Feeling A Little Blue

      I've been doing really well walking the lake trail. I did take Saturday off. I didn't even do skateboard Saturday. I've been putting in the miles, and really just needed a rest. A couple of times I was able to get out on the trail early enough to make two laps, which is just short of a 5 mile walk, but with the distance I park from the trail it's probably an actual 5 mile walk.

 

     That big lake is the one I walk around. You can see the trail just at the edge of the lake. It's pretty wide. That red X is where I park my car, so I have to walk all the way from there, which is were the exercise trail is to the lake trail. I figure it's probably a 10th to a 15th of a mile extra walk one way. Put that together an you get about an extra quarter mile to add to the 4.74 miles that is a double loop.

     The two mornings I got out early enough for the double loop, it was dark. The first day had the extra spookiness of fog. Spookiness aside, it's really relaxing being out there at that time of the morning, which is about an hour and a half before sunrise.

     Both of these pictures were taken at the same location only on different days. The fog was great, but it did get me soaked, so I got to experience what it would be like walking out there in the rain and then getting dried off when the sun rose. My ankle is feeling really good, and I think I'm going to step up the schedule, but still work slowly. About midweek, I'm going to give running a go, but only a very short distance each day. If you look at the map and you see that big right angle in the lake, the horizontal line is where the gate is. It's just at the edge of left field of the baseball diamond. That perpendicular line which is the longest straight stretch is where I'm going to try to run. From the gate to the tip of the dinosaurs nose is a half mile, so that stretch is probably just short of a quarter mile. My goal is to get that whole stretch in, but if I feel the slightest bit of pain, I'm shutting it down. If I can get that distance down with no pain, I'll work on expanding my distance every few days. I'll of course let you know who it goes.

     I really need to share my meal with you from Friday. It was pretty incredible tasting. Oh, a little weight update coming just after this. I decided to smidge the carb bar a little on Friday, but I limited the fat and upped the protein so it will all work out, plus the carbs I chose are pretty friendly to me. First off is the burgers. I made a bacon, egg, and cheese burger that I'm going to frankly say was the best burger I've ever eaten. It was real simple too. Bacon in the oven, but not over done, still a little floppy, then fried up the burgers and a couple of eggs. The eggs were over easy, and then placed on the burgers while they finished cooking. I placed a slice of sharp white cheddar on each egg, and then broke the bacon in half and put two broken halves on each burger.

 

     There's only one burger in the picture cause I didn't think about getting a picture until after I finished that. I've never eaten fried eggs before, Ive always had scrambled. I was always freaked out by the runny yoke. I was wrong. The yolk running down when it broke had a creamy flavor that I didn't expect, and I'm now in love with fried eggs over scrambled. Oh, I'll still do scrambled eggs, but I have a new weapon in my arsenal now. The fries are where the carbs get dicey. They aren't just normal fries though, they are veggie fries, made with a blend of cauliflower and potatoes, they add some ranch and bacon seasoning to them for a little extra kick. You do have that cauliflower flavor hit you, but I'm used to it and rather like it, so it's not a problem for me. They are really good. No matter what anyone says, they are only slightly healthier than regular fries, but that really isn't saying much.. The thing I've found for myself is that if I have the occasional starchy carb, it really helps me out. It's like a booster for my metabolism. This is where the weight update comes in. I hoped on the scale Friday for a weight check. It was the first time in about a week and a half, so I really didn't know what to expect. I was down another pound. I hit 163.4. So the weight is still coming off. I think once I get running again, I can kick it into another gear and lose weight a little faster, but I'm happy with 1 pound in 2 weeks. 

     Now for the reason for the title. I dyed my beard blue, and finally got it right. The color came out perfect this time and I'm pretty happy about it. Take a look for yourself.

 

     I think I'll keep that color for a little while, and then go back to the purple, maybe do a half and half at some point, that might be pretty wild.

     Time for Favorite Song of the Week. I discovered the band way late in the game, and I'm bummed I didn't find out about them sooner. I missed out on so much time I could be listening to them. For the most part it's just two guys, but they do use a full band. The singer/songwriter Eric Burton is an old soul. You can hear it in his songs. He teamed up with producer and guitarist Adrian Quesada to form Black Pumas, and I'm so glad that they did. The whole album is great with original songs and a few covers. It is just good old fashioned soul music with a little rock & roll thrown in. Listen to this song and then look up the album and give it a try. This is a sit down on a Friday night kind of album. Here is Black Pumas with their first single "Colors".

