Confession of a character flaw

I wrote the following to one of you, but it applies to all...

***

I run from conflict instead of facing it. It is my own problem; I did it with J&S and I did it with you. I do it to girlfriends and did it with a best friend from college. It leaves much confusion in its vacuum.

I just don't like difficult discussions. Stress from conflict quite literally makes me physically ill and causes my thoughts to become incoherent. I go mildly catatonic and just try to wait out difficult topics. At a certain point, the stress just gets too much and I disappear. This happens so much that in high-school I named it my "Human Reset" as I take the time to clear my mind, decompress and refocus internally and on my goals.

I am sorry to have left you in limbo for so long. That was not fair. Once again in my life, I had to retreat.

I am sorry.

It hurts to be back

I want to go back and just fade away in my chair under the umbrella.

'twas the night before it all ends

...and I am satiated. What a great, great time I have had. And in the end I met one final girl named Fredi from the country of Moldova. I <3 Moldova.

This hotel is remote and private. It is 20 miles north of the more popular beaches at Nags Head/Kitty Hawk, BUT it is through several 35 and 25 miles per hour corridors which equals a 30+ minute, stop/go, drive with no other way in or out. This limits the population so it is very easy to recognize and form friendships with guests, workers and random beach-goers. This is my spot.

To maximize my time on the beach, I have been having all my lunches/dinners at a diner next to the hotel and having great fun with the servers. I didn't realize that one had been flirting all week until after I had my last dinner tonight and she rushed to hug me with eyes full of tears. All past cues and clues came rushing in at that moment. She had just finished telling me that there are more women than men living in the area (which explains SOO much awesomeness) and that she needs to move to a place with a more favorable ratio.

Oh, one last thing, LAW OF THE BEACH: If there are MILES of open sand to the left of me and there are MILES of open sand to the right of me and your wife STILL decides to park her fat ass and family RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY VIEW OF THE OCEAN, it gives me every right to stare at her boobies.

Girls! Girls! Girls!

Sooo many girls, so little (but ever-expanding) time. The brick-house Maria Sharapova grilled me about why I didn't have a wife and whether I have lots of girlfriends in lots of places. Yeah, I'm going to get her on a motorcycle ride before I leave. THEN later, I was prepping/inspecting the bike for a ride while chatting up another, who I can most accurately describe as a twenty-something cheerleader. When I told her that god must have used her gorgeous eyes as inspiration for the sunset we were watching, she melted like so many chocolates.

I'm. not. leaving. ever.

Bad Mojo

It turns out that if you start a book on the beach and don't finish it on the beach, the hero dies in the end.

Who am I to tempt fate and ruin a fictional hero's life? Maybe I'll leave Saturday morning Sunday morning...

The End...?

Well, here it is, the night before leaving...and it took me until 3 pm to discover the ocean which has been right outside my window this whole week! I have been having such a great time exploring the outer banks (aka : "OBX", you've seen the stickers) on the 'scooter; which turns heads, elicits conversation and makes more friends than I do, that I (conveniently) "forgot" to relax on the beach. Today I finally rented a chair and umbrella and sat and slept and dipped and read...for 2 hours before cabana closed. Screw that noise. I'm staying another day.

Has anyone seen a blackberry? Anyone? Anywhere? If anyone sees a blackberry, be sure to bury it a bit deeper!

NO TOUCHEY!...ok, touchey.

On my visit to the National Wright Museum and Monument, I formed a great repport with one of the curators. Probably because I was first in line that morning and the last to leave that evening. As I was taking my final pictures at 10 minutes to closing with the other last minute guests, Mr. Jones, the curator, discreetly walked up and told me to come with him. He then asked to take a picture with my camera. Fortunately, I didn't refuse because the next thing he does is hand me a...white...curators...glove...OMGOMGOMG. Next thing he does is unfasten the barrier to the full-sized Wright Flyer exhibits...OMGOMGOMG. I don't remember what happened next, something about trying this lever and moving that lever. FORTUNATELY, The Nice Mr. Jones snapped a photo or I may not have believed it happened!

(This is a raw, untouched up image that will be cleaned when I get home)

ssoooo,

IN YO FACE JEN! YOU LIKE APPLES? HUH? YOU LIKE APPLES?
HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES?!?!

And Oh My God, I met a russian exchange student named Irianna and Oh My God typical russian gorgeous. Picture a 5 foot short Maria Sharapova with huggier headlights and Oh My God, there is a change in line-up tonight..

Upgrade!

It has been a fun trip out so far! All the girls have been cute and flirty, which has been high on my good-times-criteria list. Sunday night, I had drinks with a cute college girl who was vacationing with her parents (but without her parents at the bar). Monday, I spent the afternoon with a cute park ranger who takes seasonal jobs all over the country (she is going to call me, if she is transferred to appalachia, for a looong motorcycle ride..and relations).

I am finally settled in for a couple of awesome nights at a Hampton Inn with a private beach. I got here and the cute-cute-damn-cute girl behind the desk took a look in the computer and immediately upgraded my room to a more expensive one with a patio and view of and ocean. I felt like a baller. I guess it is because I have, what I have coined, the "Hampton Hop" over the last few days. I like the consistent experience of a hot breakfast, free internet and familiar rooms. I told Lauren that if I was a hotel critic, she would get all 10s.

