Just wanted to drop a quick line and say that I’m feeling great lately. I would recommend a workout routine to anyone out there who is just not feeling like they have the energy they once had or who finds themselves having more bad days than good. I honestly feel like I used to when I was 18, full of energy, don’t like to waste time, enjoy myself much more when I go out, etc.

I’ll post more later including before and after pics, but at the moment, I have been working out for over 4 weeks every day (except Saturday). I also have not smoked a cigarette in over a month and find myself having no desire to do so ever again (suprisingly enough, quitting smoking has been a lot easier than I thought it was going to be, which I think has a lot to do with me jogging each day).

School starts back here in a couple weeks. I’m going to make a trip to Athens either this weekend or next. Will be interesting because I haven’t been there in over a year.

Until next time,

“Do you believe you’re missing out, that everything good is happening somewhere else?”
- Brand New : Jesus Christ

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It seems as of late I’ve just been burned out. I’ve adjusted my lifestyle in so many ways and at such grand measures that I don’t even know where to begin. Still, lately I’ve found myself just exhausted all of the time, not wanting to get out of bed… basically feeling unhealthy. I have so many projects going on and so many opportunities, but I have absolutely no motivation to do anything. I also find myself feeling bipolar… having a few really good days, then a longer bout of rough days, which generally consist nostalgia and sorrow, guilt, anger, all that good stuff.

I finally decided that I need to start taking care of my body. After about 4 years of pounding my body with my late-teens and early-20s, I think it’s time to start the restoration process and get myself back in shape. It’s not a weight or appearance issue so much as my state of mind.

I’m going to begin a simple diet and workout routine that I hope will stick with me for a long time. I’ve done a bit of research and I think a simple answer to a number of my issues all boil down to my metabolism, the balance of my body’s chemistry, and in turn the lack of energy I have. I’m blogging about this because I feel that if any of you are suffering from anything similar, I would like to let you see the results of the changes I’m making.

I’m starting with my metabolism. I think that one of the main things missing from my lifestyle is breakfast. I’ve read up a lot on breakfast, and it really is extremely important in your body’s functioning on a day-to-day basis. When you sleep at night, you take a substantial break from your body’s processing of nutrients, and without breakfast, your body begins to rely on other means of energy (I imagine this is where many get hooked on caffeine and intense moments of hunger, which result in junk-food and fast-food intake). I won’t go into too much detail about metabolism, but I definitely need to start a normal eating routine, which includes eating breakfast every morning.

Metabolism also has a lot to do with how tired you are during the day and at the end of the day. If you’re like me, you might have a problem where you seem tired all day, and immediately after dinner, but generally end up getting a “second wind” that keeps you awake all night. This is because dinner is your biggest (often your only solid) meal of the day, and your body is high on energy. If I can control my metabolism, I’ll be able to develop a healthy sleeping routine, which will allow me to wake up more easily in the morning without feeling exhausted all day.

Which leads me to exercise…I am also going to start exercising. Nothing intense, but I’m going to try and jog every weekday. Exercising is a natural form of neurotransmitter stimulation. Your brain releases endorphins and neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine while you exercise. Naturally, we were supposed to get this release from our work (physical labor) but with our modern lifestyles (or mine anyways, which involves sitting on my ass) we don’t get this. Exercise in turn gives your body more energy by strengthening it’s distribution and maintenance of that energy.

My new routine is going to consist of:

In general I’m going to:

I think after about two weeks of this, all of my objectives will start feeding off of each other… for instance, I’ll be able to sleep more because my energy will be balanced across the day (allowing me to work more efficiently) and make me tired by the time it’s late (according to normal human beings anyway, when you become accustomed to thinking 4:00-5:00am is “late” and 1:00-3:00am is “night-time” then something is wrong). Once again, I by no means feel I’m overweight or anything of that nature, but my body just isn’t functioning the way it was meant to.

I’m being a total dork about this (I guess I have to), I even have a calendar and everything. I’m starting my routine on as soon as I get back from Cocoa Beach (summer vacation) on June 27th. So I guess I imagine I’ll start seeing the results within two weeks of that day. I’ll be sure to let you know how it’s working out.

