The GHAWG Diaries, Part 69

What's happening in not only "The Epic Ride of The Templar" but Blue Lion & The Bronze? Here's what's up with GHAWG.

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Cover image designed by @magnacarta using emojis and LibreOffice Calc 25.8 for text. Minor edits made using MS Paint.

Chekov-Chekhov composite image is made under Free Use Doctrine from an image at Internet Movie Database (Actor Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov) and from an image at Encyclopedia Britannica Online (Russian novelist Anton Chekhov).

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Introduction

Now that the zapfic serial code-named Rat Bike has been transformed into 6-segment series The Epic Ride of The Templar, both Blue Lion and The Bronze zapfic serials are "under construction," I thought this was a good time to resume "The GHAWG Diaries" (TGD).

Just as true now as it was for the prior editions of TGD, there's more to #ghawg than just daily zapfic entries and the spreadsheet I use to track them. There's research. There's review. There's also thought and inspiration. Then there are the tools involved in doing any of those tasks.

Just to keep things from getting scrambled in my head, and also to document for myself what I've been considering, I began keeping a diary of my activities as they concern #ghawg. For that reason, I decided to share these diary entries with everyone on Hive blockchain (including the LeoFinance community at InLeo).

At least for now, Mondays will be when I publish TGD to blockchain.

TGD69 will have enough entries for 2 weeks. The first entry starts on 2026-June-08.

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Before anyone scratches their heads at a few terms, here are 3 I began using many posts ago:

Term	Meaning
►Rat Bike◄1	Code name for #ghawg (the first and current zapfic serial). Now that it is complete, it is being transformed into The Epic Ride of The Templar.
►Blue Lion◄2	Code name for the middle zapfic serial in The GHAWG Universe
►The Bronze◄3	Code name for the final zapfic serial in The GHAWG Universe

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Monday, 2026-June-08

📓 During the small hours today I created-- for the first time-- a rough outline of The Bronze from start to finish. This rough outline occupies 100 to 142 rows in my zapfic spreadsheet; the numbers don't account for a couple of list items. Taking the larger number, I'm guessing the completed zapfic serial will include nearly one thousand zapfic entries. The beginning simply starts where Blue Lion ends (that is, will end once I put it together).

Recently, a climax came to mind with callbacks to Rat Bike (including one with a twist). The middle of The Bronze feels clunky, so that part of it will be in flux for a while. Luckily for me, I have time to get this section figured out to my satisfaction

📓 Today I added URL stubs for the zapfic entries I published during January, 2026, February 2026, and the first 5 days of March 2026 (when I published the final zapfic entry). Rafiki couldn't gather for me the URLs as I had requested, which was most annoying. However, I may have requested something Rafiki wasn't made to deliver. For those reasons, it took me a while to find a workflow I could use to not only get the URL stubs I need but also to add them to a text file I'm using as a staging area before I copy the data to the zapfic spreadsheet. I should get this task done by the end of the week. After that, I'll need to get timestamps for these entries; for that, I'll need to use the blockchain explorer.

Tuesday, 2026-June-09

📓 I added two more details to the rough outline for The Bronze. One was a character who first appears in Blue Lion. Another was how the epilogue unfolds.

Both Blue Lion and The Bronze will each feel like 2 distinct stories stitched together.

In the case of Blue Lion, the first half is a montage of many scenes taking place within 10 years; in fact, in cinematic terms, this first half is essentially silent since the scenes speak for themselves. The second half of Blue Lion, however, uses normal pacing. The meat of the story in Blue Lion takes place after Peak GHAWG.

In the case of The Bronze, the first half is a continuation of the 2nd half of Blue Lion, while the second half takes place on a different plane of reality: one minute in our reality will contain 40 years of reality in the other plane. Numerous cinematic and small-screen influences will be present, but I'll do my best to make the mixture seem new.

Wednesday, 2026-June-10

📓 Today I started a rough outline of Blue Lion. Although I've had many scenes in mind for Blue Lion, it was another matter to lay them out on screen to get them in order. Blue Lion is essentially a rags to riches to rags story, and I had spent more time thinking about the riches to rags half of the story. The rags to riches half, on the other hand, has been a challenge to write since it's a montage of scenes showing how life had changed for David. While I had an idea for how to show the Peak GHAWG moment, this is my first time fleshing out this moment. From Peak GHAWG, it all goes downhill for David.

