I'm Terrible At This Whole Dating Thing, But Here Is A List Of My Top 5 Songs. I Wonder If I Can Make This Title Any Longer.

     The last two days, I've ended the night with a massive headache. I don't know the reason, I just know that it sucks. Anyway, I have a few things to talk about so let's get to it.

     The first thing, is something that popped up today, and I had no idea that this would even be a topic of conversation. As I was driving home, and rounding the final two corners to my house, who did I see walking up the sidewalk? It was Door to Door Girl, I really should have a better name for her. It was the beautiful young woman that I met a couple of weeks ago outside my house. She was back in my neighborhood. I waved as I drove by, and she waved back with a smile. 

     I pulled into the driveway and got out of the car, and ran my normal routine of checking the mail. As I was closing the mailbox I heard, "Hey". She made really good time. She had to walk a good 75 yards to get to that point and she looked to be walking at a casual pace when I drove by her. I did my best not to say anything stupid this time. She told me that this was her last day in the neighborhood, and tomorrow she would be going to Cincinnati. I mentioned a place she could go while she was there, which led to a conversation about past experiences at amusement parks. 

     In my typical idiot fashion I failed to ask her for her number, or even how long she was going to be there. I really suck at being a person in the dating world. I don't know how to read signs, I'm bad at judging when a woman is attracted to me, and I never know when a simple statement like "I'll see you later" is just a simple statement and not an actual term of announcing that they would like to see me again. That being said, that is how she bid her farewell, "I'll see you later." Does that mean the she truly intends to see me later, or is it just a friendly gesture to another person? I don't know, I never know, and these are questions that plague me to no end. I run possible missed opportunities through me head on and endless loop. Which of course is the reason I started writing the 365 and then this. It helps me get those things out of my head. Once I write it, I can leave it alone, for the most part.

     On to more easily explained things. I forgot to mention in the Sunday Night Post, that I did find another Pepsi Salted Caramel. All I have to do now, is get a pint of vanilla ice cream, so that I can make that ice cream float and see if my guess is correct, and it will make a pretty good float.

     The ear and nose are healing up really well. The nose feels sore still which I'm not surprised by, but the ear is a different story. It is much less sore than I thought it would be, and I noticed something else today. The hole is beginning to stretch. Granted the curved barbell is rather heavy, but it shouldn't be doing this at all. My only reason for why this is happening, is how that lobe was previously stretched up to 3/4 inch. It must have retained that elasticity and is rip roaring and ready to go. This doesn't mean that I'm going to jump right in and stretch this bad boy back up to where it was. It is a new hole after all and needs the proper time to heal, but I could still probably fit a 4 gauge plug in there right now. That is how much it has opened up. It's pretty crazy.

     I got to experience my nightmare today with the new nose piercing. A runny nose. Yep, I knew it would happened eventually. I've always had sinus trouble and of course there is my allergies that flare up ever so often, but I was hoping that it would be a few weeks. I started sneezing today, and the faucet was turned on. I have no idea how to blow my nose with a ring going though it. Turns out, it's not quite that much different. I stayed away from the ring itself and kept everything around the opening of the nostril. Worked out fine, and it wasn't a crazy runny nose day. It only happened that once time, and after that it was good for the rest of the day. I faced my fear and I overcame. I feel like a hero. Ok that's going a little too far.

     This is normally where I would put Favorite Song of the Week, but this week I'm going to do something a little different. I was listening to Kevin Nealon on The Howard Stern Show today. They asked him to list his favorite songs, and then they poked fun at him for liking crappy music. I disagreed for the most part, but music is subjective. What you like may not be what someone else likes. I think he did a list of 10 or so songs, but I'm going to list my 5 favorite songs. If you want. leave a list of your top 5 in the comment section below. It would be fun to see what you like.

     Here goes. The first song on my list will never change. The other four can move up and down this list, but number 1 will always be number 1 for me. That song is non other than "Purple Rain", by Prince and the Revolution. Notice I didn't just say Prince. That is the way it was released so that is the way I write it, even though Prince wrote the lyrics and music, and played every instrument except for the horn section on the album. He did it all, and that is why he is my all time favorite, and why I have the Love symbol tattooed on my ribs.

     The second song is an old school hip hop classic, "It Takes Two", by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock. It doesn't matter how many times I hear that song, it's like the first time I heard it. It just brings me to life and takes me back to my teens. Those were fun times.

     Number three belongs to non other than David Bowie. How can you have a list of favorite songs, and not include one of his? This song has always resonated with me and I don't really know why. There are other songs by him that are better, and even more catchy, but "Golden Years" has been a favorite since the first time I heard it.

     Four, we are nearing the end, and no list by me would be complete without Lady Holiday. Billie Holiday just puts me in a place where relaxation isn't even a thought, it just happens, and no song by her doesn't that to me faster than, "Just One More Chance". Her voice just oozes soul and silky smoothness.

     Last song on the list, and I debated in my mind whether or not this song was top 5 for me, and I just couldn't come up with a song that could outshine it. This one goes to my love of Funk and there is one band that stands above all Funk bands to me, and that is Kool & the Gang. They are simply the cats meow, and the song that stands out as the very best that they ever did was, "Hollywood Swinging". Listen, they even say that they went to a Kool & the Gang show in the song, that is pure unadulterated funk right there.

     Give it some thought on your own, and make your own list. There will be no judgement from me on this. Music is music and is meant to be heard. Just because I don't like an artist or a song, doesn't meant that it has merit. I can talk about all kinds of music that I don't vibe with, that doesn't meant that it isn't good, it's just that it's not my bag. Revel in your weirdness and let your freak flag fly, and dance to the beat of your own drum, but leave a comment of your top 5 songs. It will be fun, and you might direct me to a good song that I've never heard before. I can guarantee you this, if you list a song that I don't know, I will look it up and give it a listen.

     That's all I got for you tonight. My headache has somewhat abated for the time being while writing this, so maybe I can get down to a peaceful night of sleep. I'll let you know on Sunday if I did, for Thursday Knight is all about The Patchwork Knight. I do hope you are enjoying it so far, and stick with me, there will be some action coming soon. Probably not this Thursday, but soon. Peace in and goodnight.

You Need That Like You Need A Hole In Your Head.

     Thanksgiving was relaxing. I did most of the cooking which was fine by me. I made a few online purchases in pre-black Friday sales, and probably spent too much money. I had a decision to make for Black Friday. Either I could get the motorcycle lift that I've been wanting, It was on sale for a pretty good price, or I could get a Playstation 4. I can justify both, but only one at a time. The PS4 was cheaper than the lift, so I went ahead and ordered that. I knew I was going to need to upgrade at some point, and with a really good deal on a 1 terabyte slim version got me needing that like I needed another hole in my head.

      Speaking of holes in my head. I needed two actually. Well, one new one, and reopening of an old one. That was all part of my Black Friday plan. I mentioned that I found a piercer last week, so I woke up early to hit the one Black Friday sale that I was going to. Harbor Freight had LED rope lights that I've been waiting to go on sale, and they had them for an even cheaper price than I'd seen them before. After hitting that, I had a few hours to kill until I as going to the piercer. I'd planned a noon time visit, but since I was up at 5, hit Harbor Freight at a little after 7, I got bored of sitting around very quickly. I checked online to see if maybe they were open early since they are located in a mall. Now before you judge them for being located in a mall. They are an actual tattoo and piercing studio. It's just weird that it's in a mall, but they had a lot of costumers in there, so maybe it's the right way to do it.

     They were apparently open at 6 AM, like the rest of the mall. I could have made one trip and got it all done at one time when I went out for that sale at Harbor Freight. It all worked out though. I got over there a little after 10 AM and sure enough they were open and bustling. There were two people there for tattoos, and about 6 people there for piercings. I was the first one there, so I was the first one in. I needed to reopen my right ear, so that I can stretch it back up, to match my left. That's going to take some time though, which I knew going into this. That is also the reason I waited so long to get it reopened. I wanted it to heal completely so there would be no extra added pain. I also wanted to get my right nostril done.

