Gaius and Lucinda.

     My life ended the moment I laid eyes on her, and I was reborn like a phoenix from the ashes of what was my life. Her very essence gave me life. Her features were light and airy. Flaxen hair and porcelain skin. Her cheeks pink, like the pedals of an azalea. The eyes, the eyes were the daggers that struck me down. Ice blue that penetrated my very soul.

     She giggled and flipped her hair back over her shoulder. It was about this time that I realized that I hadn't taken a breath since she walked in the room. I took a deep breath and collected myself. I walked over and introduced myself. "Hello, my name is Gaius. How are you?". I somehow managed to do it without stammering. 

     She spoke with a southern twang in her voice. "Why hello yourself Gaius. I'm doing right well. It looked like you were catching flies over there with your mouth propped open."

     I went with honesty. "I'd never seen anyone as beautiful as you."

     "You sure now how to make a girl blush, dont'cha.". Sure enough, her cheeks began to brighten. 'You're a charmer aren't you Gaius?" 

     "I I'm sorry. I dddddidn't mean to embarrass you." And the stammering began. My life was ending again, but this time it would be for good.

     "Don't you worry none. My momma always said, that if a compliment don't put a little fire in your cheeks, then it wasn't a compliment." She smiled the brightest smile that I'd ever seen. I got lost in her, and knew that I was in love. "Looks like your cheeks are gettin' a bit rosy yourself there." They were, I could feel my face flush, hot with blood. I started getting a little woozy, and leaned against a table.

     "Can I help you with anything?" I had to collect myself again, and getting to my job seemed like the best way possible. 

     "I bet you can. I'm looking for a book on Greek and Roman Gods."

      "The Greek Gods are a favorite of mine. I have a few books over here. Are you looking for any particular God, Miss? The only answer I was really hoping for, was her name.

     "Oh, I'm sorry dear, I didn't tell you my name earlier. I'm Lucinda, and I'm looking for anything you might have on Selene." Her name was as beautiful as she was, and the way it sounded coming from her lips would have made Apollo himself envy the musical quality her voice held.

     "Selene is the Titan God of the moon. That is a rather unusual choice. I think I have one book that might have Selene in it, but I'm sure it will only be a brief mention. What do you need it for?"

     "I'm writing a book about vampires, and I'd read a few things that say that she may have been the God of Vampires."

     "Well, she wasn't the God of Vampires, she was considered the Mother of Vampires. I know a little about it, but that is all."

     "Oh, can you tell me what you know? I'd love to hear it. It might help me out." I couldn't resist her, and on top of that, I didn't want her to leave.

     "Ok, this is everything I know. This story doesn't have her as a Titan, she is a normal mortal woman, whose sister was believed to be the Oracle of Temple of Apollo in Delphi. She would assist her sister and take care of her needs. She was a worshipper of Apollo until the Sun God cursed her true love Ambrogio."

     "This is good, I've never heard any of this." Keep going, I'm sorry for buttin' in on ya."

     "Selene and Ambrogio were given sanctuary by the Moon Goddess Artemis at Ephesus, but there was one stipulation, they could never touch. The curse on Ambrogio made him immortal, and Selene aged where he didn't. As she grew older, she eventually came to her death, but before she died, Artemis granted Ambrogio permission to drink Selene's blood. The combined blood of the two lovers could create their children. Any human that drank of the blood from Ambrogio would make them vampires. When Selene died, Artemis made her an immortal Goddess of the moon, and she became Selene the Moonlight Goddess. She was the personification of moonlight as it found it's way to the Earth and touched Ambrogio and all their children of the night."

     "That is both fantastic and beautiful. I really think I can use that, as a matter of fact, I think I just found a way to change the whole story around, and lead it off of that little story there. Thank you so much, you have no idea how much you helped me." She turned to walk out the door. I needed to act fast.

     "Wait, I can look for other books that might have more. If you like, I could give you a call when they come it?" Smooth Gaius. Get the number, but what are you going to do after that? You know that there aren't any books out there on Selene, she is a minor Goddess at best

     "That would be great. Do you have a pen and paper?"

     I quickly went back to my desk and got a notepad and pen. I needed to find another excuse to call her. I couldn't just call out of the blue with nothing for her. She took the pad and wrote her number down. She tore the paper out and handed it to me with the pen clipped to it.

     "By the way, you can call me any time you want for any reason. It don't just have to be about a book. I have to run off now, You have a wonderful day Gaius." She turned and walked out the door. I watched as she passed by the front window, she looked in and gave a little wave. I think I waved back, but I wasn't sure that I was moving, or even able to move. I stood there for a few moments, replaying what had just happened in my head. When I could finally move I lifted my hand with the paper and pen in it. I unclipped the pen and unfolded the paper. There it was 'Lucinda 213-145-7878. It was plain as day. That woozy feeling came over me again, and this time I needed to sit down.

***

     These are the types of things that run through my head from time to time at work. I decided to share this one with you. I hope you enjoyed it. Peace in and goodnight.

     

Red, Purple, Hall & Oates.

     I have a few pictures for you tonight. First up, is Saki of course. I said that I would have pictures that showed off the Custom Taylor 33 rim tape a little better. These show off just how bright the reflect light when it is dark. They were taken in the garage at night, with very little light present, except for the flash of my camera.

You can see how all the reflective parts are reflecting quite well. The red really pops at night, and that was the ultimate goal. the little bonus is how great the wheels look now.

     This next picture is the one of the necklace that I bought at the Pow Wow. I've only gotten the chance to wear it once so far, but it will get plenty of neck time in the future. I mentioned before that this is a representation of the stature called "End of the Trail". I got this for a couple of different reasons. The first being that it was the only one of it's kind that I saw, and the other is that I am a freak for purple. I know, by looking at Saki, you would think that I love the color red, but that isn't so. Purple is my favorite color, and that little purple stone in the center of that pendant drew my attention. For some reason, I couldn't get a real good shot of it, It is a bit blurry and the purple doesn't pop as much as it does in person, but I really like it, and that is all that matters.

     Let's talk a little about the future. I'm heading to the Dali this weekend for one last look at the Frida Kahlo exhibit. I'm also taking my friend that I went to the Pow Wow with. She has never been to the Dali, so this is going to be a real fun trip for me. I love exposing people to that place. It truly is a wonder. I will get some pictures of it for Sundays post. They allow some photography in the galleries, but I will reserve all my photos for the outside areas. Trust me, they are marvelous as well. The architecture is as if Dali had designed the building himself. There are several things to take pictures of in the garden outside the back of the museum, and you will see it right her on Sunday night, or I'm guessing that you will be reading it some time on Monday. I really need to figure out if I can change the timing of the email subscription delivery.

     I haven't really decided which weekend I will take my ride to the Navy SEAL museum yet. It will either be on April 8 or April 15. The month of April is becoming increasingly busy out of nowhere. I finally got a recall notice for my car to get the airbags switched on it. My car is one of the ones affected by the massive Honda airbag recall, and I finally got the official notice to take my car in. I just have to find the right Saturday to do that. So I will be doing that on one of those Saturdays and the other will be the ride to the museum. Speaking of that ride. I have started doing my research on motovlogging equipment. You need more than just a GoPro to do it right. You also need a good mic and battery pack options. I do have my power bank, which I will probably put to some use, but I'm sure that I'm going to need more than just that. Also, I was thinking of getting another helmet, that would just be used for that. That way, I wouldn't have to take the camera mounts and microphones out of the helmet when I went to work. See, this is how the price piles up on you. That is far off in the future though.

