The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 21)

     The summer was in full. The days grew steamy as the heat continued to rise. My training continued. The 8 movements become 10, and then finally 13. I don't know where my father found time to train me in all the movements and continue training Arial in her effort to learn how to achieve the Swordsman's Euphoria. I was also reading scroll after scroll on the aether. I learned how to meditate to try and reach out and grasp the aether, but it was for naught. I had no conscience feeling of aether from those means. The closest I could get was when I was in the Swordsman's Euphoria.

     It had been weeks since I had spoken to Arial, and I truly had no idea how her training was going, other than my father saying that she was doing fine. I decided that today, I would leave earlier and finish my training before my father and Arial had finished, so that I could go and watch them. I pushed harder than I had before in my training. I fell into the Swordsman's Euphoria without effort, and stayed in it until my work was done. It felt different, I had always been aware of when I was in it, but this time, I felt like I wasn't just in it, but I was a part of it. I tried something new. I tried to reach out with my mind to touch the stone on my neck. I felt it's warmth, it's energy. I felt it tether to me, and it's energy was now mine to use. I could feel it pulse into may body. It tingled and I felt the hairs on my neck rise. Going through all 13 movements was effortless. I stayed in that moment as I cut down my trees. I was able to fell each tree with 3 swings of my axe. I carried each tree on my shoulders, which is something I had never done before. I usually dragged them behind me as I ran. I chopped the trees and piled the wood at the village common, and at the mouth of the forge. I ran back to the forest and then to the river. I watched in silence as Arial went through each movement that she had learned. I could see the gold shimmer of the aether around her. Around my father was a blue glow similar to mine, but it stood out further than, and pulsed faster than mine. My father stopped watching Arial, and quickly turned towards me.

     "Stop Arial, we have a guest."

     "Where? I don't see anyone."

     "Pitre, come out of the Swordsman's Euphoria and join us."

     I did as I was told and allowed the warmth of  the stone and the tranquility of the euphoria to leave me. I began walking towards them when I heard Arial exclaim in surprise.

     "Whoa! Where did you come from?"

     "What do you mean? I wasn't hiding, I was just watching trying not to disturb you."

     "You were hidden from her view lad. You were doing something different. You weren't just in the Swordsman's Euphoria. What were you doing?"

     "I was connected to the stone that Arial gave me."

     "How so?"

     "Yes, how were you connected to the stone? Did you meditate?"

     "No, I felt different when I went into the euphoria this morning. While I was there I tried to reach out and touch the stone, and it worked."

     "Stone? You mean the one you wear around your neck?"

     "Yes, Arial made it for me."

     "Yes sir, I imbued it with aether."
   
     "Aether? What is that?"

     "It's a force of energy that you can reach out and use. You touch it in a way, when you enter the Swordsman's Euphoria. I saw it when I looked at Pitre when he was in it."

     "How did you go into the Swordsman's Euphoria? I haven't seen it in you yet?"

     "I didn't. I meditated and went into the aether, so that I could see what Pitre looked like. He has a bluish glow that surrounds him. That is the aether that surrounds him."

     "Can you do that right now, so that I can see it?"

     "I can, just give me a moment. I need to sit down though."

     My father gestured for her to do as she pleased, and then stood back and watched her as she began to meditate. You could hear a whispered chant under her breath.

     "That is astonishing? I've never seen that before. I know of the glow that you speak of surrounding Pitre. It is similar to mine own. You however, have a golden glow surrounding you. It's much different. The energy is different. How did you learn this?"

     I saw a slight and quick shiver of Arial's body, and she opened her eyes.

     "I found some old scrolls of my father's. They speak of how to meditate in order to reach out and touch the aether. Once you do that, you can manipulate the aether in ways to help you. I can raise my body temperature, so that the cold doesn't affect me as much, or I can use it to increase my energy. There are many things you can do with it."

     "How did you, what did you call it? Imbue the stone?"

     "If you practice enough, you are able to transfer aether into an object. It's like a vein from a river. It opens a small access to the aether so that you can use it's energy through that object. You though, the aether that surrounded you was larger than Pitre's, and his wasn't present. How do you stay connected to the aether when you aren't in the Swordsman's Euphoria?"

     "I trained for many years. As a result of that training, I'm almost in constant contact with what you call the aether. I've been trained to be in a constant state of awareness. It is only when I sleep that I'm not present in the euphoria. May I see the stone Pitre?"

     I nodded to my father and took the necklace off and handed it to him.

     "I can feel the energy within it. How did you touch it again Pitre?"

     "I don't really know. I just felt like there was a connection that wasn't there before."

     "What was different about today?"

     "Well, I pushed myself harder than usual. I wanted to finish my training and chores, so that I could come and watch you and Arial."

     "It was that extra effort that gave you access to the stone. That is how you first enter the Swordsman's Euphoria. That is why I pushed you so hard early in your training. That is how I learned to enter the euphoria. Your body has to be truly fatigued before you can have that clarity of mind to enter the euphoria. This is very interesting. That doesn't explain why you haven't entered it yet Arial. You should have by now."

     "I should have? I didn't know that."

     "Yes you should have, that is why we have been training her by the river. This is the most uneven, but safe ground in the area. It's through the effort of maintaining you footing, that your mind opens up. Your footwork has become flawless, but you haven't gained access to the euphoria yet."

     My father turned his head to the side and looked up to the sky. He was in thought, this is how he always got when he was deep in thought. It was like he could find the answers somewhere in the vast expanse of the sky.

     "Do you have to remain sitting to meditate Arial?"

     "I don't know, I've never tried it any other way. The scrolls taught it through a seated position."

     "Would you try something for me?"

     "Yes."

     "I want you to stand as if you were going to begin the first movement. Instead of beginning with the breath that I taught you. I want you to meditate, when you feel yourself go to the aether, that is when I want you to begin the movement."

     "I'll try."

     Arial stood up with the blunted sword that was once mine. She stood with the sword at her side pointing towards the ground as my father had taught me. She closed her eyes and began that rhythmical chant under her breath again. Her body stiffened and she began. I took my cleansing breath and entered the euphoria. The glow around her flared with new life. Her movement were unimpeded by her surroundings, and she danced across the rock covered ground. Her sword swung without effort, and the precision of each strike was true. She finished the movement and stood in place with her mouth agape.

     "That is it. That is the euphoria. You just needed a different way to get there. I didn't think it was possible, but there is another way there."

     My father was laughing and, it seemed he was dancing. I'd never seen him with so much glee before.

     "What is it father?"

     "I always wondered if there was a way to get to the euphoria by anything other than a martial means. This could help so many people. The euphoria increases your senses, , but it also has other properties. It can lessen your ability to feel pain, it aids in your healing. I never really knew why before, but with what Arial is saying, it must be the aether. We could teach everyone in the realm this."

     "But, I can't get to it by meditating. I had to use the Swordsman's Euphoria to get to it."

     "That doesn't mean that you can't get to it, you just have to work harder. Arial, will you teach me this meditation technique?"

     Arial, had finally closed her mouth.

     "That was miraculous. I never knew it was like that for you Pitre. It was like my whole body was connected with the aether. It usually feels like I'm in there surrounded by it, but I can only reach out and touch it, and use a small piece of it, but this, this was so much more."

     "Arial, will you teach me how to meditate and touch the aether?"

     "Yes, yes I will. How did you know that was going to work?"

     "I didn't, I only knew that there was some sort of connection between what you were doing and what we were doing. It's different paths to the same location."

     "Pitre, will you help your father with the scrolls? You have all of them now. I will train you in the proper breathing and how to chant. It's more of a personal mantra rather than a specific chant, but we can do that each morning when we are done training."

     "I will help him."

     "Yes, that sounds like a wonderful plan. Can we begin tomorrow?"

     "Read the first scroll and then we can begin. You need to have that knowledge before we can begin."

     "I don't know all my letters, but Pitre will help me, and I will read it tonight."

     "If you finish it, then we can begin tomorrow."

     "I'll make sure that he gets through all of it."

     My father walked ahead of us back to the village, in what appeared to be a skipping motion. I could see Arial smiling, but I wasn't sure if it was because she was watching my father, or if it was because she had finally entered the Swordsman's Euphoria.

   

There's Going To Be A Delay.

     As the title says, there is going to be a delay in the next chapter of The Patchwork Knight. I am just too exhausted to put my full effort into it. I promise that it will be posted by Saturday evening at the latest. Peace in and goodnight.

