Choklit Blog #20: My thoughts on "musical evolution"

So. Yesterday a friend posted a video by Simple Plan on my wall on Facebook (thanks JP!), and I had never really listened to Simple Plan before, but I thought they were pretty cool sounding, so I watched a few more of their videos, only to find that their style used to be completely different. I like the new style and all, but... it's not as good as the older stuff. It got me thinking about music and how each band seems to sort of "evolve" over the years... but I guess it would be more like "devolving" since they all seem to get worse. It's like people decide to grow up and want their music to grow up with them, but sometimes that just doesn't work! So many bands start out with a nice raw, edgy, very simplistic style and try to improve it. But they're not improving! How does a group of spikey-haired punk boys ranting that "I'm just a kid, and life is a nightmare" turn into a bunch of posh preppy guys singing pop-rock breakup songs? [NOTE: While I normally can't stand anything I label as "preppy," that's not the fact in this case. I still think their music sounds cool, but I would definitely say they're preppy compared to their old style.] The fact that they sound more "mainstream" and "radio-friendly" doesn't necessarily mean they're better. What happened to music that's actually fun to listen to?!

Other bands seem to be going down a similar path. Stellar Kart, for example, used to be my favorite band. Their first two albums are amazing... catchy, upbeat pop/punk songs with pretty simple lyrics, complimented by two or three slower songs on each record. But by album number three (the same one that seems to be Simple Plan's downfall), they completely changed their style for the most part. Half of the album is too slow to really listen to much, while the other half is still worth the money. But even the good songs are just... different, somehow. And what about their videos? Their earlier videos featured the band jumping around on stage singing "Life is good, eternal life is better" or racing decked-out shopping carts, but their newest video has a story line, during which they "break dance" in spandex and fanny packs. While it may be funny to watch, the band has definitely lost some of the blissful simplicity of a brand-new pop/punk band. But hey, they have cool t-shirts!

After Stellar Kart, Thousand Foot Krutch became my favorite band soon after I bought their latest album "The Flame In All of Us." It was my first TFK CD, so I had no clue what I was missing out on until I bought their second album from 2003, "Phenomenon." It was my favorite CD the second I bought it and I couldn't stop listening to it. It's still one of my favorites after I've bought eleven more albums. Two of those eleven were their first and third albums, "Set It Off" and "The Art of Breaking." After listening to each of them several times, I concluded almost the same thing as with Stellar Kart and Simple Plan. "Set It Off" wasn't exactly their best album. I think the first album being the best is kind of a pop/punk thing. With a little bit harder music, you need a little bit longer to perfect it, and apparently it takes a little bit longer to go downhill... or a lot longer. They started as a punk/rap band with rough vocals and tons of bass in every song. By the next album, they were pure rock... better singing, better instrumentals, but still heavy enough to be insanely likable. On the following album, they seemed to have softened a bit on a few songs, seeing as how "Phenomenon" only had one slow song. There were some slower ones on "The Art of Breaking," but the rock was still there. The album was perfectly laced with insane guitar solos and ended with one of the most awesome rock ballads I've ever heard. Then came "The Flame In All of Us." It's amazing, really, but compared to their other albums, they seem to have lost some of that rock. "What Do We Know", "Favorite Disease", "My Home", and "Wish You Well" pretty much give me musical ADD. The lead singer (Trevor McNevan, my hero!) even talks about "My Home" being their first love song on the special edition DVD. After more than ten years, why write a love song now? They never did before, and they also never had so many songs that slow on one album. But TFK redeems themselves by seriously rocking the rest of the record. Hopefully TFK won't follow the same pattern as I've seen in other bands... I mean, there's a reason they're the best! And they've been around for more than ten years doing this, unlike 5-year-old punk bands who have already experimented with every style of rock and pop out there. But there are those people who think "Set It Off" was the best and by "The Art of Breaking" they were failures. So I guess it's a matter of opinion.

Bands like Pillar, on the other hand, really needed to go through the whole "musical evolution" process. They started kind of like TFK... sort of a rock/rap style, or something along the lines of that. They weren't great in their early years, and they didn't stand out very much. They got better with each album, and did seem to slip into a more mainstream rock style, but it worked for them. Rpb Beckley is better at singing than he is at rapping. They shocked most fans with their release of "The Reckoning" in 2006, because it was so far from their original style. The previous album was mostly singing, with a little bit of rap every now and then and a few songs even had a scream or two at the end. "The Reckoning" was significantly harder and a lot of of the tracks were at least halfway screamed. Fans talked about their parents and other friends and family saying the new record didn't sound "Christian enough" without even listening to the lyrics. Two years later, Pillar released "For the Love of the Game," the album that seems to fit between "Where Do We Go From Here" and "The Reckoning." Now Pillar seems to be the definition of "Christian rock." Maybe it's because they fixed their mistake by going back towards their old style a little more. Not that "The Reckoning" was a mistake--it was awesome, but if they had continued in that direction, they would have turned into Underoath in a few years and probably lost plenty of fans. Or maybe their dedicated fans' musical tastes would have evolved too. Either way, "For the Love of The Game," which portrayed their old style mixed with a few new elements was definitely accepted better than "The Reckoning."

I guess to a certain extent, "musical evolution" can be a good thing, but is it really possibly to keep the same style forever? Probably not, so all music is bound to change at some point (hopefully with the exception of TFK), some much earlier than others. Family Force 5's first album was an amazingly fresh mix of rap, rock, and screamo. Their second album is mostly dance music, some of which shows signs of insanely abused auto-tune. It sounds awesome on some tracks, but "How in the World" seriously did NOT need so much. Both albums still rock, but the first is definitely more creative, diverse, and all around appealing.

But anyway, there are my thoughts on musical evolution. I just thought someone might be interested or just bored enough to read the whole thing. And if you know where I can find some good punk rock, let me know.

--MC

Choklit Blog #19: Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

So, it's typical on Thanksgiving to make a list of things you're thankful for, obviously.  Well usually the average American Christian says something like "I'm thankful that Jesus died to save me, I'm thankful that I live in a free country, and I'm thankful for my family and friends."  While that's all good and nice and what not, I get sick of hearing it all the time!  There are so many more interesting things to be thankful for.  So, in an attempt to write a slightly interesting blog for like... the first time... ever, I decided to type 50 things I'm thankful for (you kinda need that many to get past the whole family and friends thing yano...)  So, in no particular order, here we go...

