Read the Zapfic serial #GHAWG on LeoThreads to follow the transformation of a courier into a Harley-riding tool of God.
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Cover image is a screen capture of LeoThreads edited with MS Paint
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TL;DR
What is GHAWG?
Concept
Backstory
Roadmap
What GHAWG Is Not
What GHAWG Is
"What If I Don't Care about Religion?"
Zapfic Entries 1-7
Story Arc So Far
Next Week
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What Is GHAWG?
#GHAWG is short for "God's Hog: A Watchful Guardian." This fictional story tells how David Guardia, a courier and business owner from Bayonne, New Jersey, US moved into the next phase of his life after spending the final ten years of his ailing father 's life helping him.
Believing that he had nothing left at home, he decided it was time to take a long-deferred trip to the famous motorcycle rally held in Sturgis, South Dakota, US.
Concept
What begins as a long road trip by motorcycle across multiple time zones becomes a fantastical series of experiences leading to his transformation into a man on an unconventional mission from God: leading people to their own rides to a decentralized relationship with God, free from the baggage of dogma and doctrine.
Backstory
GHAWG had been bouncing all over my head since I joined Hive in April 2021. Certain key scenes or set pieces were mapped out in my mind, but I had trouble connecting them. A few more details came into place, but there were still too many holes in the story.
Fast-forward to Summer 2022 when LeoFinance brought the microblogging platform LeoThreads online. Since then I had encountered various threads of things called zapfic. With beginnings on Twitter, zapfic is a story written to fit within the confines of one tweet. This carried over into other microblogging platforms.
After learning more about zapfic, I decided to get into this form of writing. I wasn't getting anywhere with just thinking and doing research before writing hundreds or thousands of words, so I decided I would get this story done 240 characters at a time. (Actually, 228 characters at a time since each entry starts with ## #zapfic and then a blank line.) GHAWG is an example of the zapfic use case for LeoThreads.
Roadmap
Had LeoThreads not been made, I may not have arrived at the idea of writing GHAWG.
For now, GHAWG is just a zapfic serial. However, this is the roadmap I see for GHAWG:
- GHAWG will begin as a daily serial story in zapfic format.
- After the zapfic ends, GHAWG gets fleshed out for long-form content.
- After that, GHAWG gets rewritten as an exercise in screenplay writing.
Thanks to the nature of blockchain as a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), ownership if this story is clear. It is also available to the world for reading and viewing.
What GHAWG Is Not
GHAWG is not a religious story, but rather a faith story. Don't expect to see any saints. Don't expect to see special appearances by the Pope or the Metropolitan. Don't expect an endorsement of centralized religion.
Religion relies on rules and regulations organized into some hierarchical system. We have that already; for many people, it still leaves them wanting more.
Just as people besides us are discovering the advantages of decentralized cryptocurrency, people are discovering that decentralized faith is a better option for them than centralized religion.
What GHAWG Is
GHAWG is about growth, transformation, and redemption. It just made sense to use the personal relationship with God as the vehicle to write this story.
It's also a story of how decentralized faith can lead to a more rewarding religious experience where traditional centralized religions fall short.
Since God transcends religion, GHAWG should be accessible to people of other religious traditions or faith persuasions.
"What If I Don't Care about Religion?"
GHAWG is a story, so treat it as just a story.
Also, faith is not the same as religion. We all want to believe in something or someone, and religion isn't needed for that.
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Zapfic Entries 1-7
1️⃣ 2023-March-6 02:40:24
It's past bedtime. Once again my father missed the ending of The Dark Knight Rises. "A Watchful Guardian" plays during the closing credits. That's what I am for my father these days. Then I find myself asking "Who is mine?"
🏍️ This was the 2nd entry in the zapfic serial, but it should have been the first. It sets a theme found woven through the zapfic serial.
🏍️ The AWG in GHAWG comes from the title of this music piece by Hans Zimmer for the Christopher Nolan-era Dark Knight movies. The GH enters the picture later in the zapfic serial.
2️⃣ 2023-March-5 11:05:30
Due to time, my father and I play UNO to 250 points instead of 500. I have 249 points; he has 148. After I call "UNO" he throws down DRAW4, Skip, Skip, Reverse, Draw 2, calls "UNO", then DRAW4. He beats me by 56. I facepalmed.