Welcome Home.

     It's official, my left ear is at one inch. It kind of shocked me that I was able to get the one inch tunnel in yesterday. It's quite a bit ahead of schedule. The right ear is taking a little more work. It is on it's way though. I still think I will have it at one inch by this coming Sunday, which is still ahead of my desired schedule of the Sunday after that. That is the day that I definitely want both ears at one inch. I have my reasons.

     It's going to be a short work week again, but it's all going to work in my favor. I decided that I wasn't going to put the stress of being responsible for the PR this time. I was just going to sit back and see what got done. I shared it on all of my social media platforms, and the video is doing relatively well, but the blog views are way down. I did promote the video more than the blog, so that is part of it, the other part is that my partner is not sharing it on all of his platforms. I know this is true by the analytics of the blog. I can see where the traffic source originates, so I know if it comes from some site or google, or even Facebook. The view are distinctly down from Facebook, and that shows that he hasn't shared it yet. The numbers are on him this time, though.

     I was surprised when he contacted me today, to tell me about a new pizza place near us. We need to do one in the center of the county, since we have done; beachside, North, and South, that only leaves the Central area to have a review from. I wanted to do my favorite place as the next review, but he has been fighting me on it since I mentioned it. For some reason he doesn't want to do that one. I don't know why and he won't tell me, with the exception of saying that we have rules. We do, but we only have one rule, and that is, that if we haven't been to the place before, we only order a pepperoni pizza. That is the only rule. He thinks that we have some rule that says we can only go to places we haven't been before. There is compromise though, and it will be this new place. It appears that it opened in January or sometime shortly after that. It sounds like a cool little place, and we did get a recommendation from one of our followers. Friday we will be doing the review, and then I will have to sit on it for a week again and post it either the 6th or the 7th of April. Believe me, this isn't my favorite thing to do. I want to do the review, edit the video, and post the blog as soon as possible. I like everything fresh in my mind. That is the way I have done all my other videos, and that is what works for me. We will get this all straightened out at some point. Once we have a set schedule that is. Locking that down may be more difficult than me waiting to post something though. I may have mentioned that I like schedules, so I'm not going to go through that again.

     I watched the premier of Roseanne tonight. It is, how do you label it, I guess the reboot of the old show. It's not really a reboot though, that would imply that there are all new people taking over the roles, but this is all the original cast playing the same parts. It was really good, and really funny. It was kind of that feeling you get when you talk to an old friend after a very long time apart. You just pick up where you left off, as if nothing has ever been between you. That is how the show was. They did right, and it was just a natural progression of what they would be like had they just been a real family and the cameras turned off for 20 years. From what I've heard, they will have appearance from old regulars on the show as well. Most of the old favorites are going to be back. If you enjoyed the show in the past, you will enjoy it now. It has that same familiar feel to it. I think they only did 9 episodes for this season, so you better jump on them quick if you want to see them. They aired two fo them tonight, so that only leaves 7 more.

     I told you last week that Favorite Song of the Week was really two songs, but since I didn't want to post both of them, I would split them up, so this week is the other commercial inspired FWOTW. It is by the incomparable Spike Jonez, and the song being fantastic, is not the only reason that I like it. The video that goes along with it, has a great deal to do with it. It just melds with the song perfectly, and they used only a small portion of it for the commercial. Yes, they made the video for the commercial, but it also appears that Spike Jonez wrote the song solely for the commercial as well. You can't buy the track or download as far as I can tell. The video is available on YouTube to watch, as well as iTunes, but it isn't in the typical music section of iTunes. Which brings us to the commercial and what it is for. It is for the new Apple HomePod. It's Apple's version of the Echo, most widely known as ALEXA. I know you've seen the commercial too. It's the one where the woman comes home from a rough day, and asks Siri to play a song that she would like. The song moves her and in turn, she moves the dimensions of her apartment, as she dances around. The song, the woman, the video, all come together and make something wonderful. I'm really hoping that you enjoy the full version of Spike Jonez's "Welcome Home".



     I'm just going to throw this out there, if you know that woman, could you put her in contact with me, I'm completely smitten with her. Ok, I know no time was lost on this, but I did take the time to rewatch the video just now, and noticed that the woman is FKA Twigs, a singer/songwriter/dancer from the UK. You no longer have to put me in touch with her, I found her Instagram. I know it sounds creepy, but I will only admire from afar. I'm not one of those, "if she only met me" kind of people. I am planted firmly in reality. Although, now that I know who she is, I will definitely be looking up more of her own music and such. New experience, leads to new knowledge. I'll leave you with that little gem of wisdom, make of it what you will. Peace in and goodnight.

The Stress Is Over. For Now.

     It has been a nice end to a stressful week. I have been in full stress mode over the PR. This whole having things done and then sitting on them for a lengthy period of time is for the birds. I finally got my partner to write his bit. He still left something out, so I had to get the info from him, and then add it in myself, but it all got done. The video went live as I expected it to, and then I could finally embed it and write the final wrap on the piece. About 30 minutes later, it was all live, and then it was just a matter of sharing it on all the social media platforms. From what I saw earlier, the only media platform that hasn't been utilized was Facebook of course. It doesn't matter though. I think people are beginning to bail on Facebook after everything came out this past week about them selling private information for profit. Glad I left when I did.

     While I was waiting for the video to go live, because I was at a standstill on the piece until I could have that embedded part put it, I went out and made a video for the good ol' Counterfeit Squirrel. I wanted to go to this new neighborhood that is being built, but it's a gated community with real expensive houses, and it looked like there was a guard there checking people in, so I just decided to go to my second location. The second location was for flying the drone, and it worked out pretty well, with the exception of a few hiccups. I only brought the drone and what I needed for it, and left all my other GoPro stuff at home. I knew I wouldn't be out that long, so the battery I had int he GoPro should have been enough. I was wrong. When I got to the site, I put the GoPro into the drone, and it was reading a dead battery. I had to pack everything back up, head for the house, and get the batteries so that I could fly. The good news is, that the location for the flight wasn't that far from my house. I was there and back in about 20 minutes. I was worried the whole time that the drone was in the air, that I would do something wrong and the drone would crash off in the distance somewhere. If that did happen, the drone has a GPS locator on it, so that I could track it down, but I really didn't want to go traipsing through the woods to find it. I tried to keep it relatively close to where I was, so that I wouldn't have to go that far. I should just show you the video. I think it came out pretty good, and it will only get better the more I practice with it, an shoot more footage.



     I did have some issues with my wifi again, but I managed to get everything uploaded and posted on Saturday. That did interfere with the PR as well. It took my about 4 hours to upload the video above, which it should have taken about an hour. I really need to replace my desktop, so that I can use a hardwired link to upload things. That is the next stop I think. I can get everything filmed pretty well by just using the GoPros. They seem to be working out great. The quality is good, the sound is good, and it's all pretty easy to manipulate with edits. I can stick with that for a good while before I need to upgrade some equipment.

     Speaking of the PR, yes I know I'm always speaking of the PR lately. I may as well share the video with you. I was able to cut this one down to just under the 6 minute mark. I still see some things that we need to work on, but we are almost there, at least I think we are. I like where this is headed, and if we make something big out of it, then that is fantastic, but if nothing comes of it, it is fun to do, and I want to keep doing it for a while. So here is the latest review from The Pepperoni Report with Two Guys and a Pie.



     I know that is a lot of videos for you to watch, and quite a bit of your time, but I do appreciate every view that I/we get from it. I put a lot of work into these, so when I get a comment or a like, it really goes a long way for me. As for the work I put it, I must reiterate that it isn't hard work, but it is work, and it does take a toll on my stress levels. Thank you again for watching any of the videos that you watch. I do have one question for you. What did you think of the Dancing Pepperoni as our rating system? Believe it or not, that took over two hours to create. I'm talking about the entire process, making the pepperoni, and making sure each one was different, and then filming it. I had to do far more takes than I imagined I would. I'm hoping it comes of as, yes pun intended, cheesy. What do you think?