     You can't listen to that and then tell me that it doesn't just hit you in a place that makes you feel good. If you do, well then we just can't be friends. 

     I'm still on my social media blackout, well, it's mostly Facebook blackout. I have ventured into Instagram and Twitter sporadically, but not anywhere near as much as I did before. I have to tell you, that i really don't miss any of it.

     I'm finally going to be eligible for the vaccine starting tomorrow, so I'm going to be on the Publix portal at 7 (which the changed the time so that I couldn't get on it Friday) in the morning. I'm hoping to book an appointment for this week. I'll take whichever vaccine I can get. I don't care at this point. The 3 that are out now have differing percentages as to how effective they are, but they are all 100% effective against hospitalization and serious illness. What that means is, that for example with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine it's like 70% effective, that's not an exact number I can't recall what it is off hand. Anyway, if you fall in the 30% you can catch the virus, but what it does do is makes it so when you do catch it, it's only a mild form of it. I'll take that over dying any day. What I'm saying here is, go get the vaccine as soon as you can.

      That's all for this week. I'm hoping next week will be full of information about getting the vaccine. Peace in and goodnight.

Find Your Smile

      The last two weeks have been hard. Which is why I didn't write last week. That was part of a social media self-imposed blackout for me. For the most part I'm taking a two week minimum break from most social media. I don't really consider YouTube social media since I never go through comments, so that eliminates most of the problem. I'm dipping my toes back into Instagram this week, but I'll be limiting my time there as well. I just need time away from the doom scrolling and negativity that comes from certain outlets. I think you know the main culprit in this, but I'll be kind and not name it for once.

     With the injury to my ankle being worse than I first thought it would be, the recovery process has been brutal. Resting it and sitting around was very bad for my mental state, and got to a breaking point about a week ago. I won't go into the dark spiral fully, but I will say that it was a call to action. I did have to suck up that fact that I needed to rest my foot, but getting off social media was also a big help in getting my head on straight. I can give you a very good update on the foot. As of about the middle of last week, I'm walking pain free. I have also resumed walking the trail. The big lake trail and not the exercise trail. I'm still wary of that one because it has exposed roots on the trial, and even though I'm pain free, my ankle is not 100%. If I step on a rock and my ankle rolls a tiny bit, I can feel pain like a deep bone bruise. I have not began running again yet either. I'm going to take my time and wait probably another few weeks before I give it a try again. When I do, I'll be focusing on all those things I should have been focusing on before this all happened. Foot fall, stride length, body position, all that good stuff. The goal is to heal fully, learn from these mistakes, change my approach, and overcome in order to succeed. I want to show you a few pictures of the trail I'm walking now before I get into a little more on how I'm taking care of my ankle. This is the new trail I found.

     You can see just how wide and flat it is. You get the added bonus of the great scenery, but this is what the trail looks like when I hit it at 6 in the morning.

     Yeah, it's a bit scary, but so peaceful. There is no one on the trail at that time of the morning, and I can get in a few kilometers before the heat of the day.

     Back to the ankle now. As you know, I've been wrapping my ankle. That is something I still do before I go on the walk. I have to make sure there is support for it. The first few days I wore spongy shoes to absorb any type of shock I might get, I'm now back to the minimalist shoes and they feel even better than they did before. I was icing my ankle every evening, but I've been able to cut down to just when I think I need it. Usually that's if I feel a dull throb in my ankle after my walk, which at this point, I' haven't felt in two days now. I plan on wrapping my ankle until after I start running again, so that is just something that is going to be a part of my life for the next month or so. It's ok, I've gotten pretty good at wrapping it. I do wear a compression sleeve the rest of the day after my walk and remove it when I go to sleep. So far this has been all working out really good, so I don't plan on changing it up until I have a reason to.

