Be The Weirdest You You Can Be.

   It's official. I now have both of my ears at 7/8ths of an inch. I was able to finally fit a 7/8ths tunnel in yesterday. Now begins the countdown for when I finally stretch up to a full inch. It feels good to finally be symmetrical again. Well, I'm not completely symmetrical, I do have that second hole in my left ear, but you know what I mean. I will begin stretching both of them in one month. I want to just let the left ear rest a little, since I have been pretty aggressive with stretching it up to this point. Aggressive, but smart. I got to tell you, if you have a desire to stretch your lobes, do it with the plumbers tape. It takes a little time, but it is well worth it, when you see the results. Take it from someone who did it the other way in the past. Tapers are faster, but they are a lot more painful, and they are risky. If you do have a desire, and want more information on how to do it, just let me know, and I will help you out, the best that I can.

     In the past week, two of the motovloggers I follow, were involved in accident's. Fortunately, neither of them were hurt to bad. One of them, is a somewhat new rider, and his accident was definitely a case of inexperience on the bike. He made a couple of mistakes which resulted in him going down, and totaling his bike. He had some injuries, but nothing too serious. The other one, only put a portion of the footage from the accident up. I'm going to share it with you in a second, because it is one of the most incredible accidents I've seen. Without seeing what happened right before the footage picks up, I can't say for certain what caused it. My guess would be that he hit something in the road, that caused him to get the speed wobbles, which turned into a full on tack slapper. What that is, is when the bars quickly go back and forth, in essence, slapping the gas tank. That caused him to go down, but the miraculous part, is what happened right after he went down. I'll let the video tell you that story.



     I have never seen a luckier rider that that right there. He blurred out the speedometer, but he was clearly going fast, and sometimes that can cause speed wobbles, but I still think he must have hit a rock or something in the road, to cause that. Oh, and as I was looking up this video, I saw that another rider that I follow went down. I'll watch that video tomorrow. The good news about seeing these videos being posted, is that you know the rider is doing ok. Since they can get the video up, that means they are moving around and healing well.

     I should be receiving the gimbal I ordered tomorrow. I'm toying with the idea of doing an unboxing video for you, but haven't fully committed to it yet. If you want to see the unboxing, and then maybe a couple of clips of it in action, let me know. If I get a good enough response, I'll do it. If not, I'll just open it up normal like, and then find a way to use it in a video this weekend. Either way, you will see it in action.

      I thought I would have more to talk about tonight, but sadly, I don't. I do have Favorite Song of the Week though. I've talked about this band many times before, so I really don't have to do a big background for theses guys. I can tell you, that the stand out line for me, and the one that has had me craving this song for the past week is, "I'll stop wearing black when they make a darker color.". I've been accused from time to time, of wearing too much black, so I guess I can start using that line from now on. Here is Fall Out Boy with "Wilson (Expensive Mistakes)".



     Fun and weird video. I also really like the line, "I became such a strange shape, from trying to fit in.". I don't know about you, but I can relate to that line. I used to try to fit in all the time, and it never felt right. I gave that all up quite a long time ago, but I still remember that feeling of trying to fit in and just failing. I wasn't being true to who I was, and that sucked. That goes along with the whole "Why be normal" thing. Be the weirdest you you can be. It's way more fun. Peace in and goodnight.

Did I Take A Drink This Weekend?

     I have a few things to talk about tonight. The first thing should be the tardiness of The Patchwork Knight. I was exhausted on Thursday night. Unusually so. I couldn't keep my eyes open at 8:30, so I went to be with the idea, that I would write in the morning directly after breakfast. That is what I did which put it late by about 12 hours, but then the email didn't go out until the next morning. I really need to figure out if there is a way that I can control when the subscriber emails go out. On here, it is daily at around 7:30 AM, for the PR it is daily at around 5 PM. There is no reason for why they go out when they do, at least none that I have found. The email going out when it did, put it an entire other day behind, so it wasn't in mailboxes until Saturday morning.

     I think part of the problem for why I was so exhausted is, that I have been waking up at 3 AM everyday. I don't want to wake up at that time, but my body has been waking me up then, and leaving me having a very hard time to get back to sleep. I usually just lay there until I either pass out, or my alarm goes off. I'm pretty sure that lack of sleep has left me completely drained. I only needed that night of sleep with no work on Friday to catch up, because this weekend I've been fine. Oh, I've still woken up at 3, but I had plenty of time to fall back to sleep before Morty would force me out of bed at 7.

     Friday was a day of exploration. I went out on Saki and just rode around exploring roads I'd never been down. I found a couple of roads that look like they cold be rather vacant on the weekends, which would give me a place to practice wheelies. I'm still not good at them, and would like to find a quiet place where I won't bother anyone, or be bothered to practice them. I'll check up on those places from time to time, to see just how vacant they can get. I went yesterday, and they were pretty quiet, but there were still people working in the buildings around there, so I didn't do any practicing yesterday.

     I also received my new plugs, well tunnels for when I stretch up to an inch. I was a little shocked when I opened them up, at just how big they are. The look enormous. To give you an idea of just how big they are, I got a couple of pictures of them next to other tunnels of different sizes.

     I got two different angles so you can get a better view of them. The one on the far left is 3/4ths of an inch. That is the size I was when my right ear blew out. The one in the middle is the 7/8th inch that I am currently getting my right ear up to. When that happens I will be even all around. Of course the one on the far right is the full inch. It is massive. I have probably another day before I can get a 7/8ths in my right ear. Once that happens, I'm going to leave it in for a month, and then I will stretch them both up to that final inch mark. I got some really great looking tunnels in this order, and I have two sets of plugs on the way. Once I get everything in, I'll get a picture of all them together for you to see. I might have to take a separate picture for one set, because it would be difficult to see the detail in them in a group shot. I'll figure it all out when the time comes.

     Yesterday was video creation day, and also, I ordered that gimbal for the GoPro. I'll be testing it out a few times before I put any video up from it. I'm doubting I will get it right the first time I use it, but maybe posting that footage will show you the learning experience I go through. It should come in some time this week. Real quick, before I get to the video and what it's about, and what it caused, I wanted to mention that I have a date for the next pizza review for the PR. It's going to be on March 9th, and I also wanted to mention that my partner came through. He got it going and got our business cards ordered. They should be here a few days before we do the next review. If you want one, let me know and I will get your information and send one out to you when they come in. They look pretty good.

     Now to the video. I've been wanting to do this video for a while. It is a one take video, and doesn't have any of the stuff I normally do. It is also the first time I second guessed myself on whether or not I should finish it up and post it. It gets rather personal. Even though this is all stuff that I've talked about here, I've never actually put it all together and spoke about it, and speaking about it takes it to a whole other level. It doesn't go into all the dark stuff, but it is more about where I am now and how I got there. While I was editing it, I had to take a break from it. I decided to get some food since I was hungry, and I also really put serious thought to having a drink again. I went to my old favorite watering hole, sat down, and ordered a Sprite and a pizza. I didn't take that drink, and I think because of that, I decided to finish up the video and post it. It went up first thing this morning. It took quite a while to upload, since it is over 19 minutes long, and it is all me talking. I put in a few other things, but my voice is still over it. This is the first time you get to see all of my ukuleles in one place. The Gibson Les Paul is there too. After I finished the video, I felt really good about it. I was happy with how it turned out, and in all honesty, it's the favorite video that I've done. 19+ minutes is a long time for anyone to sit and watch a video, so I doubt anyone will watch it all the way through, but it tells my story and does have a happy ending. Here is the video if you want to check it out.



     I would usually make a little promo video for Instagram, but I've noticed that no traffic comes from there. It's weird, I get a decent number of likes on each video, but no traffic comes from that or the MotoAmino app. I share it there as well. Most view, few that they are, come from either this blog or YouTube itself.

     Well, I need to get my clothes washed and folded before The Walking Dead comes on. The second half of the season starts tonight, and I'm not going to miss it. I'll see you on Tuesday. Peace in and goodnight.

