I'm officially old

It's official. I've become that lady. It's 7:45 pm and I just called the complex security officer to complain about some rotten kids and their music. In my defense, they are blasting Nickelback outside. I can't tell if it's someone at the pool or if it's someone playing it off their balcony, but either way it's loud and it sucks. I might be more forgiving if it was something decent or if it was just bass coming through the walls. Nope, I can hear every blessed (and lame and poorly sung) word. I would also be more forgiving if I hadn't chosen this apartment complex because they bill themselves as "a quiet community" and the leasing agent hadn't said at least three times how they don't tolerate loud music, loud cars, or loud anything. Well, this is loud and I'm not going to take it anymore. Damn college kids!

My first group ride

I'm back from my inaugural scooter group ride. How was it, you ask? It was nice, then fun, then awesome, then horrible, then "God, please just let me get home okay," then "Thank you, God, for answered prayers."

Fred and Jaime and I met at 7 this morning to ride up to Austin. It was a nice ride on backroads. Some curves, nice speed. The weather was great. There had been rain predicted, but we didn't have any.

We got to Austin and met up with the scooter group for breakfast. They were a pretty cool lot. The leader, Pursuit, arrived about a half-hour late, and then proceeded to confirm my suspicion that he is an arrogant ass. He's not rude really, just arrogant and a little ignorant.

Anyway, we went on the ride which was from the restaurant up to the top of Mt. Bonnell. The views were just beautiful. Parts of the ride reminded me of Lakewood near my old apartment. The ride itself was a tough one. There were many sharp curves and steep hills. Pursuit was on a 50cc scooter, but it can really cook and he had us at a speedy pace.

We stopped at the top of Mt. Bonnell for a few minutes, then went for the second half of the ride and that's when it went bad. Thank God I didn't see it happen. I rounded a curve and saw that the people in front of me were stopping and dismounting. I saw one of our riders on the ground. It was so awful. Thankfully the guy wasn't completely messed up since he wasn't wearing any protective gear at all, but either his leg or ankle was clearly broken. I didn't get too close; I couldn't stand it.

Several people went to his aid and one guy was like a machine, taking charge and doing all the right stuff. The ambulance came and worked on hurt guy for a while. Pursuit had gone to help guide the ambulance to where we were and ended up near me kind of hanging back from the action. I looked over after a few minutes and he was bawling! So much for all that bravado at the restaurant. I went over and hugged him and we all tried to comfort him. He was feeling guilty for going so fast and feeling bad for his friend being hurt. I felt sorry for him. He's still kind of an ass, but I hope he's able to get over this. It was just an accident after all.

Fred and Jaime and I waited until hurt guy was stable in the ambulance and the police cleared the scene, then we headed home. I was so shaken up. I had calmed down quite a bit while we waited, but I was still nervous getting back on the scooter. Of course, I almost wiped out heading back up the hill. I went off the road onto the grassy shoulder, but I was able to stop before I hit the guardrail. Jaime told me to be calm, take a deep breath, and then I was ready to go. It was a shaky ride back. I kept thinking about hurt guy and how it must have looked when he went down. Again, I'm so glad I didn't actually see it. I'm sure I would have gone down, too.

We got back to San Marcos safely. That's where the thanks for answered prayers come in. Now I'm on the couch and I don't think I'm going to get up for a very long while. I really should go to church since I didn't go yesterday and since I have so very much to be thankful for. I just don't have it in me, and I hope that God will understand that. I'm sure He will. He knows my heart.

Sunday, busy Sunday

(No, I'm not dead. I'm just lazy.)

Yesterday was a big day. I met with the organizer of (78)666 Scoots and his wife. I had been looking off and on for someone to start a scooter club here in town and had finally told myself to bite the bullet and start my own. Well, lo and behold, there was a group waiting for me. The organizer (let's call him Fred) just started it at the beginning of July. I missed the first meeting, but he emailed me and after a little correspondence we decided to meet. We talked about some ideas for the group, and we had several of the same ideas (putting cards on scooters, the meeting place, routes to ride). And then we found out Fred and I have the same birthday. Freaky! The three of us are going to ride to Austin on Sunday morning to join up with Austin Scooter Club on their ride. I'm excited!!

After meeting with Fred and Jamie, I headed to the Cathedral to help serve breakfast with the young adults. That was alot of fun. I got to have more extended conversations with a couple of the members than I had been able to at bible study, and they invited me to join the planning committee. So now I'm going to help plan events and such and meet even more people. I'm excited about that, too!! Everyone in the group is really nice. Even the one girl who has been kind of stank was nice and asked if I am planning to participate in an activity she's helping chair.