1. Jesus died to save me

2. I live in a free country

3. Mom, Dad, Brent, Mike, and Daisy

4. Janelle, Joy, Jimmy, Jon, Jason, Liz, and all my other friends (and it's pretty awesome how so many of their names start with J!)

5. Trevor McNevan

6. Music

7. Turkey, dressing, green beans, sweet potatoes, crescent rolls, cranberry sauce, and pie

8. Water bottles

9. Radio stations on iTunes

10. Chucks

11. The internet

12. Band t-shirts

13. Eyeliner

14. Hair straighteners

15. Scissors

16. Curtains

17. Graduation

18. Airplanes, cars, and busses

19. Studded belts

20. Debit cards

21. Blogger

22. Posters

23. Painter's tape

24. Indoor plumbing

25. Dishwashers

26. Air conditioning/Heating

27. Facebook, Yeega, and the KJ Board and all the new friends I've met there (and old ones I've been able to keep in touch with)

28. CDs and CD players

29. My iPod... all of them

30. The ability to order a pink and black tassel (and the one I have)

31. Jackets, hats, and shoes

32. Rifles (BB guns included)

33. Fingernail polish

34. Pillows

35. Pictures

36. YIM, Facebook Chat, and Google Talk

37. Phones

38. My pink and black arm warmers and my pink and black socks

39. "The business", "Off the yellow", "Insanely", "ROFLCAKES", and "LMBOROTFLOL"

40. C28

41. The Bible

42. The bottle of Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke I still have

43. My bed

44. Graduating early

45. Inside jokes

46. $11 prom dresses

47. Emeralds

48. Pens, pencils, and paper

49. My church

50. Brown hair and green eyes

So there it is, 50 things I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving!

OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK: I found out that the lead singer of Ever Stays Red stole Trevor McNevan's voice! *gasp* / I made pie... and haven't eaten them yet :( / I actually worked on my paper / I stopped learning stuff in math class... the rest of the semester is review! / I saw a bumper sticker that said "Gay Marriage is What Killed the Dinosaurs" / I got yet another haircut / I lost one of my new pink and black socks that I paid good money for... actually, whoever did laundry lost it / KEEP ROCKIN AND NEVER STOP --MC

Choklit blog #18: I passed out for the first time ever!!!

As you may have read in one of my previous blogs, I almost passed out at my karate class a few weeks ago right after exercising. Well, I still usually feel a little lightheaded and nauseous after the exercises at the beginning of class, but I've never really come close to passing out other than that one time. That's why I just assumed I would be ok yesterday at class when I started seeing green and blue spots everywhere and feeling more nauseous than usual. When my vision started getting really bad (as in, there were more green and blue dots and I felt like I had been staring at a million-watt lightbulb), I thought about asking to sit down like I did last time, but I didn't want to do that again since this time I was sure I would be fine. Unfortunately, by the time I changed my mind about sitting down, I could hardly see and would have never found my way off the mat. Joy was standing next to me and asked if I was ok and I said no, just as one of my knees buckled. I stood back up straight, thinking it would somehow make me ok in just a second... but it's a good thing Joy knew better and caught me before I fell over. At this point, my vision was completely gone and I think my eyes closed, but I'm not sure. I felt myself being dragged across the room or something... I'm not exactly sure. I remember feeling like I was moving and seeing blue and green dots everywhere. I had no clue where I was or what was going on, and I'm not sure how long I was conscious and how long I was unconscious (or if I even really was... I'm not completely sure, but I think i must have been). Then I felt myself being laid down on the floor and heard my teacher saying stuff like "Bring me a clipboard. Go get her some water. Get me that ice pack," to some other people's moms who were there. I opened my eyes and I could see again and I felt ok, so I told them I was fine but they all said I wasn't. After about 20 minutes (maybe more) they let me go back to class because most of the color had come back to my face and lips. I was completely fine after that, so I don't know what happened. And apparently my face and lips were blue at first for about 45 seconds... I don't know what's up with that either.

I went to see a doctor about it today, but the only thing I found out is that I weigh ten pounds more than I thought I did. I have to go back tomorrow so they can run a bunch of tests to see if I have heart problems, and I think some other problems like diabetes (I know she mentioned that, but I'm not sure if I'm being tested for it, or if that's already been ruled out). I can't imagine why I would have heart problems tho... I mean, my dad only has about a million! So yeah... I can't eat anymore until after that appointment so I'm hoping to go at like 7:30 am (if not, I'll probably starve to death. Then it won't matter if i had heart problems). But even if I do, it's not like something that's gonna kill me, thank goodness. But then again, considering the fact that Barack Obama was just elected President, it might have been better if... oh nevermind. I was hoping to get my mind off the election by writing this blog, but I guess that was an epic fail. Kind of like our country will be in... grrrrrrr... *stops typing*

OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK: Um let's see, the worst day in American history!!!! / I heard a Philmont song playing after youth group... it was wonderful / Family Force 5 was in town and I couldn't go see them / I actually picked up my bass and... played it! / I added more songs to playlist.com/veerawk / I was actually late for English class... for the first time ever / I wrote a blog in which all my "Random Things That Happened This Week" were either music-related or bad / KEEP ROCKIN AND NEVER STOP --MC

Choklit Blog #17: EVERYONE read this... it's IMPORTANT!

Even if you're not an American citizen 18 years or older, read this anyway, because you probably know someone who is.

As I'm sure you all know, election day is coming up in like 2 days.  As some of you probably also know, I'm not old enough to vote. The best I can really do is to tell other people to vote for John McCain, which is why I'm writing this.

Voting 101

How to keep the devil from running your country

Who should I vote for and why?

John McCain.  I don't have the time or patience to list all the things wrong with Barack Obama, but if you wanna know why NOT to vote for him, read this: http://mcse7en.blogspot.com/2008/10/who-is-barack-obama.html. Even if you already aren't planning on voting for him, you really should read it anyway (if you haven't already). I may refer back to it later.

