Please wish me luck....

I have just come out the other side of a gruelling boot camp of motorcycle instruction.

Thursday it started. 5:30PM-10PM.... all theory on motorcycle operation. I came home (after my bedtime) to a dark house my mind swimming.

Friday night, also to 10PM. Theory on riding on the road. Same thing, tired and wired at the same time.

Saturday bright and early, 8:30AM start and we finally get on the bikes. I got a tiny little Honda Rebel 250. I looked at it's little stature and thought "what?!" ; it's low and light and not the riding stance I am used to with the foot levers fairly far in front compared to the upright dirtbike stance.

We rode ALL day! Parking lot maneuvers and drills, low speed handling, cones to weave around etc.

Here is where I want to remind you of the weather on Saturday..... it was FREEZING!!!!! AND it snowed. The first snow of the season, and we kept at it. Avoiding cones, feathering the clutch, etc. Well I am embarrassed to say I was the FIRST student to dump the bike on Saturday. I caught my front tire on a cone on the figure-eight cornering. Frozen cones have no traction..... so the bike fell over. Du-oh! I felt like a moron. AND I have a nice bruise and a bit of road rash to remind me of it on my knee. Though my crash was not the last, nor was it the most spectacular. A 19 year old girl fell over not long after me and an elderly gentlemen somehow had the bike get away from him and fell over before going off the parking lot over a bank, he laid there for a bit with the bike on top, it reving away. He got up and tried to pick it up with it still running.... he grabbed the throttle trying to get it upright and it almost took off again! Then we practiced emergency braking at higher speeds. The freezing torture program ended at 4:30 thanks to the weather.

Sunday again at 8:30AM. Not so cold but definitely gloomy. We practiced on the slow stuff again and then the "high-speed" turning (high-speed on a bike starts at 12km/hr by the way). More emergency stopping, starting on a hill and stuff like that. By which time it started to drizzle. Then the instructor set up the cones for the TEST!!!! I was freaking out! I don't know why, but the slow, tight stuff is SO stressful for me!!!!! Wouldn't you know it I was the first one to take the test. Everyone watching..... but I didn't even think about that. We did each maneuver twice. Slow control at a walking pace (to prove we could control the clutch)..... then a "u-turn/slalom" and that's where I choked. A VERY tight turn (think tiny alleyway) with the dreaded cones outlining the boundaries, followed by an imediated weaving in and out of cones for about 30 feet. Damn its harder than it sounds. Tai knows. Its the CONES! Looming there like pinnacles of doom, jeering you with their alarming orangeness!!!!! AND the rule is "look where you want to go -- don't EVER look at the cones" well jeez that's pretty much impossible! So needless to say the second time around, I did glance at a cone and ALMOST hit it, and dabbed my foot down out of panic, then stalled it as I panicked about my dab. Quickly back on it I made the slalom. Then we had to do an acceleration, tight turn thing with a precision braking test. That was EASY after the slow stuff. I stopped the bike at the point he asked, he scribbled on the clipboard then walked up to me and shook my hand!!!!! At that point everyone erupted into applause.... I had forgotten about everyone else quite frankly, and I almost peed myself right then and there from sheer relief. I passed the first phase of the 2-step testing process!!!!! Hooray!

The adrenaline is devastating in those quantities. Wobbly kneed I layed down on the wet parking lot and breathed deeply for a while.

I didn't see my sister fail the test. I was too busy breathing, trying to calm down. She failed. She made mistakes on the u-turn thing too, but both times..... oops. Everyone went through it one at a time, while sis practiced in a far corner of the lot for a while. The old guy "bob" who was usually terrifying to watch most of the time, did it with nary a point! I guess he knows when to pull the rabbit out of the hat! One other gal failed, the "biker" girl. Mid-forties, very petite, leathers with the chaps and 1/2 cap helmet.... she's been on the back of a Harley for years and thought it wise to get her own bike after 3 accidents that her driver inflicted. The advantage to taking lessons is that you can take the test again after only 20 minutes (unlike the 14 days of regular riders). Sis did fine on the second attempt and got her pass too! Biker babe failed dramatically the second time as she panicked and almost ran over the instructor. SO it was then that we breaked for lunch. She came back from lunch a bit early and took the test again, this time doing it almost perfectly.

