Open Thread - Friday, March 10, 2017
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Is it possible to be tired and energized at the same time? I suppose it is a symbiotic relationship between the mental and physical aspects.
This past weekend, we had Sue's "Life Celebration". I set a new personal best. I think the only chance of having a bigger bar tab will be if Thing2 does a traditional wedding.
The celebration included friends that I hadn't seen in decades and groups of people that had not seen each other in decades. The crowd really buzzed. By the end of the evening, I was exhausted from making the rounds.
I still miss my Sweetie, allot.
I jokingly said that I had invited four decades of beer drinking buddies. Sometimes humor has a basis in reality. I could tell I am feeling better, because I prepared some material for the celebration. I think my best stuff was when I riffed on looking for a friend with benefits. Even better if she has vision and dental coverage.
Part of the feeling of being tired and energized, is feeling like an Irish Setter that has learned to open the screen door. After talking with my old riding buds, and some exchanges in the comments here, I came home and made arrangements to get my motorcycle into the shop. Here we go.
I think this is a pivotal moment that could morph into something more significant. A couple of decades ago, I was a hard core rider. I commuted on a motorcycle and rode almost every day. The only thing that would stop me was ice or snow on the streets. Most riders dream about taking long rides, somewhere.
I wonder if the tired and energized feeling facilitates lowered impulse control? Oh well.
Have a funky weekend!
The thread is OPEN
Comments
Good for you for good feelings.
If riding makes you feel better, do it. Not for me, once, years ago, and I realized I was set up for a potential rape. Kinda detrained me to motorcycles. I got home safe but scared. And cold.
Spring thaw. My gravel driveway seems to have slid downhill. Old conduits exposed. No power to them, should go out and remove, but broken foot complicates my life. I should get confirmation today that surgery will be on Monday. Reset three metatarsal bones and a major ligament. 5 weeks of negotiating on a broken foot. 6 more weeks in a cast, stainless steel in a bionic foot. Ti in my arm and stainless steel in my foot. And 2 artificial lenses in my eyes. A character from The Wizard of Oz? Artificial woman? Replacement part woman? No knees or hips yet. Lucky there. I just want to be able to walk up and down stairs without holding on to rails and walls. Trying hard not to feel sorry for myself.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
RL
You are like my 1982 R65. All kinds of after market parts and primarily form follows function.
I have always been a Caucasian male, which comes with a large degree of privilege. It is quite fascinating to observe people discriminate for things as mundane as riding a motorcycle, or having long hair. I am turning into that guy, so here we go.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Good morning, Tim~~~
Baby steps. One foot in front of the other. Sue will be with you with each step, encouraging you to live.
Have a beautiful Friday and weekend, folks!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Yeah
During the Life Celebration, I had a good talk with an old friend and colleague of Sweetie's. We hadn't seen each other >20 years. She had since married and her spouse had succumbed to the big 'C".
Even better than the talk, we had circulated with this friend during the freshman in college through our mid-twenties, knew my home town friends and brought a close friend from high school. I figure probably 25-30 of the people at the celebration were at our wedding, including the entire bridal party, except for Sue.
One of my motorcycle riding buddies and one of the Jazzfest krewe turned out to be neighbors. It was an impressive gathering of old dogs. All the twenty somethings were A) warned about running with the big dogs, and B) regaled in old guy stories and bad jokes.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Good morning, Tim!
What a wonderful time you and your family and friends had at the celebration of Sue's life. Thank you taking us on this journey with you. You will never know just how much I have appreciated your candor about the challenges you faced over Sue's illness and death. I hope your new energy will continue for some time. It is time for you to spend some time on yourself and expand your horizons to wherever they lead you.
This morning I leave to go visit my 95 year old mother. I am very fortunate that she continues to be in good health physically and mentally. We will eat out, watch sports on tv, and play several rousing games of Scrabble during my visit.
Have a great day Tim and 99%'ers!
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Travel safely
Give mom a kiss for me. I got a bunch of hugs at the party.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Sounds like a great celebration!
I hope you can make it down to NO for jazzfest this year and continue unwinding.
Today is the DC noDAPL march ...
The Washington march will take place on Friday beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern time. It begins at the Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters, which is located at 443 G Street NW. The march goes to the White House, where it ends with a rally at 12 p.m. in Lafayette Square.
http://priceofoil.org/2017/03/09/native-nations-rise-march-in-dc-takes-o...
