A Snog Under A Wall.

     My new 7/8 inch tapers arrived yesterday, and I managed to get them in. They were pretty painful last night. Enough so, that I had a hard time sleeping. I'm not real sure when I finally fell asleep, I only remember hearing the alarm going off in the morning. I was able to get the left ear out, and have a tunnel put in, but the right ear is being stubborn. This called for flipping the taper around, so that it would get a different angle. When you wear tapers, they tend to be weighted toward then long end, and if you can't get them balanced, they will pull your lobe in weird ways. That was the case at work today. The long end was hanging down and that causes the healing process to be a little off. I have it reversed now, and it is balanced, so that it is going straight now. I'm hoping that I will be able to get the other tunnel in in the morning, but I'm betting it will be more like tomorrow afternoon. This right ear is rather sore, and was quite a bit raw looking when I pulled the taper out. I may end up going a couple of days with the taper in. The good news in all of this is, that my left ear didn't blow out into the second hole. In all actuality, it doesn't look like it even bothered that small sliver of skin between the two holes.

     I watched a new show tonight. It's been on for a while now, but I never gave it a chance, because it was on a channel an a night that I didn't bother with. It's a new CW show called Riverdale. It's based on the old Archie comics. It has all the characters, but the departure from the comics is, that it is rather dark. Tonight after The Flash, they aired the premier episode, so I gave it a shot. From what I gather, Jughead is a writer that is narrating the entire show, and it is centered around the suspicious death of one of their classmates over the summer. I have to say, that I enjoyed that first episode, but there is a problem. I'm not sure how many episodes in they are, and they promoted a new episode for Thursday night. I don't want to watch the first episode and then jump in on episode 5 or whatever it is. I need to find out how many there are, and where to watch them. Ok, just looked it up on cctv.com and there are currently 5 episodes available, and the ability to watch then second episode on the site expires in two days. I guess I'm going to have to try to watch it tomorrow, and catch up with things before Thursday night. I do have another option though. I watch the second episode tomorrow as planned, record Thursday nights episode, and then catch up with the rest over the weekend. I like that plan better. I have no plans for he weekend anyway, and since I haven't been drinking, there really isn't much for men to go out for. Riverdale it is then.

     I've spoken about The Perks of Being a Wallflower probably more than you can stand, but I'm going to bring it up briefly again tonight, and that is because it relates to Favorite Song of the Week. I haven't had a Perks weekend in some time now, and I think I might be due, but in the meantime, the signature song that ends the movie, in what I believe to be a truly epic scene is Favorite Song of the Week. It is none other than David Bowie's classic song "Heroes". I was watching a documentary this weekend about Bowie, and Tony Visconti told a rather fun story about this particular song. Tony Visconti was producing for Bowie in Berlin. Bowie was growing frustrated and needed some alone time to write. He just so happened to be working on this song. The studio was near the old Berlin Wall, and Tony left the studio, and met up with a woman that he was quite enamored with. They snuck away to the base of the wall out of the sight of the guards that lined the top of it, and had a song with this lady friend. Bowie saw that, and made it the second verse of the song. Listen out for it, ti's there, and you will hear it clear as day. That verse was thanks to Tony Visconti's indiscretion.



Did you hear it? Pretty wild right? Bowie was amazing and him witnessing a private moment and turning it into a song lyric shows that.

     I'm heading off to bed now. Since I have one ear without a giant taken going through it, I believe that I will get a little more sleep tonight. Oh, before I leave, I have one request of you tonight. It's a simple one, and one that you will easily be able to fulfill. Here it is, go out and do one nice thing for a complete stranger this week. It can be anything. Hold a door open for someone. Give someone your seat if you are in a crowded waiting room. Pay for someone's order behind you in a drive thru. Hand a flower to a complete stranger. And any number of other things that you could do. If you fulfill this request, I promise you, that you will have an incredible feeling when the deed is done. Peace in and goodnight.

Freedom Is What You Make Of It.

     The title came first tonight, and I'll explain all as we go. It all stems from one very brief moment on Friday evening, but there is an underlying theme throughout the weekend. If you guessed that it revolves around Saki, you would be correct.

     After depositing my check in the bank, I went for a ride. I eventually ended up at my new favorite spot to take pictures of Saki. It just has an open scenic viewed despite the fact that it is an unused cup de sac at the end of a rode between two neighborhoods. I was going to try to recreate this picture with Saki and Melvin. Since I upgraded the exhaust system. I was thwarted though. A large SUV saw me as they were coming out of a neighborhood further back, and followed me to said cut de sac. I didn't know what was going on, I was just pulling in to the place where I set Saki for the picture, and this SUV comes barreling in straight towards me. I slowly started moving, and they still kept coming towards me. I stopped, and they veered off slightly. I tool this opportunity to boogie on out of there. As I tore off, I noticed the two occupants smiling. They only wanted to get a look at Melvin, but I wasn't staying around to find out what they wanted.

      It was taking them some time to get out of there, which gave me a pretty big head start, and then I hit some big luck. The light to where I turn was green. I throttle up to make sure that I got through, and that's when I saw another SUV sitting in the middle of my turn lane at the intersection. This person had pulled out too far, and I was coming in pretty hot. I already knew I was going to have a good lean in order to make the turn. I started out a little wide, so that I would avoid this SUV, but I also decided to buzz by real close. With being fully in my lean, my eyes were at headlight level of this SUV, as I rode by, I reached my left hand out to mimic brushing across the number of this SUV. I was still a few inches from my finger tips, but I wanted them to know, that they were out way too far, and that they shouldn't do that again. In that moment though. it was as if time slowed down. I was in a full lean for the turn with my arm outstretched fingers out reaching for this bumper. I could see the entire thing as if I was above it. That moment there was true freedom to me. Was it dangerous? Of course it was. Was it stupid? I can't argue that one either, but it was freedom and life.

     If you are lucky, you get these moments in your life, where the whole world slows down around you, and you get to feel everything in that moment. You are present in your life. For most of my existence, I struggle with being present in my life. Yes, I know how that sounds, so let me explain. I'm very introverted. If you know me personally then you might find that hard to believe, but it is true. I force my self to participate, but I'm not truly all there. It is in moments like that one above, where I am fully aware of my surroundings and my senses. I am fully in control of myself. Other times, I may be there physically, but in truth, I'm more in my head than anywhere else. That is really the best way I can explain it.

