Brief

Wow. It's been a while. A lot has been going on; that's probably why I haven't had time to blog. Mostly it's just been trying to keep up at school (or catch up, most of the time). Some other cool things have been happening, too, though. But of course, I don't have time now to go into that. Next week should be better for blogging, b/c it's the end of the semester!

God bless y'all. I'll talk to you then.

Songwriter contract

So a couple weeks ago I found a website for a company that promotes songwriters to major labels and artists in Nashville. They said they offered free critiques of songs, so I uploaded four of my songs. Last week I got a songwriter contract in the mail from them. Apparently what they do is make professional demos of songs and pitch them to recording companies and artists there in Nashville. So I would just need to pay them to make the demos and wait to see if anyone is interested in recording the songs, I guess.

The main reason I'm skeptical about the whole thing is that it seemed too easy. Do they make this offer to everyone who sends them songs? Because the fact that they record a demo and supposedly pitch to these companies is no guarantee that anyone will even listen to it, much less want to record it.

I did also get a message from a Christian musician promoter here in Wichita that said that "Worth it All" was a great song with a lot of potential. So that was encouraging. Maybe I should go ahead and pay for the demo of that one and see if I hear anything, if there is any interest in it.

My other concern is whether this would be an exclusive situation, if I did pay this company to market any of my songs. I don't want to be tied to just one company without knowing that they're really out there working hard to find someone to record my music. I really just need to read the fine print, look more at their website and probably talk to someone on the phone before I decide to do it.

So anyway, big things to think about. (Actually that's not the half of it, but the rest will have to wait for another blog entry.) Life is busy; sometimes I'm having a hard time keeping up with all the things I think I ought to be doing. But God is faithful. It's all going to work out for good.

Peace, y'all.

The Golden Compass movie

OK, I'm going to take a break from my normal blogging practice of just talking about myself and my life. This past week I found some information online about the upcoming movie "The Golden Compass." If you have a few minutes, check out this website:

http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

In a nutshell, it's based on the first book in a trilogy for children by Philip Pullman, an outspoken atheist who seems to advocate the complete abolishing of religion, since he believes it to be nothing but a source of oppression. He passionately hates the Chronicles of Narnia, and his trilogy is somewhat of a humanist's response to them.

Obviously I'm coming from a different perspective than his, but there's one thing that really dumbfounds me. I actually stumbled across some quotes from Mr. Pullman some time ago when I was doing some searching online about The Chronicles of Narnia. One really stuck out to me. As I recall, he basically said he thought Christianity was supposed to be all about love, and he didn't see love as a theme anywhere in the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. So apparently Aslan volunteering to die so that Edmund doesn't have to doesn't seem to be a demonstration of love to Mr. Pullman.

I can understand a person believing that Edmund's situation is not a true picture of our situation in the real world, that we are not in need of salvation. So I can see someone saying that C. S. Lewis' story is manipulative for that reason. But I can NOT understand anyone saying that the story is not a picture of love if you take it at face value. And Philip Pullman seems to be revered as very intelligent and intellectual. How can people accept statements so preposterous and continue to esteem his logic and assertions?

I DON'T GET IT.

Well, thanks for taking the time to listen to my venting. God bless you all.

Another week down

Well, this was an easy week at work. Monday was a white day, so I just taught the same lessons I had taught the previous Friday. Tuesday through Friday, we did standardized testing, so all I had to do was take the kids to a computer lab, give directions to log on, and watch them take the test. Plus I took Tuesday and Wednesday off, so not only did I not have to work, but I didn't even have to make up lessons for a sub. That's a good week, for sure. Helpful for catching up on grading, too.

So, with my days off, I am almost completely unpacked in my apartment. And it's only been three months since I moved in! That may be a record. Well, not really. It makes me feel better, though, not to have boxes sitting around in every room. I can actually get to ALL the furniture in my living room! So thanks to my dad for helping getting all my books and music unpacked and on shelves in at least a semi-orderly fashion. And clearing out several other boxes that were half-empty or just needed to be put in closets.

