The Sunday De-Press #1

Click on this link to listen to the broadcast ---> Godless America

My wife and I were cleaning up the apartment the other day in preparation for friends to come over.  I went out to grab some drinks (mostly for myself) and I when I came home, she had this broadcast playing on her Computer.  It's nothing more than an audio interview which causes us to ask questions about our "love" for Jesus and how we blindly adhere to a love for the Bible without truly understanding it's message. 

This is not a broadcast to make you feel good inside or to feel inspired to continue on with your Christian values; rather this piece of audio journalism will either cause you to question you own religious upbringing, or piss you off because you don't agree with it.  But for anyone who has never fully understood their own beliefs, and/or questioned the fact that most Christians truly don't understand what the Bible is talking about, this broadcast will hit right at home.

Click on this link to listen to the broadcast ---> Godless America

For me, it's a perfect representation of my brain's thought process when it comes to this matter.  I've always wondered about the writers of the Bible and many of the claims made within.  Were these people actually prophets?  Was Jesus the real son of God or was he just a crazy person who yelled and screamed at people?  Why is the passage of Sodom and Gomorrah used as evidence that homosexuality is wrong and NOT used to show how sexual child abuse is an evil thing? 

It asks a lot of good questions.  You may or may not agree with a lot of what is said in this broadcast, but it certainly makes you think about how you've utilized the Bible most of your life.

Click on this link to listen to the broadcast ---> Godless America
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And finally...boy, I sure hope to hire this guy to get me through my emotional trauma!  I understand what he might be getting at, that he isn't the ultimate solution and in the end it's up to you to fix your own problems, but it's still a funny way of wording your advertisement; almost sounds as if he doesn't have confidence in himself to do his job.  And the ad is actually pretty cheaply made, wouldn't you agree?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, it's been a year since my "Remember, Remember the month of November" posting and I've been doing a really bad job at consistently updating this blog.  But here I am, and it's Thanksgiving...what could be better.

I love Thanksgiving because it marks the beginning of the Christmas season...or at least it feels like it does.  Once November hits, I began feeling Christmasie more and more as the days fumble through.  But now is the time for thanks. What am I thankful for?

I am thankful for...
* Having a great job that is really helping Clarissa and myself get caught up on our debts and payments.
* Having a family that always seems to be ready for us to come and visit them
* Being able to maintain friendships despite not keeping contact with them as well as I would like too
* Being able to read.  My books and comic books keep my imagination flowing into a world that only the mind's eye can see.
* having the ability to go to the movie theater.  It's one of my passions and I'm thankful we have talent in the world that can produce films.
* Singing with a world renowned chorus that sings exceptionally well and being an internationally champion thanks to the 52Eighty.
* And My wife, who supports me and loves me despite my flaws and inability to remember things.  She is the greatest part of my life and I am blessed to have her in it.

I think Clarissa and I are finally in a place where we can start looking towards the future and doing things that will help us to maintain sanity.  With my new job, we can get my car paid off much quicker and put a serious dent in our student loans.  But once my car is paid off, month by month we can save more for opportunities that may arise in the future.

I want to be able to contribute money to NPR, we listen to it all the time, might as well support them.  I want to go on another overseas trip with Clarissa, to Budapest and show her where I used to live and rediscover the amazing places that I have forgotten about.  I want to do things with her as a couple again, like finding a church choir that we both are apart of.  I feel that with this job, we are both able to put ourselves in a good place financially so we can make use of our time together and not always have to worry about every single bill that comes along and worry if we will be forced to skip out on a bill due to an empty bank account.  I'm thankful for Clarissa moving me out to Colorado where so many opportunities arose for the both of us.

And as a way of making this an even happier day, here is the latest edition to the Trapp family household.  say hello to our humidifier, Mr. Elephant.....

My Next CD Project Is Now Underway!

Yes, my third CD is finally in the works.  You have some time to wait, however, as no recording has taken place yet, but soon...probably this weekend or the next the will Trapp track Recording Studio open back up for business.

This Cd will consist of a much more mature selection of music that brings together a wide variety of Acapella arrangements; ranging from good old barbershop, Jazz, Blues, to some up beat songs with a lot of snap to them.

Three of the songs on the album will feature some guest artists.  Clarissa and I will be swinging out to "Java Jive" that was made famous by the Manhattan Transfer.  The song I'll be tackling first in the recording studio will actually be with the exceptionally talented Wendy Jans on the song "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square."  And the third gust appearance song will be one of my own arrangements, "Tis Midnight and on Olives Brow," with Eric Dalbey (Lead of the 2006 International barbershop quartet champions) singing the top two parts.

Here's a sample list of some of the songs you'll hear on the album...

You Don't, You Won't
Moondance
Goodbye World Goodbye
Aquarius

Plus!  as a special treat, I will be including performance recordings from when both of the choruses I sing with competed on the international stage.

That's all.  It's still going to be a while but I did want to announce the news to all who are interested.  Let me know if you want a copy.

Oh, and I'm throwing away the "Jimmy Trapp Quartet" name and call my one man quartet something else.  I need help with a name though, got any ideas?

