funk

Im sad that AI is over, mostly because i dont have anything on tuesdays to watch and that i have nothing easy to write about. I'll be writing a review of this season in a little bit, just like i did with the play, just give me some time.

I just wanted to share how i have been lately,

I have been in a night class a couple times a week and i really don't like it, i mean i love people, but i have recently realized that it takes me a while to get comfortable with people i don't know if i do not have an outlet to talk to people, like in my public speaking class this semester i didn't have many friends to start off so i was really uncomfortable and quiet for a while, and then when i started the play this year for the first few weeks i really didn't talk to anyone, showed up, made some small jokes, and then left after the acting part. Anyway the class is kinda like that right now, im in the back of the class and im pretty quiet except some jokes here and there that get people to laugh, which is always a good feeling, i just usually wait for an opening to start really talking to people and i haven't really got that yet, i think thats because of my Confidence, when my confidence is high ill talk to any stranger on the street, but its been low lately.

Speaking of it being low lately, my confidence fluctuates a lot, which if you know me really well you will know that but otherwise i like to pretend im confident, with the crispy clothes and the fo-hawk, but really im terrified of being vulnerable because im afraid people wont like that, and no words of confidence seem to do me good, oh well, it might have something to do with

i havent been that good in my devotions lately, which leads me to realize that i have been in a serious funk lately, in basketball they say that ever team goes on runs, one team will go 10-0 in a couple minute span, then right after that the other team will go 12-0.. well i feel durring the play i had my run and right now though the other team is racking up the points on me, i dont know why but i just feel that way, it stinks, heres hoping i get out of it soon.

alright but to less depressing stuff because i hate depressing people, I made a goal for myself, i am going to play the guitar and sing in front of the church by myself before i leave the church in December for my own job, thats the goal and God willing it will happen, i think right now i will either sing Worlds Apart (Jars of Clay), Clumsy (Chris Rice), or More (Matthew West) ill let you know.

i think i will be planning a lock in at my church probably late july or early august, probably around my birthday which is the 21st so ill let you know, if you are in jr high or high school tell me if you wanna come!

anyway, imma get going to finish watching the Lakers vs Spurs, and then probably doing devotions, be praying i get out of this funk.. anyway heres the Oscar winning song for best original song in a movie its Falling Slowly from the movie Close



enjoy,
arod

American Idol Top 2!!!

This is it, the last week of this blog for the year until next years top 24 again, And what a way to Go out, 2 of the best Idol has ever seen, and if you look at my past blogs it has been either David Cook or David Archuleta the last 10 weeks or so as my favorite, because they have been amazing, from Shop Around and Hello to Angels and Always Be My Baby, they have been fantastic, my favorite of the night was by Archuleta, here it is:

(Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me)

I usually do Great, Good, So-So, and Bad (or sometimes i put weak) but this week i am unable to do that as they were both Great so ill talk about them.

David Cook - Ok here we go. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For was exceptional, this guy is talented, i felt like if any other season he wouldn't have to worry the prise would be his. The Second song was nice because it showed his rocker song with Dream Big I kinda got that Hello feel and thought he did the most with the song that he had. His final choice was The World I know, and althought i love the song and i love DC i thought he coulda picked a better song than he did, it didn't feel like it captured all the emotion he possibly could have, His first song was by far His best of the night, and his last was probably his worse, with that said He is an amazing artist, i think he shoulda did Billie Jean again, but you know what, he is who he is and he will make it big if he doesnt win.

David Archuleta - Archuleta came out strong just like Cook, with Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me and it was the perfect choice, it was not as slow as some of his other songs, it picked up in the middle and had the most emotion i think he has shown all season (which is a hard feat because he is always emotional), he then Sang The fans song The Best Thing and even though it was cheesy and all He sang his mind off and made us believe those notes, He ended the night with Imagine He did this before of course and it might have been the best of the season so i knew he had to do even greater here, and he did, he hit a couple notes he didnt the first time around and changed up the ending, good good idea, loved it,

Im glad both contestants are so humble and know that both of them deserve to win, my favorites have gone home already and so i don't have any bias anymore, i love both these guys and feel they will both have super stardom, so here we go.

Your Runner Up-
David Cook

Your Next American Idol -
David Archuleta


i'll be happy either way though


enjoy,
arod

Year in Review

I decided to look back on this year because last year was one of my worst i have ever had. At the beginning of the year i remember asking God to give me a good year and continue making me into the man of God that he has planned for me. I feel this year has been my best that i have ever had, which is a big contrast to last years fiasco, so to help share my experience, here is a little Recap:

I had one girlfriend, and two or three almost girlfriends, I worked at Wal-mart the first semester and it was awesome, i worked with some of my best friends and was moved to the Electronics department which was a pay raise and more responsibility.

