motormouse

Had a girlfriend over a little while ago and we are both great music lovers. That said we have slightly different tastes and different ways of expressing our devotion. In high school there was always the three of us; me of course who can spend hours in a dark room with my eyes closed with music balsting; Rach who loves mostly goth metal, metal and rock; Aura a child of mostly techno and loves the music festivals. With all these different music tastes out there I’m curious as to what people’s top 10 would be. So this post serves two purposes, 1) see what you guys like and why and 2) to see whether anyone’s actually reading this blog. We’ll see ……………..

My introduction to music happened at a very very young age through my Dad; he has incredible taste in music and was a dictionary of factoids about everything. When I was young every car trip involved a quiz on what was playing on his tape - what year did the drummer leave the band? what band did he join after? who replaced him? What year was this song released  and on and on it went and I was pretty good there for a while before life dragged on and the questions stopped as I became preoccupied with really bad 80’s music and girl stuff (shock I know - but everyone goes through it so )

Thankfully I came back to the music that Dad loves so much and came to the realisation that music really did die in 1979. 2 years before I was born, so now I’m stuck thinking I was born in the wrong musical era, I should have been born in the 50’s so I could have been a wild child in the 60’s and a lover of good rock in the 70’s. Darn it! But I guess these things really can’t be helped. All I can be thankful for is that I wasn’t influenced by 80’s music for very long. Now THAT would have been frightening. Look I’ll grant you that there is some decent music after 1979 but there certainly hasn’t been much.

I can probably think of numerous things to blame, the record companies, the creation of a consumer public moulded by marketing campaigns who have been spoon fed fake idols singing songs made to specific recipes. The real actual musicians are few and very far between these days. And no, it isn’t based on genre. Just because a guy is singing with only his guitar does not automatically make him a musician, and even if he is, he might not be a great one.

So I guess my definition of a musician is someone who creates music and in my romantic world is probably a little eccentric, someone who can’t live without an instrument of some sort nearby, creates music that touches people and lets people be in an emotion, someone who creates music from the soul and lets it pour out of them without regret or censorship. So I guess I think of them as pretty brave people. Not many of those around today, although to be fair, the music environment isn’t really conducive is it. So who would I rate today? Hmmmm probably Eminem, Robbie Williams (although that may be a little grey), Pink (also grey), Madonna, Crowded House, U2, Michael Jackson, Missy Elliot, Daniel Johns. Just thinking about that list makes me realise that some musicians have to conform to the requirements of the record companies and the consumer market in order to exist and so you have to dig a little deeper to see it - maybe. So who do you rate as an actual musician? Or an artist? Is there a difference? And yes, I know Mike, but I really don’t think Nickleback counts.

But looking at today’s music I’m out of my element. Sure I love dancing to mostly everything - especially R&B, it just has that sexy rhythm and it feels amazing. Doesn’t mean I rate them all as musicians though. Nope my heart lies with the old stuff - old rock, old soul/R&B and even some of the old ‘pop’. Those I rate (although I still wouldn’t say they were all musicians)  include The Eagles; The Doobie Brothers; Clear Water Revival; Otis Redding; Ella Fitzgerald; the Nylons; Dragons; Bob Marley; Crosbie, Stills, Nash & Young; The Doors; Slade; Earth, Wind & Fire; Electric Light Orchestra; Foreigner; Jimmy Dean; Johnny Cash; Led Zeppelin; Little River Band; Rolling Stones; The Spinners; Steppenwolf; Stevie Wonder; Temptations; Toto; Marvin Gaye; The Righteous Brothers; Percy Sledge and the list can go on and on and on …..

My top 10 groups would be far too hard to list but I’m going to give the all time greatest 10 songs ever produced a go. I don’t think I could rank the top 10, so they’re in no particular order. See what you think:

November Rain by Guns N’ Roses (Granted wrong time period, but can’t go past it)

When a Man Loves a Woman by Percy Sledge

Hotel California by The Eagles

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother by The Hollies

Paint it Black by The Rolling Stones

Riders on The Storm by The Doors

Nights in White Satin by The Moody Blues

(Sittin on) The Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding

A Whiter Shade of Pale by The Procol Harum

Easy by The Commodores

And a couple I can’t leave out, mainly due to nostalgic reasons. But I do love some of the stories that songs can tell, even when there are no words:

