The best Christmas song........

I really thought that this song is touching and is truly makes itself what Christmas is all about. It's not cheesy or funny but serious as it praises Jesus for coming as a baby for the sole purpose to die for us. I am not saying this because it is my favorite band, I would say that this is the best Christmas song if someone else wrote it, but they didn't.

Lyrics to Relient k's "I Celebrate The Day"

And with this Christmas wish is missed
The point I could convey
If only I could find the words to say to let You know how much You've touched my life
Because here is where You're finding me, in the exact same place as New Year's eve
And from a lack of my persistency
We're less than half as close as I want to be

And the first time
That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And so this Christmas I'll compare the things I felt in prior years
To what this midnight made so clear
That You have come to meet me here

To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me
In the hope that what You did
That you were born so I might live
To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me

And I, I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day pray for You to save my life

FISH Christmas Concert

The Fish Christmas Concert was a holiday concert sponsored by radio station KFSH 95.9 “The Fish”. The musical artists featured the night of December 1, 2009 included Matthew West , Tenth Avenue North, and also special guest Tim Timmons. This event was located at Calvary Church in the city of Santa Ana.


The music acts started off with worship leader Tim Timmons taking the stage and starting the night with some praise songs that he wrote. From there he moved on to a short set of traditional Christmas songs such as “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”. The music set the tone for night as it gradually got everyone into the Christmas Spirit.


Soon after a short set change, two men from the contemporary band “Tenth Avenue North” came up with acoustic guitars. This was quite a change from Tim’s, who had more of an energetic performance to get the audience ready. Part of the reason that they played solely acoustic for the night was due to the fact that not all of the members of the band were there. The presences of the softer tones were actually better for the mood. It made the atmosphere of the room more thoughtful and really gave more of a holiday feeling than Timmons. The setlist for Tenth Avenue North was a mix of their own chart-topping songs, some new original songs which will be on a new album due out in May 2010, and also some Christmas songs that showed quite a variety of emotions. They also played their own rendition of the song “Go Tell It On The Mountain”, having the crowd do a sort of noise that was meant to copy the tune of trumpets playing in their recorded version. It did not mean to sound like it, but to encourage the participation of the audience and also for some laughs.


As the last performer of the night, Matthew West began his time on stage with some up-beat tunes of his own. During the first half of his time Matthew let the rest of his band play the instruments while he just sung. In the last half he began switching between his acoustic and electric guitars to play along with the rest of his group. To follow suit of the rest of the musical acts he put in some Christmas songs, some being newly made by himself specifically for the occasion as he did previously at FishFest.One example of this is his song "The Day After Christmas".

Before I left I also got to get and autographs and meet both Tenth Avenue North and Matthew West (seen in first picture). Although the only way to get tickets for the event was to win them, the church was still packed, more than it had been for the Creation Fest Tour. If you can get tickets for this next year, I am sure that you will enjoy your time!

Christmas songs!

Yay for Christmas time! I just put up a whole different playlist on my blog containing nothing but Christmas songs. 3 WEEKS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!

Beaker sings "Ode To Joy"

Gotta love the Muppets!

my week

Here is your weekly Ian update! First of all I announced with a speech last Tuesday at my Troop Meeting that I was retiring from Scouting. I will still try to go to some things such as Courts of Honor and Scout-O-Rama but my schedule is too busy for scouts and I have completed all that I have wanted to and gave back also.

On Wednesday I signed papers that stated that I was done with my children's clothing store job. The small hours that I was given from there were conflicting with the movie theater and so I had to drop it. I now have more time to focus on one job and school as well as normal life things.

Also later on Wednesday I started feeling sick, which has continued all through today, which I am feeling better now except for a cough and a stuffy nose.

One last thing......ONLY 47 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!?!?! That is about 6 weeks away!

Creation Fest: The Tour

I LOVE TWITTER! I heard about the Creation Festival Tour coming to a nearby church but the ticket prices were too high with the convenience fees added by the ticket company. Then came Twitter. Thousand Foot Krutch (one of the bands playing at the show) gave out a code for tickets for half the normal price. With this being reasonable for my wallet I went along with dad and Annabel.

The Creation Festival is a huge Christian music festival that happens every year in the Northwest and Northeast. Thinking about all of the places between these two venues in the U.S. , Creation Festival decided to create a tour last year featuring top artists to go around cities in the United States, but they missed Southern California. This year they got a few California dates with Jars of Clay, Thousand Foot Krutch, FM Static, This Beautiful Republic, B. Reith, and Audio A Unplugged.

The opening act of the night was FM Static which it seemed that as everyone was coming in that they were just sitting there. FM Static may not as well known as the others (except B.Reith who is still pretty new) for it is a side project of Trevor Mcnevan who is the lead singer of Thousand Foot Krutch. TFK is a hard rock while FM Static is more of pop-punk type of style.

