Awwwright, I've been on the fence about posting this here, but I like it too much not to. Well, it's not so much that I think it's particularly stellar in contrast to anything I've made previously, it's just that I really appreciate Maynard as a person. He's my favorite lyricist and singer, and I like his philosophies on many things. If not for his words throughout my adolescence and even now in my 30s, I feel like I'd be in a far darker place. Not just in Tool, but his other 2 bands, APC and Puscifer.

I drew him in his FI getup, as I went to the concert back in November and it was just so great. I don't go to concerts very often; an Ozzy concert back in 2010 being the most recent one prior. I want to do more though, I think it'd be healthy for someone like me to try to hit a concert or some kind of venue once a year... just to expose myself more. I'm in a place in my life where I'm all about personal growth and shedding negativity, and to do that I have to try things that scare me a little. Going to see Tool live was one of them. But I went because I just like Maynard that much and Flickie actually pushed me to go. I was reluctant to do it. I actually learned he even LIKED Tool through the ordeal, lol. I mean, I knew he had a few songs he liked, Opiate, Sober, etc. But I didn't know he liked much else.

I would say Tool is definitely my favorite of the 3, but all 3 are my favorite bands before other music. I do have quite a wide library of music I like though. And even though I love Maynard and everything he stands for, I like his bands. Meaning, I recognize he's just the vocals. There's other musicians to love and appreciate too. Like, I love Tool's everything, lol. But I especially am drawn to their bass and drums. As a music lover, I'm usually drawn to bass and drums first- -which was what lured me into to Tool initially. Forty six & 2 was probably the first song I heard that actually wowed me. But Schism was the popular one, so that's the one I knew originally. My dad got Aenema stupidly, thinking it was on that one. Disappointed, he let the disc collect dust, so I curiously borrowed it and played it from start to finish. As much as I dislike my dad, he always did like good music. So I often raided his stash looking for stuff to rock out to. Eventually, he got Undertow and I finally got Lateralus myself, but he didn't like that disc at all. Idiot.

He played a lot of instruments, so he learned Forty six & 2, Aenema, Sober and a few others. So it was great always hearing the songs when I'd come home from school. He also played guitar, the piano and occasionally the drums whenever they were available. We never had room for them in my house but his friends had them. And I'd get dragged around so, I was exposed to a lot of musicians. My childhood had a lot of ups and downs when it comes to my relationship with my dad. I have good and bad memories with him, but with music, I can sing his praise. I'm not so jaded that I can't acknowledge someone's quality traits, despite their many, many, many flaws.

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Wow, this certainly took a major twist, huh?