First Installment
Second Installment

Nick's Age = 11 years old
Chris' Age = 13 years old

“Nice shot!” Lou said to Chris. Chris lifted his head from the sight of the pellet gun. He had hit every empty soda bottle the two of them had set up at the end of the driveway. The two of them sat on top of the garage like a sharp shooter and his spotter. “I can't believe that thing even works,” his friend Lou remarked about the pellet gun.

Chris looked over the old air rifle. It belonged to his oldest brother, Peter. Because Peter had recently moved out, the rest of the brothers ransacked his room for anything that he left behind. Chris had discovered it in his brother's closest. The rifle had seen better days. Scratches and dents were peppered all over the barrel and shaft of the weapon. It was one of the older models, where you had to actually pump the barrel to build air pressure to fire the pellet.

***Parental Supervision Sold Separately***

Chris recalled Peter saying he disengaged the safety on the pump so you were able to pump many more times than what the gun was intended for.

“Let's go set some more bottles up. I wanna try to hit something with it,” Lou said as he made his way to the ladder. As he made his way Chris motioned for him to get down.

“Shhh, do you hear that? Someone's coming up the driveway.” Chris' mom had taken their dogs out for a walk. If they were to come home and discover him and his friend on the roof of the garage shooting a pellet gun... well, he could only imagine how enraged his father would be. Lucky for him it was not his parents, it was someone less threatening. They crouched behind the peak of the roof and waited for whoever was coming.

-——————————————————————————————————————————

“Why can't we go in your house again?”

“Because...” Nick replied and continued, “My parents have a new rule. No friends are allowed inside during the summer.” That was the cleaned up version Nick relayed to his friends. His father's original decree contained many curse words and bizarre promises. One bizarre claim was, “If I catch another one of your friends resting their feet on my dining table, I'll drive over to their house and put my feet on theirs!” Nick didn't feel like relaying the message verbatim, so he had condensed it down for them.

“That's a dumb rule,” Brian said.

“It is pretty dumb,” Drew agreed.

“Look, you guys said you were thirsty from biking around all day so let's get a drink from the hose and then we can go back riding.” As Nick finished this, he got off his bike and walked toward the faucet end of the garden hose.

“You want us to drink from a hose?” Brian asked in a hesitant tone.

“Yeah...” Nick answered then asked, “What's the problem?”

“I don't want to drink nasty ass garden hose water!” Brian started laughing. He went on, “It probably has rust and who knows what crawling around it.”

“Stop being ridiculous,” Nick replied, annoyed. He knew Brian was just being difficult for the sake of being difficult. “Watch! I'll drink it, and I won't keel over dead or nothing.” He bent over, turned the faucet on, and held the nozzle of the hose up to his mouth...

-—————————————————————————————————————————-

Chris watched as his brother got off his bike and made his way to the hose. He looked back down the barrel of the rifle. “Oh, this is too good. Watch this,” he whispered mischievously to Lou.

“You're not going to shoot your brother! Dude... that ain't cool.”

“Relax Lou, he's a good sixty yards away. I probably won't even come close to hitting him.” Chris closed one eye, and with his open eye peered down the sight. He slowed his breathing, as to not effect his aiming. When he was satisfied with the shot, he pulled the trigger...

-——————————————————————————————————————————

Nick was in the middle of gulping down water when he felt the sting. It was a sharp, stinging pain on the right cheek of his rear end. His body shot up like a compressed spring as his hands covered his rear end. Damn it, it's probably a bee sting, Nick thought to himself as he let out a shout of pain. He turned to see his friends looking at him, trying to hold back their laughter at how foolish their friend looked.

“Everything okay, Nick?” Brian asked, holding back the laughter.

“Yeah... It was probably a bee...” Nick was gathering his composure as the pain was subsiding and started to smirk. It must have been pretty funny for his friends to see him bent over drinking from a hose, shoot up, scream, and then grab his rear end. Just as he was calming down he felt another bout of piercing, stinging pain! This time it was on the other cheek of his rear end. Nick grabbed his rear end again and started running around in circles. He noticed his friends standing there giving him a confused and panicked look. He needed to warn them.

