Happy Halloween.
Eating all of the candy.
On this Tuesday night.

Watching a movie.
A very silly movie.
Cinnamon cider.

It was a Tuesday.
It was also Halloween.
I'm writing again.

Magic Vid'ya Game.
Jazzy Island Dinosaurs.
And Rockybado.

Not trick or treating.
I already have candy.
Now, I want to write.

Watching a movie.
While sipping on cider.
What a chilly night.

​#Brrrrrrrr

From Rockybado 5: #SanFranciscoBound

​Brody Ingram woke up slowly. He was still not in the mood to do much of anything. His throat was still a little sore from the cold that he was battling, and it was pretty hard for him to breathe. David, Brody's brother, felt pretty sorry for him, since this was all very bad timing, but he still needed to get ready for his move to San Francisco.

In general, Brody was pretty excited about the move, but the cold was not doing him any favors whatsoever. While waiting for Brody to take his sweet little time getting ready for the day, David invited Julia Jaconetti, Brody's girlfriend, inside their apartment for a cup of tea. They both knew Brody would take a while, so why not wait for a bit?


“How’s Brody doing?” Julia asked David.
“Well, he could be doing better,” David half-joked.
“Of course. I’m assuming it’s just a cold?”
“That’s all it is, the man cold.”
“He needs to man up, then!” Julia joked.
“Of course!” David replied.
“What time do we need to leave?”
“I think noon. Andrew, Adam, and Toby are coming over around 10 am.”
“Oh, okay.”
“What kind of tea would you like?”
“Oolong.”


David set out his pot of water on the stove, and waited for it to boil. Julia couldn’t wait for her oolong tea fix. And, once Brody would finally wake up, he would likely make English breakfast tea for himself. Since that is always his go-to flavor.

Julia noticed David’s shirt, since she has never seen him wear it before. It said, “Deutschland” on it, with the German flag showing underneath the letters. She has seen both him and Brody wear t-shirts that they got from London a while ago, but she somehow didn’t know that David studied German in high school and college.
​

Brody also studied German in high school and some college.
“When did you go to Germany?” Julia asked David.
“In 2013. Brody and I both went there for a month during the summer,” David replied.
“Oh awesome! Did you like it?”
“Absolutely I did. Running in Germany is so much different than it is here.”
“I’ll bet. I didn’t know you run,” Julia said.
“Sometimes, but Brody is much better than I am,” David remarked.
“What did you guys do there?”
“My parents gave me and Brody a package to Germany. One of their friends had planned to go to Germany, but their plans fell through, so we took that opportunity.”
“That sounds like it was a great opportunity. Where were you?”
“Mostly in Munich, but we explored as much of Germany as we possibly could.”

Check out Rockybado, Rockybado 2: A Run in the Game, Rockybado 3: The Invasion of the Naughty Blue Aliens, and Rockybado 4: Running Up a Hill

For some double awesome stuff, check out The Crazy Chicken Escapade and The Somewhat Perilous Plot of the Patriotic Mosquitoes!

From The Jazzy Island of Dinosaurs

It was one sunny day, and all four dinosaurs sat out on the patio, drinking sweet tea, eating pizza, and living life as everyone should.

The flowers were in full bloom. The wind was crisp and perfect. It was definitely a good day to tell jokes, riddles, funny stories, and whatnot.

“I spy something brown,” Dacston started the conversation.

“Is it outside?” Jokie questioned.

“Indeed.”

The three dinosaurs thought for a moment, and then they tried to make some educated guesses.

“Is it a tree?” Jokie asked.

“No,” Dacston replied.

“Is it another tree?” Sammy questioned.

“Still, no.”

“A squirrel,” Valpatic replied.

“Indeed.”

'Tis Haiku Monday.
Gonna write yet a poem,
But what should I write?

My mind is random.
Hearing Italian songs.
Makes me so happy.

Ten accordions,
Lining up against the wall.
With a German horn.

Eating my spatzle.
And the ambiance is loud.
That was my weekend.

It was a fun one.
One that I'll never forget.
Back to Germany.

Traveling the world.
Is something we want to do.
Learning some new things.

Wrote Rockybado.
Jazzy Island Dinosaurs.
Magic Vid'ya Game.

