Day 23 of the thirty-day song challenge

Hey everyone!
Sorry about the lack of posts.
I can't believe that summer's almost over! Well, back to school really isn't such a bad thing for me. The sooner I get my associate's degree, the sooner I can transfer to an accredited engineering school, and the sooner I do that, the sooner I can take singing lessons for a third of a credit per semester. Woohoo!
I finally got my tape recorder to work, and I recorded myself singing. Unfortunately, SOMEONE, I won't mention any names *cough cough Shannon cough cough*, kept interrupting me while she was talking on the phone.
Anyway, I recorded myself playing on the piano and singing "Friday" by Rebecca Black, yes, you heard right, I wrote an accompaniment for Friday, and then I recorded myself singing "My Immortal" by Evanescence. Or at least, the first verse, before I was interrupted for the fourth time.
And you know what's really weird? Well, "Friday", in C, is at the top of my vocal range, the highest note being a G, and "My Immortal", which I sing an octave down because I'm a guy, is at the low end of my vocal range, the lowest note being a low A. And, because I was stupid and didn't warm up, I ended up flat on half of the Gs in "Friday", and was completely off key singing "My Immortal".
But I found it so weird that I did better on a song at the top of my range than one at the bottom. Well, I am a tenor. But I also learned that, no matter how easy a song feels to sing, if you don't practice it, you'll sound like a mutilated porpoise. But I do practice! It's just that I only practice... when there's no one home....
And that's probably once every, oh, I don't know, two months.
So I guess I'm just gonna have to suck it up and practice with my family home. That means that my brothers will have to suck it up when I a) won't let them in the room for half an hour, and b) sound like a mutilated porpoise when I try to learn new stuff, or hit that high A. Honestly, if I can manage to hit a high A, and do it well, the possibilities are almost limitless! I will be able to sing some Nickelback, some Three Days Grace, and "Forget You" by Cee Lo Green without having to go into falsetto! Not that there's anything wrong with falsetto. I use it to freak out my friends all the time!
Okay, so back to the song challenge. I'm actually looking forward to getting back to regular posts again. I mean, listing a song for every occasion is cool, but it's demanding. Meaning that I actually have to think about it. Lazy, I know.
And today is day 23, a song I want to play at my wedding! I don't even know whether I'm getting married, much less the song I want to play at my wedding! But there is one that I know of that is pretty good. And that's "Hold My Hand" by Sean Paul.
Okay, for those of you who know Sean Paul, he's a bit of a misogynist.
"Sexy gal drop it pon de floor," "She want me deal wit her body," "Five-million-and-forty top cuties be shakin' up dem booties".... These are all lines that frequent Sean Paul's Reggae-Hip-Hop beats. And multiple variations of these lines. But I only know most of that because of the liner notes on his CDs. The guy raps so fast, and then uses a combination of Jamaican Pigeon and English that sometimes sounds almost unintelligeble. It's actually quite funny, and often makes me laugh. His new album was more clear, though, which meant that I could actually tell what he was saying, and, coincidentally, the lyrics were much more dirty as well. I didn't really care for it for this reason. However, he does have a few heartwarming ballads about love and dedication to more than just the body of his lover. This is one of them. Here it is:

I hope this is the one with just Sean Paul. I didn't care for the version that featured Kerri Hilson (please tell me I spelled that right).

Well, next time is a song that I want to play at my funeral. That one's wicked easy.
So that should be an incentive for me to post agai-
OH MY GOSH, I got my learner's permit on Friday! Since then, I have been taught in my church parking lot for an hour, have driven to a friend's house, and have driven to and from karate! Winning! But not in a Charlie Sheen sort of way.
Oh, and I'm turning seventeen in a week! I'm so excited! I'm still debating whether to have my friends over like I did last year.
Anyway, see you sometime in the near future.
T-WAC

