hello, goodbye

Well, I haven't posted in quite a while. Since my last post, I've worked, discovered I weigh 15 lbs more than I did at the beginning of the summer (time for some salads), I bought a new Peavey Classic 30 All-Tube Guitar Amp, and I worked. 41.5 hours this past week.
Oh, and tonight, I was closing (meaning I had to lock the door and set the alarm, etc...I'm 16, and they trust me with the key...). I reached into my wallet to find the key, and...it wasn't there. So, I tried calling one of the owners. Her home phone. Her cell phone. Her husband's cell phone. No luck. I called another owner, one who lives about 40 minutes away. He said he'd be happy to brign a key if I couldn't find one anywhere else. So I tried the 3rd owner. He's a silent partner. Well, he's supposed to be a silent parter. He told me I couldn't wear shorts because hair exfoliates. That's right, my beastly hairy legs are gonna exfoliate, all over the place. When I told the other owners about that, one of them said "Yeah, don't go shaking your leg over the deep fryer".
I would have called the 4th partner, but I've never met him. He truly is a silent partner. I like him alot. But I called J.B. That's what we call him. His real name is James Brown, which I find humorous, because it reminds me of the deceased Soul singer. Anyways, he had a key...he thought. "Call me back" he said. He's a very busy man. He owns part of the restaurant, a hair school, and a full-blown hair salon. Turns out, he did have a key, but he wasn't just going to bring it to me. So, my mom went to the salon, where J.B. about had a heart-attack because he'd never met my mom (okay, it really was an elaborate scheme to destroy the restaurant). When my mom brought the key, he insisted that we immediately give it to a trusted employee at the hair school, which is next door to the restaurant. I guess he doesn't trust me, even though I DO have a key, and I make his sandwiches just right-not too much mayo (that's what he always tells me). So, anyways, about an hour later than planned, we left the restaurant. Then we ate at Hardee's. Mom made my buy.

tell me what you think

A Falsehood

1. I'm OCD about germs. I hate germs. I sanitize everything with Lysol wipes and Germ-X. Even if it doesn't work, it comforts me.-True, I've been this way for a long time...I'm constantly "sanitizing".

2. When I was younger (so much younger than today) I wasn't allowed to watch Pokemon. It killed me, but now I'm kinda glad that I wasn't one of those nerdy kids running around trading cards.-True, mom thought it had something to do with witchcraft. Whether she was right or wrong, I don't much care anymore.

3. I've played organized soccer, baseball, football, and basketball, but I like running better than any other sport. True, I ran a 1/2 marathon over spring break, and I'm running XC this year.

4. In last year's school talent show, I wrote a love song about my math teacher, and I got an encore.-True...maybe I'll post the song on here at some point in time.

5. The first song that I ever wrote was entitled "The Pencil Song"-True, it was very odd.

6. I once split my head open while on vacation at an amuesment park...long story, but I had to get a staple in my head, and I couldn't swim without a shows, and er cap...looking back, I think I should have just stayed out of the water.-True, I fell onto the tracks of one of the ride got "blood on the tracks".

7. I scored a 26 the first time I took the ACT (freshman) and a 28 the second time (sophomore).-True, but my reading score actually came down a few points the second time. Hmm...

8. I sung with a travelling boy's choir for two years. We visited Rome, Greece, Athens, Egypt, England, Finland, and more. We were away for two months out of the year, and we performed nearly every night we were on the road.-False. I made this one up.

9. When I was little, I was so chubby that we couldn't find jeans to fit me, so I had to wear the ones with an elastic waist.-True...thankfully, they make jeans for people my size in regular waists.

Everyone that actually knows me did well on this. Hope you had fun!