     The shop has a little waiting area right out front, with a couple of high top tables and a bench. I was at one of the high tops waiting for my turn, the piercer has to get things clean and ready for each new person, when I heard someone say,"Hi sweetie, are you ready?". It took me a second, because I was facing the other direction and when I turned I saw her looking at me. I gathered up my things and headed to the very back where her room was. It was a good sized room with a couch, countertop and a SnapOn tool box. That housed her needles, jewelry, clamps, gloves, etc. etc.. It was impressive to be in a professional piercing studio. I had been in one before years ago, but it was more or less, the same room that all the tattooing was done it, so nothing special, and he pulled the jewelry right out of the glass case in the front. She was very good at what she did. Very pleasant to talk to, and I'm sure she has a great demeanor with clients that are probably a little on edge about getting a giant needle shoved through their what ever.

     She was shocked that my ear was actually closed up. She told me that most of the time, people tell her that something has closed up, and there is actually a hole still there. I had checked myself thoroughly so I knew it was completely closed up. She asked me which side of my face was to get stabbed, and how big I wanted to go in my ear. Right nostril was getting the treatment and I wanted to go as big as she could go on the ear. The largest needle she could do was a 6 gauge needle. If you don't know about piercing terms, they go in measurements of gauge. The lower the number, the larger the whole. For example, the needle used for my nostril was a 20 gauge needle. That is the standard size of a normal earring. If you have pierced ears, you know how big that is. A 6 gauge needles is 4mm or 5/32nds of an inch. Seems small, until you actually look at it and realize that it's going into a part of your body. She asked me which one I wanted to do first, so I went with the nostril since I'd never had that done before. New experience, new type of pain. For me, those are all good things.

     She let's me know that she is getting ready to push the needle in after she clamps my nose, by telling me to breath in. It was the most inopportune time for me, since I was already breathing in naturally, and began breathing out as she stuck it through. Not the way it's planned, but it worked out. That's when the tears started flowing. No, not because I was crying from the pain. If you've ever pulled a nose hair out, or bumped your nose with any kind of force, you know that you naturally tear up. I mentioned that the tears were running, and she poked a little fun about the whole crying thing. It was all in good fun and part of that great demeanor that she has with her clients. The jewelry going in was the actual worst part of it. It was a captured bead ring, so she had to bend the ring back into shape to hold the bead which closes off the whole thing so that it won't fall out. After that was closed up, she spun the ring so that the bead was inside of my nose. The nose was all done. I took a look with the mirror, and loved it.

     It was time for the ear. We decided on going in a slightly different spot that would be better for stretching up when it eventually heals. I have a 3 to 6 month wait on that, but like I said before, I'm ok with that. She seemed to have a little trouble pushing through the back side of the ear, but it didn't bother me at all. Once she was through, she had the curved barbell on and capped off with the threaded bead in no time. When she said I was all done, I thought she still had to put the jewelry in. It was all done, she sent me to the front to pay, and I handed her a tip and thanked her. The price shocked me. I had an idea what I was going to pay from when I went there the week earlier and asked about pricing. I knew it was going to be pricey, but when I got the tab, it was only half of what we discussed, so I was shocked in a good way. I'm guessing they were having a Black Friday special themselves, either way I wasn't complaining.

     The studio is DaVinci Tattoo & Piercing Studio in the Merritt Square Mall in Merritt Island, Florida. My piercer was named Red, and she was fantastic. If I ever need another piercing, I won't hesitate to go back to her. Here is her Instagram pace if you want to check her and her work out Piercings by Red. This is the tattoo studio's page, DaVinci Tattoo. I'm still on the search for my tattoo artist, but if I don't find him and have to look for another one, I'll give this place a fair shot. I don't think you can find a cleaner shop, it was immaculate. My only concern is the artist and how well I get along with them. That was the great thing about my artist, we got along great. We collaborated on everything that he put on me, and we ended up being friends. Not hangout and stuff kind of friends, but friends non the less. I have to vibe with an artist both on a personal level and with their artwork. It's my skin so I can be picky and get what I want. The search is on.

     I spent the rest of the evening over in the Orlando area visiting Elie. I guess it's time for a new Elie update. She is doing fantastic. She has almost full use of both of her hands now, and is walking around like her pelvis was never smashed into a half dozen pieces. I of course took Morty over so that he could hang with Gandi, and in typical Morty fashion, Gandi tried to play, and Morty just stared at him like there was something wrong with him. I just don't get it. Morty always wants to play. We watched Atomic Blonde with Charlize Theron, and it was better than I thought it would be. It's set in 1989, so the soundtrack was off the charts good, full of the best 80's alternative hits. After the movie, Morty and I went home and went to sleep. I was tired from getting up early, and I wanted to get up early on Saturday so that I could go see an early showing of Justice League.

     Justice League was pretty good. It wasn't great, but worth seeing. the overall cast is rather small. It centers on the heroes, and pretty much the heroes alone. Not much room for extras or other supporting cast. There were two main reasons I wanted to see this movie. The first being Ezra Miller. I've been a fan of his ever since seeing him in Perks of Being a Wallflower. He did not disappoint me. He stole the entire movie, and was the best part of it. He pulls off a great Flash and that is saying much, because I like Grant Gustin as Flash in the TV series. If you need a reason to see this movie, he is it. The second reason I wanted to see it was, no, actual not Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, it was Jason Momoa as one of my all time favorite super heroes, Aquaman. Yes, I have always loved Aquaman and I blame it on being born and living near the ocean my entire life. I was upset when Robot Chicken turned Aquaman not a chump that could only talk to fish, it bothered me. Jason Momoa's Aquaman is a rockstar, in every sense of the term. He's brash, impulsive and over the top as a whiskey swilling almost antihero. Think Bodhi from Point Break with an even darker edge to him.

     The movie does have it's problems, and like Superman vs. Batman, I think its Superman and Lois Lane. I liked Henry Cavill and Amy Adams in the Superman movie, but they just seem to phone in the whole thing in this movie and SvsB. The movie could probably have been done without them. Gal Gardot is simply perfection as Wonder Woman, by the way, still thing Wonder Woman could be the best superhero movie made, it's my opinion and I stand by it. Ray Fisher, the kid that plays Cyborg was a pleasant surprise. He is really good in the role, and they even gave him Cyborg's signature line from Teen Titans, which is Booyah! I loved it. I don't know if there is a scened after all of the credits, I had to go to the bathroom, but there is a bump scene after the closing. I won't spoil anything, but if you know the lore of Flash and Superman, you can probably guess what happens. Even in that scene, Ezra Miller steals it. I'm telling you, he is great in this movie, and I'm really looking forward to The Flash movie that is due out either next year or the year following. He is just fantastic.

     That was pretty much my weekend. I sat around an relaxed after that. I have wash to do yet today, and I'm going to start that as soon as I post this. Then it's just waiting around for The Walking Dead. It's getting really good with this whole showdown with the Saviors. I'm going to try to get a video up and posted next weekend. I don't have any ideas yet, and I know I could have tried to record the whole piercing, but I just didn't think it was the right thing to do. I might just pick a subject and try to talk about it, or maybe just make one of those ride heavy feature videos. If you have a preference, let me know, you could decide which way I go on this. Oh, I guess I should share a picture of the piercings. I loathe taking selfies, because I don't like looking at myself, but this does have purpose, so here it is.

     You can see the difference in size from the curved barbell in my ear, to the hoop in my nose. If you are looking on your phone, you may have to blow that up to see, I'd rather you not, but if you have to. 

     One last thing before I leave you for the night. The nostril takes a learning curve. I have a habit of wiping my nose, by either rubbing my finger across the bottom, or pinching the sides and pulling down, both of which are no bueno. I have had several moments when I immediately regretted doing it. The nostril is still a tender and is probably more so than normal, because I'm an idiot and keep doing it. I've been pretty good about it today, so I might be getting around that curve. I'll let you know how it all goes. Peace in and goodnight.

