Friday, July 31, 2010
Listening to: The Afters, Light up the Sky
Watching: The Runaways
So, here it is, the last day on the HM ranch. Some days it feels as if I have been here forever and other days, it feels as if my time here has not been long enough. As we (Nate and I) load our belongings into the car, we are finishing up the final touches on issue #146.
It is without a doubt in my mind that this issue is going to be amazing. We have worked hard on this issue, and I am very proud.
It was only a couple months ago where I was dreaming of interning for HM. To some that may sound weird because HM is not huge, but there is not a magazine other than HM that I wanted to intern for. I walk away pretty sad because there is a lot of work that goes into running this magazine, and Doug wears all of those hats when he does not have interns. I pray for God to lift this magazine up and I hope whoever is reading this, also prays for HM.
I have learned a lot here at HM. I have learned a lot about myself as well. There are so many things I am going to miss about HM, like Doug’s sarcasm, our neighbor Tornado and sadly enough Nathans dog, Crash. I feel that we have become a family here, and that when I go home, I will be home sick.
Now, there are also a lot of things I will not miss about HM, like the random smells, the super slow internet and the distance from the ranch to the city.
Although I am leaving today after two and a half months, I am happy to be taking away the duties of running the street team and posting concert scenes to the web. Nate and I went to the Scream it Like You Mean it tour this past Tuesday, you can read the review here. I will hopefully be providing a lot more material like this for all of the HM subscribers.
Going forward I also have a lot to look forward to back at school. I have been promoted to Editor-in-Chief of my college newspaper for my final semester at Richland College. I may not have mentioned in my blog before that before I changed my major to journalism I worked as an accountant. I had a job that paid a lot and over 10 years of experience. I was miserable because all I wanted to do was work somewhere where God was in glory. For almost a year God put it on my heart to quit my job and go to school full time in journalism. I did not even like writing at the time, so it was very odd to me. I finally laid down my shackles of finance on Gods feet and I gave in and quit my job. Over the past year, God has blessed me in so many ways and has paved a road for me that I love traveling. I still do not know what my final destination is, but I know I am happy and that I am free.
Thursday July 22, 2010 – Day 70
Listening to: Holy Fiction
Watching: Infomercials
This week has practically flown by and although a lot has happened with putting out HM, I have not had much to say as far as my intern diary.
Doug had to go out of town for a funeral this week, so it is just Nate and I here with the dogs. We are in the final stages of putting out issue #145. Tonight we laid out all of the feature pages, and I just have to say, they look really great. I have been working on the album review page. So far it is almost done; I am mostly just waiting on Doug’s reviews. He is a wiz at writing album reviews, but he always waits till the last minute, tick tock Van Pelt, tick tock.
Saturday will begin the countdown till out last seven days at HM. It is really bittersweet. I will miss being here, but I will be happy to be home, in my queen size pillow top bed with luxury sheets and blankets and happy to say goodbye to my twin bed that I share with lazy. Food is winding down and we are becoming creative. We have no monster and things are looking shady. I have exactly $28 to my name to drive home next Saturday. I am out of face wash and body wash; I am stretching it by adding water to the bottle. Life is getting bleak. LOL
Tomorrow, I am planning on reviewing one more album for our pick of litter and one more album for album reviews. I am working on a cool new design for pick of litter, I hope Doug likes it, if not, things will remain the same. I want to redesign the columns page too because I think they look shabby…. Maybe that is something I will try as well.
With things going the way they are, I do not know what we will be doing next week, we are almost done and it is only Thursday.
Sunday July 18, 2010 – Day 66
Watching: To Save a Life
While it is not often that we work on Sunday’s, and it is even less often that we work when we do not have to, this Sunday we worked.
I spent around 4-6 editing the image that we are using for the cover shoot. If you read my intern diary, you will remember where I wrote about how I was less than impressed with my photo shoot with For Today. The guys were tired, hot and really not into photo shoots. I was nervous and shy, so in all honesty I put this task off till then end because I did not think I had a good photo. So, today I pumped up For Today’s album and I started working on the one photo that I liked. I ended up masking out the guys from the photo because I wanted to do something cool with the background because it was very colorful. Masking is not the easiest task, but it is not brain surgery. Today, masking was brain surgery. All of these guys have hair that is, for lack of a better word, unflat. Masking out hair sucks. It took me around 2 and a half hours to mask out the picture. Long story short, I love the image!! I cannot wait for you all to see the magazine cover.
Other than working on the cover, Nate and I did some ramblings for the pod cast, I caught up on some email and I drafted out The Cool Tour posting for the web. I will be posting that tomorrow.
Tomorrow I will be interviewing Mike from The Devil Wears Prada, thanks to some advice from Nate, I am keeping this interview short and fun.
As far as writing, all I have left to do is 45 words on 4 CDs for the pick of the litter and my To Save a Life review. That being said, I am off to watch the movie for a second time.
Friday July 16, 2010 – Day 64
Watching: To Save a Life
Today was a really great day. This issue that we are putting out already feels better then the last one, the vibe is just awesome. I feel that we are on schedule despite a week of not getting much done during Cornerstone.
I also feel that things are going to start looking up for HM. I think it is time for HM to shine again and for people to pick up the magazine and read it.
I finished reviewing/editing the pieces that are going in to this issue. We still do not have a few things in, but that is minimal. I wrote my review on the documentary, Who Killed Nancy, and I think it came out pretty awesome. I like doing movie reviews.
I have one more movie to watch for review called To Save a Life. I am pretty excited to watch this movie. I have wanted to watch it since the radio station I work for in Dallas held the world premier for it. I will probably throw that on tonight.
I edited all my images from Scream the Prayer today too. Nathan is putting some content from his 3 day road trip together for the web. It is a lot of stuff that did not make it to the feature story that will be running in the next issue. I took a lot of these pictures in black and white and also in RAW format, so when I went to edit I was blessed with some really cool color pictures from my black and whites. I LOVE SHOOTING IN RAW, you have such control over editing when you shoot in RAW. I do not know why I do not do this more often. Needless to say, the pictures impressed me.
Tomorrow I plan to work even though it is Saturday. I want to get The Cool Tour feature online, so I have a pretty ruff interview to translate. Word of advice, when you ever decide to buy a voice recorder, spend the extra money, it is worth it. I think all of us journalist have been in this situation before.
I also need to put together some questions for my TDWP interview Monday. And let me not forget the cover image. This is going to be a busy weekend. Plus I have a lot to work on for my Summer II Edit and Layout class which the Lord so beautifully allowed me to get into, just in time.
Thursday July 15, 2010 – Day 63
Watching: Who Killed Nancy?
I got a big box of CDs from Tooth & Nail today for the HM Street Team. Someone made a nice donation to HM today. Today, it is a good day!
The internet was down by the time I was up. We only have a certain amount of data we can use, and lately we have been using it, all of it and some. Thankfully, this takes the distraction away from me not writing my Disciple review.
Writing has never been something that has come easy to me. I love writing and expressing my views, but I tend to think way too much about what I want to say. I am never going to be one of those people who can write a review or a feature in an hour, and I think I am okay with that. Doug made it very clear today that this feature has to be done, so for hours I sat at my desk and I worked on it. I can now say that it is done, and I cannot wait for people to read it, and to see what they think. I worked really hard on this story, and I am pretty proud of myself. I think tomorrow with a clear head I might do some editing, but I am DONE SUCKAS!!