      On Saturday, I went out riding again. It was beautiful on the Space Coast this weekend, and I took full advantage of it. I rode some twists roads, and then I hit a highway to really open up that new exhaust system. I'm not going to say that I hit triple digits on the speedometer, but the new Yoshi pipe let me know that it was really enjoying itself. Oh, before I forget, and I will get back to this a little later, but it was too hot to wear the new Icon Sanctuary jacket. I had to partially squid it on Friday and Saturday. Squid is a biker term used for people that don't wear protective gear. I say partial squid, because I always wear my helmet and gloves. So the real important parts are safe. I did find a slightly desolate road that I may take some pictures of Saki on some day. It's a good long stretch where I can park Saki in the middle of the road and get that shot that trails off into the distance. I think it will be pretty good. You'll see it here when it happens.

     On the way home, I stopped by the tattoo shop to talk to my artist. Mainly to catch up with him, since I haven't seen him in a month of two, and also to talk to him about doing the Princess Leia/Bowie tattoo. You might remember the picture I posted on here when Carrie Fisher died. I can't remember who posted it on twitter, and I don't have any idea who created it. I remember saying that I was going to have to fight with myself about not getting that as a tattoo. Well, I lost, and the other part of me won, and I will be getting it tattooed on my on March 11th. In case you don't remember the picture, here it is.

Great picture right. It says it all. She was a rebel, and she was just an all around impressive woman, and I'm going to be proud to wear that on me. We are doing it as is, on the outside of my right calf. As I'm looking at it, it is about 2 1/2 inches by 4 inches, and I believe that is the actual size that it will be. I can't say for sure right now, but this cold lead to an entire Star Wars leg sleeve. Well, maybe just the lower leg. I don't think I want to go above my knee, but only time will tell on that one. If I do a themed leg, I'm only picking the characters that I connected with most. Leia was one of those, Luke will be in there somewhere as well, and Darth Vader, and of course Chewbacca. I still have a plush doll of him that I got when I was a kid. I think those 4 could fill up the entire lower leg. Ha, I just realized something. That could be a very strange family photo with their pet dog. I can't stop laughing about that.

     This brings us to today. I woke up early, and showered as soon as I got up. I wanted to hit the road early, so that I could try out that Icon Sanctuary jacket. I'd taken the quilted lining out, so I could see just how much protection from the cold it would give me on it's own. When I left the house, it was 61 degrees. That is no where near freezing, but when you are moving, it gets into the 50's. I only wore that jacket and my white textile Icon gloves along with my helmet and my Speed and Strength riding jeans. Those are great by the way. They are kevlar lined so help protect against abrasions in the even of a slide, and they also have CE rated knee pads in them. They also  helped keep my warm. Which brings us back to the jacket. It did it's job. I barely felt any cold air on me, with the exception of my neck and chin. That is the one downside of my Arai helmet. It doesn't have a true chin skirt. It has a chin spoiler that I can drop down, but that only partially works to deflect the wind. It wasn't too bad on the ride over to the beachside. I was going to my favorite spot over there to get a few early morning pictures.

I combined most of the shots I took into this one right here. I think the shot on the bottom left is my favorite. If you look close, you can see the waves in the background. AS for the top left, you can see a bit of the jacket, and as I said before, it worked great. I'm not going to have any worries about riding in colder weather now. I can just zip that quilted lining back in, and I will be snug as a bug in a rug. 

     On the way home this morning, the ride turned into just relaxing enjoyment. It wasn't about seeing how fast I could go, or how the new exhaust sounded, or how much I could lean over in a turn. It became about that freedom again. I took my clutch hand off the bar and just sat up and enjoyed the ride. I looked at there beauty that was around me as I crossed bridges over the rivers, and as I rode along side the Indian River, I just marveled at its beauty. I was back to being present in life. It felt good, and that was because of Saki. I doubt that I could get that feeling in a car or even in a boat drifting down the river itself, but I can get that on the back of a motorcycle. A lot of people call motorcycles "two wheels of freedom" and that phrase really hit home this weekend for me. Freedom is what you make of it, so find you happy place and feel that freedom. This life is too short to just wait for it to happen. Sometimes you just have to get out there and make it happen. Good night and peace in.

I'm Tired And I Want To Go To Bed.

     I am really tired tonight, so this might be short. I decided to do something stupid. I'm going to stretch my lobes ups again. I'm currently at 3/4 of an inch, or 19 mm. I'm going to stretch it up to 7/8 of an inch or 22 mm. That may not seem like a lot, but when it comes to stretching skin, it kind of is. I thought when I went up to 3/4 that I would be happy with it, and I have been for some time now. Much longer than at any other time, but  now, I feel like I have a quest for a full inch. There is one problem though, and that is the second piercing in my left ear. It is pretty snug up to the larger hole, so I really don't have a bunch of room to work with. I have tapers coming, and I'm going to take my time with them this time. I tried to push it too fast last time, and I ended up with an infection in my left ear. It sucked, and I don't want to do that again. This time, I'm going to stretch them over a week or so, instead of a couple of days. That should let the skin stretch at a much easier rate, and hopefully not blow out on that left ear between the two holes. I'll let you know how it all goes.

     I have an update on the under lighting for Saki. A friend of mine contacted me, and thought that it was legal in Florida, but that you couldn't have blue lights. That prompted me to look it up, and I found out that she was right, but that you also couldn't have red lights either. This could present a problem. You might remember that I said that the kit I was looking at, turned red when you hit the brakes. The reason for the no blue or red lights, is because those are the lights used my emergency vehicles. I'm hoping that since I don't sit with my foot or hand on the brake when I'm at a light, that it will only look like my brake light is really bright when it is pressed. I'll know for sure if I get pulled over for it. There might also be a way to disable that through the phone, or I just want route it through the brake wires. I'm sure that question will be answered when I finally get it, and install it.

     In ukulele class tonight, we were working on an older AFI song, called "Miss Murder". I"Ve been getting the finger picking techniques pretty well, and this song is only power chords. I mention that, because I am terrible at power chords. Power chords are generally just two strings, and I can't seem to be able to strum two strings at all. I either hit 3 or maybe 4 strings, and when I do only hit 2 strings, I hit them to slow, and it messes up the sound. Instead of one stead chord, I get a  double note. I know that it is going to just take some practice, but it is humbling when you are doing so good at something that should be difficult and then you turn around and suck at the easy thing. I'll get it though, it will just take some time. I can remember when I started, and thinking that I would never be able to get a G chord. Now, I have no problem with that chord as well as many others that I thought were nearly impossible for me at the time. It just takes practice and determination.

