...things are looking up.

A few months ago, I couldn't say that. I had all sorts of things that would get me down on a daily basis. Work, not seeing the kids, not having time for anything fun, my house, bills. All of that was a huge stress pile of blah.

Home of the World Champion Green Bay Packers.

Now things are looking a lot better. April is quite a nice month for me right now as it stands. Homework and school aside, I know it will be good.

Tonight will be my 4th hockey game of the year, the third one with the lady. I really like that she can go to sporting events with me and enjoy them. We've been to three Brewer games, a Packer game in the luxury box, and three Admirals games just this year. It is a perk working where I work and getting free tickets to these things!

Work seems to be heading in the right direction now as well. The plan is slowly coming in to place. One more week and the whole building will be calling one spot for help. Just the way we want it.

This weekend is a trip to the big city, and what do we plan on doing? Whatever we want. Most of it will be spent in the hotel because it's a very nice one. We're going to just kick back, relax, watch movies, do our homework, and not think about life at home.

...I know I still got it.

We ran across an issue at work that could have been catastrophic. I seem to have this knack for being able to solve tech problems. I will work and research until I think I find the best possible solution, test it, then present it to the people who wanted the solution in the first place.

It's good to know I can still do the tech work after being put in to a manager role so many years ago.

...I was told a really bad joke. So I had to share.

I prefer mine Greek.

A pan of muffins is baking in the oven.

One of the muffins starts screaming "AAAHHHHH WE'RE BURNING UP!!!!"

Another one of the muffins, hearing the screaming yells "AAAHHHHH A TALKING MUFFIN!!!!"

...it was tattoo day!

I had a couple things going on today. I kinda crashed and burned in class, but other than that, it was a good day. Went to the doctor for the first time in years, hopefully now we are on our way to recovery for my knee. I have other things getting checked out too that have been a long time coming, so that is good too. But, one of the best parts about today was that it was tattoo day.

DEMON!

Tom Aldana does some awesome work over at Superstar Tattoo in Milwaukee. He's going to be the one to finish my arm. I went to him back in 2009 to have my phoenix done, and it's been awesome ever since. He got me to believe in color. I've been a black and red guy for a long time, but he made me break out of that shell with the tiger, and then coloring in the phoenix. I held off for a bit due to funds, but told him that when it was time, the demon needed to be next. 

It's not in a fun spot. I have most of my back done, an quite a bit on my arm. This one went on the inner bicep. It was fine until we started shading, then it got painful. I think it is the most pain Tom has put me through to date. That's a super tender area. I thought it was bad when the phoenix was done and got right on the tricep. This was worse.

So, now it's time to heal once again. We already started planning on the rest of the arm. My dragon needs a touch up, the koi do as well. From that point we start in on the backfill and get this thing done. Then again, for those who have ink... you never really are done, are you?

...music just has a way to make me feel good.

Falken

Music is the thing that moves me. It is my oldest love. One that will never go away. Playing live is something I just enjoy doing. It's an outlet for me. If I am sad, or angry, or depressed, I snap out of it right away.

It is something that transcends language. Take most of the German industrial and EBM bands that are out there. I speak English, but I still listen to the music. Why? It's the beat and the melodies behind all of it that makes me move. I'll be seeing Rammstein in May. I saw them the last time they toured the US. It's great music. I've watched countless videos of their European shows. But it doesn't matter to me that I don't understand what is being said in the words because it is being FELT in the sound that is pounding through me. KMFDM, AndOne, Quarashi, and many more I've listened to just because the music is that good.

Sometimes you don't even need words at all when you're writing. That is the approach I've used when writing my music. I tend to think music first, words last.... or never. All but one of my songs are instrumental. The song that does have lyrics, I'm hidden by a vocoder so people don't hear my voice and it sounds like an instrument more than a vocal line. It's just how I work (shameless plug http://www.myspace.com/falkensmind yeah I know, myspace, but that's where the music lives).

I'll be making more of my solo stuff soon. I have to. When? I have no idea. School is trying to take away all free time right now. But, rest assured. Falken is not going away. It's ever evolving.

Hopefully my music will spark something in a kid somewhere so that they learn to want to listen to everything they can and determine what they like.

The drive home will be great tonight, I already have my playlist ready...