there's something

about this song.....

i am so in love with this song!!!

the Ending is EPIC!!!!!
and that opening with the piano and bass riff is beautiful!!!

of couse the song is too long for youtube so the epic ending is cut off....

i painted my first house

all by myself!!!
yay

Tales of a Mountain Bike Virgin

As of last friday, i became a real mountain biker.
I also got the shock that everything isn't all downhill or easy.
lets start at the beginning.

Friday.
i set out for laguna beach at 7:30 and got in the saddle at 8:15. it seemed pretty easy. i bombed down bommer ridge and had no trouble with the hills. then i made my first mistake, having absolutely NO clue where i was going, and i ended up going down a fire road that had a 20% average grade. when i got to a point where i could only travel with something more than a 2 inch travel hardtail, i decided to turn back, and had to climb it all. so that was that. an hour and a half and very little was accomplished.

So i Returned today, tuesday (much to the pain of my wallet)
This time i had a game plan. Park at the visitors center, head up No Name Ridge, up to Bommer, down through some single track, and down Moro back to my car.
it sounded a lot easier than it was. much easier.

when i headed up No Name, i realized that this was at least a 25% average slope as well, and despite my best attempts, i had to hike up the hill. all 2 miles and 1500 feet of it.i was tired and just wanted to go back home. But when i got to the top an hour later, things where looking up, the sun was out and i headed back on to familiar territory. But i knew what i was going to do. and i did just that.


and let me tell you.
it was just amazing.

i took the Fence line trail and had the best time of my summer. then onto the Missing Link trail and had just as much fun, until i hit a rock garden. but that still didn't hinder my ways. after the awesome single track adventure, i returned to Moro Ridge trail and it was just incredible. Riding through the hills and through the clouds, being in touch with nature and the outdoors, and seeing a part of orange county few ever see (or try to see) and i had time to think. it was then that i realized what i loved the most about mountain biking. not the downhill runs, the sweet singletrack for the masochism that i do seem to enjoy. Its the only thing that i can use to truly escape. Sure i can listen to my music, or make my won, but nothing beats being 30 miles from your family, and 2 miles from absolutely any civilization in all directions. its this time that i can spend time with my one true friend. Solitude. This is the time when i can unwind and get away from everything, and everyone.

It is just pure bliss.


now i wonder if i can find a bus route that will take me there from UCI......

sooo

well, the whole "post everyday" thing failed

anywayssss.....

i had a fantastic few days.
Quarterfinals last night. GO BD!!!!! and HNC!!!

but today was just awesome, i went mountain biking by myself (the way i like it) and discovery a part of south orange county few see.
here, enjoy (just waiting for the pictures to upload to photobucket.. which reminds me. what goes down, must eventually come back up, especially when the car is parked at the top of the hill.)











(i can't smile very well...)


oh yeah, and new episodes of monk and psych!

sorry about the crappy cut off, if you right click the pictures, then click view picture, you'll see the whole thing.

since i remember about this, i think i'm going to post at least once a day.


soooo....
just one more week until new Psych!!!!


and a little thing from buckethead to michael Jackson

http://www.bucketheadland.com/01_The_Landing_Beacon.mp3

AHHH

Just 8 MORE days UNTIL PSYCH.
and MONK!!

i feel like a giddy little fan girl!




darn it. i still need to get some bike tubes.
then i need to find some sweet singletrack and tear it up.

bike troubles

after a long and tiresome attempt at a bike repair, my efforts were in vain,

heres what happened(i feel like Monk....hehehe)

okay, so i decide to patchup my tires, as i punctured the a LONG time ago, and never got around to doing that.. i get the first hole in the front tube al nice and patched, get it put back on. now to the rear tire. i get it off, cassette and all, and patch up that tube. once it is back on, i realize that the front tire still doesn't want to hole any air. so i take it off again and repatched the first hole, because it looked iffy. i put it back on and pump it up, to find that is still doesn't hold air. so i take it off for the third time. and find another huge gaping hole, that wasn't there before. so i patch it up, and ride it. it seemed fine, until i come back later to see that both of my tires are flat.
so i decide to just give up, go to Jax, and get some new tubes.

but in other news, i really did survive the Swine Flu......

first time back

so i just finished my second season with Impulse drum and Bugle corps.
i was alot of fun. i was the Horn Sergeant this season (much to my surprise) and i even made som new friends (*gasp!*) but i think, that even though we were smaller this year, we were better.
i wish i could have seen us going to finals. we would have kicked some serious butt. but that has passed, and out nor cal tour went well. i think that overall it was a fantastic season. and i really like sean.
i just wish i could come back next season. and i'm going to miss the banquet! NO!!!!.
stupid SPOP 8. i wish i wasn't so busy this summer. although because of the shortened season, i get two months of before school starts up. just enough time to freak out.
so i decided i am going to buy a 15 inch Mac book (i've been saving for a long time) and an 16 gig ipod touch.
but i also really want to buy a new bike. since i found a site that will show me local single track, i want a decent dual suspension bike. now my trek 4300 hardtail is a fantastic bike, i just want a dual suspension to go along. but the Feul ex 5.5( the on i am looking at) is 1400 dollars!(but i have a 100 dollar gift card, so 1300)

well that is the update on me.

