(no subject)
So, time for a much less disturbingly graphic description of the weekend, I suppose.
This was a great weekend. Friday, some casual drinking lead in to casual dinner with neighbours. Sweet sweet summer porch life. If it weren't for the allergies, all would have been grand.
I'm still trying to minimize my use of pharmaceuticals. Certain things I've just given up on, like not taking excedrin to deal with my hangover went the way of the wildebeest. Allergy medicine is slowly trying to wind down as well. I'm basically at the point of: if it's so bad I can't sleep at least 2 hours in a row, then I'll take something. Or if I know I'm going to be out and about all day, like saturday was. Otherwise... well, it's only for a relatively short time, and if it's something I know I can get use to, the better off I am. I ended up taking a pill so I could sleep friday night.
Saturday, I got up early enough to do the long ride I was looking forward to. 119 miles altogether, about 36 of those was the organized ride. It was an interesting experience, in that there were something like 60-70 bikes involved, put in to groups of 8 or so. I found out about this through the guy I bought the bike from, he's riding club is attached to his church. There was a blessing of the bikes before hand that I had intended to skip, but they started late so I was there for that as well. Unfortunately, it was more of a blessing of the riders than of the bikes, as while I have no desire for a prayer in my name, I like the inherent paganry of blessing a motorcycle.
I think I've decided it's a he, and his name is Remus. Every time I try to think up a name, that keeps echoing around my head.
anyway, a whole lot of church/christian riders involved in this thing. I won a 100 dollar gift certificate to harley davidson woodstock (the end destination for the organized ride, as well as the guys who fed us in the end), so I need to go back out there. Oh no, force me to ride a long distance again, why don't you. twist my arm. really.
anyway, long ride followed by free sausage anna burger, then back home. They were tricksy people, those church dudes. They managed to sneak a small copy of the new testament in to the materials they gave as "welcome package." not just a copy of that bible thing, but one with motorcycle related testimonials on it as well! wooohooo! very sneaky.
anyway, got home, and had a go at fixing the old bike. Turns out the petcock, the little valve that allows the fuel to exit the tank and go to the carburator, isn't flowing. So, I can take that off and try to clean it, but then it leaves me with the problem of a fuel tank filled with fuel with an awkward little fiddly hole that the gas can slosh out of. I needed a funnel to get it in to the gas can I had on standby. Unfortunately, my jeans chose that particular moment to rip right through the crotch. Since all of this was in the middle of the day, common sense made me think that I didn't really want to go about flashing my crotch at the passers by. So, put eve3rything back together until another warm day rolls around.
Concert that night: Jason Webley, followed by the Reverend Peyton's Bid Damn Band. This was at the House of Blues Back Porch Stage. I'm not impressed with the venue. For one thing, the crowd was very uninterested, loud, and distracting. That and it's a sit down, and overpriced. I was also a little out of sorts: I was feeling tired and wind-blown from the ride and feeling exceedingly allergied, but I forced myself to go because... well, I need to get out more. The big surprise was just how insane reverend peyton is. They. are.. a riot. Imagine three people, one on the drum set, The reverent himself on dobro/guitar/harmonica, and his wife playing... washboard. Yep, washboard. Oh, and the rev is dressed up like a prospector, with the white shirt, weird hat, trousers with the suspenders. And he's got great mad eyes. Both he and his wife look like they're about the go homicidal in the middle of playing. And he has this awesome southern drawl, and talks in a very homey way the entire show. Fantastic. I'm really pleased they are going to be at the summer camp festival. The music itself... well, it's loud, and mostly shouted, but it's got some impressive playing in it. It's more the entire experience.
Anyway. Sunday. Brunch at a friend's parents place. This is a friend of mine from macalester from the chicago area, whose parents are moving away. But I haven't seen her since last year, and her parents like me (I think this might be their slight hope that their bi loud-and-brash daughter might get interested in a relatively quiet and wellspoken male) and home cooked food == awesome. After that, shopped for some jeans, since I was down to two wearable pairs both with holes in them. I bought two pair jeans, two pair cargo pants. I also refused to upgrade yet another waist size. I can still wear 38's, dammit. barely, but I can. I still need to start working out more, watching my weight sort of thing.
Along those lines, I'm pretty close to the bally's membership. Soon, I hope.
Anyway, napped most of sunday afternoon, then ate and played some video games and went to sleep. I'm still tired and sore today, which is good.
There is the long and short of it. A good weekend, all in all.
In related news, I'm planning on sky diving this june with some people from work. The place that we're going has a campground, so I'm hoping to go camp all weekend long. Thinking either the weekend of the 14th or 21st. Anyone interested in camping and/or jumping? let me know, I'll fill in details. The place is in ottawa Illinois, so very close to Starved rock, and has facilities for canoeing on the fox river, and a horse barn for some trail riding.