When the lights went out for the next band to come up, some mysterious recorded music began playing over the speakers, which I recognized as the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Theme Song by Danny Elfman. As the song ended This Beautiful Republic emerged from the fog and played "Surrender Saved My Life". I was hoping that they might play their "Crazy" cover again like at FishFest but they didn't. at the end of the set the band invited anyone who wanted to come up in front of the stage to do so. I went up and stayed there for the rest of the show. I was actually the closest person to the main singer of every band, which is waaaaaay better seating that I payed for considering that my seat was all the way in the back rows.

Next up was B. Reith who has a hip-hop/pop genre in his music. His song include funny references on how people say his name wrong and others who say he looks like Ashton Kutcher. He was a pretty cool guy who tried to connect to the audience.
Things then slowed down for a little bit as Audio A Unplugged came up. As some of you may know, Audio Adrenaline was a great 90's Christian rock band that retired a few years ago due to vocal problems by the singer Mark Stuart. Now 2 of the members, Mark and Will, are travelling around to churches sharing Audio Adrenaline's testimony as well as playing some classic Audio A songs like "Big House". In addition to Mark and Will, they got some of their friends to help them out by playing some instruments and vocals. Mark's vocals did show strain a lot while he tried to sing but it sounded way better than on their last concert on DVD. Mark also assured us that Will was not a homeless guy who came off the street to play, for Will had worn out clothes and a big wild beard that would give David Crowder a run for his money. Their set was not really unplugged and nobody every used an acoustic guitar but the music still gave a coffee house-type feel to it.

Thousand Foot Krutch followed with Trevor in changed clothes as they played songs from their new CD as well as some of their old songs like "Rawkfist". Mcnevan also went around the stage at times of the set and waved a flag with the TFK logo on it and dancing like crazy. They preform a great live show that is compares with Skillet and Family Force 5.

The final band was Jars of Clay who I had seen at FishFest also, but this time it was a much better show. There were more stage effects, longer set, and they seemed to be more into it. There was even an encore of "Two Hands" and "All My Tears".

At the end of the show the merchandise booths had each artist except for Audio A who had already left. I got autographs of B. Reith, TFK, and This Beautiful Republic and also a photo with each one. It was a great experience and you should try to see this tour sometime. Also with each ticket you get an iTunes card that gives a free sampler of 20 free songs of Christian Artists (not necessarily the ones at the show). For $10 a ticket this concert was a great deal for me!

my flick reviews

Hey again! Over this last week I posted on my Facebook page that I was working on a special project that did not involve school. I am now unveiling it and it is called "my flick reviews". It is a movie review blog that I am running and updating as new movies are released. You can share it with other people if you would like.You can also leave comments and opinions as much as you please. Each review comes with the background of the film, my review that includes pointing out any questionable content, and also a star rating with 5 being considered "a classic". This project is currently up and running but it is also still under construction as I add more to it. Hope you enjoy it and if you do please let me know so I will continue the work.

Camporee

Last weekend I took a trip to the Santa Fe dam for a camporee with scouting. I am pretty sure that I have explained what a camporee was before on my blog so I wont bother with what it is again but each on is usually themed and this one was Space Exploration themed, as you could earn the merit badge there (which I did). Vince and I only went this time, as Simon went with dad on another camping trip with cub scouts about 30 minutes from where I was. That was actually Simon's first camping trip with scouting.

After going through the days competition, my patrol got together and a few of us started to cook dinner. One of the scouts (I don't think anyone figured who did it) screwed in the hose that attached the camping stove and propane tank together. After seeing that it was hooked up, the propane was turned on as I helped a new scout lite the stove since the built-in ignitor does not work (they never do). As soon as the lighter had its flame close to the stove, FFFWHOOOOSH! Almost instantly a huge geyser of fire appeared from a connection between the hose and stove and probably burnt some of my arm hairs off. Everyone scattered and panicked as I yelled to turn of the gas and I found a fire extinguisher and gave it a little squirt and it was out (I have never had to use one, but apparently I know how.) Everything on the small table was covered in white dust but no damage was done. The connection may have been fine, but there may have been a hole in the hose, so it will be inspected for a problem.

Later that night, the whole camporee regrouped and did some trivia questions as well as watching a movie called "October Sky" on a projector. The substitute would have been "Apollo 13" but in my opinion "October Sky" is a way better movie. Plus I have seen "Apollo 13" quite a few time now but that was my first time seeing "October Sky".

On Sunday we packed up camp quickly and headed to a different part of the dam that had an open space to launch small rockets for part of the merit badge. There were rockets of all different powers, shapes, and sizes. Noticeable ones included an X-Wing and also...... a portable restroom rocket.

Toy Story 3 Trailer

It looks so much different now! The humans are so lifelike! I've seen the first movie like 1 bazillion times and this looks a lot better in animation than the first 2.

Update

I have not mentioned this yet but I got a job!!! I'm not going to post on here exactly what or where it is but I am going to say a few things about the retail job. Today was actually my first working day so I got to stock the sales floor tidy things up, help customers and even use a cash register a few times!