Day 22 of the thirty-day song challenge

Hey everyone!
As you can probably tell, I'm feeling much better now. Yeah, breaking up kinda depressed me a bit, but we both thought it was for the best, so I'm fine now. It's looking like everythings going to be getting back to normal soon, and we'll be getting back to being friends like we were before.
Oh, and I actually have an excuse for why I haven't posted in a while. I just got home from a trip to North Carolina where I visited my aunt and uncle.
It was alot of fun. After a hellish car-ride, we settled in for the first day, then, on the second day, we went to an amusement park. At this park, they had a roller coaster called "The Intimidator", and my, was it intimidating! Since everyone else chickened out, and my uncle was putting our stuff in a locker on the other side of the park, Banana and I were the only ones who rode it. Now, the last time I had ridden a real roller coaster was nine years ago. I went on one at an amusement park once, and never went back. So this was my first roller coaster in nine years. And what a way to jump back in the water! "The Intimidator" was probably the tallest ride in the whole park, taller even than the skyview tower. Yeah. Pretty doggoned tall. Needless to say, Shannon and I were both quite nervous. After waiting in a decent-sized line, we finally got on the roller coaster, and it slowly began climbing uphill. Now, when things like that happen, I have a tendency to dwell only in the present moment. So I'm not even thinking about what happens next. So I went the hole ride up to the top without panicking. Now, those of you who know me know that I rarely, if ever, swear, and if I do, I use the mildest profanities available. Well let me tell you, the second that coaster started going over the top and I had a glimpse of the bottom, two words escaped my lips: "Holy sh[expletive]!"
The thing went down, and I felt like I was going to fly out of my seat and land on the inviting sylvan turf below the coaster, effectively snapping my neck. And that feeling, along with said two words, accompanied every drop in the track. After the longest roller coaster ride I had ever been on, the car pulled to a stop at the boarding area, and shakily, we disembarked. My face was extremely pale, and Shannon and I grasped each other's hands as we awkwardly stumbled back to the rest of our party. After a few minutes, I reallized exactly what had been flying unchecked out of my mouth, and I felt a terrible sense of guilt, given that I had taught a few seven-to-eleven-year-old children a new word, and one way to use it.
None of the other coasters came close to the magnitude of "The Intimidator", and quite frankly, I think that's a good thing. The rides were thrilling, yes, but I enjoyed them for the speed and the movement rather than the danger of flying upside-down several times.
Then we went to the water park for a while, and took home some free souveniers, courtesy of our dear solar ally. Or oppressor, depending on how you look at it.
My mom bought me a hilarious shirt that I can't wait to show off, and then we left.
The next day, we took a trip to a science museum, and then went to the bookstore, where my uncle bought us all a book. I chose "Empire" by Orson Scott Card, who happens to be the author of "Ender's Game", and "Ender's Shadow", which are two of my favorite books. I guess I wanted to see if he was as good an author without superintelligent children involved. I haven't started reading it yet, but it looks very interesting. Then we went to see "Captain America" at the movie theater. Now, I'm not big into superheroes (unless it's the epic version of the song by Edguy), but this was an amazing movie. And then, last, but not least, we went to "Buffalo Wild Wings Bar and Grill".
Will all of my fellow New-Englanders please stand up. How many of you have tasted the hot salsa around here? Well, our hot is a little bit less than medium in the south.
I'm Colorado born, so I don't have wimpy New-Englander taste buds. We got the hot wings with a side of the hottest sauce in the place. I tried it, and it was amazingly hot. So hot I almost couldn't eat it. Almost. It was one of those times where you look up to heaven during grace, and, as an afterthought, add, "....and thank you God for bleu cheese dressing and celery. Amen."
After the meal was done, Mom bought me some of the hot sauce they used! I am so excited! I can't wait to try it on our next meal with chicken! I got Spicy Garlic, Wild (normal buffalo sauce -- hotter than hot), and Blazin' (the hottest stuff in the place).
When we were ordering, the woman double, triple, and quadruple checked to make sure that I wanted Blazin'. And when I said yes, she just sighed and shook her head as she put it in the box for me to take home. Yes. It is THAT spicy. Lovin' the Habaneros!
Today, after another hellish car-ride, we got home, and that leads us to where we are now, doesn't it?
Where are we now?
AH YES, the song challenge!
Okay, so today is day 22, a song that I listen to when I'm sad. Even more irony! I do a song I listen to when I'm happy when I'm sad, and a song that I listen to when I'm sad when I'm no longer sad.
That's kinda hard, given that I don't tend to listen to music when I'm sad. But there is one. After the first breakup I ever had, now this is years ago, I was absolutely miserable. Because that's what breakups do. They make you miserable. And I had my favorite tape playing, and suddenly, this song came on. And I just started singing along to it at the top of my lungs with all of the passion I could muster. It's an awful song really, and I didn't mean a word of it, but it felt so good to let out the feelings that were bottled up inside me.
What was the song? You're not going to believe this.
I'm sure you've heard of "Weird Al" Yankovic.
....
....
....
Yes, I know that's really weird. You'd expect someone like, oh, I don't know, "Boys Like Girls" or "Mary Chapin Carpenter" or some other artist who sings about breakups, but no, "Weird Al" Yankovic. Unexpected indeed.
Back then, those years ago, he was my favorite singer, and I would listen to his tapes over and over and over and over and over again. This song was one of my favorites, and it's called "One More Minute".

