August 13th

When we got back home after the elimination show we ate dinner and Ty's mentor, Joan Kilcommons, surprised him with a visit. She was really cool and it's amazing to see that Ty still keeps in touch with her. Ty is such a great human being inside and out and I feel so lucky to get to spend this much time with his creative soul.

Later, Dave Navarro showed up at the mansion and BOOM! Clinic… This week’s clinic was songwriting and here is how it played out. Ty was chosen as leader because he got the encore. Ty chose me as his first partner. Navarro was clever and switched it so that Ty's choice became the leader of the other team. When our side was realized it was me, Jordis, J.D. & Jessica, I definitely thought we were the bad seed group. A solid core as well. Andrew Farriss wrote the instrumental and I was moved. It was a simple grove with a few nice guitar hooks. We all started working and developing ideas. About an hour and a half into the writing process J.D. didn't like the flow because he wasn't able to control us as a group. He flew off the handle a bit and decided to leave and not take part of the song. I was bummed that we lost his potential for creativity and all of the drama had cost the group over 2 hours of time. Jordis, Jessica & I were set-back but not out of the picture yet. We worked for about 2 hours more on writing the tune and in the last 17 minutes we tracked the song with no time to spare. When it was over it was a relief and I went and hung-out in Brandon's old room with Ty, MiG, Suzie, Deanna & Jordis. Once again felt the loss of Brandon.

In the next part of the clinic with Navarro and Andrew Farriss we found out we were going to perform the song for Andrew and Navarro so Jordis, Jessica and I worked it out. Group one did their song and nailed their poppy ditty, it was a really fun tune. Our team performed our version and I loved it for the simplicity and rawness of the tune. Jordis has a killer voice and turned it on in the difficult stress of the situation at hand. J.D. then sang his version of the song and included pieces that we all as a group collaborated on. That made me feel good to hear that he kept those melodies and lyrics in his vision. I respected that.

We ended up losing the clinic challenge but I didn't care. I learned a lot from the experience and am happy with the way I handled myself through all the stress. Not the best song I ever helped to write but proud we persevered and continued the song through complications. The winning songwriting team took a limo ride over to a posh restaurant to have a 5-course dinner. Jordis, Jessica and I hung out with our feet in the hot tub and just talked for over an hour. It was really nice to have the house to ourselves. J.D. made peanut butter & banana sandwiches for us.

When Ty, Deanna, MiG & Suzie got home from dinner it was time for song selection. We walked in and saw envelopes with our names on them. When I finally got a peek inside I saw I was given "…Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears. I just about dropped dead right there on the floor. What the heck am I going to do with that song. I heard a band called Travis did an acoustic version. I just didn’t want this to feel like a gimmick tune. I usually start to work on the song immediately but with this one I took a walk around the Mansion grounds and collected my head. Safe to say I was freaking out about having to do this. I sat down in the backyard and listened to the song and started working. Most of us singers were not thrilled with the songs we were given. But, this was a test of will so I figured I'd give it my best shot. Jordis, Suzie, Ty and I chilled out in Brandon’s old room for a while and eventually passed out. Next morning was rehearsal day and I started memorizing lyrics and melodies to my song. I went running by the basketball courts for an hour. Jordis walked down and we talked overlooking the Hollywood sign for an hour.

After dinner everyone went to Rokbar. Rokbar is a club owned by Dave Navarro and Tommy Lee. I had too much work to do on my song so I stayed back and got working. It was nice to have the house to myself. The rehearsal of "…Baby One More Time" went better than expected. Happy that I stayed in and worked on the song. We will see how my version goes over.