Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow.

     I have to say, that I'm a little upset with the subscription email service for this blog. The post from Sunday was written and published by 10:30 in the morning, but the email wasn't delivered until 7 AM on Monday morning. At some point, I'm going to have to take a look at that application on here, and see if there is a way I can change the delivery time.

     I have quite a bit to get into tonight, so let's just dive straight in. Shall we? I have an update on that ex-girlfriend of mine. It appears that my subconscious was trying to tell me something. Remember how I kept leaving her profile, and then going back, and then how I didn't give her my number until the next day. Well, I was thinking about the time we had together, and something came to me yesterday during those thoughts. I always try to look for the best in people, and maybe that is why this particular memory was buried, and took so long to come up. Here is the thing that I forgot. Now I told you how she broke up with me because of her studying to be an EMT and her mom's battle with cancer, she couldn't maintain a relationship as well? I went on my merry way, and accepted it although I was crushed by it. A couple of weeks later, my best friend came up to me, and told me that he wanted to talk to me about something. We went for a walk around the mall where we were. We always hung out at a comic shop that was in that mall, and he didn't want to talk there. On this walk, he proceeded to tell me that he was dating my now ex-girlfriend. Right up above where I said I was crushed before, now I was like a car in a compactor on the final press. I somehow picked myself off the floor, and acted like I was happy that they were together. I told him about a few things that she liked, that would help him out, and then we went our own way. We were never the same after that. We were friendly and cordial to one another, but never the friends that we once were. I felt betrayed by the both of them, and I didn't know who to be angry more with. Him for breaking the "bro code" or her for lying to me.

     They didn't last long, Maybe only a couple of weeks or a month from what I remember, but as I said, we were only acquaintances by this time, so I had no real idea when the broke up. I just knew at some time that they were no longer seeing each other. Here is where it gets even more sad. I had known him since we were in first grade. He had stayed back a year due to complications from a birth defect with his heart. He was born with a hole in his heart. He was a year older than me because of this, but he was this fantastic artist at that age, because all he could do in the hospital was draw, so he did. I would love to watch him draw when we were kids. He had a talent far beyond our age level, and he liked the attention he got from all the kids. Because of that heart defect, he was on borrowed time. We would always joke that his warranty had expired when he hit 19, because the doctors had told him at one point, that that was his life expectancy. He made it quite a bit longer than that. He died at the age of 30, only a few years after we fell away.

     She was the catalyst to ending that friendship, and I had forgotten that. I don't think I can overlook that. Just before coming on her to write this, I checked my email, and she wrote me a message on OKCupid giving me her number. I'm not the person to hold the over her, or try to get with her so that I can end up screwing her over for what she did. What I am interested in, is seeing if she eventually remembers what she did, and see if she apologizes for it. I don't even know if she knows that my friend died. I am capable of forgiving, but I will never forget. I'm going to mull it over for a few days before I decided whether or not to get back in touch with her. I'll let you know what I finally decide.

     I mentioned that I would talk about Sir John Vincent Hurt tonight, and that is exactly what I'm going to do. He was one of those actors that would just make you smile when he showed up on the screen. He was an amazing talent that led you to believe that he was who he said he was on screen, even though you knew exactly who he really was. When I was a kid, I read Watership Down. I loved it, it was weird and thrilling and tantalizing all at the same time. A few years later, an animated film version of the book came out, and I couldn't wait to see it. Join Hurt voiced the Rabbit Leader Hazel. That voice was forever engrained in my head from that point on as Hazel. I can still hear it as I write this.

    He starred in many films in his lifetime, from The Elephant Man.to Midnight Express, to small roles in films like Spaceballs and the Harry Potter films. Although Olivander is no small role in the Harry Potter world. Without him, you have no wands. The last role I saw him play, was that of the War Doctor in the Doctor Who episode The Day of the Doctor. It was once again, thrilling to see him. He will be greatly missed in this world for his amazing talent, and he is swirling in the ether with all those that we have lost before him. Before I end this part of the post, I just want to share with you, my favorite picture of the great Sir John Vincent Hurt.

     Come on, how great is that picture? Is there anyone cooler than that?

     I can't remember I posted about the new helmet cover, but I do remember saying that I was waiting for it to arrive before I named it, but I had a couple of names in mind. Well, one of them stuck and it came to me immediately on seeing it, when I opened it up today. I would like to introduce you to Melvin.

