Boy do I feel like a responsible adult today. I filed my taxes and then voted for Ron Paul (because I hate taxes). In between, I had a PB & J sammich. Triple decker. It was delicious.

Mailed my LA Music Academy app yesterday. In case they let me in, I've been thinking ahead to their scholarship application. (I'll need every penny I can get. Unemployed, you know.) Along with some essays, I am required to perform 3 songs in different genres and stick 'em on YouTube. I figure blues, jazz, and rock will do the trick.

Picking a blues tune is easy; I'll just play anything from SRV that I've been working on for the last 6 months. I'm leaning toward "Texas Flood." I could probably get my jazz chops in shape with a number of different standards, but I'd like to continue working on "Billie's Bounce." Emulating Charlie Parker on guitar is a rewarding challenge, and would sound impressive if I could get his entire solo down.

I had trouble finding a rock song. Most can be repetitive when you strip everything but the guitar. I checked my Dream Theater collection in case there was anything easy enough for me to play, and I think I found one. At 3:38, "Overture 1928" is one of their shortest songs, and, being an overture for Scenes from a Memory, runs through a number of themes from the album without repeating. There are a few fast licks beyond my abilities for now (16th note triplets at 112bpm), but I think I can get there with a few months of practice. I've never dedicated much time just to increasing my speed, so it will be interesting to see what I can do.