2008: In Review

Out with the old, in with the new.

2008

New relationships. Making new friends. Moving home to home. Fresh music. Booking shows. Making money. Losing money. Driving highway. Meeting up with strangers. Out of town shows. Fighting kids. Hitting things. Getting piss drunk. Throwing fits. Knocking down walls. Smoking more weed. Camel Crush's. Home mad torches. Blowing up anything I can get my hands on. Living with the love of my life. Fucking up hard. Making it up. Pouring my heart and soul into everything I do. Biting Kathrine's nose. Butterfly kisses. Old school hardcore. Illegal downloading. Midnight road trips. Taunting the cops. Throwing drinks at bicyclists. Shouting obscenities. Whistles. Drive-In movies. Shitty soundtracks. Horrible vision. Driving nights with no interior lights. Breaking down in another city. Food poisoning on the road. Trying to make it. Blockbuster movie nights. 99 cent rentals. Walks with Brannigan. Cleaning up his mess. Getting fat. Drinking too much soda. Eating too much junk food. Five dollar footlongs. Downtown Disney and cheap Empinadas. The Ford Fuckus. Smashing windows. Living in secret. New seasons of Top Chef. Iron Chef: America. Septum piercing. Recon with the guys. Mental health trips. Peer pressure. Xanax. Losing 14 Viacom channels. Christmas Crucifest.

2009

Working out. Dropping some pounds. Auburndale bike trails. Running Lake Hollingsworth. Mosh. Mosh. Mosh. More shows. Another year with my favorite woman. Brannigan growing up. New apartment / house. New car. Enrolling in College. Finding a steady job. Collecting Vinyl's (73 and 123). Staying monogamous. Massachusetts road trips. Booking more shows. Making money, money, money. Collecting Nike's. The Hundreds. HUF. Supreme. In4mation. Hitting the road. Touring with Harvest The Deceased, Malak, and Cosa Nostra. Southwest Deathfest. Four And Aft 2009 Roster. Management. Expanding my design skills. Living life to the fullest.

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It's Beginning To Look Nothing Like Christmas

This is the first Christmas in a long while where temperatures haven't dropped to a ridiculous level, at least by Florida standards. While money not be present, and gifts may not be plenty, but the joy of Christmas is still there, with every tinted street light, and every window-front tree. The younger of us still run around, the families still gather, and when it counts most, everyone is still there for one another, whether physically or in spirit.

I've never spent so much time apart from my family as I have this past year, but as the clock continues to turn, things are beginning to look up, and whether they know it or not, I'm still here for them, just as I hope they're here for me. The realization of spending Christmas with a new family is frightening, but I've come to terms with it, and even managed to get a chuckle out of this "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" parody. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I have, and hope the holiday season brings as much comfort for everyone else as it always has for me.

'Twas A Florida Christmas...

T'was the night before Christmas and all through the town,

no noses were frozen, no snow fluttered down,

no children in flannels were tucked into bed,

they all wore shorty pajamas instead.

To find wreaths of holly, t'was not very hard,

for holly trees grew in every back yard.

In front of the houses, Dads and Moms were

adorning the bushes and coconut palms.

The sleeping kiddies were dreaming in glee,

hoping to find water skis under the tree.

They all knew that Santa was well on his way,

in a Mercedes-Benz, instead of a sleigh.

And soon he arrived and started to work,

he hadn't a second to linger or shirk.

He whizzed up the highways and zoomed up the road,

in a S-L 300, delivering his loads.

The tropical moon gave the city a glow,

and lighted the way for old Santa below.

As he jumped from the auto he gave a wee chuckle,

he was dressed in Bermudas with an Ivy league buckle,

There weren't any chimneys, but that caused no gloom,

for Santa came in through the Florida room.

He stopped at each house....stayed only a minute,

emptying his sack of stuff that was in it.

Before he departed, he treated himself

to a glass of papaya juice upon the shelf.

He turned with a jerk and bounced to the car,

remembering he still had to go very far.

He shifted the gears and stepped on the gas

and up Highway 436 he went like a flash.

And I heard him exclaim as he went on his way,

"MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL, I WISH I COULD STAY!"

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One Long Year

As of today, I've been with Kathrine Annette Wells for exactly a year. It's been a very long, strenuous year, but I'm happy to say I've made it through all the rough times. Homeless again, broke again, jobless again, but I've always had her love, and that's all I ever needed. I look forward to the upcoming years I will hopefully spend with her, and can't wait to see what the future has in store for me.

