Family Talk
Hello, I am buying a motorcycle--in fact, I have already bought it--and up until Tuesday I had only told people under 40, and more importantly, people that were not related to me, that I was doing such a thing. And I have received uncensored acclaim.
I told my mother on Tuesday, and she was very upset about it, as I had predicted she would be, but she tried as hard as she could to remain polite and civil about it. She didn't say anything nasty, like, "Your desire for attention sickens me".
But when my uncle called me today it was a little more of a shock. My uncle is a funny, sarcastic, intelligent man; I dig every second I spend with him, and I especially dig his partner, a lovely and extremely talented graphic designer. Both she and my uncle laugh at my jokes and get me good books for Christmas presents, which is about all I need to like people. However, they are relatively private people, and my uncle especially is not given to large displays of affection. I was especially not expecting him to make a rare phone call to say to me, "I hear you have bought a motorcycle, and I disapprove."
Being my uncle, he said it much more creatively than that--he said, "I called so that you and I could put on a skit in which I play the old fuddy-duddy, and you play the rebellious teenager, and I can tell you what I really think about you buying this motorcycle, and you can respond by rolling your eyes and not taking my good advice." But the fact remained that he disapproved, that he was worried about me, and wished I wouldn't. The irony here, of course, is that my uncle is no fuddy-duddy--he's a modern man who feels no need to control the youth. He has never called me to say such a thing before, ever, not in 27 years of my life, and I knew he called me out of true concern for my well-being and that it took effort for him to make such a call, and he took that effort because it was so important to him. I can't just brush this off. Because of that I am now much more conflicted about this purchase than I was just a few days ago, although of course I'm still going to buy it--it's a great bike, it's a great deal, and I'm already committed.
My father hasn't yet called to do this same thing, although I expect it any day. It's particularly frustrating because both he and my uncle, although related only through my mother, owned motorcycles, and my grandfather--my mother's father--owned a motorcycle, and put me on it when I was very young. And I have ridden around on the back of the LT's motorcycle for almost a year. Never have motorcycles or the safety of motorcycles seemed to be a conversation topic of high importance in my family. I never heard a WORD about motorcycles until this week, in fact. And now that I am buying one, oh my Blog, the world, it is ending. I do not understand.
5 comments:
Motorcycles are little, moving, metallic deathtraps. Who's giving you acclaim?
And does none of your family use gmail or gtalk? You've had motorcycle related status reports for awhile now.
No, only myself and one other person in my extended family is under the age of 30, and the next youngest person to us is 50, and my family is not quick adopters.
Anyway, moving on to motorcycles, alex, I will pay you five dollars to give this opinion of motorcycles to the next motorcycle cop that pulls you over. :)
When are you going to give a detailed description of this bike? Reason for purchase, details of purchase, details of bike itself, how you intend to use it, pictures, etc. Do you already have a motorcycle license? Does this mean your other vehicle is going, going, gone?
Someone once told me that the best way to buy a bike is to just do it without telling anyone, and make it up to those against it (in this case his wife) later.
As far as the making it up to others, it's all in how you sell it to them. Bikes have a certain kind of fundamental practicality, which can be easily lost. Good luck!
I say a prayer for each motorcyclist who passes me by on the roads.
aarwenn-
Motorcyles are extremely dangerous because:
While riding one, one has a much higher chance of being in an accident than when one is driving a car; because 1. two wheels are less stable than four, 2. one is less visible to other motorists even if they are devoting their full attention to their driving and traffic- which only one in ten do, the other nine being preoccupied or compromised by the use of cell phones, make up application, hang overs and an almost endless list of other distractions.
When the almost inevitable accident does occur, the motorcyclist always comes out on the short end, with major injury or death a not uncommon result.
All of these apply to all motorcyclists.
You have admitted that you are a terrible driver as you do not pay attention to what you are doing and have such a poor sense of direction that you zoom around, trying to find your way, menacing yourself and others.
In other words- you riding a motorcycle in traffic might be correctly described as a suicide attempt!
Being a highly intelligent girl, you already know this and may have purchased this motorcycle just to have one on hand, kind of like a piece of furniture that one looks at, but never uses. Or, you may be planning to store it near an abandoned shopping mall so you can ride it through the weed choked stretches of asphalt that once welcomed the vehicles of the once happy shoppers who were once able to afford to take them to the malls that they were once able to afford to shop in.
That may be true, but you have not mentioned this!
yhaos
Post a Comment