My Bucket List

It is hard to look into the future and see myself somewhere different than where I am now. Even looking just five years from now it is hard to see myself coming to the end of my schooling. I know that the years are going to start speeding up again like they always do when getting older. I remember high school flew by and I couldn't believe I had been there for four years. I know there will be struggles in the next few years but I can make it through them just as I made it through struggles in the past.
For the next five years I am going to be focusing mostly on my academic life. I would like to graduate in that time but it will be difficult with a mechanical engineering major. I was with some upper class men this weekend and when I told them my major they said "welcome to hell." They were telling me how I will have a lot of work to do for my major, but I enjoy the work so it shouldn't be hard to do.
For my career I would love to go into the music industry somehow. It would be good enough to just be in the industry but being a drummer in the industry is my dream job. I can possibly use my mechanical engineering degree to get into sound engineering and go on tour as a part of the sound team. For the next 10 years I will try and accomplish a lot of things I can still do being young with little to no responsibilities left. I would love to travel Europe for a little bit going to most of the countries over there. Eventually I will start to settle down however.
For the next 20 years I hope to get married, have kids, and start a family similar to the one I was raised in. I don't want to rush into anything, but I also don't want to be too old when I become a father. My dad always tells me I'm the best part of his life and he is so proud of me. I hope to one day have a son I can say the same thing about.
It is weird to look down the line like I just did, but all of this really is right around the corner. I still remember being an innocent kid without a care in the world, but those days are coming to an end. It is the end of one chapter and the start of another.

Non-Muse Event #2

For my Non-Muse Event this time I entered the rock band tournament in the DC. I love to play rock band and have been playing for a long time now, so I am a pretty good player. I actually entered the tournament because my friend saw the sign and said I should enter. I played through the qualifying round relatively easily. It was really no big challenge for me to beat the first four bands and I went into the final round as the #1 player. When the finals came I was a bit nervous because I did not see one of the bands play, so I did not know how good they were. I played third with the song Battery by Metallica and I shocked everyone in the room. I passed the semi final round and went into the finals still the #1 player. I decided to play first and played Panic Attack by Dream Theater. The next band failed the song they played, most likely because they were too nervous to play 100%. Ultimately I won the competition and now I have to look forward to next year.

Music Review

Last December I was able to go to the Lamb of God and Metallica concert. This concert blew away my mind and to this day it is still the best show I have ever seen. It was loud, energetic, and just plain awesome. I went expecting a good show, but that assumption was simply shattered when the concert began.
The first band to perform was The Sword, a smaller and lesser known band. They were decent, but I knew the entire time that this was not the reason I went to the show. They played their instruments well and some songs were good, but the singing was lacking.
The next band to come out was Lamb of God. This was a big moment I was waiting for, and they simply blew my mind. I remember seeing the mosh pits going and just loving the music being amazing. They are a great band live and I would love to see them again someday.
The final band to come out was the band that everybody was waiting for, Metallica. The entire arena went black while The Ecstasy of Gold played. Then, a slow heartbeat started to come in while lasers started to come from above the stage. The music began to play softly until the band ran out with all their instruments and they began to play "That was Just Your Life." This was amazing, but their was an even better part of the show. After playing two songs from their new record they go back to their old stuff and play "For Whom The Bell Tolls." This moment is what really started the concert for me. I could hear everyone screaming out the words, see them pumping their fists, and moshing away. Their was so much energy in the air, everybody was doing something. Whether they were singing along or just simply banging their head. The entire arena sang along when they played "Master of Puppets" and their was a huge amount of moshing when they played "One." I remember the pyrotechnics for "One" and the long wait for the song to start playing because of the helicopter noises in the beginning of the song. They ended the night with "Search and Destroy" and pieing the drummer, Lars, because it was his birthday. It was an amazing show and I hope that someday I can see Metallica once again.

Master of Puppets!

One of the biggest moments in rock history is the release of the Master of Puppets album by Metallica on March 3, 1986. This is one of the best metal albums ever and personally I believe it is THE best. It reached #29 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart and was the band's first Gold record for sales of 500,000 copies. This was done without any radio airplay or the release of a single or music video. The album is now 6× Platinum in the U.S. The album is present in a list dubbed "The All-TIME 100 Albums" published by TIME magazine in November 2006. IGN rated the album #1 in a list of Top 25 Metal Albums. In 2003, the album was ranked number 167 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of all Time. In 2006, the album was voted the fourth "greatest guitar album of all time" in Guitar World. Songs from this album have been covered by numerous bands including, but not limited to, Mastodon, Trivium, Anthrax, Machine Head, Dream Theater, Primus, the list goes on and on. My band even performed our own version of the title track. It is said that Black Sabbath invented metal, but Metallica perfected it with this album.

The Drugs of College

You look all around us in today's world and their are drugs. Caffeine, pain relievers, alcohol, tobacco, this list goes on and on. But no, this is supposed to be about the drugs that you think of when you originally say the word. This is about the drugs that society missuses for artificial highs. The main drugs of choice for college students would have to be marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco. Everywhere you look there is some form of this. Weed is not clearly everywhere like the other two, but if you know the right places to look it is extremely easy to find. Whenever I walk into the quad I see the benches full of people smoking a cigarette or using their hookah. My dad always told me to never do pills, powders, or needles and I completely agree with that statement. However, I also don't see the need for cigarettes either, it is just pointless to me. I think that if you have strong morale values and are able to stick by them no amount of peer pressure can get to you. If you are forced to ever take anything you don't want to you are hanging out with the wrong people.

The 5 Best Metal Songs

Metal is one of my favorite genres of music so why not make a list of my personal favorite metal songs.

#5. Paranoid by Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath invented metal and this song is one of their best. Great song with a little bit of a heavier sound for the time.

#4. Raining Blood by Slayer - One of the four fathers of thrash metal. Raining Blood is one of their iconic songs. Fast and heavy with a great solo.

#3. Symphony of Destruction by Megadeth - Megadeth is another four father of thrash and one of the bigger metal bands. Personally I think Symphony of Destruction is them at their best.

#2. Laid to Rest by Lamb of God - One of the newer thrash bands but are influenced a lot by the older 80's thrash bands. Laid to Rest is definitely one of their best songs.

#1 Master of Puppets by Metallica - Quite possibly the biggest metal band of all time. It has been said that Black Sabbath invented metal but Metallica perfected it. Master of Puppets is one of the best metal albums ever and the title track is a great song.

Interview with a Senior

I decided to interview my cousin Eric who graduated from Sacramento State last year. He was able to give me some really good advice about what I should and should not do. He told me to focus all on my studies. It can be hard to avoid the party scene but I need to study first and party second. College is ultimately about starting my life on my own, not about parties. He did tell me that I should have some fun though. He said that if you do nothing but study you will go nuts, get out there and have a good time. He told me to do my work ahead of schedule so I will have time later to do whatever I want. Balance is ultimately what my cousin told me to have. Balance my life between studies and fun and I will have a good time.