Everyday Stories

“there’s no place like a stranger’s floor”

I’ve always been fascinated with dreams. I can remember all kinds of dreams I’ve had in full detail even the ones that I had years ago. I usually don’t think much of them. But there are a few dreams that I’ve had reoccurring over some time now. Something tells me that they have to mean something in some way or another.

The one that occurs most frequent is the one that scares the hell out of me the most. It always has to do with something falling/descending from the sky. It usually a plane, UFO, bomb, or the scariest one..God. I always freak out during these dreams. I look at the sky and can’t believe it’s happening. I’m always convinced it is the end of the world. It’s a scary feeling. I’ve never actually died in one of these dreams but seeing the world ending seems to be much worse.

Another dream is one where I’m driving and can’t control the vehicle. Sometimes it’s a car, motorcycle or even an 18 wheeler. It’s always the same. I’m driving so fast that I keep wrecking into things. I freak out and keep driving even faster. If I’m driving on the highway I find some way to fly off the side. It’s weird because in the dreams I always feel like I can reverse the effects of the damages. I get chased by cops but never get caught. I always wake up before it’s too late.

Those two reoccurring dreams weird me out. I wake up feeling out of place. But there’s one more that I actually don’t mind popping up. They actually just started coming back in the past couple weeks. They involve an old love interest who with things never really worked out the way we wanted. But in the dreams it’s as if they did and everything is perfect. In one we were riding the back seat of a truck driving by the city. We were sitting close talking as we hit a bump in the road. That ended with our lips pressed against each others. There were others where I would go visit her at her house. She would hide me in her room, but I would always get caught by her parents.

The most recent one happened just last night. It’s actually what got me started thinking about all these reoccurring themes. This one felt the most real. Maybe because it was set in the current time. In the dream I came home and she was there. She was so excited to see me that she kissed me. It caught me off guard because of how real it seemed. Throughout the dream she was there and our relationship continued. It was us actually together and maybe just because it was a dream it felt right. It’s that kind of dream that you hate when it ends and where you always wake up at the best part by something dumb like you’re phone going off. I lay there in bed for a second and realize that none of that really happened even though it felt so real.

It just got me thinking that it could mean something. Maybe something is trying to tell me something. But if that’s true in this case then is there something to those other two bizarre themes? Do they mean anything at all?

best day ever

This was a weird week. It started out on Monday with a major low point. But I dealt with it. It was just one of those well this is how it is moments. Nothing much I could do at that time but plan my next move to get me back on track. If it’s one thing I’ve learned is that sometimes you just have to accept things then move on. Especially when it’s out of your and everyone else’s control. You just have to know that there is something better for you and it will all work itself out. 

Then the rest of the week went out. I was really looking forward to Thursday’s guest on the show. I’ve never been this excited for a guest before. It was Donald Glover who was coming in. I couldn’t believe it. When I first heard the news, I immediately texted my brother in excitement. He was super excited once he found out. Then I ran into the studio to confirm when he was coming in. They all saw how pumped I was and like I said I never get this excited for guests. But I’m obsessed with Donald Glover. Favorite actor, rapper, comedian. He does it all.

So it turns out the show is able to hook me up with tickets to the show. My brother and I had already bought tickets but since it was sold out some of our friends didn’t get a chance to. So we gave them our tickets and we took the guest list spots. So around Wednesday night I’m thinking , “Man, this has the possibility to be the best day ever…” My brother and I get to meet him in the morning, we get to hang out with two of our best friends in the afternoon, then we all get to go to the show that night. I couldn’t help but think something was going to go wrong. But it never did.

Thursday comes. I’m sitting at work and immediately it was hard for me to focus. But I knew I had to get all my work done early so it wouldn’t pile up all at once. It’s always super busy when a guest comes in. So I knocked it all out and before I knew it was 7:30a and he was scheduled at 8a. People start coming in, including my brother. I show him around the station and then we’re just hanging out until 8. Then I hear “Donald Glover is in the building.” I go into the studio so I can film and right as I’m walking in I see him standing there. I was like “woaaaah there he is!” I felt like a little kid.

Soon after they bring him in and the interview starts. I’m just standing there a couple feet away from him filming, and laughing at everything he says. The interview is going well and then Bobby mentions how this guy standing next to him is his biggest fan and wrote an essay about why he loves Donald Glover. That was my show prep from the night before. So the next thing Bobby does it read it. Donald was flattered and maybe just a tad bit creeped out. But it was all good. Then I even got to jump on the interview and ask him about some interpretations of his lyrics. Totally geeking out.

Then the interview was over. We thanked him and he was cool enough to sign my written essay. He took pictures with everyone and signed autographs. He was super cool and chill. He was nice to everyone which made it all the better. We then recorded his liners and he was out of there.

We all just hung out the rest of the day until it was show time. We headed downtown to find a bunch of people waiting outside the venue, line wrapped around of hundreds of people. We walked up to the guest list booth and got the tickets they had left for me. Then I got 2 things I didn’t expect. Each ticket came with a VIP pass for the show. I couldn’t believe it. I asked them what they meant and they said I didn’t have to wait in line and could stand up in the VIP section. I was even more excited at that point. But felt a little bad because I couldn’t get my two other friends up there. But they totally understood and were happy just to be able to see the show.