     It's update time. I have a couple of them for you. It's been a while since I've done a Match.com update, so here it goes. Nothing has happened. I have had  few views of my profile, but no messages, and no responses from messages that I have sent. I signed up for 6 months, that was probably a mistake, so I'll stick it out until that time is up. I think I've already been on there for 3 months now. I'm half way through then. I can't find anywhere on there that tells me just how long I have left, and maybe that is all part of their masterplan so that I don't cancel it before they can bill me again with some kind of recurring payment thing. I'll have to set a date that I think is far before that time, and cancel the whole thing. I think they will honor the rest of the time I've already paid for, but that should be it.

     The second update is of course, how are my ears doing with the new stretch. I can say that it is going rather well. There is a little pain this time, but it is just from stretching them up past a point that they have never been at. I might run into some trouble though. I was measuring out my plugs, and they are just short of hitting that one inch mark. That means that I'm going to have to be creative, to be able to get to the one inch mark. I found a way, to boost things along. I went out today during my normal errands and bought two padlocks. Yes, I have two padlocks in my ears right now. I might get a picture for you at some point, but for now, you will just have to image how stupid I look. The idea, is that the extra weight will make up for the difference of not having plugs or tunnels that actually reach one inch. I can feel the padlocks in there, but they aren't uncomfortable, they are just there. It is loosening the lobe, so that it should stretch easier. I'm not leaving them in all the time, I will simply put them in for a couple of hours each night, until I think they are ready for me to fit the one inch tunnels in. Once that happens, I am good to go. I'm predicting that I should be able to get those new tunnels in some time late this week. That would put it right on the schedule I wanted. I still have plenty of time to make the late May time table which is when the new Star Wars film Solo comes out, but I really want to be at one inch this time next week. It's a personal thing, I really can't explain more than that.

     I finished Jessica Jones season 2 on Friday night, and I have to say, that I was left a little disappointed. I won't say anything about what happens, but it ended almost like they could leave it as a series finale, and that is a big bummer for me. It took them two years to get this season out, because they put other shows in front of it, and then they leave it like it is done. I'm hoping I'm wrong about that feeling, and it was just them creating a new direction for Jessica or something. I really like that series.

     I have to go finish my clothes, and then ready myself for The Walking Dead. I think things are going to go down tonight, and I need to be prepared for it. Peace in and goodnight.

The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 20)

     I was true to my word. I met Arial at her door that next day. It took me staying awake all night, so that I wouldn't oversleep, but I did it. She was taken aback when she snuck from her cottage, and found me leaning against the wall by the front door.

     "Ahhh, what are you doing, lurking about like that?"

     "I told  you I would be waiting for you outside your door."

     "You didn't have to be so lecherous about it though."

     "Lecherous? I was just standing here."

     "Forget about it. I want you to take me to the river."

     "I don't think you are ready for it."

     "Why don't you think I'm ready for it? It's just a river."

     "True, it is just a river, but there is more to it than that. You need to have proper footwork, or you may hurt yourself."

     "Is this really how your father taught you?"

     "Yes, well no. He was much harder on me, than I am you, and as I said. I didn't go to the river until I had learned the first three movements. You haven't even learned the first part of the first movement yet. Besides, aren't you going to make me read scrolls in order to learn how to control the aether?"

     "Don't turn this on my Pitre. The scrolls are important for you to understand why you are doing what you are doing."

     "So is this training that I am teaching you. My father said that I learned fast, and that he really didn't expect me to go into the Swordsman's Euphoria as soon as I did. It may take you longer, or maybe because you can touch the aether, it may happen sooner, but you will still have to learn to be a swordsman."

     "Very well."

     Arial stomped off in the direction of the forest, and I knew that exasperation. I had experienced myself. I was impetuous when I was training last year, but since I knew I was going to be accepted to the academy, the only thing I had to do, was train. I took off in a sprint and bolted right past Arial.

     "You'd better hurry if you want to learn something new today. I'm doubling my practice, so I will have little time once I cut the trees down."

     I heard one more exasperated "Humph!", and then the thud of feet running behind me. After my initial burst of speed to get past her, I slowed so that she could keep pace. Not too slow, because that wouldn't benefit her training, but slow enough so that she wouldn't lose sight of me. That was, until the final few hundred yards. I tore off in a blur to the clearing where I practiced. It was the first area that I cleared all the trees, My father told me to take trees from other random areas after he had seen what I had done. "It's not good for the forest." he said. I asked him why, but he simply waved me off and told me to get back to practicing.

     I once again heard heavy footfalls, and breathing as Arial entered the clearing. When she finally got to where I was standing, she collapsed to the ground.

     "Are you alright?"

     "I....I....I'm fine. I...I, ju....just need to ca..cat....catch my breath."

     "We need to work on you stamina. You sound like a heard of bulls running through the forest with all that heavy breathing."  Arial tried to reach up and swat me, but her exhaustion got the better of her, and she merely through herself off balance and fell the rest of the way to the ground. She laid there starring up into the early predawn sky. "You rest here, I'll go cut down my trees." Arial moved her head in what I presumed was a nod, and I took off to the thickest part of the forest for my trees.

     The morning air was still cool. We were a few weeks until the end of spring, and it felt nice in the forest. I found two worthy trees side by side and began chopping. Half way through the second tree, I heard a scream from the clearing. I stopped what I was doing and ran back to the clearing as fast as I could. I heard another scream right before I broke the tree line. When I did, I couldn't believe what I saw. Arial was in the center fo the clearing, with her stick pointing straight out, directed at a large wolf. I had never seen a wolf in the forest. This wasn't their home. I dropped the ax, and drew my sword from my back. I yelled at the top of my lungs, to get the wolf's attention. It worked, and the wolf had turned in my direction. I started walking towards him. He stood chest height on Arial. I was just a small bit taller than she was. Arial took a step away when he turned, but that drew his attention back to her.

     "Don't move. I'm hoping to draw him away from you." Arial stood still, and I screamed again, to draw his attention, and then a stomped towards him. It worked again, he turned and this time, he took several steps towards me. I continued to stomp as I approached him, and yelled for him to come after me. He must have understood, because the third time I yelled it, he leaped forward and ran at full speed towards me. I stopped, took a deep breath and relaxed. I still had 15 yards before he was on me. I took a single step back with my right leg and braced for what was about to happen. When he was within 10 feet of me, he leaped into the air. At his peak he was twice my height in the air, and was now plummeting towards me with his jaws agape, and teeth slick with spittle. The look in his eyes spoke volumes about how he was about to break his fast with me. At the last second I stepped to the side, and raised me sword, slapping him in the underbelly as he went by. He yelped from the sting of pain as the flat of my blade slapped that sensitive area. He landed and slid to a spinning halt. He growled and saliva flung from the sides of his mouth. I yelled to Arial,"Get to the tree line, and hide behind a tree." The wolf lowered his front end readying to pounce on me. He was a mere 6 feet away now. I had hoped that the slap would scare him off, but it only made him more angry.

     I readied myself again, but stepping my right leg back, sword pointing at the wolf from my right shoulder to my left hand which was held out in front of me. This was a move from the 7th movement. It was a defensive posture that allowed for retreat or attack. I could either step back with the left leg to retreat and swipe a block with my sword, or step forward with the right leg and lunge the sword forward in a jabbing motion. I had already made up my mind on which path I was going to take. I didn't want to, but it was the only way out of this. I already tried to scare him off with the slap.

     Then wolf leaped into the air again. This time it was more direct. He only leaped to head height. I altered the move from the original, and stepped back as I thrust the sword forward. The step back allowed me to move just enough to the side to avoid being directly in the wolf's path, and I stabbed the sword into the area of his neck. The sword sank in just before a massive paw collided with my left shoulder. I was sent to the ground, and the wolf landing partially on top of me. He tried to get up, but the blade had done it's job, and I felt his balance stutter as he fell back on me, and he took his last breath.

     I tried to push the massive animal from on top of me, but my shoulder was hurt. I couldn't budge him. I tried sliding out from underneath him, but that wouldn't work either. His blood was beginning to pool up around us, it was warm and sticky, and smelled metallic. It made me nauseous, but I hadn't eaten, so I just hacked. I heard footsteps slowly coming towards me.

     "Pitre, are you alright?" It was Arial testing every step as she came closer. "Is it dead?"

     "It's dead, but I'm stuck underneath it. My shoulder is hurt as well."

     The footsteps quickened, and Arial slid down next to me. She had a look of fear and horror on her face.