My new excuse for no blog posts of any kind have been directly a problem with my laptop but actually the power cord. Bad cord=no power=no laptop use=no blog posts. I bought a new one about a week ago and received a few days ago and everything seems to be fine now.

In the time gap of my recent blog posts I have also not talked about 2 major recent events. The first one is about Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize. I don't get why in the world they gave him it when there are so many more people that deserve it waaaaaaay more than he does. He can say all the peace loving stuff he wants to do but it does not mean it will happen. If I got to choose who got it I would actually choose the creators of the "Invisible Children" movies. They have done a lot of promoting to stop war and is really a good organization that has a lot of respect from notable figures.


The second major event that has happened is NASA bombing the moon. It sounds like a big waste of money to me but whatever. Before this event happened or was even really known about to the public there was a Christian band called "We Shot The Moon". I just find that a little funny because we now actually did "shoot" the moon! Here is a creative video by the band of their best song "Sway Your Head".If at this point you are starting to wonder if I can relate anything to music, why yes, yes I can.


Tomorrow should be a cloudy cold day followed by the first rain of the season later this week. I am also selling popcorn as a Scout fundraiser tomorrow in front of a store, which I am pretty sure that it was raining last year when I did this. Also on the topic of scouts is the choice of my last two merit badges I will most likley be taking. They will be Photography and Computers, the computer one looks fairly easy as the requirements look pretty much like what I am already doing in my college class. After the 2 badges I can go in for an Eagle Board for a palm, that is not exactly a rank higher but something to add on to the Eagle Rank. After that my time in scouting will be up, although I am not 18 yet. I will still be helping out every now and then and going to Vince's award ceremonies and such but I will not be an active member when I am done.

This week looks like its going to be a good one and I even have a work night in there too! You can expect some more blogging from me soon and also you can check up on http://heyyoulookatthesepictures.blogspot.com for some of my creative updates.

Aglet

I lost an aglet on my shoe today...........

Nelson, Hawk

On this last Tuesday I backed up all of my laptop files and then reset it to factory settings because a stupid virus had somehow found its way on Hawk Nelson(the laptop's name) and infected any Internet browser I tried to open. Everything is fine with Hawk Nelson now though and the files are all back on and I can continue blogging. Unfortunately as I said in the previous post that I could take pictures again because the camera was fixed, but it ran out of batteries and now I am out until I pick up some more so the pic blog is still on hold.


On that same Tuesday that I had fixed my laptop, one of my favorite bands named Hawk Nelson (what the computer is named after) came out with a new CD called "Live Life Loud". My laptop is actually named after the band because so many people get it confused as someones name, even to the point of the band putting out shirts saying "Hawk Nelson is my friend".

I decided to go to my local Best Buy since it seemed to have the lowest price in the area for it. As I looked under the new releases I found that it was not there or under the Hawk Nelson nameplate that had their other albums in that spot There was even a sale tag for the new album sticking out of the shelf. Finding nothing, I asked an employee if he knew if there were any in stock. He checked and found about 5 copies but as he even searched himself he could not find the album anywhere, even in the Christian music area. After he gave up on looking for about 7 minutes, I was about to leave when I had one last idea. I looked under the H section and then followed by the word Nelson. Sure enough, I found that 5 copies of the new CD had been placed under Nelson, Hawk as if it were someones name. I found this very amusing but I still took all the copies and the nameplate and stuck it were the sale tag was under Hawk Nelson. I also got to leave the store with that CD which I can say is pretty awesome and I like the whole 3D cover idea!

Camera is fixed!!!!

Hey there! I just accidentally fixed my digital camera today so now I will try to get my other blog of pictures back up again soon. After having my lens come out of the camera and then back in again saying that there was a "lens error". Frustrated I grabbed the lens when it was sticking out and twisted it slightly and apparently that fixed the problem because it started working immediately after that. That just saved a bunch of $$$ on repairs!


In other news in my life I helped drain the pool in the backyard today and make the ants VERY, VERY, VERY MAD! Also it got so breezy today I got to wear a long sleeved shirt, yay for fall! I'm also going to Disneyland tomorrow to celebrate Annabel's b-day which should be not very crowded since pretty much every school in the area is back in session and Summer is ending. Should be able to get a bunch of rides/shows in and probably fireworks! On yet another off-topic topic, I will be recording and putting up the Tenth Avenue North Cover up soon, I just need to get around to it.

Failure is a blessing in disguise

Iv'e had a roller-coaster Summer this year with it's events that brought ups and downs. I'm looking forward to a better rest of the year though. Starting off my Fall with the college classes, I am still turning in applications in various places for a part-time job. These include anywhere from Vons grocery store to Starbucks Coffee to Lighthouse Christian Bookstore. I haven't turned in the last one yet but I am really hoping/praying that I get that one! Prayers would be nice!

