partay im back

i have returned. and its friday just like i called it. who's amazing? bassically yeah.

the retreat was cool. in the last six months my walk has exploded and it was fortified a lot in this past week. we had fun too. our church definitely took on the entire camp(21 other churches) last night. they attacked our cabin with water balloons at 3 am, but we were so ready and kicked their butts. like seriously, they ran away so fast. it was hilarious. and then we chased them in raiding parties for the next hour and a half and rocked people. i love my church. God moved in peoples' lives too. a lot. connor will say so too. wont you buddy? haha. you rock friend. thats all for now. i need to shower and shave because i look like a caveman right now. my hair is hilarious. or maybe i should show up at the performance tonight with the caveman look. would that go over well?

Farewell

I'm off. farewell friends. except for those of you who are going with me; I guess i'll be in contact with you. for those of you not going, you are all slackers. how terrible. i guess except for connor. he's in california, but he's joining me there when he gets back. hooray. and except for emily and peche. good luck with the next week by the way. you will both do great. and i guess except for austin too. he's gone backpacking. so except for these people, everyone else who is not going is a terrible slacker.

fear not, i will return. on friday.

no one will care about any of this stuff

so i was just practicing for church tomorrow. there was one song i had trouble following the sheet music on; but i just memorized it all of a sudden. so that was cool. i wont need hard-to-follow music anymore. sweet. that was a nice surprise. but the reason i was practicing was because i was worried that i wasnt going to sound good. God then gently reminded me that if I meant to honor Him, then the sound didnt matter. what matters is the heart and the attitude. so even if i go and bomb tomorrow, its ok as long as God is honored by my nosedive. hooray. its funny how you can forget simple concepts like that. I feel better. but im not planning on bombing if i can help it. haha.

someone soaped my car. and drew man panties on it. gross. how awful. i am angry. well not really because it was hilarious and the stuff will come off with a hose, but who does that? it was someone i know too. i will hunt them down........ and soap their car. see how they like it.

I made money today by helping people move. I needed it so bad. i worked my tail off in 100+ degree weather. sweat was dripping off my face and hair. literally. it was kind of cool. i felt manly. but now i need a shower. haha. i will sleep well tonight.

and not that anyone cares, but im waking up at 5 flipping 30 in the morning again. i really think i am insane. who wakes up that early? i guess people like me. pluh. now im depressed. im going to bed. good night.

what is this?

i found a picture of me on austin's blog and i have no memory of it being taken. it was less than a week ago too. maybe i have a secret life. i have a hidden identity that sneaks out at night like Mr. Hyde. or perhaps its late and im stoned from lack of sleep. either way...

Im playing in big church again this Sunday. I hope that goes well. We have a rehearsal tomorrow night. I hope that goes well. speaking of basses, i saw this bass guitar like six months ago and im still in love with it. its absolutley gorgeous. it doesnt sound as nice as amber though. thats because amber's perfect. im linking lots of stuff because i can. sorry that none of these links really matter at all. i just think they're cool. if there is something you would like me to link, just let me know.

random thought sequence

So this is a hat i want. these things are so pimp. its not even funny. i will wear it to the mall if can get one. Tell me what you guys think. If you tell me it looks dorky, i'll wear it anyway. But seriously, people have no style anymore. Im going to change that. haha

This morning I played in big church. The first service was normal for a first service. no one was really awake. in the second service, the drummer supposedly set the wrong tempo, so the piano went literally twice as fast as the drums. Now, the piano is the lead instrument, but playing against the tempo of the drums is next to impossible. not impossible, but very hard. i dont like doing it even when i have to. so the me and the two guitar players had no clue who to follow. so the three of us stopped. haha. yeah, we stopped playing until the drums and the piano had the same tempo. so that was a disaster. but the third service rocked like none other. I havent felt like that for a long time. For a few seconds, I felt 100% fulfilled. I felt like God was standing right there smiling at me. Like He was telling me, "You give me great pleasure. I am pleased with you." holy cow. that was totally awesome.

I had band practice today. We're going to do covers of "brown-eyed girl" and "dear prudence." if you have never heard "dear prudence," you're missing out. that song is absolutely gorgeous. mmmmmmm. yummy. listen to it. its by the beatles. from the White Album. Im doing backup vocals on it. i can already sing my part. i guess i can sing afterall.

So life has been a downer for me lately. I am never sad, but i have been recently. its because I've been slacking in my pursuit of God. I love how I have to pursue God wholeheartedly. I am lucky to be in that position. I am unable to seperate myself from God. I am miserable without Him. it rocks like none other. so if you guys would pray for me, i'd appreciate it. thanks friends.

my dog had surgery on his neck. they removed a tumor. you can see the hole and everything. maybe i'll post a picture of it. thats all folks.

