Bring it on 2014!

Greetings. With New Years Eve coming tomorrow, I thought I'd do my traditional year end review of how everything went. Before that,  let's get Christmas out of the way first. Christmas Eve, I worked a very busy early shift till 2pm, then we headed over to my brother's house with the rest of the family. Mia got some great new stuff including an awesome doll house. She's in Illinois right now with Jill so I imagine she'll be exciting
to play with it again when they come home tomorrow. My parents got me an AMAZING Chelsea FC away jersey ( I had customized with Oscar on the back). My amazing wife got me a nice, warm and awesome Chelsea FC winter jacket. I think that I'll be truly thankful for it today when I go to work since It's -11 degrees out. BRR! I picked out a bunch of clothes for Jill for Christmas, so she was happy. I hope :) Christmas morning, Mia slept in till 11ish. She wanted to "wait" for Santa Christmas Eve, and eventually fell asleep. She woke up, opening some gifts and loved everything. Her pink PowerWheels Mustang was waiting for her in the driveway. Too much snow to thoroughly enjoy. Come Spring time, she'll get to cruise.



Back to the year end review. Last year, I had made a small list of goals to accomplish. Let's take a look.
First Goal- Play in an adult indoor or outdoor soccer league-in 2012, I started to regain my love for soccer, and really wanted to play more soccer in 2013. Well, I didn't get to play in a "league", I did play some adult pick up. Played a few outdoor games in the summer and some futsal a month or so ago as a sub. Man, playing soccer is so incredibly fun. The most amazing work out and exercise. Was hoping to play last night, but there was no need for any subs.
Second Goal- Possibly find a 2nd job. ALMOST HAPPENED! In fact, a graphic design job almost happened. Over the summer, a good friend of mine from college had told me that a woman she works out with at her gym worked at a company that designs neon beer signs for companies. So to get in with this job, I had to create a website for my art work. Which is perfect because that was one of my other goals from LAST year :) So I designed a clean site that's easy to navigate. In the end, the job fell through, but for a few weeks, I had a creative spark to design some new things and challenge myself.

Third Goal-Play pond hockey before the end of Winter with my brothers Didn't happen. Maybe this year we will.  Last two-Try to complete a killer water colour picture and Maybe do a series of some really nice photographs. Water colour didn't happen, but one rainy day, I was able to shoot some awesome photographs of Mia in the rain with an umbrella.

2014 GOALS
1-Another series of great photographs 
2-If the weather cooperates, make a Snow-Minion 
3-Draw a portrait of a Chelsea player  
4-Work on my endurance/Get in better shape 

Not a lot of goals, but how I look at it, everything on here could happen and I need to make them happen.

Real quick, the highlights of my year: 
Mia turned two, which lead to all of the wonderful new things she can say and sing with me.
We lost our Guinea pigs. Both passed away :( 
Started taking Mia to play groups and we both made new friends. 
Chelsea became the Europa Champs :) 
Turned 30 in July :/  
We took a family trip to Indiana and I got to see Chelsea vs Inter in Indianapolis 
Completed more art then last year (including that picture of Remi above next to the one of Haily Jill did for her aunt) 
Saw Alkaline Trio with my brother. First show in a few years and it was fantastic. 

Okay, that's it everyone. Thanks for sticking with me over the year. See you in 2014!! 

Devotion and Desire

What's up peeps. Quite a few things to cover tonight, so let's get to it. Over the rather steamy and hot weekend, Jill's parents came up to babysit Mia, which allowed us to go see "Wicked" in Milwaukee (for Jill's belated birthday. Let me tell you, it was absolutely fantastic. We haven't seen a play since NYC in 2006 when we saw Spamalot. Anyways, it was an incredibly delightful evening with my wife.  The play was wonderful, acting spot on and the props and sets were fantastic. I easily could recommend this one to anyone. I've heard tons of people who've seen it that have loved it, so going into the play, I knew it wouldn't disappoint. A friend of mine even has a "Wicked" inspired tattoo. :) Sunday, I worked the early shift, and ended up being too exhausted from the crazy day to play soccer. Plus, it was incredibly muggy. I sort of regretted not playing, because I saw the rest of the month I've got 2-10 shifts on Sundays. :( So all in all, not a bad weekend. Got some yard work and laundry accomplished. Totally appreciate my in laws for coming up and taking care of Mia so we can have a lovely rare date night.

