A long ride.

Is the subject a metaphor for my life, perhaps?

I just got back a little while ago from a decent ride through Seattle. Rode up the viaduct to Western, then up 15th NW, then went all the way around Magnolia. From there, I continued north. I went through Ballard, and then rode to Shilshole and stopped at Golden Gardens for a few minute break. After that, I rode up through Loyal Heights, then back down to Ballard again, and then cut over through Phinney back to 99. What a nice, calm ride. The bike's now past its first 600 miles, and yesterday I performed its first oil change, chain lubrication/cleaning, and inspection (with the help of a friend, of course). I am, so far, having a lot of fun riding the bike.

My life has changed very much in the past year, and even moreso in the past seven months. I've made new friends, strengthened other friendships, and ended a long relationship. In the past year, I've made two trips to India, a trip to Canada, a trip to Vegas, and a couple other business trips. I bought a new car for myself after my ex's car died. She got the current car I had at the time, and I just gave it to her when we broke up. I bought a bike just a couple of weeks ago.

So yes, while I've made many interesting trips and met new people, I've also made mistakes along the way. I have made some poor personal choices that have interrupted my life and affected others. I have dragged my friends through this crap, and while they've been great, they shouldn't have had to deal with this. I love my friends for all they've done for me, and I feel truly lucky to have them in my life.

I find myself feeling lonely far too often, even though I spend plenty of time with my friends. Coming home to an empty house has been depressing, as well. Unfortunately, in these moments of loneliness, I feel weak, and I've done stupid things to try to ease the loneliness. Very stupid things.

There was a time when I had no problem being alone and, in fact, I relished in it. I loved being introverted and antisocial. Those days are behind me now, and I find I want to spend time with my friends as much as possible. But spending all of this time with friends only provides temporary relief from the crap in my life that I need to take care of. I'm working on that.

So again, to my friends, thank you for being there and listening to me. You've seen how crazy I have been the past few months, and I think that might get a little worse before it gets better. Bear with me. I'm working on straightening myself out.

There are situations and people in my life that have contributed to my state of mind, but it's all of my own doing. There's someone that says I have a guilt complex about this, but I find it hard not to. I made the mistakes, I have to live with them.

So enough of the emo rambling.

Anyway - my birthday is in 2 weeks - party on the night of the 12th, people! At my house. You're all, of course, invited.

HPD

Histrionic Personality Disorder.

Huh, how 'bout that! Reminds me of someone I know. For those who know me, well, they'll get it.

Something new.

Today is the 7th day of ownership:

2006 Suzuki V-Strom 650.

It's fun.

Driving in India

Awesome:

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=ef52ab75db44e40016a01b1f66556aee.598273

There was an intersection near my hotel that was very much like this intersection. We had to make the right turn, go through the intersection to get to the front of the hotel. It was amazing. The video is sped up quite a bit, but this is what it feels like.

Motorcycle class

The good news is that I passed the class. All I need to do is show my completion card at a DoL office and I can get my endorsement added to my license. This makes that class completely worth it. 96/100 on the written test and 85/100 on the skills. I blew the u-turns test. I can't blame the bike, as I nailed the u-turns in practice earlier in the day (they give you a 20'x40' box to do two u-turns in). The bike, by the way, was a Honda Rebel 250.

I'm feeling the effects of working some muscles on my body from riding that I haven't worked in a while. And I spent Friday moving our lab full of servers up to a different floor in our building. So I'm still sore from that.

After class, I went looking at bikes. I finally got to sit on a V-strom 650, and it was pretty much what I was expecting. It's a large bike, and pretty high up, but it is just what I'm looking for. I wish I could find something similar that's a little bit cheaper, as I don't want to sink so much money on a first bike like that. If anybody has any suggestions, let me know.

Snakes on a plane.

And that's all that needs to be said about that.

Motorcycle training class starts tomorrow. I bought a helmet, gloves, and some decent hiking boots that cover my ankles for it. Not sure if or when I'll buy a bike, but I'm looking at something in the 500-800cc range, at least to start out on.