The Thing About Success Is..

Tonight I found a new female artist, JJ Heller. I'm still listening to her songs, but so far I'm quite intrigued. One in particular moved me enough for me to quote on Facebook.

I thought of a common statement musicians have: "I wish I had written that!" Most, not all, but most will say it about top hits. My prof just the other day wish he had created a chord progression that makes up "Price Tag." I thought, yeah, that'd be cool. But the songs I wish I had written are songs that move me. I don't care if I get on t.v. and get played at clubs. Sure, to change the world with music would be incredible, but my realistic dreams are pretty simple: to make music I want to make that moves me. I wish i had written "Love Me" by JJ Heller. It's so simple, yet it's beautiful.

That's the thing about success. We define it. I may be at a music school to learn all I can; I may have top teachers; and I may have all the tools required to be the next big thing.

But that's not what I'm looking for here. I'm just looking to do what pleases me. And if it so happens it pleases lots of others, fantastic! Everyone here asks me what I play, and I'm quiet for about 5 seconds. They're expecting some genre of music to get an idea. I've decided to just say "acoustic pop" for now. What I really want to say though, is, I play what I want to. Sometimes it's country.. sometimes it's hip-hop.. sometimes it can be anything! I'm in my own mindset right now. I'm not going to let someone make me categorize myself. It's not necessary.

Enough ramble. Folio is due in 3 weeks. That means I will have all my songs done. What I have coming for your ears: 2 originals, 2 original collaborations, and maybe a remix of a pop song. We'll see if it turns out or not. Ttfn!

What I've Done for Fun

My friend K has been a big lifesaver so far. Every other Saturday or so, he takes me out. I've met some of his friends and they're all really nice. The first night out was pretty terrible, but the second time (I feel like I've already said this, so I won't say much about it) was pretty fun. We went clubbing with 3 of his other friends for a birthday. This was the first time I've really enjoyed going to a club. Me and the girls seemed to click pretty well.

A few weeks ago we went to dinner and then to another club with B and her boyfriend. This was pretty interesting. There were fire dancers!

Her partner came on first (you can see him in the corner) and was throwing short-chained fire balls around and very close to himself. She just put out the fire wads with her mouth. You know. No big deal.

Then they came out on stilts dressed in fairy costumes.


This weekend was good. Well, last night more specifically. K and B's friend was in a band that was playing at the Hard Rock Cafe. We went. There were lots of people there! Quite a few I've met before but never sat down with, and even some I just met that night that were really nice. The band was "Oceanics", a local punk-rock band, so it was fun, but I wasn't feeling dancing to it, so I stayed behind with these people i wasn't familiar with and chatted most of the time. Just had fun.

So good times to be had! Perhaps the highlight though, was after K picked me up and before we went to the Cafe, we parked in front of this thing:

Except, it was at night and this was lit up the colours of the rainbow. I asked: "What the heck is that?" "Oh, that's the Vomatron. B tried to get me to go on it with her but I chickened out. ..... Hey, wanna do something spontaneous?"

So yes, we went on the Vomatron. The girl who was working it was from Toronto, so we bonded :P

This ride is pretty crazy. You can youtube it, I think. It spins, forward and backward. I was freaking out at first because I haven't been on a ride since last summer. Turns out it was ridiculously fun! Actually quite refreshing and invigorating. When it went backwards, we had the opportunity of facing the ground as it was coming at us and then being flipped around. This made me want to go Skydiving. (No, I'm not kidding!)

However, right behind it is the slingshot. You've got to know what that is just by the name. That may take a little more convincing from K. But I wouldn't be surprised if I went on that, too, in the next few months. 

Well anyway, today is Mother's day and I'm just chillin' out in my room. Hope you've had a great weekend! 

Writing from the Heart Sucks.

So I missed my first session tonight.


I booked 2 hours at midnight to record guitar for a song I recently wrote. However, 30 minutes before I was going to go in, I had a mini revelation. I became overwhelmed with a feeling that is quite the opposite of what the song I was going to record ("Trickster") is about. The feeling I had came from a real experience, and the song I wrote was directly related, but completely opposite.

