Tell us what's happening in your life
Awesome! Keep pushing, but don't push too hard. And a major Happy Birthday to you!
Major congrats, bro, both to your wife and your 50th!
Finally got the debut novel published in a physical format yesterday, but I left out an important detail. The Kindle page told me to adjust the file to the size I wanted, and I wrote the whole damn thing on 8.5x11 inches, apparently. But since everyone was sending me videos, I had to do laundry, I had to get ready for a Christmas party AND I had to constantly deal with barking dogs and what not, I told myself "screw it ". So the book is the size of standard paper.
But this might actually be a good thing, because I have a lot of elderly customers at Dunkin who want to read my novel, so this checks out. But my next book will be smaller.
My wife is on the mend now & I should be back at work tomorrow. She's had a really tough run though.
On the positive, I was surprised with a two-day visit to the Hunter Valley wine region on the way down to Sydney to see family to celebrate my 50th birthday last week. All of my Sydney & Newcastle based friends (including Ben & his wife) showed up & we had a brilliant couple of days, highlights by a spectacular lunch at the legendary Bistro Molines. Then we continued down to Sydney where we stayed for five or six days. Just got back late yesterday to prepare for a brief two-day work stint before the Xmas break.
good news
Well done, Rex! The gates to The North shall open for you when you earn that clan.
Well done, Rex! The gates to The North shall open for you when you earn that clan.
"When I earn it?". Was there anything else I had to, other than wait for Daniel to check it?
Yeah, that's what I mean, wait for his approval.
I'm comfortable that you've completed the 2nd decade Black Metal challenge Rex. Which challenges did you complete for your existing clans so that I can check those off too?
I'm ready for my fourth clan. I have officially posted full-on reviews for these three list challenges:
1. Guardians: Power Metal - The Early Days
2. Infinite: Prog Metal - The Second Decade
3. Pit: Thrash Metal - The 80's
I'm ready for my fourth clan. I've thought very long and hard about this, and came to the best decision I can. Not only has this been a genre my core has been more and more drawn to over the last couple years, but it's also the genre I feel I can do the most good on when voting on halls.
The North.
These and this: Black Metal - The 2nd Decade
OK, I've just verified that those clan challenges were successfully completed Rex. Congratulations as we all know what an enormous undertaking it is to complete four challenges. Ben will add you to The North shortly. It's not as simple as simply adding the clan to your profile as we need all of your previous The North ratings to be included in the Clan Ratings now that you'll be a part of the clan so it's a bit fiddly & requires nerd status to achieve without fucking everything up. Thankfully, I have one such nerd in the family.
OK, I've just verified that those clan challenges were successfully completed Rex. Congratulations as we all know what an enormous undertaking it is to complete four challenges. Ben will add you to The North shortly. It's not as simple as simply adding the clan to your profile as we need all of your previous The North ratings to be included in the Clan Ratings now that you'll be a part of the clan so it's a bit fiddly & requires nerd status to achieve without fucking everything up. Thankfully, I have one such nerd in the family.
No big. I know a few little things about the bureaucracy of internal tech, albeit mostly from having started a couple of Fandoms I left to rot after a couple years. And with it being that technical when most of the advanced stuff is handled for you, I can imagine it would be a bit more difficult here.
Welcome to The North Rexorcist! I believe the transition has been successful (I can see that your ratings are now counting as Clan Ratings for The North), but let me know if anything looks weird.
Welcome to The North Rexorcist! I believe the transition has been successful (I can see that your ratings are now counting as Clan Ratings for The North), but let me know if anything looks weird.
Thanks a bunch!
Weird like what?
Welcome to The North Rexorcist! I believe the transition has been successful (I can see that your ratings are now counting as Clan Ratings for The North), but let me know if anything looks weird.
Thanks a bunch!
Weird like what?
Like a North album or cover you've rated that isn't being included in the Clan Rating section. It should be all good, but I have had to run a recalculation a couple of times in the past when site users change or add a new clan.
Welcome to The North Rexorcist! I believe the transition has been successful (I can see that your ratings are now counting as Clan Ratings for The North), but let me know if anything looks weird.
Thanks a bunch!
Weird like what?