The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 5)

     My father would always repeat the same thing to me after every review of the first movement, "Spend your childhood being a child". Then he would tell me to rush off and play with friends. He had reviewed me several times in the last month, and said that I was making progress. I wasn't sure what that meant. I could do the first move in my sleep at this point, but "I had more work to do", as he would say. I would listen to what he said, and I would run to the center of the village to find Arial.

     Arial was the only child my age in the village. All of the others were either a few years older, or a few years younger, but Arial was born the very same month as I. She was smart, and had raven colored hair that was long and straight. As I think about her now, her eyes held an age that was far beyond her years. They would look troubled at times, lost in thought of another time and place. I could always find her sitting under a tree at the commons. She would be studying old scrolls that her father would lend her. He was the village healer. The scrolls would have diagrams of the body, and lists of herbs and plants that could aid in healing, and ways to best use them for the right effect.

     "Hello Arial, what are you reading today? The best use for tree bark?"

     "No, my father gave me one of his advanced scrolls today. It's going to tell me how to turn you into a toad."

     "What? You can't really do that. Can you?"

     "If I figure it out, you'll be the first to know."

     That was another thing about Arial. I could never tell if she was speaking truth or jest. She was always calm, and her face would never show emotion.

     "Did your father send you off to play again?"

     "Aye, he said that I should spend my childhood being a child again."

     "Right he is. Why do you spend all your time swinging that sword around when you could be studying like me?"

     "Because swinging that sword around is more fun than reading dusty old scrolls."

     "Well then, run along and play with the kiddies then. I have studying to do."

     "You should spend your childhood being a child too, or have you already grown to adulthood? You are a whole 12 days older than me."

     "Aye, and us adults don't have times for the likes of you pesky whelps."

     We both burst out in laughter. This was our normal greeting to one another, and it was our way of picking fun at the elders that would sit in the commons gambling at dice. Whenever we would try to watch and learn the game, the would say something similar to us. Arial claimed to have already learned the game by watching from a far. She tried to teach me one day, but I could never get it. "You're smart, but you are so thickheaded", she would say to me. Learning was never my strong suit, and I didn't need to learn much about scrolls and kingdom history seeing how I was going to be a knight.

     I explained that to Arial once, and she looked at me and shook her head. "Don't you mean you are going to be a blacksmith like your father?" She asked me. Her tone was the tone she would get when she was talking to someone she knew she was smarter than. "No, I'm going to be a knight". "Either way I don't need to learn all that other stuff." I added. I knew she would changer her tone to something a little more friendly when I would do that.

     "What is the scroll about." I was curious this time. It seemed to be a much older and elaborate scroll than any she had read before.

     "I already told you what it is. It's going to teach me how to turn you into a toad."

     "No it's not. You're father wouldn't show you anything like that."

     "Alright. It's not about that, but it is about developing a connection with the aether, so that you can use it to speed up the healing process in a person that is sick."

     "The aether, what is that?"

     "You don't know what the aether is? You really are thick sometimes. The aether is the substance that is found between the living realm and the dead realm."

     "If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to make up a tale."

     "That is what it is. Here look for yourself." She thrust the scroll at me to read. I was slow at reading but I knew how. I began to read and the title on the top of the scroll read, "Healing with the Aether". It was real, I had never heard of such a thing, but it was right there.

     "How does it work?"

     "It takes a lot of practice and concentration. It says that everyone has a connection to the aether, but you have to work on it to be able to use it. It's like you swinging that sword around day in and day out. I've watched you, you've gotten very good at it. This is like that, but its done by sitting quietly and concentrating until you feel a pull on the top of your head."

     "Have you felt that pull?"

     "No silly, I've only just started reading this today. My father wanted me to read this, it's more about the history of using it. There are many more scrolls that he had, that teaches you what you have to do to get to a relaxed state to make the connection pronounced in you."

     "How many scrolls are there?"

     "He told me that there were eight of them. Each one teaches you a specific mantra that you must say in order to get in a meditative state to reach out and tug at the aether."

     "Mantra? What is that?"

     "It's a series of words that you must say over and over until you attain a level of enlightenment."

     "Enlightenment? This is too much for me to understand."

     "Enlightenment is another word for understanding, but it's more than understanding. It is more like a whole body feeling. You understand it in you head, and you feel it in your body. Once you achieve that, you can do things you never thought you could."

     I just couldn't understand what she was saying to me. I knew that you could learn things from scrolls, and you could feel things by doing, but not learn and feel by sitting and saying something.

     "When my father gives me the first of the eight scrolls, I'll share it with you, so that you can learn as well. Who knows, maybe it will knock your brain around and you will want to learn more about things you find in scrolls."

     "I doubt that, but I'll give anything a try."

    "What could it hurt if a sat still and said something for a while. I was spending my childhood being a child."

I Got An Idea.

     I'm a little disappointed in the new shower head. Here is the problem with it. It only cycles through all the colors 2-3 times and then settles somewhat on red. Once the water warms up it pretty much stays red with a slight change to green from time to time. It's nothing earth shattering, but it is a bit of a let down. The positive side of this, is that when it does go red, that is the least offensive to my eyes in low light. The red doesn't illuminate the room as much as the other colors, so it's not a bad thing. I did find that if I only leave it on one head, that it will fluctuate red to green to yellow, with highlights of the other colors from time to time. Still kind of fun.

     I figured out the perfect thing to do with that Pepsi Salted Caramel. I only figured out it too late to try it though. I need to find another one of them and then get a pint of vanilla ice cream. Yep, that's right, ice cream floats. I think that would work great with that. I'm really hoping that I can find another one of them now, so I can try it.

     I found out today, that they show that I liked so much, Me Myself & I, was cancelled by CBS due to poor ratings. It was by their own design. They put it on at 9:30 on a Monday night. Not a good place for a family friend comedy, and it was very family friendly. There was supposed to be a Thanksgiving special episode on Monday, but it was taken off, so I looked it up and sure enough, they cancelled the show. I'm pretty bummed about it, because I really thought it was a great show, but I knew the time slot was bad for it. That  was an 8 or 8:30 show all day. I'm hoping that the show will move to another network or maybe even Netflix. I think it could do well with the right promotion. CBS put barely any promotion behind it. They rarely advertised that it was going to be on, and I only saw one interview with Bobby Moynahan talking about the show. It's truly a shame.

     Still putting in thought on whether or not to film the piercings on Friday. I just don't know if I want to deal with the hassle of asking them for permission to film in the studio and what not. Also, I would have to bring spare batteries and the tripod for the GoPro, which means I have to backpack it over there for something that shouldn't take longer than 15 minutes. I guess you'll know on Sunday. Either  you will have a video to watch, or you'll read all about it right here.

     Time for Favorite Song of the Week, and this is a new one. It was released a week or so ago, by a band that has been around for a little while. They formed in Wilmette, Illinois in 2001, and took over the scened with a pop sound that has a heavy punk influence. This band is unusual in that their bass player writes all of their songs lyrically, and the lead singer does most of the arrangements. Normally it is the other way around and almost never the bass player but the guitarist or keyboard player, but that is part of their charm. They don't do things the "normal" way. That has probably lead to the bulk of their success. That and damn catchy tunes. I've gotten the chance to see this band live once, and they were great. I want to see them again, but they are one of those bands that isn't that popular in the state of Florida, so they tend to bypass it except for either Miami or Tampa, both of which are too far to drive on a  work night. Here is Fall Out Boy with "Hold Me Tight Or Don't".

     That's good stuff right there. I've been thinking about The Patchwork Knight more and more lately and exactly where it's going to go. I have the ending, or the idea of the ending. I have the plot twist, and I have a few scenes in my head for action. No I'm not going to tell you anything about any of those until it's time. I'm sure that the story is boring as it builds up into something, but that is the whole idea of this. I don't have to follow the constraints of a book. I can do this as I choose and let it go where it may. I notice it in a lot of books anymore, that people are becoming impatient in how a book flows. They want action right up front, and then they want it to keep going periodically throughout, or maybe that is just the way things are written now. I almost started out with action, which if I did, the antagonist would be different, but since I didn't do that, I have a whole other antagonist which I think is going to be much better, and possibly a surprise to you. At least I hope it will be a surprise, or maybe I just gave the surprise away and you know to look for something out of the ordinary now. If I do this right, it should still be a surprise to you. You will know it when you see it, I promise.