     "Can I help, give me your hand, I'll try to pull you out." She grabbed my arm by the wrist and began to pull. I tried to shimmy as well to help myself out. After a couple of minutes, I was finally free of the wolf. It wasn't until then, that I truly saw just how big he really was. As I said, he stood about chest high, but he was thick and stock. He was twice as wide as me at the shoulder, and he was longer than I was tall. His fur was a mottled grey, brown, and black. His paw, which is what stuck my shoulder, as the size of my head.

     "I need you to go back to the village, and get my father. Bring him here with a horse, so that we can get the wolf back to the village. We shouldn't leave it here. It might attract other animals, and we could use the meet and pelt."

     "What if there are other wolves out there? I read that they travel in packs."

     "Then you should run faster then you did to get here."

     "That's not funny Pitre."

     "It's not meant to be. Here take my sword with you."

     "I don't know how to use it."

     I stood up and pulled the sword from the wolf's neck. "Here, you hold it like this." I put the sword in Arial's hand. "If you see anything coming towards you, you swing it like this." I clasped my hand over hers, and swung the sword in wide arcs back and forth

     "There is more to it than that."

     "Yes, there is a lot more to it than that, but that is all you have time for. Focus on your breathing and your running. The closer you get to the village, the less likely the wolves will follow you, if there are any more. Now go."

     "What will you do for a weapon, if more wolves come?"

     "I still have the ax." Although I didn't know how I was going to swing it. My left  arm was having limp at my side, and the shoulder was in a lot of pain. "One last thing. Hold the sword away from you as you run. If you trip, thrust it forward so that you don't land on it."

     Arial finally ran off towards the village. I walked over and picked up the ax, and tried a few swings with my one arm. I could swing it reasonably, but I had no real control of it. It was just too heavy for a one armed swing. I would just have to hope that nothing came along.

     It took nearly a half hour, but my father and Arial finally rode up on horseback. I could see the look of shock on my father's face as he saw the wolf. He guided Arial off the horse, and then dismounted himself. He walked up to the wolf, and then around it. Looking over every inch of it. Then he looked at me.

     "Arial tells me that your shoulder is hurt. Let me have a look at it."

     I walked over to my father and he pulled my tunic over my shoulder so that he could look at it.

     "It's only dislocated. It will be fine in a minute. I want you to grit your teeth boy." He pulled my arm straight down, and the pain was excruciating, then he slammed his hand in the back of my shoulder. I felt  brilliant burning pain, and then nothing. There was still some soreness, but it was more of a sore muscle pain rather than my limb had been ripped from my body pain. "You got lucky boy. A wolf that size should have eaten you for breakfast."

     "I think that was his plan."

     "Did you get your trees cut down for the day before this happened."

     "I was in the middle of cutting the second one down, when I heard Arial scream."

     "That reminds me. Why were you out her girl?"

     "I asked Pitre to teach me how to play at swords."

     "Is that so? You have mastered the sword enough to become a teacher now, have you boy?"

     "Yes sir, I mean no sir. I was just showing her what you had shown me."

     "Well then, show me what you have learned girl. You still have the sword in you hand."

     "I never used the sword, until Pitre told me to take it to get you. I only used a stick before."

     "Ahh, that is good. Hand me the sword then, and grab your stick."

     Arial handed my father the sword and walked over to where she was standing when the wolf attacked. She searched around for a minute, and then found her stick and picked it up. She showed my father the blocks and slashes that I had shown her.

     "Not too bad. It appears that you can teach. I'm glad you started off they way I started you."

     "She said she wanted to learn the way I did."

     "Do you have her cutting down trees and lugging a twice to heavy blunt sword around."

     "No sir."

     "All the better than. Do you really want to learn the sword lass?"

     "Yes sir."

     "Good, I will take over your training then. It appears that there is a tree out there that needs to be finished cutting down. Give her the ax boy. You aren't going to be any good with that shoulder for a few days. We need to get those trees down and brought to this clearing, so I can make a sled to haul this carcass. It's best not to waste a kill. Show her where the tree is boy, and show her how to use that ax. When you are done, come back here, and I'll bring the trees up."

     I did as my father asked. Arial struggled but she finished cutting the tree down. My father got the trees to the clearing, and made a make shift sled for the wolf. He attached it to the horse with rope, and dragged everything back to the village. We didn't light the forge that day. The day was spent cleaning the pelt and cutting the meat. We then cooked it all for everyone in the village. My father had said that he hadn't seen a wolf in the area for decades, and that it was even more rare to see one of that size. That day was the first time I had killed anything. I didn't know how I felt about it. I can still remember the smell and stickiness of that blood. The feel of my sword sliding into the fleshy neck of the wolf, and the sound of it's last breath as it laid on top of me. That was also the day that my legend began.

Get Stupid.

     The stretching has begun. I started yesterday, with a small strip of the plumbers tape on my Batman plugs. Today I added another one, and I'll take a day off tomorrow, to let it settle in, before I add to it again. It's coming along exactly as I thought it would. The only down side of this, is that I will no longer be able to wear my favorite Batman plugs. I tried looking for a new set of them, but they have been discontinued, and I can't find any anywhere. There are other Batman plugs out there, but none like these, so I'm going to have to settle if I want other ones.

     I found out today, that I'm going to be off on Friday, and that is something to look forward too. I'm still exhausted, and it has a lot to do with Morty. Lately, he has been coming in to sleep with me in the middle of the night, and he has been rather obnoxious about it. When he climbs up in the bed, and when he changed positions, he always drops down right on top of me, and wakes me up. This happens several times during the night, and I'm getting very little sleep. It was better last night, because I closed him out of my room. I'm going to do the same tonight, so hopefully, i will eventually get caught up on sleep.

     The other good part of having Friday off, is that I should have the new propellers for the drone tomorrow, and I can take it to an open area and fly it on Friday. I'm still going to make that video with the crash footage in it, but now I should be able to add some of the new footage, where I don't crash. This is going to be real neat to play around with in the video. I also have an idea of a place to take you in the next video. I'll keep it a secret for now, but I'm going to show you a place that I'm not sure if I'm allowed to go. All will be revealed soon.

     I'm patiently waiting for Saturday to get here, so that I can finish the next blog post for the PR. I don't think I like this, having on on deck and ready to go. It's a lot of waiting for something to happen, that should be done, but isn't because I'm waiting on parts. I told my partner that he needed to add something to the post, and he still hasn't done it yet. It has to do with how the pizza is after it is reheated. He mentioned in what he had written that it is "very good", but I want him to expand on that, and I told him to put it in his portion. That was a few days ago, and there has been no update on his portion. To me, that is very frustrating. I needed to wait for the video to go live, so that I can embed it, and write the final wrap-up on the blog, where I will add what he has in. Most of what he wrote, I already have in the body of the post, so I'm worried that I'm going to be waiting on that final bit. This is the other problem that I thought would arise with a lose deadline. People get complacent when they have time to not do something. I like editing the video and writing the blog post when it is all fresh in my mind. This is on top of the fact that I take notes while I'm at the restaurant to remind me exactly what I was thinking at the time that I took that first bite. One day, I'll take a picture of my notes, so you can see the coded chicken scratch that is my handwriting, that all this pizza review magic comes from.

     Enough of that, let's get to something a little more fun. I'm out of credits on Audible, so instead of buying more, which you can at a kind of cheap price, I'm simply going back and listening to some books again. I had planned on only listening to one while I'm waiting for a new credit and then a book that is coming out soon, but I burned through the first book in the series, and am already on book 2. I'm talking about The Land series by Aleron Kong. I have the first 6 books on Audible, and I'm waiting for book 7 to be recorded and released on Audible. It should happen sometime in the early or middle part of April. Howard Stern is on vacation, so I only have the podcasts to listen to, and they are coming out sporadically right now, so it is all about the books. Here is the thing. You would think listening to a book for a second time would be rather boring, but it isn't. These books are so fun, and the guy who does the reading of it, is so entertaining, that even though I know what is going to happen next, it's like I'm listening to it for the first time. The voice talent is named Nick Podehl. He is amazing. He has a voice for each character, whether they be male or female, and it's like he is truly acting out each word of the book. I wish I could share a sample of it with you. Maybe go on Audible, type in his name, and listen to a sample of him. It think you will enjoy his talent as much as I do. I love these books so much, that I even got a kindle version of it to read read it. Aleron Kong is constantly putting up giveaways on his Twitter and Facebook page. I of course never see the Facebook ones, but I did manage to see a Twitter one the other day, and took a chance to see if I could win it, and I did. I will be actually reading a book that I have now listened to twice. That is the one downside to Aleron being an independent author. He goes through Amazon Publishing, so he only has his first 3 books in hardcopy, or at least that is how it appears. I have a friend reading the books as well, and he can't find book 4 in hardcopy yet. Aleron sent an email out a week ago saying that book 7 is too long for Amazon to publish. You can get it on Kindle, and soon on Audible, but they have limit on page length for printing books. He said he was going to look for another outlet to try and get it down, but in the meantime, where is book 4-6. I guess I could try and reach out to him and ask. He is pretty connected to his readers. it couldn't hurt.

