Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Dreamy

My dream bike.

Well, I mean, in addition to my 400. This is more for the road.

gimmee.


http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~sv650/Frame%20Enduro.html


Comments:
Pauly Unsaturated

Things must be crazy cheap in Australia. $1900AUD=$1500USD. You'd be hard pressed to just find those forks here for that much.



Hey!


hey!

Posted by Pauly Unsaturated on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 at 9:23 PM




Rebecca:

Cool, well, christmas is coming. Tell my parents that's what I really need!
Convince them that I would crash less, they dig that kind of thing.

Posted by Rebecca on Wednesday, December 01, 2004 at 11:19 AM

Monday, November 29, 2004

My deadbeat brother

<>I am completely at a loss of what to do without my brother around for the holidays.
It made a little bit of sense to me, that my sister, once married, would alternate Thanksgiving dinner with her in-laws and Christmas dinner with her in-laws, every year. We still saw her Christmas morning, so this was somewhat acceptable. But my brother, who has apparently gone over to the dark side, is not even going to bother coming home for either of the two! And he’s not even married yet! This is pretty depressing to me. I am a complete sucker for Christmas, and I really can’t imagine it without my family all together.

Thanksgiving was a little depressing, first, because my brother didn’t come, but second, because my sister and her husband could not make it, since their car crapped out in Livermore. So neither of my siblings showed, and furthermore I had no real food since my sister was bringing the veggie food. That’s fine, Thanksgiving feasting turned into Thanksgiving snacking, which I can totally live with. But not having them around was weird and sad. My uncle and aunt had gone south, and very few of my cousins were there. My grandparents seem to have been ambushed by aging in the past couple of years, and this is visibly upsetting my grandfather. Maybe it’s a good thing that our numbers were so small: less stress for my grandparents?

Friday was a much better day. Grandma Kay’s waffles for breakfast (with peanut butter and maple syrup!) and then we went wine tasting, bringing along my grandparents. Which they REALLY enjoyed. I got tossed, and bought way too much wine. We picked up fancy-pants cheese on the way home, for a quick wine and cheese party. I was already drunk, then we all binged and ate too goddam much cheese, until we felt sick. Well, at least I did. I considered puking to make myself feel better, and for old times sake, since I always got sick at my grandma’s house as a child. But instead, crashed out face down in the turret room upstairs. Nap time was crudely interrupted by my mom who wanted me to get up to see a crappy movie. They only show crappy movies in Jackson, and The Incredibles was the least offensive. My grandparents had a wonderful time with us on Friday, and that night my grandmother slept through 8 hours for the first time in months.

Saturday, breakfast at Rosebud’s (best coffeecake in the world), tiny bit of shopping, and then home again. I baked brownies for my folks, which we scarfed with port, then we pulled out the Christmas stuff from the observatory. (no spiders this time, but did get one dead cricket.) Somehow it’s all left to me, and no siblings, decorating the tree with my mom. Sigh. I’m going to go cry now.

Currently listening:
Merry Christmas From the Space-Age
By Esquivel
Release date: By 20 August, 1996

Sunday, November 14, 2004

valve lash and meeting the 'rents

<>Wahoo!
Good news! My DRZ exhaust valves are too tight. Finally, the dang thing shows signs of how it can be fixed. It was getting ridiculous to ride for a while. Parts are on order.

Everyone knows I can not cook to save my life, so Friday, I tried to make Paul teach me how to cook stuff. It worked, and was not too scary. I’m sure it bewilders him how I can be a vegetarian for 15 years and know nothing about vegetables.

Saturday afternoon was one of those sunny San Francisco Saturdays that make you wonder what exactly you’ve been doing with your time that makes you miss out on these lazy shuffling around the city days. It will start raining soon, and the sidewalks will become empty and the streets hostile again. Christmas time in my neighborhood is the worst, and I saw this weekend that the traffic has already started. Union Square before Christmas is as bad as it gets. One year this guy in a Lincoln Town Car Limo thingie ran over my foot on purpose. He was stuck in the predictable traffic snarl, and angry I suppose. I crumpled up the bag of chips I was eating and emptied it into his lap for shits. Oddly, getting your foot run over by a car doesn’t actually hurt. But it does make you mad. (like crashing motorcycles)

Saturday night I did something I haven’t done since I was about 13, and went to meet my beau’s mom. I was nervous, to be honest. But it was OK. She was pretty much like I’d imagined, and did not say anything like “stay away from my son, you floozy!” or “when are you planning to get a real job?” or “so, are you knocked up?” No, she was just as sweet and intelligible as I’d imagined, and fed me ice cream and wine and cheese and olives. Perfect. She did NOT, however, break out with any nekkid baby pictures, sadly. And didn’t seem to have any embarrassing stories to tell. Maybe later.

