April 2nd
Hey everybody. Well today is the day. The day that it all comes to an end, but what a active day it has been here. Me and Doug have worked together on finishing up the next HM podcast. It’s going to be a good one. Basically me and Doug are directing it along and we ask each other silly questions. Other some other songs are going to be on it as well. Also I got a little bit of a start for Doug on the Album review section. I think my time here has been good. It was kind of bumpy at first getting used to things but I don’t think it was a mistake of me being here. I mean, where else can you blast music already and call your boss gay and get away with it? No where! Even though this the end of my time being here, I don’t want it to be the full end. I still plan on volunteering for album reviews and stories. Anyway I can help. So the plan is to do some last minute work saturday and then on sunday get some lunch with Doug at Chili’s. I’m gonna miss that guy. No boss is cooler than Doug Van Pelt. AND I’M GOING TO MISS BISCUIT! Which is the coolest dog ever. I’m really excited to see what the issue is going to look like. The story layouts are going to look so sweet.
The time will be 3 a.m. Monday morning. Ahead of me will be…the road and journey to the coolest city in the U.S.A.
April 1st
Happy April fools day. Anyone get any body good? Yesterday I went to a early screening of a international film, but plenty had happened before that. I went down to cash a check in Austin, since I had to be there anyway. The bank was National Bank and I was on my way to the one in Austin. Well the bank closes at 5 and I left in plenty of time to get there and then BAM! Traffic jam like crazy. I must have been stopping and breaking for at least an hour. So near time to make my exist, my gps tells me to go the wrong way and I miss turn to the bank, so then I have to turn all the way around and try again. This time I almost get hit because the intersections are so crammed together, it would have been my fault. But yes after going around 3 times I found the place. Come to find out that they only handle mortgages and that there is not one bank branch in the entire state of Texas. What a lame situation that was! So I got a couple of hours to do nothing, so I just went to the movies to wait. It was a place where they only show independent and foreign films. I found out that since I was there for press, I could get in earlier, so I felt pretty cool. It was hot outside and inside it was pretty cool. The film was called The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. It’s basically about a rich powerful family that hate each other and one of the daughters turns up missing. One of the family members has been trying to figure out how she disappeared. So he calls up this popular reporter to help figure out this mystery. Also the film was all in the Swedish language, so sub-titles all the way. Being that it was a foreign film, the film was a little bit more open about sex and nudity. There were a couple of rape scenes that were kind of hard and awkward to sit through, but it was great when revenge came in the situation. Overall the movie was decent. It seemed to have every aspect to movie genres. At times it was funny, then scary, romantic and so forth.
After the movies, I went to meet up with an old friend who was my suite mate back in my freshman year, we sat outside Mcdonalds and just caught up with each other. It was great seeing him! Well tomorrow is my last day here, I have learned a lot about the magazine business. Doug has been probably the coolest boss I will ever have. I plan on still helping the magazine in the future, I want this magazine to stick around for my kids to read some day.
March 30th
The days of me here are winding down. Wow this went by fast. Yesterday was pretty funny. After spending a good while trying to edit the next HM Podcast, me and Doug decided to hang out outside with Biscuit and throw the football around. Biscuit loves running after his little football, it’s great. Me and Doug then walked down to the pond near the HM ranch. We visited the grave site of Doug’s cat Marvin. Since we were out in the field we decided to visit Douglas the donkey, it was great saying hi to him! He seemed like he missed us. Keep in mind the whole time I’m worried about getting rammed by one of the big bulls with those long horns. Then after that me and Doug went on a C.I.A. mission, that’s all I will say about it, top secret information hence being in the C.I.A….wait, they might be reading this blog. Anyway…after being done with the Seabird podcast I got started on the Hawk Nelson podcast. Today I visited it up after having to reglue all the pieces back together, it sucked. After that I finished up a couple of album reviews and did some email sending. Doug Van Pelt is a handsome man.
March 25th
It was pretty how last night was a really hard thunder storm. The rain was so hard that I thought it was going to come through the window. I guess the cool thing is that my car got washed haha. But yea this morning the sun was out and very bright, it was pretty cool. However it was impossible to stay outside because it was too windy. Today I spent most of the day hearing Doug making weird noises and telling himself that he likes men. Also I am transcribing the We Are The Fallen interview, which is such a pain. The sound quality is horrible in which the dude’s voice gets really low and real mumble like. I plan to get it all done tomorrow.
March 24th
Ok, this entry will be a different kind, I guess you can call it a little rant. So here we go. Wait, are you ready? Are you settled in? Have a cold beverage in your hand? Ok…I’ll give you some time to get something………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Ok so here we go. Ya know we as people are a very interesting creation. So many people on this earth have different ideas, personalities, theories and mindsets. It’s amazing that the earth has not exploded, but I guess that can explain the happenings of wars. As a Christian, I believe that I was created by the hand of God. The other idea is that I was created by a cell that developed by coincidence or that I was a scientific miracle break through. It just blows my mind the way people live and how they decide to act. This world is full of evil and bizarre people. Some people believe that God is real and alive, other believe that Religion was created in order for mankind to have some security because people will believe anything. What if this is true? What if, just what if it is true that this idea of “God” was created by an unknown source for people to keep their sanity. A quote that comes from the movie “The Mist” about humanity:
” We are a civilized society as long as the machines are working and you can dial 911, but you take those things away, you throw people in the dark, you scare the s@&# out of them, no more rules, you’ll see how primitive people will get.” ” When you scare people enough, you’ll get them to do anything. They’ll turn to anyone who promises a solution. As a species, we are fundamentally insane. Put more than two of us in a room, we pick sides and start dreaming up reasons to kill one another. Why do you think we invented politics and religon?”