This was a great weekend. Friday, some casual drinking lead in to casual dinner with neighbours. Sweet sweet summer porch life. If it weren't for the allergies, all would have been grand.
I'm still trying to minimize my use of pharmaceuticals. Certain things I've just given up on, like not taking excedrin to deal with my hangover went the way of the wildebeest. Allergy medicine is slowly trying to wind down as well. I'm basically at the point of: if it's so bad I can't sleep at least 2 hours in a row, then I'll take something. Or if I know I'm going to be out and about all day, like saturday was. Otherwise... well, it's only for a relatively short time, and if it's something I know I can get use to, the better off I am. I ended up taking a pill so I could sleep friday night.
Saturday, I got up early enough to do the long ride I was looking forward to. 119 miles altogether, about 36 of those was the organized ride. It was an interesting experience, in that there were something like 60-70 bikes involved, put in to groups of 8 or so. I found out about this through the guy I bought the bike from, he's riding club is attached to his church. There was a blessing of the bikes before hand that I had intended to skip, but they started late so I was there for that as well. Unfortunately, it was more of a blessing of the riders than of the bikes, as while I have no desire for a prayer in my name, I like the inherent paganry of blessing a motorcycle.
I think I've decided it's a he, and his name is Remus. Every time I try to think up a name, that keeps echoing around my head.
anyway, a whole lot of church/christian riders involved in this thing. I won a 100 dollar gift certificate to harley davidson woodstock (the end destination for the organized ride, as well as the guys who fed us in the end), so I need to go back out there. Oh no, force me to ride a long distance again, why don't you. twist my arm. really.
anyway, long ride followed by free sausage anna burger, then back home. They were tricksy people, those church dudes. They managed to sneak a small copy of the new testament in to the materials they gave as "welcome package." not just a copy of that bible thing, but one with motorcycle related testimonials on it as well! wooohooo! very sneaky.
anyway, got home, and had a go at fixing the old bike. Turns out the petcock, the little valve that allows the fuel to exit the tank and go to the carburator, isn't flowing. So, I can take that off and try to clean it, but then it leaves me with the problem of a fuel tank filled with fuel with an awkward little fiddly hole that the gas can slosh out of. I needed a funnel to get it in to the gas can I had on standby. Unfortunately, my jeans chose that particular moment to rip right through the crotch. Since all of this was in the middle of the day, common sense made me think that I didn't really want to go about flashing my crotch at the passers by. So, put eve3rything back together until another warm day rolls around.
Concert that night: Jason Webley, followed by the Reverend Peyton's Bid Damn Band. This was at the House of Blues Back Porch Stage. I'm not impressed with the venue. For one thing, the crowd was very uninterested, loud, and distracting. That and it's a sit down, and overpriced. I was also a little out of sorts: I was feeling tired and wind-blown from the ride and feeling exceedingly allergied, but I forced myself to go because... well, I need to get out more. The big surprise was just how insane reverend peyton is. They. are.. a riot. Imagine three people, one on the drum set, The reverent himself on dobro/guitar/harmonica, and his wife playing... washboard. Yep, washboard. Oh, and the rev is dressed up like a prospector, with the white shirt, weird hat, trousers with the suspenders. And he's got great mad eyes. Both he and his wife look like they're about the go homicidal in the middle of playing. And he has this awesome southern drawl, and talks in a very homey way the entire show. Fantastic. I'm really pleased they are going to be at the summer camp festival. The music itself... well, it's loud, and mostly shouted, but it's got some impressive playing in it. It's more the entire experience.
Anyway. Sunday. Brunch at a friend's parents place. This is a friend of mine from macalester from the chicago area, whose parents are moving away. But I haven't seen her since last year, and her parents like me (I think this might be their slight hope that their bi loud-and-brash daughter might get interested in a relatively quiet and wellspoken male) and home cooked food == awesome. After that, shopped for some jeans, since I was down to two wearable pairs both with holes in them. I bought two pair jeans, two pair cargo pants. I also refused to upgrade yet another waist size. I can still wear 38's, dammit. barely, but I can. I still need to start working out more, watching my weight sort of thing.
Along those lines, I'm pretty close to the bally's membership. Soon, I hope.
Anyway, napped most of sunday afternoon, then ate and played some video games and went to sleep. I'm still tired and sore today, which is good.
There is the long and short of it. A good weekend, all in all.
In related news, I'm planning on sky diving this june with some people from work. The place that we're going has a campground, so I'm hoping to go camp all weekend long. Thinking either the weekend of the 14th or 21st. Anyone interested in camping and/or jumping? let me know, I'll fill in details. The place is in ottawa Illinois, so very close to Starved rock, and has facilities for canoeing on the fox river, and a horse barn for some trail riding.