All of a Sudden My Day Got Better

Originally uploaded by jonasfiel

I was suffering from the Mondays earlier today, but during lunch I caught this view outside the break room window. I see this everyday, but I especially needed this today; the sunshine and fall colors that are happening just brightened my mood.

What It Feel Like to be Devil Ducky

Devil Ducky has aspirations. He got to this point because of patience, tenacity, work-ethic, and a little help. He likes what he does but always believes he could do more.
After all, Devil Ducky can only do so much before he feels like he's doing the same thing over and over. It does get a bit mundane after a while.
However, Devil Ducky can be a bit over-cautious sometimes. He likes to make sure he is doing things right and don't want to go into anything unknown without a little research.
Unfortunately, it can cause him to stall. It would be great to do more, but what if he can't handle it? Can he go back? He kinda gets what would happen, but the fear of unknown still makes him leary.
Maybe he should tackle something a little more manageable first, then move on to bigger better things.

Um... This may need a little more research...

The Bravery - Slow Poison

The Bravery's third album -- "Slow Poison," due out Nov. 10 -- will be "darker and angrier" than its predecessors, according to frontman Sam Endicott. But it's not a wholesale reinvention of the band, either.

-by Gary Graff

The first time I heard of The Bravery is when MTV still played videos, (hey, funny that.) It was the video for "An Honest Mistake."

First thing I thought just from the video,"Hey that's different and I like it." The whole black and white just accented the look they have - post punk and new wave. You hear synth and see punk clothing, but if you listen to them they don't sound 80s, but rather took elements from that time and brought it now. I liked them because they are brought a new sound then what was currently out there.

Now they are coming out with a new album Slow Poison and the title track is their first single. Dark, angry, uptempo - I can name a few bands from the 80s that were given those descriptions. I like it though. It gives the music scene a different angle. Plus, it can give the angst-ridden people of this era of music an outlet. There is not that many moody songs out there so this seems like a good prospect.

So for your moody listening pleasure here is "Slow Poison" by the Bravery

My View Every Morning

I have been working out since January, and I've lost a good 15 to 20 pounds since then. My weight fluctuates around 5 pounds in a given week so on a good day 20 on a bad day, 15.

Two weeks ago, I decided do something I never thought I would do - hit the treadmill. I'm doing thirty minutes there. The majority of my time is walking at 3.0 miles per hour, but for every five minutes I do a minute at 6.0MPH and another for 8.0MPH. I don't know if this accomplishes anything, but I know that I am not short of breath to the point where I would pass out, nor is it too easy for me.

I've also decided to take a break mid week rather than the weekends, this way I have more time to workout. I'm doin' the treadmill during the work week, but on Saturday and Sunday I go for an hour - half hour treadmill, half hour weights. I am definitely sore and hating myself for doing this, but I guess it's all in the name of health.

After a few months of working out and weight loss, why did I change my routine? Because I get bored easily. I'm surprised if I stick to a routine for longer than a month. I make minor changes here and there but this particular change is a big one. Hope it pans out for me.

Music video picks for the week (Sept 29)

My choices this week: Something old doing something new, for at least two of the vids. I think there is a blue shade in the third video and all of them are borrowed from dailymotion. You may now groan at my lame joke, but enjoy the vids!

Alice in Chains - Check My Brain

Silversun Pickups - Panic Switch. okay not so new but I still like it so there :-p

Madonna - Celebration

"I will survive" is 30.

Yup the disco song about moving on after a bad relationship has been around for thirty years.

To Gloria Gaynor, it seems like only yesterday that she recorded the iconic disco/pop hit "I Will Survive." Now she's celebrating the anthem's 30th anniversary.
"How is that possible?" she asks with a laugh during a concert stop earlier this week in Bologna, Italy. "I'm only 29."

Scary thought: I'm older than the song.

Click-y for full article.

Norse Mythology and my tattoo

My fascination with Norse Mythology started when I was in high school. We were assigned to study world mythology. I was sure everyone else would stick to Classic Greek and Roman mythology and to some extent Ancient Egyptian. I liked them all but I wanted to see what else was out there and I didn't want to give the same presentation (over-achiever, I know.) Our teacher listed possible ideas and that is when I found the Norse/Viking mythology.

When I turned 18, I decided I wanted to get a tattoo, but I didn't know what I wanted. I wasn't going to choose something randomly, I wanted it to have meaning. I was looking through Dungeons and Dragons stuff for inspiration, something that had meaning, a picture or a symbol, but nothing came to mind that I would want to permanently etch on myself.

A few years later, I got into Divination. Among the things I collected were tarot cards, books on numerology and astrology, and rune stones. The runes stuck out because I remember seeing them from somewhere, but couldn't remember. I found a book on runes and found it was used as a Scandinavian alphabet. Coupled with the runes symbolic meanings and my fascination with Norse Mythology, I found an idea for my tattoo. I researched tattoos and runes and found bind runes which took several runes and combined them all into one symbol. I found what I wanted and now I just needed to find the right runes:

Tiwaz: The symbol for Tyr, the Warrior god. The god who sacrificed his hand to bind Fenrir. This symbol is the warrior's symbol most often seen on shields or armor. It means courage and bravery and justice.
Algiz: An overall protection symbol.
Eihwaz: Symbolizes the yew tree. It has a meaning of death or a change to come. The yew was used to create bow staves and so the symbol also has the meaning of defense.
Odin's Cross: This symbol is also known as the solar cross. It is a very old symbol that has many representations, the cycle of life and death, the passing of seasons, a representation Earth.

Altogether, I created a bind rune with the three runes above and attached them to each spoke on Odin's cross.