It’s Sunday evening, about 8:40, and I am tapped out. For the middle of a holiday weekend, I feel drained, and as if there is not enough time to get done what I need to get done. It was my hope to get headway made on one pressing project at work, and another one at home. Instead, my brain feels much like it has for the last two weeks- like mush- and my body has been hurting in odd ways again lately. Sigh. Lord, I love you. I wish I could always see You clearly in all this. I often instead feel like a blind man too dull to find answers in those around him. Oh, to have a faith that doesn’t turn on and off like a shorted street lamp in a wind storm.

I can’t fully complain that the tiredness is just some fluke of my body, though. I have been staying up too late for varying reasons. I have been eating poorly. I have been getting up early a lot. I create much of that problem myself, which then bleeds over into my spiritual life and affects my mood and my trusts.

I just need to get some sleep tonight, and try and work hard tomorrow.

How I wish I could take a week and just go to a cabin in the mountains somewhere with my Bible, and have time to just read and pray and level my heart and find a deeper intimacy and rest and faith with Him.

As for the weekend activities, they have been good.

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Friday night after work, I met my friend Sally from the dance club and in lieu of dancing, we went and saw Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s homage to the big city bike messenger in “Premium Rush”- an action flick filmed around and about the streets of New York City. The plot was a bit contrived, but the film was what I hoped it would be- busy, and fun. As usual, Gordon-Levitt impresses. That kid is a talented fellow.

Saturday morning I didn’t want to get up and do anything unless I could find someone to do something with, and gratefully, my sister called around 10:30 and got me out of bed and out for a short run before we went to Einstein’s Bagels and touched based for the first time in what seems like a long time. She is always great to see and to visit with.

Knowing there was a birthday party for two of my brother’s kiddos in the evening, I planned on next picking up gifts for them from a store until my friend Steve R. from the dance club texted me and said it was a good day to go test a bike or two. Reluctant because I hadn’t been on anything in a while, he persuaded me, and we ended up going over to PJ’s Motorcycles on Central near Tramway to see what he had.

PJ and his company have been exceptionally generous to me and to other potential customers by letting them show up, peruse the demo bikes, and then take one out for a ride. If you have a license and will sign a waiver, you can pick a bike and take it out for 30 minutes or an hour or an hour and a half at a time. Come back, return the keys, and pick another one to take out for a spin. PJ knows if you keep coming back and riding his bikes (Triumphs and Ducatis, mostly), you’ll probably buy from him. I hadn’t been there in several months, and it was no big deal to him or his staff. I appreciate that.

That said, I ended up test riding two bikes yesterday. The first bike was a new item to the store, and Steve said I needed to try it. The bike? A Zero Motorcycle Company S Series model. Why ride this one? It is a 100% electric motorcycle. All battery powered. No gas-powered engine. No major moving parts. Just an electricity powered drive train with a single belt to the rear wheel. No gears to shift up and down from. You hop on, pull up the kickstand, and the bike is on. Give a little gas to the throttle, and it rolls forward. No clutch. A hand break over the throttle on the right, and a foot break. And the most amazing thing? The bike is silent. And yet, it has power. It has enough torque to get you moving quickly. And on a straightaway, I got it up to 70 with no trouble. The only limitation with these bikes? You get 20, 40, or 60 miles covered on the road, depending on the model, and you are done. The battery has to be recharged.

Steve lives in Tijeras, so I followed him out to his place so he could swap his car for his bike, and after a few moments of visiting with his wife and touring his house and meeting his burros, we went back in town to PJ’s. For a guy who still struggles with killing a bike when trying to get it rolling in first, the Zero was awesome. Anyone could hop on that thing and ride it- except it does handle like a motorcycle. I appreciated the fact that I wouldn’t have to start from a stop in an intersection and have the thing stall on me. It just wouldn’t. I can see the appeal of these bikes for simple commuter use if distances covered are short.

Back at PJ’s, I ended up exchanging the Zero for a more powerful version of a bike I have test-drove from PJ’s before, and if I could get a bike today, it would be one from this line: the Triumph Tiger series.

