So here I find myself in a very familiar place.
Sitting on my front porch after a long day with seventy degree weather. A day
filled with friends, family and countless miles under my two wheeled chassis.
All in all it has been a very good day. Yet, deep down inside of me I know I
promised you, my dear and faithful reader a new blog. A blog which I had
written but was unable to access through nefarious means of electronic censorship,
now, I’m not saying there is a conspiracy afoot, because in truth there is not,
what I am saying is that over the past few weeks the flash drive I kept one
hundred percent of my writing on disappeared and my back up drive seems to have
become suddenly unreadable. So, what did I do, besides have several panic
attacks, I went out and purchased a new portable drive so that I could continue
to communicate with each and every one of you.
How
do I know this new drive will work? I don’t. I take it on faith that it will.
How do I recreate the most perfect blog ever written and then stored on a
device that refuses to relinquish such secrets, I can’t. All I can do is offer
a humble apology and try to once again do what I do. Which is to say. Here is a
new blog and since last weeks blog fell prey to the ones and zeros of the blue
nowhere, I can only try to convey a message that is as clear and accepting to
all of you.
So,
here goes…
I
know I will never be able to re-create the previous blog. I can’t unless I have
a copy of what I’ve written sitting next to me as I type this. I can however
tell you that it was about me, and two separate but similar experiences I had.
The first experience occurring almost thirty years ago and the second not a few
short weeks ago, which I find quite unsettling.
You
see, I have always tried to pride myself on the fact that I learn from not just
my mistakes but the mistakes of those around me. Yet, when I wrote the blog it
became apparent that I did nothing of the sort. It seems that in 1986 I fell
victim to not just hypothermia but my own hubris in the form of me being too
damn cocky about cold weather because I was from Wisconsin. Yeah, that thought
just about killed me.
Then,
in the midst of an arctic blast, this crazy assed Polack decides it’s a good
idea to ride his motorcycle in thirty degree weather. You can see where this is
going… can’t you? Yeah, I suffered from a mild case of hypothermia, only this
time, no giant knot on the skull do to a five hundred plus foot long ship
zigging when I was sagging above the arctic circle. (Which is a story for
another day. But I will say it is damn impressive and I was successful in
defeating Death once again. Let’s say it was my fourth time and leave it at
that.)
Yes,
I was cold, my body core temperature dropped inexplicably and dangerously low.
Yet I survived, without the help of the rude, uncaring and myopic folks of a
7-11 in which I tried to seek some warmth, comfort and hot coffee in an attempt
to keep myself alive. (Okay the rat-bastards kicked me out of their establishment
after I bought a cup of coffee to warm my hands and was standing near the hot
dog counter trying to warm up. They said I need to buy more crap in order to
stay inside… I refused and they tossed me out. Sure, I look like a hoodlum but
they were more than happy to take my two buck for coffee and then said “Please
leave unless you are planning on buying anything else.” I almost wish I had
died just so that someone, somewhere would sue the pants off these asshats and
make a million or three dollars off of them.) But… I digress.
Yes,
I didn’t learn from my mistake so many years ago when I was but a youth. A
neophyte if you will, but I still managed to survive. I don’t chalk my survival
up to anything supernatural or extra-planetary, I simply recognized the symptoms
and sought shelter and warmth. In other words, I paid attention to what was
going on in my body and tried to rectify the situation by removing myself from
an equation where the answer was zero. I sort of succeeded as evidenced by the
writing of this blog. Without the help of a calloused and predjudiced society
that thinks all long haired, bearded bikers are out to steal from them, rape
their kids and break any laws that get in their way of living. (Ok, that is
just how I felt by getting kicked out of a 7-11 store and it may not be
reflective of all 7-11 stores but the one on Military Highway in Chesapeake,
Virginia it sure holds true. Yeah, I’m calling them out, the rat bastards.)
Fact
of the matter is, I made it to my destination without succumbing to any ill
effects of the “arctic blast” the greater southern regions of the united States
of America had/has fallen under. But better yet, after two hours at my
destination (Church) I managed to ride almost twenty miles, in very similar
weather, to my other destination with limited if not few effects of the cold.
Yeah, I’m a Polack and I don’t learn easily, but I do survive.
So,
that is it. That is this week’s blog in a shorter more convenient manner. I
know I’m still a bit wordy and I’m trying to work on that. But my point is, and
it is a very important point, “Never judge a person by what you see on the
surface, people will always beguile you and rarely are what you think they are.”
Lastly, if you have the opportunity to visit a convenience store and have a few
moments to spare, just hang out in the back and see what happens.
Have
a great week and know that you will be hearing from me soon enough.
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