The internet can be a pretty good place to discover new things….and new people.
Now, if you are a guy without any talent who drags his instrument around on his bicycle….just so that he can screech and stomp….badly….on another anonymous street corner….you’d be just the crazy and irritating guy who rides around with his cello…..bothering people from town to town.
I don’t know if I’d go out of my way to go see the screeching oddity.
But….if you have some talent….I’d like to see you play when you rolled in to town.
I suppose that at this point the bicycle touring cellist is kind of an oddity.
It’s odd to see someone using human power to get around….with a cello.
Right now, that’s kind of an anomaly.
But….maybe if we get used to it, there’ll be more to come?
Activism by accident….the building of something good because someone helped someone else….and the word got out, and soon….a lot of people were being helped and a “movement” was begun.
It’s funny how that happens.
It’s funny how small efforts can be such huge tipping points.
It’s funny how something “small” can turn into such a fulcrum for change.
And…it’s funny….in a different way….that simple efforts have “legal” stumbling blocks to overcome in order to move forward.
It’s good to be “protected”, but you have to wonder how much isn’t even attempted that might help other people….because of all the red tape you have to wade through to even get anything off the ground.
Maybe guerilla activism is the way to go?
What did my friend say? “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission”?
Maybe that’s where it’s all at? Start small, make change, keep going….and ask forgiveness when the MAN tries to shut you down?
I like this story….I like how good things can build from very humble beginnings.
The cashier asked me the other day, “Is plastic OK?”
What do you say to something like that?
I don’t tote my own bags….I don’t come prepared.
I worry about things….but I don’t do anything other than worry.
I told him that I guessed it was OK.
Maybe consciousness is a start…..maybe thinking about things spurs some occasional action?
I bought some chicken thighs (boneless!) to barbecue last night.
Man, they were good.
(But how much better for the planet it would be if none of us ate meat? It’s insane how we buy these “processed” animals….too convenient. One session of actually butchering what we consume would change most of the population to vegetarians….but….I digress…)
That chicken….that meat….that product…tasted good with some good sauce….grilled to perfection.
If I went to the store and that chicken wasn’t sealed up tight in a plastic cocoon,though, I would freak out and complain to management.
If the cashier dumped my loose chicken into any kind of bag, I’d freak out.
You can’t let chicken touch anything until it’s cooked.
You have to be careful with a piece of raw chicken.
More careful with the chicken than you’d be with a raw carrot.
I can whine or worry about the plastic….but I have to remember that most of the things that wrap or contain or deliver or restrain….are plastic.
What’s going to keep me safe if plastic wasn’t around?
There’s a lot of good things that are plastic….just like there’s a lot of crap that’s designed to break the minute you get it out of the dollar store.
I guess that I’m better off if I don’t make myself think too much about any of this stuff.
I am better off just enjoying the chicken….or, maybe, waking up a little and stopping my meat consumption?
I’m better off if I don’t consider the question, “Is plastic OK?”.
It’s easier to just make my purchase, hand the cashier my plastic to pay the store with my money in the cloud, and move on with my life.
If we’re in an “old city”, we can puzzle over and complain about a narrow road that feels kind of anachronistic.
Some of these roads feel like they weren’t designed to facilitate a Hummer.
And….you know what?
They probably weren’t.
Listen to this guy talk about how cities were designed for different purposes than just moving big cars rapidly through town.
This is pretty eye-opening.
Listen to how the auto industry strong armed us into thinking that these new automobiles were the things that had the right to be in these roads that used to be for people.
It’s hard to imagine the early reaction to these cars that had invaded the city.
People didn’t like these automobiles.
Until the industry changed people’s perception, the automobile wasn’t welcome on these roads that used to be safe to walk on.
That’s strange.
Now, the car is king….and a pedestrian or a bicyclist is an odd sight to see on or around our roads.
This is a great Ted Talk…talking about how good design can influence us to adopt a behavior.
Design.
Make it good….safe….easy…..and more people will want to ride their bikes.
I don’t think that getting rid of cars is possible….or, maybe, even desirable.
We need cars for a lot of things.
We need big trucks to transport things.
We need big trucks to deliver all these bicycles.
But….how do you design a life where the two things….bicycles and cars…..can safely co-exist?
Things can be better….if we had the imagination and the energy to make them better.
I’m kind of like a bicycle messenger….except I drive a mail Jeep and never get to ride my bicycle for work.
Except for not ever getting to ride my bike, I’m just like a bicycle messenger.
Driving the mail around.
Nah….I’m nothing like a bicycle messenger.
This is about a lot more than being a bicycle messenger.
“Imagination has everything to do with transportation”.
How do we get beyond what we think we can’t do?
Experience….and imagination.
This guy talks about recognizing the things that you can do to facilitate the kind of life that can nurture and that’s positive.
He talks about making “local choices” a consideration when you travel by bicycle.