Until next time,

“Hide the telephone in case you realize that sometimes you’re just not okay.” - Our Lady Peace : Clumsy

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Will be over in 6 days… I’ve pretty much been (hardcore) dedicated to school over the last month, lots of major projects going on, etc. I’ve got a lot of updates, but I’ll have to save them until next week when I have some free time.For now, here’s a poem I just finished revising for my final portfolio (one of seven):

Until next time,

“Abstruse and lacking rational but making so much since some how.” - Eve 6 : How Much Longer

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I feel like I haven’t had a single moment to myself in the last six weeks. School is really kicking my ass. We’re down to the last five weeks of school, and every one of my classes has a major final project that’s going to be due before long, and that’s on top of all of the regular reading, quizzes, assignments, and tests. Anyways, I figured I haven’t done an update in a while and I should probably get one in while there’s still a few hours left in the month of March.

The Katelyn Tarver thing has also kept me pretty busy. We just got back from Tampa Monday afternoon (just in time for me to make my Creative Writing class). The show went pretty well, despite a few malfunctions (mainly attributed to the horrible sound crew).

Check out this YouTube video of us performing “Chasing Echoes” at the Chasco Festival

Check out this YouTube video of us performing “Something in Me” at the Chasco Festival

We were able to meet with some of the other bands. The guy we opened for, Cisum Golden, was actually very impressive, (his myspace music seriously doesn’t do him justice… they sound nothing like that live…

Check out this YouTube video of Cisum Golden at the Chasco Festival

An interesting side-note to that video: We were behind the stage on the right side talking with Cisum when his band started playing. As a sign of how much he has his shit together, he was standing there talking to us right up to the very second he started singing… just said “see you later” and ran out on stage to a screaming crowd. The guy has been in the scene since he was 15 years old and it really showed. All I had heard about him was that he’s a multi-platinum songwriter and producer who has worked with big acts (including the Backstreet Boys, so I really didn’t know what to expect). I was wrong to judge the book by the cover because Cisum and his band really had their shit together. From his songwriting to their stage presence, they had it all.

Anyways, here are some pictures from our last two peformances: The Chasco Festival in Tampa, FL and Day of the Dance in Titusville, Fl:

Chasco Festival - Tampa, FL - March 25th, 2007

Day of the Dance - Titusville, FL - February 24th, 2007

Coming soon: I’ve actually had quite a few requests for information on the online surveys that I do for extra cash and my next project for this site is to get that page together. As for now I’ve got to get to work on a writing project for school. *sigh*

Until next time,

“Remember the weight of the world” - Spoon : I Summon You

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So I turned 23 last Thursday… everyone has been asking me how my birthday was and everything, and I found myself struggling to find a good answer because I’ve just had so much going on this month that I feel like I haven’t had a second to breath. Let me fill you in, bullet style…

Over the last three weeks I’ve:

Did I mention I was in school full time? I mean, I know plenty of kids who just simply do school and either ride their loans or their parents money to get by.

I also was recently offered a new job working for a company called Coastal Electric. This job would pretty much take the place of my current one, and the only catch there is that it’s located about 25 minutes out of Savannah, but the pay is amazing (around $18 an hour) and it’s right up my alley (just doing PC Maintenance, pretty much the same thing I was doing at Genesis without the responsibility of being the manager).

So my new job at Savannah Blues is freaking awesome. Savannah Blues is (you guessed it) a blues bar that I’ve been a patron of for I imagine 3 or so years now. It’s just a nice, chill bar that always has live music. The clientell is really cool and my bosses are amazing. The pay is pretty great (cash-money every night) but the only drawback is the hours… I generally go into work at 9:00pm and get home around 3:30am (on weeknights, on weekends its more like 4:45am). So right now I’m working that job about 4 nights a week. They also said they will train me to be a bartender, which is really awesome. Bartending is quite the moneymaker, but its also hard to get into the business… mainly because of the experience loop (you have to have experience to start somewhere, but you can’t start without any experience). Basically they will just kind of show me how things work as I’m bar-backing, how tabs work, how to make various drinks, work the register, proper etiquette, etc. You can make a killing bartending, so this is a pretty good opportunity.
Cail and I are currently in the market for a new PA system for Case of the Mundays. We’ve got our rehearsal space now, and we’re going to practice solid for a good month or so before we started booking gigs. I’m really excited about it, I mean I’ve been wanting to have a band of good friends who are all into the same music for practically my whole life, and it’s finally happening. So I’ll definitely keep you guys up to date on that.