“Guys find cover!” Nick shouted at them and continued, “I think I must have stepped on a bee hive! FIND SOME COVER!!!” He ran towards his friends, dove and tackled both of them to the ground. “GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!!!” he shouted to his friends. As Nick's friends rolled him off of them, Nick noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It didn't register at first but as the pain started to subside again he was able to process it.

Someone was on the roof of their garage.

He sat up and looked toward the garage to see his brother with his hands held above his head in triumph. In one of those hands was a rifle of some sort. It reminded Nick of a soldier celebrating victory from one of the old movies his dad would let him watch.

I would like to say this is an embellishment of what I saw that day, but no, this is what my brain sees when I think back to that day.

At this point Nick's friends had noticed Chris and Lou were laughing uncontrollably. They climbed down from the garage and started to walk towards Nick, still unable to control their laughter. It was at this point that something happened to Nick's body that he never felt before. He felt all the physical pain inflicted by the pellets melt into an emotion. The emotion that he felt was a primal emotion. That emotion was rage.

I love hearing the stories and experiences my wife has had in her years of being a registered nurse. I'm have always been in awe of her compassion, intelligence, and her ability to act in moments of urgency. When I think of her chaotic upbringing, and what she's accomplished, I'm just always floored. To this day, I'm still confused why she chose me as her soul mate:

“Thank you pretty girl for choosing me. I have nothing to offer other than my name and my seed. Now, let me touch and smell your hair.” – a wild and untamed Nickelndime

I've mentioned my wife's work before. Here are some of the past articles :

1st Installment - 4 Ways Your Life Changes When Your Fiancé Becomes a Registered Nurse

2nd Installment - 5 Things Most People Don't Realize About an Inner City ER

What's fascinated me lately is the path of nursing she is currently in, hospice nursing. Since she has been an ER nurse, a labor and delivery nurse, and a floor nurse, I was curious what was the appeal of hospice to her. Like her, her answer was amazing.

It's not about death, it's about comfort

When I mention to people in casual conversation that my wife is a hospice nurse, they would typically respond with the same remark, “ugh, that's gotta be really hard.” What was funny was after they said something along those lines, a lot of them would recall a time when one of their loved ones were in hospice. They would talk about how amazing their family member's hospice nurse was and how much they appreciated their efforts in making their family member comfortable in their final days. After they finished their story, most of them would reply, “Tell your wife, she's got the heart of an angel,” or something along those lines.

When I relayed their messages of gratitude to my wife I asked her if she thought it was strange that people she didn't even know were thanking her for being a hospice nurse. She replied that oftentimes, family members of a hospice patient never get to thank their hospice nurse because they our morning the loss of a loved one.

Hospice is not just for the person on hospice

She said a lot of her work was helping the family of the patient on hospice as much as the actual person on hospice. My wife does at home hospice, meaning that the hospice patient would be cared for in their home. She would go to the very well-off neighborhoods, and to the not so well-off neighborhoods. Some families would have a very strong bond with the patient, others could not be located or bothered with their loved ones in their final days. It is her job to go over medications, educate the patient and their families, manage their symptoms, overall improve their quality of life.

Some stories she's relayed to me were stranger than fiction. There was one situation where an estranged family member showed up for their parent's last days, only to get in a fist fight by another family member while their parent was taking their last breath. My wife said she was outside of the room giving the family members their last moments with their loved one when she heard, “You got a lotta nerve showing up here,” then clearly heard the sound of someone getting punched in the face.

She would explain to me that the patient's family can sometimes make it challenging to care for and help the patient which leads me to my next point.

Hospice nurses may not influence decisions or give advice

One of the more frustrating aspect of being a hospice nurse is watching family members making decisions that were not in the best interest of the patient. Part of hospice is going through the DNR (do not resuscitate) forms with family members. I recall my wife telling me of a patient who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, over 90 years of age, and their family would not sign the DNR. She would explain that by not signing those papers, medical professionals would take every action to keep the patient alive. Performing CPR on a patient this frail would most likely cause broken ribs and put the patient through unwanted trauma. When I would listen to this and remark about how awful it was, my wife even as frustrated as she was could see it from their view. “They don't want to have to say goodbye.” Sure it's not logical, but nobody knows how they'll act when given that choice over a loved one. That's why my wife suggested that we both write down our own DNR wishes so they are not up for question.