     Today on the Howard Stern Wrap Up Show, they had a special guest come in, and he was part of a very big music group from, let's say 80's. Although their careers have spanned several decades, and you could argue that they had just as big of hits in the 70's as then 80's. The guest was none other than John Oates, of Hall & Oates. Him showing up on that show, led me to listening to a little Hall & Oates after I was finished with that show, and a podcast. Listening to them brought me to this weeks Favorite Song of the Week. If you guessed that it is going to be a song by Hall & Oates, you would be correct, but I think you're going to be surprised by the choice. I love a lot of their songs, but there is one that stands out to me, and it was off of the album Big Bang Boom. This was a defining album of me, because I listened to it constantly. This song, although not the biggest hit on the album, it was my favorite song from it, and I'd like to share it with you now. This is Hall & Oates with "Method of Modern Love".

I've never been asked this, but if I was ever asked the question, If you could have anybodies singing voice, whose would you choose? The plain and simple answer, is Daryl Hall. Wait? Haven't you talked about how much you love Freddie Mercury? Why not his? I have an answer for that as well. Freddie is a god to me. I believe that he was sent here from the ether to entertain us, and he was taken before we could find out the secret that he was a god. Striving for those lofty heights are just not in the cards. Daryl though, is a man, with the voice of a god, and that is a height I can strive for. He sings with such little effort, that it's like he was born to do it, and if he chose any other path in life, he would have eventually  been brought to the path of a singer. That is my opinion, and I thin it's a pretty fair one. If you need any more convincing, just look up Sara Smiles, you won't regret it.

     That is about all I have for tonight. After punish you on Sunday with such a long post, I felt it was only fitting to keep this one short. Peace in and goodnight.

Get Ready, This One Is Long.

     We  have a lot to discuss tonight, but I have to start out with an apology. I said that I would post pictures and such to my Instagram story on Saturday when I went to the Pow Wow. I didn't, and there is a very good reason why. When we arrived, it just didn't feel right to photograph or video what was going on. It became a very personal experience, and I became a little selfish and didn't want to share it with anyone other than the people that were there. I will however tell you about the day and what took place. We will get to that a little later. We have to go back to Friday and start at the beginning of the weekend for me.

     As I said, I spent the morning putting the new reflective rim tape on Saki. It took a little longer than I thought it would for a variety of reasons. I made the choice of taking the old rim tape off of Saki so that I could put the new tape on. That process was the most time consuming. I got the heat gun out, because I knew that heating it up, would loosen up the glue on the original tape. Well, it didn't work as well as I had hoped. The front tire wasn't that bad, but getting the strip started, was a pain. It would keep flaking and tearing when I would try to pull it. I wish I knew the reason why it did this, but I haven't got a clue. When I got towards the middle of the strip, it started to pull away pretty easy, and I got most of it off in one pull, but then I came to the other end, and it was like the start all over again.

     I started on the right side of the bike and worked my way around. Front to back and then back to front. The back tire now, that is a whole other story. The problem I had at the beginning of the right side front tire, were the entire back tire. It took me a good 20 minutes to get one side removed, and there was old sticky residue left everywhere. Both sides were the same. The left side had the bonus of having tons of grease from the chain all over it, so cleaning it took even more time.

     After about an hour, I finally had all the tape off of both tires. I went back to my original side of the front tire, and began cleaning it with rubbing alcohol. Real quick tip here. The directions called for cleaning it with rubbing alcohol, but I already knew about this. Rubbing alcohol is amazing for cleaning that last little bit of dirt off your bike The best part is, that it leaves no streaks behind or residue, because it dries so fast. After it was all clean, I was going to do each rim as I got to it, I began applying the new tape. It came in I'd say 8 in. curved sections. They are easy to put on, but you still need to slow things down and take your time, so that you get it on just right. The package said that there is enough strips for all four sides of the rims, with an extra strip left over. As I was looking at the single sheet of strips that they gave me, i was doubting that it was enough, but the package said so, so I was going to believe them. Worst case scenario is, I would have one side of the bike done, and have to order more.

     I got the first strip on, by placing it and removing it a few times to get it just right, Once I had it where I wanted it, I pressed it down real good, so that it would have it's final hold on it. With that done, I got the next strip ready. There is a small pattern on the tape, and I wanted to make sure that I lined the pattern up from strip to strip. I don't think that it would have made a difference in how it worked, but if you get up close to it, you would see it. I'm sure that you would really have to look, but I could see it, so other people could see it too. The front tire probably would have been easier to do, fi I had a front tire stand, but since I didn't, I had to reposition the bike in order to get the whole rim covered. It wasn't convenient but it worked.

      I changed me order a bit for putting the tape on. I did the entire front rim first. I was trusting the word of the packaging and throwing caution to the wind. There wold be enough tape, and that was that. For the left side, I had to put the kickstand on a block, so that the bike would stand up straight, otherwise I would have to do it with it leaning towards me. Once I was done with the front, I looked at the sheet again, and I had more than half of the strips left. I was going to make it.

     For the back tire. I propped the bike up with the rear tire stand, and that made life much easier. I didn't need to reposition the bike anymore, I could just spin the wheel. The cleaning process to much longer on the back, because of the left over glue residue from the old stickers, but I did get it all off. Form start to finish of this little, supposedly simple project, I would say that it took about an hour and 45 minutes. Much longer than I thought it would take, but well worth it. The finished product not only looks great at night, but it looks real good in the day. I have a day/night picture to show you what it looks like in both conditions.

Ok, so the night isn't really all that much night, it is more like dusk, and was taken at that lake that my tattoo artist told me about. I just missed the a good sunset, because I was there a little late, and clouds kind of ruined it as well, but you can see how well the reflective tape works. The picture makes it appear to look amber, but it is all red. I took a few pictures in the garage tonight, that really show how the red pops at night, but alas my phone is in low power mode, and it won't put those pictures in the cloud for me to draw from. I will post those shots on Tuesday night.

    I have one more picture from the lake to share with you. You can see a small sliver of the sun as it goes down. It doesn't show off the reflective nature of the new rim tape, because I didn't use the flash for this one, but I think it looks pretty good.

You get Saki, the lake, a little color from the sunset. What more could you ask for. I will get back there on a more clear day, and get a better picture of the sunset. This will do for now.

     I know that this is already getting long, and I haven't even gotten to the Pow Wow yet, but this ties into Saturday a bit. I was talking to the friend that I went to the Pow Wow with, and I was telling her some of my ideas and plans for this blog here. Theses plans just happen to involve Saki. The first one, and the easiest to implement, is that, I will travel on Saki to some place in the state, on the weekend to visit some sort of museum or historic landmark. I'm not sure how often this will happen. right now, I am thinking once a month for this. I already have the first destination picked out, and we were right next to it on Saturday. That would be the Navy SEAL Museum in Ft. Pierce. I will ride there in a couple of weeks, take pictures and then talk about everything that is happening there. I think this will be a good chance to learn a little bit about things in my own state was well as pass that information on to you. As it gets closer, I will let you know, which weekend it will be.

    The second idea is going to be a little more difficult, and a whole lot more expensive. In the end though, this will tie in with the first idea. I've been thinking for some time, about getting a GoPro to mount on Saki. The idea I have, I would instead have to mount it on my helmet, and get a whole set up for motovlogging. If I do this, I will record the ride there, and have commentary to go along with it. Instead of posting it on YouTube, I would post it as a feature on here for you to enjoy. I would give a little information about where I am going that day, and you would also see some of the ride there and back. I think It could be kind of fun, but that will be quite a ways off in the future. Let me know what you think.

