Michael Horton

Er, make that bicycle… and not new either. Well, let me explain. Last Saturday night someone “borrowed” a bicycle from somewhere in my mom’s neighborhood. When they got to where they were going they just left it… in my mom’s front yard. Tuesday I was visiting mom and I saw this bmx bike leaning against her Ash tree. I asked and she told me the story above. Since no one claimed it I took it home and claimed it for my own. It’s pretty nice. I think it’s an older mongoose. Definitely custom parts. The fork gyro probably needs to be replaced. The brake cables have been cut. The handle bars are a little loose, or stripped probably. That night, I put air in the tires and it seemed completely ridable.

Yesterday I started using it to ride to work. I forgot how fun they are. All went fine yesterday, but today… that’s a different story.

On the way to work I was crossing the street when the bottom cuff of my cargo pants got hung in the pedal sprocket just inches from the curb. Here’s what happened:

1. my foot slipped off the pedal
2. i started in a downward motion, right foot hitting the curb
3. the bike kept moving forward,  dragging me with it
4. it hit the stop sign and bounced forward a couple of feet
5. i hit the stop sign, legs wrapping around either side just like in the cartoons (um… yeah)
6. i hit the ground a couple feet away

There was a lady jogger who probably saw, but I didn’t take the time to check. I just jumped back on in case a car would drive by and see. As the day progressed my foot starting hurting pretty bad. But at lunch I wanted to go home and get my car so I tested the pain level whilst my foot was actually on the pedal applying pressure. Surprisingly it wasn’t bad at all. It’s the top of my foot that hurt and walking put pressure on it. With the pedal, I was able to divert the pressure.

I managed to ride the bike back to my apartment just fine. Almost… Right when I got to my apartment’s parking lot, my cargos got stuck in the sprocket again. This time I went sprawling out across the parking lot where quite a few people caught the spectacle. Well, not not be embarrassed for as long as I could help it, I immediately (as in .5 seconds) jumped back on the bike and pedaled to my apartment. I drove my car back to work after lunch. Right now, my right foot is killing me. I might have really messed it up. If it still hurts tomorrow, I ‘ll definitely go to the doctor for some x-rays.

So much to do, so little time.

There are so many things that I would like to start doing and yet I don’t seem to have any spare time. It’s not like I am this incredibly busy person. I work eight hours a day, go home and I might watch a movie. Ok, I might watch a couple of movies but never more than three. Recently I joined a book club with a friend where we read some of the classics and discuss it in small chunks. It’s been great fun, although we haven’t actually read all that much yet.

I have to admit I have never been been all that much of reader. I didn’t particularly like reading in school much less writing book reports. After school I found that I read even less- unless it was extremely targeted; like my spiritual endeavors for instance. Now that I have started reading I have found that I really enjoy it. I now seem to have an infatuation with words and phrases. So much so that I am now the owner of “Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases” from Greenville Kleiser.

My goal here is to write as much as I can. I heard if you write everyday, eventually you will get better. We’ll see how that goes.

a poem by Dylan Thomas (1936-09-10)

And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan’t crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.

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