Don't forget time shifts (springs forward) this weekend.
Here's hoping you all have a great day!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Raining for the march, many umbrellas
Kinda ironic that there is water from the sky. I wish them safe passage today.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
@Lookout Jazzfest is a done deal.
Jazzfest is a done deal. I ran into the krewe, at the life celebration. Tentative plan is to stay @ my sister's, South Carolina, 5/1, Mobile 5/2 and NOLA 5/3-5/7. Most of the krewe doesn't get in until Friday, 5/5. I will be on my own for Dale Watson.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Out west grateful to be sick of eating
Red Beans and Rice. Every. Single. Day.
Thank goodness I get at least one warm plate of food most days. Last I weighed myself, down to 123 but still over five feet eight inches, dang it can't shrink big bones, oh well one more notch in the belt. Thank goodness for belts. Too bad wine-grapes provide nothing nutritious whatsoever. That is why nearly all table-grapes are grown elsewhere now, fuck the poor! Especially Field Workers, because exports. See how that works?
World's seventh largest economy, most populous state, and 14% food insecure. Over five million souls. "That's the system." Note the freudian URL "/entertainment/living/health-fitness/" echoes of hollywood.
Lane-splitting is perfectly legal everywhere in California now, because there are waay too many cars and not enough road. Meanwhile my state "representative" wants to reward the car people by building more roads. Talk about a vicious cycle, woo! Big Yellow Taxi?
http://lanesplittingislegal.com/
Peace & Love
Namaste
Any forage green material? Dandelion babies, etc?
Much in the wild is edible and can easily be incorporated into red beans and rice. Plantains? Some fungi? Score some nasturtiums from someone's garden? Good luck. Think to look down.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
"Much in the wild is edible" not in California
most all of the "wild" places are private, government has "protected" the rest from the us poors picking over what's left. I guess if I wasn't so broke I'd go somewhere else, but where? No one I know here seems to give a fuck whether poors live or die, tell me if there is anywhere else I can get to with a different "system" then what's deployed here? Please.
Anyway, over-population and unequal distribution of resources makes it a kinda living hell especially for those that remember what was, what can be again. If only. Last year I traded farm work for fresh veggies, this year they don't want my old boney fingers. It is too much to compete against multitudes of youth who are also really struggling mightily. I will try to grow lettuce on my tiny deck again soon, before it gets too hot. Hope my seeds are still good, Oak Leaf is a hardy strain that's resistant to bolting in heat, still gets bitter though.
When I was a kid growing up here in the 60s we ran around drinking fresh water from the creeks, our families camped cheap and ate abundantly the fish from the rivers, wild berries roadside, abalone from the coast. To me it was a paradise, so I grieve every day for the losses that pile up, the people who suffer needlessly because of greed and the insatiable Chamber of Commerce. There are too many assholes here, humanely supporting 38 million people is not currently possible and Brown is planning for 12 million more by 2020 the last I heard. Unsustainable, "That's the system."
Food banks and charity don't cut it, and Pelosi wants no change of direction. Fuck the poors, all the way from the Feds on down to State politicians, even Local government is full of corruption, that is the state of California oligarchy in my view. Sucks to be me, LOL! Thank goodness for laughter.
On another hand, we can watch the daily lobbyists online now, so there's that. Digging around there will probably explain how this happened: Californians are paying billions for power they don't need, because of course. California is leading the nation down the drain it seems, but at least we have "identity". Yummy.
Come stay with me.
Wrong coast and too much $$, no doubt. I could use help for the forseeable future. I have rooms with beds and heat and electricity and woodlands. Do you do chainsaws? I am too scared of them. I have one, electric. Gave away the rest.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Hell yeah, that's the spirit.
now that is some good energy right there, thanks a million for saying it out loud, even though it seems impossible. Craigslist is such a corporate wasteland as far as community housing and such, quite depressing.
It is the economy that separates me from everything I used to know, including lumber-jacking, which Jerry Brown paid me to learn in the Conservation Corps 1978 when he was governor then too. Talk about retreads. I sold the boots, helmet, and chainsaw for nothing four years ago, the last round of down-sizing for me.