During that first semester i took some apologetics class which Rich Grassel that was awesome and then a couple other classes i didn't exactly like, however i did have a Com class that i got to speak a lot which as sweet.

I started to volunteer at the church i am still at, which was my old church that i really did not want to be at, now i am Leading a small group and the worship band and speaking once a month which is amazing. I was a leader on a retreat and even learned how to play drums for the band, also i had my first opportunity to sing in front of the church with my boy hunter which was amazing!

I made up with a couple old friends and one of my old mentors, which was amazing.

I got to play a long DnD Campaign with those guys which was awesome.

I got to play on an intermural basketball and volleyball team, and even started a game on the basketball game which was awesome.

I played Bass AND gave my testimony at the Geneva easter event, which was one of the best experiences of my life.

I got to see my brother Graduate!

I got to go to 2 different court hearings (neither because i got in trouble hah)

I tried out for a play and a musical and ended up getting parts in both. The musical was more recent it was South Pacific, which i am not going to take because i want to focus on my church. But the play was The Legend of Pocahontas, i got a role playing Thundercloud and had about 35 sets of lines, it was crazy good, more then that i got to hang out with the people out of the play a lot because we had 17 shows so i really got to hang out with them a good bit. I made all kind of friends all ages and i think i did a pretty good job and more then that i had fun and am definitely going to do more plays, especially next years Youth theatre.

I took on 18 credits this semester and did not get below a B in any of those classes which was boss! Specially cause some of those classes sucked...

I probably got chances to public speak about 20 times which was great.

I also grew really close to God, I made a lot of mistakes with different things that i struggle with, but all in all i grew more and more into the person that God wants me to be, and plans to be, and as this school year ends and the summer begins, i can say that between learning Drums, playing Basketball, being Thundercloud, and public speaking God has made this the best year of my life so far.

enjoy,
arod

American Idol Top 3!!!

Ok, ill admit it, it took me a while to actually watch this episode, partly cause i had other plans so i had to tape it, also because my boy sadly went home last week and i was crushed, so with Jason Out of the picture i came in with an open mind to pick a favorite, and wouldnt you know it? Its a David.. not sure which though, heres my Favorite of the week from Cook:

(I Dont Wanna Miss A Thing - Aerosmith)

Great
David Cook - Three songs this week, wow, i could see Jason just getting stressed out over thinking about it and you could tell the singers were stressed too, also tonight i saw them not taking the criticism from the judges seriously, probably cause they didn't wanna be affected by the next performance, Cook seemed like he was a little sick or something the first two songs, they were both GOOD but not Great and the judges saw that, but it felt like Cook had a wild card to throw out there and he did! I Dont Wanna Miss A Thing is easily in the top 5 of the season, as randy would say BLAZING MOLTEN LAVA BURNING HOT! He definitely won round 3.

David Archuleta - Kind of a weird week for him, but he can sing anything. The first song my Billy Joel was phenomenal, he defiantly won round one, The second song was With You and i thought it was going to be horrible, but i loved it actually, i mean sure it was fast and we aren't used to that but you cant say he doesn't try, i mean he did too faster songs for Neil Diamond week and then here, he opened the top 24 fast, so i dunno, but anyway i loved his voice on it, and a lot of people say he shouldn't say "boo" cause he isn't black... Well, thats racist.

Good - No one.

So-So -
Syesha Mercado - I think she is trying to dance her way into the finals, which probably will not work, her songs were all pretty much the same theme, they sounded like copy cat versions of the songs, she didn't take any risks and she focused more on her dance moves then her voice. Good job.

Bad - No one.

So With David A wining round one, No one wining round 2, and DC wining round three, that means that we have a tie, and the only way to resolve that is with the finals.

Bottom Two -
David Archuleta and Syesha
Going Home -
Syesha, easily
Runner Up -
David Cook
Winner -
David Archuleta

Yeah i dunno why i put David Archuleta in the bottom two tonight and then winning next week, i just think that DC will have a hard time toping tonight and Archuleta will have the bounce back vote, you know when your fans think you are in danger so they go crazy voting... just my thought.

Enjoy,
arod

American Idol Top 4!!!

