Back in the Day

My afternoon started off innocently enough. I started doing a few things online, then after a while found my way over to some streaming audio. While there, I listened to some mid/late 90s rock songs and had some memories associated with those songs pop into my head for the first time in years. I smiled at some, laughed at one, cringed at another, and eventually became overwhelmed by nostalgia.

For the most part, I am not a nostalgic person. I learned a long time ago to accept that the past is in the past, and there's nothing I can do to go back and change it or even relive it. I will often revisit things in my memory, the good, the bad, AND the ugly, and crack a silly little crooked smile thinking about whatever it was that I/we had done. It's nice to look back on your life events and get a smile or two.

Often my thoughts about the past revolve around people or pets who aren't around anymore. Whether they have died or just moved far enough away to seem dead or just someone that I grew apart from. This time, that didn't apply at all. I was nostalgic for a feeling. I didn't feel young yesterday, and missed what it felt like to be in my late teens or early twenties.

It's a very important time in anyone's development, because of just how many life lessons you learn in those few years. I mean, most of the time before that is spent focusing on how to get you there, but not on what to do once you get there. You have tons of questions, and a bunch of friends who don't know the answers either to help you explore those questions, and maybe even some of the answers too.

Thinking about it though, I'm not sure that I would choose to go back to that time now even if I could. I know there are quite a few things that I would do differently, and my life would be drastically different than it is today. There would be a few improvements I am sure, but who knows how that would effect the people (or pets) currently in my life? What makes my life worth living is the people around me and my dogs. I'd never get over making a decision differently if the consequence meant someone important to me would drift away.

Things in life, at least so far for me, seem to happen in a strange way, and often at times I least expect. You never know what life is going to throw at you, and what that will, in turn, lead you to. A long, strange, set events that were both very sad and expensive eventually led to Guinness coming into my life. While the months before the day I met Guinness, only a handful of hours before he was to be put to sleep, were pure mental anguish, the years that followed have been enhanced by his presence in a way that very few people could ever know or understand. I rescued him from the gas chamber, and my boy has been rescuing me on a daily basis ever since.

Some great friends have come into my life purely by chance as well. It's funny to compare life stories now and "I was there TOO" moments with the friends that I just happened to come across after years of crossing paths with but never meeting. The right place and right time finally presented itself though, and the rest is history.

Knowing that these vital aspects of my life could be affected by me doing anything different would weigh too heavily on my mind for me to even be able to feel the same way I did back then. So any thoughts of "going back" wouldn't really get any consideration from me anyway if it were a possibility.

I guess I am just going to have to keep reliving my youth one snippet of memory at a time, and reflect on how great today is because of all those fleeting moments long ago.

Mood Music

It's no secret that music can effect my mood. Wow has that statement ever been true today. Since I woke up at 4, my mood has just been looking for a reason to change....and change it has, like every 20 minutes.

Throughout the day, and actually this has applied to the whole week, my mood has been bouncing all over the place. Tonight iTunes has a lot to do with it. There were a few things I wanted to get done online tonight, since I slept through the entire afternoon again, and while I was doing them, I had iTunes on shuffle.

I began to get distracted. Certain songs would lead me to certain places online, and nothing I intended to do was getting done. I guess it's a blessing in disguise in one way, since I am finally getting another blog post up, but it's tough on me when I feel this A.D.D.

I'm sure my lack of concentration is apparent in this post as well, but I guess I just had to get this thought out of my head on down "on paper". While one of my Facebook friends commented tonight that Facebook is like free therapy, and I kind of agree, I think this little corner of the internet I reside in is much better....even if it's just some disjointed rambling about music affecting my mood.
COME AND OPEN UP YOUR FOLDING CHAIR NEXT TO ME
Now with this realization firmly in my grasp, I will try to get some sleep and let Regina sing me a lullaby or two once I get in bed. I always seem to sleep better with her.
MY FEET ARE BURIED IN THE SAND AND THERE'S A BREEZE

Taking Off

I have been looking forward to this long weekend for a while now. I had a great time up north over Memorial Weekend, and this one looks to be even better. The weather is going to be Max friendly (and more importantly Guinness friendly) and I should be able to beat a lot of the traffic today since I get off work so early. Hopefully I will be unpacking just as rush hour starts.

