Monday, April 30, 2007
Nieces again...not for the last time
Cute doesn't do them justice. See for yourself! :)
Sunday, April 29, 2007
200 miles to home
Well, pops and I got some riding in Saturday. The weather was perfect, partly cloudy and breezy, with a near nonexistant chance of rain. The ride started at around 10:45am and we rode, and rode, and rode some more. All told, we did more than 200 miles on the day, most of it North of Pinellas County and it's gridlocked congestion. There are some great back roads in Pasco and Hernando counties! You have to ride away from civilization to find them, but they exist, for I have seen and enjoyed them. :)
I had done about 2 hours of riding Friday night and felt fairly comfortable with the bike, but I must admit to being a little nervous about riding on the highway for the first time. Dad took his time getting ready Saturday morning, so that only made me more anxious, but we eventually got underway. Once we were rolling, the butterflies gave way to excitement at having finally gotten out on the real road.
We took East Lake Road North to 54, mae a quick stop at tractor supply, then headed East. We eventually turned North again and started a long trek up to Brooksville. The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, our Harleys were glistening in the late-morning sunshine, the day was off to a great start. By noon we were heading up the Ehren Cut Off toward Highway 50. This is a popular destination for touring and sport bike riders, because of the gentle bends and smooth pavement. We were waving at passing bikes most of the day, and there were some beautiful The scenery is sparse in some places, but the roads are fairly open and the riding was very relaxing.
We stopped for a break on Bellamy Blvd, rode along 41, 50, and 52, then turned for home. On the way back there was a point where the only humans in sight were dad on his Sportster and I on my Deluxe, just thumping along with the wind rushing by our heads. That sort of moment is the reason I bought a Harley-Davidson. You simply could not enjoy a moment like that one in the same way from behind the wheel of a car. It was good stuff.
After a stop at Gulf Coast Harley-Davidson and my buddy Bryan's house, we met up with mom for dinner in Oldsmar. We got there just after 6pm, nearly 8 hours after we had started out that morning! Needless to say, it was one hell of a first ride and I look forward to many others. My confidence received a huge lift and I feel much more comfortable in the saddle. I still have my moments, and it will be a while before everything is second nature, but it is safe to say that I am hooked.
Labels: motorcycles
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
The Bike, she is here!
Didn't have the stones to ride her home, but have put about an hour into riding her so far around the neighborhood. Smooth as a Cadillac and incomparably more beautiful. Love this old school scoot...the question is, should I name her Marilyn, or Audrey? :)
Labels: motorcycles
Monday, April 23, 2007
Finally got out to the sun
So I finally made it to the beach this past Saturday. Gorgeous is the only word to describe the trip. From the weather, to the waves, to the women, beauty was literally all around me, and it was good. :) I managed to color my pale flesh a light shade of pink, but no burns. Thank Jebus for Australian Gold 35+ sunscreen...
It was great to get back out to Clearwater again. Knowing how bad the traffic can be, I got there around 11:00 and took up a spot near the pier. There were very few people on the beach at that hour, so I had a nice chunk of real estate all to myself for a little while. People slowly filtered in and for once, most of them were females. For some reason, I normally end up being surrounded by a bunch of loud-mouthed dudes when I venture out to Clearwater on my own. Thankfully, things were different this time.
At one point a drunk came meandering by, announcing his arrival, his departure, and his return to any ladies within ear shot. The females looked thrilled. A little later, some guido, complete with tribal tattoos, blowout hair, and a gait that was supposed to resemble a strut, sits down and starts bothering this young girl and her friend laying a few feet away from me. When they started laughing at him, he and his wingman got up and moved on to greener pastures. The whole exchange more or less made my day. I probably should have been bothering the same girls, but that's never been my style. Besides, without the tats and haircut, what hope did I possibly have?