But Sunday, Sunday was the icing on the cake. Mimosas for breakfast, and then took apart my DRZ. And found the exhaust valves were omigod tight. Which is almost certainly the reason my bike has been dying constantly. This can be fixed, fairly simply, so that’s a great relief. I have really been missing my DRZ.

I was feeling sorry for Paul, as we rode back over the bridge, that he is riding with me, and it’s like riding with a goddam newbie rider. Every time I get on my bike, I ride a little bit worse. It’s embarrassing for me and surely for anyone unfortunate enough to ride with me. Putting air back in the SV tires spooked me a little, but I’m sure it’s a good thing once I get used to it. Need to learn more about suspension and figure out what steps to take with that bike, since the SV is the culprit, I believe, that makes me such a shit rider these days. I’m thinking, set the rear suspension more correctly if possible, perhaps do something with fork oil. Try to get advice from Charles. Then consider the options of throw money at it, or get out. Anyway, having the DRZ back up to snuff will be great.

Then I COOKED. It was unbelievable and fun, and did not turn out disastrous. I had a little supervision and moral support, but mostly, I am capable of a simple recipe. Hmph.

Aaaaaaand, Christmas is coming. Which I LOVE. I am crazy for Christmas music, and cookies, and family time. So I’m pretty excited. All starting this Thursday with family stuff in Sutter Creek. Wine tasting on Friday, and hopefully a Christmas tree at the folks’ house this weekend. Woot!



Comments:

Pauly Unsaturated

You forgot to mention the $230 enima.

Posted by Pauly Unsaturated on Saturday, November 27, 2004 at 7:26 PM



Rebecca: well, I still think you paid too much for that, so I wasn't going to bring it up!
Posted by Rebecca on Saturday, November 27, 2004 at 7:27 PM

Thursday, November 11, 2004

sit on my lap

<>OK, shit. What the heck do I get my parents, brother, sister, and in-laws for Christmas?

Last year, I made my brother and sister footie pajamas like we had when we were kids.

Now what?
Ack!

Tell me what you want for christmas. Sit on my lap. This will be our little secret, right?

Currently listening:
Dr. Demento Presents: Greatest Christmas Novelty CD
By Various Artists
Release date: By 31 July, 1989

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

today's horoscope

<>Leo: (July 23—Aug. 22)
Opening a free amusement park was a great idea, but people will be revolted by your idea of amusement.

validation

<>oh good. I'm finally getting spam on MySpace.


"Yo. This is that site our mutual friend shot for. It's an amateur site but
she is naked as a jaybird in there. Keep watching the video. She get's real
nasty. I can't believe she did that! :)"


I wouldn't find this so offensive if it weren't for the abuse of the apostrophe.
I was totally fooled by the "mutual friend" thing too! darn those clever spammers! uhhh, yeah.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

what's underneath, even when the shiny side's up

<>It’s not so often, but sometimes the self-doubt becomes too much. Maybe I really suck at this. Maybe I should take the fucking hint. They’re not exactly subtle hints, anyway. They’re violent, painful, shocking, smelly bad hints, with metal snapping, fingers grinding, sparks flying. I can hear the motor as it spins away. Sometimes it’s a quick one, and sometimes it unfolds in slow motion. Maybe you're looking at the bottom of the motorcycle behind you, rider in panic; you can see his suspension load up as he screeches to a halt. What an interesting view it is down here!

For a while, I got better. I got better, and better, and it was fun. Then the fear set in. It started on July 11th, and it’s been getting worse since. There’s no explanation for that one, so it’s only me.

I can excuse myself somewhat for last night, but in the end, it’s always only you. That’s what makes you the rider. You are always responsible. Hit a deer? What were you doing speeding through the forest? I know. I do it, and when it happens, that’s what I’m going to ask myself. Car made a left in front of you? We all know that’s the most common accident, you should have taken some precaution. Did you make enough eye contact? Was your headlight working? Did you slow down for the intersection? You should know this, you’ve heard the stories, read the articles, you’ve even professed it to others. So what’s your fucking excuse?

I could explain it, that someone put three bottles of motor oil in the intersection where I make my turn after crossing Market Street. Going back and seeing the bottles and puddles meant something to me for sure. But the frequency tells me that there’s something wrong with ME. How many miles have I gone? Probably more than you. So why now, why all of the sudden, have I completely lost it? And what am I doing ignoring these messages?

I started out scared and it took a few years and many thousands of miles to gain some confidence. It was an uphill battle but there was a golden period earlier this year where I HAD IT. But the past few months I’ve just been sliding down the other side of the mountain, taking twigs and rocks in the face and hating myself more every minute.

The pavement hurts, but not so much as this. I’m not so much afraid of the falling off literally, it’s all the falling that continues even after you’ve picked up the bike.


