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| | Holy Spirit | | | Sunday, January 4, 2009 (3:53 AM)
(I'm feeling indescribable) | | I don't think I've ever felt the Holy Spirit until tonight.
I knew it was suppose to get cold tonight, so I didn't want to ride my bike to work because I would get off around 2am. But like an idiot, I did. As the night grew colder, a dense fog began to roll in. So I thought to myself, "ok, so now it's foggy; not too much of a big deal."
It was when I checked the weather that I realized that the fog would be freezing fog. The temperature was 28 degrees, how could it not be freezing fog? So as I walked to my bike already scared as to what I was going to encounter on my ride home, I said a little prayer.
Just a little one that went something like this, "God, I pray that you keep me safe on my ride home."
Before I headed out on the streets I tried to warm my tires up by doing a couple circles inside our covered garage area. When I felt that the tires were the warmest they would get in the freezing cold temperature, I decided to turn my bike towards home and the warmth of the indoors.
The first couple of blocks were the best conditions I would see in the next 15 minutes, but I thought they were hell. I was just glad I didn't have to make any turns just yet and the road seemed to be dry (but only on looks). The first turn I came to I slowed way down and made the widest possible turn. It wasn't too bad but I could now see ahead and what I saw I didn't like.
The fog was freezing, I could see that in the light of my headlight. It was also falling lightly to the floor where it would stick and cause the ground to look white, instead of black like concrete should look. This scared me almost shitless because I was still on the flats and could see the marks of the car tires that had previously driven on the road.
What would my "hills" look like?
I didn't really come across any alternatives, but I began to make a Plan B. If I had to stop and park my bike on the road, where would I park it and how far away would I have to walk on this slippery surface to get home? But like I said before I only asked questions, I didn't answer my thoughts.
As I continued up my first round of hills, I became more confident. The streets weren't as kept up here and so my tires had more to grab onto other than the prior smooth concrete that was as slick as an ice rink.
There was a car in front of me, stopped at a stop sign that was at the top of another hill. I told myself, "I'm not stopping. If I have to, I'll go around her." And that's what I did, she looked like she was stopped more to the right so I rode up on her left.
After getting to the stop sign, I had to turn right, so I casually looked to my right and noticed that the woman in the car was putting on her safety belt. My thoughts? "Shit, I hope there isn't any ice because if my bike slips out from underneath me, I don't have a safety belt" (I wouldn't want one anyway if I did fall).
This part of my trek home was the most treacherous because it was a constant hill upwards. So I put my bike slowly into 2nd gear and rolled on the throttle to match the previous revs. I was going to keep a steady speed going all the way up and not stop until I had to make my last turn.
Heading up was the worst; it was here that I really saw the danger. The whole street was white and I just kept thinking, "Please God, get me home safely". It was the turn onto my street that made my nerves go haywire.
So reaching the top of the hill was not the hardest part I found out, but I also had to go downhill a few hundred feet and turn left onto a slanted road that took me to my house. It was at this point that my brain almost stopped working. I had to not only put my brakes on slowly and steady to slow my downhill movement but I also had to turn my handlebars to the left. I kept looking at where I wanted to go but my brain was thinking of all the different ways my bike could slide out from underneath me at that point.
Then I remembered that there was still some gravel on my road and as much as I hate gravel, the sound of my bike kicking up the gravel actually gave me hope. The more traction the better. I still had to be careful though.
As I came to a halt safely in my driveway, I couldn't stop thanking God. It was then that the tears started to build and continue even as I type this. I never expected myself to cry like this, which made me think of another reason of why I had.
I've always believed in God and even went to church almost every Sunday when I was in high school but I've since became a non-practicing Christian.
Tonight was the most spiritual night I have ever experienced and even though it was such a little thing as asking God for safe travels, I felt that He was with me on the back of my bike, holding my waist and guiding me to safety.
Even if I didn't feel Him at the time, I know He was with me. | | | 93 Views | 2  Thumbs Up | 4 Comments |  |
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| | Fall Break is Over :( | | | Friday, October 24, 2008 (3:17 PM)
(I'm feeling sad) | | That's right, as soon as it came in, it was out with the wind again. That will be my last school-related long-vacation break I'll ever get since I graduate in December. I won't get another spring break! It's sad I know but I did have an awesome time in New Mexico and Boulder, Colorado.
Apparently my friend, Brittany said our backpacking trip was suppose to be 5 days instead of 4 so I had to pack an extra day of food in my bag which was fine cause I had plenty of room since my clothes were in a compression sack (I highly recommend those things). After we hiked through about 25 river crossings and 6 miles later we reached where we wanted to camp out and good thing too cause it was starting to sprinkle. While Brittany's brother, Nick and other friend Hayley were just slowly putting up their tent, I was rushing to get my tent up. I knew it was going to start to pour, so as soon as the tent was up I quickly threw my backpack inside and jumped in. The rain started hammering the tent while I could hear Nick and Hayley try to speed up their tent making ability since they hadn’t gotten it up yet.
