I'm looking California, But Feeling Minnesota

      Well, I'm going to start off on a low note, but I promise it won't be all doom and gloom. I actually do have some fun stuff in store for you. It seems like the switch inside me that controls desire is perpetually off at this point. I wasn't able to write this week at all. I want to write that new story, but I just can't get it together to actually have the desire to do it. Following your passion should be a good thing, but right now it seems exhausting an overwhelming. I don't know why I'm broken like this, but I'm hoping to figure it out. I'm going to sit down and force myself to write this week. Didn't I say something like that last week? I also took some pictures. The concept was good and fun, but I haven't even bothered to look at them, because in my head, they are all garbage. This is another thing I'm going to have to force myself to do this week. I'll get there. 

     Now for the fun stuff. Ok this is the part where you can choose to opt out of the next paragraph or two. I haven't figured out in my head how long this Pokemon part will be, so I'm going to come back and edit this and in the next sentence I will tell you just how much you can skip if you want. You can skip the next 4 paragraphs if you want to skip the Pokemon discussion, but you really don't know what you are missing out on.

     Ok, I said last week that I wanted to explain the buddy levels and hearts better, so here goes.

 

     This is what your buddy page looks like when you open it up. The top left tells the level of your buddy, In this case the buddy is a great buddy with two full hearts. Now each one of those hearts takes all those empty hearts to fill up, and each progressive heart takes more and more. For instance, the first heart takes only for you to give your buddy 3 berries to get them to show up on the map. That is equal to one heart in the list. The list is what you need in order to get 12 hearts, but you can get more. There are a couple ways to do that. The first is to feed your buddy a poffin. This is a special fruit that automatically doubles your heart output. Now, if you feed your buddy one of those to start, you will still only have to walk 6km in order to fill up the hearts. Even though the hearts are doubled you get double hearts for each activity. Battles can be anything from putting your buddy into a raid lineup (I'll explain the best way to do this next week), battle a Team Rocket grunt, boss, or Jessie and James (if you know you know), Go Battle League battle (this depends on your buddies CP and qualification for the current league), or lastly in the training battles (this the easiest and best way to get those battle hearts). I'll let you figure out the rest, now for the, how to get double hearts without a poffin.

      I have kind of figured this method out. I haven't mastered it yet though. From what I've figured, you need to get a certain amount of hearts in a certain amount of time, when you do that you will get your buddy excited and the hearts double. I can do this on any given day, I just don't know exactly how many hearts and in what length of time is really necessary for this. The difference form a poffin excitement and a true excitement is the color of the hearts. When you use a poffin, the hearts will be an orangish color, but when you get that true excitement, the hearts will be red.

    You can see from this image (wow I sound so formal) that I visited a new place before I got the double hearts and wasn't able to hit a new one. The other thing that happens when you get it excited is that walking distance for candy is cut in half. Candy is a whole other thing that I'll go over at a later time. Basically what I've found out is that if you get your buddy not the map with the first 3 berries, then get all your distance hearts, and battle hearts right around the same time, you can play with your buddy and take a snapshot right after and that will usually give you the bonus, oh there are bonus hearts as well, but those only happen once you are great buddies. I should quickly explain buddy levels, there is Buddy, Great Buddy, Ultra Buddy, and Best Buddy. Best Buddy gets you all the perks of gifts and a CP bonus when your buddy is actually your active buddy. You all so get a sweet Best Buddy badge like my Snorlax in the image above. It's the little red and yellow badge on his chest. Gifts that you receive depend on level, Great Buddies give you things you can use, like potions, berries, revives (I'll explain those later as well). When you become Ultra Buddies, your buddy will bring you the most useless things. It's funny really, you will get thins like a torn ticket, springs, marbles, as well as other things. I really don't think I've seen all of them yet, those are just the most odd ball of them that I've gotten. For each gift you receive in a day, you will get a bonus heart. I've only ever gotten 2 and they can't be doubled, but there is space for a third on, so I don't think I've reached that level, or it doesn't exist. I'm sure I could look it all up, but I'd rather just discover that on my own. I'm at a point where I can fill hearts (with the exception of visit a new place) for 2 and sometimes 3 buddies a day. For example it's 8:24 in the morning as I write this and I only need to give my current buddy 3 berries for it's last heart. This buddy which is a Gengar, gave me a extra boost that I didn't know about. The game has certain Pokemon that can Mega evolve, but in order to do this, you need special candy called Mega Candy so that you can evolve them. You eat them up fast when you start doing the mega evolve, an I've been trying to find out how to get more, and I stumbled upon this when I accidentally made Gengar my buddy. They have a distance requirement for your buddy to find candy. Megas get mega candy as well. This is a game changer for me. For every 3km I travel, I get 1 Gengar candy (they can also find XL candy, once again I'll explain candy a different day) and 15 mega candy. That is a big deal for me. Megas a great in raid battles especially in Legendary or Mega raids. Yes, a raid discussion will come up down the line as well. I ran out of parentheses for that one. I'm hoping this explains the buddy hearts and how to get them, now we can pick everyone else back up.

     Time for a Prince appreciation post. I came across the picture this week and just wanted to share. It's pretty fantastic, and reminds me how much I miss him. I still have the music and the estate is putting out previously unreleased music and doing it in a very nice and respectful way. Remember it was said that Prince had enough music archived that they could release an album a year for the next 50 years and still not reveal it all (actually I think it was 500 years, but I'm not 100% sure on that). Anyway, enjoy this picture.

     Ok, I want to recommend a few shows to watch. The first one you've probably heard about, since it is really big in the news and social media right now, and that is Squid Game. This is a Netflix show from I think Korea (they have been putting out impressive shows) and it's a little like the Saw movies, with a very unique twist. I don't want to give anything away, but if you don't mind a little gore and some suspense, give this show a try, you will not regret it.

