Ryan!

Challenge Accepted!

And here you are posing with one of your favorite things, cheese!  Yes, oh yes, if you know anything about Ryan, he likes cheese.  Or maybe pumpkin pie.  Gosh!

You know, I never knew how tricky it was to get construction paper to rip in curves; the grain is really strong horizontally.  But it came out alright!

This was a great project, thanks for the idea!  There’s some behind-the-scenes material that I’m putting together for this, but due to “technical” “difficulties” I won’t be able to get it up today.  I plan on having it up by the end of the week!

Enjoy and see you TOMORROW!

Tsk tsk tsk. For shame, Christopher! Before I expound upon your next project, allow me to produce my own. Here is a poem that I just wrote to reflect my feelings about my very busy weekend.

Fire and Water

Water leads to the demise of fire.
Or does it?
Have you ever seen a drizzle
dowse a fierce flame?
Of course not.
A petty sprinkle
only urges on the blaze;
It is the music
urging it to dance on
and on and
on.

But when a wave crashes
an unexpecting party,
the flames quickly submit
to the overwhelming
suffocation.
Even embers cannot last
amidst the pools
of exhaustion.

But thus is the nature
of heated passion
and its dangerous relationship with
its friend and enemy.
Though it may have the potential
to perpetuate the fire
indefinitely,
Beware the waves
that rise inevitably from
the ocean of life.

We must protect our flames.

*bows* And now, Christopher, for tomorrow’s project you must…create a portrait in my image. But not just any portrait. You may only use construction paper. Ripped up and/or shredded construction paper. You may use what adhesive (if any) you like in order to put and keep it all together. GOOD LUCK TO YOU SIR.

No ifs, ands, or buts about it, I didn’t finish my project on Friday. Burning it up in the first week! Aww, peas!

Ryan, I’ve really enjoyed what you’ve been doing so let me know what I’ll be doing… for next week. Until next time…

OH CRAP! I uploaded my submission yesterday on YouTube and forgot to post it up here! D: The date of uploading will vouch for me!

Anyway, I kind of broke my own rules on this one because I had originally told myself I wouldn’t use anything I’ve already written…but that was before I thought of this idea. I’m forgiving myself since I 1) have never done a video with multiple parts included, 2) had to learn how to play the bass, and 3) managed to play all those parts in one take. All in all, I had a ton of fun doing this, so hopefully you enjoy it too!

Hey guys!

I had a bit of an off day today, leaving me feeling a little bit out of the creative mood, so I went for a walk through the neighborhood late at night.  Even though I’m in the city, what struck me–and I just didn’t realize (or forgot)–was how beautiful everything was, especially with the faint mist of the night carefully blurring the horizon and giving a bit of color to everything around.

I didn’t have a lot of time to put this together, so there really aren’t any lyrics (although I do quote Thoreau…).  I tried to capture, with the music, the mood of how I felt while I walked around tonight.  It was a feeling of pure presence, a kind of patience that I haven’t felt in a long time.

As for the song, I tried to focus a bit on tonal quality, which is something that I don’t really have a lot of experience with.  I was going for a lo-fi, ambient sound.  Have a listen!

Ryan, I really enjoyed your song yesterday!  Have a great night!

Unlocked

So until I figure out how to actually just put the media into this I will supply a link to my website, where my first submission is located. BUT I DID IT, YEAH, DAY ONE COMPLETE! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! *high fives self*

If anyone is familiar with my work, you might notice this piece actually includes sections of my songs Multidimensional and Social Machine. Mixing up my own songs is something that I had never done before, but I wanted to start out the project with a little introduction not only to myself as a person, but to my music, while throwing in original elements as well. Since Honest Man in a World of Liars (the album my songs come from) is an album strongly focused on self-empowerment, I figured it was the perfect fit for this project. Do you agree? Good. 😀

I already have a few more ideas for coming days; can’t wait to get going on them!

Lyrics:

I don’t know where I want to go, but I know how I want to get there.
I wanna be good at what I do, but getting better? Well now I don’t care.
If motivation is a door, it’s got way too many locks:
procrastination, fear, and doubt self-conscious thoughts create the blocks.

And it’s our job to find the key, but we don’t know where they could be.
So we keep searching desperately to find the answers, to be free.

The world that we live in is multidimensional.
I can do a 360 and every degree
shows the straight lines of life lead to infinity.
The lives that we choose just have so much potential.
Though the blinders are dark there’s a light from within.
You’ve got to ignite those flames before you can begin.

I’ve been around the world and back even though I’ve just been standing still.
I’ve been through brightness and through black but somehow I’ve maintained my will.
I have endured the pain of love, the kind that ends but won’t let go.
I’ve looked for help from up above but all my words just fall below.

Sometimes we think there’s nothing left, I know what it’s like to feel so bereft.
But we have got to persevere, we’ve got to live our lives being sincere.

I want you all to be the reason your worlds turn.
Don’t be afraid to fall; how else can you learn?
Don’t sit around waiting for things to come to you,
You gotta make it happen!
Don’t let your voice turn into something that you hate,
You’ve got to make a choice, it’ll never be too late!
There’s no excuse to not be something that you love,
You gotta make it happen!
You gotta make it happen.