Monthly," Vol. 1, No. 3.

     I had fun reading through these, and I think you will too. Some were familiar observations of life, which was quite delightful considering they're from another continent: Money is sharper than a sword.
     Others were quite obviously from very different life situations: The son shoots a leopard; the father is proud.
     And others were remarkably insightful when I thought about them, despite their unassuming premises: "Unless you call out, who will open the door?" and "Wood already touched by fire is not hard to set alight.

Enjoy!

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Zaire - The Congo

• What is said over the dead lion's body could not be said to him alive.
• Little by little grow the bananas.
• A single bracelet does not jingle.
• Let him speak who has seen with his eyes.

Ashanti, Ghana

• When a woman is hungry, she says, "Roast something for the children that they may eat."
• He who cannot dance will say: "The drum is bad."
• No one tests the depth of a river with both feet.
• It is a fool's sheep who break loose twice.

Buganda

• He who hunts two rats, catches none.

Ethiopia

• A fool looks for dung where the cow never browsed.
• One who runs alone cannot be outrun.
• The frog wanted to be as big as the elephant, and burst.

     And one which immediately brought to mind my trip out West, where the difference between the desert-like ranches of Utah and the green pastureland of Nebraska was stark: "The cattle is only as good as the pasture in which it grazes."

     Thanks for reading!

And remember: You do not teach the paths of the forest to an old gorilla.

Post #250

Some snippets from the past week:

- I think I may finally have my subwoofers adjusted right in my car! I'm getting sweet, juicy low end even at quiet volumes, without the wonky raw overpowering bleah that I've been battling since I got them. This makes me VERY happy.

- I got dinner at a Ghanaian restaurant this week. Yes. Two ladies from Ghana run it. I ate spicy spinach-chicken-sauce stuff with a lump of gooey ground up fermented cassava root whilst perusing a monthly Ghanaian newspaper. I love their style of journalistic writing. You don't realize how smarmy and uninformative news is here until you read something that straightforwardly tells what happened, using blunt English words. It was refreshing.

- Trader Joes! There is one near me! This was revealed mere hours before I was set to go on a grocery shopping expedition to supplement my first 80 dollars of food, which had lasted just over a week. I was excited at the prospect of buying more real food, and by drifting through the aisles for an hour and a half I was able to find good deals on solid supplies. Grocery shopping is a tremendously satisfying struggle against three competing requirements. I want my food to be 1) Reasonable to prepare, 2) Healthy, and 3) Not expensive. Quick healthy meals are expensive. Cheap healthy stuff is usually nasty and hard to make into a decent meal (mmm, bag of lentils). And cheap easy-to-make stuff is usually unhealthy (chili-mac anyone?). By dint of time investment, some cooking knowledge, and culinary fortitude, I walked away with three bags full of REAL food like frozen tuna steaks, lacy raw milk baby swiss, and broccoli, all of which is merely a step or two away from being a meal, and all of which set me back about 54 bucks. This pleased me greatly.

- Did I mention the fridges at work are stocked with Dr.Pepper? This fact envelopes each day in its warm, 23-flavor embrace.

- My laptop's wireless worked for one day at the church, and then refused to admit the existence of any signal. After days of grief from this, I went with my gut feeling. Restarted it, and boom, it's been working like a charm. While I feel frustration with computers, it is overshadowed by my enjoyment of wireless internet. It is highly useful when one has four bosses and no office!

- I haven't been sleeping well at night. It's warm and humid upstairs, and venetian blinds do a poor job keeping out the glare of two sodium vapor streetlights outside the house. Several times I have woken up, seen a time like "4:17" on the clock, and genuinely panicked that it was PM, and I had slept through the day. Took awhile to squeeze that thought out of my sleep-impaired brain.

- Housing! Greg informed me the other day that he could house me here through October, and that he's got a buddy who can take me after that. So I think I'm good! That is an answer to prayer. I had had the unfounded but persistent feeling that I'd be here more than just 4 weeks, and so it proved to be. Now I state with much more confidence that the internship is "for the fall; through December."

- Fireflies. Are in my head. Ten million of them. You would not believe your eyes.
Sorry. It's a song by Owl City, and it has been delighting my heart more than any song has in a long time. Probably since "Awakening" by Switchfoot. One of those pieces of sound that just goes into you and fits into some lock, releasing joy.. why I know not. But it makes me euphoric.