     It's time for Favorite Song of the Week. Actually I have two songs that are stuck in my head this week, and both of them I found through commercials. I can only pick one, so I'll pick the one that is more of an earworm. This is form the Samsung phone commercial. I can't remember which phone, and I really don't care. It is about the song for me, not the phone. I found out that the singer is from the UK and was in a boyband that won X Factor. I think I'm right on that. I'm too lazy to look it all up, but when you watch this video, you will instantly know why I like this song. It falls on the funky side of things, and the kid can dance. When I first heard it, I thought it might have been a song by Bruno Mars, but when I investigate, (looked it up online) I found that it was indeed someone else. His name is Aston Merrygold, and the song is Get Stupid. It's just a super fun, get off your butt and dance kind of songs. I now give to you, Aston Merrygold and his song "Get Stupid".



     Fun right? Just to keep you on the edge of your seat, I will share the other song with you next week. I like it for a while bunch of different reasons. I'm off to try and catch up on more of that sleep. Well, right after I finish listening to this song. Peace in and goodnight.

Yep, I Crashed It.

     It's been a strange weekend. I've been exhausted and tired. Yes I know they mean the same thing, but as I said, I've been exhausted and tired, so I don't have the energy for being creative. I had fully planned on getting out and making a video the would feature the new drone, but it was not to be. The meeting on Wednesday with my partner went well, but he said he would have time on Saturday so that we could get a review in the vault, more on that later. I chose a time, but he refuted it and said that he had tentative plans, and he would let me know when we could do it on that day.

     When we do these reviews, I like to do them in a non-dining hour. Avoid the lunch and dinner crowd, that way we have the place most to ourselves. That keeps people from asking questions and what not. Since I made it through Thursday, and then Friday without hearing from him. I assumed that we weren't' going to do it at all. I like schedules. I like the structure of schedules and keeping to time frames. I don't like spur of the moment when it comes to things like this. It's annoying, and ties up my time. Since I hadn't heard from him. I decided to take the drone on it's maiden flight. I went in the backyard, got it all ready, and launched it into the air. I made a fatal error. Morty was out in the backyard with me and he thought the drone was a toy. That meant I had two things to do. Keep Morty under control and concentrate on flying the drone, which I am very very new at. I got it flying around the backyard, and even directed the camera at Morty for a little while. I took it up over the house, and as was bringing it back to the backyard, Morty began bouncing around. I took my full attention off the drone, and put it on Morty. I hit the wrong control lever and sped the drone directly into a tree. It took some damage, and will be down for a little while. The good news is, that I have that footage, and as soon as I can get out on the bike to make a video, I will add that in, so that you can see it. It's pretty fantastic. I learned a lesson though, and that is to never fly with even the slightest distraction around. I also learned that I need to go to a wide open area for the time being, so as not to crash into a tree.

     The damage was to two of the propellers. The way that the Karma is set up, you have two different sets of props that are color coded. It comes with two extra props, one of each color. I broke two props, easy fix right? Wrong. I broke two of the same props. I already ordered a grand total of 4 pairs each, so I will have some backups. They should arrive this week, and I'll get back to the wide blue yonder this weekend, at a wide open area to practice.

     I also decided to catch up on some work around the garage/lounge. While I was doing that, I got the text that my partner's plans had fallen through, which they always seem to do, and we were on to do the review in an hour. I was a mess, covered in dirt and sweat, and now I had to get ready, check all the gear, and get to his place to pick him up. I hurried as best as I could, and I managed to get to his house 20 minutes late, but I had told him that I was going to be late. This is why I want these thing scheduled. I don't like running around to get things ready. It can lead to bad footage and reviews, and I don't want that. Fortunately I got my stuff together and we pulled it off.

     Now for the review. We went to the Southern end of the county for this one. It was good pizza, but you're going to have to wait for the review. I want to try to get to a two week schedule on these, in order to retain an audience. If you go to long, you lose audience because they forget about you. You do it too often and you inundate them with material. Two weeks seems like a really good schedule. This review will go live on Saturday the 24th. I have the video going live at 11 am New York time, with the blog going live soon after. I have to wait for the video to go live so that I can embed it into the blog, and then I have to write the final wrap up on the blog. It should go up about a half hour later. In the meantime, you can gaze at the picture I posted to The PR Instagram.

     On top of all of that, I had some trouble with my wifi, so it took a tremendous amount of time to upload the video, and I didn't finish getting it up until this morning. The blog that I was writing wouldn't save, so I finally broke down and copied it and saved it to a document on my computer. I was able to get it finally saved and in place this morning as well, so that it will be ready to go live on Saturday. It's been a train wreck. I worked way too hard for this one, and I'm still not completely done. Oh, I did create an Twitter account if you want to follow that. You can go to @pepperonireport and follow us there. You can also follow us on Facebook right here The Pepperoni Report My partner made that page, so the content is up to him. I will do my best to get pictures and video posts on the Twitter account, and announcements on when the next blog and video will go live, which reminds me, I'm going to have to go to that right after I'm done with this.

     With all that done I was finally able to sit back and relax and get a few more episodes of Jessica Jones in. I'm currently sitting at episode 11, so don't tell me anything that happens if you are further along or finished. I'm really loving it so far, and I will refrain from talking about it until I'm done, and even then I won't give anything away. I'll just stick to how much I liked it.

     I also caught up with an old friend. You know her as one of the women that saved my life a number of years ago. We have only been messaging back and forth, but it was so good to hear from her again. We have missed out on a lot of things with each other since we haven't kept in close contact. She has had many changes in her life, that I am so proud of. I'm looking forward to seeing her again and giving her a big hug. Not sure when that will happen, but I'll keep you posted.

     Time for me to go do my laundry, and try and relax a little more before work starts tomorrow. I promise I will have a video featuring the drone crash, and that bar wobble I've been telling you about on my bike. Plus I will also have the latest PR video for you to enjoy. I managed to get this one down to just over 5 minutes. I had to cut some rambling out, and I have some notes for both of us, to clean things up with the way we speak. We are getting better with each time out, and I expect the next review that we film will be even better. Peace in and goodnight.

The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 19)

     I was accustomed to waking myself up hours before dawn. I had been doing it for over a year now. It was easy for me, but I doubted that it would be easy for Arial. She said she would be at my door when I walked out in the morning, but I was sure that I would meet her at hers.

     My normal routine was to get dressed, break my fast, and then head out to the forest with my sword on my back and my ax in my hand. I would amend that today, so that I could pick up Arial before heading to the forest. It wouldn't delay me that long.

     I finished eating, and strode over to my ax. I heard a creak on the floorboards outside the door. My father was still sleeping, and no one else would be walking around the village at this time of the morning. I opened the door, to find Arial standing with her back to me.

     "You're here."

     "Of course I am. I said I would be."

     "I thought I would have to go get you. How were you able to rise before the sun?"

     "The aether. When you can control it, you can make it do all sorts of things including, helping you to rise before dawn."

     "How does it work?"

     "We will get to that in due time. Don't you have some chores to do, as well as your training?"

     "Don't you mean, that you have chores to do as well as training?"

     "What are you talking about?"

     "You said that you wanted to learn the way I did. Chopping down the trees is all part of it. That was the first lesson my father taught me. It was to build up my strength so that I could wield the sword."

     "I am going to make you read every last word of every last scroll that I can find."

     "Don't worry, I'm not really going to make you chop the trees down. I just wanted you to worry for a change."

     "Pitre, you try me sometimes."

     "Come on. I usually run to the forest, but since this is your first day of training, we'd better walk."