Weekend With The In-Laws

Yes, after a long hiatus from not seeing my in-laws, they decided to make the 12 hour trek across the boring state of Nebraska to see what life is like in the foothills of Colorado.  And while we do live right next door to Estes Park, and only a hop, skip, and jump further away from the Rocky Mountain National Park, the trip into the mountains itself is no mere stroll in the park; you have to drive around numerous curvy roads that, if you don;t watch it, will burn up your brakes, as well as take time to make lots of stops to observe the gorgeous views that the mountains provides for you.

I had to work on the first two days they were here, which meant I missed out on some fun outings in the beginning.  But we did end up going to a town festival of sorts that resembled the Des Moines Arts Festival; the street was packed with stands where people were selling art, foods, and showing off their musical talent.  I discovered a local art agency that goes out and searches for local artists to display their works for all to see.  It might be something I'll look into next year.

I have to admit, having Isaac around is a blast; he is so overly opinionated that it's funny!  He becomes so argumentative that sometimes it seems he's just establishing his ground for the mere sake of doing so.  We got into a very lengthy debate about what makes a film a "guy" movie verses a "girl" movie.  There was never any clear definition on his part of what defines the girl and guy films, but Clarissa and I both came to the conclusion that we will never actually know what type of movie he likes.

All in all, the weekend was fun.  How many people out there can say they REALLY enjoy having their in laws around?  I'd say not too many.  I feel very lucky to have a family I married into with whom I can laugh and have fun with.

And for your amusement, here's a few photos from our trip to the Rocky Mountains....

The Difference Between The Humanities...And Everything Else.

Most of the jobs I've held in the past have paid very little and demanded more of my time than my paycheck justified.  Working in the schools systems, I was constantly met with stupid children who took their stupidity out on teachers who merely try to educate them.  I have been hit at, kicked, punched, sexually advanced by minors, broken up fights, dealt with mind games from children, and fought with administration about how they treat their "classified" employees.  My pay as a substitute teacher was $125 per day, and my hourly rate as a paraprofessional was close to $11 per hour.  I had to deal with my team arguing and discussing how to handle certain situations and student IEP plans without that information ever being relaid to me effectively, and then finding myself in situations where that information would have been handy.

The only person that seemed to have her head on straight with my team was my boss, Sara Thompson.  She took her job by the neck and shook it like a dog, not allowing the frustrations of teaching children with behavior disorders to take her over.  She always made sure I knew about changes in IEP's and always kept in the loop about what was going on.  The other two, while I still liked them, always seemed put off by me and kept me secluded from the activities of the students in the BD program.  Plus, if I was trying to help one of our students calm down, and Sigrid walked in, she would interject and take over the situation, destroying any hope I had of establishing myself with the student.  By the beginning of the second semester I was so burned out by certain individuals and how they treated me, I completely gave up caring what they thought and decided to just go about helping the students in my own way despite what the "Behavior Model" said.  I knew this would potentially lead to my removal, but to be honest...I didn't care.  So many times I thought to myself, "Why the fuck am I doing this?  Everyone is pissed at each other everyday and nothing ever seems to go according to plan."


A few days ago I realized something.  My current job, of which I've been employed for just under two months now, is paying me $41,000 per year with numerous opportunities for receiving overtime.  I begin my job at home and END at home, meaning I don't have to leave at 7:00, or even 6:30 to beat the hectic morning Denver traffic on I-25 to get to work.  The company has given me a company truck which I use to drive from job assignment to job assignment, and gas and maintenance on the vehicle is paid for by them.  I receive full benefits, a "Touch Pro" Sprint cell phone that I use for both personal and work related ramblings that also allows me access to the Internet, texting, and a plethora of other features.  My job has me working through a ticket system, which means I only go out on jobs if and when I receive a job ticket; I almost always do, but there have been days where NO job tickets came my way.  In essence, I still get paid my salary even if I didn't do a lick of work.  But even when I do have to work, most of my time is spent driving to get to a cell site, and a lot of the time it's on a beautiful day in the mountains.  I do have a supervisor, but never do I have someone hovering over me making sure I'm working.  Basically, if I don't have anything to do, I don't have to try and FIND something to do.  This new job is amazing!  It has it's downsides, but never in my life have I been as stress free with a job as this one.

How is this possible?  This job pays SIGNIFICANTLY better and the job I busted my ass at paid me shit.  Can someone say "oxymoron?"  But this is the truth of the matter.  Many of the jobs I've had have kept me in the humanities field where I worked closely with the development and prosperity of people and children.  I now work in a field where all I do is make sure cell phones maintain coverage and drive around a lot.  This is the difference between careers in the humanities vs. everything else.  The values of modern society are basically telling us that paying teachers more is not an appropriate way of spending district and city wide funds funds, but when it comes to out cell phones, pay the technicians and switch operators anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 per year.  I'm not complaining about my job, I love it.  I will never look for another job for as long as I can help it.  But the standard of education is so low in comparison to keeping a cell phone up and working.  It's sad and somewhat frustrating.

It's people like my last boss, Sara Thompson, who deserves more than what she was handed.  I applaud her and her natural ability to teach and her love for it despite the flack she gets in return.  It's people like her who need to multiply the most if we are to have any more people with the same drive and ambition.  I can only hope one day, someone will put their foot down and make sure teachers get the paycheck that they deserve for putting up with the many hardships that come with humanities.