     Think about that for a second. With practice and determination, you can achieve things that you once thought impossible. It sounds cliche, but it is true. When I first started playing, I was concerned that I would have to give it up before I even got started. My fingers seemed fat, and unable to do things that I wanted them to. After a few weeks, those simple things that were so hard for me to do, became a little easier. With more time, those things became second nature, and I don't even think about how hard it once was. With each new lesson, comes a new challenge. From those challenges we become stronger in whatever it is that we are working at. Bring on those challenges. With enough time, I will beat them all. Go out and challenge yourself. Peace in and goodnight.

ICON, Podcasts, And Love.

     The leather jacket has arrived. It showed up yesterday, and it is perfect. It's an ICON Sanctuary jacket. It came with a little added bonus that I didn't know about. It has a full quilted sip out lining in it. Unlike my other ICON jacket, this lining goes all the way to the wrist, so it will be perfect on those cold days, which don't seem to be anywhere in sight. The 10 day forecast is showing lower 70's as the lowest high temperature, and it may get into the upper 50's on a few of those days. It has a couple of zippered vents for those warmer days, but I don't think it is going to be all that breathable, but that really isn't what I wanted it for. I wanted a cool weather jacket, and this truly fits the bill. It fits a little on the large side, which is perfect, because I could wear a hoody under it, on those very rare, really cold days. I'll get some test ride time in it this weekend.

     This should be very visible to cars. If they can't see me now, then they are blind and shouldn't be on the road anyway. The inside of the ICON logo is made of a textile mesh, so that is some of the venting, along with those small triangular spots just below it. The cuffs have two way sippers, so that you can keep it sipped up snug but open it up for venting through the sleeve. That is pretty much all the venting that is on it. Like I said, not very breathable, but that is exactly what I wanted. It also has D3O armor in the elbows, shoulders, and spine.

     I did do some thinking today about what I could do to Saki next. I know I said that with the new exhaust I was basically done, but there are still other things that can be done. I think the next big thing I will do, is under lighting. I found a kit that is programmable with my phone, and has an added safety feature of the lights turning all red when you hit the brakes. That will be an added bonus when I'm riding at night. There is one problem though. I believe that those lights are illegal in Florida, so I will have to make sure that there is a shut off switch that is with it, or, I can possibly do it with the phone. Here is an example of what they would look like. 

     The kit I was looking at had all the colors in the rainbow, and you could even make them pulse to what ever music was playing on your phone. I don't know if I will use that feature, but it's fun to know that I could. I'll have to look into the laws on it, and all that, I have time though, I don't plan on doing that for a few months.

     The Howard Stern show has been on vacation for last week and this one, so I decided to try out a few new podcasts. I listened to the new ones today, and so far, I like them. The first one was a motorcycle oriented podcast called 2 Enthusiasts. It was pretty interesting. There were two of them up for today. The first one discussed the motorcycle industry as a whole, and the recent shutdown of Victory Motorcycles. They had a lot of good insight on the whole matter. The second one was an interview with the CEO of AMA Pro Racing, Michael Lock. He was there promoting Flat Track racing. If you haven't seen a Flat Track race, you should give it a try. They are full of excitement. He mentioned that they either will be airing or are airing Thursday nights on NBCSN which is NBC's sports network. I'll check into it this Thursday and see if there is anything on. the first race of the season is coming up in Daytona, on March 16th, and it will be the first time that a Flat Track race will be held in the Daytona Speedway. They are putting the track right in the middle of the famous Daytona Tri-oval. I haven't gotten tickets yet, but I'm going to give it a try. This is the first year that Indian Motorcycles is putting a team of riders in the races. This will be like the old days of Indian vs. Harley-Davidson. Harley is touting the #1 rider in Flat Track, but that guy one that #1 plate riding a Kawasaki last year. It should be fun and good for the sport over all.

    The next podcast I listened to, was Lena Dunham's podcast called Women of the Hour. There was only 1 up for today, and I think it was the last one of her season. It was really good. As you may have guessed, it is about women, and this particular one, was about aging. It was very smart, insightful, and down right funny at times. Lena loves self deprecating humor, and she will always take the piss out of herself whenever she can, but don't let that make you thing this isn't a serious podcast. It is definitely a feminist podcast, and it is very well done. If you are up for something a little different, give it a try. You may just find that you like it.

     The third and final podcast of the day was Anna Farris is Unqualified. There were two of those up for today. They had Charlie Day as the guest on the first one, and Bob Odenkirk as the guest on the second one. It's a fun little podcast. Anna does certain little segments where she plays a ditzy woman that is trying to come on to the guest, and he has to try to talk his way out of it somehow. It was interesting to hear. Charlie Day was very nice about it, and Bob Odenkirk was trying to get away as soon as he could. it was great. At the end of each one, they take call listeners. This is where the unqualified part comes into play. They are preplanned in that the listener has sent in a topic they want to talk about, and they now that Anna is going to call them. From the two podcasts I heard today, they seem to ask about relationship type stuff, and Anna and the guest try to give that person the best advice that they can give. I have to say, that I thought the advice was pretty solid. I would have given the same advice if that person was asking me.

     I'll see how these go over the next few weeks. I have thrown out a bunch of podcasts that I liked at first, but then they began to grate on me. Fitzsimmons and Proops have been the ones that I always listen to. They have done no wrong, so it will be fun to see if these new ones, can cut the mustard. I did add The Nerdist in there not too long ago, and it is doing pretty well, so it may just be a mainstay as well.

     I've been a fan of Lana Del Ray for some time now. I admit, I didn't get it at first, but then I saw the iTunes concert that she did in London a couple of years ago, and it just connected with me. I understood it all once I saw her live on iTunes. She has a sort of retro 60's appeal. A freer time if you will. She has that hippie vibe, but it is twisted with a little vagabond biker, and debutante good looks. He voice is what I would call heavenly. It just relaxes you when you hear her sing. So, what does all this mean? It means that we are at this weeks Favorite Song of the Week. Lana just released a new song, and the video showed up in my subscriptions yesterday, so I share it with you today. Here is Lana Del Ray with "Love".

     It's about that time again, and by that, I mean time for bed. Peace in and goodnight.

Saki Gets New Vocal Chords.

     The Yoshimura exhaust showed up around 8 o'clock Friday night. That meant that the plan for a Saturday upgrade to Saki was a go. I of course had to get one last ride on Saki with the stock exhaust system, and it just so happens that I needed to hit the hardware store and pick up a 3/8 drive. I didn't realize that all the sockets and the 10 in. extension that I got were all 3/8 and all I had were 1/4 in drivers. I hit the bank after work and headed straight to the store to pick one up. I found what I was looking for and it was just the right size to fit under the seat, so I didn't have to try to back pocket it for the ride home. Once I got home, I shot a short little video clip of what the stock exhaust sounds like. You will see that a little later. First I have to tell you about the rest of my Friday night.