     Finally to Saturday. We left my house around 10 in the morning, and made the drive about an hour or so to Ft. Pierce. Actually I think it was in Port St. Lucie, but they are right next to one another, so it isn't really that big of a difference. When we arrived, there weren't that many cars in the parking lot. It started at 10 in the morning, so it was already a little more than an hour into the day. It only cost $5 to get in. Oh, I guess I should explain little what this actually was. It was a cultural gathering of Native American Tribes. There are vendors that sell handmade crafts. They have anything from jewelry to hand made weapons, to bags, and many more items. They also have traditional dancing going on throughout the day. The dancers have elaborate outfits made of feathers, cloth, leather, animal hides, bone, and other items. It is truly amazing to see. This is where I came to the conclusion that I didn't want to share it. It seemed like sharing it, was taking something away from it, and I didn't want to do that.

     I am a person that has no Native American blood coursing through my body. Because of this, I tend to feel like an outsider when I am at these types of events. Also, because of that, I feel very privileged to get the opportunity to see these types of events. That is what makes it so personal for me. It becomes less of a viewing of something, and more of an experience within something. I start to feel closer to the Earth and I understand what they mean when they say that we don't own the land, the land was put here to provide for all of us. When I was in Gallup, New Mexico, and watched the dances there, I wept openly from the experience, and I began feeling that way again as I watched on Saturday. I don't think I can even explain why, you would have to go to a Pow Wow yourself to see. If you here of any in your area, please to it, and see all that it has to offer.

     I did buy a necklace while I was there. I forgot to take a picture of it, but I will have that for you On Tuesday as well. It is a small stainless steel replica of the famous statue "End of the Trail". It depicts a tired cowboy on a tired horse as he reaches his final destination. It has a small purple stone set in the center of it. It was the only one like it at this one vendor, and I have to tell you about her. As we walked up, she commented to my friend, how much she liked her look. She had a real cool look going, and got many compliments throughout the day on it. After she said that, she said, "You look like you keep yourself in great shape.". My friend is in fantastic shape. She is very lean and tall. "I bet you've never eaten a single french fry." I just laughed a little at that, because it was funny. then I realized she was talking to me. I looked her in a little shock and said, "What?" "You've never eaten a french fry have you?" I was thinking that this lady was blind or crazy or possibly both.  "I've had way too many of them. That's the problem." She looked at me, probably the way I looked at her before. "No way", she said. I got to tell you, even though it was probably all a lie, it gave me quite a big ego boost.

     We were there for a good 5 hours or so, and decided that it was time to head back. Before we did though, my friend wanted to hit the beach. Neither one of us, had placed our feet in the water in some time, so we made a course for the beach which just so happened to be next to the Navy SEAL Museum. I knew that it was pretty close to where we were, so I suggested that we head there. That is really what gave me the idea for that being the first location that I will visit. We got to the beach after some delay because of a car accident on the draw bridge that happens to be the only way over to the beachside in that area. We decide to go sans shoes so that we could simply walk down to the water and place our toes in. It was cold and refreshing, and reminded me of those years that I used to surf, just about every day. I miss those days a bit. I did manage to get a picture for you. I took a panoramic of the water.

That is a Florida day at the beach right there. Blue skies with light feathery clouds, cool water, and a sandy beach. That is the reason it is so hard for me to leave this area. I truly love that I live in a tropical paradise. Yes it is a tropical paradise, I don't care what you say.

     Anyway, I'm sure you patience is running thin at this point, and hoping that this will end soon. I have one last thing to talk about, and I'm going to make it as quick as possible. I decided to start on an Ultimate Garage Build Project. What that means is, that I'm fixing up my garage to better serve Saki. You didn't really think that this could possibly have nothing to do with Saki did you? I started with getting some lighting in there. I only had one small light in the doorway entrance to the garage, and that amounted to next to nothing when it came to lighting up the place. I went out and got two 4 ft. shop lights, and put them up today, and it looks amazing. I have a little power switch coming tomorrow, that will allow me to turn the lights on and off from my phone. Isn't technology great? Here is what the garage looked like before and after the lights.

Big difference right? I have some plans for this project. I have to clean it up a bit, and get rid of some things in there to make room for better things. One of which is going to be a portable air conditioner. That way, I will not only be able to work on Saki at night, I can do it in the steamiest of months of summer. Other things that might happen, are a media center, so that I can sit out there and watch TV with Saki. See, I think Saki gets lonely at times out there by itself. I mean, just look at how happy Saki is in that picture with the lights on. I basically got the idea for this on Thursday night, when I really wanted to put the new rim tape on, but I couldn't because I had no good source of light to do it with. Now, I can work from sundown to sunrise if I wanted to. I have no plans to do that, but I can do it if I want to now. I want to create an area that I can hang all my gear up out there, so it will all be in one place. Right now, Have my riding pants, helmets, and gloves in one room, and all my jackets in a closet in another room. When this is done, it will be my ultimate motorcycle garage. If you have any ideas on what to do for the garage, let me know. I'm open to all ideas.

     With that, I'm going to finally call it a night. Peace in and goodnight.

    

What Do You Do When A Psycho Is On Your Phone.

     You may have noticed, that there is a bit of a different look to the ol' Counterfeit Squirrel. I tweaked it bit, and I think this fits me a little more than the last one did. As much as I say, that I don't like change, the truth is, that I thrive in it, and find myself needing change quite often. The more surprising thing is, that I hadn't changed it before now. I change the lock and home screen on my phone quite often, because I get tired of looking at the same thing every day. I change my appearance for mainly the same reason. This is also why I will never be done with Saki. There will always be something that I can change in some way.

     Speaking of changing Saki's appearance. You probably noticed that I made no mention of the reflective rim tape the other day when I changed the levers. There is a very good reason for that.  I haven't put it on yet. Why haven't I put it on yet? That is the question of the day, and the answer is a simple one. I was waiting for something to arrive in the mail. Two small bolts. Those bolts are the solution to my problem with that ugly amber reflector on the forks. I found a video, and I wish that I could remember who the guy was that made it. Anyway, he was the person that made me aware of the two 6x30 bolts that I would need to clean up that front end and make it look not only good, but sharp. The reflector was easy to remove, but once I did, there was this long and ugly bolt there that served a double purpose. It not only held the reflector in place, but it also held the back of the front fender in place. I could have left it where it was, but it stuck out, and didn't look good. I don't have a picture of what it looked like, but I do have a before and after of the reflector, and you can see the difference in how good it looks.

     You can see in the top picture where the reflector is and how out of place it looks. The bottom is just a simple bolt, but that simple bolt cleans up that entire area. With that taken care of, I can now put the reflective rim tape on Saki. I'll be doing the tomorrow. Oh, did I mention that we are slow at work again, and I have tomorrow off? After I replaced the reflector with the bolts tonight, I cleaned up the rims good, so that I can get to work first thing in the morning on installing the rim tape. I do have one thing I have to decide though. If you look close in the picture, you can see the red lines that are already on the rims. That is a decal for looks. Here is what I have to decide. Do I take that off, or do I just put the new rim tape over top of it? The easy way out, is to just put it on top, but I think it will be better overall if I just remove the original tape and then put the new tape on. This is going to call for the help of my heat gun. I'm going to have to heat up the old tape in order to get it off cleanly. Then I'll have to go over it with alcohol to get any residue that is left behind from the tape. I was going to hit it with alcohol regardless, because that is the best way to make sure the area is truly clean. I'll figure it all out in the morning, and let you know on Sunday night.