🏍️ This is the 1st entry, but I shifted it to 2nd place.
🏍️ David Guardia and his father play UNO daily, and it's one of the few times during the day when David's father isn't thinking about his failing health.
🏍️ It's also the first time we see David dealing with unexpected loss; after all, we don't play games to lose.
3️⃣ 2023-March-7 03:28:30
Before I started school I had a black Big Wheel. It was painted to resemble a Harley-Davidson. An older kid wanted to ride it, and I let him. The oaf broke my Big Wheel as soon as he sat on it. I sorely miss that Big Wheel.
🏍️ As trivial as this zapfic entry seems, it foreshadows a couple of events later in the serial.
4️⃣ 2023-March-8 02:03:21
This week was busier than usual with all the deliveries and pickups I made with my Honda rat bike. It's served me well for 5 years, and it will be a while before I have enough money saved to to buy that $28,000 Harley-Davidson.
🏍️ We learn more about David here. He's a courier who delivers and picks up packages. The motorcycle is a key part of his life. He works for several reasons, one of which is to upgrade to his dream motorcycle. At the time, he owns a Honda motorcycle in functional but rough condition.
🏍️ The GH in GHAWG refers to the Harley-Davidson motorcycle he buys later. These motorcycles are also known as "Hogs"; "Hog" itself happens to be the abbreviation for "Harley Owner's Group".
5️⃣ 2023-March-9 00:43:57
Courier work was busier than expected today, and it took my father longer than usual to go to bed. That's when I began my 2-hour review of activities at my six-year-old decentralized blog before engaging with people on my feed.
🏍️ David is a courier by day, and a blogger by night. He's not just a blogger; he's an owner and investor on the decentralized blogging platform he uses. As with some leading Hivers, he practices engagement, engagement, engagement.
6️⃣ 2023-March-10 01:14:54
Doctor told me nothing new: drop weight, keep taking blood pressure meds, go see this specialist, do that procedure. All I needed was a new receipt with refills. What I want to hear, he'll never tell me: how can I be healed?
🏍️ An Instagram or LikeTu model, David Guardia is not. He can stand to lose a few pounds or kilograms, and he knows he has to cut down on bad habits which keep him at that weight.
🏍️ Visiting the doctor when all he needs is a new prescription is a hassle, and he can think of better ways of spending his time (such as banging his head against the wall).
🏍️ Like many people, he knows that the current system is meant to keep people healthy enough to stay out of the hospital but sick enough to require medications daily.
7️⃣ 2023-March-11 01:16:57
Subway rats (I forget their official name) aren't exactly fun to look at except in video clips where 1 carries a slice of pizza. On my way to lunch I saw a dead subway rat belly up on the sidewalk. I felt pity for the critter.
🏍️ It's another slice of life scene for David. He lives near New York City so he's familiar with the subway system there. Sooner or later subway riders will encounter rats (if they're lucky, from a distance). Periodically a viral video resurfaces showing a rat carrying a slice of pizza on the subway tracks.
🏍️ The day I wrote that zapfic entry I saw a dead rat belly up on the sidewalk. Given the size, it had to be a subway rat. On one hand, subway rats aren't the kind of animals we want around us. On the other hand, it still had a life and that life was taken away. Those were my thoughts at the time I saw the dead critter.
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Story Arc So Far
Expository zapfic gives us an idea of David Guardia's life before his story begins. He has his own courier business, but he lives with his ailing father in Bayonne, New Jersey to help him out. In his free time he blogs on decentralized social media (Hive? LeoFinance? LikeTu? Who knows?), where he worked for years to grow his wallet. His home situation hasn't been easy, and it's reflected in his health and appearance.
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Next Week
The next post will feature GHAWG entries 8-14 and explanations for each entry. More slice of life zapfic was written to give readers a better idea of who David Guardia is.
GHAWG itself continues at LeoThreads, where Act 2 is winding down but needs several more entries.
Catch the lastest zapfic entries for GHAWG at LeoThreads. Get caught up with GHAWG with these weekly summaries at LeoFinance and at the Scholar and Scribe community.
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GHAWG Navigation
To find other weekly summary posts such as this one-- or to read the serial without annotated commentary-- use the GHAWG Navigation threadstorm at LeoThreads. Within LeoThreads, hashtag #GHAWGnav brings up the navigation.