Ok, whats with the only writing once a month?

I find it a little weird that the past two times I wanted to post a new blog was on the exact same day, a month later. A month is to dang long to even keep track of everything. Ok then, to continue where I left off. Brad and Eileen's wedding was amazing. I had a blast with everyone. I then went to the Florida vs. South Carolina game in S.C. with some other extended family. ( I have a biiiiig extended family) That was awesome. Thanksgiving was really delicious and it was good to see the rest of the family since I last saw them in July. I had to catch everyone up with whats been going on, how I came to leave Invisible Children, and what the heck I plan to do with my life.

That brings me up to here. Well sort of, I kinda skipped around a bit. I have been working with my Dad for the past few days and I really like it. Well more that I'm with him than the working part of it, but hey, can't win them all. As for some new plans, I am looking to get back to school in the spring, going to community college. And I have a new idea that has been brewing for a while. I would like to thank my mother for bouncing ideas back and forth with me about a week ago. I am not going into to much detail, but I think this is big. This idea is another way for me to "give" to others. P.S. that might have been a clue. If anyone reads these still.

Hello Hurricane

So it has been a long time running since my last post. A month. It has really been that long, and I gotta say, not much has changed. Living with my aunt and uncle and cousin in Texas was a lot of fun. It was great seeing them everyday and hanging out with Stephen a lot. We did have fun playing some video games and chatting and my aunt and I experimented with some awesome desserts. Fried Peaches and Cream. YUM!!!!

Anyway, life in Jersey has been treating me well....I missed Wawa like no other. I have been working on a few new songs with James and today we made some really good progress. What started out as a one verse song, became a little more than that by the end of our hour or so writing session. I am really excited to continue writing new songs because a little while back when I was still in Texas, this guy from a production company wanted to get me signed on to their website so I could be set up to do shows in and around Philly. What better motivation to write some more? Perhaps I will post soon with some lyrics or something. Maybe a link to the myspace so you can check out the demos or something www.myspace.com/theautomaticimpulse

I will keep you all updated on the writing process and what exactly I will be doing come the next few months. Good things are coming. Good things. I will leave you with a lyric from the new Switchfoot album, Hello Hurricane called Free.

I've got my back against the wall
I can still hear the blue sky call
The chains that hold me back inside
All the prisons of my mind
Yeah

Free
Come set me free
Down on my knees
I still believe you can save me from me
Come set me free
I still believe
That inside this shell there's a prison cell

(Enter Center Stage.)

(DATED and written 10/9/09) Today was my last day as an Invisible Children Roadie. As I type, I am on a bus headed to Hurst, Texas to live with my family there. After a mental, physical, and emotional struggle with being on the road, living with three strangers, being sick, and all of the other things, I decided it would be best to stop. This is something that may come off as something completely out of left field, but I really have been thinking and praying about everything for a while now. I can honestly say that I have never in my life been so certain of a decision until now. Usually it takes a long, long while for me to figure out that whatever road I chose was right for me. I strongly feel that God has some really awesome things coming for me in the near future and that I needed to head home to accomplish these things. I want to go back to school,(yes I did say that) I want to help out locally in changing people, and become a History Teacher/Counselor/Youth Leader. (I haven't quite gotten that down yet.) But, I can be certain that I was honestly meant to become a roadie, meet amazing people whom I will miss, and work and be a voice for the voiceless.

Now some people may think, that seems a little selfish not to finish what you came to do. Or fulfill your commitment to the children in northern Uganda. I would like to clarify that I will continue to do just that. I want to inspire people and open their eyes to something they might not have seen or heard of. I will continue to talk about Invisible Children, and try to do my part in ending the longest running war in East Africa. I encourage everyone to go to www.wewantobama.com and sign the Citizen's Arrest Warrant. I will do my best to find places to show IC documentaries or somehow help people get involved. I still truly believe that this war can end. And I want to see this war end. I would love to talk about what Invisible Children is doing to put a stop to this. I just want to let you all know that being on the road for me, just was not working out. I grew so much from this experience and will be able to use what I learned for the rest of my life.