Thursday, 2026-June-11

📓 Now that Rat Bike was given the title The Epic Ride of The Templar, I'll need to come up with a simple graphic reflecting this change. I'm experimenting with the drawing tools available in a couple of spreadsheet programs as well as drawing programs; so far, no luck.

At some point I may need to use some image-oriented AI service to get this image generated. When I've used them in the past, I've had mixed results. I'm pretty sure it's due to the prompts I've been using, but even the simple results took a long time to get generated as intended.

Since my graphic concept is simple (primitive?), I may just use a regular AI service to generate Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) code for making this image.

To make things even more complicated than they should be, I'm looking to use some AI service which doesn't require an account. While most services can be used without an account, they are capped at some number of requests per day, or they get paused for some time before the session can resume. When I come up with an account name for X/Twitter, I'll see what Grok can do for me. For now, I'll experiment with Duck.ai, the AI service at DuckDuckGo.

Friday, 2026-June-12

📓 I went back to my profile page to gather URL stubs for the zapfic entries from December 2025 which lacked them (which would be all of them). For some reason, I kept getting stubs for entries from January 2026. After a while, I decided to get back to that task some other time.

So that the day wasn't a total loss, it occurred to me to note all the influences which impacted GHAWG. Most are cinematic and from television. Some come from music. Some others come from news events of the time. A few even come from literature, both novels and non-fiction. So far I'm still at the time when ►David Guardia◄⁴ (not yet ►Templar◄⁵) was riding with the ►uncanny Manny Rey◄⁶. Once I complete this task, I'll publish to blockchain a post featuring all those influences. (Not included are biographical and semi-autobiographical influences since those have been covered elsewhere.)

Saturday, 2026-June-13

📓 Originally, the character I introduced as ►Sinatra Hater◄⁷ was a one-and-done character. David Guardia "met" him during the first segment of his Epic Ride during the stage when the uncanny Manny Rey was his co-pilot. His purpose then was to serve as a device for uniting a specific song with the story as well as to cement David Guardia as an ornery guy waiting for the fuse to be lit. In Segment 6 of his Epic Ride, Sinatra Hater-- this time with a name-- re-appeared so that readers can see what a hateful character he is.

It was during the time after I finished Rat Bike but before I renamed it The Epic Ride of The Templar when I found a way to incorporate Sinatra Hater into The Bronze. Today, I found a way to include him into Blue Lion. He'll appear once, but it sets up his more consequential appearance in The Bronze.

📓 What I described regarding Sinatra Hater is just one example I have for following the principle of Chekhov's Gun: Some item appears now for the purpose of being used later. Much of what I've done in GHAWG was in keeping with this principle, and most times it was backtracking to make that possible.

📓 With the exception of 2 zapfic entries since October 2025 (and I have no idea what happened with those), I found URL stubs for entries missing them since 2025-October-09. Next is to get datetimes for those entries as well as to format them as UTC timestamps. Then I need to go back tot he beginning to reformate existing datetimes into UTC format. That's going to take time, and it won't be fun. However, I need to do that in order to make things easier for me over time.

Sunday, 2026-June-14

📓 It's official: those 2 zapfic entries whose URLs I couldn't locate weren't published to blockchain. While it's true that InLeo has been known to "eat" threads and posts rather than publishing them to blockchain or at least displaying them on screen, it's also very likely that I lost track and simply thought I did but did not. On Monday I'll post them to LeoThreads to get them published to blockchain. Then I can begin my next task: finding datetimes not included in my spreadsheet. I'll be using the blockchain explorer for that task.

Monday, 2026-June-15

📓 I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things, so the post I intended to publish today (this one) will have to wait until next Monday. Part of it is graphics (both a simple cover image as well as any supporting images). Part of it is regaining access to reference materials I used before I let myself get derailed in June 2025. At least I'm refocusing on The GHAWG Universe, so it's just a matter of time before I'm firing on all cylinders again as far as GHAWG is concerned.