“Any family member that pulls my plug will be immediately written out of my will. Leave my plug alone and turn up the morphine.” – Nickelndime's DNR Orders

Not all of my wife's cases were DNR drama cases.

Most patients are ready to pass and accepting of their prognosis

The majority of the time my wife relayed stories of compassion and happiness. Most of the patients that were on hospice lived long and full lives. Many told her that they were ready to pass, and were okay with death. She recalled a case were after the patient passed, the family erupted into a spiritual hymn. My wife is not a religious person, but even she felt something divine that day. She loves listening to patients talk about their lives and the experiences they have had. Some were born out of the Great Depression, and rationed everything their whole lives. One patient told her he lied about his age and had enlisted in WWII when he was only seventeen years old! Others spoke of the loved ones they had lost years ago and couldn't wait to see them again. While the majority of cases are okay, there are the ones that really got to her.

There are some that are not okay with passing

Not all of her patients were okay with passing. Warning! If you don't want to read sad things, ***DO NOT READ*** this section. There would be nights that my wife would come home and be emotionally exhausted from a patient she had. Some had nobody left or cared to see them in their final moments. There was a case where she called a patient's closest of kin to let them know their loved one was taking their last breaths. The family member replied, “We know, but we are not coming there to be with them.” So my wife and the social worker held his hand during his final breaths so he would not die alone. Most likely there were a lot of unresolved issues between the patient and their family member. When I would comment on how awful the family member was my wife would respond, “We don't know what happened between them, the patient could have been a terrible person. It's not my job to mend all bridges, it's my job to make their passing as comfortable as possible.” Yeah... It's when she says stuff like this that I realize I could never be a hospice nurse.

“Thanks for the rescue boys! Nickelndime is my hospice nurse and I couldn't take a moment more of him yammering on about how much weight he could dead lift.” – What my hypothetical patient would say if I was a hospice nurse.

Having a spouse in hospice work puts life into perspective.

I know it's cliche to say, “Nobody knows how much time they have on this planet, so best make the most of it,” so I won't do it. I will say that having someone working in hospice is a good reminder of that saying. There will be days that I get over whelmed about the 'small things' that in the long run, really don't matter. We might be at a restaurant and our 3 year old has a meltdown. Anyone who has had a three year old knows that they will push your buttons, on top of not having any impulse control. If you've never had a three year old, imagine one of your friends being a raging alcoholic and in no way in control of their emotions. There is only so much patience someone has before they themselves lose it. It's times like this my wife will lean over and say, “This could all be gone, remember that. I have patients that would give anything to be in a restaurant arguing with their child.”

My wife rocks.

She's like my own personal Buddah

A Buddah that looks hot in scrubs.

...excuse me.

Please take a moment and follow me on Twitter.

Good afternoon Coil friends!!! I wanted to talk about an awesome computer game that I love playing called Risk of Rain 2.

Having two young kids, I don't usually have four or five hour chunks of time to dedicate to a game in one sitting. Risk of Rain 2 is a great option if you're looking to hop in, play a quick round, and hop out. Now, if you're saying to yourself, “Woah, wait a minute, NickelNdime, I didn't play the first, 'Risk of Rain.' Won't I be out of the loop?” No, because I'll fill you in right now. Ready?

You kill monsters, and creatures. And bosses.

Pretty good story, huh? I thought the story arch was a little too in depth but, you know, to each their own.

The game runs like a typical 3rd person shooter in a sci-fi universe. A player gets to choose from eight different character classes:

- Commando

- MUL- T

- Huntress

- Engineer

- Artificer

- Mercenary

- Rex

- Loader

Each character has their pros and cons, and I'd love to talk about them all in depth, but I can't. I haven't played all of them. In fact, I've only played one so far, the Huntress. Why, you ask? Because she's the best one? That's why! No, I don't think it's arrogant of me to say that seeing as I haven't played any other character. I think it's insulting for you to think that... Where was I?