Are we really an insane creation? Is that why there is a God or the idea that a God exist? The only thing we as Christians have to hold onto is faith, hopefully in God. As for politics, where does God stand in that? Yes the conservative side wants to keep God in Washington which I believe is the right thing but I don’t really believe it can ever happen with the Constitution stating the right to freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. I believe we are a people that always have to ask the biggest W in the 5 Ws. Why. The wanting to know why things happen keep us interested in what happens in life. When we don’t understand things, we ask why? Some of the things I wonder why is why God allows so much evil in this world. I know the answer is that we as people may not be able to understand the “awe” of what God has planned, our minds are not able to understand the full picture. In the world of politics I have so many why questions. Why is it so important that the Democrats want to push a universal health bill? Why are Republicans so sensitive about abortions and life when they will send thousands of soldiers to their deaths over some political BS or because we want to take another countries oil? Why can’t we as people see that the media is the biggest influence on what people believe? Why do Democrats try to interpret the Constitution to the way they like to hear it? Why do some Republicans use God as a campaign image to gain more popularity and power?
It is one massive game we as the American people are caught up in. We run back and forth between politics and what we want to believe. I see it like this, the failure and drama of the Clinton administration made people lose their faith for the Democrats, this made George W Bush look like a genius and his trust was won over. The moment that Bush messed up in office, the liberal media was all over him bashing him about staying overtime overseas jacking up the debt of America by buying oil. Also they claimed that Bush was responsible for 9/11. Personally I don’t believe this because Bush wasn’t that bright and couldn’t be smart enough for that. So behold here comes Obama who now to the American people see as a knight in shinning armor. Yes I voted for him and he has done things that are good and bad. Now the right wing media, Fox News, Limbaugh, call him a socialist and a liar. This is now making the Republicans look like innocent angels and will mostly get back in office. And then when they do and screw up…well you get the idea.
So what are we left to believe? How can either side be correct in their ideas when Democracy and the Constitution leaves open so many loopholes for error? The question again is why why why. Ok enough on that subject. The only way our question of why is through God. Jesus is the only way to the Father. We as Christians believe that our faith is the only way to eternal life in heaven. Even though a lot of religions have the same idea structure as Christianity and even mention people who are in the Bible in their bibles. I pray that we are right.
March 22nd (Continued)….
This morning started off with Doug reminding me that I was gay. He was just jealous that I was eating spaghetti for breakfast and he was having a cup of coffee. Anyway the day started off with me working on a small article for Woe Of Tyrants for the W2A section. I’m glad that didn’t take too long because I was anxious to get started on my next project. That being the outline for my Sleeping Giant story. I got a good start on it, but I’m not sure about some things about it. Things like where the text should go and stuff. All through out today I have been really weird in my music selection. One second I will be listening to MXPX and then out it will turn into Impending Doom.
Later on me and Doug tried to get a structure set up for the Heaven’s Metal Fanzine. It basically consisted of him telling me numbers to type in for sizing of the boxes on Indesign. Of course with me and my short attention span, I would miss a number and tried to recite it back to Doug, making me sound dumb ha. It was really a lot more than we expected so we decided to continue with it another day.
It was getting close to dinner time, so I bought me and Doug some Pizza Hut. After we ate, we saw our neighbor outside riding his horse and talked with him for a bit. Seems like a funny guy. After that we threw the ball around letting Biscuit get his daily dose of running around outside. Man he loves that small football. But yea, I see the pieces slowly started to fall into place for the next magazine issue. Should be a good looking one.
March 22nd
Well what a week it has been. SXSW is now officially done and over with. I feel sorry for the clean up crew of Austin. Ok lets recap what I can remember about it. First off, parking is horrible. I had to park way out of the city and into a neighborhood near by. However it was close to Waterloo Records and they were having a free outside show all day. I don’t remember the name of the band but they were pretty sweet (yes I know that helps a lot). After taking forever for me to walk to 6th street, I finally arrive. The streets are crowded with people and it’s crazy. What was neat though is the fact that every music genre was available for my listening pleasure. At the same I didn’t have any money so I just went to see what was going on and ended up leaving.
The next day, Thursday, I made plans to see a free metal show. I ended up missing Born Of Osiris but I was able to see I Wrestled A Bear Once and Darkest Hour. The female vocalist in IWABO is so hot haha. When I saw Darkest Hour, they caught me by surprise. Those guys are a lot older than I thought hehe. But yea they did an amazing job with their set. Those guys are talented. This free show was being held at Emo’s so of course that means drunk people. Unfortunately I was near that drunk girl that you see at every party. You know, the one that feels like she has to scream and hug every guy in the room. So yea I had to deal with those types of people at the show. While bands would tear down their set, I always went to the back and sat on the benches to rest. It was so cute watching 15 and 16 year old kids thinking they were cool because they somehow snagged cigarettes for themselves. Anyway, I was approached and offered weed brownies haha. For real this guy had a legit thing going on. He had his cell phone up calling his clients and his back pack had weed and brownies in it.
