Family Reunion.

Well ladies and gentlemen, this was a very special weekend for me. I don't want to forget this either so I'm writing down what i recall so i can look at this down the road. I spent a wonderful 2 days with my moms side of the family. The Brackets and the Ramsay's. I don't see these guys half as often as i would like, but the Brackets do get together on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas tho. The Ramsay's however are a very rare occasion. I only see them once on the Memorial weekend. Every year me and my mom drive up around 3 hours to the tip of New Hampshire, basically Canada, to go to this annual family reunion. To some that seems like a long drive, but me and my mom have done so many road trips that our perspective on "a long drive" is very skewed.  Haha. It's time to see my extended family, but also the ride up is a time where me and my mom just kind of catch up on each other. We talk about all the struggles and questions we're going through (the majority of mine lately being about girls. Go figure. :P) and we talk about the stuff that we're learning and growing in. It's a wonderful time. This year we stopped at this legendary pancake place called "Polly's Pancake Parlor". This place is literally in the middle of nowhere. But it's been around since 1938 and people come from all around to eat there. I got whole wheat coconut pancakes and they were beyond tremendous! Then on our way up we stopped to see an amazing person that i wish i saw more of, Heather Patrick. She gave us a tour of her church and the teen center they were working on. There vision is amazing! Another hourish later we made it up to Colebrook. This town has a population of around 350. Such a random little spot, but a great place to collect your thoughts. First thing was first. There are these mud races that happen every year the Saturday that we come up. It's super redneck, but there literally is nothing else to do there at the time. Haha. Seeing the family again was so refreshing. I've missed all my uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins very much. A bunch of us all spent time together the day before the reunion. I got to talk with a bunch of uncles and great uncles that i haven't ever really gotten to sit down and talk to before. It's amazing how everyone has a story, and I've found that no matter how different you are from someone you can always find something you can both relate to and talk about. Before going to bed we took a drive to a place called "Moose Ally". At dusk a bunch of moose come out and you go looking for them on the side of the road. We only saw one this year, but at least we saw one. :) The next morning me and my mom performed our ritual of waking up early and walking to Dunkin Doughnuts with whoever else is up at the time. After that we all went and had some breakfast at a local diner. Now this year the reunion was a bit different. My third cousin had passed away and he grew up in that town so they held the service and buried him there. It was amazing how many people came out to the service in such a small town! He really made an impact in his circle. It made me think. How many people will come to my memorial service when it's all said and done? How many people will I have reached out to and left a legacy behind in the people I came in contact with? It really all depends on me. What i do with my time that i have been given and the way a treat the people around me will determine what is left of my story when it's all said and done. It's almost inspiring. The reunion was a great success as always. I cranked the hand crank for the home made ice cream (The rule is that you don't get any ice cream if you don't do your part in making it), I played a little frizbee and some ping pong, and I stretched out of my comfort zone and talked with some new people that i had never made the effort to go meet. It was a phenomenal time. Already looking forward to next year. :)

Quote of the day. "What we do in this life echoes through eternity". The Gladiator. (corny i know, but it fit and I'm kinda tired, so go easy on me. :P)

Scripture of the day. Matthew 5:16 (Pleeeease look it up! Thanks.)

Colebrook, seriously off the grid.

Week 3 Summed up. Goals for this week.

Well, it's week 3, and my good friend Gavin Kondo has officially left the state. I'm getting ahead of myself, but I wanted to start this thing by saying that I miss him already, we've seen each other at our best and worst, we know things about each other that no one else does, we've done some of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard of. He's an amazing man of God and any state is lucky to have him there. OK, now for the recap of this past week. Me and Gavin went on a one day road trip to NYC! (If you want to know more details there's a blog about it somewhere on here. :P) Me and Gavin went on a 2 mile hike both ways. When we got to the top it started pouring, and didn't stop until we got to the bottom. Yes, we hiked down a mountain in the pouring rain! The best part was we weren't complaining at all the entire way down! Me and Gavin went through a drive through Burger King without shirts on. This was after the hiking thing so our shirts were soaked. I took my brother and Kirsten's prom pictures. There wicked cute together. :) Saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It actually was pretty good. They've just made so many that it's beginning to get a tad old, just sayin. Me and Gavin saw a moose! Allot of New Hampshire people haven't even seen one! Went to Boston with Gavin, my parents, Kirsten and Amanda. Saw it all and got Gavin a new hat. I got some bubble tea and had my mom try it for the first time. Her face was a wonderful thing to see. Haha. Went to Newbury Comics to get Gavin some mustache combs for his friends in Texas. Went to 5 guys burgers and fries with Gavin (Gavin, if your reading this, i put lemon juice in one of your catsups and never told you. You're a champ sir. :P). Right after 5 guys i took Gavin to the airport. Ended the time we had together with one of our oldest inside jokes then turned around and left. Very appropriate way to end it all. It was a very eventful week that's for sure. I've decided that with these recaps I also want to set personal goals to accomplish for each week. So here's some that i can think of: Start the day off reading the word before anything else, get on facebook only once a day, practice piano and guitar for at least a half an hour. Finnish packing up the random stuff i don't need in my room. Read at least one chapter a day of the book I'm reading "Chessmen of Mars". Well, that does it for this one. Next week should be fun. I'm going to the very top of New Hampshire for this once a year reunion that me and my mom go on every year. I'll tell you guys about that later. Take it easy guys. Until next time.

