Some time back, Hunter S. Thompson test-drove a very fast motorcycle.

There's an interesting SBR thread about stupid motorcyclists (called squids) in the military. The problem seems to be there's a bunch of kids who have large chunks of cash due to enlistment bonuses or what have you, and go and buy some superbike for their first ride, and as usual with such folks, decline to wear any gear and eventually run out of luck and hurt themselves. It makes me glad Kelly's hooked me up with the SBR crowd, since for the most part they seem like a sane and safety-minded bunch. So far no one's bothered hassling me about my small bike (screw them if they did, I love it), though we'll see if I fit in after I've been riding a bit and start joining group rides.

(The title refers to yesterday's adventure of going to San Jose for a third time, this one on the bike, discovering they didn't have the size I found out I really needed, and giving up and doing a return and ordering the pants online.)

My new tank bag is working out wonderfully (it holds my laptop and lots of other crap), and this morning I zipped the insulated windproof liner back into my jacket, so I had a very nice ride once I got off El Camino. (I thought I'd take the straight way in so I could get more done, but I lost patience with my inability to split through the Menlo Park gridlock [plus I swear a bus was squeezing over to prevent it], so I did a quick run over to Alpine, Arastradero and Page Mill.) And it got me to thinking that it's a nice luxury to be able to arrange my life so that I'm having fun, but there are a few problems, and then you can solve the problems, and then I'm having even more fun because the problems are solved, and I got to solve them.

I'm fascinated by this solitariness I've been feeling, because I'm feeling it while I'm in what may be a unique situation in my history: a girl who just likes me, and wants to spend time with me, and doesn't really ask much of me beyond that. So we see each other once or twice a week, with occasional whole weekends, and it's great, and that seems to be a really good pace for me right now. The rest of the time I have my sort of self-contained feeling, which is probably enhanced by the motorcycle, but I don't think comes from it./

I dunno. Life is good.