     Well, since I haven't been drinking, I've basically been staying home, and watching Netflix or catching up on recorded shows. I was caught up on all those shows this week, so Netflix it was. I watched the last few episodes of Santa Clarita Diet. It ended rather abruptly, and definitely left you wanting more. I will have to wait until the second season though. I needed a new series to watch, so I quickly ran through what was on my queue, and after browsing everything through once, I decided on OA. I can't really tell you why I like this series so much. Partly because one of the reasons will give some of the story away, and one of the other reasons, I just can't figure out. The one I can tell  you though, is that it is a complete story. It isn't rushed just to get an audience. It builds slowly the way a great story should. There is character development and growth with those characters. Imagine a more mature Stranger Things. I guess that is a good way to put it. I only watched one episode on Friday night, because I wanted to get to bed early, so that I could wake up, and put the new exhaust on.

     Here is the crazy thing about Saturday. I had a hard time sleeping that night. I woke up a dozen times between 3 and 6 in the morning. With all that, I managed to wake up late. Well, 8:30 in the morning, but that was late. I wanted to be wrenching on the bike by then. The forecast was calling for rain the latter have of the day, so I wanted to get everything done early so that I could ride.

     I made a quick breakfast, and got everything ready so that I could start wrenching. I had already put Saki up on the rear tire stand, so all I needed to do, was put down some towels underneath so that I could lay down while getting under the bike, and a piece of cardboard to put the new exhaust system out on. I opened up the box, and I would have had pictures for you, but I forgot that I only took them for my Instagram Story, and those pictures do not save to the phone. Not to mention, that they are only up for 24 hours on Instagram, so if you didn't see them yesterday, they are gone. I do have pictures of the finished product though, and those will be coming up, as well as the video.

     Removing the stock exhaust was a breeze. I only had to open the bottom of the fairing, and take out 1 bolt on the side in order to get the headers out. I also had to remove the right side footage, and rear brake mount so that I could get to the two bolts for the bracket that held the can of the exhaust. With that all done, I put the new headers in, and grabbed the new Yoshimura can. I had to fight with it a bit, because I was trying to mount it on the wrong side of the bracket. The directions that came with it weren't really specific, but when I took a good look at the diagram, I finally saw where it was supposed to go. Once I got it right, everything fell into place. Before I buttoned up the fairing and returned the footage and brake to it's rightful place. I wiped everything down with rubbing alcohol, so as not to leave any prints behind. I know, that makes me sound like a thief in the night, but that is recommended so you don't leave any oils are grease behind that will blemish the new exhaust system.

     With everything clean and tidy, I had one more thing to do, before reattaching everything. I needed to start it up, and check for leaks around the headers, and where the can and exhaust pipe connect. I was good, and let me tell you. Saki sounded amazing. Here is the video, to show you the before and after.

     It sounds so much better, and let me tell you, when I was riding I got several heads to snap around to see what was coming. That was the greatest feeling. People walking down the sidewalk would spin around and look at me, and if they were doing that, then drivers were taking notice as well.

     Yoshimura doesn't make any claims of increased horse power, but I can tell you, that there is a difference in horse power. I could feel it when I would take off, and gun the throttle. I know it isn't much, but it was enough to make a noticeable difference. Still, the biggest thing for me, was the sound. I could hear the exhaust over the wind noise, which is something that I could do before Saturday. The bonus of it all, is that the new exhaust just looks sexy on Saki. you can see it in the video, but I did get some pictures at my favorite spot. I'll give you a before and after shot, and then a combined shot that I put up on Instagram last night.

This of course is the before. Still  great picture, but that exhaust though.

And here is Saki with the new Yoshimura RS-4 exhaust system.

Final shot with the picture above combined with a close up of the exhaust.

     It was a great experience putting this exhaust system on, and it made me realize that I really love working on this bike. That feeling of accomplishment that you can only get by doing something yourself. There is a huge sense of pride that comes with something like that, and I can't wait until the next thing I do for Saki. Whether it's an old change, or maybe putting new bar ends on. I fall more in love with this bike with every ride and every new thing I put on it.

     Here are some of the the simple things that this exhaust has changed. It dropped around 10 lbs. from the bike. Based on other exhaust manufacture claims. Saki now has anywhere from 3 to 7 extra horse power, and the sound is loud enough for cars to finally hear me when I'm along side of them. the greatest change though, is just how good Saki looks with it.

     All of this gives me hope for when I finally buy that GROM. I want to do a lot of things to that when I get it. A new exhaust will be one, but there are so many more things in store for that little bike when I do finally decide to buy it. Now, I know for sure, the I can achieve everything I want to do to it, and I have some pretty grandiose plans for that tiny little bike. Because of that, I"m going to end this tonight the way I end my little blogs on Moto Amino. By the way, I got some pretty good reviews on the write up of the new exhaust. Anyway, this is how I ended it on there. Get out there and ride, and peace in.

New Exhaust On The Way?

     I received the shipping notification for the new exhaust system today. That would normally mean that I won't get it before next week some time. Here is the good news. The email notification came a day late. I just checked the tracking on it, and it is currently in Jacksonville Florida. It is scheduled to be here tomorrow, most likely in the evening. Saki will be getting new vocal chords on Saturday morning. I will be shooting a little before video of how Saki sounds tomorrow. Why not Saturday morning right before you take it off? Because that would heat up the exhaust system and I would have to wait for it to cool down in order to remove it. This way, I can just wake up, and start wrenching. Once i'm done, I'll get the footage of the after. Then I edit it all together for a short video presentation for you to see on Sunday. I've also been thinking about doing and Instagram story on Saturday so that you could follow along live as it happens, or as close as you can get. If you want to watch it, you will have to follow me on Instagram. You can do that by going here Instagram. If you don't know much about Instagram, you have to have the app in order to see the "stories". They won't show up on the website version. If you don't have Instagram and don't want to get it, don't worry. Practically everything that I post there, will be available here on Sunday night.

     If you remember, I ordered that White Icon leather jacket as well, when I ordered the exhaust system. That hasn't been shipped yet, or at least I haven't gotten notification that it has yet. I was a little surprised by that, I figured if anything would be delayed, it would be the exhaust. The exhaust is coming from their main offices in Philly. I'm guessing the jacket will come from one of their Cycle Gear locations. It could take a couple more days if that is the case. It has to come through communications between the two locations. I'm hoping to get an email tomorrow though.