Quote of the day: "We could buy so many things with how much sense we're making". Me and Gavin Thedangman Kondo.
Scripture of the day: Proverbs 26:28 (Probably one of my favorite Proverbs.)

The beginning of a very unique friendship. Haha.

NYC (Longest Day Ever Pt. 8)

Well, so much happened yesterday that I decided to blog about it simply so I'll remember all of it in the future. Most people don't go for just one day in New York City for the simple fact that there is so much to see, but me and my friend Gavin have taken at least 5 road trips together this year alone while i was in Texas, and while he is on my turf for a couple weeks it seemed only appropriate to do at least one. Neither of us had ever been to NYC before, so we came in with no expectations of pre-conceived ideas. We left at 5 A.M. and officially parked next to Central Park at 12. The park is amazing! I've wanted to go for so long and I was so glad that I finally got to. There was some filming going on for a movie and there was a violin player just playing her heart out on the side of the road. It was just a very entertaining, but relaxing place. First thing was first tho. We got some pizza from a hole in the wall pizza place. We figured if we were going to visit here we would eat places that we can't eat anywhere else. Then we decided to fit the stereotype of people who come to visit NYC and started heading for Times Square. I have never felt more like a country boy in my life! Everything was just so big! It's different when it's all tangibly surrounding you. We stopped at the majority of places we passed. M@M World, The Apple Store, Toys r Us, Carnegie Hall, Lego Land, BB Kings House of Blues, The Hershey Factory Ext. While we were in Times Square we saw the naked cowboy. Apparently that's a more rare thing than we thought it was. When my brother went for 4 days he still never saw him. He kinda looked like a jerk tho. Just sayin. At this point in the trip while we were in the thick of Times Square I realised that I forgot my memory card for my camera at home. So i was only able to take around 16 picture with my camera, but in all honesty it was ok. It was kind of nice just walking around not feeling obligated to shoot everything and simply enjoy the scenery and my friends company. We went to a Cold Stone ice cream place. It was my first time so seeing them make the combination in front of me on a literal stone was very impressive. Not to mention it was absolutely delicious! After that we started getting tired so we decided to take a rest and watch a movie in the Regal Theatre in Times Square. I know that no one ever goes there to watch a movie, but frankly we do what we want. :P After that we started heading for the Empire State Building, but on our way we ran into Radio City. This place has significant value to me because one of my favorite albums of all time "Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live at Radio City" was recorded and performed there. Just being at the building where it all happened was one of the most memorable parts of the trip to me! I became so inspired in general when i saw it. :) When we finally got to the Empire State Building we were both very tired, although neither of us would admit it. So we took our pictures and started heading back. We each got a pretzel because Gavins' mom said that we had to get one for her. Those things are sooooo salty! They are designed to force you to get a drink or just die. Haha. So i got a peach tea Snapple and Gavin got a Mountain Dew. As we started making our way back to the general direction of the car we went a different way than we came. So we saw the Museum of Natural History, Julliard, this mall that i am having trouble remembering the name of. But it was the most high class mall i have ever been to. The majority of the stores i didn't even know the names of. And we saw Beacon Theatre where Adele was perfroming that night. As it got darker Gavin was looking for a souvenir shop, something you would figure would be easy to find. Well it is... If you look in the touristy places. We looked allll over in allll the wrong places for quite some time! So after awhile we just decided to go back to Times Square where we knew we would be guaranteed to find one. Gavin got stuff for his family while we were there, I had been doing the same for my family while we were walking around all day. We finally got back to the car and made it out of the city decently effortlessly, that has half to do with my friends outstanding navigating skills, and half to do with my considerable driving skills. Haha. It was a long drive back, but we took our time intentionally. So many people get to caught up in "the destination". Going somewhere specific to the point of the journey being nothing but stressful and considered almost a waste of time. The reason i love traveling with my friend Gavin is because our mentality is "We're here. This right here is our destination." It's such a simple consept, but when you decide that the journey IS a large portion of the destination, travel becomes a whole new experience. Started the day at around 4:30 A.M. May 19th, ended the day at 4:45. A.M. May 20th. Longest Day Ever Pt. 8. (Oh, and for those of you who actually read this whole thing, the entire time pretty much while we were there we were talking with Christopher Walken accents. Yes, we are those guys. Why this happened and when? Neither of us could tell you. :P)

