In case you didn't know, I've been super busy with a combination of many super awesome things (creative projects, fun with friends, planning a trip to New York in only 20 days from now...) and also many not so super or awesome things...
These past few months have been pretty rough with ups and downs, major highs and crashes that took the life out of me. But with the new year coming, I want to get myself together, make some good choices and start taking care of myself a bit better. Start 2012 with a clean slate. Or at least, a healthier one. And I don't necessarily mean that physically, though that too is important, I'm talking more mentally and emotionally. These hard times I've been having don't seem to be letting up any time soon and I'm sure in the new year I'll have plenty more to deal with. I just don't want them to knock me down quite as hard next time. Although I may have fallen a few times, this year was a year of bravery and stepping out of my comfort zone, out of my box, with tremendous success. This year has been full of exciting adventures and truly amazing experiences. I cherish each and every one. And I hope to have many more in the future, and I'm well on my way to planning a few already. The thought of each of them terrifies me more than I'd care to admit, but I'm taking it on, I want to break myself free of this little box I've been stuck in most my life.
With this all in mind, I've made some new years resolutions. I'd share, but I feel it is probably best I keep them to myself this time around as they are a little more personal than usual...
I know a lot of this blog entry sounds rather depressing, so to lighten the mood I'd like to share with you a couple of things I've done in the last few weeks that I am quite proud of.
First off, a little while back a friend of mine asked myself and another friend, whom I've begun to form a relatively successful song writing partnership with, to write a song for a video project of his. With a description of the video's story and a general idea of the feel, we got to work. Laura wrote the lyrics, I adjusted them only slightly as I worked, to fit the melodies and things I came up with. It wasn't easy for me, since songwriting isn't necessarily my strong point and certainly guitar playing isn't either. But I'm quite proud of the end result. We spent a night in a hotel, armed with a microphone and a laptop, and recorded the whole night through. No sleep, just music. It was fun for me to play around with melodies and harmonies and that sort of thing, I'd never really had the opportunity to do so before. I've never publicly shared music I've written before, so I was super nervous about doing this, but I like it. And so, I present to you "The Girl With Color" featuring the song entitled "Alice"
(Also, congrats Neil. The video looks amazing, and I know how friggin long it took to edit.)
The day after recording "Alice" I then moved on to another recording session, this time with my show choir, this time in a professional studio. We recorded an original Christmas song written by a friend of our director. I was then given nearly three and a half hours worth of footage shot on a little camcorder and about a week before Christmas, I received the finished track and set to work editing a music video. It was tricky for me since I'm not the greatest with editing, I have limited software and honestly don't really know what I'm doing, despite being referred to as the "in house guru" by friends in my choir. With over three hours of footage to sift through and not knowing what I had to work with since I hadn't been the one to film it, I struggled for quite some time trying to figure out just what I would do. I spent a stupid amount of time editing this thing, I know that someone with greater skills could easily have done it faster, but once again I'm quite fond of the final product. I realize it's not Christmas anymore, but give it a listen :) Hope you enjoy.
There are many other projects in my future that I'm currently working on that I can't wait to share! It's been amazing to find such wonderful, like minded people to work with this year. I've made so many new friends and grown closer with others. I wouldn't trade any of it if I could and I can't wait to see what the new year will bring.
Wishing you the happiest of holidays and a fantastic new year.
Much love.