     Melvin is purple and really awesome. He and Fred are currently sitting side by side, getting aquatinted. I'm sure Fred is telling Melvin all about how it is to ride on Saki. Melvin has not had his maiden voyage yet, because it's kind of cold out, and my back still isn't quite 100%. Melvin will get his chance in the sun though. It is a must, and I'm looking forward to showing him around the Space Coast. 

     I do my very best to keep politics out of this, but sometimes it can't be helped. This picture has been popping up quite a bit over the last few days, and it is incredibly relevant today. It was a small comic penned by Theodor Suess Geisel, better known as Dr. Suess. It was done in 1941 as a small protest for America not allowing refugees Jews to come to the country. We all know what happened after 1941. Here is that small comic. Take particular note of the slogan on the shirt. It looks a little similar and familiar to something, and yes I'm being very passive aggressive.

     The whole reason this country exist is because of religious freedom, and to deny someone entry to this country because of their religion is wrong, not only on a fundamental level, but many moral levels as well. This is not the country I grew up with. Before you say, "Well if you don't like it, you can leave it.", I'm not saying I don't like this country. What I am saying and I said this the night of the election. I will point out when the leadership of this country is doing something wrong, and this is very wrong. We have done things like this in the past, and it appears that we haven't learned from our very own history. Throughout our history, we have looked down upon a race. ethnicity, or religion of a people. It started with the Irish, then the Italians, then the Chinese, then the Mexicans, and it has always seemed to be the African Americans. Now it is the Muslims. We never learn, that this only seems us back. We stop moving forward when we waste time fighting against people that there are no need to fight against. We will never have a perfect world in my lifetime, but I'm going to do all I can to accept people no matter who, what, or where they come from, into my life. I turn away from hate, and I hope that you will do the same. We have so many things in common other than the color of our skin, or the deity we pray to, or the person we choose to love. Sit down and listen to someone once in a while. Hear their story and notice that it probably isn't that much different than you own. Peace in and goodnight.

Blast From The Past.

     I decided to write this a little early today. Well, actually very early today. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first being, that I was really considering writing last night, because something very unusual happened yesterday. The second being, that it's supposed to be a miserable rainy day, and I can't possibly see anything exciting happening for the rest of the day. I could be wrong though.

     Let's get started with, I was able to get back on Saki Friday. It was the first time since I injured my back on Tuesday. It felt good. I also got my new phone, and I'm being extremely careful with it, since my Lifeproof case doesn't arrive until Thursday. I love this new phone. Technology is great. I just went with the iCloud backup, and everything was back on my phone with very little interruption. I had to find a few passwords and such, and a game took be back to the very beginning, but that gave me a reason to get rid of it, and stop playing. The camera is lightyears better so then first picture I took was of Saki when we got back home. You really didn't think I wasn't going to post the picture did you?

     You can see Saki and Fred in all their glory. You can't even notice the scratches on Saki, and this is the side that took the damage. My back still isn't a hundred percent, but it was well enough to get back on for a ride, and it was fantastic. I wanted to get a shot at my new favorite place, and it would have been great. The sun was going down, and there were storms off in the distance. The sky was full of colors, but there was some guy in a truck parked there, and he was right where I would normally park Saki, so I had to settle for this one. Not bad if I do say so myself.

     Ok, let's get to yesterday already. The only thing I did Friday night was watch the rest of Sense 8. It was good, but their Christmas special was a bit odd, and they changed actors for the guy from Nairobi. Anyway, Saturday. I didn't do anything for all of the day. It was cold, and I didn't want that cold air on my back, so Saki stayed warm in the garage. Instead, I messaged a few women I have been talking to on OKCupid, to see how they were. While I was there, I started browsing "matches". I don't normally go on there, but idle hands and all. I came across a woman, that caught my attention. I looked at her profile, and something looked very familiar about her. I went through her pictures, and she looked like an old girlfriend of mine. I read through her profile, and then her stats, and her age and height fit. It couldn't be her though. It;s not possible that I would run across an old love. Even her screen name fit her personality, but it really couldn't be her, it was just all a coincidence.