Best regards, John C

goodnight, and good luck.
"LONG-WHILE I sought to what I might compare
those powrefull eies, which lighten my dark spright,
yet find I nought on earth to which I dare
resemble th' ymage of their goodly light.
Not to the Sun: for they doo shine by night;
nor to the Moone: for they are changed neuer;
nor to the Starres: for they haue purer sight;
nor to the fire: for they consume not euer;
Nor to the lightning: for they still perseuer;
nor to the Diamond: for they are more tender;
nor vnto Christall: for nought may them seuer;
nor vnto glasse: such basenesse mought offend her;
Then to the Maker selfe they likest be,
whose light doth lighten all that here we see."

The Mars Volta

i have been on a huge Mars Volta Kick.
seriously
i need to see them soon, especially with Thomas Pridgen.

stress?

i am seriously stressing now

butttt... i do have something to look forward to. i finally mustered the courage to ask a girl i like to prom. even though i new that she wanted to go with me. so yay me! let me tell you, even though i pretty much knew she was going to say yes, i was SOOOOOOO nervous and when i was going to do it, my mind blanked and i felt like i was gonna colapse. and she said yes. and i probably said some stupid things afterwards, i think i said thanks, and she was, well anywho. i'm glad i did it.


yay me.

soo much to say

but i am just so f-ing tired.
i need a break
i'm screwed.

i don't know what to say...

here
so
i'll sing.

She scratches a letter into a wall made of stone
Maybe someday another child wont feel as alone as she does
Its been two years, and counting, since they put her in this place
Shes been diagnosed by some stupid fuck, and mommy agrees, yeah...
Whoa...yeah...hey yeah yeah...
Why go home...
Why go home...
Why go home...

She seems to be stronger, but what they want her to be is weak
She could play pretend, she could join the game, boy
She could be another clone...ooh...whoa...ah yeah...

Ooh...
Why go home?
Why go home?
Why go home?
Why go home?
What you taught me...put me here...dont come visit...mother...
Sting me...

Whoa...ooh...
Why go home?
Why go home?
Why go home?
Why go home?
What you taught me...put me here...dont come visit...mother, mother, yeah...
Why go home?
Why go home?
Why go home?
Why go home?
Why go home?
Why go home?
Why go home?
Whoa...

i am

such a douchebag
i don't know how my friends put up with me.

UCI

is pretty amazing
like, i can't wait

yay...

i'm such a nerd

i mean seriously
i find quantum mechanics interesting.

i'm SUCH a nerd.




and i just LOVE it.

i saw things so clearer

once you were in my rearviewmirror.
i just need to get away from all the stress.
i'm glad i can listen to music. it really helps

i just remembered

i had a very embarassing moment in 4th grade.
i walked right into a metal pole
i was playing marco polo and walked right into that pole.
knocked my two front teeth right out.
now i have 2 fake teeth up front.

what can i say

i'm just too nice of a guy.

and sometimes i think it holds me back.
oh well

i can't believe

i punched a kid in the face.

my mom reminded me that i did it in kindergarten. sheesh.
i was standing up for some kids who were bullied and i punched the bully in the face. then when i was punished, i felt horrible and i wanted a stricter sentence.

i am such a goody two shoes. and i still am.

the rest of my life?

i really don't know what i'm going to do.
here i could go to Oregon State and do Nuclear engineering and design new reactors, always a fun job.
or i could go to UCI and major in Mechanical or Structural engineering, and engineer heavy lifts for Mammoet.
oh. boy. the choices.
probably the biggest i will make my whole life, as this will dictate what i will be doing the rest of my life. i am at a serious crossroads.

i just don't know what to do.

massive

its been a awhile so i'm gonna blab on.
i got in to UCI, which i really didn't think i would. so thats awesome.

well i really don't have anything to say today. i'm just fed up with the world's crap. really. people need to learn how to think.
damn

new pics

chech em out






















well check them out here, www.photobucket.com/formu1fan

its been a while

and i am ready to stay up late yay

i slept unil 1:30 today which is vvery strange for me. so i am rested up. i went to disneyland yesterday and i enjoyed that

i got my Physics test back. aced it, A+. so that'll help to get my grade to an A. now to keep it there.....
i need a job. i need money too feed my addiction, i mean hobby. cause there are some models i am really wanting right about now. like the LRB 255 and the Scania R with Pendel-X 5 axle and jeep dolly.
damn i need money. i am broke and have little gas money. too bad no one is hiring these days. and its gonna be a long time until this thing is done with. i mean the whole economic crisis. yes. i have little faith in mankind. but that is another story.

