video quality

I'm happy the video works, but I'm not at all impressed with the video quality degradation that takes place after you upload. :/ Hopefully everyone can make out what is going on. Lots of fun to be had!!!

The makeup of a great day

Well, yesterday was quite a good one for me. It started early in the morning with a Skype call to IL. It was nice to see the guys in IL again. After that was a leisurely morning, complete with an awesome omelet and a nice quiet time. Then it was my first time leading worship at church. What an experience! When you are up there with one other guy, it can be pretty nerve-wracking. I was telling Leo after the service that if I had made the mistakes I made during the service in a trombone lesson, I would have gotten yelled at, sworn at, and chastised. The good thing about this position is that if my heart is in the right place, I can't do wrong. It is about leading the worship experience of the congregation, not about performing well. My performing history will definitely help with this, but people, in general, don't care about mistakes made. They are more encouraged with fewer mistakes, but they still don't care. It was very encouraging for me to participate in this way. I am looking forward to getting better at songleading and, one day, maybe being comfortable with it. :)

After church we went over to Blaine's house to hang for a little bit before "man day" commenced. I did not know that "man day" was taking place, or I would have brought a spare change of clothes. "Man day" consisted of going out about 5 miles or so out of town to what basically consisted of the california desert and shooting off guns for about three hours. It was some of the most fun I have had in a while. It was nice to just be outside with the guys and work on my aim. There are pictures and videos that I will throw up for all to see. I'm not sure what I'm doing here, but if you see them on this post, I did it right. :)





After man day, we enjoyed the last bit of shark week and I went home to watch a movie and go to sleep. It was QUITE a long day, and I was ready for bed. This week is looking like it will be good. I was not feeling all that well this morning, but tomorrow I will be going into school to get some stuff taken care of at the band hall. I have my first teacher meeting scheduled for thursday and I think friday the Expendables comes out in theaters.

Part to...kind of late.

Ok, so here's the deal. I told you guys I'm not good at this kind of thing. Combine that with not having internet for a week or so, and this web site has not been updated for a while. But all of that is about to change!!!

So the rest of last week was rather fun. I had the orchestra concert on Thursday (a BLAST as usual, I love playing movie music :D), followed by the movie Inception. Very good! Friday was a "get stuff done" kind of day, having morphed from a "go to Chicago" kind of day. Ended up being fun. Friday night I led my first bible talk (first of hopefully many). Very good experience there. Saturday was the going away party. Tears were shared, awkward moments were shared (thanks again, Dave) and was a really good experience getting to see everyone again. Saturday night was Jack Johnson. This was overall a very fun evening. It was great to spend time with Nicole and Bekah and Jack Johnson was an excellent entertainer. Very fun! Sunday was a sad occasion that quickly turned into a hurried occasion as all of the moving/cleaning took place then instead of Monday. Whew! Got a few more things done in the next few days, and woke up bright and early Tuesday morning to head out to California.

I ended up driving to Denver before stopping (my first two days of driving) for the day. It was really great to have a full day to spend with Dave, Sheila, Grammie, and others in CO. It was especially good to see Dave again, as it has been a LONG time since I have spent decent time with him. I am always thinking about him and it was definitely a good visit. Thursday morning I took off at 5 am (same time as tuesday) and ended up driving the rest of the way out to Bakersfield from Denver - a 16 hour drive. Needless to say, I was QUITE tired, but God definitely got me through it.

Now, I am sitting on a couch that four days ago I did not have, typing on the internet that two days ago I did not have and enjoying plenty of things that I have been blessed with. My dad is coming out to see me/bring me more furniture so he should be rolling around in the next few hours. The plan is to go check out the school tomorrow. Pictures should follow that event. Also, possibly a really hectic, anxious posting here regarding the status of my band hall. Who knows?

At any rate, things are going well. They are not perfect, but they never are. More updates will follow regarding my overall wellbeing and events that take place as a first year teacher. Should be exciting!!!

Move/Internet

Just got internet up at the new place. Expect a fuller post with lots of details on the move a little later today. I just wanted to inform you that I am actually plugged in now, so this thing will be updated regularly. Count on it!

Big update

Well, it has been a few days since I have updated this website (I told you that you would have to bear with me on this one). I never really have been a journal-er before, so keeping up with this thing will prove to be a little bit of a challenge for me, but I will make it a point to do so.

So I have had an interesting week. Very very busy week. Early on in the week, I was helping Dave Weidner set up his basement as a recording studio - this proved to be a very daunting task. In order to set it up, we needed to reapply concrete to the walls and basically build a ceiling with insulation. Fun times, but it made for a busy week. Combine that with two concerts this week and I had a pretty hectic "work" week. It was all worth it - I think the work will pay off for Dave and the Weidners but also for church leaders that need to recognize the problems that our church is currently facing.

I don't want to make it sound like I didn't have any fun this week. It WAS the week of Jay, so much fun was had. There was a great double date with Dave and his wife Robin and myself and Bekah. We went to Geneva and walked around the downtown area that they have there. We ate at this little Italian place (molto BELLA), then went for desert at a little ice cream parlor called Grahm's Chocolate and ice cream. I can't describe the experience my taste buds went through on that one, suffice it to say that had I kept eating the double chocolate ice cream with English Toffee I would have been in trouble.

Well, I'll update more later. I'm staying at Dave's house tonight and I am SLEEPY after today. Get ready for the rest of it tomorrow.

First day

Ok, so this is my first try at a blog. I think it will be a good way for me to keep friends and family informed on my goings-on in California, my spiritual development, and any adventures that I see on the horizon. In case anyone does not have this information, my:

Skype name: jay.jarrett

Steam name: Saifertyrann

Facebook: Jay M. Jarrett

Address: 6001 Auburn St. Apt. 224 Bakersfield, CA 93306

Telephone: 815-985-9648 (this will NOT change :D)

The above information is for family, friends, and church ONLY. If you do not know me, please don't send me invites for anything or call me. I will simply ignore them and request the number be blocked from my callers list. Both of these things can be accomplished in a matter of minutes and requires minimal effort on my part. Don't test me on this.

Anyway, today I set a new personal record for myself in running: 7.5 miles while walking another 1.5. It was VERY taxing on me and I actually ended up being sick after it. I feel much better at the time of writing this. This could have been from the heat, but was probably from the fact that I was just not ready to run this distance. I am not deterred from running because of it, if anything I am happy that I got to see exactly where my current limits are. It is nice to know how far I can push myself before I cannot go further - today I definitely learned that.

I also felt like the glory should not go to me in this, but to God. I ran once this week - a measly 10 in and 10 out. I ran twice last week - the longest being a 5K. To go from that for the last few weeks to running 7.5 miles in one shot is impossible for me to have accomplished without God with me. I definitely felt like using my body for its intended purpose today (running being one of them) was a form, a good form, of glorifying God. I actually like running much more now that I'm a Christian. My beliefs have deepened the experience significantly. The experience of running is no longer about me and who I am, but about making my body as strong as it can be for God. Saying "Thanks" for all that He has given me. Showing how much I appreciate and love him for my gifts of good health and good fitness.

Hopefully will be spending some time with folks hanging out tonight. Should be a lot of fun. I'm thinking a movie and Settlers of Catan.

This week is going to be jam-packed. I have so much to do with the move coming up in a terrifyingly short week and a half. Please pray for me about this.

Thanks so much for reading. I'll try out a few different schedules before I find one that works for me and my time commitments, but when I figure it out, I will post it so you know when I will update and how often. Definitely will be at least two times a week.

Until next time, God bless!