Update @ MindSay

Right. This is the first of my updates on the progress of my album, and I'm also going to give you a good little tip for sound on Youtube :)

I have decided to choose 4 songs from the ones I uploaded to Youtube. I've chosen 3 already, and those songs are as follows:

Broadcast fantasy - Jeffstunes

Don't wish it away - Jeffstunes

Sight Or Sound - Jeffstunes

I'm going to make a short list of three other songs and put them to a vote. So effectively, the fourth will be chosen by voters.

I've now completed 2 other songs so far. They are "You think it's all over". Which is an adaptation of a song I wrote 2 years ago. The original version of this song was played on Spirit FM several times, which covers West Sussex in the UK. The second of those songs is "Soaked to the bone". I finished that one yesterday.

So just 4+ songs to go. I've got some tracks in mind. Some of them have been half developed so hopefully they wont take too long. It would be nice if I could finish them by the end of next week, but it will probably take me longer.

OK. Here's that tip for Youtube.

For those of you who upload songs in stereo to Youtube, and get disappointed when the audio comes out in mono, and lower quality. You might find it interesting to know that Youtube do have a higher quality version of your video.

When you make links to your videos, you will normally use the video URL. To get the higher quality version, all you have to do is add "&fmt=18" to the end of the URL. I suppose it's possible to do that with the embedding as well, but I haven't attempted that yet.

Here's an example for you. This is a link to one of my original songs:

Don't wish it away - Jeffstunes

Now the same song with the addition of "&fmt=18" to the URL

Don't wish it away - Jeffstunes

Can you hear the difference?

Now for my youtube figures.

My subscribers are now at 670.

My channel views are moving faster now, and are currently at 14,702.

My total video viewings are increasing by over 1,000 views a day now and are now at 221,328.

More updates on the album progress coming soon :)

Prayers! Many will scoff at the statement "I'll keep you in my prayers" saying that it's just a string of words with no meaning whatsoever. But those who scoff cannot explain why they are working for my family, my Dad, my Mom, and all the thousands of others who need prayer who we offer prayer up for on a regular basis.

It goes without saying that the power of prayer is largely a spiritual and emotional power, something very intangible that you cannot see, you cannot touch, and you simply could not write down, take a picture of or provide proof or evidence of if you had to do so.  I don't know why I believe that prayers work, but I know they do.  I can't tell you what exactly has to be said in order for a prayer to be valid, or if it has to be said at a certain time of day, with one facing a certain direction, head bowed exactly so many degrees to a left angle in order for the prayers to be effective, but I know, deep within my heart and soul that they work.  I know as surely as I know my name that prayers work, and while the technicality of how or why escapes me, I just know.

I'm not a church going person.  I have given up on the "organized" crime um, er religion yeah, that's the right word, religion that I was raised with, but the one thing I have not given up on is the fact that I believe in a higher power, and I believe in the power of faith and prayer.  I see how comforting going to church is for my Mom, especially now that Dad is so seriously ill.  I see how my going with her gives her comfort, even though she knows that the physical act of going with her brings me nothing but knowing that I kept her company and said my own prayers while I was there.  I see how her faith and the prayers she says give her the strength to keep going up to see Dad, on the good days as well as the bad ones, remaining stoic and not breaking down in his presence.  Most of all, I see how the power of prayer, faith, and love bring people together in a common goal.............to unite for a loved one's recovery, to pray for a country in dire straits, to give strength to those going through crisis in their lives, and while I cannot discount medical science and all that it contributes to the equasion, I cannot and will not say that it was that medical science that was solely responsible for all the success of any given recovery, or step of progress.

In the past month, I have seen my Father come as close to death as I have ever seen any loved one come.  I have seen my siblings and extended family rally around one another to support and strengthen each other.  I have also had some very dear and close relationships, and friendships be crushed, leaving me let down and heartbroken.  However, through it all, I have never stopped praying, and the friends and loved ones I have known have all been sustained by prayer.  We have had strangers, people from all over the country praying for us thanks to the internet, Mindsay, Myspace, email, and other networks we belong to, we have people who we love and have befriended praying for a man and family they have never yet met.  AND IT'S WORKING!

Today was a good day.  Yesterday was a horrible day.  (see my last blog if you don't believe me).  This morning my Father felt very well, was talking up a storm and even had the occupational therapist help him phone my Mom at home!  What a grand surprise and joy that was for her.  She went to visit him and while yesterday he was saying "I don't think I'm going to make it" and we were in fear of his mental ability and will to keep fighting....today dawned on a much brighter day. 

So, today, I want to thank all of you, every single one, who has uttered even the simplest of prayers for me, my Dad, or my family, and tell you that YES, PRAYER DOES INDEED WORK! The doctors told us that this would be an extremely long and slow road to recovery, so we do need to pace ourselves in terms of the good days and the bad days.  But I wanted to give a good, positive and uplifting update for a change.  Dad's kidneys are still struggling, they may have to put him on temporary dialysis to cleanse his kidneys to see if that will "refresh" the kidneys as they seem to work one day and not so well the next.  So there will be more ups and downs, and the end result could still be a good bye from this world.  However, PRAYER will get us all through this!

I sometimes have trouble accepting the saying that God never gives us more than we can handle.  Someone truly enlightened me today and I want to share it with all of you.  I am going to try to have more confidence in my ability to deal with things and know that God will be fair with what I am expected to carry.  She told me this:

"God truly does not give us more than we can handle--he just has a lot more confidence in us than we have in ourselves."

Keep praying, and thank you!  PM

To anyone who is someone and everyone who are my friends you are someone to this somebody. Did that make any sense? Anyway, just a short note to let you all know I won't be blogging this weekend much if at all, this is the weekend before my wife leaves for vacation for ten days without me.....gee I'm sad.....Haha....NO, I'll miss her but I always enjoy solitude when I can get it, but this weekend I told her I'd spend it with her before she leaves so it will be movies, endless conversations about her work and people I don't know and could care less about (god I'm a heartless bastard) and maybe a little play if you know what I mean. Break out the Viagra!!!!!!!!!!  Haha.......just kidding. Maybe.

So to all of you somebodies, have a pleasant weekend and I'll catch you up on Monday. Hopefully.