     Speaking of communicating. My plant manager is still in what ever angry mode he is in. I've been letting go of things, and I think that is getting to him. I've remained calm, and today I even cut up a bit with one of the employees in front of him, having a little fun, and I could see that it bothered him that I was still in good spirits and not broken. He may be giving up this anger he seems to have towards me. I've taken everything he has thrown at me, and either deflected it, or just let it roll over me. It feels a little like victory to me, but there is still one more day of work this week, and all could change at a moments notice. I'll let you know how it all goes.

     I got a little sad news today, when I saw a post on twitter about Ohio Players, and P-Funk keyboardist Walter "Junie" Morrison had passed away. You know by now, my love of Funk music, and there is really no one better than the Ohio Players in my mind. Junie was a founding member of the band and his keyboards were integral to their signature sound. In honor of Junie taking his place in the ether, I'm going to share the song that he wrote and arranged for the Ohio Players in 1974. If you are a fan of Hip Hop and Rap you may recognize parts of the song. Portions have been used in numerous songs in recent history. Please enjoy the soul sensations of "Funky Worm".



     The thing I said I might talk about today on Tuesday, had to do with a possibility of going to see a concert. Jimmy Buffett is coming to town, and a good friend of mine and I are Parrotheads. We went to show in Texas when she lived there, and we were looking to relive that great experience here in Orlando. There is only one problem, tickets are really expensive, so we are not going to make it to a show this time but, I cam up with an alternate plan. From time to time, Jimmy posts his shows up on Youtube, and there is always a chance that this could be one of those shows. Regardless of that though, he always simulcasts his shows on Radio Margaritaville on Sirius XM. Here is the plan. On the night of the concert in Orlando, we are going to get together and have our own little concert. Just a small get together to celebrate Jimmy. We can either watch it on Youtube, if it is available, or we can listen to it on Radio Margaritaville, or, if those two fail, we can always play tons of his songs and just have a great time. What ever happens, I'm sure we will have a great time dancing and singing like a bunch of Fruitcakes, which just so happens to be one of my favorite Jimmy songs. It will be a night of cutting lose and having fun, with good friends and good music.

     Until Sunday, have a wonderful safe weekend. Peace in and goodnight.

Let The Rage Quell.

     I had all these great ideas running through my head today, of things that I could talk about tonight. Then I watched a movie. It was called "How to be Single". It starred Dakota Johnson and Rebel Wilson. It was good, but I couldn't relate at all. Maybe because it was from a female point of view, but even the male parts were so far outside of what I know about being single, that I just felt like I was watching pure fiction. Don't get me wrong, it did exactly what it was intended to do, and that was distract me from reality. I might even watch it again sometime, just to see if I get a different sense about it.

     Back to reality though. I mentioned last week how my plant manager is having some kind of issue, and has decided to take it out on me. That has continued into this week, up till today so far. I'm getting sick of it. I don't do well when I'm unjustly yelled at. I'm maintained my composure so far, but I can feel that I'm near a breaking point. I've gotten to that point with him before, and we have had earth shattering yelling matches at each other. I'm trying my best to avoid that, and keeping a cool head until he can work out whatever he is going through that is causing this. Today thought was rough, I nearly lost it when he screamed at me from outside. It was something where he could have easily came in, and told me what was going on, but instead he screamed at me as loud as he could and then just pointed. Then he went into a huff and started doing what it was he wanted me to do. I simply called out to him, that I would do it, and that I didn't know about that thing, because no one made me aware of it. I then went out, and took care of the problem. He was a little more calm the rest of the day, but at that moment, I wanted to go somewhere and yell as loud as I could, to release the frustration and anger. I didn't get to do that. I slowly calmed myself, by closing my eyes and taking some deep breaths. Then I kept listening to some podcasts, that were rather funny, and let all that stuff roll off my back. I will just have to see what tomorrow brings.

     That issue kind of prompted me to do something when I got home though. I know I said I was going to wait a couple of weeks to order the new exhaust system for Saki, but with dealing with my plant manager, and also receiving an email yesterday, I ordered it as soon as I got home. That and the white leather jacket. Depending on when it gets shipped, I might be able to give Saki new vocal chords as early as this weekend. I guess I should tell you about the email. It was from Yoshimura. One of the Technical Support members answered my email to them. He mentioned that Yoshi tests all of their exhaust with stock mapping, so I had no need for a power commander or anything like that. What that means is, that I can just pull the stock exhaust off, and bolt the new  Yoshi RS-4 on to Saki. When I do it, I will take a video of before and after, so you can hear what Saki sounds like with the two different exhausts. You will also see what the difference between the two is as well. I'll try to get a nice little video of everything for you, so you will see the stock exhaust on, then what it looks like compared to the new one, off, and then see the new one after its installed. This should be fun.

     Since I forgot about all the other stuff I wanted to talk about, let us get to Favorite Song of the Week. Last week I either introduced or reintroduced you to Information Society. I mentioned that their newest album has quite a few covers on it. They might even all be covers. There are some songs that I've never heard, but that doesn't meant that they aren't covers, I now that most of them are, and they are very well done, but the best is 'Heffalumps and Woozles". It was quite a fun and fantastic version of the old Disney classic. They even made a video of it, and that is what you are going to so. You have to keep in mind, that IS is quite unusual, so the video is very much in the same vain. It sounds very much like a song that you would hear at the club, so fi you feel the need to dance, get up out of your seat, and let it rip. Here is Information Society with "Heffalumps and Woozles".

     Pretty fun right? I do have some possible news to talk about, but I'd rather wait for confirmation on it, so I'll wait until Thursday night for that breaking story. That leaves me with nothing more to speak of, so I guess I'll call it a night. Peace in and goodnight.

Transfusions, GROMs, & Zombies.

     It was a beautiful weekend for riding, and riding is what I did. First though, I got to go back to Saturday morning. Saki needed a transfusion, so that is what we did. I woke up and first thing I did was go out and get Saki running. I needed to heat up the oil, so that I could drain it all out. I had to remove a bolt from the left side fairing in order to get my socket in to loosen the oil drain bolt. I wasn't all that concerned, I knew there was a possibility of that, not to mention that I might just have to remove the right side fairing completely.

     Once the oil was drained, I let the engine cool down, while I made a good breakfast. I ate, then cleaned up the kitchen, and then back to Saki I went. I had to get to the oil filter to replace it with the new K&N filter that I got. I tried to find a way through the headers to get to it, but that was no bueno. The fairing was going to have to come off. It took me a little while. I had to get all the bolts out, and then the plastic rivets, that have two different ways of removing them. The larger ones at the bottom of the fairing, had to be pried off with a screwdriver, Once they were up far enough, I could pull them out. The three smaller rivets that are located up near the headlights, had to have the center punched in them, and then pried up. It's not as easy as it sounds. With all of those removed, I still couldn't get the right side faring off. I didn't want to force anything, so I went to work finding a way to just open it up a bit, and getting the wrenches in there.