The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 17)

     I rose the next morning with my head in a fog. The dinner had lasted from the afternoon, long into the night. The king regaled us with stories of my father's heroics during the Blind War. I could see a dark mood starting to fall over my father's face. He would nod and smile when it seemed appropriate, but it didn't seem like he enjoyed hearing his story told.

     We rode out of the gates from the kingdom after a very quiet breakfast. My new sword was strapped to my saddle. The King had given me permission to have a weapon, and my father permission to forge weapons for me. He renewed his promise that he would sponsor me for the Knights Academy in one year. My journey to being a Knight would take longer, but I was going to train as hard as I could until then.

     When we stopped for lunch at midday, my father broke his silence.

     "There's something I need to tell you boy. Those stories from last night, that is all that they are. Yes, I did everything they said I did, but there should be no congratulations for my actions. I only did what I needed to do to help us win. Battling in war is nothing you should strive to do. It is ugly and tears a part of your soul from you. Only kill when you have to, to defend your life or the people you love. Never kill for fun, profit or heroics."

     "Yes papa." The look in his eyes was one that I'd never seen before. They were full of malice, torture and pain. After I responded, he dropped his head  and just started at the ground for a long moment.

     "I hope that you never had to fight in a war. When the Blind War was over, the King asked me to be the head of the Targen Knights. Even though I had never been a Knight to begin with. He said my skills with a sword were second to none, and that I had been the reason that we had won the war. I wanted no part of that life. I had seen enough deaths and only wanted a peaceful life with my wife and future family. I stayed in the village because I knew that the King wouldn't send his Knights to search for me there. They would have their own problems keeping the borders calm. The mountains are a natural barrier protecting the realm, so there was no need for them to patrol there."

     "Was the war really that bad?"

     "It was my son. I don't want to stop you from your dream, but it was my deepest hope that you would stay safe in the village and become the blacksmith when I walked on to meet the ancestors. I will train you in everything I know to keep you safe as a Knight of the realm, because that is the only way I know how to keep you safe now."

     My father got up and began packing his horse. We rode the rest of the way home in silence again. I was torn between my joy of getting what I wanted for the past year, and the weight that the war put on my father's shoulders. I will train even harder than I did before. I would honor my father in the only way I knew that I could, and that would be the best Knight of the Targen realm that had ever lived. I would protect him and everyone else in the realm. War would never all upon the Targen realm again. How foolish I was.

We Owe It To Them To Do Better.

Alyssa Alhadeff

Scott Beigel

Martin Duque Anguiano

Nicholas Dworet

Aaron Feis

Jaime Guttenberg

Chris Hixon

Luke Hoyer

Cara Loughran

Gina Montalto

Joaquin Oliver

Alaina Petty

Meadow Pollack

Helena Ramsay

Alex Schachter

Carmen Schentrup

Peter Wang

     I'm sure by now, you know who all of those names belong to. For once, the media got the names to the majority of their outlets, unfortunately, I've been hearing the name of the vile that took all those lives, and hurt so many more. There is a lot of blame to go around, but one place I haven't heard blamed is the media itself. By them continuing the practice of naming the viles that commit these horrific acts, they create more monsters. If you need evidence of this, just look to another incident that nearly happened last week, the day after the Valentines Day Slaughter. In Washington State, a grandmother turned in her grandson for things that were written in his diary. He mentioned that he had learned from all the other shooters in the past. He learned what they did, who there were, and what their mistakes were. Thankfully no one had ever kept a journal before. That was his downfall, Turns out, he didn't learn enough. Stop naming these people once they are in custody. That is what they want. This vile in Parkland even said that he wanted to be infamous. He got his wish granted when every media outlet named him, over and over again. Stop telling their stories. They don't need to be heard. You know who's stories need to be heard? Those 17 above. Find their stories. Learn about them and who they were. Three of them received posthumous medals from the Army. Alaina Petty, Peter Wang, and Martin Duque who were all in the Jr.ROTC program, were awarded the Medal of Heroism.

     Despite the horrors of last week, some pretty amazing things have begun to come out of this. Despite the Legislature of Florida failing to bring an assault weapons ban to the floor today, students stood at the hearing to have their voices heard. Legislators had to look then in the eyes as they voted no. A great many of these students will be of voting age come this November, and they want their voices heard. I want to point out one in particular. I saw her speak at a vigil over the weekend. She was brave, smart, and rather eloquent. She spoke so that her voice could be heard. She was in that school with bullets flying by her. She hid in a classroom with other students and teachers hoping that a bullet wouldn't find them. She spoke for those that were silenced, and she spoke for those who so often are afraid to speak. Her name is Emma Gonzalez. She is standing up and letting her voice be heard, when so many adults won't. I got news for all the politicians out there, the kids are coming, and if you aren't trying to change things, you are in the way and will get voted out. This is Emma's twitter account Emma4Change if you want to check it and her out. Let's make some real change for the better come out of this. If you aren't registered to vote, please register, and if a politician in your area doesn't stand up for the same things that you do, let them know by contacting them, and tell them that if they don't change, your vote will not be going to them when they are up for reelection. 

     These students have also put together the March For Our Lives, which will be on March 24th. It is in D.C. but there will marches in coordination with the main one all over the country. If you go to the website MarchForOurLives you can find out information and sign up to march. It is going to be held on a Saturday so look for a march that is local to you, and get out there and let you own voice be heard.

     This is where I would normally put Favorite Song of the Week, but since this post is rather heavy, I thought a change might be in order for tonight, and instead of FSOTW, I'm going to do Favorite Thing of the Week. I came across this video this weekend, and it just made me smile. I think it will do the same thing for anyone, so I'm going to share it here for you to enjoy. If you want the heaviness of this post raised just a little, I suggest that you watch this video all the way through. It's worth it, trust me. This is from a guy who calls himself Ghetto Spider. If the name doesn't give it away, he wears a spiderman costume and dances. It is one of the most enjoyable things I've seen lately, and even though I shared it with some close friends immediately, I wanted to share it with you as well, so here is the video, I hope you enjoy it.



     Come on, how fun was that. If that didn't put a smile on your face, then nothing will. I for one followed this guy on YouTube, so you may see more videos from him in the future here. If something pops up that I think is worthy of a Favorite Thing of the Week, then I will do that instead of FSOTW. Don't worry FSOTW isn't going away, I just might switch it up form time to time.

     One last thing. I still haven't ordered that gimbal yet, but I'm 99% sure that I will order it soon. It's something that I want to make videos better for you, so it will be bought, I'm just holding out a little longer. Maybe later this week or early next week. Then again, I could just order it tomorrow. Who knows. Well, you will after I order it and let you know right here.

     Oh, this really is the last thing. I got my signed mini print in the mail from Kevin Llewellyn today, and it looks fantastic. I wish I could show you what it arrived in, because the packaging is super cool, but my address is written in big letters on it, and if I blurred that out, it would take something away from the overall look. I can however show you the print itself. I will be framing this as soon as possible, and put it up. I'm thinking it should eventually reside in Saki's Lounge, but for now it will just stay in the house. I put up a picture on Instagram of the print, but it's not the one I'm going to share with you here. I thought about posting this one, but thought that if Llewellyn saw it, he might be upset with my choice of lighting for it, so I just went for standard white light picture for that. You get the special lighting treatment though. So here it is, the signed mini print of Kevin Llewellyn's painting White Widow.

     How cool is that. That is his signature right below the figure. The painting is in black and white, and the signature is in a silvery gray. I love it, and am so happy to own two prints from my favorite modern painter. Peace in and goodnight.

This One Is Kind Of Bipolar.

     Let's just get this started with the video I made yesterday. It was a beautiful day, and it was meant for riding. The bonus is that I had a little errand to run, that plays into the whole reason I was happy earlier this week.



     I will make an effort to go back to that little museum soon. I've been thinking about starting the Adventure Time Series back up, and that would be a good place to start again.