     I have two more things to talk to you about before I call it a night. The first is just a reminder that I am going to a Pow Wow on Saturday, and that I'm going to try to have a running update on my Instagram story, so you can follow along here, but only if you have the app. The app is the only way to see the Instagram stories, and you have to follow me. Remember, I'm also going to try my best to save photos so that I can post them here. That way, if you don't have Instagram, you won't miss everything.

     Lastly, I have a slight situation. I haven't talked about this because it isn't my story to tell, but all of a sudden, I'm involved in it. A week or so ago, a family member of mine found themselves in a very sticky situation. A woman that he had been seeing, accused him of choking her, and had him arrested. This was all a lie, and he is now going through the process of getting it all taken care of. When he was taken away, she told the officers that she was living in his apartment, so he is currently not allowed in his own apartment. In the meantime, she completely trashed the place and did some pretty revolting things to it. He was fortunate enough to have some really good friends, that went over and cleaned the place and changed the locks for him. They were able to do this, because this woman bolted as soon as she was done. He has been pretty good about this, and blocked her number from his phone and is keeping her from contacting him. She did early on, and all of the things she texted him and all the messages are now with his lawyer. Now we get to the part about how I am involved. Since she can't contact him, she has managed to find out my home phone number, and has started calling my house, probably because she thinks he is here, because he can't go to his place. The called about a dozen times tonight from an unknown number and started leaving messages on my machine. Most of them were her acting like she was masturbating over the phone, and saying crude things, but one of them was her stating my address. Yep, she knowns where I live now.

     I blocked all anonymous calls from coming in on my phone, but that doesn't stop her from coming to my house and causing problems for me. My car is parked outside and vulnerable, and so is the outside of my house. Fortunately, she cannot get to Saki. I would be bummed about something happening to my car, but I have no idea what I would do, if something happened to Saki, because some nutcase decided that since she couldn't get at someone, she would go after me. I may have to look into getting a restraining order against her, My family member is already in the process of getting one to keep her away from him. From what I'm told, she has no form of transportation, unless she cons someone into driving her someplace, so I'm reasonably sure that my stuff is safe, but there is still a slim chance. If you have any advice for me, I am wide open to hear it. I'm going to play it by ear for now. With her no longer able to get through on my home phone, she might start acting desperate. We will see. If anything, this could lead to a good story for you. I'm looking at that as best of the worst case scenarios. Worst of course is, that she wigs out completely and guns me down. If that's the case, I won't be able to update you on that. I don't think it will come to that. Once again, she is a bit of a misfit and has no real way to get to my house.

     Oh, there was one other thing to tell you. The lake that I went looking for, to get a sunset shot of Saki at, is the one that I found on Sunday. I went and talked to my artist this evening and verified if that was the one that I found. It is, and I'm hoping to get a sunrise shot tomorrow evening, which will also highlight Saki's new reflective rim tape. On a side note, I showed him is handy work with the Carrie Fischer tattoo, and it loos incredible. It is still a little flaky, but is pretty much completely healed. There will be no touch ups needed. It looks fantastic. I'll see if I can get a good clean shot of that for you on Sunday as well. In the meantime, peace in and goodnight.

A Legend Swirls In The Ether.

     Charles Edward Anderson was born in St. Louis Missouri on October 18, 1926. With his birth the era of Rock & Roll began. You may know him better as Chuck Berry. He is and always will be, the epitome of Rock & Roll. His songs were a mixture of titivation, youth, and consumerism. With his iconic stance and showmanship, you had the blue print for everyone that followed him. He influenced so many great bands, from the likes of The Beatles, who when they played their first show in America,  played "Roll Over Beethoven" as their first song, to the Rolling Stones, with Mick Jagger's frontman skills definitely borrowed from Berry himself, to countless others.

     Chuck's life changed when he traveled to Chicago, and met Muddy Waters. Muddy told him about a gentleman by the name of Leonard Chess. He was a record executive that helped develop electric blues and rock & roll. Together they recorded "Maybellene". It was an adaptation of an old country song, and garnered Chuck Berry his first big hit. It sold over a million copies. He crossed over audiences with his mixture of Rock, R&B, and country music that appealed to white listeners.

     When you think of the 50's, I can almost guarantee that the song that runs through your head, is a Chuck Berry song, and I'm going to play that song right for you as Favorite Song of the Week. This particular song is the only Rock & Roll song on the Voyager Golden Records. If you don't know what that is, then I'm going to tell you. NASA sent a deep space probe up that has a record pressed in gold with many different sounds, images, languages, greetings, music and more. The music part of the records encompasses many different cultures, genres, and eras. This song represents rock & roll, and I can't think of a better song to do it with. This song was also featured in the movie Back to the Future, when Marty has to fill in for a guitarist with an injured hand. When you hear it, you will think the same as me. Here is Chuck Berry with "Johnny B. Goode"



     Now that is rock & roll. I was wrong about the title of this. It should me "A Legend Swirls In The Ether", because Chuck Berry doesn't swirl. Chuck Berry does his duck step leg kick across a stage and then plays his guitar with furious abandon. There may never be another like Chuck Berry. He not only had the stage persona of a rock god, but he helped create a genre of music that truly makes you feel something. He performed with an energy that many have tried to imitate, but few have mastered. Chuck was an original. Peace in and goodnight.

I Just Couldn't Wait.

     Saki had been sitting quietly in the garage all week. The first half of the week was too cold to ride into work, and the second half, I was dealing with my allergies. Friday came and I finally stopped sneezing long enough to take Saki out for a short ride to the bank.

     It felt good to get on and ride, even a short distance, when I got home I looked at the box with the new levers in it, and said what the heck, let's get those on. My plan was to get the clutch lever on first. I had watched several how to videos with people saying how much of a pain it was to get that one on. I knew all the booby traps that were laid out for me, and I was going to get it on in record time. I was wrong. Apparently there is something different about the 2016 model of  Ninja 650 and it has some sort of sensor on the clutch lever. That means there was a wire housing attached to it, that kept me from getting to the already difficult bolt to remove it. This of course change my plans.

     I moved over to the brake lever. One bolt out, and the new lever was ready to go on. No problem. slide it in place, but the bolt back through and tighten it down. That job was done. Now I had to go back over to that clutch lever and figure it out. I loosened the bracket for the clutch and spun it around so I could see what was going on. There were two small screws in the wire housing or maybe it was a sensor housing. I'm really not sure. I decided to remove the whole clutch assembly form the handle bars so that I would have easy access to everything. I removed the housing so that I could get to the one bolt that I needed to, so that I could remove the clutch. This really shouldn't have been this difficult. I got the bolt out finally and removed the stock clutch. There was one thing I needed from that clutch in order to make the new one work. In the whole that the bolt ran through was a brass spacer. I had to push that out, and put it in the new clutch so that it would have proper fitment. It slid out easily and slid right into the new clutch, boom that was done. I now had to replace the housing back on the clutch assembly. I had to line everything up properly before I could put the screw back in. There was a small switch that had to be put back in a specific spot in order to work. I still have no idea what it does, but it seemed important. I held it in place and hand tightened the first screw down. Once that one was in, I got the second one started. I tightened everything down, and checked that everything moved properly before putting it back on the handlebars.

     One I had the bracket back on the bars, I had to line everything up, and that meant that I had to sit on the bike in a riding position in order to find out exactly where I wanted the clutch to go. I couldn't just guess at it and tighten it down. With an allen wrench in my mouth, I lined up the clutch to were it seemed like it would feel good. I held on to it with my left hadn't and tightened it down a bit with my right. Once I felt it would stay in place, I got back in the ride position and checked it out. It needed one last slight adjustment and then it was golden.

