Category: drama

Comments

Into every life a little drama must fall. Some very kind and generous person left a snotty comment on my previous post. [1]Which has been deleted. I do not tolerate personal attacks. Here is the kicker though, the comment was directed toward my buddy brettcajun!

Oh yeah, it takes a real man to trash someone behind their back. *sigh* I probably shouldn’t be surprised, jealousy is truly an ugly emotion and it is very clear to me said person is just that. Btw, going out of your way to point out the flaws in others only serves to reveal you own. (And to said individual, kindly take your pissy bitterness elsewhere. This is your only warning.)

I forwarded the comment in its entireity on to Brett and I know he’ll be up in arms. Lol. If he wishes to repost it, its his call. For my part, I’m done with it.

** Update – per Brett, this pathetic person has spammed several blogs related to Brett’s. What a gem of a human being? **

References

References
↑1 Which has been deleted. I do not tolerate personal attacks.

Speed Bump

The ride this past weekend was fun albeit a little drama. Even worse, the drama was partly my doing.

It started off well enough. Beautiful day, great weather. We met up as usual. A couple new riders as well as some regulars. No one really wanted to lead so I stepped up to lead the first half of the route. I made it pretty clear I was a tad vague on one section of freeway (or so I thought.) Long convoluted story short, I got confused on one of the exits and my hesitation (and veering across a lane) caused one of the riders to miss the turn and get separated from the group.

We did go back for him but thru a serious of errors, we never found each other. Normally, if a rider gets separated you just continue until the next stopping point to rejoin the group. Why he chose not to do this is unclear but its irrelevant at this point. The point is he got separated in part due to my hesitation. 

Afterwards, the lost rider left a rather biting message on the group message board. I felt it was over the top but having had issues w/group leaders myself, I was willing to look beyond it. Besides, we all say things out of anger we don’t mean at times.  And never being one to back down from controversy or my own behavior, I replied via the group owning my mistake. I explained what happened as well as re-iterating my previous offer to take him to dinner to make up for it. To my surprise, he replied back and apologized for his “snarky” comment, as he put it. [1]I also got several personal emails from guys thanking me for being ‘brave enough’ to speak up. Whatever that means. I plan to redeem my invitation this weekend if he is around.

The rest of the ride went well. The guys were a tad annoyed w/me whining about leaving a rider but other than that we had fun. We stopped for lunch at a burger/shake place in St Helena and pigged out. OY, was I full afterwards. lol The strip thru Napa Valley and back down thru the petrified forest is great for moto riding. Nice country side with windy roads snaking thru it. The only sucky part was the traffic. Naturally, the holiday weekend had people out in droves.

This weeks ride is fast approaching. The irony is the route starts off the same as the last one. But this time, I don’t take the exit!

References

References
↑1 I also got several personal emails from guys thanking me for being ‘brave enough’ to speak up. Whatever that means.

Ruh Row

Well, I only got one piece of hate-mail after my last rant. Actually, most of the replies by email have been quite civil. Most people who were upset w/me apparently missed the part about me stating, “I am disappointed with our current Prez”. The distinction is I still see hope thru some of his recent screw ups. I rarely rant about politics mainly as I get annoyed with all the vitriol from both sides. Everyone LOVES to complain but so few of us ever do anything about it. /rant

And now for something more trivial…

Had another good moto ride this week. Well, it started out great but didn’t end so well. We took a jaunt down to Alice’s restaurant in Woodside. Alice’s is a favorite spot for bikers and relatively easy to get to. Plus, the surrounding country side is very beautiful and has lots of windy roads to trek on. I’m normally the sweeper [1]the rider who brings up the rear and makes sure no one gets left behind. but since our normal leaders weren’t in attendance, I got nominated to be the leader. I didn’t mind as I knew the route well. That said, I don’t think I make a very good group leader. I worry too much about the group and have a hard time focusing on the ride ahead. I kept slowing down, afraid I was going too fast. Speed up, slow down,  speed up, slow down….I’m sure it was worse than hooker with ADD.

We took a round about route so the ride would be a tad longer. My favorite part was coming back up Hwy 84. Its a very windy road with curves that are uneven so its almost like being on a race track. [2]No, we weren’t racing.

There is an optical illusion  in this pic. We are actually standing on a a steep grade and I’m squatting a bit. I found it amusing how short I looked. lol

After a very filling lunch, it was still kinda early so we decided to head on up to Big Basin. Now that was a bit more rough. A very typical one lane bumpy mountain road. On a sport bike, it tends to leave the wrists and buttocks sore. Luckily, its only about 5 miles before cresting the top and it opens up again. We stopped at the top to give everyone a break, including myself. OY.