     All that happiness had to end, and it did. I'm not devastated or depressed, but I am bummed. The Prince tribute that I got tickets for is coming up this Saturday, and as is normal with me, I have not found anyone that will go with me. I knew when I bought the tickets that this would be the case, but I put a little faith into it, but faith didn't fall into place. Now I start the manic decisioning on whether I go or not. The tickets didn't cost me much at all, as a matter of fact, it's possible to spend more money on movie tickets now, so I won't be out much.

     I did get some good news this week, but that good news has put me in a bit of a quandary. I got my tax return in and that gave me a little bit of extra money. That is where the quandary begins. There are a few things that I would like to buy that would improve the whole video experience. The cheapest (cheap being relative to what I want to buy) could easily be bought and leave me with the majority of my money left over. Seems pretty simple right? Just buy that item. Well here is where it gets difficult. I like having that extra money around, and if I saved a little more, I could get one of the bigger ticket items. I would be able to use any of the items right away, but the cheaper one, would have the most immediate benefits. The cheap one is a gimbal for the GoPro. It would stabilize shots when I'm just taking footage walking around. It would stop that jagged up and down in my videos when I want to show something from my angle when I'm walking, or even running. It would keep the camera in a single line. The other two are of course, a new camera to shoot video of the places I got to (I would probably need a different gimbal for that eventually to get some of the shots I want), and the other is a drone, to get shots in the air. I think those would be really cool, especially with the one I want. It has a feature that will allow the drone to fall a subject. I could ride with the drone following me, not fast, but you would see a whole new perspective. All of that is keeping me from pulling the trigger on the gimbal. I'm sure I'm going to buy it, but I'm going to wait a little bit longer. Not too long though, because I could use it, for sure, on the next Pepperoni Report. Yeah, I'm probably going to only wait a couple more days. If I order by Wednesday, I think I could have it by next Saturday, which means I could use it in my next CS video.

     I'm still enjoying having my right earlobe at 3/4 of an inch. I won't keep enjoying that too long either. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on getting some plugs that are 1 inch. Yep, I'm moving on up. In a couple of days, I'll start the process I've been using of stretching that lobe up to where it is, and I'll get it at 7/8ths for a week or so, and then I'll start taking them both up to an inch. I've had this little thought in my head all along, that I would stop at 1 inch. I would say that I thought I would stop at other times, but that has always been in the back of my head. I won't say that I'm not going to stretch up any bigger, because, honestly, I don't know if I will truly stop at an inch. I think it will all come down to, just how much skin I have between my first and second piercing on my left ear. If that gets too thin, then I won't be able to go up any further, and that will clearly stop me, but if I see that there is still room to stretch, I probably will. Although and inch sounds like a really good obsessive compulsive place to start. It's a nice round number.

     One more thing to talk about tonight, and that is the movie I saw today. I've been waiting for this movie since I heard it was on it's way. The character first appeared in Captain America Civl War, and I wanted to see more. I'm talking of course about Black Panther. I would have gone Friday if I was off, but I actually had to work. Saturday was filled with video creating, so that left today. I could say that they best part was that I got to see it for free, but that would be a lie. This movie was fantastic. After Wonder Woman, I said that it was in my opinion, the best superhero movie that had been made. I think I have to change my mind on that. This movie was everything you want a superhero movie to be. Once again, they didn't bother with any origin story, they just filled you in with little facts to let you know how during the movie. As always, I won't spoil anything for you, because I want you to go see this movie and enjoy every part of it, but I will say that there are two end credit scenes. One that falls shortly after the credits start, and the second falling at the very end. Do you need to see these? Not really, but the first one has something in it that I think every person needs to see and hear. There is a line that is spoken, that is incredibly profound, and speaks of what we as a people should be doing right now. Even saying that I might have given away a little too much. Black Panther and Wonder Woman are the two best superhero movies I have seen, and not just as superhero movies, they are just great movies. Patty Jenkins should have, at the very least, been nominated for best director this year. Ryan Coogler, should be nominated for best director next year, but I'm sure that won't happen. Hollywood still sees superhero films as frivolous folly, but I'm telling you, this movie is as good if not better, than anything out there. Go see it. You will enjoy it.

     I'll leave you with one more urging to go see Black Panther, really, go see it. Peace in and goodnight.

The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 16)

      "Sir Wallace, how could you not bring this to my attention? Do you not recognize your old teacher?"

     Everything began to spin in my head. The King knew my father, and my father was Sir Wallace's teacher? I didn't understand any of this.

     "I'm sorry my lord. I did not recognize him. The fault is mine own." Sir Wallace had a clear look of shame on his face as he apologized and then bowed to my father.

     "How have you been Falren? Where have you been? It has been far too long since you have graced my presence."

     "My apologies my lord. When the Blind War was over, I took my leave for the Colsteen Village in the mountains. It was my home before the war, and I longed to go back when it was over."

     I was looking at my father with astonishment. I had no idea that he knew the King, much less that the King knew my father. He quickly turned towards me and looked at me with guilt. There was a bit of sadness there as well.

     "We must go to the castle, you three will be our guests for dinner."

     "That isn't necessary my lord. We must be readying ourselves to return home soon."

     "Now Falren, would you deny my an opportunity to have a meal with an old friend and the best Captain that fought in my army?"

     My jaw dropped even further, and that look of guilt grew even more on my father's face. I felt a tug on my arm. I turned and it was the Princess, she was signaling me to walk with her. I looked at my father again, and then turned to follow Princess Alma.

     "Your father is Captain Falren? I've heard so many stories about him, and not just from my father, but also from Wallace and the other Knights."

     "I don't know. This is the first time I am hearing any of this. My father told me he fought in the war, and that he then became a blacksmith when the war was over. He said that he learned it from Galdren during the war."

     "Bards sing songs of your father. The Captain that taught Knights how to wield their swords."

     "He told me that he was only a soldier in the infantry, and that he learned swordplay from his Captain."

     "It's told, that your father is the reason that we won the Blind War. If it wasn't for the Swordsman's Euphoria that he taught the Knights, we would have lost for sure."

     I was now beyond shock. It was like my mind was mush.

     "Will you introduce me to your father?"

     I simply nodded and began walking back to where the other men were talking. The King's head was lifted high with pride, while my fathers' head was low. He had a smile on his face, but it seemed like it was drawn on, instead of being there intentionally. I was about to do something that no person in the realm should ever do. I was about to interrupt the King.

     "Excuse me my lord. Please beg my pardon." There was a quiver in my voice as I spoke. "The Princess would like an introduction."

     "Where are my manners? I'm so caught up with seeing an old friend again, that I've forgotten myself. Would you like to do the introduction Pitre?"

     I nodded and bowed to the King. My father had always taught me proper etiquette for introductions. You were always to introduce the younger person first, to show respect to the elder by letting their name be spoken last. This was a different case though, this involved nobility.

     "Princess Alma, I would like to introduce you to my father, Falren of the Colsteen Village. Father, it is my great honor to introduce you to Princess Alma."

     My father bowed deeply to the Princess, but the Princess waved her hand for him to stop.

     "Please Captain Falren, the honor is all mine. I have heard so many tales of your accomplishments. I never dreamed that I would ever meet the great Captain of the Blind War."

     "No no, the honor is all mine. It is not every day that you meet a Princess. Is it true, that you bested my son in the melee? I couldn't bring myself to watch it." My father seemed to cheer up a bit as he spoke to the Princess.

     "I did, but your son is very talented. Is it true that he has only been training for a year?"

     "Indeed it is. He wanted to begin training after he saw the Knights last year at the birthday celebration."

     "Your son would make a fine Knight of Targen. He showed incredible skill in the tournament. If he has been training with a sword for only a year, he must have been training longer with a horse. His skill there is wonderful as well." Sir Wallace beamed at me as he said this.

     "He has had no formal training on horseback, only the occasional ride here and back to the village."

     The King, Sir Wallace, and the Princess all gasped at this. The looked at each other and large smiles grew on their faces, and the began to laugh.

     "This is a jest. You are trying to fool us Falren."

     "No, my lord, it is all true. He only rides a horse when we come here, and when we leave. From time to time, we will ride to the river near the village, but that is it."