Went straight from the beach to the cycle dealership. I couldn't have looked more out of place amongst all the chrome, jeans, and leather in board shorts and flip-flops. After a few minutes of staring at the two Deluxes they had on the floor, one of the salesmen decided to take a chance on the odd ball. We chatted for a bit, went back to the office and started playing the numbers game. Things got to the point that I wrote up my parts and gear wish lists, started pricing everything out, and filled out a credit app.
Went out to saddle up and feel the heft of Harley's nostalgia cruiser. The bike is so well balanced that it feels MUCH lighter than its listed dry weight of 700lbs. At one point, I was sitting on the bike with the kickstand up, both feet on the footboards, and was able to stand it up for a few seconds before it started slowly leaning toward the shift side. The seating positiong is perfect and the bike's center of gravity is very low. It felt good sitting still and I was amazed at how light the bike felt!
The thing about buying a Harley is that every dealership is adamant about getting MSRP, so the only real negotiating you can do is in the freight, prep, and extras. As far as the numbers go, I'm almost where I want to be, so it's very likely I'll be putting a deposit down on the bike tonight, potentially be picking it up Thursday or Friday. With any luck, pops and I will be able to do some riding this weekend. I need to get out in traffic in order to expand my understanding of what it means to be on a bike. Hopefully, the bike will be ready by Thursday, so that I can get some seat time in the neighborhood, and do some side street riding this weekend. Good times. :)
Labels: beach, motorcycles
Friday, April 20, 2007
Stephen Colbert's Meta-Free-For-All
Stephen Colbert is a genius...A GENIUS!!!
Labels: video
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Boring, thy name is "Erik"
I never imagined life going this way. Of all the options I considered as a kid: astronaut, racecar driver, fighter pilot, assassin, etc, 30-something office worker renting a room from his 'rents never seemed to come up, yet here I am. At 30 years old, I have no interesting drug stories, no Tucker Max style tales of debauchery, no genuinely bad behavior to speak of, and effectively few tales to tell. I'm sitting here thinking about all of this and it hits me, I'm boring. I'm not just boring, I'm utterly and incredibly mundane. The only thing more bland than my existence would be sand or maybe network television. When you are sitting in front of your computer and the realization that you are as entertaining as an infomercial, you start asking yourself, "How the fuck did I let this happen?"
I'm a decent looking guy with something resembling wit at my disposal. I have a moderate level of intelligence, can draw, can paint, have attended a top shelf racing school, can ride a motorcycle, have punched friends in the face for fun, and have drank myself uncontrollably stupid on more than one occasion. And yet the fact remains, I am painfully boring. Not only that, I find most people boring, and by most I mean nearly everyone. The fact that I'm boring disturbs and unsettles me. Boring is a tragedy, isn't it? Boring is an utter failure of the mind to insight the fires of the soul so that we can propel our bodies through this space in a fashion that is something other than ordinary. How the fuck have I ended up being so incredibly bored and boring at the same time? Can a boring person truly be bored? Doesn't the state of being bored insinuate that you would normally have something interesting to do?
I'm bored with celebrities, but I'm also bored with the common "every man". The proletariat and the "elite" are equally boring, if for different reasons. Art is interesting again, but I find myself completely without direction, creatively. Luckily, I'll be in another drawing class this Summer. Maybe that will spark the fires again. Who knows...
Had a little run-in with a couple of office folk yesterday. It all started when I made the mistake of mentioning that I got an account on Match.com. Now, given my history with women, which is to say little or no, I'm already a bit touchy about the subject. So it was unfortunate that the fact slipped past my lips before I had time to pull it back. It was even more unfortunate that the girl who happened to hear it decided to start giving me a hard time about it. Things went from bad to worse when another girl overheard us talking, then yet another started laughing, presumably AT me. Not good, and I reacted a little more harshly than anyone expected, apparently.