Les is More

I'll update you on the True/False thing next time I post (hopefully tomorrow). For now, though, I need to tell you a bit about my new guitar. I know that basically everyone who reads my blog comes here from my mom's blog, so you've seen the pics, and you've read what she has to say about the guitar, but you haven't heard what I have to say about it yet. First of all, it is one of the most beautiful guitars I've ever seen. I keep up with guitars pretty well. I read the catalogs, I check the websites. I know who's making what guitar in what finish with what pickups, etc. I enjoy knowing what's going on in the world of guitar. Sure, there are plenty more expensive guitars...there are guitars with more features, higher fret acess, 24K gold-plated hardware, etc. But it's not everyday that you see a finish like this. Most burst finishes are light in the middle and get progressively darker. Mine is like a color spectrum from top to bottom. The wood grain also shows through very nicely. With the flamed maple wood and the type of finish this guitar has, no 2 look the same, they're all unique (all 400). And the tone of this guitar is amazing. When I was contemplating buying this beauty, I had to ask myself "How much better is it going to sound?". There are two types of amps, solid state, and tube. Solid States is cheaper, Tube sounds better. At the moment, I have a solid state. Tubes replicate the guitar's sound much more accurately, so I was wondering if it would even make a difference until I got a nicer amp. Well, to my surprise, it makes a huge difference. With just a little overdrive, I can get a serious crunch, whereas with my old Danelectro, I struggled to get distortion at all. With a twist of the tone knob, I can get some thick blues sounds, and on the clean channel, I can get something like Jimmy Page on "Ten Years Gone" or even some fat jazz sounds (Les Paul, the father of this guitar, was a famous jazz musician in the fourties and fifties. He also invented the multitrack recorder, which is how all music is recorded today. He really revolutionized the industry). Someday, I'll upgrade to a tube amp, but for now, I'm content with the amazing tone I'm getting already. The pickups that came with this guitar are extremely versatile and of exceptional quality. Alot of Gibson players replace the pickups that come with most other Les Pauls right away, but the '57 Classics sound closest to the vintage pickups in the earlier Les Paul models, with the late fifties models being the most collectible. These pickups are hot enough to handle some pretty insane riffing (when I say that, I don't mean metal, I don't listen to that...think something like "Carry on Wayward Son" by Kansas), but they can also sound like butter. All in all, I couldn't be happier. My new guitar (which I've named "Layla", after the song Eric Clapton recorded while with Derek and the Dominoes) is virtually unsurpassed in looks, tone, or overall quality.

A Falsehood

Well, I've been tagged by my mom, so I guess I have to list 9 things about me, one of them being false. It's your job to guess which one is false. So here goes:

1. I'm OCD about germs. I hate germs. I sanitize everything with Lysol wipes and Germ-X. Even if it doesn't work, it comforts me.

2. When I was younger (so much younger than today) I wasn't allowed to watch Pokemon. It killed me, but now I'm kinda glad that I wasn't one of those nerdy kids running around trading cards.

3. I've played organized soccer, baseball, football, and basketball, but I like running better than any other sport.

4. In last year's school talent show, I wrote a love song about my math teacher, and I got an encore.

5. The first song that I ever wrote was entitled "The Pencil Song"

6. I once split my head open while on vacation at an amuesment park...long story, but I had to get a staple in my head, and I couldn't swim without a shower cap...looking back, I think I should have just stayed out of the water.

7. I scored a 26 the first time I took the ACT (freshman) and a 28 the second time (sophomore).

8. I sung with a travelling boy's choir for two years. We visited Rome, Greece, Athens, Egypt, England, Finland, and more. We were away for two months out of the year, and we performed nearly every night we were on the road.

9. When I was little, I was so chubby that we couldn't find jeans to fit me, so I had to wear the ones with an elastic waist.

Well, I have to tag 3 people so I'm going to tag Autumn, Stacie, and Sydney. Have fun!

Just Another Little Update

Well, we've been back from vacation for about a 1/2 week. I've worked for the past four days, and I'm tired! I'm hoping to finally buy my new guitar next Wednesday, if I can find the one I want! The closest Gibson dealers are 2 hours away, and I know for sure that one of them doesn't have my model in stock! Oh well, I'm sure it will all work out for the best. I'm hoping to put some pics of vacation on my blog, but right now I'm pretty tired, and I think I'm going to hit the hay before too long. I'm also going to put some of my new songs on my blog sometime soon, so be on the lookout!

Serious Post :o

Well, once again, I will post about something serious. Brace yourselves, it may come as a shock!
As we were walking along the beach, I noticed that my footprints left an impression in the damp sand. Every time the tide came up, it smoothed out the sand and erased my footprints, no trace of them was left. My footprints are similar to my sins. I continually sin over and over, only to have Jesus' Blood wash my sins away...As soon as I have a clean slate, I dirty it up again, but as faithful as the tide, Jesus "smooths out the sand". What an awesome Savior!

Hey!!

Wow! I can hardly believe it. I've posted 3 days in a row. Trouble is, none of my posts have had any coherent thoughts to them. However, what do you expect after a 12 hour car ride. I'd tell you that today was a blast, but you've already read everyone else in my family's blog, so you know what we did today. It was fun.

Hey

Well some strange things happen on the road,and you tend to get bored. Some cheap entertainment:

Meal or No Meal?

Hey!

Well I just wanted to let all of my faithful...lol...readers know that I'm alive and well. I haven't posted in years because I guess...I've been busy and I've suffered a small lack of interest. I've completed a couple of songs since I last posted, I'll try to get those on here at some point in time. So leave me a comment and tell me what you want me to write about...maybe that'll give me some motivation to post more often...plus, it's summer, so I may have more time...