- I went to my first care group meeting on Tuesday, and it was a blast! Each guy there brought a unique set of contributions to the table, and it was a delight to watch them all come into play during the discussion. And to participate myself, jumping in like we were all brothers. Which we are in Christ.

- Monday is my day off (since I work a full day between Saturday and Sunday). I had grand plans to go to D.C., but woke up late, read leisurely and productively, and got ticked off that I would have to pay $4.75 to park for the Metro. So I toured the local thrift stores, bought a lamp that broke, and got some needed stuff at Target. Scored a Johnny Cash record, and a record of the Muppet Movie soundtrack!

I'll probably write another post talking more about what I'm doing at work and how things are going. This was meant to be some fun-size candy bars of text treats to fill your pumpkin bag of blog-surfing trick-or-treating.

:-)

First Post From Gaithersburg

GAH!
I have much to catch up on!
Lost my job. Utah trip. Youth camp like crazy. Zambia trip a few weeks later. Worship conference. Kicking up dust about an internship. Chicago trip. Texas trip. I get the internship! One week blows by, and I'm on the road to Gaithersburg for the fall. And now here I am.

So let's back up to this internship thing. May, June and July were commendably full, but I knew unemployment couldn't continue indefinitely. Engineering loomed as nothing but a dark cloud of mind-numbing regulations and unexciting work (I don't believe that's true, but it feels that way), and I wasn't convinced that the right thing was to unthinkingly plunge myself back into that field in order to make myself ready for marraige as soon as possible, and spend the rest of my life in that mold. I also balked at the utter dedication and abandon required to (hopefully) make it in music or recording, whether or not I decided to spend 2 years and $60,000 on a degree in audio engineering.

In between those extremes an idea began to emerge of seeking an internship for the fall, unpaid if necessary, through any and all connections with people in Sovereign Grace. Live sound, recording, audio engineering... I would take anything. It would at the least enable me to serve my church better, at middling allow me to evaluate this field as a career choice, and at the most lead to another opportunity that could begin the course of a career in sound.

So I made some phone calls, sent some emails, and, with Jeremy's forwarded email going before me, introduced myself to a bunch of people at the WorshipGod 09 conference in early August. It became clear quickly that an internship at Covenant Life Church / Sovereign Grace Ministries was the only viable option, and it was with disbelief and joy that I got an email in late August asking me to come down. Yesss! I have something to do! :-)

I had one week between returning from a trip to Texas and my targeted departure date. In that time I furiously worked on finding housing, and with much prayer from many dear people and kind help from folks at CLC, an arrangement worked out on Monday the 7th, a few hours before I headed out. Greg Coss, from the church, has agreed to let me stay in his townhouse for a month, free of charge. What a blessing!

Such were the arrangements. It didn't feel all that exciting as I packed up on Monday, short on time and in an empty house, with Mom, Dad and Daisy out on a Labor Day camping trip. I had to remind myself that this wasn't just a couple-day trip, but I was leaving for months! My leaving/ending sentimentality rose up, and it took a mental resolution and Def Leppard records to keep the sadness away. After weeks of pleasant sunshine, of course this day was gray, overcast and rainy. I didn't get on my way until 5pm, and Labor Day traffic choked the roads for several long stretches. I had no idea what my living conditions would be like, except that it was a single guy, so there wasn't the prospective buzz of life that comes with a family.

That all changed when I pulled up to 1*7*2 Pintain Lane and saw Greg outside waiting for me. He helped me take all my stuff in, and welcomed me in immediately. He's laid back, deliberate, considerate, and there was no barrier to us starting to talk and get to know each other. The townhouse is sweet, and I basically have the run of the place until he gets back late in the evening most days. It's about 5 minutes from the church, for which I am amazed and grateful, and honestly, I can think of hardly any situations that could more easily fit with my personality and lifestyle. It's been great so far!

Much encouraged, I did some arranging and unpacking and hit the hay. Tomorrow, at last, I would start to DO STUFF!

Tuesday started out fantastic. I went to Dave Wilcox, who is the full-time technical director for the church, and he drove us to Panera to talk. Dave is a great guy - technically brilliant and accomplished, but truly humble, friendly, and caring. He was very considerate in bringing me in, going over what I could do, asking what I wanted to do, and getting me started. And THEN. His wife started going into labor! Thus ended the honeymoon. Dave was gone, and the rest of his staff--Ben and Jenn--were left in the lurch, along with this orphaned intern from Pittsburgh. So we plowed through the rest of the day, and I left at 5 to go grocery shopping and settle in at the townhouse.

