Perfect day...

So today had to be the most perfect day ever.

It started when I woke up on purpose and fully rested. I was driving to work and the air was perfect. There are those days when the temperature is just right and the air is clear and it actually FEELS GOOD to breathe. The sky was clear and it was sunny, but not glaring. I got a lot of work done at BEL and took off early because I was so ahead of schedule. I worked out at the gym for a couple hours and decided to stop running on the treadmill and walk outside in the beautiful weather. So I just walked out the door and ran for miles. When I got back home, I slept for hours and it felt great. I woke up and started watching "Robots" with Nick. That movie had so much in common with my story. The main character's name is "Rodney" and he leaves home to try and make it in the big city. Then Dr. Johnson called and I talked to him for a bit and that was the perfect end to the perfect day. Dr. J, the dream maker. I'm so fortunate to have such a wise person in my life.

So now I'm going to bed and hoping to set a new standard to each day.

-Rod

Happiness...

Today was awesome... I spent a couple days up in New York working that fashion show and today Nick and I went to a mall in Northern Jersey where not only did I find a Panda Express restraunt, I found BUBBLE TEA!!!!! I was soooooooooooooooo excited...I've been happy ever since. It kind of made me feel like I was back in college...ahh...

Liz Derstine called me today and it was great talking with her about what was going on and how school was so far...listen to the beautiful Liz singing backup on my senior recital on http://www.myspace.com/rodkimrocks

Anyway, it's time for bed, I'll write more later...God bless everyone...

-Rod

...Delaware-Baltimore-New York...

So here I am in New York and finally have a minute to update my blog. I’m here doing sound for a fashion show with Neiman-Marcus featuring designer Carmen Marc Valvo (I'll post pics soon). So far they have been really good to us and I’m enjoying my time here. The people involved with this fashion show are some of the nicest people I've encountered. Traveling has been great, last week I was in Baltimore working at a medical conference and I’ll be back in Wilmington on Friday.

I’ve been having a really great week reflecting on life. Last night, I finished Margaret Cho’s memoirs “I’m The One That I Want” and got to see the “Soup Nazi” episode of Seinfeld. After that, “Jerry McGuire” came on TV. All three things, which happened in the matter of a few hours, pointed to the same thing: Love yourself, respect others, you never know how your life affects others.

Now it’s time for bed, so I’ll write more later, take care everyone.
-Rod

I took this little quiz and apparently I am this song...

100 Years by Five for Fighting

"Every day's a new day... 15 there's still time for you Time to buy and time to choose Hey 15, there's never a wish better than this When you only got 100 years to live" 2004 was about thinking and reflecting - but isn't every year?

What 2004 Hit Song Are You?

Sometimes I feel, like I am drunk behind the wheel, the wheel of possibility...

So it has been a crazy week but a great one. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday preparing of for a big video shoot and then Thursday was the big day in Philly. Six bands and 17 hours later, we had a great shoot and the audio turned out great on Nick’s side. Then Friday and Saturday I worked out at the University of Delaware football game opening night. We broadcasted to TV and it was another long 2 days. Then this morning I played piano for the Presbyterian Church in town and helped with the youth group in the evening.

Being at the football game took me way back to high school, standing underneath the bleachers with my friends talking and having a good time just wasting time when none of us actually really liked football. We’d just stand there sharing our aspirations for the future. Man how time flies… I was moving some speakers around and some Jr. High guys stopped me and asked me if I was working audio at the game and I said I was. They were so interested in all that I was doing and we had a good conversation about the acoustical aspects of the stadium…surprisingly these guys knew a good amount of information about sound already. These guys were so in awe that this was my job and they said that someday they’d like to be in my shoes. That was a weird feeling…someone was actually looking up to me…it was kind of scary at the same time…it was very flattering, it’s just that I never saw myself as the kind of person someone would aspire to be…makes me kind of appreciate my occupation more and more…

My friends Dan, Josiah, Jared and recently, South’s band Augustana finally released their debut album and it sounds incredible… “Mayfield” still moves me everytime…be sure and pick up their album… “All the Stars and Boulevards”

I talked to my friend Tara V on the phone today, and without disclosing important info, the music industry is just not right. There’s a lot of politics, that’s the one thing in the music industry I have a hard time swallowing. I think the indie market is back on the rise.

