Last Post Before My Social Media Vacation.

     This is it, the final post before the break. I have a few things to talk about, so let's just jump right into it.

     I'll start with the dog on dog meet on Friday. It didn't go as I'd hoped it would. The Truff was a little stressed out. I have my thoughts on way, and I'll get to that in time. The Truff acted like The Truff, she wasn't uninterested, but neither was she interested in Gypsy. Here is where her problem came in. Since The Truff is skittish, she doesn't stand her ground, and tries her best to get away from a situation. That led to Gypsy's problem. Gypsy was interested in meeting The Truff. When I would hold The Truff, Gypsy was calm and would just stare at her and smell her. No aggression what so ever. When The Truff was walking around, Gypsy is a little too rambunctious and when The Truff would try to get away, Gypsy would try to go after her. Once again, not in an aggressive way, but more of a playful way. Since Gypsy is so much bigger than The Truff, the trainers were worried that Gypsy would accidentally step on her and hurt her. It ended with me walking out with The Truff in her carrier and Gypsy going back to her home in the kennel.

     There are still options. I talked with the supervisor and am waiting to her from either her, or a dog trainer that she knows. The idea is that the trainer would work with Gypsy so that she could be more focused and less interesting in going after The Truff to get to know her. I haven't heard from either yet, so it isn't looking good for Gypsy coming to my home. Here are the things that I think could have gone better. I told them that The Truff doesn't feel comfortable around people, and there were 4 of us out there including myself. Two trainers holding Gypsy, the supervisor and me. This alone caused stress to The Truff. I think if there were only two of us and the pups, it would have gone a lot better. There is also the fact that The Truff had a few seizures the night before, so she was out of sorts from that. I also think that if Gypsy and The Truff spent more time around each other, familiarity would win out. Gypsy wouldn't seem so interested in her, if they were more familiar with each other. The Truff is a tough little dog, and they underestimated her in how she could hold her own if Gypsy got too close to her. I think The Truff would have eventually stopped and let Gypsy introduce herself if they let it go a little further and once again, if there were less people there. I wasn't going to question them though, they have done hundreds if not thousands of these dog on dog meets, so they know best, but I know The Truff best. I'll see how it all works out, and let you know if anything changes when I get back from the break.

     I began watching The Defenders on Friday night. I needed something to make me happy after the meltdown with the dog on dog meet. It was a good distraction. I got two episodes in before I was too tired to stay up any longer. It was slow but good. I wanted to keep watching but sleep was more important.

     On Saturday I headed over to the new hospital that Elie had been moved to. Her schedules i incredibly busy because she has started her therapy sessions. Yeah, after only a week from the accident. She is doing really well. She has been able to stand up and kind of waddle walk for a short distance, and they have her sitting in a wheelchair and walking that ways so that she can be mobile. The goal is for her to be out of the hospital and back home to start outpatient therapy in three weeks. She is well on her way. One doctor told her that they expect her to get full use of her hand back. I can't believe that I didn't know this, but her left hand, the one that was so badly damaged, is her dominant hand, so she is going to have to learn how to do things right handed for the time being. This is where her artistic and athletic background is going to help her indefinitely. She doesn't have much feeling in that hand right now, but she is able to wiggle her fingers, which is amazing, since her broken bone severed all of her tendons and nerves in that hand. The repair job the doctor did is fantastic.

      I finally asked her the question of all questions. Are you going to ride again? Her answer was no. Not because she has a fear of riding. She said she doesn't feel that way at all. She is more concerned about putting her family and friends through all of this again. I can understand that, but if she ever does decide to ride again, I'll be there for her to get her new bike in a good and safe shape so that hopefully nothing like this can happen again. I love tinkering with bikes, so tricking one out with new brighter lights all around and louder horns and pipes is right up my alley. I'll see how she feels after some time. She loves riding, so her mind might be in a different place the further she gets form the accident. I did mention that if she does ride again, that maybe she not commute to work. The times she commutes are not the safest time for anyone on the road. She was riding home at dusk on a bike that sat low to the ground with stock headlights, horn and pipes, so there was nothing there that would stand out and announce that she was there. LED headlights, a much louder horn, and a loud set of pipes, maybe could have changed things a bit. She could be a weekend rider from now on if she wants, and there is nothing wrong with that.

     I did run into some old and good friends while I was visiting Elie. It was really good to see them. I can't remember the last time I ran into them. I think it was at a mutual friends baby shower in December, so it's been a while. We picked up where we left off, and there is a chance I'll see them again this weekend. It will be fun, and we had fun while we were at the hospital. I know we got Elie laughing pretty good, and that can help her almost better than medicine can.

     After leaving the hospital, I took the long ride home, counting the minutes until I could watch more episodes of The Defenders. I managed to watch the rest of the series. There are only 8 episodes, and they move pretty quick despite their somewhat slow pace. It does pick up as it goes, and I really liked it. I'm hearing that most people are on the fence with it, and I think it is because of the very end of it. I wan't bothered by the ending, as a matter of fact, I expected it. There are a couple of clues to what is going to happen at the very end, if you look for them. It's a good series that involves almost all of the Netflix Marvel heroes, so give it a try, you might just enjoy it.

     Before I get into the wrap up and tell you what to expect for the comeback post and when exactly that will happen. I just needed to show you this. You know my slight fascination with Funko Pop Vinyl figures, well I picked up a new one, and it's pretty awesome.

     It's the new Flash from the upcoming Justice League movie. I'm a fan of The Flash, and an even bigger fan of Ezra Miller who plays the part in the movie. That's right, it's not the same Barry Allen from the TV show. It's the kid that played Patrick in Perks of Being a Wallflower. You may have seen him most recently in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. He played Credence in that movie, and he is reprising that role for Fantastic Beasts 2. That was just something fun I wanted to show you.

     Here it is, the paragraph about whats to come. I'm going to go cold turkey on the social media starting tomorrow morning, so any platform that you follow me on, I will be absent from it for two weeks. The next post on here, will be on September 11th. Yes that anniversary of all anniversaries. I didn't plan it that way, It's just how it all works out. That will be a Tuesday night. I should have a lot to talk about. I've ordered a few things, and I signed up for something that should help me out greatly with the YouTube videos, and I'll go into details on all of that when I get back. I may make a video or two while I'm offline, but I won't post any of them until Sunday, September 9th, and of course I will add them to that Tuesday post if I have any ready. Nothing should really change here as far as what I write about, but the videos are going to change a little, but in a good way, and a way that will make it much easier to get them up and keep them viewable to you. So, I'll see you in a couple of weeks. Peace in and goodnight.

Kinda Good News, Bad News, And Then Good News?

     I'm still feeling exhausted, but I get to sleep in tomorrow. That's right, I have Friday off again. Here is the kinda good news part of that title up there. Elie is going to be transferred to another hospital. I'm calling this kinda good news because that means that she has recovered to a point that she can be transported across the city. Her family and her, as well as myself believe that it's a little soon, but the doctors are saying that it is ok. I'll trust their judgment, but if something goes wrong, they are in a world of trouble, and opening themselves up to a big lawsuit. That is all I really have to report on her, I'm sure I will have more news after they transfer her tomorrow morning.

     Here is the bad news. First let me get to a something that is good and leads into the bad news. I went to see Gypsy yesterday, and the I'm calling her the supervisor of the clinic. I don't know what her real title is, so that is as good as any, has ok'd the dog on dog meeting with The Truff. I was really happy to hear that. They tested Gypsy with some small dogs to see her reaction, and although they were very interesting, non were negative. The first small dog was a chihuahua that is a bit older, and Gypsy just wanted to play with her, but the chihuahua wasn't having it. Nothing bad came of it. The other interaction was with a puppy. I heard two stores about this interaction. The first one being that Gypsy laid low to the ground and crawled towards the puppy. Sounds adorable right? You haven't heard anything yet. The second short story of that interaction was that Gypsy grabbed the puppy in her arms, and then rocked back to sit like a person and cradled the little puppy. Now that is adorable.