The song is very clean, and actually, very funny hilarious!

Oh my gosh, another random tangent here, Evanescence has returned with a new single entitled "What You Want". One word description: amazing!
You can hear the song here:

Awesomeness, right?
I just heard it today, and already I'm thinking of covering it. I mean, it would be the most recent cover the band has done. Speaking of the band, Josh and Ture are healing nicely, and hopefully we'll be able to get working on my finished song, and whichever ones the rest of our band have finished, as well as our covers of "Everdream" and "My Immortal". I want to get together with our other vocalist and work on the vocals for the two covers for a little bit before working on it with the rest of the band.
Well, anyway, it's getting late, and I've been up since 4:30 this morning, so I think it's best that I go pass out on my bed until morning.
Cheers!
T-WAC

Day 21 of the thirty-day song challenge

"Love's the devil counting teardrops in the rain to the sound of a chalkboard symphony played with nails." -- "Love, The Hardest Way" by H.I.M.

It's unusual for me to begin a post with such a fatalistic quote. I'm sad to say, I'm feeling very fatalistic right now.
I just had a break-up. I'm sure most of you know what that feels like to an extent. So, I really don't have to explain the quote at all.

And, whadda ya know, today's day 21, ironically, a song I listen to when I'm happy. You can probably tell that I'm absolutely thrilled to be doing this day, given the circumstances.
Well, *sigh*, you know the band "Tears for Fears"? They had a few hits in the 80s. Well, they've released music since then, throughout the 90s, and even into the 2000s. One of these songs, from 2006 is one that I always listen to while I'm happy. I actually didn't like it until a few weeks ago. It's called "Floating Down the River (Once Again)".

So, tomorrow's day 22. Sorry for the short post. My brain's about to shut off, and I've written about as much as I can right now.
See you next time.
T-WAC

Day 20 of the thirty-day song challenge

ARGH!!! Epic blogging fail!
Haven't posted in how long!
Anyway, I'm here now. And it's day 20. A song that I listen to when I'm angry. That's pretty hard. I don't tend to listen to music when I'm angry. I do, however, listen to music when I'm frustrated. Not just listen. If there's no one else home, I sing, even scream along with it. I just have to get that frustration out. One of these songs is "Bleed It Out" by Linkin Park. Why do I sing along to this song when I'm frustrated?
I have no clue, but these factors probably come into play at some point:
1. It's an aggressive song.
2. There doesn't seem to be any real meaning to the lyrics. "Half the words don't mean a thing, and I know that I won't be satisfied...."
3. The arrangements are somewhat complex, but it's not as lush and epic as most of the music I listen to. In short, it's more simple.
So anyway, here's the video:

