It's Been An Interesting Couple Of Days

     It has been a bust couple of days. Also, some of the most relaxing busy days I have ever had. I woke up Monday morning with the intent of finding the right photo opportunities to get for The Patchwork Knight. I was thwarted in my attempt though. The first place I was going to go was closed. That's right, they are closed only one day a week and that day is Monday. That was the place I thought I would get the best pictures, for what I needed. It is called the Enchanted Forest after all. I had to alter my plans and I headed to the secondary location which was Fay Lake. There is a little park that surrounds a lake, and they do have some random wilderness trails. I got some good pictures there, but the best part was the gentleman I ran into. He was flying drones near the lake, and when I say drones, I mean he had like 10 of them, and they were all pretty amazing in one way or the other.

     When I was done taking pictures, I decided to stop and try to talk to him, and he was one of those people that love to talk and share about their hobby, and his hobby is drones. He had been doing it pretty much since drones came out, so he has a few hours of flight time under his belt. He showed me each of his drones, and explained a few things that I didn't know. He talked about antennas that boosted the range so that he could fly further than normal, upgrades that he has done to his drones to make them faster and able to fly further, and just his love of flying, and how he always wants someone else to fly with. We exchanged numbers so that I can go fly with him some time. I don't have my controller right now, and plans to get it back this week just didn't line up, but I will have it back soon, and I will take it out and fly with him, and we will see if we can get some cool footage for you to view.

     He mentioned that he likes to make videos, and I told him about the projects I have going on. He told me he had a recording studio, and he would love to help out if he could. This is the second recording studio I've been offered, but I don't know what I would do with it right now, so I'll keep that all in mind. He let me fly one of his drones, and it was an expensive one. He told me the price, and I thought it was low, just based on the size and how it looked. I didn't take off, or land, but once it was up, he gave me the controls and I flew it around the area. It was really fun, and made me miss mine even more. We were going to try something he hadn't done before, and that was have two people controlling it. He wold control the flight, and I would control the camera, but it turns out, he needed to download some firmware to get it going. That is something for the next time then.With that two person control, we may be able to get the camera to do things it wouldn't normally do because of the gimbal involved in stabilizing the shots. We might be able to get banked style shots if we synch up the movements the right way. That would be very cool, and open up doors on the possibility of different videos. This is the drone that I got to fly.

     One of the coolest features of that drone, are the struts. When it takes off, they slowly rise up to flight position, so that the whole thing lays kind of flat when it is flying. When it gets a certain distance from the ground, they automatically begin to lower to the portion you see them in there. It is super cool.

     I talked with him for a few hours, and then finally left so that I could go home and look over the pictures I got there. They were good, but still missing what I needed for the most part. I decided to edit and proofread more chapters and get them ready for release. I'm up to 10 chapters now that are ready to go, and I did find a very big flaw. I mentioned something in an early chapter and neglected that in one further down the line, so I will be correcting that error when I get to that chapter. I knew this was a possibility based on the way I was writing with no safety net of a storyboard, or a character list, but that is all being corrected as I go now, so the story will be different but still the same.

     Since I couldn't go to the Enchanted Forest yesterday, I went today, and it was, well in a word, enchanted. It lived up to most of the hype. I either missed an area or it was over sold to me, but I still got a ton of great shots that I can use with The Patchwork Knight. While I was out there, I managed to shoot some video, and low and behold, I made a video of my adventure out there. I think you are going to like it, so let's give it a watch.

     I really enjoyed my time out there, and I'm looking forward to going out there again soon. My plan was to get home and begin more editing on The Patchwork Knight, but this video took over, and I wanted to get it done and up today, so I'm a little behind in the proofreading part, but I have plenty of time to get it all together. I may not be done by the end of the week now, but probably by next Monday for sure.

     That only leaves one thing left to talk about tonight. Favorite Song of the Week. This is a new song, by an old band. Well, they aren't that old, and this is their first song with getting the majority of the original band back together. It's been 17 years since the original lineup was together, and with the absence of one member, they finally are, and they are making good music again. The Smashing Pumpkins were a mainstay on the 90's scene. They were thrown in with the grunge sound, but they really didn't fit in there. They were kind of their own thing. Hailing from the Chicago area, they brought a different sound with them then what was coming out of Seattle, and it was fantastic. This new song, definitely harkens back to those early years and I can't wait for you to hear it, so here it is, The Smashing Pumpkins with "Solara".



     That's a goodie right? Anyway, I have to get to bed. I'm waking up early to make another video, and then later in the day I'm going to shoot for another one. The one in the morning is imperative that I get out in that morning light. The second one is kind of a hot topic of sorts right now. I think I will schedule the second one for Sunday, and the first one for mid week sometime. I think the second one is going to be fun. I hope you enjoy both of them.