Today, I woke up rather sad. Just totally bummed out about things. About turning 30 soon, and not having a proud career. I know I've gone over this before, but it's always something I think about when it's brought up in a conversation. "When are you gonna get a better job?" "When are you going to work in your field again?" It angers me how true that can be. But I have to move on and continue with where I am. Thankfully, listening to Alkaline Trio got me through the morning/afternoon. Mia and I didn't do anything too exciting. She was rather great with my Dad, which always makes the old man happy. Other then that, nothing else going on. Haven't touched this art project in over a month, and decided today to just not look at it for a while. I may scrap it, or continue a little later. I did start a little sketch of Mia that I hope turns out cool.

That's all for tonight. Thanks for reading :)

The Double Feature

Greetings.  The picture to your left is from Mia and I playing some drums at the music store. I swear, that kid loves music as much as I do..ANYWAYS I was a bit too tired to write last night, so I figured after my morning walk/run with Remi, I'd tackle this blog. I find myself having the opportunity today to in fact write TWO reviews from the weekend: An Alkaline Trio concert in Milwaukee, AND some thoughts about the Great Gatsby Jill and I saw on Sunday! It was quite the busy weekend. Friday was our anniversary but we both worked opposite hours and didn't get to properly celebrate that day, however we DID plan on going to the movies Sunday. Mia and I brought Jill flowers Friday. Awww...right? Anyways, so Sunday morning I was getting 7am texts from my little brother that he needed someone to go catch Bayside/Alkaline Trio show in Milwaukee at the Rave. I was unsure about going. My toe, still hurting and since I've seen Alkaline Trio about 10 or more times, I remember in the past, the sea of people in the crowd turning into a crazy bull stampede trampling everyone in front of them. PLUS, I worked at 6am Sunday morning, so all signs pointed that I wasn't going to go. Well, after a lot of thinking, I decided to go as a favor, plus he said it was a free ticket.

It was a fantastic show. First time at the Rave since 2008 when I caught the always entertaining The Hives. The very opening band Off With Their Heads wasn't very exciting. Next was my bro's favourite group; Bayside. Never really was a big fan of the band. A lot of breakdowns and guitar solos, however, they can put on a great show. I enjoyed their Smoking Popes cover of "Meghan". The next time I'm cutting grass, I'll probably put them on and give them another listen.

Alkaline Trio finally was on. Great performance. Very little banter in between songs, so they can pump in full volumes of amazing rock and roll. Just like old times, they played their hearts out. Here's a list of the majority of the songs they played:

This could be love
Cringe Olde English 800
Radio (encore)  If We Never Go Inside
Blue Carolina
She lied to the FBI
I wanna be a Warhol
I, Pessimist
Hell Yes Armageddon
She Took Him to the Lake
Donner Party
Clavicle
Sadie
All In Black
Torture Doctor  

There may be more in there that I missed, but that should cover 98 percent of what they played. They skipped over albums Agony and Irony and This Addiction surprisingly, but that's okay. They ended up really hammering out tracks from Good Mourning and a few jams from Maybe I'll Catch Fire. The new stuff sounded great live, and overall the night was pretty awesome. Glad I could go with my bro.  Sunday night after I got out of work at 2pm, we later dropped off Mia and hit up the movie theater for the Great Gatsby. After a very long early shift, I didn't think I'd make it through the movie. I was incredibly exhausted but luckily stayed awake. I'll make this one short: The movie was pretty great. Leo DiCaprio seems to pick the better of the films to get involved with.This one can be added to his list. Toby Maguire played an awesome roll as the neighbor who tags along with the Gatsby in his adventures & gets involved with helping Gatsby meet his former love interest. Both Jill and I were glad we didn't freshly read the book before watching the movie because we'd compare it way too much during the film. If you read the book, I'd recommend going and seeing it. It was a nice rare evening to go out with Jill without Mia for a little date. We haven't gone out by ourselves in over a year. No, really. A year. We've got two weddings coming up, in which she won't be with us either. The grandparents + Tommy are coming up this weekend, so we'll see how the night goes. Sunday, I may play soccer. We'll see. First game is 7pm. My toe is getting a bit better, but the nail is still loose. That's all for now. Thanks for reading.

