thomas dulin

bowling

2010-05-31T00:21:00.003-05:00

i love to bowl. i always have. mostly, i think my joy in the sport (yes, it's on ESPN) stems from my complete lack of knowledge about it. i have no idea what proper bowling technique is. and this makes bowling fun. you just heave the heaviest ball you can manage down the slick wood and try and knock stuff over! it's a brilliant idea.
some friends and i used to go every week for about one summer, and i was decent. my average was probably 110 or something. but the other night, i was in the zone. i don't know how it happened, but it was fun. i had to take a picture because i knew this was likely to never happen again, me being in this zone. in the photo below, the bottom row is mine.

the soldier thread

2010-05-11T19:02:00.004-05:00

this song is called "fractions," and it is by a band called the soldier thread. you can download the song for free here. enjoy!

this is the story about how i found out about the soldier thread.

once, when i was eighteen years old, i decided to drive eight hours to a university of which i knew basically nothing. i went to see the school, and to audition for the school of music, but mostly i went because i was eighteen-years-old and had recently graduated high school, and had never stayed in a hotel room alone. the thought of driving somewhere strange was (and still is) very alluring to me.
when i got to the city, i didn't want to go to the hotel room yet. i remember it was a friday night and there were kids everywhere. i would later learn that i was in "the square," which is an area of town that is not a square. i parked, and walked around, loving the feeling that i had never met any of the people i was talking to. it blew my mind that everyone i knew and everything i had seen was not in this place.
at one point, i ended up going in a bar because of the captivating music i heard coming from within it. i listened for an hour to a band called the soldier thread. they are great. if i had to define the soldier thread in one word, it would be passion. if i had more words, i would talk about the beautiful violin/guitar countermelody and the voice of patricia, their vocalist, which seems to lift me off the ground when i hear it.
i'll never get tired of hearing this band because it always reminds me of how i felt that night, when it seemed like the whole world was expanding faster than i could calculate. like i was coming over the top of a giant hill which i had been climbing my whole life. and these people provided the soundtrack.

the soldier thread's first full-length album "shapes" can be found on itunes here.
the soldier thread's website can be found here.

good old 4-27

2010-04-27T01:16:00.003-05:00

a year ago, i programmed this song. the only reason i know that it was a year ago is because the title of the song is 04272009. i've tried about five times to put lyrics to old 427, but each time, the lyrics were just too lame to stick. maybe one of these days it will write its own words. nonetheless, i hope you enjoy it.

also, here is the song called 04272010. obviously, it will be less awesome than 04272009 as i have had but one day to tinker with it, as opposed to having one year.

the green machine

2010-04-22T12:35:00.002-05:00

I recently got an almost new m-audio axiom 61. it's great. it controls everything I need ableton to do onstage. but it was gray. I decided to paint it.

before:

after:

I decided to paint it green because green is most likely to be my favorite color.

also, I might be Irish or something.

busy-ness

2010-04-13T22:59:00.002-05:00

anyone who visits my blog can see that it has been quite some time since the previous post. he or she can also plainly observe that i tend to start every blog by saying something like "it has been too long since i have posted a blog!". alas, it has been too long since i have posted a blog.

hopefully, you will infer that i am busy doing things which are much more important than blogging. maybe you say to yourself: "i'm sure he, thomas, is simply too preoccupied with spending time in orphanages, or perhaps he is merely doing research on a cure for a deadly illness. yes, i'm sure this is why he does not ever update his blog." if you think these things, you are wrong. but you are a sweetheart.

the truth is, no one knows what i do. people with whom i was once in great companionship approach me often with the question, "where have you been, dude?!" and i reply, "oh, you know, around." (i find it more humorous to be vague and mysterious than answer simple questions.) tonight i have a spare thirty minutes. i thought i'd take it to give a run-down of my week, and say what's on my mind about the excuse of busy-ness. see photo below:

being busy is something that i hear people talk about a lot. it seems, by the way we talk, that we are all on the verge of pulling our hair out at all given moments in time because of the amount of things that we are required to do. we say things like "i wish there were more hours in the day."