I figure I have maybe have one year left before expiration, from lack of healthcare or by my own hand because I just can't control pain enough, mental or physical. One reason I don't walk on our beautiful river path every day is because the homeless are there. I have talked to quite a few. Every time I go out I see a desperate person, or the detritus created by the poverty this system perpetuates. It scares me.
No need to read a newspaper to realize how fucked up ugly it is around here, the most beautiful place on earth for Francis Ford Coppola (Virginia Dare winery right down the road). Echoes of hollywood again by gosh, $300 million and doing what now? Can't be taxed enough to house everyone apparently, so Jerry needs to mitigate harder, or something. Not very entertaining.
eyo,
would you like some support in the form of an essay requesting help? Maybe you would find support here in varied and helpful ways.
"find support here in varied and helpful ways"
thanks for the offer, in fact I already feel supported "in varied and helpful ways" here. So anyone who has a little extra money, please give it to the guy who owns the place, 'cause I have not contributed anything yet.
Lack of housing and shelter is a big problem for me, but not to politicians in California apparently. It looks like it has been completely consumed by the oligarchy. Values! Who remembers the values voters, anyone? When did Ds become the party of Falwell? ~shrug~ New speaking matrix needed stat! Already! lol
L.A. County voter turnout at 11.45%
Experts agree everything is fine, there are no least among us. The power of hollywood propaganda: For people dying on L.A. streets, he offers help, and he won't take no for an answer
My words have a lot of STOP energy, for obvious reasons. I need more GO, as does the world. But first, make the evil greed stop. Please.
Peace & Love
I'm glad you feel supported here.
I hope you continue to find sufficient support to help you sustain your health, and some sense of well being. I'm sorry it is so difficult for you. The article you linked to about the work that Ruffin does on the streets gives one some small sense of hope. I hope life continues to bring you some small measures of hope.
Yikes
123# / 5'-8". That's darn slim. I know, I wrestled 126# @ 5'-10", senior year of HS. I took a physical and measured out at 0% body fat.
I like my red beans seasoned.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Keep on going. We're with you!
I'm rolling
But anticipating some bumps along the way. Gonna catch up with Rebirth.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Good Morning, NCTim - happy to see you happy -
- drive safely - I am a scared chicken when it comes to motorcycle riding - my son almost died once just slipping on a wet road and ...
ok, something else:
what's wrong with this idea:
Campaign Calls on Bernie Sanders to Lead a New Party
[video:https://youtu.be/LcNdKkTkgOU]
Just asking. At least it would be a focussed activity and get us out of endless whining. I want the party be called the The People's Party for Socialism and Justice.
Nothing at all,
there is nothing wrong with that idea. I haven't donated yet, but if the thing takes off at all I'll be all in. Nick Brana was on Jimmy Dore's show last month. Here are the vids if you're interested.
Pt.1 (12 min.)
Pt.2 (15 min.)
Pt.3 (15 min.)
Pt.4 (15 min.)
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
thx. Azazello, will watch it in a little bit, busy bee today/nt
"what's wrong with this idea" Subject is not interested.
Bernie has stated over and over again, he is not interested in building third party support. All I can find are articles speculating the opposite, pageview fodder. Sanders has invested his whole life working the two-party system, I don't expect him to change, for some reason others do.
"and get us out of endless whining"
Hmm, maybe it is time to take a break from reading, if that is all one sees? STFU is not an answer in my view. Depriving rentiers their profit is something any one can do any day every day, except daily media brainwashing "greed is good" somehow frees brains from thinking. Corrupt garbage in, garbage out is what this oligarchy looks like to me, not democracy.
To paraphrase: "If a planet fails in a universe and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"
Nope, I think not but I will shut up eventually. Undignified death not exactly what was planned. ~shrug~
hmm, it's not up to Bernie Sanders, it's up
to the people. If his supporters demand another party and ask him to be a 'temporary' horse that pulls the wagon out of the mud, he can't say no. And if he did, then someone else will step in.
I mean, why should we consider what Sanders said months ago. The situation has changed. There is nothing left worth saving or keeping in the Democratic Party.
In any case, who is not tired to deal with the same Democrats over and over again? If I read Sanders twitters, it's repetitive and under the new situation the country is in, not enough to convince.
What do you want to do? Nothing?
