Joel Spangler

I used to do more of this.

2025. I didn’t make any New Years Resolutions. I have recently started feeling the faint desire to rekindle my diminished friendship with music. For years I have referred to my musician days as “a past life”. I acknowledge that it existed, but if I’m being honest, I never liked that version of me.

My career took a pointed turn when my computer and problem solving skills took over. I consider myself lucky to have fallen backwards into such a fitting place.

I do have a knack for music, and I have had a long and strange relationship with it that, frankly, I wouldn’t expect anyone to understand. I have, on occasion tried to explain it to people, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that there is a perspective there that only few have.

That subject could probably end up becoming a book. Perhaps another day. At any rate, I kind of want to make it a goal to kind of make a do-over with music. I still have all of the knowledge. Theory, Tech, Chops, etc. I can play music. The next step would be to make music. In the later years of my previous life, I recorded an album with an incredible guitar player which had a lot of promise. As those things usually do, it fizzed out. It would be fun to take that approach again, but in a less pressure filled environment. Who knows, maybe actually try to have fun with it? A lot to unpack there I guess.

Well. If nothing else, it helped to talk through this with myself here. Some inspiration - based on the concert I went to the other day.



Cool Times

My friend Brandon texted me last week and said, “Hey, want to go see Ben Folds tomorrow?”, I said, yeah that would be awesome. And so we did. I got to see him on a makeup date for his “Paper Airplane Requests” show. I requested my fave, “Not the same”, but alas he didn’t get to that one. He did play so many great songs though, and even told stories about each of them beforehand. A bonus, he made up a song about the classic PA commercial “1-877-Kars-4-Kids”. If you live in PA and listen to radio, you’ve heard it. An awesome time, and so glad I got to see him live at least once.

I completed the Lego Natural History Museum set this week. What a cool build. The third set I’ve done in the modular line, this one was bigger, and had some cool story lines, though lacked a bit of detail that some of the other modulars have. Though I’ve only built three of them, the Tudor Corner is still by far the coolest lego set I’ve built to this point. It had so many cool details, and a unique layout that really put it over the top.

Beside catching my annual cold that sidelined me for a few days, this week is shaping up to be ok.

It's March of 2025. Man, a lot has happened.

Since I’ve last posted, it would be difficult to mention everything. But lets see.

  • Emma started 1st Grade and turned 7

  • We got a new dog

  • Christmas happened

  • New Years Happened.

  • Emma started Ice Skating

  • I have started building more Legos

  • Kerry has started making a lot of sourdough bread

So far this year, my goal has been to start messing around with music and photography again. I have been feeling the urge to exercise some creativity, and since I’ve finished school I need something to occupy my time. Now that spring is around the corner, I’m also hoping to dedicate some more time to riding my bike. I just need to commit.

Photo Collage!