There are a few things to talk about tonight, so let's just jump right in on it. This one is going to be loaded with videos, so I hope you have some good quality time to sit down and read and watch. We'll start with the return of America's Got Talent. Ok, I was just looking up the videos, and maybe it won't be a video heavy night. I will however get the videos I want you to see, up as soon as I can, which will more than likely be Thursday night.
It appears that the AGT Youtube page hasn't posted all the performances from tonight, so I will just give you a little about what I wanted to show you. As most of you know, I became a big fan of Grace VanderWaal after her first performance on AGT. Howie Mandel awarded her with the Golden Buzzer and sent her straight through to the live shows. Tonight was her return to the stage. I was a little worried for her. I found her Youtube page, and she has been posting a lot of cover songs on there, and they aren't all very good. She has limited playing ability on her ukulele, so she often times only plays chords that she knows, and they aren't always right. That being said, her voice is still great and unique. My worry, was that someone was going to convince her to play a covers song, in order to appeal to a broader audience. It's much easier to like a song, if you know it. With Grace however, her voice is so unique, that a cover would do her a disservice. You would spend too much time comparing her to the original artist, and maybe not like her version as much. fortunately, this was only speculation. She did another original song, and as soon as I find that video, I will post it for you to watch. You could tell that she was a bit nervous when she started out. It's an original song, so you can't tell if she was rushing it a bit, or that is just how it goes. Another great aspect to doing an original over a cover.. Once she heard the crowd cheer for the first time, a smile crossed her face, and she loosened up. She was fantastic, and I'm sure she will go through to the next round.
As good as Grace was, she wasn't my favorite act of the night. That honor goes to Brian Justin Crum, who did do a cover, but he made it his own. He covered Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight". It was haunting and down right beautiful. Once again, as soon as I can find the video, I will post it for you to see. This guys voice is uncanny good. He owns the stage like a seasoned pro, and doesn't back down from a challenge. Each song he has chosen, has basically been a small part of the story of his life. His first one was Queen's "Somebody to Love". His second song was Radiohead's "Creep", both of them relating to a time in his life. Early on, he was picked on, and he just wanted people to like him, later after he came out, he was the "creep", but now, was his moment to shine. When I get the video and you listen to the lyrics as he sings, it will all make sense. Where Grace was fantastic. Brian was superb. It was a truly flawless performance.
Ok, time for Favorite Song of the Week. The song this week is one that I just couldn't get out of my head. I've listened to it several times this week already, and will more than likely listen to it a dozen times more. Here comes the crazy part, I've already posted this song as a Favorite Song of the Week. Can you guess what it is? I never said that FSOTW was going to be a different song every week. I didn't even lay down any rules for it at all, just that it was going to be my favorite song for that week, and this one definitely is, so here it is my Favorite Song of the Week, belongs to none other than Twenty One Pilots. Come on, like you didn't see that coming. The bonus is, that this time I will get to post the video that I want to, instead of what I could find through the pop up window. Here is the official version of "Heathens" by my favorite band, Twenty One Pilots.
This is probably the first time that I hope, me writing about something, doesn't get it to leave my head. I want this song bouncing around in there for as long as possible.
Amazon Prime has started their pilot season. That is where Amazon released pilots for possible series that they may do. You only get one episode, and then based on reviews, they decide whether or not to do a season of shows for it. I've watched 3 pilots. I don't know if there are more or not, but I'm here to talk about two of them. The first one I watched was The Tick. I've always been a fan of The Tick. He is an oddball superhero that is bit quirky, a little goofy, and a lot indestructible. They tried dong a series for the show several years ago, and it had potential, but Fox didn't want to spend the money on a fringe show, so it was canceled. This is where Amazon has a chance to shine, and in the first episode, they did just that. The show has good writing, and a really good cast. The CGI is relatively good, and gets you into the quirky world of The Tick. If you have a Prime account, you can watch it for free, and I recommend that you do. It's a full half hour long, so it won't take up too much of your time, and it's only one episode, so you don't have to worry about getting wrapped into binge watching, yet.
The second show, and the one I thought was the best of them, was Jean Claude Van Johnson. the name sounds a little like Jean Claude Van Dam right? Well that is because he stars in it. Here is the premise. JCVD is retired from making movies, and just lounges around the house, eating Pop Tarts, and picking up women, but then he sees an old flame, and decides to un-retire. Here is the thing, what he really retired from, was not acting, but black-ops spying. That's right JCVD is a super spy, and his movies were only cover stories to get him to places that he had a black-ops mission. I won't tell you much more about it, because I really want you to watch it. JCVD takes the piss out of himself, and is self deprecatingly hilarious. The show is an absolute laugh riot, of the highest order. It is a must see, and I really hope that this one gets picked up, because I want seasons, not just a season of this. It has the potential to be one of the all time funniest shows, and I beg of you to go check it out.
A couple of work related things and then I will leave you alone. I only have a 3 day work week this week, and it kind of blows. I'll get over it though, and move on. I'm looking at it this way. I get more time to ride Saki, and walk around to hatch Pokemon eggs. Yeah, I'm playing Pokemon Go. Don't judge me, it's fun.
Speaking of Saki, here is the other work related thing. Every day that I ride in to work, a woman there always tells me that she hopes that it will rain, so that I get rained on riding home. Here is the way I hear that in my head. "I hope that you crash and die.". Seems a little dramatic right? Well, when you are on a motorcycle, you won't optimum riding conditions, and when those conditions change the slightest bit, the chances of you getting injured go up drastically. Wet roads, means slick conditions, especially here in Florida. Black ice is real, and it can put a bike down in a second. Rain also decreases visibility, not only mine, but other drivers. I'm small enough on a bike as it is, when a cars visibility is decreased, my chances of getting hit go up exponentially. As you can see, I'm not quite as dramatic as you would believe at first. That is why, when she tells me that she hopes I get rained on, I only hear, I want you to die. Here is the question for you. Do I mention this to her, or do I just leave it as is? Right now, I'm just leaving it lie, but I'm more enraged by it every time she says it, and I'm compelled to tell her what I think. I would be polite, but still let her know that she is being a prick.
That's all I got tonight. I have to wake up early for my mid week Friday. Peace in and goodnight.
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Sunday, August 21, 2016
What I Did on My Summer Vacation.
Ok, so I don't get a summer vacation anymore. Here is the thing though, I've never gotten to write a "What I did on My Summer Vacation" paper before. For some reason, the schools that I went to, either didn't care what we did over the summer, or decide that the assignment was no longer relevant. Today, I did something that would easily fit into the "What I did on My Summer Vacation". I went kayaking today, for the first time I might add. Well there you have it, "What I did on My Summer Vacation".
Did you really think I was going to leave it at that? Me with the gift of gab when it comes to writing (would that really be called the gift of gab if it's in writing?). Of course not, i'm going to tell you all about it. First off, it was a lot of fun, even though it was a bit frustrating at times, with my inability to steer the kayak properly. I went out with my dear friend Elie Wolf, as you should know by now, you can click on her name to see a few pictures from todays journey. We went out to Thonotosassa, Florida for this little jaunt down the Hillsborough River. We started out at, I believe, John Sergeant Park. We got in our tandem kayak and paddled out into adventure. The goal was to see the Florida scenery and a whole bunch of gators.
