...which'll probably be somewhere b/w 6-8am, I'll have gone FOUR DAYS without a cigarrette! That's all. I just wanted you to know.

Well, I've gone like 16 years without smoking anything. Beat that ;)

JV

Jesus Tap-Dancing Christ! You should be proud of me son! I could choke a nun right now, but I'm still fighting it! Haha, I know you were being sarcastically supportive. I just wanted you to know that I haven't fallen off the wagon, and to let you know that March 12 will be exactly 3 months from the day I quit, so you can start critiquing my voice again.

Hey, I'm proud of you bro! :D Great work!

And remember, if you fall off the horse and have a smoke it is -not- the end of the world! Take a few puffs, then throw the thing away and renew your promise not to do it again :D.

Yeah, I appreciate it Anthony. It's weird coming from you though, cuz you jumped my ass about the smoking thing before Jaime did. Hahaha.

Anyways, I'm trying to hold out as long as possible. I still want one, but I can control it better. In 5 hours from now, it'll have been 5 days since my last cigarrette.

It shouldn't seem -that- weird! After all, my pissing on and bitching at you was, from the very start, meant to get you to stop smoking, so now that you've stopped and haven't smoked in four whole days (!!!) why wouldn't I be thrilled?


I'm really looking forward to hearing the difference in your voice... you already sound incredible, but I'm convinced you'll have even more to work with now.

Let's hope so! I actually went out last night with a friend to do some Karaoke. We only ended up doing two songs, but it was really interesting.

The first song I did was "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers. I had noticed a fairly different tonality to my voice, and it kinda bothered me. I realize that my voice will have to go through a healing process, though, from my quitting smoking. I just hope that tonality I had will be achievable once again.

That was the negative I noticed. Here's the positive.

The second song we did was "Bohemian Rhapsody." I won't say that I was flawless or anything, but it all came together beautifully. And the REALLY good thing I noticed was...typically after holding out that A5 in the past, my voice would kinda act like "Whoa, that's enough for right now!" So as soon as the "rock" portion of the song kicked in, I would strain those few lines until the song calmed back down.

I'm not saying that A5 was the easiest thing to do, but I didn't really feel strained afterward for the "rock" lyrical part.

Thus far, my voice has experienced some good AND bad. Let's hope I'll find a way to rekindle the tonality at some point! Thanx for all your support, bro. I'll keep you posted.

If you do end up breaking dow and smoking a cigarette, it's like Anthony said, you are still doing great. Although that wold breech our three month contract ;) But, I must tell you, I've cheated a bit lately wth caffeine and I am very caffeine sensitive, so I've scalded myself. It really messes with my singing voice, and Ive got some stuff coming up where I need to be at the top of my game, so I've straightened up. Maybe when I'm off cafeine for three months, I'll send you a video Brandon ;) As far as the tone thing....Quit whinin and quit worryin ;)

JV

I ain't whinin' son! ;) Anyways, as I'm writing this, I've now gone SIX DAYS w/o a cigarrette! I'm doing pretty well. I still want a cigarrette all the time, but I've reached the point where I can control it. There are times when I'm arguing w/someone, or if I'm in any situation that's kinda emotional or heated, I wanna break down and smoke. My uncle died last week, so things are kinda tense around here. Quitting smoking at a time like this is even MORE difficult, but the fact that I'm still hanging in there is a testament to myself, so YAY!

Anyways, I'd LOVE to see a video with you singing. To be COMPLETELY HONEST, I tend to learn things a little quicker when I see an example of whatever it is someone's trying to teach me. Seeing you sing, I think, would be a huge help to those on this board to learn by seeing how YOU sing. I think it would easily present exactly what you mean by full voice, mixed, and so forth...for you to put it in song form.

I also have to admit, it'd be cool to hear YOU do some of those Middle Eastern scales, just so I can see how YOU would approach it;)

I think you have a better grasp on the pentatonic scalkes that I do:)

JV

Would you like for me to teach you how? HAHAHA!!!

If it makes you feel any better, you've probably got a better grasp on pretty much everything else, vocally;)

Well, I've gone like 16 years without smoking anything. Beat that

*flexes*
30 years, beyotch.