After the show was over, I headed over to El Camino for some dinner. I ended up getting a chili hotdog, which rocked. The place was jammed pack and super busy, but the food was worth the wait. Hopefully some day one of those food traveling shows will get a chance to eat there.
The next day, Friday. I ended up going back because of a free show yet again. But this one was better. Mychildren Mybride were playing. So yet again I arrive early because of the walking time it will take to arrive to 6th street in downtown Austin. When I see Emo’s there is a huge line and I join it, as the line starts to move I notice another line next to an white tent across the street. It had the Metal Blade Records banner on it and everything and I saw some scene kids standing in line, so I figured out I was in the wrong line. Finally I was able to get into the tent and got to say hello to all the guys in MCMB and give them the newest issue of HM. The opening band was Lions Lions, gosh how many bands have the word lions in them. They did an ok job, not fully my favorite style but they did fine. The guitar player busted his face when spinning his guitar around. It busted his nose and he started bleeding. It was all over his shirt and some blood was splattered on his white guitar, which looked cool because the blood looked like graphic designs. The pit was being taken over by these two fat hardcore kids, ya know the kind of hardcore kids that rule the whole pit through out every show. It was kind of funny though, a good number of people were thrown out because the security guards wouldn’t allow moshers to kick and throw their arms around. Which was just dumb. When MCMB showed up, they let the kids do whatever they wanted because it was going to get out of control. MCMB played three new songs which were killer. Their new album should be a good deal.
After that show was over, I headed up to 311 club for the HM Magazine showcase. Not many people were around at first, but the opening band, Leper, was pretty good. They are a goth rock band from Chicago, so it was sweet being around fellow Chicagoans. It sucked because I wasn’t able to stay for the whole thing because I had to be in Dallas the next morning for Forty Fest, which ended up getting rained out and canceled. So I went back outside the club and hung out a little bit with the road manager and guitar player of Before There Was Rosalyn. Those guys are pretty funny. They ended up giving me a free shirt which was neat. Time was going by so I ended up having to leave, but it was sweet because on my way back I ended up running into a monster and red bull truck giving out free drinks!
March 16th
Me and Doug had a bible study which I think really helped start the day with a positive mindset. We read Mark chapter 2 and it showed the power of Christ. It was about how he healed a paralyzed man right on the spot. Scriptures say only God is able to do this, which further proves the fact that Christ was God in the flesh. After that I finished up my layout of the Mychildren Mybride story. Doug took a look at it and changed a few things and it looks better. Doug also got jealous that I bought 4 spaghetti and meatball microwave oven meals. So he went outside and put his frustrations out on the cattle outside screaming like a crazy man. He then gave me 4 cds that had various artist on them and I was supposed to figure out which ones were Christians. This can be a hard task when bands have clean lyrics but still aren’t a Christian band, thank God for Myspace.
I left the ranch before Doug to get some dinner and also went to get my haircut. The lady there was pretty cute and I’m sure she thought I was too. After that I stopped by Taco Bell for a .99 cent buritto and then had a craving for a Cranberry Limeade. Soon as I got back I watched American Idol. HEY THERE WAS NOTHING ELSE ON!!!
March 15th
I started the work day by reading this book that I was assigned. It’s about Christianity and sports…to be honest every time I start to read it I start getting sleepy. It is just not that interesting. I then started to review Mantric’s album which wasn’t that bad. It has members of Extol in it so I knew it couldn’t be that bad. After that Doug gave me task to help him make an ad for the HM Magazine showcase happening friday night at SXSW. With me usually failing at Photoshop it was rough at first but eventually I got there. Doug left a little early so he could catch some of the action at SXSW, hopefully I will get to see what’s up down there. Other than that nothing really happened today, I got a sinus headache so I’m kind of in a bad mood about it. It sucks, just want it to go away.
March 12th
It is sunny out right now. Wish we could work outside. Anyway today I worked on proofreading all the articles I have written so far. I have noticed some of my bad habits when I right. I tend to use a repetitive use of words and it gets boring. Articles come off better when the reader can read and not expect where you as a writer will go next. Keep practicing I guess. I got several comments from Doug that I’m a homosexual, I’m starting to believe it…”THIS JUST IN, 9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB!” Tornado came by a couple of times with some food. I ate my plate right away, it was chicken and rice. Also she brought over some kind of Oreo pie. So after all that proofreading, I decided to get started on my Mychildren Mybride story. I received some amazing pictures from their AR guy. The background colors are great, so far the lay out looks sweet. At least I think, which probably mean it looks bad to someone like Doug. Doug is so hot, so sexy. After the work day, I got invited to hang out with Tornado, her daughter and her friends. We went over to her friends apartment, which seemed like 20 people lived there. We watched a movie called Julie&Julia. It’s not my taste but it was sort of funny. Then we watched some SNL clips, they were pretty funny. I stopped watching SNL along time ago because it was just coming off as lazy and not funny. When I got back, the sky was so clear, I decided to hang outside and look at the stars. They are so amazing at night, even saw a shooting star again.