He talks about being a new parent ….and choosing ways to manage bicycle transportation and doing things locally instead of buying a big car and joining all the other people driving around….buying a big car because “that’s what you do” when you have a new family.
Nate got up a little after I did this morning, and since, for some reason….maybe getting older, I get up really early, Nate got up really early, too.
He asked me, “Why are you up?”
I told him that I needed to write a blog post.
“What are you going to write about?”
I told him that I wasn’t really sure….that I didn’t have any ideas yet.
Smiling, he told me that he knew what I should write about.
“Really? What’s that?”
“Minions.”
“No….I don’t think that I’ll write about Minions. That’s a good topic, but I don’t think that I’ll write about Minions.”
“What?”
I repeated myself and that seemed to kind of satisfy him.
Smiling (again), he said, “I know what you could write about.”
What?
“Olaf”.
I told him that Olaf was probably not going to be the blog topic either….and then told him that he better go back to sleep….that it was too early for him to be up…and, surprise….he went back to bed.
So…..now I have two options to write about.
Olaf ….or Minions.
It’s always good to have options.
And, when you think about it, maybe Olaf and Minions are a better option than continuing the current trend of bicycle posts?
Maybe I’ve drained that vein dry?
Maybe that ship has sailed?
Maybe the tires are flat on the two-wheeled locomocution obsession?
Olaf is one of the great animated characters of all time.
Why shouldn’t I write about him?
My daughter works at a grocery store as a cashier and now two children have come through her line and said, “Momma!! SHE LOOKS LIKE ELSA!!!”
(Zoe wears her blonde hair in a single braid.)
I think that’s kind of cool….to look like a beloved cartoon character.
Someone told me I looked like a puppet.
Someone also told me….a “different” someone….that I “had no chin” after I shaved off my big beard.
Dang.
A “puppet without a chin” is nowhere near as cool as looking like Elsa.
Here’s a short film by the North Face company about 3 ultrarunners.
One of the runners, Rory Bosio, is featured in an article in the latest Outside magazine that I thought was kind of interesting.
They talked about her training methods….and how the “methods” really involved a lot of “play”.
Training for some can be kind of extreme….kind of regimented.
So….I like hearing about people who excel while having fun.
I’m not running…or doing much of anything these days other than maybe mowing big lawns and hobbling to the car to make another mail run.
I don’t know why that is….maybe it’s just awkward to make the time….make the time that’s solitary.
But, one thing that I’ve noticed is this: it’s more damaging to my body to do nothing than to work it hard.
I’m stiffer….less fluid feeling.
Maybe that’s what moves us into “middle age”?
( I figure that at 55 that I’m about 20 years away from “middle age”….but inactivity helps me understand what it means to be “old”….even before I actually hit the “middle-aged” years.)
Running…or cycling…or any kind of intense or consistent movement….might be seen as something that’s for a younger man.
What’s the cutoff point?
When are you supposed to “stop”?
What was it that Satchell Paige said?
How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
How old?
Anyway….my point is that I’ve got to figure out a way to start again.
When you stop, the age grabs you and reminds you of what you are….or, what you think you are.
Maybe the secret is to not spend too much time trying to “figure out a way”?
I know where my running shoes are….I have some shorts….I get up early in the morning.
What more do I need to figure out?
Maybe just how to ignore anyone who says, “Hey, you!! You need to ACT YOUR AGE!!!”
It’s funny when you hear these guys talk about bikes….and what they mean….and could mean….and what they mean now…..it really hits me that the world would be a different kind of place without cars.
Now, I love to road trip.
I love to get in the car, gas it up, and just go.
I like to work on my car….and it feels like a real victory when I can fix it and GET IT TO GO again.
I can cover so much ground so quickly in a car that I almost don’t have to pay attention to where I am.
All I ever have to do is remember where I was and keep my mind on where I’m going.
The “middle part” I can ignore….it’s just the “filling” that’s keeping me from where I might be going.
Nah….I better pay attention to all of it.
It’s easy to zone out in a car, though.
( It should be noted here that, as a “professional driver” and a member of the postal craft, that I am ever hyper-vigilant when it comes to paying attention on the road. I don’t zone out….no matter whatever.)
It’s too routine to just turn on the ignition.
Getting rid of all the cars is a crazy notion, anyway.
Who in their right mind would want to get rid of the cars?
Not me.
But….wouldn’t it be great if getting crushed by a hunk of motorized steel was never a concern when you were out riding your bicycle?
I’d ride even more if I didn’t have to worry about the cars crushing me or crushing a member of my family.
That’s a utopia, for sure….to imagine a world where getting on a bicycle was as normal as anything else….where safety wasn’t a concern…where the cars weren’t a consideration when I was picking a place to ride with my family.
There’s no money in all these bicycles, anyway.
They can’t tax the air.
They can’t tax our muscles.
They can’t tax the oil on our chains.
How you gonna make money off a bunch of happy people riding bicycles?