Being that this feature took all day to write, I decided to spend my evening watching one of the movies that I would be reviewing for this issue’s Life & Style section. I watched the movie, Who Killed Nancy which is about the Sid Vicious from the Sex Pistols. I think overall it was pretty good, but they kind of told the whole story in the first 25 minutes and then just kept going with it for another half hour.
Other than that, I started working on the street team section that is going in the magazine; you know listening to the interview, picking out pictures.
Tomorrow I have the daunting task of tackling the beast of computer that Doug has for layout. I have CS4 for InDesign and he has CS3, so I can’t use my version which is a bummer since my computer is from this century.
Tuesday July 13, 2010 – Day 61
Watching: How I Met Your Mother – Season II
Well, it has been about a week since I have posted last. I feel so ashamed. This past week has been pretty busy in between concerts and deadline approaching us again. I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by. Nate and I have a day or so short of three weeks left here at the ranch. I am pretty sad about it. Despite what you might hear, Doug is one of the most awesome dudes that I know, and I am going to miss him a bunch.
This past week, we lost Jeff. He went home. I miss him already. Jeff is one of those dudes that you imagine when you think of California beach bums; however, born and semi-raised in Texas he has a great heart and an even better personality. We miss you Jeff.
Nate also left for the weekend when Jeff left. Which if you are following means that I was left here alone on the ranch… during night hours!! I actually did ok. I pretty much impressed myself on how cool, calm and collected I remained. On Saturday, Doug and I drove to San Antonio, to watch the Scream the Prayer tour at The White Rabbit. To be honest after how awesome STP was last year I was jaded about this one. I could not have been more wrong.
I did a photo shoot with For Today, and even though I think these guys are awesome, I just was not feeling them in the photo shoot. I wish they would have brought an ounce of the energy that they deliver on stage… BIG DISAPOINTMENT.
My favorite band of the night was In the Midst of Lions. They killed it for me. The pit was amazing during their set, I thought I would die. Sadly, I only ended up with a bruise and a slight cut on my thumb.
This last week I played catch up with what should have been done Cornerstone week. I finally got the top 100 posted online. That was a daunting task, and I can only imaging how hard it was for Doug to lay it out in InDesign.
I finally finished my Corpus Christi review which was so much harder than it needed to be. Being that I stayed up till four in the morning working last night, I could just not get words to flow from my brain to my fingertips.
One of my biggest accomplishments this week was getting the HM Street Team going. I already have a nice group of people wanting to be involved. Our very first mission is as kick ass as it can be. I was able to get some jr. reporters from the street team to The Cool Tour with Underoath and As I Lay Dying. I am so jazzed that my street team does not suck.
Speaking of awesome, I got an early stream of The Devil Wears Prada Zombie EP for my interview with them later this week. Oh man, this EP is top notch, this is TDWP best work to date, it is so fly, and you have no idea.
I still have a list of things that I need to get done this week. I have transcribed my interview with Kevin Young from Disciple and I need to hammer out my feature. That should be pretty easy, Kevin gave me fantastic quotes. Other than that, I need to post some reviews online, edit my STP pictures and work on the front page design.
Wednesday July 7, 2010 – Day 55
Listening to: Seabird and House of Heroes
Today is the last whole day that Donielle is visiting me. I am pretty bummed that she is leaving me. This morning we just hung out in my office and did some work.
I interviewed Kevin Young from Disciple today. The interview was awesome regardless of the phone here cutting out on my three times. I have to say that Kevin Young is one of the nicest guys I have ever talked to. He understood and he was just honest. It was such a pleasure interviewing him.
The internet at the ranch went down because we went over our limit. Doug is pretty old school, so he does not understand our generation not knowing what to do or how to act when the internet goes down. It is pretty silly how it immobilizes us.
Around 3:30 Donielle and I went down to Austin to check out House of Heroes sound check. Everything got kind of pushed back from delays, so we decided to go and get tattoos.
The GPS on my phone pictured the shop a few blocks away, so I thought we should walk and get some exercise. The shop ended up being about 3 miles away. We had to track on the sidewalk of the frontage road, partially on the freeway off ramps, over a lake and up hill in the blasting sun to get there. It was awful. One building away from the shop I almost called it quits.
After a quick washing of our feet we had one of the dudes do some free hand swirlies on our feet tattoos, which are notes from Flyleaf’s song “All Around Me.”
Lucky for us Nate and Jeff drove into Austin to see Thrice, so we caught a ride back to the city. There was no way we were walking. Feet tattoos are the worst, they hurt like no pain I have ever felt in my life. The sad part of this is that I am working on a whole foot piece and I am not done tattooing the area!
As soon as we got back to Stubbs in Austin, which has the worst BBQ I have ever had, we met up with the guys from House of Heroes and did a video interview of them. I am working on a behind the scenes section for the online subscribers of HM. We are getting interviews and other cool content for them because HM subscribers rock.
Later that night, House of Heroes and Seabird rocked the night. I have seen HOH before and was not that impressed with their stage presence, but they were on it tonight. The show was amazing.
What sucked about the show was that most of the audience left after HOH and missed the incredible showcase by Seabird. What a bunch of lames!
Tuesday July 6, 2010 – Day 54
Listening to: The Radio
Watching: Chuck – Season 1
Donielle is pretty awesome. Before any of us woke up here at HM, she cleaned the kitchen for us. I am pretty sure she put the smack down on the cabinets with a bleach-based formula.
This morning I got up and straightened a few things. I still have a few items on my to do list that need to be done, but for the most part I am done. The last things I need to do are finish up my Corpus Christi review, post the top 100 on the web and send out a letter to some media.
I met my best friend Donielle about three years ago in line at a Flyleaf concert. After knowing each other for moments we decided to venture out on a road trip to Hidalgo Texas to go see Flyleaf. It was on this very first road trip that we saw the signs for something called the Inner Space Caverns. Following this road trip we went on a dozen or so more, and every time we would see the sign for the Inner Space Caverns. We would always talk about going, but today, we went.
The inner space caverns are natural underground caves that formed at some time. They are actually pretty cool because you can see that at one time Texas was under water based off of the wave imprints in the ceilings and the coral that is found in the caves. All together the tour that we went on was about a mile in length. It is very cool and very humid in the caves. I believe they said it was around 78 degrees with a 98% chance of humidity.
After that, we came home and almost demolished the entire season of Chuck. I have given Donielle a hard time about being such a nerd about Chuck, but it is a really good show.
Sunday July 4, 2010 – Day 52
Listening to: David Crowder live baby
Watching: Legion
Well, if there has ever been a weekend filled with an assortment of emotions, this weekend was the one. My BFF Donielle arrived Saturday. I barely slept the night before because I was excited. I spend most of my free time with Donielle, so it has been weird for me for weekends to roll by and for us not to hang out.
After getting to the ranch, we went to the Ripples for their son Spencer’s birthday party. The Ripples are one of those families that you might see on television. Donielle and I were going to see the new Twilight movie, so we were only able to stay long enough to partake in one of the most amazing hamburger line-ups ever. There was bacon man!!
The new twilight movie was pretty awesome. We saw it on curved screen with surround sound and it really made the movie. I remember the first time I saw Twilight and those awful grafix… man has this movie grown, budget wise.
Saturday night I once again had trouble sleeping due to excitement.
This morning, Donielle, Jeff and I packed into the car and drove to Waco. We went to UBC, the church founded by David Crowder. He was performing worship this morning. The service was beautiful. I love that church.