     I heard the second story today when I took The Truff to meet Gypsy. Here is where that bad news kicks in. The supervisor as I walked in, had to go on an emergency call to capture a cat. Apparently this cat was a bit wild, and she had to net it and cage it. I said I would wait until she returned, but it took her about an hour to accomplish her task. That meant that there was no meeting between The Truff and Gypsy. Needless to say, I was a little bummed, but that is ok. I've waited all this time to get this far with Gypsy, I can wait another night. I was even told yesterday that my first interaction with Gypsy was unlike any other person that had met with her. They said Gypsy had never taken to anyone like me before. I really think this is meant to be, and this non meeting today, is just another little bump in a road that is going to smooth out very soon. They also told me today that no one wanted to put in the time to learn how to bond with Gypsy, I didn't see that as a problem. Oh yeah, as I was leaving yesterday, Gypsy tried to follow me to my car again. I told her to wait just a little longer.

     Here is where the good news comes in. As I said before, I have tomorrow off, that means I get to take The Truff up to the humane society at noon tomorrow. Can you sense the bump being smoothed out yet? There is another bump though. The Truff has begun her seizure cycle tonight. Fortunately what I saw were very mild seizures, so I'm hoping that she will be over them in the morning, and we won't have to delay the meeting any longer. I will no tomorrow. Worst case scenario, The Truff has a seizure when she is meeting Gypsy. This will give us a chance to see how Gypsy reacts in a slight crisis, so it could be a good thing. She might try to comfort The Truff, which is something Lily never did. She cared about The Truff, but when she had her seizures, Lily was down right mean to her. The Truff directly after a seizure, she starts wandering around in circles. She is a little dopey and when she would get next to Lily, Lily would snap at her. The Truff wouldn't understand or know what to do. Gypsy may just try to love on her and comfort her like she did that little puppy. We will only know when it happens.

     The Truff and Gypsy are scheduled to meet at noon tomorrow. You can look at it as an old western standoff. I'll see ya at noon pardner. Yes I know I misspelled partner, It's meant to be sounded as if it was an old gunslinger from the old west. Well, I just ruined the joke by explaining it.

     Ok, I've put this off long enough. It's time for Favorite Song of the Week. This is going to be a bit different this week, not only in that it is being put forth on a Thursday post, but I haven't actually heard the song yet. I'm going to play the video and listen to it after I publish this little edition tonight. If you haven't listened to it, how can you make it FSOTW? There is a very simple explanation for this. It's from a band I really really like. I don't think they can do anything wrong, so they get FSOTW without even a listen. I know what you are thinking, "here comes a new song by Twenty One Pilots." They do have the clout to be a FSOTW without a listen, but they aren't the ones this time. The band for tonights little gem for your earholes is non other than the Foo Fighters. This song came out yesterday, but I haven't had time to listen to it yet, so In a way, we will listen to it together. Her are the Foo Fighters with "The Sky Is A Neighborhood".



     There you have it. I still haven't listened yet, so let me know what you think, because at this point, you will be listening at the same point in this as I will be. See, we are listening together. Peace in and goodnight.

Updates For Everything.

     I still feel like I'm trying to catch up with sleep that I didn't get on Thursday night. I'm exhausted, and I need a really good nights sleep to get over it, but I haven't had one of those since Wednesday night. I keep running through too many things in my head. I run through what I visualize happening in my friends accident (update on her and that coming up), I keep running through the series of events that should lead me to brining Gypsy home. Then our of nowhere I run through some conversation with someone I've never met before, nor have never even seen. It is completely a product of my imagination. That last one could be brought on my fatigue. I'm not sure.

     Time for an update on Elie Wolf. I went to visit her today, and she looked great. She still has the super cool lego arms, but she was sitting up. That is something I didn't think would be possible at this time. She was moved from her bed to a chair that is kind of like a bed. She even told me that with a lot of help, she stood up today. Mind you, her pelvis was shattered. I saw the x-rays, it wasn't good, but she stood up briefly only 48 hours after major surgery to repair that pelvis. Did I mention that she is a total badass? Here is another milestone, she fed herself her breakfast this morning. Yeah, I know that sounds like a pretty easy thing to do right? Don't forget, she broke both of her wrists, the right not as bad as the left (right being the hand she used), but still, she is 72 hours from that surgery. She is already wanting to get out of the hospital, but she does know that she has to take the time to heal, so she is patiently waiting.

     As far as the accident goes, I got more specific details today. The guy was turning into oncoming traffic, and she kind of confirmed my belief that he never saw her, and was trying to get across the road in front of the car behind her. She also agreed with me that she panic gripped, and that is the reason her wrist broke the way they did. I haven't seen her bike, but I've been told that it isn't totaled, but I'm still betting that it is. The right handlebar snapped off, but that wouldn't make it a totaled bike alone. The frame needs to be cracked to make it totaled, and with a big pick-up truck resting on it, I can't see that frame not being cracked or bent. Oh yeah, a bent frame will make it totaled as well. I was shown a picture of her helmet today, and other than a pretty big scuff on the upper front of it, it was perfectly intact. I can't remember what helmet she has, but it lived up to all expectations of safety. To answer that question of,"Whether she will ride again?", I'm thinking that is a yes. things she said today, just made me believe that she is not done riding yet. She didn't mention getting a new bike or anything like that, but she did talk briefly about a new helmet. Why would you get a new helmet if you weren't going to ride. Tough as nails that one.

     Tomorrow I go to see Gypsy again. This will be my fourth visit with her, and if things go well, I think it will be the last visit before taking The Truff to meet her. If that goes well, then Gypsy is coming home. I'm pretty sure that this visit, I will be taking a walk with Gypsy all by ourselves. This will see if she has any nervous reaction without the trainers around and what not. Considering the way things were left on Sunday, with her trying to follow me to my car, I think this little walk is going to be a breeze. Either way, wish me luck. I don't think I need it, but it can't hurt to have it.

     With everything that has been going on this weekend, I just haven't had time to think about a FSOTW, so I think rather than just throw a song up here for you to listen to, I'm going to wait until Thursday to have something for you to peruse with your earholes. With that I say, peace in and goodnight.

All The Latest News That's Fit To Report.

Julian Cadman

Bruno Gulotta

Elke Vanbockrijck

Luca Russo

Francisco Lopez Rodriguez

Jared Tucker

Pepita Codina

Ian Moore Wilson

Carmen Lopardo

Ana Maria Suarez

    Those are the names I've been able to find so far of those that died in the in Barcelona. I'm sure I don't have to say that there is no need to name those responsible for this act, but it does seem that the driver is on the loose. I unfortunately don't have his name, but I'm sure there are several locations that will give that name. Last I heard, authorities were closing in on him and he would be apprehended soon. All of these people have stories, and if you get the chance try to look them up. Read those names knowing that they will be remembered, and those that committed this vile act, will be forgotten.

     I have an update on Elie Wolf. I attempted to visit her yesterday, but when I went to the hospital, she was still in surgery. Her surgery lasted 8 and a half hours. Most of the time was used repairing her left wrist. I was told that the doctor that performed the surgery said, that it was one of the top three worst injuries that he had ever seen. The bone that was exposed was missing pieces, so they had to use a cadaver bone to replace it. The bone was razor sharp and severed her radial nerve, so he had to replace that with a cadaver nerve as well. The prognosis is fair. If she manages to do everything perfectly, in 6 months to a year she should wind up with 80-90% function in her left hand. Like I said on Friday's post, I saw the picture of her hand how it came into the Trauma Unit, and 80-90% is excellent. 

