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| BMW F650 GS |
Or his:
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| Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS |
Showing posts with label motorcycle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label motorcycle. Show all posts
Friday, July 20, 2012
Monday, July 25, 2011
My sweet riding boots...
... just arrived today! I love them. They are slightly big, but oh well, they still feel fine and this is the smallest size anyways. Look at those sweet toe protectors!
Also, I received the jacket I ordered but the cut is very weird so although the size fits, the "fit" doesn't fit. I'm sending it back, and, taking the risk of looking like a d-bag (because of a huge brand name across the back) I'm ordering this one:
Initially I wanted the black one, however, it is 45 bucks more expensive, so I'll choose practicality over fashion at this point.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Biky Biky
Here is my new baby. 2007 Ninja EX250, or, as another female rider calls lady Ninjas, Ninjette. Runs great, and looks are not too bad either. It has a few big cracks in the front fairing but it'll do till next summer. So far only rode it a few miles for trial, waiting for my minimal gear to be complete. I did receive my awesome helmet but I might need to change it, and my jacket and boots are arriving tomorrow. Excited! I'll upload a smily picture of yours truly on her new beauty when everything is here. If you can see that smile through the helmet, that is.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Mini Blog Notes
It's great to see that people are following this blog even when I am way too lazy or busy to keep it going. Thanks people!
There are many little things that I wanted to write about, and if I keep procrastinating they will never make it here. So here is a shortened, combined update:
* So many momma-to-be's around! Since last year babies have been popping out everywhere. A very close friend of mine has a 5 month old cutiepie that I am yet to see. Another close friend is 5 months pregnant. My cousin and his wife are expecting a delivery within few weeks. Another friend just welcomed their baby girl over the weekend. I don't think there has ever been a time I was more exposed to pregnancies. I must be so affected that the other night I dreamed that my mom was pregnant! Funny, because, one lady at work is also pregnant and it is kind of not talked about at the office, although it is increasingly obvious. So in my dream my mom and dad kept it a secret for quite a while too, and I was a bit mad at them since my brother and I couldn't enjoy the early belly times. When we learned we kept touching the baby belly all the time. We were so excited to welcome a little baby brother or sister.
* Speaking of dreams.. Since a very close friend left the country for good, I've been going to my regular bar in AA way less frequently. Things change so quickly, sometimes. I also ended up not going home to vacation this summer. So all these combined in a weird dream, in which I saw my friend, A, living in Istanbul, and every year when I go for a vacation, there is this bar we go to. I know somehow in my dream, that "last" summer we spent a lot of nice nights there, and the place is called "the R Bar", which to my knowledge does not exist, at the bottom of Istiklal Street in Taksim. When I come to visit him "this" year, we end up going to somewhere else, across the street, where I see another friend, from college, who's working there. He seems troubled though. I don't remember why we were there, but I remember it was a narrow building at least 10 storeys tall: The first two floors were cafe/bar, and funny enough, the only restroom was at the top floor, which was designed like a fancy hotel room. Anyways, after we leave that place, we cross the street, and have a smoke in front of our regular bar. I can remember the sign of the place very clearly, "the R Bar", in a very old English pub format. We look inside and we see another familiar face - the bartender in our real life regular bar happens to live in Istanbul and work at the R Bar.
I remember feeling very much at home, in every sense. Everything was back to normal as A and I had a smoke in front of our regular bar with our regular people in it. It was very peaceful.
* Miami, Miami,
You've got style
Blue sky, sunshine and sand by the mile...
As an avid Golden Girls fan, I always wanted to see Miami. I finally made it to Southbeach and was very, very underwhelmed and disappointed. Here is the story that leads to a long weekend getaway.
I try to minimize my smoking, which is, as this is the second time I bailed out on my quitting plans, very hard. So I now try to walk around the apartment complex if I really want to smoke. One friday evening, while I'm walking with a cigarette in my hand, I see that my friend B, who also lives in the same apartment complex, is home. I tap on his porch doors to say hi. We end up having a few drinks, playing the guitar (after 15 years of not touching a guitar myself I was unexpectedly into playing one) and singing some old songs, and even playing soccer outside on the backyard a bit. The only time I played ball like that was when I was barely 7 years old. Two of my class mates and I met at one of their house, petted some baby goats and played ball. Oh memories..