With a quick stop for some BBQ in Belton and of course to a mega-store to purchase fireworks, we made our trip back to Taylor.
With all things necessary for a great 4th of July (fireworks and S’mores) we were ready for a fun night. The guys lit the crackers and the dogs went crazy from the noise. At some point Lazy, my dog, ran off and after awhile I noticed she was not around. This of course sent me into a panic, and for about an hour we all wondered the ranch and surrounding areas looking for her.
Lazy has never been the one to hide from me, and usually when I call her, she comes. This was not the case. By the time I was making my second rounds around the ranch I was pretty much breaking down. Most people with a dog understand my grief here, but I do not think most understand what this dog means to me really. Between praying and crying I began to lose hope. Hearing Donielle driving down the road calling for my baby, my heart kind of broke.
Then, Jeff found her. She was in the cows pasture. He had to electrocute himself to get her from the other side of the fence. What a friend! Thank goodness for his high-beam head-gear flashlight.
After we all calmed down, we lit the remainder of fireworks, toasted marshmallows and sat down for one of the worst movies I have ever seen, Legion. Never waste your time watching this movie, it is just awful!
Thursday July 1, 2010 – Day 49
Watching: Reno 911
It is officially July today. The time is starting to pass by too fast. I only have a month left here. In a way I am ready to go home because I miss my family, school and the newspaper. However, a part of me never wants to leave. I have offered to help with certain things like running the street team and doing concert reviews for the web when I leave, so thankfully I will remain part of the HM family.
Doug is still at Cornerstone. It feels that he has been gone forever. I have just been working on my list of things to do. I want to check off everything, so that when Doug returns I am ready for some new stuff.
The rave cards that Doug and I designed came in today. They look awesome. I cannot wait to go to some shows and pass theses out. Next week we have Thrice, House or Heroes, Seabird and Scream the Prayer. It is going to be a busy week. My friend Donielle is coming Saturday to stay for a few days. I am excited.
Wednesday June 30, 2010 – Day 48
Reading: Angels & Idols
I finished reading Angels & Idols today. I am not sure if it me, but this entire book seemed like a whine fest about being dealt a hand in life that a lot of people would kill for. Anyways, I need to marinade on the story over night before I finish my review.
The week is ticking away. Tomorrow I want to wake up early and knock off all the things on my “to do” list. I have two special projects I am working on for Doug. One is updating the album reviewed list and the other is to show off my InDesign skills by doing a redesign of the last issue.
I have already gone through the last issues and made notes on the pages. I work on my laptop which has a 17’ monitor. I am used to the jumbo MAC screens from school, so I am half way excited about this task.
The other things I need to do before Friday are write my Corpus Christi review, write my review on Angels & Idols and put together a letter to send out to make sure certain media outlets are still receiving their copy of HM.
It is 7:10 and I would say that my day is over. I have my last reading assignment and discussion board posting for my English Lit class do tonight. It is on the symbols found in Whitmans When Lilacs Last in the Doonyard Bloom’d. After this I just need to finish up my special project and take a final. Summer I has passed by quickly.
I am super broke and do not know if I will be able to take my Summer II class. There is something holding up my financial aid application. I have turned in all I can and the school is lagging on processing it. I sometimes hate Richland College. Most of the time I love it, but our FA department just does not care about the students at all. I cannot afford the $150 to take the class, so I might just have to take a set back. This really sucks, but it is honestly in God’s hands and I trust in him to work it all out.
Tuesday June 29, 2010 – Day 47
Listening to: Corpus Christi – A Feast for Crows
Reading: Angels & Idols
Watching: Crash and old Chris Rock Stand-up
Today I read and I read and I ate watermelon. It was glorious. I did not even take a shower.
A storm is brewing here in Taylor, so I took Lazy and Doug’s dog Biscuit outside and we played in the wind and with one of the orange cats. It was perfect for an impromptu photo shoot. I just love the colors of nature. I think the images that I have taken around the ranch have to be some of my favorite nature shots so far.
I wrote a bit more on my short story. I am having a very hard time writing this story. I have a particular writing style that I am going with, so that is hard. I am writing the past in present tense, which is hard. I am writing about one of the saddest moments of my life, and that is very hard. I feel that I need to write my short story on this particular subject in this particular way, but it is really sad for me. Here is another part for you to read:
Long after the night ends she sits on the corner of her unmade bed enslaved to her addiction. Monsters dance on the sunrise and knock on her window, ravenous adversaries soliciting her possessions. Blessed by their ignorance she ignores their cries because when she is penniless they do not know her name.
Tornado came over again. I love having Tornado over. She is such a blessing as a friend, and I think she will be a friend for life. We made a Black Forest cake. I, wanting to learn more about baking and wanting Tornado to just have the luxury to relax and not fuss over us, put the cake together. It was a lot of fun. I made a rookie mistake by cutting the cakes and filling them separately and then trying to tower them. While my cake may be a little lopsided and not as pretty as one Tornado would make, I am sure it will taste good, but most importantly, I had fun making it.
Monday June 28, 2010 – Day 46
Listening to: Corpus Christi – A Feast for Crows
Reading: Angels & Idols
Watching: Lord, Save us From Your Followers
Today I unleashed the beast and joined in on the Monster Energy sensation. Being that four cases sit on our kitchen table I drank two this morning. And by this morning I mean around noon.
Last night we were up pretty late jamming out with our neighbor Tornado and her daughter Alyssa. We made some cool music, read a little poetry and when it was all done, I stayed up late streaming the new Corpus Christi album which is pretty awesome. I can just imagine myself inside the pit.
I am not sure how much I got done today. I worked on my review of Runaway City because Doug said I needed to be more detailed on my review. I only had 75 words, so he increased my word count and I think I killed it.
I have spent most of the day listening to both old and new Corpus Christi. I really like their new album and I really like their old album. I am excited about this review. I have still not received the new Disciple or the new Afters, so there is nothing I can do in that situation.
I should be having an interview with Disciple early next week for my feature. Doug is at Cornerstone this week, so the vibe in the office is a little different. Not better or worse, just a little different. I finished working on the street team for HM and I think that we are ready to launch. I got a twitter, a myspace and a page on HMmag.com all set up. Some labels are sending us promotional items and we are adding HM gear to the prize closet for the street team. It is going to be fun.
I am not sure what came over the three of us here at HM, but we had really let the living room of the HM Ranch go. It was a nasty mess, I mean for real. So, today we decided to clean it. We dusted, we cleaned, we vacuumed, we cleaned the couches and then, we redecorated the room. It looks AWESOME.
We had Tornado and her daughter Alyssa over for dinner tonight. Nate and I made lasagna, one meat free and one meat full with lovely mushrooms a la Nate. The whole dinner was amazing and we followed it with coffee, desert and a documentary.
Next week is going to be a pretty fun week for us. We have the Thrice and House of Heroes/Seabird concerts co-existing on Wednesday and on the 10th we will head down to San Antonio to go to Scream the Prayer. I am excited about our photo shoot with For Today.
Sunday June 27, 2010 – Day 45
And, on the 45th day, we made music! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBD8q1pwuQw
Friday June 25, 2010 – Day 43
Listening to: Live MyChildren MyBride and Hast the Day
Reading: The Austin Chronicle
Today is my 43rd day at the ranch. It occurred to me that I do not get home sick anymore. Yes, I miss my family. I love them. But, I am not homesick anymore.
