EDIT ADD:
Apple sold 14 Million iPods last quarter. That’s 100 iPods per minute, 24/7, for the entire quarter–and it still wasn’t enough! (They sold 32 Million of them in 2005 altogether). Yeah, they also made 5.7 billion dollars– 1 billion of that in their retail stores.
I’m just saying is all…
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Yes, it’s been a while…
Well, if you’ve been reading around (the whole web is talking about it) we moved again. Only from apt to apt in the same complex, but it wasn’t just downstairs or anything. It was downstairs, across the parking lot, pass the building, to the left, and back up the stairs again…so I carried the first 20 loads of boxes by myself, and I was like “I quit!!”
 Thankfully, not only did I discover the pleasure of moving with a dolly (or hand-truck, if you will), we had some amazing help from Scott (of Scotlas) and his buddy Luke, along with Heidi (sucker) and Leanne. Oh yes, don’t forget Christy’s parents, who helped watch the kids while we trekked back and forth. But no worries, I think I’ve only made eleventy thousand trips to and fro. Seriously, with the stairs, best workout I’ve had in years. I’ll be sore for weeks…

All the hard work aside, I actually struggled a lot with this move. The smoke and rap music were bad–I mean unseemingly bad–but I was just really being selfish and lazy. Christy was really begging us to move out and I was like “I am NOT moving again”. But I was just like, “Hey, we can deal with it”. Needless to say, God worked on my heart…

Class last night:
Sucked. Only reason: my CD didn’t work. AAARGH!!! I was so frustrated the entire time! I had my project ready, and we passed out the papers, and I had been looking forward to this the whole week, and boom! No dice. My CD would not play. It didn’t even come close to playing! AAAAAAHHH! He asked me if I wanted to play the piece for the class on the piano–no thanks! I asked him to play it–no thanks! So there I was–”We’ll look at it next week”–NOooooOoooooooooo! (In my Luke Skywalker/Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story 2 voice). I was beyond perturbed.
Lesson Daniel learned: always check your CD at home before bringing it to school, and bring it on your iPod as well, along with the right cord for so that you’ll be able to turn in your homework no matter what…argh! Double-argh!

Yum: try the new Milky Way Caramels. They’re small little bundles of joy. They’re just the caramel part of the Milky Way with the chocolate…suprisingly delicious.

So, here’s my question: what’s the NEW iPod gonna be like? Larger hard-drive? (100 GB?) Camera-pod–with built in lens for taking pics and video? What’s the new iPod?
(no, it’s not the iPod micro, iPod pequito, or iPod invisi—hee hee)

ANOTHER EDIT ADD:
SNL is on iTunes! How can iTunes GET any better? Man…wow…amazing. Let me also say that CSULA had awesome G5 computers in their lab (also the same place I had my Finale class). It was sweet! Same exact model that I have–but a loser of a display. Oh well–you can’t have it all! But even so, it is grand. Did I mention I love iTunes? Seriously, you gotta check it out…
Oh yeah–waiting for a call back on a job interview sucks. I’m just saying is all! Boo for waiting! But if you’re reading…Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!!!!!
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EDIT ADD:
Evidently I rock at my Monday night class! I was looking forward to it a lot. It is a class on learning how to use FINALE (the world’s foremost print music software)–which I really need to learn. Well, evidently, the small amount I have used the software helped me out. I TOTALLY finished the homework assignment that I have due at the end of class in two weeks today during class. The prof was all “is anyone else BESIDES DANIEL done with their work yet?”.

hee hee hee…

So, I’m stoked. He said it was pretty much up to me whether or not to come to class next time, but I’m totally going to go and get ahead on my next project that is due. I rock at grad school!!!!! Yes!!!!
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It was nice singing and playing with everyone today! Thanks for the opportunity to be back in town for a while-and thanks to the Bev and Jose for an awesome place to crash while we’re around. It was like a snazzy bed & breakfast, but 20 times better…

Be praying for Aaron C. Turner (sorry! I can’t help it!) and for the church leadership as we and he evaluate each other and seek the Lord to see if it is a good fit. Pray that God guides us all and gives us wisdom. It is great to see God work!

All in all–fun weekend! We’ll see all you San Diegans next week…

Finished my first homework assignment. I handed it to Melody to see what she thought, and as she starts playing it (sightreading, without even knowing what it was or that I wrote it) she says, “Ooo! Where have I heard this before? What’s this from?” and cue laughter…but here’s the thing, that’s exactly my problem. See, one of two things happens to me whenever I try to write “original” music.

–One: I start writing and get to a place where the only thing I hear in my head is the end of someone else’s piece–and I can’t think of anything else but that…OR

–Two: I write something that sounds exactly like something else without knowing it because I’ve been listening to film scores and classical music for 15 years and my head and my hard drive are both full of it.

I also got Mike’s feedback, he thought it sounded like Somewhere in Time. Chris thought it sounded like Schindler’s List, and Melody didn’t know, but was sure she heard it before somewhere. Oh well. I think I’ll turn in two versions and tweak it some more before Thursday. Also- I got my first Monday class tomorrow! Yipee!