Things have been settled, more or less, but I find myself still being bothered by the fact that I was bothered at all. After all, my reasons for signing up on the site are not rooted in difficulties meeting women. Meeting women is easy, they're everywhere. Meeting single, interesting, available, and compatible women, that's something else entirely. So I didn't log on to Match looking for a fuck buddy, hook-ups, or even Ms. Right. Really, I'm just looking to get back in the mix and find some chicks to grab dinner or take a trip to the beach with.
And again the reality that I'm getting older gets battered home. I'm not 22 anymore. Some people say I look like I am in my mid-20s, which is great, but I'm not, so dating girls in their early to mid-20s really isn't as ready an option as it used to be. Which means my potential target demographic is moving up...now we're starting to talk late-20s. There's something a slight bit depressing about that. Women in the late-20s, or even early-30s (good lord...I'm almost in my early 30s!!) are going to have a lot more history and baggage than I do, generally speaking. It sucks, because I have the relationship history of a socially dysfunctional 16-year old, the mind of a withering 85-year old, and a body that could pass for 25...ish. I'm feeling more retarded every day!
Anyway, I'm going to stop in at Fletcher's this Saturday to talk motorcycles. I'm not worried about getting financed, as I'm almost totally free and clear there. My main concern at this point is getting the price where I want it, making sure I get the extras I'm looking for, and getting it all home in one piece. My thinking is that I'll let pops put the first miles on her. He's always wanted a big bike, though his steed of choice is the Road King. I think he'll enjoy riding something as nostalgic as the Deluxe and I'd hate like Hell to crash the thing on its maiden voyage. Never having handled a bike that heavy, I think it would be wise to baby step my way into this "big twin" thing.
Once she's at the homestead, I'll start toodling around the neighborhood and getting the feel of her before hitting some of the lesser traveled streets and boulevards around here. It should be interesting, to say the least. :)
Labels: life, motorcycles, retardation
Saturday, April 14, 2007
American Anthem
Artist: Cassettes Won't Listen (Liz Phair)
I woke up alarmed
I didn't know where I was at first
Just that I woke up in your arms
And almost immediately I felt sorry
'Cause I didn't think this would happen again
No matter what I could do or say
Just that I didn't think this would happen again
With or without my best intentions
And whatever happened to a girlfriend
The kind of girl who tries to win you over?
And whatever happened to a girlfriend
The kind of girl who makes love 'cause she's in it?
And I want a girlfriend
I want a girlfriend
I want all that boring old shit like letters and sodas
Letters and sodas
You got up out of bed
You said you had a lot of work to do
But I heard the rest in your head
And almost immediately I felt sorry
'Cause I didn't think this would happen again
No matter what I could do or say
Just that I didn't think this would happen again
With or without my best intentions
And I want a girlfriend
I want a girlfriend
I want all that stupid old shit like letters and sodas
And I can feel it in my bones
I'm gonna spend another year alone
It's fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was seventeen
Fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was twelve
And I can feel it in my bones
I'm gonna spend my whole life alone
It's fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was seventeen
Fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was twelve
You almost felt bad
You said that I should call you up
But I knew much better than that
And almost immediately you felt sorry
'Cause you didn't think this would happen again
No matter what you could do or say
Just that you didn't think this would happen again
Without or without your best intentions
And whatever happened to a girlfriend
The kind of chick who tries to win you over?
And whatever happened to a girlfriend
The kind of chick who makes love 'cause she's in it?
And I want a girlfriend
I want a girlfriend
I want all that boring old shit like letters and sodas
Letters and sodas
Letters and sodas
Letters and sodas
Seriously, does this not capture modern America or what? lol Stumbled across the track on some blog and thought it was funny. So many enlightened souls, so few therapists.
Anyway, did my first day of riding at the MSF course today. Was very good times! Don't have time to write about it now, but I'm asking the Great Spirit for sunny days tomorrow, or else we're riding in the rain. More later...
Labels: motorcycles, music
Monday, April 09, 2007
Helmet just arrived
The damn thing showed up in one day! After trying it on, I have to say that it fits perfectly. I'm very happy and can't wait to break it in this week at the New Rider's course. Yes, I look that tired all the time these days. Fecking yikes!!
