Bucket List

1. Sing on stage with my favorite band/go on tour. (All Time Low, Fall Out Boy or Panic! At the Disco)

2. Learn to fluently speak French and German.

3. Travel the world.

4. Kiss my future wife under the Eiffel Tower.

5. Get more tattoos.

6. Raise some awesome children / have an amazing family.

7. Live in an apartment in a big city (New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston)

8. Write a perfect song.

9. Stay completely happy.

10. Marry the perfect girl.

Yes, I'm going to marry Emma Watson.

My Essential Question

Okay, here it is:

At what point do I not make my need of being a famous musician my first priority?

This question took me a while to think about. I had a lot of help from a friend and eventually came to "At what point do I give up on music?" I brought this up in class and everyone helped me realize that this question was not exactly what I was trying to say. I always will be writing and making music until the day I die. So, I decided to change my question to when do I switch my priorities? There will be a point in my life when I need to be able to fully support myself and be able to support my family. Hopefully, I can do this by becoming a famous and do it that way, but if I can't I need to get a job in media production/engineering, which is a career I will do regardless (instead of or after being famous (; ) This question has been on my mind a lot this year with the reality shock of high school ending. I honestly don't have a set plan and that scares me. All I expect is to go for music as hard as I can for a long time and make an adventure out of it.

Bucket Filler

To start, I wanted to say that I found Tom Rath's presentation very interesting and eye-opening. It's nice to get an outside perspective and look on some things that I realize that I might do. It really made me wonder, am I a bucket tipper in any way? Or do I do my best to fill other people's buckets? Ever since watching the video, I've been trying my best to keep this whole philosophy conscious and present on my mind.

I think a lot of people say or do things that may tip over other people's buckets without even realizing it. I know many think of some things as a joke, but I think it's healthy to think about things a little more seriously before potentially hurting someone, which could lead to them being less productive and putting a downer on their day. Over the weekend, I've been starting to think about how Tom said to lead by example and how that will create a butterfly effect onto others by possibly inspiring them to become more positive and uplifting.

Overall, my most favorite thing that Mr. Rath talked about was focusing on someone's natural talent and following that path because that is what I've based my life plan on. It was nice and reassuring and hopeful to hear another person say to lead with what you're naturally good at. I've always questioned myself with what if I can't make a successful career out of my dreams? I have no regrets and I don't look back but it was a great push of motivation to hear this come from someone else. I always look for things to keep me moving along and to keep me pushing forward with what I love.

It was interesting to hear Mr. Rath talk about how giving someone a gift, even if it is expected can still not be as good as any surprise. Many gifts are expected and foreseen but a surprise couldn't be seen coming and can really brighten someones day and help fill their bucket, even if it's a little thing like a hug. I've never put a connection between surprises and expectations before. Food for thought!

I know Tom's whole presentation was about a business oriented environment but I like to think of all of his ideas as life lessons and something you could take into any situation. I've also been thinking a great deal about when you give someone a compliment, to make sure that you are very specific because that shows you really paid attention to something that someone has done and given it thought, rather than just recognized it.

Hopefully, I am a bucket filler. The only thing I worry about is that I unknowingly say or do things to tip people's buckets. I feel like I go out of my way, rarely, to fill people's buckets, but from now on I'm going to give people more random compliments and do random things to help people out and make their day a little better. You never know if someone is having the worst day of their life and what if you doing something random and sweet for them could change something from horrible to  even a little better?

I loved every minute of Tom Rath's speech and I'm so glad that I was able to stumble upon it. I believe it's very important to take these lessons to heart and I'm definitely going to carry them with me throughout the years.

2nd Semester SMART Goals

GOAL 1:
- continue and finish writing a solo acoustic EP of at least 5 songs, probably more. I'm really excited to do this! It's something I've been wanting to do for quite a while.

GOAL 2:
- Release Minute 2 Midnight EP. I've been working on this project for a while and for now, we're just kind of being held up on the mixing process. Unfortunately, the guys that is mixing our songs is very busy and can't spend too much time on our EP because he is doing it for free. I can't wait to have this out, it's been a while since we've released new music

GOAL 3:
- Become more active and stay fit. I want to continue working out and staying fit and especially improve on my cardio. Staying healthy is a big part of my life and I want to make sure that it stays that way.

GOAL 4:
- Find internship at studio (either Hopeless Records or Pixar or another.) I want to upgrade my internship to a better known studio and work with artists more than just sit around and watch stuff happen. I'm going to do a lot of research on which studio I think is best for me and which one will get me a lot of connections and contacts.