I Want to Know What Love Is by Foreigner

You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman by Aretha Franklin

Lily Was Here by Candy Dulfer & David A. Stewart

Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers (ok so it could have to do with the movie)

A Tisket, a Tasket by Ella Fitzgerald

Papa Was a Rollin Stone by The Temptations

Driving Home for Christmas by Chris Rea

Copperfield Road by Steve Earle

On The Road Again by Willie Nelson

Khe Sanh by Cold Chisel

Big Bad John by Jimmy Dean

Tyrone by Erykah Badu

Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash

Without You by Nilsson

Everyone’s top 10 would be different and for different reasons, what are yours?

I’ve had something mulling in the back of my mind lately. As some of you may be aware from some of my previous blogs, I do sometimes think about society in broader terms. And ever since Lurch posted a thread asking what was wrong with CR Ive had a few thoughts on the backburner about social lives and the internet.  You can view my response to the post here if you like: http://canberrariders.org.au/threads/64943-How-can-we-improve-CR/page3

After posting this I’ve done some thinking and looked at CR as an example of the effect of the Internet on Canberran society and Western society more generally. Although I do think that Canberra and maybe Sydney suffer these symptoms more then the average, not counting Hollywood perhaps. People are a little too wrapped up in themselves and status and forget the importance of others. How many people know the name of the cleaner at work? How many people ask, when you first meet them, what you do for a living? Granted between bikers, not so much, but outside of that?  How many people are too busy thinking of a witty thing to say, to one up the other persons story and not listening to what they are saying?

In my post I talked about a lack of respect that I had noticed between forum members some of the time (by no means all). It’s a problem that exists in society more broadly (obviously) but something we can all work on, including me.

One of the biggest misconceptions about society seems to be that it lacks the respect and morality of the past. I don’t actually think that’s true. I think every age/generation has had to tackle it’s own perceptions and realities on the subject within a very different society. I think that what our society is missing today is respect or what could be called civility.

In gernerations past people had guidelines on how to interact with each other - it provided a framework of gestures, conventions and greetings. It helped us to define our own social perameters and the perameters of others which, in effect, gave us the space to be ourselves while observing social graces.

Today we face information overload and with it social overload. Being social invades even our most personal of moments. As much as I love technology and having FB and messenger connectivity everywhere I go, it brings new consequences. The social networking side of the Internet is a new realm of social interaction, its only 20 years old really- not even legal to drink in the U.S. Although some conventions exist, it remains a space where civility has become optional. We are not faced with the consequences of our actions in quite the same way. We don’t see the body language, tears, tone or intonation of the person/ people we are exchanging with. The effect our words have on them is unknown to us and in fact the care factor is a big fat zero most of the time as a result. As much as emoticons help, they are not the silver bullet.

For large Aus or worldwide forums/social sites where a degree of anonimity is afforded, most are aware of the caveats within which they are communicating. I.e. that people, under the cover of anonimity, feel freer to disregard social conventions that would normally apply in a face to face or small community environment. Therefore they are reasonably aware that they
may cop what would otherwise be seen as inappropriate flak.

I really don’t like that this exists but I suppose you have to accept it as part of human nature. One of my concerns is that acceptance of this behaviour is begginning to invade smaller Internet social settings I.e. CR as well as other smaller communities or social situations like schools for example. As a society we are still learning the rules of different Internet social networking situations, fair enough, it’s a new thing. But we need to catch up in respect to the degree of civility we choose to show others.

An online environment such as CR could make an interesting study. It’s based on a small community - Canberra motorbike riders and yet it exists as a social forum on the World Wide Web. Rides, events and coffee nights add an interesting dimension to this issue. Whilst online, society on the whole can ‘opt out’ of being civil, yet due to the relatively small size of this comunity and the face to face dimension, things can become a little more confused. When it comes to civility and ettiquette after you’ve ranted at someone online how do you handle it. Or, if you changed the situation and you were at coffee night or at a party would you say the same things??? Said or written the effect you have on the other person can be severe.

There is no easy answer to some of the issues I have raised here and I hope people take this entry in the spirit in which it is written - as an observation on civility in a new social networking age. We can all work on our civility and respect towards others in every day life, be it on or offline.