So the first hour or two Brittany and I were stuck in my tent reading some books waiting for the rain to quiet down. When it did, we came out to make some dinner before heading back in to get out of the rain that was starting back up again, to read some more and go to sleep in the tent. From here on I pretty much take videos of what we did so intermission for those vids you are going to watch…
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Did you watch them? Good. Now I can continue.
What I didn’t catch on video was when I was dancing on a log filled with hornets. This was after we had just finished eating dinner and it was our last night there. Due to the high amount of rain we had received the first two days and nights the river had raised a good amount and had lots of sediment within it. Because of this our filter we used to get our drinking water from got clogged with the sediment and stopped working. We barely had enough water for one more day so we decided that it was best to leave the next morning on the 4th day we were there.
So back to what I was doing, I decided that I wanted to run to the edge of the river where the log was and jump onto it. I completely forgot that the day we arrived at the camp ground, Brittany had said she saw some hornets going into the log but by the time I jumped onto it, it was getting dark and the hornets must have been getting ready to go to bed. I was shaking it back and forth noticing that it sounded hollow and was about to crack it open with one more jerk when out of nowhere I heard a hornet buzz to my eye on my left temple in a split second. The next thing I knew there was in horrible pain at my temple and I ran off the log as fast as I could. I ran straight for our camp fire area. From here on out it gets kind of fuzzy cause I can’t remember what I said but apparently Brittany had gone off to use the bathroom, Hayley had asked what was wrong and got stung in the process so she ran into her tent, and Nick saw the stinger in my face and ran to get not only the tweezers but also a plate because I guess there were other hornets on me.
When I heard one of the hornets I ran away again trying to get them off, this time Brittany was back and asked what was wrong. I was writhing in pain because of my face but I put my hands out to see if I had any hornets still on me. One was still crawling on the left sleeve of my sweatshirt and Brittany was able to smack it away. Then we hear Nick yelling, “Morgan! Where did you go?” and I look up to see him walking towards me finally seeing where I went. Then he grabbed his butt and yelled like a girl. It was pretty funny at the time. We dove into the tents to get away from the rest of the hornets and to finally get the stinger out of my face.
I was very lucky to have been wearing sweats and a sweatshirt otherwise I think I would have gotten a lot more stings. The other place I was stung was on the inside of my right upper arm which wasn’t bad. It was very ironic because that same day Hayley got stung by a honey bee and I asked her how it felt since I’d never been stung before at that time. But apparently Hornets are one of the worst to get stung by.
Any who, the next morning was freezing and we had to go 8 miles while crossing 45 river crossings in shorts. Let’s just say I couldn’t feel my legs or feet for awhile so after we got back to the car, I thought my feet were swollen because they were trying to get warm or because they were just tired. After about 10 hours into our drive back to Boulder we stopped at a gas station to fill up gas and to use the facilities. Only then did I notice that I was limping because my left foot hurt. By the time we reached Hayley’s parent’s house I couldn’t walk at all on my left foot it hurt so much. My right foot hurt too but not to the extent of my left. After about three days the swelling in my left foot finally died down except around the ankle area (which still to this day is swollen) while my right is completely healed.
Went to the doctor’s last Monday and he gave me a boot to wear for a week. He said by next Monday I should be ok to walk on it without the boot. If not I might have torn a cartilage which in that case would mean I’d have to go back to the doctor’s.
So because of this sprain I can’t race in two races this weekend but hopefully I will be able to row in November when we have our last race of the season.
It’s alright folks! I’m great! Except now I’m sad I can’t ride my bicycle, longboard or of course my motorcycle. :(
PS. I haven't uploaded or even edited my New Mexico videos yet so don't worry about that till I do :) | | | | 75 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | Fall Break is Coming! | | | Monday, September 29, 2008 (3:22 PM)
(I'm feeling full) | | So every year my school has a fall break and this year I'm heading out of the state! And of course I'm going to be camping again, this time in New Mexico for 4 days! The longest I've camped before!
My friend and I are flying out on Thursday October the 9th to Denver, CO and from there we are driving the whole way to New Mexico. I'll be taking my camera but I don't know how much footage I can get from it since I only have one battery and no backup (didn't want to purchase another cause they are expensive). I'll be in Denver for around 3 days so I can charge there and take a hot shower...but I'm not sure when I'm going to be there (beginning or end). Most likely I'll be there for three days during the end of my trip.
