Vanity

The End of My Kind?

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Hey Kids,

It just struck me today, I think I’m a dying breed.

You see I was born in Murray (pronounced Murry), Utah. In Cottonwood Hospital, that ain’t no more. Not just closed but gone. The building removed and a Business Park built over the site. My port of entry to this world is no more.

Then I thought, is there a new hospital in Murray?

Cottonwood Hospital being torn down.

Cottonwood Hospital being torn down.

There’s the new IHC Medical complex, the one that chased out the strip club. Is it in Murray or Midvale?

Panic ensued.

Are there to be no more native Murraians? Murrayites? Murraytonians?

I was on the motorcycle when this thought occurred. No Wi-Fi, no Google, no peace.

Where do the city lines lie? Where is the divide between the continuance of my kind or its time ensured extinction?

The wheels of the bike stopped at my destination, the helmet and glasses removed. The question to the Smartphone: What is the address of the IHC Medical Complex near Murray.

I was in a bad spot, barely any bars at all. The circle went round and round as the page loaded.

At last, Murray!

Hurray!

My kind will continue.

Whew!

 

Day 177

Chaulk One Up for the French

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Hey Kids,

Surlendemain.

It’s the French word for the day after tomorrow.

When I was in France, I had a picture on my wall of Garfield the cat that read, “Never put off till tomorrow, that which you can put off till the day after”. In French of course. It’s from this picture I learned the French word. Later I learned this was a translated variation of a quote from Mark Twain, which in turn was a spin on a quote by Benjamin Franklin (Never put off till tomorrow what can be done today), which appears to be stolen from Philip Standhope, a British Statesman and Earl.13 - 1CAAGXQAX

Procrastination is a word I have known for a very long time. I don’t need a quote or a French/English dictionary to understand it. I tell myself I do well under pressure and that is why I like to let things go to the wire. But then again, I don’t concern myself too much with the wire either.

“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” Douglas Adams, English writer.

I didn’t need that quote, but I like and agree with it.

Today, I did something different.

I threw some ribs and potatoes in the Dutch oven and let them cook all evening long. The smell in the house is fantastic!

They are not part of a late dinner, as one might suspect. But instead they are for lunch tomorrow. I am cooking proactively. Today anyway.

I’ll start my diet Surlendemain.

Day 175

I Still Want to Blame the Bike

mikemjensen Life's Truths, Motorcycles, Vanity Tags: , , , 8 Comments

Hey Kids,

It’s a sad day. The Suzuki is sick.

It’s been sick for a little while, but it’s not really sick; it’s been damaged by my repair efforts.

A little while ago, I decided it was time for the valves to be adjusted. I’ve done it before and had no worries about it. The bike had been running just fine, but it was well past the recommended 7500 mile adjustment. So I took a Saturday afternoon and adjusted the valves. Upon reassembly, the warning light came on. I had done something wrong. I had seen this happen before and that time it turned out to be simply a sensor not hooked up right. No big deal.

Next week, I tore it apart again and found no such bad sensor. Hooked it together and warning light came on again. Fine. I’ll figure it out. The engine wasn’t working exactly correct, but I’ll get it, I thought.

Please save me from my owner.

Please save me from my owner.

After work one day, I had a tremendous writing session. So good I spent some extra time to ride out the literary wave, only to discover that I left the key in the bike with the ignition on. Dead battery. Great. Got a jump and headed home. With a quick off and on, I tested the juice. The bike started right back up.

The next morning not so much. The battery didn’t hold enough of the juice to turn the starter. So I took the other bike instead. And then continued to take the other bike for the past several weeks.

Today, the Suzuki had no juice whatsoever. I jumped it again, rode for a while to charge it up. Figured I wouldn’t stop until I got back home and then try to restart it. Unfortunately, I paid too much attention to the parked cop I passed speeding and noticed the stop sign ahead just a little too late. I locked up the back tire stopping and stalled the engine. Despite riding for the past 30 minutes, the battery was still bone dead. Had to call for an emergency, mercy jump.

The bike is back home and I’ll pull the battery out and have it checked or replaced. And then I can get back to figuring out the Error light problem.

The poor thing. It just wants to run and I’ve let it sit.

I’m really angry with myself to allow things to deteriorate to this point. But then again.

How angry can you be when life has allowed you to have a second bike to ride during this whole time?

I’m back to realizing I’m facing a first world problem. Relax says I.

 

Day 174

First Time

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Hey Kids,

Just to show that there are always new frontiers out there, tonight I made Chinese Food for dinner.

I know it doesn’t take much to open some packages and a few cans, and some might not even count this as cookingminions_olaf, but I did it. It was marginally edible and I’ll see by tomorrow morning if I survived.

On another note and for the record, I stand politically opposed to Minions.

Please for the love of everything holy people, let it go. Ah crap, there’s another cartoon thing that I wish would go away.

 

Day 172

Plugging Along

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Hey Kids,

I’ve read a quote attributed to Stephen King. It reads:

“Stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard either emotionally or imaginatively is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing to do is shovel shit from a sitting position.”

I’ve not been shy to say I’ve been struggling with finding the right path for my current work in progress. I think of quitting but keep plugging at it. I wonder if I can really write, if I’m fooling myself, if anyone even cares.2012.4.writing

And then today I received an email from a reader.

“I flew to Florida last week and was mesmerized by your book the whole time! Finished it during the flight and loved it!!! You are a fantastic writer with the ability to describe things such that they come alive in one’s mind. Great Job!”

I think I’ll keep plugging.