Anyhow, so as B is going to be leaving the US for good soon too, and since we had some way of getting some cheap tickets to where ever we wanted, at the end of the night, we decided to take a vacation together. Initially I wanted to go somewhere in California but my idea was not supported as the flights were longer and we did not want to spend too much time on the road. Then thought of Clearwater, FL, but to our disappointment, flights to Tampa didn't look all that good. So we decided on Miami, and within two hours we got out flight tickets, booked a hotel room and packed for the early morning flight.
The hotel room we booked, I must say, was not that cheap, and it looked great. We wanted to be "downtown" so we decided on this hotel called the Colony hotel right at the oceanfront in Southbeach. It looked very well decorated and clean and all. Oh you wish!
But first I should comment on how Miami in general looked like. To me, and to my friend, it looked like a place 20 years before our time. All the buildings were at best 1980s style, all over the city, and not well maintained AT ALL. Everything looked dirty and falling apart, with a lot of empty buildings everywhere. Every store looked like it was a convenience store of 1940s. Our impression of Miami was forever scarred on our way to the hotel from the airport.
Southbeach was no better, but since it was, well, on the beach, it kinda made up for it. Every hotel has a cafe/restaurant at the lower level, and it is very very lively. So over all, it looked like a cheap summer place. The hotel, though, oh my god. The room was small, looking at the next building, the air-condition did not work well and was physically breaking apart, didn't have a chair, a table or a mini fridge (although it did have a big flat screen TV but that was much pretty much it), and the bathroom was only large enough so you can turn around your own axis. It looked clean, but only looked clean, if you know what I mean. Anyways, I thought, if I can sleep, that's enough. And there was no bugs - to me, awesome news. Only we didn't know that on our second night a small brown mouse would come to our room and say hi. I have no problems with mice, but B was not happy about it at all, and after a couple of hours of hotel staff not knowing what to do, finally we moved to another room, directly oceanfront this time, but in the same exact condition otherwise. The bed creaked, and though there was a table this time, it shook unstably when anything was put on it.
The only good part of Southbeach was the nature on the beach. Endless fine sand, beautiful lively greens, and the ocean. Although, I must say, it wasn't the most beautiful waters I've ever set foot into. There was a lot of weed in the water that came from the ocean, and it was not clear. Although nice, not the most beautiful by any means.
And unfortunately like any touristic place it was crowded like hell, and from what I heard of other people's conversations at the beach, it was a pretty superficial crowd. And my god, the amount of thighs, boobs, and six packs we have seen is uncountable. There was simply too much "meat" !
Although the cafe/restaurant area was nice and lively, B and I found that we were too old for the "club" scene and ended up having a beer or two here and there away from the crowds. I'd much rather have a couple of low-key beers at the beach with warm conversation and be fine with it. I realize that now I'm looking for quiet, peaceful, low-key vacations rather than "yay, spring break!" type of vacations.
So overall, Miami is not what I expected at all. At least, Southbeach. It's not my ideal vacation spot, let along a place to live. The city is just too badly taken care of and everything is old. I would be seriously disappointed if Miami was the first place I saw in the States, and probably would not have stayed.
And as usual, where ever I go in the States, I come home to Ann Arbor, loving it even more.
*Finally firmly intending to buy a motorcycle. Already bought my gear, here, take a look at them:
Fieldsheer Roma 2.0. Not my first choice, but at least it doesn't have a huge logo on the back. I am intending to make it more visible with reflective tape on the back (the lining and the logo on the back is already reflective).