      With everything tightened down, it was time for a quick test ride. I only needed to go around the neighborhood for this, so I grabbed my helmet and took it out for a quick one. I still needed to adjust the lever height once I was riding. That could be down from a little lever on the top of each lever to adjust how far from the actual bar it rests. The brake lever was fine right off the bat at level 3, but I had to play with the clutch lever a bit to get it where it felt right. I started at 3 with it, but ran it although way up to 5, which is the top setting, and then back down to 2. I finally rested on 2. It gave me an easy pull with enough room that I wouldn't slam my knuckles with the lever when I had to draw it in. With everything in order I pulled back into the driveway to get the after shot for you. Here is the before and after of what Saki looked like with stock levers, and then with the new ones, and I have to say, that it made quite a difference in my opinion.

The top is of course the old grey metal levers, that have no character, and the bottom is the new Ride It Forever levers with the same red as Saki, and plenty of attitude. I have to tell you, Saki is very pleased with the new levers, and so am I. Just one more step closer to being down with the mods. Are you every really down though?  I do believe that the under lighting will be next, but who knows. I might come across something else that might look good before that. I made sure that I got the after picture before I added the Ride It Forever sticker on the windshield. I wanted it to match up to the before, so I don't have that in the shot. I think my goal is to cover the entire windshield with stickers. I'm going straight up the center at first, and then we will see where it goes from there. I have this idea of once it is filled up, I would get a new windshield and then hang that one on the wall of the garage. I think it is kind of a neat idea.

     With all that excitement behind me, I decided that it was time to do some binge watching on Netflix, and I knew that Iron Fist was just released. I made some popcorn and went to it. I really like it. I'm not a fan of the opening credits. It sounds like it belongs in Tron instead of a Marvel series, but that is really my only gripe. The fighting sequences are really well done, and the story is going along really well. They are tying everything together for The Defenders series that will be released later this year with all of the Marvel heroes in this Netflix universe teaming up together. I'm excited for that, but still bummed that Jessica Jones won't be release until some time after The Defenders is released. I will wait patiently, as long as they keep putting out things that are good in the meantime.

     I had a loose plan of maybe riding to Daytona on Saturday to see what was going on with bike week, but I stayed home and watched more Iron Fist instead. I made it to episode 10, and I believe there are 13 in total. That leaves me with 4 more episodes this coming Friday night. I know, my life is far too exciting to believe. I'm going to try and wrap it up on Friday, because I am going to a Pow Wow on Saturday with a good friend of mine. We should be spending most of the day there and I won't have time to watch anything that day. I will get as many pictures as I can while I'm there to post here, and I think I might do an Instagram story that day, so if you want to watch everything as it's going on, just check out my Instagram. You will need the app in order to watch the story. You can find my Instagram right here. We are leaving my house around 10 in the morning and should arrive in Ft. Pierce where it is being held at around 11 or so. I will try to keep the story to a minimum but remember, with those stories, they are only available for 24 hours and then they are gone. I will make sure this time that I take extra pictures other than the ones for the story, so that I can post them here as well.

     One last thing before I go. I did get out and ride this morning. I had a goal when I went out, and that was to find this lake that my tattoo artist told me about. It is off a road near his house, and it has a nice spot that I could get a good sunset picture of Saki on the bank of it. I managed to find it, and I will have to time it right one evening and get the shot that I want. I'll post it here when I do get it. In the meantime, I went to one of my favorite spots afterwards, and go this shot. I think it's pretty good.

That is all that I have for you tonight. I do want to talk about the passing of Chuck Berry, but I want to get everything in order to do him justice. He was a pioneer in rock, and that deserves a little time to do it right. So look for that on Tuesday night. Peace in and goodnight.

   

What Are We Doing?

     I've felt miserable all day. My allergies have kicked in with a vengeance. Stuffed up runny nose that has been driving me crazy. I even had to cancel going to ukulele class tonight. Hopefully this will be gone tomorrow, so that I can get back to a normal breathing pattern.

     Enough about my respiratory problems. Let's get into some good stuff. My tattoo artist posted the little video he made of the stencil process on his Instagram and here it is.

Another fun day at work thanx for the opportunity @counterfeitsquirrel stay tuned peps #davidbowietattoo #princessleah #rebel #rebelalliance #rebelrebel #starwarstattoos #stencel #stencelstuff #blanchart #321#cocoabeach #cocoavillage #cocoa #kingsttattoo #artnerd #tattooartist #wip#dailypost #tattoo@stencilstuff

A post shared by Jason Blanchard (@jasonblanchart) on Mar 14, 2017 at 8:42am PDT

Pretty interesting stuff right. If you want to take a look at more of his stuff, just click on the link here @jasonblanchart .

      Speaking of Instagram. I was posting my Picture of the Day, which just happened to be a submission by a very good friend of mine, and an idea formed. It might be a perfect addition to the new Star Wars leg. It kind of goes along with the Leia/Bowie mashup. I have to think about it for a while though. For starters, it is going to be a very difficult tattoo to pull off, and if it isn't done just right, it could ruin the whole themed idea. I'll show you the picture and then I will go into way it is really tough to do as a tattoo.

It's a disco ball Deathstar. See all those little lines in there, that is the most difficult part. I would want it as a companion piece and not a main focal point. That means that it would be small in size. Making it small in size makes it untattooable. You can do the outline of the destroyed Deathstar, and the large laser array, but all those little lines couldn't be there, and those little lines are what make it what it is. At some point I will go talk to my artist about it and see what he things, but that is really going to be hard to pull off. Not to mention the whole mirror effect will be fery difficult. You can get most of it through shading and highlights, but the chrome is going to be really hard. It's something to think about.

     Now something a little disheartening. I saw today that a new budget for the country has been introduced, and in this budget there are massive cuts to programs that are there to feed people. I find this to be unacceptable. The first program is the school breakfast and lunch programs that help underprivileged children get a meal in them, Sometimes these school meals are the only meals these kids eat all day. This is not a good thing. Saving money at the cost of our kids lives is just bad on many different levels. How can you let a child starve when you have the means to feed them?

    The other program that involves food, si the Meals on Wheels program. They are defunding that one as well. Here is one of the numbers that I saw many times. I don't know how true this number is, but like I said, I saw it several times. Of the many people that receive meals from Meals on Wheels 500,000 of them are veterans. Not saying that veterans are more important than anyone else, but it always seems that veterans get the shaft. They offer up their lives and go and do things that most people would never want to do and their reward in a best case scenario is usually that they can't find a job or a place to live. As a society we have to help those who need a little lift up, and these programs provide that lift for a great many people. I'm going to quote a ver specific document here, that may seem somewhat familiar. What I am talking about above is part of this quote.
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
See that part where it talks about domestic tranquility and promote for the general welfare, yeah, that is about helping people in need. It's in the constitution, and if you are a religious person, it is in every theological text that I know of. Things like this are why it is very important to vote in your local elections. It starts at the grassroots and works it's way up. You need a foundation to build a house, and the foundation of politics is at the local level.

     I'm sorry to leave you on such a downer tonight, but I thought it was important enough to mention. Have a great weekend, and do a random act of kindness for someone or multiple people if you can. Peace in and goodnight.

