Easy To Not Notice

      You ever notice that some one can look directly at you for years, and never really see you? That happened this week and although I'm not shocked that I'm not terribly memorable, but it was still a weird experience. I can't even say this is the first time something like this has happened. Before I get into what happened, I guess this begs the question of which is preferable, to go unnoticed or to be noticed?

     Seeing how I'm asking the question leads me to believe that it seems being noticed is preferable, but I can't say that I truly cared. Is that a weird response? Anyway, I had to pick up contact lenses this week and the woman that works there is someone I grew up with, so she has known me practically my whole life ( not many people I can say that about ). Granted we only see each other when I need contacts or I have an eye appointment, but still, we end up spending a good deal of time with each other when I do see her. This time however she asked if my gauges were always there. She decided that they were bigger now and that's what was different. I haven't changed the size of them in over 3 years, more like 4. Then she asked about my tattoos, particularly my arm. She wondered how long I've had the full arm sleeve done. I'm pretty sure that I finished up the sleeve over 6 years ago, maybe more. I'm not sure if I just notice more than most people so I see changes almost immediately in people, or others simply don't notice me at all. Once again, I know this sounds like I care, but truly I don't, it just struck me as odd and was something to write about.

     I'm getting my second dose of the vaccine this Thursday, so I'm pretty excited about that. I've heard the second shot is the one that really packs a punch, and a friend of mine just got hers last week and ended up with a fever for a few hours and a prolonged headache. I'll of course let you know how I handle any side affects next week.

     I managed to hit my goal distance this week (50Km) despite missing a couple of days due to rain. I am going to have to figure out the rain thing, cause rainy season is upon me. I think I'm going to look into a decent running rain jacket. I don't think I need a full suit, I can deal with wet legs, but the torso is where the cold will seep in, and I don't really want that. So, if you have any suggestions for a decent but cheap rain jacket, let me know. Anyway, I finished up the week with 55Km, which surprised me. I pushed myself quite a bit this week to get it done, which just shows me that there is no excuse for not hitting goal now. 

     I do have a picture from the trail this morning. Which reminds me, I didn't get accountability photos this week. I'm not sure it would matter, I don't think my body has changed much since the last ones, so I may just wait a couple more weeks, but anyway, here is a nice sunrise shot over the lake trail.

     I really enjoy those morning walks, not just for sights like this, but the solitude. Usually I'm the only one on the trail, and even if there are people on it when I'm there, they are usually a mile or so behind me. Since it's a big circle around the lake (more like a weird jagged square), I can see everyone on the trail and where they are for the most part. I do have headphones in and am listening to either music or a book, but it still gives me a lot of peaceful time with my own thoughts. Usually, the wouldn't be a good thing, but out there, it's different. Maybe it's just the atmosphere, but it's always positive when I'm on the trail. 

     I also spend that time catching pokemon too. That's my way of multitasking, which brings me to why I even bring that up. If you don't play the game, the object is to, with your finger, throw a ball to catch a pokemon character. There are several ways you can do this. You can throw the ball straight at it. Oh, I should tell you about the circle first. There is a circle target on each pokemon, and inside that circle is a colored circle in varying shades from green to orange to red. Green means an easy catch, Red means a hard catch. There are ways to change the color of the circle but that's not important for this. Anyway, the inner circle shrinks in size, which, if you can hit in the center of it, determines what type of catch you have. It goes from NICE, to GREAT, to EXCELLENT. EXCELLENT is of course the most difficult to get and when the circle is the smallest. As a reward for each type of catch you get an increasing amount of experience points, for EXCELLENT catches you get 1000xp. I only bring this up because this week I started doing something a little different and taking my time to try and get those EXCELLENT catches. It has paid off. On most days I'm getting around 30 EXCELLENT catches, that equals out to 30,000xp. That helps level up faster. I really needed something to write about ok. Today is a slow day. As of writing this I'm sitting on 10 EXCELLENT catches. Seems like a small amount, but from experience, most people generally only get a few EXCELLENT catches a day, if that. Ok let's put a lesson in here to make this all worth while. What this shows is, if you put your mind to it, you can achieve things others refuse to do. Yeah, that will work.