There are many little things that I wanted to write about, and if I keep procrastinating they will never make it here. So here is a shortened, combined update:
* So many momma-to-be's around! Since last year babies have been popping out everywhere. A very close friend of mine has a 5 month old cutiepie that I am yet to see. Another close friend is 5 months pregnant. My cousin and his wife are expecting a delivery within few weeks. Another friend just welcomed their baby girl over the weekend. I don't think there has ever been a time I was more exposed to pregnancies. I must be so affected that the other night I dreamed that my mom was pregnant! Funny, because, one lady at work is also pregnant and it is kind of not talked about at the office, although it is increasingly obvious. So in my dream my mom and dad kept it a secret for quite a while too, and I was a bit mad at them since my brother and I couldn't enjoy the early belly times. When we learned we kept touching the baby belly all the time. We were so excited to welcome a little baby brother or sister.
* Speaking of dreams.. Since a very close friend left the country for good, I've been going to my regular bar in AA way less frequently. Things change so quickly, sometimes. I also ended up not going home to vacation this summer. So all these combined in a weird dream, in which I saw my friend, A, living in Istanbul, and every year when I go for a vacation, there is this bar we go to. I know somehow in my dream, that "last" summer we spent a lot of nice nights there, and the place is called "the R Bar", which to my knowledge does not exist, at the bottom of Istiklal Street in Taksim. When I come to visit him "this" year, we end up going to somewhere else, across the street, where I see another friend, from college, who's working there. He seems troubled though. I don't remember why we were there, but I remember it was a narrow building at least 10 storeys tall: The first two floors were cafe/bar, and funny enough, the only restroom was at the top floor, which was designed like a fancy hotel room. Anyways, after we leave that place, we cross the street, and have a smoke in front of our regular bar. I can remember the sign of the place very clearly, "the R Bar", in a very old English pub format. We look inside and we see another familiar face - the bartender in our real life regular bar happens to live in Istanbul and work at the R Bar.
I remember feeling very much at home, in every sense. Everything was back to normal as A and I had a smoke in front of our regular bar with our regular people in it. It was very peaceful.
* Miami, Miami,
You've got style
Blue sky, sunshine and sand by the mile...
As an avid Golden Girls fan, I always wanted to see Miami. I finally made it to Southbeach and was very, very underwhelmed and disappointed. Here is the story that leads to a long weekend getaway.
I try to minimize my smoking, which is, as this is the second time I bailed out on my quitting plans, very hard. So I now try to walk around the apartment complex if I really want to smoke. One friday evening, while I'm walking with a cigarette in my hand, I see that my friend B, who also lives in the same apartment complex, is home. I tap on his porch doors to say hi. We end up having a few drinks, playing the guitar (after 15 years of not touching a guitar myself I was unexpectedly into playing one) and singing some old songs, and even playing soccer outside on the backyard a bit. The only time I played ball like that was when I was barely 7 years old. Two of my class mates and I met at one of their house, petted some baby goats and played ball. Oh memories..
Anyhow, so as B is going to be leaving the US for good soon too, and since we had some way of getting some cheap tickets to where ever we wanted, at the end of the night, we decided to take a vacation together. Initially I wanted to go somewhere in California but my idea was not supported as the flights were longer and we did not want to spend too much time on the road. Then thought of Clearwater, FL, but to our disappointment, flights to Tampa didn't look all that good. So we decided on Miami, and within two hours we got out flight tickets, booked a hotel room and packed for the early morning flight.
The hotel room we booked, I must say, was not that cheap, and it looked great. We wanted to be "downtown" so we decided on this hotel called the Colony hotel right at the oceanfront in Southbeach. It looked very well decorated and clean and all. Oh you wish!
But first I should comment on how Miami in general looked like. To me, and to my friend, it looked like a place 20 years before our time. All the buildings were at best 1980s style, all over the city, and not well maintained AT ALL. Everything looked dirty and falling apart, with a lot of empty buildings everywhere. Every store looked like it was a convenience store of 1940s. Our impression of Miami was forever scarred on our way to the hotel from the airport.
