On to bigger and better things...

I am now once again a reader.  Well, that might be a bit of a stretch, but I'm getting there.  I remember a time when, if given the choice, I'd choose to read for fun.  My imagination was filled with the stories of the Boxcar Children and the Hardy Boys, not to mention Aslan and crew from the Chronicles of Narnia.  Unfortunately, those days ended when I started 5th grade at a new school.  Suddenly, I learned what homework was and forgot what reading was.  Well, now that I am no longer a student of any formal institution, I have the responsibility of making the choice to continue my education on my own.  I suppose that's what life is all about, but I feel like I'll probably benefit a bit more by being proactive about it versus just breezing on through.  So anyway, I thought I'd share a couple lists with you.  The first one is fairly short, a list of books I've been working on recently:

C.S. Lewis - A Grief Observed (completed), The Great Divorce, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (re-reading)
John Eldredge - Wild at Heart (completed)
Mark Batterson - In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day

I set aside The Great Divorce a while back, in favor of Wild at Heart, but now that it's complete, I'll get back to it.  I needed a break from deeply thoughtful reading, so I decided to invoke my imagination and re-read The Chronicles of Narnia.  I don't have to sort through syntax to get to the meaning; I can just immerse myself in the story, and I love that.  Reading those books is like watching a movie to me.  Anyway, the second list is my "To read" list.  They're just sitting there on my shelf, waiting for me.  We'll see how long this takes.

Erwin McManus - The Barbarian Way
Becky Tirabassi - Sacred Obsession (for student ministries next fall)
John Piper - The Passion of Jesus Christ
Steve Brown - A Scandalous Freedom
Gene Edwards - A Tale of Three Kings (re-read)
Ron Owens - Return to Worship
Bill Hybels - Too Busy Not to Pray
Rory Noland - The Heart of the Artist (I've tried to read this a number of times and just never finished)
Robert Ludlum - The Bourne Supremacy (Same story here) and The Bourne Ultimatum
Thom S. Rainer & Eric Geiger - Simple Church
C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Problem of Pain, Miracles, and the rest of The Chronicles of Narnia

I'm sure that list is incomplete, but those are all the books and I can think of at this point.  I've also been recommended The Shack, but I don't have it, so I'll have to borrow from someone.

Ok, I think that's enough for today.  I need to leave in 20 minutes for Pendleton, and I want to get a chapter or two more done in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

For Narnia and for Aslan!

www.virb.com/mattulrich
www.myspace.com/mattulrich
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=6614417606

The rhythm track (everything that's not keyboards) was created in Reason, and the rest came from my lovely Nord Electro 2 and my mind/fingers. Most of it is pretty unpolished, but I suppose that's what jamming is all about. Hopefully you enjoy it!

Anyway, since I hadn't blogged in a while, I thought I'd stop in and say hi. I am currently living with Pastor Mick (my worship pastor and boss) while I make some life decisions, including one regarding where to live. I've been enjoying a summer of playing country music with Cook and Belle and working at the church. I was recently reminded by a commenter on this blog that I had made a list of everyone I could think of who was engaged (found in my October 15, '06 post). That list had, I believe, 13 people on it, and I do believe most, if not all, of them are now married. Also married are some other people who I did not include in the list either because I didn't know they were engaged at the time or I simply couldn't remember them while writing the list. I could get all emo and cry about how I'm still single and really not content with it, but I won't. You probably are thanking me for not going there, which means we are becoming closer and friendlier. (If that's the case, and you're a single, attractive female, call me.)

That is all. Must...go...to...bed. Night.

Matt

(GO BEN UTECHT!)

Don't worry everyone...I'm still a Packers fan.  The Colts are kinda like friend rock...you know...when your friend has a band, and you support them more out of the fact that you're friends rather than actually liking their music.  Same idea.  That and the proximity effect.  Favre vs. Manning in Super Bowl XLII?

Anywho, next semester is almost here, and not only is it the only thing standing between me and summer break (aka warm weather), it is the only thing standing between me and real life. Yes, folks, that's right. It's my LAST semester of college, and very likely my last semester of school ever. I'm not closed to the thought of going farther in my education if necessary someday, but for now, I think I'll be done.