Then it started to rain in earnest around 1:30. Just in time for our first road ride.

By the time 4:00 rolled around and we had gotten to the North end Tim Hortons by a long and wayward route. We had been riding through quite a squall! Snow still lingered at the higher elevations and the roads were just plain miserable. Helmet visors fogged up instantly when they were put down, but with the visor up, my face was driven with a million icy cold needle-like drops. Hey I won't need to exfoliate for a while! Poor people with glasses, I don't know how they saw a damn thing really. We got back to the parking lot at 5:00PM but the torture wasn't over yet. My hands were frozen and pruney from the soaking gloves, by boots literally squelched because they were full to the top with water, my "waterproof" pants just weren't. It was at this point we were given a lesson on bike maintenance and inspection points.

BRRRRR! Then he said "see you tomorrow night" and we were dismissed at 5:30PM. I went home and ate the dinner T had made so wonderfully and then soaked in a hot bath with a good novel for a full hour to get the chill of my thoroughly icy core...

Monday: I feel icky. My guts are moaning, my muscles are SO SORE. I thought about NOT going. BUT the weather was definity nice by now. SO I thought if I still feel crappy once we get going, I'll ask to go home. It turns out it was wonderful, just gorgeous! Clear, fairly dry, quiet. There were 6 of us for this ride (the other 6 had went earlier in the day). We took turns wearing a radio connected to the instructor. The radio wearer had to lead the pack while the instructor gave directions and pointing out errors that could wreck the road test. Wouldn't you know it I was first up again. (T says its because I was the strongest rider -- I'll believe him because that was a nice compliment). Unlike the parking lot CRAP I am quite comfortable on the road. I am a cautious driver anyways, and the bike just is a great excuse to be super careful! I also like shifting and leaning into corners and things. It was exhilarating and other than being reprimanded for speeding at one point, he said I will have no problems and my turn was over.

Only one person dropped their bike, and she was shaken up for a bit. Her shiny helmet got a little scrape and she broke a mirror, she recovered and finished the ride in style. It was an awkward left turn onto a road that was more than 90 degrees and going from downhill to uphill with gravel and a pothole right where you wanted to go. It could have happened to any of us.

Another warm up at Tim Horton's to review our progress.... and we were off again. Vroom vroom! For the last bit back I had to follow directly behind the instructor on the highway and the residential zones too.... It was sometimes hard to keep up to his huge GoldWing on the little bike. But I put up a valiant effort and was quietly praised for it at the end. There you have it.... motorcycle boot camp for a hefty price of $650. Well worth it.

Now the only thing left is a 1hour one-on-one with the instructor before the road test my the MVB/ICBC. And for and additional $40 I get to use the bike for the exam.

The reason I am asking for a little wish of luck?

My road test is tomorrow morning (on my birthday!). Though I am not too concerned about my own abilities.... stupid things can happen at any time. IE forgetting to turn off my signal for 16 blocks! Or a dumb other person making it harder than it should be, you know how it is!

AND to top it all off, I caught whatever it is that T has..... my icky guts yesterday have manifested themselves into uncontrollable shivers and terrifying rushes to the bathroom!!!!!! If I don't get rapidly better in the next 24 hours, it could be a horrifying race against the bathroom Gods, and that would just be very distracting during a test.

All this for a different number on my driver's license.

head ACHE!

Oh man oh man.

Ever had a migraine?

Trust me you don't want one. Lucky me I have had one building up steam for 4 days or so. This morning it reached a peak of blinding agony. Literally blinding. I couldn't open both eyes all the way without the threat of throwing up from the pain. How the HELL was I going to get Steve ready for school and DRIVE up there????!!!!!