     The trio stopped laughing and looked at each other again, and then at me. It felt like the pressure of a thousand stares as the looked at me trying to detect if my father was telling a tall tale and waiting for me to give up the goat. I shrunk back a bit and lowered my head. Sir Wallace was the first to speak up.

     "My lord, is there any way that we could allow him into the Knights Academy? He truly is remarkable."

     "Wish that I could, but there rules are the rules, and even I should not break them."

     "But King?"

     "I hear you Wallace, but what would this kingdom be if we all started shirking the rules. I do agree with you though. Young Pitre here is rather remarkable. I'd say as remarkable as his father is."

     The King stroked his chin and stared at me for a long time. I shrunk even further into myself. I wanted to hide. The King was not just staring at me, but through me, and not only him, but everyone was.

     "Pitre, you competed valiantly today, but the rules are the rules, and I cannot permit you admission to the Knights Academy this year. What I can do however, is ask you to come back next year." The King said this with the grace of a fox about to sneak it's way into a chicken pen.

     "I thought that the tournament was only on odd numbers years?" My father boldly asked the King.

     "Yes, it is Falren, but on the years that the tournament is not held, nobles are permitted to sponsor a child for the Knights Academy. I would like to personally sponsor Pitre. Although I don't know what the academy could teach him that the best instructor in the realm couldn't."

     I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The King was going to sponsor me to become a Knight.

     "Falren, will you continue to train Pitre, until it is time for him to come back next year? I'm sure whatever time would be lost from him not being in the academy would be gained and even more so, by your training of him."

     "Yes, my lord. I will continue to train him."

     "Very well, I grant you permission to bare swords. You are also permitted to make armor as needed. Did Galdren teach you how to smith armor and blades?"

     "Yes, my lord. I taught him every trick I know. The lad will have a fine set of armor and weapons."

     I looked down at my sword. The one that my father had made. The one that Galdren said was better than what he could make. My father had a lot of hidden secrets, and I was hoping to learn them.

     "Very well, it is done. You will be my guest in the academy next year Pitre, but now, we should go eat and catch up. I'm sure your father has plenty of stories to tell me. First of all, is how he was here with you last year, and I didn't hear about it."

     The King motioned for everyone to follow him, and he led the way out of the tunnel and to the castle. The Princess fell back and walked with me in the rear of the impromptu parade.

     "You really didn't know any of that about your father?"

     "No, none of it."

     "Then you are going to learn quite a bit at dinner I think. I truly haven't seen my father this excited in years."

     I think I was going to learn a lot, but with everything that had happened. The end of the tournament, losing to the Princess, the King knowing my father, my father being the hero of the Blind war, the one thing that was finally settling in was, I was going to go to the academy. It finally hit me, that I was truly going to become a Knight. I think I frightened the Princess, because out of nowhere, I leaped in the air and let out a boisterous, "WOOHOO!".
   

   

I Am So Happy.

     I am a happy camper, for a few reasons, one of which I'm going to keep secret just a little while longer. I can tell you about the other two though. First up, is how my ear is doing with the stretching. You may or may not know, or remember, that it was about this time last year, that I tried to stretch up to 7/8ths of an inch. I did it rather aggressively, and it didn't take in my right ear. I had a blow out, and when I took everything out, to let my ear heal up, it closed up entirely. Something that isn't supposed to happen. Back in November I decided it was time to open that hole up and try again, because I just couldn't deal with being lopsided. I figured that it was going to take a very long time to get back to where I had left off, but after a few weeks, my ear began stretching from the weight of the curved barbell that was in. It was stretching on it's own, without any help by me. That was, until two weeks ago. I had to nudge it a little, but this time I took a less aggressive approach. I began using plumbers tape on the plug that I could fit in, so that it would slowly stretch my lobe to the next size. Today I was able to get a 3/4ths inch plug in my ear. That is the last complete gauge that I had before the blowout. I'm only a few steps away from finally being even again. I'm going to wait a week though, and then I'll start the tape method to get it up to that 7/8ths mark. You don't know how happy that actually makes me.

     The second reason for my happiness, is that The Pepperoni Report is doing better than I thought it would at this point. It isn't ground shaking numbers, but it's numbers that I didn't think I would see yet. There are no comments on it yet, so I can't gauge how the readers are liking it or not. I'll just have to wait until we do the next one, and see if there are similar numbers, but we are off to a pretty good start.

     Oh, I guess you can count this towards my happiness, although it kind of happened yesterday. I found another Trollhunters Funko Pop Vinyl figure at a reasonable price. It turns out that it is a limited edition one from New York Comic Con 2017. I should probably get a better picture of it, to show you, but I went with red because the character is wearing red armor. It's the main character Jim and he is wearing his Eclipse armor. If you watch the show, you will understand everything about why this is cool, or it could be that I'm just a nerd.

     I think it was last year, when I mentioned that I must have a type, because there are two particular women that I think are truly the most beautiful. Do you remember that? I said that they were Brooke Shields, and Jennifer Garner. They both have a similar look about them, and I find it very attractive. Well, I have an update, and I believe that this woman is this generation equivalent to them. Her name is Victoria Justice, she is an actress/singer, and she also has that same look to her. There is a difference though, and I think that she is on the shorter side of things, where Brooke and Jennifer are both rather tall. Here is a picture of Victoria, judge for yourself and see what you think of how they all have a similar look to them.

     What do you think? Before we go on though, I just want to point out, that this is not me saying that I would date all of them. I wouldn't have a chance in hell with any one of them, I'm just saying, that for me, they are the most attractive women I have seen, and they all seem to have a similar look. The real oddity though, about all of this. I have never dated a woman that has that look. I have dated very attractive women, but none of them have looked like those three. Maybe it's not odd, maybe they are all a perceived fantasy. Who knows.

     For this weeks Favorite Song of the Week, it's not just my FSOTW, but it is also my favorite David Bowie song of all time. I know, I spilled the beans on the artist much sooner than I usually do, but since Howard Stern had the David Bowie tribute last Friday, I figured now would be a good time to put this one up, and let's face it, there is no holding back a mention of David Bowie. When David Bowie died, I was still doing the 365, and I wrote a tribute to him, and mentioned my favorite song of his. The strange thing about my favorite Bowie song, is that it's not on my favorite Bowie album. You would think that the favorite album would also own the favorite song, but that's not how it works with Bowie. He did things differently, and that translated in you listening to him differently. My favorite album was Diamond Dogs. I think his voices sounds so pure on that album. It was more motown and 50's rock inspired than any other album of his, and his vocals are the best they ever were on that album. Now my favorite song, came a few years later, and it has a much funkier sound, so much so that the video I chose for it, is an appearance he did on Soul Train. I was a big fan of Soul Train when I was a kid. I watched it all the time, and that is where I first found my love for funk music. Bowie transcended everything, and so did his music. He mixed and matched genres as he did his sexuality. He was as gender bender and an genre bender. There wasn't a label you could slap on him, and this song for me, is the epitome of that. It is a peppy happy song, with some very strange dark undertones. Just listen to it and see for yourself. You'll hear it. That mixture is why I love it so much. It is both light and dark, order and chaos. It's the definition of him. I give you, David Bowie with "Golden Years".

     I really love that song. I would love to do a video with that song in it, but there is that whole royalties thing, so I won't be able to. I'll live. Unfulfilled, but I'll live.

     I'm going to put together a motovlog video this week and have it ready for you by Sunday. The video will fill you in on the other reason for my happiness. All will be revealed in due time.

     I did something a little different with The Patchwork Knight last week. When I finished the last chapter, I kept going, and wrote the beginning of the next chapter, so I'm already a little ahead of the game this week. A little mystery and intrigue will be revealed this week. I hope you liked the little twist in that last action packed chapter. I've had that plan since I began writing it. I have some big points that I want to hit in the storyline, and that was the first of them. I really have a lot of fun writing The Patchwork Knight. When I would write stories in the past, it was a little taxing on me. I would live out the emotions that the characters would go through, and it would drain me. So far, it is much different writing The Patchwork Knight. I don't know if it is my mental state, or if I feel some sort of detachment because the main character is a young boy, but it's a very pleasant change. Not that I didn't enjoy writing those other stories and those characters, but it was different. I'm very ready for Thursday to come, and I can finish writing that chapter. A little behind the scenes, this new little wrinkle in it, is something I came up with as I was writing. This was not planned, but I saw a path it could follow that would line it up with everything else, and actually enhance the story. I love it when things like that happen.