     Oh, before I go, I guess I should give you a Facebook update. I'm not doing it the same as I had before. I'm not putting the app on my phone, so I will only see it when I get on the laptop, and then I only see whatever story is at the top of my feed. I check the notifications after I post what I need to, then I check what's going on with the PR, and then I'm out of there. Way different than what I was doing in the past. I would spend hours on there for no reason, but no more. I get it, I get out. I will go on right after this, because I will be posting the link to this on there.

     That's it for me tonight. I will have a new video for you on Sunday that should be fun, and wait a minute. I did want to share my favorite picture that I took today. I can't share them all, because there are just too many, but one won't hurt.

     Do you know how hard it is to get that picture with a phone? It's near impossible, but I found a way. That spider is very tiny, and I had to get up really close to get that shot, not to mention I had to get it in just the right light so that the webs would glisten. I think it works despite the spider being blurry. Anyway, now that is all I have tonight. Peace in and goodnight.

I Hope This Feeling Doesn't End Anytime Soon

     I feel like I have been more productive these last few days, than I have in years. I woke up Friday morning, and began editing and uploading videos. I have the next couple of months worth of Remember When uploaded and scheduled to go every other week. I will get busy on creating new videos this week to fill in the spaces. I have seven chapters of The Patchwork Knight loaded up and scheduled for release on Medium. I rejoined Facebook (yeah, I did, I can't really believe it myself. I'll talk more about that in a moment.), and finally met with the brand manager that wants to help us out with the PR.

     Before we get to the Facebook thing, I need to tell you about Medium. I found out that when I monetized the first chapter, it kept it from being viewed by all readers. It was only available to members. I fixed that, and although it seems counterproductive for what I want it to do. I took the monetization off for the first three chapters. That way, you can read the first three chapters without being member. They are shiny and new, with all the corrections and even a few words changed or sentences rewritten to make better sense. The way Medium works is, if you like what you read, they have a feature called claps. You can click on it once for a single clap, or you can hold it down for multiple claps. Those claps are what more the piece forward for other people to see. It's kind of like liking a picture on Facebook or Instagram. The more likes they get, the more it is promoted as something people should see.

     Here is what I see on Medium, just so you know. It has a feature that you can pull up the stats for overall performance or performance for each story. It will tell you how many people viewed it, which means that is the number of people that actually clicked on the story. It will show you how many people read it, which is only an assumption based on time a person spent on the page. I have no idea how they record that data, but that is what they have. The last is Fans, and I have no idea what that means. I'm guessing that has something to do with the claps. They have all that for Stories, Responses, and Series. Those are all different ways you communicate or write on there. I'm just sticking with Stories for now. I tried to write a response on someones piece, and it said that I didn't write enough, so I deleted the whole thing. I clearly have no understanding of it yet.

     The second chapter of The Patchwork Knight goes up tomorrow morning, and all other chapters will go up on a Monday and Friday schedule. I'm not sure, but I think you will still be able to read some of them even when the monetized ones go up, but I think they limit you to a certain number unless you are a member. Membership is $5 a month, and like I mentioned before, only become a member if you want to read the finalized version of The Patchwork Knight. It will still be right here in the rough draft version fo everyone to see.

     I forgot to mention above that I wrote chapter 31 of The Patchwork Knight yesterday morning. I wrote in the morning, how crazy is that? It felt good. I had this feeling that that was the right time to write it, so that is what happened. I had an idea of what I was going to do with it, but once I started, like it so often does, it began to write itself. It really is amazing. I am really loving this freedom to work on the things that make me happy.

     I guess it's time to talk about Facebook now. While I was at that meeting with the brand manager that is helping us out with suggestions and what not, he asked why I wasn't on Facebook, and mentioned how good it was for promotion. I couldn't argue with him about that. It's true, I know the power of Facebook when it comes to promotion, and I was leaving that all to my partner, but I finally decided with being unemployed and needing to promote all these things that are going on, I needed to step back my pride and rejoin. I am only on there to promote, I"m not spending anytime looking at anything other than the story that is right there on my front page, and that is it. I post what I need to, and then I'm off. I had my buddy make me the Admin of the PR page, and I have done a few things to get that going in the right direction, so I will more than likely take over doing the posts on there, to make sure that they get posted. I even posted two pictures today of the pizzas we had Friday night. I'll share the pizza I had right here, although you probably already saw it if you follow the PR on Facebook or Instagram.