Why should I vote? One vote won't even make a difference.

Your logic is messed up... of course one vote makes a difference! What if everyone in the country decided their vote wouldn't make a difference and stayed home on election day?

But I don't care about the election! It doesn't matter to me who's in office. The President can't make any laws without congress.

It DOES matter. If you haven't noticed, people are dumb. They'll follow whoever they think knows what he's doing, and most people seem to think Obama knows what he's doing... just because he makes good speeches and uses pretty words! He could dissolve congress and people wouldn't even notice, or care! And it's because of these uncaring people that our country could be ruined in just a few years. In fact, since Americans are so lazy now, a LOT of them just don't care. They don't feel like doing any research so they just listen to what the media says. That's how plenty of people end up supporting Obama--because they don't care. And that's how people end up listening to him and following him while he destroys our nation... and maybe the rest of the world. The President of the United States is the most powerful man in the world, and if you put the wrong person in that position, he could misuse that power and... well, bad things would obviously happen. But with or without congress, so many people would be willing to follow Obama straight to hell. If you don't care about this election, either your priorities are insanely off, or you're just ignorant about the whole thing.

I don't like either candidate.

Then vote for the one you dislike less. Would you rather have your country run by the man who eats dinner with and is mentored by terrorists (this would be a good time to click the link above if you have no clue what I'm talking about) or the war veteran who was tortured and could have been killed for our country? One of them will be President whether you like it or not. Obama hates us, McCain loves us. McCain is clearly the better choice, so just go vote for him.

That's pretty much all I have to say for now (partially because I lost my train of thought), but... yeah. Vote McCain!

[If you thought this was the business, please leave a comment. If you thought it was insanely lame, please keep it to yourself. If you don't care, please get a life.]

--MC

Choklit Blog #16: How to deliver cookie dough... the illegal way

Yes, that's right, I'm blogging about cookie dough while all my friends are blogging about Obama and the election and things that actually matter. I'll get to that later... some day...

But anyway, I was out delivering cookie dough with Mike the other day, and we had to deliver some to a model house in our neighborhood.  We went there at 10 am and didn't bother looking at the sing with the office hours on it, so we didn't know it didn't open until 11. Well we parked, waked to the door, and went inside because it was unlocked just like it is when someone is actually there. No one was inside. I heard a buzzing sound, but I figured it was something unrelated, so I didn't pay much attention to it until it got really annoying. I asked Mike what it was, and he said it was the alarm. He didn't seem to care though, but we decided to leave before the cops got there. 

We delivered the rest of the cookie dough (which was all in other neighborhoods, thank goodness) and came back to see if anyone was there yet. We didn't get out of the car, because when we drove past we saw a police car parked next to the house. 

We went back home for a few minutes and then tried one more time, but when we came back there were no cars there at all and it was after 11 (this was when we saw the sign and realized the house wasn't supposed to be open the first time we were there), so we decided to just go back in a few hours.

A little later in the day, about 4, the guy who was working at the model house randomly decided to call and ask where the cookie dough was (kind of ironic that he should do this the same day we were delivering it... and right before we left the house!) Well since he knew our mom's name and didn't know mine or Mike's he called and asked for her, so of course, she explained to him about what had happened earlier and told him we would be there with the cookie dough in 15 minutes.

It turned out that someone else had been working there the night before, and when she left she turned on the alarm, but left the door unlocked. Then when we set it off that morning, the cops came and looked around but didn't see anything wrong and the guy was wondering all day what had happened. Then he suddenly decided he wanted something sweet and remembered the cookie dough he had ordered. He remembered our mom's name so he looked her up in the phonebook and called to see where it was, when she explained to him what had happened. Then he said it made his day because he would have a funny story to tell to his wife. And then... nothing eventful at all happened... *gasp*

OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK: My English class was told that we were having this dumb library tour on Monday, but it turned out to be a tour of the library section of the college's website / I bought Disciple's new album "Southern Hospitality" / I shot people with paintball guns / I touched a $100 bill / I decided to post all my blogs as notes on Facebook to see if more people read them there / I ate some really l33tsauce cookies / KEEP ROCKIN AND NEVER STOP --MC

Choklit Blog #15: It's (unfortunately) true...

So I was on Facebook yesterday, obviously, since I'm on Facebook everyday. I noticed that Rob Beckley (the lead singer of Pillar) was online, so I decided to ask him the question I had been meaning to ask for a few weeks now: Is Kalel really leaving Pillar? Well it turns out he is. I have no clue why, but Rob didn't seem too upset about it... in fact, when I said I would be sad to see Kalel go and I never thought he would leave, Rob said "No biggie. He wasn't the original bass player anyway. It was time to ask him to leave." Now I'm insanely curious as to what may have happened that made Rob ask him to leave...

Well I always thought Kalel was the original bassist, so I asked Rob who was. Rob was. I never knew he played bass! But he said he doesn't anymore, which is insanely sad cuz it's the best instrument ever. But I still think it's pretty cool that he started a rapcore band as the bassist/singer/rapper just like I almost did a few years ago. Actually, I guess I'm still trying to. I even told him about when my brothers and I almost started a rapcore band, and he said it sounds cool and we should. We can't though, cuz Mike stopped playing guitar and he hates anything that's not straight up hip-hop and we can't find another guitarist. But oh well... maybe one day. Or maybe not :p

But I still just have to know why Kalel is leaving the band! I mean, he was the bassist! The bassist is almost always the best member! Of course, in this case Rob is my favorite, but that's beside the point. It just made me think of when I found out that Joey Fife and Brad Noah had left Disciple. I saw a picture that someone from the KJ Board had taken with the band, and Joey and Brad weren't there. There were three guys I had never seen before too, so I asked who they were, only to find out that the band had three new members and my favorite one (Joey, the bassist) had left! It was insanely depressing, but I think I'm almost over it now. I mean, I didn't actually go into depression or anything... that would have been stupid.

It also reminded me of when Skwid (Aaron Tosti) left Hawk Nelson. I don't even know when I heard about it, but it was just before he left the band. I never really liked him very much and he had creepy looking hair, but when I found out he was leaving I was suddenly sad and decided I would miss him. Why? I have no clue.

