Hey Kids,
I’m worn out as we got back from our Western Desert Adventure this evening, got everything unpack, and are at last looking forward to a nice comfortable bed.
So I will leave you this evening with a quick picture of me riding away on my Kayak into the sunset (minus the sunset) and talk in more details tomorrow.
I have thoughts to share!
Day 69
Hey Kids,
I know we all think that we evolve during our lives and get smarter. We learn lessons and go forth and do better.
We want to think we’re a product of our own thinking, of our own learning, and our own experiences.
We don’t learn and we’re just grown-up selves of what we were in our parents’ care.
At least to some degree:
(Note tire wear at 3 years of age and again at 48)
Day 67
Hey Kids,
Arapaho Boys 1882
It’s funny. I look at this picture and I see little boys. I just assume they’re still little boys. When in reality, these kids grew up a long ago, got older, had kids of their own, and died. Their kids have done the same. And then again. Some of that third generation might still be alive today, but their great grandchildren would most likely be the same age of the boys pictured.
It’s easy to believe that pictures freezes time and to forget that time and life continues on. Time changes everything. I know this isn’t genius level thinking, but the subjects of pictures are always older than their picture.
Don’t hold on to the photographs of your life and think that’s how it will always be. Don’t believe that time doesn’t matter. Love the ones around you today, and every day. Tomorrow, they may not be there and/or they may want to be loved differently. Never believe the past or present is an assurance for the same in the future.
That being said, pictures are all some of us have for the future. And I suggest clinging to them like your last struggled breath of oxygen.
Day 64
Hey Kids,
I’m not a shopper. Never have been. Never will be.
But today I wandered through a number of motorcycle shops looking at lots of bikes I cannot afford and had no intentions of buying.
This is not shopping. It was looking. It was dreaming.
I’m quite happy with my bikes. A 50cid bike for cruising to work and daily commuting and a 113cid bike for the wide open rode (Or when I want to bring in the thunder). But it doesn’t mean I’m done with adding motorcycles to my “collection”.
Dreaming is just that, dreaming. You don’t have to torture yourself, thinking that you have to achieve something as simple as acquiring things. But a rainy Saturday afternoon is easily worth the value of enjoying imagining yourself enjoying life just a little bit more.
Dream on people. Dream Shiny and Loud.
Day 61
Hey Kids,
Today marks the 105th anniversary of the death of Mark Twain. Mark Twain was/is my writer.
My favorite of his works are “Life on the Mississippi” and “Roughing It”. I can pick up either book at any time and reread just a few parts to spark my creative juices. His story-telling helps me find my inspiration, my voice, and re-kindle the joy of writing, if lost.
I’ve been asked how a meeting with Twain and I would go, do I think we would have anything to talk about. Honestly, I can’t imagine I would have anything to offer to him, but I’m sure that a few questions of the Big River or of Virginia City would conjure stories from Twain that he never had time to write. I believe I would buy drinks for as long as he would speak and he would speak for as long as I bought drinks.
I do not know if there is another writer that I could say the same about.
Except for maybe Hemmingway, but that would most likely end up in a fight, which he would probably win, but we would end up in a fly fishing discussion.
I guess my writers were not just writers. They were people I would want to hang out with and hear their stories first hand.
I hope that I am can be the same type of writer.
Day 57
Hey Kids,
You never know what sticks in your head from when you were a kid. Yesterday, I discovered one such sticky memory.
Not feeling too well the past few days, I stuck to the couch and relied on Amazon Prime Video to keep me company. I cruised through the vast array of items available and focused on motorcycle shows. I’m so predictable.
After watching the Fastest Indian, I saw a movie that sounded vaguely familiar, “C.C. and Company”. A 1970 film starring Broadway Joe Namath and Ann Margret.
For whatever reason, the opening scene of walking through the grocery store and fixing his own sandwich cracked me up and I thought, “Wait a minute, I think I’ve seen this.”
I continued to watch and the scenes hinted at recall but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. And then it happened.
CC gets in a fight over whether he deserves to keep any of his winnings from the motocross race he attempted. He loses the fight and the money but then steals the money back that night and takes off.
For some strange reason, that scene has played in my mind throughout my many years. I remembered it almost perfectly, except that I didn’t remember that it was Joe Namath. I had watched the movie on some week night TV movie, the ones they used to show at 7:00 like on a Tuesday.
The scene, I thought was so unfair. The fact that he couldn’t keep part of what he earned but had to give to others who hadn’t earned it really bothered me. He was willing to share with the gang but wanted to save a little for himself. Maybe buy another dirt bike and make more money. Maybe buy a new chopper. (Which the bikes in the movie all looked so small compared to today’s bikes; but that’s another subject).
I despised the gang leader for demanding it all. I was happy when he stole it back. Actually, as a kid, I didn’t remember exactly how he did steal it back: I must’ve been younger than I should’ve been to watch that movie (he he).
