Biking & reminiscing

I'm back on the bike! After a couple weeks of walking everywhere, the snow finally melted enough to make it possible to road bike again. Don't get me wrong, I love plugging into my headphones and walking to my destinations - and walking is great for the central nervous system - but being able to get to where I want to go 4x faster and without having to pay for gas, parking, or transit feels great. Well, until you get a flat... which I did on my way back home from work a couple nights ago. That sucked. And I know you're not supposed to ride on a flat tire, but I was too tired to care, so I noisily made my way home, walking up the large hill on my path and then slowly pedalling down the street, trying to avoid every little pothole.

So, until I fix the flat (which is fairly easy to do, I've done it enough times now), I'm gonna be riding on an ancient bike that's heavier, slower, can barely change gears (until I fix that, too), but that almost never gets flats. Ol' reliable. I still lock 'er up, but it's such a janky bike, and as such I don't live with the fear of having it stolen because it looks so crappy. It's unfortunate that bike thievery is so common in the city. I've had my wheels stolen before - thankfully never a whole bike -, and it's just so frustrating.

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I'm in a reminiscing mood, positive reminiscing I guess. Mostly thoughts about times when I was more social, more integrated within a community, where I hung out with close friends & acquaintances alike, and where the drudgery of working to make a living wasn't an omnipresent worry in my head. I often find myself thinking "well, the pandemic wiped off my social life" nowadays, which is kind of true, but also kind of an excuse. So, while I specifically, currently don't have plans to integrate myself into a community, it's on my mind. I mean, being steadily employed brings a sort of community feeling, but it's not exactly fun.

In related news, I've been talking to K on the phone on a monthly basis, which is awesome. Sharing tales of our daily lives, it's a positive experience for me.

'till next time.