for everything, there is a season…

Once again, I am a Terrible Awful blogger/lazy bones.

Not that I’ve been actually lazy since last I wrote (which was..??).  I’ve been busy working and reading (a lot) and spending copious amounts of time with my family, both of my grandmothers, and several of my friends, all after studying and acing finals and finishing off my freshman year of college.

Thus, in honor of that momentous occasion (finishing freshman year was not a super-easy feat), I’ve decided to compile a list of some of the valuable lessons I learned during my months away at college.

A FEW THINGS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT COLLEGE/LIFE/SINGER-SONGWRITERING:

– Temperature control in dorm rooms is nonexistent. (Take it from someone who slept in shorts under a thin sheet and surrounded by ice packs and fans with the window open during the one week that Mississppi got snow.) You sweat in the winter and wear sweaters in the summer, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

– The library printer. Hate it. Appreciate it.

– Get in the bathroom when you have the chance–the click of the door locking from the other side is the last thing you want to hear when you’re running late in the mornings.

– Don’t be afraid to talk to professors.  Most of them want to help, if for no other reason than to NOT have you in their class again.

– Heh.

– The Caf. (Don’t call it “the cafeteria.” Everyone will know you’re a freshman.) The Caf, the Caf, the Caf… Just. Make sure you stock up on your own food.

– Networking is super-important and it can help you meet people who can help you meet people like Hunter Hayes…

– Speaking of Hunter: Always, ALWAYS have a plan just in case a famous-and-extremely-talented individual speaks to you/compliments you. (Remember: Aloe Blacc = no plan = gibberish = Aloe probably thinks you’re mental. Hunter Hayes = plan = intelligent conversation = Hunter does not file a restraining order.)

Seriously, though. I’ve learned so much about, well, myself, in the past year.  Freshman year was a blast and I have no idea how I’ll top winning the Grammy Amplifier contest, performing at SXSW, meeting Aloe Blacc and Allen Stone and Hunter Hayes, sitting in the White House, playing some awesome gigs, getting to know some amazing professors and friends… I don’t know what can top the Awesomeness That Was Freshman Year, but I won’t worry with that for now.

So, hey, an added Bonus List (yay for lists)…

A FEW THINGS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT SUMMER:

– It’s the opportune season to rekindle my love for fresh pineapple (yumyumyum).

– It’s the perfect time to work on my cooking skills, with the assistance of my mostly-patient grandmothers and mother…

– It’s the best season to rise before the sun, if one must. (60 degrees in June at 5:30 a.m. is just so much more enjoyable than 8 degrees in the middle of December.)

– It’s still not the time when I figure out how my room gets so messy, every. single. day.

Meanwhile, I’ll berate myself for being a lazy singer-songwriter and start cleaning my room again. But, before I go, a couple of reminders.

I have a limited number of physical copies of “Wallflower” to sell, and I’d love to get rid of all of these before I start on my next album…which will be…soonish…meaning a few months down the road. If you’d like a physical copy, let me know somehow–either by commenting on my blog or maybe my Facebook page, and I’ll see what I can do to get one to you.

As far as digital downloads go, there’s an unlimited number of those, so don’t be selfish. Share this news with your friends! I’ve already received a couple of checks from my digital distributor (they’re framed on my wall. Just kidding. For real, though, I was proud to get them) which means that several people have already bought and downloaded their copies of my music. Your turn! Just search for “Jessica Faith” on iTunes, Amazon.com, or cdbaby.com, and you can find my music, maybe write a great review (which would be REALLY awesome of you), purchase and download and listen and learn the words so you can sing along when I finally play a gig near you. ;D

I’m sorry I have to give it to you in this awful paragraph from, but I still can’t figure out how to insert the darn widget thingy that links to my music on iTunes and CDBaby…

Anyway. Thanks for reading.  It’s time to clean.

-Jessica Faith