     From what I was told, she will only need one more surgery, and that will be to remove the pins and rods from her arm in about 5-6 weeks. The only concern now, since it was an open break, there is a potential for infection. I know that they did an antibiotic wash on the wound when she first arrived, and I was told that the surgeon did a very thorough one when he did the final surgery. I'm hoping that they are being precautions with this, and that she is past any infection. There was road debris and dirt in it from the accident so there is always a potential for it.

     I talked to her very briefly when she had been brought back to her room. I got a call from her sister and she put the phone near Elie so she could thank me for stopping by the hospital and also checking on her dog. Her dog is doing very well and is in very good hands with his dog sitter. I'm not sure I will be able to see her before next weekend, but If I do, I will keep you posted on how she is recovering. She is one of the toughest people I know, so if anyone is going to get the most out of this recovery, it will be her.

     I don't think I have to say it, but I will anyway. Since I may only be able to see her on the weekend, I have decided to cancel the ATS ride for this month. This was to be the final one for a few months anyway, and it's a bit of a bummer since there was an exhibit at the location that will leave early next month. I can always go to the location at a later date, I just won't get to see that exhibit. There is another reason that I can't go this weekend either, and it's a very good one. I just may be brining Gypsy home this weekend.

     My visit with Gypsy went beyond well yesterday. When the trainer brought her in the pen, she charged straight for me. Not in an aggressive I want to eat you way, but in a, "hey I remember that guy" sort of way. I was able to pet her even before I gave her a treat, so that obstacle seems to be hurdled. Another trainer came out shorty, and I'm not sure what her title is, but she is in charge of things there. She was the one that talked with me on the phone on Friday. She filled me in with all of the information about Gypsy and what potential health concerns that she has. She also took charge of the little meeting, and took Gypsy off leash to see what her reaction would be. Gypsy was a sweetheart. She had me walk away from the trainers to see if Gypsy would shy away from me, but I had the power of treats, and Gypsy followed me everywhere, only looking over her shoulder occasionally to see where everyone was at.

     Near the end of that visit, we discussed the schedule of visits to come. The head trainer told me that her schedule had her off on Monday and Tuesday, and that I should come back as soon as possible to keep the bond growing. That was easy, I would be back tomorrow. As we were winding things up, Gypsy came up to me and just leaned against my legs allowing me to pet her on her head and back. I think that bond is growing pretty well. The schedule of things are to go like this. The next visit would have Gypsy off leash right away, to see if there was any adverse reaction. I wan't worried about a thing. The visit following that, I would take a walk with one of the trainers along side of Gypsy, so that she could get used to having me around her. The visit after that, would be me taking Gypsy for a walk with the trainers in eyesight of her. Then I would take Gypsy for a walk alone, then Gypsy would meet The Truff. If all of that went well, then Gypsy would come home either the same day of The Truff meeting or shortly there after.

     Let's fast forward to today. I headed to the humane society with treats in hand, ready for this next visit. They did just as they said, and Gyspy was off leash right away. She wasn't uncomfortable at all. She did take her time coming over to me, but I think that was more of her enjoying her new found freedom to go anywhere she wanted to. I walked Gypsy around the pen and she didn't even bother looking for the other trainers this time. That is when the trainer said, let's take her for a walk. So out of the pen we went. Then the trainer said, "You know what? Let's let him take her of by themselves.". So I took the leash and off I went. This was the me walking her in eyesight of the trainers walk. If you remember that schedule above, this was two steps from today. Gypsy didn't hesitate once. We walked all around and she never lost focus on what we were doing. I walked her all around a little wooded area that they had there, and we just enjoyed ourselves. When I finally ran out of treats, I made my way back over to the trainers. We talked a little about the next meeting and then I was on my way. That is when something happened that I didn't see, but I heard. As I walked away, Gypsy tried to go after me. She wanted to stay with me. I turned back around and the trainer told me that she tried to follow me. That is fantastic. I'm taking that as a sign that nothing is going to stop Gypsy from going home with me. The head trainer had let me know, that Gypsy had lived with other dogs in the past, and that in a worst case scenario at the shelter, which was when I small dog got out of it's cage while Gypsy was off leash, the little dog charged for Gypsy. When the little dog reached Gypsy's feet, all Gypsy did was look down at her. That leads the trainer to believe that The Truff isn't going to have any worries at all.

     If we keep on the schedule that progressed today, Gypsy should be home either Thursday or Friday night. I think this is where she needs to be. I'll of course keep you updated. That reminds me, I need to update you on the break. I'm still going to take it, but since I had to cancel the ATS ride, and with all that is going on right now, I didn't think it would be fair to you, for me to take the break starting tonight without giving you the latest updates on Elie and Gypsy. That means that I will continue through this next Sunday post, and then take my two weeks off. If things go as I believe they will, I will be able to give you all the latest, and possibly some conclusions to these chapter, before the break happens, and we can pick up with things when I get back.

     Last order of business tonight, is of course the video I made on Friday. I finally got it posted late in the evening after I had finished with the special Friday post. The video is a little behind on information that you now currently have, but it could still be interesting, because it also shows the first part of me heading to the humane society to get information on Gypsy before I got that call later in the evident. I did film some footage on my way there yesterday, but I'm going to make that video when all of this is complete, so it should be a stand alone video. I didn't shoot anything today because I was in the car, but hopefully Wednesday when I go back, I will shoot some footage and possibly with Gypsy herself. She isn't on any footage as of yet, but when we take our solo walk, I bust the phone out and take a little video of it. I may even do an Instagram story either that day or on the day I think I will take her home, so if you haven't followed me on Instagram yet, now would be a good time, so you can get there first true look at Gypsy. Just follow this link and hit that follow button.

     That reminds me, this is something I wanted to talk about and made get your advice one. I was going to bring this up on the Thursday post, but, well you know what happened there. I picked up a new follower early last week. That is not unusual, I pick up about a follower a week, sometimes they are just scams, and other times they are people promoting their own page, The person that followed me this week was a bit different. I believe I know this person. It is a woman I meet on a dating site a couple of years ago. We went to dinner one time, and then kind of fell apart. I figured it just wasn't meant to be. I last heard from her about going to a baseball game. She was asking if I wanted to go, I told her my availability, and then we never spoke again. I'm sure it was something I did wrong, but like I said, maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Here is the thing. I was wondering if I should reach out to her. I'm not sure if she knows the person she followed is me, or whether she would even remember me anyway. I'm sure she followed me because of one of my beach photos, because she has a lot of them on her page. What do you think? Should I reach out to her and try to initiate some communication with her?

     Enough about that, here is that video I promised you I hope you enjoy it.



     I usually watch though my videos once they are on YouTube just to make sure everything looks ok. This one I haven't been able to watch yet on there. I did watch it when I finished the edit, so I have seem the finished product, but I have no idea if every thing looks good on the old YouTubes. Let me know if you see anything that is a bit off on it, and I will go finally give it a view and see if there is anything I can do about it.

     That is all I have for tonight. I'll give you any update I get on Elie on Tuesday if I hear anything new, and of course I will update you with the latest on Gypsy on the Thursday post it could be that she is sitting right beside me as I write that one. If you follow me on Instagram you will probably know the answer to that one. Peace in and Goodnight.

Oh What A Night, And Not In A Good Way.