But anyway, I'll miss Kalel a lot. Especially since he finally got around to cutting his hair! He's always pretty much been awesome and he has really cute kids (especially Kaden... he's adorable). 

KJ-52's bassist will be taking his place, so hopefully he's the business. But then again, he's with KJ so he's gotta be cool.

OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK: I found 51 awesome pictures of my adorable doggy, Daisy / Gary said something intelligent in English class... shocking, I know / I made my brother a Facebook account and actually got him to use it / I won an autographed copy of a Yungtown album, and whenever I get it, I'll be the only person with an autographed copy of it / I made people bow to me (well technically that was last week...) / I played the most epic game of paintball ever and killed Justin / KEEP ROCKIN AND NEVER STOP --MC

Choklit Blog #14: New song! Sort of...

A while back, way back when I first recorded "Which Way?", I wrote and recorded this song called "The Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke Song." It was basically horrible, as was everything I recorded back then, so I never put it on soundclick. Well I rerecorded it last night with a new verse and a new beat, and it's still not all that great, but oh well! You can listen to it and download it at: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=634247&songID=6923952

KEEP ROCKIN AND NEVER STOP! --MC

Choklit Blog #13: Tech guys rock my socks off.

It's taken me a while to get around to finally writing this... day 2 of the Franklin Graham Festival was pure awesomeness! I didn't make day 3 tho, but I heard it wasn't that good anyway :P. 

When I first got there and got backstage, I sat outside the catering room with Joy again to take people's tickets. We started talking about how hot Manwell from Group 1 Crew is (they were there that night, and so were the Newsboys). We sat there for a while and talked about him. Then Joy was like "Violet! They're coming!" Joy had been taking everyone's tickets the whole time so far, so I decided it was my turn (since Manwell was coming and wanted him to hand me his ticket... yes, I realize that I have loser-ish tendencies :D). So I was like "I want the tickets Joy!" and she gave them to me so I could take Manwell's ticket. Then, they walked around the corner. Blanca said hi to us, and then they just walked in. They didn't even have tickets. It was insanely disappointing.

After that slight disappointment, we decided to go eat (in the same room where Manwell was, of course). I was sitting like 6 feet away from him while Joy was eating and I was... sitting. Then I ate a cookie. While I was eating the wonderfully delicious chocolate chip cookie, Blanca got up to get one and Manwell told her to get him one. She didn't though, so he kept asking her. It was quite entertaining. Then this other guy got up and went to get one, so Manwell told the other guy to get him one. Then he changed his mind and told him to only get him half of one. The guy brought back half a cookie and Manwell said, "This isn't chocolate chip! What, are you trying to poison me with this oatmeal?" So the guy went back to get him a different one while saying "But this was the only half of one that was up there!" At this point, I had a half-eaten chocolate chip cookie in my hand, and I almost jokingly offered it to him. It would have been awesome and then I could have talked to him, but of course, I didn't. But I should have. Of course, there are other things I should have done that night that I didn't do :'(.

A little later, the Newsboys got there and Joy and I immediately saw our next target for a hug and picture. We didn't know who he was because we didn't know who any of them were. She actually called her brother and had him look them up on wikipedia and tell her their names so we wouldn't seem clueless when we met them! All we knew about the guy was that he was tall, blond, and hot. Who better to take a picture with?

We did some more random stuff for a while, we got to go inside and go on the floor for the Newsboys' concert, we walked around... just stuff. Oh, and we met Peter Furler (lead singer of the Newsboys). When Group 1 Crew was on stage, we just kind of walked around and what not. Then we saw our target, who we were calling "blond guy". Yeah... nothing really eventful.

I don't remember when this happened, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't during a concert. Joy and I were sitting outside the catering room again just because there were chairs there. Her mom was standing there talking to us and telling us we needed to ask people for pictures, because we had let so many people just walk past us. While we were talking, Joy suddenly pointed out that "blond guy" was walking towards us. He walked past us and looked in the room, then turned around to walk away, when Mrs. Brenda stopped him and said "These two girls would like to meet you." I almost died, but now I'm glad I didn't cuz that was the only time we ever got to talk to him or anything. So he shook my hand and said his name was Ben and asked what my name was, so obviously I told him my name, then he did the same thing to Joy. He asked if we liked the show and we said we did. And then he left. We never got to talk to him again, which is tragic. Insanely tragic.

So anyway, after all the concerts were over and everything was done, we took a picture with Peter and waited for Group 1 Crew to come back. Pablo was already in the room, but we didn't really care cuz we wanted to meet Manwell and tell Blanca we loved her shoes. We waited and waited, and finally Manwell came back. Someone told him we had been waiting for him, so he came over to say hi, and I told him, "We just want a hug" and he was like "Okay!" and gave me a hug. Then he hugged Joy and we took a pic with him. Of course, I had to get him sign my shoe (the still unsigned one). He gives insanely awesome hugs.

While we waited for Blanca (and Ben... we were waiting for him to come back too), we decided to go hug Adam, the guitarist that no one knows. He signed my shoe too. We had already met him earlier, first when he was going in to the catering room and he had already turned in his ticket, so he had to make sure I believed him when he said he was already there. Then we saw him in the hall again and I just said, "Hey can we take a picture with you? You're cool." So we did. He gives pretty sweet hugs too. And I found him on myspace. I don't have an account tho, so Joy added him and sent him a message. Creepy...

After Adam, Blanca came back and we took a pic with her. I asked her if I could steal her awesome shoes, and she said I couldn't, so I told her she had already stolen my belt (we were wearing the same one :o). We talked for a minute, then she signed my shoe, and went back into the room with Manwell and Pablo. Someone told us Pablo was in the room and we could take a pic with him if we wanted, but we just said we didn't care. We didn't. We were too busy waiting for Ben to come back.