The water level on the river was very high. The area has gotten a lot of rain lately, and it is also a normal high time in the season, so wildlife was a bit scarce. The first half of the trip was really fun. It was a new experience for me, and a battled through my terrible kayak driving skills. I was learning with each stroke of the paddle, and I was determined to get better. If not for the sake of being a decent kayaker, definitely for the sake of not screwing up my friends shots with her camera. If you clicked on that link up above, you would see, that she still managed to get some pretty good shots, and the best ones are yet to come. I'll get to that in time though.
We meandered down the river, and kept away from other parties that were a bit loud. We worried that they would scare the gators, so we hung back, and it paid off. We had a pleasant and peaceful ride down the river. At times, it was so quiet and tranquil, that you could hear your heart beating in your eardrums. I feared that if I even spoke, that I would break the silence that was being held over us.. The silence would be broken though, but it was normally by, at one point an owl, at another a woodpecker, and at others random flopping of fish. It was amazing to experience that level of peaceful tranquility.
We finished the first leg of our trip in about 2 and a half hours. We stopped for a quick snack and some leg stretching, and then it was back in the boat. The loud couple was stopped as well, and we wanted to try to get well ahead of them so as not to spook the gators. We saw quite a few on that first leg, and my friend had not gone down the second leg before, so we were hoping for a fair amount of gators there.
Our meandering ways, in order to get some good shots, didn't pay off for staying ahead of the loud couple. They must have jumped in their canoe right after we left, because they were on us, in about 10 minutes. We once again stopped and got some shots of the scenery so that they could pass us by, and stay far ahead of us. softly after leaving them, we saw our first gator on the second leg. It was a good 5 footer, maybe a bit larger, but not by much. It hung there for a while, and then it decided he didn't like our company, so he swam off for a less paparazzi type of place. This is where the struggle began. The second half was a bit zig zaggy (yes i know zaggy isn't a real word, but it works), and you remember my struggles with steering. It was an adventure into tree branches to say the least. This new area was a bit boring. There was nothing to see, no wildlife, no new foliage, nothing, and I was getting more frustrated by the minute with my paddling. I didn't let it show, but it was there.
To make things worse, the loud couple had some how fallen back and we caught up with them, so even if there was some gators in the area, they wouldn't be for long. Now, even though this section was boring, there was room for adventure, and a daring river rescue to get our kayak to where it needed to go. We finally catch up to the loud couple, and they are stopped, and looking confused. They mention a big log in the way, and that they must have taken the wrong fork in the river. I was sure that we were on the right path, and that we just had to go over the log and get back to paddling. I pulled out my trusty phone to check the GPS, to see if we were in fact in the right place, and by my map, we were. The woman in the other boat swore up and down that we were nowhere near where we should be. My friend called the rental area where we had gotten the boat, and they said that we were going the right way. I hoped out of the kayak onto a stump along side the fallen tree, (yes, i'm putting on my superman cape) and puled the boat over the log. My friend had to turn the kayak, and back it up, so that I could once again, pull the kayak back so that I could get seated again. Before doing all that, I did ask the couple if they wanted me to pull them over, since I was in a good position to do so, and they said they were just going to bulldoze over the log at full speed. With that, I was back in the kayak and we were paddling away. I was taking small looks back, because I was half expecting them to hit that log at full speed, and come to a dead stop, launching them into the river. Fortunately, they didn't. The did come to that dead stop, but it was halfway in the canoe, all they had to do at that point, was move themselves to the front and push off. It took them a little while to figure that out, but they did make it over.
They were back on us in a a few minutes this time. We let them pass again. They had to make it to the checkpoint at a certain time, so they really took off this time. We had plenty of time to hit our check point, so meander was back on the menu. it was still boring. We made it to a much wider part of the river, and saw one gator. He didn't like us very much and went under. I tried backing up the kayak to get away from him to see if he would resurface, but then a boat came around the bend and there was no chance of getting any shots of him (yes i know i'm saying him even though i have no idea if it actually was male). We were working our way to a little offshoot near the final checkpoint called Trout Creek. We were going to spend a little time in there before dropping anchor in port.
Trout Creek was a small let outlet that was a bit hidden. My friend pointed it out, and I steered into it. I was finally getting passable at my kayak steering. This little area was absolutely beautiful. It had that same quiet tranquility, but it also had the beauty of the Florida woods that I knew as a kid. There was a small raised banks on either side of us, and you were half expecting to see a wild animal of some kind. A deer, boar, panther, bobcat, anything really. This was the perfect area for something like that. This little creek bent around to a fork, and as I was saying "Uh oh". meaning, which way do we go, my friend spotted a gator. I finally saw it and started reversing the kayak. I asked if it was two of them, and then I saw what was really going on. This gator was massive. It was at least 8 feet long, and seemed to be 3 feet wide. I had the boat reversed and then slowed it, and she started taking pictures. I was so focused on the sheer size of the gator, that I failed to notice, that we were drifting towards it. We got about as close as I wanted to be to it. We were about 10 yards from it, when it finally hit me, that I could actually see it's pupils. I slowly started reversing the kayak again, but at a much slower pace. We drifted back to about 30 yards, when she finished up. I asked her where she wanted to go from there, and she said, "That's what I came here for. I don't need anything else." With that, we turned around and headed for our final destination.
Guess who was waiting for us? Yep, the loud couple missed their pick-up time, and had to wait another hour until the next one, which was the same one we were waiting for. Oh joy! I was pretty exhausted at this point. I had paddled 9 and half miles in that kayak, not too bad for the first time out. It was a good day. I'm looking forward to the next chance I get to go out on a kayak. Hopefully I'll steer a bit better.
I was going to talk about a few more things tonight, but they can wait until Tuesday. I'm exhausted and need sleep, and that's not going to come until I finish writing this. So with that, peace in and goodnight.
Did you really think I was going to leave it at that? Me with the gift of gab when it comes to writing (would that really be called the gift of gab if it's in writing?). Of course not, i'm going to tell you all about it. First off, it was a lot of fun, even though it was a bit frustrating at times, with my inability to steer the kayak properly. I went out with my dear friend Elie Wolf, as you should know by now, you can click on her name to see a few pictures from todays journey. We went out to Thonotosassa, Florida for this little jaunt down the Hillsborough River. We started out at, I believe, John Sergeant Park. We got in our tandem kayak and paddled out into adventure. The goal was to see the Florida scenery and a whole bunch of gators.
The water level on the river was very high. The area has gotten a lot of rain lately, and it is also a normal high time in the season, so wildlife was a bit scarce. The first half of the trip was really fun. It was a new experience for me, and a battled through my terrible kayak driving skills. I was learning with each stroke of the paddle, and I was determined to get better. If not for the sake of being a decent kayaker, definitely for the sake of not screwing up my friends shots with her camera. If you clicked on that link up above, you would see, that she still managed to get some pretty good shots, and the best ones are yet to come. I'll get to that in time though.
