(Sic)

This is the title of a song by Slipknot, my favorite band. That's what this blog is going to be all about but I think I may also touch on my close second favorite, Avenged Sevenfold, and some of my other favorite bands.

First up is my favorite band Slipknot. Currently they're my background on this blog but I'm sure that'll change sooner or later. Slipknot fondly dubbed their fan base the "Maggot Corp." and its members, "Maggots". I am a Maggot through and through and I wouldn't have it any other way. How I decided that they're my favorite wasn't a choice. I didn't one day say, "I choose them to be my favorite". Its like anything else that's your true favorite.

My favorite color is green not because I say so but because I subconsciously chose green objects over every other color and because I love all shades of green. Its like a favorite dog also. I don't like Pugs much but some people OMG LOVE THEM. I love huskies, not because I say so, its innate. Thats how it is for me and Slipknot.

Being a fan isn't far off from being in a cult. I have yet to attend one of their concerts but stepping into a venue of a major metal band is like stepping into a giant family reunion. Everybody's your brother, sister, or cousin and you've never met a single one of them but they'd take a bullet for you. Moshing, crowd surfing, belting out lyrics at the top of your lungs, we all suck at singing but it don't matter to us, we're conveying a message to the world through expressive emotion. We relieve tension so that we don't murder people when its time for us to say our goodbyes and go back to the real world. I'm being figurative. We're not a much of murderers and rabble rousers. I want to specifically disclaim that lol. We just enjoy tension relief. The only Maggots I may say, "I'm not related to that guy.", to are the newcomers who only know Slipknot's latest material. But they're like my annoying little uneducated cousins and they just need to be educated.

My close second favorite band is Avenged Sevenfold because they're just insanely freaking talented. They and Slipknot both compose their music like orchestral music is composed. They layer it, blend things together, and in the end they've brought musical harmony and order to that which used to be complete chaos. In my opinion Slipknot and Avenged Sevenfold are two of the only bands who've been able to achieve order from chaos.

The curse I call "Creativity Block"...

With dreams to be a writer, "Cretivity Block", is the worst thing in existence. Creativity Block, or C.B. as I've come to call it, is even worse than W.B. (Writers Block). W.B. is no big deal and in my opinion, nothing to worry about. With W.B. all you're going to experience of a moment of blockage in writing something but another artistic influence (music, sculpture, painting, etc) will clear it right up.

My external influence is normally music. At the first signs of W.B., IN GO THE SKULL CANDY SMOKIN' BUDS!!!!!! ...And all is well. Such is NOT the case with C.B. though. Because C.B. is a complete and total shutdown of the body's creativity and artistic...ness.(Its a word.) When I get C.B. I am unable to produce or interact with anything related to writing, music, drawing, etc. I'll put in my Smokin' Buds and flip through song after song and only listen to literally a second of each. I'm helpless to C.B's crippling effect and am yet to find a cure.

Quotes Eliciting Emotions

"Feelings of inadequacy are the black lung disease of writing." - Charles Baxter (Page 81)

"Writer's Block" may be the only thing that could trump the feeling that what you're writing is a stinky pile of dung. Nothing's worse than staring at the flashing black line on your computer screen and all you can think is, "I'm hungry".

I've been writing since I was about 7-years-old. At first it was only fictional short stories but when I was a freshman in high school I began to think more long-term about writing. I started writing a fictional novel. Honestly, the novel ended up being crap. The basic idea is still good but the way it was developing was awful in every way.

I don't know how many times somebody's asked me to read what I wrote and I'd say to them, "No its awful." Or they'd try to be sneaky by reading over my shoulder and I'd cover the paper/computer screen. Or I'd ask people a hundred times, "Did you read my post?", "Was it good?", "Did you like it?".

I Am From...

I am from Gary and Kim.

From an area in southern Illinois composed of Millstadt, Belleville, Fereview, O'fallon, Waterloo, Columbia, Centerville.

I am from video games, art, internet surfing, music, book reading and writing.

From Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Halo, Mass Effect, Fable. From Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold, metal genres, rock genres. From John Flanagan, J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen King, Christopher Paolini. From fiction/fantasy short stories and novels.

Concert

Just got home at 3:30 this morning from a concert over in Evansville, Indiana. The lineup was:

 New Medicine

Hollywood Undead 

 Stone Sour

Avenged Sevenfold 

Can't say I care for New Medicine or Hollywood Undead a whole lot. They sound good live but aren't my favorite. The reason I went was to see Stone Sour and Avenged Sevenfold. The fact that Corey Taylor (Lead Vocalist for Slipknot) and Jim Root (Guitarist for Slipknot) are members of Stone Sour makes the band even more appealing to me. Avenged Sevenfold is my VERY CLOSE second favorite band. Second to ONLY Slipknot. So It was an exciting night for me. I've seen them in concert before but they never will cease to amaze me. One of my top goals in life is to see Slipknot in concert.

Something interesting to note about both Slipknot and A7X (Avenged Sevenfold) is that they've both just recently lost a band member each. Slipknot lost their bassist Paul Gray (a.k.a.- #2 and/or "The Pig") who was actually one of the two remaining founders of the band. Now the only remaining original member is Michael Shawn Crahan (a.k.a.- #6 and/or "Clown"). So now the band is slightly separated. Corey and Jim are with Stone Sour touring and Joey Jordison is Touring with the band Rob Zombie.

A7X lost their drummer James "The Rev" Sullivan. They talk about him at every concert they've had since he passed. Currently they've been trying out different drummers at their concerts.

Meet Jake...

Obviously my name's Jake. I'm 20-years-young and I live in the outskirts of Millstadt, IL. I'm currently going to school with the goal of being a college professor. My only issue seems to be that i am unsure with which major I want to go with. Though I have recently decided on going with a major in Literature.

My number one thing in my life, besides my girlfriend Lyss, is my music. I love almost any type of music if its properly placed but no matter what I'm always in the mood for my Metal. Slipknot is my favorite band and Avenged Sevenfold is a close second. I play Bass Guitar and enjoy doing Vocals primarily but I also occasionally play the Guitar, Piano/Keyboard, and, if my buddy Marc lets me behind his kit, drums.

I love my videogames they're a VERY CLOSE second to my music. My primary platform right now is Xbox 360. My  XBL Gamertag is "Jachai". No letters no numbers, pretty simple eh? I'm sure you've already deducted from my blog's background that I'm a fan of the Assassin's Creed series. Some other games or series of games I love are: Halo, Call of Duty, Mass Effect, Fable, etc.

I love to read but whats more is that I love to write books. I've been working on a novel since I was 16 and its a slow going process. On the right side I opened  toolbar for some websites that I frequent. currently there's only one there but I'll be adding more. "The Forgotten Realms RP Site" is a role playing site where you can create a character and "be" that character you created. To put it simply, you write stories through a series of posts. Not only do I find this just simply fun but it helps me to keep my writing skills sharp. Any RPG fans especially Tabletop RPG fans should checck out the site.

I love to draw but I've realized that I can only draw Tattoos. I can't draw animals or humanoids. I designed the cross I have on my back and I'm currently working on tattoos that I plan on getting sometime soon.