(by the way, can you imagine how awful things would be if there were one more hour in the day? the earth would have to rotate 1/24 slower than it does now. everything on earth would be exposed to more heat. our sleep cycles would become offset. we'd have to invent a new system of time keeping. no longer would our seconds, minutes, and hours fit evenly into our now 100% efficient and super-productive days. i think the earth might throw the moon into the abyss of space, causing our ecosystems to rot and humanity to slowly fade from existence.)

i think if i were an enemy to the human race, i would try and do things to convince people that they were "too busy." if i were clever enough, i might want humans to be forced to depend on iphones and blackberries just to keep up with what they have to do in a given day. because in general, the busier you think you are, the more miserable you are. but i would be willing to bet that a majority of american people have more free time than they even realize.

perhaps the natural human sleep cycle was developed by someone who knew that we (humans) would be busy. perhaps it is not an accident that the ratio of dark hours to daylight hours is equal to the comparison between the time we spend asleep and awake. perhaps when we are near the end of our lives, we will look back and think, "i wasn't that busy at all."

if you make a calendar of your week filled with every single event that takes time from your day, you might be pleasantly surprised to find time you didn't know was there.

-thomas

apparel.

2010-01-24T20:37:00.005-06:00

the new t-shirts have arrived, and let me just say. they're awesome. there are two designs, available in small, medium, large, and extra-large. if you would like to buy one, please send an email to thomas@thomasdulin.com. they're only fifteen u.s. dollars.

here are the official pictures:

2009-12-03T10:31:00.002-06:00

12.03.09

i just found out that my blog has been displaying the tweets of @undefined instead of my own. let it be known that i am not responsible for any tweets he produced. i took the twitter widget down for now.

hope everyone's december is off to a great start!

2009-11-06T20:41:00.004-06:00

11.6.09 - OTDSINBDFNS

it is no secret that i am a pretty messy guy. i clean things occasionally, and then they get dirty again. seriously, it's ridiculous.

for some reason, however, i am super-organized when it comes to my computer. it's a mystery. i'm talking, of course, about the way my files are named and kept.

ever since january i have been using my computer to archive songs i work on. but they do not get named when they get written, these songs. (naming songs is like naming puppies. you get attached to them, and then when you find out that you can't keep them, you become sad.) so i name them according to the Official Thomas Dulin Song Idea Name-By-Date File Nomenclature System, or OTDSINBDFNS.

let's say i write a song on november sixth, two-thousand nine. i would call the song "110609." it's perfect for when, three months later, i will say, "what was that idea i came up with at the beginning of november, dangit?"

so i keep these songs in a folder called "songs." also, i keep a list of the contents of the folder. this list is known as "untitled 10," of course.

maybe someday i'll learn to organize my closet.

2009-10-31T13:16:00.001-05:00

october 30 - peace in death

it is difficult to say what my favorite band is. it's kind of like saying what my favorite character from the office is. but there are definitely phases where one band or artist gets significantly more playtime on my speakers. right now it is mutemath.

spin magazine calls them the "#1 band you have to see before you die." pretty serious stuff we're talking about here, right? well i saw them in dallas last night. i can die in peace now. here are some photos. (if you are viewing this at thomasdulin.com, click above to see the photos)

2009-10-26T18:01:00.002-05:00

october 26, 2009 - launch!

the site launched today. it's http://www.thomasdulin.com

also, my email is now thomas@thomasdulin.com

grace and love

2009-10-24T23:26:00.002-05:00

october 24, 2009 - interwebs

i have recently been working on a website. this is funny to me, because i am not an artist or a designer, or any kind of person who would usually say things like "i have recently been working on a website." nonetheless, i must say: this website is awesome. i may or may not be hiding a couple of easter eggs on the site...

in a few weeks it will be thomasdulin.com; for now it's at www.wix.com/thomasdulin/1.

happy browsing.

7.25.08 - wages for pain

2008-07-25T23:45:00.002-05:00

you know how your first day at a new job is exciting? it is. you are excited about meeting new people and learning new things. in fact, if your first day is unexciting, it is probably not a good job.

academy is probably not a good job. when you stand around for seven hours, you hurt. and you get slightly grumpy. tonight i worked 3pm to 10pm.

tomorrow i work 7.45am to 5pm.

money is overrated.

- 11:54 pm

7.20.08 - louie armstrong

2008-07-20T01:20:00.003-05:00

today, i:

-woke up and watched 'the departed.' if you're at least 17, watch it. like now. go rent it. (no, you cannot just borrow my copy you cheap moocher.)

-got dressed and went to anna's for a good fight.

-lovingly left white residue on the windows of anna's auto. ha! even.

-read.

-went to starbuck's.

-read.

-was asked subtilely to leave via the turning out of all lights and turning up of the louie armstrong. the turning up of the louie armstrong, by the way, is a very inefficient - not to mention, rude - method of asking someone to leave your coffee house. in fact, if you would, in fact, prefer for someone to stay at your coffee house a little bit longer, i would recommend that you turn up the louie armstrong.

tomorrow i get to do that thing that i love to do, that i take for granted so much of the time. i am realizing, though, that in a little while, i won't be able to do it anymore. at least for a bit. oh well. carpe diem!