Today was a pretty productive day. I prepared some awesome interviews from bands on Scream the Prayer which we are placing online daily. Doug and I came up with a handful of questions for a few bands, so make sure to check that out. I got a lesson on Flash from Jeff. Flash is very temperamental, and annoying; however, Flash does cool things. It is a win/lose situation. We (and by we I mean Jeff) are making a cool animated banner for the new Worship at Full Volume shirts.
I did a photo shoot with Doug today, so that he has a new image. I think the picture I took looks amazing and surprisingly like the cartoon drawing he has of himself. I just love taking photos out here at the ranch because the sky is so unbelievable that the photos often look fake.
I also stole Doug’s watermelon today. Well, I tried to steal the watermelon, that clever mastermind found the watermelon and stole it back. I am pretty upset about the whole situation. I was looking forward to that watermelon all day.
At the end of the day Nathan, Jeff and I went to Austin to catch Mychildren Mybride and Haste the Day in concert. I would like to thank the band for the tickets. The show was awesome. We stopped for some dinner at a crappy little Mexican café on the corner by Emo’s. It was awful, do not go there ever!
We got back to the venue just in time to miss the two opening bands and to catch MyChildren MyBride. I have never seen this band before or even really listened to their music. They are out of control, great stage presence. I loved them. I have to get some of their music on the iPod.
Nathan was out of control as well, he was ripping and grabbing the mic away from the lead singer and jumping on the stage to join in on the concert as well. It was all very amusing.
Haste the Day ended the night with a pretty awesome set as well. They were a bit upstaged by MyChildren MyBride, but their message was pure and their music was awesome.
To see all of the images from last night go here
We are trying to get all the concerts that we go to on the web with a nice review and some images to thank the bands for having us out, so I am off to edit while the guys fork out a review. Make sure you check that out as well.
Thursday June 24, 2010 – Day 42
Listening to: Disciple
Reading: Angels & Idols
At 12:14 p.m. today, the day was already more eventful then all 24 hours of yesterday. By the time lunch had reared its ugly face, I had set up the Myspace account for the Street Team. I had made a street team banner, put together my questions for Disciple and for Scream the prayer. I had secured an interview with House of Heroes from their live show and secured some more press for concerts.
The guys and I did a photo shoot for the new Worship at Full Volume shirts. Jeff lost his shirt or maybe never got one, so they had to share a shirt. Good thing they are the same size. Imagine if Jeff was like 200 pounds, Nate’s shirt would fit him like a belly top. That would have been funny.
I spent a large majority of my day working on the layout of the new street team Myspace page which came out awesome. Give it a look if you may: http://www.myspace.com/hmstreetteamers
Tomorrow we are going to Austin to see Haste the Day and Mychildren Mybride. We should have some great pictures and a review up following.
Wednesday June 23, 2010 – Day 41
Listening to: Runaway City
Reading: Emily Dickinson Poetry
I have no idea what is going on, but today we all woke up around 3 in the afternoon. This is just crazy. Needless to say, not a lot of work got done. I did however catch up on some homework. I read a really awesome story by Herman Melville called Bartleby, the Scrivener.
I started reading the book I am reviewing this issue. It is called Angels & Idols and it is by Regie Hamm. I did not get far, maybe about 30 pages, but tomorrow I am hoping to knock out 100 or more pages.
My Summer II class is winding down. I still have not finished my special project, which is a short story/biography of my first encounter with God. I really love how it is turning out, and I will share it with this blog when I am done. In fact, I will leave you with some now:
Forever it seems that they travel the night, it was not the first time but maybe the second or the third that they had emerged from their underworld. Days were now nights and weeks had turned into months. She has no concept of time. Time does not exist in limbo.
Tuesday June 22, 2010 – Day 40
Listening to: The entire discography of Disciple
Reading: From the Narrative by Frederick Douglas
I had a Popsicle for breakfast; I got a splinter in my lip.
I am back at the ranch. I had such an amazing time at home. I did not have much planned for my agenda; I just wanted to relax and enjoy my family and of course, catch up on my reality television. In the four days that I was home I watched 3 episodes of The Hills and The City, the 3 reunion episodes of Real Housewives of New Your, 2 episodes of Tori and Dean, and an entire week of All My Children. I also trolled On Demand to try and find some new shows to watch, now that Lost is gone.
Friday morning was a day of fun for me. I went to Starbucks and got a smoothie; I went to Wolf Camera and got a few lens caps and a SB600 flash for my camera. I lost my last flash at a concert. Then I got a manicure and a pedicure. It was great; it had been over a month since my last one.
Finally, I went to World Market to get my dad an assortment of gifts for father’s day.
Friday night I went to the ghetto theater with my BFF Donielle. We watched Nightmare on Elm Street. Man, I love the ghetto theater; it is like watching a movie commentary, but with really off the wall comments. If you do not know what I mean, go to your local dollar theater on a Friday night.
On Saturday my sister and her family came over for Fathers Day Dinner. It was such a great dinner because not only did my sister, her husband, their daughter Kari and grandson Korbyn come over, but their other daughter Kristina and her daughter Kaydence were visiting from Missouri. We made fettuccini alfredo and garlic bread with a Caesar salad. Dinner was great. After, we watched the movie It’s Complicated. The movie was complicated; I did not like it much. The main character is having an affair with her ex husband who is now married. This guy cheated on her, left her for this new woman, and she has an affair with him ten years later, that is just low in my opinion. This man cheated on you, left you, why would you give him the time of day. Plus, an old person screwing is just not my cup of tea. 
The kids ended up playing rock band and learning to cross their eyes. There is just something off the wall about three year olds crossing their eyes, or in my nephew’s case, trying to cross their eyes.
This morning, I came across our production list and learned that I will not be doing a feature on House of Heroes. Instead, I will be doing one on Disciple. I like both bands, so I am fine with either. Doug has the bands entire discography, so I am currently spanning the 90’s with the band. I will also be reviewing the new Corpus Christi album, the Afters, Runaway City and Your Memorial. Other than CDs, I also got assigned a book called Angels & Idols, I will let you know how it is soon.
Jeff and I are starting an HM street team. Today I made two banners to get things started. I have been involved with a couple of street teams in my life, so I hope that we get things rolling on this one. I am a full supporter on street teams and have witnessed them work. I think this will be an awesome way to get HM back on the front burner.
Thursday June 17, 2010 – Day 35
Listening to: More Indie albums
Reading: Provocative Faith
Watching: Alice in Wonderland
Today I woke up to a lovely text from Doug asking where we are were at. If you do not know us, then you would think that was a pretty reasonable question. However, knowing myself and my roommates as I did, I laughed and texted Doug that we were sleeping. Man, we get lazier by the day, don’t we?
I then decided to get up, forgot to shower, I can do that later. I made myself a very nice to do list today. I am editing the Mewithoutyou concert images, writing a review for the web. This review is going to be a combined effort from all of us, so it will be super awesome. I have been listening to indie albums for the pick of the litter non stop, and I have a nice stack of ones that have been rated by me and are sitting in the guy’s office.
I think after the indie albums I am going to listen to House of Heroes entire discography. I am getting excited about the feature on them that I am going to write. I love the band’s music. I saw them live once and was less than impressed with their stage presence, but to be fair they were playing on The Door in Plano’s stage, and anyone who has been there knows what I mean by that.
Another task that I have been assigned is generating press for the 25th anniversary edition of HM. I am pretty good with promoting/promotions, so I hope I do well with this. I have already secured two radio interviews for Doug.