     Right now my schedule is taking Monday as a rest day, with the rest of the week being trail days. I have added something into that schedule that I've been wanting to do for a long time, and that is throw a skateboarding day in there. I decided Saturday morning is the day for that. Skate Saturday is what it will hence forth be known. I was a little worried when I went out yesterday morning, once again at 6 in the morning, to the big church parking lot near my house. The fear of my ankle hurting was looming over me for sure, but once I kicked off for the first time everything was good. The good thing for me is that I ride a skateboard all wrong. I kick goofy footed and ride backwards. Most people kick with their front foothill keeping their primary foot on the back of the board to steer. I plant my right foot (bad ankle) on the mid front of the board and kick with my back foot which is also the foot I steer with. You see, it's a complete mess, but that is the way I learned and I don't think I can ever correct it, the good thing about it is, that my right foot (bad ankle) is always in a stable position, so I didn't have any problem with my ankle in the hour I skated around. I don't do tricks, never really learned, so it is all about cruising, so there really isn't a whole lot of danger to re-injuring my ankle, it's just about doing something that I've always loved doing, and that is just riding on a skateboard. I did have one mishap, when I lost my balance, and took a minor fall, but proper falling technique came back to me instantly and I only ended up with a small skate scuff on the knee. I'm wearing it as a badge of honor right now.

     It's a small maybe quarter size raspberry, that does hurt but it puts a smile on my face. That is the thing about doing something that you love, the bad isn't really that bad, and the last few days have been about getting myself smile back. For a while nothing was making me happy, and I can say that little wound actually makes me happy, as masochistic as that may sound. It's not really about the pain, it's about how it happened. There is also the fact that tiny little raspberry won't keep me sitting down for days at a time.

     A couple more photos before I get to Favorite Thing of the Week. The first is an ice cream I forgot to tell you about. I found this at my local grocer and it is made from avocados. It was really good, not keto friendly, but it is vegan, non GMO, and organic. They had two flavors I think but I went with this dark chocolate. It was really smooth and creamy, and can stand up with any traditional ice cream on the market, so if you can find it, give it a try. 

     The final picture is of the poor little Shnuggie. She has her occasional cheek swelling again, where that sack fills with blood. This is still a left over affect from her ear surgery. This time I got to it early and wrapped her up as soon as I saw it starting to seep, instead of waiting for it to rupture to take care of it. The latter usually involves the clean up of what could resemble a murder scene, so to avoid that disaster I'm hoping that it will all drain into the gauze and paper towels and I'll only have to treat and bandage it after with a minor clean up on her instead of all over the house. 

 

     She's not at all happy about it, but she's still cute though.

     Time for FSOTW. That's right the song is back. I was torn between two songs, but I'm going to go with the fun one as opposed to the informative one this week. I just need that extra smile this week and this one provides it. I introduced you to Leo not too long ago. He's the one that does metal covers of songs. He took one of my favorite ABBA songs and put his metal twist on it, and it's just fun, so here is Frog Leap Studio with ABBA's hit song "Gimme Gimme Gimme".

     Come on that had to put a smile on your face, I know it did mine. Ok last thing. You may have seen this as a link on Facebook. I'm still not back on there, but I did post this remotely. I plan on being off there for at least another week, but it could very well be much longer. If you need to get a hold of me, you can always use the email address at the top of this blog, or head over to my Instagram. Peace in and goodnight.

The Pain Is Bad, But The Resting Is Unbearable

      My ankle is killing me, but I do think it's getting better. I've been resting it since Wednesday, which may be even more painful than the actual pain. Sitting around with weight off my ankle for as much as possible is a complete drain on my psyche.  I'm not 100% sure what is wrong, but I've narrowed it down to 3 things, none of which are real good. Best case scenario is a form of bursitis. If that's the case I might be back to hitting the exercise trail in a couple of weeks. More on the exercise trail in a bit. Not a great scenario, is an inflamed tendon/ligament/cartilage. This scenario is resting my ankle for about 8 weeks. This means it will heal, but it may take a real toll on my mental state. Worst case scenario, torn ligament or broken bone. Both of these would require surgery, which isn't a possibility for me, which means in order for it to heal to a point that it no longer constantly hurts, could be months, and it would never fully be the same or pain free again. I'm doing my best to keep that last one out of my mind. I do think this is a compression injury which would be the bursitis (best case) or inflammation (not great). The fact that the rest has shown me some improvement is leaning me more towards bursitis, which would mean a couple of weeks, but I do have a tendency for quick healing, so there is the potential I could be back on the trail by the end of the week. Here is the so far. The swelling that was localized to just below my ankle joint is gone. The pain is still sharp at times, but is getting less prevalent and more focused. Where I went wrong, besides not resting it, was putting heat to it. I've switched to icing my ankle which has made a discernible difference. I did have a couple of days where I thought the rest was backsliding it and making it worse, but that ended yesterday when I began seeing noticeable improvement including the absence of swelling. I do feel that it is more stiff now, but that could just be it repairing itself, and the flexibility will return once I'm back on it pain free again. I'll let you know.

