**Spoiler Alert** We didn’t like this one. It was a story about a guy who cheated on his pregnant girlfriend. She takes him back for some reason I can’t figure out. There were a bunch of other bad relationships showcased in the film as well. All in all, one unpleasant movie. After Zach Braff’s wonderful Garden State, I was expecting a little more. Of course, unlike that movie, he neither directed nor wrote this one. Maybe he should think about doing that again in the next movie he stars in because otherwise, I’ll probably pass on it.
licensed to maim
I did it–I passed the riding test and got my motorcycle license today. I cut it pretty close, but there was a reason for that. On the last run of our last practice exercise, I dumped the bike. We were doing emergency stops and my front brake locked up on the wet pavement and down we went. The bike was ok. I was ok (except for my bruised ego and a few bruises that appeared on my legs after the adrenaline wore off). Life went on. I could’ve easily gone home at that point. I was so worried about passing the test that dropping the bike hadn’t even occurred to me. Anyway, the test was next, and I figured I didn’t have anything else to lose so I stuck it out. What’s the worst that could happen? Drop the bike? Nope–already covered that.
Dropping the bike made me the pariah of the group. No one would look at me or talk to me after it happened (better safe than sorry–these sorts of things could be contagious). We had a little break while the instructors were setting up for the test. I went to my car to get a drink of water. When I returned to the group, someone finally summoned up the courage to speak to me and they asked me if I got hurt. I made some smart ass comment, everyone laughed, and that was the end of that. I do feel that I will be remembered well by this group of people, though it’s not for anything I’d want to be remembered for.
So, the test was next. I didn’t figure I had a chance in hell of passing. Prior to today, I thought I’d do ok on it. I knew I was going to flub the figure eight. Luckily, or unluckily, that was first. I wasn’t even close to staying inside the box, but I didn’t put my foot down or stall like some of the others did, so it wasn’t a total loss. Next was the swerve test. I did fine on this. Then came the dreaded emergency stop. I messed it up somewhat, but that was to be expected given the circumstances. Last was the two curve test. I got dinged a few points on this one, but nothing major.
While I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped, I blame that on my earlier indiscretion. The stress of the test did a number of most of the people, from what I noticed. A lot of them were messing things up that they did perfectly in the practice runs. I think everyone passed except one woman who had never ridden prior to this class. I don’t feel I could’ve passed the class without some practice riding first so you can’t take that away from her. She did perfect figure eights, though–go figure.
They say there are two kinds of bikers–those who drop their bikes and those who will. I was hoping to fall into the latter category, but, like my instructor said today “at least you got that out of your system.”
100%, baby
That’s what I scored on my written motorcycle safety test I took this evening. Phew! I have to say, I wasn’t all that worried about the written test. You just needed 40 out of 50 to pass. I probably could’ve done that before I even studied. A lot of the questions were common sense.
Now, if I just pass the riding test on Thursday, I’ll be a happy camper.
my i don’t have to run day
Today was pretty busy for a Sunday. Before I get into that, I need to start with last weekend. Brian and I were going to go for a ride last Saturday when my bike stalled and wouldn’t start again. This has been happening since I got it, so we decided to take the carburetor apart to see if there were any problems with it. I’ll bet you didn’t know we were mechanics! Well, we weren’t until we bought this bike…Anyway, there was some gunk in it, but everything inside seemed to be in working order. So, we cleaned it up and put it back together. We had to order a new gasket for it so we couldn’t put it back on the bike until this weekend. Brian did that yesterday, but we didn’t have time to finish the job because we had to go to John’s house for supper. So, we set our alarms for early this morning and got it put back together. Surprisingly, the bike still runs! Time will tell if there are still issues with it, though. It did seem to be running better for Brian when he tried it out.
The reason we got up early today is that Brian went to a motorcycle rally in Morgantown, WV this morning. One of the other cub scout dads is a “biker” and invited Brian to go with him and his family today. He invited Jake and I as well, but we had other plans so we were unable to go. Brian had a great time. The only downside was hitting a thunderstorm on the way home this evening.
While Brian was at the motorcycle event, Jake and I went to visit my parents. They were away much of last month on a trip out west and we hadn’t seen them in about a month so we went over there for a visit today. My mom made a yummy lunch and we hung out for a bit. Then we went to see my cousin Chris’s new house. Her husband pretty much built it himself over the course of the past year. It was very nice. And very big.
On our way home from my parent’s, we had to pick up some groceries. Once we got home and got everything situated, I kicked back on the couch for 30 minutes and took a little snooze. After that, I started working on my “homework” for my motorcycle safety class. In the midst of that, Brian got home. After talking to him, I finished my homework and we met downstairs to work out. Our neighbors are having a fire this evening and we’re all invited, so it’s time for me to head over there as I will be the last one from our household to arrive.