well if anyone does read this, which i highly doubt, thank you

goodnight and good luck

I'M

GOING TO OREGON STATE!!!!

nuclear engineering.
oh boy


hopefully i get into Berkeley

so now i leave you with this all badassness

do the evolution

what have we come to?

the death of high fidelity?

this is an editorial i wrote for the school paper



In the last 100 years, we have seen dramatic leaps in audio technology, from the original wax cylinders of the first phonographs, to the vinyl records that revolutionized music, to the CD and now the MP3. When it comes to storage capacity, the MP3 is at the top of its game, it can hold hundreds of songs in the space that could only fit a tenth of that on a CD. Sound too good to be true? Well that’s probably because it is. What the MP3 makes up for in storage capacity it lacks in overall sound quality, and that is only worsening the overall condition in the music world now.

For those of you who might not know exactly how the MP3 works, here is a crash course. For this purpose, we will be speaking in Kilobits per second (KBits/S), or how much information it can send in a set time. The average song on a CD takes up about 1400 Kbits/s for the best quality. When converting it into MP3, the song goes through what’s called a “lossy compression” that shrinks the file down to about a tenth of its size, the average being around 128 Kbits/s. With this decrease in size, there comes a decrease in quality. The MP3 achieves this by cutting out what it deems, “out of the hearing range” of a normal human, which sometimes can’t be heard, but other times can. It then compresses the file, where audio gets lost in the compression, hence the name, “lossy Compression.”

If you were to listen to one song from its original CD, then to compare it to an MP3 encoded version, the difference would be noticeable. The CD has a full sound while the MP3 is left sounding empty and almost hollow sounding. As Rob Cavallo, a music producer who has worked with such bands as Dave Matthews Band and Fleetwood Mac says, “it's like going to the Louvre and instead of the Mona Lisa there's a 10-megapixel image of it. I always want to listen to music the way the artists wanted me to hear it. I wouldn't look at a Kandinsky painting with sunglasses on." But this might not all be the MP3’s fault.

Today the music industry is locked in heated battle, not to find and sign the next hottest group, but to make everything they produce louder. This quandary has been dubbed “the loudness war,” by the many sound engineers and musicians whos music is being cranked up to the limit.

For the past 10 or so years, the industry has been utilizing a technique called “dynamic range compression,” the same technology that makes some commercials sound louder than the original T.V. program. Simply put, it makes the range between the loudest and softest parts closer together. This makes everything louder, and louder is good, at least for the music industry. However when played at a normal level, the sound is often lost and the original punch that the instruments had before they were compressed has faded away.

In 2006, Bob Dylan told Rolling Stone that modern albums "have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like — static." The Artic Monkey’s debut album, “Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not” is just an all out assault on the ears, with every song cranked to its maximum. Most recently, Metallica’s “Death Magnetic” was one of the loudest albums produced and was compressed to such an extent that there was clear distortion throughout the album. It was so dreadful to listen to, that a group of people started an online petition to remix or re-master the CD, so that it can at least be tolerable.

At first this extreme loudness is appealing to many, but the brain gets tired of listening to the pounding loudness and is becomes fatigued. It can be too much and some feel an urge to change the song, just to stop the abuse. Daniel Levitin, a professor of music and neuroscience at McGill University and author of This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession said, “The excitement in music comes from variation in rhythm, timbre, pitch and loudness. If you hold one of those constant, it can seem monotonous.”

From a musician standpoint, I think that when a song loses its dynamics, its highs and lows, it loses its emotion, and its soul. There is nothing left but the shell of what was a song. With a wide dynamic range, listeners can pick out individual instruments playing and hear their dynamics. Joe Boyd, who produced albums by Richard Thompson and R.E.M.'s Fables of the Reconstruction says, “When people have the courage and the vision to do a record that way, it sets them apart. It sounds warm, it sounds three-dimensional, it sounds different. “

When it comes to high fidelity, there is a format war going on right now, similar to the Blu-ray HD-DVD war that happened a few years ago. SACD and DVDA are currently the two audio formats that show the highest quality of music. The Super Audio CD and the DVD-Audio are both high capacity DVD that have music with high bitrates and sample frequency to obtain the highest standard of music quality. The players that can play these still can play the standard “Red Book” CD and most usually can play DVDs. And now with the invention of hybrid CDs, they can even be played on normal CD players. After listening to an SACD, the answer to why Sony developed this became clear. It was the clearest, most articulate warmest sounding audio format I have listened to, beating out the crummy old MP3 by a long shot.
So, why do we spend so much time on these little files that barely can call themselves songs? Well I know of one reason, convenience. It is very easy to store a lot of music in one place, and it is a lot easier to carry around our iPods instead of the bulky CD players of the past. Now there is a chance for the little MP3, or its affiliates. With the advent of large capacity hard-drives in smaller and smaller profiles, we might see high quality music

Now as a budding audiophile, I wonder, why do we let this devastation of music go on? And if we do, how far will we take it, until there is just sound, no more music or clarity of any kind? Will we just be listening to bass and everything else, a static that we can barely comprehend? From what I have witnessed, it seems as though nobody cares about what’s going on. As an audiophile and a musician, I feel for the bands who have their music cut down by the record companies’ greed to win the Loudness war. I just hope this will end soon.

well

winter formal was fun, although i was pretty miserable. i had a really bad cold and it music was dangerously loud. i still have a bad case of tinnitus. the music was so loud, that my brain was beginning to shut down. it was really bad. i had to leave to make it stop. then once i realized what was happening, i was doing much better and i tried to fight it off. and it turned out to be a fun night. well now i have lots of homework to do, so i will bid you ado.

oh noes...

i'm getting sick

just great.

i'm waiting

for a few things. new episode of PSYCH baby. yeah. and of course college. i can't wait, however as you can see by the title, i am. against my will mainly.
and then there's formal. which will be fun. mucho bueno. i can't wait. but as i said before blah blah blah.
yay.

so i watched

another new episode of psych. Man, i love that show. soo funny, yet sophisticated, that's what i like.
and the pineapple, i mean come on. awesome. oh yeah, i freaking LOVE PEARL JAM! they're still got it. 16 years later and they're still got it.
i will see them live some time. for sure

our enemy

"Our Enemy is not a who, but a what.
And that what is ignorance."


must i say anymore?
our society is in a big pickle.

i have

a strange need to post like 3 times today
there might be more
anyways

I need to express the awesomeness that is Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is just awesome
enough said
i need to see them in concert.

and i am getting into scale modeling.
oh boy. that is a slippery, expensive slope. so i need to start saving, and investing, better. i hope i can continue with this.





so i leave you with this...

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”

Let Down

Transport, motorways and tramlines
Starting and then stopping
Taking off and landing
The emptiest of feelings
Disappointed people clinging on to bottles
And when it comes it's so so disappointing

Let down and hanging around
Crushed like a bug in the ground
Let down and hanging around

Shell smashed, juices flowing
Wings twitch, legs are going
Don't get sentimental
It always ends up drivel

One day I'm going to grow wings
A chemical reaction
Hysterical and useless
Hysterical and ...

Let down and hanging around
Crushed like a bug in the ground
Let down and hanging around

Let down again
Let down again
Let down again

You know, you know where you are with
You know where you are with
Floor collapsing
Floating, bouncing back
And one day....
I am going to grow wings
A chemical reaction
Hysterical and useless
Hysterical and...

Let down and hanging around
Crushed like a bug in the ground
Let down and hanging around




Don't give up.

(listen to the song at the bottom of this page. you'll get it
i hope.)

okay

its a new day
so new post
anyways

i am really looking forward to Formal.
its gonna be fun!

ummmm

i can't wait to see the NZG LTM 11200 9.1
that. will be. amazing


so i watched "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" angain.
it amazes me what people do
anyways
i leave you with this


"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosives and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own; for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to The Twilight Zone."



P.S
i REALLY want to see Pearl Jam live
like right now
in my living room
if only......

too many puppies......

are being shot in the dark....


anyways
i picked up the drums again
and boy is it fun
i just love playing some good beats.

did you know that you could walk through walls?
it is scientifically possible

and the hottest temperature recorded was 6.6 BILLION degrees Fahrenheit

and the coldest temperature that i know of is like 100 pK
thats cold

well
i have nothing really to say.
so goodbye
and good luck

its gonna be a long one

well
i have alot to say today
but am too lazy to type it out

"A sickness known as hate. Not a virus, not a microbe, not a germ. Highly contagious. Deadly in its affects. Don't look for it in the Twilight Zone. Look for it in the mirror. Look for it before the lights go out altogether."

do i need to say more?

why is there hate?
it just infuriates me

on other news, i have reason to believe that i pulled my left triceps and deltoids
and it hurts
oh well

and i am on a Primus kick now.
good stuff

but i am happy

well the girl i wanted to ask to formal, asked me, and boy am i happy
yay!

well its time

for another post

soooo here it goes


the twilight zone is just amazing
it was way ahead of its time
it really shows what humans are
people need to watch this show
it is WAYYY better than that SHIT they call T.V now
seriously
spongebob?
i want to kill him a thousand times
and then burn him

so yeah
and my crane
freaking awesome
it is just beautiful
beautiful
like some many things,
like some many under appreciated things in this world
there are some many beautiful things in this world but few stop to look. but those who do, are the best.


now i leave you with this
a quote from Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”