I'm a Lightweight
Literally.
So, Seattle has these gargoylish, cyborg street lights. During the day, they function on a normal, American rotating sequence. But at night, things start to get a little crazy! The normal, fair sequence goes out the window as soon as dusk hits, and the weight-induced sensors activate--much like the gargoyles from my favorite cartoon on Friday afternoons grades 6 through 8.
In theory (if that isn't a harbringer of doom for this paragraph, I don't know what is...)... in theory... it works out great. The light stays green one way until a car comes in the other direction, then the light changes for that person until someone comes in the original direction the light was green. The problem for me lies in the fact that I am just too damned skinny. The combined weight of me and my 300lb motorcycle isn't enough to register the weight-scale, so the light stays red for eternity. I toyed with hopping off my bike and hitting the pedestrian signal, but I wasn't positive it would make my light green at 65th and 25th AVE, because the north and south green lights are split up. After a minute of getting shafted on the light right-of-way, I gunned it up the hill and back home. F cyborg lights.
Other fun things tonight:
The second-place vote getter for my title this evening was: "If I was an Aboriginee, You'd be Dead!" My Mom and I headed down to University of Washington for the first Women's Volleyball game of the season tonight around 7pm. We rolled through the light at 25th AVE and I think 50th, where it crosses the Burke Gilman. I thought I spied Tessa and Jared on their bikes waiting to cross 25th, but the girl looked much taller than the Tessa I remember. We swung up to our usual parking spot in a restricted, but never checked, parking area up on the UW campus and walked down to the pavillion. On the way, we walk on a road parallel to the Burke Gilman. The road is just above the trail, and we eventually make our way down onto the trail via various dirt paths that lead down to the B.G.T. As we were walking down the dirt path, Tessa and Jared go whizzing by on their sporty bikes towards Gasworks.
How was the ride?
No sooner do I unswivel my head and tell Mom about knowing those two people on the bikes, when I almost run into Marie Holzapel. She was on the latin class trip I took to Italy my Sophomore year at RHS, and she is the preppy blonde-type I longed after for much of my youth. She was walking down the trail talking with another girl I recognized, but couldn't put a name to. She didn't notice me *single tear*, but it was kind of weird running into 3 people I know within about 20 feet of each other on a foresty section of the Burke Gilman Trail.
I didn't say "Hi" to any of them, but it still weird for me to run into people I know. After living in Tacoma, Sacramento, Portland and Tahoe for the last seven years, I've gotten used to not knowing anyone where I go out. Coaching at a local high school isn't going to make me any less anonymous. I've already had to watch what I wear to tennis practice. My normal attire consists of wanna-be cool shirts with snazzy sayings, like, "I get loaded at Gray Lumber" or various beer shirts. In high school and college, they were all the rage (or banned). When I'm coaching high school, they just don't seem very appropriate, so it is usually just a plain ol' white shirt or a sporty shirt for me.
Lake Tapps tomorrow!
So, Seattle has these gargoylish, cyborg street lights. During the day, they function on a normal, American rotating sequence. But at night, things start to get a little crazy! The normal, fair sequence goes out the window as soon as dusk hits, and the weight-induced sensors activate--much like the gargoyles from my favorite cartoon on Friday afternoons grades 6 through 8.
In theory (if that isn't a harbringer of doom for this paragraph, I don't know what is...)... in theory... it works out great. The light stays green one way until a car comes in the other direction, then the light changes for that person until someone comes in the original direction the light was green. The problem for me lies in the fact that I am just too damned skinny. The combined weight of me and my 300lb motorcycle isn't enough to register the weight-scale, so the light stays red for eternity. I toyed with hopping off my bike and hitting the pedestrian signal, but I wasn't positive it would make my light green at 65th and 25th AVE, because the north and south green lights are split up. After a minute of getting shafted on the light right-of-way, I gunned it up the hill and back home. F cyborg lights.
Other fun things tonight:
The second-place vote getter for my title this evening was: "If I was an Aboriginee, You'd be Dead!" My Mom and I headed down to University of Washington for the first Women's Volleyball game of the season tonight around 7pm. We rolled through the light at 25th AVE and I think 50th, where it crosses the Burke Gilman. I thought I spied Tessa and Jared on their bikes waiting to cross 25th, but the girl looked much taller than the Tessa I remember. We swung up to our usual parking spot in a restricted, but never checked, parking area up on the UW campus and walked down to the pavillion. On the way, we walk on a road parallel to the Burke Gilman. The road is just above the trail, and we eventually make our way down onto the trail via various dirt paths that lead down to the B.G.T. As we were walking down the dirt path, Tessa and Jared go whizzing by on their sporty bikes towards Gasworks.
How was the ride?
No sooner do I unswivel my head and tell Mom about knowing those two people on the bikes, when I almost run into Marie Holzapel. She was on the latin class trip I took to Italy my Sophomore year at RHS, and she is the preppy blonde-type I longed after for much of my youth. She was walking down the trail talking with another girl I recognized, but couldn't put a name to. She didn't notice me *single tear*, but it was kind of weird running into 3 people I know within about 20 feet of each other on a foresty section of the Burke Gilman Trail.
I didn't say "Hi" to any of them, but it still weird for me to run into people I know. After living in Tacoma, Sacramento, Portland and Tahoe for the last seven years, I've gotten used to not knowing anyone where I go out. Coaching at a local high school isn't going to make me any less anonymous. I've already had to watch what I wear to tennis practice. My normal attire consists of wanna-be cool shirts with snazzy sayings, like, "I get loaded at Gray Lumber" or various beer shirts. In high school and college, they were all the rage (or banned). When I'm coaching high school, they just don't seem very appropriate, so it is usually just a plain ol' white shirt or a sporty shirt for me.
Lake Tapps tomorrow!
posted by MHG at
8/25/2007 12:37:00 AM
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