Well, my week of vacation is over. As is usually the case, I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped. I had planned on recording several songs (including some covers), and possibly arranging instrumental only pieces. Instead, I'm not even completely done with 1 song. In my defense, the song has a full arrangement, and I had to spend a good number of hours studying drumming, and learning to drum well on my keyboard. Hopefully I'll finish up the song and have it out soon. I also wanted to practice guitar using some of the guitar books I have, but I didn't wind up doing that at all. At the volleyball tournament yesterday, I had a good time, but we wound up losing very early on. I also planned on doing some programming, and while I did get quite a lot accomplished there, it still wasn't as much as I would have liked.

One thing I did do, is fully complete the Japan Trip Articles. If you go to http://www.zubersoft.com/Japan09, you can read all about the trip. It's nice to have some context while looking at the pictures. Also, this is a way for me to document the trip for myself so I never forget about it.

I watched several good movies over the break, and I have Braveheart on blu-ray waiting for me. I truly love that movie, and it will be even better in hi-def. Well, it's back to normal living now. Until next time!

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...

Man, I feel like I've waited far too long to post anything. Over the Fourth of July weekend, I went to L.A. again for the annual anime expo. It was a pretty fun experience, especially because I cosplayed this year. I am going to put up plenty of pictures of myself and my friends in costume, but first I need to compile the pictures. I will say that it is a truly unique experience to have that many people photographing you all day long. Look forward to the full post about everything that happened.

The main reason I haven't posted much is because I've been working very hard on putting together a web page for my trip to Japan. There were a ton of pictures to sift through, name, and organize, on top of actually having to design and create the web page. Well I am happy to announce that the page is up and functional, and all of the pictures have been posted to my gallery. All of the movie clips from the trip are also viewable/downloadable. Unfortunately, I have not finished writing the articles, as its going to be a fairly big task in itself. At the very least, I have most of day 1 finished. I will be working on the writing constantly though, so keep checking if you are interested.

In order to view the webpage, either navigate to www.zubersoft.com/Japan09 or click on the link on the sidebar (you may have to scroll down a little bit).

I worked extremely hard this weekend, and managed to finish another song: Midnight Elegy. I wrote it randomly one night around midnight (how convenient...) when I was in a sort of tired/chilled out mood. It has a wistful feel to it. I'm interested to see what people think. I also finished the lyrics to a couple other songs that I think could be extremely good. I can't wait for another free weekend!

In other news, I played in the 42 in 42 benefit volleyball tournament yesterday and it was a blast. After I get my hands on some pictures, I will post them. I managed to get 1st place after a close final match. The main purpose of the tournament was to raise money for a charity, and we gathered several hundred dollars for the Special Olympics. Not too shabby!

I also wanted to mention that I've put up links to download my songs as mp3's in case people have the desire to get them. Check it out on the music page.

I finished a new song called "Bedtime Stories" this weekend. I wrote this song last year sometime, and it sort of a random thing that I did one night (most of my songs usually come together at really random times, often after midnight). It was supposed to be a fun little song that I could use as a bonus track or something. I definitely didn't plan for it to be a full arrangement, but I think it definitely sounds better that way! I spent probably about 10 hours putting it together and mixing it (I had to fix it today when it wasn't quite right on crappy speakers). I'm definitely happy with the result. I think I'm going to get better and better at putting these songs together now. It really helps to have my studio set up so that my work flow is as efficient as possible.

I also put up a better version of "We Can Make it". The volume should be more consistent with the other songs now. I also fixed some of the singing, and did some panning/eq work. It's definitely sounding good now!

Hopefully before the night is over, I can get the initial recording done for a couple of other songs that are on the list. I doubt I will finish mixing/arranging them, but I'll do my best!

Oh, and on a side note, I noticed that my lyrics section was broken for internet explorer (stupid IE). I've fixed it now, should it work (hopefully) for every browser.