So…hows it going? As usual, its been a while. It is a bit tough to blog in my free time when I dont have Internet at home, but I have no excuse anymore. Im sitting on the couch in the bus on the way to Angola, Indiana. I have this wonderful contraption called an iPhone with a wonderful app called Wordpress, and thats what brings me to you today. I intend to invite you into my world more often with words and hopefully pictures as well. Micah and a friend of his have begun writing a book about growing up as pastors kids, and it made me wonder if Id ever reach a point in my life at which I felt like I had something worth writing (and worth reading). I figured maybe I could stir up the creative writing juices by reviving the ol blog. Ha…I think if you read the past number of posts, youll realize that Im a portrait of good intentions. How many times have I said Id be regular again? Anybody got some creative Metamucil?

Well, according to my blog stats, I haven’t had a visitor to my actual blog site in quite a while, which makes me a bit sad. But maybe, just maybe, people are reading my blog on other sites like Facebook or Virb, which are set to import posts from this blog. Anyway, I recently got back from a trip to Florida with Cook and Belle. We played at the South Florida Fair…15 shows in 5 days. On the return trip, we detoured to Missouri where we played a show at the Missouri Association of Fairs and Festivals convention in hopes of booking summer gigs at Missouri county fairs. I’m pretty sure we’ve already got a pretty significant amount of summer gigs booked with a number of others in progress. In other related news, I’ve begun to play for another young female country artist. Her name is Casey Jamerson, and she’s from Pendleton. We’ve played a couple gigs at the Moon Dog Tavern on 96th Street in Indy, and there are at least a few more shows coming up in the next few months. It would be nice if her shows started to pick up in the fall, about the same time as Cook and Belle’s start to dwindle. That way, I could have a pretty solid few months of playing regularly. Anyway, I should probably get going. I’m hanging out with my friend Amy tonight (hopefully), and I’d like to run to Castleton and hit up Guitar Center as well as Best Buy. I need to replace a keyboard pedal at GC, and Best Buy has a great deal on an external hard drive.

It’s funny really. Every time I’m up way too late, I usually end up getting the song “Breathe (2AM)” by Anna Nalick stuck in my head. Then what usually happens is that I look at the clock and find that it is, indeed, just about 2 in the A.M. Weird, I know. You know what else usually happens when I’m up way too late? I start thinking about what little sleep I will be getting even if I were to go to bed immediately, and it makes me feel worse because I know I’ll feel exhausted tomorrow. Then when I wake up in the morning, I find that I was right about how I’d feel. It’s a pretty vicious cycle, and to be honest, I’m not much of a fan. There’s something to be said about staying up late if there’s a reason such as work that needs to be done, friends that need to be talked to or hung out with, or an indefinite (but definitely late) wake-up time. Anyway, here I find myself once again in the same situation. If there wasn’t Wi-Fi where I’m currently living, I’d have been dead to the world for a few hours by now, but alas, I find myself distracted. I actually wish that was the case. I usually can’t seem to pull myself away in a timely manner, and tonight is no different.

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.

Yes, I know I am. I have been quite unfaithful to you, my readers; and it feels like every time I write, I am only coming up with a different and more creative way to express that sentiment. Once again, I humbly come before you with an apologetic heart and a meek spirit to ask your kindest forgiveness for my absence. Anyway, I find myself pretty bored as this Christmas break continues on. I’m hanging out with the fam at our new pad in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Yes friends, I no longer call Holland, Michigan home, although I will still claim it as my hometown since it’s where I learned about Jesus, it’s where I learned about love, it’s where I learned about working hard, and having a little was just enough. For those of you without country roots, that was a reference to “Boondocks” by Little Big Town.

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

My cd drive is randomly working again.  YAY!!!!

Now that I’ve lost about 50% or more of my faithful reader base, I will attempt to rescue this blog from the pathetic state in which it currently finds itself. This post could potentially be really long, but I’ll try to be as concise as possible. So here we go!

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

I just wanted everyone to know I got my iPod. Hooray. I’ll be having to buy a firewire cable (USB 1.1…not so hot) and a case for it, but otherwise it’s great.

Heck yes!!!

CLICK HERE

Yes, that is my iPod.