Bear's Monthly Mayhem - January 2025!

Happy New Bear! (...I shall immediately remove myself for that pun)

Feb 04, 2025

And so, we find ourselves in a new year once again! The new year got off to an interesting start, to say the least! I hope you’ve all been doing well so far.

I’ve decided to do a wee restructuring in here now. It occurred to me that, since I’m trying to focus less on music journalism, perhaps that shouldn’t be what’s up front and center in here. So expect a little shuffling down below.

If you’re a new subscriber, I hope you enjoy this monthly write-up of my most recent projects, services, reviews, and merch gigs, as well as a general catch-up (and a cat picture or two)! The links will take you directly to the relevant pages/articles!

Simon’s pretty cute when he’s sleepy

CREATIVE PROJECTS

I want to focus on creative projects right now, so this segment has moved to the top to encourage me to have something to say here every month.

I actually took January as a necessary break from creative projects, however. This was partly because I had no time, between spending the first two weeks feeling really dark and gloomy, the next week in the US, and the last one super sick. Nonetheless, I still wanted to finish some of my unfinished professional projects, namely Kathy’s novel — you can preorder it now, by the way! So no work was done on the creative front, as I was trying to clear my slate.

That said, I did write up a series of travel blogs from my trip to the US, which you can read here: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4. It was an eye-opening trip and I was honestly glad to visit the US during inauguration time, to remind me that there are a lot of great people in that country, who deserve better than what the other half chose for them.

Tropicana Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, NJ

I also wrote an article about the spectacular portrayal of grief in the game Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, which I played in December. That game definitely hit me in a tender spot.

Over here on Substack, I shared some general musings on a side effect of social media that I have yet to hear discussed, so if you’re curious, you can check that out as well. I plan to share more train-of-thought musings here when compared to the more well-thought-out essays that I publish on my website.

The Jersey shore, Atlantic City, NJ

The Vitmar Chronicles

I have, of course, promised to finish “The Living Dream of Chartholaine” (a short story set in the world of “The Vitmar Chronicles”) for anyone who bought “The Vitmar Chronicles, vol. I” from me directly, which is my project for February. After that, I aim to finish up “TVC vol II” for April sometime. That’s my loose goal, but I’ll set it in stone further once I’ve gotten back to work on things.

Off the Record

I had hoped that January would mark the release of the first old interview from May 2024, with Robert Soeterboek of Plan Nine (and occasionally Ayreon live) and Arjen Lucassen of Plan Nine & Ayreon, but there was still a wee issue of alignment in my audio file, so I’ll be finishing that up ASAP, so keep an eye and ear open in early February!

My interview with Today Was Yesterday from last year should also hopefully see the light of day in February!

Gathering of Geeks

Stay tuned for some cool stuff coming in spring/summer!

PROFESSIONAL PROJECTS

As mentioned, I finished up my final read-through of Kathy Criswell’s debut novel, “Aphrodite Rising,” which is now ready for release in March! I’m super proud of her for all the work she’s done. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who enjoys romantic literature (not to be confused with romance literature), or who likes tales of grief and healing!

Enslain Metal Merch

One of the first things that came up in January was a headlining show for Enemies Everywhere, which had Sorretun voima and Split Iris as opening acts. I had a surprisingly pleasant evening and was particularly amused by the sociable frontman from SV who was making sure to chat up everyone who came by merch. I was also surprisingly pleased by all the music that night, considering how burnt out on music I am.

However, I wasn’t out with Merta in January, nor will I be with them in February either — they don’t have any new merch, so they figured they’d just hold the fort on their own and not drag me around with them to make only a handful of sales. I look forward to rejoining them later on though!

CRITICAL REVIEWS

First thing in January, I received a request to review an album from a fresh band whose name was familiar to me. I recognized the usual reaction: a desire to be helpful and support the little guys. However, I do realize that I can’t be martyring myself for other artists forever. I really need to focus on my own work. With a heavy heart, I chose to ignore the request.

That said, I did have a few albums on my radar that I wanted to review. The first was that of Lasse Soundblaster, who happens to be half of one of my favorite non-metal Finnish bands, Pihka Is My Name. Since I’ve really enjoyed everything he’s done as a band, I wanted to see what his solo album, “On tapahtumassa räjähdys” would sound like.

And, of course, since I’ll be hocking merch for Marko Hietala in February, I also had to check out his new album, which is coming out on February 7th, “Roses from the Deep.” It’s definitely a good one!

