5 things for halloween week

FYI - this post has nothing to do with halloween at all, but I WILL be carving a pumpkin and roasting pumpkin seeds with my bride tomorrow!

1. I don't know what exactly to say that I'm thankful for but - I just played with the Jacksonville Symphony - and it is the best orchestra I have ever played with. It was exhilarating!! Sure we weren't playing huge staples of the literature (it was a halloween concert complete with Harry Potter and Hall of the Mountain King) but it was AWESOME. To get technical - it was amazing to be a part of an orchestra where I didn't have to wonder if the strings were going to be able to play the music, the woodwinds would be in tune, the principal trumpet would actually lead the brass section, and whether or not the horns would actually be able to hit the high notes (much less in tune). It was truly humbling and enlightening experience. So....I'm thankful for it.

2. Passion - without it, #1 wouldn't have been possible. Musicians do a unique thing, and when there is passion behind it, it's just that much better.

3. Dave - my friend dave myslinski came down - he's a suit who works for ALEC as the director of their educational task force. We were school mates together at rutgers and he had a conference down here, and just decided to make it a week-long vacation to visit me and keep me company while Ashley is in Dallas. He's a fun pal and we went gun shopping. He's also my go to guy for when I don't understand what's going on in politics, or I need to know the dirt on a particular candidate.

4. US Navy - as far as I know (and I may have already been thankful for this via blog), I make more than probably 80% of my colleagues in the professional trombonist realm (and probably more than most of my colleagues my age).

5. The sermon that I heard on tithing - 10% of the first fruits. God says test Him - so we are doing it. My car sold after this decision and our first action regarding it - allowing me to fix the tinting on the mustang, and do other maintenance things needed and pay off another credit card.

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow....

no matter how big or small.

long time - no 5 things

I know that I'm WAY over due. like possibly a month. My apologies so here to make up for it...I'll do 6 things!

1. I may have already been bloggoly thankful for him - but Brian Neal - THIS time for keeping me accountable to keep up with this so that I can continue to look for contentment instead of something that darkens life. And for playing halo whenever I want to :-)

2. For beautiful music. My audition circuit buddy Sarah Paradis who is the new trombone teacher at Bemidji State University in Minnesota wrote a blog about why she does what she does, pointing out several instances that give her inspiration, motivation and reinforces the passion for what we do. I decided to open my ears to find something that would do the same thing to remind myself of my love for playing music. Go figure...it starts with a quartet arrangement of a showtune :-) One Hand, One Heart - from West Side Story

3. Dave Ramsey - for the inspiration to get rid of debt and showing the evidence of the benefits of it. And for telling morons that they're morons when they need to be told that.

4. Hope - nothing better to lift your spirits than that. In the smallest things. And in the biggest things. You can always have it if you choose.

5. Matthew 6:34 - "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Kenji reminded me of this the other day by laughing about the fact that he's never stressed out because he doesn't think about tomorrow (except which uniform to show up in). It's a beautiful concept. Thanks Jesus! :-)

6. Per Diem for out of town trips - which means I'm ordering the steak!

5 things

1. Twitter - cause i don't feel the need to accept everyone as my friend...and i can be more honest there. and then go and get a good laugh by re-reading old tweets.

2. New Jersey - never did I think that I would be thankful for my time there. But lets be honest - I made great friends there, played great music with even greater musicians there, I got a terminal degree there (well...almost). And I got fat on AWESOME food :-)

3. CFL - aka Command Fitness Leader (not Canadian Football League...sorry Ed). The chief who is charge of this is very down to earth, knowledgable, and is probably 1% body fat, IF that. I can ask him anything about food, diet, exercise and he is always willing to help.

4. Chris Sanchez - My tough, cuban-italian, sometimes vulgar, foul-mouthed friend who has a friggin' heart of gold. Just don't tell anyone.

5. RTC - cause now I have a reference point to look back at when I think things aren't going well...and I can say that I've definitely had it worse.

this weeks 5 things i'm thankful for

1. Dillon Music - The whole team at Dillon music is AWESOME. Some very good friends and musicians there help to keep me up with the latest and greatest gear, and advice on all sorts of things related to music. My time there was invaluable and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

2. Anthony Wise - New Lesson teacher. Young, hip, killer player, and it's looking like he's going to be good for me as far as tromboning goes.

3. Iphone - Call me shallow if you want, the iphone is a phenomenal tool that helps me keep in touch with friends, schedule work, remind me of things I would most certainly forget otherwise, and it keeps me entertained with things like Coindozer and I do not apologize for that.

3b. Facetime - AWESOME way to keep in touch with friends/family and see their bright and shining faces!

4. I'm thankful for my desire to workout more and get rid of some of this tummy tum tum.

5. I'm thankful to have an aggressive horn player as part of my quintet. They are usually not. Or if not that, it's always something.

So many things I want to type now!! But I must go. It's time to learn.

5 things

In a recent study (that my mom ran across) - some researchers found that those who wrote down 5 things they were thankful for each week during a 12 week survey, were more successful at achieving their goals that they had set at the beginning of the study, and were also healthier during the course of it. So here goes:

1. I'm thankful for my wife. She takes care of me, organizes my mess that I manage to create for us, and does all this while staying fit, and working on her own fashion line.

