Operation 365... Blog 177

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Archives - 183 Jefferson Jay "Destinies Combined" 2-12-2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiEnK8sOcFw

Today is a red letter day in the 365 big-time. Made it halfway from Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving, 183 days in a row. Excited to start the grand descent. Downhill is tougher in the knees, but easier on time and on the mind. I chose this clip here for today for a few reasons. The main reason is it gives props to my boy Don Truesdail who I haven't spoken about here on the 365in awhile, but is always in my heart and in my soul. Newcomers to the 365 may not know, but Don is one of my best friends. He passed away on January 13, 2009. He was a local songwriter like many of my friends and a music teacher as well. I feel as close to him as ever, if not closer and I wrote this song about the unique way our friendship grew in the year after he died. I finished writing it on January 13, 2010. On the anniversary of his passing, I wrote the lyrics as I sat with his wife, Nancy, another dear friend of mine, staring at the waves off the cliffs by the ocean near my home.

I talk before the song starts about how I'm going to plow ahead, keep going. That's what I intend to do here as well. Life is crazy and unpredictable. Every day lately, I am faced with circumstances I couldn't have possibly imagined days or even minutes before. I am ready for the next challenge in so many ways. I am ready to consummate my reason for being; To connect with people and help facilitate a discussion of meaningful matters that is largely lacking in the popular world today. There are a million channels on TV now and nobody is discussing the real problems in the world and what we can do to solve them. no one is talking about what it takes to be happy in today's world and how we can pull together to make the world a safer, more peaceful place. These changes begin with us, inside our minds. They are deeply personal decisions. It is our world, but until we claim it for ourselves it will just hang there, waiting for someone to do something more relevant than making money and spending it. We are those someones and I intend to do whatever I can in m lifetime to leave this lace better than I found it. I know the odds are against me but I also know anything can happen and I am committed to helping make it so. I am an artist and I care about the world. Now I need to find a way to reach more people and survive that way. It is time. Time that we arrive. Our fates our all connected. Our destinies combined.

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Covers - 183 "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppGbvFoPIUM

Anybody got a guess why I picked "Livin' on a Prayer" to be my cover on this special, halfway-through-the-365-holiday? "Whoa, we're halfway there." If you said that, then you get the Golden Potato, or whatever fictional award one gets for guessing that correctly. Bon Jovi is from New Jersey. So am I. and that means... nothing. No relevance whatsoever. Take my hand and we'll make it. I swear. I do like this song though and I think it works on the banjo.

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Originals - 183 "Impact"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRlzfeU7i4U

I wrote this song last week. Been meaning to post it ever since, but haven't had the chance yet. A couple of times lately, I've been drifting off to sleep when songs pop into my head, the chords, specifically. C G Em... etc... One thing I've learned over my years of creating is that when the moment of inspiration strikes, ignore it at your own risk. So I don't ignore it. I get up and follow my inspiration as far down the road towards completion as I possibly can. When it comes to writing songs, I find, the more you do today, the less you have to do some other day. Procrastination and songwriting are not very cozy bedfellows. So I write my songs all the way to fruition whenever I can. Seize that inspiration.

I like this this song, "Impact." It is about preparing to make your dreams come true now. Essentially preparing for and achieving "Impact." It is an upbeat and fun number, all written late at night. It is about what dreams are and what it takes to make them come true. It says things are always changing, act directly and with love. I realized just now I sang one line wrong and it's an important one. At the end of the bridge the line is, "Live every moment like you feel you must." Amen!

Halfway through the Operation 365 today. Hooray! Can't wait to see what happens. Probably going to be whatever I make happen. And that's a challenge I'm willing to accept.