We waited a while longer for Ben, and we sang "New Design" by Thousand Foot Krutch while we did. We had been walking around singing it all weekend actually. Manwell came out and talked to someone... Adam I think... and he was standing right next to Joy. It was pretty awesome. Anyway, we waited for Ben while we talked about how hot he was (even though could have walked up behind us at any point). My parents called me and said it was time to leave, so I had to. I walked out to the parking lot, and when I got to the car (about 5 minutes after I left backstage), I called Joy and she said she had seen Ben, but she didn't talk to him or anything. It turns out she saw him like 3 times after I left, but she wouldn't just say "Hey can I take a picture with you?" (she probably wouldn't even say that to me! :D) We both knew that I would have done that if I had still been there, but I wasn't. And now I'll probably spend the rest of my life wishing I had asked for a picture earlier or stayed 5 more minutes. Or maybe I'll just do that the rest of this week... we actually decided to get our youth pastor to book them just so we can take a picture with and hug Ben! Yeah... for real...

When Joy got a chance to get on her computer, she somehow found one of their blogs where they talked about him and found out that his last name is Walton. I tried to find out something but I found nothing. Then she found that in like 5 minutes! :P Anyway... we found 2 pics of him and we think we found him on myspace. Yes, we're crazy, thank you for noticing.

Oh, and by the way, Ben is the Newsboys' tech guy. Hence the title of this blog. He has the most awesome accent ever.

OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT HAPPENED... THE LAST FEW DAYS: I got a 95 on my english paper! Yay! / A random guy at school talked to me when he was supposed to be in class... it was weird... / I wore by backstage pass to school on Monday / Jimmy got 100 on a test! YAY Jimmy! (Ok that doesn't really have anything to do with me, does it? :P) / KEEP ROCKIN AND NEVER STOP --MC

Choklit Blog #12: Toby gives awesome hugs!

I know I JUST posted a new blog like two days ago, but I'll probably post another tonight or tomorrow morning/afternoon, and another one either Sunday night or Monday, because I'll be working backstage at the Franklin Graham Festival tonight and Sunday night meeting cool bands and what not. And I did last night too, which is why I'm writing this. I can't believe my brother ever talked me into not liking tobyMac, but oh well... at least I'm smart now :D

Before I start with the wonderful story of meeting Toby, there are a few names I'll be using a lot, and I probably won't stop to explain who they are:

Joy - My friend who I was backstage with

Mrs. Brenda - Joy's mom

Brent - My brother

Mike - My other brother

When I first got backstage, nothing all that eventful happened, except we had to take a steamer to some guy who apparently was with Toby. And I drank Mountain Dew. Oh yeah, and a bunch of people from Toby's crew came and ate and we saw them. But that wasn't really that big of a deal, because I wasn't even completely sure at first if that was who they were or not. But yeah.

After waiting a while and missing him twice, we finally had our first encounter with Toby. It was one of the strangest but most awesome moments of my entire life. I was just walking down the hall backstage with Joy and Mrs. Brenda, when all of a sudden, I noticed this short guy walking down the hall a few yards or so in front of me with hair that looked like tobyMac's. I was kind of in shock and I was pointing at him like "Is that... is... is that Toby?" But before I could even say that, Mrs. Brenda was like "Go catch him before he goes on stage!" because that's where he was going. I was sort of trying not to catch up with him, because I really thought it couldn't possibly be him since he was so short. But then I saw him walk through this door to the stage and it really was him. We waited just outside the door for a minute to see if he would come back, but we thought it was time for his show, so we turned around to walk off. As I was walking down the hall, I turned around and suddenly realized that tobyMac was walking down the hall behind me! I was trying to figure out what to do, because it's not every day that I turn around and see tobyMac walking behind me. It was insanely crazy.... Well then I decided to stop, so I was like "Joy... Joy stop walking" but she still had no clue what was going on. Then we both turned around and just like... didn't know what to say, and Mrs. Brenda kept whispering "Say hi to him" and all we could really say was "Hey." So he said hey back, and we were still speechless, and we were just standing there, so he walked over and shook my hand. Then I had something to say, of course, so I asked him for a hug. He gave us both hugs and then went in his room. But that's just the beginning of the story :D.

We still needed a picture with Toby, so we went and watched his show (and sang along with every song, killed our voices screaming, and got Brent down on the floor), then ran backstage to catch him before he ran off to his room and we never saw him again. I mean, the world could have come to an end at any moment. So we got back there and he was just coming off stage. We went and stood over by his room and when he walked past and I said "Hey Toby, can we get a picture?" and he was like "Yeah, just one minute," and went in his room to wipe off his sweat and change his hat. We sang TFK songs while we waited for him (like we had been doing all night), and then he came back out and had to go back onstage during the sermon (they have all the bands sit up there for some reason). Well as he was walking past, I thought he had forgotten and was gonna just walk past, so I was just like, "Uh... hey..." and he stopped and said, "Oh you wanted a picture?" We got some random guy to take a picture for us, and then I asked him, "Are you gonna be signing autographs or something afterward? Cuz my brother wanted to meet you, but he couldn't get backstage." From the look on his face, I was guessing he wasn't, but then he said, "Well, you know what, just bring him back here." Then he left to go back on stage, and Joy and I went to find a security guard who would actually let us bring him back there.

(Yes, I realize this is insanely long, but I can't leave out unimportant details!)

So after searching long and hard, the guy we were looking for was nowhere to be found. So we asked a different security guard. He said since the event was over for the night (which it was at this point), he wouldn't mind as long as it was ok with Toby, but he said he didn't have the authority to let us do that. So we waited a while longer for the other guy to come back, and he did eventually come back while Toby was still there. We asked him if it was ok to bring Brent back there to meet Toby, and he sent some guy with us to go get him so he wouldn't get kicked out or anything. So we went and got him and took him back where Toby was, and the first thing Brent said to him was, "You're not as tall as I expected." It was pretty funny and Toby didn't seem to mind, so he signed Joy's CD cover, my shoe, and... I don't think Brent had anything to get signed. So we took another pic with him. We were about to leave, when I remembered that I was disappointed. I have some kind of aversion to hugging people in bands with only one arm, like I had done when I hugged Toby earlier. Since he was standing right there anyway, I just asked him, "Can I have another hug?" and of course, he said, "Yeah" and hugged me. So all was well.

We also met Israel Houghton (I think I spelled his last name right) and this guy who sings, and took pics with them. We didn't get to meet Franklin Graham tho :(. But maybe we will tonight... or maybe they have him locked up in a big metal box in the back like we thought they had done to Toby at first... yeah don't ask.

OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT: The random guy who sings was wearing this jacket made of like velvet or something... I just thought that was interesting :P / I drank Mountain Dew / I ate chocolate!!! / I got about a million text messages trying to communicate with Brent somehow during the insanely loud event / I walked past so many "Staff Only" signs... insanely fun... / KEEP ROCKIN AND NEVER STOP! --MC

Choklit Blog #11: Surviving my first test, selling cookie dough, and bringin' "groovy" back!

Hey people... if anyone may suddenly decide to read my blog (that would be shocking). I haven't had time to post a new blog lately, because I've been insanely tired or busy with... yes..... college :(. 

English hasn't been all that bad... until a few days ago. I have to write a short story analysis on "The Fall River Axe Murders" by Angela Carter, one of the dumbest stories I've ever read and probably the most disappointing one. I had guessed that it would be an ok story judging by the non-boring sounding title. I was wrong. It's about Lizzie Borden like a week before she killed her parents. It doesn't even get up to the part where she kills them or anything that happens after that. It stops the morning of the murders. My thesis was about the fact that if she hadn't been so spoiled, she wouldn't have killed them, but I can't write 1000 words about it! I have 600 something right now, and I have NOTHING else to say! Oh well... the teacher doesn't seem to be taking this paper too insanely seriously...

Math is... blahish... still. I had my first test on Friday, and I thought it was pretty much easy. I made a lot of stupid little mistakes tho, and ended up getting an 81. But I guess that's good compared to the two quizzes I've gotten 0s on this year. And the other one I got a 78 on. For some reason, I don't see myself getting an A in this class. Hm... I wonder why... and now that the test is over, I'm back to having tons and tons of homework. Anti-business.

And because being insanely busy with college while feeling sleep-deprived wasn't bad enough, I have to sell cookie dough for the National Honor Society! I sold like 8 tubs already, so I hope everyone else has too, or else we'll have to return all this money because we can't sell 56 tubs... or however many it was. I can't even remember anymore how many we have to sell! But it's 50 something. It's not fun to sell, but I'm sure it'll be insanely tasty once it finally gets here :D

Ooh ooh! One more thing! In two days, I get to work backstage with tobyMac at a Franklin Graham Festival! YAY! Ok that's it this time...

No wait! No it's not! If you exist, join this Facebook group: I'm Bringin' Groovy Back! My brother Mike started this group to bring back the word "groovy", just cuz. It's the business, so go join, and help us out! And while I'm talking about Facebook groups... if you're female, you NEED to join this group too: Jimmy Fangirls Jimmy is way more the business than Alex Evans anyway!

OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK: A random guy at school asked me if he could use my phone... kinda creepy / Insanely creepy bugs are suddenly all over around my house (outside, thank goodness) / We still haven't gotten the part to fix our microwave after like a month and a half... and it was supposed to be coming like two weeks ago / Brent finally joined Yeega! / I witnessed the most horrible moment in all of facebook history for most facebook users... it switched to the new facebook! :O And I saw it happen! / Mike had a birthday... two days ago / I ate some tasty cheesecake / KEEP ROCKIN AND NEVER STOP! --MC

Choklit Blog #10: Eating is good, starving is bad, and almost passing out is not fun

Blah.

I feel insanely smart today!!!!! (That was sarcastic in case you didn't notice). I just started taking karate lessons again like a week ago, and today was my second class. I ended up having to sit out for almost the whole class though...

I woke up this morning knowing I had a lot to do today, but I still had tons of math homework to do before tomorrow, so I started it as soon as I could and ended up doing 2 problems in one hour. After that painful hour, I went to my karate class, which started off with some painful exercises. After the painful exercises, I started to feel a little nauseous, but I figured I would feel better in a few seconds. In a few seconds, I felt even worse. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, I got insanely dizzy and my vision started messing up. Just as I was on the verge of falling over, I asked the teacher if I could sit down since I felt like I was about to pass out. I sat there for the rest of the class with a wet paper towel on the back of my neck feeling like a was about to die, when I suddenly remembered I hadn't eaten all day. I was too busy doing insane amounts of math homework to remember to eat. So yeah... don't try it! I came home and ate and pretty much felt better, but I still feel just a little nauseous :(

AAAAAAAAAND... in case you haven't noticed, or if you're reading this blog somewhere besides http://crunkpunk.blogspot.com, I've added some nifty new features to the Choklit Blog! :D It now plays awesome music by Thousand Foot Krutch, Hawk Nelson, Relient K, Family Force 5, Manafest, FM Static, Anberlin, Philmont, The Afters... I think that may be all of them. But anyway, there's also a poll, which is insanely the business! And you better vote! And there's this cool little thingy that makes it even easier than it already was to subscribe to the blog! I think it does... I haven't tried to subscribe to my blog, so I wouldn't know. But anyway whatever.

 OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK: I watched more Arthur!!!!! :D / I decided that "insanely" is my new favorite word (in case you couldn't tell by how many times I said it in this blog... wait... that happened last week) / I also decided that I like the word "nifty" because it's quite nifty... actually I think Jimmy decided that... but I agreed! / I made a new facebook quiz / I got my bro AND my friend prom dates... each other! / I downloaded "Sadie Hawkins Dance" by Relient k / KEEP ROCKIN AND NEVER STOP --MC

Choklit Blog #9: Being insanely happy is the business!

*sings*

I love being insanely happy. Why am I insanely happy? Well... there are a few different reasons...

I finally got a haircut! I've been wanting to cut my hair for the  last few weeks but... I just never got around to it I guess :P. But yesterday I finally went and got it cut, and now I can breathe again! And when I came home, I took a bunch of pictures, and some of them were really emo-looking! I'm not sure if that's good or bad, but oh well! I'm not sure if I've ever cut my hair this short before... well, except once when I was like 10, but that was an accident (my mom's accident... she was cutting it). I just got really sick of it being so long, which would make sense, since I have insanely thick hair, it's really hot here, and I have an abnormally high body temperature anyway.

I studied for my math test! Yes, that's right, I actually took time to study for a test! And it wasn't that bad! Now I just have to hope all that time spent studying pays off and I get at least an F+ on the test. Wait... I don't think those exist... I guess I'll just have to do good enough to get a D!