Throughout the Summer there have been a very high amonunt of events that have happened to me but I will just say a few of them. I went to the movie theater many times, a lot of them being free films. The joy of knowing about Chloe and Rain, only to find out a few months later about their return to heaven, also the events and feeling that came from that. I went to a few concerts over this Summer as well. I practiced guitar and learned a ton of new songs. I put in a lot of bike riding time and traveled new places, even taking trips that ended being about 16-miles round trip. Put in 3 weekends in a row of camping trips at the end of June, with two being on Staff for the B.S.A. NYLT Training. I went to the beach a few times over the season and also had much cool-off time with our pool in the backyard. I found out that there actually might be people who read this blog!(If you are out there and I don't know you are reading this, please leave a comment. The most important thing I did was that I saw that I can't hold on to anything here on earth, God is the only one who stays stable and knows what he is doing.

I can't believe that the holiday season starts in about 2 months! This year will be over before I know it but I want to use it to the best I can.

A few posts back I posted a two short songs that sample what I can play on guitar. I have a few songs in mind to post in the future as a cover(By Your Side-Tenth Avenue North, 1,2,3,4-Plain White T's) but if anyone has any ideas, just let me know. I am still trying to write some of my own stuff and I have got 1 song that I think is coming along pretty well. I have some others but I still have to figure out how to put music to those.

Yay!

I got a new autographed Audio Adrenaline cd cover in the mail today from a site called www.newreleasetuesday.com! If you can't see the picture here of it or don't know what cover it is, it is from their last studio album called "Until My Heart Caves In". I starting to realize that I am getting quite the collection of autographed music items. I have the following autographed items so far. Jars of Clay-"Long Fall Back To Earth", Stellar Kart-"We Can't Stand Sitting Down", Addison Road-"Addison Road" A piece of paper signed by the members of Hey Monday, Friday Night Boys, The Golden State and Stereo Skyline. Also a Relient k concert ticket signed by Runner Runner (opening band). I'm trying to get Relient k, Hawk Nelson, and Jeremy Camp autographs next.

Happy Birthday Annabel!

Two songs by request on Facebook. Twinkle Twinkle and Happy Birthday. If have a request please leave a comment!

Buddy Holly-Weezer

In honor of yesterday's 50's night(and the fact that I talk and post music often) I thought that I would post this video up here. Very cool however it is that they did it.

Youth Group 50's night

I thought I would post some pics from last night's church youth group event. There was a variety of styles there, I dressed like a greaser who looked like Fonzie from "Happy Days".

On a whole different topic I wanted to let any readers of this blog know that my other blog that I leave just pictures on ( www.heyyoulookatthesepictures.blogspot.com ) is temporarily not going to be updated because I need to get my camera fixed. There is a lens problem, I think some sand might have gotten inside and jammed it. Should be back soon though.

Forget and Not Slow Down-Relient k

Yessssss! I've been waiting for a new single from them for a while. This is just awesome!Can't wait until October 6th!

college kid

Yesterday I took my first step into the college world. (Well actually it wasn't the first "step", I have been there lots of times before!) I actually started my first class about computer applications (like Microsoft Office) yesterday and later today is my first music theory college class.

The computer lab was pretty tidy and clean and all of the students there seemed to be nice. We didn't do too much actual computer lectures yet but rather the teacher did some intros. He reminded me a lot like Dwight from the TV show "The Office" but still not as weird as that. I was not looked down upon that I knew of because I was still in High School either. Although most of the students were around their 20's or 30's in age, there was a diversity of people. There were even people who had not even been to school in 32 years and not even touched a computer in 6 years. None of the people on campus were mean or rude to anyone like that. Overall the class is looking like its going to be pretty simple and I think I can work it out.

Almost immediately following the class my family and I headed off to Disneyland since our year passes were back for the first time after the Summer blackout dates, but also to celebrate Levi's 2nd Birthday a few days ago.Dad was also there but he came later in the evening after he got off of work. It was really busy there but we managed to get on a reasonable amount of rides and see some shows/parades. Overall I think Levi had a good time there, especially seeing the Pixar Parade.

How much would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Well I found out that everyone who voted on my poll to the right, picked that they didn't exactly know what a woodchuck is. A woodchuck is actually a groundhog!

From my "extensive research" I have actually found the answer to this tounge-twister! It is here in this LINK

Toyota Driving Expectations

Saturday my Dad and I went to the National Toyota Center which is actually located nearby here in California. We heard about this driving program from a friend of our that had recommended it, but we did not really expect much of the program. We left very surprised at how well the event had been put together with effort and content.

To start off they had us sign a few waivers for accidents but also another to use the participants in their Toyota media. I thought that there might be a few professional camera guys walking around every now and then taking pictures for a website or fl yer but they went all out. Pretty much wherever we turned there was a camera crew ready to capture our next move in the class. My group had special attention with the video cameras because there was a guy who had won some sort of contest and ended up here to be in a production of Toyota's (I'm not sure what it is).