Labels: motorcycles
Sunday, April 08, 2007
My nieces are the cutest babies in the world!!
Some pics of the twins enjoying their first Easter. Aaawwwww!
Labels: the twins
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Coming to terms
As I get closer and closer to my 30th birthday, I find myself coming to terms with some things. First and foremost being my own mortality. Some series of neurons in my mind has begun firing in a sequence that seems to continuously remind me that my time on this Earth is limited. Maybe this is the male version of a biological clock, maybe I am having a mid-life crisis, I honestly can't be certain. The worry is that I will not have had an impact, or at least, my presence in this world has been trivial. While that shouldn't bother, as I realize that the very notion of significance in a temporary existence is ridiculous, the feeling is inescapable.
It is a curious thing. Have I done enough good? Will I have enough time to make something more of this life than basic existence? Does any of it make any difference, at the end? I'm not sure and I must admit that a part of me is very worried that the answers are no, no, and no. The search for meaning in a place which is so superficial and shortsighted is an uphill climb into a steady head wind and I'm becoming acutely aware that a part of me is no longer sure that I will make the summit.
Ultimately, the search for meaning in this place and time may be my Everest, and I may be George Mallory. What if my destiny is to seek and never find? What if I am to wander the mountain until the merciless cold and thinning air overtake me? Will some stronger soul find my shriveled remains, my failures forever marked by the husk of who I used to be? I feel like my spirit has so much more to give, but there seem to be so few legitimate causes left to pursue.
There is good in us, but what good is "good" when it is clouded or masked by so much soil? So many of us are soiled by layers of lies, delusions, and falsifications - what power does Truth hold? In these moments of uncertainty, reality seems to disenchanting. I can see why so many run from it.
All of this because of a birthday...a number in a sequence of numbers that ultimately serve as a basic measurement of our physical reality. I don't feel like 30 is right around the corner. In many ways, I still feel 20, or even 10. So much of this world is still a mystery - there are so many wonders yet to understand. But my vision is tainted by time and experiences. Physically I may be in the same shape I was at 20, but my thoughts sometimes feel 100 years old. Throughout my entire life, I have been nagged by a sense that there is no place for me here. As I have grown older, my longing for a place of beauty, harmony, and love has grown stronger, but my belief that such a place is impossible has grown with it. The two are constantly in conflict and the yin-yang is a torture at times.
So I will learn to ride a motorcycle and I will buy one that looks as if it was designed 50 or 60 years ago. I will ride off into early mornings and evening sunsets and will do my best to forget this place and time. With any luck, my awareness of the humans I share this space with will fall away from conscious awareness and my spirit will be alone with the Earth and the sky and all the things that humanity's white noise works so tenaciously to silence or hide.
To that end, I ordered my helmet on Thursday. It's a carbon/kevlar, top-shelf unit that covers the entirety of my fragile cranium. Hopefully there will not ever come a time when I should need such protection, but better to be safe than forever sorry. MSF classes start on Thursday and run through Sunday afternoon, so the bike hunt should begin sometime next week. Will I be the youngest person riding a Harley-Davidson Deluxe? Possibly, but then what sense would any other scenario possibly make?
p.s. Updated my DeviantArt profile with some stuff from this term at Eckerd. Anyone who cares can check it out here: DeviantArt
Labels: life
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Louis CK on gay marriage
This guy is the source of some of Dane Cook's best material. A great take on the irrational nature of conservative America's argument against gay marriage. With so many of my heterosexual peers screwing the institution of marriage in the wazoo sans anything resembling lubricant, is it really possible to argue against people who literally shove things up the wazoo sans lubricant partaking in a little marriage goodness? That piece of Rome is already burning, I see no reason not to put some more fuel on the fire. The quicker it burns, the sooner something good might rise from the ashes.
Definitely not safe for work. :)