     I was just settling down from the day. I was beginning to think about just what I was going to write last night, and I had quite a bit of material to pull from, but then I got a call. The ID read that it was from Elie Wolf, but when I answered, it was a man at the other end. He identified himself as an EMT and that Elie had been in a serious motorcycle accident. My heart sank. I asked him if there was any information on her condition. He said that she was conscious and speaking to him, and that they were going to ORMC. That is Orlando Regional Medical Center. It is a Trauma hospital, which means the worst of the worst goes there. I left the house at 9 o'clock and made it there shortly after 10

     I found a parking space along the road and hurried inside. When I was at the desk asking about Elie, it turns out that another friend of hers was standing right there and had just asked about her as well. She was undergoing tests and as soon as there was a gap of time, they were going to get us and take us back to see her. We waited for hours. One of Elie's friends had called me but I missed the call because my phone was in "do not disturb" mode. I listened to the voicemail and called her back. She somehow had some really great information for us. Elie had been admitted as a Jane Doe, so we needed the Doe name that they gave her (that was something I didn't know about) and a security code that would let the admissions people know that we were cool to learn information about her.

     At around 1:00 I walked up with the new information and 10 minutes later we were being walked back into the Trauma Care Unit to see her.  It wasn't pretty. She had all kinds of wires hanging from her, a neck brace, arms wrapped and bandaged, and a giant lego around one of her arms. That lego piece led to some fun jokes and laughter from her later on. I'll get to that. We quickly learned the true extent of her injuries. She had broke both of her arms at the wrist, one of them had been as the doctor said, completely broken from her arm. It was only held on by the skin and muscle that remained intact. She had also shattered her pelvis. You know how a pelvis has those two large holes at the top, well her's were shattered into multiple pieces. I even heard some talk about a chest fracture, but that was very minimal and she probably wouldn't have even noticed it if there were no other problems.

     A few more hours passed, during that time, I made a few calls and contacted people for Elie to let them know that she was ok. She had multiple x-ray sessions. They were just being thorough and making sure that they didn't miss anything. About 3:30 in the morning we were making our way to her room. I had to wait until they checked her in. About 4:30 in the morning I was called back in. One of her doctors was there doing some final adjusting of her right wrist. They still needed to realign it so that it had a good chance of healing properly, and make it easier when they went in for surgery. Also, she had some slight nerve damage, that they believed was caused by the bone rubbing against the nerve. It was basically pushing the nerve out of place an putting stress on it. They made me leave the room one more time so that they could do the final yanking and pulling to get that bone back in place. After about 15 minutes they said it was clear to go back in. They were doing some final tests for feeling in her fingers, and things were improving. That was a very good sign. She's going to have a long road back but from the looks of it, she should completely recover.

     Ok, so here is the picture I took that she wanted to share of her new lego arms. I kept calling her lego Batman, and she was joking that she was a Transformer. I was happy that she was able to joke about the situation she was in. It's not the prettiest picture of her, and that is a smile on her face, but believe me when I tell you, that is a hundred times better than she looked when I first walked into that emergency room. 

     As I was writing this, I got a call from one of Elie's friends, informing me that she had just gone into surgery. The delay was caused by her needing a blood transfusion. She had lost a lot of blood laying on that road, so that is completely understandable.

     Now for what happened. I had the chance to ask her what she could remember of the accident. She never lost consciousness so she had a lot of details. I'm the one missing the finer points. I did make a little video that is currently posting to YouTube right now, explaining what happened. I'll post it with the Sunday post, but here are the details that she told me that I remember. She was riding home from work between 8 & 9 o'clock. She had a green light through an intersection. She noticed a truck (I believe she said a large pick-up truck, but I can't remember). It had started through the intersection against a red light and hesitated like he had seen her and stopped, but then at the very last second, he gunned it and drove directly into her. He t-boned her with the full brunt of the grill of the truck. She was knocked forward and clear of the truck, but her motorcycle Opie was crushed under the truck. She had many fears run through her mind. The first being the realization of the coming impact, then the pain of the impact and her thinking that this is the most painful thing she had ever felt, and that she was going to die. Then when she realized she was alive, she began to assess her pains and aches. She felt like her legs were locked in the riding position, and that she couldn't move them at all. That is when she was worried that she might be paralyzed. Fortunately it seems that none of that is the result. I saw her move her legs and wiggle her toes in the ER. She had feeling in all of her toes, bottom of her feet, and tops of her feet. 

     She was wearing her gloves and helmet. That helmet, I truly believe, saved her life. It did it's job and protected her head. Yes, she has a slight bruise on her chin and a small fat lip, but other than that, her noggin is fine. She did bite her tongue on impact, but it was nothing severe. She was talking fine when I finally left at some time after 5 in the morning. It was a long night, and one that I would gladly not relive again, but if I had to, I would hope that it would turn out exactly the same way. My friend is alive, and going to recover. It's bad, but she is one of the toughest people I know, and she will come out on the other side of this.

     In the video that you will see on Sunday night. I added a couple of things. One of which was a Gypsy update. I rode to the humane society to find out any information about her. There is an update on that update, and you get to hear that before watching the video, unless you want to go on YouTube and check it out right now. After visiting them, I got a call from them. It was the call list call I was

 hoping for. Gypsy is better. I will get to go see her tomorrow morning when they open, and add to our first meeting. I'll fill you in on all the details about that, and what else I learned in that phone call on Sunday.

     I also mentioned that the Adventure Time Series is at the very least postponed for this week. I'll be spending tomorrow, meeting with Gypsy and then heading to Orlando to do a few things for Elie. I'm meeting with her dog sitter, so that I can see her dog Gandi (the teacup polar bear) and get a key to the house. I'm also going to visit Elie if at all possible and get her a key to her house. That is one of the victims of the accident. Her keys were lost. They were either knocked off her on impact or they were misplaced when the EMT's cut everything off of her. She's going to need a way to get in her house when she is finally able to leave the hospital. 

I'll see you on Sunday. Peace in and goodnight.

     

No Blog Tonight.

     I'm sorry, but there will be no post tonight. A friend of mine was in a very bad accident. I'll make sure to do a Friday night post to make up for it. I'll fill you in on what happened. Send all your love and good thoughts to my friend if you can. Peace in and goodnight.

I'm Going To Take A Little Break.

     I've been putting this off tonight. It is now 11 o'clock and I have no other excuses to keep me preoccupied. Why have I put it off for so long tonight. Well, there is a ton of stuff to write about, but I don't want to write about any of it. I'm angry with the state of things right now. I've always tried to keep politics in general out of this, because there are much better places for that than here, but sometimes, there are things you can't avoid. That is why I made the video for the Sunday post.

      With everything that happened this weekend, you would think that it couldn't possibly get any worse, but then today happened, and a press conference from the petulant child in charge erupted in behavior that is reminiscent more of a school aged child than that of a world leader. He attacked people that for moral reasons left his advisory boards. He defended the worst of what society has to offer and then put blame on victims.

     In the past, when events that happened such as last weekends, a President of this country would go to those places and try to bring people together. Make a show that the government wasn't letting the people to waller in the muck of pain and hatred, but there is no word of that happening this time. It could still happen, but I'm holding no such hope of seeing it. I said all along, that if this country elected him as President, then we were getting the President that we deserved. I had no idea, how bad we really were, that we deserved what we have gotten.