Nothing is something, i.e. Voluntary Simplicity
"What do you want to do? Nothing?" Ouch. I already talked about the actions I'm able to take as a broken older poor person on fixed income. Every day I don't use Google, Facebook, or Twitter I am not contributing to the homelessness and poverty their lobbyists create in San Francisco and the Bay Area (my home). I gave up the cell phone too, although I still take it on walks for the clock and camera. It is really old but still functional.
I never bought an iphone or any Apple product since OSX Leopard. I read the reports on http://chinalaborwatch.org/home.aspx and feel more solidarity with workers than bosses. I sold the car because I really couldn't afford it, wow it feels good to not buy gas and oil, fuck exxon. I don't use Windows or Amazon either, but that is Washington's problem as I see it. "All politics are local."
There's a bonus for me to avoid the daily impudent outrage on social media too. Just because the president is an ass, doesn't mean I have to watch him. Or the two-party show on TV, replaying on screens everywhere. Don't feed the trolls, that's my motto. Trump is the grand marshal of trolls I'd say. It looks strange to hear about masses of people losing their shit because auto-correct doesn't work, even on the president's machine. LOL Great American technology.
People are starving all around the world because of "us", the Great America war machine. Supposedly, (picked up off a blog somewhere) L.A. is ground zero for the SorosClintonResistance, and their GOTV was a whopping 11% turnout failure. Rather than splitting to a third party, Bernie can work on dismantling the vapidly disintegrating DNC, overtly, covertly, whatever. His power is best used on the inside now, not the outside, that's my opinion. I hope it doesn't sound too harsh, I don't want to stop the conversation 'cause I can't write.
Why aren't more Bernie supporters interested in OurRevolution? That is the path he created to get people elected. If I had money, and believed in the political money system that's probably what I'd do.
Peace
I am so sorry you took my question personally
like you I try to "boycott" some reading platforms like "facebook", got my first smart phone just two years ago, when I was still in the US, didn't watch the main stream TV media anymore and try, when I can to not to support major corporations for consumer good purchases. Like you I am on fixed retirement income.
What I tried to express is just my impatience with the way so many people don't seem to think about and work on a solution to change the current status of affairs (ie current government, parties and electoral system). I just wanted to know in what kind of activities you would engage in in the coming months and years. I feel restless not to do something and help somewhat. The past 'sins' of the Bushies, Clintons, Obamas and the Democrats have been analyzed a lot here. I like to take the next step and would like to understand what hands down activities one can participate in to change the party, electoral and some constitutional issues in the US. I am overseas now and watching from here to you over there is frustrating. It's so hard to understand. And to get either depressed or angry or frustrated isn't going to help.
Simplified life ... well I gave away everything I had, sold my house and everything I had in there. I just kept my books, clothings, kitchen stuff and china. Everything else ended up with the salvation army or got sold for peanuts. Everything.
I am in Germany without a car and don't buy one, use public transportation and carry my groceries walking by foot more than a mile in my backpack. I live a minimalist life-style and my son does as well. He can't live without a car, otherwise he could never get to his job location.
All this doesn't translate in political activism though.
NCTim
I'm new here but have been following your journey. My condolences to you and family.
Smiled when you said "I think my best stuff was when I riffed on looking for a friend with benefits. Even better if she has vision and dental coverage."
I lost my spouse almost 20 years ago from the big C also. Ten years with the sword hanging over our home. There is a certain sense of freedom that would sometimes bring on the old guilt. I remember my first LOL. (It was the Seinfeld scene where Kramer uses an animal shower head) In the middle of it I thought, it's being only 2 weeks. Should I be laughing?
Weird thoughts through grief. Looking back I sucked at it.
The next guilt trip, but realised I must be healing, was when I went to the grave to clean it up and next to it was a new stone. A lady around my age had died. I began to wonder what her husband was like. Thought about looking him up even. Fortunately a friend knew him and said he is an a$$hole.
Ride into the sun...waves of grief will come at times you least expect it. Ride them too.
Hugs
We partner losers get it.
It's a strange ride, 6.66 years for me. Alone since. Looking at still-coupled makes me happy/sad, happy for them, especially the long-termers. Now I am of an age where male partners might keel over, not sure I can handle that again (I am sure I can, really). So I may be like my recently-dead mother and live for another 20 years' single.
Welcome to the Club.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Thanks
Quite a few people have come forward to talk to me about grief.