Stagger to the medicine cupboard take 2 Tylenol (the act of swallowing water with it was almost too much!) then HIDE for 20 minutes, ocassionally murmuring instructions like "get dressed" and "where's your ...ummm... you know, homework." Language and colours are the first things to go missing when I have a migraine. Then ask "did you eat?" and "get your lunch box" and with that I tossed in quick foods that he could eat (honestly it may have been cookies and juice for lunch today). Then I told the little fellow that he had to ride his bike on this frosty morning.... much whining, but he could see I wasn't fooling.

By the time 9 rolled around the Tylenol was making a dent in it. So I called my chiropractor. He has room at 9:15 so I loaded Cam into the truck and away we went. That guy is a miracle worker! I crawled into his office, stiff, sensitive and with a halo so thick I couldn't see or hear comprehensively. By the time I left, I was cheery mobile and SO much better..... with sore back muscles but a sane head.

HOORAY for Ken Pepperdine!

Don't Be Confused TAI

Of course I want to go to Italy!

But you and Vanne and Nish have already been, so I don't want to be boring or anything. I thought maybe if there was somewhere ELSE that appealled??????????

I admit I am intimidated by the language, but I won't let that stop me.

I want to GO somewhere

Don't hate me Tai, Vanne, Nish.....

I am having second thoughts about Italy.


ooo.... I can hear your gasps of horror from here.


Its not that I don't want to visit Italy, no thats not it at all. I am just wondering if another location may be better for a first travel experience.

Do you remember how I started obsessing about Japan when I was 14 or so? I was watching a science show and it was showing Japan's history, serenity, culture and science all in a little segment about their volcanic hotsprings that have literally been there for 1000s of years, they have been "civilized" way longer than the westerners, and that is fascinating to me. Paper houses, many stories high built without nails, standing up against active tectonics for centuries. Misty mountain villages, and cerimony in every movement. It takes my breath away.

HOWEVER, I am sure Japan is way more of a challenge than Italy ! LOL . It's just that the science show and the recent viewing of the "Last Samarai" reminded me of how I really feel romantic about Japan.

Other Places I would LOVE to see:

- Hawaii, but not for the beaches, I want to see the deep forests and mountain trails. No scary wildlife, no language barriers. Could be a good start actually. But I'd need to get away from the tourist spots or I'd go bonkers.

- Aztec or Mayan ruins, the kind that are all covered in vines and hard to find. AND the ones that are "restored" too. Hey their culture may have been violent and bloody, but they had a pretty hi-tech life with dental surgery, couriers, written language, accurate calendar.... and cool buildings too! Of course some of the scariest wildlife on the planet is in those jungles, so I may be a bit apprehensive about poisonous frogs, jaguars and hostile natives.....

- India. Ancient, forgotten Hindu ruins; lush, hot jungles; riding elephants to be safe from tigers. The mystique, the scents and tastes of fresh spices and really sun-ripened fruit. Now there is a place that I could be vegetarian! I have friends from India and they all agree that coming to Canada was wonderful except when it came to food. The produce here just isn't the same they said. When a mango or citrus is plucked from the tree fully ripe it has an intensity that can't be compared to the pale imitations in the grocery stores. THAT would be something to experience!

-Egypt. Not just the pyramids, but the lively markets and the excavated homes and towns of ancient times.

-England. Castles, ancient ruins, windswept moors and lush atriums. My Aunt lives near the Eden Project, I would LOVE to see that!

-The Mediterranean, just to dip my foot in it. It is the source of our culture, our language and the majority of our history, maybe even the success of our species! Diving for ruins? that might get me underwater.

There are more of course, this is just a rudimentary list.

You may have noticed a definite theme here..... Antiquity.
We are so -- temporary as individuals. But as a species we have had a huge and diverse footprint. Before planes and ocean faring vessels these cultures thrived and I find that fascinating!!!!!! Necessity is the mother of invention. And these cultures invented some beautiful things.

BUT I also want to experience the FOODS of different places, the art, the history and the food!

Oh! And the flora and fauna too of course! I am sure my brain will get overloaded with stimuli, colours, smells, tastes, sounds.... I am looking forward to it.

Boring Weekend

ho-hum.

I am sure everyone had a more interesting weekend than me.

