I now post my adventures on:

noweekendwasted.com

What to do on a Weekend: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Ride my Bicycle

This is actually from another weekend on a bike.

When a Friday rolls around, I'm happy to be done with the work week, but there's an equal part of me apprehensive about what comes next.  My big question becomes, "What am I going to do this weekend?"

Maybe that's a ridiculous problem to have.  Maybe you have a spouse, kids, multiple jobs, and various other situations where the stress inherent in wondering how to use a weekend is something you would love to have.  Or maybe it's something that never shows up.  I completely understand!

Nevertheless, maybe there's a tiny bit of the day, or a day, where you do have the choice of how to use your time.  If so, have you ever felt a pang of guilt on a Sunday night (or whatever your version of a Sunday night might be) where you think something along the lines of, "Man, I wish I had done something?"  This weekend I dealt with that question, and I liked what happened next.

This Saturday I awoke early with only the slightest of plans.  I knew I wanted to ride my bike and possibly explore a large part of Nashville.  If you've never checked out the Music City Bikeway, it's an incredible option for a weekend.  I recommend starting at Shelby Bottoms Park.

I drove there with the benefits that come from having a box for a vehicle.

My supplies included, 2 Nalgene water bottles, a book I'm reading called The Fighter's Mind, a change of shirt, my swim suit, a notebook to write in, and my bike.  I like the mentality of keys, wallet, phone as the only supplies, but today I wanted to be ready for reading at Centennial Park or swimming at the YMCA.

I'm not an incredible, spandex-wearing cyclist (those folks are assassins), but I like doing a wide variety of stuff in my free time, so I started off with a warm-up ride from the park visitor center to the Cumberland Bridge.  

 Here's a video I took while riding the bridge:

I returned to the Shelby Bottom's Visitor's Center, and ventured up the pedestrian bridge and into downtown Nashville.  This picture captured a section very close to the Marathon Music Works Building.

As I ventured onto the Music City Bikeway, it became clear that certain sections further away from the prominent parts of town are more neglected.  This was at a park.

After about a 30 minutes from downtown, I arrived in the Farmer's Market area where a very Chattanooga-esque public fountain lies.  It was great for a bike ride in July! 

After the fountain, it became harder to figure out where the Nashville Music City Bikeway signs were leading me, I went long and hard up hills and sometimes had to share a space with cars.  At those moments I found myself hoping I'd stay lucky that day.  After likely close to 2 hours, I passed through the Sylvan Park area, applied another coating of sunscreen, and found myself close to an oasis: this natural food market called The Produce Place.  I might venture there again even after this Saturday adventure.  

A babysitter from my past once gave massive props to the kids who ate okra.  I finally fulfill that requirement.

I was low on water, and hot from the sheer number of hours I'd been exposed to the sun.  I was happy to see fruits and veggies.  This won:

Some expenditures of $2 are worth more than others.

I thanked the good folks at the Produce Place and mentioned that after 15 or so odd miles, a watermelon tasted better than average watermelons.  A middle-aged man wearing a Hawaiian shirt said, "I just rode 30 miles, I guess a watermelon would be incredible to me!"  Suddenly I felt embarrassed to have possibly inferred that 15 miles was something.  We chatted an I found out he'd just finished cycling at the Percy Warner Park.  I made it absolutely clear that I found his exploits to be something and that someday I'd check out the cycling in that area as well. 

At this point, my trek became a serious of jaunts within streets in neighborhoods.  Here are a couple of highlights:

I wish more walls were painted.

If you've ever been to Climb Nashville, you'll have an idea of where I was riding.  I found myself on redmon street and used the climbing gym as an opportunity to use the bathroom.  In the 30 seconds I walked through, there were 7 people in line waiting to get in.  

With less water, I pushed up hills and eventually passed over the interstate and made my way back into the main section of Nashville to try a coffee and tea shop I'd driven past many times but never entered: dose.

I ordered a milk tea mostly because it sounded like the ultimate, weird, delicious choice to have on a blazing bike ride in July.  It was chilled, with sugar sprinkled on top.  It was perfect.

