What's happening behind the scenes to bring new GHAWG content? The GHAWG Diaries is my recap of what I've been doing.
Base image came in another form from PublicDomainPictures.Net. 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 17, there are 7 days' worth of diary entries. The first entry starts on 2024-February-19.
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-February-19 |
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📓 Sometimes I listen to music from my collection to get in a frame of mind for something related to GHAWG. Usually it's a song on repeat, but on occasion it could be songs which fit a theme. In fact, GHAWG began with a piece of music: "A Watchful Guardian" by music composer Hans Zimmer. This was the ending theme for not only The Dark Knight (2008) but also The Dark Knight Rises (2012). It's a theme topic which appears periodically in the zapfic serial (currently the 1st serial, which I sometimes refer to as Rat Bike), and as it moves into the Old Route 66 phase it will appear again featuring different people. I'm just looking for a location where this makes sense. Over the next few days I'll write about other songs or music which have inspired me to build The GHAWG Universe.
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| Tuesday, 2024-February-20 |
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| 📓 Another song I've used in building The GHAWG Universe-- at the time, simply GHAWG-- was "Allentown" from the 1982 album The Nylon Curtain by Billy Joel. Allentown is a steel town in Pennsylvania which had its heyday in the decades after World War II. By the 1970s hard times came to Allentown to stay, and the song is about what had been the promise of Allentown as well as what had become disappointment. The song was important enough for Billy Joel to include it as part of his history-making tour of the USSR in 1987. While Allentown isn't a tourist hotspot like New York, Berlin, Tokyo-- or even Roswell, New Mexico, US-- it was important enough for me to include in GHAWG as one of the first places where David Guardia would spend time or at least pass through. Having zero personal experience with Allentown myself, I have to believe that Allentown had bounced back a bit since its nadie in the 1970s and 1980s. Even if it's still experiencing hard times, it has to be better now than at the time Billy Joel composed the lyrics to the song. |
| Wednesday, 2024-February-21 |
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📓 With the Weekly Summary post due tomorrow as per the accelerated posting schedule, I began work on it today. Once the clock strikes past midnight, I'll publish that post. 📓 Some time after Our Heroes reach Albuquerque, New Mexico, US, a low-level conflict will ensue. It will be centered around Sanjay Rampersad and Lindsay Etxeberria. Just as she's beginning to take more of an interest in him, Lindsay discovers that he is engaged to be married when he returns home to India. Although Sanjay had never deceived anyone regarding these plans, they had never come up in conversations during the ride to <a href="https://inleo.io/@magnacarta/re-magnacarta-2wd73hxgs>STURGIS and beyond. Lindsay will be faced with conflict, but Sanjay won't remain untouched by this conflict. This conflict will be resolved, but for a while there will be unease and tension between Lindsay and Sanjay. |
| Thursday, 2024-February-22 |
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📓 Today I published the Weekly Summary post. It looks as if I can resume publishing the Weekly Summary posts on Saturdays around Saint Patrick's Day (March 17th). Unless I have a situation where I need to keep entries together, it looks as if the next 4 Weekly Summary posts will feature 7 zapfic entries each. 📓 Either in March or April 2024 there will be a "uniform" upgrade taking place. The safety yellow vests (actually, sleeveless jackets) Our Heroes had been wearing since before riding into Portland, Oregon, US will be replaced by yellow vests bearing a logo similar to that designed by David Guardia for Guardia Courier Services. Having joined Our Heroes just as they were leaving Portland, Lindsay Etxeberria never got her vest, so this time she will be an integral part of Our Heroes. |
| Friday, 2024-February-23 |
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| 📓 A third song I used in building The GHAWG Universe is "Fly Me to the Moon". For Baby Boomers (1946-1964) and many people of Generation X (1965-1983)-- just not me-- the version which usually comes to mind is the one performed by Frank Sinatra. This one makes a cameo appearance in the early days of GHAWG, when David Guardia was riding only with the uncanny Manny Rey. However, this Gen-X-er decided to use the version he had heard first in the middle 2000s. This version is performed by Claire Littley, and it was used as the ending credits theme for the ground-breaking 1995 anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. To this day I have no idea why, of all songs, this one was selected. No matter-- this is the version I went with because it's what I wanted to use to bring the characters David Guardia and Rhonda Bella together when she found him at a bar in Davenport, Iowa, US. By then, he was fully healed from his 10-day coma during his recovery at the hospital in Le Claire, Iowa, US. Unlike the more bomastic version performed by Frank Sinatra, the version performed by Claire Littley was more in tune with my idea of a love song, so this is the love theme for David and Rhonda Bella Guardia. |
| Saturday, 2024-February-24 |
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📓 The 4th song I've been using to build The GHAWG Universe is "Born To Be Wild" as performed by Steppenwolf. Thanks to the 1969 movie Easy Rider, which starred Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, this so-so song from 1968 had been transformed into the definitive bikers' anthem for all time. How important is this song for Rat Bike? A zapfic entry was posted to LeoThreads in which Harry Hoqualogue of The Mongols led Our Heroes in song while riding south along the coast of Oregon. In theory, any of Our Heroes could be associated with this song for any zapfic entry consisting of nothing but motorcycle riding. However, as far as GHAWG is concerned, this song is best associated with Harry. At some point in the 3rd zapfic serial The Bronze, another song will be associated with Harry: "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne. While "Born To Be Wild" was sung as a cry for unbridled freedom, "Crazy Train" will be more of a lament by Harry. This will make sense as The Bronze unfolds.
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| Sunday, 2024-February-25 |
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| 📓 The 5th song I've been using-- and continue to use-- to build the GHAWG Universe-- is "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66". Since it debuted in 1946, it's been performed by many music artists and in many musical genres. Early versions "Route 66" were performed by jazz artists such as (at the time) Nat King Cole. During the 1950s, rock-n-roll performer Chuck Berry sang this song. An updated rock-n-roll version was performed by the Rolling Stones. By the 1980s, "Route 66" received an electronica and techno facelift, courtesy of Depeche Mode. The first version of this song I had heard happened to be the Depeche Mode cover of the song, and this is the version I hear in my mind as I use it to build more of The GHAWG Universe. |
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.
(Plese note that the Weekly Summary posts will be posted on an accelerated schedule-- every 6 days rather than every Saturday-- in order to bring those posts in synch with the daily zapfic entries. Synchronization should be finished by Spring 2024.)
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 LeoFinance profile page
This week I hope to have more content published and recorded to Hive blockchain.
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