Ad Infinitum

Born and bred in a Christian home. Raised in a Christian church. There are fifty-two Sundays per year (approximately). That means that I attended somewhere around 832 Sunday Schools sessions by time I turned 16 years old. That doesn’t count Awanas, Wednesday night bible studies, Friday night sizzlin’ summer studies, Sunday night worship, Tuesday evening devotions, etc. I bet it’d be safe to say I’ve spent a good portion of my life at the Church.

Understanding. I have it. Throughout my high school career, if you want to call it that, my friends came to me for biblical advice. It wasn’t that I was wiser than them. It wasn’t that I was somehow more important than them. I just simply read the bible more. I understood it, well at least more so than most my age. I knew it extremely well. I had hidden ‘God’s word in my heart, so that I would not sin against him,’ you could say.

Even with all of the knowledge and understanding I doubted. I second guessed. I often ventured into the lukewarm. Going from hardcore Christian, to lukewarm Christian, back to hardcore. It was a cycle. Back and forth. Back and forth. Years were spent. Unable to decide. Like a child faced with the option of candy bars or ice cream.

As a hardcore Christian I felt like something was askew. Like a picture on a wall that won’t stay parallel to the ceiling. I felt like it wasn’t real, but whenever I strayed away I felt guilty. I was not joyful either way. I had to make a choice. Twenty years had passed and the past six had been this way. Like a baseball in a game of catch. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Each time the space between us getting further and further. I didn’t want to be in the middle. I wanted to be black or I wanted to be white. A decision had to be made.

For a period of time that I didn’t care to mark, I’d imagine a month or two, I asked all the questions I could think of.

“Why do I believe in God?”

Was I raised that to believe?
Am I classically conditioned?
Do I have it made up in my mind that He is real?
Do I really believe the Bible is true?

Knowing all I knew about the Bible I couldn’t give myself a real reason for my belief for my foundation of my life for the past twenty years. With all the camps I have been to, all the leadership training, all the evangelical messages I’d been given… all for naught. I couldn’t answer one of the most basic questions for the Christian faith. What if a stranger asked me? What if a friend asked me? If I didn’t have a real answer for myself how could I have one for someone else?

I continued to ask myself these questions. Searching for the answer. I didn’t want the guilt. I didn’t want the fake feeling. I wanted to live my life.

I don’t remember all of the exact details, to be honest. The conclusion I came up with is that I don’t actually believe. It took a lot of thinking and questioning, but I decided that I do not believe in all the Bible has to say.

As more time passes by the more it seems like this choice should have been easier, but what it really came down to is that I don’t feel I really believed. I think I stopped believing sometime around high school. I don’t know why for sure, but I think I continued with “believing” for a few reasons.

• It was challenging.
• It was a way for me to be a little more unique and go against the grain.
• I was familiar with it already, it was within my comfort zone.
• I felt that I was classically conditioned rather than believing by free will.
• I enjoyed having the answers, I enjoyed studying the bible. Not because it was “the bible” but because I have always had a thirst for knowledge.

In light of the above, I realized that a lot of the reasons for my belief were selfish. I was a hypocrite and was blind to it. This is where it became easy for me to toss the Christian title. I decided that I was no long Christian. I have lived my life since that day as such. I do not believe I have felt guilty of it once. I do not have any regrets (as I never have for as long as I can remember).

I honestly didn’t think it would be quite as easy as it was. The fear of my peers was pretty overwhelming sometimes. So many of my friends were friends from church. Friends I had gone to bible studies with, prayed with, shared Christian bonds with. I feared rejection and judgment. However, most of my friends haven’t passed judgments upon me. They have accepted me and my choice in life. I wouldn’t say they support it, but they haven’t forsaken me or spit on me.

In the end, I’m not all that different. Yes, I’ve made changes in my life styles, but I’m still the same person. I just don’t do everything according to the bible. I feel like I’m more honest than I was. I feel like I’m living the truth now. To those of you that are curious, yes, I would say that I am happier and a bit more joyful than I was.