     Ok, I'm out of here. It's getting late, and I got to wake up early. Peace in and goodnight.

We Got The First Review Up On The Pepperoni Report.

     For the past month or so, I've been putting the bulk of my free time into The Pepperoni Report. We finally got our first review up, and I could sit back and relax. That was until today. Before I get to that, I need to go through the first part of the story, that will lead to my current frustration.

     I have been doing the bulk of the work on the PR despite the fact that it is supposed to be a collaborative effort between myself and the creator. I say creator, because it was his idea. I set up the blog, I set up the Instagram, I set up the YouTube channel. I wrote the first and third post, while editing the second post and doing some rewriting on it. I've filmed the channel trailer, and I filmed some pieces that will be an addition into the videos in the future (we forgot about it for the first video, so it will come in with the next one). I've supplied the camera equipment, and access to the music used in the videos. As you can see, I've put a great deal of work into this, with very little help from the creator. In all honesty, I don't mind doing the bulk of the work, but here is where today's frustration comes into existence. I would like to see something done, when I ask for it to be done. All I've asked of him so far, beside the few little things I've talked about in the past, is to look into business cards, so that we can hand them out to people that are interested in what we are doing, and to make sure to share the blog and video on his social media outlets.

     I have heard nothing about the business cards, and when I asked him about sharing it on his social media, he said that he had been too busy.

     When I saw that it was National Pizza Day on Friday, which was the day we were doing the tasting for the review, I decided that I wanted to get everything done that night. It only made sense. As soon as I got home, I began editing the video. It took my two and a half hours to get it completed, and ready for upload. I began the upload and while that was going on, I began writing the blog post. My plan was to write the intro, my part of the review, and then post the video and a what pictures I had. His part was to write his take on the place and then let me know when he was done, so that I could write the wrap up. I finished my part of the blog, but still was waiting on the video to load. I told him that he needed to write his part, and have it ready by the time the video was ready. That way, I could have everything published right around the same time. I gave him a deadline of two hours. With in a half hour he told me that he was done. I went to check, and he had begun a whole new post. I went in and say a single paragraph, that had much of what I had already covered in the bulk of the blog. I cut and pasted that paragraph into the blog that I had already started, deleted his, and then told him to take a look at it and add or omit to his portion as he saw fit.

     He read through it, and asked me to delete his portion, he was going to rewrite it and send it to me when he was done. In about ten minutes he sent me a text with his portion of the blog. Let me reiterate that, he sent me a text. I asked him if that is what he wanted as his portion and he said yes. I had to pull up the text and then add it to the blog myself. As I did that, I corrected some errors, changed the voice of what he had written to match it up with everything else. I used plural terms for him and I, while he used singular terms only referring to himself. The problem with that, is that we weren't making any distinction between who was writing what. The goal was for it to be seamless. I also pretty much did a full rewrite on what he sent me. I added a few sentences and thew out a few, that weren't necessary. I gave him final say on if it was ready, so I shot him a text to read it for final approval. He sent me back a text saying there were a few misspells but other than that it was ready. The question that immediately formed in my head, was why didn't he correct the spelling errors, but it was a waste of time to ask that. I did a proofread on it to get everything tightened up. I finally hit publish a little before 10 o'clock that night.

     Am I wrong in assuming that since this is a collaboration, that I should be seeing more of an effort from my partner? We've already monetized the blog, and the YouTube channel will come along in due time (or not), so when any money starts coming in from these things, what am I supposed to do? Do I split it 50/50 since we are partners, or do a make the split reflect with the amount of work each of us has put into it? My nature is to just split it 50/50. If I don't see a change in his efforts, I may have to scale back my own until he starts carrying more weight. The only problem with that is, that I want it to succeed. That means I have to give it my maximum effort, which is what I will end up doing, even if that means that I end up doing everything except the banter in the video. He will have no choice but to be there for that.

     Enough of that little rant. In the meantime, if you haven't checked it out yet. Here is a link to our first review. Pappagallos, that is the name of the place that we went, and it's real good. Well I'll let the review speak for itself. See that link right there? That is more than he has shared it on social media of any kind to this point. I really hope that changes.

     I don't have any pictures or anything like that for you tonight, because all of that is in the PR. I was hoping to get another video for the CS, but I really just wanted to relax after all the craziness of putting together the PR. I will sit back for a week and not worry anymore about it, but then I will start getting on him to pick the next location and a date for it. He has to do something. I suppose that I will start looking into the business cards around that time as well. Here's an idea, should I reimburse myself from the put of money we make before splitting it?

     A little update on my right ear. I have begun actively stretching it now. The way I'm doing that, is with plumbers tape. This is an actual trick to stretching your ears. You simply take one of your plugs, and wrap plumbers tape around it, and add to it as the lobe opens up. I should be up to 3/4 of an inch in another week or so, then I begin stretching up to 7/8ths of an inch, which is where my left ear is. I will finally be even up. That's when I will start thinking about whether or not to move up to a full inch. I'm pretty sure, that is where I'm going with this.

     Please let me know what you think I should do about this whole partnership thing. Also, let me know what you think of the PR. I put a lot of work into getting it to be something I can be proud of. Is it perfect? No, but it's a start, and it will get better. Oh, and if you can, please go subscribe to the YouTube channel for the PR. You should be able to get to it by just clicking on the video on the PR. Every subscriber helps us get to where we hope to be. I got ideas for this in the future, and I think it's going to be a fun ride, but also a bumpy one as well. Here's to the adventure. Peace in and goodnight.

The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 15)

     I found myself in the waiting area once again. My father and Galdren were waiting for me in the corner.

     "You did well boy. That young man in the plate mail would have beaten a well trained calvary man with that performance."

     "Thank you Galdren. It felt better than I thought it would."

      "I told you that you had nothing to worry about. Now before you go back out there, I want to talk a little strategy with you." My father looked at me with a cunning eye.

     "Strategy, what is that?"

     "It's how you are going to have a chance to win. In melee fights like this, everyone rushes in without any concern for their wellbeing. They only want to make the first strike. All of you will be circled up to start the melee. When the call to begin fights sounds, instead of running in, I want you to take a step back and wait."

     "Why would I wait father? I want to win this as quickly as possible."

     "I'm sure that you do, but if you dash into the fray, then it will end quickly, for you. When they all run in and clash with one another, two maybe three boys will be out right from the start. They will get ahead of themselves and either get waylaid by multiple boys, or they will mistakenly thrust in with a stab. Sit back and wait for that to happen, and then measure who is left, and what you need to do. You con't have to beat all of them, you just have to stay in long enough to only beat one of them."

      I thought about what he was saying, and it began to make sense. If some of the boys were eliminated right from the start, it would make it easier for me. I would only have to fight through a few of them and not all of them. In the end, it would only come down to me and one other boy. The odds would get better with each boy that was eliminated.

     Sir Wallace walked back into the waiting area, and called for attention.

     "I want to go over the rules again, and let you know exactly how this will go. I've already sent the contestants that will not be competing in this event to the stands where they can watch the rest of the tournament."

     I wasn't paying attention and hadn't noticed, but the room was more, well roomy. There were only seven sets of people milling around now. That means that plate mail earned a spot in the melee.

      "As I said before, there are no thrusting stabs, only slashes, and flat blade smacks. If you stab another opponent, you will be deducted 5 points. You will begin with 5 points, if you fall below zero, you will be eliminated. Before you ask, if you start the melee by stabbing someone, it is possible for you to fight your way back to a win, but only if you don't get struck before you can get a point. Each strike will give you a point, and every time you are struck, you will lose a point. Simple right?"

     Everyone nodded.