I am heading up to Dallas tonight. I am catching a ride with Nathan, who is taking a flight out of Love Field. I am excited to go see my dad for fathers day!
Wednesday June 16, 2010 – Day 34
Listening to: Indie albums for pick of the litter
Reading: Provocative Faith
Watching: Dear John
Homework is getting the best of me. I am starting to wonder if my English Literature teacher understands if we are taking a summer fast track course. The thing that is annoying me the most about this whole fast track class is the fact that the teacher has failed to grade anything. I want to tell him that if he can’t keep up with the grading, then he should realize he is piling up too much work on us.
Not a lot of work was done today. Today instead was a day of nailing down homework for me. I did a lot of reading, some chat noting, started on my short story (which is coming out freaking awesome) and discussion board postings. I watched the movie Dear John tonight at Tornados house. Her daughter Alyssa was there and her friend Tori. We could not figure out how to get the DVD player to work in the living room, and how I wish I could have recorded the two girls getting electric with it. We finally got things working, and by us I mean Tori and Alyssa. The movie was good. I cried a bit when the father had a stroke because it reminded me of my dad.
I am going home for the weekend again tomorrow. I may, or may not do some blogging. I will be working from home, so I suppose I should be inclined to post about my days. I have been assigned a feature on House of Heroes for this upcoming issue. It is 1200 words, but I know I can bust that out. I am going to stream their new album Suburba this weekend and nail down a phone interview with the band as well. This is about the time I wish Doug had Adobe Audition.
Tuesday June 15, 2010 – Day 33
Listening to: Paper Route – Absence
Reading: Provocative Faith
Today was the last day that Jeff’s girlfriend was here. They were off on a wonderful tour of Texas for his birthday, so we did not get to spend a lot of time with her, but the time we did spend was cool. Last night we had a little birthday party for Jeff. We got him a cake and a princess balloon and rented a couple movies. We ended up watching Shutter Island.
Shutter Island despite the mixed review I got from some friends after a twitter post was a really interesting movie. I am not going to give you a review, if you want to see it, go rent it. However, I will say that the ending was brilliant. I just loved it.
After work everyone at HM went out to Austin to go see the band Mewithout you, thank you guys for the tickets!! Tornado, our neighbor and two girls from church came as well. The concert was held in the outdoor portion of Emo’s and it was so hot tonight. I made some attempts to stand in the crowd to gather some pictures, but spent the majority of time by the fan with Doug, his daughter and Jeff and Nathan. Nathan was behind me, and I was involved in some sort of cigarette smoke circle because of that fact.
All of the bands were pretty cool. The opening band was just wild and crazy. To put it in Nathan’s words, they just invited all their friends on stage, and gave them a instrument to play. There was dual guitars, dual trumpets, a xylophone, a clarinet, sticks, a kazoo, you name it, and it was on stage.
The next band was Paper Route. I absolutely live for the chance to be amazed by an opening band. This is something that has not happened to me in life. Resident Hero, Abandon Kansas and Flyleaf are the toppers of the list. However, I can now add Paper Route to this list. Their sound is amazing, lyrics are amazing, and I loved them!
Mewithoutyou closed the night, and the crowd just went wild for them. It is always such a blessing to witness a crowd of people and see a person just loving on Jesus. I enjoyed their set for that reason the most. The music by Mewithoutyou is very good, but by the time they played, I was hungry, hot, had a headache and my feet hurt.
After the concert Doug took us all out for ice cream at Amy’s. It is a very cool place who pioneered the idea that Coldstone lives off of. There was a trivia on the board, thanks to a little thing called internet on my phone, I knew the answer and got free toppings on my ice cream. Thanks to the suggestion of the man behind the counter, I got coffee and health bar. Yes, to those of you who are wondering I broke the Daniel Fast. It will just be for one day, and I am ok with that.
Sunday June 13, 2010 – Day 31
Listening to: The Rendition – one of the Indie albums sent in
Reading: Provocative Faith
Now I do not usually post blogs on the weekends. We usually have the weekends to ourselves, but since Friday was an off day, and we are way into deadline, Doug and I are working today.
Last night I went to see Clash of the Titans with Tornado. The beginning of the movie lagged a bit. I think they were trying to stuff too much background into the first 30 minutes, and it made it boring. It did pick up though, and I think it was thought provoking if you took the time to absorb the story.
Still on my Daniel Fast, I am happy to announce that I did not cave into buttery popcorn and soda, but instead I had a pickle and a large water. After the movie we made it to Sprouts, a farmer’s market type of store, just in time to rush through and get some of the much needed foods for the fast. I love Sprouts, it is the closest thing to a Trader Joes we have here in Texas. I got loads of good stuff like whole wheat tortillas, pasta and gnocchi. I got hummus, baba ghanoush, pesto sauce and rice cakes. I also picked up some mixed beans for soup and some green lentils. Eating healthy is very expensive!
Today I finished my dusty challenge of organizing Doug’s record albums. He sure has a very impressive music collection.
I also worked on a couple of the headers for the sidebars that will be running with the top 100 Christian albums of all time. Doug finished up with his noting beside each album on the list, and I think we might be on the verge of being finished with the July/August issue. After a crack-down on editing the layout of the top 100, some pretty heavy proof reading, a quick view at Hot Tub Time Machine, video game playing, cheerleading, by 4 a.m. we were still going strong. Sadly, I fell asleep, but sometime Monday morning Doug sent the issue to the printer, he is so awersome!
Friday June 11, 2010 – Day 29
Reading: Provocative Faith
I had the most random of dreams last night. Not as bad as the dream of laying out pages and pages of magazine like the other night, but totally weird. As I sit here writing this down it is fuzzy in my head, but I do know it involved my friends, a monster, not a bad one, one like from Where the Wild Things Are and a board room table. It was very strange. Today marks day 1 of The Daniel Fast. For those of you who are not familiar, it is a partial fast taken out of the bible.
“In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.” Daniel 10:2, 3
It basically eliminates meat, poultry, fish, dairy, sugars, sweeteners, yeast bread and other goodies. You can eat fruit and veggies, legumes, tofu and such. I am pretty excited about it, the whole thing lasts 21 days. I have tried this fast in the past, and I have never made it all the way, but I think being here at HM where it is not as easy to grab fast food, and temptations are not all over the place, I will be good.
INSERT NATHAN AND HIS PIZZA AND TORNADO AND HER BROWNIES, THE TWO WHOOPIE PIES IN THE FRIDGE AND I AM DYING!!
Dying or not, I made it through the day. It was tuff, I am unprepared, I need to go back to the grocery store! This morning I made a bowl of hot cereal with bananas and black berries. It was actually really good and filling. Had I not opted to buy the honey organic peanut butter last time I went shopping, I would have put some of that in there as well. For lunch things got a bit shady. I do not think I though through lunch/dinner options as well as I should. I ended up sautéing some onion, bell pepper, green onion and kidney beans and rolling that in a whole wheat tortilla with sprouts. Like I said, I need to go back to the grocery store.
On a sad note, Crash, Nathans dog got hit today by a car. He is okay, in a cast and probably in a lot of pain. But, he is okay. Crash is such a sweet dog, it is really sad to see him in pain. The best thing is that even though he is probably in a whirl of pain, he still manages to get excited and get his tail a waggin’ when you give him some attention.
