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Yep. I'm back at Berklee. Not for long, though! I can't believe that spring break is only 24 days away! Where the hell did the time go!? Seriously. It feels like yesterday I was just getting here. Now I'm three weeks away from being halfway done with my second semester. Okay so I'm kind of stretching out the where-did-the-time-go thing, but still. Three weeks is not that long.
I'm still in a great mood. I have no reason not to be! Life is good! The only thing slightly annoying me is my College Writing homework, but I'm nearly done that!
Today was awesome, tomorrow will be awesome, everything will be awesome. I wish I could bottle up my mood and give it to some of my friends. A few could use it right now.
Back to the grind! There is homework to be done and songs to be written/recorded. I'm gonna try and record a song a week and post it here and/or on Twitter. So be on the look out!
This basically describes my mood/face as of late:
I'm energetic, excited, happy, and optomistic by nature, but for the past 48 hours or so I have been exceptionally excited and happy (yes, I'm excited for something just about all the time).
The main reason is because I had a great night with my favorite person ever, Bob. So I had been looking forward to that for a while and my excitement became uncontainable. We had great food and great conversation. It was awesome. I hadn't seen him in over a month and a half (which sucked)! I came home this weekend to see Bob. My parents even acknowledged that I was here to see him. Seeing them (and being home) is great, but had BT been busy, then I would have stayed in Boston.
Thank God he wasn't. As much as I love Berklee and its world-class faculty, none of them hold a candle to Bob in my book. I'm really looking forward to the summer, mainly because I'll get to see Bob on a weekly basis again. All of my friends hated Mondays in high school, but I loved them. Mondays meant I got to spend the evening playing and learning and hanging out with Bob.
And I'm really looking forward to having my weekly three to five hour night playing and learning and hanging out with Bob over the summer.
I'm writing this from my own bedroom. The one that has Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, the Beatles, and many others plastered on the walls.
It's oddly comforting to be home. It's almost like time has stopped. I'm only here until Monday, but I have a feeling that when I get back to Boston my four-day weekend will feel like it went by in the blink of an eye.
I feel like being home will give me some clarity. I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want to do instead of actually doing it. Last semester I was all talk. This semester, I'm all business. I'm all about getting stuff done. Being home gives me time to plan a little bit (more). It gives me time to write. All of what I consider to be my best songs were written right where I'm sitting right now. Even my most recent songs were written here over break. If I could write a few more while I'm here, it would make my life that much better...
...I'm gonna get to work on improving my life.
For a guitar player, I don't really listen to a lot of guitar players. All my favorite music is pretty much guitar-based, but you'll rarely catch me listening to Jeff Beck or Derek Trucks. It's not because I don't like them--I do. I just don't connect with them. The one guitar player I really connect with is Eric Clapton. I love Hendrix, and Stevie's cool, too, but Eric Clapton...There's just something about him.
I went through a huge Cream phase, and I mean HUGE. I learned like..16 songs in a month one time. I don't think I've ever done that with any other artist before. Well, maybe Billy Joel, but still. I was a Cream fanatic. I still am, I'm just running out of songs to learn.
Anyway, back to Eric. I didn't notice until my teacher pointed it out the other day that I rarely use my pinky when I play. She said, 'You're a Clapton fan, aren't you?' I said yeah. 'I can tell because you don't use your pinky.' I had never noticed that, but it makes perfect sense. I've spent hours and hours watching him play, it's only natural that I copy my favorite player. He didn't need it, he didn't use it.
So instead of working on what I'm supposed to be, I've been relearning Cream songs for the past hour or so. Brings back a lot of great memories to say the least.
Clapton is God.
Everyone has priorities, and we're always sorting them out. At least I am. I am constantly organizing my life. Here is my current list of priorities (excluding my social life. That's probably number one):
1. My College Writing homework. I have a buttload of homework for that class right now. I have an essay and two observations due Monday, and I'm going to be an over-achiever and get my stuff that's due Wednesday and Friday done before the weekend is over. It is possible. I am sacrificing my social life, but one weekend isn't gonna kill me.
2. Ear Training. I have a quiz this week. I've been good with getting my work done, so that won't be a problem. I have tonight and tomorrow to prepare for the dictation part of the quiz on Monday, and I have until Wednesday to prepare for the singing part of the quiz. That shouldn't be a problem.
3. Playing guitar and writing songs. I have to write a song with my B string tuned down to A for my lab. That's easier said than done. I was like, 'Oh, no problem...Oh wait, that sounds AWFUL.' So yeah, there's that. I also have to work on stuff for my private lesson. Not to mention, I try to write as many songs as I can. I'm always thinking of lyrics, and when I have my guitar, I'm constantly looking for riffs and hooks and chord progressions that resonate with me.
4. Jamming. I love to jam, everyone here does. I would love to live in an ensemble room and just jam for like..a week straight. No class, no worries, just music.
5. Staying healthy. It's hard to do in college. The food selections here aren't exactly the most nutritious. Knock on wood, I haven't been sick once all year. Basically everyone of my friends has been sick at least once. I try to get at least six hours of sleep a night (easier said than done), and workout fairly regularly. I renewed my gym membership, and I have winter running gear. So I've been trying to keep up with that.
I'm sure there are many more things I could list, but those are my five for now. What are yours?
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