This was the last punny I drew, but certainly not the last one I’ll draw! I couldn’t remember when I did it; according to the info in Procreate, it was March 8. I saved it as a draught and never got around to posting it. As you read this, I hope my voice doesn’t sound horse in your inner monologue… I feel like I’m finally able to tap back into punning around! Not as frequently as I used to, but I plan on doing it every punce in a while. That beer looks pretty good – I’ll bet it would pair nicely with some horse d’oeuvres… or maybe even some low mane.
It’s been a while! At the start of 2025, I decided it was time to stop procrastinating and get ALL of my drawings cataloged on my website, and off of my Instagram account. I completed the first part by April (read all about it), but my Instagram feed, which I’ve been widely ignoring, is still lingering. As soon as my website revamp was complete, I went to nuke my Instagram feed and learned that you can only delete posts one by one. I wanted to delete everything and leave one post notifying anyone who found me in the Insta-void that I can be found on my then-newly revamped website. After deleting a few hundred posts and realizing I’d have to do that 2,600 more times, I gave up and walked away. I miss keeping up with my peeps on that platform. What I don’t miss is The Algorithm burying their posts (and mine) and force-feeding me Reels and Threads of content I had zero interest in. And so began my break from social meedee-er.
I like to control technology vs. it controlling me, as much as I can. All my phone notifications are off, and I keep it face down when I set it aside to avoid temptation. For my “Insta-cleanse,” I moved Instagram and Facebook off my home screen. Out of sight, out of mind. That’s made it really easy to not be tempted to tap back in.
Rather than doom-scrolling and getting depressed over current events (which I still do, but only twice a day), I’ve been focusing on other, more productive things: My music, art, cooking more, work, and most importantly, my health.
I run a 7-mile loop around Central Park every day, and after a few years of that, I started wondering why I still felt puffy and was physically and mentally breaking even at best.
In July, I started using a calorie-tracking app – not to diet, but to be more mindful of what I eat and drink and look for patterns that could be improved upon. Before using that app, I didn’t realize or pay attention to how much sodium and sugar I was taking in, and how much a little grazing throughout the day adds up. Within a month, I felt more comfortable in my skin and clothes. Now, nearly 3 months in, I catch my reflection and notice I look more narrow than I have in a few years. My Levi’s, which once felt like sausage casings, aren’t necessarily falling off or looking like parachute pants these days, but they can now be shimmied off without unbuttoning them. I still enjoy fun food and drinks, just a little less than before!
I’ve also been learning Spanish, or at least trying to, for a long-overdue vacation. That shit is hard! I never took a foreign language in school; I didn’t see the point. I probably would’ve done a terrible job anyway, or skipped out on class like I did gym class for an entire semester.
In other news, I suffered a Macbook tragedy in August… Time Machine kept telling me it had been 7 days, 23 days, then hundreds since my MacBook 2019’s last backup. I shrugged it off, and then my MacBook slipped into a coma. Diagnosis: logic board. Cause of death: I’m not sure, but I really wish I had a backup that was more recent than January 2025 to restore from. Oh well. Time Machine took a break from backups the same time I did from social media!
After 20 years in IT, I can fix almost anything, except Apple’s hardware in recent years. The repair cost as much as a slightly newer/better laptop, so I rescued a gently used 2021 model.
Rest easy, 2019 MacBook Pro. You’ve been replaced by a spry 2021 M1 model with endless battery life and a cool-to-the-touch composure you never knew, but your memory (what’s left of it) will live on in iCloud forever.
Speaking of rest easy, unfortunately, my numero uno guitar inspiration Ace Frehley took a one-way Rocket Ride back to Jendell last week on October 16. I often wondered throughout the years how that day would hit me whenever it came. It Shocked Me that it didn’t hit as hard as when I heard the news that Eddie Van Halen passed. I remember exactly where I was when I read EVH had passed: I was out for a run on the median across from Minnehaha Academy in South Minneapolis. It popped up in my news alerts, and I just stood there for a couple of minutes thinking, “Really?” Van Halen was my soundtrack for the remainder of that run.
Ace, on the other hand, didn’t come as much of a surprise. To paraphrase one of his lyrics, he lived five days to our one, for decades, and to be honest, it’s astonishing he made it to 74 and was as prolific as he was after his comeback in 2009. I had the great fortune to meet him and thank him a couple of times, and am incredibly grateful for that… Especially the first encounter in 2011 when he designed one of my tattoos!
Even though he’d been sober for almost 20 years, the decades of abuse were starting to show as he got older. He was sounding pretty rough when I went to see him at Sony Hall in 2014, so I decided that show would be my last. From live clips I’ve seen on YouTube in years since, I’m glad I made that call! But I still listen to all the music and thank him for being responsible for me picking up a guitar. In an alternate universe with no Ace who knows… I probably never would have started playing! Wherever he is, hopefully, he’s back hanging with one of his old pals, and another favorite spaceman of mine:
Ok, I guess that’s enough babbling for now. I’ve been sitting on this post (the thing you’re reading right now, not an actual physical post) for a month or two; it’s time to release it into the wild and move on to the next thing.
See ya. Peace out. Adios. Until next time. “And now, you know the rest of the story.” Take care now, byebye then. Nanu nanu. etc.
Great to see you in my feed! And congrats on your new belt size. I went through almost the same thing. Obviously, it’s very complicated and different thing matter for different people. But for me, like you, I was mostly just eating way too much and needing to reset my frame of reference.
Hey Josh, great to hear from you, thanks for stopping by! Yeah it’s crazy what a difference a few tweaks make – I was in MN for work last week and there’s a scale there. I’ve lost a little over 20 pounds since I last stood upon it in May. My Fender Deluxe Tone Master amp is 20 pounds! Congrats on your smaller belt size as well!