One of the best things about being up north is the lack of communication when I am up there. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365.25 days a year I have my phone on me, and turned on. If it rings, I answer. Service in the cabin is spotty at best, and when we are on the lake I don't get any service at all. It's a little easier to relax when you know the phone won't ring.

The flip side of that is that I won't have any internet service the whole weekend....then again, is that all that bad either? Unplugging every now and again is somewhat therapeutic. My time up there will be well spent, even if I don't do a damn thing the whole time.

Random Survey

Last night I took some Motrin before going to bed to help me sleep with this pulled neck muscle, which is getting better....but still not completely healed. I thought I had eaten recently enough for it to not bother my stomach, but I was wrong.

I pulled myself out of bed 19 minutes after 11 and jumped in my truck, figuring an Oreo shake from BK would do the trick. 20 minutes, and TWO BKs later, I sat down to eat and watch the end of the Tiger game. They were playing in Oakland, so I knew they'd be on til about 1am.

To entertain myself as I ate and watched the bullpen struggle to put away the A's, I was bouncing around the web on my laptop, where I came across this survey and decided to fill it out. Since I don't post these things on Facebook or Myspace (does Myspace even exist anymore?), I figured I would post it here.

1) What is your boyfriend/girlfriends name? While I am currently off the market, I don't have a significant other. It just doesn't make sense for me to date right now.

2) What color underwear/boxers wearing now? Navy

3) What are you listening to right now? Amazing by Kanye. I blame the NBA Playoff commercials for this.

4) Whats your favorite number? 56

5) What was the last thing you ate? 19g of dry Cheerios. 70 calories to start my day off.

6) When was the last time you smiled? When I opened my e-mail this morning.

7) How is the weather right now? Overcast and seasonably cool.

8) Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? My mommy.

9) What is your worst habit? Procrastinating

11) Do you drink? Rarely

12) Do you smoke? That's even rarer.

13) When was the last time, if ever, blacked-out from drinking? December 2006 in Vegas.

14) Hair color? Light brown

15) Eye Color? Light brown

16) Do you wear contacts? No

17) Favorite Holiday? Halloween. I can dress and act inappropriately, girls costumes get smaller and smaller every year, and its less than a week before my birthday.

18) Favorite Month? April. It usually when I can start looking forward to riding on a somewhat consistent basis.

19) Have you ever cried for no reason? Not that I can recall.

20) What was the last movie you watched? I watched Star Wars Episode II last night on TV, but the last movie I went out to see was The Hangover this past Saturday. Very good movie. I was completely uninterested in it when I saw the trailer for it, but heard enough good reviews to go see it. I am glad I did.

21) Favorite Day of the Year? Well, it's not the same day each year....but it's for the same reason. This year it will be October 8th. I'll be flying to Vegas that morning.

22) Are you too shy to ask someone out? I don't think I have ever had a problem with this.

23) Last advice you received? "ALWAYS take ALL meds with food or milk." Not a bad idea really.

24) What was the highlight of your weekend? My Sunday ride with Cory and Tish. We put about 150 miles on the bikes, and in the middle of it we got to have dinner with my parents at Zukey Lake Tavern.

25) Chocolate or Vanilla? It depends, but usually Vanilla....covered in chocolate, well hot fudge really. Mmmm.

26) What is the last text message you received? Not sure, I erase them very frequently....and the last one I have saved is definitely not to be shared. My eyes only. :-)

27) What is the last text message you sent? "Join the coven....lol." Instead of join the club....see what I did there? In response to someone talking about being part vampire lately since they don't sleep at night.