We meandered down the river, and kept away from other parties that were a bit loud. We worried that they would scare the gators, so we hung back, and it paid off. We had a pleasant and peaceful ride down the river. At times, it was so quiet and tranquil, that you could hear your heart beating in your eardrums. I feared that if I even spoke, that I would break the silence that was being held over us.. The silence would be broken though, but it was normally by, at one point an owl, at another a woodpecker, and at others random flopping of fish. It was amazing to experience that level of peaceful tranquility.
We finished the first leg of our trip in about 2 and a half hours. We stopped for a quick snack and some leg stretching, and then it was back in the boat. The loud couple was stopped as well, and we wanted to try to get well ahead of them so as not to spook the gators. We saw quite a few on that first leg, and my friend had not gone down the second leg before, so we were hoping for a fair amount of gators there.
Our meandering ways, in order to get some good shots, didn't pay off for staying ahead of the loud couple. They must have jumped in their canoe right after we left, because they were on us, in about 10 minutes. We once again stopped and got some shots of the scenery so that they could pass us by, and stay far ahead of us. softly after leaving them, we saw our first gator on the second leg. It was a good 5 footer, maybe a bit larger, but not by much. It hung there for a while, and then it decided he didn't like our company, so he swam off for a less paparazzi type of place. This is where the struggle began. The second half was a bit zig zaggy (yes i know zaggy isn't a real word, but it works), and you remember my struggles with steering. It was an adventure into tree branches to say the least. This new area was a bit boring. There was nothing to see, no wildlife, no new foliage, nothing, and I was getting more frustrated by the minute with my paddling. I didn't let it show, but it was there.
To make things worse, the loud couple had some how fallen back and we caught up with them, so even if there was some gators in the area, they wouldn't be for long. Now, even though this section was boring, there was room for adventure, and a daring river rescue to get our kayak to where it needed to go. We finally catch up to the loud couple, and they are stopped, and looking confused. They mention a big log in the way, and that they must have taken the wrong fork in the river. I was sure that we were on the right path, and that we just had to go over the log and get back to paddling. I pulled out my trusty phone to check the GPS, to see if we were in fact in the right place, and by my map, we were. The woman in the other boat swore up and down that we were nowhere near where we should be. My friend called the rental area where we had gotten the boat, and they said that we were going the right way. I hoped out of the kayak onto a stump along side the fallen tree, (yes, i'm putting on my superman cape) and puled the boat over the log. My friend had to turn the kayak, and back it up, so that I could once again, pull the kayak back so that I could get seated again. Before doing all that, I did ask the couple if they wanted me to pull them over, since I was in a good position to do so, and they said they were just going to bulldoze over the log at full speed. With that, I was back in the kayak and we were paddling away. I was taking small looks back, because I was half expecting them to hit that log at full speed, and come to a dead stop, launching them into the river. Fortunately, they didn't. The did come to that dead stop, but it was halfway in the canoe, all they had to do at that point, was move themselves to the front and push off. It took them a little while to figure that out, but they did make it over.
They were back on us in a a few minutes this time. We let them pass again. They had to make it to the checkpoint at a certain time, so they really took off this time. We had plenty of time to hit our check point, so meander was back on the menu. it was still boring. We made it to a much wider part of the river, and saw one gator. He didn't like us very much and went under. I tried backing up the kayak to get away from him to see if he would resurface, but then a boat came around the bend and there was no chance of getting any shots of him (yes i know i'm saying him even though i have no idea if it actually was male). We were working our way to a little offshoot near the final checkpoint called Trout Creek. We were going to spend a little time in there before dropping anchor in port.
Trout Creek was a small let outlet that was a bit hidden. My friend pointed it out, and I steered into it. I was finally getting passable at my kayak steering. This little area was absolutely beautiful. It had that same quiet tranquility, but it also had the beauty of the Florida woods that I knew as a kid. There was a small raised banks on either side of us, and you were half expecting to see a wild animal of some kind. A deer, boar, panther, bobcat, anything really. This was the perfect area for something like that. This little creek bent around to a fork, and as I was saying "Uh oh". meaning, which way do we go, my friend spotted a gator. I finally saw it and started reversing the kayak. I asked if it was two of them, and then I saw what was really going on. This gator was massive. It was at least 8 feet long, and seemed to be 3 feet wide. I had the boat reversed and then slowed it, and she started taking pictures. I was so focused on the sheer size of the gator, that I failed to notice, that we were drifting towards it. We got about as close as I wanted to be to it. We were about 10 yards from it, when it finally hit me, that I could actually see it's pupils. I slowly started reversing the kayak again, but at a much slower pace. We drifted back to about 30 yards, when she finished up. I asked her where she wanted to go from there, and she said, "That's what I came here for. I don't need anything else." With that, we turned around and headed for our final destination.
Guess who was waiting for us? Yep, the loud couple missed their pick-up time, and had to wait another hour until the next one, which was the same one we were waiting for. Oh joy! I was pretty exhausted at this point. I had paddled 9 and half miles in that kayak, not too bad for the first time out. It was a good day. I'm looking forward to the next chance I get to go out on a kayak. Hopefully I'll steer a bit better.
I was going to talk about a few more things tonight, but they can wait until Tuesday. I'm exhausted and need sleep, and that's not going to come until I finish writing this. So with that, peace in and goodnight.
Thursday, August 18, 2016
Like Frida Kahlo, My Writing is a Self Portrait.
As I have mentioned before, I love going to the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. I'm a member there, so I can go in whenever I want to, well, within their operating hours. They send me emails from time to time, to let me know what exhibits are going to be there, and when they will begin. This week I got the news that the next exhibit, which starts in December, is going to be Frida Kahlo. She is widely known for her self portraits. When she was asked why she always painted herself, she replied, " I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.". When I began my love affair with writing, I was often told, to write about what you know. That is why, that eventually, the 365 and then this was born. The subject I know best, is me. More on that in a bit. I am truly looking forward to seeing the painting of Frida Kahlo. I love looking at the different strokes that painters use in their works. I'm sure I will learn from these paintings, as I have from Dali, Picasso, Van Gogh, and others. I haven't painted in some time, but it is something that I enjoy. Unlike Mrs Kahlo though, I will not be doing self portraits. I am probably my least favorite subject when it comes to drawing or painting.
I guess this is where we are getting into the me part of all this. Like Mrs Kahlo, I do believe I know this subject of me, better than anyone, which is a small part of why I began writing the 365 and this. I then found that it was very cathartic. It helped me with a lot of problems that I was having in my life; depression, love life, lack of a love life, getting over things. That last one, is probably the biggest one of them all. I found that when I wrote about something that was lingering in my head, I was finally able to let it go. It's like when the words came from my fingers, I freed myself of that burden. Maybe that is what Mrs. Kahlo was doing with her self portraits. She died at an early age do to a history of bad health that began when she was hit by a car as a teenager. I can imagine, that when she wasn't feeling her best, she could sit down, and paint herself. Maybe it wasn't necessarily how she truly looked at the time, but maybe it was a way that she wanted to appear. Although, most of the paintings of hers that I've seen, she has a rather sallow look on her face. I could be wrong about all of this, but I want to believe it my way.
