[fiveminuteplan]

Well, I decided to start a journal, because hey, it sounded fun and alot of people are doing it. My name is John, I'm 21 years old. I live in sunny Central Florida. I play bass and sing in a band called Five Minute Plan, and I drive a car with over 250,000 miles on it. I also work in my own business. I'll try to keep it interesting in here.
My band is recording our third album right at the moment. It's actually our fourth album. We did a 4 song EP a little over 2 years ago, then about a year after that, did another 5 song EP which has never seen the light of day for reasons of not being good. I don't like to let people know that, but I'm feeling vulnerable right now. Back to the timeline, we put out an 11 song LP about three months ago which consisted of various demos that we made for labels and club owners; and now we're doing another EP which will have 8 songs. It's going to rule everyone's butts! But seriously, it's going to be our best one which is a good sign. It shows that we're progressing. We're pretty good though, some people like us. And we almost got signed a couple of months back, but oh, the fickle nature of the music industry!
Anyway, living in Florida is GOOD. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It's nice here, there is alot of stuff to do; and it never snows. Living here for my whole life has really ruined me for everywhere else. Disney World, Universal Studios\Islands of Adventure, and Busch Gardens are all right down the road from me. There are beaches everywhere with all kinds of beautiful women, and the sky is always the deepest shade of blue that you've ever seen (Except for when it's raining which is alot).
I hope that alot of people read this and post in here, and I hope that everyone has a good time. I'll post pics, songs, things that I write, and whatever else that you might like. Here are some cool pics of me, so you can put the mindless ramblings with a face. One is me in the background at a show while my friend Tim the guitar player rocks a solo in the foreground, and a rabid fan flashes the ROCK! symbol. The other is me playing with my niece.

[fiveminuteplan]

So, I see that a few people have looked at this. That's a good sign. I'm happy about it, but so far no one has the guts to say anything. This week went by too slowly. I was sick for most of it, and no one likes to be sick. Consequently, I did alot of sleeping which isn't that great for a journal entry.
We worked on some guitar tracks early this week, but it was a big flop. We couldn't get it together and have no guitar done at all which is a big disappointment. Another big disappointment is that we're going to have to kick our drummer out of the band. He hasn't showed up for practice in over two weeks, and we haven't heard anything from him. This isn't the first time he's done this. He's been on and off lately and we really need someone committed because we're very serious about making music. This really sucks; he's more than just our drummer. He's a mutual friend and has been for more than seven years, but it seems like we've fallen out of favor with him. Not only does he not come to practice or call, but he never hangs out with us anymore and never talks to us. We're not really friends anymore and how can you play music with someone who isn't your friend? You can't. It's his fault, too. We never changed; he did. He was the one who stopped coming around. He's the one who never calls. He's the one who lies to us. He works alot of hours, and is really concerned about getting the green. This is also not conducive to being a musician in case you didn't know . You've got to be all about music and none about money or you're not going to be a great artist. He got engaged recently, and we asked him if he wanted to get out then because of his growing responsibility; but he said that he still wanted to play. Unfortunately, actions speak louder than words. This is just killing me inside. I really wanted to make it to the top with the same three guys that I started with from high school, but I guess that God has something else in mind.
Anyway, we've got some people lined up and stuff. We should be able to put things back together pretty well. The only other thing that happened to me this week is that I saw The Matrix Revolutions. It was ok. Some people will probably hate it, but it's not that bad really. It's not nearly as good as the first one, but how can you hope for something like that?

[fiveminuteplan]

I went to see the Orlando Magic game tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Magic Lost! They're really going nowhere this year. Tracy McGrady is the man, but one star player doesn't make the team as the Get Up Kids once said.
I'm trying to get back in shape by eating right and playing some b-ball after work and stuff. I used to be able to dunk when I was in high school, but I can barely touch the rim now. That really sucks, I'm going to get it together and start playing in some city leagues or something.

[fudrudler]

What Kind of music does your band play

[fiveminuteplan]

We play rock n roll, man what else?!?! No, but seriously we play fast paced rock similar to Weezer or Jimmy Eat World. I like to call it indie rock, some people like to call it punk, but those people are dang fools!!! Anyway, maybe I should include a link for everyone to hear us at: http://www.soundclick.com/fiveminuteplan . It's probably not your thing, fudrudler, if you're a metal head, but we try to rock.

[fudrudler]

you guys sound pretty swell i like a lot of music styleso and that happens to be one of them

[fiveminuteplan]

It's 4am. I'm tired. I've been cutting vocals for the last 5 hours. I am ready to be done recording! The songs are coming out really well, so I guess that it's worth it, but it is so much work when you're recording\producing your own band. There is a rough mix of one of our new songs on our website (http://www.fiveminuteplan.com) in the "Sounds," section. It says NEW!!! next to it. We officially got rid of our drummer, so if you're a drummer in Central Florida, then give me an e-mail or something. I don't know what else to say, this recording is ruling my life right now. Oh, yeah I was recently told by one of my friends that I am depressed all the time. She says that I think too much. I wonder if thinking alot leads to depression? Maybe my friend doesn't know what she's talking about. . .