28) Who was the last person to call you? My mommy, after two calls to her went unanswered yesterday afternoon when I wanted to let her know that the drive-by near my house didn't affect me at all....and that I wasn't the dead body found in a Grand Cherokee in Detroit either.

29) What books are you reading? None at the moment, but would love some suggestions. I will need something for the weekend up north, and if I don't get some good suggestions I will just reread The Odyssey. I got the idea after talking to Mark yesterday about "the classics" and how many are overrated, but I still have my favorites....like The Odyssey.

30) When was the last time you slept in someone else's bed? I've slept on beds or couches that aren't mine recently, but I don't remember the last time I slept in someone else's bed. Wow, I should probably remedy that.

31) Favorite movie? Fight Club

32) Favorite football team? Washington Redskins....despite the name being so insensitive to Natives.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE....HONESTLY

33) What were you doing before this? Preparing my spreadsheets for the day....FUN.

34. Any pets? Two wonderful dogs.

36) Butter, Plain or Salted popcorn? Butter and salt, but I need to cut all of that out anyway.

37) Dogs or cats? Dogs....but we can keep a few cats around for my dogs to "play" with.

38) Favorite flowers? I like the look of roses, but I LOVE the smell of lilac.

39) When was the last time you got in trouble? I'm too boring to get into trouble anymore.

41) Have you ever loved someone? Without a doubt.

42) Who would you like to see right now? I've got someone in mind....

43) Are you still friends with people from kindergarten ? I wouldn't classify Jeff as a "friend" anymore since I only see him once every few years, but if I saw him more often we would still be good friends I am sure.

44) Have you ever fired a gun? Yes, but not recently enough. I need to get back to the range.

45) Do you like to travel by plane? Yes, it's SO much easier....assuming the trip wouldn't be drivable in 4 hours or less. If that's the case, I'd rather be behind the wheel....or handlebars if the weather is nice.

46) What website do you frequently visit? CNN.com probably gets most of my pageloads.

47) If you could be with someone right now, who would it be? I already answered this as vaguely as possible before....see number 42.

48) How many pillows do you sleep with? Three on the bed, only one under my head.

49) Are you missing someone? I usually am.

50) Do you have a Tattoo? Not yet, but I have a feeling if I ever get one....I'll end up with at least 4.

51) Are there people on your myspace page that you would date or go on a date with? I have no clue....myspace is dead to me nowadays. Now if I applied this to Facebook? Definitely.

SONUVA....

What wonderful weekend weather we witnessed.

After sweating it out the second half of last week, we were graced with a nearly perfect weekend in terms of weather. Nice weather + a couple days off = time on the bike. I didn't put as many miles on the X this weekend as I had the previous couple of weekends, nor did I hit any small town festivals like last weekend, but I did tally about 250 miles over Saturday and Sunday.

So there's the good. Here's the bad; I pulled a muscle in my neck on our ride back from Zukey Lake Tavern last night. Hit a bump I wasn't expecting to be too bad on North Territorial, and my head went a little too far to the right. It hurt at first, but not too bad. It was sore later, but not too bad. When I went to sleep, it wasn't too bad. When I woke up, it was too bad. I can't turn my head to the right or even keep it level without it hurting. I've been tilting to the left for a little while now, and I am just about sick of it.

OK, enough complaining.

The ride we took was really cool. Cory mapped out a course that included a couple road I had never been on, whether with my bike or a car, and they turned out to be great for riding. I always like to try new roads on the bike, and it's so much better when they turn out the way it did yesterday. I'll definitely find my way out there again soon. Anyone feel like jumping on and taking a nice scenic ride with me?

Looks like I won't be able to ride most of this week, if the forecasts are accurate. It's supposed to rain until Thursday night....and I should be up north for the 4th by that time. The weather forecast for the weekend look great for riding, but I will take an extended weekend with my dogs and my dad over a ride whenever I can.

