School Daze

It's funny...no matter how many villains a super hero has, there is always the ONE villain that everyone associates with that hero. Batman has the Joker, Superman has Lex Luthor, the X-Men have Magneto, the Fantastic Four have Dr. Doom...and Drummerman has Higher Ed.

If I'm being completely honest, I'm not entirely sure why I've had such a problem with school. I'm a smart guy. Me talk pretty. Me right good. But, all joking aside, I have never been able to stay in school and get a degree. Part of it is the music in my life...the truth is, it's a harsh master. Hours behind text books studying communication, math, or even things I really enjoy, like philosophy, are still hours spent away from working on music, furthering my career, etc. There is a stereotypical scene we see in a lot of movies, where a student is hiding a dirty magazine between the pages of his text book, pretending to study his subjects while actually studying "Female Anatomy (and Airbrushing) 101." I honestly used to do that exact same thing...only instead of pornography, I had books on drum technique, or the autobiography of Miles Davis hidden in there.

It's not that I'm incapable of success in school. When I have actually gone to my classes, I have done quite well. I quite easily made the Dean's List at my last school...until a semester later, when I just stopped going. Just when it seemed that I had defeated Higher Ed for ever, he broke out of prison, snuck up on me, and knocked me out...so the war rages on still.

The difference between me and the heroes I mentioned above, however, is that I'm not fearless. No matter how many times the Joker rises, Batman chases him down without fear or hesitation. Fear is a funny thing. The number one fear in the United States is public speaking. Death is number two. I don't fear death, and have always been a fantastic public speaker. Stage fright is another common thing in our country, but I've played in front of over 70,000 people at once and felt no fear. All of these commonly feared things have no effect on me, but the idea of going back to school, something that millions of people do, has me so nervous I shake when I think about it. It's now or never, though, so game on! It's time to kick Higher Ed's butt one last time, and actually see the battle through to the end. It's time to earn my degree and start opening up the doors that a degree can open...doors that remain closed to me despite the fact that I am often smarter and better suited for what lies beyond them than many people that reside there already. I can't tell you how many times I have worked at jobs and helped supervisors with things that they don't understand...computer programs, financial analysis, even human resource issues...and I've gotten them through these issues, despite making a tenth of what they earn, and technically not even being qualified to do their jobs because I don't have a stupid piece of paper that they have. So I'm swallowing my fear down and heading back to school.

I only wish I was as secure in the outcome of this battle as Superman is when he battles Lex Luthor.

First Post

So, after months and months of thinking that I should start a blog, I have decided to start one. I mean, a person can only watch so many episodes of "Who's The Boss" in a row without deciding that they should do something else...and this seemed do-able. The truth is that I miss writing, and this should give me a chance to do more of that. Writing, like everything else that isn't percussive, has taken a backseat in my life as I strive to keep growing my professional music career. I think that it'll be especially good for me to have another creative outlet, now that I've professionalized my first one.

I've been thinking a lot about inspiration and passion today...what inspires us to do good, and what inspires us to waste time. How inspiration can be such a life-changing thing...and how it can also be fleeting. It's amazing to me that one conversation with my father and one video (that of the Beatles on Ed Sullivan for the first time) inspired me to start drumming, something that has shaped the rest of my life. On the other hand, how many times have I become so passionate about something for a fleeting moment, only to see it fade quickly? Most people currently posting on Facebook about the World Cup won't watch another soccer game for years after it's over...but will question your patriotism if you say you don't care about it. A few months ago, "Team Coco" was everywhere. Now, most have returned to Letterman or started watching Leno. Why is it that some things stick with us so passionately, and other things...even those things that seem so important in the moment...fade to the point where you have to be reminded what it was you were fighting for? Is it something in our internal make-up? Are there certian issues that matter to us chemically, biologically? Does God create us to each have certain passions in our lives, but many of us get so distracted that we never find them? The truth is, I rarely meet people who are as passionate about anything as I am about drumming. There are many people who don't do ANYTHING...they work, go home, watch tv, sleep, rinse, and repeat. Are they meant to be that way, or did they just miss their true calling, their true passion, the thing that inspires them? Is that person who says "Nothing" every single time you ask them what they are up to actually boring, or are they an amazing painter...who has never picked up a brush? Do people know how full their lives can be...or am I missing the fact that those lives are full in a different way, just because I have such an obvious passion. Maybe I'm the one who is missing something, because I'm not content with that kind of simple lifestyle. Who am I to judge?

What inspires you? What are you passionate about?