As I head in a different direction, I want to also let you know that I have a few things planned for the upcoming months. Music, Rock 4 Relief, possibly Young Life, Youth Group, and a few other things. I will keep you all posted. I will miss my Roadie Family a lot, and I hope they are understanding of my decision to leave. Any Roadies out there, I would love to meet up when this is all done and talk and hang out and I hope you feel the same. To my friends and family back home and around the East Coast I miss you, love you, I will talk to you all very soon(and see most for UB and Leenie's wedding).

Until Next Time, Peace and Love.

(Exit Stage Left)

This Is Your Life

Gotta say, I love that song by Switchfoot. I have been listening to a lot of Switchfoot recently. I love their new song "Mess of Me" , its really good. Anyway, its been a while since I posted last, and I just wanted to update everyone on whats been going on. Well I have been sick. The rumors are true. Tonsillitis and an upper respiratory infection finally got me in. To be honest I have been a little sick since about a week before Tour launched. So basically 5 weeks. So I got dropped off in Hurst to stay with the family for a few days and go to a doctor. 5 days and 5 different meds later, I am still a little sick, but getting better. I really enjoyed staying with them and seeing Sarah, the girls, Ian, and hanging with Stephen. We went and saw Zombieland, which was really funny. Also I got to play a little video games while hanging with Stephen. Batman: Arkham Asylum is a really fun game to play. Anyways, I am now back with the team in Garland, and its back to work in the A.M.

We head to Waco Friday and then Houston on Monday, MY region! I hope it doesn't get to much crazier than it has been in the past week or two. More to come.

Peace.

A Weekend of Fun and Family

Friday night we were lucky enough to be able to stop at the Heaton's in Hurst. (I like the sound of that) Saturday we had the day off and so the team and I went to Incredible Pizza, to eat, play games, win mad tickets, and not think of IC work and Salesforce. It was a great time. Then we went and saw Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, and I highly enjoyed it. Sunday we had steak and potatoes as an early dinner with the family, and we were off to First United Methodist Church of Mansfield. It was a great crowd and the youth pastor is really awesome....(Brad, you got him beat though) We did pretty well on merch sales, we reached our main goals for the night, and we headed to Melissa's cousin Todd's house. He has a lot of really awesome pictures and paintings around his house.

As for today, we went to Cowboy Chow for some lunch. IT WAS DELICIOUS! I had red pepper brisket tacos and some rice. YUM! Following lunch we went to Good Records, to buy some music and whatnot. I bought a $5 book called Manifesto: An Anonymous Novel, and I have no idea what it is about. It starts right away and I think its just a rant of some guy's mind. Who knows, it may turn out to be really good. Either way it was 5 bucks so no complaints if it stinks.

I have no idea what is on the agenda for the night because our screening got canceled. I think we are staying with our Regional Manager, Lauren at her house tonight.

Garland, Texas

Team Texas is in.......well, Texas. We have been here for about a week and we have been so busy. We have been to a lot of different places all throughout West Texas. Currently, I am in Garland, which is outside of Dallas. It is very hard to not shout out "COWGIRLS ARE TERRIBLE!" at everything Dallas football I see. I did however see the Eagles game on Sunday. Even though they lost, it was the first time I watched T.V. in over a month.

I am really starting to miss a lot of people back home now though. Not to mention my Roadie family that is scattered to ALL, yes all, 50 states and Canada. In case I didn't mention it before, this is Invisible Children's biggest tour to date. Roadies are coming to every single state Hawaii and Alaska as well as parts of Canada. It is really crazy that we are really going that far.

Speaking of which, our number one goal for this tour is getting President Obama to sign the bill in Congress right now, "The LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009". As well as make a public statement by Christmas about how we as a country can do something about ending the longest war in Africa.

To sign the Citizen's Arrest Warrant, go here: www.wewantobama.com

We are going to be hand delivering these to the Obama Administration December 15th. I really believe that we can end this war by Christmas, or have it be almost over at least. Just last week Joesph Kony's head security adviser was captured. He is being held for questioning and hopefully he will spill the beans and the deets (details) so to speak about where the heck Kony is hiding.

New mexico. First of anything here, getting locked out of the van with the keys in the egnition, running. What a fun birthday adventure. Took us a few minutes to figure our options. 1, unpack the back of the van because the window was open and we could get in that way. 2, try another window, or 3. Call AAA. We went with 2. Melissa somehow opened the passenger window and i used a stick to unlock the doors. Key to those situations, laugh and make it fun. Its not that bad. Just another pothole in life's road.