Here’s all our bikes parked in a row. [3]Gerrad, notice yours is up front, per your request Aren’t you proud of m I remember to bring the camera two weeks in a row! Good homo! lol

Sadly, things did not end well. On the way home I somehow managed to leave my jacket zipper open and my wallet blew out on the 280 freeway. *sigh* My buddy Christopher pulls up next to me thinking something blew off my bike. I immediately thought it was my phone as I have a horrible habit of cramming it in my side leg pockets which tend to bend when I’m riding. Luckily it wasn’t. Completely irritated, I had the bright idea to walk down the side of the freeway looking for the wallet. To be clear, the freeway here has a very wide shoulders on both sides. I wasn’t actually in traffic…yet.

The very thought of going to the DMV emboldened me to search for the damn thing. About a half a mile of backtracking on foot, I began to find the remnants of my life strewn all about. I found my broken bank card first, 30 more yards I found a $20 blowing on a weed, another 50 yards I found yet another credit card bent all to hell. I walk for a bit more and am about to give up when I see my wallet blowing in the freeway. Naturally, it looks completely empty from being run over and blown all about. Even worse, its on the other side of the damn freeway now. Hoping against hope that my driver’s license was still in it, I waited about 15 minutes, timing the space between cars, before making a mad dash across 5 lanes of traffic to grab my wallet. Oh yes, 5:30pm on a Friday and yours truly is running across the 280 freeway! I know, I know, stupid but I wasn’t ever really in that much danger. This occurred South of SF in a very open stretch of countryside. The inside shoulder also had a 6ft wide dirt median which is where I spent most of my time walking. The only real risk came from running across the freeway.

Of course, I found everything but the damn ID. I’m quite sure given more time I would have found it as well. The chippies showed up and shooed me away. Actually, the guy was very nice and was shocked at how far I’d walked when he drove me back up to where my bike was parked. The funny part of all this? CHP never got a call about me walking on the freeway just a motorcycle being parked on the shoulder. How’s that for a kick in the rubber pants?

References

References
↑1 the rider who brings up the rear and makes sure no one gets left behind.
↑2 No, we weren’t racing.
↑3 Gerrad, notice yours is up front, per your request

Rough & Tumble

This week has started off a bit rough.  I had another bout of insomnia Sunday night so didn’t fall asleep until almost 4 am.  Needless to say, I didn’t make it to the gym on Monday.  I was dead tired on my feet yesterday but a friend was in town from Denver and I really wanted to see him so ended up going out after work.  I didn’t stay out long though.  At one point, I was nodding off while he was talking to me! I came home and didn’t even turn on the computer.  I think I was asleep 5 mins after my head hit the pillow. 

I had a good workout today but it went a little long and I was almost late to work.  Didn’t get time to stop and pick up healthy food either.  Luckily, work had a St Paddy’s feed and we had plenty of fresh corned beef, cabbage, tators, and carrots.  YUM!  I feel like a big ole tick about now. 

So far, I’ve been handling the longer work schedule better than last time.  My gym schedule has suffered a bit over the last couple weeks but I’m trying to get back on track. [1]I was particularly lazy this past weekend, I didn’t go once  I tend to rebel mentally when I’m constantly on the go. I don’t like it and I find after a while I just get in a “I ain’t doing shit” sort of mood.  But, as TFA would say, it is what it is.  I just need to suck it up and get back on track.  I did both Chest & Tri’s today and pushed myself to finish.  I had to drop the last set but only due to time constraints. 

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People have been asking about Beefy boy. I didn’t hear from him all week or over the weekend.  I got an email on FB yesterday.  He had to go back to Hawaii for personal reasons.  He says he’ll be back.  In this economy, I’m not so sure.

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And while I can be forgiven for forgetting a get-together on Sunday, my behavior towards another guy this past weekend isn’t so easy to forgive.  I mentioned a few posts back, I “met” a guy recently who really wanted to go on a date.  He was fun and I figured it would be worthwhile.  Anyway, he emailed me a couple times last week trying to arrange some time together.  I replied I’d be interested.  However, the weekend arrived and I just totally didn’t feel like it.  Like a turd, I didn’t follow up.  Granted this was only a booty-call scenario and we hadn’t set anything definite, but I still feel like a schmuck.  I could have emailed or even picked up the phone.  I hate when guys flake on me so I definitely know better.  I got an email from him early yesterday.  He was a bit peeve’d, rightfully so.  I called him back but he was at work.  I called again later but he didn’t answer, I left a message.  I apologized for my behavior and explained a bit but the reasons don’t really matter.  I was a jerk, I own it.  If he doesn’t call me back, I’ll completely understand.  If the situation were reversed, I might not call him either. 