The instructors guiding us through the course were very nice and some of them even came from Texas just to do this event. They split us off from our parents and had us do our own classes while the guardians did some of their own. Some of our topics included how the physics of a car, how weather affects an active car, finical responsibility, and also about anti-lock brakes. After each classroom session we got to get in groups of about 3 people and go in a car to try out some driving courses they had set out.

On one course I got put in the same car as the contest winner guy,an instructor, and another participant. There were Hollywood-quality camera cranes put out in order to catch what the students did. I joked that they even had the car bugged to get sound. Just then a camera man came up to the parked car we were in and opened the door to say "We can hear you". We turned around and looked in the trunk and sure enough there was a sound system there. I also saw that there was a camera attached to the passenger's front window to see whatever the driver's reaction was.

The first course consisted of hitting the gas pedal to get as much speed as possible in a small distance(about 40 MPH) and then to slam the brakes as hard as we could to stop the car, as the Anti lock Braking System kicked in.
The 2nd course was one that we weave between cones and then speed and then slam the brakes in a small area of water that had been set out on the floor.
The 3rd part's main focus was to distract the driver as much as possible while getting through a small set of cones and signs. Music was blasting in the car, while the instructor through a small ball around. He also had me drink a small bottle water while calling a number on my cell phone, while still driving through the course.

After we had rotated turns from each other, the camera crew took the contest winner aside and started asking him questions about his experience that he just had, like they usually did after he did something. This time they called me out as I was walking away. I thought that maybe I had dropped something so I turned back around so I turned around and checked to see what they wanted from me. It turns out that they also wanted to interview me and the other guy that were in the car along with the contest winner to interview us as well. I did that and answered a few short questions that they needed and then went along to finish the rest of the course.

As we were leaving the event, each person got his/her own share of Toyota bling. This included Scion plush cars, T-Shirts, hats, sunscreen, keychains, chapstick, flyers, car first aid kits, and even Toyota sponsored music samplers. If you ever see this event come up you should try it out or recommend it to someone you know that could use it. Also let me know if you see a guy in a bright green Relient k t-shirt and a brown hat in any kind of Toyota media, because that would most likely be me.

A Time Changing weatherman eating Chicken Alfredo over British/English muffins is By Your Side

Hello readers of my blog! I had a pretty good day today. After getting ready for church this morning I taught myself how to play "By Your Side" by Tenth Avenue North on my acoustic guitar.My family and I all returned to our home church this morning and was welcomed with warm embraces from our church family. Later on after church my family also went to Olive Garden which was really good. After having some good Chicken Alfredo, I came home and relaxed with some JCTV. There was a movie that was on it at one point called "Time Changers". If you haven't seen it before you should pick it up from wherever it is that you can find it. I've seen it before today but it's still kind of entertaining to watch again. It may be a cheesy Christian film but it has a good message and a lot of funny moments.



Besides today I can't think of much to blog about so I am going to go on some random topics right now.

1.I am realizing that over time one of my local ABC weather guys is starting to look more and more like Dustin Hoffman's character of Mr. Magorium from Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. They both even have pinstripe suits and wear yellow ties!

Mr. Magorium


2. Why are British muffins and English Muffins two different things? I mean really English and British people are the same thing basically and so why have 2 different kinds of muffins?
I looked it up and it appears that our American "English" Muffins aren't even close to actually English muffins. I'm not sure about British muffins though. The only real change between English and British muffins I think is that one is White Bread and the other is Wheat.


Well that was quite random but I have nothing to post about at the moment. I should have a lot to post about in the upcoming week though. If anyone has an idea of something to write about anything(well.....almost anything), I will try to write something about it.

Fish Fest 09

After all of the waiting for months it finally came. FishFest does not have anything to do with actual fish, but it is the name of the local radio station that plays contemporary Christian music like Jeremy Camp, Brandon Heath, and Tenth Avenue North. I found it kind of odd that yearly the FISH does this event but they never really have bands that they play often, if ever. This year the line-up was MercyMe, Jars of Clay, Matthew West, Francesca Battistelli, Phil Wickham, Brandon Muchow, NeedtoBreath, Jana Alayra, RED, This Beautiful Republic, and Hawk Nelson.


These artists were spread out throughout 3 stages (Main, Family, and Edge) and I actually got around to see all of them except for Phil Wickham. The family and edge stages were actually small stages that people can stand up in front of and watch while the main stage was actually the huge stage that featured assigned seating according to the tickets purchased.

All of the bands were good but I thought that This Beautiful Republic and Hawk Nelson did the best job. I also got to meet This Beautiful Republic in passing. During that day the people of FishFest got 2 songs dedicated to us. The first was by
Matthew West who made a song about how we could just sit back, eat some funnel cake, and watch him perform. The second was by pop-rock band Hawk Nelson who did a rap about Diet Mountain Dew and how its still good even though it's diet.It's actually a parody of KJ-52's song called Mountian Dew. I also got a chance to purchase the rare Hawk Nelson Summer EP which is only available at their summer festival shows this year. It was a great birthday event overall and I got many good pictures and video to share.