New Song Format

For all my ardent listeners (lol), I've buried the TuneFeeds player with all my music in a post back in March. I've found a better format for putting my songs on the blog. For anyone interested, it's called esnips, and if you load an mp3 file to their site, you can put a widget with that song right on your blog. I didn't have a big problem with the TuneFeed, other than the fact that it stored all your songs at once, so navigating to find a specific song was a problem. As of yet, I don't have any new songs on my blog, however, there are a few new ones on my mom's blog, so you might want to stop by and check them out!

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Blogging from the Bedroom

So this is pretty cool, I'm posting this from my Nintendo Wii. It takes awhile to type stuff in, but there's a neat little thing that predicts the words I'll use. For example, if I type “gui”, it starts displaying words like “guilt” and “guitar”. I click on one and it pops up on the screen. Well, so long.

Chinface Goes Camping

This is probably the funniest thing ever thought of.



Watch it and see what you think.

What I Was Looking For

This is my sister and I singing "What I Was Looking For" from High School Musical. Check it out on the Tunefeeds player.

You Don't Know Me

This is the first song that I used drums on, and it turned out quite nicely. Check it out in the Tunefeeds player.

Wake up Little Suzy

This is my brother and I singing the classic Everly Brothers tune. Did we do it justice? You decide.

Pyromaniac

Another very cool (albeit a little weird) song written by the master musician Matt. He gave me the words, I gave him a tune, and this is how it all turned out. Check it out.

Overconformity

I can't really remember why I wrote this song. I know for sure I wrote the tune first...I guess I just thought that the words fit the music. This is the song that started my "Modern Period" of recording. After I recorded this song, I recorded like 3 or 4 in the next month. I'm still pretty proud of this song...it was recorded before I started adding the drum loops, but I still love it. The guitar solo is probably the best I've ever written. Check it out.

Mrs. Davis

This is a song that I wrote about my math teacher, Mrs. Davis. I wrote this song to play in the school talent show. The recorded version is a little sloppy, but it works. I plan on playing this again this year for my encore act (provided I get one). I hope this will be the song to make me famous. Check it out on the Tunefeeds Player.

City in Flames

You might have to turn up the volume a little bit for this song. My best friend Matt wrote the words to this song. When I first read them, I had a hard-rock tune in mind, but he said it was a slow song. I ended up playing it on the piano, which I'm not very good at, but I ended up being really happy with it in the end. I used some other cool sounds, too, like the string section. Oh, btw, I download all my drum loops off the internet for anyone who was wondering. Check this song out on my Tunefeeds Player a few posts back.

Stupid Quiz...

Your Language Arts Grade: 90%

Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).

Are You Gooder at Grammar?
Make a Quiz

Well, that's not up to par for a would-be English Professor...guess I need to do some work.

Astronaut

My Music...if you look at the Tunefeed player over by my profile, you can check out some of my songs. About the song Astronaut....I wrote this as a joke about the recent astronaut love triangle that dominated the news headlines. Give it a listen. It's definitely a little...different.

My Music

Well, I think I've kinda got a way for all my loyal bloggers to listen to my music. Click on the widget below, it will take you to a site featuring my music. I started out with my version of "Folsom Prison Blues". Hope you enjoy it.

Folsom Prison Blue...

I Enjoyed This...Hopefully You Will, Too

>>
>> Gates vs. GM
>>
>> For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way
>> computers have enhanced our lives, read on. At a recent computer expo
>> (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the
>> Auto industry and stated,
>>
>> "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we
>> would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.
>> "In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release
>> stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be
>> driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this
>> part):
>>
>> 1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash........Twice a day.
>>
>> 2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to
>> buy a new car.
>>
>> 3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You
>> would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows,
>> shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could
>> continue.
>> For some reason you would simply accept this.
>>
>> 4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause
>> your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would
>> have to reinstall the engine.
>>
>> 5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable,
>> five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only
>> five percent of the roads.
>>
>> 6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all
>> be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation"
>> warning light.
>>
>> I love the next one!!!
>>
>> 7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.
>>
>> 8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out
>> and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door
>> handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
>>
>> 9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn
>> how To drive all over again because none of the controls would operate
>> in the same manner as the old car.
>>
>> 10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.
>>
>>
>