Yesterday I started doing some exploring online about music publishers. I found one website that says they do free critiques of original music, so I sent them some of my songs. Hopefully I'll hear something from them; I've come across websites like that before that never responded to my emails or submissions.

So lots of positive and encouraging things are happening. I am blessed, for certain. Blessings on all of you, as well.

New blog

Hey, everybody. I'm on my new blog now, but as you see, my webmaster T kindly transferred the blog entries from my Myspace here for me. Things are still busy at school. The grading period ended last week, so I have to have all my grades entered by 7:30 tomorrow morning. I've got almost everything in, thankfully.

Lately I've just been keeping my head above water. Last Sunday and today I filled in for our Worship leader at church while he was out of town. Then this past week, our pianist fell and injured her knee, so it looks like I will be filling in for her for 4-6 weeks. She is scheduled for knee-replacement surgery next Monday (the 22nd); please pray for her- her name in Shirlene.

I hope to be taking time in the next few weeks to make some decisions and plans about my current priorities- affecting my music ministry, employment and some aspects of my personal life. So please be in prayer for me, too, if you think of it.

Well, gotta go, but God bless you all.

Update on the Blog...

Hi all! This is Tanya, Matt's web designer. We have been working on www.twomitesministries.org and have just gotten this blog back up and running after about a year. I have copied some of his My Space postings up just to get you caught up and hopefully he will be able to start updating this himself now. Don't forget to check out the site - www.twomitesministries.org!

The CD is officially released!

October 1, 2007 - Monday

The CD release concert is now behind us. It went really well. There were about 80 people there (Thanks, Dawn, for counting), and I sold 40 of my new CDs and 18 CDs from the band I used to be in. I'm about out of those, only 12 left. People seemed to really enjoy it and be touched by the music. I got a lot of positive feedback.

Obviously, the CDs did arrive Friday as scheduled. Funny thing was the covers had all been put in sideways. (How do these things happen?) They were shipped to the studio I recorded at, so Steve & Julia, the couple who own and run the studio, opened up 100 of them, turned the cover inserts and re-shrinkwrapped them. So they didn't have the fancy folded corners like CDs you buy at WalMart, but they still looked good (and the picture was facing the right direction!)

So thanks a BUNCH to Steve & Julia for that. They saved the day. Now the rest of the CDs are being shipped back for the duplication company to fix and return.

Now another week is underway, so I'm in the midst of planning lessons and grading tests again. Hope things are going well for all of you. Be strong and courageous.

Busy as usual

September 27, 2007 - Thursday

It's Homecoming week, and my CD release concert is Sunday. I've got a lot on my plate here. Actually Homecoming week has been a lot of fun. We've had spirit days every day, so I've gotten to dress up as Bob the Builder and Mr. Incredible, wear a suit and tie, and dress in luau attire. And tomorrow I get to show my Colt spirit by wearing my Campus gear. Unfortunately all I have for Campus gear is T-shirts, so my display of spirit will be somewhat limited. That's OK; it's the thought that counts.

On another topic, I got the CD of the instrumental tracks for my songs to use in my concert. That was good; now I can actually start practicing! Just kidding, I have already been practicing a little. And the CDs themselves are in transit, scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Hopefully there won't be any delays! I cut it kind of close on that one, but I've been praying a lot for them to come on time, so hopefully God will see fit to work that out for me.

Well, I've got almost two hours before I have to be anywhere, and I think I'm done for the day here at school. Everything else can wait till tomorrow! I think I'll go home and take advantage of a few minutes to relax and enjoy a good book. I haven't done that in a couple weeks. I'm in the middle of "A Man Named Dave" by Dave Pelzer. It's the third book in his trilogy that started with "A Child Called It." A depressing story in a lot of ways, but inspiring that someone could overcome SO much tragedy and hardship.

OK, I'm outta here. Peace, love and truth to all of you.

Finally!

September 15, 2007 - Saturday

I think everything is in place for the duplication and printing of my CD. I guess the first time you do something you learn how much work and time it really takes. I thought we had everything we needed about a week and a half ago, but we had some snafus w/the artwork that had to be resolved before things could go forward.