     A little background now. I was desperately in love with this woman. She was everything that I ever wanted. She was smart, kind, beautiful, and had a rough background that she was rising above. I don't know if I mentioned here, how I have a constant desire and habit of finding women that I feel I can help to become better. I probably never help any of them, but it's there and I am attracted to those women. She broke up with me when she was having some really heavy things happening in her life. She was trying to go to school to be an EMT, and her mom was fighting colon cancer. All of it was a struggle, and trying to maintain a relationship on top of that, wasn't in the cards, so we went our separate ways. I think the last time I saw her and talked to her, was when I took her to visit her mothers grave. I wanted that moment as well, became her mother was a fantastic woman. She was where her daughter got all of her best traits. I thought I saw her one more time, while she was in a passing car at my bank. That was it. Our lives were never meant to cross paths again. Until yesterday?

     After I saw her profile, I just closed down the site. It couldn't be here, and if it was, what could I do about it? After a couple of minutes, I went back on and found her again. I messaged her saying that she looked like someone I knew, and just wanted to say hello. I didn't expect to hear from her. If it was her, why would she want to talk to me, and if it wasn't, there was no reason to talk to me. A few hours later, I got a message. I had named her correctly but it wasn't a confirmation that it was her. She asked me how I knew her, and I briefly told her. It was her.

     We messaged throughout the evening. I'm not sure if she remembers me or not, but it was a good conversation. She told me a few things about herself, and what was going on in her life. It made me happy that she was doing so well. She had overcome all of her adversities and was succeeding. When it was time to go to bed. I cut off the conversation with a good night, and hope that her daughter and her friend wouldn't keep her up all night.

    You're sitting there saying to yourself, "You blew it, why didn't you give her your number?" Well, you're right, I did blow it. I even went to be thinking that I blew it. I woke up this morning, still thinking that I blew it. There is good news though. I have a chance to fix that, and I did. I messaged her directly after breakfast and gave her my number. I don't know if she will ever contact me, and I don't know if I want to turn this into anything other than a possible friendship. The old saying goes, "You can never go home again.". I kind of feel this applies to this. How many times have people form an old relationship, found each other and then picked up where they left off, and made it successful? I don't know of too many. I've heard of a few, but only a few, and my luck isn't that good. If nothing comes of this, I did take the initiative and reach out to her, and that is something that gives me some pride.

     I know that I should be talking about John Hurt in this spot, but I want to save that for Tuesday night. I think this post needs to center on everything above. So, until Tuesday night, peace in, and have a great day.

From Back Pain to, Oh I Don't Know.

     Hooray hoorah, I get to work 5 days this week. Although, to be honest, this is the one week that I would like to have Friday off. Why? You ask. Because I would love to have tomorrow to have my back recover a little faster. It's feeling better for sure, but I'd still put it at about 75%. It's not as sore as the day it happened or yesterday, but there is some pain, and my flexibility is shot. I can barely bend over and touch my knees right now. I'm still having trouble walking with a full stride. It's the right leg and side where the most pain is, and that's the side that all the stress was on when I caught Saki. Oh well, live and learn. Everything in life is a lesson, if you pay close enough attention.

     I broke down and ordered a new phone. It should arrive tomorrow. I also ordered a case at the same time from Lifeproof, but it won't be here until net Thursday it looks like. That is a bit of a bummer. I'm going to have to be exceedingly careful with the new phone in the meantime. I was hoping to get the case either the same day, or a day after, so that I could just take the phone out of the box, and put it directly in the case. Not going to happen now. On the bright side. The phone is going to have a much better camera than what I currently have, so I should get some pretty good pictures to post on here. Yes, they will mostly be of Saki.

     So far, I have been pretty successful at deflecting offers to go out and drink. I have had legitimate excuses not to go, but I think that is going to dry up soon, and I'm going to have to make it public knowledge that I have stopped drinking. I'm sure there will be some that will scoff at this idea, and others that might even be mad about it. I really can't do anything about either reaction, I've stopped and I have no plans of starting anytime soon. I don't feel any need or urge to do so. We will see where it goes from here.

