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October 2009 (4)

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

So in my Creative Writing Class the teacher likes to play music for the class. Its pretty cool. I have never had a teacher that would play music really loud during class. There is usually a very wide variety of music that he plays. Its never just one genre or just one band.

There are some songs that are kind of anoying and there are songs that I just cant bring myself to listen to. Its not because they are bad songs though. Songs like Looking Out My Back Door by Creedence Clearwater Revival and some Pink Floyd songs. One song that really gets me is Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. These songs are great songs but Its realy hard for me to listen to them. They just bring up memories that I really don't want to think about while I am around people or in school.

About a year ago one of my really good friends died in a car crash. The driver was drunk beyond the point of blacking out, the vehicle was full. The only other place left to sit in the vehicle was in the back. My friend was drunk as well. He got in the back with one of his buddies.. Both without a seatbelt. The driver decides to do a burnout in a parkinglot of a church but looses controll of the vehicle and they speed out of controll and they go off of an empankment. They ended up hitting a tree. Every one survived but my friend and his buddie. He knew he wasn't supposed to get in the car. He didn't want to. He tried to stay at the party and crash there but he wasn't able to. So that was pretty much his only option.

A few days later I was at his wake. His parents were ther and all of his friends were there. Every one that knew him was there. He was every ones friend. He knew a lot of people and alot of people knew and loved him. My brother was one of his best friends. So he, my other brother, and a few members of The Mary Celeste decided to play a few acoustic songs on guitar. So just imagine your best friend laying in a coffin just five feet in front of you, all his close friends, all of your close friends, all crying, while watching your brothers and friends try to play Looking Out My Back Door by CCR and Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd without losing it. I havent been able to listen to those songs the same way since that day. Every time I hear those songs it makes me want to break down.

POSTED BY: Kevin Strand AT 03:27 pm | Permalink | E-mail this

Friday, 16 October 2009

Zombies!

What if zombies were real? What would you do?
    Well it really depends on what kind of zombies they are. There are a few different kinds of zombies. There are zombies that come out at night and hide during the day; kinda like the zombies in the book I Am Legend (Good book. Way better than the movie). They are pretty much zombie vampires. And there are zombies that just don’t give a fuck. There always out and about trying to eat people.
    I haven’t really given this situation much thought but after reading I Am Legend I pretty much know what to do. In the book, the guy has every thing all planned out. During the day he goes out and looks of food, ammunition for his guns, gets gas for his car, and tries to send out radio signals to try to find other people that are not zombies. And at night he stays in his house, drinks a lot, and listens to music really loud. I would do pretty much the same thing. But to keep myself from being bored and from losing my mind I would go out and hunt zombies. I have the perfect zombie killin tools such as a machete, chainsaw, shovels, and a ton of baseball bats (metal bats work the best, they last longer than wood ones). My favorite weapons would have to be the machete and the baseball bat. When using the machete there is only one way to get rid of the zombie. Cut the head off. Its the best way to know if a zombie is dead. And The baseball bat is for some one that wants to get their anger out while killing zombies at the same time. You pretty much use the same tactics at the machete. Go for the head!
    There are some rules that you need to follow in order to keep from getting eaten. I recently discovered these rules when I went and saw the movie Zombieland. There are a lot of rules that you need to follow to keep yourself from being eaten but there are a few that are very important. Cardio: This one is very important. Stay fit. Fat people cant run from zombies. Double tap: This one is more is a must know. When killing zombies make sure it is dead. Shoot it twice in the head if you are not sure that is dead. You don’t want to shoot a zombie and start celebrating and have the zombie come back up and kill you. Kill with efficiency: Use guns only if you have to. Guns run out of bullets so when you are being chased your best bet is to use blunt objects, and things that will for sure destroy the brain. These are only a few out of millions of rules to follow in case of a zombie apocalypse. There is actually a zombie hand book that tells you every thing you need to know about that kind of shit.
    I don’t really believe in zombies but if for any reason there happens to be zombies I know pretty much got it covered.

POSTED BY: Kevin Strand AT 09:48 pm | Permalink | E-mail this

Thursday, 15 October 2009

Favorite activity...

If I were to write about my favorite activity I would have to write about being a drummer. Being a drummer is a blast. It’s probably the funnest instrument to play. Being a drummer requires a lot of skill. You have to be able to be doing many different things at one time. You also have to be able to appreciate all kinds of music.

Appreciating and listening to all types of music, form jazz to heavy metal and every thing in between, helps when it comes to building my drumming vocabulary and skill. I try to listen to and play all kinds of music and try to incorporate what I hear into what I play. I used to only play metal but I realized that only playing one style of music for so long makes your drumming kinda boring. I listen to music that I don’t really even like, like rap and country to try to improve my skills; that rarely happens though. I mostly listen to classic rock, heavy metal, and a lot of funk. Those are just three out of a million different genres of music that I stride to perfect. Almost every day I go home and look up drummers on You Tube that play those styles of music and study the shit out of their different styles and techniques.

I am constantly listening to music. I listen to music all day every day. When I listen to music I don’t just listen to it, I pick it apart and study all of the different beats that are being played and I try to apply that to the way I play. Sometimes I will listen to a certain band or song over and over again to really get a feel for how the drummer is playing. Then after I listen to it enough times I will sit down at my drums and jam out to that band or song and try to play it note for note. Then once I have gotten it down I will try to put my own spin on it.

Drumming is more than just a hobby for me. It has become apart of my every day life and has become a life style. Eventually I want to either be in a band that actually goes somewhere and make some money for the music that we make or go to school and study all the different styles and genres of music.

POSTED BY: Kevin Strand AT 01:33 pm | Permalink | E-mail this

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

Homework

I usually never do homework. I don’t really like the idea of it. It's right to go to school for six hours then go home to do more work in my free time. It’s stupid. I usually never have home work though. But there is one teacher that insists on giving us homework. We usually don’t have a new homework assignment every day though. It’s usually a few big things that we have to work on every day like reading a book, blogging, or taking notes on stupid articles….

Honestly I have not done any homework this year. One day though, I decided to actually try to do some of that work. I came home from school around 3:30ish and sat down on the couch and got all of my work out and started working. After I got into it said in my head… “Hey this isn’t so bad. I am actually getting shit done.” It was a good feeling to actually be accomplishing something. I was kinda really boring though. After about ten to twenty minutes of work I started to fall asleep. I didn’t think it would hurt too bad to take a little nap so I did. I figured I would wake up in an hour and go back to work. That didn’t happen…

I woke up about ten hours later at like 1:00ish. I was fucking pissed! I actually wanted to get shit done but there was no way I was going to stay up and do any more work. Plus I still had to take a shower and let my hair dry and try to go back to sleep. This has happened a few times actually. Every time I try to do any homework I fall asleep. So I pretty much said fuck it to homework.

POSTED BY: Kevin Strand AT 04:05 pm | Permalink | E-mail this