 Now having ridden for upwards of 3 hours, I explained to the barista that I'd ridden from Shelby Bottoms park.  He said, "Dude, I live in that area and bike to work most days a week!"  Like Hawaiian shirt guy, I'd encountered another who completed my "adventure" on a daily basis.  I thanked him for the milk tea and wished him a Happy Saturday.

The journey switched gears (yeah, pun intended) as I entered the affluent neighborhoods around the Green Hills neighborhood.  Whereas earlier in my trip I'd felt a sense of neglect in certain areas, now I was concerned I might be the one who looked out of place with my sweat-soaked shirt and 5 oclock shadow.  I rode on.

I am horrible with directions mostly because I don't pay attention.  A GPS is an essential tool for me to get anywhere.  I got lost eventually, and found myself passing over the interstate, really pushing the bike hard to keep up with cars going in the upper 50 miles per hour.  I eventually got off the bike and pushed.

From here, I'd had enough of competing with cars for space---I figured I'd remained lucky enough today.  So I walked my bike up Woodmont boulevard, passing through church and mall parking lots out of a desire to stay alive.



My journey ended at one of my favorite places---Whole Foods.  I chained my bike up, and bought a bunch of bananas.

Only 2 lived.

 I was lucky enough to have my ole' roommate and buddy from the last 2 years in college pick me up.  I was glad to not have to figure out how I'd gotten where I was, and how to get back.

Sometimes friendship means not having to find your car.

My bike trip began where it ended, at Shelby Bottoms Park.  I was thirsty, and my legs screamed at me when I sat in my car.

But I was happy, because I'd had a great Saturday.


#No Weekend Wasted


P.S. If you're still reading---

Costs:

Watermelon $1.99

Milk Tea $4.50 (I think I tipped a dollar)

Bunch of Bananas $1.36

Total:
$7.85

This isn't a particularly adventurous weekend if you compare it to climbing El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, sailing across the world, or eating baguettes in France.  Yet I can get on a bike and ride upwards of 20 miles in a fun day I won't forget.

 I started the trip alone---you don't necessarily need a crew to have a day like this; however, I met many cool folks while on the road and got to hang out with one of my best friends at the end.

I exercised, ate good food, and spent less than $ 10.  If I can make a great weekend out of a bike, a watermelon, milk tea, and a bunch of bananas, then I figure you can have an awesome experience too!  Tell me what you think in the comments section and I'd love to hear about your adventures too!

Life Burns

Life can be boring, but it can also burn---sometimes with color.

"the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars."
--- Jack Kerouac, On the Road

“When we were young,

And truth was paramount.

We were older then,

And we lived our life without any doubt”

---Seal in “Don’t Cry”

Burning.  Burning happens when we feel alive, when all our senses hum and there exists a feeling of freshness.  Like a river running to the ocean, we flow, lit up by the confidence that comes from having done what we need to do.

I think such feelings come when:

A.   We honestly relate to someone we care about

And

B.    We’ve done something we were scared to do before

Neither situation promises a life free of problems.  No matter one’s belief system, we all die.  Burning is not about having certainty, it’s living with uncertainty. 

When we have an honest conversation with someone, we can feel heard.  We know when we’ve said the things we need to.  One of the most powerful feelings is when we know someone really “gets” us.  Such a feeling doesn’t remove uncertainty, but at least we face it together.

Doing something that’s scary offers no promise for success---it could blow up in our face.  The person we ask out says no, or we could really, really, really, screw up Beethoven at the piano recital.  There’s no guarantee in going for it. 

Yet doing something in spite of fear is a victory of sorts, a place where we can reconnect with our wildness, the place in us that isn’t paralyzed by possibility of failure.  Maybe we lose such wildness as we “grow up.”  This place brings a measure of joy, likely because we know we did something.  Maybe we were trembling, and maybe we didn’t look completely in our element, but we did act. 

