Runnin on empty

There’s a time when I want to sprint so fast that I’m able to run along the walls on pure intertia. Or momentum. Or whatever latin/greek physics term applies to pullin a jackie chan.
Jackie chan is such a beast. This dude is literally older than my mom, and can backflip around like a maniac.
Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that I want to be able to accomplish something without the actual fuel or measurable energy needed to make it happen. Like people who are able to pull off getting into places without paying, or accomplish a lot with half the effort. It’s not laziness. In fact, it’s the complete opposite. I want to be productive, I want to be efficient. The best analogy is the simple machine, like a pulley. One is able to accomplish more while inputing less.
This relates to a sermon series my pastor was applying these past few weeks (before the whole church flew to D.R. for Josue’s wedding). Basically it’s about power vs authority. Someone possessing power has the ability to buy a jet and fly in it. A person with authority is a lot cooler. He gets jets brought to him. For all we know, the dude is broke. In fact, the highest government authority in this country, the President, lives like a king, but his salary is actually less than a surgeon. But can the surgeon command an army? Probably not.

One alarm

It has been about 7 years now since high school graduation for me. I'm 25 years old right now, (scary to think someone might be reading this s decade from now) and the high school life is far behind me. I have since spent 5 yes living in Boston attending Berklee College of Music, and some time living in Jersey City working and producing. I recently started a job working the usual 9-5 mon-fri thang, and it wasn't until this week that I realized how drastic of a change it was for me. Let me explain.

In high school, my schedule was pretty consistent. School started at 8:25am, let out at 3:05, then had band practice til 4pm. I spent my weekends and off-time either at church, or doing homework. This was actually the same routine I followed since I was 4yrs old. For twelve years this was my life until I moved to Boston. Everything changed in college.

In college, I had classes scheduled that would start at 1pm, would last 2hrs, followed by a 3hr gap until my last class at 6pm. Maybe the next day I had all my classes piled up Mondays, and was busy from 9am to 9pm. Some semesters I purposely avoided scheduling classes on Friday so as to ensure I always had a 3-day weekend. My schedule was as inconsistent as a retail employee. And on top of all this, I worked jobs to pay my expenses. My alarm in the morning was my scheduler. Some days I could sleep in, other days I could not. I had a different alarm setup for each semester.

When I graduated college, this didn't really change much. I would either schedule time to meet with an artist for production, or had to get up and work whatever day job I may've had. The worst was working at UPS. I'd get home after midnight, was in bed by 3am. I'd wake up at noon, to then spend 3 hrs doing whatever I had to do to, and then was back on the bus heading out to be at work by 4. It was horrible. It felt like living at my job. And my home sucked.

And finally, after years of schedule craziness, I can finally say I only have one alarm in my phone. Sundays church starts at 9am, as does my (current) job. This means waking up at 7:30 every morning with only Saturday as an exception. It's week 1 for me on this normal American-style rhythm. We'll see how week 2 feels.

"Ghetto" Christians

There's this thing goin around with Christian artists, particularly in the hip hop genre, that feel the need to cater to the "ghetto" culture that is often associated with rap and r&b, by wearing clothing endorsed by Hot97 fools and speaking like the idiots on MTV.

What bothers me more than anything is when ppl think that "ghetto"-ness is a culture that He is ok with. God doesn't hate hip hop or rap or baggy pants (or tight pants). As far as dressing like an imbecile, that's perfectly fine. As far as my personal opinion is concerned, check out http://bible.us/1Cor6.12.NIV --

"I have the right to do anything," you say—but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything"—but I will not be mastered by anything".

Anyway, if something looks "ghetto" to you, it means that it was birthed on ignorant principals. The jews were locked up in towns by the nazis and fascists in small "ghettos" so they would be ignorant to what was happening in WWII. Do u see a parallel in what "ghetto" really means?

Ghetto means confinement. It means you're stuck. It means you have nowhere to go, this is who you are, this is who you will be. You will continue to have a limited knowledge of what matters, you are boxed into a place of hopeless ignorance.

I HOPE this is not you... Right?

"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ." -- http://bible.us/Col2.8.NIV

How to get Audio/Video off a YouTube vid

Josh Ortiz (awesome keyboardist, plays w/ me in the Mari Solis band. Check it out on http://MariSolis.com) asked me how to get audio off a youtube video. It's not the first time someone has asked me, and cuz I dont feel like answering this question more than once so im posting it here lol.

If you need audio, complete all these steps. If you want the whole video, u can kinda end at step 3.

Step 1: Copy the YouTube video URL. Try to search for the best quality version u can find.

Step 2: visit http://KeepVid.com where you can paste the URL into a bar and the website lets u download the file. I'd choose the highest resolution available.

Step 3: Get MPEG StreamClip. It's an audio/video converter/extractor/player. It does pretty much everything so it's just a good app to have. Also it's free and legal. Get it here: http://www.squared5.com/

Step 4: Open MPEG StreamClip and do File > Open Files, and locate the file u got from Step 2.

Step 5: As soon as u got it open, u can click play to make sure u opened the right file. Now go do File > Export Audio. Choose whatever format, change AIFF to MP3 or whatever if u want. (AIFF is higher quality and really should just be used if ur making a musical production or whatever.) Otherwise MP3 will be just fine. Make sure u name the file something u can remember.

You're done :-)

Benjamin again

Benja: Did you know that spiders are like octopuses cuz they both have 8 limbs?

Me: That's cool... Is an octopus a fish?

Benja: no, they have their own family

Me: yeah, like the octopus family

Benja: No, the Cephalopod family.

Me: Oh.

On the train

Haven't written lately. The reason is because i haven't really been riding trains. That's usually when I'm sitting and my thoughts are louder than my surroundings. I'm usually alone on a train, and there's no way of calling anybody with no cellphone signal, so I just write. The reason why I haven't been taking trains is simply because I no longer have anywhere to go anymore. Doors aren't being closed anymore, they're being destroyed and turned into walls. That's a big fear of mine. To be caught in a riddle of a life. Like that riddle that asks: what would you do in a room with no doors, no windows, and nothing but a table and a saw? The answer: cut the table in half. Put the halves back together. Two halves make a (w)hole. Jump in the hole and escape. Hahaha. Ok goin to church now. Bye, blog.

semicolon

Benjamin asks me
"hey what's that thing that looks like a comma with a dot on it?"
He was asking about the semicolon. " ; "
I told him it's like a comma and a period at the same time.
"You'll use it when u get older".
He says "how much older?"
I answered... "old".