2. I'm thankful for the Navy band. I have a job where I play trombone, and that's about it. I have better benefits than any civillian performing job out there, and my salary is greater than most of them also.

3. I'm thankful for realizing that finance was not the field I wanted to go into, and heading back into music. I think i'm much happier because of it.

4. I'm thankful for the finance job I DID have when we first got married, cause it gave me a good wake up call to get my finances in order.

5. I'm thankful for XBOX live. Laugh all you want, this helps keep me connected and enjoy a past time with a few of my very best friends.

Till next time!

I found where cuts should be made....

Salary of retired US Presidents .............$180,000 FOR LIFE
Salary of House/Senate ........................$174,0​00 FOR LIFE
Salary of Speaker of the House ............$223,500 FOR LIFE
Salary of Majority/Minority Leaders ......$193,400 FOR LIFE
Average Salary of a teacher ..................$40,065
Average Salary of Soldier DEPLOYED IN AFGHANISTAN $38,000
I think we found where the cuts should be made!

Now you may say - that's not comparing apples to apples, that's not a soldiers/sailors retirement. Yeah - it'll never be that much until they reach flag officer level...and that takes more than 4 years. try at least 5 times as long.

And also - their job is no more serious or important to our national safety/advancement/integrity. It's BULL.

And they will not point the finger at themselves first. They point it at military retirement. At medicaid. At welfare. At hard-working, high-earning Americans.

dave

Partying with dave this weekend. We make it a semi-tradition to have a cigar every now and then when he's around. So I will be doing that. Don't worry people - i'm not a big time smoker. In fact...i'll probably be looking for something like a vanilla flavored cigar. I'm a man. wanna fight about it?

Got assigned to Brass Quintet for the navy band here (which I may have mentioned in the last post) I'm REALLY excited. I feel back at home, and also a need to practice now. So that should make the monotony easier! I am loving this job. LOVING it.

Also - iPhone 4 + facetime = FANTASMIC.

Post bootcamp

It's been a long time since the last blog. SO much has changed. First of all i'm in the Navy now. Good ol MUSN (Musician Seaman) Garcia is my official title and I literally play "full time" for a living. Let us look back....

Bootcamp was miserable. My friend Jim Watkins can attest to this - Watkins was my protege at Rutgers, but went into the navy to play bone 1 month before I did. He said the day we saw each other in the galley was the worst he'd ever seen me. I will not disagree with him. I was absolutely disheveled emotionally and physically. My head was shaved (full heads of hair help hide fat faces apparently), my clothes were too big, and I looked like a scared 18 year-old. Which wasn't that far off...just a decade. Long story short - I DID get "beat" (a navy term for intense working out in full camos and boots....pain.) for the stupid antics of dumb teenagers just like I was afraid I would. I hated life for about 4 weeks straight. I know...it sounds dramatic. I'm dramatic. Whatever. The only thing 2 things that I look forward to, was getting in my rack at night...and the letters from Ashley, family and friends. But I made it through. Passed the PT tests, lost 22 lbs overall, and graduated. It sucked.

I almost got set back in training because of a misunderstanding AFTER I had graduated bootcamp (but that's another story) - but I didn't, and on december 1st, I flew to Norfolk, Virginia and reported to the Musician A-school at Little Creek Joint Expeditionary Base in Virginia Beach. Ash moved down from jersey the following week and we got an awesome 3 bdr/1 bath house right up the road from the base.

A-school was interesting. It was easy. Time consuming - and sometimes stupid. But easy and beneficial to my military knowledge and to my chops. I got just enough phone signal in the practice rooms to stream netflix, so I would watch "Scrubs" while I was doing long tones or whatever monotonous exercises I could think of that were good for the chops, but boring to the mind. Made some GOOD friends that I miss very much already. And learned alot from my teacher - Ssgt. Ebo (USMC). He's a KILLIN Jazz player that is rivaled by few as far as I'm concerned. I also got to witness the "hurry up and wait" that people talk about the military being about. I can do that. That's what smartphones are for. I got the 4th highest overall score in the past decade from the school - which I do attribute to my good friend Diane informing that I should take the academic portion seriously (thanks Diane!) and because of that I'll be getting an advanced promotion to E4 in mid-August.

I received emailed word that I would get stationed in Jacksonville, which was our first choice for duty station. Imagine my surprise when I received orders stating I was going to Rhode Island. Well, this was apparently a surprise to the masterchief who writes our orders...and he informed me that that was a mistake and I was definitely going to Jacksonville. And that is where I write to you from now.

We have a condo on the river, with a porch that overlooks the complex's pool. I'm 5 minutes from base, driving against traffic. I was assigned as the trombonist for the brass quintet. My wife is happy, my dogs are happy. I paid off my car and we are aggressively paying off debt, which in turn makes my bank account happy. We are close to finding a church home. And I was home by 12:30 today. God is good. Look how far He's brought me.