I mentioned a while back an audition that I had done for a pop star. Well that’s kind of been on the table for the last 8 months, I pretty much had to decide between that and getting back into school, but the opportunity has been presented to me again. Aaron (our drummer) has been playing drums for Katelyn for almost 3 years now, and she is really starting to kind of take off. She recently recorded 4 new songs (produced by Rascal Flatts). Basically, they are trying to push her out of her old market (kind of Disney, little kid pop) to a new, more mature one (country, soul, rhythm)… her new stuff I can actually say is quite impressive (really lets her voice shine) and I’m pretty excited for her. I’d say it’s kind of a combination of Leanne Rimes and Alicia Keys. So anyways, it looks like I might be playing guitar for her- as soon as the 24th of this month in Orlando, FL. I’ll keep you guys posted on that as well.

Whew, so yeah like I said, I’ve been busy. It’s funny though because I look back at what I was doing a year ago, and I had no job, no school, and was just fucking up, but I was more stressed out then than I am now. It’s kind of funny how things work too, because it seems like the more I work and try to be constructive, the more windows that open. I’m amazed that I haven’t just lost my mind yet with everything I’ve got going on. But I have two theories: one is that it just hasn’t caught out with me just yet and is bound to happen, two, is that because of the fact that I was at the bottom of the barrel with my life, constructive stress just doesn’t really have an effect on me- I’m just thankful and excited for everything that I’ve got going on, and when it ever starts messing with my head, I just think of what I was doing a year ago.

For my birthday, my parents got me a really cool gift. My dad is friends with this guy who does professional dog training (he’s very much like the dog whisperer, in fact, his brother trains police dogs for $30,000 a pop). Anyways, he has a program in which he will train your dog to be a hardcore obedient loyal pet. Zelda is an incredibly smart dog, I taught her to sit, shake, and beg in just three weeks. However, my time has been really occupied over the last 6 or 7 months and her obedience is starting to slack a little (not as responsive to some commands, doesn’t walk as well on a leash as she used to etc). This guy came in for the first lesson on Sunday, and already Zelda is walking on a leash like a pro. His concept is that of leash training (where you give “corrections” by jerking the leash). It’s only been three days, and already Zelda is pretty much walking perfectly (and will sit whenever you stop walking). This Sunday’s lesson is “come” and “stay”. Basically Zelda will learn to stay in place when I tell her to (I can leave the room and come back and she should still be sitting there) and will also come on command without her hesitating (by choice). The training starts off with a form of “red light, green light” game. Anyways, the guy is incredible, and I’m learning a lot from him. I look forward to making some videos and showing Zelda off (she really is a fast learner).

Anyways, time to get some homework done, gotta clock out in an hour, go home, walk Zelda, practice Katelyn’s songs, then be at work by 9:00.

Until next time,

“I’m in repair, the life that we share, I know that I’ll be lost in
But we’re always in repair.” - Our Lady Peace : In Repair

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Before:	After:

Haircut
So I finally did it… I cut all of my hair off. I think I accomplished what I was going for… I really wanted to look in the mirror and see a new me. Sometimes I think everyone just needs a change, and to be honest with you, it helped push me into feeling like the new person I’ve turned into over the last year. I feel great…

I’m Sick
except for the fact that I’ve been sick as a dog for the last few days. About 10 days ago I woke up with a really sore and congested throat. I felt kinda crappy for a couple of days but then it went away. Well over the last 3 or 4 days it’s relapsed and it’s back with vengeance. I finally went to the doctor today and apparently it’s a respiratory infection that’s been going around (everywhere it seems) for the last few weeks. He gave me 3 prescriptions and said I’ll be better in a couple of days. Despite the horrid pain in my throat, the nasty congestion, and the general feeling of being disconnected from the world (I feel like I’m just floating around), I have to admit that the cough syrup he gave me makes me feel like a million bucks.

Rehearsal Space
So for the past two months we’ve been working about once a week for the guy who owns the meat-packing plant where we plan on setting up our rehearsal space. We have an arrangement with him to sort of work for our first few months rent. Anyways, looks like this weekend we’re finally going to get the drywall and sound-proof insulation up in our room, which means that we’ll probably be moving our equipment in next week, so that’s exciting. I estimate we’ll be practicing at least twice a week for a solid month before we really start gigging.