I have a few favourite quotes, but let me leave you with this one:

“We must be as courteous to a man [woman or chat handle], as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light.”
                           - Emerson

I had an awesome Easter, I ate like a King, or a pig. Probably both - hmmmmmm sooooo good!

First a note about my cooking ability - sucks (or more fairly I lack imagination - but I’m pretty good at vegies masquerading as stir fry or chilli con carne)

And now for the story…..

It all started on Thursday morning when my lunch date said she had people over for dinner so would I mind heading with her to the Fyshwick markets for lunch? hmmm I thought, only been there once before, what the hey. So off we went and on the way she was thrilling me with talk of dumplings and mango pancakes. Yay (insert sarcasm here) 

But then we got there and had lunch and a dangerous thing happened - I got to thinking, while I’m here…..

I had blue cheese in the fridge which had somehow survived for too long without disappearing bit by bit (I know, strange right) and then I started thinking, what could I do with it. And somehow steak with blue cheese sauce came out of my head. No idea where it came from whatsoever - but very thankful it did. But my next thought invariably was, how the hell do you make blue cheese sauce????

This is where my lunch date steered me into the direction of the french guy who works at one of the deli’s - cause of course being french he would know everything about sauces. Well, turns out he did and the answer was soooo easy it floored me. You cook the steak (which, ok, is a challenge for me), then put some blue cheese in the same pan and stir in a bit of cream and …… viola! Blue cream sauce! How ridiculous is that?!?

So I made steak with blue cheese sauce, roast potatoes and steamed vegies - how freakin awesome am I? huh? Seriously! Ok so the vegies can in a microwave steamer bag but the potatoes were all me. My mum taught me this trick - you steam the potatoes and then give them a shake in the saucepan and they crumble a bit - makes great crunchy roast potatoes hmmmm …….

So after my triumph it was time to keep cooking! The next night I made an Omelete - also really easy and really good!

Turns out I had inspired others and was treated to a chicken and cashew stir fry which I ate way too much of but it was waaaay tooooo good! I helped a little but can’t claim credit for that one - go the baby corn and bok choy - excellent stuff. Hadn’t used those in well, ever.

Sunday night was to be the pièce de résistance! Easter dinner! I had friends over who were expecting to get fed knowing full well that it could end up in Dominos. Thankfully it wasn’t the case.

First thing I made was a vegetable frittata (but I don’t see much difference between a ‘frittata’ and an ‘omelette’), it had lotsa goodies in it: chilli’s, capsicum, tomato, onion and garlic of course!, pumpkin and sweet potato - so awesome. I figured seeing as we had a vegy at the table I’d put a spin on the roast vegies for her. And she liked it (win!). Turns out you cook/steam the ingredients, put it into a dish with eggs and stick it in the oven till it’s cooked - easy

Then when that was done it was time to get the roast lamb going. Yes that’s right, I was going to conquer my first roast! I know lamb is probably not the correct Easter food but stuff it, it was my Easter! I put oil in bottom of the pan and put the roast in. Right, excellent, step one complete I thought. Then I cut across the top a few times and massaged oil, garlic, salt n pepper (band optional) and fresh rosemary all over it and stuck it into the bits I’d cut open. Quite the sensual experience

Then stick it in a preheated oven at 200 for 45ish mins and ……

well almost done, we did have to put it back in for a bit after the first round of meat! But it was fucking sensational!!!! I was soo proud! Then while it was resting quick salad and - done! My first Easter dinner. And no Dominos!

But wait for it, this culinary delight was not over - there was dessert to come. For this I grabbed some Easter eggs and cut them in half, filled the half egg with vanilla ice cream, then threw some strawberries and blueberries over the top and then sprinkled the other half of the egg on top. And last but totally the most important part - Cointreau and Strawberry liqueur drizzled over the top! Christ, it looked like something off one of those cooking shows!

Then on the Monday night there was more cheese and I was treated to a beautiful salad with fresh crusty bread = Awesome!

Tell you what - gotta be thankful for good friends, cheese, good wine and amazing food! It was sooo satisfying to see people enjoy what you made for them. Still can’t believe I pulled off my first roast! I’m going to have to throw more dinners! I really hope this inspiration lasts for a while cause my cooking rocks!