It's hard to explain this without telling you an intimate detail of my life, and because this blog is public, I'm trying to be discreet. "Trickster" is about a vice. And not being ashamed of it. It's actually about being almost proud of this vice. But the sudden feeling that came over me was that of sadness, and being hurt.

I just can't bring myself tonight to go in and record that song- it would feel like a betrayal of sorts. 

Yup, I realize how ambiguous I'm being. Sorry.

I hate it when people don't show up for bookings- so I guess from now on I can't complain about it. But because of this, I've set myself on an even more strict timetable. It was only 2 hours so I don't think it will hurt me too much. If I can't write a song to counter Trickster, then I will go ahead with it anyway.

Probably for the best anyway. I'm tired. And walking alone at 2am on the Easter holidays probably isn't the safest thing to do. Time for bed, I think!

Peace Off.

Well hello again!

Not too much has happened since my last post. A lot of writing, assignments, etc. One thing is worth mentioning though:

Last weekend I went out to Surfers Paradise (clubbing area) with a friend, and met 3 of his female friends. We all clicked pretty well. And I looked all right, too.

The night was fun. My ears were ringing until I fell asleep because the music was so loud, but dancing is a good way to relieve stress. On the ride home I learned a very important lesson. You see, back home, my "sign" is the peace sign, palm facing me. It's my go-to thing when someone takes a picture. It's accepted as a fairly nice symbol as far as I know. So as we were driving home (my friend was the DD), we were at a red light and the car next to us looked over, two young guys, so I smiled and gave them the peace sign. This is my greeting. They didn't like it. The driver flipped me the bird, and at the next light, he got out of his car and started coming toward us. I told my friend to just run the light- thankfully he did.. who knows what would have happened.

Then the girls in the back seat begin to explain that it doesn't mean the same thing here. In fact, it means f*ck you/off. Just another way of flipping someone off. I felt sooo bad. I keep asking my Australian friends if they have heard of it, and about 80% of them say that yes, I did tell them to f off. Whoops. I've gotta start turning my hand around...

Late Night Jams

So far I've had two late night jams. The first one was with a third year, Josh. We're going to record one of my songs together and we got down structure and a guitar sound last week. We started in the studio around 11:30 and left at about 3. Don't have pictures from this one, but next time maybe!

I also went to the beach the other day. Second time since I've been here :P This one is surfer's paradise. It was windy and mostly unenjoyable because of the wind. But hey, I still swam. The pictures don't really capture the waves, they were pretty big, and the current was so strong I came back to shore. My legs aren't used to it yet..

Thursday night (or, Friday morning if you want to be proper) I had another midnight session with two guys who want to start a band. We wrote two songs that are mostly rock. I hear a bit of punk in the first one we did but I'm hoping that our original idea of "Evanescence-esque" comes back soon. 

That's what 5am looks like. This could have been a pretty picture if I had the ability capture it properly.

Just For Fun

Livin' on top of the world

I had it all to lose

With one glass too much

I blinked, and I lost you

I ripped away the best I ever had

You ran away and you're not coming back

Can you spare a moment, for one more thing...

This is all for you. 

'Cause you saved me right before I hit the ground

And you taught me how to love

You shed the light on all of my flaws..

Well look at me now, 

darling I think you missed out.


I really wanted to write a song, but I didn't have much inspiration, so this is what I hashed out. It started out as a serious moment that happened in my life, but the very last line turns it into kind of a humorous and snide song. I will have better quality things eventually, like the title says, it's just for fun. :)

Today, I Went Hiking

Well, after it was canceled at the last moment last week due to rain, I finally got to go. Here are the bajillion pictures I took:

Behind the waterfall, looking through the waterfall into the sun:

Double rainbow!:

This, just from standing behind the waterfall:

If a tree falls in the forest, but nobody's around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Inside a tree trunk!: