Ellipsis

Last time I posted publicly on this blog was May 3, 2012. Five years later, things are much different, and that's certainly a good thing.

I got re-married. My wife was married previously also, and similarly had her spouse decide self-interest was their highest priority. As a result, there's a fantastic mutual understanding that I wouldn't have found in someone who hadn't been through that kind of awful experience. It obviously does bring it's own set of challenges also, but you know... swings and roundabouts.

My wife and I have had 3 children, 2 of whom are daughters, bringing our total kid population to 5. We're done now. Kids are awesome, but they can cause spontaneous loss of sanity. We walk that line daily.

There's been a number of diagnoses amongst my children, particularly my second youngest who has autism and is completely non-verbal at almost 3. That's been a steep learning curve.

We moved into a smaller house to save money towards our goal of living on acreage. Then we had 2 children in close proximity, and now it's too small. So we're going to move again soon.

I've spent more time on my drumming, with some limited improvement. I made a YouTube channel to publish some drum covers, but they're few and fairly crap. Check it out though: www.youtube.com/justinplaysdrums

I took up pistol shooting with my eldest, which has been an eye-opening journey.

I put on too much weight. Then lost a little. Then put on too much more. Working on incorporating more exercise into my routine, but it's hard with the little ones.

My view of the world has changed a lot too. I think I got old. I'm pretty cynical about what happens outside of my immediate bubble. There's a lot of hate for my particular worldview in the media and in political circles. I don't align with any major political party view. I just get frustrated, mostly.

During the time I was on my own, I developed a real love for live music - mainly the big, loud and full of energy variety. I've seen Paramore 4 or 5 times (including meeting them pre the Farro brothers leaving), Jimmy Eat World twice, Anberlin twice before they split, Yellowcard before they split, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Coldplay, and The Temper Trap. Possibly a couple of others I've forgotten (Edit: Twenty One Pilots! Knew I'd forget someone...). It's hard at the moment with really small children to get to shows, but I plan to continue to do this as often as I can.

That's it for now. Consider yourself caught up. 😀