     It's time now to talk about the effervescence that is swirling in the ether tonight. Mary Tyler Moore was born in Brooklyn New York in 1936. I mention this, because this isn't a tragedy, but a triumph, especially when you know that she battled diabetes and alcoholism most of her life. Despite that, she became an icon to women everywhere, she she portrayed Mary Richards on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. She was even breaking ground when she played Laura Petrie in the Dick Van Dyke Show. It was unheard of at the time for a woman to wear pants on TV. Everyone said that she should be wearing a dress, but Carl Reiner wouldn't hear of it. If you ever got a chance to watch either of these shows, or anything else she was in, you know how spectacular she was. She was genuinely funny and absolutely adorable doing it. It wasn't all fun and games though. In a landmark episode on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, she got a promotion and became the producer of the new show that she worked on. In that episode she noticed that her predecessor, who was male, got $50 dollars more a week than her. When she asked why, Lou Grant, her boss, simply said, "because he is a man". She took up the mantle of equal pay for women way back then. Her character also owned her sexuality. It was the first time that a TV show showed what it was like for an independent woman that was dating really had to go through. The reason why its worked. 1/3rd of the writers on the show were women, and this was at a time, when CBS didn't even have a women's bathroom in the building. Mary Tyler Moore is spinning, throwing her beret in the air, and becoming a bright and shining beacon for women to look towards in a time when they need a champion most. Goodbye funny lady.

     I did want to mention one more thing tonight. I told you that I ordered a new helmet cover a few days ago. The site I ordered it from is rather fantastic. I'm going to tell you why. When I first went on https://motoloot.com there was a pop-up window to sign up for their email list. When you did this, you got a code for 5% off on your first order. I used that when I ordered the new helmet cover. Well, just yesterday, after they shipped then cover out, I got another email from the founder of the site thanking me for my purchase and giving me a 10% off code on my next order. If you are not the bike life, then I highly recommend clicking the link above and checking them out. You might find something you like, or maybe just a gift for a friend that loves to ride.

     And with that, it's time to go to bed. Peace in and goodnight.

From Worse To Worse.

     It has been an incredibly crappy day. You know, one of those days where everything seems to go wrong. Yeah, that's the one.

     It was cold this morning, and the high temperature was going to be that which I could actually wear long pants, and not feel miserable, so Saki was going to ride. Everything was going great, until just before I parked Saki. As I was making my final turn that lined me up with my parking space, I did something that I really didn't need to do, and it cost me. I was doing a low speed turn working on counterbalancing. It's how you turn a motorcycle at slow speeds. The only problem is, that you do need a certain amount of speed to do it. I fell short of that mark, and in doing so, I turned the bars, and the front tire caught and stopped dead. That caused me to lean to far in the counter, and push Saki down. I was luck enough to catch it, so I sat Saki down gently, but Saki still took some damage. Nothing real big, just a bunch of scratches on the fairing, clutch case cover, and the mirror. I picked  Saki up, looked it over, and grieved over the scratches but considered myself lucky. There was no real damage. Until I started walking in the building. That is when I noticed that I had strained my back pretty bad, when I caught Saki on the way down.

     My back is stiffening up as I sit her and type this. It is painful, but I will get through it. Iv'e been doing what I can do try and keep it loose, and to slowly stretch it out. Not too much thought, because that would be counterproductive, and cause more problems. I'm hoping that it will feel better after a nights sleep. Otherwise, I won't be able to ride tomorrow. I was fine on the way home from work, and didn't feel any pain while on the bike, but the way it is now, I'm not sure I could even swing my leg over it.

     Enough about that, let's get on to the next thing. That would be my phone. My battery has been causing me problems lately. I mentioned it once before about a month or so ago. Well, it has gotten worse. My phone will jump from 60% battery life, all the way down to 20% from just looking at the notifications. I was trying to hold out before upgrading my phone, but now I might have to get one by the end of the week, if this keeps up. I did find a temporary solution, and that is a power bank. I was hoping on just using it on the bike for long rides. Something I could share my phone in the middle of nowhere. It arrived today, and is currently charging right now, as well as my phone. I'll take it in to work with me, so that my phone doesn't completely die during the day. I'll see how it goes tomorrow, to see if I can hold out on getting  a new phone.