     Look at that, it looks amazing right? It was. They do something special with the dough and they way they cook it. Basically they cook the dough first, so that it is light and thin, and almost like a cracker. That is a bad analogy, but it's the only one I can think of. They then top it with arugula, prosciutto, shaved mozzarella (which they make themselves every morning), marinated grape tomatoes, and finally a drizzle of truffle oil. That pizza had such a unique flavor, that I truly wish everyone that is looking at that picture could taste it. One other thing about going to Zarrella's that night. Oh, that's where we went. I told you how they put our link on their Facebook page, and how it went crazy. As soon as I sat down, the owners ran up to me, to say hi, shake my hand and thank me for doing that video and blog for them. I thanked them right back. What they did helped us more than it probably helped them. I truly appreciated their appreciation of what we are trying to do with the PR. Anyway, back to that pizza. After we were done, and we were leaving. I started talking to one of the owners and how we were going to come back and that I wanted to feature that pizza above. I really think people need to know about that. He handed me his card and told me to text him when we were coming back, so that he could get everything ready to make it even better. It's a difficult pizza to make, and it uses a certain flour in the dough, that they didn't have there. They usually make it at their other location. They had no idea how it was going to come out, and they told me that they had to make it twice, because the first one overcooked. I might actually die if they can make that pizza taste better than they made it that night. So we are going to make plans to do a special edition where we go back to Zarrella's and feature two of their most difficult pizzas to make, and let you know what we think of them. Keep and eye out for it, although I will post here when it is going to be coming up.

     I guess I should finally post the video that went up this morning. I went to check it this morning to see how it came out, but other than that I haven't looked at it to see how it's doing. This is another episode for Remember When. I hope you enjoy it.

     These videos aren't elaborate, but I promise those are coming, and I'm still going to keep them under the 5 minute mark. Speaking of those videos coming. I'm going to be scouting sites for one video tomorrow. This is going to be a drone specific video, and if I can pull it off like I hope, it should elicit some emotion. I can see it all in my head, I just need to find a location that is close to what I see, so that I can work some magic.

     While I'm out there, I'm going to try and get some pictures that will relate to The Patchwork Knight. Stories with images tend to get more attention then just a written story, so if I can get pictures of forest like areas, lakes, and even something that could resemble a mountainside (where are you going to find a mountain side in Florida), I can get maybe a new viewer to check out my writing. I need to do everything I can to try and make this dream work, so picture hunting I will go. There is the  added bonus that I get to walk through beautiful surroundings in sunny Florida. I think I will just have to suffer and do that work. Did I mention that I love this freedom of doing things that I really want to do?

     I did take most of the day off, to just sit back and collect my thoughts and plan things out. I will do that picture hunting and location scouting in the morning, and then I will get back to editing and scheduling new chapters of The Patchwork Knight on Medium. I really do plan to have everything up to where I am on here posted there by the end of the week. I have a lot of work ahead of me, but this is work that I want to do, instead of have to do. Plus, I get to go back and read my own story, and I have to say, it's not too bad. I rarely go back and read what I've written, so this is an odd experience for me. Remember the next chapter goes up tomorrow (Monday) morning. It's scheduled to release at 6am New York time. I post that link to my profile on there again right here The Patchwork Knight. I think this one has a picture with it. I can't remember if it's this chapter of the next one, but I did have a picture that kind of relates to it.

     I think I've written enough for you to read tonight, considering that you will have the second chapter of The Patchwork Knight tomorrow if you so choose. Peace in and goodnight.

The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 31)

     Sir Paljin was running over to wake my, but there was no need. I was awoken by the rumble in the ground. From the tremors and the sound coming from beneath my head, it was the entire war band. I sprung to my feet and began rolling up my bed roll. Everything else was on my horse, so I only need to cinch that down.

     "Riders are coming. They aren't moving fast, but they are riding by torchlight. They are still a few miles off."

     "I could feel them. Which fork leads to the Crystal Palace?"

     "The one they are coming down."

     "Which fork is the direction that Sir Jacob wanted to take to go around them?"

     "I believe it is the fork to the right. That is the western trail."

     "Good, you go and warn the caravan, I will stay here, and try to lure them down a different fork. Send a scout ahead of the caravan to see if I was successful."

     "If you do that, you will be on your own, and won't make it back to us."

     "I will find a way to get around them, once I think they are far enough off the trail of the caravan. Now hurry and ride to Sir Jacob. I will clean the trail of tracks as best I can, and then wait for them to spot me and lead them to the east."

     "This is suicide Sir Pitre. You can't possibly get away from an entire warband. You fight like no one I have ever seen, but some things are beyond even your skill.:

     "I promise you, I will get away from them. I don't intend to fight them. I just want to lead them in the wrong direction. I will hide from them once I'm several miles up the trail, and I will wait for them to pass. I will be alright. Go, if they see you, all will be lost. They will slaughter everyone in the caravan if they cross them. This is the best chance we have to avoid them now."

     "Stay ahead of them Pitre, sorry, Sir Pitre. I only hope that this isn't the last tale we tell of you. Your heroic sacrifice to save a caravan of wounded and sick."

     "I hope that it isn't as well. Ride with speed Sir Paljin."

     "As you should do the same."

     Sir Paljin mounted his horse and galloped off in a spirit back to the small village where the caravan was staying. He would most likely meet them on the trail. He would be the true savior that day. I was only a diversion.