     Time for bed, so I'm out of here. Tomorrow is the last day of work for this week for me, and I want to get in there and get out as soon as I can, which will be exactly 8 hours and 45 minutes after I get there. Have a Happy Thanksgiving if you are in the U.S. or just have a brilliant day. I will be posting the next chapter of The Patchwork Knight on Thanksgiving. I don't stop for the holidays. Peace in and goodnight.

Something Unusual, Something Lost, Something Punishing, And Something Cool.

     Alright, let's get into this, cause there is a lot to get to. I got to start with the unusual. Yeah, I wrote the title first this time, and that's because I know exactly what I'm talking about tonight.

     On Thursday, when I was coming home from work, I ran into a beautiful young lady. When I said I ran into, I mean I literally nearly ran into her. I was pulling into my driveway, while a rather attractive young woman was walking down the sidewalk. She wasn't paying attention and was about to walk right in front of me. Fortunately I saw her, and was waiting for her to walk by. She waved me ahead, so I pulled in. She waited by the sidewalk until I got out of the car, and apologized for not paying attention to where she was going. I told her that it was no problem and that I saw her and wasn't going to hit her. We struck up a brief conversation, that was pleasant and then we went our separate ways and I didn't think any more about it.

     Friday came, and I went out on a ride to get footage for a new video, more on that video later. When I was riding back up to my house, I saw that same young woman again, walking up the street on the other side of the street. Time to do something sly but in all reality, stupid. I put Saki in the lounge, and then stayed there with garage door open, while tooling around with mail hoping that she would see me and maybe say hi. To my complete surprise, it worked. I kept my head down looking at mail, and I heard a "Hey!". It was her from across the street. I said something really cool like, "I see you're back at it again today.". She was going door to door for a phone company. "Yep, I'm just trying to get to some of the houses I didn't get to yesterday." She said all of this as she was walking across the street towards my house. I began walking towards her, and another fantastic conversation ensued.

     We talked about bikes, riding, tattoos, TV viewing habits, a mention that she has an ex, and a few other things. We finally decided to end the conversation after reaffirming each others name, and she said she would stop by later before she left the area to say goodbye. I said that would be nice. I immediately went in the garage and used this new app called Marco Polo and contacted the friend that told me about to tell her about this interaction. I needed a clear head to tell me if I was reading too much into what just happened. She didn't think I was reading too much into it. I thought I was losing my mind and that there was no way that this beautiful young woman had any interest in me. We both decided that I should just play it by ear and see what happens.

     What happened? Well, to be completely honest, nothing. She never showed back up, and I even hedged by bet by going out into the garage in the evening and doing some quick maintenance on Saki, to make sure everything was tightened down. I actually needed to do this, since last weekend I put those frame sliders on, and needed to see how everything was holding up after some good hard riding. I was hoping, but my true vision and not my perception held true. If I'm wrong, she knows where I live and can stop by any time she wants.

     Because I have no other place to put this, and it kind of falls into the unusual category. I picked this up today at Target. I had heard about this and really wanted to try it even though it should probably not have been made in the first place. It is Pepsi Salted Caramel. Yeah, I put up this up as an Instagram post and said that it fell in the category of, just because you can doesn't mean you should, but since you did, I'm going to try it. Try it I did. I only took a nice big swig of it, and it is weird. It doesn't taste like a Pepsi at all. What it does taste like is a salted caramel soda. It's rich and has a hint of sea salt followed by a thick gooey caramel flavor. I have no idea what I would drink that with. I don't think I'll be able to drink it by itself. It's going to be too much for my taste buds. I was thinking caramel corn or maybe some kind of chocolate bar. I do have Reese's Crunchers (my new favorite frozen candy, yeah I said frozen don't judge me). I'll try it with some of those later, but I may go into sugar overload. I really have no idea what else to drink it with. It's both salty and savory, so trying to counter it, is near impossible. Maybe a steak, I don't know. Give me ideas, because if something sounds good, I'll try to find another one of them and give it a try.

     Now, it's time for something lost. I've lost my tattoo artist. Not in a he is spiraling in the ether sort of war, at least I hope not. I can't find him. He hasn't been at the shop in weeks. I reached out to him, and got no reply from him. I hope it's just that he moved somewhere else, and just hasn't had the time to respond. Anyway, that was the focus of the video I made. I was on the search for him and a piercing place. It is getting harder and harder to find a quality piercer any more. Here is the video. I added some elements from the last video on, with my usually talking type motovlog. I really like doing the cinematic type stuff, so expect more of that in the future. I don't have to talk and I can give you a fun video. Plus there is the fact that Epidemic Sound has made me want to make more videos. I hear different songs on there and instantly get ideas for things I'd like to do. So here is the new video, please give it a watch. It's jut over 10 minutes, so not too much time out of your busy day.



     I really like the edit at the end. I managed to get that just right with the fade to white. I may use that as my ending for each video from now on out. Let me know what you think. Is it good enough for an every time outro?

     Friday night, I started a series on Netflix that I have been waiting patiently for. No, not the second season of Jessica Jones, I am not waiting patently for that, I want that a year ago. No, this was The Punisher. The Punisher was one of my all time favorite comic book characters. I have a #1 Punisher War Journal and it is locked away safely in a protective mylar sleeve. I was into The Punisher before everyone else was wearing the shirts and what not. I have a few shirts, but I don't wear them anymore, I keep those tucked away as well, for no other reason than nostalgia. I NOwon't go into any details, because I don't spoil things, but this series is great. It is the Punisher that I've been waiting for. I've suffered through mediocre at best movies, until now. Jon Bernthal although not exactly what you picture when you think of the Punisher, is now The Punisher. He even has the bump from a broken nose like Frank Castle. They may have used a prosthetic to get it a little bigger, but it works. I watcher 4 episodes on Friday night, and then sat down on Saturday night and watched the final 9. I was really tired when Morty woke me up at 7 after going to bed at 3 in the morning. At least Morty let me sleep an extra hour more than he usually allows me. If you find yourself wanting something to watch some night, and you have Netflix account, go ahead and watch it. It does fall in the Marvel Universe Order on Netflix, but it can be watched as a stand alone series. You don't need the other shows like; Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Daredevil season 2, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, or The Defenders to watch it. Just so you know, I put those in the order that you should watch them if you so choose to watch them all. A little warning though. It is very violent and has that over the top comic book violence in it, so it's not for kids of an impressionable age. Just saying.

     Now for the something cool. I've been putting off buying this little item for a while now, but I finally pulled the trigger on it. It wan't expensive or anything like that, it was just a little unnecessary. It is a true luxury for under $50. It's a new shower head. It has a dual head, with one of them being a handheld shower head that I can use to wash Morty. Yeah, he is going to hate it, He does not like bath time. The dual head sounds pretty cool right? That's not the cool part. Here, I'm just going to show you the cool part.

     It lights up. It has 7 different colors that it cycles through. Total disco shower. I can either have it on the main shower head, the hand held, or both like it is in the picture. It doesn't use any power because it is hydro-electric. It uses the flowing water to power the lights. Interesting little fact about me. I shower in the dark in the morning. I just don't like waking up and then turning on bright lights until I'm fully awake. I think this is going to be the perfect build up to bright house lights. That, and its super cool to have a light up shower head that cycles through different colors. That reminds me. I watched the footage of the HUE Go, and didn't like it, so I'll refilm that soon and post that for you so that you can see how it works with ALEXA, and just how it looks. I've used it quite a few times for pictures for Instagram, and I really love it.

