...what started as a joke, is now something serious.

A long time ago, a friend of mine thought it would be funny if after every post I made he would put the line "rub one out" somewhere in the thread. Well, 6 months later it got shortened to r1o. Mistypes changed it to R10 and so on. There have been many variations of it. So, with that, I recently started really getting in to prog house. I don't know why. I just really like it. So, I have decided to take a stab at it and take Falken to a different area of music than I have in the past. Normally it's dancy/electro/wtf. But, I'm going to blend my own style of prog house with industrial low end nu-metal guitar goodness that I have become known for in to what is going to be a great project for me. I am actually excited. I've learned quite a bit on my own in what spare time I have managed to get together and I know my synths and drum stations better than ever.

So, now what started as a joke is quickly becoming something I enjoy. No longer will I blush or facepalm when I see R10 anywhere.

...it's nice and sunny outside.

Καλό Πάσχα

It's been real crappy lately and it has been affecting my mood. It's still cold, but at least there is sunshine! I'm happy about that. I woke up, felt recharged and ready to face the day. Having the sun out there helps. I do hope it stays like this for a few days. Easter is coming up which means that I'm in store for what looks like a tradition of doing Easter with the lady's family and her extended family. I did this last year after only dating her for a couple of weeks. It was really eye opening to see a different religion and how they do easter...and man, do they do it up big. Mass is held every night from starting with Palm Sunday. The mass itself is not too long (that's what she said.)

This is something I have actually come to enjoy. While I do not actually participate in some of the things that they do, only because I don't know the full meaning behind it nor am I part of the church itself, I understand what is going on. Anyone who has known me for any period of time knows my past with church and religion. So, this is a departure from what I myself have been "comfortable" with.

...according to the doctor, I'm pretty damn healthy.

The only "D" I'll willingly take.

I had my first physical for the first time in years the other week. I had a bunch of blood labs done just to make sure I was not deficient in anything that I really badly needed. With my change in how I eat and live, it was a concern. So, I called up today because I had not heard back from them in a while and lo and behold.... I'm pretty much a shining example of health... except for one thing. Vitamin D. I am pretty low on that. The clinic says they rate on a scale of 30-80. 30 being the low end of good, 80 being the high. *I* am at a whopping FOUR. Not a 4-0. Just 4. So, I am waiting for my doctor to give me a buzz and see what we are going to do about this. The nurse asked me if I was sleepy a lot, and I said "all the time." She explained that this could be the main reason for it right there. I should hear something soon, but I am on the right track of getting the body where it needs to be. And hopefully, I won't be so tired anymore.

...I am actually feeling like I am in control of things right now.

The last few weeks have been crazy for me. School, work, band, and home have all been pulling at me for my attention as of late. It's been a struggle at times. School has been the hardest of all of this. I did not really know how to handle this semester. But after today when we had our little get together about who did how much work in the class it was decided that I did quite a bit of work and that some one else did not. For this, I get my final grade for the assignments shifted up one full letter, while his goes down.

I busted my ass to cover for the lack of having some one there. At least the rest of the group agreed with it. I had the one participant a bit lower, but kept myself even with everyone else. I guess I was just playing nicely and not trying to rock the boat for the most part.

Overall, I think I decided to take over in things in my daily life. I can't just sit around and wait for it to happen. I have to really get after it from now on.

...I decided to set the record straight.

You can stop asking
"What do you eat?" now.

Over the weekend, I had a good friend of mine tell me that he wanted to have a discussion about me being vegan. He wanted to do it another time as it was late, but I said we should do it now. This would be the second time of the night that I would be explaining this.

During both discussions, I made it perfectly clear that I started this path, on my own, for health reasons. That's why I started it. As I have grown in to it, I have a greater passion to protect animals, no matter which ones they are. I also let it be known that I will NEVER push this on to anyone. If they ask, and want advice or mentoring because they want to do this as well for the reason I am have, I will be more than happy to do so. I'm not going to go and tell someone else what is right for them. That is their choice and theirs alone.

I have a couple friends who are vegetarian and vegan. My girlfriend is also vegan. Now, it was in my second conversation of the night that I had the question posed to me : "did you go vegan because of your girlfriend?"  This pissed me off to no end for the rest of this weekend. My friend, who at least had the courage to ask me, let it be known that it was something that was mentioned to him by other people I know and in conversations in general about me, without me there. I would like to state right here so that anyone reading this gets it straight.

I did NOT decide to be vegan in order to start dating my girlfriend. 

No matter what you hear from anyone else. I did it for ME. When I started on this, it wasn't even with her help. I had the assistance and guidance of another friend of mine. Grow some balls, stop spreading assumptions and rumor, and ask me.

Or, you can read this and know exactly why I did it.

I -=DID=- decide to change my lifestyle for the following reasons.

• I hated feeling like hell 20-30 minutes after I drank milk or ate any dairy product
• I hated feeling like I was going to die when I needed to use the restroom
• I hated not knowing when that sudden urge to use the restroom would happen and then I would get that urge to die as mentioned above
• I watched Food Inc. and was disgusted by our food industry and how animals that become food are treated
• I hated that my weight was ballooning out of control at a rate that I realized was not good at all, even when I decided to start eating a "healthy" omnivorous diet.

I have been vegan for over a year now. I feel better now that I have in a VERY long time. My weight is to a manageable 187 instead of 220+ at my largest (and I haven't fully killed my flabby belly yet). I've come to a point where I am not buying anything made of animal product. Food, clothing, or furniture. Guess what? That's my choice. Talk to me about it. I don't push it on to people as some sort of "agenda". I'm not a crazy PETA activist. I'm not going to run around and call you a sick person for eating meat/fish/dairy. My kids still eat meat when they are home with their mother. They understand why I did all of this. They get it. They even decided to cook with me and eat what I eat when they are here.

Now, I can fully respect people living life the way they want to... so why can't people respect the way I want, and need, to live mine?