     With that, we followed the path from the village to the edge of the tree line. We entered the wood and Arial's first day of training. I cut a branch that was nearly the size of a sword, and taught her the proper way to hold it. I then showed her a few exercises for stabbing, blocking, and slashing. She practiced that while I cut down the trees for the forge and the village. Once that was done, I began my own regiment. I went through all the movements I knew, which was 8. I didn't stop until I had done each one 100 times. I was growing proficient at them, so it didn't take me nearly as long as it once did. I was finishing the last movement when the sun began to peak above the horizon. I looked around for Arial, and found her at the edge of the clearing watching me.

     "You were supposed to be practicing those exercises that I showed you."

     "I finished long before you even started cutting the second tree."

     "You did each exercise 20 times?" I limited her to 20 because I didn't her to get afraid of the work that she would have to put in.

     "I did? Would you like to see my progress?"

     "Yes, show me."

     Arial began in the way I had showed her, standing straight with her hand and sword pointing down at her side. She snapped the blade straight up in front of her, and began a series of thrusts that simulated stabbing. She then began whipping the sword from side to side, with the point up, then down. These were the blocks I had shown her. She finished up with a flurry of crisscross arcs of the stick slashing her way through a horde of adversaries. She looked good, but she was lacking the footwork. I hadn't shown her that yet. I wanted her to learn the difference between a poor stance and a good one. She would learn footwork tomorrow.

     "Not bad. You did practice."

     "I didn't come here to watch you the entire time. I want to learn how you get to the Swordsman's Euphoria, and I'm not going to do that by standing around, am I?"

     "No, you won't. Since you don't want to stand around staring at me, why were you doing just that?"

     "When I came to the clearing I noticed that you were in the Swordsman's Euphoria, so I slipped into the aether to see what it looked like. Do you want to know?"

     I hadn't thought that there would be anything different, but since she was asking me, I guess, something was different. "Yes."

     "When I slipped into the aether I noticed a glow around you, like the one you said was around me, except yours isn't blue."

     "What color is it?"

     "It's gold, like a ray of the sun was enveloping you. I've seen a few different colors in the aether, but never gold. It's always purples, blues, and reds. When you would finish an attack, the glow would pulse, and reach out, and when you would block, it would retreat inward. It would draw closer to you and intensify in brightness."

     "What does that mean?"

     "I think it was helping you. I can't be sure about this, but I think it would pulse out, to aid you in your attack, and when you would block, it would draw in, to help strengthen your defense. I don't think I will know for sure, until I'm able to do it myself. If this is the case, that is one more thing the aether can do. The gold glow is even more of a mystery though."

     "Wait, let me go into the Swordsman's Euphoria, and take a look at you when you go through the exercises."

     Arial admitted begrudgingly that that was a good idea. I closed my eyes, relaxed and took deep breath, I could feel the Swordsman's Euphoria fall over me. I opened my eyes, and the light blue glow was surrounding Arial again. I nodded to her, and she began. As she snapped her sword to attention, I noticed the hue change slightly. The blue had lightened, but not much. She went through her thrusts, and as she said, her glow pulsed outwards, and when she blocked it shrunk in around her. It pulsed back out again when she began the slashes. When she stood still, the glow returned to it's original color. I pulled myself from the Swordsman's Euphoria, and told her what I had seen.

    "So, it changed color, but it wasn't gold?"

    "Yes, but maybe it's not gold yet, because you can't get to the aether that way yet."

    "That could be what it is, but we won't know until I can get there. Is there any other exercise you can teach me today?"

     "No, not today, but tomorrow I will have something new for you. I want you to practice those exercises before you go to sleep tonight. Do them 20 times just like you did now."

     "I will, do you need any help carrying the trees up to the forge."

     "No, I can get them up there just fine. How about you see if you can keep up with me though."

     I grabbed the fallen trees and took off in a run. Arial managed to keep up with me. She was very much winded, but she kept up.

     "This is what you do every morning?"

     "Kind of."

     "What do you mean, 'kind of'?"

     "Well, I normally run all the way to the river and practice there, before I cut the trees down, then I run the trees directly to the forge and the village commons."

     "Why didn't you take me to the river then."

     "I didn't want to overwhelm you."

     "Overwhelm me? I said I wanted to learn the same way you did."

     "And you are. My father didn't take me to the river for months, and months. I have to get the furnace going in the forge. I'll see you tomorrow, now go off and spend childhood being a child." My fathers old words were now coming out of my mouth, and Arial didn't look to happy about it.

     "Why would I want to do that?"

     "It's just something my father would say to me, when I was done with my chores and practice. He thought it was important that I do kid things, instead of trying to learn how to fight all the time."

     "Fair enough, I won't do it, but I understand it now. I'll see you as soon as you walk out that door tomorrow, Pitre."

     "Maybe you'll see me when you walk out your door." I was going to rise before her tomorrow.

     "Saying it, isn't the same as doing it." Arial said this as she walked off.

We May Have A Problem.

     Yep, you read that right, we may have a problem. My partner in the PR, may be suffering from grandiose cranium. Better known as, getting a big head. I told you how this brand manager is doing all of this work for us for free. Well, my partner is beginning to make requests, and demands. He was texting me tonight from a pizza place telling me his thoughts on it. Needless to say, this place is one of our favorites, and now he is trying to find fault with it. I came up with a little saying to counteract his little bout with mania. I'd tell you, but I do really want to save it for the right time on the PR. You'll just have to trust me when I say that it is good. I started a little gimmick with the PR, where I wear a pizza related shirt, hat, and sunglasses. He scoffed, and thought it was cheesy. That was what I was going for. It's part of the idea of not taking myself to seriously with this, and that is where I think he is going, but counter to that. He ordered a bunch of pizza related shirts, so I'm hoping he is trying to take the piss out of himself, or he may just be messing up the gimmick. Me the cheesy one, and him the serious reviewer one. Only time will tell, and I called a meeting with him tomorrow to talk about the direction of the PR, and maybe to just get him to take a step or two back.

     The dream is nice, and I mentioned my concerns for it on Sunday, but we don't have anywhere near the audience that his head should be floating in the clouds yet. Reality is, that right now we are nothing, but an idea. An idea that can go somewhere, but only if we take our time and do it right.

     The brand manager sent us the first concepts for a logo, with the caricatured versions of us. I still don't know if I can show you those yet, so I will hold out. I'm sure once we get things up and on our media sources, I can share it then. I'll even show you the original concept drawings, which are very similar, with one glaring oddity. I'll let you see if you can pick it out. The concepts look great, with a whimsical nature, which I really like. I like where this brand managers head is at. I think He and I are on the same page, with what it is going to take to make this successful, I just have to get my partner in line.

     On to a different matter, but still slightly related to the PR. I should be getting the drone in tomorrow. That means that I will try to make a video this weekend, getting some footage from it. That is assuming that I can figure out how to fly that thing, of course. I'm hoping for Friday off, so I can get some good quality time with it before I try to make a video on Saturday.

     I got a few pictures for you. I wanted to give you a look at the new plugs and tunnels that I got for the whole 1 inch stretch. I was going to get them all together, but you would miss out on some of the detail, even with the individual shots, it is tough on a couple to get all the little highlights, that make them groovy.

     I'll explain all of them. The first ones at the top, are acrylic tunnels with a rainbow zebra pattern on the interior. It's hard to see, but it's there. The second ones, are one of the two pair that I was waiting for, because they were hand made. Those are opalite, with the Eye of Horus etched into them. I had a pair similar to these at a smaller size, and always liked them. The two pairs of tunnels are dark purple and rainbow. It's hard to see the rainbow pattern in them, and they just look mostly gold. I'll try to get a better picture some other time. The next ones, are the second pair I was waiting on. I think they are arang wood with the Rebel Alliance symbol cut into them. If you were wondering, yes I do plan on wearing those when I go to see the new Star Wars movie, Solo. The final ones, are steel with a red chrome convex inlay. I really like these and can't wait to wear them. It won't be too long. I think I will start stretching again in another week. I have a date in mind that I want them to be done, but I'll keep that to myself for now.

     One last thing on the agenda tonight, and that is of course, the Favorite Song of the Week. I have been listening to this song every morning for the past week, and it just gets me going, and in a good mood. It belongs to an American Icon. He was born in a small wooden shack in South Carolina in 1933, and from the meager beginnings, he became the progenitor of funk music. When he was on stage, it was rumored that he would point out mistakes to his band, he knew every note that should be played. If he pointed to you, that meant you made a mistake and you were going to have to pay a fine out of your pocket after the show. He was Prince's inspiration for all of his dance moves. He was the epitome of the frontman on stage. He commanded your attention, and you would be repaid in more than you were worth with his music. He is non other than the Godfather of Soul, the one and only, James Brown. I give you James Brown with his song "Soul Power".