Southbeach was no better, but since it was, well, on the beach, it kinda made up for it. Every hotel has a cafe/restaurant at the lower level, and it is very very lively. So over all, it looked like a cheap summer place. The hotel, though, oh my god. The room was small, looking at the next building, the air-condition did not work well and was physically breaking apart, didn't have a chair, a table or a mini fridge (although it did have a big flat screen TV but that was much pretty much it), and the bathroom was only large enough so you can turn around your own axis. It looked clean, but only looked clean, if you know what I mean. Anyways, I thought, if I can sleep, that's enough. And there was no bugs - to me, awesome news. Only we didn't know that on our second night a small brown mouse would come to our room and say hi. I have no problems with mice, but B was not happy about it at all, and after a couple of hours of hotel staff not knowing what to do, finally we moved to another room, directly oceanfront this time, but in the same exact condition otherwise. The bed creaked, and though there was a table this time, it shook unstably when anything was put on it.
The only good part of Southbeach was the nature on the beach. Endless fine sand, beautiful lively greens, and the ocean. Although, I must say, it wasn't the most beautiful waters I've ever set foot into. There was a lot of weed in the water that came from the ocean, and it was not clear. Although nice, not the most beautiful by any means.
And unfortunately like any touristic place it was crowded like hell, and from what I heard of other people's conversations at the beach, it was a pretty superficial crowd. And my god, the amount of thighs, boobs, and six packs we have seen is uncountable. There was simply too much "meat" !
Although the cafe/restaurant area was nice and lively, B and I found that we were too old for the "club" scene and ended up having a beer or two here and there away from the crowds. I'd much rather have a couple of low-key beers at the beach with warm conversation and be fine with it. I realize that now I'm looking for quiet, peaceful, low-key vacations rather than "yay, spring break!" type of vacations.
So overall, Miami is not what I expected at all. At least, Southbeach. It's not my ideal vacation spot, let along a place to live. The city is just too badly taken care of and everything is old. I would be seriously disappointed if Miami was the first place I saw in the States, and probably would not have stayed.
And as usual, where ever I go in the States, I come home to Ann Arbor, loving it even more.
*Finally firmly intending to buy a motorcycle. Already bought my gear, here, take a look at them:
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| AFX FX-90 Multi - Good, easily visible, still stylish. |
 |
| Icon Women's 29ers. |
 |
| Vega Merge Boots |
After these, you would wonder, where the hell is the motorcycle. Well, if you wish me luck, I will find a 2007 or newer Kawasaki Ninja 250 (unfortunately, it is very hard to find the dual purpose bikes I want second hand... :( and these Ninja's are like Civic's of cars- they are everywhere and decent enough) soon. I'll post it once I find the "one".
* It's incredibly hot in AA this week - all I do is sit at home, search for bikes or bike gear, and watch silly Lifetime movies, and not having any butterflies in real world in my stomach, feel surprisingly romantic after the movies end. It's not a total waste, though, at least I get to have incredibly warm, romantic dreams every once in a while too!
OK, so far so good.
PS: Sorry about the funky picture locations. I'm having problems with editing here, I'll go check on it and correct them soon at home.
PS: Sorry about the funky picture locations. I'm having problems with editing here, I'll go check on it and correct them soon at home.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
One more for the wish list
Adulthood means now I have to be more responsible about everything. I am in love with this beauty. However, I am going to act like a logical person and not buy it. Instead, I am going to act like a boring adult and think of my credit card balances and my tuition.
Being an adult sucks in many levels and this is one of them.
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| 2009 Honda CRF 230M |
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
WEC Turkey 2010, Fethiye
Friday, January 14, 2011
Her brother's little sister
My parents expected a second boy after my brother. They expected another white/pink baby boy with blue eyes and no hair. Then they saw me - a dark skinned (if I have to quote my late aunt, "purple"), hairy baby girl with dark brown eyes. What a shock. Luckily, they had not painted my nursery in blue. Making nurseries color coded by gender was not that popular back in St. Olaf at the time.
I grew up with constant fights with my brother. Most of our childhood we spent by hating each other. We looked and acted so different that people wouldn't believe we were siblings. He used to tell me that I was adopted. We were not one of those siblings who would hang out together all the time. Although he was only 3 years older, it was a significant break. When he was in middle school, I was in elementary; when he was in high school, I was in middle school and before I could catch him he went away for college.