Oh and just a note on the Fyshwick markets before I leave you - it’s so good! They have the awesomest cheeses and peanuts with sugary/salty goodness and pesto’s and wines and all sorts of fruit n veg and well generally good food you’ll struggle to find at the supermarket. I loved it, all the different stalls, smells and great food everywhere. Get along to it and wonder around till inspiration hits you - shouldn’t take too long Just be ready for the empty wallet afterwards! Totally worth it though!

I know where I’ll be spending more of my lunches

I recently had my first holiday after joining the ratrace, it was really my first holiday since high school! Ridiculous huh

So why so long? Well I spent 6 years at uni - very hard slog especially when you’re working 2-3 night shifts a week with a full course load and my various and extended social activities. Looking back now, I really have no f*ing idea how I managed it. Must have been youthful exuberance or something.

So this holiday would be the first holiday where I didn’t have to work like a dog to make money for textbooks and uni fees for the next year and money kept appearing in my account anyway! How freakin cool is that! Pretty freakin cool I hope you’re saying, cause if not you’re totally spoilt.

The run up to my holiday was excruciating, I spent the couple months before mentally checking days/hours and minutes off my calendar! What made it all the worse was that I had 2 weeks off over Christmas and New Years and then had to come back to Canberra and back to work for 2 weeks before heading off on a whole months holiday! And I thought the time before Christmas/NY’s was bad, jesus, those 2 weeks were the worst! I had no motivation to be at work, spent my time between news sites (which at least looked a little work related), CR, FB, Fireblade site, texts from last night and anything else I could find. This method of work avoidance coupled with longer lunch breaks and coffee dates (in the name of networking of course worked quite well and I managed to whittle down a sizable amount of flex to under the line of acceptable. I felt a little guilty but also thought F it, and decided to indulge in my CBF mode hehehe and I even started pranking people. Awesome :) 

So my month away was soooo amazing! Time in Melbourne, Tasmania and Merimbula, biking it every day and spending all my time with not a single work person! I spent it with the people I love the most instead, quite revolutionary. For the full story of our decadent holiday in Tas, check out the thread. http://canberrariders.org.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=6408&start=0

Thanks to Mark and Gyps for the awesome write up and pics - that I’m still to get copies of - hint hint nudge nudge

So inevitably I had to come back to Canberra and start work. I did the smart thing and gave myself a day back in Canberra to sleep, do washing, catch up on emails etc… and started halfway through a week so I could get to the weekend. In fact I had it so well planned I had a ride to look forward to that weekend for ricecookers birthday in Tintaldra. But before I knew it, it was the night before going back to work, and I swear I almost had a panic attack right there.

The first day wasn’t as bad as I thought, people were really happy to see me and looked interested as I told them stories of my adventures. But I was amazed at how alien my workplace felt after a month of riding adventures and not just the workplace, but me. I felt different to how I usually felt in there, I felt devoid of stress. Really odd and I really noticed it

The first few days weren’t too bad, catch up coffees and long lunches and I had the weekend just around the corner. And everyone gives you that post holiday catch up time before they expect you to start delivering.  The real pain hit me the following week, this is when my post holiday depression started - the 22nd February 2010.

It dawned on me that this was it, a series of weeks and weeks of work ahead with only weekends to go riding - ONLY WEEKENDS!!! Hand me a gun for christs sake. I couldn’t fathom how it was that I couldn’t just keep riding and eating my way across the country and that I actually had to work to get paid - totally unfair, ridiculously unfair, completely utterly insanely unfair! I wanted to throw a tantrum every time I thought about it. It still makes me mad!

So I went about making lunch and coffee dates and trying my best to get up to speed with work stuff. Frustrating when every second email was in the category of NFI, this led to more coffee dates.

But I did get there eventually but my post holiday depression persisted, I can’t say I’m out of it yet. But I am making headway. Lessons learned - go on HOLIDAYS!!! They’re good for you and it makes you reassess what’s really important and who is really important in your life - sure as hell is not my boss and I’m not going to remember my meetings for the rest of my life with quite the same fondness as feeding a pig a bottle of beer.

And to think …… I love my job.