- 1:28 am

7.17.08 - persistence and patience in prayer

2008-07-17T12:53:00.004-05:00

this story begins with me needing a job. (the story actually begins with me working, and then having to quit, but we are now at the "real" beginning of the story, you know, after the foreword, the author's note, the prologue, etc.)

so i applied at about two hundred places around town, and expected about all of them to call me back the next day, simply because of how awesome i am, and how professionally i completed my applications. this, however, was not the case, as is the case with most stories about patience and persistence. no, all of the managers failed to immediately recognize how incredibly talented, adaptive, good-looking, and talented i am.

as time went by, i did what any un-employee does. nothing. doing nothing took up a huge majority of my day. what i mean is that i spent almost all day doing nothing. it was very time-consuming. after a while, doing nothing got boring.

it was really time to work at that point. laziness was setting in pretty thick. i wanted a job but nobody had called me back yet, dangit. i was getting pretty impatient. so i did what any other christian who is in trouble does. i prayed. i actually prayed for a job. and, of course, nothing happened. until yesterday.

yesterday, i decided to get up early. i decided to drive to some (two) of the places i applied, praying during it all. and who would have guessed, (everyone who is intuitive enough to predict the endings of predictable stories) that i got two jobs.

God does not give you patience. if you ask for patience in a situation, He will probably make it suck more for you. no kidding. because really, that is exactly how you learn to be patient: you put up with crap you don't want to put up with for an extended period of time. i know that God knows what i need better than i know what i need (matthew 6:26) and this job thing has reminded me that when you ask Him for food, He usually gives you seeds.

maybe i'll start getting up early more often.

- 1:23 pm

7.14.08 - what the heck

2008-07-14T01:26:00.005-05:00

what the heck have i been up to? summer. thats it.

anna got me a sweet watch. i am in love with her, dangit.

ive made some sweet music. some of my best i think.

i am behind on getting things done for college. i think i'll go catch up tomorrow.

all my friends are leaving forever. that kinda sucks.

my mom's birthday is next week. im excited to see her.

i am in love with the books i'm reading.

this is absolutely the best summer i can ever remember.

-1:32 am

6.13.2008 - good luck on friday the thirteenth

2008-06-13T22:05:00.003-05:00

never take people for granted. this sounds like a general statement, but i am not saying it that way. i mean very specifically: never fail to appreciate the presence of people in your life. any people. human interaction is widely taken advantage of.

my friends and family have all been out of town for about four days. i thought i was going to pull my hair out. whenever you have no one with whom to communicate, you think about things like pulling your hair out, and other things you wouldn't think of otherwise.

but today, friday the thirteenth, my luck turned around. phil came back to lubbock and i got an unexpected last paycheck in the mail from hastings. but there's more.

today in the self-checkout line at home depot, yes home depot, i found a credit card. do not stop reading here, because that is not the extent of the good news. i picked up the credit card with absolutely no malicious intentions, and looked up the name on the 'harley davidson special edition' visa in the phonebook. the guy is ecstatic. he's been looking everywhere for this card and when i meet him and give it to him, he slips me a hundred dollar bill. this is the moral: nice guys may finish last, but sometimes they get paid a hundred dollars for their efforts.

i am ready for her to come home, though.

- 10:12 pm

6.10.08 - sheep, tonya, and oprah

2008-06-10T01:09:00.004-05:00

boys state was fun. i had to leave early though. i stopped along the way to austin and back a few times:

en route, there was a large field of sheep. i was really tired, so i got out on the shoulder and just kinda watched this vast meadow of sheep preparing for the coming rain. weird.

then i stopped at the apple store in the domain in austin. my new mac is awesome. (i'm selling my old one! message me if you're interested.)

on the way back, i stopped in a small town. i do not think this town even has a name, but the lady at the gas station does have one. her name is tonya and she has eight dogs! she would not let me take a picture.

finally, i stopped at the truck stop in another small, no-name city. (these are my favorite, you can see.) in the men's restroom, oprah was on television.

i love road trips. i think i will take more of them.

- 1:16 am

5.18.08 - prince caspian: one and one-half thumbs up

2008-05-18T15:36:00.003-05:00

awesome fighting happened, which is always good. the battles were ten times cooler than in the first one. this made it entertaining. it was just ridiculously long. really ridiculously long.

i don't know though. i might go see it again just for the cinematography. in general, it's a very "pretty" movie. you know, with the trees and rivers and mountains and whatnot. or maybe i'll just wait til it comes out.

i am ready for "the happening."