Now I find it so sad that we spent our childhood, the only time we could spend together, not together. Now he is happily married and lives in Europe, and here I am. We see each other a few days a year, if we are lucky. I love him without bounds. Yes we would probably still fight over stupid stuff if we lived with each other in the daily life, but it doesn't matter. I love him because he shaped me and has one of the biggest roles in making me who I am today. I love him because he always protected me without being overly protective, he has always been proud of me although he teased me, I love him because he made sure whoever he knew respected me.
We never shared the intimate details of our teenager lives with each other. Now, when I found out my ex-boyfriend was cheating on me, he was the first person that I called. When I don't feel good, when my life is uncertain, he is the one I talk to. He is the one who says, "You know Jada, you are always welcome in our life, if you want to start a new life you can do it here and I will help you do it".
So, after all, I am finally old enough to embrace our relationship. I have been long aware that he is the one who made me who I am today. I talk about him so frequently, that he is a part of my daily life. I carry a sticker picture of him and my sis-in-law in my wallet and keep showing it to whoever would take a look.
Now when people ask me about my personality, I always say, I am a very warm-blooded typical Mediterranean. Yes, it is true. I laugh a lot, I speak with my hands as much as my voice, I am passionate as hell, I love summer, I love animals. I am a big hugger and I don't require that much personal space. Sun energizes me, snow inspires me. I wear my culture on my sleeve, and my accent thickens when I talk about home. I am open minded and liberal.
However, although I am outgoing and talkative, I do not trust anyone easily. I am very much like my brother, I select few to love and trust. And when I do I am there for them for good. That is what I learned from my brother. I am amazed at his faithful friendships. To this day, his friends have been like brothers to me.
And because of him, I believe in good intentions. Because as stubborn and as hard to get along as he might be at times, I do not believe at any one point he ever had a single bad intention in his heart. The way he perceives the world might be different than I do, but his heart is pure. It took me some time to grow up enough to understand this. But because of him, now I do believe in people more. I might not trust, but I never look for faults and bad intentions in people anymore.
Another big gift of being the little sis of my dear brother is my love for cars and motorcycles. Don't get me wrong, I am not a pro, but I am way too interested. To the degree that it bothered some of my boyfriends in the past that they knew and cared less than I did. And I am sure they also felt like I compared them to my brother at times like this (which I did, of course, along with my dad), and, well, they didn't quite make the cut.
As a little girl yes I played with my Barbie dolls, sure, for a while. But what I wanted most was to be able to ride a motorcycle and drive a car (OK I admit I also wanted to fly an airplane - but I haven't mastered that yet). I clearly remember this one light blue convertible Cadillac that invaded my dreams frequently. My brother taught me how to ride a motorcycle and how to drive the moment my parents gave OK. He made me get my licence for both, the day I qualified. He taught me how a car engine works, how to take care of my own car. Even now, we talk quite often about my car, his bikes, and he tolerates and even reinforces my enthusiasm to own my first dual sport motorcycle about every 6 months. Fortunately for my budget but unfortunately for me so far I haven't ended up buying one yet.
So my brother is with me, in who I am, although we may be living thousands of miles away.
If you had seen us, you wouldn't guess we were siblings. He looks nothing like me and I look nothing like him. I always wished I had his white skin and blue/green eyes, his dark blond thick hair. People still think he is a boyfriend of mine when they see a random picture of ours.
I admire him for a lot of things. I've always wished I was as social and as comfortable in the skin as he was. I adored the fact that he always had a bunch of faithful friends around him. I've always wanted to be as good as him in sports; 'coz he swims, skis, plays basketball, volleyball, rugby and this and that, and I can do none of those well.
And I wish I will be lucky enough to find the kind of happiness that he has been blessed with in the past 8 years. I am happily jealous of him and my dear sister-in-law.
I love you Bro.