     The Next one is a Disney + show and it's based on an old show from, I want to say the 90's, but it may be late 80's. The show is Doogie Kamealoha M.D. and it is of course based on Doogie Howzer M.D. It's a really fun and funny show, they even reference the original show in the first episode, which is how she gets the nickname. It follows a young prodigy doctor in Hawai'i. One of the really fun things for me was seeing Jason Scott Lee as the father doing a comedic role. He's fantastic. They release episodes every Wednesday and I think they are on episode 6 at this point. Ok, another quick Disney + show you should check out is Turner & Hooch. This one is based on the well known movie starring Tom Hanks. This one is kind of a continuation of the movie except you are following along with his son who is a US Marshall and his adventures with the son or maybe it's the grandson of the original Hooch. This is another fun show and they just finished the whole season so you can do a binge in a weekend and watch the whole first season.

     Ok the last show on the list is a fun movie that was just released on Disney + for halloween. It's the Muppets Haunted Mansion. Its a fun little movie with the muppets based on the famed Disney ride, The Haunted Mansion. It has a ton of stars and cameos. My favorite is Danny Trejo. that dude is just awesome. That is a fun one for the kids although both the other Disney ones are as well. I would hold off on letting them watch Squid Game though. Ok, that's all my TV recommendations for you.

 

     What is that a picture of you ask? Well those are beans or seed pods from the Moringa tree. I'm not sure if they were ready to be picked but they were so big that they were weighing the tree down and making it bend over too far. I had another one that I picked earlier because I saw it drying out at the tip. I ripped it open and tried the meat inside and it was similar tasting to a raw potato, but it had the texture of celery. It's really weird. I'm going to harvest the seeds from these two, or at least try to, and see if I can plant them to get a few more trees going.

     It's time for Favorite Song of the Week. This is from a band that I consider one of the three big bands that erupted form the Seattle grunge scene. Those bands were Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. You can argue Alice and Chains, STP, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, but in my opinion they were secondary to those first three. Soundgarden was formed in the mid 80's but didn't have any big success until the 90's, They erupted huge with their 4th album Superunknown that had the ever popular hit Black Hole Sun. I'm not choosing a song from that album though. I'm going back to their 3rd album for this one, and this was the song I first heard from them. I should also point out that when Johnny Cash released his album American II: Unchained, he covered this song. He could have easily chose Black Hole Sun, or even Spoonman which were wildly well known at the time he made that album, but he went back to the 3rd album as well, for this very song. I give to you Soundgarden with I would argue, their best song "Rusty Cage".

     For me, this is the epitome of what Chris Cornell's vocals are. He was truly one of the best voices in rock n roll, and he is another one that I miss. I'll be honest with you, I was thinking about picking Spoonman, for the very reason of how divisive that song is. People hate that song for some reason, and I think I know why. Hear me out on this. The song itself is psychopathic. Matt Cameron's drums do the perfect job of mimicking the chaotic rage of someone playing the spoons, and lets face it, anyone that plays spoons is a sociopath. I truly believe that spoon players are closeted serial killers and that is exactly what that song portrays. It may not be in the lyrics, but it is the whole of that song, and for that reason, I believe people hear that in it and instantly hate it.

   

    Ok, I know that was a lot, but that is all I have for you today. Peace in and goodnight.

Never Gonna Give You Up

     I've had enough time to talk myself out of the piece I was going to write today. Although I still think I should write it, I'm not. Why? Only because I don't want to give it any more life than it already has. Oh, and I'm not going to say it anymore, so just assume it was a crappy week unless otherwise stated.

     My mom's health has been declining at what seems to be an accelerated pace lately. She goes into these somewhat catatonic states from time to time, and this week was full of them. The first time it happened which was a few weeks ago, I was going to call an ambulance, because I just didn't know what to do. With the pandemic going on, I realized that since she wasn't really distressed, I would call her doctor instead  to see what he thinks. He got back to me very quickly and stated it was actually a normal process in the decline of dementia, or should be the escalation of dementia, either way you know what I'm saying. The last two days in particular have been rough. Friday she was wanting to leave the house and go home, which she really has no concept of anymore of where that actually is, since she is home. She also kept asking about her family and I had to tell her that her husband had died. This is always a hard one to tackle especially when she is in an argumentative state. No matter what I say, she deems it  a lie, and I just have to roll with it and gently convince her that it is the truth. When the truth finally sets in, she goes through all the emotion of losing a love all over again. It's heartwrenching to observe all over again, since I already lived through this the first time. Since she was argumentative it was exceptionally tough to get her to eat, she also hadn't slept the night before, which made it exponentially worse. I was finally able to calm her down later in the evening and get her to sleep, that was after a very small meal of what I could finally get her to eat.

     The next morning I woke her up and she seemed in much better spirit, but at some point in the middle of her shower, she went into a light version of that catatonic state. I was able to bath her and get her to stand up and help her out of the shower to get her dried off and dressed, but it was very difficult to do. Her responses were only physical and they were, well I can't even explain how they were. I guess this is the best way. When she goes into the catatonic state, you can see that she is there, but it's as if her very essence draws within itself and hides at the back of her mind. Now, when it's bad, there is no response what so ever, but on this day, there was minimal physical response. Normally her limbs go stiff in this state, but this time she would lift a leg a little and loosen it up so I could do the rest. I was able to get her back in bed after that, and brought her shakes and water with her pills. I'm guessing with the lack of sleep from the day before and the impact of those emotions she felt all over again, that she needed time to process it all. I left her to her bed and would poke in every once in a while to give her more water an coax her into eating small items. At about 2 in the afternoon I was able to get a decent response out of her, and managed to get her to the living room for some food. She was still tired but was more back to being herself. All of these experiences are very new to me. Everything with dealing with this is a first time event, so I've asked for help form some people, and some have helped out. Her doctor has been the most helpful and I appreciate that greatly. He calmed me down about these episodes, so that I have been able to deal with them for the most part. It's hard though. I truly hope none of you ever have to experience someone close to you having dementia. It is life altering.