- 3:41 pm

5.17.08 - music as a substitute for sleep

2008-05-17T15:50:00.004-05:00

all-nighters are fun. to be more specific, they are fun after you experience them. never during, mind you. anyways i have had my sleep and will be alright if i don't operate any heavy machinery. i keep catching myself staring at a wall thinking about absolutely nothing.

graduation steaks tonight, then prince of caspian. review to follow.

- 3:55 pm

5.07.08 - fake fires and photography

2008-05-07T00:28:00.003-05:00

what do men do when they have nothing to do? what entertains a group of guys who are in the middle of a cold, windy canyon with nothing but a couple of tents and a gas grill?

bacon.

we went camping. but really, we just sat around a gas grill (darned burn ban) and cooked bacon into the dark of the night. it was euphoric.

i took some pictures yesterday. or rather some pictures were taken of me - by garrett. you can see them on his blog here.

one week until narrow stairs drops!

- 12:36 am

5.01.2008 - new albums

2008-05-01T00:57:00.004-05:00

if you're viewing this on my myspace, you may want to click the title (in blue) to be able to see it. don't worry. it will open in a new window.

my two newest album purchases:

tomorrow i will listen to them and watch the bonus dvd from crowder. because i won't have school. woot! oh! and i got this from dc*b also: www.dcb01.com/goodreader/certificate.pdf

30 days til graduation. wow.

- 1:51 am

4.28.08 - the weekend (or more appropriately, the week-beginning)

2008-04-28T00:34:00.003-05:00

aren't weekends fantastic? seriously; i have never known an individual to say, "crap. the weekend is coming up. i am dreading its approach." everyone loves sleeping in on saturday mornings, washing their cars, mowing their grass, shopping, and/or taking naps on sunday afternoons. they are usually very relaxed and blissfully uneventful. friday, saturday, and sunday were not so for me.

let us begin with friday: no school. (there is really no necessary reason to continue in the explanation of why friday was good, but i will go on for detail's sake.) i had to work, but because of the fact that there were far too many employees there at one time, i had to do very little actual work. great news. oh and it was hotter than hell in july.

saturday: i slept in. talk about euphoria. i let kenny and his "foundation friends" wash my car. they did excellent. anna and i drove around the world in her car a few times. phil and i headed to chrome to "style our soles." i dyed my natural toms with an evening blue color, and painted light blue stripes on them. they are the single most coolest pair of shoes ever. you and everyone you know need a pair of toms. seriously, i am not kidding here. here is their website. then i worked -- long enough to merit an hour-long break, which i spent a. napping, b. eating hot wings, and c. looking at books.

sunday: i always get to start sundays off doing my favorite thing ever. i got to do it all day today. i sang to and about Jesus at my church, then i went and did it at another church. awesome. and anna was there as well. double awesome. she has the most beautiful voice i have ever heard. period. we ate lunch together with my family. i then sang to and about Jesus some more before eating freebird's, playing silent football, eating birthday cake, and watching a scary movie. the best one ever.

i think i have been continually satisfied for the past seventy-two hours.

- 1:03 am

4.24.08 - oryx and crake

2008-04-24T20:58:00.003-05:00

i just finished oryx and crake. the only reason i bought the book was because the first page promised a futuristic story of a society in which technology has destroyed everything. speculative distopian fiction has become, i think, my favorite genre. seriously, it rules. brave new world. fahrenheit 451. 1984. so good.

this one is better, though (maybe). yes, it is full of ridiculous speculation of the future -- which is awesome. but it also explores the psychological effect of these so-called advances in society. basically, the last guy on earth remembers his troubled childhood and how the present state of the world came to be. almost like how a good action movie always has an underlying love story. except this underlying story doesn't suck so much.

other news: i do not have braces any more. some awesome music is coming out in the next few months. and i am almost done with public school. forever.

-10:10 pm

4.19.08 - downhill

2008-04-19T01:04:00.004-05:00

"jack fell down and broke his crown. and jill came tumbling after."

the dangerous thing here is that, while going downhill requires no work or extra effort, control of speed is quickly, easily, and irreversibly lost. i am on the fantastic brink of havoc and disaster at all times.

-1:07 am

4.13.08 - sensations for sale

2008-04-13T02:01:00.003-05:00

it saddens me that movies which are directed to my demographic are so stupid. it saddens me more that i still pay to see such movies.

