Hey all, I entered a contest a while back to meet Jake and i'm now in the 8 finalists! I'd appreciate if you'd take a look 
Here's the full script that I had typed out, if it interests any of you (I had to cut out and rewrite a bunch of it to meet time restrictions)
I started playing ukulele when I was 4, 5 maybe. I was living in Oxnard, California at the time, and literally all of my family had some musical talent. When I first started playing the ukulele, I didn't take the instrument very seriously. I was playing mostly Filipino pop songs that my parents would teach me. When I was seven, I moved to the city of Allen, Texas and dropped the ukulele. For years, I played guitar and bass as a way to express myself and cope with the bullies at school. Just before my 13th birthday, I came across a video of Jake Shimabukuro playing "Crazy G", and it reminded me of the small ukulele I played back home. I browsed through more videos of Jake playing, and without hesitation I bought a cheap Lanikai ukulele. I had a thought that I would never become as talented as him, but this thought did not stop me from trying. Pretty quickly, I became pretty good at the instrument and the people who watched me play were fascinated (although this makes me chuckle a little because the most impressive song I knew how to play was the tetris theme song). From the first time I played my ukulele in public, I noticed a huge amount of people getting their own cheap ukes; it was almost as if I had started a sort of... ukulele revolution in the small town of Allen. When I heard that CAAM (Center for Asian American Media) was holding a contest to meet Jake in San Francisco, my practice times went from minutes per day to hours per day. I remember not even getting to my homework because my ukulele was distracting me. I was chosen as a finalist in that first contest, but the amazing Dominator had taken the first place prize. The same situation happened for the next Jake contest: I practiced like crazy, and lost. I do admit, I was about bitter about the loss of the second contest, so in my state of frustration I practiced more and more because I wanted to be the best ukulele player of them all. Watching Jake really inspired me to push myself forward musically. Since I discovered him, my understanding of music has improved exponentially, even though the instrument i'm best at is considered the simplest of all.
That is how Jake Shimabukuro has impacted my life!...
Here's the full script that I had typed out, if it interests any of you (I had to cut out and rewrite a bunch of it to meet time restrictions)
I started playing ukulele when I was 4, 5 maybe. I was living in Oxnard, California at the time, and literally all of my family had some musical talent. When I first started playing the ukulele, I didn't take the instrument very seriously. I was playing mostly Filipino pop songs that my parents would teach me. When I was seven, I moved to the city of Allen, Texas and dropped the ukulele. For years, I played guitar and bass as a way to express myself and cope with the bullies at school. Just before my 13th birthday, I came across a video of Jake Shimabukuro playing "Crazy G", and it reminded me of the small ukulele I played back home. I browsed through more videos of Jake playing, and without hesitation I bought a cheap Lanikai ukulele. I had a thought that I would never become as talented as him, but this thought did not stop me from trying. Pretty quickly, I became pretty good at the instrument and the people who watched me play were fascinated (although this makes me chuckle a little because the most impressive song I knew how to play was the tetris theme song). From the first time I played my ukulele in public, I noticed a huge amount of people getting their own cheap ukes; it was almost as if I had started a sort of... ukulele revolution in the small town of Allen. When I heard that CAAM (Center for Asian American Media) was holding a contest to meet Jake in San Francisco, my practice times went from minutes per day to hours per day. I remember not even getting to my homework because my ukulele was distracting me. I was chosen as a finalist in that first contest, but the amazing Dominator had taken the first place prize. The same situation happened for the next Jake contest: I practiced like crazy, and lost. I do admit, I was about bitter about the loss of the second contest, so in my state of frustration I practiced more and more because I wanted to be the best ukulele player of them all. Watching Jake really inspired me to push myself forward musically. Since I discovered him, my understanding of music has improved exponentially, even though the instrument i'm best at is considered the simplest of all.
That is how Jake Shimabukuro has impacted my life!...