     After she was up and about, I was able to follow through on the plan I had for us, which was postponed because of the morning events. I wanted to get her out of the house, for a little while, which is getting tougher and tougher, and I also wanted to see something that I had put in place a few weeks ago. Get ready, this is going to be about Pokemon, so you can skip to below the nest pictures if you want to just avoid the nerd talk. 

     Several weeks ago, while I was at the record store, I nominated it for a Pokestop. If you don't play and you are still reading this, when you hit level 38 in the game you are able to nominate locations for Pokestops. Those are locations where you can spin a disc in order to get more balls ( to catch Pokemon ) or berries ( they make catching Pokemon easier ) or even stickers ( which you can attach to gifts for friends ) and revives (when you battle with your Pokemon the feint and you need these to revive them to health ), oh and also potions ( they give your Pokemon energy after the feint ). I had heard that this whole process of approval can take a year or even longer, so I was shocked to receive an email only a few days after nominating it saying that it had been approved. I had my first official Pokestop, but I couldn't go to see it until yesterday. I looked around the shop while I was there and told the owners about it. They were really excited and said they had asked a friend to do it ages ago. Here's the thing about Niantic and the Pokestops. Their idea behind them is to get people to actually visit these places, and that creates traffic to the area. You have to bee within 80 meters of the location (used to be 40) in order so spin the stop. My hope, and I'm sure it was theirs as well, that that stop will bring in more costumers that didn't even know that place existed. Ok, finally here are the picture so we can get back to other stuff. I have to mention that the one of the map shows several stops and gyms (gyms are locations where you can battle other Pokemon to clear the gym and place your own Pokemon inside in order to earn coins based on how long you defend it). The blue location icons are the stops, and the one near the top with the white ring around it, is a brand new stop. By the way if you didn't know, that white ring signifies a unique and new location, so if you play and see that you can get your buddy a new location heart. Remind me next week to explain buddy hearts. I think I did a poor job of that the other week. Anyway, that new stop on the map is the record store and my stop. The second picture is the picture disc at the location.

     Ok, now for normal stuff. If you skipped to this point, you missed out on so much good information. Ok, I got a picture of Ri Ri Popcorn Face, which is officially her new full name. She was looking at me with her little snuggle tooth hanging out and I couldn't resist a picture. She has a bit of an underbite so this happens from time to time when her top lip gets tucked under and it's always adorable.

     How could I not fall for that goofy girl? Morty and her get along great now. They finally started playing together in the yard. The rough housed a little inside, which really isn't ideal, but when they went outside they would kind of ignore each other, but this week saw the first time they actually played together outside, it made me happy. I have gotten them to stop the inside stuff though, so I'm very happy about that as well.

     I had an idea for a new story come to me. This was inspired by Halsey. She released a short movie along with her album and I finally got to watch it this week. The movie is based on the album, but the album was written with this movie in mind, if that makes any sense. Basically they go together and the music works for the most part as a narrator. The movie gave me an idea to tell that story a little more and put my own spin on it while expanding beyond where it ended. I've only written a few notes so far, but I'm hoping to sit down this week and knock a few chapters out. I have the basis of the story in my head, and have the idea of the ending, but it's still in a fog. It's there, but it only hints of what it actually is. Normally as I've told you the ending hits me first. The idea of having a beginning with no clear end isn't new to me, but usually when that happens I can't always find my way to any ending. Well not one that seems truly right to me. I know I can get there, but when I feel like it isn't right to me, it feels like it's pointless to put it out there. Anyway, I'm going to start this week and it will maybe come to me, if it does and I feel that things are going in the right direction I may post a chapter. I have no idea if this is going to be short or long form yet. I'm sensing long form, so to me that means at least 15 chapters. We will see. I'm excited about it, and this is the first time in a long time I've been excited about anything.

     There is so much more I could write about this week, but it's time for Favorite Thing of the Week, which happens to be a song, but it's more that just that which is why it is FTOTW instead of FSOTW. This happened not too long ago, maybe a week or so, and of course it involves Dave Grohl, the person who is better than any of us, an we don't deserve him and his talent. The Foo Fighters were doing a festival in Japan and there was another artist on the bill, so they learned a song, and at the very last minute asked that artist if they would perform this song to them, and they did. This is where I would normally tell you the title of the whole thing, but I think the video should speak for itself, so here it is.

    Yes, that was Rick Astley and you just got rickroll'd. I love everything about that video. If you want, and this is just a suggestion, there is another video that has more of them talking to each other right before the song. You can see there is an edit there when Dave announces him and it cuts to when the song starts. Look up the other video and watch that banter, there is some good funny stuff there.

    Ok, I can't top that even though I have more to talk about, I'll save it till next week. Peace in and goodnight.

Oddly I Don't Have A Title This Week

      I'm getting that early start again. It's just before 9 in the morning as I write this. It's been another crappy week, but I did get some good news. My mom had her visit with her doctor and despite the fact that It has been a major struggle lately to get her to eat anything, she has gained some weight back. I've been compensating with shakes whenever she won't eat, and I guess it's been working. I'd much rather her actually eat food, but lately it's been a couple of bites and she looses interest in it. It's almost like she forgets it's there, and then when I remind her, she gets angry, so the shakes will have to do. I'm hoping this is a phase, which she is prone to go through, I just have to ride it out.

     I got my flu vaccine this week, so I'm going to ask you to do the same. From everything I've heard, that if you normally don't get the flu shot, this is the year to get it. With the Delta variant going wild right now and people losing their minds and fighting against getting the covid vaccine and wearing masks, the flu is going to be stronger than ever, and it will weaken you to covid, so get that shot. It's simple and fast. 

     I got a garden update. Just had to get a shot with the rose bush back in bloom. I haven't trimmed back the lantana yet, but it seems to have slowed it's growth a bit, and the turmeric is growing at a pretty decent pace. I do need to get in there and weed a little, but most of them are very small and need to grow out a bit more to be able to really get them out root and all, so here is the current garden situation.