Apparently everything is as it should be now, though, according to the duplication company. So hopefully they'll be good to go Monday morning, and I should have the CDs in time for my concert on the 30th. I'm still saying some prayers that that will be the case.

Other than that, I've been keeping busy at school. It always amazes me how many hours I can be in my classroom after school and still not get done all the things I feel I need to. That just goes w/the territory, though, I guess.

Well, I'm off; we've got an ice cream social tonight at church. Although w/this cool, cloudy weather, I'm not really in the mood for ice cream. I'm sure I can force myself to eat some, though.

I need to find some places to put up posters about my concert, too. Probably just my classroom, church and my parents' church. Maybe I'll think of somewhere else, too, though.

Peace, everybody.

Labor Day Weekend!

September 1, 2007 - Saturday

Here I am at school, trying to catch up on grading papers and planning lessons for next week. I realize I'm not going to get all that done today, as I had hoped. I've been working for about three hours, and I am ready to quit! I guess I'll have to come in Monday after all. Grrrr.

Two days down . . .

August 17, 2007 - Friday

. . . about a hundred eighty to go. Just kidding. We're back in school now. It's been a challenge getting ready for a new year and working on recording a CD. But it's good to be back in a routine. When you never have to get up in the morning or be anywhere, it's hard to keep from getting at least a little soft and lazy. I was definitely headed in that direction during the summer. Traveling the country all the time to see friends and family is fun, but I need to have some other purpose for living, too.

So now it's a weekend. Of course, I will need to use a good part of that weekend to finish organizing my classroom and going through papers and making plans for this year. And for next week. Then I'll need to use part of it to listen a few times through all the recording I've done so far and figure out if anything needs to be redone and what instruments I want to add on which songs. So far all I've recorded is a piano part and a vocal part for each song.

I really do want to finish all the recording in the next week or two, so all the mixing can be done, then the printing and duplication, and I can have the CDs ready by September 28th so I can do a concert at my church that weekend. I'll keep you all posted.

Grace and peace to you.

Whew!

August 11, 2007 - Saturday

Well, it turned out I was not able to go into the studio Thursday night, but I did go this afternoon for about four hours. I recorded keyboard and vocal tracks for three songs. I had hoped to get more done, but that's the way it goes. Now I need to spend about four hours getting ready for school. Just kidding; I definitely need more than four hours. So I better go get on that.

Peace and love.

Big day tomorrow

August 8, 2007 - Wednesday

Well, the new school year starts tomorrow for me. First day of inservices. It'll be nice to get back into that routine, but there so much left to do! It's a little overwhelming. OK, more than a little.

Also tomorrow, I go into the studio to start recording my first official CD. It won't be full-length, just the 5 songs I've written so far. But it's still a big step, and I'm really excited about it.

Well, I'm supposed to go hang out w/my friend Scott tonight. He moved away to Minnesota, but he's visiting town this week, so I don't want to miss the opportunity to see him! So I'll check out for now.

God bless you.

Song for Melinda Doolittle

May 25, 2007 - Friday

I wrote this song for the American Idol songwriting contest. I didn't win, but I still think it would be a good song for Melinda to record.

Worth it All
When I started on this journey,
I didn't know where it would lead,
Like picturing a full-grown plant
When staring at just a seed.

But as the time's been passing
And the weeks have come and gone,
Step by step I've walked this path,
And I've heard my voice grow strong.

Chorus:
It's worth it all.
It's worth the cost.
It's worth the sacrifices
And the things I've lost
'Cause now I'm standing in a place
I never dreamed I could be.
I've gone around and finally found
What it means to be me.

My horizons have expanded;
This is more than I thought I'd be.
It's amazing how the world can change
Just from what you see.
I know there's even more to come;
This is only just the start.
Of all my life will one day hold
I've only seen a part.

Chorus

I've left behind some things I love
To take this road less trod.
At times it's rough, and though I've stumbled,
I'm still walking by the grace of God.

Chorus