While on that subject, Here are some pics of Aaron and I (and our friend Casey) playing at Savannah Blues a few weeks ago:

So pretty much I’ve been busy as hell.
I guess I forgot to mention that I’ve been super busy with school and work this semester as well. I don’t think I’ve ever been this busy in my life, but I’m pretty sure that’s a good thing. When I get stressed out I try and think about what I would have been doing about this time last year. Anyways, this semester I’m taking Technical Writing, Databases, Information Security, and Creative Writing (poetry).

Poetry
I guess it’s kind of weird that I’m taking poetry alongside all of those techie classes, but my hopes are that it will help me with my music writing, and help cure the writer’s block I’ve had for the last six months or so. I have to admit the class itself is amazing, I actually find myself looking forward to it each week. It’s a lot of work, but I’ve got a great professor and the class is amazing. We have to write eight poems this semester (on top of our poetry research and peer critiques- which is basically where you write critiques for the 12 other students in the class every time a 2nd draft is turned in.

Anyways, for our first assignment, we had to have the subject matter about someone who made a significant impact on our lives. I’m not going to say exactly who this is about, but I’ll leave you with what I turned in for my 2nd draft:

“I Watched You”
-Jeff Wichman

I watched you;
in the 40-watt haze of that pale room
Toy with death and giggle.
Prepare your resolve,
water tainted translucent
with evils you stilled
into a murky resolution.
Fill the glossy black lines
along that instrument of destruction.
Disguise trembles of frustration
as you fumbled around for a vein,
followed the red-dotted line
tapped into your life
pulled and pushed
to displace the apathy
of your dull existence.

Hair clutched your forehead,
to beaded drops of anticipation
As you reclined among the raspy duet
of groaning hinges,
I sensed in you
…………. the whir in your head
……….. the pulsating thud
……… the ghostly murmurs
……. the tingle in your face
…… the bitter bite
…. the closed eyes ignoring
.. the trickle of composure
left running,
evading
certain infiltration.

“Damn.” your quivering voice announced
between the half-grin of cracked lips,
shattering the silence that desperately
clung to the tension in the air
and darkly rested on smoke-stained drapes
that never permitted the time of day.
I watched you so quickly Lose
to your favorite game
never quitting
before it was over.

Until next time,

“Hate us because you’ll never get that far.” - Better Than Ezra : At the Stars

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So as I mentioned the other day, I have a pretty cool story to share.

I read Black Hawk Down for the first time when I was about fifteen years old. I found out a couple of years later that they were making a movie based on the book and flipped out. I remember going to the theater and seeing it and being quite satisfied, but as usual, the movie couldn’t compare to how amazing the book was. In fact, I don’t even know if it’s the book so much that is amazing as the story itself. I’ve probably read the book 3 or 4 times since then.

Anyways, so my mother is a principal of an elementary school, and they had the county Teacher of the Year banquet about a week ago. Well apparently the guest speaker was Sgt. Keni Thomas. Sgt. Thomas was an Army Ranger attached to the company who fought in Mogadishu that day in October. He was actually there during the battle in one of the chalks (I believe she told me he was in the first chalk to get to the first downed Blackhawk, which would be chalk 4 I think).

Anyways, she said his speech was really amazing. Another interesting thing about him is that he’s really into music. He is a country recording artist and has a band called Cornbread. Anyways, my mom was flipping out because she knows how big of a deal Black Hawk Down is to me and was upset that I wasn’t able to hear him speak (had she known he was the speaker she said she would have paid the $80.00 guest fee for me to go) but she was able to speak with him afterwards and brought me up during the conversation. He signed the pamphlet for the banquet for me “Jeff, Stay Motivated - Keni Thomas” which I will scan and put up later.

Anyways, that’s where I got the title from my last post, I guess it’s kind of a big deal to me. Sgt. Keni Thomas’ is actually portrayed in the movie and I’m reading the book for my 4th time now to see where he’s featured. If you own the book, check the last few pages where there’s pictures and credits and what not, you’ll see a picture of Sgt. Thomas on a helicopter.