Thursday June 10, 2010 – Day 28
Listening to: Steel Train – Trampoline
Reading: Nation of Letters
Well, we are still in deadline. I think we are on the edge of wrapping up the layout of this issue, but I could be wrong. I finally put together a back page design for the issue that Doug has approved on. This must have been my 5th design. I have learned a few things designing the back page, 1. Doug like simplicity 2. Wild and crazy colors are not his thing and 3. If at first you do it wrong, do it again. I am actually happy that I kept working on the back page because I really like what I ended up with, and I cannot wait for you all to see it.
I have been tasked with organizing Doug’s record collection. It is not as mass as his CD collection, so it is not the biggest task. However, it is the dustiest task I have had so far. The problem you ask, I am allergic to dust. About half way through I had to call it quits for the day because breathing was becoming a problem. So, for the meanwhile, albums falling in the N-Z alphabet sit at my feet.
After work today I escaped the HM ranch with Tornado. We went to dinner at a local Mexican place and then went grocery shopping at HEB. I have never been to a HEB before but it was just like every other grocery store. Tornado decorates the cakes at HEB, so I got to see some of her work, which was awesome. I am starting the Daniel Fast tomorrow, so that is why I went to the grocery store. Coming home and filling the fruit basket, the fridge and my cupboard, I assume this is the most amount of food the ranch has seen. HAHA
Wednesday June 09, 2010 – Day 27
Listening to: An assortment of music from the HM top 100 Christian albums of all time
Reading: Save Me From Myself
It has been over an entire weeks since I last wrote in my intern diary. The mere fact that Doug has not chased me down and put me in a chin check for the lack of entries proves to all how deep in deadline we are.
I went home this past weekend to watch my niece and two of my dear friends graduate from high school. It was such a busy weekend. From the moment I got off of the train in Fort Worth, I was swept away from one graduation party to the next and then to the actual graduation itself. My friends Stevie and Molly graduated from Arlington High School, and this was one huge class. I believe there were 585 students graduation, and they were using the Nokia Theater as their platform. I have been to a lot of concerts at the Nokia, and I think this graduation was as full as I have ever seen it, it was amazing. Watching these two chicks graduate was so beautiful. Over the past three years I have watched them grow up; I have done their homework with them and cried with them. I could not have been more proud.
The next day my niece Kari had her graduation. Her class was a lot smaller, but it was still as beautiful as the other graduation. I have not known my niece all of my life, in fact I have only known her for a couple of years, but I do not think there is someone I can love more. Following her graduation, my sister had a party at her house. I do not get to see her husband’s family as often as I would like to. Back in my party days we hung out a lot, but it has been around five years since I have seen a few of them. It was so awesome to see my cousins and my mother in law. It was a great day.
I got back to the HM ranch on Tuesday, and we have been working around the clock since then. It is kind of hectic here, and I feel a little useless at time. I am very OCD when it comes to certain things and I work best from a list. There is no list here, so I get a little irritated with myself because I feel that my OCD prevents me from moving along. Doug told me today that when I applied to be an intern that they were actually full. He said that my application was impressive, so he let me come and intern. I feel like I have not had my chance to shine and I hope that I am not letting him down.
We started a “to do” list this week as well. It is filled with all of the things that we want to get running once we are done with deadline. First off, I am super excited about the list and second I am really excited about one item in particular. I want to start a HM Street Team and this is something that is on the list. I think this is going to be awesome!!
Wednesday June 2, 2010 – Day 20
Listening to: Children 18:3 – Rains A Comin
Reading: Old HM Magazines
As my first official day back, today was such a beautiful day. That is until the rain was a ‘comin. Maybe I should charge Children 18:3 with the storm that ran through Texas today.
Today I once again found a lovely assortment of farm animals in the front. Lazy was so excited, she loves big animals, so I took all the dogs for a bit of a walk, and we went to say hello to all the animals. It was really cool because I had my camera and at times it seemed as if they were posing for me.
I finally finished laying out the Heaven’s Metal fanzine. I know I might have said that before, but I had 4 ads to make, and I am really excited to see my work in there. I also made an ad for HM which will be in the fanzine as well. I think I did a pretty good job. It sort of made me want to take some more courses at school in multimedia. I only have two classes left to take to graduate following the summer, so to fill up my full time agenda; I might grab a class or two.
We are nearing cut off for getting the magazine laid out and done. I still have Children 18:3 to finish reviewing. I must have listened to this album over a dozen times, and I feel a bit word deprived. I really like it, I don’t think it is as fun as the first, but it is definitely an improvement on maturity of their voices.
I have yet to listen to The Red Letter Project and the new OC Supertones album fell in my inbox today, so I really need to get moving on those. My goal is to finish all of them tomorrow. I am going to shut my office door, turn my speakers up and try and hide from the world.
Tomorrow is also the last day of my Maymester, and I was able to get most of my work done today. I have a quiz and a reflection paper to write and then I am done. As long as I turn the following in, I will have an A in the class, so that makes me happy.
While I had plans to work a little more today that I did, a storm shut everything down at the ranch. Nate was at work, so it was just Jeff and me. Jeff found a candle, burned himself a couple times trying to light it and we just chilled. It wasn’t the worst way to end a day.
Tuesday June 1, 2010 – Day 19
Listening to: Children 18:3 – Rains A Comin
Reading: Stories from Growing Up Ethnic
It has been a few days since I have last wrote. I got a little sick and I went home for a couple days. I left Saturday morning and came back today. It was really nice going home, but I am happy to be back here at HM. I also brought my dog along with me, but she seems to be a little depressed right now, so I am questioning if I should have brought her.
We are working in deadline right now. I have 2 CDs to review, Children 18:3 and the Red Letter Project. I am also working on designing ads, laying out the fanzine and soon to be laying out HM. A situation like this is great for me because it will teach me time management which I believe to be one of the best skills that one can learn.
I finished reading the book Pure Scum, which by-the-way was a really epic tale of the tribulations that went into starting the church Scum of the Earth. The author was very real and I appreciated that. It was hard for me to write the review because I had a lot of material to work with and coming up with the perfect way to say it in a limited amount of words was a challenge.
Our new intern Jeff came in this weekend. He just graduated from the University of Arkansas. He seems to be a cool dude, and Doug already has him working hard on a random slew of CD reviews.
Thursday May 27, 2010 – Day 12
Listening to: A ruff cut of Flyleaf’s Memento Mori album
Reading: Stories from Growing Up Ethnic
Tornado gave me some codine cough syrup last night. I slept really well. In fact, I slept too well, and getting up this morning was awful. From the moment I woke up I felt sick. I was in a bad mood and for some reason I was freezing.
Today I worked on layout for the fanzine Heavens Metal. I am almost done. I just need to design two ads. I feel that I am working at the speed of a turtle, and that is really starting to annoy me. Actually today, everything and everyone is annoying me.
My homework for Unit 4 of my maymester class is due tomorrow, and I have not started. This unit is really heavy. It is amazing to me how fast time goes by.
Earlier in the day, Doug gave me a disk from the ministry The Whosoevers, and I saw that my dear friend Melanie was on it. Listening to her pour her heart out made me so sad. It is weird because one would usually feel happy about a testimony especially one that ended so well, but for me, I sometimes latch onto the sad.
We had bible study today. It could not have been at a better time. I do not know why I am so agitated today. I didn’t really get into the bible study. I spent a lot of the time thinking about my dad. Since he had his stroke back in 2004, there have not been more than a few days that I have not seen him. I really miss him a lot. I am home sick! After bible study, I went to my room and cried a little bit, well, I cried a lot. I just feel sad, agitated, annoyed and tired. I am such a girl. I sent a mass text to all my girlfriends and asked for their prayers and fell asleep. I felt all of their prayers on me, so maybe tomorrow will be better.