     Ok, time for a Pokemon related post. Not sure if I told you, but Oreo put out a limited edition collaboration with Pokemon. The goal is to find all 16 of the different Pokemon that they put on their normal cookie. There are a few that are considered rare, and the rarest is the Mew. Apparently people are buying that particular cookie on the internet for $60+. Well, I got me one, and then I ate it.

     I did make sure to get that picture first to prove that I got one. Yes, I've been eating a lot of garbage this week, the stress has been immense lately, which reminds me about the doctor visit. It was a nurse practitioner that was new in the office that saw my mom this week, and she turned to me at one point, with definitive concern in her eyes and asked me how I was doing. I of course lied and said I was fine, but it was really wonderful to have some one ask that question without judgement. Until she asked me that, I didn't realize that I needed that question asked, even if I lied, it still seemed to make things a little better, for a minute anyway.

     Back to Pokemon for a second. I'm back to needing a new friend for a research task so if you play and need a new friend, my player code is 7224 2001 3252, give me an add, it will be much appreciated. Also I found a hack for getting those kilometers in on the game, without actually walking. This was a creation out of necessity since I haven't been able to go on my walks. At first it was because Ri Ri was new and I couldn't leave her for long periods of time, then it was my mom changing her sleep schedule, so she was waking up earlier. I guess it all worked out at the right time since I wasn't taking my walks, but if you want to know what to do to get those kilometers in send me a message or a text. You can also send an email if you don't have my number My email address is counterfeitsquirrel@gmail.com. It's kind of a secret, so I'm not going to actually tell you how to do it here. To prove that this works though her is my character profile page that shows my current kilometers for the week.

    Yes, that currently reads 134.9 kilometers for the week. I'm going to hit 150 before Monday morning at 9, which is when the new week begins in the Pokemon world. Using this little secret method, I've hatched 22 eggs of differing km requirements with only 1 incubator. I know, if you don't play the game that makes no sense what so ever, so you can actually switch to the next paragraph to get into something different. I've also been working on multiple buddies to reach best buddy status. I'd normally do one at a time, but each day I can fill their hearts so quickly that I've been doing up to 3 buddies a day to boost them up. I have 2 at great buddy status and 1 at ultra buddy. I'm hoping all those will be best buddy in a couple of weeks. It would normally take be a couple months to get that many best buddies in the game. I'm telling you this is a game changer if you play.

    Ok, now for something more people can relate to. I've decided that once a week on Fridays, I will be posting on Instagram what I'm listening to. I'm calling it Friday Night Vinyl. I'm going to share this past Friday's post right here, but this will be the only time I do this. From now on, you will have to check Instagram for the post each Friday night. This week it was Tremonti on white marble vinyl. It's really cool looking.

    I mean look how cool that is. Give that album a listen because Tremonti is super talented. He could be the lead singer of any band, but the current band he is in is Alter Bridge and they have Myles Kennedy who could be the lead guitarist of any band. Oh yeah, Tremonti is the lead guitarist of AB. Go give Myles a listen and then check out some AB.

     Just had to post a picture of my sweet girl giving me the paw. Also I wanted to mention that I believe that she is deaf. Go figure that I would have another deaf dog in my life. I wondered why she wouldn't respond to her name, but then I started noticing little things. She doesn't flinch at sound at all, and if Morty is barking she doesn't respond to the bark, she only responds to seeing him all up in a commotion. This morning was a great example of that. She went charging at the fence because she saw a truck go by (she really hates trucks). Morty went charging after her, then she came back and settled down next to my chair. Morty took up his normal spot on the other side of the garden. Something stirred him up and he went charging to the fence again and barked up a storm, but Ri Ri didn't even notice, since he was out of her eye shot. I'm getting her a vet appointment soon and I'm going to ask them to test her hearing. This of course won't make any difference to me, but I would like to know if I'm correct or not, and it would explain why she just randomly barks at odd visuals. Things on the tv or even shadows at the window. I think they surprise her and that's why she barks.

     

     It's time for Favorite Song of the Week. This is coming from a new artist, well, relatively new. You may remember when he burst onto the scene with Billy Ray Cyrus, doing a country/rap mashup sort of thing, with Old Town Road. It was a massive hit, even if you didn't search it out, you heard at least some of it. Well Lil Nas X is back with a brand new album and this one is different in all sorts of ways. He has created a stir by being unapologetically himself. This has upset some peoples sensibility because he is openly gay and has done what several other over sexualized male singers have done by exploiting women, but in his case it is men, and that scares some people. This album ranges from hardcore rap to a little bit emo, and because of that, it is fantastic, but I can only pick one song so I'm going with a tie to his past success. I give you Lil Nas X featuring Miley Cyrus with "Am I Dreaming". 

    What do you think of it? Leave a comment down below. By the way, the comments are working again which is the only reason I'm asking you to leave a comment. I want to interact with people again, since I can't see anyone in person anymore.

     Ok, I'm calling it a week. I do have some plans for some pictures coming up, they will be self portraits. Not sure how they will turn out, but I'll be sharing them here and potentially on my photography instagram. Peace in and goodnight.

Oh, We Are Going Back

      Yet another early post. I honestly was thinking about writing this a few hours ago, but thought that might be a bit of overkill with the early riser post. It's been another hard week, but I've made things work as best I could. I did make it to the record store, but I had to take my mom with me, which is a double edged sword. On the one hand it's good for her to get out, on the other hand, I have to be wary of her time tolerance. I almost made it. The good thing about the record store, if you didn't read last weeks post, you missed the link for the store. Go back and check it out. Anyway, with their new set up, they have that little listening room off to the side now that has a couch and comfy chair to just chill and hangout. That's were mom got to hang, right up until the time I was checking out. She began wandering for the door as we were finishing up, so I just missed the time limit. 