Tuesday, 2026-June-16

📓 One project I began in 2024 was to track first mentions in GHAWG. Many first mentions were made by name. Some first mentions were made indirectly. When I left off in June 2025, GHAWG had ended Segment 4 in Chicago, Illinois, US when Felix Legion completed its eastward ride along so-called ►Route 66◄⁸. Since then, ►Felix Legion◄⁹ began its break up when ►The Kids◄¹⁰ were brought to ►UNC◄¹¹ safely; Templar faces off against more than one "scary" individual; ►Fonzie◄¹² is reunited with her family before undergoing an astounding transformation; ►The Twins◄¹³ return to their home and business in ►Cedar Rapids, Iowa◄¹⁴, US; and Templar and ►Shieldmaiden◄¹⁵ return to the bar where they had their first true meeting.

As with many things these days, this project will be done concurrently with a few other projects; namely, the updating of zapfic spreadsheet.

Wednesday, 2026-June-17

📓 While walking through Manhattan I remembered a few scenes I want to include in the montage portion of Blue Lion. One shows Templar and Shieldmaiden supervising the construction of their home out of large shipping containers. Others show Templar giving his rubber chicken circuit speech in locations as varied as Fortune 500 companies and state prisons. These I will publish to blockchain once I have enough entries in the zapfic queue for Blue Lion.

Thursday, 2026-June-18

📓 Once scene from Blue Lion takes place while David Guardia is in the prison mess eating with other prisoners. Earlier in the prison yard he had annoyed some group when he stopped the group from inflicting harm on someone who crossed it. At this time, he is outnumbered ten to one, marked for death, and showing effects of old age almost from the moment his decline from Peak GHAWG began. Due to lights flickering so bad they act as strobe lights, David Guardia finds himself the last man standing in that fight.

During this time, security is reviewing video tape of that fracas in the prison mess. Ordinary review techniques failed to show what happened, so the person reviewing the video decides to use super slow motion techniques to study this video segment. After several reductions in speed, what this person sees astounds him to the point where he notifies the warden.

While meeting with the warden, he was unable to give a satisfactory explanation for what had happened. As a result, David Guardia had earned another trip to solitary confinement.

By the time he returns to general population, David Guardia has a new reason to be known as Templar: during the prison fracas he left his mark on a few of his assailants.

(Originally, this scene was going to take place in the prison showers, but then it would be hard to explain how video of the prison fracas was made in there.)

Friday, 2026-June-19

📓 While walking through Long Island City I recalled a scene for Blue Lion which I visualized years ago. It takes place in he second half, after David Guardia had lost nearly everything and he begins serving a lengthy prison sentence (whose cause I will save for the time I publish zapfic entries to blockchain). Almost as soon as he begins his first day as a convicted felon he decides to act in a way which puts him in solitary confinement. Remember: at the time Templar began his Epic Ride he was 60 years old, so by this time he's in his early 70s.

Why did he choose to end up in solitary confinement? First, he didn't want to deal with any nonsense at this stage of his prison sentence. Second, he needed word to get around about what he did so that people running into him would think twice about taking advantage of him as "fresh meat" (especially if he ever dropped that proverbial "bar of soap" while showering). Third-- and unknown to him-- he will find himself with the uncanny Manny Rey and a few others from his recent past, and they will help him prepare for life as a prison inmate.

By the time The Bronze begins, he will have already established a reputation as the kind of prisoner not to be messed with. That's a result of all the "excitement" he'll experience in Blue Lion his early days as a prisoner. The idea is for him to earn the trust of all the cliques found in a prison population: ethnic, racial, ideological, geographical, chronological, intellectual, economic, political, philosophical, and religious (just to name a few).

Saturday, 2026-June-20

📓 I started in earnest to UTC attach datetimes to the zapfic entries which lacked them. Starting with low-hanging fruit, I took care of January 2026, February 2026, and March 2026 though the first 5 days since I ended Rat Bike on 2026-March-05. Without getting sidetracked, I expect to get all zapfic entries updated to reflect UTC datetimes within 10 to 14 days.

