Crashing California

oh my goodness!! I seriously haven't felt this busy is quite a bit! It's the kind of busy which makes my eyes tired and my head fuzzy ... which isn't a good thing, but I had a pretty productive day today so I suppose it makes things worthwhile -- in some frame of mind. So, let the catch up begin! This last week has been a blurr of working and driving to studios (both Alan's and Cedricks) to listen to tracks, get tracks, make revisions and listen some more. We got the first real mix of one song from Cedrick on Monday and I have to say -- I listened to it oh, over 20 times. The first time I heard it, i cried ... I just couldn't believe that we sounded like that, and I had this crazy well up in my heart and I just praised God (I know that sounds lame, but that's what I did) because I can't believe how things are FINALLY seeming to come together. It was also a reminder tho, that we have a long road ahead ... everytime we drive to a studio it seems like an instan...

Here is just a wee tasty peek of what we did on Friday -- I had (ofcourse) gotten into my jammies, taken out my contacts and made some fresh tea when we got a call from the guy we're working with on Mixing the album, he had just gotten to the studio and was beginning to work with the song, putting final touches on things and waiting for a couple extra parts from Jay -- so I put on clothes, contacts and chugged the tea and heading 7 mins down the Pacific Coast HWY to the studio where we stayed, mixed and chatted for 5 hours (!!) I was a tired 32 yr. old when I got home -- but this album is going to be serious and I can hardly wait to hear what Cedrick (our producer and friend) will do. Cedrick works in L.A., is a ProTools instructor at a new school being built in Oceanside and he is seriously into the scene here -- He has amazing ears and a good heart, and he's french, so he's got this great accent. I will blog more in detail this coming week -- for now, here is a tease of ...

Waiting is hard. At this present time, I find myself, inbetween moments in life. Having finished the recording of the album has left this strange yearning hole in me to just have it completed. And even then, not really knowing or understanding what my expectations for it are. Wanting to be humble about it, but at the same time, wanting it to have the success that I feel it deserves. And all through this, now that our "part" is officially finished, now we are called to wait. Because we have to. We are now waiting for others to do their magic, and pour out their expertise into our offering. I am one day into it. And I am already impatient!! LOL I make myself laugh as I type that. Maybe it's just Monday blues too. I am having such a hard time here at work today. Just feel sort of "blah" I know it will pass. At church we've been talking about "Life Verses". Verses that come from God, to your heart, in a season of life. I have had a couple diff...

Well, as of last night, official recording for our album is DONE! We had scheduled the, hoping to be last, session for last night and it went well. We only had one song left anyways, so not much but I did have a couple, rather challenging parts left over from other songs to complete. Now that I can look back in hindsight -- the overwhelming feeling is just thankfulness. To be able to have the experience of going into a professional studio in the first place, let alone, to be able to track and record original music, that is of my very soul and divine inspiration -- I do not take it lightly. I have tried to bathe the whole experience in prayer and preparation, and I can only continue to pray and hope that I have made my Father proud. The studio was also very challenging. There is so much difference when you sing with the intention to be pleasing (as you do with live performance) as opposed to singing with perfection (or as close as you can come) while maintaining the energy and emoti...

well, I just finished the two biggie deadlines from the county for this year, and my brain feels particularly fried -- so I thought I would blog, so I can release some of the inner jargon. Some of the random notes that are taking place this week -- I head into the studio for my second (and potentially last session? not sure..) this Friday -- I am taking half day off work to drive down and complete some stuff while my brain and chords are particularly fresh. I continue to pray for it, and also for Alan (who is our producer/engineer) that we would be protected and anointed. I sort of feel like I can't really focus in on thinking about it right now, so looking forward to taking some time this week (prob. will be Saturday I guess) to really unwind and not have to think or do anything. We are meeting with Pastor Chris tonight for dinner and to catch up and talk about church worship stuff. It's been over a month now since Little Chris's passing and this Sunday marks the first ...

So, just wanted to give a quick update regarding the studio -- I had made the date w/ Alan (our producer) for Friday @ 11 -- however, if any of you have been following the recording saga with us, you will know that we have encountered VERY curious obstacles ... the first studio date we had his WHOLE computer crashed, so we were down for a week ... yesterday when I arrived we began to import all the tracks we had completed at home and Alan got a text from his wife that their dog (who had been doing not so well the whole week) had just barfed up blood and she was in tears and we had to cut it short so he could rush Jaycey to the vet (so, not tracking yet) ... I drove home, only to get a call about an hour and a half later to say, yes, return, the dog is looking good ... so, back I went. We completed (almost, with the exception of just a couple individual parts that we'll come back to) 5 whole songs -- Jay was with me and we spent a solid 5 hours. It was pretty steady work for me, an...

So, I am the first person to poo-poo (in a lighthearted by half serious way) the Human Resource Leadership Corporate Training that seems to be prevalent here in America. Recently (well a couple months ago) we had to undergo the first part of the official "Nestlé Leadership Framework" training through HR -- which consisted of getting a VERY nice booklet filled with all these character traits and things that you should concern yourself with and strive for while working in a corporate setting. We were even tested on it and to be brutally honest, I didn't even understand a lot of it and chalked it up to someone somewhere, has a steady job, because of this nonsense. However, at JC they enlisted (after our training) a program where each month employees can nominate someone who they feel exhibits to an outstanding level, one of the FIVE main Leadership Framework traits. in exchange the winner gets announced and interviewed and a $50 gift card and is essentially "Employee o...