Saturday, September 6, 2008

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Panic



I've officially given up on my motorcycle. It was fun to dream about while I still had enthusiasm about it. It was certainly fun to paint. There are those that would tell you that you can't faux finish a motorcycle, and then there are those that will tell you that you shouldn't. You CAN and SHOULD. But there are also those that would just say that it's about the faggiest thing they've ever heard of... and I'm not really equipped to have a dialog with those people.

I have decided to abandon it after an incident. It was a seemingly benign incident, but it's analogous to all future panic inducing occurrences. I never even got the thing on the road. I was practicing in a parking lot and while down shifting, I let go of the clutch too fast the the bike started jumping about. I panicked and had no idea which hand was supposed to do what at that point. I don't even know if I kept my hands on the bars. For a few brief moments I had no control over what was happening, and on a two wheeled vehicle that means I could have been very close to dragging my face across the ground. As an isolated occurrence I know that I've learned my lesson, and that my next shifting exercise would be much smoother. But there is no way to prepare for the panic itself; you can only prepare to avoid panic. But how can that be done when I'd be sharing the road with all the fuck-twats that are around? By staying the fuck of that suicide machine, that's how!

If I was some half-wit tough guy I might stick with it, everyone needs a way to get their jollies right? But I have fun in more interesting ways. As an artist, I can be provocative and confrontational. Indeed, it's much more exciting to risk your mind than it is to risk your body.

Establish risks, weigh options. Abandon the stuff that destroys you.