As I mentioned in my last post, a number of my friends will be marrying soon, and since the writing of said post, I've thought of a number of more friends who find themselves victims of the same fate. Forgive my terminology; maybe I'm just bitter at my state of singleness. Anyway, I'll be playing for a few of these weddings and receptions, and probably attending most or all of them, so that will be one feature of my summer. Also, I hope to be touring and playing music so I don't have to get a real job.

If you get a chance, you should check out my website www.mattulrich.com. If you've ever visited it before, you will probably notice that nothing major has changed. Oh, but that's just what you notice at first glance. If you'll recall, clicking a link would simply take you to the desired website. Well, now you get the pleasure of a new experience. Click a link. It's sweet. You'll like it. I promise.

I'm a nerd...

Lately, I've had a strong desire to start a podcast. You laugh and think that if I don't update my blog, why would I ever update my podcast. You're probably right. Plus, I don't have a ton of hard drive space left, nor do I have very good equipment with which to make a podcast with any semblance of professionalism. Plus, who would care anyway? So on to other pursuits...

I've also had a realization that I might really like to get into scoring films or television shows. I just finished watching the 5th season of 24 on DVD (my Christmas present to myself), and one of the bonus features was a featurette about the guy who does the music and how he does it. I was very intrigued, but also quite sad that apparently you need to be rich to do something like this, because I could never afford the hardware and software with which scores for shows of that magnitude are produced. I suppose I could work my way up. It's another option for "real life" I guess...

Well, I've officially covered topics that allow me to file this post under every category, so I guess that means there's not much left to say. It's getting late, and I need to get out of the habit of sleeping in past noon. My Monday, Wednesday, Friday classes once again start at 9am next semester, and sleeping through them isn't really an option. Friends, thank you for your listening ear (or in the case of this blog, your reading eye). Happy new year, and God bless America!

Matt

Ok, I thought of a fun topic for this post. I will now attempt to list everyone I can think of that is engaged. Here goes:

Jon Mobley
Evan Gilmore
Nate Heironimus
Phil Larson
Tim Hollowell
Peter Smith
Dave Elwert
Ben Eades
Nate Brown
Curt Anderson
Mark DeLaVergne
Ryan Fancher
Jeremy Zerkle

Well, that's about all I can think of at this time, and that only accounts for guy friends from college. I have plenty of female and high school friends who are also engaged. Hopefully you enjoyed that list, and if you know of anyone I forgot, please feel free to leave your input. Oh yeah, I thought you'd like to know I'm currently listening to Foreigner, and what song should come on but "Waiting for a Girl Like You." Ironic really.

Much love,
Matt

Anywho, I'm gearing up to lead worship for Worship in the Valley on Friday night. It's a pretty cool part of orientation weekend, so I'm excited and nervous to be helping out in that capacity. Classes start on Monday, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle the load. My class schedule is pretty lop-sided, with four classes on MWF (9,11,12,1) and only one on TR (8:30). Well, technically there's Jazz Ensemble on MW at 5 as well, and Orangehaus usually falls on some evening. On top of that stuff, I'll hopefully be playing a lot of music with Paige, Jennifer Stanley, Melissa Sandullo, Chad Meadow's and my new band, or anyone else who wants to hire me. I'd love to make some more dough playing for weddings. Everyone seems to be engaged or almost engaged, so you'd think I'd have more wedding gigs. Oh well...

I should get back to planning Worship in the Valley. I think you're up-to-date on me now. Oh yeah...one more thing...I turned 21 this past August 6. Thought you'd want to know.

Bye.

Matty

Matt

Matt

Matt!

SOUL PATROL!!

Happy listening!

Matt

Let's start with Christmas break. Wow, has it really been that long since I last blogged? I guess so. Anyway...so my church back home in Dutch Vegas, Michigan had a fancy Christmas Eve/Morning service. They asked me to sing and play in this service, which was exciting. It turned out that I played B-3 and keyboards on a few songs, sang the 2nd tenor part in a quartet, and sang "O Holy Night" as a solo also featuring my good friend Ken on the piano. I was fairly nervous, but it went off pretty dern well...nothing to go home and cry about. Um, what next? Oh yeah...I got a digital camera from my Dad for Christmas. He won it, but I convinced him that he wouldn't use it to its full potential (and he already has one anyway), so he gave it to me. I'm so naughty... Anywho, I've been taking pictures and will continue to do so, so hopefully I'll be sharing some of them with you right here on the blog. You can check out my complete gallery at gallery.mattulrich.com. Unfortunately, I've not found the time to get all my pictures up yet. I'll get around to it eventually.