Don't Change Horses In The Middle Of A Stream

     I forgot to mention the party on Saturday night. Mostly because there was nothing eventful bout it. I was able to meet up for the dinner, which was very nice. We all had a good time chatting with each other, and then we were off to the bar, which was a few store fronts down from the restaurant. I rode Saki, so there was no chance that I would drink anything, and it all worked out well. I played darts for the first legitimate time. My buddy is a pretty good dart player, and he brought his sets in. He loaned me a set to play with, and I somehow out of nowhere, beat him both games that we played. I will never be able to do that again, and I told him as much. Nobody really showed up at the bar, mostly because my buddies phone had died a few days earlier, and he didn't have his contact information on his new phone, and couldn't remind people of the party. Really though, that is no excuse, people should have planned accordingly. Things like that though, teach you lessons on who you need to keep around you, and who you shouldn't.

     Speaking of people to keep around you, I visited some old friends tonight. I hadn't seen them in some time, and probably wouldn't have seen them tonight, if I hadn't texted them to see if they wanted to show up at the party Saturday. I knew there was a very good chance that they wouldn't be able to make it, because they just had a baby. Babies tend to make it so that you can't go to parties. They of course couldn't make it out, but they invited me to visit with them tonight, and it was a blast. They hadn't seen me without then beard yet, and I hadn't seen them since before they knew they were pregnant. I got to see them and their new baby boy, and he is just perfect. We got to catch up with each other, and left knowing that we wouldn't wait that long to get back together again. They are people that I need to keep in my life, and will work harder from now on to do so.

     If you remember I mentioned that I had a couple of things coming for Saki on Monday. It all showed up on time, and I took it out to the garage to show Saki. Saki seems very excited about the new clutch & brake levers that I got, and also the reflective rim tape. I haven't put it all on yet, I"m going to wait until the weekend when I have more time during daylight hours to get it on, and then take it out for a test ride.

I put the brake lever next to the tank on Saki, and the colors match perfectly. I think they are going to look great when I get them on. The benefit of these levers is that they are shorter than my stock levers. That means that I can keep a grip on the bars while I pull the levers. I never have to let go of the bars from now on. I can do two finger clutching and braking. The rim tape looks like it is going to match up really well to. I just have to figure out how to get it on straight. It looks from the packaging that it is in sections which should make it pretty easy, but I won't know until I take it out of the package and really get a good look at it. I'll post before and after pictures on Sunday for you to see.

     Do you know what time it is? It's time for Favorite Song of the Week. Tower of Power is a funk original that roared in Oakland California in 1968. There most well known hit is arguably "What Is Hip" Drew Carey even used it an episode of his old sitcom. If I remember right, it was in place of his opening credits. It's a great song, but it isn't FSOTW this week. that honor goes to a little diddy by the name of "Don't Change Horses". It's funky with a big horn section, and is one of those good old 70's songs that tells a moral lesson, and you can dance to it. Please enjoy some Tower of Power.

     Now that was some good stuff right there. It's looking like the weather isn't going to cooperate with me and Saki too much. It really hasn't all week. I did get to ride tonight, and it's the first time I have gotten a chance to ride since I adjusted the preload on Saki. I put it on a slightly stiffer setting to see how it was different. I didn't really notice a big difference, but I might notice it when I get some faster speeds on the tires. It was only around town type of riding today. I'm hoping to ride to work tomorrow, but it may be a little too cold for that. I'll know better in the morning. Speaking of the morning. It comes around pretty quick, so I'm off to bed. Peace in and goodnight.

Tattoos And Toys.

     It's been an eventful uneventful weekend. How is that even possible? I'll tell you how. I started out on Friday by surprising Saki with the new tank pad. It took much longer to put on than I would have imagined. That was all due to the fact that it was in three pieces, and lining it up, was near impossible. Even with all the time I took, I still think that I misaligned the left side of it, just a tiny bit. It's not that noticeable, but if you look hard enough you can see it.

It's not bad, but it's not perfect. I guess if I took the time and used string to line everything up and all that, I could have gotten it perfect, but who has time for that? Saki seemed pretty happy about the new tank pad. Don't tell Saki, but I have a new surprise that should show up tomorrow. I probably won't get around to putting it on until the weekend though. I ordered a new set of clutch & brake levers, and also reflective rim tape. This is mostly about safety, but it's also about looking good while being safe. I was in for the night after that. I needed to be well rested for Saturday. It's not every day that you get stabbed with needles for several hours.

     I woke up around 8:30 and felt pretty good, all I needed was a good breakfast, and then I was off to get new ink forced in to my skin. My appointment was at 11:30 and my artist told me that he woke up at 8 in the morning to create the stencil for it. I'll show you the stencil in a little while so you can see all the work he put into it. He used an old school method, where you take a picture of the image, and you use a stencil pen on the back of it, to create the stencil. He shot video for his Instagram that shows the reveal of the process. He hasn't put it up yet, but when he does, I'll put a link to it, so that you can see. Here is what the stencil looked like after he put it on my calf.

As you can see, there is a lot going on there. He has the basic lines as well as all the shading that was in solved in this portrait. He only had one shot at getting it on right. If it smeared or didn't land on the right spot, there was no reapplying the stencil. It was done after one application. He got it on perfectly. He breezed through the first hour and had almost all of the line work and shading done. I was figuring that this was going to take 5 hours at least, but it was looking like 3. Well, It didn't take only 3 hours, it took a little over 4 hours, but the finished product is amazing, and everything I had hoped for.

This shot was directly after it was done. I still haven't gotten a great shot after the fact yet, and I don't know if I will ever get one. It is in a tough spot to take a picture by ones self. Just to give you a side by side comparison. I created a side by side comparison.

You can see just how close he came to the original image. We even pulled up the original photograph that the image on the left is based on, just so he could get more detail in the hair.

     Now that the needle stabbing is done, it is all about the healing process. The first thing I do, is let it set for an hour or so, and then I take a warm shower and wash it up with an anti-bacterial foaming soap, that is scentless. I have my own personal favorite which is Dial, and then I put a small amount of Aquaphor on it. Aquaphor is what I have found to be what works best for me, and it seems to work for just about everyone else that I have told about it as well. A friend turned me on to it, when I was having some trouble healing from one of my tattoos. I was getting some kind of reaction to the Lubriderm that I was using, and he told me about the Aquaphor. It worked instantly when I put it on, and I have used nothing else since.

There you have it. The two most important things for me when healing a tattoo. I have never lost color or had any weird scabbing as long as I've used those two things. I have told countless people about them, and they have had the same reaction to it, which is positive. Depending on the size of your tattoo, you really don't need much more than a pea sized amount of the Aquaphor when you put it on, and you only need to put it on after you wash it. For me, that is about twice a day. Now, there are a couple of other things that I do for work, that you may not have to do. For about a week, I keep it covered when I'm at work. For this one, I will have it wrapped in cling wrap, and then I have a compression leg sleeve that I will wear over top of that. When we did the work on my arm sleeve, I used a full arm compression sleeve to keep it covered. The only reason I wear those, is to keep dirt and oil off of it. Where I work, I get covered in dirt and grease, and this is what I've found to work best to combat that.

     If you are planning on getting your first tattoo, or maybe adding to your art collection, and you have any questions, just ask. I'll be glad to share my knowledge with you. I already talked with my artist about making this a Star Wars lower leg sleeve, so there will be more to come. I already told you the 4 main characters that I will have on it, but after that, it's a playground of things we can do. Starships, droids, space scenes. The possibilities are endless.

     I have one last thing for you tonight. I got a new Funko Pop Vinyl figure today. When I saw that this figure was coming out, I had to order it, and it arrived today from Amazon. Yes, on a Sunday. The finally released a Jessica Jones figure, and it is going to look great in my collection.