The perfect guy revisited

I was thinking about this post wherein I built the perfect guy. I realized I left off an important characteristic.
The perfect guy would have a great sense of humor like Patrick, aka #2.

Another update

I really should start writing more regularly. *Sigh*

Ok, so a couple of weeks ago, I posted a personals ad on craigslist. Weeded out the weirdos and one-line writers and was left with two prospects. Hey, now that I think about it, they have the same initials. Hunh.

Here's what happened: #1 turned out to be a Bore. When he talked, it was like dry reporting. He had little-to-no sense of humor, and he droned on and on about any topic. It didn't matter if I already knew about what he was talking about or had anything to contribute. I hardly got a word in edgewise. He called me daily for a week. I screened the calls a couple of times. We made plans to meet at a bar here in town. I was going to go along with it on the off chance that he would be different in person. Lass was going to make me stick to it as a punishment for other misdeeds, but then my sister said I shouldn't go because he sounded like a nutcase to her, so I wrote him an email and canceled. End of Bore.

#2 was fun. He has a fantastic sense of humor. We talked on the phone and wrote emails and had plans to meet on a Saturday. Just my luck, I got some kind of weird eye ailment and looked like someone punched me. I had to cancel. We ended up meeting later that week and had a great time. We saw the SRV statue and went to some bars. Some hijinks ensued at his place that I won't go into in mixed company. We continued to talk and such, had some laughs. My hairdresser is not too far from where he lives, so he invited me over after I finished my appointment. We talked and played Rockband. We went to see fireworks yesterday, and I don't quite know what went wrong, but something did. I think it's mutual, but I'm not really sure at this point. I don't really care if we see each other again, but I don't know if he feels the same way. I would assume so.

Now I'm debating posting again and having more dates or just forgetting the whole thing. It was nice getting out of the house and actually doing stuff.

Update

Man, I've been horrible about posting this year. Well, here's some news:

Moved into a new apartment. It's so much nicer than ye olde rustic duplex. It's super quiet, too. I love it.

Beatrice (the scooter) is doing great. I got her blessed by the priest at the Catholic Student Center this week. No luck finding other scooterists to ride with. The guy who flagged me down never called. I posted on craigslist, but no responses. I'm thinking of leaving notes on all the scooters I see. The only problem is I really don't want to lead the scooter group/club. I just want to be in one.

Relatedly, the San Marcos social scene is totally getting me down. Where are the cool people my age? Both men and women, seriously. I'm at a neighborhood coffee shop right now. There are about 40 people in here. Two of them, besides me, are over 30 and they're the parents hosting a 12-year-old's slumber party group. Yeah, the band playing tonight just sang Happy Birthday to the birthday girl. I'm taking my focus to Austin. There are some activities listed on the church website for the young adults ministry in July. Here's hoping.

Work is still good, thankfully. Ironically, my boss is out of town this week and next, and I'm getting more cataloging done than ever. So much for "when the cat's away ...." Finally two weeks with no meetings. I've been averaging 6 meetings a week lately. That is insane. Good work stuff includes winning a $500 prize for the Outstanding Team award (or whatever it was called) and being eligible for a 3% merit raise (could be more or less depending on my dept. head's recommendation).

I'm taking group exercise classes at the student rec center. Yet another place where I'm the oldest one there. So far I've taken yoga and group barbell. I'm kinda proud of myself for not caring that everyone's younger. The good thing about yoga is that you have to find a focal point in order to keep your balance, so I'm sure no one's looking at me. I'm good at weight training, so I don't care if anyone looks in that class.

I think that's it for now.

Scooter update

After a slow start, I've been riding the scooter like crazy! I'm not as nervous anymore and I'm up for trying any route.
Memorial Day I went for a joy ride after gassing up Beatrice ($5 fill-up! Eat your heart out, Hummers!) This is the route I took:

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I took the Bishop/Craddock/RR12 loop twice because it was so fun!

Here's the route I took Friday after work. I went from work to a co-worker's house and then home. This was the busiest route traffic-wise that I had ever been on. I didn't have any problems. On the way home I got up to 50 mph. That's the fastest I've ever gone. The wind is a little rough at that speed, but it's not bad.

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I was talking about the scooter to friends of the co-worker on Saturday and told them I hadn't been on the highway yet, but she corrected me noting that 621 is indeed a highway and I was on it twice. I also went on 123, so technically I have been on highways now. I have not been on the interstate; that will take a while.