     One last thing, that isn't a part of the title, so look at this as bonus time. I mentioned in the video that I was looking for a piercer, well, I finally found one. The shop is really clean and very nice, and I'll be going this Friday to get holes put in my head. If I didn't mention it, or I did and you missed it, here is the plan. I'm getting my right ear reopened, so that I can stretch it back up to where my left ear is. I thought I could deal with being so drastically asymmetrical, but I can't, so I need to get that done. The second hole I'm getting put in my head, is going to go in my right nostril. Should be that good kind of pain. I'm thinking about filming it for a video, but I haven't decided yet, plus, I don't know if they will let me film in the studio. If I decide to do it, it won't hurt to ask them. If they don't, I'll get stuff outside the shop looking in, and then the aftermath. It could make for a fun video. Let me know what you think about that idea. 

     I need to finish washing my clothes an find something to eat with that Pepsi Salted Caramel. I'm early tonight, so it's only 5 PM here. Peace in and goodnight.

   

The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 4)

     The first snow was beginning to fall, and that meant that my training just became harder. The trees were going to get harder to cut down, and the ground was going to be slick with ice and snow. It had been three months since my father started training me, and he increased my tree cutting. I not only had to cut the tree for the forge, but I now had to cut another tree for the warming the house. The house is small, so we didn't need that much wood, but my father insisted that I cut it down, and give the remaining wood to others in the village that couldn't cut their own wood. I did it all without hesitation, because when I was done, I could head back into the forest and practice with my sword. I got rather adapt at felling trees, and hauling them up to the mountainside. What used to take a couple of hours, now only took a fraction of the time. I was able to get two trees downed and chopped into kindling for firewood before the first light of the sun. I had to carry a lantern with me, but it was worth it so that I could swing that heavy beat up sword around.

     One morning I noticed my father watching me as I slashed and stabbed with my sword. I was doing everything that I saw those boys do in the arena, the only exception, is that I used a sapling tree for a partner. Even though the sword was blunted, it would put large ruts in the sides of the small tree.  After some time, my father slowly walked up to me.

     "You're not too bad there lad. I see that you remembered what you saw at the arena, but there is a problem. you have the moves, but you have no understanding behind them. Today you learn some of that understanding."

     He then took the sword from my hand and started to twirl it in front of him and behind his back. I had never seen anything like it. I instantly wanted to do that.

     "Impressive huh lad?"

     "Yes papa. Where did you learn how to do that?"

     "I learned it when I spent my time in the Blind War. When we weren't marching or fighting, we were training. The captain of my legion was widely known for his ability with a sword, and he wanted to make sure that anyone under him was nearly as good as he was. He would drill us first thing in the morning, after lunch, and then before hitting our nighttime slumber. I'm going to show you the drills he taught us. It's one thing to attack a poor defenseless sapling, but another to fight another man. That is why you have to have an understanding for what move and why you are doing it. My Captain created a series of movements that were replicating a duel of sorts. The art of the sword isn't always about attack, defense is a large part of it."

     "I thought a shield was for defense."

     "It is, but what happens if you lose your shield?"

      I'd never thought about that, what would happen if I lost my shield. I just took for granted that I would always have a shield if I had a sword. I didn't have a shield though, and my father never even brought it up until that time.

     "I can see by the look on your face, that you are just starting to see something you never thought about. Yes boy, you can lose your shield, and the reason I haven't given you one yet, is because I want you to know how to handle yourself with a sword and not need a shield."

     Not need a shield. This just became very exciting. What kind of swordsman didn't need a shield? I guess I was going to find out.

     "I'm only going to show you the first three moves, and I want you to practice them every day until I decide that you are ready for three more moves. Watch carefully."

      My father began with the sword in his right hand down at his side. In one quick fluid movement, he lunged forward with his left leg, and swung the sword in a reverse arc across his waist then bring it up and straight down in front of him with the sword held point up.

     "That is the first movement. Did you see what I did, or do you need to see it again?"

     "I saw it."

     "Here, take the sword and do that movement for me."

     I took the sword and held it point down at my side. I lunged with my left foot and began to swing the sword across my waist, and then the momentum of the sword and the slippery ground sent me sprawling to the ground. My father burst in to laughter.

     "I'll tell you something lad. That is exactly what I did the first time I tried that movement. The only difference is, that I didn't have slippery ground as an excuse. I learned it in the middle of the summer when the rainy season was far from arriving. Give it another try, but think of what you do when you drag those trees up the mountainside and how you keep your footing."

     I slowly picked myself up, and wiped the snow off my pants. I stood upright again with the sword pointed at the ground, and I thought about how I had to use light but firm footsteps when I carried the trees through the forest and up the mountain. I lunged forward again, swinging the sword across my waist, arcing it up and then down to rest chest level with the point up.

     "Good lad. You got that much faster than I did. Do that five more times and then we will get on to the second movement."

     I happily obliged. I felt more confident with each time I did it, and I could see a faint smile on my father's face. After the fifth time, I handed the sword back to my father and patiently waited for the next movement. He quickly did the first move again, and when he stopped he turned and told me to watch closely again. He lunged forward again and flung the sword point forward in a stabbing type of motion.

     "Do you have it? I know that it looks simple, but trust me, it's not as easy as it looks."

     I told him that I had it and took the sword from him. I went through the first movement again, and when it was time for the next movement, I stopped, took a deep breath and concentrated on what my father did. I lunged forward again and swung the sword down to stab forward. The weight of the sword took it straight into the ground and my left leg slide past it as my right leg stayed far behind me.

     "I told you that it wasn't as easy as it looked. Let me show you again, and this time I'll explain it to you."

     He took the sword back and got in the final position of the first movement. He told me that the movement with my feet was a slight hop. You pushed with the right foot as you glided forward with the left. As you did all that, you snapped your wrist forward to flick the sword tip forward, to create that stab forward.

     "Your biggest mistake was that you tried to slash the sword forward. There will be a time for that, but not in this movement."

     He handed the sword back to me and I tried again. I went through the first movement again, then I did a hop forward, when my feet hit the hard slippery ground I went sprawling again.

     "There there lad, not a bad second attempt. When you do your hop, you still have to do it one foot at a time. You always want to have your plant foot on the ground as long as you can before you commit to that lunge. Start with the left foot first, as you pick it up, push with the right to spring yourself forward. Your right foot should barely leave the ground so that it is ready to plant when you stop advancing."

     He showed me the footwork several times before handing the sword back to me. I once again went through the first movement, and arrived before the lunge. I did as he said, and my feet firmly planted, but I forgot to do anything with the sword. I tried again, and this time flicked the sword, but when I did I ended up throwing it a few feet in front of me.

     "Keep a loose but firm grip on the handle. If you grip too tight, the sword won't react, too loose, and the sword does what it did there. I want you to think of the sword as a stick. Instead of trying to thrust through something, I want you to think of taking a stick and tapping someone on the nose with it."

     I began to see what he was doing. It wasn't a big powerful motion, it was simple and little. It was a small motion, not a big one. I ran through the first movement again. I sprang forward and flicked my wrist pointing the sword forward.


     "That is perfect boy. Do that whole ting 5 times now, and then the next move will be yours."

     I did the two movements 5 times and it felt better and better each time I did it. I began to feel the weight of the sword as something that I could use as opposed to something that was just there.


     "Excellent boy. Alright, ready for the final movement of the day?"

     "Yes papa, I'm ready." Of course I was ready, this was more fun that chopping down trees and fighting a sapling.

     He went through the first two movements again, and then once again told me to watch carefully. Form the position of the sword pointing forward, he took a step back and brought his sword hand inane then back out in a circular motion with the sword point down, and then bringing the sword from his right side to his left side, then flipping the sword straight up, and back across his body, as he took another step back.

     "Do you have it lad?"

     I stood my head emphatically. Although I saw it clearly, I had no idea what he did. I needed to see it again and try to slow it down in my mind. He did final movement once again, and I watched intently. I saw that on the first movement he only brought his left leg back towards him, and then on the second motion, he did the hop step in reverse.

     "What about now, do you think you got it."