     I mentioned on Sunday, that I would relay to you any thing new I learned about the young woman, Heather Heyer, that was killed on Saturday. I'm sure that you have seen many stories about her by now, and have heard the press releases from her parents, but here are a few more things that I found out. Her favorite color was purple, she was passionate about helping those that were less fortunate than her. She would often cry when she would see horrible injustice that she felt she could do nothing about, but she still tried as hard as she could to make change. That is why she was at that protest march that day. She was using her voice to illicit change. I hope that in her honor, you will do the same, I know I will. If you see something happening that you know is wrong, speak up, or take action to stop it in some way. That doesn't mean that you should put yourself in harms way. If you can avoid that, do it at all costs, but if you feel that it is more important to get involved in something that could cause you harm, than to stay out of it, then do what you have to do. I've put myself in harms way for people in the past, and I survived all of it. It wasn't anything as serious as what happened on Saturday, but I did take a few beatings, and I gave a few as well. I still believe that in the end it was all worth it. Every punch I took or gave was for something that was much more important than I was.

     Sometimes you have to stand up, and other times, you have to sit back. For that last reason, I've decided to take a couple of weeks off from writing this blog, and social media in general. I'm going take two weeks off after I do the nest ATS. I'll make sure that I get that completed before I take my small break. For those two weeks, I will have no online presence outside of Words With Friends. I just need a little time to decompress form everything that can be so overwhelming about the internet. I will be back after those two weeks, and stronger and ready to write more than ever. I plan on taking that time, to work on a few things, including that logo that I keep talking of but do nothing about. Hopefully when I come back, I will have that to show you. Also, if I don't have an update on Gypsy before then, I will definitely have one after.

     Now, as for the ATS ride. I have it planned for this Saturday, and that would make Sunday, the last post for two weeks, but as I mentioned before If I hear anything about Gypsy this weekend, I will push back the ATS until the following week. That would give you one more week of having to read this before you can take a two week vacation from it.

     I do think this will be a good thing. This will be the first break I've taken since I started the 365 over two years ago. Who knows, I may even come up with some crazy story ideas to share with you. I've had quite a few monologues and dialogues go through my head lately. Nothing has really stuck yet, but this is how it goes with me when I story hits me. It usually starts with a monologue that turns into something. I think it would be fun to do a short story series on here for you at some point.

     Enough about all that for now. I do have a slight Gypsy update, and that there is no update. However, not all is lost. I did see something on a bit of the positive side on the humane society's website. I believe I mentioned another dog by the name of Casper. He is a Boxer/Pit mix that had gone on the medically unavailable list the same day that Gypsy did. Guess who came off that list and back on the available list yesterday? If you guessed Gypsy, you would be really wrong, and somehow missed completely, the hint I was giving above. Casper of course. He is available for adoption as of yesterday. Casper would be a great option, but I really want to see how things pan out with Gypsy first. She is such a beautiful and sweet dog, and I want to give her her fur-ever home. See what I did there with the whole fur-ever thing? Anyway, Casper coming off the list, gives me hope that Gypsy will be off it soon as well, which means there is a very good chance that the ATS gets pushed back another week. Which means that you have to put up with a whole other week of this blog before the break.

     I want to leave you with something fun and a little funky, and that is exactly what Favorite Song of the Week is. I was a kid when this song came out, and to this day, I have no idea what it's about. All I do know, is that it has a great beat, and you can really dance to it. I can also remember going to the Starlight Skate Rink and skating to this song. Well, skating or playing Centipede to it. Either way, I was having fun. Here is the Tom Tom Club with "Genius of Love".



     See, fun and a little funky. Peace in and goodnight.

A Sunrise Brings A Brand New Day.

   
     This is Heather Heyer. She was killed yesterday. All she was doing, was peacefully marching in a protest against white supremacy. She was 32 years old and worked as a paralegal for a law firm in Virginia. That is all that I know so far, when I find more, I will share it with you.

     I shot a video today that says all that I wanted to say on the matter of the events and the terrorist attack that took place on Friday night and Saturday afternoon in Charlottesville Virginia. Unfortunately as I am writing this now, it is uploading for the second time to YouTube. I had a little copyright issue with the first one I posted, and I've hopefully corrected that problem. I still have over an hour left to go before it is published, so I will have to add it to this later, which if you read this through the email, you shouldn't have to worry, it will show up when that does. If you are reading this tonight after it is posted, you may not see it until I have the chance to add it on.

     I can share a couple of photos I took while I was watching the sunrise this morning. Here they are.

     I've finally made a decision about my ear that closed up when I blew it out from stretching it. I'm going to give it another try. I found a place near by that does piercings, so I can get it professionally done instead of going to the mall and getting someone to stab me with a piercing gun. After about 6 months I should be able to start stretching it back out again. I'm tired of being lopsided. I'll probably get it done next week, but that isn't goal.

     The plan for next week, is to get the ATS ride done on Saturday, but if I hear anything about Gypsy (Gypsy update on the way),  I will cancel the ride for this weekend and push it back a week. Ok here is the Gypsy update. I have yet to hear anything from the humane society yet. I did message them on their site yesterday asking them about Gypsy's progress on her recovery. I'm still waiting on a reply on that matter. If she does clear her medical issue this week. I will try to visit her as often as I can during the week, so that I can hopefully bring her home over the weekend. I would prefer the weekend to bring her home, so that she has time to get comfortable in her surroundings while I'm here. If I did it during the week, I would only have a few hours with her, and then I'd have to head off to work. That just wouldn't be any kind of fun. So, fingers crossed on this one being the week that I hear something about her.

     Ok, that is all I have for today, so if the video is finished in an hour or so, it currently says 51 minutes to go, I will add it right below this.

Peace in and goodnight.

Anyone Want A Sticker?

     If you are reading this on the website, which I hope you are, because as I've said, that is the best possible experience you will have with this, you will notice a little blue button over to the right. I just found out today, that I could add a "follow" button. I have no idea what it does, other than the following thing, but what I mean is, I have no idea what happens if you follow me. I'm not sure if it sends you an update as soon as I post something new or what, and I really don't know how it notifies you of those things that are new. I didn't actually click on it myself, like I did with the subscription button, so if you do press that little follow button, let me know what it does. I would be much obliged.

     I found out yesterday, that I would be off work for the rest of the week. That is both a good thing and a bad thing. Bad in the sense that I don't get paid for those days, but good in that I really needed to get away from work for a while. Not to mention that it would be real beneficial if the Humane Society would call me about Gypsy. In case you were wondering, they haven't. I would prefer to get the things that needed to be done in a way that would get Gypsy to come home on a weekend. That way, she could get acclimated to her new home, while I was there and had plenty of time to spend with her. That would be much better than getting her on a weeknight, to only spend a few hours with her and then have to go to work the next day. I want her to be comfortable in her surroundings before I have to leave her alone for an extended period of time. Despite my most exerted effort with my skills of telepathy, I could not get them to put Gypsy on the available list. I guess I will have to try again tomorrow.

     I'm going to try and make a video sometime this weekend, but I really have no idea as to what it's going to be about. If there is anything you would like to know, or see, let me know and I'll try to get that done.

     I stopped by the tattoo shop after my guitar lesson today, more on that later. My tattoo artist was just hanging around. It's rare that I go in there and he doesn't have a client anymore. He is usually putting ink on someone until closing time. They are one of the few shops I know that close early and don't go into the late night hours. When you generally think of a tattoo shop, you think late night shop that is there when you are out drinking and get the brilliant idea that you want a unicorn pooping a rainbow on your lower back. That's not the shop I go to. They close at 8 PM every night. They have somewhat normal business hours. They open at 10 AM and close at 8 PM, it works for them, and I really don't think it costs them any clients. They don't want that kind of drunken crowd in there anyway, it's a bit of a liability. I hadn't been in there in a while, so we just caught up a bit, until another friend of his came in. It was good seeing him again. I need to come up with the right image for my next tattoo. I also need to come up with a logo for the YouTube channel. I've been putting that off because I don't think I have the proper imagination to come up with it.