I also tried to talk my daughter into waiting for someone to say you have you mother's eyes, then cupping her hands over her face and screaming. She did not have the thespian skills to pull it off. A couple of the women, whom I told, laughed.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Hola, compadre! The sun is up. One of our wettest years ever and
they're talking maybe an el nino this fall. Hah!~
Bikes can be good, though as one ages they can become less and less fun in shitty weather. Be that as it may, do what you want to and what you need to, as well as what you must. Whatever comes, enjoy the ride. Don't let the shit get ya down.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Hey EL
The inspiration came from two riding buddies, both late 60's, and both still active riders. Either purchased a retirement motorcycle. My sister bugged them to get me back on the road. It did not take much and the impulse control thing is real. The R65 is in the shop and by sundown the garage will have:
It has bags and I need the paint code to order my fairing of choice.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
The taller the ride the more stable the ride.
Be safe, while having fun.
Sunshine Sugarman! Cracks me up listening to that.
Talk about sixties.
Good on ya Tim man. Ride on.
Hey, some signif news we all should file away. Oil, Alaska, pipelines, wars, money, greed.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/10/investing/alaska-oil-discovery-repsol-sp...
Good day
Going for a ride beats the heck out of home alone. During the celebration, we were talking about the time we got silly and did a fast ride through the mountains of WV. Known as the one with the motorcycle ride.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Ride the West Coast Highway
and plan to stop by for a round or two.
Sounds like a plan
My brother in law, Sweetie's brother, is in Hermosa Beach. The only question is whether the ride will be that long.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
You've got a mandatory stopover in the Bay Area too.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Works for me
There are a couple of places on Columbus, one with great Arrabiata and another that makes cream of garlic soup and Italian beef sandwiches.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Gee, I wonder why newspapers are dying?
funny but that last one makes sense
deaf people are not senseless. They can feel the vibrations.
@Shahryar Exactly why I do not
Exactly why I do not like headphones, or an attenuator on the guitar amp. I need to feel the vibrations.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Hi Tim
I'm happy to hear you're happy and looking forward. Enjoy!
[video:https://youtu.be/MoBlmp9cOL4?list=PLWCJOLJ9si2lFFJ_3lh3d3j9LbgIuVIhK]
So far
I have been making a point of keeping busy. I know there are potholes in the road, but I figure if I am moving fast enough, I can skip through. The eight weeks between the celebration and the Jazzfest trip are prime for a let down. Neither stuff, nor activity can replace Sue, so I have to continue to get my feelings worked out. I feel good that I am a gym rat, and can not imagine what my mental state would be without the workouts.
Gladys Knight played the Fest, ~15 years ago. She brought a full stage band in tuxedos, the Pips and put on a great show. Right up there with Wilson Picket or Al green. Stevie Wonder this year.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
I know that your looking forward
also includes looking back, and I think the present includes both to enjoy. I’m pretty sure you’ll be fine through it all, knowing what I do about you.
Good for you that your experience of the gym is indespensable. I wish I could say the same. For me it is a necessary chore ; ).
@NCTim I can only imagine the
@NCTim
I can only imagine the reaction if your daughter did that.
You have a great sense of humour and love of music which I think is all life should be about. To hell with work.
I hit the reply button for Tim but it never works?
@riverlover
Yes indeed a it's a very strange ride. The dating scene...ugh. The competition at my age is fierce , especially at senior functions. A new man showing up is swarmed
Best of luck to you in getting your health issues looked after and if I was stronger I'd come and saw down trees for you
Hola my soul (fine) friend.
I notice you have a Beemer (BMW) bike. My hubby is a hardcore biker. He's owned Beemers in the past. He has a 2001 HD Electraglide now, all tricked out. He and I rode a mountain Beemer through the Alps back in 1999. The ride was RIGHTEOUS!! I have sat on the back of a bike and seen the Alps (Germany and Austria), the eastern seaboard/Blue Ridge mts., NY state almost to the Canadian border, Los Vegas to So. CA all the way up the PCH to St. Simeon, all over the southeast 'cept NOLA :-(, etc. I LOVE it!! Hubby is hardcore on biker safety: jeans, hightop shoes, DOT helmets (a must), sissy bars that work, defensive riding. I have no fear being on the back. It's called common sense. LOL. Loved Sweetie's Life Celebration. I can't wait to see your JazzFest report--I am so envious. Anywho, REC'D!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.