I was going to share some mazes for Thanksgiving, and I realized I have a bunch of them. I did some quick dirty coloring of some old ones. I am sharing new ones that will be in my second book, some from the first book, and I have some that are loosely related to fall or Thanksgiving dinner.
Please, use them to have some fun this holiday season! They could be placemats, an activity for those that aren’t cooking while they’re waiting for dinner or for company to arrive, or used as a game to see who finishes first. You could use them to make place cards too if you wanna get creative!
If you complete the mazes by printing them out & solving, or on your phone/tablet/PC with a drawing app, share it on you preferred social media platform & tag me! I’m @AiXeLsyD13 on pretty much all of ’em. (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads, BlueSky, TikTok, Tumblr, YouTube, etc.) I’d love to see a video of a race to complete the smaller easier ones… and I love to see solutions! I like to draw mazes, not so much solving them.
Mmm, Thanksgiving dinner. Stuffing is my favorite. I need to figure out how to do a stuffing maze.
You can solve these while listening to one of my Thanksgiving playlists on Amazon or Spotify, or while talking about what you’re thankful for! I love the reflection this time of year.
This year’s turkey maze:
2023 Turkey Maze
Thanksgiving-ish themed mazes from the upcoming book:
Turkey Giblets Maze & Corn Maze …Maze – from my upcoming second book.
Newly (& quickly) colorized old Thanksgiving themed mazes:
Fresh takes on old Thanksgiving Mazes
Random older related mazes:
<shameless plug> The turkey from this year and the “giblets” maze are also available on some cool merchandise from my RedBubble and TeePublic shops too. Why not get a turkey maze T-shirt or an apron with the giblets maze? You can get both designs on hoodies, pet bandanas, stickers, magnets, coffee mugs, and even a damn shower curtain if so inclined. </shameless plug>
🦃 UPDATE! 🦃
After posting this, I found an OLD turkey maze of mine on Pinterest, so I downloaded & edited it a bit. So, here’s one more:
So, I’ve written about Metallica before (twice). I can see all this shenanigans about the new single. Honestly, I like it. Hating on Metallica has become low hanging fruit at best to edgelording or gatekeeping at worst, As fans, we all poke fun at our favorite stuff. I’m looking at you, Star Wars and Danzig people.
Lux Æterna
I found the new one to be a banger. It feels thrashy like KIll ‘Em All, with pop sensibilities like the black album.
I recently posted a reply to a comment of my posting of the video on Facebook, but the original comment was deleted by the author and my subsequent reply has been lost to the 1’s & 0’s I guess.
The gist of what I was getting at was as follows…
To say metallica has lost or hasn’t been good for decades? I get it, and it’s certainly a valid opinion. People have been saying they “sold out” since Ride the Lightning.
Metallica didn’t hit my radrar until …And Justice for All came out. I hadn’t listened to anything much beyond Top 40 radio or oldies at that point. I worked backwards and was caught up in the magic of Kill ‘Em All and Master of Puppets. I wasn’t aware of the punk scene in 1977 when I was born, but I wouldn’t call myself less of a Misfits fan because I wasn’t around? You could probably assume with great certainty that each Metallica album brought in new fans upon it’s release.
I could also argue that Metallic’s output is quantifiably better than most when compared to their peers or contemporaries.
Say in sheer influence in heavy music, Black Sabbath comes the closest. (OK, maybe Led Zeppelin too, but I’ll go with Sabbath here as Zeppelin ended.) You could say that there drop-offs in interest post-Ozzy & again post-Dio. Does that mean that Iommi and Geezer are any less lauded in the riff lord category? I don’t think so. Their early output is so epic and influential, they could release an album of pip farting on a snare drum and it shouldn’t detract from their legacy. James still writes killer riffs. Kirk is still a master of stringing together wah-fueled madness. Lars is a great arranger and cunning businessman. I wish they hadn’t done Newsted dirty, but Rob seems like a great fit.
In 1991/1992, Metallica and Guns N’ Roses where arguably the most lucrative and widely known hard rock acts on the planet. They were two of my favorites at the time and I still have fond memories of that epic show at Three Rivers Stadium. Look at what both bands have put out since then. Sure, Metallica dropped a Lulu turd in the sandbox, but you can scoop that out and keep playing. Guns N’ Roses pissed into the swimming pool with Chinese Democracy and everyone had to get out of the pool. This is coming from a guy that liked The Spaghetti Incident?. I liked Death Magnetic & Hardwired to Self-Destruct. Even St. (B)Anger got better with time. James, Lars, Kirk, & Rob seem on top of their game. Maybe the rhythmic chugs are more of a gallop these days. Slash has improved so much over time, Duff got sober. Axl’s voice went out the window with his grasp of reality & last vestiges of sanity. I couldn’t even tell you who else was in the band, to the end that I actually just miss Velvet Revolver at this point.