Ok, now on to this semester. For starters, I saw Chronicles of Narnia with Doug Irving on the day it came out. It was super-dee-duper. It's a must-see for me and hopefully for you too. But let's back up for a bit. I came back to school a week earlier than almost everyone else for a couple reasons. I bet you'd like to know what those reasons are. Well, let me tell you. First of all, I now play country music. I'll let you take a minute to recover from that piece of news. (pause - only continue of you're ready) Mark Pay (president of Orangehaus Records) hooked me up with a country gig, playing keys for a girl named Paige, who is only 15 years old but you'd never know it by listening to her or looking at her. Anyway, she's very talented and has great potential to go far with this whole music thing. Anyway, back to why I came back to school early. Paige has been performing at fair conventions in the four surrounding states (OH, IN, MI, and IL...just in case you didn't know), and two of those performances were the week before classes started. So I came back early to practice and perform with her. But that's not all. My friend Nathanael is new Orangehaus Records recording artist, so he has been working on his new album. The recording process also started the week before classes. Check my gallery for pictures from both Paige shows and recording Nathanael's album.

Ok, last thing. I promise. I just started a position at East Side Church of God in the worship arts department. I'm not really sure what my title is, but I think it's something like Production Assistant. Basically, I'm acting commander of the band (sorta), behind Pastor Mick of course. I make sure that everyone that's scheduled to play is actually planning on playing, I make sure the stage is ready for the band by Sunday morning, I lead the 7:30am band rehearsal every Sunday morning, and I help develop players and integrate new ones into the band rotation. Sound fun? I think so. I get paid too. That's nice.

This post took way too long to write (distractions, distractions), so now I will close. That is all.

Adieu,
Matt

Matt

Comment on this post so I can know more than the usual 2-4 people are reading my blog regularly. This post could even be a guestbook of sorts.

There, I said it.

Goodnight.

CLICK HERE

Yes, that is my iPod.

Slide 1 (Background): For the past year, I've been trying to get a free iPod from freeipods.com. In that time, I've seen them go from offering the 20 GB black-and-white-display iPod to the 20 GB color-display iPod to finally the 30 GB video iPod. When the video iPod was announced, I quite honestly probably coveted and lusted and likely broke a few more of the Ten Commandments and the seven deadly sins. Needless to say, I wanted one. A few weeks back, I finally acquired my final referral. It told me to check back in 5-7 days to see if my account was approved (they recheck each referral). Of course I checked back almost every day. A few days later, the ETA had changed to 7-10 days. I was a little disheartened, but I figured I'd waited a year, so what's another few days? Well, I'm pretty sure it ended up being much longer than 10 days, but maybe it just felt longer. I logged on not too long ago (like an hour), and found this:

BEEP!

Slide 2: I was pretty stoked (to reference a colloquialism from an earlier era). So I continued on into this journey. Next I got to select my prize.

BEEP!

Slide 3: Thank goodness I wasn't wanting an iPod nano...4-6 weeks??? Anyway...I continued on. I entered the address to which I wanted my video iPod to come. Of course this is my school address. Why would I want it to be sent home? Actually, now that I think about it, I'd better get it before Christmas break, or I'll be upset.

BEEP!

Slide 4: There was a "discrepancy" with the way I formatted the address, so I got this screen:

BEEP!

Slide 5: Upon fixing the problem, I was successful in submitting my address. All that's left is to click "Finalize." Here we go!

BEEP!

Slide 6: It's done! I hope I don't have to wait forever.

BEEP!

Oh, I get a free t-shirt too. I hope it fits, and I hope it's at least somewhat cool so I can wear it with pride whilst I listen to music and watch videos on my iPod! Thanks to everyone that helped out in this process. For those whom I bribed, let me know if you still want the cash.

Thank you for your attention, children. Class dismissed.

BEEP!

First off, here's a song I wrote for songwriting class. It's called "All My Days (Surrender to You)." It was supposed to be a worship song suitable for corporate worship. Well, it turned out to be a great worship song, but better for a soloist. Oh well. The lyrics please...