Help

So yesterday, the music director for church told everyone that people had been complaining about they way we dress while leading music. I dont usually do the whole dressing up thing. You might remember that I showed up to an awards ceremony in cargo shorts, a tye-dye shirt, and birkenstocks. With messed up hair. So I decided that the complaints definitely applied to me. This is a picture of my planned attire for Sunday. I need opinions. What do you guys think? Be honest. I like it personally. But I figure I am not a fashion guru.

I can sing!

so I had band practice today, and i was talking to chris (lead guitarist, lead vocals). i was like, "it would be cool to have some backup vocals on some songs." chris was like," i was thinking that too. i was wanting you to do some backup vocals actually. then when you're ready, we're going to write a song with just you as lead vocals." Woot. yeayah. I guess there is some musical talent in my vocal chords yet. well there must be if im going to be singing now. i am officially "Nathan Hooks(bassist, vocals)." this rocks. i get a mike and everything. I CAN SING. what now? i will be standing in the front singing with Chris. so i'm done now. i was just really happy because my musical talent is expanding even faster than before. i'll just have to practice singing and playing at the same time. and then i'll have my own song to sing soon. all by myself. im a big kid now. hooray.
oh yeah, im playing this sunday in big church again. all three services. so if anyone wants to pray for me, i have a feeling im going to be needing it... so thanks dudes. i appreciate it.

a link on my blog. cool.

congratualtions laura, you got my first link ever. so Laura said she was stronger than me. so we arm wrestled. i wont say who won, but from the picture, guess who won. seriously, post a comment and guess. if you already know who won, dont be stupid and ruin it. or else i'll ruin you. haha.

story time

me and connor and alex and rocky were at drew's house the other night. jake came later too. we decided to have fun with leftover fireworks. six pyros with extra fireworks is a bad thing. we emptied all the crackle bombs and put the gun powder into a bag with a fuse. so we lit the fuse and threw the bag and it exploded right over the middle of the cul-de-sac. sweet. then we had fun with the little spinners. if you hold them until they go off, and then throw them really high, they make funny patterns in the air. i think a couple landed in neighboring lawns. two hit another house. one of those had landed on the roof. lets see... what else? i was riding a fun scooter thing and they decided to see what would happen if they tossed crackle bombs under me. that was exciting and loud. then we proceeded to throw the black cat poppers at each other. and we also threw lit matches at each other. when jake came, he had a lead pipe filled with gun powder from illegal black cats. it had taken him half an hour to make, if that gives any clue how loud this thing was. we set it off and it sounded just like a bomb. it was cool. and then there were some unlit pieces of crackle bombs that were ignited from our explosion. so that added to the effect. when i threw a spinner in the air, it actually right under alex's car. he didn't like that. then later me and connor and jake went to connors golf course and lit off something loud next to jake jabs' (the american furniture wearhouse guy) house. so in conclusion, i have decided that all boys are destructive and adventerous in nature. and when you get them in groups without girls to stop them, they find fun toys (fireworks) and do stuff that girls would kill them for. which probably makes it all the more fun.

sorry dudes

So my last post didnt really count because it didnt talk about anything. that means i haven't posted something worthwhile in a really long time. sorry dudes. nothing has happened that other people want to read about. Lets see, last night was cool because i went to a concert with Peche. we started talking and when two hours had gone by we realized we had been gone for a little while. Sorry Mrs. Toney. This morning was cool because i got to hear Dr. austiagon talk. You did really good friend. most excellent. and i got to play bass in the three morning services. that was sweet except for waking up at 5:30. despite the fact that I got 20 minutes of total practice time before I had to play, I had so much fun. i love playing on that sound system. it kicks. for reals. one bad thing was that my A string decided to go flat in the middle of a song in the third service. i guess it slipped where it was attached to the knob. so all of a sudden i was playing the right/wrong note. it was strange because only two of us heard the difference. to me it sounded terrible, but i guess it wasn't that noticeable. i couldnt just tune myself in the middle of the song so i finished the song without an A string. but it was ok afterwards because i sharpened it in between songs. so thats my cool A string story. at least it wasn't my G string that came loose. haha. i made a funny. something i have noticed is how different worship is when you're actually playing the music and not just singing along. it sounds obvious, but the whole chemistry is just different. because when you're on the stage it feels like you're entertaining the congregation. but really you're worshipping just like they are, as long as you have the right mindset. i have learned that attitude is key when you're helping lead worship. so thats that. sorry my updated post is boring, but i figure this is better than what was there before.