      Now for the epic score that I got this week. I was really excited about this record when I saw that they had it on their Discogs. It had one particular song that I was dying for, even since I was a little kid and they used to play it on the radio. I tried forever to get a pristine recording of it, but the DJ always talked over the intro and what not, but now I have a copy.

     It's that first track on side 2 that I'm talking about. The disco version of the theme to Star Wars. It wasn't until after playing throughs the album that other songs hit me as familiar from the radio in those misspent days of my youth. Superman and 2001 were also played on the radio back in the day. I can't remember the exact price, but this was a $6 or $7 dollar find, and it's a great copy with no skips or jumps in it.

     Since this week it seems that I'm going down memory lane with music, I'm just going to lay out a Paul Stanley appreciation post here. Paul Stanley is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the band KISS. I'm not a big fan of KISS, but I appreciate them. I mean as a kid I had the lamest of KISS albums, that being the Peter Criss solo album. I was a super fan of the Cat Man, which was Criss' character. That should show you how much of a fan of KISS I am. Anyway, I've always admired what they did, even though I was real excited about the music itself, and I follow Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons on Twitter. Paul recently caught Covid and had to cancel a few shows. The good thing is that he was fully vaccinated so the symptoms were mild, but even being that as it may Paul said that it was really rough and he still is experiencing some lingering effects, like getting winded easier when on stage. Here comes the appreciation part. I appreciate his effort to speak on how important the vaccine is, but more importantly how amazing he looks at the age of 69.

    That's him about a week or so ago just before he was going to hit the stage. The finger is for the 1 hour mark. That's him in the iconic Starman makeup. Are you ready for the non makeup picture? 

     That picture was taken 2 days ago. The dude looks incredible for his age. He's really healthy with his eating and frequently posts pictures of himself in his bike helmet when he goes out for his daily bike rides. I mean come on, may we all look half that good at his age. Much respect Paul.

     Ok, got a few more pictures before we hit the Favorite Song of the Week. Yeah, I'm just calling it now so you don't have to guess one song or thing. This first one is the halo effect that this weeks launch had. This is basically the rocket hitting a level in the atmosphere where it super heats the humidity in the sky and creates this super cool halo.

     If you don't live in Florida it's a good chance you never get to experience this in the sky. These are the types of launches that I love. They aren't typical. Usually the sky lights up and you see the red/orange glare of the thrusters and it slowly dims out, but this was pretty epic. That V shaped light is the light coming from the engines and it lit up the sky longer that usual because of the humidity and the just past dusk launch time. It's not often I can watch a launch and say the is unique and this one truly was.

     Next picture is of course a Morty appreciation post. Had to get a shot of the bestest boy in the whole world. Here is my buddy boy.

     Now, I know Morty's age, which is 9, but it never really crossed my mind that he was old. That was until Ri Ri came along. She is of course a spry 4 year old, with terrier energy to spare. Morty was always the energetic one, and he still has that high energy, but with The Schnuggie around, who had 2 speeds (slow, and slower), Morty seemed really spry. I can see his age now, and that is a little sad. Ri Ri tires him out pretty quick, and I notice the gray hairs more. You can't see it in the picture but he's getting a little more salt in his pepper. All of this just reminds me that my time with him is running lower. The average lifespan of a pit bull is anywhere from 13-15 years of age. If I had my wish He would live forever, but wishes are for fools, and I know that isn't a possibility. I'm hoping for the 15 years, so I get another 6 years with the best dog ever, that would give me a solid 10 years with him. Here's to being a fool and wishing for those 6 more years.

    Ok, time to travel back for Favorite Song of the Week. I'm going to let you experience the greatest side 2 opening song of all time. This is a song that just rips you out of your seat and makes you want to move, and it's the opening track on a side 2. That should already tell you who the artist is, but I'm gong to stay vague a little while longer. This was considered a follow album for this artist largest success. They had just come off the success of their last two albums, and this was a long anticipated record that was supposed to overcome everything that had come before, but critics took all the shots at it. The true fans saw the evolution of the artist and loved this album, and it is one of the great albums out there. This is a play from the beginning to the end record (tape, cd, download). Like the two previous albums from this artist, there are no bad songs. Yeah there are some better than others, but when you break it down, every song on this album could have been a hit single. The critics decide that the artist went too far from their sound, which wasn't at all true, but since things changed and moved forwards, critics couldn't handle it, and this was the so called beginning of the downfall. It wasn't. Any guesses as to who it is yet? Ok I won't leave you guessing any longer, it's none other than Prince & the Revolution, and this is the side 2 opening track from Around the World in a Day. I gleefully present to you Prince & the Revolution with  "America".  

     I mean come on. I may be biased, but in my opinion I think every band should open side 2 of the record with that track. Not a cover, or an interpretation, but that very track. I really hope you watched the whole video, because this showcases exactly everything Prince, and just how incredible a performer and musician he truly was. This video is everything Prince.

     There is so much more I could talk about, remind me next week to talk about the Movie Everybody's talking about Jamie. Spoiler, it's fantastic. Oh, I'm getting closer to getting my mind around the David Bowie bench. It won't be like the photo I shared with you, but it will be a Bowie bench. I'm just working out in my head how to assemble and then paint it. Ok, i'm outta here, Peace in and goodnight.

Let The Groove Begin

      What? Another early post? Yep, and I have to say that I'm loving getting this done early in the day. It's not like this takes up a ton of time to do, but when I do it early, I no longer have to worry about doing it at the last minute, which was mostly the case. This week was rather uneventful, but I did have a worthy moment early in the week. The record store I've been going to had been closed for the last two weeks, as they renovated and expanded. This is a true indie record store. It's proudly female owned and operated and is just a rad place. They originally had two bays of a strip mall, with one bay mostly being a display window and a storage area for records that they hadn't gone through to clean and where they kept orders for their online store. Yeah, they have an online store so if you want to check that out, you can go right here Savvy-Vinyl That is part of discogs which is an online source for record sales, new, used, rare, you get the picture. Anyway, back to the store. That old storage area is now a small quaint little lounge area with couches and chairs and it also houses all the 45s. The second bay was the showroom as to say. It was full of all their records for sale. They mostly had used vinyl, that they would go through and check then rate. They do a great job on their rating, and pretty much under rate each record, so when you get one that is considered Very Fine by them, you are getting one that is VF+ or even near mint. They had a very small area in the front for new vinyl and then a small magazine rack with a few more new items. Well, with the expansion they opened up a third bay, that the front is all new vinyl and box sets, and even a few music related knick knacks (t-shirts, Funkos, little Matchbox cars, all music and band related). 