Like a North album or cover you've rated that isn't being included in the Clan Rating section. It should be all good, but I have had to run a recalculation a couple of times in the past when site users change or add a new clan.
Well I still haven't noticed anything weird like that. But maybe I'm just not paying enough attention.
My books sold five copies today. I find it hard to believe that actually happened.
Alright it's been a crazy ride. Some good and some bad.
Upon arriving in Florida I was staying with in-laws awaiting my house in Detroit to be sold so that I could purchase one in Florida. This took several months and that's why I kinda disappeared for a minute.
It finally sold and I am now writing to you all from my new home in Florida. I love the house and the land it sits on. I also purchased a 6-string electric guitar, a Jet JK-350-BL (Its similar to a fender modern players telecaster). Great bang for buck guitar.
So life is mostly good but there were some trials and tribulations.
Since I couldn't do much else I tried out some metal discords and OH BOY did I find out why ya'll are so hesitant to get into that. I'm not gonna get boring with all the details but long story short, moderation didn't like me for whatever reason and resorted to a slam campaign and a bunch of juvenile BS to basically run me off the server. Absolutely insanely toxic experience. I was actually depressed about it for a little while because I'd never been treated so rotten by a community that I've considered a second family for much of my life. Looking back I can chalk it up to stupid kids on the stupid internet doing stupid things, but I was really down about it for a while.
Then my wife was involved in a car accident, the result of which was that she broke the radius and ulna in her right arm-the two big bones in the forearm. Thanks to the wonders of modern medicine and probably a trip to the hardware store for some nuts and bolts-she is going to be alright in a few months. She expected to regain 95% of her usual functions. Still a very scary sequence of events.
Other bright points: I set the Tetris high score at Arcade Time which is Orlando's 24-hr arcade, I've begun taking formal guitar lessons finally, from an excellent teacher (a former student of Paul Gilberts among other notorieties), and I am much much happier with the people and places that I work now. Detroit is an aggressive and sometimes hostile place, with a lot of harsh weather, and I think it made me a hostile and harsh person at times. I am definitely much better suited to the American South. I feel at home for the first time in my life-no longer that feeling of wanting to run away. I feel settled, and relaxed.
I plan to go back through my reviews with a fresher and friendlier lens-though don't expect 180's of opinions or anything like that-it's still me, but I think I can articulate myself better being in a better place physically and emotionally. Anyways, that's what's been going on in my world. I have a lot of unpacking to do but I will eventually meander my way back over here. I just can't say when yet.
Finally-I've been keeping a sort of Metal Hot 100 on spotify, each month I go back through the list and decided what songs get to stay, who gets to be added, and what get's dropped. There are charts, graphs, and whole system of criteria involved, but I've been doing it since October and I feel like it's quite stable right now.
Please enjoy and share your thoughts on the selections if you feel moved to do so:
Great to hear from you again Zach and even better to hear that you are doing much better and are happier and more comfortable. Best wishes to your missus and wishing her a quick and full recovery. I for one am very much looking forward to you rejoining us here at the Academy.
I always appreciate hearing from you Sonny. Hope all is well out your way as well. I actually had the time so I went back through all of my reviews, and tweaked em to a place where I'm happy with them.
I'm struggling a little bit with what to do as far as reviews. I'm not really latching onto any recent releases. Anything you would recommend or just want to see my take on?
I noticed that you like a fair bit of gothic metal so I would be interested in your take on the latest Ruins of Beverast album, "Tempelschlaf", particularly as you don't appear to have rated any of their stuff so far, so you may not be influenced overly by their earlier material. It is much more gothic-influenced than the project's previous black / doom fare and I haven't totally made up my mind about it yet.
I noticed that you like a fair bit of gothic metal so I would be interested in your take on the latest Ruins of Beverast album, "Tempelschlaf", particularly as you don't appear to have rated any of their stuff so far, so you may not be influenced overly by their earlier material. It is much more gothic-influenced than the project's previous black / doom fare and I haven't totally made up my mind about it yet.
I adore Ruins of Beverast's previous couple of albums and I have to admit that my first listens to the latest one have not connected so far. That said, I'm going to give it plenty of opportunity before judging it, as my preconceptions could very well be getting in the way.
It's great to see you in such a relaxed and happy state Zach. It's always good to feel like you've found your "home".