I started a new book today. I don't quite remember the title of it, and it isn't close at hand, but it is about the Greek god Apollo. It's fiction, and it is a modern take on the old god. He has been cast to Earth without his godly powers, and must find a way to redeem himself and get them back. The funny part about it, is how arrogant he is. He always puts himself first, and mocks others when they would dare put themselves ahead of him. He is a god after all. I got to thinking as I was getting further and further in the book, that I am a lot like this representation of Apollo. Not the arrogance, but in another way. It mentions at one point about how he is the god of poetry. He holds himself far above everyone in his ability to write the poetic word, and that is where I saw a little of myself. Not that I hold myself above everyone with my writing, but more that I do think, that I am a very good writer. I know, that does sound like arrogance, especially when you see it written in front of you, but the plain truth is, that I do feel that way. Here is the reason why, and it is also going to sound very self serving. There have been times when I have gone back, and read what I have written, and I was amazed. I couldn't believe that I had written it. Because of this, I began believing in my writing even more, so much so, that I began writing a story about a young boy that when he wrote, his stories would come to life in the readers mind. Isn't that what a book is supposed to do? Of course it is, but this was a little different. The character believed that he could create entire worlds. Isn't that what a writer does? Yes it is, and maybe that is the point of all of this. My goal, when I write fiction, is to put you in a different world, and I believe that I can do it in a way, that you actually begin to feel part of that world, and that is what that character did. He would transport people, not just in mind, but also in body, to other worlds. As soon as they were done reading, they would simply come back to life.
I put that story away for the time being, because it started feeding into my own ego. I do believe these things about myself, but I have to take a step back and remain a bit humble.
Wow, how did this go from Frida Kahlo to my ego going unchecked? Before I sign off tonight, it would be a disservice to not share at least one picture of a Frida Kahlo painting. I do believe that this is her most recognized work, but I could be wrong.
You can see that sallow look in her eyes. I'm very excited that I'm going to see her work in person, not to mention that I will get to spend some time with Dali as well. Peace in and goodnight.
I guess this is where we are getting into the me part of all this. Like Mrs Kahlo, I do believe I know this subject of me, better than anyone, which is a small part of why I began writing the 365 and this. I then found that it was very cathartic. It helped me with a lot of problems that I was having in my life; depression, love life, lack of a love life, getting over things. That last one, is probably the biggest one of them all. I found that when I wrote about something that was lingering in my head, I was finally able to let it go. It's like when the words came from my fingers, I freed myself of that burden. Maybe that is what Mrs. Kahlo was doing with her self portraits. She died at an early age do to a history of bad health that began when she was hit by a car as a teenager. I can imagine, that when she wasn't feeling her best, she could sit down, and paint herself. Maybe it wasn't necessarily how she truly looked at the time, but maybe it was a way that she wanted to appear. Although, most of the paintings of hers that I've seen, she has a rather sallow look on her face. I could be wrong about all of this, but I want to believe it my way.
I started a new book today. I don't quite remember the title of it, and it isn't close at hand, but it is about the Greek god Apollo. It's fiction, and it is a modern take on the old god. He has been cast to Earth without his godly powers, and must find a way to redeem himself and get them back. The funny part about it, is how arrogant he is. He always puts himself first, and mocks others when they would dare put themselves ahead of him. He is a god after all. I got to thinking as I was getting further and further in the book, that I am a lot like this representation of Apollo. Not the arrogance, but in another way. It mentions at one point about how he is the god of poetry. He holds himself far above everyone in his ability to write the poetic word, and that is where I saw a little of myself. Not that I hold myself above everyone with my writing, but more that I do think, that I am a very good writer. I know, that does sound like arrogance, especially when you see it written in front of you, but the plain truth is, that I do feel that way. Here is the reason why, and it is also going to sound very self serving. There have been times when I have gone back, and read what I have written, and I was amazed. I couldn't believe that I had written it. Because of this, I began believing in my writing even more, so much so, that I began writing a story about a young boy that when he wrote, his stories would come to life in the readers mind. Isn't that what a book is supposed to do? Of course it is, but this was a little different. The character believed that he could create entire worlds. Isn't that what a writer does? Yes it is, and maybe that is the point of all of this. My goal, when I write fiction, is to put you in a different world, and I believe that I can do it in a way, that you actually begin to feel part of that world, and that is what that character did. He would transport people, not just in mind, but also in body, to other worlds. As soon as they were done reading, they would simply come back to life.
I put that story away for the time being, because it started feeding into my own ego. I do believe these things about myself, but I have to take a step back and remain a bit humble.
Wow, how did this go from Frida Kahlo to my ego going unchecked? Before I sign off tonight, it would be a disservice to not share at least one picture of a Frida Kahlo painting. I do believe that this is her most recognized work, but I could be wrong.
You can see that sallow look in her eyes. I'm very excited that I'm going to see her work in person, not to mention that I will get to spend some time with Dali as well. Peace in and goodnight.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Stranger Things than 3 Libras
I could swear that earlier today, I had an idea of what I was going to write about, but then again, I think that idea was about writing about not being able to have anything to write about. Let's just dive right in to the Favorite Song of the Week. I did have an idea of posting a song that isn't a favorite, or that I even like it, but it is getting a lot of play right now, and people seem to like it, even though I simply just don't care for it at all. That of course would diminish what the Favorite Song of the Week is, so I chose something else, and It was a song that I heard yesterday. This one goes back a few years, but it is such a great song. A Perfect Circle is the band, and it's an offshoot of Tool, with Maynard James Keenan doing the singing. I'm not sure, but I do believe that the band has broken up, and has no plans to do anymore albums under A Perfect Circle. Maynard is far to busy with Puscifer, Tool, and whatever other project he has going at the moment. So let's take a quick jaunt back in time for a little "3 Libras" by A Perfect Circle. It's one of my truly favorite song by them.
I hope you enjoyed that, because I sure did. Now let's get on to Stranger Things. No, not let's not get to some strange things, but let's get to Stranger Things the series of Netflix. I finished it up today, and I have to say, I wanted more. This show is like watching a sci-fi show that was created and shot in the 80's. It is pretty fantastic. I do have a slight problem with the final episode though. It leaves way too many unanswered questions. It does leave the possibility for another season, but I don't know how they can do it without rehashing this entire season. I think they wrote themselves into a hole. I hope that I'm wrong about that, but it looks that way to me. I'm not going to say any more about it, but go watch it. I think you will enjoy it, and maybe you will get a different thought about the ending than I did. If so, let me know your thoughts, I would love to hear them, and discuss it with you.
That brings me to something else I wanted to mention tonight. When you leave a comment, I try to respond if I feel it merits it. The thing that I think is happening, is that you don't see my responses. There is an obvious reason for this, and that is that you aren't notified of my response. This is an easily rectified situation. Whenever you leave a comment on any of these posts, there is a small box right below your comment that says, "Notify Me". If you click that box it will send you a notification whenever someone replies to your comment. If you don't have a blogger account, I'm not quite sure how it works, but I can take a guess. My guess would be that it would ask you for your email address so that it can notify you. Once again, this is a situation where I do not see your email address. I'm sure someone does, but it's not me. If you have an account, than it simply uses the email that you provided during sign up. Easy peasy. Yeah, I just wrote out easy peasy. I must really be tired.