[fiveminuteplan]

The holiday went well. We were all together, and I couldn't ask for anything more than that really. Life is going pretty well right now. Business is good, music is good, other things. Here's a song I wrote which everyone will have a chance to hear very soon:

Here I am in this tiny room again
It's too early in the morning
And I'm so tired; I want to see your face
I had a dream about you last night
And when I woke up today
I couldn't help but feel so alone as this
Have I run out of things to say?
Or have I said them already

You're the one who keeps your head
Screwed on straight through everything
I'm trying to tilt the axis of this planet
And spin out of control

Days and weeks don't mean anything to you
When you're stuck on numbers and letters
It all turns into a blur
And I'm not so clear tonight
Could you give me direction?
Don't say things you don't mean
And I'll promise I'll listen
I won't take for granted

Don't you think I know what happens
When you don't know anything
Don't think I'm so naive
I'm not ready to let expectations fall

Remember when I didn't make any sense at all?
Are you finding a hidden meaning in this song?
Because there isn't one

[fiveminuteplan]

Life is amazing. My entry last week said how good everything was going, and now it's exactly the opposite. My car broke down, and I had to have it towed back to my house. I'm going to have to put a new starter in it; but I've unfortunately run out of money. Consequently, I can't buy the part. Bills sneak up on you!!! That's all I can say. Welcome to the real world, right?
I sure hope that we can find a drummer. If we can't, our guitar player is going to have to play drums, and we'll have to find a bass or guitar player. Visirale said that he could play bass, and that would put me on guitar; but that would totally change the makeup of our band. We would sound completely different, although I'm sure that we could be as good as we are now, if not better. That's going to take about six months of writing and practicing though. We'll have to develop all new chemistry, and revamp our songwriting somewhat. It all kind of sucks, you spend three years of your life searching for people and building something and then you're back at square one.
I'm in a hole at this point, and I need some Divine Intervention to get me out. I guess that's what it all comes down to; I need God to make something happen. Everyone gets to that point, don't they? Really everything is that way, you can't do anything on your own. I should just be thankful for the two years of work that I put into this band to make us as good as we are. I would have never imagined that we could make a record like we're making now. It's everything that I wanted to do when I first started, but it came at a price. That being the breakdown of a deep friendship between our drummer and the rest of us, and the eventual collapse of our efforts.
I should just be thankful that I have the ability to fix my own car, and that I don't have to pay someone hundreds of dollars in labor costs. I should just be thankful because something will happen. I've always been taken care of in the past, and this will be no different.

[fiveminuteplan]

Well, I've decided to post a song from our new album on here. It's going to be our "single," like the song that we try to get on the radio and stuff. It's called The Cycle, and is the title track of our CD. It's almost the final version, but not quite. It has no vocal harmonies, and the mix isn't quite how I want it to be; but it's so close to the final version that it's almost painful. It's also at a 64K bitrate. Take note of the Van Halen-esqe solo in the middle, our guitar player is the man now. Lyrics:

You're making mistakes and I'm filling up pages
I'm writing these lines under dark cover of night
You're letting days pass unaware of the danger
Of them turning to years, your last hope may turn to stone

But you gave into the cycle long ago
Now you're on your own
And you're searching for the strength to stand alone
But when does life become worth it?

You're feeding me lines but your actions speak louder
You're letting the past hold you captive one more day
Will this ever be over?
I lost interest years ago and all these words have been in vain

You always said that you would rise above it all
And face the world down with the coldest final stare
You always said that you would stand for convictions
That you would die for if only given half the chance

But now those days are long over. . .

[*Rei*]

YAY!!....i decided to come to yours....yes Toad does rule...i use to always play him when we had our Nintendo...he was the best...he could run quicker, jump higher, and he's cute...so that is why Toad rulz.....just thought to share...
^_^

[fiveminuteplan]

It's a sad week. I just found out a few days ago that my close friend's band As It Stands from Orlando is breaking up. They are going to play a few more shows in the New Year and do one final recording and then they're calling it quits. They are actually quite a well established Florida band. They were once signed on South Florida punk\harcore label Distant Rise Records, home of national acts like Lucky 7 and Unsung Zeroes. I thought they would go places, but they've just got other things happening in their lives. I'm going to try to record their new stuff for them.

A year ago, I would have never imagined them hanging it up like this to do the ninetofive. Life has a way of changing people. It makes me scared to think that the same thing could happen to me. Will me right now want to kick me in a year's butt for giving up on something I've wanted so badly? Man, these are things that you don't want to think about! I don't see that ever happening. I mean, I've run the rat race. I've been a pawn for Corporate Amerika for the last three years. I can't imagine me doing that, but will I? You could say that stranger things have happened.

This is the first time that thoughts like this have run through my mind in about five years, since I was a naive 16 year old. I've always been so self-assured. Ask people who are close to me what I'm like and they'll tell you that I'm stubborn, self-relient, confident. They'll tell you that I don't care what anyone thinks, and the outsider will tell you that there isn't a single chink in my armor. Someone who only slightly knows me will tell you that I don't seem to have a single doubt about myself, but I know better. Is nothing a sure thing in life? Can't you will something to happen against all odds? If you want something hard enough, it's bound to happen, right? That's what I've always told myself, but circumstances seem to play a part. . .