Megadeth? Sure, Dave Mustaine can arguably play guitar better than James or Kirk… may be better at writing or arranging songs… has definitely put out more albums in the same timespan… But who has heard them? There have been a revolving cast of players, each successively thrown under the bus, probably the same Greyhound that drove Dave from NYC home to San Francisco. Seriously, the only press that they have received in the last decade that wasn’t Dave commenting on Metallica has been Dave Ellefson’s whacking it on webcam. This led Dave M. to discount all of the former’s contributions over the years.
AC/DC can make the same album over & over again for decades and it can be great… but not everyone can get away with that.
I’m anxious to hear your thoughts in the comments. What do you think? I’m looking forward to the new album. Will I still poke fun at Metallica? You bet I will. Will I enjoy the rest their new stuff? I sure hope so.
Check out my Metallica related playlists. I had a good one on Spotify that I am in the process of rebuilding for Amazon Music.
Since the world is a bit strange right now, I decided I wanted to see more guitars on social media. Maybe it’ll start a trend, maybe not.
I like classic guitars, I like modern guitars, I like classy guitars, I like ugly guitars. I like guitars. I like playing them. I like looking at them online. I like looking at them on my wall. I like looking at them in the store. I like hearing them. I like arguing about them on the internet. I also like other assorted stringed instruments.
Maybe this will make the world a little brighter. Maybe people will like these guitars. Maybe people will argue about these guitars. Maybe absolutely no one will notice. Who knows?
Below the collage, here are the ones I have posted so far via Instagram with the #AllMyAxes hashtag, minus today’s. The rest will be in the next post. This is the bulk of my guitar collection. The rest of the stuff in the house are my ukuleles and mandolin, the wife’s ukuleles, and the kids’ guitars and ukuleles.
There is a little bit written about each guitar if you click through to Instagram or follow me on Facebook. I hope to blog more in-depth about each of them, or more than I have in the past anyway… reaching out to some manufacturers and designers, especially for the most interesting ones.
If you want to know what it’s like to be a parent, let me give you some insight.
Tonight we were putting up the Christmas tree. It is old & the top 3rd didn’t all completely light up last year. I did sort of attempt to fix the problem to no avail. Again this year with a replacement bulb to no avail.
Because the kids were excited, we continued to decorate. About 95% done, I remarked aloud (my mistake?) that we should get a new tree. So, everyone got out of their PJ’s into regular clothes and we ended up going to Home Depot. Excitement was off the charts.
At Home Depot, there were a bunch of great trees for all kinds of price ranges. All four of us finally settled on a tree that we liked. (It’s really cool… pre-lit, and can be all white or different colors!)
Looking for the tree on the shelf, of course they didn’t have one. Neither did any of the other local stores. We bought the floor model for a slight discount but the caveat was that there was no box.
The kids managed to bounce around the store with Christmas Spirit like Will Ferrell in Elf while sort of processing that this was the only tree if we wanted that tree.
Us purchasing the tree from the floor was apparently the most exciting thing we have ever done and we (well, half of us) danced to the checkout with 3 shopping carts in tow… the useless race car one because we can never not get it, and two regular orange carts, one with 2/3 of a tree and one with the remaining 1/3 & stand.
I had wanted to get a rubbermaid tote for it, but the ants in our pants had grown great in their numbers and were humming the chorus to “Ode to Joy.” We checked out and came home with the plan that we could continue the tree decoration process tomorrow.
So of course, once in the house, we promptly assembled & started to decorate the new tree while un-decorating the old tree. Oh the excitement was uncontainable!
Being that garbage collection was pushed back a day due to Thanksgiving, I wanted to put the old tree on the curb.
I told the kids to say goodbye to the old tree and Ian looked like I just told him we were going to skin and eat Butterscotch (our cat) after roasting her over an open flame. Once the crocodile tear rolled down his cheek, it set Molly into big sister sympathy tears mode.
We had talked before about getting a second tree for the dining room because it looks nice in that window from outside.
Guess who is going to try harder to fix that Christmas tree because he is a sucker for recently overjoyed and now crying children?
Combine two albums you dig into one… just like some record executive or intern did once upon a time with Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, combining the “best” tracks of each to make one pointless album.
I would suggest that you do two albums. It can be different artists or the same.
If you want to be crazy try to keep the run time to a “real” album length. I think Records hold 44 minutes of music and CD’s 74 or so? About an hour would be good.
You can keep the artists separate like a split, or mix it all up.
Hell, you can combine 3 or more albums. I am a fan of anarchy. Just play. Here in the comments, or online. Use PicsArt or something similar to make an album cover if so inclined.
You can explain why you chose the tracks, or just let the mix speak for itself.
