So much fun

DSC_6899.jpg
Originally uploaded by smitsmat

Loving this.

Full Moon Fiasco

DSC_6867.jpg
Originally uploaded by smitsmat

I think I'd be really depressed if I suddenly couldn't ride my bicycle.

That happened fast.

Brain Bloom

I tried to describe it earlier as a vine with lots of tiny buds bursting to bloom and then dying off and then being instantly replaced with new blooms.  That's how it feels inside my head.  Unfortunately, most time lapse videos of flowers blooming are pretty but dull, and videos of flowers dying are just depressing.  So you get a bramble video and a cactus video.  I recommend a Phoenix remix during the cactus.

{SOLD: MARCH, 2008} _ GITANE Piste (Track) 1970s

{SOLD: MARCH, 2008} _ GITANE Piste (Track) 1970s
Originally uploaded by stronglight

Oh yeah, I'd like to start a Gitane collection, too.

Peugeot Mixte Porteur with "Hêtre" Tires

Peugeot Mixte Porteur with "Hêtre" Tires
Originally uploaded by Vélocia

I want mixtes from Schwinn, Peugeot, and Raleigh.

I tried to make the Schwinn happen tonight but Craigslist is a breaker of hearts and spirits.

Angela has a Raleigh so I guess that almost counts, since it lives in our house.

And Peugeot.... Soon enough. Isn't this thing goooorgeous though?

Long-eared Owl

Long-eared Owl
Originally uploaded by Hard-Rain

This animal lives here in Chicago and I'm going to find it and photograph it.

CTAwesome

So this morning. is. GORGEOUS. I'm sad I'm at work all day instead of riding my bike by the lake, but at least I got to ride to work, and now that I'm here I have a spectacular view. I hope it is not too distracting, as I have a big to-do list for the day.

Most inspiring current project here in Chicago:  CTA. Chicago Transit Awesome.  If you live here, expect to hear about this and plan on participating.  Imagine the best public transportation experience you've ever had, and then make it way better, and that's what we (I) here at CTAwesome intend to bring to you.
My only gripe about this winter weather is how dry my skin is because of it. I want to spend a week submerged in a bathtub full of Jergen's or something. Give me a Twizzler straw and I'll be happy.

I'm afraid this is the worst blahg ever. Sorry.  Just trying to stay in the habit....

How about a follow-along to-do list!

1. Milwaukee Excursion Itinerary
2. Email Milwaukee Excursioneers above itinerary
3. Read at least 100 pages of The Darker Nations, A People's History of the Third World  (pending fail)
4. Mail penpal letter
5. Write another penpal letter (pending fail)
6. rint that long long article for upcoming art history class preparation
7. Timesheet
8. Send J the syllabus for Doing Democracy
9. Respond to a few overdue emails
10. Get a spot for CTAwesome   http://ctawesome.blogspot.com/

I'll strike things through the day as I complete them, and you'll thus be privy to my successes and failures. I love lists and I love accountability.

Blogs Yes

On Humility

After living in biketerror for about a decade, riding now, in Chicago, in the winter, makes me feel like a badass.  It gives me a confidence that I've never known.  I can't find my inhaler and the air on colder nights makes my lungs scream and revolt, but riding in 15 degree weather (I'm leaving the wind chill out of this) has a way of reminding me how many times before I have been wrong about my limits and that alone is enough motivation to keep pedaling.  It makes me feel like I have secret that has something to do with grit and reckless abandon.

And so I ride.

And so I fall.  Fell.  Once.  Finally.

On my way home from Weegee's a delightful, semi-swanky, old fashioned bar where I drank an Aviation and a Bocci Ball and played shuffleboard, the wind picked up and it started snowing, which only increased my feelings of being tough and capable. A pair of bikers on the other side of the street held up mittened fists of solidarity to me and shouted, "Yeah!" while I waved politely and shouted, "Hullo!"  Yeah guys, we're in this together and we are conquering winter, one block at a time.

I cruised down Milwaukee, cut through back streets, coasted past the park, and then about 10 seconds from my front door, I hit a patch of something and went down hard on my left side and wound up in the middle of the intersection, me and my bike all tangled up like lovers.  And like lovers, we laid there for a minute still, breathless, feeling humbled and thankful and dazed, before we eventually righted ourselves and realized how much damage we'd done to each other.

I was so relieved there were no cars and no late-night dog walkers to see my fall, though Tim pointed out that maybe I should have wanted somebody to be around, in case I'd been knocked out somehow.  That hadn't even occurred to me.  Being self-conscious was more at the forefront of my thinking than being unconscious.  I will spend some time considering this.

Grossss

two oh ten

Happy 2010, dears.

2009 taught me A. LOT. Do I wish certain things were different right this moment? Well of course.  But things are as they are, and they will be as I make them, and as we make them, and thoughtfulness and wisdom and guesses at what wisdom might look like will be, I think, the keys to 2010.

Resolutions:

Deeper compassion: for others and myself
Stronger conviction: for all those causes I rally for slash against
Truer truthiness.
Sans murder: Thou shall not kill thy neighbors, nor steal and pawn their wah-wah pedals.
Symbolism: Sometimes I feel I have little else to offer to certain causes.
Dance Parties and Karaoke: Few things please me as well with so little cost to my pocketbook/modesty.
School: Harder, faster, better.

Temptation: Mastered? From time to time. Acknowledged.

Teeth: Flossed.


I think you're wonderful and I hope 2009 was not so terrible as everyone makes it out to have been, and I hope 2010 is better still.