And finally... the most important reason why I've been insanely happy lately. I woke up on Wednesday morning to go to school. I had just had a 4-day weekend, so obviously I wouldn't want to go to school, and I was sick. Not fun. For some strange reason, I decided to check my email before school, which I don't usually do until I get home. I had like 7 emails, mostly notifications of messages on message boards and what not. But there was one that was a notification on Facebook. Before I even read the email, I already knew what it was, because the subject clearly said "Trevor McNevan sent you a message on Facebook." For those of you who don't know (which would be those of you who don't talk to me), Trevor McNevan is my hero, and I'm his biggest fan (even though you probably don't believe me, but I really am!) Well my awesome friend Jimmy, who is the business, got him to send me a message :D. It was so awesome that I took a screenshot of it, just like I did with my conversation with Manafest!!!!! Why yes, I am crazy.

OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK: I read a stupid story for my english class / I found out that soon, the new facebook will take over the world, and there will no longer be a normal facebook :( / My doggy got sick AND got well / I also got sick and am still slightly congested / I watched Arthur / KEEP ROCKIN AND NEVER STOP --MC

Choklit Blog #8: Why did I sign up for Precalculus?!?!

*Dies*

Yesterday was my first day of college... I thought it would be easy since I only have 2 classes 3 days a week. But why would I think something like that? Of course, english actually was easy. Basically all we had to do yesterday was introduce ourselves, say something interesting about ourselves, listen to everyone ask the teacher stupid questions, write a paper around 350 words about how we feel about literature, and leave. The teacher isn't old or boring, which, obviously, is good, and she hates Shakespeare!!!!!! Yay!!!!! This is gonna be easier than any high school english class I've taken. We have 3 major papers to write and the rest of our grade is just class participation. Sounds fun, right? 

Well I'm taking Precalculus too, which is not fun. Or easy. Unless you're sadistic and think torture is fun. I was hoping to have a teacher similar to my other one who gave about the same amount of homework as I would be getting in english (which was nothing last night). The teacher wasn't bad. She wasn't like exciting or anything, but there was no droning on and on and on and on.... or falling asleep in class (not that I knew of at least, but I was sitting near the front). Anyway... the class wasn't bad. She said it's a really fast-paced course, so we'll be going over a lot everyday, which is why the class in an hour and a half. But I wasn't at all prepared for... the homework... *dies again.*

I came home. I sat down. My mom asked me about my classes. I told her about my classes. It was around 1:30. I started my homework. I took a break for dinner. I finished my homework. It took me 5 hours and 20 minutes. Just for my homework. AND I ONLY HAD HOMEWORK IN ONE SUBJECT!!!! AND IT WASN'T EVEN HARD!!!! It was just review work, so I pretty much knew how to do it and it was pretty much easy, but there was so much that it took me 5 AND A HALF HOURS!!!!!!!! I thought about dropping the class, but decided not to. I mean, if I dropped this class, I couldn't brag... *cough cough* my brothers couldn't brag that I'm taking a way harder math class than they are. And there's this guy in that class who looks like Rob Beckley, and I thought that was cool. Are those good enough reasons to do 5 hours of homework every other night? I hope so :P

OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK: I found out that I have a 4.3 GPA :D / I went shopping with my friend and our moms... and my brother came voluntarily, just cuz we're fun like that / I bought pink and black arm warmers / I ate pie / I was told, contrary to popular belief, that my blogs are fun to read / I almost fell over several times trying to carry my books... yes, literally / KEEP ROCKIN AND NEVER STOP --MC

Choklit Blog #7: Dance or Die!!!!!!

For those of you who don't know (obviously only people who don't talk to me), 2 days ago, Family Force 5 released their new CD "Dance or Die." Well I wanted to get it on release day soooo bad, but I had to do chores all day or something, and then I had a Student Council meeting that night. So I couldn't get it. But, of course, the next day I made sure I had time to get to Wal-Mart and buy it, because... seriously, who buys a CD more than 2 days after it's released? But anyway, the CD is awesome! My favorite tracks are "Radiator", "Rip It Up", "Party Foul", and "D-I-E 4 Y-O-U."

But... I have a serious dilemma. I read in an inter view the other day that the song "Share It With Me" is actually about something that happened to on of the band members. Basically what I got out of it, is that he had a girlfriend and he proposed to her and she said no. Well, I can't figure out which one of them it was! Why do I want to know so bad? I have no clue why... I just want to! After listening to the song a few time, I came to a few different conclusions:

1. Soul Glow. Soul Glow, Crouton, and Chappy are all married. The reason I think it could be one of the married ones is because there's one line that says, "Give me your love again, I don't believe this is the end," which made me think maybe they did get back together. But I don't think it was Chappy, because he was with his girlfriend for 5 years before they got married, and from what I've heard, they never broke up and got back together or anything. And it also says in verse 1, "Now our seven years are gone," and they were only together for 5 years before they got married. I don't think it was Crouton, because he said in a Really Real Show once that he was in a committed relationship, which could mean he was engaged, but if he was engaged, wouldn't he have just said, "I'm engaged"? Well if they were in a committed relationship, it seems like she wouldn't have said no if he proposed to her. But maybe I'm wrong...

2. Nadaddy. I saw his myspace once, and there was stuff about his girlfriend all over his myspace. I mean, it might as well have been her myspace. Well I saw it again a while later, and I'm almost positive she wasn't mentioned at all on there. It still said he was in a relationship though, so I don't know. Maybe he just forgot to change that or something. Maybe, maybe not...

3. Fatty. He's single. It could have been him. I mean, he's 27 and as far as I know, he doesn't have a girlfriend or a wife. Maybe it's because they broke up just recently (and "just recently" could be a while) and he hasn't had time to meet anyone else yet. Or maybe he hasn't gotten over her. But if he hadn't gotten over her, wouldn't it have been hard to write a song about her? Which brings me back to the "Maybe they got back together" theory. Cuz seriously... who would say no to Fatty?

So there ya go... if you can help me in any way with this important issue, please do!!!!!

OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK: The KJ Board got PM's back!!!! / I got my student ID for... college :( / I bought my books for college :( / I commented on one of Trevor McNevan's picture on Facebook and used the word "ROFLCAKES" / I got to talk to my BFF for the first time in like a month :D / I LEGALLY downloaded a lot of new songs / KEEP ROCKIN AND NEVER STOP --MC

Choklit Blog #6: I'M... SO... MAD!!!!!!

Yes that's right... I'M MAD!  Why am I mad?  If you've talked to me at all in the last few days, you probably already know, but read this anyway because I said so.

About... a few weeks ago or something... I found out Thousand Foot Krutch (only the best band ever) would be an hour and a half from where I live, and I was hoping I could go.  And I was planning on doing everything in my power to make sure I went, so I could meet my hero.  Well a few days ago, my friend told me that she found out it was cancelled.  IT CAN'T BE CANCELLED!  I WANNA MEET TREVOR!  But anyway, I was really upset about it. BUUUUT.... then I found out Family Force 5 was coming even closer than TFK would have been!  I figured that almost made up for the TFK concert... well, almost halfway.  TFK is way cooler than FF5 could ever be, but anyway... I knew there was no way I could NOT go... until I found out that the concert is at a bar.  I can't go to a bar!  Actually, if I paid $3 extra I could, but I don't even WANT to go to a bar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Why can't the go somewhere else?!?!?! Somewhere where I could go!  Grrrrr I'm so mad.  Well, my brother is probably happy, aren't you?!?!?!?  So now I guess we'll have to go to the FF5 concert 4 hours away in October :D.  I would rather go to that one anyway, so I can go on roller coasters before the concert with my bros and my friend Joy, and scream random things like, "Pickles are awesome," "Go pet a llama," and "I love you Fatty."  (Fatty is one of the guys in FF5... just in case anyone was wondering... or whatever).  And it's also fun to do stupid things that make people point at us and whisper.  I mean, it's not like they'll ever see us again, right?  That just reminds me of this really cool thing my brother did one time...

OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK: I watched episodes of "Arthur" on youtube for hours / I misspelled the word "hours" at least twice while writing this blog / I got 8 new rocks on Yeega / My bro made a video / I played "When In Doubt" by TFK on the bass while headbanging... why yes, it was awesome / I ate a doughnut / I found out that people who know me in real life don't know me very well / KEEP ROCKIN AND NEVER STOP -- MC

Choklit Blog #5: Just say NO to self-checkout!

grrrrrrrr... i now LOATHE self-checkout lanes!!!! for some reason, every time we go to the commissary (that's like the navy grocery store for all you civilians out there), my mom has to use the self-checkout lane. of course, she doesn't do anything, me and my bros do. well after a few times, we got really good at it and we hardly ever had to get any help with anything. but it seems like lately, the thing has been acting stupid and i have no clue why! i mean, you scan something and put it in the bag and for like 5 minutes it keeps saying "place your scanned item in the bag" or "please remove the un-scanned item from the bag" or "please replace the item removed from the bag" when I DIDN'T TAKE ANYTHING OUT OF THE STUPID BAG! we had to get help so many times today that i hope i never see another self-checkout lane EVER. i mean, why not just make the thing work right?!?! of course, they did have this new different one that was really cool and it was so easy and i got to use it once... but then some little kid broke it. it's been a while since then and it's not fixed yet. and i thought Family Christian hated me!

OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS MORNING (cuz yano i just posted a new blog last night): kk asked Tim to marry her on Yeega... message board drama... yep yep / Jimmy (also from Yeega) offered to kidnap TFK for me since I found out they won't be coming here in October like they were supposed to / i didn't buy college books / KEEP ROCKIN AND NEVER STOP --MC

Choklit Blog #4: I FINALLY got a new computer!

hey y'all, i know it's been more than a week, but i haven't had time for blogging lately. so, last weekend was tax free weekend. well my mom decided to buy me and my bros new clothes, so she took us to the mall for 5 hours and bought us a bunch of clothes and shoes and what not. of course, i couldn't find a single pair of jeans that fit the whole time we were there. so we decided to go shopping again the next day for jeans. up until this point, everything was making sense to me. i mean, that seems like a pretty normal thing to do, right? well i should know my mom a little better than that. the next day, we left to "go buy jeans"... at the apple store? i had asked my mom like 3 times what we needed at the apple store and she said "computers." well i had no clue what she was talking about, because i didn't figure someone would just go buy 3 computers out of nowhere. i guess i've never met my mom. she bought 3 macbooks that day (one for me and one for each of my bros), and each one came with a free iPod touch. so basically, i woke up in the morning expecting to buy new jeans, and i went to bed that night with a brand new macbook and iPod touch. oh yeah... that's my definition of a VERY good day.

so after all of these strange random occurrences, i got to thinking. it's a good thing i didn't get a new computer when i wanted one before. i mean, when i was about 6, my best friend and her 2 older brothers all got computers for Christmas. of course, i decided i wanted my own computer. did i get one? no way! i was 6... and i hardly even knew how to use a computer. by now, those computers are all dead, and mine would have been too. so i waited many long years until, lo and behold, we bought a laptop. a few years later, my mom needed a new computer and my brother came up with a brilliant idea. give the old laptop to whichever one of us got the best grades that year in school. i got that computer and had it for about a year, but it's basically a paperweight now. it runs slower than a 500 lb asthmatic, it probably weighs as much as one, and it's bigger than my mom's hair was in the 90s. when it first started to get really slow and overheat a lot, i, of course, wanted a new one. well again, i didn't get one. if i had, my brothers would now have macbooks and iPod touches and i would have a $500 PC. good thing i was patient... well... sort of... almost patient... ish. ok wow i just ruined that whole thing... basically, the point was that sometimes it's better to wait for something... notice the keyword here... SOMETIMES. don't wait until tax free weekend is over to buy new clothes! (but it's already over, so i guess now you have to wait until next year, which comes right back to the original lesson. why yes, i would love to shut up now).

OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK: i made a facebook quiz called "do you REALLY know me?" if you're my friend on facebook, look for that quiz on my profile and take it! / i didn't get to buy a new cd / um... i ate a chick-fil-a / i cut my bangs / i bought some awesome shoes / i had a fairly boring week / KEEP ROCKIN AND NEVER STOP --MC