Well, I decided that sleep is for the weak, and that it would be better to put out an acoustic version of one of my new songs - "You Know Me". So I spent the last 4 hours in my studio, and recorded a first cut at the song. The full version will have piano, violins and/or cellos, some form of percussion or drums most likely, and fixes for all of the off vocals and slightly messed up guitar parts. For now though, the acoustic version is pretty good. I'm anxious to know what people think. Hopefully everyone will like it!

I also got the guitar recorded for one of my new songs called, "Wahoo". I finished writing it a couple days ago, and I fell in love with it, because I think it's kind of funny. Once my voice is up to it, I'll record the vocals and lay down the rest of the song. If only I could spend like a week or two just recording music!!

Now to decide if I should even bother going to sleep before work...

Well, I managed to spent 80% of my day working on various parts of the web site. That's not really what I had planned, but I'm the type of person that can't quit once I've started something. You'll notice that there is a maximize button at the top right of the center window. If you click that button, the bottom portion of the screen will maximize to take up all of the space. This should make my website much easier to use on computers with smaller screen resolutions. If you click the restore button on the top right of the web page, it will return back to the normal mode. Whichever mode you enter, that is saved for the next time you visit the site, so you won't always have to constantly switch modes.

I also fixed some random bugs with the mp3 player. You'll notice that the volume slider is much easier to use now (the old one really bugged me). I also fixed all the weird spacing with the song durations.

Now, off to get groceries, do laundry, and if I can find time, record some music!

So tonight I watched Changeling. I thought it was going to a pretty boring movie, based on the first 30 minutes or so. It's a pretty long movie too - it comes in at 2 hours and 20 minutes long. I was lifting weights while watching, and I wondered if I would finish it today, or just let it sit until the next time I lifted. Well after awhile, I was so hooked, that even after I finished weights, I just sat there watching for awhile. I then moved into my living room and finished the movie. Angelina Jolie did a great job acting, I thought, and some parts of the movie are really well done. All in all, I give it a thumbs up, but it is definitely slow to start, and a long movie, so if that's not the kind of movie you are in the mood for, don't pick it up.

I also completed day 3 of the Japan website tonight. It definitely took a fair amount of work, as that day was one of the highlights of the trip, but definitely go check it out at http://www.zubersoft.com/Japan09. On a side note, I'm going to be adding some improvements to the website soon. I've been concerned with the presentation of the website on laptops, and on small devices like phones. I also realize that content is more important than presentation, so I'm going to add a maximize/restore type behavior to the content section. The area you are reading inside of now will expand to take up the whole bottom section of the site. This should definitely help with smaller monitors. Look forward to it!

I sit here, still drunk from the vodka, rum, and wine that I had tonight. See, I thought it would be an awesome idea to invite my neighbor John over, as I was already grilling chicken. So he came over, I busted out the alcohol, and we started drinking. We started up the movie Dune, as I've never seen it, and it's a classic. Let me tell you - alcohol made that movie GREAT! There is nothing quite like special effects from the 80's when you are spinning So, while I'm still buzzed, which has put me in a great mood, I have to go into work tomorrow, and I can't seem to fall asleep. So I've decided I will continue to work on my Japanese website. Speaking of that, if anyone is interested, I've finished days 1 and 2 of the Japan articles, which can be accessed at www.zubersoft.com/Japan09. There is a lot of text, as I wanted to be thorough in case I look back years from now, but it's worth reading (I hope).

In other news, I'm working very hard on recording some new songs. I spent around 5 hours today working on a new song I wrote that I'm really loving. I recorded the guitar part, and after hours of work to get it perfect, realized that one of the microphones was upside down (it's almost impossible to tell without testing it as it looks nearly identical on both sides). So, needless to say, I'm going to have to re-record it so that it sounds the way I want it to. When I first set up the microphone, it sounded distant, and I couldn't figure out why. If I had only paid attention to my instinct then, I could have saved myself a lot of time and effort. You always learn from those kinds of mistakes though... I also have started initial work on two other songs, so if I work hard, I might be able to get three songs out by the end of this weekend. That would make three down, and about 8 to go...

This last weekend, I had a chance to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince as well as Wicked (in the same day!). I seem to be hearing some negative comments about the Harry Potter movie, but considering the size of the book, and the massive amount of content they had to cover, I thought they did a great job. They covered all of the really important details, even though sometimes it meant they had to be really quick about it (which might lead people to say it "jumps around too much"). The movie left me struggling to remember some details from the book, as well as book 7, so I'm definitely going to have to go back and skim the books again. It's such a fun series.

Wicked was truly great. I was a little worried at first as the actress who was playing Elphaba wasn't the regular - it was the standby. Elphaba is pretty much the single most important role in the musical, and the regular actress had an insane amount of experience in Broadway. It definitely left me feeling a little bummed. However, once the show started, the standby distilled any doubts I had - she had a lot of talent and was plenty good enough. I guess that's why she's not an understudy - she could be the lead any day of the week. I always am so happy when I watch musicals though - they are one of my favorite escapes. I would rather see a musical than any movie. I will say that it helps to know all of the songs extremely well - you can connect easier with the songs because you know what's being said, so you can just appreciate the performance. It also gives you something to compare against, so you know how good the cast is. I couldn't help thinking about singing all of the Wicked songs with my sis though as they were being performed - I think we sound great together (we've sung musical duets together for years), and it's one of my favorite things to do. I'll have to make some recordings sometime soon so people can hear her - her voice is gorgeous.

Now I just gotta make it through the week so I can enjoy my 3-day weekend!