Sunday, 2026-June-21

📓 I ran into a speed bump while attacking datetimes to the zapfic entries for December 2025. Somehow a copy-and-paste operation when wrong and I repeated datetimes from January 2026. So I backtracked and corrected that mistake. Along the way I changed the process I used to match datetimes to their respective zapfic entries. It's going to take me longer than I had expected, but I'll be going at a 3-month clip for these updates. Once I attach UTC datetimes to the zapfic entries from the last 12 months, I'll jump to the beginning and work my to May 2025. Once I get updates made for a segment, I'll post to blockchain an updated form of GHAWGnav for people to navigate The GHAWG Universe as they see fit.

That's it for this edition of The GHAWG Diaries. I'm

Thanks for your time. Give the post an upvote or a reblog if you liked it. Feedback is welcome. Until next time!

Posted Using INLEO

Footnotes

1. Explanation of ►Rat Bike◄ is @ Rat Bike ↩

2. Explanation of ►Blue Lion◄ is @ Blue Lion ↩

3. Explanation of ►The Bronze◄ is @ The Bronze ↩

4. David Guardia is the main character for not only Rat Bike but the other zapfic serials of The GHAWG Universe; motorcycle courier from Bayonne, New Jersey, US who begins his Epic Ride by first traveling to STURGIS; first appearance of ►David Guardia◄ (unmentioned) is @ David Guardia. ↩

5. In this context, Templar is the identity David Guardia acquired because of his use of the Templar's Cross as part of the Guardia Courier Services logo; this identity will be further developed in Blue Lion and The Bronze; first mention of ►Templar◄ is @ Templar. ↩

6. The uncanny Manny Rey is the man David Guardia had saved with the Heimlich maneuver after an arm wrestling tournament in a town near Sandusky, Ohio, US; first mention of ►uncanny Manny Rey◄ (without the adjective) is @ uncanny Manny Rey. ↩

7. Sinatra Hater (originally appearing as "Sinatra {h}ater") is the bar patron in Defiance, Ohio, US who slugged David Guardia in the face just for choosing to play the Frank Sinatra version of "Fly Me to the Moon" on the jukebox; first mention of ►Sinatra Hater◄ is @ Sinatra Hater. ↩

8. Route 66 is the iconic and legendary road known as Route 66 (of the US Highway System, predecessor of the Interstate Highway System); road made famous by numerous television series, movies, and songs; path taken by Felix Legion prior to its christening from Los Angeles to Chicago believed to be used by Route 66; first mention of ►Route 66◄ is @ Route 66. ↩

9. Felix Legion is the group consisting of Templar (David Guardia), Shieldmaiden (Rhonda Bella Guardia), Nitrous (Hank Marchenko), Rothbard (Frank Marchenko), Triumph (Sanjay Rampersad), Quartermaster (Lionel Odunsi), and Fonzie (Lindsay Etxeberria); the remainder of Our Heroes after The Mongols returned to their based in San Diego, California, US; first mention of ►Felix Legion◄ is @ Felix Legion ↩

10. "The Kids" refers to Sanjay Rampersad and Lionel Odunsi (sometimes with Lindsay Etxeberria included); first mention of ►The Kids◄ is @ The Kids. ↩

11. Alias for University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; see ►University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill◄ @ UNC. ↩

12. Fonzie is the Felix Legion name for Lindsay Etxeberria because, at Templar's direction, she initiated the daring display of theatricality in Santa Fe, New Mexico, US by jumping over a mob of environmental protesters blocking their exit from the city; first mention of ►Fonzie◄ (as a member of Felix Legion) is @ Fonzie. ↩

13. "The Twins" is how Hank described himself and Frank; first mention of ►The Twins◄ is @ The Twins. ↩

14. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, US is the hometown of the Brothers Marchenko; first mention of ►Cedar Rapids, Iowa◄ is @ Cedar Rapids, Iowa. ↩

15. In this context, Shieldmaiden refers to is Rhonda Bella Guardia as co-pilot for Templar (David Guardia) in Felix Legion; first mention of ►Shieldmaiden◄ of Felix Legion is @ Shieldmaiden. ↩