It's been a while since I blogged last, and things are going pretty... great, actually =]
Grade twelve has been awesome so far. I love all of my classes, and have met some very cool new people. I have a spare now (a block with no class), and it's proven to be quite useful and very nice to have a break in the day. ^^
Usually, I go to starbucks and do work, but on one of my spares last week a lot of friends decided to join me, so we went to the park...
:) May I present to you part of the grad class of 2011. It still feels weird saying that.
This picture already makes me sad that it's all coming to an end. It's hard to believe, let along imagine what it's going to be like.
But before graduation comes, there are many other things coming in the immediate future. Like Halloween, my seventeenth birthday :), Christmas, hopefully some more Coffee Houses at school, prom (oh boy)...
And this weekend is "Club Grad" at silver city. Now that, I'm pretty excited for. An ENTIRE night (literally, all night long) of movies, friends, food, laughing, and shenanigans. Oh, and Jackass 3D, which I'm literally scared of.
>.<
But it'll be fun, just as long as I don't fall asleep!
Since this is my grad year, I'm going to make it a point to document it. Wether it's through pictures, video, blog posts, diary entries- you name it, it's going to be remembered.
Speaking of documentation, I've finished another vlog! I added onto it last night, since I've gathered more footage to include.
It's called "Life and Music" and it's in the style of "Life is Awesome."
I was reading some of my old blog posts (yes, I reflect on my past) when I came across one entitled "Very First Vlog! - Saanich Fair 2009". After watching it, my first impression was- "Do I have some sort of speech impediment?" After ruling that out, and replacing it with the fact that I am merely a typical teenager who doesn't speak very well, my second thought was- I haven't kept up the vlogging on my blog. =(
I did- and still do- like the idea of posting blogs and video blogs. It's fun for me, and maybe even for you, to change it up every now and then.
THUS, I have decided to start up vlogging again, posting them on this, here blog! ^^
A while back, I did post a vlog on my YouTube channel, but I think (for me) it was the wrong place for it. I'm not a video blogger, I'm a musician. So if any of them turn out embarrassing and/or silly (which guaranteed, some of them most certainly will) I'm happy with them being located on my blog.
Because if you know my blog, you're probably aware that there's not much of a filter.
So, to start up the... relaunch of vlogging, I thought I'd post the vlog that is now private on my YouTube channel. It is.. quite silly. I thought it was funny at the time- and it is- but... yeah... I set it to private on YouTube, let's just put it that way.
lol.
It is literally just a compilation of out-takes from my first attempt at vlogging. I REPEAT I AM NOT A VIDEO BLOGGER, no matter how much I try to be.
Who knows, maybe one day I'll get some sort of hang of it. Heck, maybe I'll even vlog about something i n t e r e s t i n g! =o It's a thought!
In the meantime, I'll work my way towards that goal.
I miss blogging. I don't blog nearly as much as I used to, and I miss that.
So, because I've recognized this missing part of me, I'm going to make an effort to think of you more often. I mean, I can't really blame my absence on a lack of time, because I can honestly recall plenty of occasions where I had nothing else better to do.
I just, for some reason, chose to do nothing else better.
._.
Well, no more of that!
I'm back (:
... hello! ^^
Actually. I even have something to blog about other than the fact that I want to blog more. It's what inspired this realization- or rather, who.
His name is Charlie McDonnell. You may have heard of him.
He's a YouTuber. A brilliant YouTuber, if I may say so.
When I think about it... he does exactly what I do, only through a different medium. I've tried my hand at "vlogging", and found it to be much more difficult than I immediately presumed. This is one of the reasons I appreciate, and respect Charlie. It's also one of the reasons I stick to blogging.
=P
Anyway, I was catching up on some of his vlogs, when I came across a couple that I related to.
The first one, was this:
I, myself, have made "time capsules" (that's capsules, of course, with a British accent ^^), but only again, through writing- my comfortable medium. Although, I did stumble upon some accidental time capsules me and my friend recorded on Garageband.
Those were funny.
Anyway- the point I was meaning to get across about this video, was how over the past few years of my life, I've been constantly thinking about the future. I've been planning my current life for the benefit of my future life. I couldn't relax, I couldn't except, and be happy with the way things were going at the time. This ended up with me basically running in circles- especially with my album. Working at something creative does not work when you're tense. Ever heard of the saying "Get the creative juices flowing"? Well, things don't flow when there's tension. This, I have learned, and I've accepted it.
Watching this video really inspired me to be happy now. To not be greedy, and always be reaching for more. As he said "You had food to eat. You had friends that you liked. You had a job that you liked, and that was enough."
That may sound a little... uninspiring in a way, but for me, it all comes back to the simplicity of it all. And that is a part of life I enjoy. I'm only sixteen. I don't need to rush things.