It appears, that there is a strong possibility that I will go kayaking this weekend. This is something that I've never done. I have had plenty of people telling me that they were going to take me out kayaking, but it never happened for one reason or another. There is a slight possibility that this won't happen this time, but that is more of a logistics thing rather than someone just blowing the whole thing off. If I don't go, that just means I get open time to go ride Saki, and that is always a good thing.
Just before writing this paragraph right here, I added the title to this. It is rather challenging to come up with a new title for each post. When this was the 365, it was easy. I would just write the day # then Diary / Journal Entry. No fuss no muss, but this is a whole different beast, and it deserves a title each time. I usually try to tie it into something within the body of the post, like tonight. I combined the Favorite Song of the Week, with Stranger Things. I know, it's not all that witty, but I"m proud of it. There have been other times where I have just thrown things out there, in hopes that it stuck. I'm going to work on being better at creating the titles for this. I think that might be the weakest part of this.
Well, that is it for tonight. Hump day is right around the corner, and I can't wait to get over it. It's supposed t be sunny tomorrow, but the forecast called for rain for the first two days of this week, and no rain has been seen around here, so I'm expecting a deluge for tomorrow, because I will be riding Saki to work based on the current forecast for tomorrow. Wish me luck, but then again, by the time most of you read this, it will be tomorrow, and your wishes will be far too late. It's the thought hat counts though, so wish away. Peace in and goodnight.
I hope you enjoyed that, because I sure did. Now let's get on to Stranger Things. No, not let's not get to some strange things, but let's get to Stranger Things the series of Netflix. I finished it up today, and I have to say, I wanted more. This show is like watching a sci-fi show that was created and shot in the 80's. It is pretty fantastic. I do have a slight problem with the final episode though. It leaves way too many unanswered questions. It does leave the possibility for another season, but I don't know how they can do it without rehashing this entire season. I think they wrote themselves into a hole. I hope that I'm wrong about that, but it looks that way to me. I'm not going to say any more about it, but go watch it. I think you will enjoy it, and maybe you will get a different thought about the ending than I did. If so, let me know your thoughts, I would love to hear them, and discuss it with you.
That brings me to something else I wanted to mention tonight. When you leave a comment, I try to respond if I feel it merits it. The thing that I think is happening, is that you don't see my responses. There is an obvious reason for this, and that is that you aren't notified of my response. This is an easily rectified situation. Whenever you leave a comment on any of these posts, there is a small box right below your comment that says, "Notify Me". If you click that box it will send you a notification whenever someone replies to your comment. If you don't have a blogger account, I'm not quite sure how it works, but I can take a guess. My guess would be that it would ask you for your email address so that it can notify you. Once again, this is a situation where I do not see your email address. I'm sure someone does, but it's not me. If you have an account, than it simply uses the email that you provided during sign up. Easy peasy. Yeah, I just wrote out easy peasy. I must really be tired.
It appears, that there is a strong possibility that I will go kayaking this weekend. This is something that I've never done. I have had plenty of people telling me that they were going to take me out kayaking, but it never happened for one reason or another. There is a slight possibility that this won't happen this time, but that is more of a logistics thing rather than someone just blowing the whole thing off. If I don't go, that just means I get open time to go ride Saki, and that is always a good thing.
Just before writing this paragraph right here, I added the title to this. It is rather challenging to come up with a new title for each post. When this was the 365, it was easy. I would just write the day # then Diary / Journal Entry. No fuss no muss, but this is a whole different beast, and it deserves a title each time. I usually try to tie it into something within the body of the post, like tonight. I combined the Favorite Song of the Week, with Stranger Things. I know, it's not all that witty, but I"m proud of it. There have been other times where I have just thrown things out there, in hopes that it stuck. I'm going to work on being better at creating the titles for this. I think that might be the weakest part of this.
Well, that is it for tonight. Hump day is right around the corner, and I can't wait to get over it. It's supposed t be sunny tomorrow, but the forecast called for rain for the first two days of this week, and no rain has been seen around here, so I'm expecting a deluge for tomorrow, because I will be riding Saki to work based on the current forecast for tomorrow. Wish me luck, but then again, by the time most of you read this, it will be tomorrow, and your wishes will be far too late. It's the thought hat counts though, so wish away. Peace in and goodnight.
Monday, August 15, 2016
Herons, Moorhens, and Alligators, Oh My.
As I told you on Thursday, I was heading out on Saturday to go for a hike in Lakeland Florida with a very good friend of mine. I woke up early because I had to meet her at her house at 8:30 in the morning. It was a beautiful morning, with the potential of being a great day. I made the hour long drive to her place, before we made another hour long drive together to get to the Circle B Bar Reserve. It's tucked in about, the middle of nowhere. You turn down an unassuming road, that winds it's way through moss covered trees, before you get to a gathering of small buildings, that make up the Nature Discovery Center. We headed to the main building to see if we could find a trail map, and take a look around. There was a very nice older gentleman inside that helped us out with directions, and told us which areas were closed for the time being. He also told us where we would see what. He was very helpful.
The areas that were closed off. Those were the areas, we most wanted to see, but the season dictates the closures. See, this is the time of season, when the alligators are hatching their newborns, and mama gators get real aggressive when you get around their babies, so the areas where they have their nests, were off limits. We really didn't mind, since we didn't want to get eaten by a angry mama gator. That particular portion of the trail was called Alligator Alley. The good news though, is that we did have access to that trail to a certain point, and we were more than happy to check out what we could.
We made our way down a trail called Mossy Oak. At least that's what I think it was. I don't have the map with me, and I'm too lazy to go get it in the other room, so Mossy Oak will have to suffice. It rained the night before, so there was a lot of standing water on the trail. We slogged our way through, and my my friend got some amazing pictures of the sun poking through the, well, the mossy oaks. It was stunningly beautiful out there. At one point, I could hear a hawk somewhere near by. Hawks make pretty distinctive shrieks, so you tend to remember them when you hear them, and I definitely heard one.
After about a half mile, give or take a few feet, we connected with Alligator Alley. We had about a quarter mile before we got to the area that the trail was closed. It ran along a lake so there was lake water to our left, and marshy water to our right. Along the trail we ran into this guy, just hanging out right int he middle of the trail.
He meandered his way across the trail into the mashy area, and hung out for me to get this picture of him with my phone. My friend of course, got much better pictures of him. While she was doing that, I walked up the trail a bit, and noticed a small 4 foot gator bobbing up and down in the lake near the trail. He was just relaxing and having a good ol' time, but these incessant humans kept staring at him, so he went under the water. My friend missed her chance to get a shot of him, so we walked a little passed where he was, and then double backed. It worked out pretty well. He had come up, seeing that no one was there staring anymore. I peaked around the tree that he was behind, and waved her over, to get around and take a few shots of him. I moved beyond his sight, and just hung out looking for other possible things for her to photograph. This also worked out pretty well. With only one person there, he hung out to get his picture taken. I of course found something to take a picture of myself.