Wednesday began similarly slow, but after a few hours I connected with Ken Boer, the director of music and worship and one of the four guys I'm interning under. He pretty much took me under his wing, let me set up in his office, and began loading me up with things to do. Joy! By the end of the day I had a plateload of projects and had started learning about the music end of things at the church. When I got home I went for a jog, which felt really good, and even found my way back home after forging into unknown geography. I was about to start dinner when Maritza, who befriended the Pittsburgh and Akron groups at the worship conference, gave me a call to start connecting me with people and activities going on. I ended up going to an "Introducing God" training course that night, which was surprisingly encouraging, and let me meet some more folks. I don't think I'll actually be able to help with the course (an evangelistic course like Alpha or Exploring Christianity), but I still benefitted from the evening.

Thursday was more work with Ken Boer, plus a few small live sound setups, which is always good. Any event which requires sound equipment is an opportunity for me to learn the myriad details of how stuff is set up, where stuff is, and how things are done. Key to being useful, and to gaining experience. Technically most office folks end their days between 5 and 5:30, so I left at 5:45, with 45 mintues to kill before sitting in on some music auditions at 6:30. I ended up driving around in search of a Wal-mart, not finding it where the GPS said it would be, going back to the church, finding no one there, driving out again to explore the countryside, taking some sunset pictures, and returning at 7:30, glad to find people there this time :) There was one voice and one drum audition, and it was cool to see how Ken ran them, what his goals are for them, and how he goes about trying to learn what he needs to know about each person's ability. This week has been a constant barrage of methods, technology, equipment and personnel that become necessary for a church this large. It's a new way of thinking for me, and has been quite interesting, and pretty impressive.

I got home from the auditions just in time for the kickoff of the first regular season game of this football year. Steelers vs. Titans, baby! Greg had just drafted Roethlisberger as his fantasy team quarterback, so we were both rooting for the Steelers. We had good man-food and drinks, and it was a nice relaxed time of talking and hanging out. AND, we pulled out a win in overtime! Let the domination begin.

Today was a much anticipated day for me. At long last, Bob Kauflin, my boss, was back in town! And later in the day there was a 10:31 meeting, which is the youth group. Full band in the auditorium equals big-time learning opportunity. More on Bob below. For 10:31 we were short a couple tech people, so after helping set up the stage and patch everything in, I took the role of "Stage Manager" for the night. Which sounds more impressive than the actual role, which is to walk around stage during rehearsal and talk to each musician, see what they need in their headphones, and relay it to the monitor mixer. It was great though, because it was a needed role, so my presence was actually useful--something I am acutely grateful for anytime it happens. It's the best way to learn, too - just jump in and start doing stuff. I enjoyed meeting the guys in the band and on the tech team, finding them all to be nice, friendly christian guys. This evening has left me freshly appreciative of the great joy it is to work with God's people. There's no one like 'em, and I'm a fan.

The meeting itself was enjoyable to watch, and I felt God's presence during worship, and cried out desperately for God to "bring me to the cross"--to bring me to truly love Him more than anything else, and rest in Him and Him alone, not in being seen or being impressive or in having the accomplishments or skills that I so miserably want. I've started to read "Worship Matters" by Bob Kauflin (after receiving a free copy from Ken), and just the first two chapters cut to my heart as he talked about the process of God bringing him from seeking to impress people to loving God more than anything else. As mentioned above, Bob was in for the day, and I got together with him after a SGM staff meeting in the morning. He too was effusively kind and welcoming to me, and I believe that comes from a heart that is resting in God in truth and reality. It's something I don't think I have yet (more like a destination that I'm further from than these guys), but I see quite clearly that I want. Bob hooked me up with some video editing projects, and took me on a tour of the Sovereign Grace offices, which are shawEET. The breakrooms there and up in the CLC offices are tricked-out - basically like a Panera or Starbucks interior. AND, they're both stocked with ice cold Dr.Pepper in the fridges! Ah me. Poor teeth.