She wanted a ride on Saki, and who am i to argue. I still have other figures that I have forgotten to take pictures of for you. One day, I will set them all up and get a good picture of them. I'll have to find an interesting way to set them up. Just stacking them one on top of the other, seems rather boring. Let's have some fun with it. Until Tuesday, peace in and goodnight.

Finally, A Picture Of The Taper.

     Ok, this will be the last I talk about my ear for a while. I finally got a picture of the taper that I rammed through my ear. I put a pair of normal tweezers next to it, so you can judge the size.

That should give you a pretty good idea of size. 

     This is one of those nights, were I really have nothing to talk about. I'm sure that at some point today, I had some ideas, that ran through my head, but it appears that they have run through my head and then kept going. I guess that would make this a really good time to post the first two paragraphs of my story, and see what you think about them. Do I stick with this beginning or move on to something else? I think the biggest problem is, that I don't fully see the character in my head yet. I'm fighting with myself on whether this character is male or female. I kind of see a male character, but the idea of a female character being in a role that would predominantly be held by a male is intriguing to me. I guess I'm still mulling the whole thing over. I'm only giving you the first two paragraphs. The title will remain secret for now. Once I have it all figured out, and have it written, then I will know if this is a short story or novel length. Actually I will have a pretty good idea if it is novel length once it meanders past short story length.

       I got off the Greyhound bus in Cocoa Florida. My next destination was a little known place by the name of the Neptune Hotel. I’d heard about it from an artist friend of mine. He said it was like an artist commune where all types came together and just created. I had been working as a journalist for the past fifteen years, and I’ve had my fill of bylines and deadlines. 

I’ve always wanted to write, and journalism was my chosen path, but it hasn’t been fulfilling to me. I got to write, but I was telling other peoples stories, and not creating stories of my own. When I heard about the Neptune Hotel, I saw it as a sign from angels. They were telling me that there was another path I could take. One that would lead me down a road that I not only chose, but created. I put in my resignation, sublet my apartment and emptied my bank account.

    There you have it. Give me your honest thoughts on it. I already corrected a couple of things that I already saw that were wrong, and I can see other changes that need to be made, but I'll let this stand for you to read for now. I may be able to use this as a base line and work around and through it to make it more suitable to me. I think I've already made up my mind on it, but another opinion won't hurt. Let me have it.

     I just remembered a couple of small things to talk about. I got the heat gun in today, so I will most likely put the new tank pad on Saki tomorrow. I've only given Saki hints about what I have for it, so don't tell Saki anything. 

     Saturday a couple of things are happening. I go in for the new tattoo at 11:30 Saturday morning. I'm looking forward to it. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it here or not, but a find tattoos to be rather cathartic. I find them to be rather relaxing. Even the two on my ribs, although very painful, had those moments of just taking me away into a meditative space. I know that may be hard to believe, but I've always felt that way when getting jabbed with those needles. I'll post a picture of that as well on Sunday. You can watch on my Instagram for a picture there on Saturday once it is finished. Hell, I may even do a Instagram story if my artist gives me clearance to use video tape him. That could be kind of fun.

     Lastly, is a party that I am invited to on Saturday night. It's a birthday party for a friend of mine's wife. I was invited to a family and close friends dinner before, but I don't know if my tattoo will be done in time for that. After that though, there is a get together at a bar. Mind you, I sill haven't had a drink in now over 8 weeks, and even though I said I was considering writing the new story in bars, I'm not ready to drink again yet. I'm going to have to be creative to not drink at this party. First, I'm riding Saki, so that I already have that built in excuse, and secondly, I'm just going to drink soda all night. I was already planning on doing that anyway, so Saki is just the cherry on top. I'm going to prove to everyone that I can still be the fun guy without the booze. I'll let you know how everything goes. Until then, peace in and goodnight.

Where Red When You Are At The Green Light.

     A few things to talk about tonight. The first is the "A Day Without a Woman" event which happens tomorrow. This a demonstration that takes place on March 8th which is International Women's Day. The idea is to show the world what it would be like without women. Here are the things you can do as suggested by https://www.womensmarch.com/womensday/ . If you are a woman, take the day off from paid and unpaid labor. That means take the entire day off from everything. No job, No housework, no nothing. Avoid all shopping with the exception of small, women and minority owned businesses. Lastly, for any allies out there as well as women, where red to show your support and solidarity. A lot of people lately have been coming down hard on women lately, this will show them exactly what a woman does. I think a lot of eyes will be open tomorrow, and all for the better.

     I know that this post is going to seem a bit preachy tonight, don't worry, we will get to the fun stuff a little later, but the Women's March and this next thing are things that need to be talked about. I'm not sure if you remember or even know who Khizr Khan is, but Khizr and Ghazala are the Gold Star parents of fallen soldier Captain Humayun Khan. They spoke at the Democratic National Convention and were then ridiculed by the now POTUS (I prefer to call him the Tangerine Tyrant). Yesterday it was reported that Khizr had to cancel a trip to Canada where he was supposed to speak. He was warned that his travel privileges were under review. Khan has been citizen of the United States for 30 years now. There is some speculation that this story is not true, but if it is, it is a frightening turn of events. I will keep following this story and let you know if I hear anything different from here on.

     Now that that is one with, on to the fun stuff. Well, maybe not all that fun, I guess it is all in how you look at it. My ear is healing nicely. The infection is gone, but my lymph node is stills slightly swollen and probably will be for a couple more days. I did forget to get a picture of the taper, so I will try to remember again for Thursday night's post. There is no longer any real pain in it even though it still is seeping blood at a very small amount. It is usually noticeable when I clean everything out and the scabs are loosened up. I'm putting an antibiotic ointment on it, to help it out, and it is doing fine. I still haven't decided what to do with it yet. You know, whether I regroup and retry or just leave it. Tha reminds me, very quick. When you leave a comment, don't forget to check the box just below that notifies you if someone replies to your comment. I don't know how this works for anyone that is commenting anonymously, but if you have an account that  you are commenting from, it will send  you and email notification of the comment below your own.

     Let's get to Saki now. I haven't ridden yet this week, and that is mostly because of the ear needing just a little more time without the helmet, but also the weather today was rainy for most of the morning. I got a new little item for Saki today. It's a tank pad. the name eludes to something that it really isn't. You would assume that it is some kind of pad to lean on, which in a way it is, but, it is more of a protective layer over the tank so that it doesn't get scratched up by zippers and buttons and such. I ordered it from Amazon Smile, with little hopes of it really looking good. Every review fro most tank pads in general, are that they are small and not really worth the money that is spent on them. This one is cheap, so that is another reason why the expectations were low. When I opened the box, I was surprised. The size is nice, and the faux carbon fiber, looked really nice as well. The real surprise came when I say the Kawasaki logo on it. I had no idea that that was even on there. That would have been a big selling point for me if I had known. I was looking for something with the Ninja logo or Kawasaki, I ended up with his one, because it had more positive reviews than the other ones out there. I haven't put it on yet, because it alls for a hard dryer to warm up and soften the material in order to apply it. Guess what I don't have? If you guessed hair dryer, you would be correct. That led me back to Amazon Smile for a new order. No, not a hair dryer, but something I was going to get eventually anyway. It is a heat gun. Very similar to a hair dryer, but it gets a little bit hotter, so that you can use it to do wiring stuff, or basically melting the soft rubber covers over wires to keep them waterproof. It should be here in a couple of days, and I will put the tank pad on then. I'll make sure to get some pictures of it when it is in place to show you.