     Now for the exercise trail. As you know I've been hitting a calisthenics trail, but I found another trail nearby in the same recreational area. This new trail is twice as long, with out the exercise stops, but it is a wider walking/biking trail that goes around a large lake. Since it's wider it is also more flat with no tree roots sticking up. Those alone were causing me a lot of pain when I would hit them in stride. Once I get back to full strength I'll be hitting that trail from no on. I'll still hit the other one, but that one will be for my calisthenics days. I'll hit the long trail at first light and then go over to the exercise trail and walk it while hitting the stops. Regardless of how healthy my ankle ends up feeling, I'm planning on wrapping it for support for the first month or so after it heals. I just want to give it more time to get as strong as possible.

     I think I might be making this one short this week, so that brings me to Favorite Thing of the Week. I found this picture with a caption on Twitter calling it an optical illusion and I fell for it completely. The thing is, this isn't some designed optical illusion, it just happens to be a photograph that came out that way. When you look at this photo, the first thing you will see is a man running into a snowy forest.

     If you look a little closer, you will see what it actually is. A large black dog running towards the cameraperson from the snowy forest. This is one of those pictures I really wish I took. I am also positive that this was a mere accident. Happy accidents as Bob Ross would put them always end up being some of the best things, which is way this is my Favorite Thing of the Week.

     Before I go I do have to mention one last thing. I said last week that I was taking this week off of healthy proper eating and just enjoy myself. Well that last til Wednesday as well. I did get to try some things that are new that I wanted to try, like the Lady Gaga Oreos, but it all came down to my body not liking taking that big of a break and I was back to healthy proper eating after that day. I'm still planning on the 28 day cycle, but it isn't starting until tomorrow morning. Even though I didn't have lose eating the whole week, I'm chalking it up to a relaxed eating week and I'll get serious tomorrow, even though the last 4 days have been just as strict as I was eating previously. I will also say that I felt better immediately upon going back to the strict eating. 

     That's all I got for this week. Still letting the new story simmer, but it will be coming. Peace in and goodnight.

The Path Forward

      I wanted to start out with my Favorite Thing of The Week. My FTOTW is this.

     Two beautiful dogs back in the White House. Champ is the elder statesman of the family and he is lying near the Presidential seal, while Major the rescue is next to Biden and the resolute desk. I'm so ecstatic over the fact that a rescue dog is in the White House. I have a deep spot in my heart for rescues, and believe that all people should get their pets from shelters, due to the millions of shelter animals in the country. So remember adopt don't shop.

     Today is my final full day of clean keto and although I should do my weigh in and pictures tomorrow, I went ahead and did them today, cause what is a day going to make. I weighed in at 164.4 which is exactly 8 pounds down. That averages out to 1 pound a week, which I'm happy with. What I'm not happy with is how I look. I know I can have more definition, because I have, but I also know that it's a long process that won't happen in just 8 weeks. I may as well get to the pictures and then we can talk about how I move forward after.

     

     The top photo is the one from I believe 4 weeks ago. The others are from today with the exception of the side by side, which was today vs. last Monday. You can also tell by the side by side, I changed the angle a bit and used a different flash. The new flash washes my skin out a bit, but if you look closely, you can see more definition from the beginning to last Monday, to today. Don't let anyone tell you that a week can't make a difference.  I'm still working to get back to where I was and then beyond that. My goal is still the same despite the side track, which is 10% body fat. I did measure body fat a few weeks ago and came in at 22%. I was much lower than that before so it's a disappointment for me that I let myself go so far. It won't happen again. 