     I'm thinking I want the logo to be in a new school style. If you don't know what that is, it is usually represented by oversized proportions on body parts and bright colors. Here is the vague idea that I have for it. A squirrel of course, but the head is giant sized with a small body, possibly riding a motorcycle. The squirrel could be wearing a motorcycle jacket and would have a giant bushy tail. The other reason I have for (ok it's an excuse and not a reason) not being able to do the logo, is that that is not my style of drawing. I lean towards realism, and that is way out of my wheel house. I need to try though, what is the worst that could happen? I don't get it right? That is what I expect to happen, so why am I worried. Here is the thing though, if I can finally get something drawn up and possibly done in color, I'm thinking about making up some stickers of it. Here is the question I have for you. If I can get it done, would you want a sticker? I can work out the way to get them to you after I figure out if I can do it. Ok, even if I can't do it, I'm sure I can get my tattoo artist to help me out with the design, or at the very least, I can commission him to do it. The question is still the same though, do you want one?

     Now for the guitar lesson. I know I usually call it my ukulele class, but since it is pretty much all guitar all the time, I can safely call it a guitar lesson now. Today I learned all about amplifiers, and the different types. My teacher wrote down a lot of information for me on them, so I know what to look for. Just another thing on my list to save up for, but since I'm off work, I can look up all these things and learn all about them. It will be fun. As for the lesson though, it was all about power chords. The name seems to be a bit of a misnomer. It would imply a very big and full sound, which it kind of is, but it is generally only using two strings at a time. Big sound, few strings. I had two songs in my back pocket if he asked me for anything I might want to learn. The one we went with was Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart. It was surprisingly simple. It was one shape. Meaning that my hand was only in one position for the whole thing. It was just a matter of moving it around the fret board, and only changing strings once. It's always a cool feeling when something just comes together, and that is what happened with this. I'm still going to need to work on my speed with it, so that I can get everything right in the right timing, but it shouldn't be as hard as most things that I've learned through out this journey of learning a stringed instrument. It was fun. I'm looking forward to learning more.

     Since Tuesday's post was so long, I'm going to let you off the hook with a short one tonight. Ok, I'll be honest, I really have nothing else to write about. Anyway, try out that follow button over there in the upper right and let me know what it does. I'm real curious, but I don't want to do it myself, because that seems a little lame on my part. It's kind of like liking your own picture on Instagram, it just seems weird. Peace in and goodnight.

The Process, And A Little Bit More.

     The problem with memories is, that more often than not, they come to the front of your mind when you don't want or need them there. This is the case of the past few days.  Bad memories have a way of being far more intense when relived. The reason is, that generally the emotions involved are much more extreme than in good memories. This is because, most people's general disposition, leans to the positive side of things. It takes a greater swing to get to those bad emotions, than it does to get to the good ones. Some scientists believe that this is the minds way of reminding you of lessons learned. I agree with them. There is a big problem with the mind's way of doing things though, and that is that sometimes you never want to relive those emotions.

     Even though those emotions are not at the level that you first experienced them, those emotions can spur new emotions into existence. This is where I am now. Before you begin to worry about me, know this. I am much better equipped to handle this now, than I was nearly 9 years ago. Also there are things that aren't in place now, that were then. The things that are in place, put me in a much better mindset than I ever had then. One of course is the creative outlets at my disposal now. I have this. I was writing then, but not in such a way that would help me mentally. There is also The Process. I know, it sounds ominous and imposing, but it isn't. It is exactly the opposite of that, and that is why I've decided to start telling you about The Process rather than wait until it is over.

     The Process started two weeks ago. Actually it started a little before that. I needed a new presence in my life and what better than the furry kind. When I lost Lily, I lost the warm and affectionate one. I love The Truffle, but she could care less about anything other than sleeping and eating, and not necessarily in that order. I need an animal that is going to bring that love back into the house, so I started checking the shelters. I checked the Brevard Humane Society's website and found a couple of dogs that really stood out to me. One was a Boxer/Pit mix. Here is the thing about that type of mixed breed, The Truffle gets the final say, and not knowing the history of that particular dog, I have to be worried about The Truffle's wellbeing. If The Truff wasn't in the picture, I would have gone for that dog in a heartbeat, but I didn't want to take that chances especially after seeing the second dog.

     This is Gypsy, she is a Shepard/Boxer mix and the picture doesn't do her justice. I went to see her on a Sunday two weeks ago. I had to fill out an adoptor profile to become eligible to adopt a pet. I passed with flying colors. After that, I had to wait until she had been fed, there was also talk that she was going to be put on the medically unavailable list, due to a small problem with her lip. She had some dry areas on them, and they were concerned about that. Since I was already there, they decided to let me interact with her. I was told that she had a rough history. Gypsy is a little under 6 years old, and has been at the shelter of a year now. Part of the problem is how she interacts with people. Her previous owner was in an abusive relationship, and because of that, Gypsy doesn't cozy up to men. They don't know if she was abused herself, but the possibility is there. I was also told, that there was a good chance that I wouldn't even get to pet her that day, and that it would take multiple visits in order for me to even come close to taking her home, if by some miracle she bonded with me. Also I have to set up a visit between her and The Truff, if something goes wrong there, the deal is over.

     I finally got the notice that she was ready to meet with me. I headed outside to the visitors pen. I was handed a handful of treats and told that it would help me as much as anything with her. She is lead by her stomach they said. I went out there, and found a picnic table that was off to the side. There were other chairs set up right in the gate entrance so that the dog would see you as soon as walking into the pen, but knowing what I do about animals, I thought that was a bad idea. I wanted her to walk in unencumbered with worrying about the man that was sitting right in her eyesight. I want to be as passive as possible. She walked in with the handler and looked around with a little confusion. She knew that she was there for one reason and one reason only, and that was to meet someone, but it appeared that no one was there. Then she turned and saw me. She started to go towards me, not in an aggressive manner, but in a curious one. The handler pulled her back, and made her sit, and asked her if she wanted to meet someone new. She gave her a treat and brought her over. 

     The handler handed me a treat for her telling me exactly what they said in the office, and I pointed at a pile of treats on the table, telling her that they already set me up. I held my hand out slightly in front of me palm down. Gypsy walked right up, smelled my hand, and started searching for the treat. I rolled my hand over and gave it to her. The handler told me after that, not to reach for her, but to let her come to me, like I just did, and reiterated that I more than likely wouldn't even get to pet her that day. She is a dog that you have to get into her circle first, and that would take some time. Gypsy then jumped for the treats on the table, so I grabbed them all up so that she would have to work a little for them. I got a treat in my right hand and went through the same process as before. Same reaction except this time, Gypsy spun around and sat down right between my legs. The handler was shocked. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, and even vocalized it by saying, "Gypsy, I can't believe what you are doing right now.". That is when I gently went in and pet her on her back. Gypsy didn't even flinch. She did however turn around and look for another treat, so I obliged.

     We only spent about 15 minutes out there, because it was beginning to rain, and I had run through the treats pretty quick. The handler told me that that went far better than she expected it to go. I was happy, and ready to plan my next visit with her. Gypsy went on the medially unavailable list because of the dried skin on her lip, and has been there ever since. I'm patiently waiting for my next interaction with her, and planning the visit with The Truff. During this time of waiting is when I decided to record the process. I don't have that first meeting documented, but I will get the next on. I'm going to take the GoPro with me, so that I can get that next meeting when it happens. Once we get to a conclusion, whether it is Gypsy coming home, or I have to continue my search because things didn't fall into place, I will put together the video and post it for you to watch. Of course I'm hoping for the ending where I bring Gypsy home, but I think that is going to all come down to The Truff. If they meet and it doesn't go well, which I can't imagine why it wouldn't, then that is the end of it with Gypsy.