Believe me, I'm not one for this type of introspection. I write songs, that's what I do. When I have feelings like this, I sit down with a pen and paper and put them to music and that's that. I move on with my life. But, do you know what the strange thing is? I've been trying to do that for the last three days, and I can't. I can't write anything, ME! I can ALWAYS write something. I have never had writer's block or anything. I write pages and pages. I make up about 100 songs a year, but you can't write music when you sit down and think "What's the point." What's the point!?!? This is so ridiculous. I'm driving myself crazy. Have you ever looked yourself in the mirror and thought "I might look good in a suit and tie, with a briefcase and a cubicle, and a home in the suburbs." That IS what I'm trying to escape, right?

[Jeffrey]

Your lyrics have come a long way from the earliest 5mp stuff I've heard. I'm looking forward to the new disc.

Found a drummer yet?

[fiveminuteplan]

Originally Posted by Starboard Wake

Your lyrics have come a long way from the earliest 5mp stuff I've heard. I'm looking forward to the new disc.

Found a drummer yet?

Yeah, I don't know if you've heard our first EP or not, but it was pretty bad. I wrote the lyrics for those songs when I was like 16-17 years old. And, NO! We haven't found a drummer yet and I'm upset about it. There are a few people that we could probably get, but I'm not sure if we should because they're not Christians, and I don't think that it'd be a good idea to get into a band with a non-Christian. It is basically like getting married. Plus, we practice in a church and play Christian venues and stuff. We're going to have our new CD and it's going to be awesome, but we're not going to be able to play any shows for it .

[fiveminuteplan]

You would never recall my name
If I came up to you on the street
You'd push your way on through the crowd
It wasn't always this way
It's not so easy now
To remember the past
You know it will never last
It will never be the same again

I'm playing witness to your downfall
You're left alone against it all

How does it feel to know
That when you look into the mirror
And look away you'll forget
What kind of person you are
If it was up to you
Would you have ended your life
Those many years ago
On the operating table?

You would have been remembered always
But now you slowly fade away

This is a song that I wrote about this time last year. When I was working as an onsite computer serviceman for Compaq, I met the guy who I wrote this song about. When I called him on the phone to get directions, he told me that he might not be able to get me to his house because he had a problem remembering things. I didn't think very much about it, I just thought that he had a hard time with street names or something. Believe it or not, during my stead in the onsite service field there were quite a few people who didn't know how to give directions to their own home.

Needless to say, I did have a hard time getting out to his place. I had to call him twice more before I finally figured out how to get there. He lived in an obscure part of town which I wasn't familiar with in the first place, and I still had no idea what he was saying when he told me that he couldn't remember directions very well.

He lived in a one-story apartment complex on Lake Apopka. It was sort of a run down facility with all dirt parking areas and rusted stop signs, street signs, etc. It was very hot that day for November (as is the nature of Central Florida) and there were kids playing outside on bikes, and in the lake.

It was quiet as I knocked on the door to the apartment. The man who answered the door had a pleasant smile on his face. He was watching Jerry Springer on the television in his one room efficiency apartment. The repair on the computer was simple enough; I believe that I was replacing a modem. Whatever it was, it didn't require much thought from me, so I began to chat with the man.

I made the usual comments on the weather and so forth, but finally got around to why he had such a hard time with the directions. The man outlined his story to me. It seemed that about a three years before (four years now), he was building a set at Universal Studios. He told me that he was about five stories up when the scaffolding that he was standing on gave way. He fell five stories, and impaled his head sideways on a pole that was sticking out of the ground! The man was rushed to the hospital, put on life support, and (by some miracle of modern science) saved. He told me that he actually died for a few minutes, but they brought him back to life somehow.

Because of this accident, he no longer had any short term memory, had terrible headaches, and at times had problems with his equilibrium. He couldn't work or drive and was even restricted from riding his bicycle by the police because he had repeatedly fallen off of it and was almost hit by a car. He had been working at the convenience store up the street, but was fired because he couldn't remember if people had payed for merchandise or not. There were many people who stole things while he was on duty because they told him they had already payed.

His life now consisted of sitting in his tiny apartment and watching TV. His wife divorced him after his accident, and his kids would sometimes visit him; but not often. I didn't know what to say to him. The man said that he was a Christian and said that he knew that God had a plan for him, and was confident that was why he was still alive. I finished the computer repair and left, still reeling from the sad story that I had just heard. Why had they saved this guy? Why bring him back to life? The man died, they should have left him that way. He had no life, and was living in despair. I became very disenchanted.

I often think about him. He obviously had more faith than me. He knew that God had a purpose for everything, and that's something that we all struggle with even though our circumstances are nowhere near as bad as his. It seems to me that he was forced into a fate worse then death; I couldn't understand why, but he did. I try to think about this whenever I start feeling sorry for myself. Whatever trials I face, I am blessed that I don't have to endure something like this. There is an old saying that says "If everyone threw their troubles into a pile, I would pull mine out."