     "Yes papa. I think I do." I took the sword from him and slowly readied myself. I went through the first two movements, with no trouble. I paused and thought about what I had just seen my father do. I brought the sword in towards me as I brought my left leg back towards me. I brought my hadn't up and across my body with the sword point down, then I whipped the sword upright and began the hop step back as I brought the sword back across my body point up. I did it. I got it on the first try.

     "Boy, you do have the makings of a swordsman in you. It took me nearly a whole afternoon to land that last part of that. Now, I have a question for you. Can you tell me what the other person was doing during those movements you just did?"

     I hadn't a clue what someone else would have been doing during all of that. "No papa."

     "I didn't expect you too, but as my Captain always said, 'it never hurts to ask'. You have to imagine that you are fighting someone else when doing these drills. The first part of that movement, you are lunging forward and blocking an attack and readying your sword for what comes next. The second move is to test your opponents readiness. You do a flicking stab to see if he is acutely aware of your presence."

     "Didn't he just try to stab me? You said I blocked didn't you?"

     "Indeed I did lad. When I say you want to see his awareness, what you are really looking for is how quickly he reacts to such a move. If he gets out of the way fast, then you got a tough opponent. If he gets stabbed in the nose, then you probably don't have to do much else. That is what the next part of the movement is about. In this case, he got out of the way of your stab, and quickly tries to stab you back. The first attack is going for your stomach and that is why you block with the sword down. That is a low block. It will cover your chest to your knees, if you do it right. The second is a block up. After the low stab he goes for your head. If you do that block right, it will cover your chest to your head. All of that together is known as the first move."

     "That whole thing is the first move?" I was stunned, that was quite a bit for one move.

     "I want you to practice that for the rest of the day. After today, you will do that drill before you cut your first tree 10 times. After your second tree, I want you to do it 20 times, and after you've gotten both trees up and settled, I want you to do it another 70 times. That is 100 times in all, and I want you to do it in that precise order. Don't try to get it all done before you fell the first tree. You may get good at the movement that way, but there is no challenge in it, and you won't get out of it what I want you to. How are you supposed to do it now?"

     "10 times before the first tree, 10 times after the second tree, and then 70 more times after I have the trees up the mountainside and cut and stacked."

     "Good, I'll be checking in on you from time to time, to see just how your progress is going. When I feel you are ready, I'll show you the next movement in the drill. Off you go now, finish up doing that for the rest of the day."

     I practiced that movement until the sun was peaking over the tree line. I was exhausted as I walked back to the house for dinner, but it was a good exhaustion. It was exhaustion from accomplishment.

I Got A Makeshift Photo Booth.

     I am in love with that HUE Go light. I took my first photo using it, to get some different tones rather than white light, and I like the way it came out. When I get everything set up, I think it is going to be a great addition to Saki's Lounge.

     That's the light in it's most vibrant of red. I did record a video of my turning it on through Alexa, but I haven't previewed it, so I have no idea how the audio or anything is on it. Oh yeah, I guess I should share the picture I took. I posted this on Instagram a little earlier, but here it is.

     I had it on a purple hue for that one. I really like it. I can only Imagine how good it's going to look when I get a proper camera set up and start taking pictures in my "photo booth". Yeah, that's what I'm going to call it. I'll check out that video tomorrow, and if I think it's worth posting on here, I will do it Sunday. If not, I'll bust out the GoPro and get a better quality video of it for you. 

     I have an addition to my weekend plans this week. You know, other than starting the clean up of all the old stuff in the lounge and the rain gutters. The Punisher premiers on Netflix on Friday. I've been looking forward to this since he was first announced on Daredevil. Don't get me wrong, I'm still waiting on Season 2 of Jessica Jones, which they finally gave a date for. it's 2018. That's all that Netflix will give you on that, at least that is all that I've found. Since Punisher is going live on Friday, Jon Bernthal has been making the rounds to the talkshows. He is quite the interesting dude. Grew up in D.C. and was kind of a bad kid. Liked getting into street fights and typical hooligan type stuff, but then he found acting, and it was his high school acting teacher that turned things around for him. She mentioned that he should go and try to get in this prestigious acting school in Moscow, and he did. He thinks that she knew that if he had stuck around there, he probably wouldn't have had any future at all. it all worked out, and a tiny little show by the name of The Walking Dead, did all the rest. If you don't know him, he was Shane in TWD. A pretty impactful character for one that was only on 2 seasons, which is 1 season longer than the comic books had him. He is married now, with 3 kids, and here is the best part, he loves pitbulls. That right there, just made me like him even more.

     When I was younger, I was a giant Punisher fan. I had all the comics, t-shirts, and anything related to him, so the idea of finally seeing a really good representation of that character is thrilling. He was great in Daredevil, and Netflix has done a fantastic job with their part of the Marvel Universe, so I can't see this going bad. Jon Bernthal in the two interviews I heard him in, said that he wanted to honor the fans, and give them something they would be proud of. That is all I ask, and I think he will do it in spades.

     I feel like this is going to be pretty short tonight. I don't have much to talk about, so let's get to Favorite Song of the Week and wrap this puppy up. If you have been enthralled with the latest Levi's commercial, it is probably because of the song. The internet is an amazing tool to help you find things you didn't know you needed to know, until you start looking for them. This song is one of those things. It is by a woman who goes by Jain. She was born Jeanne Galice Toulouse, France in 1992.

She was dragged around the world because of her fathers job, but those travels influenced her musical tastes. She stayed in Dubai, the Congo and Abu Dhabi. She finally settled in Paris,Which is where she calls home now. This song is from her 2015 album Zanaka which is Malagasy for child. It was meant to honor her mother who is Franco-Malagasy. That is the official language of Madagascar. I honestly thought when I heard the song that I was going to find out that she was South African, but it is all the influence of her travels that give her that sound. Here is Jain with "Makeba"

     Admit it, you wanted to dance when you heard it? It's ok, dancing is a good thing, and people should do it more. Time for me to go to bed. I think it's going to be another short week, so I have a long weekend to look forward to getting everything I need to get done done. Peace in and goodnight.

It Was A Busy Weekend, But I Got It All Done.

     I got a lot accomplished this weekend. I was off on Friday, so that helped out a bit. I got my channel trailer finished. I didn't get all the footage that I wanted, so I made do with what I got, and I really like the way it turned out. I'm pretty proud of myself for this one. I know that I will get better with the editing, but this exceeds anything I've done to this point. I can always make a new trailer in the future, or I can just make a new video in this fashion without it being a trailer for the channel, either way, it was the most fun I've had so far doing these videos. I guess I should show you the video. I got it live yesterday, because I couldn't wait, as I said, I'm pretty proud of it.



     Please take some time and give it a view. It's 4 minutes and 43 seconds of pure adrenaline and beauty. Well, I guess the beauty part is subjective, but it's what I think is beautiful about this area. In reality, this is what I set out to show you when I started making these videos. I think I will do more like this in the future, and get better of hitting the beat with the edits.

     Before all that happened though, I went to the birthday of a 1 year old. My very good friends were honoring their 1 year old and they were on this side of the state, so I had to go. I wasn't going to miss it even if I did have to head over to St. Pete for it, but they were here. It was fun, I rode Saki there, because I wasn't passing up a clear sky evening. I don't know how it happened, but I ended up with the 1 yr old. I don't have kids, so I don't hold them very often at all, but there I was holding a tiny little kid. She was a good kid, she just sat there and smiled, it could have been gas from all the pizza she ate, but I like to think it was my charm, or at least I was funny looking. She started climbing and I had to get instructions on proper baby handling from dad. I succeeded and the baby was ok.

     On my way home, I had a car pull out right in front of me. I thought about filming that night, but decided against it, since the party should be a private thing for family and friends, so I didn't get it on video. Here is the best part, as I had to slow down at a high rate of speed, and hit the horn. Admittedly probably a little too long, but hey, I get a little perturbed when someone nearly kills me. Here is what happened as I sat behind them. I didn't want to cut off the car to the left of me, even though they saw what was happening and they backed off to give me room to escape if needed. The passenger in the car, threw their cigarette out the window to try and hit me. Too bad I was on the driver side of the road, so it went wizzing by me. When I saw the car to my left fall back even more and then turn off, I cranked it and flew by the car that had cut me off. They tried to chase me, but there was no way they could keep up. I didn't do anything rude, I just wanted to get away from them, so I looked at them as I passed and that was it. It was the "I'm looking at you because you are a jerk" look. I guess that upset them. I got home safe without any harm to me or the other vehicle. They should consider themselves lucky. I've seen plenty of videos where riders have busted the mirrors of people that have done stuff half as bad as what they did.

