this is a pretty cool song from this musical called "into the woods"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsFx5835Qrg

it's been an interesting semester.  I remember thinking at the beginning of the summer: "will I actually hang out with the people I'm about to spend all summer with once school starts? I hope so, but probably not". and it's been true. did NOT see matt quitting the band though. I did not think my schedule would be that tough. comp sci especially has been a surprising amount of work.... props to people who major in that stuff.... one class is enough for me, can' imagine taking multiple comp sci classes.

also, can't believe I didn't drink coffee until this year. it's definitely helped  a LOT in keeping up with things.

I've always been skeptical of other people doing the things they say they will do, and these past few months haven't made that any better. one thing I've tried so hard to do is not be the "czar" of small town in that I don't want to do everything, because obviously I don' have enough time, and more importantly, since the president of a student group should be getting other people involved as well. I'm thankful overall for the efforts most of the people have put in, but it really is sad how little respect navid has for things in general. by little respect, I mean he doesn't take things seriously and half-asses things a lot. but yea anyway... it's stressful to think that all that small town does depends on me... the past president, colin, was a cool and great guy and got things done, but he wasn't trying to expand what we were doing. we didn't do much in the fall, and all we did in the spring was get ready for one big show. what sucks though is he made it SEEM as if he were really busy and that that's why we didn' meet often or do other things. I'm not as good at doing that and I think some people think I'm slacking off when we've done a ton of stuff already... though I am pissed that my friends who were going to work on the site, as well as the student group who was going to help them, can't be depended on for anything... but yea... open jam sessions for anyone on campus... a show with over 300 people attending throughout the night.... open studio hours, mixing tutorials... so much crap is going on... but there's still more I could be organizing... hopefully going to get this nationwide contest going soon... more on that later. wish there were more student bands. once I graduate there will be no one who has anywhere close to knowing as much as I do about pro tools/recording/mixing. and only one active student band (two others are working on that though). ugh

and then same thing with panda force. back to square 1. should just call it "david munoz and the panda force" at this point. but w/e. I hope I have enough energy in the next few weeks and over winter break to write and record some bad ass midi parts so the new dance sound can finally get started. should be a fun next semester if this goes right

freaking tired of "group projects". it's dumb when some group members don't feel like putting in any work and don't put in any work ever, or even worse, they come back and try to change things to make it seem as if they are contributing when really they're just making things worse... this dumbass girl in the musical class is sooooo bad at everything... hasn't contributed anything at all. i wrote around half the libretto (the entire story+dialogue and whano) with Lujing, the keyboardist from the other band in our year, Tauri Wind, who's a really cool/funny guy. a lot like Randy but less stuck-up. anyway, we've written all the music and lyrics to this point. she was going to help with lyrics but I swear she cannot read or write music. and she sends us lyrics hours before we're supposed to present. ugh. most incompetent person I've mett at duke

this week's been interesting. hope I don't mess this up :)

awesome. as tall as lions and mute math are playing in charlotte next saturday. definitely need to try to make it out there

as tall as lions new cd is soooo good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EWE57kuN6U&feature=related

www.myspace.com/astallaslions (they have "into the flood" you can listen to for free jason. it's the song from their EP that I couldn't send because it was protected since I bought it from iTunes)

acoustic version's almost as good as the cd, titled "you can't take it with you"

so wow. I thought the studio was awesome. but recently got access to this place, the smith warehouse, that has over $20k worth of keyboard/midi recording stuff. I don't know why the studio isn't over there.... much more secure plus we could use that stuff :). anyway, need to talk to nate and figure out how do-able my idea for the future panda force is. though I unfortunately haven't had time to continue working on the three songs I had started, I will hopefully in two weeks have a ton of freetime once second round of midterms is over. the idea is to have navid on drums and then me and aidan switching around on guitar/bass (or both being on guitar) and then having a laptop connected to the PA during a live show playing pre-recorded guitar parts. much poppier. see this as me "selling out" haha. sort of. I did want to do a side project that was more electronica based, and since we can't exactly do all our songs now with only 3 people, might as well do this. btw we can still play: end of the world, smoke and mirrors, and may 21st (which are my favorites/the ones I think are best so awesome :) ), as well as new riff and the nightmare. we can probably add in albatross and carbon copy too, but dunno if it's worth it haha. f b's would be good but it'll be tough to make it sound as full, so probably won't do that.

but yea. after devine's and seeing how many people will come to a show on a thursday night to listen to popular music, I realize this idea'll be even better. it'll be like stella, but even better haha. only problem is getting the time to come up with all this shit. but aidan's excited too, which he hasn't been since we left the studio, so it's just a matter of spending some long saturdays at the warehouse playing crap.

I hate the group work setting. so freaking lame. seriously. I admit, I don't know everyone in the lab as well as everyone else does, and there is a weird age gap/"distinction" between me (undergrad) and everyone else who lives this stuff 24/7, but .... talking to each person one on one is so much better than having everyone interact at once. as I mentioned in an earlier post, if mckell (awesome post-doc who's 35) and brandi (two years older than me, really nice and friendly) aren't in the lab, then it's just super awkward having any conversation. cuz it's like, you sort of want to hang out and talk with people, but you really need to work. and yea.

so while i'm not getting any sleep, I am at least getting almost everything done. I've pushed myself musically in writing what I have for this musical. pushing myself to write this new music. as matt said, it's really ffustrating to play with people who don't take music nearly as seriously as you do. but whatever. as long as you're growing as a musician and writing good new stuff who cares?

still looking for some girl I can take seriously

meet the new panda force bassist (at least for the near future) :)

it's weird when you see the ugly side of someone

When I keep giving up without getting anything in return, is it so strange that I've become so apathetic towards people? When every time I try to help someone or something I'm taken for granted, is it so strange that I get angry towards people? I'm happy by myself but have it all drained away by others. no one I care about talks to each other unless I go out of my way, and few go out of their way to talk to me. everyone's lost the fire inside and is living in the hedonistic present. or, perhaps, I have lost my mind in this cycle of 4 hours of sleep and continuous work. but whatever, I'm happy when I'm working at lab. I'm happy when I'm teaching myself the piano at 3 am Tuesday morning after finishing a comp sci assignment. I'm happy after running ten miles or working out. I'm happy when I'm drumming to my music in the band trailer at 1 am Sunday morning.  I'm happy by myself, and though I do wish I could find someone who enjoyed any of this as much as me, the outlook's grim. I've lost the other three friends who should be there with me to partying/drugs/girlfriends/apathy, though I've tried my best to save them, and any girl who's interested in anything I just mentioned I've distanced myself from, though I've tried to fix that all. But I've got my music and my mind to keep me company.

to do list over fall break: massive reflective post on everything going on in my life and random people

kings of convenience: INCREDIBLE band