I was also reflecting on my last year at college and talking with some friends I really wronged those last couple semesters. I spent all of my time being loyal to Josh’s music and ignored my other commitments. Now I feel as though I’ve ruined relationships the truly great musicians with great hearts. Although I could easily blame Josh for all of this, I can’t really point fingers because in the end it was my decision. He is deceitful and manipulative, but I can’t change someone’s character, just my decisions to not let that affect me and the people around me. It’s a lesson, learned…a difficult one, but a lesson never the less…I was talking to T later about how bad I felt and he suggested that if I felt like I should apologize then I should do it right away…so I picked up my phone and called everyone I could think of immediately. I know not everyone will forgive me, but I want to salvage what I can…

In reading all my old journal entries to look for people I should call, I saw so many thing from last year that I wanted to do and never did or even the things I did that I didn’t really want to. Last year this time, I said I’d never get caught up in other people’s music again and concentrate on my own. That definitely didn’t happen. I can’t let it go this time, I have to stand firm and clean house. I have to tie up loose ends, and finish what I’ve started before starting over. All those websites I’ve procrastinated finishing and promises I never got around too, they finish now.

Anyway, it’s late and I have to work in the morning, so I’ll write more later.
-Rod

Look at me Im 23 beautiful, a sight to see tonight...

Look at me I’m 23, beautiful, a sight to see tonight…

So here I am, another year older and years older than I ever expected to be…haha…you know when I was 10, I kinda never fathomed being older and on my own…I mean, you always talked about “when I grow up” and blah blah blah, but never thought that one morning you’d wake up in Jersey and suddenly be 23…but it’s all good, life is good and Nick’s mom is taking us sailing for the weekend, it will be nice…I’ve never been sailing before so it will be a great little adventure…

I’m looking at what I was doing a year ago and its so funny to think I won’t be on a stupid field trip with the college or that I won’t be in a dorm room everyone will be decorating weird and then Jacie shows up with a Shrek cake…then again, years before that, I never thought that I’d have all that either…so I guess life is moving forward and there’s nothing I can do about it ;-)  

Anyway, we’re getting ready to leave, so I should go, but take care everyone…
-Rod

Wake Me Up When September Ends...

Wow, so tomorrow Nick and I are twenty freakin’ three.  I can’t believe I’ve made it this far.  A lot has happened this year.  I worked with multiple record labels, many artists good and bad, graduated from college, moved to the East Coast and started working for Brandywine Electronics, LTD.  My younger brother graduated high school and went to seminary.  Elizabeth moved back to Indiana from Dallas (God save us all from Dallas).  Paul moved to DC to work on the hill and Cory/April/Adam/Shelby moved to California.  Wake me up when September ends…

A lot has happened in the world too.  It seems that most people have forgotten about 9-11 but the world is still basically ending.  Hurricanes and tsunamis have overtaken two corners of the earth and gas prices are literally twice as much as they were a year ago.  Wake me up when September ends…

I got an e-mail from Dr. J a couple days ago saying that it was weird that classes were starting up the next day and I wouldn’t be there…man those were a great four years at Greenville.  Also, the annual cattle call wedding season happened where another ¼ of my friends got married or engaged.  By this time next year, I’ll be the only one left single…wake me up when September ends…

That sounds depressing I guess, but I’m so happy out here.  It’s like Arsenio Hall said about his old show, “You remember your high school job and that was fun, but you’re fine where you are now, no need to go back.”   I keep quoting that Green Day song, “Wake Me Up When September Ends.”  I’ve loved that song since that stinkin’ album came out and now it’s a single (appropriately released near September).  I just saw the video and IT WAS NOT DISSAPPOINTING.  It felt like I was watching a movie…check it out at http://www.mtv.com.

So it’s time to go to the gym, I’ll write more later…take care everyone…

-Rod