Breaking Boredom

Wo bu zhi dao Ni bu zhi dao Wo ge men bu zhi dao! "...the so-called real world of men and money and power hums merrily along in a pool of fear and anger and frustration and craving and worship of self. Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom. The freedom all to be lords of our tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the centre of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talk about much in the great outside world of wanting and achieving…. The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day. That is real freedom. That is being educated, and understanding how to think. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the rat race, the constant gnawing sense of having had, and lost, some infinite thing."

[livelongdropdead-blog]

Love and motorcycles

Comfort, communication, and trust can lead to amazing feats. Whereas fear and panic usually lead to disaster. Two people in a relationship and a rider with his/her motorcycle both require communication with the other to bring about trust and comfort.  A rider feels what the bike feels through the handlebars. Two people have open verbal and non-verbal communication. A rider trusts the bike with  a loose grip on the handlebars and holds on with their legs as a good base. Two people establish trust through promises and do not grip the other person in constant suspicion.

Trust leads to comfort. Comfort with a bike leads to more speed. Comfort with another person leads to more intimacy. More speed is more fun. More intimacy is more fun. 

Enough speed on a bike leads to gravity defying feats like the photo above.

Enough intimacy with another person and well... let's just say motorcycles are the most fun anyone can have with their clothes ON ;) With enough trust and comfort you can ride and love through a storm. 

[livelongdropdead-blog]

Love and motorcycles

Both feel exhilarating. But both possess an inherent danger. It is in that inherent danger we fear them. A broken heart or a broken leg. To the logical and self-preserving minds both are actions taken by the insane. You fall off either and you can end up beating yourself up for mistakes. Both show how you are only human. But in showing us we are only human, we truly begin to live. Both show how reckless abandonment of safety or knowledge of hazards will result in a catastrophe. Blissfully riding 100mph in the rain is comparable to being unaware of a partners's concerns, moods or temperament.

[livelongdropdead-blog]

Sunset in NJ

[livelongdropdead-blog]

Monday morning relaxation

[rongejon]

Jessica Nigri as Fox McCloud

[rongejonphotography]

#JessicaNigri as #FoxMcCloud #Cosplay

[livelongdropdead-blog]

*foxxy mccloud

[livelongdropdead-blog]

Goodbye Sisyphus ( warning:somewhat dramatic post)

I've spent years thinking I could overcome this on my wit, but it had been too many years. This foolishness has to come to an end. I've tried changing circumstances, but I've only let those circumstances change me into a fool. All those reasons I told myself. All the effort wasted. I could chalk it up to being young and dumb, but up I until I noticed the mountain of fallacies I allowed to pile up. I've allowed myself to be an idiot for too long. It doesn't matter how late we stayed up; how inside our jokes became; how many times I tried to change my beliefs; how good I became at bowling; how much you called me up; none of it matters. I twisted what was there for something else. It's okay though. To err is human. I'll just let this boulder sit at the bottom of this hill and find something else to do.

[livelongdropdead-blog]

[livelongdropdead-blog]

It's like they read my blog from a few years ago. 

[livelongdropdead-blog]

How much I love my bikes.

[livelongdropdead-blog]

:D

[livelongdropdead-blog]

Sleeping Arya

[livelongdropdead-blog]

Ice and Fire. One for the racetrack and the other for commuting around.

[livelongdropdead-blog]

name is "Ice" LOL I ride on Ice. It's a fitting name. Whenever I ride it's a reminder I'm on something dangerous if I'm not careful. There are five benefits I learned when on a bike. Chief among them is that both girls and guys like you just cause you ride lol. Second is the cheap mileage, 60mpg! Third is easy parking. The other two are mental. I'll save the best for last and continue with "being on a bike is liberating and feels more alive than being in a car" Sure being in a car is safer. But I always felt as though through a car you just watch the world through a window as opposed to being in if. I don't have wipers in the rain, I feel the moisture and drops. I don't have a frame around me I feel the wind. I don't have heaters or AC I feel the heat of summer and the freeze of winter. You have 2 feet of steel and rubber between you and the road, all I have are my boots. I don't have a radio or passengers to disturb my focus. it's just me, my bike, and the road. The best benefit of being on the bike is that riding one puts everything else in your life in order. On my bike I know I always have death riding with me. His presence has made my life more meaningful ever since I got on the saddle. I don't take anything for granted anymore. I seize more opportunities and no longer have that hesitant voice in my head. Not because of the confidence I get riding but because I know now happiness is a choice and something you can have everyday. You can have it everyday based on the fact you are alive. You can't be happy or sad when you're dead, cause you're dead! I love my family, my dogs, and my closest friends more in the past two months.

[livelongdropdead-blog]

Practice

In order to get licensed you practice enough to get it right. However, I believe you must practice until you can’t get it wrong. My most mastered skill is playing "Bells are ringing" on the piano. I must have spent days on it when used 8. As a teenager I played a racing game called Gran Turismo 3 religiously everyday for a year. Whenever my friends played with me the next year, I was able to make it seem like I could lose. But in truth I was just practicing my aggressive driving lines. I also spent 4 months practicing my jumpshot. In the following intramural games, if i were left even 3 feet of space i could hoist the ball so accurate it entered the hoop vertically. As a college kid I played guitar hero songs to the point I could play without even looking at the screen. Practice. Something that should be praised in children. Something I should get back to doing. Practice!

[livelongdropdead-blog]

I don't always put up hopeless romantic pictures, but when I do they involve motorcycles. 

[livelongdropdead-blog]

2012 in review

What long strange year it has been. There were a lot of firsts: first dog, first motorcycle, first job, first accident, first credit card, and much more. I learned to care for a dog, place a 16G IV, ride a motorcycle, fall off a motorcycle. I flew to Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. Adopted a "paleo/primal" lifestyle. Fell in love, fell out of love. Picked up a religion , dropped a religion. A year ago I said I was looking forward to what 2012 would bring and it did not disappoint. It was a great year, one that will be remembered fondly and seen as a landmark year when everything changed. 2013 You have quite an act to follow. 

[livelongdropdead-blog]