Ok-So out of curiosity, I just downloaded the theme from Somewhere in Time, ’cause I didn’t recall what it sounded like. Hmmm…there are a couple of similar chords/similar motion in the melody or chordal structure. Nothing big though, except maybe the middle piano-solo part, that sounds similar to my beginning because of the range of the instrument. If anything is similar, it’s only for two or three beats here or there. I’ll let you know what my prof thinks…and thanks iTunes for being there when I needed you…

Well, that’s kinda why I’m not a huge fan of ME being a composer. I’d rather do the arranging thing, but this is supposed to grow and challenge me. So let me be challenged–that’s what I need and want right now–and of all the times in my life, I think I’m most ready for it.

EDIT ADD2:
Just finished my first homework assignment at about 2AM Saturday morning…it’s not that great…but it’s there, and that is a stretch…we’ll see how it all goes next Thursday…
Oh, and Heidi took the spoiler off her blog. Good girl….it’s OK to read again…
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EDIT ADD:
Don’t read Heidi’s blog. She just gave a HUGE spoiler for THE OFFICE. Bad Heidi. Bad girl.
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Wow

Had my job interview yesterday morning. The first part was great, but the second part was pretty darn hard. Hard questions, some I was not necessarily expecting! I won’t know how I did until the end of next week. Yikes! That means I’m still not working…

Had my first class last night at CSULA. It was great! The guy teaching it was a freelance arranger and orchestrator and had done work for Nike and a bunch of other things. It was a good class, although four hours is a bit long for ANY class.
So my first assignment is to write :60 of piano music–original piano music. Oh that is so easy, you say. No–it’s not. I actually told the guy at the beginning when we were introducing ourselves, “I don’t want to be a composer or anything, I don’t like composing. I’d rather just arrange and orchestrate, or do something like that. I don’t feel composition is my gift…” and of  course we are composing…

So on the way home I was thinking, “Man, this is really going to stretch me”
-which is exactly why I’m here.

Praise the Lord.

The post you’ve all been waiting for. Kinda.

We moved on Saturday. Wow–more to come…FIRST I have to give a huge shout out to everyone who helped us financially and physically to make it out to LA again. We seriously couldn’t have done it without you. SECONDLY-gotta give a shout out to those who went the extra mile, and to some who went a couple hundered extra miles…

-Joli: for immaculately cleaning out our Landlord’s fridge before we left. What a blessing! It was spotless!

-Debbie, Justin and Brian Warren: for cleaning the Master bathroom (Debbie) and for lots of help loading and packing on Thursday and Friday…small group homies rule!!!

-Julie Burkhart and her crew: for cleaning up the rest of the house! WOW! You guys rock! They got everything else–walls, cupboards, counters…everything. So awesome!

-Eric B: For tons of help loading on Friday, as well as cleaning our oven to make it look brand new!

-Sara H: for bailing us out at the last minute with some much needed help!

-Julio: This dude cleaned our yard better than I have ever seen it since we lived there. It looked so good I almost wanted to rent the house again…oh wait…never seen such servanthood. Julio has massive jewels in heaven–seriously, I can’t wait to see how God will honor such a humble servant. I’ve never seen such a pure heart!

-Thomas, Ese, Sonny, Nina, and Kim Pilkay: These dudes actually loaded up the uhaul on Friday with us, cleaned and packed up the entire house, and then came back on Saturday to load up their own trucks and trailers and came up with us to our APT in LA. I could never have asked this of them, it was such a great sacrifice for each. THEN–not only did they do all that, it was also POURING RAIN on Saturday when we arrived at our place, and they all stayed to unload the trucks. It was amazing. All the guys did a bucket-brigade-type-of-thing from the Uhaul truck up the stairs to the APT, where we handed off the boxes and furniture to the ladies inside. These peeps of mine were SOAKED through-to the core-and worked so hard to make all of it happen. I was floored by their love for our family–so much love to endure all of that! It was crazy! Also-Nina and Ese drove our Chrysler LeBaron up…what a car! I can never thank those dudes enough. It would have never been possible without them.

-My Dad. I really leaned a lot on my dad for this move. He used to be a professional mover, and has a ton of expertise to make the packing/unpacking work. I’ve never seen anyone else fit so much stuff into any given space. It is a gift. Not only that, but for being 54 years old (give or take a year or two) he still workes really hard. Thanks Dad for being an inspiration always, and for your hard work on this move. It was such a relief to have you there!

-Heidi and Leanne: Dude! Thanks to our LA friends who also leant a hand on the move-in. I barely know Heidi, but she’s already been such a HUGE help to us on this move…not to mention that she played French Horn for our Christmas show this year in SD! Sweet! Also-Leanne helped us get the bed and crib together. Thanks…that would’ve been a lot harder without you.

-Mike….can’t really ever thank Mike enough for his friendship and never-ending support of our family. I’m NOT saying goodbye however, ’cause eventually you’re gonna have to move closer to us, or I’ll get my mafia friends to rip your thumbs off or some nonsense like that. (I’m gonna need a hacksaw)…I can’t imagine doing life without Mike. He’s part of our family.

Adios for now! We get our internet on Thursday and I’ll be back online…I’m just borrowing for now, so sorry if I haven’t responded to your emails, I haven’t recieved any of them yet!