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 46, there are 7 days' worth of diary entries. The first entry starts on 2024-September-16.
Before anyone scratches their heads at a few terms, here are 3 I began using many posts ago:
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
Rate 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-September-16
📓 Before I resume adding to the zapfic queue, I need to see what the ride between the Illinois cities of Springfield and Chicago looks like. This is the last stretch of riding Felix Legion will do before reaching the end of the line on Old Route 66. Depending on the roads they travel, the ride will be between 200 and 220 miles long. This will be the longest stretch of riding Felix Legion has done, and one of the longest the riders have done since playing tourist after leaving STURGIS for California. It still won't beat the 325-mile ride David did solo as he crossed most of Pennsylvania at the start of his Epic Ride.
While Felix Legion could cover there usual 120 miles/day, that leaves a much shorter distance the next day before reaching the eastern terminus of Route 66 in Chicago. Since David Guardia wasn't expecting to be back in Illinois (never mind to ride through Chicago), he will have some conflicting emotions about this particular part of the ride. I decided that Felix Legion will just gut out that 200- to 220-mile ride just to be done with it once and for all. At least for the first 100 miles of this ride, it will be like the rest of the ride along Old Route 66 until then.
---Tuesday, 2024-September-17
📓 I was able to extend the zapfic queue to 2024-October-11, a week's worth of new entries. These were character interactions at the end of the day. Since I had left the zapfic queue with Lindsay Etxeberria and David Guardia talking about jai-alai, the newer zapfic entries feature Rhonda Bella Guardia discussing work life after the Epic Ride ends for them in Iowa. This discussion sets the stage for a later discussion they will have as she considers how she will earn her daily bread apart from working for the Brothers Marchenko at their shop, HFBM Customs.
Also among the newer entries is one featuring Lionel Odunsi asking Sanjay Rampersad about his independent study in marketing. What Sanjay tells Lionel is in fact part of what will be shown in the sequel zapfic serial Blue Lion. That will take place after The Kids graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Until then, David will be his wife's executive assistant at Rhonda Bella Logistics as he gets his own enterprise set up.
Wednesday, 2024-September-18
📓 Last week I mentioned that I wasn't sure how to write about the parents of Lindsay Etxeberria. All I had were questions; no answers. During a walk through my neighborhood I recalled something I had written in the very first Weekly Summary post:
GHAWG is about growth, transformation, and redemption.
In the case of Lindsay, we have seen growth, and her transformation to her new self continues. What we have not seen is redemption. Actually, that's not true. Lindsay herself has been redeemed. What we have not seen if Lindsay giving others a chance at redemption. The only people she would be able to redeem are her parents. For this statement to make sense, she must have been wronged in some way. It's because of the way in which she had been wronged that she ended up as the far-left activist David Guardia and Rhonda Bella had encountered in Portland, Oregon, US. Lindsay's parents need to be redeemed, but redeemed from what? This is what I need to figure out. I don't have the answer now, but I have time before this moment arrives.
Thursday, 2024-September-19
📓 At this point in Rat Bike, Felix Legion is 2 GHAWG days away from reaching the eastern terminus of Old Route 66: Chicago, Illinois, US. It's been a while since we've seen Aníbal Rivera, and it's been even longer since he and David Guardia had seen each other face to face. Some event needs to take place at the Obama Presidential Library, which is located between 6 and 8 miles south of the end of Old Route 66. It would be asking a lot for me to include the 44th President of the United States to make an appearance at his namesake facility at this particular moment, so I'll keep it limited to the Mayor of Chicago-- who, for GHAWG purposes, will be a cipher-- who is using the library as background for some other special occasion. Will Aníbal Rivera already be there when Felix Legion arrives? Will Aníbal Rivera find Felix Legion in transit and tag along for the ride? Will David be the only one speaking, or will there be a person or two who take this opportunity for make their desperate plea for help? Now that I got these questions out of my head, maybe now my subconscious mind can work on answering them in ways which make sense for Rat Bike.
Friday, 2024-September-20
📓 The post featuring the discussion between Lindsay Etxeberria and the Brothers Marchenko regarding inflation and price increases is taking longer than I had anticipated. The 13 zapfic entries comprising this discussion are the centerpiece of this post. However, this post isn't a copy-and-paste of zapfic entries and that's it. Before the zapfic entries are presented I include my own commentary on 2020s-style inflation and the price increases we've been experiencing. That commentary could have been a long form post all on its own. I'm including it in this post to provide context for the zapfic entries I had published earlier in September.
Saturday, 2024-September-21
📓 With Felix Legion exiting St. Louis, Missouri, US to enter into Illinois for the final stage of the ride along Old Route 66, Rat Bike is entering a transition phase. Going forward, there will be more foreshadowing of events and changes to be shown in the sequel zapfic serial code-named Blue Lion. This is because the 7 members of Felix Legion will return in various capacities.
I expect The Kids to rejoin the Team Iowa (The Twins, Lindsay Etxeberria, and The Newlyweds) after they complete their college work. The Kids will become part of a business venture, one which will allow David Guardia to finally live "the good life" most people want and many achieve.
Originally I had planned for Lindsay to become a lawyer, and that is still an option. However, she will also have a side hustle as a podcaster, at first with the Brothers Marchenko and later solo. Although-- by this time-- she considers herself a refugee from the political left, she still presents formidable opposition to anarcho-capitalist libertarians Hank & Frank Marchenko. The podcast would be similar in style to the template used by many sportstalk shows on radio and streaming audio, only the themes would include politics, economics, and philosophy. Given the past she had as a far-left activist, she will reinvent herself, and this includes a new identity. For this reinvention, I'm leaving breadcrumbs in Rat Bike.
As for David and Rhonda Bella Guardia, they will have separate businesses under an umbrella company they both operate. Rhonda will still run Rhonda Bella Logistics, only it will be in service to causes both she and husband David care about. Among these causes will be relief from natural disasters anywhere in the nation. As for David, he will earn his daily bread through various means related to his Epic Ride. The centerpice of his work will be motivational speaking revolving around his Epic Ride, with a focus on his miraculous transformation during his 10-day coma in Le Claire, Iowa, US after the fuel tanker explosion which nearly killed him. The Kids will handle secondary lines of business such as merchandising and marketing.
Sunday, 2024-September-22
📓 The last time David Guardia was in Illinois, he was riding through the northern part of the state with his original co-pilot, the uncanny Manny Rey. He was willing to ride through the state in one day just to avoid any chance of running into the civil disturbances which were taking place around that time. Ultimately, they ended up a short distance from the Illinois-Iowa state lines, and the civil disturbances caught up with them, anyway. It's as if he was willing to pay a horrendous legal penalty for the sustained speeding he was doing. That speeding nearly cost David his life as soon as he entered Le Claire, Iowa, US.
Now that Felix Legion is close to reaching Chicago, David finds himself filled with purpose as he faces that which he had feared. He escaped death from that exploding fuel tanker in Le Claire. With help from The Lord, he escapes his initial encounter with Harry Hoqualogue of The Mongols at STURGIS with minor cuts and bruises. Even his encounter with a bear in Northern California could have been a disaster for him. Having faced death during the course of his Epic Ride, David has done more living since leaving Bayonne, New Jersey, US for good than he had during the previous 60 years, 0 months, 15 days of his life combined. He can only die once, and then he's done with it. I think there is a saying along the lines of "A brave man dies once, but a coward dies a thousand times"; before his 10-day coma, he was fearful of many things, but after it he is a man without fear of anything the earthly world can throw at him.
Events in Chicago will justify David's lack of fear in the place he was most afraid to visit before.
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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