I have had 1 lesson on my Suzuki and that was the weekend before I had to go to Kentucky. I haven’t felt much like learning lately, but tomorrow all that changes. I am now willing to try and concentrate on my new learning adventure and I’m a little concerned that I may have burned up too many brain cells of late to comprehend everything I’ll need to know to be able to shift properly.
My first lesson left me a little shook up because I have never been very coordinated and could never multitask in my life. When letting the clutch out slowly and trying to give a little gas at the same time I managed to almost do a wheelie, but that was after the thing just out and out kept dying on me my first few attempts.
I told Bill if I couldn’t even manage to get the thing rolling at least a few feet I would never learn to shift anything. After about 20 minutes trying over and over I finally managed to ride around the school parking lot in first gear and keep the dang thing balanced, now that part was fun, but since I’ve been gone I will need a refresher lesson on the first part I learned.
I keep telling myself that I can do anything that I put my mind to and I know I can because I want that satisfaction of knowing I did it. I told Bill that I need training wheels so I can learn the gears easier, but I don’t know if they make anything like that. If I feel like I wont be able to grasp the technique of shifting then I’ll simply get an automatic.
Of course if I take the safety course on a scooter then I will only be able to operate an automatic motorcycle or scooter and I so want to learn to ride a real motorcycle so I can be a “real” biker. I would still be able to follow Bill on the freeway or highway at speeds up to 65 with an automatic and for me it’s all about feeling free and enjoying the ride.
Bill says it’s fun with all the shifting, but I’m starting to wonder if I want to burn up the few brain cells I have left with all the concentration and alertness I will be expected to exhibit to stay safe and keep others around me safe at the same time. Maybe I should just leave the learning of gear shifting to the younger real biker chicks and settle for an automatic so I can just enjoy my ride.
There is a history of strokes and heart attacks in my family so I am always looking for information and St. Jude Medical sponsors a site called Heart Library. They have a lot of interactive video’s where patients tell their stories and you can even submit your own plus videos where the doctors explain all about the heart and all kinds of diseases of the heart.
I think you’ll find these video’s are easy to understand and they use language that isn’t over your head. ICD, is a implantable cardioverter defibrillator and I watched and learned all about how it works and why it’s used in cardiac arrest patients. These are very well made video’s and you will learn a lot of information I highly recommend them.
If you know someone that needs more information be sure to tell them about the site above I’m sure they’ll thank-you for it.
The below photo is the one I was looking for of Bill, his buddy Porter, and Herman the spider monkey. I don’t know if you remember the sad little story I told you about Herman’s tragic death awhile back, but I said when I found the photo I would post it and if you want to read the post about Herman the horny spider monkey please do.
All the guys that were on the base in his squadron in Vietnam between 68-69 got a kick out of Herman and especially Bill. He was like their mascot for a short while and Bill swears he was a nice little monkey, but I still don’t believe him. We look at all his old memories from those years and it’s good he finally has someone that will listen to all he went through and that someone is me.
The Vietnam war was a senseless stupid war and so many of our Vets have never recovered from it. I just thank God that Bill had a different coping mechanism from so many of the other Vets I have known over the years and was able to keep his sanity and stay a decent loving caring human being. I have never in my life met another man like my Bill. I have waited 6 years to see a different side and it has never come.
Wow, my list of no-no words are getting much longer. I guess I can add the R-word now right along with my F-word, S-word, C-word that women hate so much, B-word that I’m quite use to using, D-word which there are several, P-word several here also, and N-word not to mention the dreaded H-word that Imus likes so much. Pretty soon all of the derogatory words will be wiped out.
Civilised caring people aren’t suppose to use these words, but you’d be surprised how quickly you can become uncivilized especially if you are threatened or you have one too many cocktails. It depends actually on how you were raised and what your morals are, but no one is perfect and I have heard some of the most vile language from otherwise decent speaking people in my years of bartending.
I have often called myself a retard without thinking of my use of the word or when Bill says something silly and makes me laugh I call him a retard. I guess I can tell him he’s mental or mentally challenged. I would never intentionally say anything about or to anyone to hurt their feelings nor would I make ugly comments about them.
We make up words and give them meanings so we can communicate better, but are some of these words necessary? No, but many of us use them in anger and when we want to make a “insert Fing-word” point. Why do we think it sounds so much better when we use a swear word? You may find a swear word here and there on my blog, but I doubt it. I do tend to use fricken or frigging a lot though.
Sometimes especially if used in excess it bothers my sensibilities, but I ignore the words usually because I do believe in free expression and freedom of speech so long as it’s not hurting anyone. I usually hold onto the “Do unto others as you would have done to you.” When I was young I was sent to a private church school and you could have used sugar as your swear word and still got into trouble.
Like whenever I would say “OH SUGAR” I would get sent to the principles office because of my tone of voice. “Insert” D-word I was always in that “Insert” Fing-word office. Sorry for that my weird sense of humor gets the better of me at times. We usually learn swear words very young and if you don’t use those words in your house you need to police friends and television. Okay that’s enough from me on this subject tonight I’m off to bed.