Yep, a butterfly was flying around my feet, and it landed just long enough for me to get a picture of him. I haven't busted out my camera in quite some time, but one of my favorite things to photograph, was butterflies. They rarely stay still, so you have to be very patient and still in order to get a good picture of them. This one was pure luck. It's not the best picture, because I had to zoom in, and phone zooms are generally just a version of cropping, so it blurs the image a bit. That is what happened on both of these pictures, and the one I will have for you a bit later.
We go to the dock which marked the end of our access to the trail, but there was another section on the other end, that we could walk down, but that was a good 4 mile hike away. There was a quicker way there, but we wanted to see as much as this place had to offer, so we took the long way.
The long way gave us hope of seeing a Bald Eagle. The old gentleman from earlier told us where on the trail we might have a chance of seeing it, and that was along the long way to the other section of Alligator Alley. The morning had washed away, and the sun was at it's full blazing potential. It was a little hot, on these new trails. They were mostly out in an old pasture that was part of the old Circle B Bar ranch. That's where all this land came from. It used to be an old cattle ranch, and this was the grazing area for the herds, so not many trees along the trail. We got to the area, where we might see the eagle. We found it's nest, but the eagle was no where in sight. We missed that one, but we have a definitive place to start from if we go back.
Once we got around that trail, which was called Eagle Roost, there was a junction of four trails: Eagle Roost, Marsh Rabbit Run, Heron Hideout, and of course, Alligator Alley. The opening to Alligator Alley on this end, was outstanding. There was a narrow canal to one side of the trail, with those moss covered oaks, canopying it. To the other side of the trail was the marsh. If you go here Elie Wolf you will see my friends picture of this wonder gateway to the gators.
We started walking down the trail, I was mostly checking the canal for gators, when my friend grabs my arm, and says something very unlady like. I turn to see why this is happening, and off to our left, in the marsh area is this little guy. Ok, so little is a bit of an understatement. You can't really tell from the picture, but this was an 8 - 10 foot gator. We assume that it was male, since it wasn't aggressive, and not guarding eggs. It was just lounging there. We still weren't taking any chances. It could easily have gotten up the bank to where we were. There was a group of three people coming up on us, so I waved for them to stop, while my friends got some shots of this big boy, and then I walked back to them to tell them what was ahead, so that they wouldn't spook it, and get a chance to take some picture for themselves. We left them to it, because we didn't want to make the gator uncomfortable with too many people around. He might have just as easily took off as went after us. We walked as far down the trail as we could go, and didn't see anymore gators. We worked our way back up the trail in hopes that big boy would still be there, but he had left his lunge area for someplace new.
That was the best of the day. There was quite a bit more, but nothing as exciting as what was mentioned. Oh yeah, I put moorhens in the title. The reason for that, and no I don't have a picture of one, is because they were everywhere, and they make a a weird sort of whining sound, like a kid that doesn't want to eat brussel sprouts. They are small black birds with orangish-red beaks, and they look like the walk on water. I think it's a, they are so light and the marsh really isn't water on the top as much as it is water with branches and grass over it. All in all, it was a fantastic, sunny, alligator filled day. We are already talking about going back. We will probably wait until the fall though. the gators will be a bit more mild, and the rest of Alligator Alley will definitely be open.
Something real quick to finish this up. A friend of mine was telling me that I need to start watching Stranger Things on Netflix. I made a plan to start watching it this coming weekend, but I found myself with time today, and I que'd it up. I'm three episodes in, and it is fantastic. If you ever watched Super 8, you will love this show. It similar but not the same. I can't even tell you what it's about, because that would give too much away. If you find yourself with some free time to kill, give it a try. I think you will enjoy it. Peace in and goodnight.
The areas that were closed off. Those were the areas, we most wanted to see, but the season dictates the closures. See, this is the time of season, when the alligators are hatching their newborns, and mama gators get real aggressive when you get around their babies, so the areas where they have their nests, were off limits. We really didn't mind, since we didn't want to get eaten by a angry mama gator. That particular portion of the trail was called Alligator Alley. The good news though, is that we did have access to that trail to a certain point, and we were more than happy to check out what we could.
We made our way down a trail called Mossy Oak. At least that's what I think it was. I don't have the map with me, and I'm too lazy to go get it in the other room, so Mossy Oak will have to suffice. It rained the night before, so there was a lot of standing water on the trail. We slogged our way through, and my my friend got some amazing pictures of the sun poking through the, well, the mossy oaks. It was stunningly beautiful out there. At one point, I could hear a hawk somewhere near by. Hawks make pretty distinctive shrieks, so you tend to remember them when you hear them, and I definitely heard one.
After about a half mile, give or take a few feet, we connected with Alligator Alley. We had about a quarter mile before we got to the area that the trail was closed. It ran along a lake so there was lake water to our left, and marshy water to our right. Along the trail we ran into this guy, just hanging out right int he middle of the trail.
Yep, a butterfly was flying around my feet, and it landed just long enough for me to get a picture of him. I haven't busted out my camera in quite some time, but one of my favorite things to photograph, was butterflies. They rarely stay still, so you have to be very patient and still in order to get a good picture of them. This one was pure luck. It's not the best picture, because I had to zoom in, and phone zooms are generally just a version of cropping, so it blurs the image a bit. That is what happened on both of these pictures, and the one I will have for you a bit later.
We go to the dock which marked the end of our access to the trail, but there was another section on the other end, that we could walk down, but that was a good 4 mile hike away. There was a quicker way there, but we wanted to see as much as this place had to offer, so we took the long way.
The long way gave us hope of seeing a Bald Eagle. The old gentleman from earlier told us where on the trail we might have a chance of seeing it, and that was along the long way to the other section of Alligator Alley. The morning had washed away, and the sun was at it's full blazing potential. It was a little hot, on these new trails. They were mostly out in an old pasture that was part of the old Circle B Bar ranch. That's where all this land came from. It used to be an old cattle ranch, and this was the grazing area for the herds, so not many trees along the trail. We got to the area, where we might see the eagle. We found it's nest, but the eagle was no where in sight. We missed that one, but we have a definitive place to start from if we go back.
Once we got around that trail, which was called Eagle Roost, there was a junction of four trails: Eagle Roost, Marsh Rabbit Run, Heron Hideout, and of course, Alligator Alley. The opening to Alligator Alley on this end, was outstanding. There was a narrow canal to one side of the trail, with those moss covered oaks, canopying it. To the other side of the trail was the marsh. If you go here Elie Wolf you will see my friends picture of this wonder gateway to the gators.
That was the best of the day. There was quite a bit more, but nothing as exciting as what was mentioned. Oh yeah, I put moorhens in the title. The reason for that, and no I don't have a picture of one, is because they were everywhere, and they make a a weird sort of whining sound, like a kid that doesn't want to eat brussel sprouts. They are small black birds with orangish-red beaks, and they look like the walk on water. I think it's a, they are so light and the marsh really isn't water on the top as much as it is water with branches and grass over it. All in all, it was a fantastic, sunny, alligator filled day. We are already talking about going back. We will probably wait until the fall though. the gators will be a bit more mild, and the rest of Alligator Alley will definitely be open.