     If that didn't make you get up and move, than you need to go to a doctor and get your heart checked, because it clearly stopped beating. With that, I muse bid you farewell. I need to go to sleep, so that I can wake up and get ALEXA to play that song in the morning. Peace in and goodnight.

Things Are Moving Fast.

     Apparently I have a brand manager now. I'll get to all that soon enough, but we have to tell the story before the story first.

     I got all of my plugs and tunnels in, for when I stretch up to a full inch. I didn't get the pictures I want yet, so I will get those for Tuesday's post. They are really cool, and I'm happy with the choices that I made.

     Let's just get to what you are waiting for, well the long way anyway. As you saw, I was so consumed with the PR, that I couldn't focus enough to get a new chapter of The Patchwork Knight up. I was stressing, and it turns out, it was for a very good reason. Friday came, and plans got turned a little upside down early in the morning. I of course had to work, but I had planned and adjusted for that. I got a text from my partner saying that all of a sudden, he was working as well. He was supposed to be off. He said he would be ready, but he wasn't, which kind of worked out, because I was running just a bit behind.

     We got in the car, and I had to hit the bank on the way to our location for the tasting. I set up the cameras when I was done in the bank and that is when I found out, that we were no longer going to the location I had planned to go. We were going to another location that he mentioned but we had discussed putting it on the list for the future. He promised a friend of ours that we would do that one, so I had to adjust again.

     We did a first take on the way there, and I had to scrap it, because we started doing some of the things in the first video that we talked about not doing. Ok, he started doing those things, I had to reign him in a bit. Second take was perfect, so we called that one good. One of the things I learned form the first review, was that I had to have a planned route to get to the place. I had left it up to my partner, and he didn't have exact information. I had a plan and the route mapped out, but since he changed locations on us, we of course had trouble finding the new place.

     I got to use the new Karma Grip, and I really liked the shots I got with it. The shot showing the outside looked almost like a drone shot, and I loved it. So much so that I did something yesterday. We'll get to that in just a bit as well. It actually comes right before the whole brand manager thing. Anyway, this place was not as good as the last. As I said on Thursday, pizza is pizza, so you can never really go wrong. It was good for what it was, but I wouldn't go out of my way to have it again. I'll share the video with you so you can check out what it was like.

     There you have it. We managed to self edit ourselves a bit, and I was able to get the video down to a respectable 8:13. If we didn't ramble so much on the review part, I think we could have had it closer to the 6 minute mark. I really want them to be 6-8 minutes, but I'm not sure if that will stick. Still getting to that brand manager part. Almost there.

     Ok, so I liked that one shot that looked like it was done with a drone so much, that I went on GoPro's site to check something out. That Karma Grip that I bought is part of their drone, and it turns out, that they discontinued make the Karma Drone, so they discounted the price of it to get rid of them drastically. Since I already have a GoPro Hero 5 and the Karma Grip, all I needed was the flight kit, to make it all work, and that was marked way down. It isn't the one that I want, but since it was literally a third of the price of the one I want. I ordered it. I saw some pretty good reviews on it. Saying it is limited, but a great starter drone, and that is what I need. I'll continue to save my money for that Mavic Pro that I want, but for the time being, I can have a capable drone for a fraction for a fraction of the cost, and get some killer shots for you to look at. I already have ideas for how to use this with the PR. Speaking of the PR, I know, I've been speaking about it the whole time, here is the link to the blog post from our review of Humpavelli's. Go check it out and see why we have a brand manager.

     Finally to the part you have been waiting for. On Saturday I got a text from my partner, saying that someone had taken interest in what we were doing, and had some ideas that he wanted to discuss with us. He happens to be connected to my partners family, and that is how he found out about the PR. He also happened to be an actual brand manager. He works with high paying client to create their brand and get them out in the media industry to make money. He saw potential in what we are doing, and had some suggestions for us, and also wanted to help us create and develop our brand. Somehow I am the point of contact for the PR now, and have been emailing him last night and today. He got some headshots from us, and sent them out to an illustrating firm to create some images to create a brand around. I saw the completely images, and they are fantastic. It is very odd seeing yourself in cartoon form. I would love to share the image with you, but I really have no idea if I can right now. I'm not sure if the images are our property yet, so until I do, I'd rather keep them away from anything that would put them out there right now. When I ave confirmation that we can use them, I'll share them with you.

     With all the discussion last night, we had to make sure or brand was our brand. We did searches to confirm that it isn't out there, and we created a Facebook page, and a Twitter account to go with the YouTube and Instagram accounts. I did have to make a slight change to the Instagram. I had to change the name to @thepepperonireport from @pepperonireport. It was incredibly simple to do. I had to do it when I changed things over to Counterfeit Squirrel, so I had prior knowledge on how to do it. I was going to give you a link to the Twitter, but there is a bit of a snafu. I'll get that link and one for Facebook on Tuesday. Also, it would help us out a great deal if you could follow us on YouTube. Only if you have an account though. Don't create an account just to follow us. I will always put the videos up here, and they will always be a part of the PR blog. That is until we move everything potentially to a website. I don't know if that will happen, but it is kind of in the works. Here of course it the link to the Instagram The Pepperoni Report. If you have an Instagram, give us a follow there. We always post a picture of the pizza we are eating for the review, as we are eating it, and I think I will start doing some Instagram Stories as part of our whole experience during the review. You can get the first glimpse of what the video will look like. Minus all the camera work we are doing with the GoPro's, but you can get an idea.

     I don't know. This is moving so much faster than I expected it to. I knew there was a potential for this to be something bigger, but I thought it would take a long time. We would slowly build our brand, and gather a following, with the hopes that maybe someday we could travel do different cities for reviews. There is also the fact that I don't really like being on camera, and now my likeness is going to be part of the brand.  This is a whole other adventure that I was anticipating, but I'm going to see where it goes. Our brand manager was even talking about this going from a social media thing to an unscripted TV show. As thrilling as that sounds, I don't know if I want to do that. I think I could, but I really don't know if I want to be a TV personality. I guess I'll cross that bridge when it comes.

     I have a lot to think about, I'm going to have a meeting with my partner on Wednesday evening, so I will fill you in on any updates on Sunday. Oh yeah, I don't know if I mentioned it above, but the brand manage is doing this without charge, he only wants us to remember him if this goes big. I see no problem with doing that. I just remembered, I do have one picture for you. I got my supply of the business cards.

     Pretty snappy right? Well, we already have one thing wrong with them, and that is because our brand manager convinced us to have everything as The Pepperoni Report, so the Instagram is different now, but I already explained all of that. The good news is, that even if you type that in, the other one will pop up, so it still works, but when we run through all of these cards, we will have to get new ones with all the updated social media links on them. Man, this is way more work than I had intended for this. I really do hope that it continues to be a fun hobby, and not a job. That might ruin the whole experience. I guess we will see. I'll document the ups and downs right here, so keep an eye out for what is going to be my new life from now on. Peace in and goodnight.

I Need A Little More Time For Chapter 19.

     I've been so focused on The Pepperoni Report this week, that I haven't taken any time to think about The Patchwork Knight. I have an idea what I want the next chapter to be, but I need time to focus on the details, and I just can't do it this week with all that is going on in my head with the PR.

     I will have a brand new chapter next week, that will be better than anything I could write tonight. Since it's been a while for me to write about something other than The Patchwork Knight on a Thursday. I thought I would fill you in briefly on how the guitar lessons are going.

     The past couple of weeks, I have been learning more about finger picking styles, and just getting my right hand to find a rhythm with all of that. My teacher has had me working on Blackbird by the Beatles. It's a great song, and has a solid rhythm that is a little on the easy side to accomplish. I'm going to post a video of the song, just in case you aren't familiar with it.



     Seems like a real mellow slow song right? It is, but not when you try to play along with it. That little guitar part, is incredibly fast, and I am nowhere near being able to play it with the song yet, but I will. In time. If I can ever get it down to where I can keep up with the song, I will see if I can figure out a good way to record it, and post it on here for you to see. I still have a long way to go on guitar. I would consider myself a beginner. I'm more intermediate on ukulele, but that only has four strings and a much smaller scale than a guitar.

