[Rainer.]

I don't know if where I live counts as the Washingtonian country side, but I live near the country, but not really in the country.

[guitarfan01]

Writing forever and coming up with non-cheapness, Galen adds another hour to his readers' reading, and scares off several.

Ahhh, it feels good to be sitting here, typing, listening to Glass Harp play and jam there way through twenty-nine awesome songs. I love Phil Keaggy. He is such an awesome guitarist, so humble, uplifting, and filled and consumed with the Lord. Daniel Pecchio, the bassist, I don't know as much about, never having met him, but from what I hear, he is similar, and a great bass player too! John Sferra is a mean, lean drumming machine. He hits the tempo perfectly, with powerful and varied rhythms, and is the best drummer I have ever seen live. I hope they'll be playing at the Dallas Guitar Show 2004. They were there in 2001 and it was (and still is) the best concert I have ever been to, musically.

So like I said in my "water" post, I was at the Lighthouse last night for Intermission. The Intermission Band (which I am now a part-time member of ) didn't play last night, because the Edge Band (the group that used to play at a local church's Saturday night service, which has since been canceled ) came to lead worship. The Edge Band is: On rhythm electric and acoustic guitars and lead vocal, Scott; on lead electric guitar, Patrick; on bass, Jack; on drums, I can't remember, arg!; and on Piano, Amy. They used to have a rock-style keyboardist, but he sort of drifted away (from the band, not from God). They are really good, and love to worship God. I took pictures with my new digital camera I got from Grandma last week, but I don't have the programs to transfer the pics to my computer here at home . So the worship was great last night. One song really stood out for me, though. Jack sang it, and the lyrics were incredibly awesome. I asked him about it afterwards, and he told me it was called "Everything" by a band called Lifehouse. Time to check 'em out. Clay, one of the singers in the Intermission Band, and former vocalist for BOMFOG (a local group that was real big about 2 years ago), gave the teaching. He was real honest and just told us what God had placed on his heart, which I really appreciated. He told about his best friend from high school and college, Jay, and about how he (Clay) was always very religious about sharing the gospel with Jay, religious meaning doing it like the Pharisees in the Bible, for the approval of man. Then a couple of years ago, Clay and Jay spent a day together, and Clay realized how "religious" he had been, repented, and just shared Christ's love with Jay, causing Jay to break down and accept Christ. The message, was basically just about how as Christians, we need to be lights in this dark world, instead of keeping our faith and the awesome Truth and Good News of Jesus Christ to ourselves. The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart as well, last night, and pointed out to me how I need to stop just cruising along in my Christian circles and insulating myself from the lost; that I need to go byond the church buildings, beyond the Lighthouse, beyond where I'm comfortable, out to people's hearts, as Clay said last night, "We must flock to people, because they won't flock to us." Two things that will help me here are getting back to school and getting to work, both of which I plan to do next semester. I'm going to turn in an application for Little Caesars Pizza tomorrow.

I lost about two paragraphs just a minute ago, I'm writing this on Notepad, and I was just about to save it when the computer froze.

I was posting about how I have a desire, a beautiful and dangerous longing to play in a band again. Beautiful, because I play keyboards well, and I have a real desire to lead God's people in worship, and see lives changed through my music. Dangerous, because that could lead to my own pride welling up again. The hunger for the spotlight is a powerful foe. I'm beginning to get to the point, musically, where I could go one of two ways, I could either serve God or serve myself. No man can serve two masters, Christ said. Serving oneself is easy, but serving God is the difficult thing, because the choice must be made at every moment of every day, and it requires giving up (what I could see as) rightfully earned praise to the only One who is worthy to be praised.

In other musical news I want to get a new keyboard for rock-style stuff. I already have an Roland electronic piano, but it doesn't have the Organ and other sounds I like to use for rockin stuff. If you've ever heard of Deep Purple, the organist/keyboardist in that group, Jon Lord, is my primary influence. Other influences are Kerry Livgren, formerly of Kansas; Steve Walsh, of Kansas; Phil Madiera, formerly of The Phil Keaggy Band; and just myself, as I play around. Last night, Patrick let me play his Gibson through his amp and pedals, and of course, I went completely blank on anything impressive to play . It was better when Jack let me play his bass, probably 'cuz I was focusing on the music, and not the fact that there were people who might be listening.
This is the keyboard I want, but will never have enough money to get. I also need (read "want" ) an amp for my guitar. And I want a bass. Not to mention all the CDs I want. Hmm, Christmas list time.

MY COMPLETELY SELFISH CHRISTMAS LIST
Musical Stuff
1. New Keyboard.
2. Amplifier
3. Lots of effects pedals
4. Five-String Bass.

CDs
1. Collide by Skillet
2. Payable on Death by P.O.D.
3. Satellite by P.O.D.
4. The Beautiful Letdown by Switchfoot
5. Let It Be... Naked by The Beatles
6. Silence by Blindside
7. Hourglass by Glass Harp
8. Hymnsongs by Phil Keaggy
9. Freehand (Acoustic Sketches II) by Phil Keaggy
10. Special Occasions by Phil Keaggy

Ok, now for the updates on my fam and how we're dealing. We're doing alright for now, I think. The negative aspects of Granddad's death hasn't really sunk in for me, I think. I'm going to miss him, he was a wonderful guy, always loving, and always thinking of others. He was great. Mom apparently flew to Houston from Dallas as soon as she heard about it, and she'll be flying back here Sunday. The memorial service is Monday, December 15, in the morning, Houston time, and Grandma wants me to sing something. I don't know. I need wisdom and guidance, about that, about jobs, about school, about everything.

BUT CHRIST IS ALIVE, SO THAT'S ALL GOOD! It always puts me in a better mood when I remember that.
And as its getting late, I'll stop there. By getting late, I mean I need to start checking other people's journals now.