I Held Her In My Arms

Hey everyone. Not a lot to discuss tonight. Didn't play futsal last Sunday. Worked a weird shift. 11am-7pm so it didn't give me a ton of time to eat, let the food settle and head off to work, PLUS I was quite exhausted. Sorta holding out till my lil brother gets a Sunday off for us to play together. Not playing this coming weekend because we'll be heading off to Illinois. The weather wasn't too bad so we tried to enjoy it during the day, but Mia wasn't having it. Sorta has a 'tude lately. BUT the good news is that she doesn't mind wearing mittens AND the hat now! If she wants to go outside, she's gotta wear the boots, mittens and her winter hat. So lately she's been real good about that. Loves playing in the snow while I shovel. Kinda makes the mundane and rather un-fun activity of shoveling a little bit more enjoyable. Can't wait till Spring. Bike rides, walks, playing soccer at the park, swings...all the fun outdoor stuff we miss during the Winter. Mia was on the swings today for a bit at the park.

A new Alkaline Trio single came out recently. "I wanna be a Warhol". I wasn't sure about it upon first listen but it's slowly growing on me. Hope the rest of the album is better then the single. They really don't disappoint as far as records go. Some songs here and there aren't the best, but I've stuck by them since the very beginning and they've written some of my all-time favourite songs so I've got some high hopes for the rest of the record. Penguins are doing real well. Chelsea, eh not so much but hopefully they'll beat Wigan. Can't afford anymore losses.  I seriously need to get back to work on the art. The lack of motivation has been plaguing me after work for some time now. Can't shake it. Probably won't do any art tonight before heading to bed. I know what I need to get done, it's a matter of GETTING IT DONE! Since my laptop isn't working the best right now, I can't put any work into my soccer stuff I started last Fall. Bummer. But I do need to restart the Lil Wayne portrait, maybe do some fun kid sketches of Mia as well. Eh, maybe in Illinois I'll do some drawing. I feel like I need to constantly be keeping myself busy creativity-wise. You should see the random sketches I leave at work of random objects. Oranges, a light bulb with a mustache, and whatever else I come across. Hahaha. That's it for now. Real short one tonight. Thanks for reading.

Night Watch

It's Wednesday night: Always look forward to this day off. Just finished a Guinness, folded some laundry and I've got my dog portrait to the right of me. The portrait is slowly but surely coming along nicely. It's a tough one. Not easy drawing anything for someone when they give you a picture that's 3x5. But, I'm making it work.

Today, we learned that Mia can climb the STAIRS. No, really, she was sitting ground level and started ascending the stair case. We had our hands behind her but she didn't pay attention to that. She slowly ascended up the stairs. Time to get the gates up! The other day, she did something that totally made my day, if not MONTH. I pulled out my bass guitar like I do once or twice a week with her. Was playing a few songs (The Hives-Hate To Say I Told You So) and Alkaline Trio's cover of "The Metro" when Mia grabbed my knees and looked me straight in the eyes and started singing and dancing. She was TOTALLY rocking out and I could barely contain my laughter. This little kid of mine is such a bundle of fun. She says "hi" to just about everyone and gives out way more hugs and even kisses Jill and I. At my little brother's place tonight, she buried her little face in their cat's fur and tried to kiss him. It was quite adorable. She loved the furry-ness. They baby sat her tonight and had a lot of fun, of course. Got to watch the first period of the Pens/Stars game. Was nice chilling with my bro as Jill and his wifey chatted up.

March is here. Can't believe she's almost ONE. The time REALLY does fly. Looking at old pictures and videos of Mia, it's just so surreal how fast the time goes. She's practically walking on her own, then she'll be in school, then voting, THEN college...GOOD GRIEF. Thankfully, she's this little girl right now, who loves to explore, play with her dog and love being with her mom and dad. That's all I need right now :)

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