     Then path moving forward. I'm having a good ol' cheat day tomorrow, and then taking the week off for very strict eating. Going to just relax eating wise for a week then it will be strict eating again but in 28 day cycles. As for my workouts, those won't change much, even though I did have to change them a bit this week. The shoes in the new photos are my new minimalist running shoes. They are Xero Speed Force shoes. Minimalist shoes take some adjusting, which I didn't do, so I suffered an injury due to my footfall. I'm a hard striker with my heel, which is fine if you have tons of padding, with no padding, not such a great thing. My ankle took a beating on my right foot. There is a little swelling but it will heal. Because of that, I reached out to friends to find out what I needed to change, and they gave me a bunch of great tips, that I'm putting into effect. I can't run right now, but I put the principles to work while power walking. That kept me able to walk the trail at a very brisk pace. I confirmed it was the heel strike that did the damage but simply starting out my walk imitating my runners stride. There was immediate pain, so I made the changes and it was a huge difference. Tomorrow is my full rest day, so I'm hoping that my heel will enjoy the time off. Here is a better picture of the shoes. Despite them basically being a rubber sole and a canvas upper, they are really comfortable. I also love the direct feel and feedback that they give due to being almost barefoot. It's how I was able to tell that it was my stride that was wrong.

     They are a fantastic company and most of their shoes are vegan friendly including the ones I'm wearing. Prices are reasonable. These were on sale for half off which made them really reasonable. I'll put  link if you want to check them out. They do have all types of shoes, not just running, but they are mostly actively based. They also have a DIY sandal that I may eventually get. https://xeroshoes.com     Check them out. I am not an affiliate although they've sent me information on being one, but you have to be vetted and I frankly don't have the followers to be able to be one anyway, I just really love the shoes.

     One last thing, well two actually, before I wrap this up. My mom is getting her second vaccination shot tomorrow, which will take a little more weight off my shoulders. I also have postponed the new story until next week. I rewrote the beginning and had to let it sit with me for a while. I'm beginning to see the path which is a good sign, but I still don't see the ending, which to me is the most important part of my process. I also might work on some art for it as well. Regardless of if I get the artwork done, I will be pushing myself to get this story going this week. I won't make a deadline this time, you'll just have to be surprised of it pops up on a day this week. I hope you have a wonderful and fantastic week Peace in and goodnight.     

A New Story Is Coming, Maybe

      One more week to go. I have one week left on my 8 week challenge of clean eating. I would like to report that the results have been astronomical, but they definitely have not. I've been stuck at the same weight for the last 3 weeks now, and despite doing a lot of different things to break it up, none have really worked. I must also say that I'm not concerned about that at all though. I'm feeling good. I would like to look better, but genetics hit me with a stick a long time ago, so shedding the body fat is all I have left.

     I did start hitting the exercise trail this week. The funny thing about the trail is that it has calisthenic stations, but I'm the only one I see doing the stations. Most people just walk or jog the trail. It's relatively simple but it is still beating me up pretty good. I went 5 days this week starting on Tuesday with a break on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Thursday and Friday I did the stations, and on Saturday and this morning I ran and walked it. That is my plan from now on. Every other day I will do the run/walk and hit the stations on primary days. I'm starting out with the beginner course, which is really easy, but like I said, I'm sore. I'm going to go a few weeks doing that and then I'll hit the advanced course. Once I've mastered that, I'll just increase reps and difficulty. Beside this being good overall exercise for me, it's helping me escape my mind for a little while each day. I will be taking Monday's off and going Tuesday-Sunday. I may eventually figure out a way to slip Monday in, but when I've been hitting the course is when I also do the Monday grocery shopping. I'll figure it out.

     I got an idea for a story this week and even wrote the first paragraph. The only problem is that I have no direction yet. My normal process has always been that the ending comes to me first, then I figure out the beginning and the rest rides the trail to the end. This time I have an idea for a character, or three and a premise. I wrote that first paragraph as a beginning, but I'm not sold on it yet, cause it sounds a bit cliché. I'm going to sit down with the laptop this week and spend some time free writing to see if it all works out, or at least takes a direction. I can tell you that it's going to be a bit of a scary tale, but leaning towards kids or teens. If I can get it all figured out, I may have a first chapter for you to read on Saturday. That's me putting a deadline on myself in order to put a little healthy pressure on my brain.

     For Favorite Thing of the Week, I have a simple photo of Saki. I finally got to have a little ride time on Monday. It was short, but sweet. It's been hard to maintain my tires since I no longer have a compressor (still working on that) so when I went out, the first half of my ride was well, squishy. When you take corners on a motorcycle, the tires should stick and you smoothly go around, but when your tires are soft, you kind of slide a little around the corners. That's not really the best way of describing it, but it's close enough. I ended up stopping at a gas station and using their machine, which only takes a credit card and costs like $2 just to fill up your tires. I really hate doing that, but that's all I have right now. There was a massive difference in how the ride felt. I took my second corner which was a little sandy, so I lost the tire for a millisecond, but the it caught traction and just took off. It was so amazing. I do love losing the tire. That's when the tire slips a little, which isn't the same as having a squishy tire. Much different feeling and that is definitely one you can't describe, you can only experience it. It's that subtle feeling that everything is about to go wrong but having faith in the machine to do what it does. The first time is an real eye opener, after that you get comfortable with it and in my case, enjoy it. I'll tend to look for the sandy spots in turns just to get that little slip. Anyway, here is Saki sitting in the sun enjoying our ride together.