March 10th
Today was a weird day, in a way. The sun didn’t come out that much, so when it is cloudy and gloomy, it really shows. I spent the day putting together my feature story of Sleeping Giant. After I finished, I read it over it and it’s going to be a sweet story. I’m really loving the new Demon Hunter album, if you haven’t gotten it, GET IT! Tornado stopped by today and we hung out and talked for a bit. She brought over more brownies and some dinner. Chicken and rice sucka! The cats, Hope Tiger and Spot, keep knocking at the door and wanting me to give them attention today. After I got done with the story I headed out to the Chinese buffet I go to sometimes in Taylor. As soon as I got back I noticed the stars were very bright out so I sat outside for about 30 minutes and just stared at the sky. It was great. The night sky can be so amazing, I wish I had that view back home. That is one sure thing I’m going to miss about Taylor when I leave.
March 9th
Another day goes by. Things seem to be moving faster here. The work load is already piling up for the next issue but I don’t mind. I got to do a phone interview with Thom Green, which is the vocalist for Sleeping Giant. If you haven’t seen Sleeping Giant live, you are for sure missing out. They just bring the ruckus while at the same time a great sense of worship. Talking to Thom on the phone was just a great experience. I have a good feeling the story will end up being great, Thom had a lot of good things to say. After that went on, I listened to the phone conversation trying to figure out which parts I wanted and didn’t want to include.
After the work day me and Doug went to a show in Austin where it was Deceyfer Down and Disciple. The show was pretty good, both bands had great stage presence. I got to talk to some of the guys after the show and they were really down to earth kind of people. Oh yea before the show me and Doug at a BBQ place called Ruby’s. Pretty cool place, they had .50 cent old school glass bottle sodas and the food smelled great. Well I need to get started on this Sleeping Giant story so I’m outta here.
March 8th
So picking off where I left off, I go out to eat with my great Aunt and Uncle. We go out to this place they have taken me before, it’s some kind of Super China Buffet. This place is basically heaven. Not only do they have three stations of amazing Chinese food, they also have a open grill, like a Mongolian BBQ place, they also have a sushi bar. Another cool thing also is they play Chinese pop music in the background, which is hilarious haha. Every time I end up going to a place like that, I eat way too much and want to take a nap. After the meal, we went over to my great Uncle’s work place. He is a contractor. Actually before we went there, a trip to Home Depot was made. He had to buy 45 2x4s which of course I helped load onto the truck. After all that was finished we went back to the house and just hung out there.
On Sunday morning they took me out for breakfast at this local place. I had an omelet that was packed with toppings, it was so good. I was bumped out when I had to say goodbye though, they are awesome to hang out with. On my way back to the HM ranch I pulled over to take a 30 minute nap because I was so tired. Also when I stopped to get gas I saw a lot of Anti Obama writings on the bathroom wall and they weren’t against his political views if you know what I mean. Sad that people like that are still around. Oh well.
Today I interviewed the guitar player from Call To Preserve. He was a pretty cool guy. So far this has been my most relaxing interview yet. I’m always worried that I will say something stupid and the person on the other line thinks I’m dumb or something. Tomorrow I get to call up Sleeping Giant and talk to them about the tour they are on. Sleeping Giant is one of the most powerful bands I know. I remember seeing them live at Scream The Prayer Tour. There set is more of a worship session rather than a show. I’m excited to talk to these guys, they are truly God felt. Through out the day I finished up two stories. One was a watchtoartist and the other was the call to preserve article. Also me and Doug are trying to put together a list of 100 classic christian albums. That is going to be fun. If deadline goes according to plan, I only have like 4 weeks left here. Time goes by fast.
March 5th
Wow where to begin. I started off today hitting back and forth email with record labels and bands. After that was done, I started to put away all of the subscription cards and I got all of them in! That pile was so massive, I never thought I would be able to do it. Victory is mine! When that was completed I went on a hunt emailing numerous newspapers trying to get HM some press. Hopefully they will hit us back. Me and Doug went over to visit Tornado because she recently had surgery. She seems to be up and well which is good. She has one crazy dog haha. So when the work day was over, I had the thought of driving up to Mansfield, TX, to visit my great aunt and uncle. On the way there, I get pulled over by the police. Apparently I was going 60 in a 50, but how is this possible when my cruise control said I was going 54? Plus the cop didn’t even have his scanner on. I have a very clean driving record and I’m always cautious about my speed, but ya know if I argued with him about it, it wouldn’t have been good. But the really messed up thing was that I wasn’t even half a mile away from where the speed limit was actually going to be 60 mph. And of course the cop didn’t pull the guy in front of me over since he was going way faster than I was.
