future is open and amazing

been crazy busy in the last month or so, going back on forth on life plans.

almost applied to JET program but i figured LA is the spot to be as far as music is concerned and i'd rather stay in LA and just visit japan.

thus i want to go to japan in august and try to book a tour in cities where i know i can stay for free at my friends' houses.

sounds crazy but i think it can happen.

graduating college is one of the weirdest things. i feel like i've been here forever, haven't really been much of a college student, but i tried to make the most of it and now it's time to be a working individual and not be held back by papers (one of which i'm supposed to be writing right now) and assignments and other stuff that's good to learn but that I don't feel the need/ desire to learn.

three things I will be focusing on studying once i'm done with UCLAness:

#1. japanese- i need to improve my skills drastically if i want to go back and not make a complete fool of myself

#2. recording: took an awesome recording class but was too busy to read my textbook and the legit handouts that my professors wrote.

#3. yusef lateef's repository of scales and melodic patterns- ridiculous source of musical goodness that i haven't even scratched the surface of.

i also just want to work on all-around musicianship and really learn to play keyboards and guitar (the things everyone else can play amazingly well but i can't really play to save my life).

being done with school means spending time studying the things that are directly beneficial to what i'm doing (though i value the things i've learned here). i plan to get a decent day job with health benefits and then just push my music as much as possible (my project DOBREGA as well as a new project entitled A Heart Adopted, plus perhaps a noise band if i can find a sousaphone) and try to get in and collaborate with like-minded musicians here in LA and work as a bassist. as open ended as the future is, it's awesome. i've spent too much time freaking out about this upcoming period of my life but i'm pretty stoked on it. there's so much headroom. it's the same with japan. i get really bummed sometimes on how dark and hopeless of a place japan seems to be at times but that just means it has so much potential for awesomeness.

all goes to say, thanks to everyone who has supported me in my various endeavors. pray for me to trust God fully with my future so that it will be awesomeness.

ps download a track off of my upcoming EP at dobrega.bandcamp.com