     I got to make it down there on the first day of their re-open, but their grand re-opening was on Friday, which was a few days later. I managed to pick up a pristine copy of Billy Joel's Glass Houses, for $7. I love that record, I had the 8 track when I was a kid, so when I played it a whole bunch of memories came back to me. If you are into vinyl, and in the area, check them out in Melbourne, Savvy-Vinyl Records. If you are lucky you will get to meet the owners little dog, that is so awesome. I always give her all the pets when I walk in and she is there. If you aren't in the area, check out that link above and get you some great new(used or actually new) vinyl.

     Ok, this a little brag, my beard has been looking exceptional lately, and I had to get a picture this morning, this was soon after waking up, so no brushing or washing, just wake and wear. It's a little crunched from sleeping, but still has a great look to it.

     You may have noticed that it is undyed. I haven't dyed the beard in about two months, to get all the color out of it. I'm going to dye it again, but I'm not sure what color. I'm going to ask for your help on this one. Here are the colors I have; aquamarine, dark blue, purple (of course), vampire red, and pink. This might be the best time for pink since there is no color in there to throw it off, but don't let that lead you on your decision. Just leave a comment below (this blog, not Facebook) and whatever one is chosen the most will be the next color I do. By the way, the comments section on here is fixed and I am able to reply once again. I really don't know what happened with all that, but comments are much appreciated here.

     I'm behind on all my Netflix and streaming shows, since for some reason, my PS4 will not connect to the internet. It just stopped working about 2 weeks ago, and no matter what I've tried I can't get it to connect. I've watched a few shows on the ol' laptop here, but it's not the same, but I can recommend one show for you if you have HBO. It's a documentary about surfing, and it's really good. It's called 100 Foot Wave, and it basically follows surfer Garrett McNamara in his search for the 100 foot wave. He found a spot in Portugal called Nazaré. This place seems primed for the first ever recorded 100 foot waves. The last few record waves were recorded there and I believe the last one was 74 feet. Yeah, just looked it up and it is at 73.5 feet, and a woman owns that record. She is also in the documentary. It's compelling watching these people do whatever it takes to achieve that one massive wave, and as a surfer, I can tell you that water hurts, and 100 feet of water is a true killer if you don't know what you are doing. The largest wave I ever surfed was 12-15 feet, and when I made that drop it was like falling off a house, so image looking down 75 feet of water. That was the largest wave I surfed, but the largest wave I was ever on was 18-20 feet, and I don't say surf, because I never really made it up. When I was getting ready to stand up, the board squirted out from under me, an I went sliding down the wave on my stomach. All of a sudden I saw my board sailing right over my head. The first thought was, "whoa, that's really odd and cool" then the realization that my foot was attached to my lease struck me, right about the same time that it began pulling my leg up and over my head, which sent me over the falls. Basically when that happened, the wave sucked me up and slammed me into the ocean. I ended up being tossed around in the washer for about a minute before I finally stopped spinning. That's when I had to remember everything that I was taught. I was so far from shore that even with a 6 foot leash, I couldn't' reach the bottom, this is important because they way you find which way to go is you look for the light or the dark. Since it was rainy and overcast, there was no light, so I headed for the dark when I couldn't reach the ocean floor to kick off and make it back to the surface I was complete lost. Then the last possible way I could find the surface hit me, I reached down to my ankle and pulled on my leash. Your leash will always tell you the way as long as it's attached to your board. I followed it up to the surface, got back on my board and bodysurfed the next wave in. I was done. All in all, I was probably under water for a minute and a half, but it seemed like forever. Lesson to this, is surfing is a very dangerous sport in any condition, but what there surfers are doing is truly awe inspiring, and you should give that documentary a watch if you can.

     One last picture before Favorite Thing of the Week (it's a song), This is a picture of my Moringa tree that I thought was done for. If you remember, I had this tree in a pot and the main root had grown through the bottom and found it's way into the ground. A storm came up one day with really strong winds and blew the whole thing over, breaking the root in half. I took a shot and transplanted it in the front yard and it has thrived. I really didn't think it would make it, but it has. The thing about the Moringa is that every part of it is edible and is a complete source of protein, pretty awesome right. Well a new thing has begun with it, it has finally produced it's seed pod, or beans if you will. I know you can cook these up, but I'm not really sure how just now, but I'm waiting until it fully forms so I can harvest seeds from it. The seeds are huge by the way, there are the size of a jumbo gumball. These aren't there yet, but the first one that has grown is enormous, I measured it about a week ago and it was at the 2 foot mark, it has grown since then, but I haven't taken a new measurement. It's a pretty exciting thing to watch (I know, my idea of excitement is way different than yours). 

     If you look right in center you can see the pod and how long it is. I learned through this that they come from the flower stems, but I don't think, like peppers or other fruiting plants, that the flower is what results in the pod. I'm watching the other flower stems to confirm this. There are currently three pods on it right now with 4 more flower stems, you can see a few of them in the picture. They are the tiny white flowers. Oh, the flowers taste a little like cotton candy, and the leaves have a lemony taste to them. Yes, I have eaten them, I haven't tried the pod, or a stem yet (you are supposed to be able to eat the stem itself). I'll let you know what it tastes like if I ever do though.

