I auditioned for the Disneyland All-American College Band once…In all of my classical trumpet-glory, I prepped my Bitsch etude, a very square jazz excerpt with a backing track from my Google Chromebook speakers, put on my best (ill-fitting) suit and took the trip to Chicago.

My 2016 was very cool in some aspects. I enjoyed my second semester at LSU… I started friendships that are still strong a decade later… I played for and worked with some of my trumpet heroes…

But for all of its highs, 2016 was the year I reached rock-bottom.

I, on the other hand, must have a specific book or author in mind to look for when I enter the building or I’m toast. If that book isn’t there? Trip ruined. There can’t possibly be another book in this entire warehouse that I would enjoy reading.

Gigmas is upon us!

It’s happening again… I’m reorganizing my home office. I am 24 sq. ft. away from pure contentment — and pure contentment is space for an electronic drum kit.

As the straight, linear branches of it’s neighbors snap and break away, the willow’s soft and swaying structure flexes with the strong winds and keep the whole of the tree in tact. It’s softness and flexibility is actually it’s greatest strength.

A car had pulled up to the stop sign seconds before me. We engaged in the ceremonial stare-down of who will go first. Like a ballroom dance with no leader, we sat idly, neither wanting to do the wrong thing in a series of false starts.

My dad can be especially lethal… I don’t believe the man is capable of feeling pressure or anxiety.

“Nothing is certain in life except death and taxes… “and that I WILL be delayed in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.

I refer to you normal people as Normies. While I do love my life as an abNormie, I’m jealous of your Normie life. Much of what I dislike about my career is what I miss out on that Normies get to experience… Here are some other areas I differ from you Normies.

It’s almost-impressively easy for me to burst into song. I am conditioned to hear a phrase or a musical line and respond. No one is safe, not even my Honda CR-V.

We were at a car show in McCool Junction, NE… My younger brother Matthew and I were probably 4/5 and 7/8, respectively. We were doing what any cool kids would do in a village of about 400 people — playing with other random kids on a giant pile of rocks.

My students sometimes believe that I have some silver bullet or secret recipe to give them. Like I’m some bearded mystic, living in solitude, growing weary with age…

“If you settle for “good enough,” you will never truly achieve greatness like me.

…Now be sure to buy my sports drink at the link below.”

I’m a hell of a lot better than I would be if I hadn’t spent so many days and hours practicing.

…But I’ve missed out on a lot of fun along the way.

Hastings, NE is really beautiful… but there ain’t a whole lot going on in this “thriving metropolis.”