Mountains of laundry to sort, wash and fold.....

I put in 3 hours of digging out the "trench" that holds the never-ending crumbly bits coming off the cliff... and I still didn't get it emptied , I just got tired.

The usual cooking, cleaning and chasing after the boys.

A highlight was going to the pool with T and the boys. It was chilly and crowded, but still somewhat relaxing as the boys are getting fairly reliable in the water now. Cam is very sensitive to the chamicals they use in the water, he always looks like he's been beat or something with swollen, outrageously red eyeballs and lids and the sockets look abused as well. I put some Polysporin drops in after dinner so he didn't look quite so bad by bedtime.

T did his habitual once-over on the carpets with the vacuum (thanks!) and the boys and me cleaned our rooms, and T cleaned the garage a bit too. Now the house is in decent shape to face another week!

I was thinking about the old wive's tale that if your palms are itchy then money is coming. And as I scratched by hands after working in the yard, I fantasized a bit about the Super7 lottery ticket that I have in my wallet. 12.4 million, that was the Jackpot Friday. Sigh..... nice little diversion from matching little socks. Its worth the price of the ticket to have that wonderful "what-if" daydream! Life would be a bit different. I am not sure exactly how, but some things would change.! T would have no excuse to be grumpy (and I would tell him that too!), and we would go somewhere sunny at least once a year, and explore the globe as a family. What better education could you offer children that are filled with curiousity? I want to meet Bill Nye, he's a hero of mine -- a "way cool scientist". Do you think he'd meet us if we were rich? Maybe meet him for lunch at Science World?

LOL.

One thing's for sure, I would dirt bike more often! And dinner would be ready when we got back from our ride!

Alas, the ticket is still in my wallet and there is one more load of laundry to fold before I can relax in front of the TV and watch 100 Greatest Discoveries in Science (hosted by Bill Nye) on the Knowledge Network.

I'm getting into it now.

I am a bit farther into the Optimism book and some interesting things are coming to light from it..... According to this book:

1) Pessimists (and depressed people) tend to see "reality" much more clearly. They are more accurate at assessing risks, are realistic as far as expectations.

2) Optimists tend to have a "skewed" reality. They have a "healthy" set of disillusions that they cling to. They don't assess risks as accurately, and are more willing to take a chance holding high expectations of a positive outcome.

3) Pessimists tend to "be right" about negative things (can be self-fulfilling though) and are more likely to give up to really negative situations without a fight (cancer, bankruptcy, divorce.... just a few examples). Leaving everything up to whatever happens.

4) On the other hand, an Optimist will fight a bad thing until all options are exhausted, and when the situation is unrescueable, are more likely to focus their positive energy on the new and perhaps more controllable situation.

5) Optimists feel their lives have worth and they do impact on their own situations (life is what you make of it).

6) Pessimists feel that they have no "real" effect on the system no matter what they do. (hey, what-r-ya-gonna-do?)

7) Everbody has highs and lows, everybody can be sad or happy from time to time, but an optimist sees it all as temporary and changable (even crappy stuff) and a pessimist tends to wait for the good stuff to end, seeing the bland things as being more real.

8) And finally Optimists live a better quality of life in general getting more satisfaction from it day to day, no matter their income or even health.

Interesting stuff.... I can't wait to see what chapter 5 brings!

Optimism

I picked up a book the other day because the subject was timely.....
"Half Empty/Half Full; Understanding the Pychological Roots of Optimism"

Background: T usually acts annoyed when I am reading, like watching TV is so much more participating in a common activity than reading a book while he watches TV......

Anyways, I am just on chapter 3 so far and T asks what I am reading. I hold up the book and tell him (excited that he may be interested).

"Huh" he says,"Sounds like a dry read."

Well my disapointment must have been viewable. And I just said, "I think it should be interesting". End of subject.

This morning though, I saw the cover of the book and started laughing!!!!! That conversation was so TYPICAL! His comment was SO Half EMPTY and my reaction was so Half FULL. I am still snickering to myself, he didn't see it, and I didn't see it until this morning.

teehee.