VERSE 1
O faithful One, of Whom I sing
This simple song to You I bring
Accept my praise; be magnified
In You I will be satisfied

CHORUS
I sing to the One and Only
You alone are pure and holy
My sole Desire, I give you praise
I surrender to You all my days

VERSE 2
O worthy One, what can I do
To glorify and honor You?
Words can’t express how You love me
Only Your blood on Calvary

BRIDGE
I am unworthy
But You made a way for me
You run my direction
Despite my imperfection

I might record it someday so you can hear it and not just read the words.

Topic #2: I put a song up on my MySpace page. It was a project for my recording tech class. Here's the link: myspace.com/mattulrich

Thirdly, I almost died tonite. Well, not really, but I thought I might. There was supposed to be a huge storm of "historic proportions" coming through, but we got lucky. There wasn't much of anything.

Next, I must comment on this blog. As much as I love WordPress, there's no community like there is with Xanga. I don't think I'll be switching, but I do have a Xanga so I can keep tabs on my friends. I might redesign this blog so it has a little more relaxed look (like Xanga). We'll see what I feel like and what kind of time I have. That probably will have to wait until Christmas break at the earliest.

On the topic of webdesign, I am still waiting on graphics from my friend Dane Benton to design the SGA website. So when I finally get that stuff, that website will be going up. Also, I am the official designer of artist websites for Orangehaus Records, or at least that's the way I understand that part of my position. I also was resonsible for designing and getting out the first electronic issue of the Orangehaus SPIN, our newsletter. You can read it here. So yay...pat me on the back. Gosh, that sounded conceited. Sorry. I guess I'm just keeping you informed of what I've been up to.

Another fun thing about my life is that I've been reading through Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller. Every Tuesday morning at the slightly ungodly hour of 7am, Doug Irving (my adopt-a-parent at my Anderson church) and I have breakfast at Panera. We talk about life and the book and pray with each other. So far it's been a rewarding time. I feel like I've learned and grown a lot through this time with Doug. I've also discovered I love Panera's dark and vibrant coffee. You should try it sometime.

Hm...what else? Oh, I've been working a bit on helping a friend named Jeff Owen design his cd cover. He seemed to like one of my ideas should the colors be modified, so we'll see. By the way, in addition to doing his own singer/songwriter thing, he plays bass for Joy Williams. Two of my other friends (sort of...one's more of an acquaintance, and the other is somewhere in-between) also play for Joy. Dylan Williams plays lead guitar, and Darren Rayl plays drums. The latter two have played for Jon McLaughlin in the past, and I believe Dylan still does when Jon wants a guitar player.

Next topic: my "free" iPod. Well, it technically will be free, assuming I get it. Any money I've paid hasn't been directly for the iPod. It's more because I wasn't careful when picking an offer to complete and because I bribed a few people to do offers. Anyway, having gotten my 5 referrals, it is now currently in the verification stage wherein the company makes sure all my referrals are legitimate. It says to wait 7-10 days (I'm pretty sure it said 5-7 when I first requested verification), but I feel like it's been that long or longer. So I continue to wait... I'll keep you updated.

Finally, I have some great new friends this semester. Among these are Kalyn Yocum, Megan McDaniel, Mindy Parsons, Chelsea Travis, Joe Balbaugh, Glen Lovitt, Antoine Brown (who, in combination with me, makes up "Mantoine"), Nate Heironimous, Phil Larson, and many others. The first few are new to AU, and the others have been here, but I've just gotten to know them a lot better this semester. Still no woman for me, though.

Thus ends what I believe to be my longest post ever. I am out.

Verbosely yours,
Matt

On a completely different note, I just got my final referral approved on freeipods.com. Now all I have to do is wait 5-7 days for them to verify all 5 referrals. If they all pass, then I can order my iPod. It's at that time that the people to whom I've promised a sum of money (aka bribed) will be getting their reward. Yes, you heard it right: I haven't forgotten you faithful friends.

More later...time to do homework and hit the sack. I've got my weekly early-morning breakfast with Doug Irving tomorrow.

Matt

Matt, aka Matthew, aka Matty, aka Melonhead, aka Mellonhead, aka Melonfoot

Matt