     There is some good news that comes with that potential bad news. Remember that first dog I was talking about? The concern I had over the Pit mix? Well, it turns out, that my concern was over nothing. Casper is the dogs name, and I'm told that his demeanor is exceptional even with small dogs. If things don't go well with Gypsy, then I have a chance with Casper. Alas, Casper is also on the medically unavailable list. I don't know what the concern is with him, but I will look more into it, if I need to

     Now onto America's Got Talent. Yep, it's Tuesday and that is AGT night. It wasn't an overall great night. Some of the acts kind of took a step back from what they did the first time, and others, just didn't thrill me. One act however just made me happy, and it's an act that I shared on here before. When this little 12 year old boy danced for his first audition, I was moved by how he was able to tell a story through his dance moves, and how perfect those moves where. Well, he did it again, and this time I noticed a little more about his ability. He manages to use everything to tell that story. His moves of course, but also his facial expressions, everything is involved in the story telling. He doesn't just move to the music, he tells the story of the song through his movement, and that is something truly unique and quite satisfying. This is the judge's cuts round of AGT, and here is his performance.

     In case you were wondering, he made it through to the live shows. I had no doubt, the kid is just so good at what he does. I'm looking forward to what he comes up with in his next performance. I don't think he can win the whole thing, but he is entertaining to watch, and I hope he finds some way to make a living doing just what he is doing in that video above. The world needs more things like this, that just make you happy.

     I know this has gone on for what seems like forever tonight. I even wrote this in two parts. The first part about The Process, was written in the afternoon, and everything else was at 10 o'clock at night, so I understand your desire to get on with things, so I'll make this quick. It's time for Favorite Song of the Week. Now, just a short background for this one. When I get in the state that I've been in since Saturday night, I liked to listen to The Smiths. I know, if you know The Smiths, it seems very counterproductive. The thing is, The Smiths songs are so depressing, that they make me feel better, because nothing is that bad. In all honesty, it is more of the fact that the music itself is abnormally upbeat, and the lyrics are downright most depressing series of words ever put together. That juxtaposition just thrills me to no end. With all of that in mind, I'm going to share with you the one song that has it all together and doesn't have that fight amongst itself. Here is The Smiths with "How Soon Is Now?".



     There you have it, the lyrics actually match the music. It's all dreary with now happiness. I'm not going off the deep end, I really do like that song. It is my favorite song by them. Hey, I could have gone with Girlfriend in an Coma, so don't complain.

     I've held you captive long enough.but before I go, I just wanted to mention that the next Adventure Time Series is going to be on the 19th of this month. After that, I'm going to suspend the ATS until it cools down weather wise. It has been scorchingly hot lately, and that creates a whole dynamic with wearing jackets and long pants around places that are supposed to be fun and relaxing. I also have to come up with some new places to go to, and I want to take my time and plan them out a little better, so that I can get better content for you. Peace in and goodnight.

The Day Before I Was Supposed To Die.

     Last night was rough. I want to tell you a story, but first I need to tell you why I'm telling it. I finished watching 12 Reasons Why last night, and the final two episodes are gripping to say the least. It opened up a lot of feelings and memories that I've put to the back of my mind recently. I said that I would give you my final review of the show when I was done, and I'm going to do that now. It is fantastic, and holds up through the entire series. I did see a way that they could have a second season well, possibly two paths they could take, so that settles that dilemma. I highly recommend the show to watch, but with a caveat. If you have ever dealt with depression or suicidal thoughts, I don't think you should watch it alone. As I said, the final two episodes are gripping. They go at the story matter with no fear. They lay it all on the table for you to see, and you see it all. If you deal with depression or suicide, you will recognize all of this, and it will put you in a place that you may not want to be in when you are alone. That brings us to the story I want to tell you.

    This is my story. It's from a number of years ago, when I hit my what I hope to be my absolute lowest point. My entire world was collapsing in on me. It was over the Christmas holiday. I was just beginning my normal two weeks off from work, so I was also beginning my winter hibernation from people. I don't intend for things to be this way, but it always seems to work out like this, and still does to this day. I've learned now, that it is a great deal to do with me, that I am this way. I've grown to accept that I push people away from time to time, for no other reason than my own mental outlook. The holidays are more intense because people are all traveling other places, visiting family, or just getting away, so that intensifies my loneliness. On this particular holiday season, I had distanced myself even further from people, and then something happened that tipped my nearly over the edge.

     I checked the mail and got a bill, nothing unusual about that, but this bill was a sad sense of closure, closure that I wasn't prepared for. It was the final bill for a Christmas gift that I bought for my ex the year before. It hit me hard, it was over, there was no longer anything in this world that connected me to her, and with distancing myself from everyone around me, there was no connection to anything anymore. This was it there was no reason for me to be here anymore. It seemed that no one cared, nor did I care. I had nothing except the endless dark spiral into nothingness, and it hurt. All I wanted was for that pain to end, and I only knew one way to end it. I began planning for what I was going to do, and how I was going to do it. I won't go into those details, frankly because I don't want to give anyone any ideas, but let's just say, that what I had planned, there was no turning back from, there was no fixing the situation, and there was no way of saving me.

     The day before I was supposed to die, I starting putting everything in order. I was separating my things with the intent of leaving notes for where and who they should go to. Everyone was better off without me, but I'm sure they would be happy with things. This is the big thing about someone who is on the verge of suicide, they aren't selfish like everyone likes to think that they are. If anything, they are being completely selfless. In my head everyone would be much better without me in their life, they wouldn't have to worry about me, or burden themselves with my presence ( I still have problems with that one ). I was going to commit the ultimate self sacrifice so that everyone would be better off. I was going to save them, and end all of my pain.

     That final full day, I also did one very simple thing, that if I hadn't done, I'm sure that I wouldn't be here writing this for you now. I reached out to three separate people that I considered my dearest and most understanding friends. I'm not going to use their names, but I will address them as their online persona. I've never told them about this, although I do think one or two of them my suspect it. They saved my life that night.

      I was searching for a light in the dark, so I sent texts to each of them: phe0nixinflight, Elie Wolf, and keyofthenile86. This is the first time that they will have a chance to truly know this. I didn't tell them what was going on, but I did let them know that I wasn't in the best place. I had no idea if they would even respond to me. It was a Friday night, and most people would be busy getting on with their lives. They each responded to me, in less than 10 minutes. I texted back and forth with them for a while, maybe it was even an hour or so. The light that had gone out, had began to flicker. They didn't need to do what they did, but they did. I'm not going to lie, I'm in tears right now as I type this out. They showed me that someone did care, and even though they were in places far away from where I was, they were willing to take their time, to just talk to me. I went to sleep that night, not with the plans running through my head that I had, but with the thought that I would simply take it day by day. I've been doing that ever since that night in December.

     At that time, I had taken my friends for granted, and that is something I will never do again. The state of mind I was in was what was doing that to me. The signs aren't always there for you to see so easily. You can look for every sign you know, but there are always ways to mask those signs, and I was very good at that. I doubt that my three friends even knew what was going on or that there were any signs to see, but they still helped me more than they will ever truly know. For that reason, there is nothing that I won't do for them. I'm still great friends with two of them, the third one, I still consider a friend, but like anything in time, we went our separate ways. I have no doubt though, that if we met up at some random place, we would pick up just where we left off. Good friends can do that. It can be like there was never anytime lost between you.

      I don't want this to be all doom and gloom, so I'm going to leave you with something that will hopefully take some of the darkness off of this post. I finally finished an edit of the kayaking video. As I said before, the audio was outstandingly bad, so I was perplexed on what to really do with it. I took a chance, and just made a music video with it to Danielle Ate the Sandwich's Here Today. I didn't even realize until just now, the poignance of that song. Any way, I hope you enjoy it.