LIVE EVENTS & WORKSHOPS

I really wanted to go to Love Potion Psych Fest, but between my partner needing the car for work all weekend and the hefty burnout I was feeling in January, I just couldn’t make it happen. I needed the time to rest and recuperate before my trip to the US, especially since my shoulder was bothering me.

PHYSICAL & MENTAL HEALTH

This month started on an unpleasant note when, over new year’s eve, I managed to aggravate my shoulder again. Not to a degree that it was causing me significant grief, but to the point that I was worried that it would shift and start causing me spasms again. A trip to my non-biodynamic osteopath wasn’t as helpful as I might have hoped, especially before long airplane rides, but I survived the trip to the US with minimal discomfort.

It’s also been very frustrating because I want to do something to help it along, but it seems like every time I even stretch, I mess something up. I suppose the trick is to do more small things (like single sun salutations) than try to push myself to be tough and strong when I can’t handle it. Annoying and slow, but the biodynamic osteopath keeps saying that I need to be patient, so I’m trying to accept how things are.

Regarding my mental health, perhaps I was supporting too many people through a lot of fall drama, but for whatever reason, I’ve become very aware of how burnt out I’ve gotten again. The chronic physical pain also doesn’t help with the feeling of exhaustion. For the first week or two of January, I didn’t feel like talking to anyone for any reason. I just needed some time alone to recharge. It helped, quite a lot.

Unfortunately, after I got back from the US, I found myself pretty sick for 4-5 days, wherein I coughed so hard that I threw my spine into spasms again. To explain what that feels like… imagine you have a sore muscle under your shoulder blade. It’s fine most of the time, but every so often, if you move weirdly or breathe too deeply, it sends a pulse of pain into your spine, that radiates through your torso. This pulse can be 1/10 or it can be 10/10, depending on its mood. So every time I coughed (which was every 5 minutes or so because I was sick), it was like having a dude behind me trying to decide if he was going to just poke me with a pin or stab me with a sword. It is so painful sometimes that it very literally brought me to my knees, usually after a coughing fit woke me up at 6 in the morning. Most painkillers (organic, pharmaceutical, topical…) take the edge off at best, and the heat bag doesn’t really do anything for the pain.

I did have emergency osteo on the 31st though, which immediately made me feel better. He promised I’d be in for a rough day when he was done with me, and I had my previously booked session awaiting me a couple of days later on the 3rd.

GENERAL BEARSNESS

We’ve recently been watching documentaries on diet, food production, and the gut microbiome, which has led my partner and I to completely rethink our diet, deciding to become flexitarian. I’ve been surprised to note that every time I say that, people tell me that they don’t know what it means.

I find it really interesting that people seem to think that you must be vegetarian or vegan, as though having a vegetable-heavy diet with less meat is somehow not an option. And why the hell not? That seems to be a symptom of all-or-nothing thinking that’s not really necessary.

We already made a decision in the past few years that we would try to buy more certified organic meat (and in Finland, you can actually trust those labels), cutting out ground beef and pork, with rare exceptions. We also almost always get our BBQ meat cuts for the grill from the butcher rather than the markets. Because my partner has ulcerative colitis, going full vegetarian is not good for his health, but since I’ve been back from the US, we’ve been eating cauliflower wings, quinoa salad, and meat-free stir fry. While I don’t feel like my life has changed for the better in one week, I have immediately noted that I don’t feel heavy and bloated after meals anymore, even though I feel very full. We’ve also been looking into the production of the things we do buy, like our salami. It’s good to know that chicken production in Finland is pretty progressive compared to everywhere else, and we’re now making sure to buy free-range chicken eggs, with the hope that we might find a neighbor or someone we could buy eggs directly from.

The trip to the US was pretty much the most exciting part of January, so hopefully I’ll have more fun tales once February is underway! Have a great February and I’ll catch you next month!

“True love cannot be found. You have to live your life and it will find you.”

—Aphrodite; “Aphrodite Rising” by Kathy Criswell

Share Bear Wiseman's Monthly Mayhem

Coming Next Month…

I was at the Machinae Supremacy show in Helsinki on February 1st, since I wasn’t with Merta in Tampere that night, freeing me up to see one of my favorites! As mentioned, I also went back for my regularly scheduled osteo appointment on the 3rd, because better safe than sorry when heading out on tour, right? It’s nice to be able to help carry the boxes.

That’s it for now! I’ll catch you all again in February!

Eventually, I will have a Best of 2025 playlist forming, but since it’s too early for such things, here’s a playlist of metal favorites (which hasn’t been updated much in recent years):