There seems to be a warrior-like quality to doing the things we’re afraid to do.  For right or wrong, picking a path means opening ourselves for life to enter.  Such an opening could bring a gamut of experiences: pain, sadness, or loss, and equally their siblings: joy, passion, and love.

Anyone can do it, this week, this day.  Life won’t assuredly flourish from action.  But it will probably burn like a blazing fire.

In that fire might be freedom.    

Fiction Friday: He Drove a Thousand Kisses Deep

Jack drove on a road headed for Mississippi, listening to Leonard Cohen.  At "A Thousand Kisses Deep," he had covered 146 miles, and he did have promises to keep.  Driving at about 50 miles per hour, on a dark Friday at 7:30, he saw another car coming towards him in the opposing lane.  Both drivers blasted brights.

Jack instinctively flicked his brights off.  Instantly, not a moment later, the other driver, male or female, also flicked off the brights.  In that moment, Jack bowed, a silent salute the other driver would not see.

But he did.  

He Saw It When He Looked

Jack was running at a park with a man-made lake.  The ducks didn't seem to care.   

He jogged while listening to an ipod playing something orchestral featured in a movie about people with hairy feet who try to destroy a piece of jewelry with lava. 

It was the very beginning of autumn, the part that always surprised him.  Cool air meant new beginnings.  For him, summer didn’t connote new life, it meant getting to swim more and hike less.  Rather, fall was the new chapter, the chance to start over.  Maybe he associated it with the beginning of a school year.  Maybe he just liked how it felt. 

Cool air woke him up.  Like rain, cool air could pull him from any personal drama.  If he’d worried for an hour if his burning knees meant something malignant, it was rain or cool air that tugged and said, “Nah man, look at this.  Right.  Now.”

So he looked.  And he saw this:

Adventure Tip: Find Easter Eggs!

From M-W.com (Merriam-Webster)

Easter Egg noun

Definition of EASTER EGG

1.  an egg that is dyed and sometimes decorated and that is associated with the celebration of Easter

2. a hidden feature in a commercially released product (as software or a DVD)

If you’ve ever played a video game or watched a DVD, you’ve probably been in the presence of Easter Eggs.  Other than being targets for young children in the blood sport known as “Easter Egg Hunting” (I’ve watched and endured more human cruelty in that yearly event than in Ultimate Fighting---in “Easter Egg Hunting” no referee will protect you), the words refer to hidden material in various forms of media the creators left behind for diligent watchers or players to find.

So in a way, Easter Eggs are a method for the creators to communicate with the players, a tip of the hat, a “Hydee, way to go!”  Some Easter Eggs are easy to find and others are nearly impossible.  The website eeggs.com is a vast collection of Easter Eggs throughout all forms of media and a great resource to check out if you’re interested in this subject.  I personally had no idea that everything from the Harry Potter series to a Beatles song had Easter Eggs!  Cool!

If Easter Eggs are a way for creators and artists to communicate with fans, could Easter Eggs not also serve as a way for people to communicate with each other?   Here are 5 real life Easter Eggs, I’ve found while adventuring.

1.  Underwater Rune    

In December of last year, one of my best friends and I were walking at a local park on a rainy day.  On a rock underwater, we found this:

 I’m not expert on the subject, but I think I’d call that a rune.  Whoever drew this using a heavy marker obviously wasn’t catering to your average Greenway walker.  If you know what this means, please write about it in the comments sections.  To find this rock, we had to almost wade out into the river. 

2.  Warning on a Wall

While on a city hike through Murfreesboro, my friend was teaching me about what photographers call, “the magic hour,” the first and last hour of sunlight during the day.  As we moved through an alleyway, we encountered this graffiti:

This photo was taken by my good buddy, Logan.  You can find his work here.

One could analyze this message in any number of ways, but for me, this doesn’t conjure up a cute, cuddly proclamation.  The stark, dark boldness of this graffiti on the white wall suggests a sense of desperation.  What do you think? 