Singer of the band RED, I think he wears guyliner....


This Beautiful Republic


Hawk Nelson


Jars of Clay

The Plan of the Navigator

In this past week I have been still trying to get myself back together from the devastating news of Chloe returning to Heaven. I found that I cannot just let it take control of me and let it ruin my life, but shouldn't just ignore that it happened either. God obviously had a purpose for this event. Though I cannot see through the storm, I know that the Navigator knows the route. He will always do what is right and will not fail us. Everything has a purpose in life and is individually and specially made by Him. I have found that some messages can be found found from this event. Here are a few that I am uncovering.


There will be challenges in life, people may turn away from you when you most need it, but God will always be there for you. I have been blessed enough though that my immediate family is here for me as well as some other friends that have given their time and prayer to my family.

I am also think we should start leaning on God more often. Most Christians just treat God as water, just taking some when they feel that they are thirsty or else they may become sick. We should take in more "water" and not just drink it when we are thirsty but rather all of the time. Money and other earthly objects cannot support us, only the one thing that will never change is the thing we can put all of our trust on.

There are still many more lessons that I am sure I will learn throughout this experience. I still may never know though, what God's true intentions of Chloe's life was. All that I know right now for the situation could be put into one of my favorite Bible verses.


Proverbs 3:5-"Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, but lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will set your paths straight."

wow

Mercy Me, Jeremy Camp, and the Lead singer of the band Tenth Avenue North singing a cover of Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" Mercy Me does these covers pretty often it looks like. They have quite a lot of them, and the second video on here is a hilarious version of "Take On Me" by A-Ha.

The Next Big thing

These two music videos are by two bands that are both on their way to becoming very popular. If you haven't heard of them yet, you probably will soon. The first is by a band called Owl City which I have actually seen live with Relient k. Owl City isn't as good live as they are on CD but they make some pretty good music. Owl City is actually just made up of one guy named Adam Young who gets other people to play with him for concerts.


The same idea goes for the next band named The Rocket Summer. This band is made up of the brilliant Bryce Avary who does every instrument in his band. These bands are both actually Christian in case you are wondering.They are both reaching out into the mainstream world though because of their creativity and getting more attention. Owl City came out with a new album yesterday and I saw today that it was #3 overall in top selling albums on iTunes.

Hawk Nelson- Zero

Getting through another day.......

Hello, I'm back to trying to blog some more. I haven't been around to wanting to blog because of the news of the post below this, but I am up for it now. Today I was still trying to recover from the news, also got pretty hot here in Southern California. I went to the mall today with sister, just to roam and browse to get out of the house for a little bit and get our minds off of it.


I found it pretty disturbing that you can't go anywhere in the mall without that guy from Twilight being on a poster or something in the store. Bookstores I found out are the worst about this. I saw a Twilight book sitting on a shelf in front of me so I looked to my right of which there was a Twilight Movie Guide. Frustrated I look to my left, and not surprisingly I found a disturbing picture of that Edward guy from the movie looking straight at me on the side of an action figure box in front of my face. I can't seem to escape it. Hopefully the whole Vampire thing will end after they stop making the movies.

My clumsiness also found me today. An automatic door at the mall decided to shut directly on me as I was walking through, and I also tripped over a 1-1/2 inch curb later on. I had an alright time at the mall besides that though. One of the stops we went to at the mall was at Best Buy which recently had installed a musical instrument section as I have said before. Annabel liked all of the expensive pianos, and I enjoyed all of the guitars of various shapes and sizes. What I found most amusing however was a small keyboard that was hooked up to a computer program for adding and editing sounds. One of the settings for the system was a great variety of synth sounds, which were very fun to play with. I made something that sounded like it came from Family Force 5 and another that sounded like No Doubt. I almost bought the one Relient k record that I don't own which would be their Christmas album, but didn't because I wasn't sure if I would get that for my birthday or not. I'm not sure why someone would buy a Christmas album in the middle of July, but hey, I was about to do it!


Once I got home I played some guitar, some Monopoly, and also did some left over Biology homework that is almost finished. I also tried teaching myself how to play piano at home today. I trying am getting the hang of it and it's kind of addicting. That was pretty much my day summed up here. I also want to thank anyone who has helped support my family in any form of help, even if it was in prayer.THANK YOU!!!!=) My birthday is also coming up in 11 days, can't believe it's almost here!


(Currently listening to- Reinventing Your Exit by Underoath)

Simple but sad post...

My baby sister Chloe Elizabeth Zandi was born still, on July 11, 2009 at 2:50am, and delivered directly into the arms of Our Lord weighing 9 ounces and 10 inches long

Happy 4th of July!

