Life is Beautiful

Before you read this post, read this post. In fact, don’t even read this post. Only follow that link and read that post, then, if you don’t feel immediately like getting up and doing something worth living for there’s something wrong with you.

So yeah, hey everyone! I’m still here, I promise.

My life is so different than it was a few months ago. I’m not sure I can actually put it into quantifiable terms. It just is. And it’s good. Very good. Maybe we can talk about it in real life next time I see you, but for now I’ll just reread A Million Miles In A Thousand Years and let my mind percolate.

Guys, I’ve met some really interesting people. Like, really, really, I-want-to-have-long-conversations-with-them-on-a-daily-basis interesting people. It’s pretty cool.

In other news, Nathan and I have officially moved in with the new roommates, Ryan and Kelli. (Two of the aforementioned people.) And it’s going really well. This apartment is big. As in, my old apartment was so, so tiny and this one is normal sized so it’s awesome. We have a fireplace. And a legit porch. And we’re on the bottom floor and our kitchen opens into our living room. And we have every video game console known to man. It’s pretty legit. I just kind of don’t want to leave most of the time.

My last final of the summer quarter was today. I’m glad to have a break this week. Especially because it begins with a Jenny & Tyler concert and a DC*B and Gungor concert and ends with my birthday! I plan on painting and doing lots of art in my free time this week. And doing lots of spontaneous, unplanned things.

As of Monday, Liz and I have been dating for FOUR whole months! (Hey, Liz, it’s been such a blessing and SO much fun, I’m looking forward to the future, dear!) Liz is a really, really wonderful person. Beautiful, fun, joyful, exciting, and unpredictable. I’m really enjoying this relationship.

Life is happening, things are changing, and it’s so good. I’ve had to do so many adult things in the last month that I never thought I was old enough or aware of things enough to do. It’s crazy. I’ve gone apartment shopping (and decided on an apartment, and filled out all the paperwork and everything) without my parents even being involved except for where I asked them to be. I’ve tried to get student loans, I’ve had to deal with defensive driving and getting a ticket, I don’t even know. It’s so cool to be able to do things.

Have I mentioned I’ll be twenty-one next Saturday? Not gonna lie, I’m kind of excited. It’s the last real age restriction besides being able to run for president. (which I don’t really have to worry about, ha!) But yeah, I’ve decided to start keeping up with this thing again. It helps me sort out my thoughts and keep some things in line.

What is everyone else up to?!

 

We Could Steal Time

So much is happening right now! I can’t believe that we’re playing at the BAFBC dnow in a week! It seems like it was two months away only yesterday!

Starbucks is going great. I still love it. Free coffee. Free food. Amazing people. Actually having a job. It’s the bomb.

Taylor visited last weekend and a great time was had by all! Saturday was seriously one of the best days of my life. Taylor, Nathan, Riley, Bethany (a friend from Ai here) and I all drove downtown and painted a piano together on a hill overlooking Austin’s beautiful skyline as the sun was setting (there are pictures on FB!) It was just SUCH an amazing, beautiful, joyous time. It was like breathing deeply after weeks of short, shallow breaths.

A week of two before that I went to see Jenny & Tyler again in Waco with Allison and Maritz Bitz, which was a blast. After the concert, we visited this amazing coffee shop called Common Grounds (I think) and it was beautiful and the coffee was great.

Between those two events, I was in Houston for almost a week to stay with my brothers (mostly Nick) while my parents spent their 25th anniversary in northern California. I’m pretty jealous that they got to go, but it was great seeing everybody back in Htown, AND getting to play Sunday morning with Kevo, Katie, Andrew, and Mr. Bill was a blast. PLUS, Mel, Liz and I went of a photo excursion to do a double-exposure experiment with color film that turned out pretty cool.

Anyway, Gungor concert on Sunday and I’m PUMPED.

Also, dnow in a week! And I’m SUPER PUMPED.

I’m pretty much pumped to be alive right now.