     The next day was Saturday, and that was film day. I had invited 3W to come along on the ride. I knew full well that he would bail on me, and sure enough he did. I give too many people the benefit of the doubt, but that is ending with him. This was my final invitation to do anything with him. He called off at the last minute because of the rain. As you saw in the video, I rode in that rain and even did something rather stupid going over a bridge in that windy rainy condition, but I needed footage like that for the video. He saw rain as a horror, and I saw it as a challenge. I won't get better as a rider if I don't push the envelope from time to time. You have to balance on that edge sometimes in order to get better. It's like anything in life. You can sit on the sidelines safe and sound, or you can take a small risk and push yourself beyond previous limits, and become something better. I refuse to sit on the sidelines.

     When I got home from the ride, there was a package waiting for me. I had ordered a few things for Saki. Since I dropped Saki last week, I decided it was finally time to get a little protection against that. I ordered new bar ends, since one of them got damaged in the fall, and frame sliders that would definitely help out, if Saki ever fell over again.

     









     I'm a sucker for good packaging, and the frame sliders and bar ends were nicely packaged. All of it was from a company called Puig. The bar ends were a carbon fiber looking material. They aren't real carbon fiber, but they have that appearance.

     They are weighted differently than the stock bar ends, so there was a little vibration in the bars. It wasn't anything that would cause me any problems. Maybe on a long ride, I might get hand fatigue, but I have ways of dealing with that. Lessons you learn from riding. I chose the Puig Racing frame sliders, because they had a sleeker look than most frame sliders. The normal frame sliders, are just long hard rubber cylinders. They are more function than fashion, and I wanted both for Saki. These do the trick and look good as well.

     In that last picture, you can see them sticking out about half way up. You can see how they will protect the fairings in the event of a fall, or even worse, if I go down riding. Nothing is perfect, but these will save me some damage. This was my first time taking the fairings completely off, and sadly I didn't think to get any pictures of Saki letting it all hang out. I did have the windscreen off for that last one though, and Saki looks pretty rad like that. I've since put it back on. I wouldn't go out riding like that anyway. I'm too worried about something getting messed up that normally wouldn't if that was on there. 

     I only had small difficulties with the fairings, but I moved passed it pretty easily. Plus it gave me a lot of confidence for when I do tear everything down and paint it. That is still far off in the future though. I think I already mentioned that I need to get all the equipment and then learn how to use it properly first. I'm going to practice like a madman before I even think about laying the first coat of paint on Saki. I have one last really cool picture of Saki for you. After everything was bolted back on,  I wheeled Saki out of the garage and got a nighttime shot. It came out really cool.

     Oh, Just noticed when I was grabbing that one, that I do have one more picture for you. It was also a nighttime shot, but in this one, you can see the damage and the repair from the fall. Like I said before, it looks better, but nowhere near perfect, and this shot you can see why.

     Just look to the left of the R and you will see it. You will also notice the placement of the frame slider, and how if it was there, none of that damage would have happened. Once again, lesson learned. I put off getting the frame sliders because of price, but when you look at the bigger picture of the cost its going to cost to paint Saki, it is nothing. That is the main reason I'm going to do this myself. If I paid someone to do it, it would probably cost about the same amount, and I wound't learn anything from it. Same goes if I went the easy route and bought new OEM fairings. Those things are expensive. Just buying that one side fairing would cost about as much as it would to paint it. If I learn how to paint it, I can paint other things, and maybe make a little money back from people that want their bikes or what not painted. Its the whole give a man fish versus, teach a man to fish.

     I was chatting with a friend while I was putting those frame sliders on, and she mentioned how much I seemed to love doing all these repairs and such. I really do love doing it. It's relaxing to me. She also mentioned something I hadn't thought about. She said that it was very artistic. I'd never thought of it that way, because I'm really just bolting things on, but there is an artistry in it, when you take a long look at it. I'm manipulating things to get Saki to look just as I want it too. If you look at day 1 versus now, there is a major difference, and there is still more to come. The artistry will really start when I start the painting. I have ideas, I ran them by her and she was excited for them. Sorry, still not going to tell you. It has to be a surprise when I finally reveal the new look.

    Last thing for the night, and I don't have any pictures for you of it yet. My phone is about to die, and I don't want to plug it in until I go to sleep. Video would actually be better for this little thing anyway. I've been thinking about getting another Echo Dot for the lounge. The reason for this, oh wait, do you know what an Echo Dot is? Ok, quick rundown, the Echo Dot is a device from Amazon that connects to the internet and answers questions for you, plays music, orders things from you Amazon account, a few other things and most importantly for this, it can control lights and things. Phillips makes a advice called the HUE Bridge. When you use that with special lightbulbs and a little area light called the HUE Go, you can use Alexa, that is the name for the Echo, to turn on the lights. I can also turn them on from anywhere with my phone, since the HUE Bridge is hardwired to the ethernet. I can turn on or off my lights from pretty much anywhere that my phone has a signal. Pretty cool right. Here is the best part. the HUE Go is this cool little area light that is portable and changes colors. I'll get video of it doing it's thing for Tuesday.

     I had a little trouble getting it all connected to Alexa. For a brief moment I thought I was going to have to get a whole other Echo system. The Dot is the smallest version of it, and it wasn't connecting to the Phillips HUE Bridge they way I thought it would. I looked online for some answers, and it was looking like I needed to get and Echo Plus. It is about 10 inches high, with a 3 inch diameter, maybe 4 inches. I wan't against getting one, but if I did, it was going to have to wait, the Echo Dot is $49.99 while the Echo Plus is $160. Quite a big difference. Waiting also meant that I couldn't use Alexa for the lights I put in in the kitchen and living room, and of course the HUE Go. No I have not let the fact that the HUE Go is really Hugo get by me. Anyway. I found one little box on the Echo Dot page that mentioned the Phillips HUE skill. Skills are like apps in Alexa. You have to download it so that it will work in conjunction with Alexa. Once I did that and got it all dialed in, Alexa had control of the lights. I now have Alexa in my living room and in the lounge. The lounge is really my own selfishness. I can use the Echo Dot to play music and ask things of Alexa while I'm out there working on Saki, and also for that HUE Go. I have big plans for that little light. It is going to be a fixture for what will be my new photo area. You've already seen a few pictures in the makeshift area. That light is going to add some real groovy ambiance for lighting of photos. I'll get pictures and video for Tuesday, but the HUE Go is bowl shaped, and can either sit flat like a bowl, or at an angle. I'll show you it all on Tuesday.

     I got all of that done this weekend, and next weekend is going to be mostly about cleaning things out. I'm going to start getting a bunch of stuff out of the lounge that no longer belong in there. The lounge needs to be its own area, and weed killer and old paint buckets aren't going to cut it. I also need to clean out the rain gutters. It looks like another busy weekend, but one that I will enjoy when it is over. Peace in and goodnight.

The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 3)

     I rose before the sun the next day. I was tired and sore from the journey home from the Kingdom, but I was determined to do everything I saw at the arena.  I squatted, I stood on my toes and hands in a plank, I found an old log from the fire pit and carried it around. I didn't have a barrel, and I figured that a good sized fire log would be the same weight as a barrel.

     It wasn't until years later that I found out that those barrels were full of rocks, with one of them being empty. The boys weren't allowed to show any sign of who got the unloaded barrel. There were all to act as though they had it. I missed that bit of the training.

     I ran around the village and then sprinted to the tree line and back. I did each of these exercises a dozen times. For my sparring training, I found a good size tree, and a stick that felt about sword length, and attacked it until I was tired. I did this for several months. My father watching all the while from his forge in the mountain side. This would take me about an hour each morning, when I was done I would go to the forge to help my father.