    Ok, time for Favorite Song of the Week. I'm taking a small break from Halsey, (I've still listened to all r parts of that album each day though) and going with a legend. This is a new song released earlier this year, but I just came across it. It is none other than punk icon Iggy Pop. This is oddly enough a jazz collaboration with Dr. Lonnie Smith, which harkens back to memories of Dr. John (If you don't know who that is, you better be looking them up and listening.). Ha, just looking up the video for this song and I realized I was wrong, this song just came out, so I didn't really miss it at all (this is when I think I'm awesome). Here is Dr. Lonnie Smith with Iggy Pop on their new song, "Move Your Hand". 

     Come on, Iggy can do no wrong. That is a great jam right there, and if you like that, please go back and look up Dr. John.

     Just finished a 38 hour fast this morning, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with that break fast meal, or have something else a little later, but I broke it pretty big; 3 eggs, with spinach, kalamata olives, and cheese. I also had 6 strip of bacon and a cup and a half of blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries, with a quest bar on the side. I'm not sure of the exact calories, but I'd put it in the 1200 range. I know, you are thinking it's more, but it really isn't the bacon and eggs are around 650, the cheese spinach and olives are around 200, the berries around a hundred, and the bar is 180, so in reality it's probably more like a 1000 calories. I could punch it all in and find out for sure. Ok, I guess I'll do it. Ok, tabbed it all in and it came to 1102 calories. I was forgetting to add the Olive Oil I made the eggs in. Every little bit counts. Now that I'm looking at it, I may have some macadamia nuts later. That will be an additional 200 calories to that total, so 1302 for the day. Yes, that will be a lower calorie intake day, but it's not unusual for me to eat that low of a calorie total. When you eat right you actually need less. Just to let you know, I'm grooving to this Dr. Lonnie Smith album now and it's freaking great, really give that song above a listen, look up this album and of course Dr. John, really that guy is amazing. 

     Ok, I think I've tired your eyes enough for this week. Peace in and goodnight. 

I Had To Write Something

      Well, it's been another horrible trainwreck of a week, but I'm just going to leave it at that. I kept my eating moderate and didn't go crazy despite what's been going on in my life. I consider that a victory. I did weigh in once this week, I really don't remember which day at this point, but I do remember the weight. I clocked in at 166.6lbs, so I'm maintaining just fine.

     I owe this weeks mental strength to Morty, Ri Ri, and the new Halsey album.. I've been listening to it just about non-stop, and I found out that the guitar part on the song I shared last week was none other than Lindsey Buckingham. If you don't know who that is, first off, what is wrong with you? Second he was a founding member of Fleetwood Mac. There is one other guest musician on the album that stood out to me and that is the one and only Dave Grohl. He plays drums on the track Honey. I'd share that one with you, but I have another one in mind for today, and that will be coming up soon.

     I've been drying reaper peppers for weeks now. Every time I get a bunch of them I would dry them and let them sit. This week I finally ground them up and made powder.

    

     I'm not really sure how many that is, but I believe it is in the range of 40 or so. When I was putting in that little container, I had dust on my gloves, so I gave it the old tongue test. That tiny amount had a burn that lasted about a half hour. It wasn't intense the whole time, and the height of heat wasn't too bad at all. I'm sure that was because it was only a dab, so I'll see some time this week what a good pinch will do to me. My tolerance is very low compared to what it was, but I'd say it's still pretty high compared to most people.

     If you haven't figured it out, this is another early post. I have been waking up around 2:30 AM. I usually just lay there and doze in and out of conscientiousness until around 5 AM, when I usually get out of bed. Today I got up early to let the dogs out and then head out to spin pokestops so I would have pokeballs for the day. It's kind of nice driving around at 5:30 in the morning with the dogs in tow. These little jaunts have made Morty much better in the car. He no longer gets anxious, now it's mostly excitement and Ri Ri is just as come as can be. She is definitely a car dog, until a truck of any kind enters the scene, then it's very loud barking. I was warned of her aversion to trucks, but it is funny to me every time. That girl does not like trucks. 

     I'm going to get a little political here, because frankly I've had nothing to write about today, well nothing that I'm willing to share, and I've been just giving you as much as I can. If you didn't notice the big events that happened in Texas this week, then you are clearly living under a rock. This is going to be my 2 cents. It is not my place as a man to dictate what a woman can and can't do with her body. This new law is draconian at the very least and dangerous at the most.. It's offering up bounties for people to turn against one another, and it is enabling other states to do the same. Florida ha already announced that they are writing up a similar bill, and I'm going to say this loud and clear right now.. If you or anyone you know needs an abortion and needs transportation and and escort, I will do it. Let them come for me. I will use the law against them and file a countersuit of invasion of privacy. There are sites out there that are allowing you to spam the Texas tattletale site. I don't have links but I do implore you to look them up. A lot of people have been putting in very obvious fictitious information, for example: Shrek drove Fiona to get an abortion. Although this clogs up the site, I've seen people that say you should make it look as credible as possible so that it results in them having to use actual resources to investigate false claims. This is a net loss for them and actually does hurt them doing what they want to do. GoDaddy has given them a week to find a new host domain for them, so they will probably go offline for a short while, but they will be back and when they do spam them like you've never spammed anything. That's my 2 cents.

     I almost forgot, I have puppy pictures for you. Ri Ri was being adorable in multiple ways this week. First she climbed up on the outside table like she was a billygoat.

     Then she sat down in the chair next to me, like it was the thing to do. She is usually very much having to be right next to me, and when I move she moves, so the fact that she stayed in the chair so I could get this shot is outstanding.