March 4th
So we finally got started on the new issue, #143. I have a feeling it will come out well. We decided on some cool bands to cover. I spent most of the work day sending out ad requests to companies, mostly clothing companies. Hopefully we get some responses back. After work me and Doug headed out to Austin for the Whosoever event. It had Sonny from P.O.D., Brian “Head” Welch, Ryan Ries, and Annie Lobert. It was held in a little conference room at the University of Texas in Austin. At first I was so nervous because I didn’t know what exactly to expect. But it ended up being a relaxed and comfortable event. Sonny started off the evening by sharing things that were on his heart, about how he came up with P.O.D. and how he knows God wanted him to minister through music. It was so incredible because here is a guy who is the singer of one of the biggest Christian rock bands and he was so humbled. No cocky rock star attitude at all. Up next was Head. My God ya know the moment I heard accepted Jesus in his heart back in 2005, that really showed me that God’s love was real. Here is a guy who was also in one of the biggest metal bands in the world, probably had money he didn’t even know what to do with, all the girls, all the houses, all the cars, and yet here he is living for God and threw all those earthly riches away. I mean to me that is incredible. He was quite funny on stage with his testimony. After that was Ryan Ries. I never heard of him before but his testimony was amazing. If I remember correctly, he was a skateboarding event promoter. But what he had to say was just a life being hooked on drugs. Popping up to 4 and 6 drugs a night. He found God from reading a bible in an hotel room. Last was Annie Lobert, who is the wife of the guitar player from Stryper. Her life story consisted her of getting caught up in the prostitution life and being hooked on drugs. She used to live in an expensive home with a Mercedes and Lexus cars. She met Jesus after she lost everything and almost over dosing on a drug trip she had. Hearing all those stories just gave me encouragement about my walk with Jesus. I for sure need to start reading my bible again, because that is the water supply to our seed. If we don’t feed our seed water, we can’t really grow.
After the event ended I got to meet Sonny, which was crazy. I had some serious butterflies in my stomach. I wanted to act like “Oh my gosh, you have no clue how much P.O.D. means to me, you guys have impacted my life! Blah blah blah..” But I kept my cool. Me and Doug on the way back went to get some Burger King. It’s been forever since I got a Whopper Jr. Oh yea, our Hitler video is already over 600 views and it’s only been a day. Way to go us!
March 2nd
Today was pretty eventful. I went to Austin to get my windshield fixed and it was a very smooth process. I’m so happy that I didn’t end up having to pay for the damage. After that I headed over to Doug’s place to do inventory for the big clearance sale. Everyone make sure you buy something, the prices are really great! It was a good time with Doug because we talked about bands for the big classic Christian albums list in the making. After that I headed back to the ranch and worked some more on the issue that is going to be posted on the website. Tomorrow is going to be so cool, I get to see Sonny from P.O.D., still can’t believe that is going to happen. I hope I can get a picture standing next to him. I would die happy if I did!
March 1st
I spent most of the day editing and uploading photos for the digital online issue of the magazine. It’s getting easier to do but it’s just time consuming. I’m still excited about this issue going out, it is a good one. Today I listened to Austrian Death Machine’s second album Double Brutal. I swear, I was about to cry. That band is too funny! GET TO THA CHOPPA!!!!!! Also while driving out to get some Chinese take out for dinner, a rock jumped up from the road and cracked my windshield. Yea, it sucked. But thankfully my insurance is covering all of the expensive and I am getting it fixed tomorrow. The time is coming when the next magazine needs to start getting done, hopefully now that I am exposed to it, it should be easier. I read an interesting question today. If a stripper falls off a pole, should she get workers comp? Hmm….
February 26th
Today was pretty funny. I think Doug is losing it, I kept hearing strange screams coming from his office. For work I continued to edit the newest Podcast for HM. It went a lot smoother since I figured out how to use the software. I think it came out pretty well. The podcast has an interview with two guys from Hawk Nelson. Through the interview they seem like funny guys. After that I started to edit the posts of the new magazine to be online. On tuesday I might head out to Doug’s place to sort out some HM merch. Something very cool for HM readers is going to happen soon. 🙂
February 25th
This morning I was sleeping pretty good. However around 6:25 I swear I heard a loud noise outside and it woke me up. It sounded like someone swung a baseball bat to the shed near my window, maybe the cats knocked down something I don’t know. Today was kind of a slow work day. I got started on a book about the mixture of sports and Christianity. Hopefully it gets better because it’s boring. I’m starting to glue together a podcast for the hm magazine website. To be quite honest, I think this may be my most difficult task ever. Maybe tomorrow working with it will go better. So good news. THE MARCH/APRIL ISSUE CAME IN THE MAIL TODAY! How cool is that? It turned out really well. It feels so weird that stuff I wrote about is going to be read by a lot of people. I know I sound silly. But I’ve never experienced something like this. Go buy it everyone! It has the band Flatfoot 56 on the front, way to represent Chicago flatfoot what what! But yea. Also a cool thing is I am going to see Sonny from P.O.D. next week. I probably will faint haha. Oh yea…Doug smells good. Don’t ask how I know that.
February 22nd
So just a little update. This past weekend I didn’t really do much. It was kind of a chilled out time after going through deadline. On Saturday I went to check out the movie Shutter Island. I really enjoyed it. At some parts it was really random and kind of threw me off a bit but other than that it was a sweet mystery/thriller flick. Everytime I see Leonardo DeCaprio in a movie I like him more and more. Just last night I went to see MyChildren Mybride play at the White Rabbit in San Antonio. Overall the show was pretty decent. I had the chance to interview them in person before the show. They are some silly guys which made the interview easier to do. I got some pictures with them as well. The other bands were pretty cool. Those Who Lie Beneath are such a sweet metal band. They have amazing melodic scales in their songs and blast beats with breakdowns. Chelsea’s Grin are great even though their music is pretty straight forward. What totally sucked about that show was the long drive back. Good thing I got enough sleep though. Anyway here are some pictures of Mychild Mybride.