     Before I get to Favorite Song of the Week, I have to ask for your help. Remember that friend I told you about that I spoke to recently? Well, I got some bad news this week. She has been diagnosed with her second go round of cancer. She fought long and hard the first time and had it go into remission, but it's back, and it's not a friendly quick fix. Going through treatment increases odds of things going wrong, including gettin a new form of cancer form the chemo. I'm probably over simplifying things, but that's the gist of the whole thing. What I'm asking is that you just send some positive vibes her way, in which ever way that is best for you. She needs all the energy she can get right now. Truthfully, I don't want to live in a world that she isn't a part of, so my ask is very much a selfish one. I want her around much longer than I am. The world deserves people like her.

     Now that the depressing stuff is done, lets get to Favorite Song of the Week. Earlier this week the Foo Fighters announced a documentary that was directed by Dave Grohl is being released on April 30th. It's a documentary about music, but mostly bands and music that influenced Dave himself. As part of that, he released a new song which is a cover of an old X song with his daughter. She has a great voice, and it seems she was made for this pretty eclectic sound. It's very much a mix of genres with a 60's vibe rock, crunchy grunge guitars, tribal drum beats, and a dose of good ol' rock n roll. She brings an 80's punk vibe to top it all off. Just as a side note, Violet also sang back up on the latest Foo Fighters Album Medicine at Midnight. I give you Violet and Dave Grohl with their Cover of X's song "Nausea", 

      It's always fun to see someone with talent so young. Double that with the fact that her dad is a legend of rock, and has said that he wants to be in her band.

     That's it for me this week. See you next week with that Moderna update. Peace in and goodnight.

Was It A Long Week, Or Is It Just Me

      It has seemed like a very long week. Before I get into that though, I forgot to mention something last week. After I ran those short distances on that Sunday, my ankle did have a flair up the following Monday. This of course gave me concern, so I shut down running for a week. I continued to walk, as a matter of fact I hit over 60 km that week. The pain was nowhere near what it originally was, but I didn't want to take any chances what so ever. It paid off. I ran one day this week and went probably about a mile all together, and the next day there was some pain, but it was even less than the week before. This made me decide that for the time being, I will only run one day a week until I feel no pain from that one day. After that I'll push it to two and see how that goes. Baby steps are the key. I tried to push through it last time and really messed things up, so I'm learning from my mistakes this time and taking it very easy.

      All that being said, the new techniques with the Xero shoes are working out great. My new stride is super efficient and easy going, while the lightness of the shoes makes it feel like I'm running in my bare feet. It feels like the shoes have actually molded to my foot now, so there is no sliding or moving around what so ever. They are truly a part of me when I'm wearing them. The one down side is that I run on a gravel path and I seem to always find the larger pointier stones. It's mostly when I'm walking though. I did have to shutdown for one day this week because of heel pain. Not in my ankle but from actually stepping on those larger pointier stones with my right heel in the same spot each time. The pain became so great that one night as I was getting into bed I rolled back on my heel at just the right spot, and it nearly dropped me to the floor. The day rest was beneficial. I was able to hit the trail the next morning ( adjusting my walking stride to resemble my running stride { no heel strike }) and everything went well. That did take my weekly total down to the low 50s in km this week though. I'll get the distance back up there again though.

     One of the features of Pokemon GO is medals for achievements. One of those medals is for distance traveled, and I'm nearing the platinum badge which means I've traveled 1000km. I'm at around 920km right now. I'd love to do 80km this week, but I'm not sure I can do it. When I hit that trail I do a little over 10km each time. I hit it 5 times this week, so 50km. Either I have to find a way to fit 8 days in this week, or get up even earlier and try and fit an extra 5km in each day. I may just wait until next week to cross that 1000km barrier.

     Another feature is having a buddy with you on the map. You pick a pokemon and make him your buddy and when you feed him berries, he will show up on the map for you. It's a fun little thing. You gain hearts by feeding it and doing other activities with it, one of them is taking a snapshot of it. I really thought this was a fun one, which is why I'm even talking about it in the first place. This is my buddy, early morning, flying over the lake with the sunrise behind it.

     Just for added information, that is a shiny legendary pokemon which makes it very rare. Be careful, my nerd is showing on that one.

     Just a brief health related update. I had a vegan day today, so I went a little lax on the carbs. I had me some Ben & Jerry's non dairy ice cream. It was their Netflix and Chill(there's more here but I don't remember it) ice cream, and it was really good. Peanut butter ice cream with pretzel swirls and fudge brownie pieces. It's been  a while since I've done a full vegan day. I've done vegetarian days, but not the full vegan, so I'm adding those back into my diet. That will give me a chance to eat the rest of that pint of ice cream over the next couple of weeks.

