"Changes" - The Longest Blog Update of My Life

I posted this on MySpace a few days ago and decided to throw it up on here...

April 25^th. I packed up my stuff and was gone from the Contemporary Music Center. The place was the most incredible place I have ever been. I learned about/gained experience in sound engineering, management, booking, live sound, production, publishing, stage management, marketing, graphic design, and record labels. But I learned so much more than the typical education. I found out my quirks and my strengths, my likes and dislikes, and whom I want to become paired with what I'd like to do. This doesn't even include how my eyes were opened religiously, politically, analytically, and the inspiration I received to impact my world. The CMC shaped me.

May 2^nd. I left my home in Lancaster, PA to head back to Geneva. Lancaster was a good time to see my family and digest the CMC. I set up a desk in my basement and got to work. One day I helped out at my church on a fully handicap-accessible playground. They had over 1,000 volunteers come through and build this thing and it was incredible. It is called Daniel's Den, dedicated to a handicap child named Daniel who inspired the project. The different aspects of this park were actually chosen by kids and are part of a community park that includes a couple of open fields and a baseball diamond. It is a really neat idea for the church to create the park on their ground for open community use.

May 9^th. Kelly and I decide to call it quits after almost two and a half years. This is the sad part of the story. We both still loved each other, but need time to grow apart. There are a lot of details here, but out of respect for her, I am not going to type that on a blog. There is a chance that we could end up back together, but as for now we have decided to split. At first it was very hard to deal with, but I know that it is for the best and have a peace about it. Kelly is an awesome girl and I wish her the best.

May 17^th. I officially graduated! The ceremony was great and as expected it was a bittersweet experience. I will never forget a lot of the memories from Geneva. From Little Bat to Showtime, from best friends to my first beer, from Fred Webb to Bill Pearce, it was amazing. Of course it was hard to say goodbye to my friends, but I had already experienced this once in December and again on the island. If I didn't get a chance to tell you, I love you my Geneva friends.

May 22^nd. Here I sit on my last night in Michigan. I have been visiting my family up here and it's been real nice. I started at my father's mom's house and saw that whole side of the family. Normally I only see them once a year at Christmas, so it was nice time. I went golfing with my grandma's husband, Chuck, and my parents came along. They planned to just walk, but were forced to play or not come at all. My mom planned to only hit off the first tee, but both of my parents had good first drives. It was pretty hilarious considering neither of them had ever really golfed. But then they got addicted. My mom used a tee for all of her shots and did pretty good. My dad also played well with the junky set of clubs from the clubhouse, but I don't think either of them will be taking up the game anytime soon.

After a few days at Grandma Sigmon's, I drove with my parents to my mom's side of the fam. The first night I saw my cousins, some of which I had not seen since middle school! It is pretty sad actually, but it was good to catch up with them over dinner and see what they are doing with their lives. I also got to meet my adopted cousin from Russia, Isabella, who is now 4 years old. There is a whole neat story of how that adoption happened, but it was neat to meet her. She is a whipper-snapper of a kid and a real doll. I kept throwing her up and down and taught her how to walk on a treadmill. All she kept saying while I was playing with her was "again, again, again". So cute.

So now what? I thought I had a good lead on a job as a production manager/marketing assistant in Chicago. I was talking to a girl who I thought was the person doing the hiring. I sent her my resume around two weeks ago after she sold me on the job. It turns out that the manager at the venue was the real person in charge of hiring. He met a person who used to be on the Smashing Pumpkins management team and before he even saw my resume, hired him. The frustrating thing is that my resume was in two weeks before that point, but I guess that is life.

When I finally get back to Lancaster in a few days, after a bachelor party in Pittsburgh with Joel and friends this weekend, I plan to get started on the job search. I want to do something in the music business industry. I love doing the business side of things and I want to help be a part of creating music that helps to shape who we are and helps us cope with the struggles of life. Because of this passion, I would love to be the manager of artist's or bands. Of course I have a broad list of interests: business (including entrepreneurship, finance, and marketing), computer/internet technology (I read around 30 articles a week online and spend countless hours reading and learning about this online), booking, being the manager of a recording studio, working for a creative company and doing their marketing, working for a publishing house, working at a venue, doing market research for a worthwhile company, or many other things.

For right now though, I am going to start my own company called Signature Entertainment. It is still in the formation, but I am starting it out as primarily a management company. There are around 7 artists or bands that would already like to work with me and another one that I would like to work with on top of that. This could be a full time job, but I won't make enough money to support myself starting out. So, my plan is to apply to Starbucks when I get back in town and try to get a job there. I'm actually really excited to work at a coffee shop, as weird as that sounds. I am ready to meet some different people and get out there in the "real world" (because no, Geneva is not the real world). I'm also helping a friend, Bryan Harada, start a web design/graphic design/photography company. This also could take up a lot of time, but I'm going to focus on the things I need to get done first before I take on too much. If it is one thing I learned in college, it is the ability to say no, so I'm feeling pretty good about all these possible commitments. To start, it is looking for a job that will pay those school loans.

As for personally where I am at, I am ready to get going. I feel like I've been on a vacation for over a month and desire to be productive. I've been working with dial-up internet and may kill myself if I don't get a wireless connection soon. Come Monday morning, I will be ready to go.

Go Pistons. Go Pens.