some cool pics

Steve took these, pretty badass!

Goodbye Conan and cheap bastards!

Gonna miss Conan on the Tonight Show. I don't care for Leno much. I know my grandparents like Leno more than Conan. I think NBC is trying to appeal to the people who actually pay for TV and not pirates like me and most of my friends who have found ways around paying for cable.

What does my generation pay for anyways? They download all their music for free, they don't pay for cable, they steal their neighbor's internet, most of my friends don't play WoW anymore cause they had to pay for that. When is the last time you paid for Microsoft Office? or Windows? Cheap bastards! Now you can download your textbooks for free. Some kids found where I can replace missing parts for band music for free.

A couple of my friends won't ever buy a drink when we go out, but since i bought a drink and I get free refills, they think they can just drink mine. Some even want to get my Netflix password so they can watch movies at my expense. One large problem at the school I work at that nobody seems to pay any attention to is the amount of kids who shoplift. I bet 8 out of every 10 kids at Leland have shoplifted. I bet 99 of every 100 kids have cheated either on a test or by copying homework. To me, this is far more serious than getting caught smoking pot at school, cutting class to have lunch, or running across the street to enjoy a stog. This is about the integrity of mankind.

Cheating and stealing make the world not run right. When you steal or cheat, your rob somebody of something they have earned through hard work. Cheating is robbing somebody of intellectual property and stealing is robbing somebody of physical property. If everyone takes from each other, our world will go into chaos. If we keep letting this happen, our world will go into chaos.

Student Composition Concert

I assigned my jazz combo to each write an original jazz piece. I told them it could be as simple as a 12-bar blues. Last semester they did music in only 3 real forms, 12-bar blues, rhythm changes, and ii-V-I. I got to see a little bit of a piece by one student today and they showed much promise. So I have decided to make one of the May concert dates a forum for original student compositions. I think I will open it up to the entire school to see if there are some talented composers. Hopefully I will get some solo piano works, maybe a choral piece, perform all the piece that the jazz combo has done, and even thinking about having some electronic pieces featured from the electronic music class.

I am really excited about this. Do you have any suggestions?

The New Gig

So I have a new gig. I am vocal and music director for Children's Musical Theatre of San Jose's production of Once Upon a Mattress. This show is really cute, especially for the age group I'm conducting 8-14. We just finished auditions. I am working with a director that was best friend's with my first pain-in-the-ass student at Leland back in 2003. The choreographer I coached in the Landmark SELP 2 summers ago (its a small world).

Auditions were fun and exhausting. We listened to 192 kids in 3 days. Some of my favorites were the 8 year-olds who sang Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. Some kids of note was a boy who sang death cab for cutie, a girl who sang "Green Finch and Linnet Bird," and two girls did "I'm not afraid of Anything" from Songs from a New World.

I am a bit apprehensive about teaching 8-14 year olds. My experience with 14 year-olds in teaching high school is that they are intimidated by me and sometimes they feel I'm too abrasive. One parent complained this year saying that I "create a hostile learning environment." The truth is that I have high expectations and I demand the students meet them. Anyways, the only thing I am going to do with these kids is demand an even more professional attitude from them in rehearsal. Since these kids all want to be here, there is no reason why they won't take this seriously. I noticed that when I spoke to them at auditions, they listened very intently, probably cause I threatened to cut them if they didn't behave themselves.

So far, I have been enjoying this gig alot. Time flies really fast even when listening to 8-year-olds sing Miley Cyrus.

look what I got!

So today was the first day back to school. I was visited by Tim Cho. Had a kid who was still drunk from the previous night of partying. Typical day until 6th period rolled around...2 brothers in my orchestra bought me a pair of Jordan's for Christmas. I couldn't believe it!

This event in my life is unquestionably the most random act of kindness that I have ever experienced. I live the best life I could live. 6 months ago I realized I have the best life anybody can have. I have a job I love, a nice car, a simple apartment, some of the best friends in the world, the best family ever, I have talent, cooking skills, an iPhone, nice clothes, good looks, and passion. What more could I ask for?

I use 6 months as a period of time because in this 6 months, I have grown to be the happiest I have ever been. I attribute it to the gratitude I have for the things I have in life and recognizing all of the good that is going on around me. I challenge anybody reading this to realize that you all live a great life, too. Tell people what you are grateful for and really mean it. Do this for 6 months and miracles will happen. Random acts of kindness will happen to you, money will flow into your world, and you will give good vibrations and energy to your occurring world.

Basic Cooking Skills

Basic Pans to have: 10 inch Cast Iron Skillet, 8 and 10 inch nonstick skillet, stockpot, roasting pan, and cookie sheet.

Basic knives to have:
Clever and boning knife (not really necessary unless you like butchering meat), Pairing Knife, vegetable peeler, 8" Chef's knife, and a Steel for the chef's knife. The Chef's knife is the go to knife for any kind of chopping. You want it to be sharp and you must use the steel on it everyday. Don't go cheap on this one. My Henkle was $90. Be careful of the Henkle's, the best one is made in Zwillisch, Germany. Don't get the ones made in China or America. Make sure its forged steel. Never put it it in the dishwasher.

This is not Garlic powder, but its my house seasoning. This is what I put on all my meat and cooked vegetables. Paula Dean only puts garlic powder, salt, and pepper in her's. Mine has garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, paprika, and cumin (that makes mine have a smokey Mexican taste)

Chicken Stock: Chicken carcass, onions, carrots, rosmary, thyme, peppercorns, and bay leaves.

Yams, beats, parsnips, chicken, rosmary, garlic, onion, and house seasoning.