Transformers 2 Movie Review

I thought the movie came out on the 26nd of June which would be on Friday. I thought that I was going to have to see it after the weekend since I am camping that weekend in the mountians and there are no theaters probably even close. Paramount must have moved the date up or something cause I found out the night before that people were buying tickets for that midnight showing of the film. My dad and I managed to get 2 tickets before the show sold out (I am pretty sure it was by the start of the film, other theaters had sold out by 9:00 PM.)

Let me start out the review by talking about a preview that I remember seeing.

Twilight:New Moon-UGH! I had to laugh though because when this preview began to appear on screen almost everyone in the room was booing at the movie. I thought that pretty much every teen girl was obsessed with Twilight. At least there is a roomfull of hope now.


This review of the movie of the movie may not be as complete as it could be but I will try to summerize what I remember because I saw it about a week ago from now. I understand Hollywood's logic of trying to make a hit movie's sequel into an even bigger hit by taking the first movie's best elements and adding more of it. I think that is exactly what Director Michael Bay was trying to do when he was creating Transformers 2. He took it a little too far though.

Using Megan Fox and many other ways Bay managed to create many more ways of suggestive scenes in the sequel. Michael also added a LOT more explosives and action into this movie which looked pretty cool and real. The orginal humor found in the first film was also here, spreading laughter throught the crowd. The plot from the first is expanded on and many new characters are introduced. A funny cameo by Rainn Wilson (Dwight from The Office) is also made on this movie but its hard to tell its him.
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The graphics and fitting fake robots in with our real world looked much better than the 1st and sucked you right in with the movie. Aside from the inappropriate content in this film I though it was fairly good but could have been better. I saw this movie as another big movie just trying to make more money, well its doing a good job at that. It was quite entertaining for me. I will be posting a star rating on this soon (to be explained) but for not I would suggest it only to viewers over 14 or 15.

Summer!

I am done with camping for a little while as I get a break. I have been camping for the past 3 weekends and actually went for 4 days this last weekend. A lot has actually besides camping since my last post. Multiple celebrities have passed away within a week, all having unexpected deaths such as Michael Jackson and Billy Mays. I also saw the midnight premiere of the blockbuster movie Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. I also had a trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific during the week. My bedroom is also pieced back together and is looking very good.



Now I have the rest of the summer pretty much free and I am looking forward to my birthday in late July. The day after my birthday I get to go to Fish Fest (a Christian Music Festival) and in August I am going to Harvest Crusade featuring Skillet and Relient k! Should be fun! I am sure that my summer will not be empty though as there is always something going on.

Hawk Nelson- Live Life Loud

NEW SONG!!! I'm going to see them next month! Just to let you know, Hawk Nelson is not a person's name but just what the band is called. (Although it is the name of my laptop!)

I posted this just to create an update....

My blogs have not been updated in about a week. The reasons are between the NYLT training I was staffing this past weekend and also that I am in the process of switching bedrooms in the house. The new room is pretty much done and is looking awesome. The blogs will probably not be updated for another week because I leave thursday to staff the training again.

Hey Golden Stereo Boys!

As I said in my last post I was going to a Best Buy acoustic concert and I said I would write about it. Well this is the post about it, even though it is late. The main reason it is late is because I was camping over the weekend (there is a funny picture of this at my photo blog Hey You, Look At These Pictures!). I wasn't sure how exactly Best Buy was going to pull this stunt off of having multiple semi-famous bands doing an acoustic concert in their store. The concert featured bands such as Hey Monday, Friday Night Boys, Stereo Skyline, and The Golden State. I got to the store about 40 minutes before the event started and the line was already going down an aisle. Right as I approached the store to walk in, I noticed that pulling up right to the enterance to the store where I was about to walk was Hey Monday and their small van. They all were very nice and said hi as I passed them.


A few months ago Best Buy had put in a large section of the back of their store to be dedicated to musical instruments, including sound-proof rooms even. The store employees had put tape to block the small gap to enter the music section and then had placed the small crowd in line, to form a sort of half-circle around the taped up gap to the music section. I would say that nobody expected such a large audience to come and viewers even went down aisles just to get a good view. I got a fairly good spot to see the bands, compared to some people. Out of the bads playing I would say that Hey Monday and Stereo Skyline were the best but this may not be accurate concidering that it was an acoustic performance and not all of the band members were actually playing. I would relate Stereo Skyline to The Rocket Summer and Hey Monday to the sond of Paramore. After the performance everyone got the chance to meet the bands and get autographs and photos. I did get to do all of these things for every band. If any of these bands ever get really popular then I can say that I have met them!

Half of Hey Monday


The Other Half


Stereo Skyline


The Golden State


Guy from Friday Night Boys (I don't know if his name is really Guy or not)

On a quest....

I went on a massive quest today to go around the local mall and surrounding area in order to fulfill the task of acquiring job applications. I am planning on getting a part-time job after my birthday in July. It wasn't easy though trying to get these physical objects. I found out that most places do not actually have job applications on paper anymore, but they are mostly found online and can be printed out from there. The only places that seemed to have it on paper were a few select restaurants. I got a good amount of applications but I can't fill them out yet. I am also going to try for a local Christian book store but I am thinking that it will be pretty hard to get that.


My battery is about to run out on my laptop but I will say that I will be blogging tomorrow because I will be seeing the bands Hey Monday, Stereo Skyline, and The Golden State (not to be confused with the Christian band named Above the Golden State). They are all playing at a free acoustic show. The fun never stops around here. There is more coming after that! I am going camping this Saturday for scouts and I will be helping newer boys learn the basic starting skills of scouting. I am also going to spend two full weekends after tomorrow to devote to an NYLT course which is a training to help scouts build leadership skills. I am there to staff again this year as I did last year and the year before that I had attended as a participant.

D-Day

I woke up yesterday not knowing what the day held for me. I didn't know that I was going to be going to Disneyland that day or that I was going to be at a Dodgers baseball game that night. Neither did I know that I would find a cure for cancer and also build a flux capacitor by bumping my head on the sink (probably because those last two didn't happen). I have to remind myself sometimes not to plan my day because if you do then God will laugh at you like on "Evan Almighty".


Anyway I did go to Disneyland yesterday with my family getting the last use out of the year passes before the Summertime blackout days come. While were there it was decided that we were there partly to celebrate my birthday since mine is in July, on a blackout day, and most of my siblings are going to Disneyland on their birthdays. The park was more filled with people than it had before when we had gone but we still managed to get on a handful rides and have a good time.

After getting home at about 3pm I started to relax and then a few hours later I got another surprise. We received a phone call from a friend of the family who wanted to offer us 4 Dodgers tickets for that night game. She had purchased the tickets but couldn't go because of a sickness. We thankfully accepted and my Dad, Annabel, Vince and I all went to that evening's game. I had never gone to a professional baseball game before yesterday. A few minutes later I was just checking up on my Twitter account to discover that the San Diego based Christian rock band Switchfoot was going to be watching that same game at the stadium! They didn't perform or get any sort of special appearance but they were there, rooting for the Padres (NO!). I didn't see them though.

After an exciting game with the stadium literally shaking with excitement as the last pitch was thrown, the Dodgers won the game 6 to 4. A creepy thing did happen at that game also. I was just saying that I had the "Don't Stop Believing" song in my head by the 80s band Journey. About 5 minutes later a song started to come on that I thought I had recognized and then I realized it was that same song! I hadn't even listened to that song recently! The song was blasting all over the place and there were even lyrics on the scoreboard to sing along! Vince said that I should say that money is falling from the sky, hoping to catch a few bucks. By the way, by the D-Day title I am not talking about storming the beaches of Normandy but rather it stands for Disneyland and Dodgers.=)

Up movie review

Pixar always makes the best computer animated movies. They started off with Toy Story and hasn't made a bad film yet. Up adds on to Pixar's legacy and is possibly the best one yet (not counting Toy Story of course!). Up is a great story about an old man who sets off on a quest to get to South America and place his balloon-floating house next to a waterfall in order to fulfill his wife's dream. Along the way he gets stuck with a young scout who wants to help and also many odd creatures.

Pixar also managed to stick to its traditions of placing cameos of different objects of other Pixar films in UP. The ball with the star on it was seen as well as the code "A113" which can be found in all Pixar movies and also a few others such as "The Iron Giant." John Ratzenburger can also be found in every Pixar movie and he is a construction worker here.

My opinion on this movie is a good one! If I were ebert and roeper I would give this 4 thumbs UP, but I am not. I would still give it my thumbs UP though. It is definitely a family movie and much appropriate comedy on it. The characters are very well built and you will find yourself quoting the dogs. The only downside on this movie is that it is the first Pixar movie to show blood. This is just minor cut though but it can be seen. Besides that there is nothing to worry about.I give 5 of 5 stars.

Bridges and Gotees

I helped out with setting up the layout for my troop's annual rope bridge today. The rope bridge is usually put up as part of Troop 65's spot at Scout-O-Rama. Scout-O-Rama is a big event where troops in the area go to the park and they set up (usually) fun and interactive booths for the public to view and gain interest. In addition the Troops can also win awards from the district based on their booths, preparedness, attitudes, and how they relate to the theme. This year the event has a Green environment theme. This event will be taking place tomorrow throughout the day.


When I came back from the bridge set-up I came home and checked my messages online. I found out that Gotee Records (one of my favorites!) is now following me on Twitter. I thought that was kinda weird considering that I didn't even follow their updates yet but they found me somehow. This is the company founded by Tobymac of DC Talk and started off famous groups such as Family Force 5 and Relient k!I also thought it was funny that I had seen recently that Tobymac was the Justin Timberlake of Christian music. Their music is only slightly similar and besides that the only thing they have in common is that they both wear a fedora. Tobymac is 45 and Justin is in his late twenties. years old. Speaking of Twitter, I added a sidebar widget of my Twitter updates on the left on my blog so you can view it here without an account.