They bleep out the few swears in the video, which is also pretty clean. All I have to say is that this has to be the weirdest barroom brawl I've ever seen.
Anyway, I've been out of the loop for so long that I don't remember what day comes next. Well, actually, day 21 comes next. I assure you, I am an educated individual. And counting is only the least of my abilities.
LOL
Well, see you next time, when, depending on cercumstances, I may or may not explain my extended absense. Well, I probably will. The only question is into how much detail I will go.
I am extremely exhausted right now, and I'm going to drop into my bed and fall asleep shortly, so I'm in no state to decide whether to type which reason for absense, much less actually type the reasons out.
Once again, I apologize for the absense. Hopefully I will be back soon.
T-WAC

Day 19 of the thirty day song challenge

Hey, yo!
How was your Independance day weekend? Mine was absolutely awesome! I started off marching in the Fourth-Of-July parade, which, oddly, happened on the second. After that, I performed in a karate demo with my demo team. And broke my Bo staff mid-demo. That's right, broke it. In half. Snap. Two pieces barely connected to each other. So what did I do? I did my best to finish the form with a broken Bo. Fortunately, my friend's cousin, who was watching me perform, said that the way I did the form, it looked like the Bo was supposed to break. That means I did a good job.
Anyway, we went home, ate lunch, then Shannon and I went to our town's fourth of July celebration. It was alot of fun. Some of our friends were there, so we hung out with them. We danced like fools for most of the time, until they had live music by local bands. Most of them were absolutely amazing. My sister and one of my friends entered a pie eating contest, and my friend won first, while my sister was content to enjoy every bite of the pie, finishing long after everyone else had finished. I didn't enter. Pie eating contests, in my big, fat, ugly opinion (BFUO from now on), are absolutely revolting. I did enter a water-balloon throwing contest, however, and won second place twice, and third once. Not first, but oh well.
Later, something very strange happened. A friend of mine and I... well, we became more than just friends. I'm still trying to comprehend the fact that my friend, whom I've known for almost four years, is now the first girlfriend I've had in almost five years. I mean, it's crazy.
Anyway, later I watched the fireworks with my family, my aunt and uncle, my friends, and my cousins. It was amazing, as always. Then my friend and I sang along with the national anthem, and then, after the fireworks were done, well, we left.
And that was just the first day. Yesterday, I sang at mass at my church, and met the new pastor, priest, and deacon, and then went to pick up my sister at her friends house and spent the day there.
Today, we went to my Aunt and Uncle's new house for lunch, and we saw "How To Train Your Dragon". Now, I'm not a huge fan of movies like that, but I liked this one. The main character, Hiccup, instead of being a perfect carbon copy of every other kid who isn't accepted for who he is, actually had a personality. He was different. He reacted differently to those oh-so-cliche things, such as dissappointing his father, and being looked down upon by his peers. The supporting female character, Astrid, was just like most other female characters in that type of movie: determined, independent, daring, bold, and destined to become the main character's girlfriend for no particular reason. But, because of Hiccup's personality, Astrid had to act different from the normal mold of the female character in order to make the story progress. If you've seen the movie, you know what I mean. I thought it was a good change, and quite frankly, it's nice to see originality in a world which (BFUO alert) pretty much feeds kids the same crap over and over again, but makes enough changes so that people don't necessarily see through it. Anyway, though it did have it's share of cliches, the originality did end up shining through in the end.
And so concludes my long off-topic paragraphs and my unprecedented movie review. And now for our feature presentation.
Today is day 19, a song from my favorite album. Well, let's see.... My favorite album, right now anyway, has to be "Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice, Chapters 1-13" by HIM.
It's an amazing album, one of my favorites to sing along to. And best of all, it's actually mostly in my vocal range, so I can sing along!
So which song should I post.... Hmm....
Y'know, I think that I should post two, because I can't figure out which I want to post.
The first one is "Dying Song".

The next is "Heartkiller", which was the first song by HIM I ever heard. When I discovered it, I listened to it ten times without getting sick of it. It is a good song. Here's the video:

There is nothing wrong with this video, unless of course, you find a creepy man taking off his shirt and showing off his more-than-ample supply of tatoos offensive.

Anyway, I have no idea what's coming tomorrow. A song I listen to when I'm mad maybe? I know I thought that was today, but then I checked and it wasn't.
Oh well.
It's late and I'm really tired right now.
Until next time,
T-WAC