For as long as I can remember I have lived my life without regret. Not looking back has made life easier. It’s actually a biblical philosophy. The bible often speaks about worry and dwelling. I made it a point to do those as little as possible. I do not regret living the way I have for so long. It has made me the man I am today. I do not write this to say you’re wrong for believing, I write this to say it is not right for me.

I am not easily offended. Some random Joe on the street probably could not say anything to offend me. He might bother me or upset me, but nothing he said would bug me ten seconds after I was done talking with him. Only those who are close to me have the ability to seriously offend me.

I recently made a new friend. Now she is really cool. She is smart, funny, cute, all those good things. Before you say or think it, no, I’m not attracted to her like that. She is a girl that I have no intention of dating, not saying that it can’t change, but those are my current feelings and they are pretty strong. I enjoy her company, a lot. She is quite fun to hang out with. The past week when I hurt my ankle due to my motorcycle crash her and I hung out almost every day for hours. Just talking and goofing around. We hardly did anything at all. I think her and I will become pretty good friends since she does not live very far from me at all.

She likes to talk on the phone a lot. I, on the other hand, do not. The only time I really enjoy talking on the phone is when:

• A: I’m really bored.
• B: I’m driving in my car and I want entertainment.
• C: I just met them and we have a lot to talk about.
• D: I have something specific to talk about and I’m generally to the point and then I’m done.

She calls me a lot. Now, I don’t have a problem with this, I just don’t really know what to say most of the time. I enjoy talking in person, on AIM, or via text message. Well, she called me tonight and we had a few things to discuss. One being my trip down to Bakersfield for my 21st birthday. She is native to Bakersfield and asked if I’d give her a ride. I have absolutely no problem with this! I actually am glad, it’ll give me good company on the ride down. Anyways, back to the matter at hand, as we were talking we got past the stuff we actually needed to talk about and I didn’t want to be a jerk and just say, well, I’m going to go now. I wasn’t doing anything important. So we were talking and we got into talking about her boyfriend, which I had met over the weekend and stuff. She asked him what he thought and she said that he thought I and this other guy that hung out with us at the park were kind of weird and he felt out of place. Then she said about how I’m like other guys.

Now this kind of set me back a step. I’ve always thought that I wasn’t like other guys. I mean, sure, I have characteristics similar to many guys, but thats because I’m male. I’m obviously going to have general similarities to other guys. However, I’ve never really considered myself like “most” guys.

Now when she said this and I repeated it back to her, “Wait, you think I’m like other other guys?”

I don’t want to misquote what she said, but it was more or less, “Yeah, you seem to be like most guys, you have some differences and stuff, but generally.” (that is not anywhere close to what she said, more of a summation of what I got from what she said.)

I just sat in total silence. Now, this isn’t as big a deal as you’d think. Half the time on the phone with her I’m silent anyways. I think she picked up on it though because she said, “Are you busy with something?”

“Kind of. I’ve got a few IM conversations going and I’m kind of watching Jon Stewart.”

“Oh, well, ok. I’ll let you go then.”

“Alright, I’ll talk to you later. Good night!” I said. Then we both hung up.

I’m not sure if I’m offended or not. I don’t think I’m actually offended. I think I’m just shooken up a little bit. She hasn’t known me that long. She really doesn’t know that much about me. In lieu of brushing it off like I normally would with someone I’m just getting familiar with I kind of upset I suppose. I can’t think of the word to explain what it was that I was feeling that moment. Was I offended that she thinks I’m just like every other guy (for the most part)? Or was I upset that she threw me into the generality without getting to know me really well? I can’t get upset with the latter for then I’d just be a huge hypocrite. I throw people into generalities all the time because I think I know someone. *shrugs* I don’t think I’m offended. Writing this out has helped me get over it. I don’t think I’m like other guys. Maybe I should ask my female friends that I’ve known for a long time what they think. Hmmm…

http://realpcpros.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=90

Instead of copy/pasting the story, I’m just going to send you there to read it.