I wonder how people who don’t survive their lives

I had a very serious conversation with a good friend on just this topic not so long ago. Granted there may have been a wine or two involved and some good food but we had only reached the warm stage and not quite the tipsy one.

So the first stage is to examine what we think, what images are conjured up when we think of aliens. It may be the horror film scenario, that they’ll kill us all and destroy earth; it could be that they are highly evolved, enlightened and light years ahead of our science and technology, here to teach us how to live in peace and harmony and give up the nuclear bomb;  they could be humanoid; physically different or any variation or extension of the above. But for the purposes of this exercise we will assume that they are not micro organisms but physically and mentally evolved beings.

So lets examine this. The first reaction we may have is of the horror movie image of an alien race who seek to dominate the universe and everything in it. The assumption is that they are evil and we must prepare defenses against them and generally when we imagine this they are not humanoid creatures. So we can assume, if George W was in office, that the US would convince the world to nuc the hell out of this alien race who would be here to rape our women, eat our children and enslave our men. If the nightmare scenario were true what would happen to our notion of self, state and human existence?

Some of Mussolini’s most famous ideas are to do with the nation state, he believed that the best way to forge a nation was to take it to war. Others have stated that the best way to conquer a nation is to divide it. And so we can see the logic here. So this leads us to the question, would the existence of nasty aliens forge a nation (read globe) against a threat from an ‘Other’. The Other is a key concept in philosophy - the Other is singled out as different as opposed to the Same. A person’s definition of the Other is part of what defines or even constitutes the idea of self. i.e. ‘I am not you so therefore I am me’. This can also be described as difference theory. If the alien is the Other, it gives humanity a broader concept of self. By the very existence of an alien, the scope of the Same becomes more inclusive, we accept Africans, Arabs, Asians as Same and not as the Other. So in a split second those who we previously denoted as the Other are now the Same.

Would this lead to global unification? Would world leaders unite a la ‘Independence Day’ to fight the big bad aliens? The self would see itself as under threat at an existential level, the man made and enforced notion of the nation state would collapse as the idea of ‘the earth’ emerges. We can see elements of this at play today with the debate on climate change (imagine this as the alien). With human existence under threat would mankind irrespective of race, creed, bank balance etc draw together? If so, or not, is this a natural state of the human condition?

I’m a bit of a realist so I like to believe that we would draw together in the realisation that we would be stronger against a common threat, that necessity would rule the day and cooperation would ensue to protect mankind. It comes down to Hobbes’  first rule of nature - to preserve your own life. Unfortunately once defeated, the threatening Other is removed and would therefore plunge mankind back into lower notions of Same. We may have learnt some lessons but a person needs an other to be able to exist as a self and form an ‘in group’ and so will create an Other out of necessity. Ok so maybe I’m a bit of a pessimist.

So what if we had the opposite scenario and mankind met a highly evolved alien race who came to earth to teach mankind about peace, love and happiness? So now it’s your turn to consider the existence of mankind. Would this type of Other have a similar effect on mankind? Would we view this as a threatening or non-threatening Other, and where does this argument lead you in relation to the human condition?

A few weeks ago was amazing weather, I was sitting in my office staring out the window (cause it was morning and if I read the newspaper in the am there wouldn’t be anything to do in the afternoon:)) I often catch myself staring out the window when the sky is blue thinking how nice it would be to be out there at a million miles an hour rather then stuck inside dreamin about Hotham to Omeo or the Black Spur or the GOR…..

So a few weeks ago I went along to a girls ride. Yes ok, insert your pun here. But figured it would be a fun social outing to find some cowboys *sigh*. Of course that was the weekend that the weather turned to shit. Instead of going the long way through some nice roads to Goulburn, Mel n I made a dash for it after lunch. Was a bit windy but not too bad and we got there and warmed up. The rest of the girls drove, yes that’s right, drove

Mel and I got stuck into the jimmy and watched Mrs Doubtfire on tv. Maan that was a funny movie on bourbon, although the divorce bit was way too sad hahaha Turns out that was the most fun we had all night, there was nothing NOTHING happening in Goulburn! Cowboys musta been at home on the farm watching the AFL grand final. Three pubs and only a handful of people, most of whom were missing teeth