We head up with the balcony and can’t believe the view. We are right there above the stage where you can see everything. It was perfect. Time winds down and Childish Gambino finally hits the stage. The place went nuts on the first song. I couldn’t believe the energy and power the songs had live. It was amazing to hear all the songs with a full backing band. It was unlike any show I’ve ever been to. We’re standing up there just singing along to every word and going crazy. Glover was going off too. Even with a broken foot he put on an incredible show. When they played “Bonfire” is when everyone lost it. Every single person was moving up and down and the band went insane. Definitely the high point of the set.

But before I knew it the show was over. The people cleared out and we went home. I still couldn’t believe that day had happened. It was all just too perfect.

anxiety, anxiety.

I’ve been meaning to write more but can seem to find the time. Which is rough because I use to write pages and pages. It’s definitely something I need to get back doing.

Time is a slippin’ though. Almost 3 months into the year and I can’t barley grasp the idea of that. I’ve been dealing with alot of anxiety as of late. It’s something I’ve dealt with my whole life but it’s effected me alot more since I’ve been on my own. I remember even when I was young and in school I’d have it all the time. It would usually just be school related and me worrying with things like that. Like I would never want to miss a day of school or even be late because of the fear I would get left behind. Even to this day I have to over justify missing one day of class. And even then I still feel weird not going for even one day. 

But it’s not just that now a days. I worry about the future. Like what’s going to happen say a year from now. That thought scares the hell out of me. I hate thinking about it. The best I can do to deal with it is take it one day at a time. Like a good friend of mine said, “The future is never here. We’re always living here right now in this moment. The only thing that matters is now.” That has stuck with me and rationalized my thinking. I live life hours by hour and day by day. That helps me knock out the weeks which as of late have all blended together.

But I like being busy. It makes me feel like I’m working toward something. I hope this is the year all my hard work goes to something. I can see it happening. The thought came to mind today when I was thinking about where everything stands. I really can’t complain. I’m doing every thing in my power to get where I want to be. That’s really all you can do. But your time in and put your self in a position to be where you want. Every thing else is in someone else’s hands….And that’s where my worrisome brain kicks back in. But that’s just how it goes for now. 

-mike

working notes

In the last 2 band practices, I’ve written 2 new songs. The way it’s been going lately is I’ll start playing a riff that just sounds cool at the time. Then the other guys with match it and we’ll all play together. Then I start singing the first melody that comes to mind about the first subject that also just comes to mind. I freestyle the whole song. After the first time we play it we can tell if it’s a rocking song or not. If it is we keep playing it until we start to get somewhere with it.

I change the lyrics every time. Usually by the 3 or 4th time we’ve played it, I will have a few lyrics that stick out to me from the song. Some time after practice I’ll sit down with my guitar and computer and work out some more lyrics. I’ll write these “working notes” but never hold myself to written lyrics. I usually never write down a set of lyrics until it’s time to actually record or even sometimes after. I always like to push things around until something fits.

Here are two songs I’m currently working on

This is one we wrote this past Wednesday. I guess I had been thinking about how fast time was moving alot lately. I thought about this one person in particular that I use to be so close to and didn’t realize that we weren’t that way anymore. And that kind of happened without realizing it. It’s crazy how fast entire years can go by.

This one started with a riff that came out of nowhere. The first time we played it I just let it all out. I remember I had just listed to Loveline the night before. This girl called in who said that her boyfriend liked to cut her during sex. She wondered if they could get sick from messing with each others blood. Then they broke it down to the reason they enjoyed cutting was more of a mental state and a much more deep rooted problem. It just got me thinking about people with mental disease and depression. I pulled examples from many cases i’ve encountered.

From My Birthday to the 4th of July

I’ve been on vacation for ten days. It started back on June 25th with my birthday. I went back home to Waxahachie to spend with time with my family. My birthday consisted of me drinking the entire day. I cracked open my first beer at noon and crushed my last can at about 3 am. I managed to stay drunk the whole day. Though I did take a nap before dinner…didn’t even realize I fell asleep until someone was telling me to wake up. 

The theme of the week was taking it easy. I didn’t make any real plans. I just wanted to go day by day and figure out what to do when it came about. It turned out great. Monday I dedicated to literary doing nothing. I hadn’t had a day where I had absolutely nothing to do in a while. 

I spent the night outside looking up at the stars. My parents live out in the country and you can see the stars perfectly. The first few nights were really windy. It was awesome. Just looking up and watching the stars. You can really see some shit if you just stare at them. I saw a few shooting stars. I also saw what appeared to be moving stars. They were too far up to be planes. Some say it could be satellite but I don’t know the movements of them are something else….anyway.

I also had a chance to play alot of guitar. I practiced everyday. I played along to records mostly. I didn’t really write anything new. I just wanted to brush up on some guitar first to get some more ideas in my fingers. 

It was a nice vacation away from it all. Now it’s time to get back into the swing of things starting at 4 am tomorrow. 

Bizarre Tour Rider

Have you seen Katy Perry’s 45-page tour rider? Holy Shit! Not only does she ask for all kinds of crazy things for her dressing room/hotel but she even has specific driving instructions that the driver must follow. You can’t even look at her much less talk to her. I don’t know where some of these artists get off.

Well just for fun here is what a ridiculous tour rider for my band Everyday Destruction would look like. But hell we’d be happy with just some free drink tickets! 

an art poem

My Guitar Tuning Challenge!