Each level starts pretty much the same way every time. A character's pod crashes on a planet's surface. The player then has to find the boss and destroy it. Rinse and repeat. There doesn't seem to be much to it, but the fun is in the subtleties of this game. First, there is a meter in the top right of a player's screen. The longer the player is alive, the harder the monsters and the creatures become. This detours a player from hanging around on a level collecting power ups. Typically a good game will run about 45 minutes to an hour of play time. There have been the one or two times I've made it an hour and a half. Just don't ask my wife how long I could last....she would say I could never last that long. *ba-dum-bum-tshh*

Coming soon to Cinnamon, “The NickelNDime Comedy Hour!” If it's anything like Nickel's first time at love makin' it will be quick, awkward, followed by a lot of apologies.

What makes this game so darn addictive are the buffs and power ups! Their value ranges quite a bit. White are typical/common, green are special, and reds are extremely rare. There are so many that each time you play the game the characters develop differently depending on the different buffs and power ups. Another great feature is that the buffs and power ups stack! For instance, if you get the attack speed power up twice, your character's attack speed increases two-fold.

Another great aspect of this game is it can be enjoyed playing single or multiplayer mode. This game supports up to 4 players, so maybe we could get a game together for the next steam. Lately I've been playing single player only because having two little kids I never know when I will have to pause the game. Oh yeah, a player may only pause a game on single player mode. So, if you're playing multiplayer, you might want to make sure you have gone to the bathroom and have your beverage and snacks of choice before hand because you might be there for awhile. Just saying.

Here is a basic run through of my game last night. I didn't do a commentary due to the fact I had my 12 week old son sleeping on my chest.

Lvl 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbOnn5-gAJI

As you can see, there is not much in the way of difficulty on the first level. In fact, a player will typically have to wait for monsters to spawn to get power ups. I summoned the boss at about 7:49.

Lvl 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpwORU3Mvj8

Still pretty easy as far as the game goes. I entered this level at the game clock at 9:49. That's almost ten minutes of play. Typically I want to try to get each level done in 7 to 8 minutes, so in this run through I was a little bit behind. On this level I did pick up a red power up I had never had before called, “Shattering Justice.” This power up reduced enemy's armor with each of my attacks. I had also picked up the, “Electric Ukes” power up. That power up makes lighting jump from creature to creature when I attack. Boss summoned at 7:00 during this level.

Lvl 3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqY49CAUTL8

As you can see the game is starting to become challenging. I was not too happy with the power ups I found on this level, but that's just random anyway. Sometimes you can get lucky, other times you get power ups that would be better for another character. Boss summoned at 6:17 this time.

How is everyone doing today? Good, good, glad to hear. I thought I would write about last night's first ever live game stream event with Adam (AussieNinja). I had an absolute blast! It went way better than I expected and I can't wait to do it again! We had some dedicated fans in the chat room throughout the stream who brought even more fun to the evening. Our fellow coil community members Patrica and Lauren from the red team during the blitz challenge (red team for lyfe!!! isn't that the lingo the youngins use these days?? Anyway...) hung out with us via chat the entire stream and we had a lot of laughs. Because they were the main participates in the chat channel I tried to split the 200 XRP among them, but they both refused. They both suggested that I add the XRP 'winnings' to the next stream. Thank you both so much for hanging out with us and for your generosity! The next stream's pot has officially increased and will have a prize of 400 XRP (insane!!!), which will probably be in a couple of weeks. (Stay tuned for more info!!!) Now, let's recap the game, the beer I 'sampled', and plans for the next stream!

The Game – Blitzerz be Blitzin' pull out the win!

The Comeback Cats came out swingin' but in the end, the dice rolled in favor for Blitzerz be Blitzin' (Adam's awesome team). I would like to say Adam won because of strategy and scheme, but my fragile ego won't allow me to admit that so instead I'll say it was pure luck. It would be interesting to see in the logs how many “1”s I actually rolled. (Rolling a “1” means you have absolutely failed your turn, ugh...) In all seriousness, I had quite the competition last night. Kudos and congrats to Adam, the winner of our awesome first Blood Bowl match!