     Wait, there's more. I've been waiting for an email from Motorcycle Superstore about a leather jacket that I ordered, It was a great deal. They had approved the order, and put an estimated delivery date or the 19th on it. That was last week. The day it was supposed to arrive, they sent me an email saying that it was on order. Well, today, just to pile on, I got an email from them saying that they were cancelling the order. No reason , just cancelling it and refunding me. I was getting this leather jacket for a third of the normal cost, and I was planning on that being my cold weather jacket, but now, I won't have that option. Needless to say, I won't be buying anything from Motorcycle Superstore anymore. I will stick to Revzilla. I haven't checked to see if they have the same jacket or not, they probably do. The bonus of that, is Revzilla will price match, so I might still have a shot at it, but I'm trying to look on the bright side, and I have a feeling that if I try to look for it right now, It will all go to ruins. I'll wait until tomorrow.

     Let's just get to Favorite Song of the Week. Remember LP from last week? Good, cause we have another song by her. I've been listening to the EP Death Valley a lot this week, and this is one of those songs that just grabs a hold of you from the start. I'm not going to explain why, when you listen to it, you will understand. Here is the kicker though, really listen to it. Listen to the lyrics, and what it is about. People don't really listen to lyrics much anymore. Maybe that is because music went through period in the 90's where everyone tried to be cryptic with the meaning in the song. that isn't happening much anymore. Singer songwriters are putting the meaning right there in the open for you, and this is a great case of that. I give you LP with "Strange".


 
      There you have it. I'm calling this a good ending to a bad day, peace in and goodnight.

It Wasn't The Weekend I Wanted, But It Was The Weekend That I Got.

     Yesterday was a bit of a mixed bag. I took Saki for it's appointment, dropped it off, and then walked over to the tattoo shop. The guy at the dealership told me that it would take 5 and a half hours. That meant that I would be getting back over to pick up Saki just before closing time. Ok, I had a bunch of time to waste, and the plan was to hang out at the tattoo shop, and get some touchups done on Bowie.

     I got to the shop, and my artist's client for the day showed up. He thought he was going to be a no show. I was in hang out mode. I took a seat in his room, and relaxed. The guy was getting an eagle on his arm, and had big plans for a huge background and tying it in with his chest piece, but he wasn't up for the challenge. He started tapping out at about the 2 hour mark. He managed to hang in for another hour after that, but he was done. He kept saying that he wanted to get his chest piece worked on, but my artist told him, "you may feel good there right now, but that will change real quick". He finally gave in, and decided to call it a day. About the time he was leaving, I got a call form the dealership. They wanted to know when I wanted my bike back. I told them today of course. That was a shocking answer to the guy. They hadn't even started on the work yet. I have to reschedule for a day other than Saturday, because they only have one tech on Saturday's. Hopefully I'll be off on Friday, and I can get it all done then.

     I told my artist that I had to walk back and pick up Saki, and that I would be back soon to get those touchups done. In the end. one thing worked out with the dealership. A new plan came to me this weekend, and I wanted to go there to look at a couple of things. I'll get to all that in a minute. I made it back to the tattoo shop, and got my touchups. Bowie had his makeup freshened up a bit, and is looking great. I really thought it looked good before, but it does look better. My artist asked what I wanted next, and I laid a few things on him, including the "god arm". I told him what I see, and he didn't scoff at the rams head idea for my shoulder at the top of it all. He actually really liked the idea, so that will be a go at some point. I even mentioned the Princess Leia tattoo, that I showed the picture of her before. I think I might do it. If I do, I think it's going to go on my right thigh. He may have a better idea, if I decide to do it next. We will just have to wait and see. I do have to save my money for something else.

     This is where we get to that other reason I wanted to go to the dealership. Lately, I have been watching a lot of motovlogs, and the people on them have been riding Groms. A Grom is a little 125CC bike made by Honda. Kawasaki also makes one called the Z125 Pro. I want one. They look like they are super fun to ride around on, and you can go off road with them as well. They take a beating and just keep coming back.  I even wrote a little blog piece about it on Moto Amino. I wanted feedback from the 125 community, and they gave it to me. They even brought up a few 125 bikes that I hadn't even heard of. I was able to eliminate those prospects right away, because there aren't reliable dealers for them in the area.