On Intellectual Topics

The time has come. I am enjoying a peaceful Sunday afternoon, and I have decided to treat the world (or the 3.2 people that visit my blog on a regular basis) to a delightful post about my view of technology and its effects on the world, and how the average population's intelligence has changed in the past one hundred years.
First of all, technology is amazing. I can play virtual tennis, check e-mail, and read the day's news all on my Nintendo Wii. I can update my blog site and chat with 16 different friends from school at the same time while I'm surfing the web. I can buy a guitar off the Internet and have it delivered to my doorstep tomorrow. Truly, people are much smarter than they were 100 years ago. Or are they?
I've heard that some of our founding fathers could write two letters to two different people in two different languages with their own two hands at the same time. I haven't seen anyone doing that on Youtube lately. To tell you the truth, I haven't seen anyone run our nation, or any nation for that matter, the way the founding fathers did. We're making giant leaps in technology, but are they as significant as the inventions of 100 years ago?
Think about some of the leading inventions over the past 100 years or so...the atomic bomb, the automobile, the airplane, calculators (which led to computers). What have we had in the past 20 years? E-mail (E-mail has only gone mainstream in the last 20 years, though it was probably around before then), iPods, compact discs (again, they've gained popularity in the last 20 years). In recent years, we've only been able to improve on what we already have. We can make things faster, smaller, and more convenient, but when will we get something totally revolutionary, like the steam engine or the incandescent lamp again? 100 years ago, many people didn't even graduate high school, yet they led prosperous lives. Now, if you don't graduate college, you're basically going to be below the average income. Sure, we know how to fill out our "Get to Know Your Friends" (hopefully, we get to know our friends before we befriend them) surveys on E-mails, but we lack the common sense that got us there. What's happening, America?

Busy....Again

Yes, I woke up and ran 10 miles this morning. Afterwards, I headed off to the land of provolone and made many turkey sandwiches. Although I found the time to check my blog and read the comments that those who love me so graciously left me, I still don't have time to post something of any substance. Be patient, the time will come, but for now, I will leave you with this tidbit of meaningless information.

Busy

Well, it's been a few days since I've made contact with the world, so for all those concerned, I'm still here. I've been wanting to post something about technology, it's effects on today's society, and how our intelligence compares to that of the general population 100 years ago. Sadly, I don't have the time to write that entire post right now, so I may compose and post it tonight, if I get the chance. Well, I am off to complete my daily activities. Fare thee well.

Father Mackenzie

The Events of the Day

So, in my English class, we're writing essays on a topic that can be argued. Seeing as how I want a good grade, I decided not to do my article on why Led Zeppelin is the most influential band in heavy metal history or why Bob Dylan's singing is so underrated. Instead, I'm doing my paper on the Separation of Church and State and how the First Amendment is so often misconstrued. I intend to put the entire paper on my blog when it is finished, but for now, I'll just say that the United States is in sad shape when a liberal lawyer can take any document and make it say what's convenient to him at the time. I think that it's ridiculous that while the Constitution says that the government will make no law respecting a religious institution, it seems as if we're going out of our way to deliberately disrespect Christianity in any way possible. Other religions are not affected...Buddhists, Muslims, and Mormons are minorities, so we won't bother them...well, I'm thoroughly infuriated for now, so please excuse me.

How My Posts Reflect My Heart

It has been brought to my attention (by my loving mother) that there are some grammatical errors in my previous post. Seeing as how I plan on being an English Professor, this is not a good thing. You see, I guess my blog posts are similar to me. Sometimes, they're a spur of the moment thing. At a glance, you may find no problems, but upon further inspection, you find corruption. Just like my mom's careful eye caught my errors, My Heavenly Father catches all my mistakes, no matter who else does. My mom asked if I was going to go back and fix my errors, but I don't think I'm the one that can do that. Life may not come equipped with spell check, but it has an excellent Proofreader.

My Life Part VII

Well, I'm back with another exciting post. I still haven't figured out how to put music on here, if it's even possible. Oh well, if there is a way, i will eventually figure it out. So, I'm saving for a new guitar. I've been working for a little while and anticipate buying a Gibson Les Paul sometime in the not so distant future. After that, I may buy a car. I love my job, it is the greatest. I also love playing guitar, but if there was one instrument that I could choose to instantly master (besides the guitar), I just might pick cello. Cello is perhaps the coolest instrument ever known to man.
Take a look at the above statement. I am a man of many superlatives. "Don't Think Twice, it's All Right" (Bob Dylan) is the greatest song ever. The Beatles are the most influential band ever. This blog is probably the most boring ever, however, you continue to read. The internet is a strange thing. It can be used as an educational tool, there is lots of great info on the web, but many of us choose to kill our brain cells by spending countless hours on mindless sites. The internet has fallen captive to the same trap that TV and Radio have fallen captive to. Wonderful, useful inventions turned to trash. Does that mean the it's whole being is corrupted? Of course not. Well, time to end this mindless nonsense. Farewell.

First Post

Well, I'm getting pretty frustrated with trying to post something on here. I guess once I figure it out, I'll be able to do it, but as of yet, nothing has been posted...So! My name's Father Mackenzie, I live outside of the city. My passions include Serving The LORD, playing guitar, and listening to music. I also play a bit of mandolin, harmonica, and piano, but guitar is my main instrument. My favorite landmark is Big Ben. I really like the Pittsburgh Steelers. When life throws something my way, I try to greet it with a smile and a song.

Until Next Time,
Father Mackenzie