     "When you go out into the arena this time, you will see a circle of Knights. I will direct you to go to a Knight and stand in front of them. These Knights will be watching your every move. They will know if you stab, strike, or get struck. They are your score keeper. If they tap you on your shoulder, you are to drop your sword immediately and retreat from the ring of Knights. That tap means you have been eliminated. Lastly, an opponent may ask you to yield, but only when you are in no position to protect yourself any further. If you yield, you are eliminated. You will drop your sword and retreat from the circle of Knights. All swords will be returned to you after the conclusion of the melee, so that you can return it to your sponsor. Ah, I can hear the trumpets call. If you need water, now is the time to get it, because we will be heading back to the arena in a few moments. Good luck to each and every one of you."

     A few of the boys ran over to the water barrel and began gulping water down. After a few big gulps of water, one of the boys vomited it all back up. He looked around embarrassed and ran back to his father and sponsor. They began talking to him in hushed tones, but it appeared that they were scolding him. The other boys that were by the barrel slowly made their way back to their fathers holding their noses from the smell of the vomit. One boy was practicing with his sword, but he appeared to be untrained with the weapon. He was making large looping swings that threw him slightly off balance. He wouldn't stab his way out of the tournament, but he wouldn't be blocking much either. I would keep an eye out for him. No need to get hit with an errant swing. The trumpets began sounding again, and Sir Wallace walked in and told us to line up. I took my spot at the end of the line, and followed them all into the daylight.

     Eight Knights stood in the center of the arena like statues. Their hands were resting behind their backs, chins up, and a hard stare at an unseen foe. Plate mail was standing in front of one of the Knights on the farthest side. As each boy passed Sir Wallace, he would point to a Knight, and the boy would make his way to that Knight. It appeared that he was directing each boy to a different side of plate mail. That would put me at the exact opposite of him.

    It was as I thought. I was looking directly across at plate mail. He stood just as still as the Knight behind him. He wasn't very big, but he was a bit intimidating with that plate mail armor on. He had already proven himself quite well in both the run and the horsemanship portion of the tournament. He would be another one to watch, but for a far different reason than the big slashing boy. He would be a challenge. Sir Wallace took his place in the center of the ring of Knights, and addressed the crowd.

     "These are your finalists. Only one will win, but please give a rousing cheer for these boys who made it to the final event. They have earned their spot, and soon one of them will earn their spot in the Knights Academy. When the King drops a scarf, the melee will begin. Your Highness, the stage is yours." And with that Sir Wallace quickly walked out of the ring and off to the side.

     I had a direct view of the King. Half of the other boys would have to turn their head in some way to see him drop the scarf. That would leave them vulnerable briefly, but my father told me to take a step back and wait. I would do as he said. I looked at each boy as they slowly turned their head towards the King, and then I saw plate mail. He was simply staring straight ahead. He was looking directly at me. I began staring back. I could still see the King, and I watched as the scarf fall. It was exactly as my father said. All the boys rushed in. All of them except plate mail. He continued to stare at me. I saw a Knight quickly dart into the drum and tap a boy on the shoulder. It was the boy who had vomited. His day had come to and end. I began to slowly walk around the outer edge of the fight, and plate mail did the same, but walking in the other direction from me. I saw the boy with the wide arcing slashes swing with all his might at another boy. He missed and the boy slashed across his open torso. The big swing took all of his balance, and spun him to the ground. Two other boys pounced on him and slashed as often as they could. His Knight ran in pushing the other boys away, and pulled him to his feet and out of the fight.

     Plate mail and I stalked each other form opposite sides of the ring. Two more boys were pulled from the fight. That left two fighting in the center with all they had, plate mail and myself. I made my move, and entered the combat. While the two boys were engaged, I quickly moved in, and did two quick slashes to each of them I had gained a point for each slash bringing me to 9 points. I spun and stepped back to avoid one of the boys blades. While he went after me, the other boy saw his opening and slashed across his unprotected chest. I saw his Knight come and tap him on his shoulder. That left plate mail, who still hadn't entered the fight, the last of the two boys and myself.

     The boy lunged at me with a quick jab of his blade. He wasn't trying to stab me, it was a feint to throw me off guard, but I was ready for it. I parried his blade and slashed across arm as he leaned in just a little two far. Another point for me. I stepped to the side, keeping one eye on him, and one on plate mail. who was patiently waiting for the winner. The boy must of saw plate mail out of the corner of his eye, because he suddenly turned his head, and jumped to the side. That gave me the perfect opening to give him a tap on the top of his head with the flat of my blade. I saw his Knight walk towards him. When he realized what had happened, he simply looked at me, and dropped his sword. He didn't even need his Knight to tap him on his shoulder.

     I now had 11 points, and only one opponent left. I stepped back and dropped my sword to mysids and took a deep breath. I could feel everything slow down, and I could only hear the beating of my own heart. Plate mail made his move, and stepped in, but it wasn't to strike. He was taking my measure. He was looking for a reaction. but I stood as calm as a tree on a windless night. He took a step back, and in a quick move, snapped his sword straight up in front of him. He nodded his head and then just stood there. He was showing me respect and offering a challenge. I raised my sword in a similar fashion and nodded my head back to him. Almost as if we were of the same mind, we both slashed our swords straight down to the ground. The dual was on.

     I felt a warmth pour into my body, and my energy peaked. The world had disappeared around us, and it was just me and plate mail. He feinted a jab. It was quick, much quicker than the other boys. I only was able to get out of the way of it. He followed it with a quick slash to my torso, but I jumped out of the way of that as well. I brought my sword up and over his, slashing towards his torso as a counter, but he flipped his blade up, knocking mine away. We both spun in opposite direction away from each other. He was better than I could have imagined. He fought with the Swordsman's Euphoria. You could see it in his grace and speed. I took another deep breath and made my move in. I took a move from the Third movement. I twirled my sword in front of me. I stepped with my follow leg so that I would spin, as I did, I spun my sword behind me to block any unwanted attack. When I came forward again, I lowered myself in another spin to sweep his leg. He jumped over it. I did a 360 spin and began to rise. He was landing, and in one fluid movement, he lowered himself and swung his back leg around and swept me to the ground. I hit with a thud, knocking the air from my lungs. I tried to raise my sword, but plate mail knocked it away. He stood over me and I heard him say in an unusually high pitched voice, "Do you yield?"  I couldn't believe what I was hearing, or what was happening. I just starred at him. He asked again, and then he tapped me on the head. I had just lost a point.

     "Do you yield?" He asked for a third time. I was still in shock. I couldn't do anything. He stood with his foot on my chest, and sword pointed at my face. He cocked his head, and then tapped me on mine again.

     "I can do this until you no longer have points. It doesn't matter to me, but I'm sure the crowd will get a little rowdy." It was then that the crowd noise came back to me. It was completely quite when I was in the heat of battle, but now the crowd was cheering for all they had. Plate mail asked again, "Do you yield?" I finally came to all fo my senses and with a heavy heart I said, "I yield."

     The crowd erupted in it's loudest cheer yer. I was broken. I had lost. Plate mail was better than I was, better than I would ever hope to be. Plate mail reached down and offered his hand to help me to my feet. I stood up, and bowed to him out of respect. I had lost, and only had myself to blame. Plate mail bowed back and then reached up and took his helmet off.

     The face of a girl was starring back at me once the helmet was removed. She smiled, "You are skilled with that sword. You've been well trained." I didn't know what to say. I once again found myself in shock. Sir Wallace broke the spell when he walked up.

     "Here lad, take your sword back, you fought valiantly. There aren't many that can stand against Princess Alma."

     Princess Alma? Did he just say Princess Alma? I looked up at him. He nodded at me, and then looked down at my sword that he held hilt first to me. I looked down at it, and then back up at him. He nodded again, for me to take it. As I did I looked at the Princess, and then back to him again. Once again, he nodded and this time he had a big smile on his face. I was finally making the connection of what he was saying. I had just fought the Princess, I immediately dropped to my knee and bowed my head to her.

    "Oh no you don't. Don't bow to me. You don't need to do that." She reached down once again and offered her hand to help me up. I stood up again, and Sir Wallace quickly stood between us. He had us face the crowd.