In other news, I've finally made my transition back into the design game. I've got a few recent projects behind me, and a few coming up, and am happy to finally be immersing myself in this world once again. Sorry for the rushed post, there's nothing intruiging about it, but i've got a busy day ahead of me, gotta run!

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Thank You Wendy's,

for plaguing my mind with thoughts of Crispy Chicken and Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers. I missed what is possibly the most important moment of my life tonight, the projection of Barack Obama as the United States President-elect, and McCain's graceful recession speech. Congratulations to all parties involved, it was a tough race, and I'm proud to be a first time voter in it. Here's to the next four years, four years of a rebounding economy and a renewed sense of patriotism.

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A Lack of Pictures

Has always plagued me, or maybe it's the lack of a decent camera. No, anything will do, I can make up for lack of quality with abundance of photoshop skills. So what is it then, am I too lazy, too self-conscious, or maybe just too uninterested in my own life to document it? I'll go with all three for the sake of understanding.

I took out my septum close to a month ago, I guess you could say it was a waste of money and time, but it was a fun experience. My tiny venture into body mod has opened my eyes into so many more things. But again, there are no pictures to document my journey. I guess it's time to invest into a decent camera, maybe a DSLR, or maybe a simple point and shoot. Any recommendations?

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Back To The Grind

It's finally time I returned to normal working hours. I woke up promptly at 8:30 this morning, hitting the "office" by 9AM. It's been a long time since I've been this productive, but it feels good to finally get some old projects out of the way. It seems like these deadlines do nothing but make me want to sleep more, setting an alarm has never been better for me.

I've got a number of smaller projects to keep me busy over the next few weeks, along with a few offers I've yet to fully review. In your opinion is a full year of merch design for a record label worth $500. I suppose it all depends on how much they decide to work me. But on the upside, the money is paid in full up-front, which could come in handy over the next few weeks.

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Septum

pierced it tonight, 12g, didn't hurt as much as everyone said it would. I'll try to get some pictures up sometime soon.

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False Death Cap

So while I was away in Orlando this past week, I was informed that my now 6 month old puppy ingested what we originally thought was a Death Cap Mushroom. From what I was told it was a Faerie Ring Mushroom, or Destroying Angel Mushcroom, type 3. I have no idea what any of this means, but from what I've been told the mushroom kills humans and animals alike by attacking the liver.

Luckily, the milk thistle found in Rockstar Energy Drinks is a natural antidote to this poison, and so far, it seems to be working. On another note, after further investigation, the mushroom ingested turned out to be a False Death Cap, an almost identical mushroom that, as the name suggests, is not fatal. Hurricane born mushrooms, not something I ever want to encounter again.

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Guest Blogging at Badtofu.com

Just a quick update, I've been doing some guest blogging over at my good friend Eric Johnson's site, badtofu.com, writing about everything from fashion to toys. If you want to keep up with me a bit more, and read some out of the norm stuff, head over there, bound to be some useful things in there for everyone. On the flipside, I'll be reposting everything over here as well, in an attempt to make this blog seem livelier than it is.

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Four And Aft

I book shows now.

• August 11th - The Yellow Sign, Once We Were Buried @ Transitions Art Gallery - Tampa, Florida [w/ Illithid, Legions, and Board The Windows]


• August 17th - Screamin' For Vengeance Tour @ The Dungeon - Orlando, Florida [w/ American Me, Oceano, Borland, Devoured By Pestilence, Harvest The Deceased, and Along Side Oni]


• August 22nd - Deterrence @ The Mad Hatter - Lakeland, Florida [w/ Denounce The Betrayer, Alvira, Astraea, and more TBA]


• August 28th - Catalepsy Tour Kickoff @ The Dungeon - Orlando, Florida [w/ Rose Funeral, The Breathing Process, Years Spent Cold, Red I Flight, Devoured By Pestilence, and 42 Children]

More coming soon. Keep an eye out on http://myspace.com/iamaadesign for future updates.

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I Claim No Creator.

I'm free of the influence of any god, or any type of higher power. I've never believed in any sort of god, and whether this is my downfall or not, it doesn't worry me, because I honestly believe that I cannot be harmed by what I don't believe in. Or in other words, if it can't be seen, it can't be felt. I've been told the flaws in my logic, I've been led to the "righteous path", I've been preached to about the evil's of Satan.

