I update this less and less with each passing month. But that's because I'm a very busy person. That's not entirely true. But maybe that makes it seem like my whole music career is that much more intense. What's happened since the last update? I experienced the best party of my life with the friends I love the most in a condo for new years, didn't practice a damn thing, got lots of Whataburger, listened to great music, and just had a great time being back home. 2010 has treated me quite well so far. This year I plan on living life a little bit more. The first few months of 2009 I was kind of a downer on some days and was hesitant to go out and do things. Then once I got here in SF, I kind of stressed about my school work and practice. Music started to turn into a job for me. I plan on not letting things get to me as much. To be even more outgoing. Maybe it's because the Cowboys lost and I feel like I have nothing to lose, but I'm down to anything at anytime. Party in Oakland? Bus up to Oregon? Bus down to San Diego or LA? I'm down. I need to live life to the absolute fullest and that's what I want to remember 2010 as: the year I lived like I had never lived before. 10/10 on the cheesy scale, I know. But it is what it is.
The past couple months I've been thinking a lot about what I want to do with my life. Obviously music, but what path of music do I want to take? Well I'm at a music conservatory so obviously my options are: perform or teach. Well it clicked to me...I don't really want to do that. Teaching doesn't really appeal to me and yeah, I do want to perform but not for my whole life. You know what I want to do? More than anything in the world? Be in a band. Be in a touring band. 
I thought this feeling was just a phase but it's stuck and I can't seem to shake it. I don't want to shake it. This is what I want to do as of right now. I've been looking at Musicians Institute in LA and Berklee in Boston. Why those schools? Well they are contemporary schools of music as opposed to the classical school of music I attend. If there was a school for developing the next artist you fall in love with on MTV, these are the schools. Obviously that's not exactly what I'm aiming for, but you get the idea.
I'm considering going to these schools so I can be around the right people whether it's the networking or musicians, or the scene. I want to be there. I still love classical music, playing classical guitar and practicing, but this is just how I feel. But I wouldn't be getting a masters degree from these places. Probably just a performance certificate. I said to people a long time ago that all I wanted in my life was to be the absolute best guitar player I could possibly be, and I think I'm starting to see what else I need to do to achieve that goal. I want to be fluent in all styles. Berklee and Musicians Institute would help me with that. I don't even care if it's not a punk band. 
I'm down to be in a Get Up Kids/Smoking Popes/Bad Astronaut type of band too. Hell, even if I can turn into a studio musician, or a guy that plays guitar for some famous person, I'd be so fucking down. I just want to be in a touring band so bad. But here's a counter feeling. First off, I live in San Francisco. A GREAT music scene. Why not start now? Which is something I've already started working on with Craigs list. And I plan on recording a demo with friends over the summer. But mainly, I've been debating if I should still go to Peabody(another classical music conservatory where Manuel Barrueco teachers) in Baltimore, or New England Conservatory(another classical music conservatory where Elliot Fisk teachers) in Boston, or USC in LA or stay at SFCM(in case anything I have going here gets legit) as planned, and try to make it on my own with out the schools. All of them are great music scenes. So why not continue to be secure with degrees in classical guitar while still trying to do what I REALLY want to do? I don't know. Lots of questions in the air right now. I just want to see where I'm at in 3 years.School has started up again. It's looking to be a pretty easy semester. Especially since I don't have my old musicianship/theory teacher. So I'm taking musicianship, theory, western civilization, guitar performance, guitar ensemble, guitar lessons, modern guitar lit, and guitar arrangement. Modern guitar lit was fantastic because we learned so much about Segovia and while yeah, I always knew he was essentially the hero of classical guitar and a mega douche bag, I didn't know all the details and what he did is truly amazing. Then in guitar arrangement we got an assingment to arrange the famous piano(but mainly known for being played on guitar) piece by Albeniz, "Leyenda" into another key. I picked d minor. Should probably get started on that. Rufio came out with a couple new songs?! What?! I thought they'd be broken up for good. I wrote about them a while back. They were my 100% favorite band when I was 13 and 14. Oh...those were the days. Juggling around with girls and listening to these heartbreaking, deep, well thought out lyrics that I just related with so well.
Rufio-One Slowdance
We don't have to talk,
We don't have to laugh at all
I just want to be
You and me
You and me dancing the night away
You can feel my heart beating so hard
We look eye to eye
And im swept away.
On a moonlit walk on the beach
Watching the sunrise for the first time
I'm in a trance
From that one slowdance.