Before this post goes on forever, I believe that scene formed an idea in my head that I learned or had confirmed. You deserve the rewards when you do things beyond what everyone else is willing to do. You earn success and you owe no one for your efforts.
I have always been taught to work hard for what I seek and desire. And I think that learning comes a little beyond a 1970 “B” movie. It came from those around me, from my own experiences, and my own convictions. I just think it’s hilarious that a scene and a movie can stick with me all these years.
And you thought I was just a dumb kid who was trying to avoid his homework.
Day 56
Hey Kids,
Apparently I chose the wrong anniversary to celebrate when it came to the Pony Express. I marked the 155th anniversary of the mail leaving St. Joseph, Missouri and Google celebrated the 155th Anniversary of those same letters arriving in San Francisco. It’s OK, I’ll enjoy it twice.
I know I eluded to in my post on April 3rd, but today I heard it stated as clear as it could be.
I mentioned that I wonder if I would have had, or if I have, the grit to be a rider. Today I heard it remarked that the biggest reason that the Pony Express Legacy lives on, is because deep down inside, we all wish we had done it.
Yessir, I do. I wish I had done it. I’m afraid I wouldn’t have, but I wish I had. One day, up there, when we’re all sitting around talking of our earth days, I’m going to hunt down one of those riders and listen to his stories and live the experience by proxy.
In Heaven?
I know that some of these fellas may have been a little rough around the edges, but if my God is who I hope he is, Pony Express riders will have a free pass into heaven, just for the hell of it all.
Day 50
Hey Kids,
Whoever said that no man is an island has never seen me in a swimming pool.
I keep to myself for the most part. I like people so long as I don’t “have to” have interaction. I’m quiet in groups, more than willing to let others talk at meetings, and am more inclined to stay home than go to parties. I do like to talk but not necessarily to other people.
Yesterday I met with my brother and we had dinner together at a local popular burger joint. It was his birthday the other day and I owed him. We ended up sitting and talking for over 5 hours. And I would say it was pretty much split 50/50 on who was talking.
We covered a number of things with nothing extraordinary; just Bro talk. Family, jobs, cars, bikes, and the like. We also talked a little about our futures and what we had coming up and what we hope would happen in the ever shortening long run.
As a writer, I spend a lot of time in my own head. This blog is one way to get out a little but it’s still talking into an open mic with no ear piece. But I find that, from time to time, it’s good to spend time with fellow humans and to say things out loud.
During one of my turns to talk yesterday, I shared my writing goals and in the midst of sharing, I told myself the theme of a possible 5th book in the OPR series. I had never had or heard the idea before.
I know it’s a brave thing to talk about book 5 when I’m writing book 2 of a book that only me and my mother have read (exaggeration, but not by much)(OK, exaggeration again but only by a little). Anyway, it is odd to talk of book 5, but it made books 3 and 4 become a given. Their possibility of becoming real happened because in order to have a book 5, 3 and 4 have to exist.
I struggle at times to see the big picture. Talking out loud told me that I do see it, I do believe it, and more importantly, I do want it. I don’t think I would have come up with it without speaking out loud to my brother and hearing the words sounding in my ears.
Maybe this is just living in my own head again but in another way. Maybe my brother didn’t have to be there. But the fact remains that the idea didn’t happen until he was.
Despite who you are, what you do, or how weird you might be; time spent with fellow human beings can be a good thing. Even if self-serving.
Day 47
Hey Kids,
“He is not here for he is risen.”
I find hope in those words. Hope that there is more than just this life. Hope that this life is important. Hope that my mistakes can be corrected. Hope that my sins may be forgiven. Hope that one day after I am not here, I will still be.
Live for today but keep an eye on tomorrow.
Happy Easter.
Day 41
Hey Kids,
I don’t care for the term “selfie”; it’s too broad and vague in its use. I propose that there be a differential between a selfie and a self-portrait.
A selfie looks like this:
A selfie is self-serving. As in one is promoting them self. Lips pursed, puckered, or pressed in an odd manner to enlist, I imagine, thoughts of “I’m only looking this way so that if you think it’s stupid, that’s what I intended, but then again, if you find it hot and if you play it right, this sexy duck face could be yours.”
A self-portrait is like this:
It’s because there wasn’t anyone else around to take the picture. Or just fun to cram together and get the thing you want in the background in the background.
I like to take self-portraits of my baby and me doing things we love to do. It’s our chronicle, our proof. (If there’s no pictures, it didn’t happen.) We like to share our adventures and the pictures that people seem to like the most are the ones that we’re in.
The fact is that pictures are much more interesting when there are people in them. We focus on the people way more than mountains, rivers, and vistas. When you see a fellow human being in a picture, the question that usually follows is “Who’s that?” Rare is the question inquiring about the landscape. (BTW- It’s Bryce Canyon)
I hate that what we do is confused with the inane image of what people think when they say, “He took another selfie and posted it on Facebook.”
Trust me, it don’t look pretty when I pucker like a waterfowl.
Day 36
Mike M Jensen 