     "I present to you, the winner of the tournament and the Princess of the Targen realm. Princess Alma. A has fell over the crowd. A clap came from a single source. It was the King. When everyone realized that only the King was applauding, they burst into cheer. Sir Wallace was holding the Princess's hand high above her head, and she waved to the crowd. He let her hand down and then began waving his arms in an up and down motion to quiet the crowd. "All of the contestants did their best today, and none more than these two, both of which are the winners of the two previous events. The both were first and second in each event."

     I didn't know until he said it, that I was second in horsemanship. Not that it mattered now.

     "The Princess is due all of your applause, but please spare some for." Sir Wallace looked down at me. "What is your name boy?" "Pitre." "Please spare some of your applause for young lad Pitre. He fought as valiant as any boy that I've seen in this tournament. Now, both of them will take a victory lap around the arena and then greet the King himself." Sir Wallace looked down at both of us now. "Alright you two, all you have to do now, is take a slow stroll around the edge of the arena and you will then meet the King at the far end of the arena." He looked at Princess Alma, "I believe you've met him before?" Princess Alma let out a little "Pshht" and winked at Sir Wallace.

     Before I knew what was happening, the Princess took my hand and led me to the edge of the arena. people were clamoring to reach down and touch us. Their were shouts of praise to the Princess for being a fierce warrior. I even heard a few cheers about my ability with a sword.

     The Princess turned to me. "How long have you been training?" I was surprised that she would talk to me with such ease.

     "I've been training for a year. I guess I should have began training earlier." I held my head down again. My one chance to become a Knight had flittered away.

     "You have only been training for a year? That is remarkable. I've been training for as long as I can remember anything. My father told me, that he put a sword in my hand, the moment that I took my first step."

     "So that is why you are so good. What was that move that you did to sweep my leg?"

     "The Sir Wallace showed me that move. He learned it from a Captain during the Blind War. Time to meet my father."

     I looked from her to straight ahead, and the King was waiting for us at the tunnel that she had always appeared from.

     "Ah, my darling daughter. You did well today. I don't think you expected to run into someone with such skill as, Pitre was it?"

     "Yes my lord."

     "Indeed father. It is even more impressive. He has only bee training for a year."

     "Is this true? Only a year?"

     "Yes my lord."

     "I must know, who trained you to such a level in only a year?"

     "It was my father, my lord."

     "Your father? Who is this man? Have I ever heard of him?"

     "He is just my father my lord. We live in the mountain village of outer edge. He is the blacksmith of our village."

     "He has to be more than a simple village blacksmith. Is he here? Did he come with you?"

     "Yes my lord. he is in the waiting are with Galdren."

     "Galdren? My Galdren?"

     "Yes, my lord, they were friends during the Blind War. He taught my father everything about blacksmithing."

     "Your father fought alongside Galdren during the Blind War?"

     "Father, leave him alone. Why are you asking him so many questions."

     "I'm sorry, my daughter is right. I would love to meet your father though. Let's go see him now."

     The King led the way, and we walked back to the tunnel that led to the waiting area. My father and Galdren were sitting in the corner that they had first went to when we arrived.

     "So you are the father of this fine young man are you?" My father had a shocked look on his face as he rose to greet the King.

     "Yes my lord."

     "Falren? Is that you?"

     "Yes, my lord, it's me."

   

Rockets, Bowie, And Pickle Rick.

     I'm really looking forward to my eye appointment tomorrow. I'm also hoping that there is nothing seriously wrong with my eyes. I've been wearing my contacts the past two days, and nothing has gone wrong, but they still don't feel comfortable. It would be a bummer if I couldn't wear contacts anymore, but if that is what it takes to preserve my eyesight than so be it.

     I got to see a historic event today. I honestly didn't think I would see it though. It was scheduled for when I was at work, but it was delayed just long enough that I was at home when it happened. What is this historic event? It was the launch of the Space X Falcon Heavy. The most powerful rocket in history was launched in my backyard. I wanted to get footage of it going off, but I would have had to ride closer to the launch site to get it, and I didn't have that much time, from when I got off work to the launch. I had to settle with watching it from my backyard. I have to say, that although impressed with the launch, I was a little underwhelmed by the sound. Living where I do, and watching rockets launch my entire life, I've heard some crazy rumblings from the Cape. Launches that would shake the house and rattle the windows. I know that most of that has to do with the thrusting power of the rockets, but there is an element of the weather that comes into play as well, and it's possible that today wasn't favorable for the sound to head my direction.

     There is something about the Falcon launches that I should have talked about already, but have neglected to do so. These launches are amazing in the fact that the rocket boosters come back to earth and land for reuse. Today was no exception. A tandem landing occurred with two sonic booms. When the boosters come back to the Space Coast, they make these massive booms that sound like explosions. Not just an explosion like if you threw a paint can in a fire, but like, catch you off guard and scare the bejesus out of you. Every time it happens when I'm not expecting it, I run outside and look for the light of a fire, but then I remember that it is just those boosters coming back to the ground. I mentioned above that there was a tandem landing, but that isn't entirely true. Two of them landed back near the launch site, while the third landed safely on the drone barge out at sea. That last one took a few more minutes to make it's landing, and since it was out at sea, I couldn't hear the boom from it.

     The last little bit of info from this launch, apparently Elon Musk had a Tesla Roadster put onboard and it is now in orbit above the earth. It's the first earth based vehicle to orbit the planet, and apparently there is a stamp on the circuit board that reads Made on Earth by humans. Go check out Elon's Instagram account if you want to see pictures of it all. You can get to his page right here.

     I got some incredible news today, and it will give em a solid plan for what I'm doing Friday night. Oh, I'm still doing the pizza tasting, but this won't effect that. This is going to be happening later in the night. On Howard Stern today, he announced a tribute to David Bowie, that has been a year in the making. Collaborating with Tony Visconti, the longtime friend and producer to David Bowie, the put an album together. It won't be for sale and the only way you can hear it, is if you are a subscriber to Sirius XM. They got 25 artist to cover some of the most iconic songs of Bowie. Howard played a few clips of some of the songs today, and they sound incredible. I will be listening on Friday night to hear those clips in their entirety and all the other songs that he didn't preview. Here are some of the artist that are involved in this whole affair. Peter Frampton, he was the first person to sign up for the tribute. Daryl Hall of Hall & Oats, Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stoned Sour, Lisa Loeb, William Patrick Corrigan (better known as Billy Corrigan of the Smashing Pumpkins), Huey Lewis, and a whole many more. I am so looking forward to this. One other one that really got to me when Howard played the clip, was Shawn Colvin doing Heroes. It was in credible. It was just her and a guitar, and she did it right in Howard's own studio. The segment producer Steve Brandano, told Howard that Tony said that her performance was the best vocal performance of the whole project. Hearing her and Lisa Loeb's version of All The Young Dudes made me remember Aurora and her version of Life On Mars, and it made me come to one conclusion. Despite the fact that the male singers I heard that did an equally great job, I think that only women should cover Bowie. It seems like when a woman sings his songs, that he meant for that to be the case all along. Go look up the Aurora version of Life On Mars, and see if you don't agree.

     Last but not least, is the Favorite Song of the Week, and it ties into the whole Bowie tribute. One of the clips that Howard played was from a band called Greta Van Fleet. I had never heard of them before, and I'm saddened that I haven't. There chose The Jean Genie as their song, and it sounds remarkable. Now, to say that these kids, and I say kids because they are all 21 and under, were influenced by Led Zeppelin, would be an understatement. I'm not going to make comparisons, despite the fact that I just did, but they even say their influence comes from the father letting them listen to his favorite bands. One of which was none other than Led. They have only released two EP's and are working on a full length album, but in todays music scene I don't know if you need a full album. Of course they will need to build their catalogue in order to be successful touring, but that will come with time. The thing is, they are this weeks FSOTW. I had to look them up after hearing the small clip that played today, and I was impressed. I think you will be too. Here is Greta Van Fleet with their song "Highway Tune".