Wow, what a weird week, people crying for no good reason, the rocker getting out rocked, and my boy jason going completely out of his mind (and do not get me started on Lebron James going 2-18 in the field and only losing by 4 points! ahh!). Oh Well, only a couple more weeks of this madness left and that makes me said, what am i gonna write about? My little life, ah, maybe. Anyway my favorite of the week was one of my old favorites.. either way it was going to be Archuleta but i loved Stand by Me so here it is:

(Stand By Me)

Great
David Archuleta - He came out strong with Stand By Me, where he changed it up a bit which is always good to do on this show, and then he rocked the socks off of it, i knew their were music for everyone their and he picked perfect songs. He followed it up with a very sweet Love Me Tender song originally by the King Elvis Presley Himself, I think he sang that one very well and i was happy with his high notes, he def went for the girl vote this week more then ever, singing write into their hearts.

Good
David Cook - I really thought he was going to steal the show tonight, but he didn't, neither song had his usual amazingly great quality, but they were still good, the first song Hungry like the wolf is probably one of my favorite great rock songs and i think he did good, even though it did not get amazing reviews, the second song Baba O'Reilly wasen't great, it was ok, but i think the judges liked it more cause he yelled and used the guitar, they love that stuff! Haha but all in all He did good.

Syesha Mercado- Ok, i want her off more then anyone alright, i think she is boring and i do not like her voice too much, thats just personally though... sorry... anyway... with that said, Proud Mary was not very good at all, and Change Is Gonna Come was fantastic, i hate to say it but that second song was powerful, i wish she coulda went lower on that song, but it was still great, i wish she didn't cause i big 5 minute extra talk session with the judges afterwards.. that was kinda weird.

bad
Jason Castro - I hate to skip so-so and put him here, he is my boy and i voted a ton for him tonight, i think he came out with the first one (I Shot the Sheriff) and tried to have fun with it, i loved the vocals but the performance was not very good, i have no idea where it came from either it just wasn't him, it was really strange! The second song was actually much much better then the first, Mr Tambourine Man, the only thing was he lost his lyrics, and from then on it was a cover your face kinda feeling, he let it get to him this week and i think the judges have been brutal this year, we saw Ramielle and Brooke Crack before him and this week it was Jason, at least he could take it in stride and leave us with a very memorable quote

Simon to Jason: What were you thinking?? (after the first song)
Jason to Simon: I was thinking... BOB MARLY! (HAHAHAH!)

Results
Bottom Two - Jason and Syesha
Going Home - Jason (i hope his fan base comes through and he has Votefortheworst.com on his side this week!)
Runner-up - David Cook
Your American Idol - David Archuleta is putting himself into too many peoples hearts not to win, that last song captured any girls heart out their that didn't already belong to him.

enjoy,
arod

We're all a little crazy,

How did i get here.

I have one semester left at Geneva College, i have 7 classes right now and might get A's in all seven of those classes. I have good friends, i know i have talents in a variety of areas: public speaking, music, acting, and relationships (to name a couple). I just got out of a play that i did 17 shows and i feel i did an adequate job, more then that i made friends with people of all ages that i feel should last a life time. I work at a church that is taking me on as an intern where i get to lead worship from the drum kit and speak once a month, i am 2 weeks away from the end of this semester and summer all together. And i have this horrible feeling boiling up inside of me.

I do not know how to explain it but i feel lost, overwhelmed, self-conscious.

All those things above scare me more then help my confidence... what if i do fail all those classes, what if my friends leave, what if i fail at all those things i am supposed to be good at, what if people from the play do start hating me, what if i graduate and take on a job and i am no good at the act of being a youth minister, i was looking at job openings today and was reading one in new castle and i got terrified thinking about the possibility of failure. My two friends are starting to plan their wedding (i wish the best to them) but that again terrifies me, 1. Will i ever find some one. 2. i am deathly afraid of marriage, because part of me believes if i get married ill get divorced.

Fear, it is a funny thing, sometimes its rational, like when you are afraid of a large bear that is about to eat you whole, but it sometimes is irrational like when the stories of the Bogey man become all to clear in your head... I do not know which fear could accurately describe how i am feeling, but i will tell you this, i am afraid. Of what? of everything.

Maybe i won't succeed as a pastor, or a husband, or a friend, or a musician, or an actor, or a speaker, but i am confident that i can sufficiently love people, and so that's what i will do, that's all i feel sometimes i can do, so I'm going to love the hell out of people (take that as you will) and i know i am not perfect, i am a youth ministry major that is late to classes, probably lies in those classes in an attempt to get better grades, and might have a slight problem with swearing, but i guess that's what makes me human, i guess this whole fear thing makes me human too, which is all a bit crazy, but maybe.. just maybe... we are all a little bit crazy.

"The north Wind doth blow
and we shall have snow
and what will poor robin do then, poor thing
he'll sit in a barn
and keep him self warm
and cover his head with his wing." - Ester (Lily) - from Pocahontas.

enjoy,
Arod