'prom night' sucks less than many of its imaginative counterparts. it is less realistic and more frightening than 'disturbia,' if that works as a reference. and the cheesy sappiness of high school romance is kept to a necessary minimum. i would have like it more if it had shown better what was going on inside this girl's head. she's being pursued by an obsessed ex-teacher who shanks about 20 people over the course of the movie, her own family and friends included. what an opportunity for thematic psychological development -- but no. instead, let us use eerie music, dark rooms, familiar situations, and sudden scene changes to try to get teenagers to have chill bumps.

it will probably be the #1 movie this weekend.

i find it interesting that the illusion of danger can cause true fear. though we are aware of the falseness of what we are seeing, we still experience really being afraid -- if only in a small dose: which makes fear a marketable product. scary movies, haunted houses, and even roller coasters.

really, there is not a human emotion that you can't buy - pain, excitement, terror, depression, and even love: they're all available in small doses for a price.

this happens when i stay up late.

in other news, i started recording again. it has been a while, but things are sounding really good, i think. we will see.

- 2:24 am

4.6.08 - peace? apathy? happiness.

2008-04-06T17:35:00.004-05:00

it seems as if the most popular thing to talk about on the internet (or anywhere i guess) is your problems. a roadside bombed killed eleven people -- i don't know how to tell my wife i'm cheating on her -- i can't decide what dress to buy for prom -- whatever. maybe that's why i haven't posted.

something has happened to me over the past five or six months. peace, apathy, or both have taken over my priorities. i do not worry about worrisome things. i do not waste my thoughts on thinking about things i need to do or finish or start.

my advice for happiness: forget about all the small things in your life you think are important. you don't even know if you'll be alive tomorrow. remember that you are on a giant rock that is revolving around the sun and that God is not oblivious or helpless to what is happening on said rock. use your time wisely, but not too wisely.

i am full. i am rested. i am redeemed. i am going to an opera tonight. life, on the whole, is good.

-5:46 pm

3.26.08 - you learn something everyday

2008-03-26T22:08:00.003-05:00

it is apparently possible, by listening to music all day, to have headphone hair.

-10:10 pm

3.26.08 - irony in the mailbox

2008-03-26T09:35:00.002-05:00

i received three letters today in the mail:
one was from the terry foundation, an organization that gives full-ride scholarship grants to texas students for particular schools (texas state included). this letter confirmed my interview date and time.
another was also from the terry foundation. this one included the plane ticket they bought for me to fly to my interview.
the last was from texas state university's school of music. it was a very nice letter that told me of my rejection status to their program.

it is well.

-9:39 am

3.24.08 - solace in the crows

2008-03-24T23:44:00.000-05:00

the new crows album drops, literally, in 15 minutes. because i pre-ordered it, i am downloading it in i-tunes now. the next hour and a half will be solely devoted to "saturday nights & sunday mornings."

right now, this is exactly what i need.

-11:46 pm

3.23.08 - i don't care!

2008-03-23T15:42:00.003-05:00

it's never a good idea to "put off til tomorrow what you can do today."

unless it's spring break. then it's a great idea.

today i caught up on all the homework i had planned on doing all week. sort of.

for the first time, i really don't care very much about my grades. and honestly, it feels really good to just not worry.

the next two months should be fun.

-3:40 pm

3.22.08 - bunnies and Jesus, pt. II

2008-03-22T15:32:00.002-05:00

turns out that Easter takes its origins from a pagan "reproductive" holiday. this explains the symbolism of the egg, as well as the rabbit, king of reproduction. this obviously has nothing to do with Jesus and this is, in fact my point.

if Easter is the defining celebration of what christians claim to believe, then why do they do things that have nothing to do with, well, what they believe? what i mean is this: why is there such an emphasis on making sure to attend church on Easter sunday - when the other 51 sundays we sleep in? and why is it so important that we look *extra nice for this fancy service?

if Jesus were to attend an Easter gathering, i think He'd be pretty pissed off. christian holidays have become such an entangled part of our american culture that they have lost almost all of the spiritual value which they once claimed.

i go to work in an hour. the last hour before going to work is always interesting. i usually try to eat as much food as possible and not think about beeping scanners, fake smiles, and video memberships.

hold on to what you have! :]

-3:44 pm

3.21.08 - bunnies and Jesus, pt. I

2008-03-22T03:14:00.002-05:00

it is late. i could probably sleep if i wanted to, but i don't.

i'd rather stay up and think about things like Easter, and superficiality, and the future.

additionally, why would i want to mess up the sleep schedule of spring break that i've acquired? staying up late and sleeping in, when put together, are two of my favorite things ever. so i'll be up for a bit longer -- trying to reconcile the relationship between bunnies, eggs, and Jesus. i will get back to you when i figure it out.