We've actually been planning this trip for 6 months so we are finally glad to see our plans get put into action after having to switch plane tickets and the place where we were going (we had planned on a place in Arizona but the monsoons wiped out the hiking trails). | | | | 112 Views | 2 Thumbs Up | 2 Comments | |
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| | Pretty Sucky Day | | | Saturday, August 16, 2008 (10:43 AM)
(I'm feeling denial) | | So it was a completely sucky day yesterday. It was totally fine too until around 9:15 at night as I was heading home from my friends house.
Wait lets back up. I had gotten home from camping around 11am, took a shower, packed some more stuff to get ready to leave on Sunday and left a text message with a friend asking her if she was doing anything that afternoon. Later, around 4:50 she called me to say that a couple of friends were going out on the boat and asked me to join. I couldn't pass that up so I stopped what I was doing grabbed my gear and took off on my motorcycle to her house.
Went sunbathing, swimming and tubing (tubing was probably the worst idea but I wasn't on it for very long). Decided to eat dinner at her place cause later I was going to go home get ready and then meet up with her at her house so we could go clubbing later that same night. I knew I was tired physically but mentally I was fine which is why I wasn't going to bike to the club. I wasn't going to drink either.
BUT as I was driving away from her house I reached the first stop sign of a major road and then it happened. I think the road was just too curved cause I went to put my right foot down and the weight of the motorcycle was too much for it I guess and I started to go down...on my right. Now I've dropped my bike before (I never told you guys about it) but it wasn't bad. It was on the left side and I did it cause I forgot to put the side stand down (stupid I know) but that happened when I was in my garage and it didn't do too much damage which is why I never told you guys. But this time I was nearer the street where it turns to gravel on the shoulder and it was worse damage then my right. I've got a couple dings on the fender that's noticeable, my front brake lever is slightly bent toward the front of the bike, and my rear brake is slightly pushed towards the side of the bike. Sorry there aren't any pictures or video of it. I'm kind of in denial at the moment cause I don't want to think about it. Who knows, I might show you guys later.
But don't worry about me guys, I'm fine. Actually a guy pulled over (after 4 cars just drove on by) and his daughter yelled out the window "Are you ok?" and I said ya but I needed help getting the bike up. After he helped me up he asks me if this was my bike and that it's such a big bike that my feet weren't flat on the ground when I was standing. The thoughts that were going through my head at that moment though, I hated myself for thinking about. Things like "I should sell it and then get a smaller bike" or "I shouldn't ride it to school" or and I hate this last one "maybe I wasn't meant to ride motorcycles" but then I'd answer myself with a "no you should, you just needed a smaller bike to start with".
I mean the engine is fine, I don't go too fast, it's just the weight of the bike and the fact that I'm on the balls of my feet that isn't. I've thought about lowering the bike but I was afraid of it bottoming out or scrap-age when I go over a speed bump.
I don't know, like I said I'm in denial and in a dilemma. I just think I need to stick to riding it. Kind of like snowboarding…if you fall, get back up and try again… | | | | 117 Views | 1 Thumb Up | 1 Comment | |
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| | Little Problems become Huge Nightmares | | | Friday, July 25, 2008 (10:42 PM)
(I'm feeling nauseated) | | Sorry everyone. I haven't been keeping up with the videos I do. I have about 2 more weeks till my motorcycle course and I couldn't be more excited however, there has been a few problems at my parents house so before I continue on with more videos I have to fix those problems.
I might explain more about that in another video but for now I'll keep it under wraps. Everything is ok and no one has died so don't ask if anyone has. I'll talk to you guys all later!
Ash | | | | 138 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | A Downed Google? | | | Monday, July 14, 2008 (12:03 AM)
(I'm feeling confused) | | So I went searching for a word on Google and to my utter astonishment I found that google did not respond! I was so surprised that I couldn't think of another search engine and so put in "search engine" into my google toolbar only to receive the same message. Haha, and I guess I can't live without google. Way back in the day, I used askjeeves so I went back to them but does anyone know of other search engines to use?
I don't know about you but I'm still confuzzled by this and I'm sure google is too.
PS I think google is making some changes to their system but I don't know all the details... | | | | 171 Views | 2 Thumbs Up | 3 Comments | |
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| | Late Night Closing | | | Thursday, July 10, 2008 (5:40 AM)
(I'm feeling exhausted) | | So seeing as this is my first blog post I'll be saying something that I've recently noticed.
I think my sleeping cycle is totally screwed up now. Working the closing shifts at a major theater can make you stay up till 3am, however, today or yesterday :/ I had to screen the movie "Meet Dave", so I ended up leaving the theater at 4:15. As I exit the doors not only do I hear birds chirping but I also see a faint light in the sky. It's depressing when this happens cause now I'm going to have to sleep when the sun is up.
Well that's it for me. I'm exhasted! | | | | 148 Views | 2 Thumbs Up | 1 Comment | |
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