February 17th
Holy cow, what a couple of days it has been here. For two days in a row I have been up for 22 hours each. Since it’s deadline, me and Doug have been staying up putting it together. I got some chances to do some editing (I swear Doug, I will get your way of it down!), finishing putting together the album review section of the magazine and dealing with Indesign and Photoshop with album covers. I get so frustrated with those two softwares because I don’t really use them and they are hard to work if you have no experience.
So two nights ago, the first night of the “no sleep” era, I volunteered to get me and Doug some midnight snacks. My destination was to WHATABURGER. By the way, that place is over-hyped. Doug is really picky with his burgers so of course the people didn’t get it right. Last night, about 8 hours ago, I went out to Pizza Hut to get some dinner. Big thanks to Jacky for the gift card! After that I was assigned to put together an ad which at first I wasn’t looking forward to since I totally blow using Photoshop, but along the way I surprised myself and came up with an idea. See kids, if you think positive, you will achieve in life. I had to move around some wording and a book cover. I decided to make the book cover an advertisement on a bus stop billboard. I think it came out pretty good, although I’m sure the guy who is paying for it will not think so. Anyway I am shocked at how I am even awake right now.
Already I started to look for new material for the next issue. I found some pretty cool stuff. As I Lay Dying is coming out with a new album along with Emery and My Children My Bride. Speaking of albums, I can’t seem to get enough of Onward To Olympas’s This World Is Not My Home. It has a sweet mixture of hardcore metal with some neat singing parts. Check them out if you haven’t already. Ok time for me to go to sleep and wake up in 5 hours.
February 12th
Sorry it’s been awhile, I’ve been so tired that I go to bed right away and forget to write in this thing. Yesterday was kind of a frustrating day but got better towards the end. I was having another hard time with InDesign. I got so far ahead and twice had to start over because I missed tiny steps along the way. Plus I had another sinus headache so that didn’t help out at all. Me and Doug went to go see a movie called Lord Save Me From Your Followers. It was a really good movie. I was worried it was going to be one sided on everything but truly this is a movie for everyone. It might offend totally extreme Christians but whatever people sometimes need to get offended for a reality check. I hope the movie does well. Tomorrow I have to drive out to Round Rock for an oil change and also am going to see the movie Valentines Day in order to write a movie review for the Trinity Digest. I hope it’s not lame, but I have been hearing it’s promising. Ok I really want to get this album review lay out done so I will wrap this up. See ya guys.
February 9th
So let me just say the Living Sacrifice show was amazing. I really was touched at that concert. Before I get into it, I started the day off by putting together the news bullet part of the magazine. It was pretty cool because I’m in charge of putting what is in the magazine and what is not. So this means no gay bands like Stellar Kart and Kutless…ouch. Tornado stopped by again and brought some of her amazing brownies and some other things. I rode with Doug to the show and we end up getting lost, well not lost but just had to turn around but we finally got there. I walked into the middle of Thin Ice’s set, they are a new group signed to Blood & Ink Records and are pretty young. Check out there myspace if you get a chance. It’s pretty good solid hardcore. After that was The Great Commission. Those guys are heavy as…you get the point. Anyway I talked to the singer and have planned to do an article for them because I know they have a lot to say and it is stuff that needs to be said. These guys are really on fire for God and show no fear in exposing it. It was really lame though that the crowd was deader than a zombie that just got his head blown off. I wanted to kick someone but that probably would have ended badly. Next was Lion Heart and Shai Hulud which both bands performed great. I felt really bad for Shai Hulud because no one seemed into them. Young scene kids these days…no respect for anything. Shai Hulud are legends in the hardcore scene and it just really was a shame that no one got crazy for them.
During bands switching I found Doug next door in a pizza place hanging out with Living Sacrifice. It really hit me hard that Living Sacrifice was right before my eyes. I was so star struck. I know I looked like an idiot with a cheesy grin when Lance and Bruce introduced themselves to me “Yea my n-n-n-ame is d-d-d-d-an.” But yea it was pretty out of this world. I heard a funny story they told about how some scene kids are just now hearing about them and they think they are a new band. I just don’t get scene kids…stop listening to ATTACK ATTACK! and get some balls. When it was time for them to go on stage everyone went nuts. During their set a lot of “Shove moshers” were up at the front, I can’t stand “Shove moshers”. It’s always some kid with spiked hair, the shirt of the band that is currently playing, and baggy jeans. Living Sacrifice rocked it like always and blew me away. It’s amazing that Bruce can still scream the way he does. I got some pretty good pictures that I will post up of the show. Finally War Of Ages came on and I forgot how METAL they are. They have amazing guitar work and are just a bunch of awesome guys.
When the show was over I ran into Justin from The Great Commission. Talking to him was such a blessing. He gave me some really encouraging words and reminded me about how God has a plan for my life. He told me that he could tell I had a good heart and that he hardly says that about anyone. He told me that he has a feeling that God has something special planned for me. I told him that I hope so and he corrected me saying that I should know so, for it is in God’s word that we are supposed to know that God has a plan. So hearing that from him really encouraged me and changed my attitude. If you ever read this Justin thank you so much and I will give you a call sometime.
The show ended late and since the drive was long me and Doug got back really late. On our way back we stopped at a gas station because I was really craving some Nestles strawberry quick. Doug got a pint of ice cream. I went straight to bed when I arrived back.