The Beer:

I tasted two delicious beers for last night's event. They were:

Short's Woodmaster

and

Young's Double Chocolate Stout

Which one did I prefer?

While I liked Young's, “Double Chocolate” it was just too rich for me in the end. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it but I couldn't see having more than one of these bad boys in an evening. This beer is for somebody who says to themselves, “You know, I like the taste of melted chocolate ice cream except for the fact that I don't get buzzed when I eat it. Is there a beer out there that tastes like melted chocolate ice cream and gets me so buzzed I can't feel feelings anymore?” If you find yourself saying something along these lines then this beer is for you.

The “Woodmaster,” by Short's was a different beast all together! I didn't realize that the ABV was 9.9% because of it's smoothness. The subtle hints of toasted pecans (pɪˈkæn) and maple syrup make this such an enjoyable beer. I wouldn't want more than one of these in an evening either though; they are way too strong (or are they...?).

Both beers absolutely made my night even more enjoyable and I look forward to future beer tastings during the next stream.

Plans for the Next Stream:

My intent for our first live stream was to provide a fun, interactive and entertaining evening for my friends in the coil community. I think we delivered on that. I had an absolute blast playing and interacting with both Adam and our friends in the chat channel. Moving forward I'm open to suggestions on games you guys might be interested in us playing, topics you might want covered, or beers you might want me to try. Yes, I'm willing to taste any and all of your beer recommendations... It's all about making sacrifices.

You probably want to friend me here and on Twitter huh?

Rivalries. They are what make sports great. Most people can name some of their favorite rivalries in sports history off the top of their heads. Just to name of few off the top of my head:

- Joe Louis – Max Schmeling rematch on June 22, 1938

- Muhammad Ali beat Joe Frazier in the, 'Thrilla in Manila'

- Ohio State vs Michigan. This rivalry originated from the Michigan – Ohio war of 1835. Don't fact check me, just take my word for it

Yep.. there have been a lot of great rivalries in sports...

...and now there is AussieNinja vs NickelNDime on the pitch of a Blood Bowl to add to the list!!!

No, I'm not overselling this event, and it's very rude of you to make that assumption.

The Melbourne Madman

vs

The Motorcity Madman!!!

They're both...

This event will be streamed live Tuesday November 19, 2019 at 9:00pm (EST/Eastern Standard Time) on NickelNDime's YouTube channel. There will be 200 XRP giveaway to one lucky viewer!!! Did I just say, 200 XRP? Yes, yes I did. Think of what you could do with 200 XRP. You could super size your family's next meal at your favorite fast food restaurant. Could this viewer be you? I don't know, just please watch the stream, okay?

These two teams met this past Monday in a scrimmage match and there's no love lost between these two teams. The scrimmage ended in a draw, creating a bigger rivalry than the one that was there to begin with. Flippy Fastfoot II, the Comeback Cats catcher, had this to say:

“It was like they were intentionally trying to hurt us! Blood Bowl is a noble's pursuit. Not some dim-witted Smash-A-Thon that the Orcs believe it to be.”

When reached for comment, Sorru from the orc team had this to

say:

“Me smash elf good!”

Let's take a closer look at these two teams:

Blitzerz be Blitzin' (AussieNinja)

Slogan: Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!

Blitzerz be Blitizin' is a killer team of orcs and goblins. Their main strategy is to smash, hurt, and knock the other team out of play. Their high strength and high armor value make them perfect for this task. However, their agility is on the low end, so picking up the ball can sometimes cause the ball carrier to trip, fall down, and die.

The Comeback Cats (NickelNDime)

Slogan: Victory or Death!

The team is made up of the most agile creatures in the land. The elves' high agility make them perfect for throwing, catching, and skipping over tackles. Their low level of amour can make it rather difficult to take a punch and keep upright!

Who will win in what promoters are proclaiming will be “More entertaining than 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull!'”?!?

Don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime event!!!

To be eligible to win:

1. Contestants must share this blog post on one form of social media.

2. Contestants must be present during the live stream event, and engaged!

That's it! EZPZ. A winner will be randomly selected during the live stream event!

