What's happening behind the scenes to bring new GHAWG content? The GHAWG Diaries is my recap of what I've been doing.
Cover image designed by @magnacarta using emojis and Excel 2007 for text. Minor edits made using MS Paint.
Introduction
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. With posts in the GHAWG, Uninterrupted series on hold at Interlude 3 while Act 7 remains in progress, I decided to share these diary entries with everyone on Hive blockchain.
On Mondays which don't feature a GHAWG, Uninterrupted post-- GHAWG-U-- I'll post diary entries from the previous 7 days or between GHAWG-U posts if the time between them is short. For Part 34, there are 7 days' worth of diary entries. The first entry starts on 2024-June-17.
Before anyone scratches their heads at a few terms, here are 3 I began using many posts ago:
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
Rat Bike | Code name for #ghawg (the first and current zapfic serial) |
Blue Lion | Code name for the middle zapfic serial in the GHAWG Universe |
The Bronze | Code name for the final zapfic serial in the GHAWG Universe |
Monday, 2024-June-17
📓 One of the first zapfic entries I published for GHAWG shows David Guardia losing a game of UNO to his father at literally the last play his father could make. That entry was based on a game of UNO my mother and I had played some time before I began the daily zapfic serial in March 2023. Today, real life strikes again, only the game was Yahtzee. The zapfic entry describes how this game went. Although it was mathematically impossible for me to win that game, I was in position to keep the final score respectable. After my mother's final turn-- where she picked up 165 points-- I found myself looking like the BLURT logo (🤬). The zapfic entry, of course, features different people, but the scene comes from my own life.📓 Just out of curiosity I wanted to see how well the search engine keyword "daring display of theatricality" ranked. It's a phrase I started using this month as part of Felix Legion's exit from Tucumcari, New Mexico, US. The Weekly Summary post needed to cover that zapfic entry, and subsequent posts needed to cover the entry including that deed. In a short time, that phrase ranked high enough to reach Page 1 of the search engine results page (SERP). To my dismay, my use of that phrase ranked 3rd; a staged theater event took the top 2 slots, and that event took place in 2014. I'm not expecting "daring display of theatricality" to get as many searches as "theatricality and deception" (which is a popular phrase many sites have quoted from 2 out of 3 movies from the Dark Knight trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan), but to be outdone on the SERP by an event from ten years ago? As tennis great and fellow New Yorker John McEnroe is famous for saying, "🤬 You cannot be serious! 🤬"📓 Earlier I had written about what will Lindsay Etxeberria be doing after David Guardia's Epic Ride ends and the Iowa people are back in Iowa. While walking a few miles during the afternoon I was listening to the extended version of the theme from the Miami Vice TV series.(For anyone familiar with the opening credits sequence, there's a scene showing jai-alai players in action at a fronton. Historically, the best jai-alai players hailed from the Basque region of western Europe; it's an area stradling both Spain and France, and the Basque have their own language distinct from both Spanish and French.)Given Lindsay's field of study in college as well as her family heritage, it made sense for me to listen to this music. More importantly, it gave me the idea of setting up a critical sequence featuring her reunion with her parents. For a long time I debated whether I should even write it. With a key event I thought about including, I decided to take the zapfic serial in this direction. The other reason is to provide foreshadowing for an event or two which will take place in either Blue Lion or The Bronze or both. In terms of Rat Bike, this will complete Lindsay's transition from far-left activist to defender of each person's pre-political rights. Think of the conversion of Saul the early Christian exterminator to Paul the bringer of Christianity to the Gentiles; her transition is on that level.
Tuesday, 2024-June-18
📓 Today I was away from the computer most of the day, so I didn't get much done for The GHAWG Universe. However, it occurred to me that the zapfic serial can benefit from a very brief explanation for how Lindsay Etxeberria ended up as a far-left activist in the first place. As with most things in life, that doesn't occur in a vacuum. The most logical explanation is the (lack of) influence her parents had on her combined with influence on an external factor more powerful than her parents. As much as her parents loved her, it was demonstrated in ways which would backfire on them. Their love was misguided, and they would come to pay for that later. However, if there is one theme which runs through GHAWG, it's that each of us can be redeemed no matter what we had done in the past. David Guardia himself was no ideal offspring. Harry Hoqualogue was a convicted murderer. Rhonda Bella Guardia has her own past (which thus far is known only to her husband, David). Part of being a far-left activist is organized mob chaos and mayhem, and the related injuries which result from that course of action-- think protests which give way to violence. Mixed in all this is behind-the-scenes spiritual activity; that will be part of the sequence to take place in the Iowa prtion of Rat Bike. The gears are churning in my mind, so I'll have something worked out by the time I add those entries to the zapfic queue.