So Mel and I ended up in bed early on a lumpy bed, then we got up had breakfast, went back to bed, got up had lunch and then put serious thought into whether we should start for Canberra before the weather turned crappy later (although it was already pretty crappy) or go back to bed - totally tough decision. But we decided to get a move on

Well sorta and for a while, then we had to slow right down. We rode home through a cyclone. Yep at *cough* the speed limit *cough* we were getting pushed off the road. Found myself in a situation where I couldn’t speed up, cause I got pushed over more; couldn’t slow down, cause I’d get pushed over more; and couldn’t keep her in the lane!!!!! I was right over with my bum off the seat, wrestling with the bike to keep it on the right side of the white line and I was losing. Frickin scary, kept getting pushed over the line despite my effort. Finally managed to slow down and pull over when I had the chance. Took me a bit to stop shaking I’ll tell you.

Mel and I finally made it home, took a while though, we slowed right down and at times were doing 50km/h on a 110km/h road. One of the nastiest experiences, felt completely helpless. And I am soo glad those girls took the car

I am soooooooo over this winter business and the fake spring we get every year. I get so excited that the weather is getting better and you start planning and heading out on overnighters and then BAM, and its winter, with it’s arctic temperatures, hail, and cyclonic winds which come back to haunt us on the rides we planned while staring out the window.

Over it I tell you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me just say Woohoo I got Foxy back all fixated from when she got pushed over by a big dirty 4WD bully!! The racing tape has been banished once again!!

So on Sunday afternoon I rode over to Max’s to continue our project bike. I was a little worse for wear as sleep was a little too hard to come by over the weekend, darn parties! Anyway I got myself there and got a big dose of coffee. First things first, give Foxy a proper look over. There were a few things to tidy up, like bleeding the brakes as they were spongy as hell. Also took the time to reset the gear and brake pegs, it’s one of those things I figured I’d get around to and just never did. Jesus it makes a difference, curse my long legs! Hahahaha Thanks to Max for the help!

So the project bike: kwaka GPX550, from like, before I was born….. well …… almost. So the last few weeks we’ve been grinding the valves and the valve seats. Takes a bit of elbow grease and some goopy stuff, that, seriously, is just like a good exfoliante, if a little rough. We started with the least rough of the two pastes we had but found that two inlet and two exhausts were still leaking. So we had to pull them apart again and go at them with the rougher paste. That did the trick and we managed to stop all the leaks!!! How EXCITING!!! No more collets to put into place! Although I reckon I’m a bit of an expert at those little things now, we women folk are generally pretty good at tweezer work hahaha

So now that we had that accomplished, the next step was to reassemble the pistons and fit them. Such pretty new pistons we had too *sigh* Turns out though that the recommended gap in the rings was way out so we had to grind them, the top ring went out to 50 and the middle to 55. That was tricky and a few got a little to ground as I got a little carried away Was a bugger getting the rings onto the first one, especially the oil scrappers, it was tricky to get the three rings to fit into the same groove. But as soon as we got the first one, the rest were a piece of cake J  Then it was time to put in the gungen pins and those little rings designed to keep the gungen pin in place. They were also a little tricky to get in there! Thankfully none went flying into the nether regions of Max’s garage. Then we could finally put our pistons in. My oh my how lovely it looks …………

I feel like we’re getting somewhere in both the bike department and the teaching Tess about mechanics department! Who woulda thought?? I’m starting to think about when we get to turn it over for the first time! But so much work to be done before we get there!

So I know i know you’ve all been waiting for my ride report, well freakin back off I only got back last night!

So before we start I’d like to acknowledge the reason for our day off, cheers Lizzy!

So Saturday morning started out with a nice sleep in which was totally needed cause i was out pretty late Friday and I made it to the meet point at Bungendore at 11 sharp!  Wasn’t a good feeling looking out the window to dark and gloomy clouds though, but that’s what the wet weathers are for!!

After I fuelled up we set off through Braidwood and over the clyde for the worst clyde run I have ever had to bare. It was horrendous!!! There was traffic, traffic and yep, you guessed it more traffic. I was getting soooo frustrated the only thing i could do to stay alive was turn my brain off. So i just sat there behind a row of about 30 cars through some of the funnest bits! It killed me, but I figure better then getting frustrated and doing stupid overtaking moves and ending up in a windshield.