     It's time for Favorite Song of the Week. This song comes from a former AGT champion. She happened to be my choice for that season and I was really happy she won. She was one of the rare singers that actually wrote her own original songs. She has grown up quite a bit since then, and her sound has grown as well. The ukulele is taking a rest and a full arrangement is in place. This has a bit of a KT Tunstall vibe to it, and her voice, although still very unique, is a lot deeper and full of more soul. I give you Grace Vanderwaal with her newest song "Repeat".

     Oh, I noticed that my video didn't upload last week. If you want you can see it on my Instagram, but the final decision is that the culprit in the video is a raccoon AKA trash panda. I've heard plenty of them before, but never a scream like that. Turns out when they are in distress or even the throws of passion shall we say, they scream with a banshees wail. I can't 100% confirm that is what it really is, but after checking out several videos and recordist of trash pandas screaming, I'm very confident that is what it is.

     Before I go, there was a notification on the front page of this blog, stating that they were no longer going to provide the email service as of July. That means that if you are an email subscriber, they will no longer be sending them out starting in July. They are giving me the option to download my subscribers email list, but the whole reason I went with the system they had in place was that I didn't have anyone's email. That being said, I don't plan on downloading the list and keeping your email private to you. I'm sure that will mean that I'm going to lose some readers, but I want to keep you personal information personal. I am going to keep with my current schedule of positing a new blog each Sunday, so if you want to read it, you can look at this site anytime after 5 PM eastern time. It should be up unless something goes horribly wrong, or I'm just not in the mood to write. I do hope that you stick with me and keep reading. Oh yeah, if you are on Facebook and are friends with me, I will continue to post a link to each post there. Don't look to contact me on there though, cause I only go on anymore right after I post the link. I personally hate Facebook and although I really do want to get rid of it again, I'm keeping it because of The Pepperoni Report, which we do hope to get back to doing new reviews and videos for. 

     Well, that's it for me. I'm going to try and get some accountability photos this coming week, so I should have some for you next Sunday. Peace in and goodnight.

Seen With New Eyes

      For some reason, which I do not quite understand myself, I decided this past week was a great time to reread The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I had a great deal of trepidation in this, because of how I connected to the book and how it made me feel the first time I read it. The movie always hit me differently than the book and that's why I could always watch it, but I had worries about reading it for a second time. On a side note, I have never read a book through twice, so this was my first time doing that as well. Maybe it was because of everything I've been through recently or maybe it's just time, but I was able to read the book with new eyes, and get a different perspective on it. I still had memories reignited from it, but since they were brought to life the first time, I've been able to live with them and accept what happened, so maybe that's the real reason it didn't bother me so much this time. It was just as enjoyable and maybe even more so this time around. I was able to see more of the gallows humor in it that I didn't' see the first time. I think I'm going to make a yearly thing out of this and every year at this time, reread the book and then watch the movie, which I did last night. I've always said that the movie and the book very much go together, but I did notice some things that are out of sync this time having read the book on Thursday and then watching the movie on Saturday. Those small things didn't ruin anything for me, they just gave me a greater appreciation of the book, which I think is pure brilliance. As always, I highly recommend reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

     Onto other matters now. I received a surprise call from one of my absolute dearest friends, and it meant the world to me. We don't speak much anymore because of distance and lives, and the simple fact that we are very much alike in not wanting to bother the other person. Speaking for myself, but I believe I can speak for her as well, deep down we know that we won't be imposing, but it's built into our psyche, so we simply keep our distance and only reach out when we deem it truly important. As per usual, we spoke as if we simply talked the day before. There is never any lost time between us when we speak or are around each other. It's such a pleasure to have her as a person in my life, so if you are reading this right now, thank you once again for such an enjoyable surprise.

     I went a little darker on the blue, and I'm loving it just as much as that aquamarine. I think I'm really getting a handle on this whole dying of hair thing. Well, as long as it's one color, but I still plan on experimenting with different colors and maybe creating a new look or some kind of patterns in the old beard. Anyway, here is the new darker blue.

 

     Oh, I nearly forgot, I did take some accountability photos, and I weighed in on the same day I took them. These are from Thursday of last week and the weigh in was at 162 lbs. The weight is still coming off, and I'm feeling great about it. I still look pretty miserable to me, but I'm getting there.

