Phat Smile =:o)

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Saturday, August 4th, 2012 (Happy Birthday, Marc!!)

Six months into my Music Business Bachelors Program, with Full Sail University, and I feel so fortunate to be learning so much about the ever-changing music industry. I guess you could say, I never considered myself a fan of the "typical school system", and I reckon most people who are musically or creatively inclined, would probably say the same… Yes, I just used the word "reckon", regardless of how it's really supposed to be spelled… That being said, I could not be more thrilled with this whole concept of online education. I'm able to work at my own pace, which is really fast & way too slow, all at the same time, anywhere I want to haul my laptop, and can function in the peace and quiet of no one's company, while I study and learn. Thank heaven people started listening, when enough students kept saying, "Hey, we all learn differently, and this system you've built, to help us learn and grow, is making us stupider with every passing day!" I love online school… And you're right, "stupider" definitely is not a word.

Over the last three months, my wife Michelle and I have been living in Las Vegas, to be near my family, while school, for most folks, takes a break. My conclusion is that humans were not designed to withstand temperatures above 100 degrees. For some reason, I'm having flash-backs of my mission in Mexico, where it was easily 125 degrees on a regular basis. During those 2 years, I lost 25 pounds of solid muscle & still haven't located where they went. Vegas isn't quite that hot, of course, but 115 the other day was plenty, especially since there was no a/c in my work truck for a while there. Gotta love the good ol' temperance process. Emphasis on "temp". I sure do love the occasional breeze, on the way from the anvil, back into the fire… All in all, this has been a great chapter spending time with my family.

My attempts to start applying what I'm learning in school are going to start becoming more and more evident. I seek to learn what I need to know, so that I can promote my original music, and hear it being played somewhere, anywhere other than the inside of my skull. Any of you musicians know exactly what I'm talking about. There is such a rush of peace that comes over a musician, when they are able to witness the materialization of one of their musical creations, simply because now they know that there has been formed, a new, small space for something other than the song which occupied that spot, for the last 5 or 10 or 20 years or so. Ultimately, us musicians seek only one thing: Mental Freedom. It's a blessing to have a slew of constant symphonies going on in your head at all times, but for the most part, all we ever do is occupy our thoughts with how we can devise a way of making the pieces tangible, so that others can listen to them for a change. The ones that have shown a bit more aggressive reservation, have been a few of my pieces on the piano. Now that I have a new video camera, which also has a built in studio-recording device, I no longer am able to find any more excuses as to why I don't have a bunch of stuff on youtube… Ready to roll.

So here's to the journey of mental freedom. The previous thousand words or so, should be evidence enough, that my level  of mental freedom is currently quite limited… But not for long. I endeavor, with all my heart, to find myself recording in the studio, full-time, freeing my music and speaking from the depths of my insides… And I see it becoming a reality much sooner than later… Here's where the phat smile sets in.

=:o) Mahalo

Bent