Jess Painted the Kitchen Cabinets

They look soo mod now, don’t they?

 

New Bedroom Look

Perk of working at a furniture store:  affordable furniture.  Thank you KBO!  We (90% Jess) took the opportunity to update most of the rest of the bedroom decor, while we were at it.

Organized Shed

We found a nice metal shelf by a dumpster.  I spent about an hour scrubbing soda syrup and grease off of it one morning.  Now it works perfectly for holding most of our shed storage and goodies.

  

 

Music

Near the end of October, we took the opportunity to play at a a fund raiser in the form of a motorcycle ride, lunch and auction; raising money for a family who lost their young son to a brain tumor.  We had around 4 hours of music prepared, but much less time than that with the full biker audience listening.  Instead, we spent a lot of time hanging out with Mike, the senior pastor of the church where the event was held (our pastor, our church) and the immediate and extended family.  I’ve come to really like Mike.  He’s such a genuine guy with an outgoing sense of compassion and humor.

While he was talking to the family at a table set up in the church room, he decided to turn them all into our fans, asking us to play songs, making comments about the way my bald head changes colors when I hit high notes and applauding.  I was playing acoustic guitar, Jess was playing her bass and my brother Arden was trying out my cajon (“drum box”), shakers and a cymbal for the event.  We were playing with a refreshingly new sound and had a handful of songs that people really liked.  One in particular “Home” by Phillip Phillips, Mike asked if we could leave all our stuff set up for and play the next Sunday morning before his sermon.  He also had us play a few others before each service.

Of course we took the second opportunity and had a great time playing a handful of songs the next day.  Most of the time I play at church, I’m (joyfully) playing something supportive, like drums or electric guitar.  It was fun for a change of pace and for people to hear us play the kind of music that we like to play.  We had a lot of good feedback about the sound and our acoustic-styled setup.  It really got me thinking about how much I myself like that kind of acoustic-driven-alternative-pop-rock sound anyway.  It seems like the “rock band” sound is a bit of a stretch for us, while the sound we performed that Saturday and Sunday was too easy/ a hit.  I’m reconsidering the production of our album-work-in-progress and the rest of the writing that needs to happen for it.

 

Game Dev.

While I probably have the least to say about it at this point, our game project, Skylands of Darmanis, has been the area most of my time is being invested into these days.  While we’ve had a couple lulls and busy weeks, my brother and I have recently been putting in more time a week than ever.  He probably put in over 40 hours  this week, in addition to the part-time job, while I had a bit less since I’m working more hours at KBO right now.

We’ve (finally) come up with an effective and motivating goal structure, meeting them and measuring them, to the point where we’re looking at having a finished production game demo around December.  With this, we are planning on  Kick Starter campaign in January so that this following year can be spent finishing this game project.  I can’t wait to share the game (or to play it myself)!

 

Away for a Few Days

I actually can’t remember the last time we got out of town to just do something fun (i.e. outside of music, moving or purposed around seeing people).  I’d say it was two anniversaries ago, but I think that was the year we had puppies and stayed home…  so who knows…

AAAANYway… we’re beginning to feel wore out from all that’s been going on, non-stop (for years apparently).  This week we get a 3-day break, driving down to Panama City Beach today, relaxing tomorrow and driving back home on the following day, in time for Jess and I to play some music at The Journey (our church’s Wednesday night dinner/service).  I can’t WAIT to do NOTHING on the beach for at least a half-day!  We’re just hoping that the forecast high of 65 degrees is off and it makes it back up to 75 degrees, as is the forecast for the few following days.