I was also wondering on the trip out, who I would accidentally run into. Last year, I took a motorcycle ride to Metropolis IL for the 4th of July. As I was checking in, in walks right behind me my friend, student-worker boss and later co-worker from when I attended college and later worked at APSU. Last Monday night, I get a message from my sister who had no idea we were vacationing 15 miles apart lol.

Anywho, here are just a sampling of pictures to pique your envy.
https://picasaweb.google.com/Reginald.Wooden/20110527KillDevilHills#

It is time.

Time to make like bacon and fly!

Friday AM Route:


Friday PM Route with Overnight Stay at Hampton Inn Dandridge, TN:


Saturday AM Route:


Saturday PM Route with stay at Hampton Inn Selma, NC


Sunday AM Route with stay in Hampton Inn Havelock, NC:
(I soo wanted to stay at the Atlantic Beach Hampton Inn, but it was sold out. I think I was fortunate to find this one 10 miles from the beach on Memorial Day Weekend.)

Monday AM from Havelock, NC to Kill Devil Hills NC via 2 hour, Cedar Island-Ocracoke Ferry!

Tuesday will be spent with everything the Wright Brothers' offer.
Wednesday will be spent ON A BEACH.
Thursday, June 2nd, Make like a boomerang and fly back. Will stop in Asheville NC to see what all the hub-bub is about bub.

The replacement color code is known as...

"radar attractive red"

Loaded Duc

I am finally prepared, able and willing to make a pilgrimage to Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina by motorcycle via the "Broadway Across America", US-70.



If all remains quiet with work (please, please, PLEASE...remain quiet), I hope to begin the journey of my lifetime, to First Flight Airport, at 18:00 on Thursday, May 26th. It is a 17 hour ride to the Atlantic coast. I planning 3 hour, morning and afternoon rides plus the headstart on the first day. That puts me in Sea Level on Sunday. Monday morning, I'll ferry hop 4 hours north from Sea Level NC to Kill Devil Hills. Monday afternoon and Tuesday belong to the Wright Bros and Wednesday belongs to the beach sand. Thursday, I turn west along US-64 until it crosses US-70 for the return trip!


The Duc with panniers, top case, tail bag, fork/swingarm sliders, crash bars, my sweet shark evoline modular hat, motocomm riderlink and ipod (with top gun soundtrack).


Duc Garmin ready to lead me east


Crash bar and radiator guard.


Givi top case with light kit!

Owned.

An Engineer's target workload is 550 points. Here is a chart of the Engineering workload for the Southeast states. Who's that at the top of the game? I told you, Nashville is the center of the med tech universe...

Resolution

I resolve to put $1,000 in cash savings per month throughout all of 2011.

"Begin right and it will be easy. Continue easy and it will be right." --Chuang Tzu

Please don't take this as belittling the affliction, but I think we all as humans, particularly present company, suffer under ADD. It is the catch all diagnosis for everyone that falls through the holes of other disorders. This isn't entirely a bad thing. If we can get some growth out of recognizing and then tempering our more self-destructive tendencies, then hooray for us.

Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that I can better myself with a study of ADD. I've got to tell you, I've encountered some compelling information and eye-opening strategies in the first book that I am reading on the subject. 100 pages in and I have dog-eared 50 of them.

All of the following statements apply to me. This will be a living list as I get through more chapters.

1. The ADD mind "needs Intensely Compelling Motivations to grab their Dysregulated Selective Attention".
   This is the root of my problems. I can be intensely interested in tasks for a short turn, but it doesn't take much time before I experience what the book terms "Paralysis of Will". I don't want to do it anymore so I have zero willpower to motivate action.
2. The ADD mind "tend to process information at a mind-boggling pace and burn out just as quickly."
   Me to a T.
3. "The ADDer can be very touchy about being touched"..Some "don't like living with animals because pets don't have respect for their physical boundaries."
   Who does that sound like?
4. In addition to our physical comfort zone, we often feel our emotional space is encroached upon.
5. More to come as reading continues...

Microsoft Kinect...

Remember the holiday mania a few years back when no one could find the hot new Nintendo Wii and they were selling for $1,000 on ebay? The same might be happening with the Kinect. Gamestop reports that their PreOrders are Out of Stock. I have mine reserved. Hopefully, I will be flailing my arms around like an idiot on in a few weeks.

Bike Rally #1

"There's been a change in line-up. Nice to meet you Sally."

From 2010-10-15 Bike Rally

25th Anniversary

October 18th, 1985. The day that changed gaming forever.

Nintendo Entertainment System

I've still got a system. We should hook it up to my plasma and rock out on some Super Mario Bros.

Somebody stop me...

Crap...Nevermind. Carry on.



Motorbike seeking long weekend...

Countdown II

Got things going on for the next 5 weeks, but come October, let us welcome the Fall...

From

Tragic Epiphany

Sadly, I discovered what creates 'front butt' tonight.