Had more ideas,
Of those series when abroad.
When in Germany.

Went to Ireland.
Wow. Almost three years ago.
Some ideas then.

The last time I went to Newburgh, Indiana, 
Was when my mom and I had spent a weekend there.
July 2017.
Things have definitely changed since the last time I came down.
When I was a kid,
My family and I would go down all the time,
To spend as much as a month there.
We would do so much during that time.
Such as going to the zoo in Evansville,
Going to the state park to swim and paddleboat.
Visiting my extended family was also a frequent routine.
Celebrating Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July,
Was something we'd do all the time.
We would often get ice cream at a local parlor on Indiana 66.
And chocolates at the shoppe in Evansville.
Oh my goodness, those cherry bagels were pretty great.
I remember how sweet they were.
There was so much that we did, including an occasional visit to the dam.
When I was five, I saw a dance troupe doing the can-can.
I wanted to dance with them.
Alas, I had no idea I really wanted to be a dancer.
We'd also get food from an American chain buffet in Evansville.
There was a nice hotel across a walkway.
They had awesome curtains.
And a pond overlooking the general area.
A fountain, where the ducks would avoid.
We fed them leftover bread that we didn't take home with us.
Then, there was the library,
Where we would check out as many books and movies as humanly possible,
Until it was moved from downtown Newburgh,
To the supermarket where the cherry bagels came from.
1992-2006.
Between the fifth and eighth grades,
I would think about my ideas,
When I first started writing Rockybado.
After an advertising project from school.
2004.
In seventh grade, we would still visit Newburgh every now and then.
I came up with my ideas for The Jazzy Island of Dinosaurs and The Magic Video Game.
2005.
When I smell sunscreen,
I think of the time spent getting ready to go swimming,
At the same state park forty-five minutes away from my grandparents' house.
It was a great time, really.
I could go on and on about my time in Newburgh, Indiana.
My blog would be so long.
I wondered how my grandparents' move from Newburgh to Valparaiso,
Would affect my ideas for my writing projects.
The last trip to my grandparents' house before the move was sad. 
Moving everything out of the house.
2006.
​I did not make a trip back to Evansville until my junior year in high school.
The zoo housed a vintage car show.
There were fewer giraffes.
I did not get my thumb bitten off by an emu.
The fries weren't as great as before.
Things were starting to change.
2009.
Made another visit a year later.
Ate seafood and rode on the back of a motorcycle.
Things were presumably the same.
2010.
Came down for a reunion three years later.
Things seemed to be the same.
Ate some good food made by extended family.
2013.
Came back down to Newburgh, Indiana a year later.
Things drastically changed.
There used to be an open field by my grandparents' house.
My brother found some crawdads in that field.
Now, people were living in that area.
Apartment complexes were somehow established in such short period of time.
I visited the Ohio River with my extended family and siblings.
2014.
My mom and I visited Owensboro for a conference, and also to try southern style barbecue.
We also drove around Evansville,
Since I never really saw it before.
We visited an art museum once, and we would sometimes go on the outskirts.
Evansville is really a cool city with some opportunities for growth.
As if it hasn't grown so much already.
Stayed at a friend's for the night. We watched poker.
While sipping on beer with the fan blowing over us.
The next morning, we were by my grandparents' house.
Things changed even more.
The telephone pole in my grandparents' yard that I was so afraid of,
Was removed, and was replaced with an even scarier telephone pole.
The Chinese food was pretty good. Now I'm craving some beef lo mein.
There are even more apartments that were built where the open field used to be.
Well, that was still a great weekend. 
2017.
Here I am, in the library, reminiscing about all of the fun things that we've done,
In Newburgh, Indiana.
Even though things will never be the same as once before,
There are some cool things,
​In Newburgh, Indiana.

From Rockybado: Robot King of the Island

One year ago, Jeremy and Johnny, two very goofy Bobinos on the very goofy island of Texamilio, decided to go to the nearest fast food joint because they were both very hungry.

At the drive-thru….

“Thank you for choosing this store. How may I help you today?” a voice said through the machine.

“I would like a hamburger, with no ham,” Jeremy said.

“A hamburger does not have ham on it.”

“Ham-burger. There has to be ham on it.”