I also started an online forum. If you all are interested join up and start posting! :) But read that story. Or kind of story.

I AM OK THOUGH! My ankle is basically healed now too! :) :)

My job has really cruddy scheduling. A lot of time it is last minute. Boy do I mean last minute. My last day on the schedule is this coming Tuesday (08/29). I know I’m scheduled to work in Santa Theresa/San Jose until September 14th because I received this e-mail 08/17 (last names have been removed):

You gentlemen have been extended in STR until 9/14. Lynne is coordinating with the STR management as to where you will be stationed and the times etc. I have updated your master schedules to reflect this extension and any housing needs need to be directed to Camille ASAP. Thanks.

Ryan

There was never a Master Schedule released after this e-mail. My last day on the schedule, as I stated is 08/29. So where am I going? I’m “supposed” to be on extended support, but no schedule sent out. This isn’t necessarily out of the normal. It happens somewhat frequently. I’m just concerned because I want to know whats going on. I want to know where I will be. So, I e-mail Adam. He is currently my roommate for corporate housing (which ends on 09/06) and he is also staying behind for corporate housing.

Do you even know where you are going to be after this Tuesday? I’m not even scheduled anywhere.

His reply:

We are on for extended support which means we are probably both getting fired. At least that is the rumor going around. Did you get a hotel confirmation email from Camille for Sept 6th thru Sept 14th?

My response to that:

yeah, I did. wait. you think we’re getting fired?

His response:

we are so totally fired. word is spreading like wild fire. ask Justin, he always knows everything and Mike also kind of gave me the heads up

sorry man, start looking
adam

I don’t see why I would be fired. Something happend awhile back, but it wasn’t a big deal. Nothing to be fired over, or so I think. I’m obviously a little nervous by this. Adam has done a ton of stuff that would lead him and myself to believe they would let him go. He doesn’t have the best track record. I, however, have not had problems. No receptionist has complained about me and many have actually said great and amazing things about me. I know my performance is nothing shy of phenominal. That is how I work. Adam not always so. In any case I am a little fearful because although I haven’t done anything to be fired over, the points laid out kind of do line up and I can see that. So I start asking around with people that might know. Gianna says I’m being ridiculous and I’m not being fired. She told me this before the final e-mail from Adam though. So I was fine until I got taht e-mail. So I call Mike and ask him whats up and he laughs.

Mike said, “Haha, I told those bastards to leave me out of it! Ok, Tim, this is whats going. There was a rumor going around that Adam was going to be fired so he was freaking out. He talked to me and I told him no. That isn’t true and set his mind at ease. Everything is fine. So he started talking about pranking you and saying that you two were being fired and thats why you’re on extended support. It isn’t true, but I told them to leave me out of it!”

That was not verbatim, but close enough. I hate practical jokes! :(

This is just an update to let you know I’m alive and well. I am working a lot, traveling around even more, I just moved and do not yet have cable internet (should this weekend though), and I’ve just been busy on the weekends hanging out with friends or having a few friends visit me. So, my apologies, I will return and be updating normally.

-Master of Truth.

Stockton. The city of dreams and wonders. Maybe I’m just somebody with mild insomnia working in a Kaiser Sleep Lab at 5:30AM. Ironic. Irony becomes me.

I wait as the door closes. Room 371. The carpet comes up so high that the door does not shut properly if I do not force it closed. Once I’m assured that the door is securely closed I head down the hall way. I’m hungry, as is usual for me.

I swing the door open, a bit more abruptly than normal, and I immediately jump back. It’s unusually pale. It hardly even flinched. I tilt my head to the side a bit in genuine curiosity. I’m amazed, intriugued, amazed, I’m in awe. He is looking at me. It seems without fear. This was no ordinary bird. It wasn’t a Bay Area bird that does not fear because its used to being fed. No, this bird was not anticipating food. It seemed to be as curious about me as I was of him.