Wednesday, 2024-June-19
📓 Earlier this month I added to the zapfic queue 3 entries featuring mild "pillow talk" between The Newlyweds (David and Rhonda Bella Guardia). Since they could have been placed anywhere in which Felix Legion had a layover longer than a day, I placed them at the end of the queue. With The Twins and Lionel Odunsi each gorging on 72-ounce-- 4.5-pound, or around 2.0454545...- kg-- steak dinners, Felix Legion needed extra time in Amarillo, Texas, US. So I slotted the amusing "pillow talk" to this part of the ride east along Old Route 66. With this change in the zapfic queue, I can report that the queue goes through 2024-July-04.
Thursday, 2024-June-20
📓 Between reviewing digital maps of Oklahoma and reading about the path believed to have been Route 66, I was able to add entries to the zapfic queue. It's mostly Felix Legion on the move. Sooner or later there will be occasion for character interaction. For now, I need to figure out how Old Route 66 connects Oklahoma City with Edmond.
Friday, 2024-June-21
📓 With the exception of the actual zapfic entry to be posted today, I didn't do much in the way of The GHAWG Universe or even Hive. Much of my day was spent down the rabbit hole occupied by mental calculation.Given certain situations such as converting masses/temperatures/distances between imperial and metric systems, I have a greater comfort level with numbers than most people I know. Even so, I can always become faster at doing math calculations in my mind. Part of it is improving my faculties for pattern recognition. Part of it is learning techniques made for mental calculation. Even if I never reach Rainman-levels of numerical aptitude, I can become better with numbers than how I am at the moment. Oddly enough, part of this development involves learning-- as an adult-- how to use an abacus. Just as manual writing (using pen and paper) is better for our memory than keyboarding, using an abacus is better for our memory and minds than using a calculator or a spreadsheet. If I see that pursuing this goal gives me material I can share on Hive and elsewhere, I'll blog about it. For now, I'm trying to get a batter understanding of what's involved.
Saturday, 2024-June-22
📓 Saturday is Weekly Summary post day, so that's where much of my Hive activity was. It took me a while to realize that I was at a point where I could resume telling the story in zapfic serial format. No more jumping around except for flashbacks. As of tomorrow, Rat Bike resumes with Felix Legion riding east and north. Now more than ever it's important for me to add to the zapfic queue.
Sunday, 2024-June-23
📓 Now that Rat Bike is done with gap fillers and re-do's, I can redirect my efforts to bringing my spreadsheet into order. It won't be sequential order, of course; that dream was destroyed in April. It won't be in chronological order by entry date, either; that's just how it is. Instead, it will be in order based on the chronology used by Rat Bike: events as they would take place in a possible world where the present year is 2028. Once the zapfic entries are placed in the proper sequence in my speadsheet, I will begin superseding "GHAWG, Uninterrupted" posts with "GHAWG, Remastered" posts. As expected, GHAWG-U posts will remain on blockchain for historical purposes. However, GHAWG-R posts will be what I will include in GHAWGnav (once I get it up to date).Now that I think about it, I may even redo how GHAWG is organized; at the moment it's by Acts (and Interludes), but I'm thinking it makes more sense to organize the serial by ride segment. The ride to STURGIS itself can be broken into 3 segments plus the time at STURGIS itself. Beyond that, David Guardia's ride to STURGIS is transformed into his Epic Ride, and this will have 3 major segments along with numerous smaller segments. I have to think this through before I decide how to publish GHAWG-R posts. As before, Weekly Summary posts will inlcude my own commentary, while GHAWG-R (and GHAWG-U before that) is optimized for binge-reading.
When (and Where) To Catch #ghawg
When
This is the normal schedule for the posting of content for #ghawg:
● Daily -- Each zapfic entry is posted shortly after midnight, from New York
● Weekends -- Weekly Summaries (with modified screen capture from LeoThreads as cover image) are usually on Saturday, sometimes Sunday
● Monday -- Either GHAWG, Uninterrupted if present, or The GHAWG Diaries
● Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday -- GHAWG Behind the Scenes -- The goal is to publish these posts on all days not dedicated to the Weekly Sumamry, GHAWH-U, or The GHAWG Diaries (TGD). There may be days with no post, so I'll minimize those occasions as best as I can.
Where
● Daily zapfic entries drop at LeoThreads, usually posted shortly after midnight from New York (sometimes around noon)
● All long form posts-- Weekly Summaries, GHAWG-U, and TGD-- can be accessed using the #ghawgnav sticky post or from my InLeo profile page
That's it for this edition of The GHAWG Diaries. I'm 
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Thanks for your time. Give the post an upvote or a reblog if you liked it. Feedback is welcome. Until next time!
[!!] -- Graphic signature was designed by @ahmadmanga
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