     Yes, I do have more of a tan, but there is more real definition there as well. It's only a pound and a half difference, so it's not that great, but there is a difference. I also wore shorts so you can see just how skinny my legs have gotten. Since I lost the weight my thighs went from 24 inches down to 21 inches, which is quite a lot. I do think some of it is muscle, but not from keto, that is from simply not being able to get in a gym and do heavy squats like I once did. I'm working on a weigh to put some size back on them again, but for now it just has to look like I skipped leg day.

      I have a photo for you from the other morning on the trail. I did have to adjust it so that it looked more like what I actually saw, so there is some manipulation of exposure and contrast as well as other things, but it came out nearly like what I saw with the naked eye. This was with my phone so the quality is what it is. If I had my camera with me, I'm sure I would have caught what I actually saw. I know how to set the camera for that, but here is the crescent moon over the trees on the other side of the lake. I only wish I could have gotten the water in the picture, but I had to crop it so that the moon was crisp enough to see.

     Almost spectacular. If I could have captured what my eye saw, it truly would be. 

     There were some strange things on the trail this week. I haven't spoken about this at all yet, but there is this one particular spot on the trail at a corner near the woods, where whenever I pass before the sunrise I hear a woman's voice. Since I'm always hearing headphones, I can never make out what she says, but it always happens when I'm out there before the crack of dawn. The morning of the moon photo was one such morning. If there is the slightest sliver of sunlight I don't hear it. I also get chills at that same spot but they are never present when I make my second lap, which is after the sunrise. Now, that section of the trail is about 300 yards away from a pretty famous restaurant called Ashley's. It's well known in the paranormal community for it's haunting. A woman was killed there and remains on the site haunting the building. I'm wondering if the woman I hear is actually her. I tried using my phone at that spot this morning to capture an EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) but I was a little late in getting out there, so there was some light in the sky. I did get the chills, but there was no voice. There was also a train that had just passed by so I think that could have thrown things off as well. I will keep trying on days after I've exceeded my goal, which I met on Saturday. Yep, I hit my 50 km mark on Saturday so Sunday was just icing on the cake, so I could take some time and stop at that spot and give it a try.

     Yesterday which would have been Saturday, I was walking towards the trail from where I park my car, as I was about 50 yards away from the gate to enter the trail, I heard something over my headphones. I hadn't been playing any music or a book yet, so I stopped walking and pulled my one of the ears out. I could hear this very strange screaming coming from the woods near where I parked my car. It sounded like something was being murdered. To me it was primate in nature. I've heard rabbits, and cranes scream, and this wasn't it. A friend said that it could have been a raccoon, which I've heard as well, and actually that is the closest, but it still sounded different to me. I'm hoping I can post this video I shot so you can hear it and maybe you can take a guess.

      Right now as I'm typing this, it says that the video is processing, so either you will see it just above this, or you won't. If you can see the video and you have heard such a sound, please let me know what it is. I'm really wanting to go with the ever elusive cryptid known as the Skunk Ape, which is a cousin to Big Foot, but deep down I know that's not what it is. I've always heard there is a strong stench of sulfur when one is near, and I didn't smell anything like that when I walked passed that are literally a minute before.

     It's time for Favorite Song of the Week. Although my favorite thing was that call from my friend, I'm giving you a tune to dance to. Twenty One Pilots dropped a new track and a pre order for a new album this past week. I had a feeling something was coming because Tyler Joseph posted a cryptic video a couple weeks ago. I hoped it meant an album was coming, and my hopes have come true. Once again they changed up their sound just enough for you to love what you are hearing but swear that if you didn't know it was them, you wouldn't have guessed them. Not me mind you, but everyone else. I jest. Anyway, here is Twenty One Pilots with their brand new song "Shy Away".

     If you enjoyed the song, which come on you really should have, you can pre order the new album and get that song right now. If you want wait and get it all at once, the album drops on May 21st and they are doing a live stream concert that night. You can buy tickets on their website for that as well.

     I have to say, it was a pretty good week. I wish they could all be like this, but if I only get this one, I'll take it. Peace in and goodnight.

The Trail Is Life

      I gotta say. I'm loving this aquamarine color way more than I thought I would. I'm thinking it's in part to actually learning ways to put the dye on properly. Even though this is the Arctic Fox product, I've watched a few videos from the brand manager of Manic Panic. He dyes his beard in rainbow colors, so he knows what he's talking about. I do think I need to give the pink another shot and do it with the new ways I've learned. It does make a huge difference when you do it right.