Something real quick to finish this up. A friend of mine was telling me that I need to start watching Stranger Things on Netflix. I made a plan to start watching it this coming weekend, but I found myself with time today, and I que'd it up. I'm three episodes in, and it is fantastic. If you ever watched Super 8, you will love this show. It similar but not the same. I can't even tell you what it's about, because that would give too much away. If you find yourself with some free time to kill, give it a try. I think you will enjoy it. Peace in and goodnight.
Friday, August 12, 2016
Listening to Bohemian Rhapsody While Walking Through Wilderness.
Well, it's Thursday night and I realized that I didn't post a Favorite Song of the Week on Tuesday. Once again, I still hadn't put any thought to it, but then I checked out Youtube, and what was waiting for me in my list of recommendations? Really, what was waiting for me? Just kidding. It was Panic! At The Disco's version of Bohemian Rhapsody. All of you should know, that that song was originally done by the band Queen. If you know that, you also know, that I'm rather critical of anyone covering a Queen song. I had prior knowledge of this particular version. I got to see P!ATD perform this song for only the second time live a little over a year ago in Denver at the Big Gig. I was blown away by it then, I'm still blown away by it now. Brandon Urie channels his best Freddie Mercury, to pull this one off. I should just let you hear it already. Here it is, Panic! At The Disco with their cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody".
What did you think? Really, I want to know. It's not the same as Queen, but it's a great version in my opinion.
I felt the need for a little night time riding tonight, so I took Saki out for a ride around town. This was the first time wearing my Icon Overlord jacket. It was real comfortable, but when I stopped at a light, it got real hot. It's still way to early to be wearing a full jacket in Florida yet, but I wanted the extra protection with going out at night, plus it gave me a little more visibility with the white logo and panels that are on it. There wan't a lot of traffic out, since it's a week night, so there were no close calls or anything like that. I did have one guy in a minivan decide that he wanted to race me. I just let him go, I didn't care about him or his desire to race.
When I got back, I arrived home just in time to see Michael Phelps receive his latest gold medal. I can't remember what it was for, but he had to hit the medal ceremony, then he had to book it back to the pool for another race. It was a semifinal race, and he still managed to come in 2nd in that one after having just raced a half hour earlier. If he can do that being exhausted, it doesn't bode well for the other swimmers tomorrow, when the finals are.
After swimming, it was time to finish up the Women's Gymnastics Individual All Around. The U.S. had Simone Biles and Aly Raisman competing, and the drama was created when after 2 events, the ladies were down in the standings. Simone was in 2nd, and Aly was in 4th, I believe. They both performed well on the balance beam, and then destroyed the floor exercise, to get the gold and silver. Simone with then gold and Aly with the silver. This was redemption for Aly, She missed the podium in London, when she was knocked out by a tie breaker rule. Oh yeah, the margin that Simone won by, is larger than the combined total of margin for victory for the Women's All Around, from 1980 to 2012. That is the total of 9 women gold medalist. That is a pretty awesome feat. She has 3 more events in the individual events. She is going for vault, beam, and floor.
I'm off work again tomorrow, so I have to find something somewhat productive to do. My first option is to go see Sausage Party, which is a movie title I thought I would never say that I was going to go see, but here I am, and there it is. I could also go for a ride on Saki. Actually none of this is productive, but they are all fun, and it's believed that acts of fun and laughter provide a healthier life, so with that in mind, these things are very productive to me living longer. I could alway do both, oh, and I do have a planned trip to the gym. It's leg day after all.
I will be more productive on Saturday. I'm going hiking in Lakeland Florida with a friend of mine. She mentioned that it is a place loved by photographers, with lots of great native wildlife. That means potential alligator sightings. If I get any pictures on my phone, I'll share them on here. I'm sure that she will have much better pictures, so make sure to check out, and follow her Instagram here Elie Wolf Photography . Her pictures will be much better than anything I will get.
Until Sunday night, enjoy your weekend, and stay safe out there. Peace in and goodnight.
What did you think? Really, I want to know. It's not the same as Queen, but it's a great version in my opinion.
I felt the need for a little night time riding tonight, so I took Saki out for a ride around town. This was the first time wearing my Icon Overlord jacket. It was real comfortable, but when I stopped at a light, it got real hot. It's still way to early to be wearing a full jacket in Florida yet, but I wanted the extra protection with going out at night, plus it gave me a little more visibility with the white logo and panels that are on it. There wan't a lot of traffic out, since it's a week night, so there were no close calls or anything like that. I did have one guy in a minivan decide that he wanted to race me. I just let him go, I didn't care about him or his desire to race.
When I got back, I arrived home just in time to see Michael Phelps receive his latest gold medal. I can't remember what it was for, but he had to hit the medal ceremony, then he had to book it back to the pool for another race. It was a semifinal race, and he still managed to come in 2nd in that one after having just raced a half hour earlier. If he can do that being exhausted, it doesn't bode well for the other swimmers tomorrow, when the finals are.
After swimming, it was time to finish up the Women's Gymnastics Individual All Around. The U.S. had Simone Biles and Aly Raisman competing, and the drama was created when after 2 events, the ladies were down in the standings. Simone was in 2nd, and Aly was in 4th, I believe. They both performed well on the balance beam, and then destroyed the floor exercise, to get the gold and silver. Simone with then gold and Aly with the silver. This was redemption for Aly, She missed the podium in London, when she was knocked out by a tie breaker rule. Oh yeah, the margin that Simone won by, is larger than the combined total of margin for victory for the Women's All Around, from 1980 to 2012. That is the total of 9 women gold medalist. That is a pretty awesome feat. She has 3 more events in the individual events. She is going for vault, beam, and floor.
I'm off work again tomorrow, so I have to find something somewhat productive to do. My first option is to go see Sausage Party, which is a movie title I thought I would never say that I was going to go see, but here I am, and there it is. I could also go for a ride on Saki. Actually none of this is productive, but they are all fun, and it's believed that acts of fun and laughter provide a healthier life, so with that in mind, these things are very productive to me living longer. I could alway do both, oh, and I do have a planned trip to the gym. It's leg day after all.
I will be more productive on Saturday. I'm going hiking in Lakeland Florida with a friend of mine. She mentioned that it is a place loved by photographers, with lots of great native wildlife. That means potential alligator sightings. If I get any pictures on my phone, I'll share them on here. I'm sure that she will have much better pictures, so make sure to check out, and follow her Instagram here Elie Wolf Photography . Her pictures will be much better than anything I will get.
Until Sunday night, enjoy your weekend, and stay safe out there. Peace in and goodnight.
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
The Final Five
I really don't have much to write about tonight. Work has been uneventful, and I haven't even put any thought into a Favorite Song of the Week, so I guess that will have to come to me, somewhere in the body of all this.
There are two things that I've forgotten to mention to you. The first one is, that I received the newest Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I haven't started reading it yet, because I'm worried that it won't be as good as the original series. I just need to get over that, and start reading it already. Normally I would have been done with this days ago.