After trying a few older cruiser type models, I got on a Tiger a few months ago, and immediately it felt more comfortable to me. Taller and higher off the ground than cruiser type bikes, the Tiger is a roadster with sports stylings, and my long legs and back felt comfortable on this bike. The Tigers have ample power, but I didn’t feel overmatched trying to handle the first one I rode. The one I rode yesterday had a bigger engine (Tiger 1050), but again, I didn’t feel like it was too much bike for me. It is a lot of bike, but it is a bike made to respond smoothly, and it is not overly complicated with a bunch of controls and displays.

Steve and I rode from PJ’s to Tijeras, and then headed on the back side of the mountain to Burger Boy in Cedar Crest, where we stopped for a late lunch. Being on this bike, like being on the other Tiger, I felt confident and in control of the machine, and just comfortable. It’s a bike that I fit well, and I feel good on. I can’t say that for most of the others I have test rode (because they were either too small for my torso or too big for me or too low to the ground or had too much power or too many dials etc.). If I could afford a bike today, I would certainly try to get on one of these. Unfortunately, I think it would probably take me about 10 years to be able to afford one. I’ll keep my eyes open for one on Craigslist anyways. Who knows. Miracles happen.

After lunch, Steve and I headed back to PJ’s and the riding day was done. I ended up swinging by Toys ‘R Us to pick up a gift for my niece and nephew, and then headed on over to my brothers house on the West Side for their party. The party was great, but I had agreed to meet Sally for some dancing last night, so I had to leave early. I drove home and quickly cleaned up and changed and then drove on over to Dirty Bourbon to meet Sally for some country dancing. To our surprise, it was a concert night, and we didn’t know if it was worth paying $10 a person to get in. Except the artist was Rick Trevino, and vaguely knowing his name, we went on in- and listened to and danced to some mighty fine music in a packed house. For three-plus hours. That guy (who I learned is a Grammy winner) and his band were awesome.

There were two songs in particular that he played that totally took me away into a melancholy longing, totally flooding my thoughts with G. as I danced with Sally. Man, anytime I hear songs like that, I always think of her- even though there is no relationship there now, and I don’t exist to her. My heart still wants to run to her.

Sally has been my dancing buddy and a good friend the last few months. We have no romantic aspirations with each other, but we are friends and knowing about one another and some of the recent hardships in each other’s lives, we are kind to one another and enjoy taking weekend nights here and there to just go and dance until we’re exhausted. She has been a nice gift of a friend in the last several months.

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Naturally, getting up this morning for church setup at 6 was an honor, and, well, hard. Still, I love church and the people in it, and so serving within it is a privilege.

We had communion today in the service, and then heard a message on Hezekiah, whose claim to fame in the Scriptures is his faithfulness. Hezekiah’s faithfulness to God ended up saving Israel from God’s wrath and national destruction, and it also ended up prompting God to heal the man of terminal illness when Hezekiah humbly asked God to recount his devotion to Him. God wants our faithfulness above anything. He wants us to know and walk with Him and to trust Him, above all. This is the whole push of the Bible. Hezekiah did it, and God asks us to be like him. A great message.

After church, a handful of us from church went up to Algodones to try and fish a little at an area below a spillway on the Rio Grande. Five of us went, and of note, we were all from different countries of origin. One was from Taiwan, one from Cambodia, one from China, one from Brazil, and then there was me, from the Republic of New Mexico. One gal caught 4 little catfish and Thearith my twin caught a few tiny ones as well, but that was it. It was a nice little trip, but again, I am zero-for-whatever fishing. That’s okay. Patience.

After we got back to Albuquerque ad everyone got taken home and I got home, I was dead. I watched a little bit of a movie and then fell asleep for a bit. And then I thought I would write a short update here and get to bed early.

Two hours later, and it is 10:30. No wonder I am up so late each night after trying to get a blog entry done.

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These Quick Hits aren’t really quick to read or quick to write.

I’m going to bed. I need to prep an Acts study for tomorrow night, and by God’s grace get some programming tomorrow.

“I Only Get This Way With You” by Rick Trevino