Galen

[swiminfast]

so you wre actually able to come up with a wish list?

the more i think, the more i see i have all i need.

(except for the movie Pirates and the Glory soundtrack)

but seriously....i love giving mostly! thats the best part! i buy presents for people i barely know, just cause i love surprizing them

[ConceivedInFire]

I hate country water, it smells like cows usually, lol

[GMartin2R]

Originally Posted by ConceivedInFire

I hate country water, it smells like cows usually, lol

lol really? hmm guess that depends on where you go i guess... ranches are different from farms and i live on the latter... :kgrin:

asked him about it afterwards, and he told me it was called "Everything" by a band called Lifehouse. Time to check 'em out.

ahh lifehouse huh? very good stuff. both of their releases are great though i listen to the most recent one more... think it's lifehousemusic.com, yea it is... there should be streaming music on there and also streaming video.

[Braid]

Originally Posted by Braid

Now that I have the chance to come back to your blog and reply to a recent post I can think of nothing to say... except that I will post here tomorrow when I have more time, promise.

I'm late but I have a good excuse Mr. Galen, my brother's birthday was yesterday and I barely had time to finish my schoolwork, check my email and get on here very quickly. before we started celebrating

Anyway, questions:
1. If you couldn't have the name Galen, what would you choose?
2. have you ever used this smilie
3. over your lifetime, how many books do you think you have read?
4. can you speak another language? if so what?
5. are you left or right handed?
6. do you like the new boards better than the old?
7. are you a whiz at computers?
8. you said you wanted a bass for Christmas, do you play?
9. did you watch barney when you were younger?
10. do you like the Paul Colman Trio?

'k that's all for now

[Rainer.]

I've thought about making a completely selfish christmas list, but is just always seemed so completely selfish, so I never made one...

[guitarfan01]

This is just a quick post to let ya'll know that I've entered this month's short story contest (I attached my entry here as well) and now have a thread in the Songwriting forum. Check it out please! Also, my sig will be changing soon. I already have the new one designed, it should be good for certain things, including my rep policy.

Galen

[guitarfan01]

Originally Posted by Braid

I'm late but I have a good excuse Mr. Galen, my brother's birthday was yesterday and I barely had time to finish my schoolwork, check my email and get on here very quickly. before we started celebrating

Excuses, excuses...
Naw, its fine, I'm never on time either.

Anyway, questions:
1. If you couldn't have the name Galen, what would you choose?

I'm not sure, Keith comes to mind... maybe. I really don't know.

2. have you ever used this smilie

[romantic voice] Indeed I have, my sweet. [/romantic voice]

3. over your lifetime, how many books do you think you have read?

At least 1000. Probably more.

4. can you speak another language? if so what?

I can understand and speak some Spanish, and I know the tiniest smidgen of Klingon and Elvish (esp Sindarin elvish). (Yes, I am a dork.)

5. are you left or right handed?

Right handed

6. do you like the new boards better than the old?

Um, I love the new clickable menus, but the new rep "emeralds" need to be changed.

7. are you a whiz at computers?

Nope, I can usually make 'em do what I want, but no whiz am I. Now, Luke, there, is a whiz at computers.

8. you said you wanted a bass for Christmas, do you play?

Oh yeah. I love to play bass, there's an inherent beauty and power about bass that just makes me want to jump for joy. Kinda like a cello. Bass is also a lot simpler than guitar and for me, more melody-oriented. The patterns just flow under my fingers, if you know what I mean.

9. did you watch barney when you were younger?

Nope, unless I was watching it with my little brother as a jaded and skeptical 7-year-old, so yeah.

10. do you like the Paul Colman Trio?

I don't know. I've never heard any music from 'em.

*goes off to rectify the situation*

mmm.... rectifier.

Galen

[tropicana]

Originally Posted by guitarfan01

This is just a quick post to let ya'll know that I've entered this month's short story contest (I attached my entry here as well) and now have a thread in the Songwriting forum. Check it out please! Also, my sig will be changing soon. I already have the new one designed, it should be good for certain things, including my rep policy.

Galen

Wow. You're a good writer.

[ChristinaE]

Originally Posted by swiminfast

so you wre actually able to come up with a wish list?

the more i think, the more i see i have all i need.

(except for the movie Pirates and the Glory soundtrack)

but seriously....i love giving mostly! thats the best part! i buy presents for people i barely know, just cause i love surprizing them

yeah i know..i can never think of a wish list..no matter how hard i try...my little brother was asking me what i wanted and told me to make a list..and I was like "how can i think of a wish list..theres so much i can't even think of one.." rofl! haha!

[GMartin2R]

or you run into my problem... evrything would be too expensive to ask for... $200 and $1800 respectively... :klol: a little much to be asking for. least imo...

[tropicana]

Haha, yeah. All I've wanted for Christmas these past two years is a Godin Signature Edition guitar. I even told my parents what colour I wanted, just incase they felt like splurging on my birthday present. Hey, your oldest daughter only turns 16 once. Let's just say that I must be getting the guitar under the Christmas tree this comeing 25th...

[GMartin2R]

haha well if you do get a nice *read spendy* guitar as a present i will be moderately jealous... lol... i'd love to get an ibanez jem but it was too far out of my price range this year. if i dont buy much this year i may be able to afford it next fall... lol... but yea, you're only 16 once... :kyep:

[Rainer.]

Originally Posted by GMartin2R

or you run into my problem... evrything would be too expensive to ask for... $200 and $1800 respectively... :klol: a little much to be asking for. least imo...

Everything I can think of is at least $150... Of course, I would like to see that 1980's PRS custom 24 under the tree...