3.  New Orleans Narrative

My traveling buddy and I had once again set out, this time on a significant, yet drivable distance to New Orleans.  After something like 9 hours in a car, in the chaotic, humid environment of the French Quarter with almost no food in our stomachs was overwhelming and magical almost to the point where we felt we were walking in fiction.  This graffiti only strengthened that feeling:

The message, written in narrative form on an otherwise nondescript wall carries with it a sense of humor.  I like an Easter Egg that has me wondering about the person who created it.  I think I’d like to meet this one. 

4.  John Cage Tribute

Asheville, NC is a city with many colorful, artsy features and interesting, nice folks.  While exploring downtown, I found this wall-sized Easter Egg:

"To accept whatever comes, regardless of the consequences is to be unafraid." ----John Cage

This piece illustrates the power an Easter Egg has to introduce something to another person.  When I first laid eyes on this quote, I didn’t really know much about the composer John Cage.  I liked this quote so much that I did some research on the guy and found this piece of “music” history.   

Easter Eggs can become a method for strangers to share what they love.  I’d thank the artist who created this.

5.  Chattanooga Dancing (and Kissing) Lessons 

If one crosses the pedestrian bridge in Chattanooga and heads to the North Shore, they’ll find this:

"The Kiss"

 This blog does an incredible job of sharing the beauty of Chattanooga as well as the different dance Easter Eggs around the city.  Similar to how the John Cage quote in Asheville can share culture, the dance steps in Chattanooga serve to instruct, to teach.  A person passing these Eggs could unlock a long dormant desire to take the Tango, or they could just enjoy dancing in the street. 

I’m defining Easter Eggs in broad terms.  For me, they can be street art, graffiti, or something a person scrawled on a rock in a river.  Either way, Easter Eggs document a moment in time, and in any number of ways can facilitate communication amongst people who likely never meet.       

Whether in your own city or town, or across the country and overseas, Easter Eggs can be found anywhere.  As a friend pointed out, the sport of Geocaching could be considered the game of Easter Eggs itself.

What are Easter Eggs you’ve found in your own life?  Share about them in the comments section!       

  

Coffee: Or How I Took a Sip and Became a Fatalistic Noir Hero in 3 Seconds

This morning, I drank a cup of coffee.  In earlier, more caffeine-addicted times, a “cup” was actually a mammoth mug that likely held closer to 2 cups.  You will probably drink a cup (or mammoth mug) of coffee at some point today yourself.  After all, the International Coffee Organization reports that “1.6 billion cups of coffee are drunk worldwide everyday.”

For me, a number like 1.6 billion really just means “a bajillion,” a lot!  On a chemical level, coffee provides caffeine, the ultimate drug to help one through the agony of leaving warm covers each morning.  Like pushing the turbo button in a race car, we can feel caffeine working in seconds.  It makes us feel better.  This character in Open Season understands coffee well:

The notion of “going to get a cup of coffee” entails more than downing a drink or just getting a surge of energy in the morning. If it was only about the substance, folks could brew value versions of coffee at home and save 7 dollars apiece.  Rather, getting coffee is social.  It's an experience.  We like our coffee to be good.  It could be a first date or a place for friends to get together.   Like the characters in the series “Twin Peaks,” coffee is both a social and personal experience (and perhaps spiritual in this case). 

When we were kids, my cousins and I viewed coffee as a “grownup’s drink,” something we watched the hardboiled action heroes sip before they dual-fired 9mms.  I still remember our granddaddy letting us drink heavily sugared up Styrofoam versions.  With our neon-green handguns (we spray-painted black, silver, or gold in one case to make a “Golden Gun”), we felt cool.  We didn't need the pick-me-up, we just wanted to be cool, and since it was a chilly day, we were super cool.    

Even now, decades later, I still mimic an FBI agent or the lone hero having morning java.  Coffee is not just coffee, it’s a story.  The story could be about friends or lovers, the exciting or mundane.  I don’t’ solve supernatural crimes or fire weapons on an average day. But I do drink coffee, and you probably do, too.

Want to get a cup of coffee? 

SPECIAL BONUS!  A scene from one of the weirdest video games of all time featuring coffee:

Share your own experiences with coffee in the comments section!