I sort of mixed up the tracks because why not? They do appear in album order. The run time is just over 50 minutes. (Thanks Wikipedia & Google Sheets.)
You’ve no doubt heard that Black Sabbath just announced that they were going to record an album of new material & tour with the original lineup…
You’ve probably also heard the news about Tony Iommi being recently diagnosed with lymphoma. The band told us not long ago via their website that you could send get well wishes to Tony via email at getwelltony@black-sabbath.com.
I did that.
From: me@myemail.addre.ss To: “getwelltony@black-sabbath.com” <getwelltony@black-sabbath.com> Sent: Friday, January 13, 2012 Subject: – ✠ \m/ ✠ –
Dear Mr. Iommi,
I’m sure you have a grasp of your influence in the musical world, and on guitar players everywhere. We look to you for not only inspiration as far as the most devastating guitar riffs on the planet, but also as a musician who’s resolve soldiered his band triumphantly through many decades. I have read countless stories of your humility & friendliness. I have several members of my family & great friends who have triumphed over the odds with various forms of cancer. I have no doubt that the prayers, thoughts, and general good vibes of millions of fans, friends, family, and your brothers from Black Sabbath will only serve to strengthen your own personal iron will to defeat this disease and come out a stronger man.
Your music helped me learn to play the guitar, and whenever any people get together to jam for the first time, inevitably someone starts playing a Sabbath song, then another, then another… I owe you a great many good times, sir. I will pray for your health, pray for strength for your family & friends, & pray for guidance to the medical team entrusted with your care so that you may continue to have many more good times yourself.
Sincerely,
-Eric
.seitilibasid gninrael fo nuf ekam ot ynnuf ton yllaer s’tI
This is the auto reply:
From: Tony Iommi To: me@myemail.addre.ss Sent: Friday, January 13, 2012 Subject: Thanks for the Get Well Email! Re: – ✠ \m/ ✠ –
A short automated note to let you know that your email for Tony Iommi has been received.
Due to the overwheming crush of outpouring for Tony since his announcement on Jan 9th, please note that your email cannot be individually replied to.
It will however be read, and both Tony, and those who represent him are grateful for your prayers and thoughts at this time.
At the new Market District in Robinson, I laugh every time we go in the side door by the cafe & I see this sign:
sign for the special sort of Yinzer...
In case you can’t read it (or see the photo), it says this:
PRETTY PLEASE! (with a cherry on top) USEMAIN
ENTRANCE ←with―a―cart― NOT THE ROTATING
DOOR
Yeah. Apparently people need to be told things like this. It makes me want to try to squeeze a cart through the rotating door and see if anyone reprimands me. They certainly don’t when you have more than the accepted quantity of items in the express line. How far will they go to keep the customer happy?
OK, so in a recent McBlog, I made a call out to the readers to be creative and active, and make a chart depicting the levels of snacking as mentioned in my SPAMvertisement from McDonald’s.
This is my second request, in which I will simultaneously be more stern in my request, and shamelessly plead for your participation. I know you’re out there reading. I hear things. I see traffic. I get notes/comments on other sites. I get comments here. Let’s pull it all together here, shall we?
This is what I need:I’d like a chart, graph, illustration, photos of a diorama, cartoon, audio recording, video, whatever you want to create… depicting the “whole new level” of snacking noted in this letter. Is it a top level? A side level? A hidden level? A secret level? A low level? You can even use some of my past McDonald’s-related posts for inspiration. Is the McGangBang on the map? Does snack level have a correlation with restroom cleanliness? Is the ketchup station a mess? Does Heinz’s opinion count?
Here’s what you get:Bragging rights. Well, that, and one of my “Be Our Guest” Cards that entitles you to afreeMac Snack Wrap. Why only one? Well, because I already used one… and really, do you need more than one Mac Snack Wrap? Plus, the letter suggested that I share one… so I am. Also, it gives me a twisted sense of satisfaction knowing that McDonald’s is (albeit indirectly) sponsoring their own ridicule.
How do we decide who wins? Well, again, this depends on you… the readers. I believe that I have the option to put up a poll… so once all submissions are in, the voting will go on for a week or so.
How it will go down: Let’s give it to Friday, Feb. 5th, 2010 to get submissions in to me. We’ll vote the following week, closing & announcing a winner on Friday, Feb. 12th. You’ll have your free Mac Snack Wrap just in time for Valentine’s Day… so you can show someone you love how cheap you are. You can get submissions to me by leaving them in the comments here (if you’re ‘net-savvy) or you can email them to world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com.
![Metallica Fans: We want more sounds that sound like Kill 'Em All."
Metallica: [Releases "Lux Æterna"]
Metallica Fans: NO, NOT LIKE THAT!](https://aixelsyd13.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/picsart_22-11-30_18-49-04-262.jpg?w=520)
World (and Lunar) Domination 