Quote of the day: "Roads are made for journeys, not destinations". Anna and the King.
Scripture of the day: Psalms 119:105

It was so awesome seeing the building. :D

Week 2 Summed Up

Well this week has been decently eventful when i think about it. I took my friend Gavin to the water park that i pretty much grew up in and worked at for 7 seasons. (and it wasn't even open yet. I have connections. :P) I took Gavin to see the house i grew up in. I went with Gavin to see Hampton Beach, Short Sands And Long Sands. I took Gavin up to Maine to see the lighthouse. Me and Gavin got ice cream at my favorite ice cream place ever. Lago's. Me, my brother Steven and Gavin went to a local show to watch my friends band play. Me, my Dad, Steven and Gavin went to Maine to set up the dock, see my cousins and go four wheeling. I heard a great message about not letting God just be an option in your life. I also got to play keyboard and sing on the worship team that day. Saw fast 5 (which was ridiculous, but still fun.) Saw a great friend of mine Heather Patrick and had lunch with her. Skyped with some people from Texas (Which was awesome!! I miss them so much!) I found out that me and my friend Gavin playing Lego star wars together is not a good idea. Haha. And i wrote a song for a friend. The weather has been kind of lame lately so it seems like we've barely done anything, but that's just in comparison to what we wanted to do with the whole week. But there is more fun times to come for sure. Take it easy guys.

Quote of the day: "The anthem of the majority is 'i did it my way'". Pastor Henry.
Scripture of the day: 1 Peter 1:13-16

My friends band that we saw this week.

A Day of Reflection (The Results).

Well it was very interesting going for a day without looking into the mirror. It's one of those things that you aren't aware of how many there are until you decide to make a conscious choice not to look into them. There were at least 7 mirrors i was running into on a regular basis at my house. There was also a bunch at the restaurants, gas stations and stores that me and Gavin walked into as we explored the east coast by the beach. The thing i noticed that was very interesting is that the majority of the time, whenever people encountered a mirror, they took at least 2 seconds to stop and double check themselves. Whether it was fixing there hair, checking there makeup, fixing there outfit ext. People on average take any opportunity they can to look at themselves and check how they're doing to see if they meet the expectations they have for themselves. I was talking to my dad about this today and he said something very profound. He said that we are designed to reflect and check ourselves, but we've become far more aware of the physical aspect of life and not checking our reflection spiritually. And our spiritual mirror is the Bible. It was very interesting but very true. Now that my little experiment is done i still find myself purposely not looking into every mirror i cross, and i should be looking into my spiritual mirror far more than physical ones. To wrap it up people, don't size yourself up to a stereotype that media and the general population as set up, or you'll find yourself screwed up. Just sayin. :P Until next time.

Quote of the day: "I'm bigger than my body gives me credit for" John Mayer.
Scripture of the day: James 3:2 (Look it up! Do it! You won't! :P)

Yes I'm aware that I'm a dork. Thanks for noticing. :P

A Day of Reflection (A Day Without a Mirror).

I enjoy conducting social experiments and mixing things up from time to time. So I came up with an idea for a little social experiment on myself. I'm going to go for one day without once looking at my own reflection. Why? Well for me I don't have a real problem when it comes to vanity and my physical appearance, but like most people in this world I am still my own biggest critic. From time to time I'll catch myself looking in the mirror and critiquing myself. The majority of the time when this happens I'm observing the flawed completion of my skin or the fact that I wish my teeth were naturally more white. When I really started paying attention to myself I found that those are the main things that I identify my reflection with. So tomorrow I'm going to remove that factor out completely. I'm sure I'll find it very therapeutic, but at the same time a struggle. We all measure ourselves up to something, but is it the right thing? I'll tell you about how it all goes when the day is done. If you'd like to take a day with me please do and let me know how it went for you. Ironically I'm naming this day "Reflection Day". A time to take a break from the mirror and really reflect on how God sees me. It'd be kinda fun to do this with other people and we all see how it went for us individually. No pressure tho. ;) Until next time.

Quote of the day: "It's not so much what you look like, it's what's inside that he can't stand". How to Train Your Dragon (It was just to funny to me to pass up. :P)

Scripture of the day:  Proverbs 23:7 (It's really good! Look it up!)