     I cleared the tracks on the trail leading to the caravan for a hundred yards, then I waited at the crossing for the war band to get sight of me. There torches were in sight when they were a mile off. I could see there weapons gleaming in the torchlight from half that distance. I could make out individual riders when they were a few hundred yards. That was the closest I wanted them to get. I rode my horse in circles to stir up dust on the trail to catch their eye. When I saw riders break from the column,  I knew I had their attention. I rode down the eastern trail in hopes that they would all follow. I gained some distance and stopped to see what they would do. It worked, the riders that had broken form the main stopped at the crossing, and signaled for the war band to follow me.

     I was away with as much speed as my horse could muster. we rode for miles before my horse began to tire. I found another fork in the trail, and took the one to the left, leading the war band slightly to the north and as far from the caravan as I could get them. I rode my horse for another mile in a trot, and then veered off the dirt of the trail and into the grass. Once I was sure that the tracks could not be found easily. I turned around and rode back towards the oncoming war band. A few hundred yards back, I rode off into the forest. I rode until I found a small stream. I dismounted and began watering my horse. There was a tree near the stream, so I tied him off, and made my way back near the trail to see if my ruse had worked. When I was within a hundred yards of the trail, I entered the Swordsman's Euphoria, and reached out to the stone for the aether. I lightened my footsteps, to a point that I could not be heard by normal ears. I could hear the rumble of the horses as they were passing. I climbed a tree a ten yards from the trail and watched as horses carrying Raiders, carts full of supplies, and larger siege engines to batter walls of even the Kingdom. They were enormous. No wall would be able to withstand them for very long.

     The war band was much larger than anyone thought. There were probably 2000 men in tow. That included the support personal as well as soldiers. It wouldn't have even taken a quarter of them to slaughter Sir Jacob and the caravan.

     It took them nearly an hour to pass where I was. I stayed in that tree for another hour to make sure that they were well on their way in the wrong direction. I quietly walked out to the trail to see if there were any scouts or stragglers roaming about. The trail was clear. I ran to the small fork in the trail to see if any guars had been left to watch their rear, but that was clear as well. I sprinted back to my horse as fast as I could. It was well rested by now. I untethered it from the tree, and we gently made our way back to the trail. I still was satisfied that I was out of the fire yet. I dismounted my horse before getting to the trail, so that I could once again scout for scouts. Once again there were none. I walked my horse back to the trail before mounting again. Once on the trial we took off in a sprint again. The fork was still clear and I made little haste in riding back to the crossing. I could see two scouts at the crossing. I dismounted my horse and tied him to a tree off the trial and out of sight. I snuck my way back to the crossing through the forest. From the tree line, I could see that it was to Raider scouts. Sir Paljin had succeeded in stopping the caravan, but I could see no sign of a scout that he might have sent. They could have been in hiding avoiding the two Raiders.

     The scouts looked less than enthused to be standing at the crossing looking for the enemy. I drew my sword from my waist and entered the Swordsman's Euphoria. There was a large distance of open ground between me and them, so I had to clear the area fast. I waited until they both turned away from where I was hidden, and sprinted at them without making a sound. One turned just in time to see my sword coming down in an arc towards his neck. He tried to raise an arm to block the blow, but his had fell away at the wrist as my sword made its way into the meat of his neck. I drew the sword back letting the man fall to the ground without a scream. The thud of his body was enough to make the other Raider aware of my presence. They were separated by a few yards, and that distance gave him the time to draw his sword. I quickly advanced on him. He swung his sword at me in an arc that was intended to slice from shoulder to hip. I dropped down and slid underneath the slice. I rose up behind him, and gave him the time to turn to face his end. He spun around quickly but awkwardly. His balance was lost and he tumbled to the ground. I lunged forward and stomped on his sword with enough force to free it from his grip. I then slid it with my foot behind me. I pointed my sword at his nose.

     "I'm going to give you a choice. You can answer some question and live, or you can choose to die right now. What do you choose?"

     "I will answer anything you want. Please don't kill me."

     It appears that it was true what my father and Sir Wallace had always said. In the depths of their hearts, true cowardice lies with the Raiders.

     "The war band you are with, where are they going?"

     "We were ordered to roam the countryside and destroy any villages and forts that we came across. We had heard of a large number of villagers that had survived previous raids and we were waiting for them to stumble upon us. When they didn't come in due time, we formed up and rode out to find them."

     "Did you see anyone other than me at this crossing?"

     "No, you are the first person that has come to the crossing since we were left behind."

     "If you don't find these villagers, where will you war band go?"

     "I do not know. I'm only a scout. I'm given orders as they are needed, and then I follow them. I know nothing of any of the planning."

     "What were your orders for this post then?"

     "We were told to remain here until nightfall. If anyone came one of us was to ride to the vanguard, and report what we saw. The other was to stay and remain out of sight, then follow to report a location were the enemy would stop and camp."

     "If you don't report back, will they send anyone to look for you?"

