music

Hi, I am here to help and be helped. I am a good listener and am glad to try to help people with their problems, or just to listen.
What help do I need? Well as you may have read, I and my friend Bill are putting together a duo, but our material is so dated. Who can suggest current songs that would work for a duo? I play acoustic guitar and Bill plays the electric baritone guitar (That is kind of a cross between a bass guitar and a regular electric guitar).
Also, I have started putting together a website for the duo. We are called Out Of The Blue. The web address is http://www.geocities.com/dmac896/. It is bare bones as I am not yet an expert with HTML. Any suggestions for the page or suggestions for different host sites would be appreciated. Any HTML tips or learning resources would also be appreciated.
Hope to hear from someone!

It's been a...

It's been a while. Well I've finally landed a job after having been out of work since last August. It's only ten minutes from my home! It's also on the second shift, from 3:00 to 11:30. That's ok with me because I'll have time during the day to do things around the house that need doing and also to do some more rehearsing for the duo that my friend Bill and I have started.
I have been reading random journals for a while and there seem to be so many younger people writing journals full of venomous anger, confusion, self loathing, apathy, great beauty, brilliant writing, unique perspectives. I am so facinated by many of them. In so many cases I just want to reach out and hug these kids and tell them that it's going to be alright. I want to protect them from all the things that hurt them and make me afraid for them. I have raised three children and each of them have made me proud. I want to understand what makes these troubled kids troubled and try to help them.
If anyone reads this and would like to talk, I'm here for you.

Had an interview...

Had an interview today at a company close by...about 25 minute drive. It seems to be a good fit for me. The person interviewing me was very impressed with my credentials and we seemed to hit it off. I hope this one works out.
Yesterday was the Lifeteen Mass for Super Bowl Sunday so the congregation was comparatively small. But we played and sang very well. We got the people singing along with us. It feels so good to use my talent for the glory of God. I thank him for blessing me.
My mother's house is getting closer to the closing. She died in September and we are finally getting near the end of the process. Still have to finish the cleanout....broom clean they call it. Then when all is said and done, we should be able to pay off all our credit cards!! What a feeling that will be. Haven't been debt free since I was a young man. Of course now I have to manage the money and try to make it grow. Any good investment advice out there?

kids

I just finished saying bedtime prayers with my 13 year old son. What a joy it is! After prayers we talk about things. He reminded me about the bedtime stories I used to tell him and his older brother and sister when they were young. That was such fun. I would go in completely unprepared and make up a story on the spot. They still have almost photographic memories of them.
The bond of love between parent and child is a miracle. It is joyous, spontaneous, unconditional, sacred. It is heaven on earth. It is the garden of eden. I remember not wanting kids because I didn't want to invest my love in themonly to have themgrow up to think of me as old and in the way and not respect me as I had seen happen with my brother and my parents and in other families. I didn't understand the power of love. What you give you get. I remember their births, how I cried with joy as they took their first breaths and cried for the first time. How I held them for the first time and felt an overpowering wave of love fill me.
I love you God for you are love and I have tasted it and it is good.

Easy come easy g...

Easy come easy go. My new job lasted 4 days. A new record for me. It turns out that I should have acted on my first impression of the company and not accepted the job. I wasn't experienced enough in the areas they were looking for, so they let me go today. Their job interview process needs vast improvement. They never should have hired me. I am glad that it didn't work out, though,because I was very uncomfortable having to ask a lot of questions and getting exasperated, pained expressions with the answers. So now I move on to bigger and better things.
My passions are writing and performing music and teaching religious education. I'm sure that I need to combine these somehow in a way that will pay me a living wage, and keep me spiritually and emotionally balanced. Any ideas would be very welcome.

VATICAN CITY (J...

VATICAN CITY (Jan. 24) - Pope John Paul II criticized the media on Saturday, saying they often give a positive depiction of extramarital sex, contraception, abortion and homosexuality that is harmful to society....
"All communication has a moral dimension," his statement said. "People grow or diminish in moral stature by the words which they speak and the messages which they choose to hear."
Thank you your holiness.
My old band had a get together last night because our old drummer, who had moved to Ireland 12 years ago, was in the area and wanted to see us all. It was great fun, lots of laughs and reminicences. One of the things he talked about that stuck with me is that the spread of American culture is like a tidal wave from which there is no escape. When he comes back to America he finds it astonishing the amount of choices that we have here. You can go out at any time of the day or night and find just about anything you want or need. He said it is getting more and more like that in Galway and it is not necessarily a good thing. He went to Ireland to reduce his stress levels. The American culture that is rapidly expanding over the world is so loudand crass and manic and corrupt and overbearing and rude and greedy and sleazy.....The voices of moderation and peace and righteousness and simplicity and humility are drown out by the tidal wave.
So thank you Pope John Paul for your words of wisdom and your use of the new technology to spread the word.

