Nearing the finish line

Now that I have been working on the song, I have the entire opening done, as well as the first verse, chorus, and the end. So I have the whole song because it repeats a lot of the same notes. Since it is so repetitive I've decided to cut most the middle of the song that repeats a lot, so I've compiled my own kind of like arrangement for the song. I've gotten it memorized and even performed it to several people for feedback, I've been told that it sounds good and with a little more work on precision on hitting the keys it would be flawless. A lot of my success comes from the fact that I've really wanted to learn how to play the piano, especially this song. This song, This Is Gospel by Panic! At The Disco, has been one of my favorite songs for the longest time. I listened to P!ATD before, but it was when I heard This Is Gospel, I knew I had found a gem. Another thing is I don't force myself to work on it, if  I don't feel like playing then I take a break. Most of the time, however, I do feel like playing. I've always had a love and talent for music, I only wish to make myself the best version of me.

Right now I am working on getting the chords and notes down to play the song. I actually got my piano out yesterday and started playing a little bit. I am mostly using YouTube as a teacher and watching instructional videos. Yesterday I also printed the sheet music for This Is Gospel, so I can work on learning and playing that. I've been pretty successful on learning the right hand part, despite being left handed. I will learn that part and memorize it then I'll add the left hand chords. The biggest struggle right now is memorizing the music, I have the lyrics down pretty well but I can't get the piano chords especially memorized. One solution to this would be to record me playing the song with the music and then singing it over the recording. My priest quorum adviser has a professional level recording studio in his basement and he's told me that if I ever wanted to record or do anything with a studio that I could use his studio, so I could have him help me.

A change of plans

So I've decided that I am not going to build something for my project, I am still going to build my custom four wheeler, but for the project I want to learn a song on the piano and perform and sing it. The song I have chosen to learn is the piano version of This Is Gospel by Panic! At The Disco. I will probably still be putting updates on the four wheeler project. The reason I am changing my project is because my business is a summer job and so I don't earn any money during the winter, and no money means no progress. So I decided to switch to something that I can do without much money, at least for the timed project. It will also be easier to present to judges for scholarships, instead of having to clean and shine and spend money on chrome and pretty looking parts, I will just have to make sure I know the song and can perform it.

A WHOLE NEW TERM!!! A NEW FANTASTIC POINT OF.... This should have died before it started. But anyway, I'm back and starting to work on my project again. I have one change that I am going to make, instead of building a go-kart I'm going to rebuild the four-wheeler and the money I save on not building a frame, will go towards upgrades and repairs to the four-wheeler itself. It will also save a lot more time, I'm hoping. Another thing it will do is give me more opportunity to do more professional style work that would look better on a mechanical resume.

a rut in the road

So recently I've been a little stuck with making progress on the go kart, the reason being I work a job where I do a weekly service then at the end of the month I send out bills. Well I have a couple months worth of billing out for most my clients and i'm just waiting for them to pay me so I can start ordering parts and get the frame built. I also need to get time to trailer the four wheeler to the shop where I plan on doing most if not all of the building of the go kart. I have done some more work tearing down the four wheeler, I have the battery off, as well as the gas tank and the air induction system. I've also removed many of the breather tubes for the transmission and the carburetor. So I'll continue to work on tearing down the so I can get the parts that I need off the four wheeler.

I have chosen the steel I want to use. I have chosen to get structural square tubing, I chose square because it's a lot easier to cut and weld into structurally sound frames. It has 1 inch by 1 inch width and height and is 14 gauge, which one beam will hold up to 300 lbs, so my triangular frame will hold up just great. It comes in two twelve foot pieces for 25.71, I will need about five or six of them. which will cost a lot but is not too much, I plan on shopping around to see if I can get a better deal. Once I have the steel then I can transport everything to the shop and I can start design then after that I can start construction of the frame and fitting all the pieces together. I am excited to start with this phase and the final stretch is coming into view.

This is the sample picture for the steel I am currently planning on using.

So I've had little to no time to do actual work on the go kart so I've been drawing a rough sketch in the time that I do have. It's not perfect and will more than likely have many revisions and edits. For now it just gets me thinking about how I'm going to design it all. The only thing I don't think will change is the overall design of the frame because I have it shaped to fit the engine and transmission setup from the four wheeler. I also have the frame designed to fit the current suspension and steering for the kart, I might change the front shock mounting bars but it will still have the same general feel to it. I also will be talking to my mentor to see how much support steel framing I will have to have so it will be sturdy but not too heavy and sluggish. I want the kart to be safe and last long even if it goes through a little rough riding, but I still want to keep it relatively light so the engine and transmission can handle it and go decently fast.