Him. How do I know it was a him? Simple. My logic for species is this. Human women are beautiful, amazing, wonderous creatures. Human males are not. To make up for this deficit, male animals of almost all species are prettier than their female counterpart. Peacocks, African Lions, Deer(Stags). That is just to name a few. Not there there aren’t exceptions, the Black Widow comes to mind, but most often the male is the prettier of the animal. This bird was white. Pure. The only bird I’ve seen this white was an albino Peacock. It was white. Beak to toe. I stood no more than six inches from it and he did not move! I extended my hand to feel his delicate feathers and the first time he did not move much. A minor side step which startled me causing me to retract my hand. I extended it again and he flew to the nearby roof. I was on the third floor so the bird was still eye level. He just stood there, perfectly still and stared at me (or so it appeared). I stood there for a few minutes in total admiration. What an amazing creature. I went down a floor, looked up, and his head was tilted down staring at me. Curious creature. First floor, same thing. Truly amazing! When I came back with my food he was still there; still staring.

The bird was white and more curious than any wild bird I have ever come across. Remarkable is all I can think of to say. Nature never ceases to amaze me.

June 7th I wrote that I had just over forty-six hundred miles on Tasia. Walking out to her just a moment ago to double check the exact miliage I read fifty-nine hundred forty. One thousand three hundred in just five short days of riding. Allow me to describe my adventure(s).

The journey started Thursday morning. 231 miles of cool air, light breeze, and much more enjoyable scenery than I-5 or CA-99. The trip went by pretty quickly. Three and one-half hours later and I was looking at the pebbled beaches of Montana De Oro. My friends left much later than planned. It was more than ok. I found a campsite and just relaxed. Soaking in the fresh air and letting the salt to absorb inside my lungs!

Once my friends arrived the fun and joking started almost immediately. I was sitting on the bench to an open campsite.

“I won’t camp at this site. I don’t like it.” Started Kelsey. First words out of her mouth as she rolled down her window.

“Uhh, ok. Whatever, its just a camping spot. There are others farther down the road, maybe with more shade.” I retort a little peeved. “As long as there is enough a flat enough space for the tent, I don’t care. Whatever.”

I jump onto the back of Daniel’s Tacoma and we explore further down for a more suitable campsite. Kelsey gets outs of her car, I don’t remember why. I think to give me a hug or something. I just remember she never received one because her car was driving away. Zach had hopped the center console into the driver seat and was taking off down the gravel roadways. I was already laughing. I knew what was going on. Kelsey was standing, dazed, a little shocked. It was taking a moment to click. Her Jeep wasn’t being stolen, but it was. I ran down the road, in my boots, as fast as my heavy feeet would carry me. Zach didn’t stop. I was laughing, panting for breath. Seeing Daniel coming back I decided it’d be best to lie down in the road and play dead. Until he started speeding up.

Note: Clicking the pictures should open a full resolution image in a new window.

We finally got all the vehicles to the newly chosen campsite. Not more than five minutes out Zach and I were already going back and forth laughing hysterically at the “thats what she said” remarks. Not to mention that it quickly developed to where we no longer had to even say it. Twenty minutes into it and we’d just look at each other, proclaim he or she and start busting up together. It was great. Only T.J. knew what we were laughing about and later on Jared caught on. Kelsey and Daniel were just in the dark. *sighs* It was great. These jokes didn’t die out until we all had parted ways. It still hasn’t died. Oh well!

After getting the tents set up we immediately drove up the road a mile or two and went to the main Montana De Oro inlet. The beach is made of millions of smooth stones, rocks, pebbles, and the like. All shaps and all sizes. All smooth from years of wear from waves. It is amazing. We didn’t spend more than an hour on the rock looking at the water, waves, and sea otters. The rest wanted to go for a hike, however I didn’t feel like one at the moment. I inquired around to see who wanted to go for a joy ride. Zach wanted to go. Him and I headed back to gear up for a fun little ride around some twisties the area had to offer.