OK fo...

OK four days on the job and I'm ready for a change. My boss is not exactly the most warm wonderful person. There are some things in this job that I need help in understanding since I have no experience in a few areas. When I ask him for help, he gives me a pained expression of exasperation that makes me feel like I am ruining his day. He treats people like they can never measure up to his standards. I have received not one word of encouragement or praise. I found out on the first day that there is a 30 day trial period that I was not told about. So my every move and action is being examined under a microscope. I do not feel at all comfortable working there. I am actually glad about the 39 day trial because I can hold on for a month and then when they let me go, I can find something else or finally get around to making music my vocation.
I had a gig tonight at a local club. It was great to let the tension of the week go through the music. Why am I hesitant to commit myself to music as a career? It's what I do best and love most.
Lord give me the courage and strength to follow my passion

The new job h...

The new job has certainly disrupted my sleeping pattern. I now go to bed around 10 PM, then wake up every hour and look at the clock to see if it's time to get up. In order to continue my morning routine of 30 minutes on the stationary bike, I get up at 5AM. ThenI exercise, shower, breakfast and commute.
Beingunemployed for 6 months added a layer of dust to my brain and the new job is violently shaking it off.
My duo gig is still happening and is coming close to conflicting with the job. I have a gig on Friday night at 7PM. This means that I have to drop off the PA system the night before at my partner's house. Then on Friday, I have to drive from work at 5 PM get to the gig at 6:30, with barely enough time to set up, tune up and play. No dinner. And of course I have to get up early on Saturday to teach my CCD class. But I'm still smiling! Oh the things we do for love.

My last day ...

My last day of freedom! Have I been really living it up with wine women and song? Naah. Some mundane chores and then helping my 13 year old son get started on his science experiment. That was fun because I learned the formula for calculating the time it takes for an object to fall a known distance. Go here if you are interested...
http://www.npac.syr.edu/REU/reu94/williams/ch3/subsection3_3_3.html
I am enjoying reading all the journals. There are some very intelligent, well educated people out there doing some great writing. Probing the depths of their minds and souls and revealing what they find. We humans are amazing. God does really good work, if I do say so myself.

Two ...

Two more days until the new job. Not that I'm counting. I found out that an old co-worker of mine with whom I worked for about 20 years at two different companies is also working at the company where I will be starting on Tuesday. That is good news because I like the guy and because I will not be starting out there completely alone. At least I will have someone who can fill me in on the inside information about how the company runs and who to watch out for, and who to have on my side.
Today being Sunday, I will be playing my guitar and singing for the 6:15 Mass. This is the Lifeteen Mass, geared towards the teens of the parish. We play modern Christian music that the teens can relate to more than the traditional organ based liturgical music that I grew up on. I used to hate Sundays when I was a kidbut now I like them because I get to do what I love most.
Yesterday I taught my weekly religious education class. It is a class for young kids that either have no religious training or have fallen behind and need to catch up. The course is kind of an overview of the Church's teaching with an emphasis on getting to know and to believe in and to love Jesus.
Catechism is no longer just the memorization of boring questions and answers. It is much more interactive and interesting for the kids. For me I love teaching because it gets me closer to God and keeps me on the path. It also keeps me in the fight against the spiritually dulling effects of the dominant secular culture.

Toda...

Today my wife and I and my 13 yr old son spent most of the day cleaning out my deceased mother's house. We rented a 20 yard dumpster and threw into iteverythingfrom the house that no family members (my sisterand brother)wanted and that were thought not worth trying to sell.
She died in September and we have already gone through all the personal effects and taken those items that have a special meaning.
It was not as difficult now as it was a few months ago. Then, I would go to her house with the intention of cleaning up, find some item that triggered memories of some kind and end up spacing out for hours.I felt incapable of starting the clean-out because it felt like I was dismantling my whole life.

Ou...

Our oil burner went bust today. I was taking a shower and could not get any hot water. Of course we just happen to be going through a record breaking cold wave. Right now the house is getting to be rather cool. The repair person is supposed to be here before 5PM. So I'll wait and hope for the best.
The new job starts on Tuesday not Monday as previously scheduled. This gives me another day to stress out about it. That's OK though, stress can be good for you as long as recognize that it is self-created and controllable. It's like stage fright. In my first band when I was in high school, on one of our first gigs, I was so shy that I played the entire gig with my back to the audience. I could not face them knowing that my every move and sound was being witnessed and judged. I finally realized that I was in control of my sound and that as long as I had confidence in what I was doing, which I did, I could allow people into my world and they would appreciate what they were hearing. So I have confidence in my qualifications for this job, the company wants me, so there is nothing to stress about really, except that it is all new people, environment, procedures to get used to. So be it. Later people