     "I doubt it, There are more than two dozen men that are able to scout. If I don't return, they will keep going unless they see no reason to do otherwise."

     "Your men would just leave you to die?"

     "Yes, that is our job."

     "Would you turn if given the chance?"

     "If it gave me a chance to live, then yes."

     "Then you will ride with me. I will have to bind your hands and legs first though. I believe you, but I don't trust you."

     "Throw me rope and I will bind my own legs for you."

     "You won't be able to ride a horse if your legs are bound before you get on."

     With that, I got the man to stand and I bound his hands behind his back. I then helped him onto his horse, and bound his legs underneath so that he couldn't free himself. I then led his horse as well as the dead scout's horse back to my own, and we made our way back down the trial to the caravan.

Big News And A Big Announcement

     The title says it all. Are you ready for this big news? Are you really ready? Ok, here it is. I quit my job yesterday. I finally had enough. Then person I have the biggest problem there, finally crossed the line and I was done. I apologized to the owner that I was having to leave, but I couldn't take it anymore. I truly believe that that person is undiagnosed bi-polar, and I really think he needs help. I was there for over 27 years, and it was time to do.

     I was asked by my guitar teacher today if I felt anxious about my future. I had to say no, not right now. I feel more excited about it than anything. I'm going to take some time, and focus on doing something that I really want to do, and that is more of what I'm doing right now, writing. I got a little video I made today, that explains a little about it. After you've watched it, I'll fill you in on a little more of what is going to happen for the future.



     The big announcement was in there, so I hope you didn't miss it. If you are reading this after I post it on Thursday night, you will have to wait until tomorrow to see the first edited and proofread version of The Patchwork Knight. I made my decision on what I'm doing with it. I'm moving it to Medium, but I will still write it here. I'm going to post the polished version on Mondays and Fridays. It will take 15 weeks to catch up to where I am right now, but since I will continue to right the first draft on here, I should be able to stay a little ahead of it. If it does catch up to me, I will have to write twice a week and then edit and proof each one to have it go up on Medium. I'm almost positive that you don't have to be a member to read the final version of The Patchwork Knight, and if you can't see it, just remember the first edition will always be right here for you. Only sign up if you absolutely want to see what changes and corrections I make.

     Since I'm doing this, I have started creating my character list, and notes to keep things in order. I wasn't doing that this entire time, because it was a bit of an experiment to see if I could keep things straight with out all of that, but since I have to have a shiny and polished product, the notes are in full force.  Here is the link to my profile The Patchwork Knight It is under the Counterfeit Squirrel name, so if the link for some reason doesn't work, you can search for that on Medium. I also have some options on there, to write other stories, and I plan on taking advantage of that, so keep an eye out for new stories in the future.

     Oh, I guess I should mention the publishing schedule. I did say that it was going to be on Mondays and Fridays, but I didn't tell you that it will be published at 6 AM New York time. You can read it first thing in the morning every Monday and Friday if you want to. There is no subscription service attached to this, so it will have to fall to your memory unless you become a member. If you are a member you can follow different writers and their posts will show up in your feed, but as I said before, you shouldn't have to do that, and definitely don't if you are only doing it for my stories. I will post link to each one I put up right here, so that you can get to them if you don't remember to check each Monday and Friday.

     Now that that is over, I can talk about the other part of the big announcement. I'm also going to put more time in making videos. I'm hoping to be able to put up a couple of videos a week instead of just the one on Sunday. It was a productive day today. I shot footage for 6 videos. You saw one of them up above, and another one will be going live on Sunday. The rest I still have to edit and put together, but I will be uploading them in the next couple of days, and schedule them for the coming weeks. With the exception of the one above, the rest are all going to be part of the Remember When series, so I want to spread them out. I will go out and make other videos to fill in the gaps, and for those extra videos during the week. You should be able to see why I'm so excited about all of this. I finally get to use my creativity to try and make a living. I have to take this chance. If it fails, it won't be because I didn't try. You always hear those stories from people that say losing their job was the best thing that ever happened to them, because it freed them to finally do what they really wanted to do. That is the way I choose to see this whole thing.

     I'm putting all of my effort into this. Tomorrow is going to be another productive day. I'm going to take the first five chapters of The Patchwork Knight, and put them up on Medium. I will schedule their release after I've gone through them for edit and proof. I'm not just going to sit back and wait until the next one is supposed to go up, I'm hoping to have all of them edited and proofed by the end of next week. They will all be on Medium and scheduled for publishing on those days I mentioned above. I'm also going to work on the rest of those videos, and have them uploaded and ready to go for scheduled release as well.

     I have a plan and I have ideas, and that is all I need right now. I also have the PR, and the newest video went up today, with the blog going up tomorrow morning. We really liked this place, I believe I mentioned that after we did the tasting, but now you can see it. This is the last video of the night, I promise.