So, I got home about 11 tonight, after the 10:31 meeting. Hung out with Greg and Wes, a realtor from the church who was looking over the place, and then sat down to write this. Tomorrow I am stoked to sleep in and get rested up--waking up at 7:30 has been taking its toll on me. Hopefully I'll run some laundry, cook up some chicken tenders that have been marinating in Mexican seasoning, and head to the church around 1 to play around with FinalCut (video editing program) for a few hours and help with setup and rehearsal for the Sunday service. This is my one weekend to learn all I can before attempting to serve as Assistant Technical Director for the 1st and 3rd Sundays. Bring it on! Let the learning begin! (or continue, as the case may be)

Things are quite pleasant, and the blinder view I always have is good. I must remember to consider the broader view of what I'm doing - what I'm learning, what roads I'm cutting for myself, every first impression I make, and the relationships that will be so much set by what happens right in these few days. Time managment has also become apparent as critical (duh), with a swarm of unrelated projects at work and a MILLION, BAJILLION wonderful, profitable, enriching and desirable things I could be doing in my free time. Oh life, must you be so choked and strangled? Alas. What I am doing is good. I must rest in what God has for me, not what I wish I was.

Good night, Gaithersburg.

--JPB

Me (about a sweet pic Mike took): It's a masterpiece, Mike!

Mike: And masterpieces are only created by masters.

Me: . . . or pieces.

:-D

Recording

Well folks, it's May 5th. That was a rude awakening. I thought it was the 2nd, or maybe the 3rd, till I checked my phone at lunch. Uncle Keith gets here in three days, bringing with him unknown amounts of non-music activity, and we leave on the 12th, early early. So the 11th will be all packing up. So I have 6 days left. That hurts just to say.

The last week has slipped by quickly with Mike here. It's easy to spend time on the laptop or watching hockey. The deadline to finish the album recording has been increasingly pressuring me, and a lot of days have gone by with not much time spent in the studio.

But here's the thing. I have 9 out of 12 songs for sure done, and two of the remaining three probably done, but with a chance of re-recording them.

The recording is going fantastically!

I've been knocking out two songs a day most days. Walk downstairs, set up a new project in Sonar 2.0, check levels, and 30 minutes later, a new final-quality track is down on the hard drive.
In case it's not obvious, let me say that this doesn't happen normally when I record. That's a big reason I don't spend more time in the studio at home. More often than not my efforts end in frustration and futility, or something that's 80% good, but too hard to get that last 20%, so it's useless.
A lot of the reason for this progress is the type of music I'm working with. These songs are meant to be sung. They live just coming out of your mouth. "Arrangements" are self sustaining even with just a guitar for accompaniment. If I botch a take it's no biggie to re-do the whole thing, or pick up part way through where I messed up. It is truly a delight to work with such excellent songs.

But there's more than that.
I still undoubtedly have the capacity within myself to ruin the recording of even such robust and intrinsically valuable songs. God has to be blessing my efforts. I am playing (i.e. "practicing") the songs, yes, but I get good at playing them faster than my rate of practice. Things are falling into place, and when I'm sitting in front of the mic, with the ominous red "Record" button pressed and destiny hanging in the balance... I'm playing and singing at my best.

God is--at the least--staying the tide of my own self destruction, and allowing me to record these songs in a manner doing justice to my musical abilities and the quality of the songs. I don't take that for granted, and every time I run up the stairs singing at the top of my lungs with another track crossed off the list, I am grateful afresh.

I am really looking forward to sharing these recordings with everybody, and I hope that they can be received and learned and sung with as much joy as I have gotten from them myself.

--JPB

Yo, wassup

It's 10:07pm SLC time. Mike and I finished "Blazing Saddles," and now we're in our default positions: hunched over each's respective laptop at the non-dining-room-table-table. The automatic lights came on and dimmed at 8, so we have yellow light till 11pm. It's shining on the pile of field guides, Utah atlas, electronics, beverage containers, Cheetos, tumbleweed, sandstone, masking tape, song lyrics and other shtuff that covers the table. We're groovin' to The Meters. If you don't own "Look-Ka Py Py" by them, you should buy it. I feel comfortable promising that whoever you are, you will not regret that purchase.