Also, did I mention one of my design professors this quarter is Marc English? He’s fo real. Google him.

.Zach

WHOOSH

Time is flying by!

I FINALLY GOT A JOB.

…

AT STARBUCKS.
Today was my second day, and it was awesome. I actually made drinks! = the bomb.com.

You should probably listen to the album Travel III EP by The Future of Forestry (which is a Lewis reference).

Also, I put up a preliminary website up for myself this week! zacharyhorst.com. It looks best if you re using Chrome, Safari, or Opera. The Firefox version is okay, but the banner doesn’t more in that browser. And if you are still using Internet Explorer…for heaven’s sakes, get ANY other browser! EVERYTHING IS BETTER THAN INTERNET EXPLORER. You can see some pictures of Melanie in the portfolio section, also concert posters I’ve done for Whitney and some random shirt designs.

I send the final files for the book to be printed on Tuesday! ahh! It’s almost real!

Life just got busy all of the sudden, haha. But I like it.

Let me know if you want to come see Jenny & Tyler in Waco on Friday the 18th, cause I’m going. So far Allison Short is going too. You should go. Also, Gungor concert on April 10. Then the next weekend is MUSIC PLAYING WITH MOST OF THE BOF! I’m SO pumped for that. SO. So. so. SO pumped.

Maybe a Job and A Downtown Adventure

This week has gone by really fast. It actually started in Houston, but I drove back up Monday morning.

Monday I had Editorial Design, where we presented redos of magazine covers we though were laid out or designed poorly. For some reason, last weekend I spent a LOT of time fixing my two Macworld covers, and it really paid off. My professor liked them I think. Then, after presentations, she felt the need to tell me that she hadn’t picked anyone for a job that she had told us about a week of two ago. I think that is a good sign, because I still haven’t found a job. And, she had said that originally the job would not be design-related, but that it definitely had the potential to lead into a design job. So that’s reallllyy exciting.

Tuesday was my long boring day.

Wednesday was crazy. And cold, rainy, and windy. Which was a nice change from the usual heat. Plus, I got to wear a scarf. I usually drive up to the Ai for my Art History II class on Wednesdays at 1 pm, but this week we were going to have a non-mandatory field trip to the Blanton Art Museum on MLK on the UT campus to see the exhibit called “Turner to Monet,” which I was excited about. Oh yeah, and Wednesday was also the day my mom woke me up by calling me at 9:30 and was like TYLER FROM JENNY AND TYLER COMMENTED ON YOUR PICTURE ASKING TO BUY IT FROM YOUUUGYUBFD!!! Which has to be one of the best things ever to wake up to in the morning, haha. Anyway, we were supposed to meet at the museum at 2, but I was running late and got there at like 2:20. When I was walking up to the museum, I walked past my professor going the other direction and was like, wait, are we touring the museum today? And she said that she waited and I was the only one to show up and she had other things to do so she would give me extra credit. And I was like, okay! Then I called Riley, JM, Megan, and Lindsay, and they were all busy. So I went to the museum by myself. The exhibit was a bit confusing, because even though it was called “Turner to Monet,” I can’t remember actually seeing any Turner or Monet paintings… Then I went and walked through the Roman art section, and the Renaissance art section, and the Modern art section, and the random line art section that was cool. All the exhibits were pretty good. They didn’t have very many impressionist paintings though, which are my favorite. After that, I picket up Megan Hanlon and we had lunch at the Mellow Mushroom, which had great pizza. Then we walked all over the UT campus, saw Sid, found out that every tree on UT’s grounds has a small metal circle nailed into it with a number on it, and climbed #2148 I think it was. Then we walked to a starbucks.

At this point it was like 6:30, and Megan went back to her apartment and I went and had dinner with JM in Jester (his and Riley’s dorm). Then I went and hung out with him and RIley until like 10:30. It was good. I haven’t talked to them really since the weekend Trey was visiting. So yeah, then I drove back home and painted a shirt for my Thursday class. Then Thursday morning I finished my piano sculpture thing. Or, at least, made is presentable enough to turn in. I think I’ll probably change it up when I get it back.