“It is called a hamburger because it is called a hamburger.”

“I would like two hamburger meals, if you insist that there’s no ham on the hamburgers.”

“I’m sure there is no ham on the hamburgers.”

It was March 27, 2017, and Brody Ingram had just received news about his new IT job for a good company out in San Francisco, California. His girlfriend, Julia Jaconetti, is going to move with him. She has been considering graduate school for marketing, but she is currently a full time online tutor, and her hours are a bit off. While maintaining this gig, she will look for a full-time opportunity out in the Bay Area.
​
Brody’s brother, David, is planning to go to a university in San Francisco next fall to study IT, as well as Brody’s best friend, Andrew McCalsky. Although they are planning to move to San Francisco, they are not going to do so until summer 2017, so that they can get organized for the time being.

It was 8 o’clock in the morning of moving day, and Brody was supposed to be awake by now. When David walked into his room to check on him, Brody was still sleeping soundly on his futon. He looked pretty comfortable, too. His comforter lay loosely on top of him, with part of it already on the floor. One of his pillows was on the floor, touching the farthest point of his comforter. Brody was lying on his stomach, on top of his blue body pillow that he has had since he was in seventh grade, shortly after he had his tonsils taken out.

Even though David wanted to let Brody sleep for a little while longer, he knew that he had to wake up Brody. His new job will start at the beginning of April, but Brody and Julia needed a little bit of extra time to get moved into their place, which they will be sharing with Brody’s cousin’s friend, Kevin Iacobucci and his girlfriend, Lesley. Brody has been battling a cold for a few days, and this was most likely going to put a damper on his moving experience from Merrillville, Indiana to the West Coast.

Brody, being as he always is, will make light of today, even if he isn’t feeling 100 percent.

There were a couple other things that David needed to help Brody pack, such as his futon and bedsheets, toiletries, and his laptop. David, Toby, who is David and Brody’s younger brother, Andrew, and Adam Levistad, David’s best friend, were going to help Brody and Julia move to San Francisco. David asked his fiancée, Olivia Flavenshevich, if she was available to help, and she said no.

David walked over to Brody and gently shook him. Within a few minutes, Brody slowly woke up. Then, he fell back asleep. Even though he has been excited about moving to San Francisco, he was not feeling too well this morning it seemed. His nose was all stuffed up, so he couldn’t breathe out of it. All he wanted to do right now was to sleep in as late as he possibly could.
​
“Hey, Brody,” David said to his younger Irish twin brother.
“What?” Brody answered in his sleep.
“Julia is here.”

Check out Rockybado: King of the Island, Rockybado 2: A Run in the Game, Rockybado 3: The Invasion of the Naughty Blue Aliens, and Rockybado 4: Running Up a Hill

It's Haiku Monday.
Oh well. What did you expect?
A Haiku Friday?!

A few days ago.
It was Friday all day long.
And now, it is not.

Working on my books,
Is something I want to do.
For some time this week.

Now it is the time.
To go back to writing, yeah?
Ah well. I think so.

Peppermint patties,
Things I do not want to see.
​In mid-October.

From Rockybado: Robot King of the Island

Jeremy Kerplunk and Johnny Dinglebom, two very goofy Bobinos on the goofy island of Texamilio, were taking a nice little stroll around the neighborhood. Then, Jeremy saw something random that he wanted to show Johnny.

“I saw a squirrel,” Jeremy said to his best friend.

“You saw a squirrel?” Johnny asked.

“Yeah. I saw a squirrel.”

“Well, show me then!”

Jeremy and Johnny walked to an old oak tree so that Johnny could see the squirrel. But the squirrel was now gone.

“Well, never mind,” Jeremy said.

“CHARGE!” a squirrel suddenly shouted to his squirrel comrades while they popped out of the tree with acorns in their arms. Their revenge was nigh.

Time to run.

Off to Hawaii.
After I drink this hot tea.
Seeing the palm trees.

Watching the sunset,
While dreaming of writing.
​And Rockybado.

Magic Vidya Game,
Jazzy Island Dinosaurs.
Gonna write again.

I had a weird dream.
Someone had their tonsils out.
That would not be fun.

Hazelnut ice cream
Is getting me through this day.
​Yummy yummy yum.