     I have to work tomorrow, and then I have to hurry up and get things together to get out and do the PR. I'm hoping that I will have everything up late Friday night. I'm going to put a midnight deadline on it, so you can read it then, or first thing in the morning. I'm going to push my partner to write his part as soon as he gets home, and I will do all the rest. I'm going to get the video edited and uploading first, and then I will begin writing the bulk of the blog. If he can get his part to me before the video is uploaded, I can publish the video and then add it into the blog, so that it will all be available at the same time. I'm really looking forward to this, because even if it's bad pizza, it's still pizza. Just in case you haven't checked out the PR, you can follow this link and see what you are missing. We have one review up at this point, and a few other posts with little details on what we are doing and when we are doing it. As I said before, I'm hoping that tomorrow will be live at midnight New York time.

     I feel like I need to address why I always say New York time. I have the ability to see where you read this from. Country of origin, not actual location, and I use New York time, because I honestly don't know if Eastern Standard Time would be understood in other parts of the world, but it is pretty easy to find out what time it is in New York.

     I have to wake up early tomorrow for work, and then get everything done with the PR, so I can watch at least 2 episode of Jessica Jones. It did come out today rather than midnight tonight, but I had guitar class, and then Gotham and Arrow. I can't miss those shows. Anyway, I need to get to bed. Thank you for understanding about The Patchwork Knight. I want to give you the best I can, and I didn't feel I could do that with the chapter tonight, with everything that is going on. The Patchwork Knight will be back next week, with maybe a surprise or two. Peace in and goodnight.

Misery Behind The Screen.

     Today was just miserable. It started out fine, and it is ending fine, but in between was just a mess. The first thing that happened, was the Sirius app on my phone crashing. I'm fortunate enough to be able to listen to music or whatever I want while I work. I spend Monday - Wednesday, listening to the Howard Stern Show. Today, they were going to reveal the results of an IQ test between two of the staffers on the show. Right when the reveal was to take place, the app crashes, and it was all on Sirius' end. They had numerous complaints about it. I'll get to how I know about that in a minute.

     The next thing that happened, was about 20 minutes later. This is still before 8 in the morning. One of the employees called because they were having a problem. I went down to check it out. We have these things called hopper feeders on the machines. What they are, are vacuum material feeders. They sit on the top of where the material goes, with a long hose that leads down to a barrel of material. This one was not working and the material had run out of the machine. In my hurry, I had to get a bucket to get some material in the hopper of the machine before it opened it. That meant that I had to climb up some stairs onto the machine and bucket it in. In my haste, I didn't notice that the stairs had been moved from where they normally are, so when I went to step back down, I missed the stairs completely, and fell 4 feet to the floor. There is some good news from this. Somehow I managed not to break anything. I scraped up one of my legs on the metal stairs, and I bruised a good portion of my right side, where I landed, and I also injured my ankle.

     I'm sure that I'm going to be sore tomorrow from all of this. I felt nauseous most of the day after that, and real tired. I don't think I hit my head, and I didn't have any pain other than a headache, but it kind of felt like I had a concussion. It could have been from the sudden stop from a 4 foot fall, but I'm not sure. I didn't notice my eyes dilating, so I really have no reason for why I felt that way. Needless to say, I had to walk around like that for the next 7 hours, before I got off work. I think I will feel much better after a good nights sleep. Let's hope I get one of those.

     After all that happened, things started to get a little bit better. The Sirius app finally started working again, and it started where I left off with the show, so I didn't miss anything, but I was an hour behind, and no longer listening live. During the show, a caller mentioned that the app was down, and people were going crazy. I did finally get to hear the results, and I didn't miss any of the show, so maybe my day was turning around.

     There was only one minor thing after that, and that was after I got home. My partner from the PR contacted me. He was talking to a friend of ours, and she invited us to go out on Friday night. A nice gesture, and I appreciated it, but Friday I will be tied up with everything PR, and right now it is looking like we might work on Friday, so I won't have nearly the amount of time I would like to have to get everything done by that night. It seemed like he was pushing to go hang out, but he doesn't seem to understand that we have already posted a blog about when we are doing the next review, and that we were going to try our best to get it posted that night. If we go out and have a good time, then we are neglecting our duty to the readers of the PR, so I told him that I would be to busy editing and writing to go. My only hope is that he gets his portion of the review done before he heads out. I only need a paragraph or two from him, and I will do all the rest of it, but I need his input. It makes no sense for me to do all of the review when it is supposed to be a collaboration.

     More important than missing a night out, I'm going to be delaying the start of my watching Jessica Jones season 2. If you have bee reading this for any length of time, you know that I have been waiting patiently for this season since I finished the last episode of season 1. That was a couple of days after it premiered, so I've been waiting about 2 years I think. I will get the PR done and posted before I watch a single episode of season 2, so for me, that is giving up quite a bit. By the way, if you hadn't guessed by now, season 2 of Jessica Jones is being released at midnight on the 8th, which means the earliest I can watch it is Friday night, but I will be busy with making some movie magic and writing the review of reviews for the PR. I know this sounds like a gripe, but it is just what it is. I really enjoyed doing the last one, and I'm looking forward to this one that is coming up. I really wish we were doing them more often than just once a month. I like the whole creative process of it all. That being said though, this is my partner's idea, and I wouldn't do it at all if he wasn't involved in some way. That is why I push him to get things done. He did the business cards, and they are in. As soon as I get my hands on one, I'll post a picture of it. He wrote the update on the next date for the review. I merely went in and proofread, and edited it, before publish. So he is getting things done, but I worry about his commitment to this. If he wants to go out on Friday, I won't stop him, but I can't be part of it. I made a commitment to do this, and try to make it the best that I can, so that is what I intend to do. I just need his portion of the review, and his read through for approval for publish. It's not a lot to ask for.

     Enough of that. I got some pictures for you. The first one is something I talked about on Sunday, and it had to do with Saki. I'll get that picture here, before we discuss the why.

     If you've been paying attention to the videos. You may have noticed that I had a GoPrp Session 5 mounted to the under of my windscreen. I added some of the footage from that in recent videos, but in reality, I didn't like it. I don't really like having the camera pointing at me. I like being behind the camera. That is my biggest problem with the PR. I am on camera, and I kind of hate it. It needs to be done though, so I do it, and I play the host of the so called show. With the motovlog, I thought might enhance the whole thing, but it just didn't do it for me. I prefer it to be a POV type of shot, and mixing in that other camera, just took all that away. it was no longer your POV, it was just another goofball on camera, talking to you. So, I got rid of that camera mount and put my old friend the disco ball back up. I always missed having it there, but I didn't really know exactly how much, until I had it back on there. It was like an old friend sitting down for a conversation. It just made me happy. The disco ball is here to stay. I might find another place for the Session, but in the meantime, that is my primary camera for the PR, so don't worry about it being used. It has a full workload ahead of it.

     The second picture, is of something I've been wanting for years. The problem I had, was this item was impossible to get. It was only released once, and for a very limited time. What is the item. Well, it's a Twenty One Pilots hoodie, but not just any hoodie. This hoodie represents the original members of the Clique. The Clique are the fans of TOP. It's all part of the "We are Twenty One Pilots, and so are you" thing. On a whim, I went on their website last week, just looking around to see what new items they had, and if there was anything interesting, that is when I saw it. They had rereleased this hoodie. Tyler Joseph and Josh Dunn wear these during the shows, and they are not your typical run of the mill hoodies. Let me just show you so you can see for yourself. It is the coolest thing ever.

     Yes, the hood zips over the face to create a skull. I couldn't be happier that I finally got my hands on one. Oh, and I will wear it to the next show I go to, you can count on it.

     Let's keep with this TOP theme and roll right into Favorite Song of the Week. This isn't just any FSOTW though, this is my favorite TOP song, and it was one of the first ones I learned on ukulele. Here is Twenty One Pilots, with my favorite song of theirs "Screen".

     You know I had to find a live version for you. Hear that crowd, that is what it is like for every song, at every show. It's one of the most incredible things I've seen at a live show. Everyone is singing, dancing and having a good time. Everyone is there to be a part of everything that is TOP. That is why at the end of every show, Tyler finishes the show with what I wrote up above, "We are Twenty One Pilots, and so are you.". Peace in and goodnight.