Another day like every other day of my life: started with a goal, got diluted immediately. Instead of waking up and hitting the studio, I woke up, had breakfast, and Mike and I went on some errands. Finally after getting home and making buffalo chicken salad and macaroni & cheese for lunch, I took the tepid-but-still-delicious remains of my Rovico's americano down to the two by four and insulation room for some folk song work. Laid down what will most likely be the final tracks of "Good Morning Blues," and got "Pick a Bale of Cotton" started. One take with guitar and singing, and then lots with additional singing and clapping. My plan is to do like 10 tracks of harmonies and different parts, all with clapping, and get a good group work feel. Right now I'm pursuing that direction, but I don't know if it will work. All I know is I did a few test tracks, and then 3 serious ones, and after that my hands hurt from clapping so I left.

Helped Mike work on fixing Uncle Keith's tent from its wind-induced destruction. Ate a mango with a knife, rejoiced in the fact that there was nothing "instant" to eat in the fridge or the pantry, and fried up some corned beef hash and eggs for dinner. XX'd it and watched the Mighty Ducks and Redwings battle on the ice. Then to Blazing Saddles, and you know it from there.

I am currently wishing that Mike could appreciate food, that people on Facebook would appreciate my profile pic, that the world could appreciate my unique(?) brand of optimistic adaptability, and that I had the "spark," or charisma, like some people have.

Currently delighted by my vanilla bean in vodka success, the ease with which I am getting final-track-quality recordings for this album, the amount of vegetables and real food in my shopping cart earlier today, and the understanding of music history that is in truth unfolding as I read "Rock and Roll: An Introduction," by Michael Campbell and James Brody.

I take yet another moment to sit back, look around me at the railings and airy ceiling and shimmering sea of lights out the window, and appreciate where I am. This is amazing, and what a blessing to get to be here, for so long, so free. This is one of the best places on earth, and I love it.

John: Is today Saturday?
Mike: I don't think so.. I don't know
John (opens cell phone): It's May first...
John (brings up calendar on laptop): It's Friday. Hmph.

A Few Notes

• Turns out when bereft of rock, I can indeed thoroughly enjoy other kinds of music. UK's Apple has great speakers with a unique jack, so I'm limited to his iTunes selection (a mere 4026 songs :-P). Without my usual fare, I have turned to Bach, Brahms, The Doobie Brothers (who I officially love now), and big band.
• Food is a war. It does not want to be in an eatable form. I must threaten it with fire and sharp objects to get it into a meal. I enjoy cooking; but alone, when no cooking = no real meal, it feels strangely antagonistic.
• The dryness out here is nice in some odd ways. If any dish or implement is wet, just set it out, and it'll be bone dry shortly. Socks not quite finished from the dryer? Just set it out and you're good. Wash your hands? Don't need a towel! Just wave 'em around a bit and the water's gone. Your hands actually get cold it evaporates so fast.
• I don't mind being alone like this. I just have to be careful what music I listen to. Don't want to wake up emotions that would have no solace in my solitude.
• I missed the last TWO Penguins games!! One of them I didn't even know was being played - thought they weren't playing till Saturday. Then Saturday I looked forward to the game all day, so excited for it.. and got a text around 5pm with the results. What?? It had been an afternoon game! I had missed it all. Great sadness.
• After mistakenly turning into the parking lot of a Mormon church this morning I was all the happier to arrive at Gateway Community Church and there to worship the true God. I haven't gotten much into worship lately, but today I was glad to raise my arms, if only to emphasize the point that this God is the one I'm going after, or waiting on, or whatever. I don't want to be worshiping anything else.
• Oh for sunshine! I have spent the last two days inside but for some shopping, and I'm ready to GO. I want to see sun-baked desert again! Yellow light, warmness on my skin, unobstructed view. Go away clouds! Meh.

I'm glad I'm here.

To Utah!

To complete my picture updating, here are some cell phone pics from my drive to Utah the next day. I took almost a hundred, overcome again and again by the beauty and grandeur of each new sight.

Started out heading into the Rocky Mountains from Denver. The poor Mazda, loaded down with hundreds of pounds of recording equipment, struggled to make it in the thin air.




Finally - mountains! Snow, peaks, forests of pine trees, clear blue sky... it's been a long time.





After making it over the pass it was down down down, into Glenwood Canyon. An awesome spectacle and a marvel of engineering.






Grand stuff. Hard to capture in pictures.








With the last vestiges of the mountains behind, it was INTO THE DESERT!
A barren stretch man would have shuddered to transverse a century ago.






Welcome to Utah!







Home at last!