I've been using all my writing time for the story and no updating much here even with lots going on.

The most important bits are that I did a 'jam session' with (travel) John. He's the guy with the Asian wife who travel half the year. He's been playing keyboard, guitar and singing for 50-ish years. The session went.... OK. He's really blunt/rude and critical of everything I did wrong. He's not wrong, I do have issues with timing and such but there are more constructive ways to say it.

The nostalgia of what this is does not live up to the reality of what this is. It was, even by my standards... not good.

The straps on my rifle bag always annoy me. I use them once a year and the rest of the time they just catch on things, snag things, etc. I was going to remove them but instead used some of Sean's "ranger bands" (ie cut up inner tube scraps) to hold the lose ends down and used some zip ties to deal with the extra strap on the other end. Now they're neatly tucked away and the bag is far less unwieldy now. Going to take it to carbine class on Friday... going to bring my cart to carry the tent and such so I won't have to carry this as a backpack.

Camping trip with John was mildly successful. My food ideas worked out perfectly though. I pre-cooked the chicken and diced up the veggies, brought a little container of the sauce and some oil/water mix to cook the noodles in and we had real stir fry right at camp. It came together fast, from setup to eating in 15 minutes. I was pretty happy about that.

We only did one hike, that was enough. Says 8 miles or so but the watch recorded more based on steps (12 miles). Lots of elevation change and tiny plodding steps up the mountain. I'm surprised I made it.

The most success on the trip though was a butt explosion emergency on the trail. I thought I was safe, made it 3 miles in before my guts decided to revolt. I found a spot off to the side, managed to do the needful and clean up using the 'dude wipes' and some paper towels just as planned. Had another Ziploc to carry the waste paper out. Not 100% 'leave no trace' since the poop was scattered around but it's the best I could do.

On the way home I ran into this license checkpoint in VA just a few miles down from the trail head. No idea what they were really looking for. The woman says it's ICE looking for migrants (which is liberal speak for illegals) but they were all sheriffs vehicles with no feds in sight and no one being detained. Could have just been trolling for license tickets? They didn't ask about insurance and didn't check the tags on the van, but I was also out of state so maybe they figured it wasn't worth the hassle.

In 2015 (according to the label on the box) I got a $500 REI gift card from Marchi for some deal or another we did. Will got one too. I couldn't figure out which nifty jacket or whatever I would use so instead I found a pair of shoes I liked and bought three pair. I just took the third pair out of the box and am wearing them. They're brand new 8 year out of 'style' shoes. The rubber is a little funky because of age and something coming out of the material but otherwise they seem OK. Lotta tread vs. the second pair.

I went to a networking type event with John at a co-working space in Cary and parking in the area sucks. I mean of course it has to, it's a new area with all new buildings and very expensive and hip so of course it lacks things like parking, sound proofing, bathrooms, you know, all the stuff that might make a place easy to access and be inviting. Hip as shit though.

All that said, there are exactly four parking spots by the building open and two are cripple spots. I roll up into the alley side where the parking is and.... presto. One was open. It's right in front of the door, that's some McGarrett level parking right there.

The woman says I like this comic strip just a little too much. She could be right, it's my style of humor.

Actually writing this on Saturday morning, and in an interesting way. I'm currently on a virtual writing group call, just four people sitting on zoom writing with the sound off. It's like Panera, we're shutting up and writing, but with some accountability of having other people doing the same thing at the same time. No idea if it will work but here we are trying it.

They had several drones up at the IDPA match last weekend taking footage for a promo video and I signed the release so they could film me. Got access to the raw footage of my run. It's not a very good run, I was so hot and tired by this stage and you can see it in how slow I'm moving, but it's cool to see from the muzzle end. First two targets were long shots on steel with no-shoots partially blocking them so any low/left action would result in expensive penalties. Didn't happen. Whew.

Monday at swords I got my ass kicked by the tall asian guy, like 2-8. He's got reach, speed and skill on me so I'm just getting whacked over and over again. Sometimes I don't even get a chance to move, he just flicks in a shot and hits me in the head. Sigh.

Thursday, squared off against him again but this time with steel. We both have and wore all the armor bits and used club loaner swords. I didn't fair any better, got resoundingly trounced again but at least the first steel bout is behind me.

Got the Fiesta inspected for tags and when I went to take the truck in the alternator died. Happened as I rolled down the driveway so it wasn't a bad spot to get stuck. Replacing it is trivial as it turns out. The entire job was 30 minutes (with a long break in the middle while I went for the part) but there were no surprises. Nothing seized, nothing rusted, the belt tensioner wasn't stuck, didn't even drop any bolts. Easier than an oil change.

With the battery disconnected over night while I figured out exactly where to source the part from it lost it's 'ready' status so when I took it in to get inspected it failed. Sigh. Have to drive it around for a bit to get all the systems to self check. I did see that we had driven it about 900 miles this year so with a few short trips and a range session on Sunday it should be ready and still under 1k miles for the year. Not sure why that's a goal, but it is.

Just caught sight of myself on camera on the other screen, I look pretty intense when writing.

The woman's parents officially bought that house. They did a remote close and Kristen went to the local lawyer office and did about 5 minutes worth of paperwork. It's easier buying a house than buying a car, at least from a paperwork perspective. A dozen signatures at most and no annoying up-sell of useless warranties or overpriced oil changes.

Before the signing we had some time to kill so we went to Brecotea which is this new strange Asian bakery sorta place. Their food selection is... odd but very good. They have a huge display case with dozens of things and you just put them on a tray and they heat them for you. The two things we tried were excellent and worth the money. We'll be back for sure.

There are strange but less strange choices so the woman can bring her parents here for a snack when they're visiting.

Garden is cranking away, I'm actually getting a few blackberries before the birds get them. Tons of tomatoes so we made salsa, which I ate all of with one bag of chips, and some tacos and quesadillas. No shame.