Hearing that put into words by someone else, really confirmed my own beliefs about it. It reminded me of how good of a place I'm in right now, and to really savour and enjoy it. :-)
So, thanks Charlie! (:
As for the second video, the title is very appropriate:
Now, what I grabbed out of that video was the all-too-typical "stay true to yourself", but no matter how over-stated and typical that life lesson may be, when it comes down to it- it's true.
My experience with this has yet again to do with my music. In the early stages of writing (back when I was a pre-teen, and younger) I had no-one to answer to, because simply, no-one knew about it. Now, however, I still don't really have anyone to answer to but, sometimes it feels that way. One direct example I can give you is with *yet again* my album. oi vey. =P
I wanted to keep my "fans" in the loop about what I was doing, but I didn't realize the fine line that I was crossing that ended up with me being so aware of what was going on around me (the pressure to finish it on time, not disappointing anyone) that I couldn't give the proper focus my record needed. This ultimately ended with all deadlines being taken off, and my albumstaying under construction.
This sounds like a horrible ending, and with the knowledge I had at the time, I would think it was. Now, however, I know better. What was the deadline for anyway? I had no reason to even create one. Music is something I love to do, and have a passion for- why would I want to rush my first formal release of that?
I know I'll be playing music all my life- whether or not I can make a living off of it- and right now is part of my life. I'm done with pressing fast forward. This is something that I also want to savour.
I may not have a record on my hands, but over this summer I have learned a lot. I wouldn't trade that for making things easier.
This summer has been different, and now I see what it was.
A WHOLE LOT OF LEARNING.
And I thought that's what school was for. ;)
I'm ready now to continue on, not rushing things, savoring my ... teenage.. hood..
xP
Of course, I'll continue blogging- telling you all about it. =)
Thanks for sticking with me,
and thanks for reading this ever so long blog post.
For not posting a blog in two weeks and completely neglecting you! I've been a horrible person.
xP
Of course I'm being sarcastic, but in a way I'm not. Besides the "me being a horrible person" comment, it's really quite true. Since the very first post of the new year I have not blogged in much, much too long.
What was I doing you ask? Well... I was actually trying out different alternatives to blogging. Now your really heartbroken, I know but WAIT- I was attempting something possibly better...
Vlogging.
You see, I was browsing YouTube a couple days ago and stumbled upon a user named "Charlieissocoollike." After watching some of his videos I was inspired! I really wanted to make my own vlog on YouTube. WELL, much easier said than done. ._.
It's quite funny actually, I have no problem sitting at my computer, typing away all my deepest thoughts and emotions. But when it comes to getting in front of the camera and making light conversation I CRASH AND BURN! I will admit this. I attempted my first vlog for approximately 2 hours until I realized that it just wasn't going to work.
*sad face*
Maybe I should just stick to what I'm good at- writing. BUT I will try to vlog again, you can count on that. And maybe one day the clouds covering my natural charisma will part and you'll see (if your a subscriber *HINT*) that I've made a new video and it's categorized under People & Blogs this time, instead of under Music.
^-^
I'm keeping the faith!
Other new things since I posted last include:
I finished my first Twilight Journal! :) This may not be exciting or even relevant news to you, but for me it's a mini breakthrough. I haven't finished writing in a Journal since I was twelve.
No more progress on my album since I Can Hear You. But I get the entire week off from school, so I'm planning on getting LOTS done. I'm a wishful thinker.
I joined The Daily Booth community! Just discovered it last night and I think I could have fun with it. =] Follow me HERE and try it out yourself if you'd like. :)
And last but certainly not least... I think I might have failed me Math 11 exam! ... O_x
I know, not very eventful when you put it altogether like that, but I thought it might sound at least a little more interesting.
Ha. O.o
Well, I suppose that's about all for now. This entry has really felt like a fail to me, but hey! Maybe you'll feel otherwise. I'm just all mixed up and jumbled right now it seems. >.< Oh! There I go talking about my feelings again.
I'm gonna leave before this starts to get meaningful!
It's quite an exciting moment, going down in history. ;)
It'll make my blog a little bit more real and entertaining.
I thought this would be a good environment to start it off with.
It's me and Little Carley at the Saanich Fair talking about it, the new year, and other weird miscellaneous things. =P lol
Oh, and one thing that's majorly bad with the video itself is I decided to shoot it atop tall bleachers just as the sun was starting to set, which is very beautiful, but also there's a big shadow on my face, you can see, of my arm holding up the camera. So, now you can see the camera shape. It looks like an iPod. :P It's very small and portable, and AWESOME! :D
Anyway, it might be pretty distracting to some people, it was to me at first, but I wanted to still post this video up, because I like what's in it. :)
So, I hope you don't mind to much.
I'm still getting the hang of the vlogging thing, it is in fact, my first time! :P
--Karl.
Oh, and P.S. that's Carrie Underwood playing in the background.. just in case you were curious. lol