Coming into the campground area there is a sign:

With a smaller rectangle sign under it saying “Next 4 Miles.” So coming in or going out of the campground I get to hit up five miles of twisties. Not more than three miles outside of the campground twisties I found a side road that had about five miles of some very clean and fun twisties. Zach and I enjoyed them. The next day Carmel and I also enjoyed them. I didn’t have time for me to take more people around on Tasia.

The next day we went on a nice long hike around the coastal regions of Montana De Oro. Here is the aftermath!

Following the hike was Kayaks and a stroll on a basically secluded beach. I’m still a kid. We all were trying to think of something fun to do with the Kayaks. Daniel and I played a short lived game of chicken. We both won… or actually, due to the whip-lash we both received I guess we both lost. This was followed by my bright idea to play a rousing game of Cops & Robbers. Jared and Jonathan shared a Kayak that was blue so I naturally volunteered them to be the cops. Since these two could not cooridinate well and could not keep up I allowed them to tag me and then we slowly just caught every robber one at a time, excluding T.J. He was able to allude us. I’ll just excuse myself from this lapse because I was tired… pitiful excuse, I know.

Since Daniel and I were too tired to continue the pursuit we allowed the felon, T.J., to escape while we made our way to the shore. We walked around the dunes, but not before I put on my ninja suit and made a total fool of myself, as always. And as expected. I was goofing around in the sand doing my flips and what not. Well, it ended foul when I caught a handful of sand and aimed it right into my eye. Not fun. Thankfully the ocean was only twenty yards away. I was able to clean my face off. I love ninja suits!

The trip was not over! Oh, no! Not only had we watched a movie both nights in the tent, we also roasted marshmellows and made s’mores! It was great. Grahm crackers, Hershey chocolate bars, and melted sugar… err, I mean marshmellows. How can you go wrong with that? I proclaim that you cannot!

The next day was indecisive. Not just for myself. Do I drive home now? Do I just go to Carmichael and enjoy my Sunday without anything to do? Do I go to Bakersfield? I decided to go for a surprise visit to Bakersfield. See my dad’s bike. Get a day of rest. Maybe go for a couple bike rides. Possibly see a couple friends. The next decision was what to do with the rest of our Saturday. Some wanted to travel up CA-46 and visit Hearst Castle. Daniel had already been to it once and none of us wanted to pay the entrance free. I have a friend that works there, but was unable to reach her.

Splash. Splash was a renowned seafood eatery in 21 miles away in Pismo Beach. Renowned for “the best clam chowder in the world” or some crap like that. It was only six dollars for a chowder bread bowl. I love eating my clam chowder in a bread bowl. Six dollars is also a very good price for this. Basically, you’d have to try it for yourself, but in my opinion and everyone I ate with, it is the best clam chowder I’ve ever had. I’d gladly make a trip from Bakersfield to Pismo with a cute girl or with a group of friends just to get a bowl. It is that good.

Later that night I had no plans and decided to contact a few friends. The first one to respond was my buddy Dana. She is a cute little girl that I’ve known since Freshman year of high school. I graduated with her older sister, but have always been in contact with both. She had asked me to take her for a ride next time I was around. She had never been a bike, but was extremely excited to get to ride one. I took her out for a quick spin around most of Bakersfield. We only rode for about forty miles when I was taking her home. She continually told me things at the stops (since its hard to hear when we are riding):

“Just so you know, I really like it when you go fast.”

“It is so scary when you go between cars. Do it more!”

“Lets drive to the beach!”