But through all this, the one thing that bothers me is the stereotype that comes with being god-free, whatever that entails. I've never once claimed the influence of Satan, I've never once spoken of Satanist beliefs (thought I do follow some of them), or any type of Left Handed Path. The use of the upside down cross, or crucifix has been misconstrued. It's been warped throughout the years to become something it's not. It's not a symbol of Satan, but rather a symbol of martyrdom, of dying for what, or who you believe in. It's a symbol of humility, as St. Peter originally intended it to be when he crucified himself on this cross. My beliefs do not reflect the influence of Satan or any sort of magic.

In the same relation, Satanists do not believe in Satan either. Satanism is an atheistic religion, heavily influenced by the left hand path of Satan, who is simply their representation of all worldly indulgences. Satanism is about being involved in yourself, basically. Not bothering, nor asking to be bothered. It's about surrounding yourself with the people you trust, the people who don't annoy or bother you. I may have Satanist beliefs, but I don't, in any way, believe in Satan as an entity.

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Trajan Pro.

I never realized how beautiful a typeface it was until I began using it on my own personal profile. When it comes to serif fonts, this is definitely my new favorite, and will probably replace Georgia in many of my upcoming projects. It just has such an elegant feel, especially when using text-transform: uppercase.

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Anti-Social.

The more I use this 'social media' theme, the more driven I am to be anti-social. The idea of having every little thing I do tracked in one place is a little frightening, but I suppose if people wanted to know so bad, they wouldn't have a hard time tracking down the individual sources anyway. It's worrying. The future is moving too fast, soon enough my driving patterns will be tracked, my most frequented spots, even what I'm eating for dinner.

I'm not sure if I'm ready to let the word into my life. Or maybe I'm just lazy.

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Recent Work.

Client: Life.Ended.Abruptly

Published Work: http://myspace.com/lifeendedabruptly

Date Completed: June 15th, 2008

Description: Full MySpace layout, including Masthead for Life.Ended.Abruptly., a Central Florida Death Metal band. Project took about 10 hours, spanning over a week's time. Minor changes are still being made. The masthead is a series of manipulated photos, the mountain range and explosion being two separate images.

Client: Sparing No Lives

Published Work: http://myspace.com/sparingnolives

Date Completed: June 1st, 2008

Description: Photomanipulation layout for Sparing No Lives, and Orlando based Hardcore bands signed to Statik Factory Records. As a quick side note, the base image for the Life.Ended.Abruptly. layout was used to fill the inside of the main figure's mouth. Once again, this layout is a photomanipulation, making use of two separate images (the meat racks and the main figure). To accompany the new layout, a new identity, including logotype, was created.

Client: From Ruins Of Treachery

Published Work: http://myspace.com/fromruinsoftreachery

Date Completed: May 29th, 2008

Description: MySpace layout for From Ruins Of Treachery, a lakeland deathcore band. Originally playing under the name All Shall Bow, this layout was created using various lighting techniques and a small collection of stock renders to represent that name. The concept was eventually kept for the new name as well. A new logotype was also created to accompany this layout.

Client: Personal Work

Published Work: http://myspace.com/iamaadesign

Date Completed: May 20th, 2008

Description: Full MySpace layout for promotional use. Simple layout, again playing around with some basic lighting and tiling techniques. The type used is VTKS Bandana. I will most likely revise this layout at a later date.

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Zapp Came Early.

Zapp came a day early, while I was out at Scream The Prayer.

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A Drug Free Lifestyle.

School's ended. My Senior year, gone in a heartbeat, and now there's nothing left to do but slack until college. Sure, I've been working like crazy, but the free time I've had will eventually become my downfall. I've fallen back into the rut of drugs and alcohol. I've picked up smoking again, and now that I've finished off my probation, marijuana has slowly began creeping back into my life. Cigarettes are my addiction, unfortunately. I'll smoke anything I can get my hands on, not because I need the nicotene, but because I need something to keep me occupied.

Marlboro Menthols, Camel Wides, Bali Haijs, Newports, anything with a bit of flavor or menthol. I've even taken a strong liking to hookah. I guess graduating has given me a feeling of growing up, more than I ever thought it would. I feel older and older with every passing day, and the constant smoking doesn't help that. Fortunately, I've cut back to the point where I'm no longer buying my own products, just bumming off others. Drinking is another problem. I drink to be social, not to be drunk. It's all in moderation, but even I realize that everything has to start somewhere.

