There and Back Again (I hope)

        Well...here I am.  Across the country embarked on a brand new chapter of my life, one that feels somehow different from all the others.  I have spent years in different places away from my home, away from family, and they all had their specific purposes.  Colorado helped to create a foundation for my faith to become my own and make that faith real, Saskatchewan grew that faith and built on it in an intellectual capacity...It also introduced me to the world of audio recording for the first time.  Those places and experiences have been a part of what has led me here, a preparation I suppose.  This chapter started off much the same as the other times I've left home, packing my stuff and getting on a plane to a place where I know no one.  But even before I left this chapter felt different, and now that I have arrived and had a few weeks of schooling that difference is very apparent...it's warmer here then the other places I've been!  Other then that I feel like my life has a solid sense of direction, a clearly defined purpose.  After years of coasting, not really too sure what direction to take or where God was calling me to, now I know.  This is what I belong doing.  I belong deep in the world of audio.  I don't know where this all will take me and I may very well be out here in Ontario for more than just this year.  I really hope I come home sooner than later but I'm on this ride for good, wherever it may take me.

        One of the things I miss most about home right now is the ability to talk with all of you on a regular basis about all the stuff I'm doing and learning because it is crazy exciting to me.  So this is my attempt at bringing all the people I care about along with me on this crazy journey I appear to be on, even though I probably won't have the time or the space to write about everything.  But I will try my best to do this whole bloggy thingy and update once every one or two weeks and let all you beautiful people know what's going on with me.  Time...yea that's something I have practically nothing of anymore, social life = null.  Weekly I have 30 to 35 hours of lectures plus anywhere between 9 and 18 hours of labs, I also study about 2 or 3 hours a day.  But what's different from all the other times I've gone to school, I take a look at my schedule and say "I have this class next?  Awesome.  I have six hours of labs on a Saturday?  Awesome.  Why don't we have class on Sundays?"  The classes and my teachers are fantastic, I have learned more in three weeks than I ever thought possible.  From the theory behind how sounds are placed in a movie scene to microphones and how exactly they work to soldering my own cable connectors onto a cable.  The world of audio is truly that, an entire world.  I have gotten myself into something more incredibly vast then I ever thought and I am intimidated but so excited to conquer it.  So this semester I have 11 courses, some are done halfway through and replaced by new ones but most last until Christmas.  They are Acoustics, MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), Math (yea I know...shudder), Pro Tools (it's the computer program we use to record and mix stuff), Recording Technology, Computers, Live Sound, Audio for Pictures (movies etc...), Sound Design (yes, building custom sounds), Musical Theory, and Digital Theory.  Exciting!

        I could go on and on for ages but I'll spare you the boring theory and information that I'm sure you're not interested in...unless you are interested, then I could post a bunch more stuff!  So I'll just give you a couple pictures for now.

This is my little recording rig I used to record at The Bridge Church in Langley for several days in August that I told most of you about.  Disregard the mixing board on the right and the lighting control above my keyboard, they weren't a part of my rig.

And this.  This is one of four studios I have used and will use almost daily the whole year...drool.