We had lunch in a place i can’t remember the name of, it claims million dollar views on the outside of a grungy lookin pub, turns out the views are amazing though. I had a chicken burger, surprise surprise hahaha

Next stop was Tathra. As predicted we got there hours before the melbourne boys decided to make an appearance. Which meant we got the best beds and a massive head start on the bourbon My stomach was hurting and I had tears rolling down my cheeks before Skuffy and Bubba aka Dad even got there! True to their word we heard the bikes at 6 and in they came, got off the bike and asked where their bourbon was haha. There was also dancing and singing *we still got liiicccenses, we still got moootorcycles*

They had had a really shiteful day. They got rounded up by Constable Derek round Orbost. All of them should have lost their licences and their bikes on the spot but some quick negotiating by Skuffy and Bubba have them all on 12 months good behaviour. Now that is some negotiating prowess. But you can imagine the amusement over the next two nights on what that negotiation may have involved exactly ……………………..

Sunday morning started with panadol and a Red Bull and we were off to Painsville in Victoria. We rode down some roads that i don’t remember the name of and ended up on what looked like an awesome bit of road so I gassed it and almost ended up in a tree. Couldn’t see it but there was black gravel all over the black road. That goes right up there on my list of “I almost died when…” experiences. I turned the throttle and managed to grab the road in time to push the handle bar right over the other way and ended up on the wrong side of the road. I don’t know how i managed to keep it upright but jesus I did good, even if i say so myself! I’m a complete champ!!!  Don’t tell anyone but i did have to stop for a bit after that, at least till my hands stopped shakin so bad, then I putted off down the road at a total grandma speed. (I shouldn’t say that cause my grandma was a hoon )

We then set out for Cann River and yes through Orbost. It was fun, there was skuffy, then Billy, then me and then ….. read a novel …. and then there was everybody else haha. It was horny, Skuffy tipped in, then Billy tipped in then I tipped in … it was like a string of beads, beautiful *sigh*  After lunch at Cann River we headed towards Orbost in an orderly fashion (note to reader: never ever speed anywhere near Orbost!! Especially on a long weekend!). We’d just passed the Orbost turn off when Skuffy and Billy started talkin at each other on the road and pointing behind them. I checked my mirrors and saw a dark territory approaching from behind. I backed off immediately and then saw Billy given me the cop and slow down sign. Turns out Derek was back for blood, or maybe he just took a shining to Skuffy! LOL!  After about 5k’s he pulled over and did a u-turn. Decided he wasn’t going to get us a second time. As Bush would say: “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”

We made it to Painsville ticketless (well for that day anyway) and honed in on the bourbon once again! Ricecooker and I headed downstairs for Karaoke when the conversation went even further towards the gutter then usual. We polite and ladylike  biker chicks can only take so much of that language So we went in search of a dance floor and guess what?????? we bumped into a Bachelor party. Who woulda guessed it?

Monday morning started with panadol and Redbull and we waved goodbye to the Melbourne component of our riding party and headed off back towards Orbost and Cann River while watching our mirrors like hawks. Ricecooker and I made it to Cann River and hung around, then avartie showed up and we waited around for barconian. We figured something must have happened, he ain’t that slow! So we headed back towards Orbost. Extra 3 hours in the saddle looking for him when we got the message he decided to do the Bonang, and without telling us. So we got into Canberra late, cold, in the dark and pissed off. So lesson learnt for Barconian, never leave the group without telling someone where you’re going! Needless to say he owes us bourban!

Ricecooker and I made it to coffee night right at 6pm and caught the stragglers. Then we headed home for hot showers, food and some much needed quality bed time!

Pretty awesome weekend really. Wasn’t many good twistie k’s but there was awesome company, awesome parties and all up, yep, pretty awesome.