Day 171

Thanks Babe

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Hey Kids,

I haven’t always been this happy.

Recently, I came across a short writing that I obviously penned one morning a little while back. It described a typical morning during some personal dark times. Absolutely dreadful.morning

I had forgotten how depressing many of my mornings used to be. Reading that piece, which I don’t exactly remember writing but yet I do, I recalled many of the sad, self-destructive feelings I dealt with on a near daily basis. The contrast to how I feel today is shocking.

I don’t feel that way anymore. I don’t struggle like I did. I don’t feel helpless, hopeless, and alone like I did. I see the world in an entirely different light. I look forward to the future and enjoy the present.

I wasn’t really ever alone. I had friends who patiently watched me, encouraged me, and put up with me. I wouldn’t have. But there is the lesson.

I’ve heard many times that in order to love someone else, you need to love yourself first. I don’t agree with that. I hated myself. I despised my feeling of worthlessness, my weakness.

Despised!

I disgusted myself and then I would hate myself even more. Even thinking of those times when depression dropped to its lowest, I’m embarrassed of myself.

Don’t bother trying to tell me I shouldn’t. I do. And it’s my right to call myself out. My depression was based in my own weakness and my own inability to cope with the situation at the time. I apply that diagnosis only to me. Everyone else can call it however they see fit for them.

But I can tell you I loved the people who stood by me. Especially the one who had to deal with it every day. Although I tried to hide so much of it from her, she saw it and still had to live with it. Actually she didn’t have to; she chose to, and that made me, while hating myself, love her even more.

I kind of like me now, because she loved, and loves me still.

I’m no head shrink, but I can tell you when it came to loving me, someone else had to go first.

Day 170

A Tale of Two City Traffics

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Hey Kids,

The Tour of Utah Bike Race is moving through Salt Lake.

I’ve experienced it in two ways so far.

Tour of Utah

Tour of Utah

1) Yesterday trying to get home from work, I sat in traffic as the organizers prepared downtown for the bikes to pass through. The signs and markers had all indicated the closures would be from 4-7PM. I left work early at 3:15 only to be stuck within premature closures. I wasn’t exactly pleased but really what did it matter? The placed buzzed with activity and I was a tad sorry I couldn’t participate.

2) Today, I unofficially helped control some traffic to let the bikers roll back out of town. It was fun to watch the group roll through. The gears of their bikes churned together like a single machine, sounding like a hard rain pounding down on pavement. It was an experience and sight to behold; I highly recommend experiencing it yourself one day. Yet, one car and one lady in particular became very displeased with our efforts to stop her progress. Not that the cops, who really had control of the road, wouldn’t have ruined her day if she made it past us, she sure thought we had done it. She huffed in disgust at the thought of other human beings interfering with her day and her life. The bikes all passed within 10 minutes and she left but not without condemning glares.

I thought of my reaction yesterday. My progress was blocked and my time was wasted on behalf of others’ event. I’m proud of me to have just let it go and enjoy the activity around me, to let it inspire me to want to be part of it today, to share in the fun.

It’s better this way, and my life, as it turned out, wasn’t ruined.

 

Day 166

Tough

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Hey Kids,

I’ve always considered myself kind of tough.

Not in a bar brawling kind of way, but I can hold my own when it comes to doing what’s needed to be done.

I can take the cold when I need to. I can deal with heat too. I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty or to get sweaty working. I hang in there and I will never be the one that calls it quits.

I’ve noticed that as time marches on, my abilities and strengths are not what they used to be, but as Toby Keith sings, I’m as good once as I ever was.

All this can be debated and compared to others. But do you know when you’re tough? When you’re this guy.aed471e1b4de9330196ad0eefebbac33

Jacob Miller. 9th Indiana Infantry. Shot in the forehead on the battlefield of Chickamauga and survived.

He had constant pain from it for the rest of his life, but, Dude! You took a shot to the forehead!

I concede.

 

Day 164

10 Days Vacation

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Hey Kids,

Today is the last day of what was 10 days away from the day job.

When I return to the grind tomorrow, I am sure many people will ask how they were spent, what I did do, and did I bring any souvenirs back with me? The answer will not be as expected.

I did not visit any faraway place. I didn’t knock out any to-do list, and I visited as few living people as possible. The fact of the matter, I spent most of the days off, at home, with this laptop, writing.13 - 1CAAGXQAX

My company were my characters that spent many re-do’s, change of story lines, and redefinition of arcs.

My places of visit were the scenes that I arranged and re-arranged, many times over- near to the point of scene revolt.

My hours of work were as much as my battery would hold out. My time in between: thinking about it.

What did I bring back as a souvenir? A clear refreshed image of what I want to do for the rest of my life.

It was a great vacation.

 

Day 160

 

Delicate Arch

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Hey Kids,

The images that display at the top of my blog page are my own images.

I’ve been hampered lately in taking new ones due to camera issues but I’ll get some more up.

The one that makes me smile the most and the one of which I’m the most proud, is the image of Delicate Arch.cropped-img_20150131_122630_456.jpg

It was a cold, rainy spring morning when we hiked up. The feeling it draws to recall form such a striking contrast to what most people experience: hot, dry, arid, did I mention hot, days that usually make up days outside of Moab, Utah. It makes it fill that much more special.

I love living in Utah and the Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Zion’s, Bryce Canyon, and the other great natural places that reside within Utah’s borders have enriched my life in such a way that I cannot imagine not having them within driving distances.

I hope you enjoy the images as you visit my blog. And if you want to know anything more about any of them, please, please, please just ask. I’d love to tell you about them!

 

Day 159