     I can't say it was all sunshine and rainbow. Well it was rainbows. That second half of the ride a rain cloud followed me the whole way home. The fact that I went in a rectangle makes it even stranger.

     So, if everything goes as planned, there will be a Saturday evening post that will be the first chapter of a new story. I have a working title right now, which will probably stick, but I want to leave it as a surprise, so you will just have to wait to see what it is. Peace in and goodnight.

     

My New Crush

     It's been a rough week. Although I've stayed strict with what I've eaten, I haven't stayed strict with quantities this week. It's been a lot of stress eating and as a result, my weight stayed pretty much the same. I have been holding much more water this week and I think it's because of something I got for my mom. I picked up some Atkins bars so that she might eat something calorie dense when she is having one of those days where she won't eat anything other than ice cream sandwiches. Turns out, she didn't like them at all, so since they are technically keto (very dirty keto) I took it upon myself to finish off the box. Not all at once, and there are still 3 bars currently left, but they did have a bad effect on me. Instant bloat hit me and I can tell my my physique that I'm holding a lot of water. The reason it's so noticeable is because my weight is up and down by about a pound but the definition is almost non existent at this point. I'm not saying that you couldn't have success with these bars, but they are definitely not good for me. I will have to struggle through those last three bars, but after that, I'll never have them again. I am happy to say that I've finished the 6 week mark and have 2 weeks of strict keto to go. I really didn't have a set goal, but I did have an idea of hitting 155. I'm 10 pounds from that mark right now, so that doesn't look like it's going to happen. I'm not upset by that but I am a little disappointed in myself. It just means I haven't worked hard enough. I have a new plan to go to an exercise trail a few times a week. I'll find a way to carve out an hour to get that done. I do think this will not only help me get closer to my goal, but I do think it will help my state of mind.

     I know you think that that last line is going to lead into this paragraph, but I'm just going to skip over all the reasons I was stress eating this past week. I'm sure you can figure out most of it. Instead I'm going to share a picture with you of my breakfast from one day this week. I have added minimal dairy back into my diet this week. That was planned, and this breakfast was my first time with some cheese in a few weeks, and it was good. I decided to just make a good old fashioned scramble. It was eggs of course, with some spicy smoked sausage, prosciutto, spinach, cherry tomatoes, and I went with mozzarella instead of the habanero cheddar so that I could see if the spicy smoked sausage brought the heat ( it didn't). Yes, it was as good as it looks.

     I didn't track that macros for it nor the calories, but I'd guess it was somewhere around 600 calories with really good macros. The tomatoes and spinach were only about 4-5 carbs, with it totally loaded with protein. I was probably low on the fat, since I didn't add much oil to it at all, so it was low carb and low fat, and damn tasty.

     I know you saw the title up there. This is one of those rare times when I write the title first and it is all because I have a new crush. I spent a lot of time this week watching the impeachment trial, and a lot of people stood out, but none more to me than Representative Stacey Plaskett. I was taken by her passion and demeanor on a stage in front of the entire world. I of course noticed how smartly dressed she was with blue dress and matching cape. There were a lot of memes with her having the Superman logo on her chest in that outfit, and it fit. So yeah, US Virgin Island Representative Stacey Plaskett is my new crush. No, I don't expect her to ever know, nor do I have an illusions that I would ever meet her.

     That is one smart and stoic woman right there, so I'm proud to call her my new crush.

     Time for Favorite Song of the Week is from a Swedish guy that does nothing but cover songs. He has a twist of course, they are all metal covers. It doesn't matter the song, they all become a metal version, with the exception of actual metal songs. He will give those a hilarious polka twist, well maybe it's a metal polka twist Anyway, this is Leo Morachioli otherwise known as Frogleap Studios with his metal version of Elton John's classic hit "Crocodile Rock".

