Chapter 177

THE FINAL CHAPTER



Here it is folks. The end of the American Adventure. The last and final Chapter of KJ’s American Adventure. I started this blog with a desire to save these precious memories for both myself and my family and all my friends. This has been yet another huge chapter in my life in every single aspect and boy has it truly been an adventure!



So much has happened in so little time - well, not that little actually - but time has a weird way of acting in relevance to how you live your life. I’ve never in my life admitted to myself that time went by quickly simply because I never did fill my time as much as I have in these past period. But now, now that I’ve tasted what it’s like to have so much to do with so little time to do it, I truly feel like time is whizzing by at the speed of a fast whizzing thing. A frisbee. Thrown by dynamite. On a jet plane.



In this adventure I’ve seen and heard some amazing musicians, met some truly eclectic people, found many loving friends, seen an ever evolving culture, experienced a taste of the world, shared life with both the rich and the poor, and encountered God at every step of the way. It’s incredible just how much your life can change in such a short time.



But now the journey comes to an end. The American Adventure has run its course and God has a new direction for me. A new season in life.



This is to all the people who have been in some way or another involved in the great American Adventure. I raise my glass to you, take my hat off to you, and every other form of salutation to you.



This is KJ, signing off for KJ’s American Adventure.



Thank you for watching.

-THE END-

Chapter Yumzzz

You may or may not have seen a not so recent twitter post regarding an awesome argentinian grill by the name of Lala's.

I went there again recently because it was just awesome.

And here's a bonus shot of what I call a good night. A cold beer, and a good game.

Tales from MI - Chapter 14

Welcome to the final chapter of Tales from MI. It's taken a while to sit down a get this all down in my blog, but I felt it needed to be here as a representation of my fantastic time at MI and all the people I've met.

We finish up today with the much anticipated Schroeder Ensemble.

The Schroeder Ensemble is a group class led by the amazing legend that is Carlton Schroeder. The man is a genius. His musical knowledge is so immense it would take years just to pick at it. He's quite the eccentric person as well, as you would expect from musical geniuses.

In this class we form a band just like the Jazz LPW, but it isn't only for one quarter, it lasts for as long as the band wants to play together. We get a good ol' fashioned jazz standard when we get in there and basically the class is about improvisation around the jazz standard. And we get to trade eights just like good ol' fashioned jazz standards.

This class is probably the most amount of fun I've ever had and the biggest exposure to actual jazz playing that I've ever got.

The drum teacher in this class is world famous Chuck Flores, who's played with many of my jazz heroes in his lifetime. He's like 75 years old now and is a wealth of musical knowledge. And he's incredibly funny.

The man himself, Mr Carlton Schroeder.

And the other champion, Mr Chuck Flores.

And here's some pics of some of the people I played with in this awesome class.

Here's to awesome memories of my stint at an awesome music college.

*Salute*

Chapter avlntnauvleanvlu

So this past weekend I had the opportunity to do something that I absolutely love. I got invited to be part of the worship band for a high school winter camp organized by a church around the area. It's been what, 3 years since my last one, the awesomeness that is TeenStreet? So it was incredible to be doing it again.

Started off with a 2 and a bit hour drive up the mountains to alpine meadows.

Pics from the road.

Gas stop..

As the sun started to set we soon arrived at our destination. A nice little place with cabins inside and a warm hall. Our little worship spot..

For those wondering, or for those assuming, I was on keys and vocals. Not on the drums this time. But equally as much fun. More tiring actually. Respects to singer musicians who do these kind of things. You know who you are.

Chillin' in the cabin after the first night.

My buddy Joe and Spencer's foot.

The view from outside the cabin in the morning.

 
















And how often do you get to see a snow filled pool?

Lastly some pictures of what went on those couple of days.
Lots of music, lots of teaching. Goooooood stuff.

Our awesome soundman Brian! Soundmen are highly under-appreciated!

And the band!
From left to right
Joe, Me, Spencer and Patrick.

And the band blocked by high school pastor Josh.

Band and soundman Brian!

It was a great weekend. Lots and lots of fun. I might just update this thing and post a little more stories but until then.

Ciao.

chapter tooth and Chips part 2

If you remember part one, awesome. If not, go look it up.

So the part of my tooth that came off and was replaced has fallen off again. I sorta knew it was going to happen eventually because the dentist didn't do a very good job. So there you go. Kinda sucks.

Moving on.

Some really cool updates across the board here. I realised that I had taken some pictures recently and forgot to put them up here so here we go. Starting from Christmas wayyyyyyy back in 2010.

To answer a famous question that has been asked like a million times...

Yes. That is a real tree. It needs water. It's alive. And green. And soft. And smells good.

Isn't it purdy?

More house decor...

The daytime isn't especially flattering to the lights eh.. They did look good though.

All set for CHRISTMAS PARTY! (on the 18th... church christmas party hosted at the house I'm staying in)..

I didn't take that many pictures... I'm getting less trigger happy with my camera. It's not good.

END OF CHRISTMAS RELATED POST.

NEXT.

Random shot of quadruple B'day celebration with friends.

More stuff coming up later! Had a great weekend adventure this past weekend. Look forward to that.

KJ over and out.