“You better not be taking me home.” She yelled at me at a red light near her home. I just grinned and decided to take another route. By time I dropped her off we had put around ninety miles on Tasia. Going from the fart South end of Bakersfield and ending up at Lerdo Highway. One point we hit 120MPH and she was egging me on to go faster. Later on, during the latter half, we peaked at 131MPH. She later responded with, “Maybe next time we go out we can hit a hundred and fifty!” I just kind of grinned and nodded. “Yeah, right.” Is what I was thinking. We ended up text back and forth for an hour or two afterwards and I ended up agreeing to take her on some real roads in the morning after church.

Sunday morning I washed up, cleaned my clothes, went to church, and picked her up again. We put on over one hundred miles carving through twisties north of Bakersfield up near Glenville and Woody. It was awesome. Even having a passenger on the back I hardly felt any different carving around the curves. It was a blast and I can’t wait until the next time I can take a passenger around through the swervy roads. It is exciting. It was exhilerating. It is something I crave to do again; and soon.

For that hundred or so miles I decided not to wear my riding jacket. It was too hot. Instead I wore a t-shirt. If I had a camera I’d show you my hilarious tan. I still wore my leather riding gloves so I have a tan line that stops three to four inches out from my hand and ends at my shirt sleeve. It is quite humorous.

295 miles later I was home in Carmichael. At my Aunt Peggy’s humble abode. She has the most comfortable bed in that spare bedroom I’ve ever had the privilage to sleep on. It is amazingly comfortable. She told me it was a great bed… I underestimated. It was nothing short of amazing. I slept great. I melted into it and didn’t wake until it was the proper time for me to wake. That is my journey. There is more to it. More to the rides. More to the trip back home to Carmichael. There is much more about my Aunts amazing home. Maybe some other time. Maybe you will honor me with a visit sometime.

Forty-six hundred. My odometer says so. Everytime I look down I see four numbers: 46XX. I haven’t even had her for two months. By her I mean the motorcycle. By the motorcycle I mean Tasia. Tasia is what I’ve decided to name her. I had help from many friends on ideas. I had even more help on opinions on some of the names I liked. Thanks to K, I found Tasia. Short for Anastasia. Her name is not Anastasia though, just Tasia. It means: Rebirth; Resurrection. I like it a lot. Tasia.

Back to the topic, forty-six hundred miles and growing. My leather gloves are more than broken in. They are already showing signs of wear. It will be another forty-six hundred miles before the wear starts to be excessive, I think.

I recently purchased a new helmet. Shoei X-Eleven. Light Silver. It mataches Tasia, you know how girls like to match!

It fits like a glove. I’ve read online that the odds of finding the perfect fit are extremely unlikely. The best most people find is a fit 90% of perfect. Maybe this is just 90%, but I don’t think I could ask for a better fit. After trying on, HJC, Arai, KBC, & Shoei, the X-Eleven fits the best, easily. Sadly, its the most expensive main-stream helmet on the rack. It’s worth it. It looks gorgeous, fits perfect, and feels just right! I’m more than content with my purchase.

Why did I get a new helmet? Well, firstly because the HJC was never meant as a primary. I purchased it with the mind-set that I’d buy another one to replace it someday soon and make it my passenger helmet, that is why it is size too big for me. So I needed a helmet that fit properly and I wanted a solid color, light silver, to match Tasia. This helmet, like I’ve explained to K, is over-the-top, but worth it.

I picked up a pair of riding boots.

There are numerous reasons for this purchase. First after trying on a couple pair, these fit extremely well. Secondly, they were the only pair they had in stock that was the correct size. Other reasons are price and blah blah. All said and done, even if I had an unlimited budget and all the different boots in the correct size, I’d still have gone with these boots. There are a few things about this pair that I like over some of the others. They are easier to get on and they are vented. There are a few vents on them allowing cool air in and hot air out, as well as being perforated allowing lots of cool, fresh air to seep in and keep my feet, which are next to the hot engine, nice and cool.