 Pablo Picasso "The Mirror". What do you see when you look in the mirror?

Week 1 Summed Up

Well, it has officially been one week since i got in the car and drove to New Hampshire. So I'll give you a brief overview of the things i found to be the most memorable:

Drove from Dallas to New Hampshire (packing the car was a miracle in itself! Drove in a rain storm the whole first day. Had some epic conversations with my mom about what's next for both of us and all that. Listened to one song from one artist for each letter of the alphabet). Wrote a new instrumental song when i got home. Spent a morning hanging out with my good friend Ally making a cake and spending time with the kids from her neighborhood. Got my friend Gavin from the airport. Saw Thor! (Loved it! I felt like more of a man after watching it!). Had a game night in Manchester at my friend Ian Johnsons' house (And won dramatically at Cranium). Exposed Gavin to real maple syrup, home made ice cream and a ton of mom n pop restaurants in general. Got a great word in an amazing service that i wrote about previously. Took the scenic route through the white mountain national park. Got seriously blessed with a new amp, CD changer and tower speakers! Went on a photography adventure with Gavin Kondo and David Peetz in downtown Concord. Jammed in the church sanctuary with my friend David Peetz on the drums. Hung out in 2 out of the 3 major malls in New Hampshire (not really something to brag about...). But the main part of the time that I've been here has really been about the amazing things that God has been showing me and Gavin while we've been here. There is a brand new kind of maturing, almost an equipping for the next step in our lives. It's really amazing thinking about the concept that you will never know everything, there will always be something more to learn and develop in your personal life. So continue to humble yourself, be open minded and be ready to be proved wrong from time to time. :P Until next time.

quote of the day. "Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it" Matt Poole.

scripture of the day. Proverbs 11:13 (yet again, I'm gonna make you look it up. :P)

The Kangamangus Highway. :)

Carrots, eggs and coffee beans.

I heard a message at my church yesterday that absolutely blew me away! The main theme was about change. Change is a natural thing. If a 3 year old never gets any taller or develops in there personality more then something is wrong. Same with our lives in general. When change comes, the unknown follows. And when something is unfamiliar it can lead to challenges, even trials. But, how do we respond to the trials when they arrive. My pastor described it to us this way. There are 3 pots of boiling water. One has a carrot inside, another an egg and the last ground coffee. Now the carrot used to be strong and firm, but after being exposed to trials (water) it grew soft and weak. The egg was once fragile and innocent on the inside, but after being in the water it grew hard (it looked the same from the outside, but when you dug deeper, only then could you see a difference). The coffee did something the other two didn't. Instead of it changing, IT changed the environment that it was in. The coffee was actually at its best after being through the trials! So, how do we respond when change and trials come? Are we like the carrot. Strong in ourselves relying on no one, not even God? Because there is only so much we can take on our own before we become weak. Are we like the egg? Pure and innocent, until trials come and our defense mechanisms come up and we become hard so that we don't become hurt. OR are we like the coffee? When trials come that is when God shines through us the brightest! The flavor of God should emanate through us when challenges come! And instead of us conforming and breaking under the pressure, the environment we are in (our area of influence) actually can see a significant change in the atmosphere when we are in it! Let God drive. He actually knows where we are going, and He is our strength when we are weak! He is the provider, the one that is the answer no matter the question. Until next time my friends. :)

quote of the day "Be the change you want to see in the world"
scripture of the day. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (yes, I'm going to make you look it up. :P).

          

And so it begins...

Well. The summer has officially started for me. I got a little head start from most because my school year ended on the 1st of May. I have been in Dallas Texas for the past 2 years and have made some friendships that i will never forget and will not let go of, but now it's time for the next chapter. I literally just got back to my home in New Hampshire last night after 2 long days of driving with my mom. I love her company and the music was good, but after awhile nearly everything gets old. I will always be learning new things, but now it's time to begin implementing the things i have learned. I will be making more music this summer than i have ever made in my whole life combined. By the end of May i will have Pro Tools, and because of some extreme amounts of favor i was given thousands of additional sounds and loops to be able to experiment with! This month of May my friend Gavin Kondo is coming from the place i just left to spend two and a half weeks with me and my family. It will be a very exiting time without a doubt. I will continue to keep you guys updated on what goes on in further detail. I just now finally got all of the sound files off of the external hard drive. That was a solid two and a half hours... But well worth it! Until next time.

Scripture of the day. Romans 8:1-2
Quote of the day. "don't let your talent take you where your character can't keep you".

                       Getting all of the sound files onto my hard drive. So exited!!! :D :D :D