     I skipped Skateboard Saturday again and put more miles in. I've gone over 50km this week, which is quite a feat for me. I didn't try running until today, more on that in just a bit, because I got my appointment for my first dose of the Moderna vaccine and I didn't want to take any chances. Not by injuring myself or running myself down. I did my best to go in there at peak health so that nothing would go wrong. The shot was nothing, and the only side affect I experienced was some minor soreness right around the injection site for about a day and a half. It felt like someone frogged me in the shoulder really good. If you don't know what frogging is, it's when you stick the middle knuckle out of your middle finger and punch someone in a tender area. The result usually causes the muscle to jump in that spot, hence the term frogging. Frogging also leaves one hell of a bruise, which is really what the pain felt like, a deep tissue bruise. There was potentially some weakness but I'm not sure if it was the shot or lack of sleep or the fact that from Friday to Saturday I did a 24 hour fast. Today though I had an abundance of energy, so I'm chalking that up to simple tiredness from lack of sleep. I get my next and final dose on the 28th, which I am looking forward to. I've heard that injection is a bit worse for the wear. I'll let you know of course after I've had it.

     Ok back to that whole running thing. Walking the lake trail as I call it, has become sort of an addiction.

     

     This view sort of explains why. That is part of the reason why I skipped out on Skateboard Saturday, also I wanted to put the distance in. Pokemon GO has bonuses for certain km benchmarks, and 50 is the final one, so I'm proud to announce that I hit 50km for the first time in that game, and probably in life for a weeks worth of walking. Now for the running. Today I ran for the first time since my injury. I held off because of the shot which was on Thursday. I ran for only very short distances, maybe 300 yards tops at a time, but I felt great. The tips my runner friends gave me are complete game changers. I not only had softer footfalls, but the whole experience felt more efficient. I could have runner further, but I want to get used to this new way of running and not get tired and then fall out of proper technique. Baby steps. I don't have any soreness in my ankle from running which really surprised me, I truly expected some. In all actuality today was the perfect day to run for the first time. Tomorrow is Monday which is of course my rest day, so even if some pain pops up, it will have time to recover.

     I plan on taking photos this week for accountability. I didn't weigh in this morning cause the batteries in my scale ran out, so I have to get more then I'll get a new number for next week. I'm feeling great, and I think I'm looking pretty good at this point. Not where I want to be of course, but its along the path. I will hit that 10% body fat, it's just a matter of time.

     Ok, life hack moment here. I'm about to tell you something you won't believe, but you put your garbage bags in your trash cans wrong. I know, I didn't believe it when I heard that too, but I was wrong. This is going to save you so much time and potential frustration. If you are like I used to be, you open the bag up and shake it out to get it fully opened, then you drop the bulk of the bag into the can and struggle with the top trying to get it over the edge of the trash can. Now comes the fun part. Next time you go to put a new bag in your garbage can, don't shake it out. Instead, open up the top of the bag just enough to fit it over the edge of the trash can. Once you have it completely around the can, push the center of it down and the bag will simply open the rest of the way up filling the can. It really is magic. If you do this once, you will never do it any other way again. Turns out the bag was actually designed to go in that way. The seam is on the outside of the bag when you pull it out of the box, by putting it over the can and then pushing it all down, you just the seam on the inside where it really belongs. You are welcome, and no I didn't figure this out on my own, I saw some video on some random Twitter page about it.

     It's time for Favorite Song of the Week. This one is going back a few decades. Over the weekend I watched a live stream of an old Pearl Jam show, and it got me a bit nostalgic for some grunge. Now I wasn't a 90's music fan. I did like some bands from that era, but for me 90's music generally sucked. Pearl Jam, Nirvana, NIN, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots exceeded the suckatude. There are others, but those will always stand out, and this weeks song is from STP. See while listening to some PJ on iTunes when the album finishes it always goes into similar songs, and this one popped up and reminded me about just how great STP were. I won't go into  the "I wonder what songs Scott could have written had he lived" bit, I'll just remember him for the incredible artist that he was and share just another great song from him and the rest of STP. Here is Stone Temple Pilots with their song "Unglued".

     One last thing. I'm going to make a brief appearance on Facebook, just to check in on messages and what not, but I truly feel like I will only go on maybe once a week from here on out. My time away from it has been wonderful and absolutely needed. Oh, I should tell you, if you haven't left social media for any length of time, they hound you with sudden emails and notifications that they don't send you when you are using the service. That only goes to prove that social media needs you far more than you need it. Just a thought to put out there if at some point people really want to bring this social media giants to their knees. Peace in and goodnight.