On the up-side, I have some fun time arranged with a regular buddy tonight.  Maybe it ill help get me out of my funk. 

References

References
↑1 I was particularly lazy this past weekend, I didn’t go once

Oh No He Dinnn’t!

Wow, all the comments on the last post were great!  I didn’t realize so many people would comment.  heh heh  It was great reading all the stories.  Thanks to everyone who shared. 

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I had a bit of a rough week.  Work wasn’t overly busy but the drama over the City’s budget deficit continues.  Not surprisingly, the City is facing one of the largest budget shortfalls in its entire history. [1]The state isn’t doing so well either.  I’ll be the first to admit the City’s paryoll is significant.  SF has 1 civil servant for every 5 citizens.  That is a lot by any standard.  I’m grateful to have a job so I won’t bore you with all the stuff they are trying to take away from us.  And while I’d never support anyone getting laid off, it may come to that.  My department is somewhat immune to layoffs but it isn’t written in stone.  Its gonna get uglier for sure. 

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On top of that, the land my dad left my brothers and I has hit yet another snag.  I’m not sure why I’m surprised but this one is a doozy.  So much so, it may take us years to resolve it.  Ugh.  Blood-suckng attorneys and their double-speak really pisses me off too.  Why can’t they just speak frakin’ English!  So now,not only am I broke but I have no equity to show for it.  Lovely.

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As if my own drama wasn’t enough, my soon-to-be ex roomie has been irritating the hell out of me.  He can’t manage his finances for shit and has been dragging me along for the ride.  He hasn’t even paid rent yet and had the fucking audacity to ask me for money!  We had a few “words”.  On the off-hand chance he doesn’t move, it is time for another come-to-Jesus meeting when he gets back.  I’m done giving him breaks.  He can either start pulling his own weight or get out.  And if he does move, I’ve decided to proceed with finding another roomie. 

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And to top it all off, the weather has been down right shitty today.  Oh well, I guess we do need the rain, even if it is a bummer.  I’m doing lunch and a movie w/my buddy Juan tomorrow to take my mind off things. 

References

References
↑1 The state isn’t doing so well either.

Trust

In a slightly less exciting rant and not meant to damper the thrill I have from my tattoo, I discovered this weekend, and not for the first time, someone I trusted has been running their mouth about my business.  Business they were instructed was private and only shared in confidence.  Serves me right for reaching out to someone I saw in pain and deciding to share part of myself. 

Well, lesson learned. [1]And needless to say, they won’t get a 2nd opportunity

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The irony here is for a long time I didn’t see myself as an overly moral or ethical person.  Never having the benefit of strong family ties as a child, I had to teach myself right from wrong.  All things considered, I’ve accomplished that goal to my satisfaction. [2]Of course, there is always room for improvement.  And while my own brand of morals may not be the norm, they keep me on the path I have chosen in this life.  I guess the point of my ramble here  is I’m more disappointed than angry.  Disappointed that integrity seems to be a catch phrase for most guys these days.  I’m also disappointed in someone who obviously cares more about their next drinking buddy than true friendship.

Or, it could be I’m just getting old and crotchety.  I mean my 38th birthday is fast approaching. *ducking*   

References

References
↑1 And needless to say, they won’t get a 2nd opportunity
↑2 Of course, there is always room for improvement.

Trust

In a slightly less exciting rant and not meant to damper the thrill I have from my tattoo, I discovered this weekend, and not for the first time, someone I trusted has been running their mouth about my business.  Business they were instructed was private and only shared in confidence.  Serves me right for reaching out to someone I saw in pain and deciding to share part of myself. 

Well, lesson learned.1

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The irony here is for a long time I didn’t see myself as an overly moral or ethical person.  Never having the benefit of strong family ties as a child, I had to teach myself right from wrong.  All things considered, I’ve accomplished that goal to my satisfaction.2  And while my own brand of morals may not be the norm, they keep me on the path I have chosen in this life.  I guess the point of my ramble here  is I’m more disappointed than angry.  Disappointed that integrity seems to be a catch phrase for most guys these days.  I’m also disappointed in someone who obviously cares more about their next drinking buddy than true friendship.

Or, it could be I’m just getting old and crotchety.  I mean my 38th birthday is fast approaching. *ducking*   

  1. And needless to say, they won’t get a 2nd opportunity
  2. Of course, there is always room for improvement.

Emergency? What Emergency?