     I had to put a towel down and lay on my back as far under Saki as I could get. I managed to wiggle the wrench and my oil filter tool in to get it off. It was a struggle, but not too hard. I let the excess oil drain from the filter opening, and then got the K&N filter. I didn't need the oil filter tool to get it on. It had a hex nut molded into it, so that you only had to wrench it on. It worked great. The only problem was, that I couldn't get my torque wrench in there to get the suggest amount of torque on it. It didn't call for much pressure, so I only snugged it up, and not tried to force it tighter. Worked out great again. With the oil filter on, and the drain plug back in, I got out the Motul 300 full synthetic oil. It freaked me out a little. I'd never used a synthetic oil. It was green. I thought for a second that I got the wrong thing, and I had engine coolant. I checked the bottle, and I was good. I bought 5 liters worth of oil. I had a small 1 liter bottle, and a larger 4 liter bottle. According to my bike manual, with the motor fully enpty, it called for 2.3 liters of oil. I put the first liter in, and started it up, so that I could get oil into the oil filter, then I poured the rest in. I made sure that everything was buttoned back down, and started Saki up to circulate all the new fluid through the engine. I had no leaks, so everything was a go.

     After getting that done, I headed into the shower, so that I cold get out and ride. I had a plan, and that plan involved me going to Melbourne and checking out GROMs. All cleaned  up, I got on Saki and headed out. My first stop was for gas. The fuel light was on when I was doing that final run though after the oil change. Once I got out on the road, I noticed something different. Saki sounded great. The engine wasn't as chunky as it always had been, and the rev up was smoother. I couldn't believe what that different oil did for Saki. The change was dramatic. I am a full convert to synthetic oil now. I don't know if it was the Motul oil, or the K&N oil filter, or the combination of the two of them, but that is my standard from now on. It even seemed like there was a little more power in the throttle. That could be because it was so much smoother that the engine actually had to do less to respond. I wrote a small blog on Moto Amino about it, and I got a comment from a guy that races a CBR 1000. He said that he only uses Motul in his bike, and he was going to now put it in his ZX14 seeing how much of a difference in my bike. Race oil is a bit different and I'm sure that he got a different Motul oil for the ZX14. The make oil for racing as well as just normal bikes. I think with that little blog post, I converted a few other people. I got a few people viewing that, so Motul mind find a few new loyal customers. I know I'm one of them now.

     With Saki running better than new, I headed to Honda of Melbourne. I wanted to get a good look at their GROMs and see what they were willing to sell them for. A guy met me at the door as I walked in. Nice guy, but he was throwing the sales pitch on pretty heavy. I was only their to look and think about what the next few months will hold with me getting one. He even offered to deliver the bike to my house if I signed the paperwork that day. I told him that I was in saving mode, and that I was going to buy it outright in a couple of months, and have money left over to mod it out. I'm going full stunt mode on it when I do get it. Crash cage, rear bars, extended rear foot pegs. the works. The great thing, on that little bike, that stuff is pretty cheap. If I did that to Saki, it would cost me a couple thousand dollars. The GROM will be less than  thousand. I got the guys card and told him that I would deal with him when I was ready to buy. I got my info and listed me as a customer, so that he could update me on an sales or things like that. The only thing that concerned me, is that he was saying that it sold at $3200 but it was more like $4500 out the door. I'm going to have to do some wheeling and dealing when I'm ready to buy I'm not paying $4500 for that bike.

     I rode around a little more, to get Saki some good solid new feel ride time in, and then headed home. I rode a little today, and did get a couple of new pictures of Saki looking and feeling good, but my battery was under 20% all of the day, and when I put it in low power mode, it down't upload those photos to the cloud, so I don't have them for you right now. By the way, have I mentioned how much I love the new phone. It was on the charger last, Friday morning when I woke up for work. I just plugged it in, when I started writing this. It was at 1% battery life. Three days. I got three days out of the battery. Granted I didn't really use my phone much today, but I got all the important things in. I posted Picture of the Day on Instagram, and sent said picture to a friend of mine. She doesn't have Instagram, but this is something I did on Facebook and she didn't want to be left out of it, so she gets the personal text daily. I checked my email a few times, and looked over Instagram for a little while, and the battery lasted as long as I needed it to.

     Saturday night I sat down and turned on some Netflix. Oh, I should update you on the no drinking thing. I haven't had a drink in 5 weeks now, and really have no desire to. I did think about it briefly last night, because I just felt the need to have social interaction, but that passed as soon as I pulled up Netflix and saw Santa Clarita Diet was out. It's a funny take on a zombie show. it stars Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant. The play a married couple that are realtors, and Drew just happens to turn into a zombie. Everything is going fine until she finally has human flesh. After that, she can no longer just eat raw meat, so they have to find a way to get her fed. They decide to be a little like Dexter Morgan, and kill bad guys. Oh yeah, they just so happen to live between two cops. Each episode is only a half hour, and they are quirky funny. The first episode is a little hard to take, when Drew goes through the change, but once you are past that, it is all humor and ridiculous attempts at violence.

     Speaking of zombie shows, The Walking Dead returned tonight. That is all I'm going to say about that though, I don't want to spoil anything for anyone. I will say that it was a good episode. With that I will say my goodnight. Whoa, I just remembered something. I transferred the money from savings that I'm going to need to get my exhaust system for Saki. I decided on the Yoshimura. I've heard you don't have to make any adjustments to the tuning for it, but I'm waiting to hear back from Yoshimura on that. I emailed them on Saturday, so I expect to hear form them some time tomorrow. I'm still going to wait a couple of weeks before I order it though. When I do, I'm also ordering the white leather riding jacket I mentioned last week. I'm going all safety with this one, which is way the sales guy at Honda couldn't talk me into buying the GROM this weekend. I have a few things to do with Saki first, and then I will focus on the GROM. The exhaust system is really the last big thing I have to do to Saki. there might be a few little bels and whistles later on, but after the exhaust Saki is pretty much done, and will be exactly the way I want it. Anything else I do will e mostly aesthetic in nature, other than fluid changes and new tires from time to time. That is when I can solely focus on riding. That is when the real fun begins.

     Ok, for real now. I'm off to bed. Peace in and goodnight.

Saki Is Going To Get A Transfusion.

