Gavin Mikhail's Blog
My son, the party, and the lost files...
So, over the past couple weeks, we've been wrapping up the first new full-production release, and this past Saturday was spent putting the finishing touches on the vocals. Around 4 o'clock, happy with how everything was sounding and ready to take a break, I decided to call it a day and go get ready for a birthday party friends of ours were having for their daughter (side note: nothing says 'party' like a 2-year-old Disney princess themed soiree... awesome... :). At any rate, as I was shutting down the studio, I figured I'd backup the files, a process that usually takes about 5-6 minutes. So I hit start, turned around, and headed up the stairs. Encountering my 2-year-old son, Renn, about halfway up the stairs, he glanced at me as if to simply say 'Hey Dad... just headin' down to the office... got some paperwork to catch up on...' Now USUALLY... I never let him go down to the studio by himself. Between the drumkit, piano, and various other pieces of gear, there are about a thousand things for him to destroy. But we were already running late, and since I'm the REASON we're always late, I figured it was more important to just get ready fast and grab him on the way out. And I mean... c'mon... how much could he destroy in 5 minutes anyway? (can you tell where this is going yet?)
Ok, so a few minutes later we're ready to go, and my wife (always leading the charge) is the first one downstairs. In a moment that couldn't possibly have been more slo-mo-movie-esque had it been scripted, I hear Barb shout 'Oh, no NO, Honey! That's Daddy's compuuuuuuuuuuter!' Immediately rushing down the stairs, I see my son, huge smile on his face, banging his hands up and down on the computer keyboard. 'I play piano, Daddy!' he shouts at me in unadulterated glee... Running to my computer (not unlike a gazelle fleeing certain death on the African grassland), I immediately notice something missing... two words... BEYOND YOU. No files. None. Zero. Gone. Now, if you've ever had that moment when you're finishing the last paragraph on a 10-page paper and your computer crashes on you... you know how I felt in that moment. :) My stomach dropped to somewhere around my ankles, and shaking, I began searching frantically for the missing folder. Scanning the hard drive, I noticed that although the folder was THERE... it was much SMALLER than it had been before. i.e... most of the audio files were missing. And, upon opening the project file itself, my worst fears were confirmed. Renn had managed (in what HAS to be a statistically remote combination of keystrokes) to not only stop the transfer midway but summarily delete most of the original song as well.
Sooooo, yeah. Let's just say I didn't make it to the birthday party, and the rest of the weekend was spent trying to recover files and rerecord lost tracks. As I told a close friend last night... love my son, I really do. But right now? Mmmm... not so much. :) At this point, the song is back on track, but we definitely need a bit more time to get it to you. Thanks for your understanding, and if there's any moral you can take away from this story... here it is...
RENN + IMPORTANT THINGS = BROKEN
:)
Gavin
ps - when we have more time, I'll share the Renn-started-the-blender-with-the-top-off or Renn-thinks-colored-glue-enhances-our-white-couches stories. 2-year-old boys... oh so easy to manage. :)
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Pamela Andrews 2 years ago
♡°•°• Ðawη °•°•♡ 2 years ago
Anna 2 years ago
~Whitney~
But i don't know if you listen to country but think about the darius rucker (i think i spelled that right) song. It won't be like this for long. All too soon he'll be all grown up.
2 years ago
deb Oh my, that is truely a great story of what 2 year olds can do am glad you are getting it back on the pc but know it will take a bit of time write this one down for the record books an i am sure when Renn is older you will tell him how "Beyond You" changed all of your lives
2 years ago
Jessica Dye that sounds like quite the adventure, gavin. i'm sorry that happened but it sounds like your son is wanting to follow in your footsteps. :) i understand the delay, and i'm sure everyone else will too. thank you for making such wonderful music. :)
2 years ago
Kelli Gibson 
ROFLOL!!!! AS a mother to 4....YES 4 boys, I got the picture just by the title!!!! Hmm would you care to hear the story of the youngest at 2 deciding a full-can-of-coffee-belongs-out-of-can-on-"coffee table", or the what's-this-pin-doing-on-this-fire-extinguisher?, or the ever so popular how-to-use-bleach-toilet-cleaner-to-clean-furniture-and-carpet stories????? Yeah.....boys+ age 2=lucky to be alive!!!!!!!
2 years ago
Dolly K 2 years ago
Ron 2 years ago
Bev Dean 2 years ago
10 of 14MoreHahahaha. Oh kids. Priceless. That truly sucks. That child will be a computer genius one day if he's already worked out how to permanently delete stuff! I'm sorry that he did that to you but the song was worth the wait. :)
kind of reminds me of the time when my washing machine flooded the laundry room, my daughter son got locked in the bathroom, my daughter turned black, and the little boy i was babysitting turned white...all in about a 30-minute span....i just might actually get around to telling that story (which i am now able to laugh at 8 years later..teehee). kids are great...most of the time ;)
Sometimes, when things like that happen to me, even better things come to replace them. Take a deep breath, relax and allow the experience to help you grow in patience, love and endurance.
*Hugs*
Anna,
Mother of Four Sons
Sorry to hear about the set back. I know the feeling, last semester I was working on my powerpoint for a 20 page paper. I was about to preview my slide show and when I go to preview it back the screen goes black and silly me i forgot to save along the way.
love always the ole one Deb
wow! what amazes me is that you can "think out" this story! you are quite the creative one! and even when you probably didn't feel like doing that. but hey... just for future reference... NEXT TIME JUST LOCK THE OFFICE DOOR WHEN YOU LEAVE IT! not yelling at you; this is what my parents did when we were little. not sure which of us was the hooligan, lol.
Been there, done that. Good luck.
We as parents understand Gavin so its ok and I am sorry for whats happened but you did learn your lesson I would say even 5 mins kids can get into stufff can never leave them alone thats for sure. I Look forward to the new song when it comes out!