Choose your style...

So I'm thinking of taking some guitar lessons in the near future because I have found myself at the point where I'm a bit lost with where to go next. I think regardless of which "school" of playing I decide to follow, I want to be able to develop the skills to move up to playing the occasional lead guitar in a worship band environment. Being able to improvise and bust out the occasional solo/fill here and there.

I have a few Satriani albums en route from Djangos. He's one of the best technical players out there and can really do it all. Here's him playing Satch Boogie...



And here's Surfing With The Alien...



I also find Jazz guitar very appealing. The warm, rich sounds are simple yet powerful. Here's an example of what I mean...

The Power of Christ In Me...

Well, it's been a while since I've really blogged anything other than hockey and music. I guess I haven't really had much time or motivation to sit down and type up anything of much significance.

Tonight I met with 3 friends of mine for our weekly small group/bible study. With the new year, we have decided to make a couple modifications to our previously chosen materials and also to set some new goals. Over the past 4 months we've gone through Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life, a couple bible studies off bible.org on marriage and just over half of Chuck Colson's book, Lies That Go Unchallenged In Popular Culture. I've definitely noticed a change in my life as a result of our study. We've also been doing scripture memory on a weekly basis and that has been such an awesome tool for us. I've found it allows me to really hide the Word of God in my heart for use in my daily life. I have found myself in situations where verses would pop into my head and I would think "hey, I should stop being selfish" (Phil 2:3-4), "I should stop complaining and arguing" (Phil 2:14) or "I should be praying on a more regular basis for the people in my life" (Phil 1:3-4).

After a bit of sharing, I realized how easy it is to slip into a "God routine" that becomes meaningless after a while. Go to church on Sunday morning, pray before a meal, read your bible, join a small group...even memorize scripture. Sadly, some weeks I would be trying to learn the verse for the sake of memorizing it. I'd cram it in close to the last minute and then I'd basically forget it afterwards; a sad resemblance of my study habits for school. Cram and forget.

This week as we reviewed the entire first chapter of Philippians, I could tell which sections I put more effort into and which ones I simply memorized for the week and didn't meditate on the words. The first 18 verses were pretty easy to recall but the last couple sections were tough because I remember I put a lot less work into them the first time around. I think I also need to be careful not to slip into a robotic religious trance.

Lately, I have definitely been struggling with the whole uncertainty of my future - mostly in the form of school and hopefully some form of work afterwards. I think I've finally managed to organize my priorities in the proper order but I'm having problems making sure I get to everything. I find myself at times almost going crazy over trying to figure out how to spend my time...how involved do I get with my church, how hard should I be studying, how often should I be making time to develop and build friendships and what constitutes a meaningful/purposeful activity? After dismissing (maybe inaccurately) that I might have some sort of borderline obsessive-compulsive disorder, I've come to realize it really has a lot to do with my lack of faith and trust in God. I mean really, if I just make sure that I'm following Christ, everything else will fall into place. I don't need to worry about if I have the time or strength to do all these things because if God wants me to do it, He'll fill in the gaps.

I almost never turn my cell phone off. Instead, I connect the charger to it when the battery is running low and charge it while it's still on. This way, I can still use my phone as an alarm clock (my alarm clock I've found isn't loud enough and also I can place my phone somewhere in my room that forces me to get out of bed to turn it off). Anyway, I turned it off and on the other day and I saw the opening message that I had saved when I first got my phone over a year ago. It said "Where is your God room?" I put it in because I had heard/read somewhere that we need to give Him the opportunity to empower us by setting goals and doing things that are seemingly above and beyond what we can manage ourselves. Only then can we humble ourselves and let God work in us in ways that would be impossible.

On the drive home tonight, I was listening to some Casting Crowns and the song In Me was playing off their latest album, Lifesong. The chorus really struck me. The one line " 'Cause I'll never get by living on my own ability" made me really think about my own life. One of my favorite songs is Surrender by Marcus James. It's like i'm trying to do everything on my own strength again and not trusting in the Lord. Maybe it's time for me to resurrender everything and let the power of Christ work in me...

Guitars and Hockey

So this Christmas break I've spent a ton of money on myself; with the largest expenditures coming in the form of musical gear. I bid on an amp on eBay and surprisingly I won it. I've never won anything except those "buy it now" auctions even with sniping.

Peavey Classic 30:

1x12 30W Guitar Combo Amp
A fantastic amp for blues or vintage rock. 30W RMS into 8 or 16 ohms. 12" Blue Marvel® speaker. Three 12AX7 preamp tubes, four EL84 power amp tubes, and two-channel preamp (selectable with push switch or optional 2-button footswitch). With pre and post gain, volume, 3-band passive EQ, push boost switch, reverb level, and effects loop. Chromeplated chassis.

Features
30W RMS into 8 or 16 ohms
12" Blue Marvel® speaker
3 - 12AX7 preamp tubes
4 - EL84 power amp tubes
2-channel preamp (selectable with push switch or optional 2-button footswitch)
Pre and post gain
Volume
3-band passive EQ
Push boost switch
Reverb level
Effects loop
Chromeplated chassis

Specifications:
20"W x 17-3/4"H x 11-3/4"D
39-1/2 lbs.


After exams were finished I finally went to Music Center Canada and finally put in an order for a G&L Legacy that I've been eyeing for the past few months. I went with the just the standard features...3 single coil vintage Alnico pups, alder body, rosewood fingerboard, chrome hardware, 3 tone sunburst finish, 3 ply white pickguard and white pups. I can't believe I got this custom made baby for the same price as a standard MIA Strat. :O It should look similar to this...

G&L Legacy:

The dark rosewood and sunburst contrasts with the white so nicely... *drool*


My fantasy teams have been doing pretty well as of late. My four Sporting News teams are ranked 1250, 17448, 25509 and 53886 out of 210,254; thus putting my best team in the top 0.6 percentile. My yahoo team is also doing pretty well. Nobody had picked up Niittymaki from Philly so I added him to my roster along with Shawn Horcoff to replace the injured Jason Spezza. If I can maintain a healthy roster I should easily win my league. I'm currently ranked 991 worldwide.

2006

New Years 2006 was a lot of fun this year. Not sure if it quite tops off last year where we brought in 2005 onboard the ms Ryndam of the Holland America cruise line. Let's take a look at a quick comparison...


Alcohol Consumption:
2005 - took a bike ride to a Tequila factory just outside Puerto Vallarta. By the mid-afternoon I had consumed shot after shot of tequila (lost count after 10). It felt like I was walking on a ship at rough seas as we made our way back to the docked boat. Then at night they were handing out free champagne. Had maybe 2 glasses before I realized the legal drinking age was 21 in the US. Ooops...
2006 - two very small drinks. One was a mix of green tea and some Lychee liquor and the other was something else. Didn't even turn red.


Activities:
2005 - big downer was not being with friends. Nice dinner, live music and dancing.
2006 - Zoo Years Eve was a bit disappointing. Fireworks were okay but the lights and stuff were the same as last year. Not worth $10.17. Won some $5 buy-in charity poker tournament at a house party. Decided to give the money to Samaritan's Purse and their Pakistan Earthquake Relief fund.


End of Festivities:
2005 - Unfortunately I didn't find too many people my age to enjoy the celebrations. Everyone seemed intent on just getting drunk so i think called it a night by 1 am.
2006 - Was back at home shortly after 2 am. Needed to be up at 8 am for church.

All in all this new year came with less of a bang but was still fun nonetheless.