Oh, also, I found the perfect tree in the greenbelt behind my apartment complex. Score.

Anyway, that was my week, and I still have this weekend! How was your week?

What Have You Been Doing Lately? Your Life Could Use Improving Greatly.

I’ve got so much on my mind right now!

Just a short update: Austin is feeling more and more like home. God is good, and, I’m learning, more in control than I give him credit for. I’m learning, if nothing else, that there is so much I don’t know and don’t fully understand about Christianity and it’s exciting and beautiful. I had a conversation with Riley today on the drive back from Houston about how there are many things that we don’t realize are such crazy gifts from God for us to enjoy (music, art, and others). That conversation had many more topics in it but it would take forever to recap.

I saw the play at Creek last night (AJ was running sound! And Callie was a lead.) And it was very funny. Glad I saw it.

I went to a small group for the Austin Stone on Thursday and it went very well. I really like almost everything about that church.

Two other people’s posts I’ve enjoyed immensely in the last week:
On Creativity and Masculinity by Adam Amberg
and
Aptin’s Feast by Sarah Clarkson (via The Rabbit Room)

Both of these posts made me want to yell “Yes! Thank you!” Adam’s because I’ve always kind of struggled with the whole america-not-viewing-art-as-masculine thing, and Sarah’s because I’ve feel very strongly about Christian community and I think her assertions at the end of her post are very correct.

What did you think about those posts? Or about this one? Or, how are you? haha.

Fall Quarter Classes!

So, after much fanfare and nonsense, I have finally signed up for classes in the fall quarter at the Art Institute of Austin! Finally! They got my credits transferred over and not everything is good, so here’s what my weeks will look like:

Monday – Editorial Design, 6p – 10p
Tuesday – Web Design for Designers, 8a – 12p
Layout II, 1p – 5p
Wednesday – Art History II, 1p – 5p
Thursday – Conceptual Imagery, 1p – 5p

I’m very excited, to say the least. less than 48 hours until I move!

Currently hearing: Don’t Say That by The Autumn Film
Currently Seeing: A bunch of silver, white and black apple products that make up my computer setup and the dining room table that will soon by mine in the apartment I’m moving into. Also, a view of my kitchen and living room that I won’t be seeing half as often come Saturday.
Book Update: Since I last posted info about books I’m reading, I have finished Watchmen which was quite a good read, though mostly very depressing, but in a reflective way. Also, I finished rereading Out of the Silent Planet and have started rereading Perelandra, which is probably my favorite book.

I’m Shaking With Anticipation

Or maybe it’s that I just had two cups of coffee.

Well, internets, it’s been almost two months since I last blogged on here. (I posted a short blurb of art I’ve been working on over at mere, but other than that the blago-well has been quite dry.) Anyway, since my last update I’ve made many a life decision. Or at least one.

Internet; I’m moving to Austin.

Not to be melodramatic (but hey, it’s so much fun!). But yeah, I move in two weeks to a place that I am honestly more ready for than I no what to do about it. It’s all I can do not to pack up everything right now and just sleep on the floor for the next two weeks and hope it flies by. Alas, then my books would be unavailable and that would make the process move much more slowly.

But I digress.

In case you were wondering, I got the last keyboard on the list in my last post last week, and she plays like a dream. My family and friends have apparently decided I need to name her–we’ll see about that one. I’m terrible at naming things on purpose. It would have to just fall into my lap and be automatically perfect. Anyway.

I’m slowly amassing things necessary for an apartment. A vacuum. Appliances and cookware. towels and a desk. Have I ever mentioned how much I like organizing things? Oh! Did I tell you Nathan’s gonna move in with me come December? Oh, the musical history lessons I’m going to unintentionally get…haha.

I think I may have a few blogs coming down the pipeline for mere, yet. So watch for them!

Even though I know your heart is breaking
for a little while still you must be whole.