     There were two songs for me to choose from this week for Favorite Song of the Week, and oddly enough, the artist of one song, led me to my choice. The two artist in question were Danielle Ate The Sandwich, and Lorde. Both of them released songs this week, but only one of them danced on Instagram to the others song. The dancing culprit would be none other than DATS. she posted a short video on Instagram of her dancing to Lorde's new song. Ok, I'm going to try this out, and if it works, you will see that short little video right below this. Here it goes.

It's been a while since I've done a pointless, weird dancing video, but it's been a while since there's been a song like this. Thanks for making me dance, @lordemusic. Try to leave time in your life for the things you love. 💖💃#greenlight #lorde #sandwichinthestudio

A post shared by Danielle Ate the Sandwich (@danielleatethesandwich) on Mar 6, 2017 at 10:24pm PST

Ok, from what I can see on here, it may have worked. If not I'm sure you can click on whatever is there and it will take you to it. Anyway Danielle's fantastic dancing swayed me to Lorde's new song. So without further delay, here is "Green Light" by Lorde.


That was a little frustrating. Youtube has changed their format around a bit, and right now, I don't like it. It made getting the embedded HTML a little difficult. it worked, but it took me some time. There are some other things I'm not liking about it right now, but that isn't important. What is important is that the song is there for your enjoyment, which I hope that you did.

     That leaves me with one final thing to do. No, it's not posting the snippet from the new story I'm writing. I'm still debating on whether or not to share that with you just yet. I'll let you know soon. The final thing I have to do, is to simply say peace in and goodnight.

Twisties In The Sunlight.

     I have a couple of issues. Well, I have a lot of issues, but I have a couple that are currently causing me some discomfort, and  one created the other, and it's all my own fault. The first issues is, that I blew out the back of my right ear. I got a good chance to look at it yesterday morning, and realized that when I put the taper through, scar tissue from the last time I stretched up, just broke and ripped from the inner half of the hole out. I basically filleted my ear. So, I had to take the taper out and treat it like an open wound, which it was. I'm at a crossroads now. Do I regroup and retry, or just give up entirely. I'll just have to wait before I make a decision on that. The second issue was created by the first, which is, that it got mildly infected. I have take care of the infection, but because of that infection, the lymph node in my neck on that side, is swollen. It's not a big deal, I've dealt with this before. It is more of an annoyance than a health concern. It causes me some pain when I eat, and has the nerves in my teeth on that side going a little batty. A couple of days and I'll be fine.

     With the taper out, I was finally able to get my helmet on, with some pain pulling it over my ears, which, as you just read, one was a murder scene, and they other felt like it was heavily bruised. Everything was fine once the helmet was on, but putting it on and taking it off, well, that was a treat. Since I could ride, I was making plans to just ride around as much as I could. The sun was out, and it was a mild temperature, so I could wear the new jacket. Lo and behold, I got a text from 3W. He wanted to go for a ride. This is the first time he has contacted me in a couple of months, Actually, it is the first time he has contacted me since he bought his new bike.

     I've been waiting for this. He has told me all about his skill level as a rider, and I wanted to see just how factual he was in his assessment of his own ability. I had doubts about what he was saying, and with good reason. Things he would say about riding just didn't add up. He would mention how he does a certain thing, and from everything I know, it would be the exact opposite of what you are supposed to do. I was going to find out, whether I was right or wrong about my doubts.

     The first thing we did, was go to lunch. He chose a place near his house. I'm not a fan of the place. The food is subpar, and the drinks are under poured. The drink thing didn't matter though, since I stopped drinking. I just had a Sprite with my meal. I also had a turkey club. It's pretty difficult to screw up a turkey club. It was ok, nothing to write home about. We finished up, and then headed out to get him some gas. After that, the test was on.

     I roared out of the gas station and took off. I expected him to be right behind me. His bike should be faster than mine, by all means. I had to wait for him, so I slowed down. Once he caught up, and the road was wide open, I took off again. Once again, fully expecting him to be right behind me. He was no where in sight. I was so far ahead of him, that it took several minutes for him to catch me. After that, I just kept it kind of slow. I was taking him to a place, that really tests your cornering ability. It's a fun road, that gives you a chance to lean the bike over and have some fun with it. When we got to the mouth of the road. I stopped on the side and waited for him to pull up next to me. I told him to take his time and go at his own pace. With all the stories he has told me, I expected him to overtake me, and leave me in the dust. That wasn't the case at all. Half way through the run, I slowed way down to make sure he was still behind me. When I finally saw him round the corner, It took off again, and met him at the finish. I'd like to say that I was shocked by this, but I wasn't. I had a feeling that all his stories were just that, stories. When he pulled up next to me. I mentioned that we passed a place that would be good for pictures of the bikes. We would have to turn around and make another run at the twisties, and he said he was up for it. I gave him the warning I said early about keeping his pace, because this time, I wasn't going to slow down and wait for him until the end.

     I got to the end, and I waited for a couple of minutes for him to finally show up. I am thoroughly convinced now, that he is a little frightened of his bike. That's ok, you should have a slight bit of fear when you ride. That is what keeps you alert, and saves your butt more times than you will ever be able to count. Here is the thing though, you have to take a chance every now and then, because that is where the fun lies. I'm not saying to bust the envelope wide open, just push it a bit. If you never do that, you will never get better at the thing you are doing. While I was going down that road, I was working on two things. One, my ride position, so that eventually I will be dragging knees, and two, focusing on where I am going in the turn as opposed to looking at the turn itself. That is called target fixation and it is the leading cause of bikes going down in corners. Instead of looking where you are going to be, a rider will look at the corner itself, and when you do that, that is where you go. The next thing you know, you are going off into the grass, and that is a best case scenario. The worst, is that you low side and the bike catches and flips a couple of times. Test yourself, but be smart about it. That is what I was doing out there.

     With the twisties behind us, we headed to this picturesque little boat ramp I saw on the way there. It was about two miles back along the road, so it didn't take long to get there. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful spot. We parked the bikes in a way, that you could see NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building off in the distance. The sky was blue, that water was rolling along, and the bikes were gleaming in the sunlight.

     He rides a 2016 Yamaha YSF R6. The color scheme is in honor of the 60th Anniversary, and it has a 60th decal on the sides of the bike. It's a nice bike, but I'm in love with Saki. The bottom picture is the one where you can see the VAB. It is just above Saki. See that little white square? Yep, that's it. That is where they prep all the rockets before taking them to the launch pad. If you can blow the picture up, I suggest that you do so, so you can see it in all it's tiny from a distance glory. That building was designed to withstand Category 5 hurricane winds. Although it lost some siding when Charlie came through several years ago.

     Regardless of being proven right about my doubts, I still had a great day of riding. It was short, for what I like to do, but it was a ride with some fun turns in it. Maybe in another two months he will want to go out for a ride again.

     I started writing the story I was talking about. I'm not sure I like the beginning off it. I debating on whiter or not to post the first two paragraphs to get you opinion on it. I just don't think I het the mark yet, but that is the great thing about writing, if you don't like it, you can delete it and start over again. I'm going to sit with it a bit, and see if it grows on me. If I do decide to post it here, it would be on Tuesday, so keep an eye out for it, and please, please let me know what you think of it. Be completely honest too, because otherwise I might grow complacent about it, and just leave it.

     I just realized that I didn't get a picture of the tapers for you. I will try to get that for you on Tuesday as well. That way you can see how they could have destroyed my ear. Well, I'm going to get some sleep and see you in a couple of days. Peace in and goodnight.