     There you have it. I have quite a few pokers in the fire, now it is all about making them take some heat. Like I said above, I'm putting all my effort into this for as long as I can. I will still do all of these things if I have to get another job, but for the time being, this is my new job, and it's one that I really like. Peace in and goodnight.

Janis Joplin Reincarnate?

     Where to begin. This is usually what I say when I have no idea how to start things. Guess what? I have no idea how to start this. Mostly because I don't really have too much to talk about. Well, there is that dinner with an old friend thing, but I was hoping to save that as a kind of crescendo to the post.

     Oh, I know, I can tell you how I haven't filmed the new Remember When segment. Well, that isn't really news, but I do have an idea. I'm going to go around a film a few of them the next time I go out. That way, I can  put them each together and sprinkle them throughout the next few weeks for publishing. I have about 4 or 5 places that I have an idea of what I want to say and do for them. They are all pretty close by, so I could film all of them in an evening or morning. Put them together and set up their release dates. I should be able to get it done Saturday morning.

     It's been kind of a slow week. I don't have to do another PR until the 23rd, so it's been a long break between them. The latest video will go live on Thursday evening, with the blog post going live the next morning. It's a little weird having all this time between them. I finished that video two weeks ago, and I won't write the blog post until Thursday evening after the video goes live. I have my notes, and I remember well everything about the place we went, so I should have no trouble getting the write up done. Still, its just weird having all this time and not being rushed to get it done. I haven't decided if I like it or not. Maybe I work better under pressure. Let me know what you think when you see it all.

     Alright, let's get to what you've been waiting for. I met an old friend for dinner tonight. We decided that we probably hadn't seen each other for 8 years, but I kept thinking it was more. I'm not always good with timelines. This person is one of the three women that saved my live nearly 10 years ago now. She is someone who never needs to fear asking me for anything. She asks, I do. That goes for all of them, and I think they know it.

     I met her at my favorite place to eat, and they now have a new customer. It wasn't just that it is my favorite place and that is why we should go there, she actually had heard about it and wanted to give it a try. She loved it. We caught up, had a great meal, laughed, and reminisced. We both agreed that it had been far too long since we saw each other, but know that life has a way of getting in the way sometimes. She brought something up that I had heard before. It was her astonishment about how we just picked up where we had left off. I heard that when I visited one of the other three, after not seeing her for about 8 years. That is the thing with people that are really good friends. There isn't anything that gets in the way of just a good conversation. It just comes natural, and that's what tonight was.

     There are people that you hope will always be in your life, but then things change, and people slowly drift away, but sometimes, those people find their way back into your life. The three are some of those people. Even if I didn't have my time where I nearly ended my life, I believe that they would always find a way to drift back into my life, and I couldn't be happier about that. There are a few more that fit into that category, and I always greet them with open arms and a good conversation. I lost sight of that recently, that there are people that are going to be in my life. They may not be there now, but they will pop up again. I guess I've always had friends that were sort of transient. I don't ask for anything from anyone, so I shouldn't expect them to always just be there. I am thankful for all of them, and I hope they know who they are.

     Enough of the mushy stuff, it's time for Favorite Song of the Week. I had this big plan for FSOTW, but that got turned on it's heals when I watched America's Got Talent. I will save the song I had for this week for next week, and it's a good one. Anyway, back to AGT. This was the final act of the night, and it's a young girl, who I think is from Ireland, but the accent is just a little different, so it could be somewhere else in the UK. None of that matters though. I just watched the video, and it had what I was hoping it had. They don't put the little vignette in the videos they post on YouTube, so you won't get all that background stuff, but the important thing to see, is just how nervous she is going on stage. She said in the little video package, that her biggest fear was that she was going to get a red buzzer from one of the judges. That is all I'm going to say, until you've had a chance to watch the video. Here is Courtney Hadwin with her version of "Hard to Handle".



     Now that you've had a chance to see the video, you know that she was the golden buzzer winner. Here is the thing. I had a feeling she was going to be good. What I didn't know, was that she was going to explode into that personalty when she began singing. The music turned her into an entire different person. She was no longer a little girl that was shy and reserved, she was a 1970's Goliath of  rock. She sang in a way that you wouldn't expect from a 13 year old, not today. Her stage presence could have competed with Mick Jagger. She controlled it, and the entire auditorium. There was no one else in that room but her while she was singing. It was a marvel to see. This golden buzzer was well earned, and I for one can't wait to see what she does next. Since she is the golden buzzer, I will have to wait until they begin doing the live shows. Here is the other reason I am happy she got the pass through to the live shows. I don't know if she could have handled going through the audition elimination process. She might have got massive stage fright. I'm hoping she does some Rolling Stones, because I instantly thought of Mick Jagger when I saw her dancing around, but I think because of Howie's little story about Janis Joplin and Clive Davis, she will most likely do a Janis Joplin song, and there really couldn't be a better person to pull it off properly.