     If you don't hear Led Zeppelin in there somewhere, then you have never heard Led Zeppelin. Ok enough of the comparisons. I nearly forgot something. If you want the full list of artist in the Bowie Tribute follow this link and it will take you to all the information about the tribute and a little background on each artist.

     I know I said that was the last thing, but I just remembered that I had one more thing for you. You know my love of Funko, well I finally got one in that I pre-ordered several months ago. It is in line with my fandom of Rick & Morty, and it comes from my favorite episode. I give you, Pickle Rick.

     In the episode Rick turns himself into a pickle to avoid going to family therapy. He avoids the therapy, but mayhem ensues as he finds himself stuck in the sewers, and he had to battle his way back to the surface in order to change himself back to human. Go search it out and watch it if you can.

     Ok, that really is all that I have tonight, so I'll be taking my leave now. Peace in and goodnight.

The Frustration And The Accomplishment.

     It's been a frustrating but also a restful weekend. I spend most of it recovering from my eye injury. I'm not real sure I can call it an eye injury, but I really have no idea what else to call it. The eye seems to be fully recovered at this point, but that doesn't mean that I'm out of the woods yet. I have an eye appointment scheduled for Wednesday. I'll find out what the doctor thinks at that point, and see where I go from there.

     I few years ago, I had to have some repairs on the body of my car. I had a steel grate fall on it, and I need to have the dents and paint repaired. When they fixed everything, they didn't attach some wires, and my rear door didn't work. It would open manually, but I couldn't roll down the window, nor could I use the door lock unless I manually locked and unlocked it. In essence, I lost the use of that door. I finally got off my butt and did something about it this weekend. I looked up the proper way to remove the door panel, and went to work. I opened up a small area on the arm rest to get to the screws, and found a small plug in there. It was attached. It seemed like that was where I had to be, so I wasn't going to take the whole panel off. I followed the wires down, and saw where they came out of the door, and into the door frame. When I tugged on those wires, they came completely free. That was the spot where they didn't connect them. I had to fish the male part of the plug out of the door frame. It was not easy to get to. The door was somewhat in the way, so I got on the outside of the door with a pair of needle nose pliers, and went to work.

     After a few minutes I was able to get the plug far enough out of the door frame so that I could try to plug it in. That proved a little more difficult than I thought. The female portion of the plug had a hard rubber gasket around it, that was nor very pliable. I finally worked it into a position so that I could plug the two ends together. I did a quick test by turning the car on and viola, everything worked again. I worked the gasket back into the door frame, so that it wouldn't be just sitting there hanging around, and closed things up. I'm pretty excited to have the full use of my rear door back.

     I found a little something last week, that made me smile. As you know, I like the Funko Pop Vinyl figures, and I came across one from one of my favorite Netflix shows, Trollhunters. I snatched it up as quick as I could and began looking for more of them. This might be the only set that I try to find all of them. I had no luck there that day, or today. I did find them online, but the prices are vastly greater than what I paid at the local Target. Most of them seem to be running 2 to 3 times as much as what I paid. I'll have to rethink getting the whole set. In the meantime, here is a picture of AAARRRGGHH!!!.

     More from the accomplishment category for this weekend. I finished Horizon Zero Dawn Friday night, or maybe you could say Saturday morning. I was up playing until 6 in the morning, but it was well worth it to finish it. It is truly the singe best game that I've ever played. The story is out of this world good, and the game play is flawless. Everything about this game was top notch to me. I fear that I will be disappointed by other games in the future, but I have heard that they are working on a Horizon 2, so I have that to look forward to. I still have plenty of time to go back and explore that world that I didn't get to during the normal game play. They reset me with all of my equipment and skills, but at the moment right before the final quest, so I can just roam around and find things, and do all the side quests that go along with the game.

     The final bit of frustration from this weekend. I did my normal errands today, and as part of that, got my groceries for the week. One item was a gallon of ice cream. I was really looking forward to having that ice cream, but it is not to be. Someone stopped by my house today, and when they left, they went out through the lounge, and snagged my brand new gallon of ice cream. I keep it in a freezer out there, and they snuck off with it. Needless to say, I'm pretty bummed about it. Could I go out and buy more? Sure I could, but It isn't in the budget I set for myself. I need to stick to that budget if I want to get the camera equipment that I want, so I'm ice dreamless for the week. I'll suck it up, and then beat the snot out of them when I see them again.

     This coming Friday is going to be when we do our tasting for The Pepperoni Report. There has been a slight change of plans. As my partner was researching the place that we are going, he realized that he had been there before. That doesn't line up with what we want to do for our first few places. We want to hit places that we haven't been to before, so that we have no bias. It will be a pure first tasting, so he looked around and found another place, so we should have a place lined up for Friday, and then I can get to work on the video edit and more than likely, the writing of the blog post for a Sunday release. If you took the time to go over there and subscribe to the PR, then you should get it in your email either Sunday afternoon, or Monday afternoon. It all depends on when I can get it completed and posted. It seems that the email is sent out at 5:30 or so in the afternoon. It's not like this one which for some reason goes out at 7 in the morning. I have no idea why they are different or how I can change that. It is what it is. If I'm able to get it completed and up before that 5:30 send out, It will go out to you on Sunday. Please remember though, if you read it in the email, you will miss out on the video feature we put together. For some reason that doesn't show up in the emails. The site will always be the best experience for you.

     There you go, another Sunday in the books. Oh, I forgot to mention one thing. I made a decision a few weeks ago, but it took until this week to start the habit. I decided that I would play Powerball once a week, and only play one set of numbers. Yes, that keeps my chances of winning the big money pretty low, but it also keeps my cost very low. It's only going to cost me $2 a week. The do two drawings a week, I will only be playing for the Saturday drawing. Now I said habit earlier, because that is what it is going to have to be for me to remember to play. My plan is to hit up 7-11 every Friday evening and play my numbers. I nearly forgot to check the ticket this morning. I didn't win. If I did though, I would still be here writing this, I would just have much better news for you. I have been putting thought into what I would do with a big money prize, and it really would't be much different than what I do now. Depending on the prize, I would quit my job, so that would be the biggest difference. I would pay off all my bills, and I would by a truck, so that I could transport Saki to anywhere I wanted to go and ride. That is pretty much the extent of it. I would of course by the camera gear and probably a new higher powered computer to do better edits for you, but that wouldn't come to a huge expense.

     Something else I've been thinking I could do with the money, is based on something I saw on twitter. I saw a post from someone that had just received an inheritance. They were going to take $5000 of that inheritance, and split it up between 10 people. That's $500 a person, the catch? They had to submit a project that they were working on. The only stipulation is, that it had to do something that would benefit the world at large. It could be an invention, or even a work of art. Just something that would be a positive. I really liked that idea, and if I won, I could do that as well. I would go for the annuity rather than the one time payout, so each year, I could set aside an amount of money that I could do that very same thing with. That right there, is an exciting prospect. Oh yeah, and I might buy a couple more motorcycles. I got to have some fun right?

     That's it for me, peace in and goodnight.

No Patchwork Knight Tonight.

     The title says it all. I am unable to write the next chapter tonight due to a problem I am having with my eye. This has happened before, but not to this extent. I believe it is caused by my contacts, so I'm going to see my eye doctor tomorrow to find out more about it. Here is what my eye currently looks like.

     See how the white of my eye isn't so white. It's filled with some fluid that is causing it to swell. This is actually better than it was about an hour before taking this picture. The whites of my eyes were starting to expand over my cornea. A small portion of the cornea was covered and was not visible. It didn't blind me, but my vision was blurred. It's real uncomfortable at the moment, and is affecting my ability to focus, not just with my eyesight, but overall focus on things that need to get done.

     I'd rather not try to write a lengthy piece that is very important to the story of The Patchwork Knight while I'm in discomfort and can't focus because of the pain that my eye is in, so The Patchwork Knight will be back next week, when I can put my full attention on it and give you the story that you deserve. The eye is slowly getting better, but it's going to need more time than a few hours, so until you just have to wait one week for the next chapter. I promise that it is going to be a good one. Peace in and goodnight.