So I guess I should say something about Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, and Billy Mays all dying since my last post.

Reunited With My X

Until the past couple weekends, it had been an awful long time since I got to spend any quality time with my X. After a few months of price shopping for the rear tire I wanted, I finally found a deal and bought one. Since I don't mount and balance my own tires, I generally pop the wheel off the bike and take it and the new tire up to Rosenau to have them do that for me.

After a little improvisation to get my X on the bike jack, the frame sits a little lower than the jack will go, I started to take the rear wheel off....until I ran into a space problem. I had the correct size socket for my rear axle, but the socket won't fit between the pipes and the wheel, so I needed a wrench. Drove to Murray's. Nope. Looked online at other places, nope. Found some on Sears website, $60 was the cheapest one I saw....gave up. Long story short, I put some air in the old back tire and just rode it up to Rosenau and paid the extra money to have it all done.

This was the Friday before last, and at the end of my ride on Sunday I had put over 700 miles on my new tire....in just ten days. And four of those days I was unable to ride because of weather or work, so I averaged more than 100 miles for each day I rode the X.

The day I get her back on the road, the Friday before last, was the same day we lost game Seven to Pittsburgh. After that debacle, I took her out for a night ride. Not too far, but I got to spend some quality time with my favorite girl, so that's always nice.

The next day called for rain most of the day, but the rain never came. I finally took her out for another night ride when I went out to Novi to meet up with everyone at Mbargo for Pam's 30th.

Sunday I took a ride out to Hell, MI with Cory & Tish and a bunch of other Harley riders. Even with a little joking about my metric cruiser from Cory as we started the ride at Cheli's, my X fit in nicely, and even out performed Cory's "bulletproof" Harley a few times when we all hit the gas. It was funny to see his head whip over to me as I pulled away from him when he had his throttle all the way open. :-)

I had a blast on the ride out there, and took pics of some cool bikes while we were at the rally, but hanging out with a bunch of cops only reminded me of the poor shape I am in, and how far I have to go in such little time. I guess it's good to have more motivation, but it was an unwelcome reminder that afternoon.

Jumping ahead to this past weekend, Friday night was a washout with all the rain and flooding we got in the area, but Saturday was gorgeous and most of the roads were dry in time for me to ride all the way to Coldwater, MI to check out their Strawberry festival. Honestly, I didn't see all that many strawberries out there, but had a great strawberry/banana smoothie and checked out some cool booths in the festival area.

I should have saved the ride to Coldwater for Sunday, but I wasn't sure how long I'd be in Howell with my dad for Father's Day. Spending approximately 7 hours on my bike before riding to Kelley and Justin's house for their party. I was already tired when I got there, and wasn't quite my outgoing self throughout the night. Although, I am sure Michelle would beg to differ.

Sunday was Father's day, another day of riding, and another small city festival. I met my parents in downtown Howell where they were waiting for me since my ride was about twice as long as normal because of construction. They weren't upset at all though, since my father won $150 on Keno while they waited.

After walking around the festival we went back to their house. They were about to leave for up north so I chatted with them while they packed, and with Jen for a little while when she stopped by with her girls to say hi. After my short visit, I took the long way home and explored a few unfamiliar roads along the way. I finally made my way to the video store, to see if I could get my hands on something I really want. Mmm, rawr! (smirk)

I went into Video Exclusive to see if they had the second season of Mad Men on DVD yet, but was disappointed to see only season one on the shelf. I turned to walk out of the store, and when I did I saw that the first season of True Blood was on the shelf. I had heard a few good things about it, so I decided to give it a try. So far so good, but I am only a couple episodes into it. I am sure I will talk about it here later.

I had also planned to post my morning playlist from today, but I think I've said enough already....I mean, if I am getting bored with writing this post, I can just imagine what it must be like reading it.

Gone Ridin'

Trekking across lower central Michigan today. Hitting a couple town festivals/fairs, then back home to get ready for Kelley and Justin's party.