So there’s my story. I have more updates. Rest assured, I will get them up soon.

Until next time,

“Just when you think it’s figured out, it all falls apart.” - Our Lady Peace : Angels/Losing/Sleep

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First off I want to wish everyone a very happy and propitious new year in these first days of 2007. Wow it feels weird just to type it! I know my updates have been pretty shoddy over the last month (I mean, I even missed friggen Christmas!) but in my defense, I stopped right around when finals were beginning and am starting back right before school begins.

My Christmas was excellent. I was able to spend some quality time with close friends (including Sgt. Joey Morrison of the U.S.M.C. who I haven’t seen in nearly two years since he was deployed) and family. My nephew, Brent, is absolutely astounding. I must reiterate that I was never a “baby” or “kid” person… they always seemed to make me extremely nervous, but the little guy never ceases to amaze me, and has actually been responsible for a newfound connection I am able to achieve with children… I can actually communicate with little kids now without feeling extremely nerveous, embarassed, or retarded. It may not seem like a big deal to most of you, but being able to connect and communicate with someone who is less than half my age is actually something I’ve never been able to do, and I’ve never really understood why, but a newfound joy in my life is being able to level with these “creatures” and actually communicate with them… you’d be suprised how much a little kid can teach you about life. Quite possibly the greatest moment of my family traveling over the holidays was teaching my cousin’s daughter Brooklyn (eight years old) exactly what a “New Years resolution” is all about. It really wasn’t that difficult! (Although in my case, Brooklyn is extremely intelligent for her age, I mean the girl has already learned the basics of Geometry… and I don’t mean the “this is a square, and this is a triangle” I mean she knows what an acute angle is, what a right triangle is, trapezoid, parallelogram, and all that crap I learned in freakin middle school.) The conversation went something like this:

Jeff: “So what is your New Years resolution, Brooklyn?”
Brooklyn: “What’s a New Years resolution?”
Jeff: “It’s when you make a goal that you want to achieve by this time a year from now. Like me, I want to start exercising more!”
Brooklyn: “Oh. (she pauses in thought) I’m going to stop biting my nails!”
Jeff: “That’s a really good one, Brooklyn.”
(Brooklyn runs off to tell her mommy about New Years resolutions and what she has determined to pursue in the forthcoming year)

This scenario may seem quite typical and boring to most of you, but I swear to you, I have never even been able to say so much as “Hello [insert kid’s name]!” … and I always found myself engaging in conversation as I would any other adult… Needless to say, being able to finally communicate with kids is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. In a way, it resembles a landmark in my growing up.

So what are my New Years resolutions you ask?

1. Have the band playing paying gigs on a regular basis by the end of the year.
2. Run Zelda twice a week.
3. Do basic exercise at least 5 times a week.
4. Blog more.

So far I’m doing pretty good… I started my exercising and running Zelda about four weeks ago and have been sticking to it pretty solid since then. The band thing is more of a long term goal, but just this week we are meeting as a groupto discuss exactly when we’re going to finish up our rehearsal space and move in, how we are going to budget the purchasing of our new Mackie PA system, and trying out a few guys for keys. As for the blogging, well I guess this is my fresh start. I’ve got a really interesting story I’d like to post this week, so either do the RSS thing or check back in a few days for that.

Until next time,

“Is there a cure among us, from this processed sanity?
In this world of purchase, I’m going to buy back memories to awaken some old qualities.”
- Collective Soul : Run

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You have to love coming in at work @ 8:00am just to realize it’s finals week and noone’s going to be using the lab until at least noon.

So I’m done with finals now. All I have left is a paper that’s due on Wednesday. After that we’re going to be hardcore working on getting our rehearsal space ready so we can move in before January. I can’t believe Christmas is like two freakin weeks away… seriously wasn’t it just November?  Sorry to cut this short, but I’m about to pass out if I don’t get some caffeine in me.

Until next time,

“Spin me round again and rub my eyes.
This can’t be happening.” - Imogen Heap

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“In Time”
Jeff Wichman
11/27/2006

half-Way from far away
you drive
my mind, a thousand times
changing lanes
between hope and desire
on fire
burn free and lock me in like
your eyes
too late, I realize they
own me
and the miles could never divide
this mind
set on you, shifting into view
I wait
for it will never be too late
I wait.