re:cycling

"The Rider"

A boy told me
if he roller-skated fast enough
his loneliness couldn't catch up to him,

the best reason I ever heard
for trying to be a champion.

What I wonder tonight
pedaling hard down King William Street
is if it translates to bicycles.

A victory! To leave your loneliness
panting behind you on some street corner
while you float free into a cloud of sudden azaleas,
pink petals that have never felt loneliness,
no matter how slowly they fell.

-Naomi Shihab Nye, 1998.

I think I am looking forward to a time where bed sharing is permissible and commuting by bicycle is possible and having a four legged friend proves feasible.

clear nailpolish.

I believe that there are a lot of big parts of me that appreciate change. I relish the idea of ending one job in search of a new (more fulfilling) one, and then working other part-time (less-fulfilling) ones. I'm anxious for friendships to become deeper and permanent. I get goosebumps thinking of all the great rides I'll have on a bike I can effortlessly carry up stairs; I'm even thinking about all new streets and sidewalks in the next year! See, I'm okay with the different!!
But (there had to be), I also believe that there's an even bigger part of me that appreciates the constancy of this life I am (lest I forget, currently) living. I have my rhythms and habits and place for my shoes at the front door.
So I worry about where I can find a place to work out in the mornings, if I don't live near school, and I wonder if any one would hire me with such limited job experience. I also wonder who would want to live with me, or who I would end up living with apart from here.
I am afraid of change. But I also firmly believe that He/She is aware of my fears and validates my concerns. Which makes me feel a little better. And I'm also fairly certain that the God who bore with 'please send us a puppy' Christmas prayers is still able to determine immediate needs and those that I could do without for just one more year.
So there is that. Which is nice.

It is a new year.

I'm expecting a lot from you, New Year. I expect you'll teach me how to be more gracious and tender, but also truthful. I'm pretty sure there will be some new birthdays to celebrate and parties to be had. I expect there will be some sorts of physical and unphysical movings and rearrangings and I'm also expecting to be content in them.
I hope I don't think that just because it's 2011 terribly wonderful things will happen. But I hope they do any way.
In other news, my road bike is on its way to town, so I am expecting it to be here soon. You may also presume that I will be riding it a lot.
I hope you are expectant in the New Year, too.