100 Resolutions-a reflection of 2011

Last blog post for 2011. Tonight, I'm reflecting on this whirlwind of a year. 2011 was quite interesting. The word, Interesting doesn't really do the year justice. Amazing? Frustrating? enlightening? I could go all night. Here's a look back of the year.

In January, After an amazing show at Linneman's and a heated argument later in the week, Clean Hands went on indefinite hiatus. Our bassist Jason flipped and quit the group. Nick and I treated the stab wounds and put things on hold. With my daughter on the way we figured it was best not to try pick up another bassist and keep the ball rolling. It was a very frustrating time for myself because our group was doing quite well, released an EP in December and were starting to figure out our next move. Since then, Nick's kept busy playing keys in the folk/indie band Conrad Plymouth and they're releasing a full record.

At the end of March, my wife and I became parents and our little angle Mia was born. Parenthood has flipped our lives upside down and we devote 100 percent of our lives raising and loving her. Sappy I know, sorry. I'm missing them both right now since I've been by myself for the last four days. April, I got to see one of my favourite guitar players of all time, Ted Leo, perform PLUS meet him before hand. Hands down one of my favourite shows I've ever been to. My older bro, his wife and I watched him and Maritime guitarist Davey Von Bohlen perform in Madison. What a beautiful night to have a beer and watch a genius at work.

In the Summer, I got to visit Chicago's Shedd Aquarium twice with my wife's family. My first time there, it was a beautiful warm day in one of my favourite cities. I loved taking in all the wonderful animals and such. The 2nd time I'll never forget. My bro in law who interned there hooked my wife and I with tickets for a penguin encounter. Penguins are my favourite animals so it was a great and surreal experience for the both of us. Throughout the rest of the year, I've been figuring out the whole "Dad" thing. Mainly trying to keep her happy and alive. She's a wonderful girl, but face it, a baby is a lot of work and every day is a new adventure.

Favourite Albums of 2011 (In no particular order)

Maritime-Human Hearts

Amazing album from one of Milwaukee's finest groups. The songs and catchy and hooks are fantastic.

Decibully-Decibully

This final record from another Milwaukee group is bittersweet. The band has always been an inspiration for myself, art & music wise but these guys go out in style with this album. It's an art piece in it's own

Less Than Jake-Greetings From Less Than Jake EP

A delightful EP from Florida's greatest punk/ska band. Short but sweet. These guys still and always will have it folks.

Alkaline Trio-Damnesia

Despite this simply being a collection of past songs performed semi-acoustic, it's pretty rad none-the-less. The new songs are both great and fun. It's also nice hearing some of the classic stuff I grew up listening to.

Dan Andriano In The Emergency Room-Hurricane Season

Alkaline Trio bassist Danny performs some amazing songs here well worth listening to. He's always had a knack for writing some of the most heart-filled songs, but with Dan, I'd expect nothing less then fantastic.

Smoking Popes-This Is Only A Test

Not the best thing they've put out, but defiantly a great record. Josh Caterer and Co. decided to write a record from the point of view of a high school kid going through the ups and downs of being a teenager. Some stuff is 'eh' but there's a few rad songs here.

Favourite Songs of 2011

Maritime- Annihilation Eyes & It's Casual

Dan Andriano-It's Gonna Rain All Day

Florence & The Machine-Shake It Out

Smoking Popes-How Dangerous

Less Than Jake-Can't Yell Any Louder

Joy Formidable-A Heavy Abacus (hey, it's catchy)

Alkaline Trio-I Remember a Rooftop

So last year I typed out a list of goals to accomplish. It's a work in progress. I nailed a small amount of them, but keep getting projects that are stacking up. Hopefully by the end of 2012, I'll nail out some more goals. With that, I say thanks for keeping up with my adventures and highs and lows over the years. I've enjoyed using the blog as an outlet to reflect on the day and update anyone interested.

"I've got 100 resolutions, but I've got no solutions.
I've got one song I write 100 times.
And only a dozen or so rhymes." The Lawrence Arms

On a Rope

Survived our first Christmas with a kid. Exciting right? Totally. Visited my parents for Eve. It was a nice quiet evening. Mia slept quite a bit actually do to being off her schedule some during the morning hours. Christmas Day, we opened a few presents from Jill's aunt, and headed down to Illinois for a few days. It's always great seeing Jill's family, because they get super excited when they see Mia. I always feel relieved too, like "okay you guys enjoy your time with her". They need that time with her, being 2 1/2 hours away. Tuesday after a quick visit with Jill's pal Whitney, I packed my stuff and drove back solo for the rest of the week (since I've got to work). Gotta tell ya: driving by yourself for that long isn't that fun. 112 miles can be mind numbing, but I made it back of course. Saturday I'm heading back down again. It's been strange not having to get up real early to walk Remi and start the daily routine we've gotten used to. This morning my body woke up at 7 something, but I decided I didn't need to get up THAT early, especially on my day off. I really miss Jill and Mia. I miss Mia's hugs like crazy and Jill's smile when she wakes up (after a good sleep)

Did some much-needed art tonight and progress on Nick's album. Came to terms on how I want to execute it and I think he'll dig the concept. Still need to start another dog portrait and finish my Mia one. Overwhelming. Very overwhelming. Most importantly, I got to set up my drum set today. Felt a bit rusty, but had a good time. Even busted a blister on my right hand too. Made me miss playing shows. How typical. Tomorrow, maybe some drawing. We'll see how things go.

Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?

Ah, the holidays are getting quite close. Seems strange with all the mild weather we've had lately. I don't mind really. There's plenty of winter left, being that tonight at 11:30pm starts the Winter Solstice. It's an exciting time, Christmas this year. We've got our little Mia who LOVES to rip paper in pieces so opening presents should be a fun time for her. I can't wait to give Jill her little gift I made. In other news, Mia proved to me that she CAN crawl forwards. One hand in front of the other. It totally amused her. Then, she'd go back to her walrus pose with the back arched up and booty on the ground. Something like that. Man, it wasn't long ago she was spitting up on me, now she's trying to stand up on her own. Time sure flies.

Going to have LOTS to do when I'm solo next week. I plan on drumming every day for at least an hour. I need to get some painting done, work on some dusty logo projects I haven't been able to start or finish as well as build my website and work on some other art projects and hang with some friends and family. It'll be weird catching up on sleep again since average I get about 5-6 hours. I'm never one to sleep into noon though. Could never get into that whole thing: sleep all day, then get up and work. Seems quite pointless to waste an entire day like that. I'll be up late on nights creating what I can. 70-80 percent of the time, I'm more productive in the late evenings art-wise. I can concentrate more without an angry child throwing spoons at me.

With that, I'd like to wish everyone happy holidays. Safe traveling if you're heading out of the state, and of course be good to all.

The Suburbs

What's the word, humming birds? Rainy, mild-temperature day today. Mia semi-alright for the most part during my morning/afternoon. Allowed me to get a little drawing in during some short naps. Later in the evening after dinner, she was an absolute barrel of hilariousness. Climbing all over me on the floor and using my stomach as her tool to pick herself up into a STANDING POSITION! It was so so cute. She lit up the bathroom during her bath time with her goofy smiles. Jill put her hair in a mohawk too. Very funny!

Much relieved the holiday schedule is complete at work. I don't know why I sweat out my requested days off. My boss has never said "look Mike, you can't take off the 24th or 25th", but with a good buddy of mine heading to France, and with other workers all wanting off, I didn't know who would get the short straw. So I'm ready for the holidays. Can't wait for Jill to see her present. :) 1st round of X-mas celebrating starts this Saturday with my older bro and his family (since they'll be out in CA for a few weeks) Should be a good time. Hopefully Mia behaves and doesn't scream all day. Back to the much-neglected sketch book. Later kids.

Turnstyles

Not a bad day off friends. The other day we had our end-of-the-year meeting. I've only been to at least 5 or 6 of them in my 14 years at Kwik Trip. My old store, they weren't mandatory and were always in Madison. They've been having them in Waukesha for a while now, so I suppose I should go right? Like usual, it was pretty mind-numbing. Some good facts here and there. Most importantly, I get my bonus. The majority of it goes straight to Mia's medical/hospital bills. Hooray. My iPod touch came in the mail the other day. First nice thing I've bought for myself since my attempt at buying a Roland elec drum kit (that I had to take back, didn't need it that bad) When I got home from work, I excitedly opened it up and tried to sync it up with my iTunes. Got a message that said 'need an updated iTunes to run the touch" or something like that. So I backed up all 8,600 songs on my Mac and finished downloading a newer iTunes. It said my operating system was too old for the updated iTunes. CRAP.

So I woke up frustrated this morning about it. Thankfully I had some back up plans. A gentlemen I went to college with who's a tech wiz told me he'd update my OS for me if needed. Jill took my macbook to work to see if her coworker could fix/update it for me. He's pulling through with it and will hopefully have it complete tomorrow. I couldn't be happier. Apple is a tricky company. They come out with great, amazing products but sometimes they're too far ahead of themselves. I'm not a die-hard "Mac-head" or anything. I learned everything in college on Macs and got real used to them. I used PC's as well in the working world with some of the programs too. Didn't work the same. In fact, they didn't even give me updated programs in the first place. Anyway, I look forward to getting my Macbook up and running and using my new iPod touch.

The Holidays are getting more dangerously close. Seems to be creeping faster and faster every year. Perhaps it's because we're so busy with Mia. It's starting to get harder for me to leave to go to work more often. Mia waves goodbye with a big grin on her face. Weird right? You'd think it'd be "hey stay, Dad." I'm having way more fun with her during the day. Today she wasn't digging the car rides. Brat. This weekend, we're celebrating Jill's Dad's birthday. (which is really today) Should be a good time. They love love love spending time with little Mia. Remi loves it when they visit too. That's all for now. Brain's getting fried.