     I'm going to keep my eye on her, because she is something special. This is how I felt about Grace Vanderwaal, and she went on to win the whole thing. I think this young lady has that same potential.

     Looks like I had more to talk about than I thought I did, but I am not at an end. Peace in and goodnight.

New Video And A Goodbye

     A few thing about that video above. It took me quite a lot of time to make that little video, and I still had problems with it. Just the opening sequence of the title, took me about a half hour to get exactly right, then the next two elements of the opening took another hour of filming and editing to get right. I did that filming the night before the ride. I forgot to put the camera in the proper wide angle view for the ride part, and I got the view that is on the video. I wasn't thrilled when I saw that that was what I filmed the whole time with, but I think it ended up adding a grittiness that I usually don't have in my videos. All in all, I'm happy with the way it turned out, but I know it could have been better if I had changed it to the proper camera view.

     I have some pictures to add to the video. Since I was out there for sunrise, I saw no reason no to get some good shots while I was filming the footage of the sun peaking through the horizon. These are what I got.

     That first one is the one I posted on Instagram. I didn't want to give anything else away on there, so you get to see the rest of them here. After I got home, it took me another two hours to get the rest of the footage checked through and edited, so you can see, it is a process for one of these videos. The Remember When series is a little easier, and only takes about a half hour or so to put together. I think I'll have another one of those ready for next Sunday. I haven't settled on the location yet. I have several that I want to do right away, but I'm not really sure which one I want to do next. I might do it either tonight or tomorrow. Weather is supposed to be good for it. 

      I can't do it on Tuesday, because I'm going to see an old friend of mine. One that I haven't seen in a great number of years, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them. It has been far too long.

     I still haven't made final decision on what I'm doing with The Patchwork Knight yet, but I should come to it soon. It's a much harder decision than I thought it would be to move it. Part of the reason is , is that you get the absolute raw version of it. There is no edit and no proofreading done on theses chapters. The reason I'm doing it that way, is that I want you to see what it looks like in the rough draft. No one gets to see what their favorite book looks like before it goes to edit. When I move it, I'm going to have to go through and proof it, so that it will look good. When I give that edited and proofed version, I will lose that little part of transparency that I'm doing with it here. That begs the question, do I keep writing it here even after the move, and just put the shined up version where it is going to go? That is the question for you, what do you think? I really want your input on this. Do you want to still see the rough draft or would you prefer the completed edit?

     I finished watching Trollhunters last night, and I'm a little sad. It is truly the end of the series with this final part. It was really good and really well done, but I would expect nothing less from Guillermo del Toro. I guess, if he really wanted to, they could create a new series, because the series title in full is Trollhunters Tales of Arcadia. They could leave the Trollhuntres and have a new Tales of. I really do hope that they do that. I want more of that series.

     I also began downloading Fortnite last night as well. I've been hearing a lot about that game lately, and I found out that it is free. They do have a lot of add-ons that can bring a price to it, but the basic platform is free for anyone. I figured I'd give it a try. It is a battle royale type game where it's every person for themselves. I'll probably start playing it this coming weekend, and then I'll let you know exactly what I think of it.

     After I finished watching Trollhunters, I wanted to watch something else, and I saw that Netflix had Thor Ragnarok up, so I gave it a watch. It was good. It wasn't what you have come to expect from the Marvel movies. It was more in the vain of Deadpool, with it's non stop comedy humor. It's worth watching. If you want to see a funny movie with a colorful eye popping backdrop, give it a try.

     I just got some sad news while I was writing this. One of my canine buddies has risen into the ether. I spent a lot of time with this particular dog. I've even driven back and forth across the country with him, and a better ride buddy couldn't have been asked for. He was named for a character from JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and his personality was just as big as the character. Gandalf the White was one of the friendliest and best dogs you would ever meet. He could be intimidating if you didn't know him, do to his large size, but he was a teacup polar bear, so what else would you expect. Good bye Great Gandi, run with your pack in the ether.

Peace in and goodnight.

     

The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 30)

     The night was restless. Even though Sir Jacob had knighted me, it wouldn't be fully steeped until the King did it himself. We still had a day or two ride ahead of us, and my excitement kept me beside myself all night.

     I stayed by the trailside under that tree, and due to my restlessness I kept watch for any riders on the trail. None came during the night. In the dawns early light however, a lone rider approached on the trail. I saw him slow his horse and stop. From the village he wouldn't have been seen, but he hadn't noticed me by the tree along the trail. He dismounted and crept along the trail at the tree line of the surrounding forest. I stood my ground hidden behind my tree. He slowed at the tree line's edge and surveyed the area. He remained their for some time. When he turned and crept back to his horse, I made my move. I darted along the hardpack sand of the trail keeping my feet light and noiseless. He was so focused on his own stealth that he never saw my approach.

