Tarantism

It was swift, like fire, and it permeated through my whole body. I tried to open my eyes but I could not. My hands were moving but I was not telling them what to do. Our musings carried out of the café we were in and into the streets. The sound of misery and mirth could be heard all around the town square.

After we were done, I put my guitar away, recalling merely the fall from the heights to which the music had lifted me. Call it a state of euphoria if you will, but when I make my music and crowds of people feel the same power that I do, and they express it through clapping along or oscillating their heads, I am taken to a state of ecstasy where my hands and my lips channel my emotion and pain without the need for my brain to mediate.

What I am describing here is the feeling I get when I play music for a crowd of people. When, through singing, people relate to me and my life experiences and they show their recognition through physical movement, namely dance. This experience fills me with a sensation that I cannot reproduce any other way. No drug in the world can do to you what a screaming crowd can do.

Throughout my exploits into music I can say that there is one thing that I continually ask God for, aside from persistence and inspiration. I pray that God will give me the ability to inspire tarantism in all those I make my music for. I pray that he will use me to relieve stress in the lives of those who listen to my songs, and that through those songs he will use me to minister to them, all to His glory.

English

Someday, I want to meet a high energy, exciting English teacher. I know that there must be one out there somewhere but I've never met one.

I've been taking distance learning College classes from Liberty University and I just started my English 102 class. Where do I start? My teacher is monotone. He speaks very slowly. He doesn't look at the camera half the time. Instead, he looks around the room like he expects an alien invasion at any moment. He also looks like a pastor that I knew a while back, and that doesn't help.

Now, I enjoi writing, and I don't mean to brag but I'm not that bad at it. And I know that there are plenty of kids out there that are good at writing but they have had such a boring experience in their english class that they never pursue their abillities beyond the necessity of school.

I've considered being an english teacher myself, just to get some kids interested. I would bounce in to class all pumped and ready to go and I would make writing interesting. Wouldn't writing be more interesting if it seemed like the teacher was having fun? I doubt that I will ever do that, but I hope someone does.

At least this dude isn't as bad as my Psych teacher. Agh!

Speed Bump

I honestly don't know where I got the idea but one day I invited my brother, Joe, up to my room to write a song with me. I had recorded a cool bass line and drum beat that together made a sweet groove. We sat down and he wrote one of the strangest songs I've ever heard in my life.

So now we have a band that we call Speed Bump. It's still just the two of us but it's about as random as can be. We haven't done very many songs. I think that we've only done about 3 or 4 but there's only one on our website. Hope you enjoi, and I hope you don't get any nightmares.

Going Mobile

Well, I'm sitting in the kitchen right now. There are a few pizzas in the oven because my parents are on a date and the fate of dinner was left in my hands (Be afraid, be very afraid). The unique quality of this situation is that we have no computer in the kitchen. I am, in fact, writing this entry on my birthday present. A LAPTOP!!!! Thanks Pop!

Porch Talk

Baseball, Boba Fett, and Bread

I’m not really what you would call a big sports buff. I never watch sports on the tube (especially since we don’t have cable) and I don’t really follow who is winning what. I can, however, have a good time attending a game with friends. There is something different about actually being at the game that makes it appealing, even to non-sports peoples like me.

Recently, I was invited by a friend of mine, Sam Wilwerding, to a Peoria Chiefs baseball game. The Peoria Chiefs are a singleA baseball team that is sponsored by the Chicago Cubs (thanks to Sam for that info; like I would ever know that). It was pretty fun, even though the Chiefs ended up losing to the West Michigan Whitecaps. Who comes up with these names, anyway? I always though that "We Will Rock You" was a hockey song. They played it about 20 times throughout the game. Not the whole song, mind you; just the first 10 stomps and claps.

As you can see, we had some pretty good seats. We were right above the visiting team’s dugout so we had a good view of the playing field.

Ok, I’m not sure how much has changed since I last attended an event such as this, but if I recall correctly, they used to throw T-shirts to the crowd. I was quite surprised to find them hurling loves of white bread to the seething masses. Ok, so it wasn’t that big of a turn out, but that’s beside the point.

Sam and I did get to meat Boba Fett and a couple of Storm troopers that were prowling the audience. Sam can be seen here, showing his disgust for the “Empire”.

They did end up closing the show with a pretty good fire works show. I was surprised to find such a huge display, even after the home team lost.

All in all it was a pretty fun time and I’d be glad to do it again.
Thanks Sam.

Who is this weirdo?

Hello everyone! My Name is Ben and I’d like to congratulate you on finding your way through that thick marshland known as the internet until you stumbled across my blog! I know what you're thinking (have you ever found it odd that no one ever thinks twice when someone tells them that they know what they're thinking? Obviously they don't really know what you're thinking because then they'd give you a funny look or two), "who is this nut and who let him online?"

The only consolation I can offer you is that...well, I can't really offer any consolation but don't worry, because all you have to do is hit the back button and you will no longer have to worry about me. (No, I’m not always this random, weird, or bizarre but it does happen on occasion.)