Peace in and goodnight.

I Really Wish I Could Tell You About This Process, That I'm Going Through.

     Ok, this process that I can't tell you about yet, is going slower than I'd hoped it would. That is going to turn out to be a good thing though. Here is the reason why, and I don't know why I didn't think about this before. I'm going to document as much of the process as I can with the GoPro and my phone. I'll be able to take you along during the process. That what you calling, taking lemons and making lemonade right there. When I can, I will be able to explain all, and I will fill you in on why it is taking this slow turn as well.

     I was wrong about this being a 4 day work week for me. I am working tomorrow, which also works out, since this process is going slow. I'd hoped that if I was off, that I would be involved with the process, but since the slow down is in affect, working isn't the worst thing I could do.

     Yesterday, I started watching 13 Reasons Why. I know, I'm about a year late on this one. I had it in my Netflix queue, but I just didn't feel like dealing with the subject matter until now. If you don't know what it is about, it has to do with a teenage suicide. That's all I'm going to say, because I don't want to spoil anything for you if you do intend on seeing it. I am four episodes in at this point, and I wanted to watch the 5th one tonight, but I just had to catch Battle of the Network Stars. I plan on finishing up the series this weekend. I've heard rumors that they are going to do a second season, but I just don't know how that is possible. Granted I clearly haven't watched the entire series yet, but if it goes the way I expect it to go, I don't see the possibility of a second season. It's kind of like OA. The ending is just perfect, and doing a second season would ruin it. I'll let you know if that holds up when I'm done watching it.

     As I mentioned above, I had to watch Battle of the Network Stars. Yes, they brought it back, and it is good old fashioned fun TV viewing. They have some new celebrities, but mostly old celebrities. The ones I grew up watching. It is great to see them now, and it is fun watching them run around all those challenges. Tonight they had Jimmy JJ Walker on. He played J.J. Evans on Good Times. It was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid, and J.J. was my favorite character. His catch phrase was Dynomite, and he said it like Dy-No-Miiiiiiite. It was the best, and he got it out on the show tonight. He is quite a bit older now, and doesn't have all the moves he used to have, but he still has that sharp wit, that kept people laughing. I think I need to bring Dynomite back. I'll figure out a way to start getting it in my videos. That should be fun.

     I walked into my ukulele lesson tonight, and my teacher was ready to torture me. Since we have moved over to the guitar, he has been excited, and filling me with a ton of stuff. He always has the caveat that this is way more stuff than he would ordinarily give to someone, so I shouldn't feel bad if I don't get it right away. I've been doing pretty good with it so far though, and I manage to at the very least, get a handle on the concept of what I have to do. Sometimes, my hands don't want to follow what my brain tells them to do. Tonight he was showing me some of Eddie Van Halen's tricks. I don't know if you've ever heard Van Halen's song Eruption, he was showing me the technique known as triplets. It's when you do a thing called hammer ons, but instead of just using our left hand, you throw your right hand in there to. I got a video for you so that you can get the idea of what it sounds like. I sound nothing like this, I am very slow, and quite clumsy right now, but maybe with a few months of practice, I can come close. Here is the video, the part he showed me is at about the 1 minute mark.



     It is real fun, but my hands were tired and sore when I was finished with class, and that was only a half hour, so I can't wait to see how they feel when I put some serious time in on it. I'm expecting to walk around with my hands stuck in wretched looking claws. If I don't write anything on Sunday, you  know why. I've been permanently crippled from playing guitar. Don't worry, I would never let that happen I enjoy doing this too much to let sore fingers and hands stop me.

     I'll see you on Sunday. I'm hoping to have a video of the kayaking for you by then, but no premisses. I had a few ideas about it today, but I haven't applied anything yet. I'll work on it tomorrow evening on Saturday and see what I can come up with. Peace in and goodnight.

Why Do Mondays Always Suck?

     Monday was very much a Monday. Employees were late, machines were malfunctioning, and equipment was breaking. There was a real big difference between this Monday, and any other time that things like this have happened, and that is that everyone kept their cool for a change. It was nice, there were no violent outbursts or items being thrown about nearly hitting someone. Because of that, things got taken care of in a quick and relaxed way. e made it through the day a little battered, but unharmed, and got everything done that we needed to get done. That is what happens when you stay calm and think things through.

     Today was much better, although there was one hiccup with some equipment breaking down. It seems that it didn't know about the party on Monday, so it came late to the dance. I'm expecting to have this Friday off. I had a plan that I would head over to St. Pete and go to the Dali, but I may have something else to do that day, and that is all part of this process I started over the weekend. You know, the one I can't tell you about yet. I'm really hoping that this goes the way I want it to. Either way, I will fill you in when the time is right. All will be revealed.

     Tonight was AGT night, and I have a couple of acts to show you. These were two of my favorite ones for the night. Once again, I didn't agree with the Golden Buzzer act, but it's all subjective anyway. The first act I'm going to show you, is a brother and sister rollerskating act. Listen, this act would have made it through on sex appeal alone. Don't get weird on me now, its not sex appeal between the two of them in some sort of incest way. They are simply two very sexy people, and know how to use that to their advantage. Here, watch the clip and you will see what I'm talking about.



     Now do you see what I'm talking about? The thing that doesn't make it into this short clip, is that they couldn't practice that last move. They said that it 1. hurt to bad to practice, and 2. he kept losing beard hair and they were afraid that he wouldn't have enough left to perform the stunt. It's needless to say, but they made it through to the live shows. Here is a little piece of trivia for you. This brother sister act also performed on Britain's Got Talent, and went pretty far. I don't know if they won it or not, but I do believe that they made it to the live shows there as well.

     The next act is a comedian that is just straight up funny. I remember his initial audition and it was hilarious. I'm talking slapping your knee and tears rolling out of your eyes funny, and this one was no exception. I think that comedy is one probably the hardest thing to do on these types of shows. Normally when a stand up starts out, they are told to get a solid 5 minutes of material. That is so you have enough stuff to get the crowd into what you are doing and build some laughs. This guy has to pack an act into about 2 minutes worth of time. Let me tell you, he packs a 15 minute routine into those 2 minutes. It's incredible. It's one joke, but he sets it up like a story, and it is funny from start to finish. Take a gander at this.



     In a way he reminds me of Eddie Murphy back in the Raw and Delirious days, except he is even more intense. I think this guy has what it takes to win the whole thing. I made my call early last year and was right. That doesn't mean I'll be right again this year, but I have a real good feeling about him. Whether he wins or not though, you are going to see much more of him in the future. He is going to be a star in comedy.

     It's time for Favorite Song of the Week. Remember on Thursday when I mentioned Donna Summer? Yeah, you knew this was coming. I said that On The Radio wasn't my favorite song by her, well it's time to reveal that favorite song. Let me see the scene. I was just entering my informative years as a young man, and I realized the girls were something that I wanted to know more about. They finally piqued my interest if you will. This song let to a ton of confusion on my part. Something was happening whenever this song came on the radio. I even had a compilation album with it on it. I had the extended  version, but I'm only going to play the radio edit for you tonight. Donna Summer was one beautiful woman and I took notice, and this song made me take an even deeper notice. Here it is, Donna Summer with  "Love To Love You Baby".



     It still has that same effect on mere except now I know what it is all about. This has ran me back into my Disco era phase again. I personally think that Disco was a wildly underrated era for music, and I do think some of that sound needs to have a resurgence. Somebody needs to bring some of that sound back to todays' music. I think it would go over in a big way now. Peace in and goodnight.