     I hit him like a ram, boring my shoulder into his lower back. He released a HMMPH, as his air escaped his body. He was unconscious by the time he hit the ground. He clothing didn't look like that of the Raiders. He had a lone dagger at this side, and a quiver of arrows on his back. When I was sure that he wouldn't wake soon. I called out.

     "RIDER."

      I could hear the village stir behind me. Three men quickly ran out to the trail and then towards me with swords drawn.

     "Are there anymore Sir Pitre?"

     "I didn't see any but this one. One of you grab his horse, and those left, help be carry him back to the village. Do any of you recognize him?"

     The collectively said no, and we made our way back to the center of the village with our captive in hand. Sir Jacob met us as we were lowering the man to the ground.

     "Is this the rider?"

     "Yes, I watched him approach and then survey the village. I caught him as he was making his way back to his horse."

     "Is there anything you can't do Pitre?"

     "I havne't tried everything yet, so I do not know."

     "He doesn't look like a Raider, but we have had new reports, that they are roaming the countryside in disguise. Dressed as common folk, and getting information to relay to their commanders for attack plans. We will wait until he awakes to see what his story is. Just how hard did you hit him. I've never seen a man out so completely?"

     "I just ran at full speed and hit him from behind. I knew I had to get to him before he got to his horse. Whatever he is, we need to know."

     "This is true, but maybe show a little restraint next time."

     Everyone surrounding our new friend was laughing at this. "The Patchwork Knights takes down another one." A few of them began singing. It wasn't a very good song, but it made everyone happy and joyful.

      We had planed to leave the village in the morning after the sun fully broke the horizon, but that had come and gone with our intruder still resting. Sir Jacob believed that it would be easier to defend from the village if there was a war band or party waiting for their return of information.

     The sun was high in the sky by the time our guest had stirred. Sir Jacob and two of his men questioned the man for a great deal of time. They had moved him into a small hut off the village commons to remain private. All the villagers, sick, and wounded rambled around the village preparing meals and searching for nuts, berries and any vegetables that they might find. They prepared small meals for everyone. It wasn't much but it was enough to for everyone to have something in their bellies.

     It was past midday by the time that Sir Jacob came out of the tiny hut. He gathered all of the Knights and men able to fight together.

     "Our visitor was indeed a Raider in disguise. We learned that he was to report back to a band of 50 men a days ride from here to the South. They are right in the line of our path to the Crystal Palace. We will either have to destroy that war band or we will have to travel around them. With the sick and wounded that we have, I think it best to ride around. There are other ways to the Palace, but it will take us more time. At least 3 more days will be added to our journey."

     "That is the safest course of action commander. I will ready the horses and gather the people and carts."

     "Wait, Sir Paljin. I want to take another day here. I'm going to send out two riders to check our path forward. I won't send anyone by demand, I will only take volunteers. I will need you to ride to the trail crossing to be sure it is clear of any other spies."

     "I'll do it. I need something to occupy my time."

     "Are you sure Sir Pitre? You will be without the other men, it will only be you and one other. If you run into that war band you won't stand a chances, even with your skill."

     "I will just have to avoid that war band then."

     "That is also the best course of action. I will go with him commander."

     "Very well then. Sir Pitre and Sir Paljin, you will be our forward eyes. Go to the crossing and remain there until we arrive. Only leave if there are signs of the war band. If that is the case, ride back to us with all haste, and we will decide our plans from there."

     "Yes Sir. I'll prepare my horse and meet you at your tree Sir Pitre."

     "Remember, do not attempt to engage the war band. If you see anymore spies on the trail take care of them as you see fit. If you can question them, do so. If you learn anything new that could affect this caravan, then ride back to us. We will begin our travels to the crossing at first light. We should meet up with you by midday. Stay safe."

     I turned and walked back to the tree where my pack and horse were. I relieved the two men that had been standing guard on the trail and told them to send two more when Sir Paljin was ready to leave.

     It didn't take Sir Paljin long to ready. He rode out with two men in tow to watch the trail once we left. We rode at full speed for the rest of the day, and arrived at the crossing as night began to fall.

     "You get some rest Sir Paljin, I'll take the first watch."

     "I'd say that you need the rest more than me. Weren't you the one that was up at first light to capture our spy?"

     "Aye, but I don't need much rest. I'll be fine. I'll wake you in a few hours."

     Sir Paljin put a bed roll down under a tree and dozed off. The crossing was a forked trail that went in five directions. I walked a few hundred yards down each one to see if I could see anything out of the ordinary but there was nothing to see. It was a moonless night, so light was sparse. I relaxed and went into the Swordsman's Euphoria, and then reached out to the aether. Other than the random small animal in the woods, there was still nothing to see.

     I woke Sir Paljin for his watch after about six hours. He scolded me for keeping watch for so long, but I told him that there was nothing to watch. I helped him roll up his bed roll and then unrolled my own. Despite my restlessness and excitement about finally becoming a full Knight, darkness took hold of me as my head hit the forest floor.