My "Welcome to the World of Motorcycles" moment

Alright, alright...just stop it right there, if you are one of those people who typically say "I told you so," then you might as well just stop reading right now. It's so easy for people to say that "I told you so" in retrospect, but there's no way you could ever predict what will happen in the future....so hold all judgements, unless of course, you are a fortune-telling, mind-reading, faux Ms. Cleo, in which you should have warned me.



Usually, any "Welcome..." moments in the motorcycle world involves a crash, or a near-crash; but as with any situation from sports, to work, or academia, a "Welcome..." moment is anything that gives you a wake-up call, or a lesson, with the results of you respecting whatever you do, much, much, more. This just happens to be an incident of me being careless.



This afternoon while parking, I had to go out of my way to run over a locust (cicada, to some) that was conveniently sitting in my usual parking spot. Now, the ironic thing here is, I think it was already dead. They usually start buzzing whenever they hear anything that resembles the sound they make, which my exhaust pipe does. Nevertheless, I ran it over. I cut the engine, threw it in Neutral, and just positioned myself to run right over the big, nasty, freaky looking bug. While still on the bike, I just backpedaled into my parking spot making sure to be close enough to my locking-spot, and just before I could dismount the bike..."WHAM!!!" My leg caught a piece of the exhaust pipe. Yes, I was wearing shorts. I was returning from covering Soccer practice, and on my way to meet my coworkers for a training session.


Some have said this is Karma for killing my locust/cicada bug-brother. But, I don't think so because, like I said, I think it may have already been dead. Those who are familiar with this species of bug know they tend to just lay there doing nothing until you step right by them, then, they want to start buzzing the hell out of everything, scaring the living-$#%! out of you. I consider this payback, not karma

So, I am now chronicling the progression of my what-seems-to-be 3rd degree burn, by posting pics, and giving my notes as to texture, size, color, feel, etc., until I reach a point where it no longer has to be covered in bandages. I'm calling it BurnWatch '09. Some have said this is Karma for killing my locust/cicada bug-brother. But, I don't think so because, like I said, I think it may have already been dead. Those who are familiar with this species of bug know they tend to just lay there doing nothing until you step right by them, then, they want to start buzzing the hell out of everything, scaring the living-$#%! out of you. I consider this payback, not karma



WARNING: Pictures may be a little gross for the weak-stomached individual
















If you look closely, about 2-3 inches below the burnsite, you can kind of make out an oval-looking dark spot, which is a scar, from when this VERY SAME thing happened when I was 7yrs. old.