I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of a next topic, so I thought I’d go stream of conscious style and see what happens. So are you up for an adventure? Cause not even I know where this will end up

At the moment I’m lying on the couch in my tracksuit pants watching a truely lame arsed Antonio Banderas film. It’s Strictly Ballroom meets Dangerous Minds, yeash, yet I’m kinda secretly enjoying it. Probably cause it involves dancing and I’ve always been a fan of shaking my big arse all over the place Something lacking in my older years I’m afraid. There needs to be more dancing in this world. I still remember the first time a gorgeous man held out his hand and asked me to dance, and really dance. sigh. Kinda sad it’s a Saturday night and I’m on the couch. But I do have a well oiled excuse (believe it or not) I’m busy for the next three weekends and so I scheduled this couch time so ner

Next weekend I have a three day ride with a mix of Canberra and Melbourne crews, totally can’t wait for that. It seems like forever since I’ve been for a weekend ride!!! It’s been driving me nuts! It’s going to be amazing fun and yes I will tell you all about it But jesus people I hope you’re not counting on me for riding adventures - get your freakin arse out there and do it yourself!!!

Weekend after that I’m taking flex and getting down to Melbourne where I intend to shake my arse all over the place lol! Ohhh I so can’t wait for that either. Just a little taste of big city life: the abundance of men, good coffee, cafe’s, jazz music, art, St. Kilda, Hardware lane ……… sigh

Weekend after that is more of a social event then a ride but if last years party is anything to go by it should be a blast!!. The girls ride will be heading to a mystery spot (so you nasty ill-intentioned gentlemen can’t find us) where we will be sipping tea (read tequila), enjoying the sweet serenade of some nice young men (read a rockin out band), enjoying each others polite company (read getting into all sorts of shenanigans), sharing decent mannered conversation with well brought up young men (read bachelor party) and enjoying a full nights beauty rest ( read bed 6am, road 10am).

So I’m sure you can understand why I’m couching it this weekend, at my age I need to keep my strength up hehe. And just like on the bike, if you put me on a leash then let me go - watch out!

ha well it seems like we have come to the end of this lame arsed movie, turns out it’s the ‘true story’ of the famous dancer and dance teacher Pierre Dulaine. “He invented the Dulaine method of teaching dance. He also developed Dancing Classrooms, a social development program for 5th grade children that uses ballroom dancing as a vehicle to change the lives of the children and their families.”

Well, I guess there’s something in that for all of us isn’t there

I know pretty much nothing, which most of you would surmise is because I have breasts. I’m not ashamed of having breasts and I fully accept that they come with certain shortcomings such as having to buy make up, lingerie, tampons, being asked if that’s your boyfriends motorbike, having a lack of direction (ricecooker you would be an exception to this one) and a total lack of any mechanical knowledge that allows the fat lazy mechanic to give you that look up and down, call you love and charge you double while looking down your blouse as you’re signing your credit card away.

But I consider myself to be a smart girl and so have gotten away with feigning understanding as guys stand around scratching their balls discussing cam chains and pistons and god knows what else. Seeing as guys are mostly in love with talking about the subject and are no where near as bright as we fairer sex, they are typically gullible and will take any slight nod or ‘yeah tell me about it’ as a sign that you are enthralled by such talk and know exactly what they mean. Sorry Dunit, here’s my confession! I have never had a clue what on earth you were jabbering about!

But I have decided to educate myself. I mean if guys can do it, how hard could it possibly be? I understand there will be sacrifice, like flaky nails with oil stuck in them - eeeeeew. But a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

Mad Max to the rescue

He once tried to explain the workings of an engine to me, however as an ex copper he saw straight through my well developed firewall and could see that I really had no idea. So he proceeded to educate me. I promptly forgot a week later but it got me thinking I can do this dammit! So next thing I knew I was in the Mad Maxs garage with busdriver bleeding my brakes. Although this was a great and satisfying experience, it also led me to see how a well set up garage with home made tools were the only way to go. Enter the single, apartment dwelling girl dilemma, no garage thus no tools, let alone home made ones. So I sorta gave up on the idea.

But then came the GPZ550. Yes I know it’s a kwaka, sacrilegious really.

Mad Max said I could help on his 10+ year project. This engine has been sitting in his garage collecting saw dust for years. We had our first session on it a little while ago. I honed the bores to see how damaged they were. Turns out one of them has a scratch but we’re not sleeving them. We’re going with a 3mm oversize bore them and serco pistons. The rings on the ones he’s had lying around for years are completely seized. Also new head gasket, diaphragms and I have a feeling much more money will be spent and many of my nails will be chipped and black before this project starts to look like an engine (although still not quite sure what that’s supposed to look like).

I think Mad Max has a bigger project on his hands then he realises, and not just financially!