Pure Awesomeness

Sometimes there are moments that I wish I was being filmed. There are isolated moments where every splash of color looks as if it were off of a palate, where every progressive movement builds on itself as if conducted by an invisible maestro. Every detail complements the whole, and that whole can be described as nothing other than pure, condensed, unadulterated awesomeness.

The wind whistled through my hair, the motorcycle gasped and sputtered underneath me. I tried to ignore the fact that I was riding behind a man (1). As we honked and zipped our way in between a bus and a dump truck, I took a sip of my coffee. That’s right, coffee. I hadn’t finished my coffee this morning, and, loathe to waste such a precious commodity, I just brought my mug (2) along.

Mother, it might be best to stop reading here.

The cars ahead of us slowed down, and then stopped (3). There was a traffic jam. Mae yo wen ti! (No problems!) We just crossed into the oncoming traffic. So, a quick recap: I am sitting (with my bag in my lap) on the back of a motorcycle, not wearing a helmet, drinking coffee out of a glass mug, as we go head to head with the traffic, trusting the horn and everyone else’s sense of self-preservation. Best morning ever.

(1) We would never say, “straddle,” even though if you were to draw out a description based on a dictionary’s definition, it would probably look a lot like what I was doing. Aware of this, I put my bag in between the driver and I to placate my lingering sense of homophobia.
(2) This was no convenient, practical, spillproof mug, either. It was heavy, glass, and open mouthed. The kind you wrapped your hands around on a cold day and then buried your face in the steam. Also the kind that shatters on impact and often results in five stitches. That kind of mug.
(3) Actually, that is an inaccurate description. Functionally speaking, cars were only “ahead” of us for a second or two until they whizzed backwards past us to become “behind us.” When I say that they “slowed down,” I really mean that, as we were keeping the same speed, we started to pass them even faster. High five to physics.