Wednesday May 26, 2010 – Day 11
Listening to: Sarah Jaffe, Suburban Nature
Reading: Pure Scum
Today our neighbor Tornado invited me to go out with the girls at church for a shopping day. During the night I was unable to sleep. When I finally did fall asleep it was around 5 a.m., and Tornado would be picking me up at 7:30. I really wanted to go, so I woke up, got ready and headed out. We had a lot of fun. We met up with about nine ladies from church, and we went for breakfast at Juarez bakery. Tornado and I split a dish called Migas which is potatoes, eggs and beans. It was so good.
After breakfast we went to Hobby Lobby, a craft store, because the ladies from church are going to start making jewelry. I am not a very crafty person, so I walked around looking at everything. I found a cute sign for Doug to hand in his office that said “Life is Beachy.”
Tornado and I ended up separating from the group because we were meeting her friend at La Madeline’s at noon, and we have still not gone to the grocery store Sprouts yet. By now I was very tired. I think I am getting to the point where all my allergies and not sleeping are getting to a breaking point. The rest of the day was a bit of a blur for me, but I know it involved lunch, outlet malls, bath and body and Bealles department store.
Tuesday May 25, 2010 – Day 10
Listening to: Sarah Jaffe, Suburban Nature
Reading: Pure Scum
Last night Doug decided to work to about 2 a.m., and listen to music at full volume. I had a bit of a headache and decided to try and sleep at 10 p.m. Lines got crossed and today I am very tired. In a way I felt guilty trying to sleep when he was working, but I have been so sick these past 10 days, I am just exhausted.
This morning I had a lot of homework to do for my Cultural Studies class that I am taking this Maymester. I luckily got through it all, but I feel that I lost a lot of the day doing so. I still have one thousand-word reflection paper to write. I will do that later tonight.
I have taken a couple fast-track classes in my college career, and by far, this one is filled with the most work. A lot of the work is very interesting, and I am enjoying the book of short stories that we are reading called Growing Up Ethnic in America.
I have been given the task of going through the mail in the morning and sending out a log. I love seeing what people send in and all the different ways those artists market themselves. I am surprised that we get a lot of secular bands submitting their work. Today a former American Idol contestant sent some stuff in including a book and a CD, very cool.
I finally finished my CD review of Petree. I said it yesterday, but I want to say again how much I like this CD. I saw a review by jesusfreakhideout.com where the reviewer basically tried to call Petree a plagiarist and faulted him for not being original enough. Yeah, the artist does sound a bit like Shiny Toy Guns, but to his credit he was in the band and co-wrote a lot of the music. When did it become mandatory for every artist to have their own sound? Almost always do I find a sticker on a CD at the store telling me which artist the artist sounds like? Even Miss Originality herself Lady Gaga is recycling moves from Madonna. This reviewer was so unoriginal with his review; he was a hater and never even managed to review the music. I twittered about it, and was shortly flooded with private messages from Jesusfreakhideout.com themselves hating on me. Really Christian guys.
Doug brought me a book to review. It is called Pure Scum and is by Mike Sares. I am going to dive into this book review tonight, but first I need to finish my reflection paper for school.
On a final note, I get to design an ad for one of our advertisers. I am very excited about this. I have made one advertisement in my life, and it was for the school paper when we were looking for writers and photographers. The ad was amazing, so I am good to go. I am making a sticker too for HM. I think we have a general concept down. I can’t wait to see where this goes.
On a sad and absolute final note, we finished the batch of spaghetti I made, so tonight will be a macaroni and cheese sort of evening.
Monday May 24, 2010 – Day 9
Listening to: Petree, Weakness Makes You Beautiful
Reading: Growing Up Ethnic in America
Watching: Reno 911
The weekend seemed to have somehow flown by, and here I am entering my second week on the ranch. Last night was the finale of one of the best shows ever created, Lost. We went with our neighbor Tornado to church Sunday night and to her pastor’s house to watch the finale. It was all a lot of fun. It was nice to be in a surrounding of people after being here with Doug and Nate (the boys). I was a bit disappointed with Lost. I think that they ended it in a beautiful way, but I felt a bit detached. I did not even cry which is a total shocker for me. I wish they would have explained a bit more, especially the rules that Whitmore and Linus had to follow.
I have yet to finish any CD reviews except for The Since October review that I did last week. I am currently listening to a band called Petree which is fronted my Stephen Petree (formally of Shiny Toy Guns). I really like the sound and the more that I listen to the album the more I like it. It is not hard rock in any way, shape or form, but it is beautiful. I do not know if it is because I am a girl, but it seems that all the more indie type artists are falling into my lap.
Another CD I have is by an artist named Sarah Jaffe. She has a great voice reminds me a bit of Eisley. Doug keeps talking about this book that I am going to review. I really hate to read. I know that may sound ridiculous being that I am a journalist major and all, but yes, it is true. Maybe he will remember to bring it soon. I don’t want to tell him to hurry because it may take near forever for me to finish, but I just might have to mention it.
I started laying out the fanzine Heavens Metal today. Doug gave me a flash drive with one file that had all the content in it. Now read my words here, one file with all the content in it. My OCD literally almost burst out of my chest. I don’t really know how to describe the disorganization of this file, but it was bad. I really love design and layout. It is a passion I have developed from working at the school newspaper. Doug has a pretty solid template going, but I of course added a few of my tricks into the mix. I hope he likes them. I am used to working with a blank canvas every week when I lay out the newspaper, so this is going to be different working with a template.
Note to self: I need to get a large white board so that I can layout the magazine visually.
I have been reading Nathan’s blog lately, and I like how he recaps what he is reading and listening to, so I am totally going to jack that from now on.
On a side thought, the HM ranch is in the country and I am trying to gather some of my dude friends from school who are into shooting movies to come down to the ranch and film a horror movie. I already have the plot going in my mind.
Friday May 21, 2010 – Day 6
Today was a crazy day. I had a hard time falling asleep last night. I was coughing and coughing and coughing, man it was awful. I am praying that next week I will start to feel better. I forgot to mention that I met Doug’s mom and dad yesterday. They are awesome; I don’t know what happened to Doug, just kidding cupcake.
We finally had that bible study, it was nice, I look forward to us getting more into it the next time.
Today I got to dip my hand into the advertising part of things. We are trying to fill in the quota for this next issue, so I developed a list of potential advertisers, and got all the contact information that I can get. What I like about interning here at HM is that Doug gives us a lot of free reign. We get to learn how to do things the hard way. While to some that might be hard when you are not sure of yourself, to me I am partially terrified and partially excited. The biggest thing for me is that I would not want to fail at this task because I love HM.
I also got to make a press release today because HM is celebrating its 25th birthday. I think I might make a cake or get our awesome friend Tornado to help, that would be fun.
Speaking of fun, Doug took me to a real life country BBQ place today, it was awesome. They had a peach cobbler there, and it looked awesome, the crust that Doug so graciously allowed me to taste was amazing, you will have to ask him for a thorough review on it though because he is a food hog.
It is around 9 p.m. not, Doug is still here, I think he enjoys Nate and my company a bit too much.
On a sad note, my friend cannot come this weekend, so I will not be getting my dog to come and stay with me yet. I was really depressed about this today. I really need to buy a car, so that I can go home and get my DOG!!