 

     Now how can you look at that and not laugh and say aww at the same time. She is freaking adorable, and a little bit of a weirdo, but that's why I love her. Sorry no pictures of The Mort this week. He was just his plain ol' awesome self. Oh, he has been very much more clingy lately, I think it's because Ri Ri is a bit forceful in her affection for me, and Morty has met his match in the "I need attention" department. Ri Ri hasn't figure out how to get on the bed yet, so nighttime is Morty time. He has come in and slept with me each and every night since she came home with me. He has also been more of a snuggler too, which is very unusual for him. Usually if I try to snuggle with him, he thinks that means he is supposed to get the pets, but now he just lays there and lets me snuggle up with him. I'm liking this new Morty, not that I didn't like him before. After all, he is the greatest dog of all time.

     It's time for Favorite Song of the Week. As you already know, it's going to be a song of the new Halsey Album. Have you listened to it yet? Why not. didn't you see my special Tuesday post? I watched an interview with her, Trent, and Atticus this week and this song, which may or may not be my favorite track on the album (it's really hard to pick just one, this is an ever evolving thing) and she mentioned in the interview, that this was the fist song that she wrote and sent to them. Once again I'm happy to present to you Halsey with "Lilth".

     It's the little things in this song, so listen to it with headphones on, or with some really good speakers. For instance the way they distort her voice when she says "I'm corrupted". It gets more distorted with each time she says it, showing that the corruption is ongoing. I love that small but impactful detail, and this album is full of those, so really what are you waiting for, go listen to this album. I'm just now beginning the deep dive into her earlier work and its good. It's more poppy, but I like that stuff sometimes. It can't all be funk, punk, industrial, or etc. etc... 

      I'm going to just call this a post, cause I didn't have anything to write to begin with, and I've probably gone on too long at this point anyway. Peace in and goodnight.

If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power

     

      I would normally wait until Sunday to write this, but this just couldn't wait. This has been living rent free in my head for the last couple of days, and I don't see it leaving any time soon. What is it you ask? It's the new album by Halsey, "If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power". Ahh, you see where the title came from now. I had been seeing several posts about this album from people I follow on Instagram and Twitter. The two biggest were Taylor Swift and Trent Reznor. The last one is why I searched it out. Turns out that this new album was produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. If you don't know them, Trent is Nine Inch Nails, and Atticus is part Nine Inch Nails (came into the band after "Broken" I believe), and part massive writing team that has been laying waste to Hollywood soundtracks. You probably remember their first big success as a writing team with the movie The Social Network. That soundtrack won 9 major awards including Best Original Score. They most recently took home more awards for the soundtrack for the animated movie Soul, which should check out if you have the chance. 

     I have been a fan of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails since Pretty Hate Machine, which was the first album that basically changed my whole concept of music. It was a groundbreaking album that took the hidden genre of Industrial music and moved it into the mainstream. Some people would lead you to believe that it was a soft approach to Industrial that allowed it to happen, but that really wasn't the case at all, it was just so good that it resonated across genres. From that album on I have listened to everything and anything that Trent was a part of. This isn't about Trent, well not wholly, nor Atticus who took Trent to new levels of music. This is about Halsey, and honestly, I don't know her music real well. I've heard a few songs here and there, and I knew who she was. I mean there was this big controversy just recently when she posted pictures of her breast feeding her baby. Really do people have nothing better to do than to criticize someone for feeding their child? That was my two cents on that, Ok here is two more cents. If you have a problem with a woman feeding her child in public, the problem isn't her, it's you. Back to the music. After seeing all this buzz about this album I had to give it a listen. From the first track "The Tradition" I was hooked. You can hear the heavy influence of Trent with a track that sounds like it was pulled from Pretty Hate Machine or a new version of Hurt (you may think that Johnny Cash did that song first, but it was Nine Inch Nails). Each track gets better and better, and then when you listen to it again (which is directly after listening to it the first time) it happens all over again.

     My take on this album is that in ways it is a reimagining of Pretty Hate Machine, which I find completely enriching to my soul. From song to song you have classic fades to quick endings like Trent is known to do. Those small choices leave you always wanting more and this album delivers. There are a few songs on the album that don't have that Nine Inch Nails sound, and they range from hip hopesque, to pop, to folksy. Even though these songs sound out of place when compared to the rest of the album the also sound like they are exactly on the right album. This is one of those albums that I'm going to say is a fundamental to your music collection. You must give it a listen. I truly want to share every song with you, but I'm going to go with the one that was my first favorite on the album. That favorite changes with each new listen, and I'm going to believe that it will all rotate around. It's basically a perfect album. You don't get many of those throughout history, but they are there and this is one of them.

     The song that I'm going to share with you is one of those ones that seems to not fit, but fits perfectly. This is a more folky sounding song with a very strong fingerpicking guitar riff that is reminiscent of Blackbird by Paul McCartney. If you know you will hear those little influences in this. I happily present to you Halsey with one of her great new songs "Darling".

     I don't know who came up with that riff, Halsey, Trent, or Atticus, but it's pure genius. I have to admit, searching out this video and watching it, while posting it on here, I went down a deep dive, and I'm going to share one more with you to hear that iconic NIN sound. So without further adieu, her is a second song form Halsey, "I Am Not A Woman, I'm A God"

     I simply couldn't resist, like I said, I want to share every song on the album with you, but I'd rather you experience them on the album like they are intended. This album has instantly jumped up into my all time favorite albums and I'm looking forward to listening to it on repeat for the next month or so. I should quickly mention that the picture above are different covers for the album. The top being the Urban Outfitters exclusive album which has already sold out, and the second is the actual album cover. If you are offended by that one, you are offended by art. Get over it. If you are looking for the vinyl good luck, it sold out on her website immediately. There is a indie variant that you might be able to pick up at your local record store, but I'm sure that one is already gone as well. Your best bet for vinyl is to head to Walmart and Target, both of which have their own exclusives, each having a bonus track that is exclusive to that vendor. You of course don't have to go that route, I'm just on a vinyl kick lately and searched them out just to see. The digital download or stream doesn't have any bonus tracks, but please please please, get this album. I really think you will enjoy it.

     It's safe to say that this is my Favorite Thing of the Week, and more than likely I will have another song for you on Sunday. Until then peace in and goodnight.