where i was this weekend.

[apologies in advance to those who love motorcycles. i am not one of you. in fact, you probably want to look away now. come back tomorrow when my anti-motorcycle posting phase will be over.]

thanks to the puffer [it really did the trick in stopping my cough and making me acceptable in society again], i was able to go ahead with my weekend plans: motorcycle classes. now why would i, who doesn't care a thing about motorcycles, take this course? i was told to. by all my scooter-driving friends who had taken the course themselves.

this means i had to learn how to drive a manual transmission bike. no one offers this course on scooters. you have to ride a real motorcycle. instead of two happy handgrips, one being the throttle [on my vespa], with a brake lever in front of each, i had to deal with my left lever being my clutch, the right lever being my front brake, the left handgrip with no function whatsoever, except to rest your hand on and the right handgrip as the throttle. but i'm not done. the back brake? it's in front of your right footpeg. and where's the shifter? in front of your left footpeg. and besides that, they're ugly. i drove a 125cc yamaha dirt bike. [seriously. that was the one i could control the best.]

you wonder why i didn't want to do this? yes, it was as annoying as it sounds. it's the same reason we don't have a manual car any more. shifting while driving isn't fun for me.

despite this, i paid attention to the teachers [they were good], did what they told me to [with a minimum of protest] and the hollow ache i felt in the pit of my stomach as they told us about each next skill we'd be practising usually went away soon after we got on the bikes. the hollow ache happened ALL THROUGH the weekend, right up until the test.

which i passed. my worst sin [besides once going outside of the lines] was going too slowly. sue me.

am i sorry i spent my weekend riding a bike i didn't like? nope. it was actually quite worthwhile. i learned all sorts of safety stuff, including evasive maneuvers and quick stops, and that's the reason i took the class in the first place. most every skill [except how to shift the manual transmission] applies to my vespa, too, which is why i went. good learning, even if i had to ride an ugly bike to get it.

do i want a motorcycle now? what do you think?

massimo and i get to drive to the ministry tomorrow, bring the paperwork they gave me at the class and get my license upgraded to an M2. which means i don't have to leave knit nights early any more! can i get a w00t?