     Come on, that's just fun. He plays all the instruments on the track and films and edits everything himself. The tiny drum kit is something he does from time to time, he isn't actually playing it. He has a rather impressive drum kit in his home studio which you get a small glimpse of in the beginning and end of the video. He also loves to wear costumes and will sometimes have is young daughter featured in the videos. I've yet to reach the bottom of his videos and I've watched probably a couple hours of them at this point, so if you want to go down a deep dive of creativity, music and fun, give his videos a try. Peace in and goodnight.

I Might Get Shot

      Let's just get into it. My weight plateaued this last week, which is not ideal, but ok. I also made this a rest week where I backed way off what I was doing. This clearly didn't work well for weight loss but it did work well for other things. I feel refreshed for one. On Friday I decided to hit the pull-up bar. It had been since last Saturday that I had done any, and in the months prior to that day, my pull-ups had suffered. I lost a lot from where I was. The rest did it's trick though and I busted out more consecutive and better pull-ups than I had ever done. When most people think of pull-ups, they think of chin-ups, where you just get your chin to touch over the top of the bar. That's not what I'm doing. When I pull-up, my head is entirely above the bar and I'm touching the top part of my chest to the bar. Well, not really, cause I have my body away from the bar, but the top part of my chest is even with the bar. My goal is to be touching the lower part of my chest to the bar, or parallel to it. This is a controlled movement as well. When I hit the top, I pause for just a fraction of a second to hold the peak. It's not just an up and down movement. I was shocked, but I'm not going to just do them once a week. The plan now is to bust them out for a couple of weeks, and then take a few days off and hit a max. All in all on Friday, I think I did somewhere around 50-60 pull-ups on Friday, with my most consecutive being 7. Early goal of course is to get 10 really good consecutive pull-ups, from there, I have no idea what the next step is, other than 15, then 20, and so on and so on.

      Quick facial skin update. My skin is fully back to normal, and might even feel better than it did. I'm thinking the combo of that moisturizer and the Just for Men dye is what did me in, with those gone, I have had no ill affects. I also think I've found the perfect combination to hold the purple color of that Arctic Fox dye better. I use the Henna Labs as a base and then a few days later go in with the purple. Take a look at it now. 

     I really love the color of it right now. I still need to try the other colors our a little more and see if I can really get that pink and aquamarine to pop as well. It's all a learning process, and a fun one at that.

    I have a few photos for you this week, but this one next is of the shirt I wore on Monday. The reason I need to share it with you, is because I was told that I was brave and might get shot for wearing it. I pronounced proudly, that if I'm shot you should politicize my death for all its worth. For someone to get shot for wearing a shirts ridiculous, but that is clearly the state we are living in right now. I plan on wearing this shirt a lot for the next 4 years, and hopefully I can change the wording a bit after the next 4 years to maybe subtract a word from it.

     I'm hoping you can figure out which word I would like to subtract from that statement. Kamala was my original choice to be the front runner so I was maybe not happy, but content when she was chosen as the running mate. Small steps right?

     Ok next picture is of the hot sauce I shared a picture of on my burgers last week. I forgot to get a picture of the bottle, so I got one today. Also, I fasted for a good 30 hours or so and decided to do something kind of dumb, just to see what would happen. I first took a mouthful of my ghost pepper salt, and all went well, so after that I took a good swig from this bottle to see how it would hit me on an empty stomach. Once again, it went well. I really expected to get hit with the cap cramps, but they never came. I did follow that up with some craklins about 20 minutes afterwards. I doubt they would suck up the capsaicin though. Anyway, here is the Tobasco Scorpion Sauce.

      If you're a chili head, this is a good one. It really brings the heat. It does have that classic vinegar taste of Tobasco, but you can kill that flavor with enough better flavor around it. Even as much as I put on my burgers, the vinegar flavor is dulled by the flavor of the spices I put on and the meat. My buddy gave me this bottle, but I think you have to go online to find it anyway, unless you have a specialty store near you that specializes in hot sauces.

      I don't have a Favorite anything of the week this week, so I'm just going to recommend a Netflix show. The second season of Blown Away came out and it's a fun watch. It's a glass blowing competition, and this year they get a few people from around the world to join Americans for a chance at a bunch of money ( I really don't remember how much) and a gallery at a prestigious glass blowing academy ( at least I think it's an acadamy). Look the prize isn't that important, it's watching the process and the art that is created that is important, so give it a chance. Peace in and goodnight.