Why get boots in the first place? Well, obviously proper equipment is very important. When I go down, I don’t want broken, twisted, or shattered ankles. Wearing proper boots with proper ankle protection offers me this!

Last time I went on a long bike ride, I ended up getting engine burn (the heat that is emitted from the engine) severely burned the back of both of my legs. Hindering my ability to walk properly for a couple days. Since I’m going on a trip tomorrow, I don’t want a relapse of that event.

Forty-six hundred miles and it hardly feels like a thousand. I’m ready for my next five thousand miles. I’m ready for the next ten thousand after that. I have always felt that motorcycle riding clears your mind and is like meditation. Recently I read something that explains it exactly how I feel about it. I just am not as good with words:

The act of riding is a form of meditation, because the concentration that’s required to safely ride a motorcycle tends to focus the mind in a way that eliminates other mental distractions that might interfere with the mission. This creates a single-mindedness that, in effect, displaces the continuous stream of thoughts that normally flow through our consciousness.

Thoughts about what to eat, who to meet, and worries about the common stresses of everyday life, such as pressures from work and home, disappear from our minds during the ride, because the concentration that’s necessary to focus on the ride pushes those thoughts far into the background. The result is that the mind becomes refreshed after a ride just like it would after a session of formal meditation or a relaxing vacation.

Just like some people get “hooked” on meditation, motorcyclists get hooked on riding because of the mental relief that it brings. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone discovers that endorphins or something are released during the act of riding. I’m sure you’ve noticed that you can’t “zone out” on a motorcycle like you can when driving a car. Riding safe means being focused and alert at all times – which is one of the reasons why it’s so important to stop and rest at frequent intervals when riding a motorcycle on a long trip.

I think that is all I have to offer for now!

Mary requested some of my top pics of music. I’m at work right now so I don’t have all the options I’d like to have for choices. I do, however, have some music I greatly enjoy hosted on my website and will post a few of those links for all to enjoy. They are posted in alphabetical order.

Andrea Bocelli - Besame Mucho: Italian Opera (Although this song is in Spanish)
Cirrus - Boomerang: Techno
Demon Hunter - Less Than Nothing: Rock/Metal/Christian
Demon Hunter - My Heartstrings Come Undone: Rock/Metal/Christian
Ewan McGregor & Nicole Kidman - Come What May: From the Moulin Rouge Soundtrack
Opeth - The Drapery Falls: Heavy Metal/Instrumental (This is my favorite Opeth song)
Opeth - The Funeral Portrait: Heavy Metal/Instrumental
Zao - Psalm Of The City Of The Dead: Screamo/Metal/Christian (This particular song is an instrumental)

This is all I have to offer at this moment. If you (not just Mary) like some or all of these picks then let me know, I’m more than willing to share with you other bands, artists, & musicians that I enjoy! Have a day!

My plans are set. The details worked out. I know what I’m doing and where I’ll be.

Tomorrow morning I am waking up, somewhat late, and going on a two-hundred thirty mile road trip to Los Osos, California. We will be making our camp site at the Montaña De Oro campgrounds along the coast. By we I mean myself and about nine of my Bakersfield friends. Last year a good buddy of mine, Daniel, organized a similar event last year where the turn out was slightly smaller. I believe we had four people, plus myself and Doug for a day and one half. This year it is about twice the amount of people. I hope it becomes tradition, annual, regular, habitual. We camp out in the beautiful campsites not more than fifty yards from the beautiful, blue Pacific Ocean.

Unfortunately the ride down there is pretty bland. Mostly strait freeway road(s). Highway 101 to Highway 41. Not much adventure in that. However, once I’m there it will be a trip to remember. Filled with companionship, adventure, excitement, riding, food, and just an experience that I’ll ride away from smiling, as I always do.

I know, another boring post. Life is full of disappointments, get used to it! :) Hopefully I’ll have an exciting post after the trip and if you’re lucky I’ll even post pictures!