Questions or comments on how awesome I am can be left here.

The CBC's 14 day blitz challenge has finally come to an end! Sorry it's a day early, but I thought it ended today, started writing the article, then realized it ends tomorrow. Oh well, I guess I'll just be early. For those who don't know, here's what the challenge was. I was placed on the red team, which was clearly the better of the two teams. I actually felt bad for the members of the blue team when I saw the roster of the red team. I remember thinking to myself, This isn't going to be fair. In all seriousness red team and blue team put forth such great effort and may the best team win... which of course will be the red team.

What I chose to do:

I chose to take as many song requests or songs I don't normally play and write about the process of learning the song. There were some days I wrote other topics, since I didn't want listeners and readers to become bored with what I was doing. You guys had some really great and unique requests. While I appreciated all the requests (sorry if I didn't get to yours), I have two that I enjoyed learning and performing the most.

Fiddlers Green – Sandra's request

This song was such a blast to play. I loved the open tuning on it as well as the lead part. This one is definitely going to be added to the campfire and camping set list. This list is a very special and select list, only the select few make it to this list. The Tragically Hip should feel honored to make it to NickelNDime's Camp Fire Jams volume 417.

Vienna – Lauren's request

This song was by far a very challenging piece to arrange and perform. The use of jazz chords over the vocal melody kept me on my toes the whole time performing it. This is a piece that I will save for a suit and tie affair. There's something about this song that makes me imagine a very upscale event.

Recording and posting in the future:

While I plan on recording more and posting to Cinnamon, future recordings will not be exclusively for Cinnamon. Also, I will not write a blog about every song I upload. I just did that for the Blitz and at the end of it I felt my writing was like, “Here's a song I did... and... and... I like this song... it's really good... etc...” These ten recordings will never be released on any other platform. I like the fact that they are only on Cinnamon. So, I will refer to these Cinnamon performance videos as, “The Flannel Sessions.” Thank you guys for your participation, and for all those who read the blogs and listened to the songs, thank you as well.

Last night, the metro Detroit area had a snow storm. As I was shoveling my driveway and sidewalk I noticed one of the trees in my front yard looks a little (or a lot...) saggy:

“Don't worry little guy, someday you'll be a mighty tree and you can help the hobbits return the ring to Sauron.”

This was only midway through the day, and I still had to shovel later on in the evening. My snowblower needs to be repaired because I didn't drain the gas out of it and now the carburetor needs to be rebuilt. I thought I had more time before the first snow fall, but you just never know when that is going to be in Michigan! Oh well, good thing I raked all the leaves up yesterday. This all leads me to today's song.

Whenever the first snowfall happens, I have to play, “Here Comes the Sun.” I realize that it's more of a springtime song, but like I've stated before, I'm a rebel and I'll never be any different. This was, I believe, the first notated song I ever learned on guitar. Notation is the system of notes and measure found in music.

“I could totally play this, but I don't want to.” – NickelnDime's response if asked to play the piece above.

There is an old joke that gets told in musician circles about guitarists. It goes, How do you make a guitarist stop playing? Answer: You put sheet music in front of them. Everybody laughs and laughs, except the guitarist. He smirks on the outside, but on the inside, he plots his revenge.

I joke but there is truth behind this joke. Many guitarists do not know how to read music. It took me seven years of playing before I thought, Hmmm should probably learn how to do this seeing as I am showing other people how to do it. Is learning how to read notation essential for a guitarist? No, but it definitively helps. Anyway, it helps students learn the guitar in a different way, which is a good thing.

What I like most about this arrangement is the finger picking is not too difficult but is challenging enough to keep someone learning how to play finger-style interested. The composition uses the thumb and pointer finger primarily with some parts using three fingers. This makes it a good beginner to intermediate piece of music to play.

All in all, I think this recording turned out pretty well. As I've stated, I love doing these articles and recordings because I don't get to play these songs out at the places I perform very often.

Take a listen, and let me know what you think!

https://www.cinnamon.video/nickelndime/watch?v=186024628991297109&l=Lw%3D%3D