     "You've been at that for months now boy, are you so determined to be a knight?"

     "Yes father."

     "I guess I should start showing you how to fight with a blade then. You look foolish slapping around that tree out there. What did it ever do to you to deserve treatment like that?"

     I was excited. I couldn't believe my own ears. My father was going to train me how to use a blade.
     "Will you father?"

     "If you are this focused after a few months, I may as well show you how to use that stick you've been slinging around. I have something for you though that might work a bit better."

      He went over to his workbench and there was a large burlap sack laying over something. I hadn't noticed it there before. He flung it off of the bench and exposed a sword underneath.

     "Here lad, this is a practice sword. The edge is blunted, so that you won't cut yourself, but it can still do some damage if you don't wield it right."

     The sword was indeed blunted. When I think back on it now, it was an ugly excuse for a sword. The blade wasn't true, and dinged in all possible ways. the guard was misshapen and lopsided, but it was the most beautiful thing I had seen in my life. It was a true sword.

     "I thought you couldn't make swords father? Won't you get in trouble with the King?"

     "This will be our little secret, and if any discerning eye laid upon that sword, I doubt they would even allow it to be called as such. If you are going to be determined to go through with what you are calling training, I can at least guide you in the right direction, and that direction is going to need a sword."

     My father handed me the ramshackle sword, and I nearly dropped it. It was heavy, so heavy that I needed both hands to hold it.

     "Yes, it's heavy boy. If you train with a heavy sword, when you get a real sword, it will feel like you have nothing in your hand. I will expect you to be using one hand to wield that sword. You will need the other to brace your shield."

     I could't imagine holding this sword in one hand. It weighed as much as a goat. I did see my father hold it though, so I would do it as well.

     "For now though, that sword will stay here in the forge. There are some things you are going to need to learn how to do first, before you get to swing that around. You've been a big help around here for me, but it's time you take on some more responsibility. Every morning, instead of those foolhardy exercises you've been doing. I want you to take the axe and go to the forest and fell a tree. You've seen the ones I fall daily for the forge?"

     "Yes papa."

     "They can't be green, and they can't be too old. You have to get one of a moderate size, so that we can cut a cord of wood for the wood pile. Once you've cut the tree down, you have to drag it up here to the forge, then you will start cutting it up for the wood pile. You will do this every morning from here on out, until I tell you otherwise."

      "Yes sir." I had never cut a tree down before, but I had watched my father do it on several occasions.

     "Also, once you have stacked all the wood on the woodpile, you will oil and sharpen the blade on the axe. I will show you how to do that after you've taken your first tree. Then you will hang the axe right were it is hanging right now. Do you see it over there on the wall?"

     "Yes sir." The axe hung to the right side of the old workbench. It was then that I noticed just how big the axe was. It was always in my fathers hands when I saw it before, and my father was a large man. I slowly walked over to the axe, and it got bigger and bigger as I got closer.

     "I see a look of concern on your face. Don't worry lad, I'll be with you tomorrow morning, to guide you through things. You will cut your first tree down, I have no doubts of that."

     If my father said I would do it, then I would. I still stared at that axe though. It looked heavier than the sword, with it's massive doubled edged head on it.

***

     Tomorrow morning arrived and I was ready. I looked all around our hut, but I couldn't find my father. I walked outside, and he was sitting on the step. He grumbled a little and said,"You're late." It was still twilight and the sun was nowhere to be seen for at least another hour. "Come on boy, quite your lallygagging." He took off in a sprint towards the forge. I had never seen my father run before, and he was fast. My father as I said, was a big man, he was by no means fat, but a man that size should not be able to move that fast. I took off after him, but he was increasing his lead on me as we went. He made it to the forge a full minute before I rounded the final corner to go up the path to the entrance in the mountain. 

     My father made his forge in an old miners cave at the foot of the mountain. He said that with all the natural stone it would be safer for the village. No house could catch on fire if the fire was no where near a house. It made sense to me.

     "Grab the axe and let's get to the forest. I need to have this forge fired up before the sunrises or I won't get anything done today."

     I looked at that axe, and groaned a little to myself. I was already winded from the run, and now I had to pick up an axe that looked the size of a horse. I had to stay focused. I walked over to the axe and grabbed the smooth wooden handle. I lifted it from it's perch on the wall, and was shocked by it's weight. It couldn't have weighed more than a chicken. "Is this a joke papa?"

     "What do you mean boy?"

     "It's so light. This won't be able to cut a  branch much less a tree."

     "Oh ye of little faith boy. It is the real thing lad, just you wait and see."

     I slung the axe of my shoulder as I'd seen my father do and we walked to the forest. We couldn't stay at the tree line because it would wake up the other villagers, so we went a few hundred yards in, so that the trees themselves would muffle our chopping.

     "Alright boy, I wan't to see how well you were watching me, pick out a tree. Walk up to it and put your hand on it first, I don't want you to start hacking away at it till I've had a chance to look it over first."

     I did as he told. I found a tree that looked like the ones I'd always seen him cut down, and placed my hand on the trunk.

     "It appears you've been watching with a sharp eye, good lad. Before you get started, I want to show you how to use the axe, and where to cut. This is very important for a couple of reasons. The first being, so that you don't cut of one of your own limbs, and the other being, that you don't fell the tree on top of you. You have to make the cuts so that it directs the tree where you want it to go. I had seen my father notch a tree before but I had no idea why he was doing it. He then showed my how to swing the axe properly. Letting it slide in my hand as the other gripped tight at the base. It was almost like my own little version of the dance with the swords, that I saw the young knights in training. Even though the axe was light, it was still exhausting. It took me until the sun was fully up in the sky before the tree went down. I still had to drag it through the woods and to the foot of the mountain. 

     I'd never given thought to how heavy a tree was. This tree was about 20 feet long and as thick as a mans leg. I hadn't noticed, but my father had a length of rope around his shoulder. He showed me how to put notches in the tree on either side so that the rope would not slip, and then he tied it around my waste. "You're going to get tired boy, but at least this way, you will still be able to lift your arms. I tugged and pulled at the rope and after an hour, I was at the foot of the path to the forge. That is when my father told me one last secret about pulling the tree up the hillside to the mountain.

     "Tomorrow, I want you to clear all the branches off first. That will make it easier to get it up the hill. Make sure you stack those branches though, the villagers often come into the woods later in the day and get those branches for their own fire pits to heat their kettles."

     I know that he did that as a lesson to me. I wasn't sure what it was then, but now I know that he wanted me to ask questions. He would have told me about the branches if I'd only asked if there was an easy way to get it to the forge. He never told me to ask questions, but I soon learned that there was always some little piece of information that he would withhold in the hopes that I would ask the right question. 

     I cleared all the branches, cut the tree into manageable size logs for the fires, and then took all the branches down to the tree line for the villagers. I then hurried back up to the forge to finish my task. I still had to learn how to sharpen the axe. My father was waiting for me when I walked through the entrance of the small cave. He pulled out a small grind stone, and a bottle of oil. He showed me how you only need a very small amount of oil on the stone and to make circular motions on the blade. He watched over me as I sharpened both edges of the axe and checked it on the nail of his thumb. "If it catches on your nail, it's not sharp enough. Make sure it glides across it, but don't push to hard, you only want to cut your nail, not chop your finger off." He showed me a fine line in the middle of his thumb nail.

     "Off you go now boy. Spend some time playing with your friends. You won't become a knight in a day, so you should spend your childhood being a child when you can. I'll be lucky to get a single horseshoe done today, with getting these fires lit so late."

     "I'll stay and help father, it's my fault you are so late."

     "Don't worry boy, you will be helping here soon enough, but for now, go play. You don't know it yet, but you aren't going to be feeling too good by tomorrow morning. Off you go now."

     "I did as my father said, and I ran off to play, it was already late in the morning, and nearly mid day, so I went looking for Arial. I'll tell you about her at another time though.