Traded In Two, Bought One New

[alanmcorcoran]

Good topic, although I could do without the "left coast" generalization. (FWIW, I spent the first half of my life mostly on the East Coast, and a third of that was in farm country in Ithaca, NY.)

I don't think my issue has anything to do with my surroundings - it's more attuned to what dh alluded to - "the conditioning to be goal oriented." In my case, it has less to do with ambition (I am extremely lazy and am capable of doing damn little of anything for long stretches) and more to do with dealing with mortality. I can't really be sure of the true motivation but I'd venture to say that it goes something like this: "When my number is up, if I've done x and y and z it'll be that much easier to accept." Of course, this is probably not going to be the case. I generally have a hard time accepting any minor setback and death is, of course, the Biggie. Nonetheless, a good deal of my life has been one long "bucket list."

In any case, I enjoyed reading the various takes on this, but the above is probably the main instigator/proponent behind my doing the double century, the marathons, playing the piano in public/keyboards in a band, taking over/running my company, writing/publishing books and learning to ride the motorcycle.
To be sure, many of these activities have, on occasion, provided that certain, elusive joy that comes from doing something well, almost perfectly, on a beautiful day, when everything seems to be going one's way. (I've had some real good days on the slopes skiing for example.) But that is not usually the default for me. I am often caught up in other distractions and many days, I'm just not doing the thing I'm doing particularly well or being all that into it.

Contrary to the back country/backroads purported appeal, some of the the most enjoyable rides I've had on the Stratoliner have been riding home from some coffeehouse/date/rendezvous, on the freeway at 10-11 o'clock at night, maybe with a full moon, moderate traffic. The bike just fees at home on a four lane and it's both relaxing and exhilarating to be out on two wheels astride a beautiful machine perfectly attuned to the task at hand. This is not to say I didn't enjoy some of my completely pointless rides out into the California desert, etc. but I do seem to appreciate my toys and life's little pleasures more when they are integrated into the regular flow of Things I Pretty Much Have To Do Anyway.