     The dealership I go to just happens to sell both Honda and Kawasakis. Bigger bonus, they had both the bikes I was comparing in person. I was leaning towards the Kawasaki Z125 Pro. It has a more aggressive seating posture, and I'd heard that it is a little faster. The con that it has, is that the breaks aren't as good.That is a tough one to over come, but I could do 1 of 2 things. Either, ride very safe and not get in a situation where I wouldn't need to break suddenly (which would mean never riding it round cars), or 2. I could get better brakes for it and put them on. 2 seems like the smarter option. If I get that one, I would go with the Kawasaki green. I think it looks really sharp in that color scheme.

     There it is there. It looks pretty good. The other one that I was thinking about, and remember they are basically the same bike, but there are little differences, is the Honda Grom in red. The Grom was the first one released in the American market. the Z125 above is going after the market that Honda had a strangle hold on. They've been around for a few years now, and there are tons of parts to modify the bike. The 2017 model has a little redesign in the body, and has boosted some of the features on the bike. In every review that I've seen, the Grom wins out in braking. That is a big plus. It has a more upright sport touring posture when riding, and it turns out, it does have. form the rider review that I've been watching, the more getup and go. 

     Since they are basically the same bike with slight differences, it is really all coming down to, which one looks better. I have to say, seeing them side by side in the dealership, and they did have both of the colors I was looking at, the Grom wins out in appearance. Oh, here is the other difference I forgot to mention. The Grom is a little more expensive, but there is a reason for that. With the redesign, they improved the suspension, they added LED lights to the front and back, and it is supposed to be more ergonomically comfortable. With all that to consider, I think I'm going with the Grom. It just looks more appealing to me, and the brakes and    more pep, give it the edge. I won't be getting this for a few months. I want to save up all the money and buy it outright when I get it. I think I'll have a lot of fun on that bike, and if anyone ever visit is and wants to go ride, I have an extra bike for them to tool around on. It just won't go very fast. The top speed on these little street demons, is around 65 MPH, and that is really pushing it with a tailwind, and maybe needing to go downhill. You are really looking at a top speed of 55 MPH. 

      It's getting to that time, when I should have been asleep about an hour ago, so will bid you a farewell. Peace in and goodnight.

Friday Night? Are You Kidding Me?

     I know I know I know. I didn't write last night. There are a couple of reasons for that. The first one is, that I wanted to just change it up a small bit this week, and the second one is, that I really didn't have anything to write last night, which is why I wanted to change it up a small bit this week.

     I did start a new song in my ukulele class last night. It's the Neil Diamond classic "Sweet Caroline". It's not a personal favorite of mine, but it's a fun song and everyone seems to know it, so what they hey. Let's give it a try and knock this sucker out. He only gave me the intro so far, he still has to fully work out the rest of it. It's the full gambit, of melody and harmony, so it's going to be some hard work, but fun work.

     Since I was off today, I of course rode Saki. I needed 50 more miles to hit the 3000 mark, which isn't completely necessary for the 3000 mile maintenance, but it's always better. I got the 50 and then some. It was just Saki, Fred and me. We rode all over the Space Coast, and it was perfect weather for it. The sun was out, it was around 75 degrees for most of the ride, and it was Florida Beautiful. Even though the ride was great, very early on, I had a woman pull directly out in front of me. I slammed on the brakes, and avoided hitting her, and all she did, was raise her hand like, "oops, my bad". I was too busy making sure to stop, and not stall the bike, and not fall off the bike, or drop the bike, that I couldn't even yell at her for not looking. I was on the high side of the road, where there was no excuse to not see me. She didn't even bother to look. She saw a van about two car lengths in front of me, and that was all she saw. She pulled out directly after the van. The good thing is that the speed limit was only 35 MPH right there, so I had time to stop and avoid her, but she also had plenty of time to look and not pull out in front of me. Here is a little pointer for you. When you are pulling across a road, or through an intersection, always look both ways twice. I have done this for most of my driving life. The first time is to see what is there, and the second time is to confirm it. If you only look once, You will get in an accident at some point.

     As I mentioned above, I'm taking Saki in for maintenance tomorrow. I'm dropping Saki off and then walking over to the tattoo shop to either hang out, or get some touchups done. It all depends of if the person that is supposed to come in when I'll be there, actually shows up. They show up, I hang. They don't, I get stabbed with several needles. Bowie looks great, but there are a couple of holidays where the ink was overworked a bit, and didn't take. They are real small, and unless you know where they are, you wouldn't notice them at all. I think my artist has time later in the day, so If the person shows for their appointment, then I'll just walk back to pick up Saki, and ride back over and get stabbed a little later. Either way it's a fun day for me.