I grew up with constant fights with my brother. Most of our childhood we spent by hating each other. We looked and acted so different that people wouldn't believe we were siblings. He used to tell me that I was adopted. We were not one of those siblings who would hang out together all the time. Although he was only 3 years older, it was a significant break. When he was in middle school, I was in elementary; when he was in high school, I was in middle school and before I could catch him he went away for college.
Now I find it so sad that we spent our childhood, the only time we could spend together, not together. Now he is happily married and lives in Europe, and here I am. We see each other a few days a year, if we are lucky. I love him without bounds. Yes we would probably still fight over stupid stuff if we lived with each other in the daily life, but it doesn't matter. I love him because he shaped me and has one of the biggest roles in making me who I am today. I love him because he always protected me without being overly protective, he has always been proud of me although he teased me, I love him because he made sure whoever he knew respected me.
We never shared the intimate details of our teenager lives with each other. Now, when I found out my ex-boyfriend was cheating on me, he was the first person that I called. When I don't feel good, when my life is uncertain, he is the one I talk to. He is the one who says, "You know Jada, you are always welcome in our life, if you want to start a new life you can do it here and I will help you do it".
So, after all, I am finally old enough to embrace our relationship. I have been long aware that he is the one who made me who I am today. I talk about him so frequently, that he is a part of my daily life. I carry a sticker picture of him and my sis-in-law in my wallet and keep showing it to whoever would take a look.
Now when people ask me about my personality, I always say, I am a very warm-blooded typical Mediterranean. Yes, it is true. I laugh a lot, I speak with my hands as much as my voice, I am passionate as hell, I love summer, I love animals. I am a big hugger and I don't require that much personal space. Sun energizes me, snow inspires me. I wear my culture on my sleeve, and my accent thickens when I talk about home. I am open minded and liberal.
However, although I am outgoing and talkative, I do not trust anyone easily. I am very much like my brother, I select few to love and trust. And when I do I am there for them for good. That is what I learned from my brother. I am amazed at his faithful friendships. To this day, his friends have been like brothers to me.
And because of him, I believe in good intentions. Because as stubborn and as hard to get along as he might be at times, I do not believe at any one point he ever had a single bad intention in his heart. The way he perceives the world might be different than I do, but his heart is pure. It took me some time to grow up enough to understand this. But because of him, now I do believe in people more. I might not trust, but I never look for faults and bad intentions in people anymore.
Another big gift of being the little sis of my dear brother is my love for cars and motorcycles. Don't get me wrong, I am not a pro, but I am way too interested. To the degree that it bothered some of my boyfriends in the past that they knew and cared less than I did. And I am sure they also felt like I compared them to my brother at times like this (which I did, of course, along with my dad), and, well, they didn't quite make the cut.
As a little girl yes I played with my Barbie dolls, sure, for a while. But what I wanted most was to be able to ride a motorcycle and drive a car (OK I admit I also wanted to fly an airplane - but I haven't mastered that yet). I clearly remember this one light blue convertible Cadillac that invaded my dreams frequently. My brother taught me how to ride a motorcycle and how to drive the moment my parents gave OK. He made me get my licence for both, the day I qualified. He taught me how a car engine works, how to take care of my own car. Even now, we talk quite often about my car, his bikes, and he tolerates and even reinforces my enthusiasm to own my first dual sport motorcycle about every 6 months. Fortunately for my budget but unfortunately for me so far I haven't ended up buying one yet.
So my brother is with me, in who I am, although we may be living thousands of miles away.
If you had seen us, you wouldn't guess we were siblings. He looks nothing like me and I look nothing like him. I always wished I had his white skin and blue/green eyes, his dark blond thick hair. People still think he is a boyfriend of mine when they see a random picture of ours.
I admire him for a lot of things. I've always wished I was as social and as comfortable in the skin as he was. I adored the fact that he always had a bunch of faithful friends around him. I've always wanted to be as good as him in sports; 'coz he swims, skis, plays basketball, volleyball, rugby and this and that, and I can do none of those well.
And I wish I will be lucky enough to find the kind of happiness that he has been blessed with in the past 8 years. I am happily jealous of him and my dear sister-in-law.
I love you Bro.
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