Over the last few months I have not been writing as much. When I fractured my collarbone – it sent me into a lot of depression. However, after 4 weeks into the recovery my life was starting to get back to normal but I have not bounced back to my old normal. As I have mentioned before, when I fracture bones my life seems to change.
Right now I am sitting in one of my neighborhood Irish pubs watching the band setup while I write this. This pub was one of the first neighborhood bars I walked into after moving to SF four and a half years ago. In this time, my life has changed so much that it is hard to enumerate. Somehow sitting here with a pint of Guinness is making me really reflect hard on things. Over the last few months there have been a few defining moments. Buying the motorcycle, fracturing my collarbone, and getting called “The Cleaner” (Winston Wolfe from Pulp Fiction) at work.
I am going to leave the work stuff aside – since I personally don’t like taking about those issues openly on the internet. But in many ways, it is how I deal with things and is a very apt description of my personality. The fracture i have talked about before, and honestly, I really feel like it was a bump in the road for the changes that was caused by the primary catalyst – buying a motorcycle.
Over the last 2.5 months, I have put on over 2,500 miles on Matte. Yes – I named the motorcycle Matte after a suggestion from Diesel. Like my puppy name, my bike’s name is also from a friend and it just sounds right. And leads to a lot of S&M jokes. Given that for a month I was unable to ride Matte, It is very impressive that I have put on that much in 1.5 months of riding. In that short time frame, I am learning a lot about myself.
The big thing for me is that I have found a source of zen like no other. This is something you typically hear form many bikers. As soon as I put on the helmet, pull on the gloves, and start the motor up, I have to clear out everything from my head and focus on riding. This state of catharsis is like no other that I have felt, including various bondage scenes. Even on my 50 mile each way commute, I am in this state when I reach my destination.
Over the next few days I need to get these thoughts down on paper. While maybe they are not unique – they have been instrumental in understanding the evolution of myself.