Thursday May 20, 2010 – Day 5
Well, I have made it to day 5, and I am still alive. Well, kind of. Today I think I have been the sickest yet. I finally broke down and sent Nate to town to get some groceries today. Now I am super broke!!
I have been working on this Slayer interview forever. I do not know why this is taking me so long. I think it is because I am allowing myself to be easily distracted. Or, maybe it is because I do not like transcribing. Whatever it is, I need to get this done.
Today was not the most eventful, and I ended up taking a very long nap. Luckily, I started to feel a little better after the nap. I woke up to the season finale of Greys Anatomy and it was good. Tomorrow is Friday, and I will have officially completed one work week here at the ranch. Doug and I are going out to eat, his treat of course.
Wednesday May 19, 2010 – Day 4
To keep you updated on my sleeping, yes last night was awful and quite possible the worst night so far. Tornado said she was going to bring me some cough syrup today, and I am beyond thankful. Hopefully it will allow for me to sleep tonight.
Work started a bit later today because Nate and I are slackers and we thought it was Doug’s day off. However, because we are so awesome, he came in today, and we all got to work around 10 today. I got a couple new CDs to add to my list of things that need to be reviewed including the new Children 18:3 CD. I am excited about this one because I love the band.
I finished my Since October review and turned it in and felt some sense of accomplishment. I have been tearing through the indie submissions today as well. I have actually found a couple I like, nothing that I have put a 5 on, which means it is definitely going in the magazine, but there were a few 4’s.
I do not know if you have ever transcribed anything before in your life, but this is one of my least favorite things to do. I have had to do this a lot in my life for interviews that I have taken which is pretty boring, but I enjoyed listening to Doug’s interview with Slayer. It was kind of long, so transcribing it took forever, I am still not done, and Tom has a very low voice and my ears are clogged up, so a lot of rewinding and re-listening is going into this assignment.
Nate went out tonight, so I was here all alone at night. I decided to review the movie Godspeed. It is a thriller, so watching it at night was a great idea. The movie is actually really good, and trying to recap it in a paragraph was hard. Luckily, I for some reason feel safe here at the ranch and going to sleep was very easy for me.
Tuesday May 18, 2010 – Day 3
Last night I had a horrible time trying to sleep. Before coming to the ranch I started to get a bit of a cold and a horrible cough. At night, the congestion and the cough go crazy and attack me. It is really bad!
Today I also started to miss my family. I cannot wait till I get to see them. I got to talk to my brother today, and he told me that my dog Lazy is sad. Luckily Doug said that she can stay with me here. I just might go with some friends to see David Crowder at UBC this weekend, and if we do, my friend Donielle will bring my dog down for me.
My list of things to do grew a lot today. I am of course still going through indie selections that are sent in to the magazine. I feel band because there are not a whole lot of good submissions so far, and I know a lot of indie bands that are awesome, so guys if you are reading, send your stuff in.
I am reviewing the new Since October CD. I took some time to revisit their debut CD which thankfully I own, and I was a little sad to see they have changed their sound a bit. The album does have some gems on it, but I do really not like it as much as their debut.
Some other CDs on my plate today are Sarah Jaffe, Petree, Wintersoul and Revive. Things come in fast here and I feel that I seem to be working at the speed of a snail. I am a list person and it is killing me the rate I am knocking things off of this list. Not to mention the homework from my maymester class that is starting to pile up.
Today our neighbor Tornado came with food, thank you Jesus. Nate and I have been living on peanut butter and jelly and I was dying for home cooked food. Tornado is really awesome. She came back after we watched Lost and the three of us talked to nearly one in the morning.
Monday May 17, 2010 – Day 2
I woke up today with Jesus, it was a good thing. Because of my lack of being able to sleep, by the time 7 a.m. rolled around I was wide awake. I used the opportunity for some praise and worship. There is something about filling your spirit with the music of David Crowder that does amazing things to me. Opening up my bible to the book of Isaiah may or may not have been by chance, but I think this is going to be the book for me this summer.
My first working day on the ranch was pretty cool. I got to meet Doug this morning. He is exactly how I imagined, a cool guy who loves music and possibly a bit of an attention disorder, but in a good way. My first assignment of the day; play with a set of turn tables. Are you kidding me? This is awesome. Why did I not think of a career in entertainment earlier in my life? To be honest, being a DJ is not easy. It takes a lot of thought and a great ear. However, summing up my thoughts on this DJ system is less than 75 words might be a bit harder.
Doug is putting out a shirt for the 25th anniversary issue of the magazine, so I spent the better half of my day playing around in photoshop. We tossed around a couple ideas, and I am very excited to see what pans out. Other than listening to a couple indie bands, this pretty much wrapped up my first day in the office.
Following a hard day of music and art, Doug invited Nathan and me to Emo’s in Austin to go and see Living Sacrifice. 
I have seen Living Sacrifice a couple of times in my life and their live show never seizes to impress me. In fact, other than the opening band, the entire line up of the evening was pretty impressive. Before taking the stage the lead singer of The Brigade, a local Austin band, reminded me that I had once ran into him at a concert a year ago. I must be pretty memorable. How many kick-butt lady photographers do you see in your life right? Thanks to his fantastic memory, I was already open to giving the bands music a shot. They were a lot of fun to watch, and hopefully we will get to see them again before the end of the summer.
I was already impressed with the next band to take to the stage. Not because I had seen them before or even knew their music. I was impressed by the slew of good looking Christian boys rocking for Jesus. In case you are interested too, the band I am talking about is Let the Dead, another Austin band.
Photographing a lot of bands I have become immune to the over the top introductions that go into entering a stage. Living Sacrifice however humbly takes the stage and address the crowd with their sound. It is refreshing. If there was ever a band that could just play music, Living Sacrifice would be that band. They are masters of their instruments. With the addition of Josh Childers from The Showdown stepping in on guitar for the tour, one might think that a bit of chemistry would be lost, but the show was flawless. Spanning over a decade of music, the band played hits such as “Reborn Empowered,” “Hand of the Dead,” “Symbiotic,” and “Rules of Engagement.” Highlight of the evening definitely came during “Nietzche’s Madness” which is off of the latest offering The Infinite Order. Blazing solos and an unbelievable depth of sound top my list as to why this is one of their best selections to date.
If every day can compare with my first Monday, then I think that this internship might go down in history as one of the best summers of my life.
Sunday May 16, 2010 – Day 1
For me, leaving home to come down to the ranch was not the hardest thing in the world. Just fast-forward past my emotional break-down when I had to say goodbye to my yorkie, Lazy (remind me to talk to Doug about bringing her down here), and I would say leaving home was pretty easy. It is not that I am not going to miss my mom and my dad or my brother; it is just that coming to intern at HM is something that I have wanted to do for a long time.
Heading out to the HM Ranch I was not sure what to expect. I knew that it was in the country, but I did not know it was IN THE COUNTRY. The funny thing is, this is exactly what I expected Dallas to look like when I moved here six years ago. So, in a way, I can say my Texas dreams have finally came true.
My first day at HM, being that it was a Sunday, was not the most eventful. I got a chance to unpack and get to know Nathan, the other intern. I had a pretty hard time sleeping my first night. Between thinking Nathan would come and kill me in the middle of the night to my allergies going crazy, I would say I caught about an hour or two of rest. Here is to hopping that tomorrow will bring sleep. Bianca
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