     Heh last two days at work have been nearly unbearable. It is all due to certain people having an inability to communicate. The plant manager is the worst at it, and because he is having some sort of a bad day, he has to take it out on someone, and that person is usually me. I nearly walked out yesterday when he yelled at me for something that would have been easily solved if he would have communicated the problem to me. I didn't walk out. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and then went about my business. Today was a bit different. I seemed to get the silent treatment from him and one other worker. That didn't bother me as much. I just went about my day, and didn't have to worry about small talk with people. It was great. I was able to listen to my audio book without interruption.

     That isn't what I'm here to talk about though. I'm here to talk about my ever evolving idea of motorcycle safety. I've been rethinking my view on my gear. When I got Saki, I went away from what I knew, which was all black all the time, to let's color coordinate with the bike. Most of my gear has some type of red in it, with the exception of my Motocentric jacket which is black and hi-viz yellow. That one has a rainproof lining, and if I have to ride in the rain, I want to be seen. That brings me to where I am at right now. I want to be seen. This has nothing to do with a desire for attention. This has everything to do with, I don't want cars to hit me. With that in mind, I'm now looking at all white gear. I just recently bought a pair of white gloves. I know that gloves won't really help when it comes to cars, but it will be easier for other bikers to see the biker wave.

     I have been looking at a particular white leather jacket lately though. It is nowhere near as good a deal as the one that never came, but it is reasonable priced for a full leather jacket. It is made by ICON of course. I'm a big fan of their stuff. They are a company out of Portland Oregon. All of my gloves are ICON, and the jacket I wear most of the time is made by ICON as well. They make good looking gear, that is functional. They were one of the first company to incorporate 3DO in all of their products. If you don't know what 3DO is, here is a brief explanation. 3DO is a material that is soft and playable but when it has an impact, it instantly hardens, so it is great lightweight and strong armor for protection.

     I'm only looking at the jacket because there are other things that I need, well need is wide ranging word here. I don't really need these things, but some of them will be beneficial in one way or another. The first thing coming to your mind is probably the GROM. Ok, that is a little frivolous, but her is the justification. It's specs say that it gets over a hundred miles on a gallon of gas. So, in a way, it pays for itself in less money buying gas. Yeah, that's a stretch. The one thing that I "need" is a new exhaust system for Saki. There is a very good justification for spending the money on that. The new louder exhaust system will allow me to be heard by cars, and they will be less likely to just whip into my lane and killing me. I thought I had narrowed it down to a single exhaust, but I'm now thinking about a different one. The first one was a Yoshimura full exhaust system. It is the cheapest of the ones out there, and from everything I've see, you don't need a power commander to tune the bike with it. The new competitor to this race is an exhaust system from Two Brothers. It costs a little bit more, but there are some performance advantages to having that one. I would have to get either a power commander or have Saki tuned properly once I put it on though. That adds a bit to the cost. Both companies are American, so I would be staying local. I have the money for either one of them, but I'm thinking that the more money I spend on a new exhaust for Saki, the less money I will have for the GROM, and I do plan on stunting the GROM out. I'll have to get an exhaust for it, as well as s stunt crash cage, and other things. Not to mention, that at some point, I'm going to paint the GROM purple. That could be way down the road though.

     These are tough decisions, but fun ones. That is why I haven't bought the jacket, or the exhaust or the GROM. I'm weighing my options. Also, I kind of like having the money in the bank, but the exhaust is something that I do "need". Actually this time I won't put the quotes around it, the new exhaust is a need, and something that will be safety helpful. Let me know what you think I should do. Yoshi? Two Brothers? One of them and the jacket? Screw it all and just buy the GROM?

     In other news, since I still haven't gotten my 3000 mile maintenance done on Saki, because my schedule won't allow it. I also haven't  gotten the oil changed, so I got all the stuff I need, and will be giving Saki some new full synthetic oil on Saturday. I had to wait for the oil to come in. I ordered some Motul 300, which form the reviews seems like a good choice. I'll let you know what Saki thinks  of it. I'm doing it first thing in the morning, so that we can ride all day. I am going to have to make some sort of arrangement for the maintenance though. The guy said that he only has one tech on duty on Saturdays and the actual work takes 5 1/2 hours to complete. That time doesn't include the time  the have to wait until the bike cools down so that they can do the work on it. Part of the work includes valve adjustments, and you can't get in the engine while it's hot. It will just mess things up. It looks like I'm going to have to leave Saki there for a few days, and find a way home and back to the shop. It's going to be very hard  for me to leave Saki and not be able to ride. I'm not going to say that it will kill me, but it will be close.

     Real quick before I leave for the night. We worked on another finger picking exercise in ukulele class tonight. I brought the guilele in again for it. I have improved on the other piece that he gave me, and this one is a little easier, but more intense, if that makes any sense at all.

    I'm beginning to yawn like crazy, so I guess that is the clear cut sign that it is time to go to bed. Peace in and goodnight.

Save The Puppies.

     I've been thinking about taking a week off from this. I'm not sure if it would do any good though. I doubt that it would refresh me in any way. If anything, it would probably hinder me doing this at all. That is why it has only been a thought.

     I read an article today that was shocking. It had to do with the Department of Agriculture and a part of their website being dismantled under our new political regime. This is another one of those cases where I can't keep the politics out of this little blog. The area of the website in question, is one that lists documents detailing animal abuse. This information was used by adoption centers and the like to keep animals out of the hands of abusive people and puppy mills. The regime is claiming that it is under review to see that it doesn't violate the Privacy Act. What this means is that a reputable pet store will not have the information at hand to make sure that their animals come form a pet supplier that isn't in violation or has a record of abuse. Mahatma Gandhi once said, "The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way it's animals are treated. I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of humankind." That quote is exceptionally poignant with this news. There is a chance that this is temporary, but I have a feeling that it isn't. The persons that has been placed in charge of the USDA transition team is an anti-animal rights activist.

     Let's get to Favorite Song of the Week. I thought of an old favorite band of mine today, and put them on the old iPod feature on my phone. It was good to hear them again. I found out, when I did a search of them tonight, that they have reunited, and are currently making new music. I'm a little excite about that. I'm listening to a remix album of covers that they did just last year right now as I write this. Right now I'm listening to their cover of Huffalumps and Woozles. That's right, the Disney classic featuring Winnie the Pooh. this band was odd by all standards when they hit in the 80's, and they are apparently no different today. Their songs were always fun with a little dark humor inserted in to the lyrics. They were known for out of the normal samples and synthesizers. I chose the song that introduced them to the world. I give you Information Society with 'What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)".