I'm tired with involving myself with these situations. I'm tired of drinking and smoking. I'm tired of the influence I get from others, and I'm especially tired of feeling dirty. I've never claimed any social status before, and I don't ever plan on it. The scene is littered with children and their bullshit straight edge pride. You're no more intimidating or impressive than anyone else with your ex'd hands and drug free clothing. You wont be held any higher in anyone's mind. People make choices for themselves, and in the end, your claims won't matter anyway.

In light of this situation, I've decided to live a drug free lifestyle. My weight has slowly increased since I've picked up these habits, and it's about time I clean up my act. I'm dropping everything, losing weight, improving my hygiene. And I'm doing it for myself, not for anyone else. It's the right choice. I'm going to live drug free for myself, and for the environment. And you should too.

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Captain Zapp Brannigan.

Every time I've ever made a trip to the pound, I've left with an animal, whether that was my intention or not. When I was 11 I took home three brothers, pure bred German Malinois'. I've always enjoyed the company of a dog to the intelligence of a cat, which is the ultimate reason behind my trip to the pound today. Katie and I spent a bit of time browsing the Animal Control Shelter website the other day, until we stumbled across a two month old, unnamed Boxer mix. We fell in love with him in a matter of moments, and quickly planned our trip to the shelter for his official release into adoption, earlier today.

His pictures led us to believe that he was blind in one eye, however, but we were pleasently surprised that he was not only perfectly healthy in vision, but his eyes were two different colors. I've seen this plenty of times before, but never in a boxer. We signed all the paperwork not even an hour after the shelter was opened, and Friday we'll be on our way home with our new puppy, Captain Zapp Brannigan. Yes, Futurama indeed.

Zapp Brannigan, Sex God.

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Downtime.

I'm breaking everything down, working on a new design, new portfolio, new everything. With this new look, you may find a decrease in blogging. All my attention is towards business. Success is key.

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Politics.

It' about that time. I'll be 18 on July 21st, making me legally able to vote in the upcoming 2008 Elections. I've been weighing my options carefully, but what it all boils down to is who the Democrats select as their presidential candidate.

Barack Obama, who's now won at least 10 states in a row, is looking like their most likely candidate, but Hillary Clinton is definitely not out of the picture. It's my general belief that whomever is selected will chose the opposite as their Vice. My main problem is the pros and cons that come along with each candidate. It's no secret that I'm a Democrat, as the Republican party system is completely outrageous in their choice of candidates. Though if I had it my way I'd be voting for Ralph Nader this year.

My main problem with Hillary Clinton as a possible electoral candidate is her husband. I have no real problem with Bill Clinton, he was a great president, and did amazing things, but I believe that if elected, Hillary should be in charge, and with her husband in the back seat, I just don't see that happening. She did it when he was in office, and I'm positive he'll do the same should she be elected. On top of the entire backseat driver issue, Clinton's past actions lead me to believe that her outside influence from larger corporations will greatly influence the way she runs this country. The $650,000 bribes she took from various pharmaceutical companies to keep her mouth shut during her National Health Care debacle has lost a great deal of trust in her ability to keep things in order.

Not once in my lifetime has there been a president who hasn't been influenced by an outside source, whether it be oil, health care, nuclear power, or even automotive corporations. There's really no winning in the situation. What it boils down to for myself is Barack Obama's lack of support from Oil tycoons. He was raised poor, never born into any type of wealth, a character trait I find extremely attractive. I believe this lack of former wealth will keep his moral objectives in focus as President.

Here's to 2009.

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The Arm Continues.

The Other Boleyn Girl hit theatres this past week, and as a major fan of European History i went out to see what all the fuss was about. For the most part, from what I've been told, the movie was mostly accurate. Scarlett Johansson did an amazing job as Mary Boleyn, though Natalie Portman's character was very unconvincing. I personally think she did a horrible job in her performance, but the story made up for the quality.

But what was most dissapointing was the loss of limb, or lack thereof. As the story goes, Ann Boleyn, after supposedly cheating on her husband, King James, protests her own execution by raising her arm, declaring her innocence. The executioner, rustrated, slices off her arm before proceeding with the final blow.

But as always, many cinematic developments are not historically accurate, which is sad. Sure, you pay $8 to watch Natalie Portman have her head sliced off with a sword, but honestly, loss of limb preceding the execution would have made me enjoy the movie a bit more.

Also, no nudity. Really? Come on now.

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