If this was a tweet it would be followed by “#melodrama.”

Forgive me!

Currently Reading:
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart
Grace Walk by Steve McVey

Currently Staring at:
Coquelicots (Poppies) by Claude Monet
A tiny map of Narnia on a magnet.
A very large amount of notecards and envelopes with which I will be writing letters.

Keyboard/Piano Hunting

I’ve been scouring the internets for the last few days in my free time for a good, cheap keyboard. Both of those qualifications are hard to come by together. Good gravy.

Currently, I don’t own my own keyboard. I have a digital piano at my house that my parents bought when I started taking piano lessons forever ago, but it has two keys that don’t work. One plays about five-hundred times louder than all the rest, and the other plays much quieter. Anyway, it’s from like the 80s or something. It’s very old for a digital piano.

So, I’m looking for something new. And I have unrealistically high standards. I want it to be cheap, I want it to be good quality, and I want it to have well-weighted keys. I also want it to have synth-ish capabilities. Too much to ask in one keyboard? Probably. Oh yeah, I also want it to be reasonably portable. Any suggestions?

I’ve been mostly looking at KORGs, because the keyboard I used in the student bands was a great KORG that I am quite partial to, and that’s all I really have to go off of. But, there’s also a Keytar from Roland (They’re now called “Shoulder Synths,” and I would love to have one. I think that would be the funnest thing ever to have in the band at Kids Camp! And in general…) Anyway, here’s what I’ve looked at so far: (They’re all about the same price, except for the keytar)

The Roland AX-Synth
I have always wanted a Keytar. The problem is, if I get this one, I won’t have a legit keyboard to play in Austin. Also, it only has 4 octaves; another reason that it wouldn’t work as a legit piano. I still think it would be awesome for kids camp though. Also, it’s too expensive for me: $1,200? I don’t think so. All the rest of the keyboards on this list are about half that.

The KORG X50
Okay, this keyboard just looks awesome. All the reviews I saw said that it was a great keyboard. They all said that it has a really great sound bank, but that the action is terrible. As in, the keys are barely weighted at all and don’t register as quickly as they should. Also, this keyboard is only 10 lbs. So it’s extremely portable. Also, it has 5 octaves, so it’s more playable than the 4 octave AX-Synth.

The KORG PS60
Another decent 5 octave keyboard, except this one has a BUILT IN LOOP STATION.

The KORG microSTATION
This is basically a smaller version of the last one.

The Roland JUNO-Di
This keyboard is just another reasonable one. Relatively inexpensive, but not badly made from the looks of it. 5 octaves.

The KORG SP-250
Okay, this one is different from all the rest of them. It’s actually a digital piano. It supposedly has the best kind of weighted keys of any digital piano. It doesn’t have very much of a selection for sounds, but it isn’t a synthesizer, so it’s not really supposed to have a bunch of sounds besides piano, strings and a few other patches. It also has a built in stand, which is cool.

Anyway, let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions for keyboards! I’m still looking…

Here at the End of All Things

Okay, well, The End of All Things is a tad dramatic, but that’s kind of how I’m feeling.

I have one week left of classes at the Art Institute.
I’m moving to Austin at the beginning of Fall.
I have started researching churches in Austin.
So much is changing at HNW!
I’ll have to find a new job.
All my just-graduated senior friends will not necessarily be here when I come back to visit.

I feel like I shouldn’t have to go through this all again, I just did this last summer! dag nabbit. I guess I’ll just have to keep reminding myself everything ended up being fine this year, so why wouldn’t it happen again?

Good things:
Austin is amazing for Artists/Musicians. (and anyone remotely extroverted.)
I have/will have friends in Austin already!
While I’m not happy about leaving this college ministry in Houston, (I’m enjoying it immensely!) the prospect of finding a new church is kind of exciting.
The Art Institute of Austin is further along than the one here, soo…that should be a good thing. (Plus, they have the culinary program = free food! )

As is life, I suppose: Always changing.
In the immortal words of AJ, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave.”