     It's funky, fun, and weird, and I love it. I have something else to talk about, but I'm going to save that for Thusdar, just in case nothing happens between now and then. I bid you a fondest of farewells. Peace in and goodnight.

Turmoil, FanFest, And Getting By Sober.

     Let's see, what has happened since Thursday night? A couple of things. I"ll start with the update on the ex-girlfriend thing. I decided to give it a shot, and see if a friendship could develop. I texted her Friday evening, and got the response of "Who is this?". Needless to say, I wasn't to thrilled with that. I tried to overlook it though, but the rest of the conversation was dead, and going nowhere. I deleted the thread. I haven't deleted her contact information yet though. If she reaches out to me, I'll see where it leads, but if she doesn't in a week, then I'm getting rid of everything. I'm beginning to fall back into my phase of not needing companionship again. I go through these random phases of feeling a deep need to have a companion, and then, I have no use for them. Maybe it's some type of defense mechanism that I've developed over the years. I don't know.

     Although disappointed in my ex's response, It didn't really bother me. I needed to go to sleep early on Friday anyway, because I had to be in St. Pete early in the morning for some friends of mine 3yr old daughter's birthday. She is absolutely adorable. Not only did I get to see them and her, I also got to see their new baby girl for the first time. She might be the most precious baby I have ever seen. They did good with both of their daughters. The 3yr old, is bright as a bulb. She speaks in wonderful full sentences, and you can tell she has a total understanding and grasp of what she is saying. It's marvelous to watch. There were quite a few 3yr olds there, and they weren't nearly as smart as she is. there was a definite divide between them in intelligence. That doesn't mean that the other kids were dumb, it just means that they weren't anywhere near her level. If you didn't know her, and only hear her speak, you would think she was a 5 or 6yr old. She is that far ahead.

     The party was fun. It was at a small park near their house in St.Pete, but I had another reason that I was over there, and for once, it wasn't the Dali Museum. Oh believe me, before I knew of the birthday party, I had every intention to go there, but the other reason was, that it was then Tampa Bay Rays FanFest.  They do it every year before the season starts. It gives the fans a chance to walk around the field, and get autographs and other fun things. They have a Kid Zone dance party that goes one, as well as batting cages, giant Jenga, Connect Four, BattleShip, and Operation games. The main reason I was there though, was to hit the charity lawn sale. Every year, the put all kinds of giveaways from the year before on sale for $5 dollars a piece. They always have a bunch of items left over, and if you don't have a chance to make it to a game, you can find things there. They have everything from shrifts, to backpacks, and bobbleheads. I go for the bobbleheads. I got the Chris Archer K counter bobblehead. It has a small counter on it so that you can keep track during a game, or for the whole season. I also got a Kevin Kiermaier Outlaw figurine. He got the nickname of The Outlaw because he doesn't let any balls escape him in centerfield, and he guns down baserunners with a cannon for an arm.

     When we got in the stadium my buddy asked if I wanted to head to the bar and grab a beer. I finally had to officially announce that I had stopped drinking. He was the best one to do it with, because he didn't try to pressure me to "just have one" or anything like that. He accepted it and move on. It worked out real well.  His Father-in-law came along with us, and they are quite good drinking buddies. With me there not drinking they didn't have to worry about how they were going to get home. I could drive, so after the FanFest, we headed over to a local brewery. They were able to cut loose and have a really good time. They hadn't done that in some time, so I think it was good for the both of them. Despite the fact that I didn't drink anything, I had a great time as well. I don't think, I've laughed that hard in a long time. It was great. I had a good time over there visiting. I've always said that if there were anywhere else in Florida that I would live, it would be St. Pete. It is a great place, with a lot going on.

     Today was uneventful. I don't watch the Super Bowl like the rest of the world, so I caught up on a bunch of recorded TV. I nearly forgot to tell you about one more thing on Friday. It slipped my mind, because I couldn't ride Saki on Saturday because I was in St. Pete the whole day, and I didn't ride today, because I was running errands and catching up on TV, but Friday I got to ride for the first time all week. It was a bit cold this week, and Friday it finally warmed up. I rode in to work, and then rode in the evening. It wasn't a very long ride, but it was fulfilling. I went to my new favorite scenic spot, to get a picture of Saki with the new phone. It was right before sunrise, and I think the shots came out pretty good. I'm going to share with you, my favorite one. It's now my phone wallpaper, so here it is.

     I used the flash, just so I could get that little bit of color. It worked out a little better than I thought, because it light up the RIDE apparel sticker. It's made of reflective material, so it really pops because of the flash. As you can see, Melvin is sitting on the seat. It was Melvin's first of many rides, and he like it a lot. Don't tell Fred, but I think Melvin is going to see quite a lot of riding time with Saki.

     Despite the way it started, it was a pretty good weekend. I have rather a decent life at times, and this was one of them. Peace in and goodnight.

What Do You Want, A Rubber Biscuit?

     I don't have much for you tonight, so let's get to what I didn't do on Tuesday night. That would be Favorite Song of the Week. I did leave it out on Tuesday, and that was part forgetfulness, and part planned. I just didn't think that it fit in with what I had to say, and by the time I got to where it would have gone in, I simply forgot about it.

      I did have a song picked out, but it isn't just one song. I've been on this LP kick lately, if you haven't noticed. Last week towards the end of the week, she released two videos for songs that kind of bookend the "Lost On You" video. It is supposed to tell a completely story with the two new videos being the before and after the LOY video. The first video is from her EP Death Valley. The song is "Other People". The lyrics tell the story of a scorned lover, that is moving on. the video tells the same story, but you can get lost in the visual and forget who is the scorned lover. Here is "Other People".


     The second video is the end of it all, and you can see where everything has brought you to this moment. It's a bit cheeky, but I guess that is where you have to go when the situation gets to a point. This is a new song, that she hasn't released yet, or at least I haven't found it anywhere other than Youtube. I give you "Tightrope".



     Other than that, I don't have much else. I did learn a finger picking exercise in ukulele class tonight. It comes from a piece of music called Leyanda. The piece I got is not that difficult but is challenging for me. I did manage to get through it on the six string. The full piece of music is rather beautiful, and you get a small taste of it in the part I'm playing. Here is a video of a woman named Ana Vidovic playing the full piece.



     The first minute or so, is the part that I learned. No, I cannot play it anywhere near that fast. I don't even understand that fast right now, but I did get through the fingering of the notes, at a very slow pace. I think I will just practice until my fingers bleeds so that I can play it like this talented lady above does.

     The title of tonights post just came to me, and it makes absolutely no sense. I will give you points if you can tell me what its is from though. With that in mind, peace in and goodnight.