The second thing, and probably the most important thing of all time, is that I sat down Sunday and watched Sharknado 4: The Fourth Awakens. Now when I tell you that this series of movies are the best ever, you are going to say that I'm nuts. Well, we already established that a long time ago, but with that in mind, these movies are the best, the best at being very bad. That is where the charm lies. These films are so bad, that they are amazing. You can't stop watching them for fear that you will miss some cliche on top of a cliche. They are completely overacted, and ridiculous, which is exactly what they are meant to be. You can't stop laughing during them, and you don't want to miss any cameo that comes on the screen. Half the fun is trying to figure out who each person really is. Some are rather easy, like Gary Busey, or David Hasselhoff, but then you have Adrian Zmed showing up, and you rack your brain a bit to figure out where you saw that person last. Just to make things even more ridiculous than they possibly could be, each famous celebrity of yesteryear, all get eaten by sharks in gratuitous ways. If you get the chance, and have absolutely nothing better to do one day, sit down and watch these movies, they will make you laugh, and then you will more than likely question your life decisions, for having watched them. I can't wait until they do another one, and they did leave it open ended to do another one. I hope they do 10 more. Ian Zerring will be 80 years old, running around with a chainsaw cutting great white sharks out of the sky.
Now on to something a little more important. I watched the Olympic coverage tonight. They were focused on Swimming and Women's Gymnastics, and those are two of my favorite Summer Olympic events. First up, was the first half of the Womens' all arounds, with team USA heavily favored to take the gold. Now I know that NBC breaks up the coverage so that people will stay tuned in, but I am now sitting here past midnight on a work night writing this, when I should have done it two hours ago. After the first half, they went to the pool where team USA was dominating in the water as well. Michael Phelps regained his title in the 200 butterfly, and his bitter rivalry with then South African swimmer now seems to be over. He didn't even place in the medals, so all the trash talking was just that, trash.
I wanted to get back to the women's gymnastics. This was my first time getting to see Simone Biles, and she is what everyone is saying about her. She is the best women's gymnast that I have ever seen. Her body moves in ways that a human should not be able to move in. She is vastly superior than any other competitor right now. Even when she has a hiccup in her routine, her routine is so difficult that even with deductions she still scores higher than anyone else on the floor. She is simply amazing. If you haven't seen her yet, take the time when the individual gymnastics competition comes on to sit down and watch her. You will be saying the same thing that I was, WOW!.
This isn't a spoiler, because it is already out on several different sources. The women of team USA won the gold. They won in pretty much a landslide. The last points total I saw, had them up by 7 points, and that was before the final floor exercise. The never put the final totals up, so i didn't see them. I'm sure if I did the slightest bit of searching online, I would find it, but where is the fun in that? After the ladies took the all around, the finally revealed their name, you know, like the Sensational Seven of years gone by. The ladies chose the name the Final Five, because they are the final five women that will be trained by Marta Karolyi. She is the wife of famed trainer Bella Karolyi. If you don't know who he is, you better look him up. He trained the likes of Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton, and who could forget Kerri Strug? Marta took over the program, when the individual coaches got fed up with Bella's overbearing style. This is Marta's final year as head of the program, and I believe she will be missed, but she set up a program that should thrive as long as no one screws with it.
It was a great night for the good ol' US of A. They added to their medal count, and made a great deal of history today, and I''m sure there is more to come. I'm tired, so I'm heading off to bed. Peace in and goodnight.
There are two things that I've forgotten to mention to you. The first one is, that I received the newest Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I haven't started reading it yet, because I'm worried that it won't be as good as the original series. I just need to get over that, and start reading it already. Normally I would have been done with this days ago.
The second thing, and probably the most important thing of all time, is that I sat down Sunday and watched Sharknado 4: The Fourth Awakens. Now when I tell you that this series of movies are the best ever, you are going to say that I'm nuts. Well, we already established that a long time ago, but with that in mind, these movies are the best, the best at being very bad. That is where the charm lies. These films are so bad, that they are amazing. You can't stop watching them for fear that you will miss some cliche on top of a cliche. They are completely overacted, and ridiculous, which is exactly what they are meant to be. You can't stop laughing during them, and you don't want to miss any cameo that comes on the screen. Half the fun is trying to figure out who each person really is. Some are rather easy, like Gary Busey, or David Hasselhoff, but then you have Adrian Zmed showing up, and you rack your brain a bit to figure out where you saw that person last. Just to make things even more ridiculous than they possibly could be, each famous celebrity of yesteryear, all get eaten by sharks in gratuitous ways. If you get the chance, and have absolutely nothing better to do one day, sit down and watch these movies, they will make you laugh, and then you will more than likely question your life decisions, for having watched them. I can't wait until they do another one, and they did leave it open ended to do another one. I hope they do 10 more. Ian Zerring will be 80 years old, running around with a chainsaw cutting great white sharks out of the sky.
Now on to something a little more important. I watched the Olympic coverage tonight. They were focused on Swimming and Women's Gymnastics, and those are two of my favorite Summer Olympic events. First up, was the first half of the Womens' all arounds, with team USA heavily favored to take the gold. Now I know that NBC breaks up the coverage so that people will stay tuned in, but I am now sitting here past midnight on a work night writing this, when I should have done it two hours ago. After the first half, they went to the pool where team USA was dominating in the water as well. Michael Phelps regained his title in the 200 butterfly, and his bitter rivalry with then South African swimmer now seems to be over. He didn't even place in the medals, so all the trash talking was just that, trash.
I wanted to get back to the women's gymnastics. This was my first time getting to see Simone Biles, and she is what everyone is saying about her. She is the best women's gymnast that I have ever seen. Her body moves in ways that a human should not be able to move in. She is vastly superior than any other competitor right now. Even when she has a hiccup in her routine, her routine is so difficult that even with deductions she still scores higher than anyone else on the floor. She is simply amazing. If you haven't seen her yet, take the time when the individual gymnastics competition comes on to sit down and watch her. You will be saying the same thing that I was, WOW!.
This isn't a spoiler, because it is already out on several different sources. The women of team USA won the gold. They won in pretty much a landslide. The last points total I saw, had them up by 7 points, and that was before the final floor exercise. The never put the final totals up, so i didn't see them. I'm sure if I did the slightest bit of searching online, I would find it, but where is the fun in that? After the ladies took the all around, the finally revealed their name, you know, like the Sensational Seven of years gone by. The ladies chose the name the Final Five, because they are the final five women that will be trained by Marta Karolyi. She is the wife of famed trainer Bella Karolyi. If you don't know who he is, you better look him up. He trained the likes of Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton, and who could forget Kerri Strug? Marta took over the program, when the individual coaches got fed up with Bella's overbearing style. This is Marta's final year as head of the program, and I believe she will be missed, but she set up a program that should thrive as long as no one screws with it.
It was a great night for the good ol' US of A. They added to their medal count, and made a great deal of history today, and I''m sure there is more to come. I'm tired, so I'm heading off to bed. Peace in and goodnight.
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