Today I finished the news bullets and have been assigned to put together the album review section. I will get started on that tomorrow. For those who have sent me cards and gifts thank you so much! 🙂
February 8th
Man what a time it has been here. Deadline is still among us and the Gods are angry. So angry that they make scary noises at night when I sleep here at the HM ranch. So guess what….just guess…the Saints won the SuperBowl. Yea, soak it in Colts fans. I watched the game at Doug’s place in which afterwards we headed out to see the Chariot in downtown Austin. Luckily we just got there in time when they were doing sound checking. I am surprised my ears are not ringing from that show. If you don’t know much about the Chariot, they are extremely loud and have a lot of guitar feedback on their albums and on stage. Anyway like always they put on a good show and blew me away. Their bass player has a beard that Santa would be jealous off. It really put me in a mood of the Chariot that on my way back from the show I put them on shuffle through my iPod. I finished putting together my layout for the Demon Hunter story. Hopefully Doug doesn’t give it to Biscuit to chew on. If he does, I can say with full confidence that the dog ate my homework.
Yesterday I also typed out an interview that Doug did with the guitar player of The Used. It was a very interesting interview in which I got to see opposite view points on certain issues. It will be in the So & So section of this magazine issue, be sure to read it, it might open your eyes to certain issues in life.
Today me and Doug are going to the Living Sacrifice show. It should be a good time with War of Ages, The Great Commission, and a couple of new bands I can’t think of at the moment. Unfortunately its on a Monday when Doug stays later and plus being in deadline doesn’t help out. Well I’m drinking some Passion Fruit tea and have Mudvanye on shuffle, gots to see what Doug wants me to help him out with. Holla!
February 4th
Well another day has past here in Taylor, TX. Today I worked more on putting the final touches on the Demon Hunter layout and I still have to create the Reader’s poll which I want to make it look cool but am truly sucking at it. Every time I try I end up hating the way it looks. Maybe I’m being too dramatic about it. Anyway tomorrow I plan on just getting it over with. Just one more step towards getting the issue finish! I can’t wait to see how it turns out. I wish I had better cell phone signal out here, every time I call someone I get dropped like every 5 mins if that. So I’m thinking about maybe seeing if there are any rooms available for rent at the University of Austin. The loneliness around here is getting to me a little bit. When Doug leaves for the day its quieter than a graveyard here. Well I take that back sometimes Douglas (the donkey) keeps braying and the bulls and cows moo. I am enjoying my work here however. I love rating albums and exploring new areas of music. Well I need to get some sleep or tomorrow I will be like a zombie in front of the computer screen. Good night everyone.
February 3rd
Finally I was able to sleep well. I finished reading Nevada today which is quite an amazing book. It was so dark and crazy like but man what a book. You know it has to be good because this is coming from a guy who gets tired of reading after 5 minutes. Anyway Doug came by today and assigned me to do some layout work which makes me nervous because I’m a total moron when it comes to anything Adobe. I never really got into Adobe softwares because they cost a lot of money but I think I’m getting the hang of it. I had to take a break from working on the layout to my Demon Hunter article. Tomorrow I will take a stab back at it. I have a new friend here at the HM ranch and his name is Cody, well I named him Cody. He is a tiny dog who just randomly showed up a couple of days ago.
So I never have been to Jack in the box. I might go there tomorrow. People told me to check out Whataburger and I must say I was greatly disappointed. I mean what is so special about it? Also I noticed about Taylor is that they have the nicest drive thru fast food employees. In a weird way I kind of miss the pissed off ones back home. Well I’m getting tired and am starting to not feel well. Kind of sucks when me and Doug are at deadline. Oh yea totally forgot, I will be going to a Chariot and Living Sacrifice show this week, should be a great time. Ok bye. Send me care packages!
February 2nd
So yesterday I was the genius intern that I am and I sucked up all the internet at the HM ranch, causing Doug and I to drive back to his place for the work day. I reviewed this iPhone app called Groove Master and it was really nice. It was so simple to create cool beats on it and do a lot of mixing. After that I finished the pick of the litter section and posted the rest of the 141 issue on the HM Mag site. It is really gloomy outside so I feel kind of in a slumber mood. Hopefully the weather gets better and this deadline gets met.
January 28th
So today started off really funny. I got up and was working on some stuff to get a head start. I hear Doug pull up to the ranch and he started singing “Poker face” by Lady Gaga to Douglas and the rest of the cattle. It was quite a sight to see. I finished my live review of For Today. I was kind of worried writing it because I had never written an concert review before. At the end I think I did a pretty good job. Tomorrow I plan on contacting a good amount of people who we can sale ads to. Hopefully also finish reading this book and edit more on my Demon Hunter story. And I don’t know what else to say. Sorry I know I’m lame.
January 27th
Oh no I am already slacking on my online journal. Don’t kill me Doug! Anyway today consisted of switching back and forth with publicist and bands. I started writing an article about a band called Hope at Hand, if you don’t know about them you should check them out. They are on fire for God and have great music. I got to go to a show in Austin tonight to see For Today and Despised Icon. It was at a place called Emo’s. It was a pretty cool venue, the show was outside in the back and it had a lot of room to roam around. I bought the new For Today cd which is killer, I always knew who they were but I didn’t pay that much attention. I’m glad I did because I found out how much I was missing out on. I even got a picture with the singer Mattie. For Today was amazing and it was the first I had saw them. IT’S ALMOST FRIDAY!
