Punks, mourning and motivation

This weekend someone stole my bicycle and then also took the time to steal the mirrors off my moped and let some air out of the tires. Obviously, god wants me to ride the bus more often.

Here are two scenarios of what I imagine the thief or thieves were thinking:

"Well, this cool bike that some idiot didn't lock up has some actual street value, so that's going to put some cash in my pocket. Hmmm. now that I've taken care of the income-generating portion of the evening, I think I'm in the mood for some random maliciousness."

Or,

"I hate that bitch who's always riding around the neighborhood on her stupendously flaming and awesome yellow moped. She needs to suffer some, so I'm gonna deflate just enough of the tires so that when she tries to ride it she won't be able to steer and I'll laugh at her. Oh, hey, the fool didn't lock up this bike. Mine, now!"

I miss my bike! My little La Chiska, I mourn you. I hope you aren't lonely or scared out in the wide, wide world. I think, however, that you have the inner strength to survive and grow. Please forgive me for not locking you up, as I had grown lazy and complacent. Godspeed, my friend.

My renter's insurance is going to reimburse me for the value of the bike plus my estimation of parts and equipment I'd bought over the years. And the new mirrors are on the way, so everything is fine, really. Except that it irks me that someone could be so mean-spirited. Taking my bike I can sort of understand in an opportunistic, economic free-for-all way, but tampering with my moped? That's just crummy.

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As part of my 2005 resolutions, I decided to stop watching TV on an experimental basis. I began in February by giving a friend custody of my cable cord and I've since canceled my TV subscription entirely.

I can't say that not watching TV has caused any grand epiphanies. I'm a bit disappointed, actually, because I thought I'd suddenly tap into a deeply buried creative part of myself or at least go out for walks more often or keep a cleaner house.

All that's happened so far is that I take a long nap everyday after work and I've racked up some fines checking out tons of movies at the library.

I don't miss commercials, and I don't miss the doom and gloom of local and national news broadcasts. But I do miss programs, because there really is some fine entertainment on the tube.

Mostly, I miss being in the loop, especially during major events like Hurricane Katrina. I have a coworker that has a majority of her family living in New Orleans. Most of them evacuated, but there are a few she hasn't been able to contact. Everyday this week I've made an insensitive or stupid comment to her because my lack of a news source has made me ignorant of how dire the situation is becoming. Only today, after surfing some news sites and looking at photos am I beginning to understand that an entire city and it's unique culture, which I have visited once and which made a strong impression on my imagination, may simply cease to exist in any recognizable way. It horrifies the mind, and yet the world keeps on revolving.

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A friend has planted a seed in my mind that I should join the local FIT and train for a half-marathon. I'm at a point lately where I'm just not convinced that I particularly like running. But now I don't have a bike! And I just canceled my gym membership. I need to do some sort of exercise. I think I can probably work up to running 13 miles, but the question for me is whether it would be a chore or an enjoyable challenge. One thing this summer lull in regular exercise has taught me is that enjoyment is fairly critical to my motivation. I think what I need to do is sit down, reorganize my budget and see if I can afford some regular dance or movement-based classes.

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Here's a quote I've been mulling lately, by Andre Gide: "One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time."