Monday night was probably one of the most stressful of my career. I’m basing that on the knots in my stomach and the bottle of wine I consumed after work. [1]Yes, you read it right, Mr. Light-weight downed a bottle. In a nutshell, a circuit panel blew out in our building and a full two-thirds of our system(s) went down in the blink of an eye.

As part of our ongoing reconfiguration, I am currently detailed to the Fire/EMS side of operations. At the direction of the RC, [2]the highest ranking medical officer on duty I quickly ran down the hallway and setup one of the few functional terminals. Within minutes, I had a summation of everything going out and coming in. Let me clarify that statement. Instead of being in charge of one channel focused on a section of the city, I’m now in charge of 5 channels encompassing the entire city! No pressure right? No, not at all. lolol Anyway, with the help of my co-workers and others I managed to bang thru it. I don’t think I did anything exceptional as frankly, it is my job but whatever. The work itself wasn’t overly taxing but I just couldn’t shake the awful feeling some calls might have fallen thru the cracks. There was no way to stop and check and I was too busy at the time to worry beyond the present. There was easily a 10 minute window between when the system went down and getting it back up. Meanwhile, call-takers are still trying to input calls into the terminals that did not go down. I know I bitch and moan at times about the crazy public but, I take my responsibilities very serious. It bothered me thru the whole ordeal and all thru the night afterwards.

The system came back up just in time for me to get off on time. [3]Ironic huh? I left relieved but I tossed and turned all night worrying some calls might have slipped thru the cracks. I personally felt like we failed the public that night. There is a silver lining here though. After polling all the terminals yesterday, we discovered there was in fact no lost calls. Everything got handled. A huge relief, I don’t mine telling you.

Yesterday, we were on a patchwork system which apparently went down again mid-day (prior to my shift). My shift went off without any problems. Parts are being flown in to create a permanent fix from what I’ve been told. There is also a redundancy system being added to hopefully avoid such a catastrophe in the future. I shudder to think what would have occurred had this happened on a busy night like New Year’s Eve. And I could go the rest of my career and not have to do that again and be completely happy.

References

References
↑1 Yes, you read it right, Mr. Light-weight downed a bottle.
↑2 the highest ranking medical officer on duty
↑3 Ironic huh?

Friend or Foe

I’m questioning several of my friendships right now after finding out some interesting details this evening. The details aren’t important but clearly my interpretation of the word “friend” is different from theirs. Regardless, after today, I know where I rank in their minds at least.

It didn’t help that I woke up very early this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. Naturally, I had to go to the DMV to finalize all the paperwork on my old bike being totaled, the new bike, blah blah blah. Surprisingly enoguh, that turned out ok. The girl that helped me was quite friendly and went out of her way to save me a butt-load of time.

As if that wasn’t enough, a friend has been very sick and is in the hospital. I got very worried when I couldn’t reach his room today. Thank the stars, he was the victim of incompetent recording keeping as to which room he was in. I just got home from visiting him.

My mood is completely sour and I need to stop before I say something I’ll regret later. Tomorrow is another day.

Off and Running

Well, I’m definitely on the mend.  I had lunch w/roblog the other day and I don’t think I closed my trap once the whole time. lol  I’ve been so cooped up lately, I think I was a little stir-crazy.  Poor Rob, he was a trooper though.  He listened attentively and managed to get in a few words between my short breaks to inhale.

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The clan survived the hurricane.  My younger brother was up in Topeka visiting my oldest brother so he missed the storm.  Apparently, his trailer came thru the storm ok but his back porch is missing.  My Mawmaw had a trailer parked on the land that wasn’t so lucky. [1]She doesn’t live in it, it was just there.  Not one but two trees fell on it and it is completely demolished. 

My other brother has been out to the land and he says there are more trees down than he has ever seen.  Even as far inland as they were the wind was still pretty fierce.  I can’t do anything from here obviously but I’ve canceled my trip home next week since no one is actually there.  Ok, that isn’t exactly true.  I’m still going to Houston. 

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Speaking of travel, I discovered the plate in my shoulder will set off metal detectors.  This means I have to get a declaration card from my doctor.  Even still, I’m a bit leery of traveling.  I’m American born but having heard and read some of the horror stories surrounding the TSA, I am not looking forward to it.  I’m hoping my karma will hold true and I’ll make it ok. 

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In completely unrelated news, I bought this 915 [2]homeless person some food at Taco Bell tonight.  He kept arguing w/the clerk over the price.  I finally said, “what do you care, I’m buying, what do you want?”  He looked at me a little confused for a moment.  I think he was slightly inebriated and had forgotten I was paying.  Bless his heart. 

References

References
↑1 She doesn’t live in it, it was just there.
↑2 homeless person