January 25th, 2010
Today was not as productive as I hoped it would be. I’m still waiting on emails so I can get some more articles done. It’s almost complete though. Yesterday I bought a store brand of fruity pebbles and I must say are really fruity. I have an aftertaste of it in my mouth and its like I have 20 different fruits in my mouth. Also I found out today that gas station burritos taste so much better when you put them in a mini oven instead of being microwaved.
Me and Doug had our first Bible study today. We are starting on the book of Mark the first chapter. One thing I realized is how powerful God is and even the fact that demons know his almighty power. It was when a demon possessed man came into a synagogue and Jesus commanded that they be casted out and the demons responded to Jesus as Almighty Lord. That just blew my mind in how evil knows that God reigns over everything.
I officially don’t have to babysit Douglas the donkey anymore! He got to be free next door and has a lot more space to roam free in. He sometimes looks across and stares at me when I’m outside, he is probably waiting for me to start yelling at him and try to bring him back. In a couple of days I am going to my first show in Austin, Texas. The show will be Despised Icon, Winds of Plague and For Today. I will be there to take pictures of For Today and at the same I’m excited to see Despised Icon and Winds of Plague. Both bands just blow me away. Ok until tomorrow….
January 23rd, 2010
Let me tell you what happened today. So I wake up right? Everything is fine as it should be and I go outside to feed Doug’s cats and then I go check on the donkey but on my way I saw the front main gate is open. So I run around the HM range and I can’t find Douglas (the donkey). So I am like “OMG!” I jump in my car and start driving around to find him. As I’m looking I find him in a field west of the Ranch and he is pretty far out there. I got out of my car and screamed “What are you doing!?!?” Douglas looked up and then just continued walking and eating. So while I’m freaking out I go to our neighbors place and ask him for help. Luckily he had a round up rope and helped me get him back to the ranch. After that it took me about 30 mins to lure Douglas back into his area because he wasn’t falling for “Follow me because I have food” trick anymore. So finally when I get him back in about 3 hours later he steps out again!!! I’m like come on! To make sure he didn’t open the main gate again I pushed it down all the way and strapped two bungee chords around the post. Hopefully he doesn’t try to get out tonight while I sleep. So I spent half of my day babysitting a donkey. I read a little bit more of Nevada today and then did a movie review that I had to send for my college’s newspaper. I hope Douglas isn’t trying to get out again as I type this.
January 22nd, 2010
Today I got a couple of things done. I really enjoyed writing an article on War Of Ages about their success and how they keep their faith alive. It should be interesting to read about the response I got from Leroy. It’s finally Friday!!! My first week at HM is complete. So far it’s a cool journey. Tomorrow I might get a slushie from Sonic since there are not many of them in Chicago. I still don’t know what is around down town also so I might take a walk around there. Also I plan on reading this book that I was assigned called Nevada. At first I wasn’t too excited about it but for some reason I just can’t stop reading it. Ok good night everybody.
January 21th, 2010
Last night was the first time I actually slept well. Seeing me as a big person sleeping in a bed that is not that wide can be a challenge. Today I album reviewed a couple of more bands and read more of a book I have to review as well. Doug didn’t bring Biscuit today and it made me sad. It was nice for the sun to be out today and not have a cloud in the sky. Also I got some writing pointers from Doug on how to do album reviews, it was good to see what I was doing wrong. Tomorrow is friday! But I’m sure everyone knew that. Until then….
January 20th, 2010
I woke up today with another headache. Don’t start to cry though, I took some dayquil and it worked a miracle. Later today I got to have a conversation with Ryan Clark from Demon Hunter. After I hung up I acted like a 12 year old at Nsync concert…..not really but I was excited. After that I sat at the computer for about 6 hours writing my cover story for the next issue. After having several writers block I sang the Hallelujah chorus after I finished. Tomorrow I will look over it for writing errors. I am having a good time here at HM but it is a bummer how lonely it could get. Doug, Biscuit (Doug’s dog), Hope Spot Stripes (Doug’s outside cats) and Douglas (The donkey outside) are my only company. I do miss Chicago but I know God will give me peace. Ok so every time I leave the ranch to head to town there is this black dog that chases me driving in the car whenever I pass the house it belongs to. Seriously? Watch it dog before you get ran over! Tomorrow should be a more relaxed day since I got my biggest article done.
January 19th, 2010
Today I got a good amount of things done. I finished my last album review done and now I have three features to do. Tomorrow I get to talk to Ryan Clark from Demon Hunter about the new album! Still in shock about this happening. Anyway I went into town to Fed Ex to ship a package to my Uncle back in IL. Even though I miss Chicago very much I am enjoying myself here. Although at night it can get pretty creepy out here. Douglas the donkey always makes me jump because at random times he will start making his “Hehaw” noises. Anyway exciting day tomorrow. God bless.
My journey at HM magazine today with a very scrumptious lunch at a local BBQ place. Very good by the way I had a smoked sausage sandwich. After that Doug showed me how he personally puts the magazine together which was pretty neat. I have been assigned to do a cover story on my favorite band Demon Hunter. How cool is that!?! I have so many albums to review, I got 3 knocked out of the way though. Hopefully I don’t lose my mind after the first week. Still find it amazing that there is a live Donkey outside.
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