     Once I was home from my ride today. I really had nothing to do. I pulled up Netflix and looked for something new to watch. I finished both things I was watching last week, so I tried out Sense 8. I've had it in my Queue since it started last year, but had never gotten around to it. I'm really glad I put it on today. I watched the first 5 episodes, and it is great. It takes some time, so you have to stick with it, but by the time you get a couple of episodes in, you start to understand what is going on. You find out what is happening as the characters are finding out. It's very original, and quite twisty. Give it a try, be warned though, there is a lot of sexual content in it, so, if you aren't into that kind of thing, you may want to take a pass on it, but you will be missing out.

     I'm heading off to bed, so that I can get up early, and take a ride before Saki has it's doctors appointment. If I get up early enough. I might have some sunrise pictures for you on Sunday. Yes, I will be back to the normal schedule. Just look at it this way. You got an extra special Friday Night Edition of the Counterfeit Squirrel. When was the last time that happened? Peace in and goodnight.

What Do You Want To Be?

     Today seems to have a theme. It kept popping up everywhere. From the radio show I listen to in the morning, to the podcast I listened to later in the day, to the TV show I was watching before coming in to write this. What is this underlying theme of the day? Do what you want to do most in this world. It was everywhere today. Go out and be the person you want to be. If you don't know how to do that, then find out how. If you don't think you are good enough to be that person, then get over it, and just do it.

     That is what I have been doing with this. It is my effort to write more, and learn from doing that. I don't do this for money, or notoriety, I do this for me. What I found out when I started the 365, is that I need this. It gets things out of my head, and keeps me balanced. If I did this for any of those other things, I would sensationalize this, and that isn't what this is about at all. My goal was to have honesty in writing, and that is what I am doing. It doesn't get me a whole lot of views, and that really doesn't matter to me. What matters, is that I write with honesty and hopefully you enjoy it, whoever you are. That is my goal, and in doing that, I am doing exactly what I want to do. I'm at a point now where I could monetize this, and try to make money off of it, but I'm not going to do this. Whenever I promote something on here, I do it because I like the product, and believe in it. I don't get anything for it, and I doubt  anyone evolved with anything I promote will ever see this. So know that when I say I like something and I recommend it, it is because I honestly thing it is a good thing.

      I could go into a long paragraph about how you should go out and do what you want to do, but I'm not going to do that, I think you get the point from the two paragraphs above, so I'm going to instead, go into the Favorite Song of the Week, which oddly enough, has a tie in with the theme of the day. The song is by an artist who has written songs for many well known artist, and not just songs, but hit songs. She has quietly released 3 albums and 1 EP, but I think her time has come to step out of the side stage and into the spotlight. Her voice is a mix between Miley Cyrus and Gwen Stefani, and the writes good songs. She is another one of those artists that has toiled for years  writing for others and seeing them have hits with her songs. For one reason or another, they didn't see themselves as the star, but it turns out, they maybe should have seen themselves as that all along. I know of a couple more songwriters that are going to be coming out with their own albums like this artist soon, and I will more than little feature them right her, but tonight belongs to LP. She was born in Long Island New York as Laura Pergolizzi, and picked up the nickname LP during her time at Walt Whitman High School. From what I can find, she has been performing since that time as well. She is incredibly talented, and guess what? She plays the ukulele, and you know how I have an affection for ukulele artists. I've been blabbering on enough, let's get to the song. Here is LP with "Lost On You".



     While I have been writing this, I have been listening to the EP, It's titled Death Valley and it's really good. If you are in the mood for some new music. Look it up and give it a listen. I think you will enjoy it. Ok, you can't tell this from just reading, but I stopped writing long enough to watch the live version of the song above, and It's really really good. It has a bit of tortured appeal to it. There is a part where she walks away from the mic, and sings from a distance that just breaks your heart, and tears into your soul. If the video above is anything like the one on Youtube, watch the next video that pops up when that one is done. That should be the live version, you won't regret it.

     Time for me to head off to be. It's going to be another 4 day work wee, so I better get to sleep and attack tomorrow like there is no other tomorrow. Peace in and goodnight.