Comments:
Joe

This too shall pass. You sound like you know how to ride safely... you've just had some bad luck. It'll turn. I'm still trying to conquer my own fear of getting on a bike. I've always wanted to, but deaths have cooled my desire. But I don't think we should be hogtied by our fears. So I plan on getting a bike next year. Any bike recommendations?

Posted by Joe on Sunday, November 21, 2004 at 11:54 PM

Monday, November 08, 2004

Motorcycle Show

Current mood: other

Saturday was the International Motorcycle Show in San Mateo.
Impressions:
I sat on one of the Husquvarna’s and my feet were dangling about 1 foot from the ground. Now, I’m average height for a woman, and a bit short for a guy. But I’m not 1 foot short in the inseam! Who are these bikes designed for exactly? I saw about four people over the course of the day who might have been able to ride that bike. As Paul pointed out. “Husky has gone out of business twice during the time that we’ve been standing here climbing on their bikes.”

Cage of Death: SO COOL! What fun! I’m glad other people risk serious injury for my amusement.

Overheard at one of these crappy “American Iron” accessory shops, full of chrome, flaming do-rags, and halter tops, from an 11ish year old boy: “This belt that I saw at Hot Topic for $30 is only $19 here!” I hope all the patrons of that booth were duly embarrassed.

The Mille gets uglier every year: the tail now looks like a trivet. So sad. The Spider Man Aprilia was fucking fruity.

I really dig the Multistrada 620. So cute. Now if only it was made by Honda, I might consider it.
On the other hand, Suzuki’s “Adventure-Tourer,” or whatever they’re calling these things, the V-Strom 650, is a gigantic pig of a machine. What happened there?

It’s cool seeing the Baja, etc. setups at the Honda booth. I want a Ruckus. To put in my pocket, and carry around. It is too cute. It is $2000. The “Big Ruckus,” new this year, is an ugly turd, and it costs $5300.

The DRZ looks good, and not much different, and has deeper blue plastics. I miss mine. The Super Motard version was not shown, since we don’t get it in California. Boo. It looks like it’s gonna be neat.

The Monster Challenge was somewhat disappointing, except for one cute little café-racer style setup and paintjob. There was a very cute (and CA street registered!) Triumph flat tracker custom dealy in the Triumph booth, though.

The Husaberg had an electric start, and there was a battery in it. It was also very close to the door. We wondered how much gas was in it, and was it enough to get away with it?

Little kids falling off of dirtbikes is one of the most adorable things ever.

Dinner was at a crappy Mexican place where the food had no flavor. The company was good, but I don’t think there’s any reason for crappy Mexican food to exist in California.
Then I went to work at New Wave City, and Sunday I spent fucking off.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

jumping ship?

Current mood: oddly patriotic

Anyone who's talking about leaving the country because of this election needs to fuck off.
Your country needs you now more than ever.
I can't see anything to be gained by all the thinkers leaving the country. Yeah, maybe if all the liberals or democrats or whoever you call yourselves, leave, we'll have a great nation of, umm, what exactly? I have never seen any benefit from running away.
48/51 or whatever the latest poll number is, means that we are very close.

I rarely spew patriotic rhetoric, or at least not what's commonly recognized as patriotic these days, but I feel very strongly about making this country better, not worse. The concepts underlying our government are good ones, and democracy is a great responsibility. It's your responsibility to make it better, not turn your tail and run. Go cry for a while, then complain, then rebel, riot, write letters, run for office, do what you can. Do not complain about the way things are if you are willing to even consider abandoning them.

ugh, I hate the president, but you're a bunch of whiny retards too.


Comments:

MonkeyDude

Agreed.

I've never even protested in a march before, but now I'm ready to pick up a gun and revolt. I'm ready to do whatever it takes to get our nation back from those fuckers.

Posted by MonkeyDude on Thursday, November 04, 2004 at 10:18 AM

I want to cry

<>"Network projections showed Republicans would hold at least 54 of the 100 Senate seats, three more than they now have, and widen their slim majority of the 435-member House in the new 109th Congress, set to convene on Jan. 3.

That will make it easier for Bush to push his conservative agenda through Congress, potentially making his tax cuts permanent and appointing more federal judges including possibly some U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) justices.

"With a bigger majority, we can do even more exciting things," said House Majority leader Tom DeLay, a Republican from Texas. "



What the fuck are these people thinking?
Nevermind National Security, or the incredibly bad face we've made for the rest of the world to look at.
The rollback of civil rights is alarming and disgusting, not "exciting," and there's more on the way.
And new judges...

By the theory that when people find out they might not able to get something, they run out to horde it (like the stupid flu shot), it follows that we should all run out and get as many abortions as we can, while we still can. That means you boys too.

Nonsense. I can't make any sense.