Adele-io

I read Adele - The Biography by Marc Shapiro. As you can see, I was very interested by the upbringings of Adele's success and background story.

The book gave a lot of detailed information about Adele and her early beginnings as a british musician. Many of her songs come from a heart-broken relationship or from the abandonment of her father in her childhood. Her father is quite frequently brought up during interviews and she shows a lot of hate and sadness towards this subject. In one interview, she even said she would spit on him if she ever saw him again. Reading about this really made me thankful to have both of my parents around to support me. Luckily, they are both always there for me and fully supportive and enthused by what I do and it really helps me. Anyway, the book also explained how Adele first got a bit of fame when her friends posted her music on Myspace in 2006. Weeks after this, she received a record contract from XL Recordings. She very quickly began to gain recognition from the British public and won "Critcs" Choice in the Brit Awards. Later on in early 2008, she released a fairly popular single called "Chasing Pavements" that even gained popularity in the US. She then signed a record contract with Columbia records and later released her very popular and award winning album "21" in early 2011. Although Adele became famous much faster than many artists, she still worked to her full ability and went through the same defeat and turmoil to reach the success that she know has.

My favorite part about the book was reading about how Adele faced a lot of trouble and downfalls in her upbringing but did everything she could to overcome this because she was doing what she loved for the fans that she loved. It honestly inspired me to keep pushing for what I want and for what I love. Every once in a while, I need a reminder like that and it was very refreshing!

This book relates to my iQuest project because Adele is a world-known recording and performing musical artist and she will go down in the history books of music. Getting to Adele's level of fame and ability is something I could only dream of, but I'll do anything I can to get there.

I would definitely recommend this book to others because many people know of Adele and her music but not much about her background and where she has come from and I think its incredible.

Rollin' In The Deep

Adele by Marc Shapiro
After reading the first two chapters of my book, I've learned a lot more about Adele's past than I've expected. I plan to read roughly 60 pages a week and the book is 220 pages long so I should get this done very quickly. I'm excited to fully learn about Adele's upbringing and how she got famous because each story is unique and I don't know anything about her's.

Chapter 1:
- I first learned about Adele's father abandoning their family at a very young age
- I read about all of the awards she's won, the introduction was an overview of her fame
- This chapter also talked about Adele's background of where she grew up but very briefly

Chapter 2:
- The author talked about how Adele's ground breaking album "21" was basically all about a bad breakup that she had with her last boyfriend
- The author went more in depth on how Adele's parents met in a bar and their story of how they "got intimate almost immediately."
- This part talked about why Adele's father left and very briefly went into it but it randomly cut off at the chapter, so I hope I find out more about that. It was also mentioned that Adele almost refuses to talk about her father but she says that she would spit on him if she had the chance. She doesn't even try to hid her hatred.

So far, I really like the book. I think its very interesting and its written clearly to tell the story of Adele's upbringing as she will go down into history. I think her family troubles with her father are very intersting and I'm intrigued to learn more.

My Goals Sure Are Smart

I have two conflicting goals. I like to think of it as a competition. My goals are fighting each other to decide my future. One way turns out with me ends with me being a producer at 21 and the other as a famous musician at 19-20 years old, somewhere around there.
GOAL #1 - To become a famous musician before college

1. This goal is short, sweet, and to the point. There's a whole load of stuff that it takes to get there but that would take an essay to explain.
2. This goal is measurable. I want to become famous before college for a few reasons. First off, in my genre of music, the younger the better for the industry. It's more "impressive" to record executives. Another reason is I don't want to be in the middle of getting my degree and having something happen where I'd have to choose one over the other.
3. I honestly believe that my goal is attainable. I can't force anything to happen, unfortunately no one can but I've been working so hard lately, so why not now?
4. This goal is definitely realistic, it's just what I was put on this earth to do.
5. I don't have a specific date because I can't but in a perfect world, I would like this to happen before college.

Goal #2 - To become a professional producer/songwriter/engineer

1. I know exactly what I need to do to get to this goal and how to do it. The way that I'm going for is to get my bachelor's degree in Sound Arts at Ex'pression college and continue internships and well known studios to create contacts and connections. That way, when I graduate college, I can get hired immediately in a studio and work my way up.
2. This goal is easily measurable because it involves school, which is built off a schedule and that is pretty much set up for me as it stands.
3. I have nothing getting in my way to make this goal happen. I've been writing since I was a little kid and engineering/producing music since around 5th grade.
4. This goal is also realistic, all I have to do is work my way up and keep connections.
5. I know that I can get my degree by the time I'm 21. With no summer breaks, I can do this in two and a half years.