I'm not prone to experiencing "premonitions". Additional factoid: I ride paranoid because they *are* out to get me.
Yet, the day before yesterday as I was heading south down to Santa Fe on the GSA1200, my premonition organ wiggled, and a voice inside my head said, "I sense danger." Like somebody who rides paranoid needs to hear that, right? So I went from DEFCON 2 to DEFCON 4. Twenty seconds later at the very next traffic light in Pojoaque a northbound duelly pickup truck turned suddenly, unexpectedly left into the intersection across my path, smack ass dab right in front of me. Had the little voice in my head not spoken, I would have been grill hamburger. As it was, I had engaged that extra little bit of defense which gave the margin I needed to miss him. We won't even go into the bit about the fat guy on the Harley who was going to follow the truck through the intersection, and who nearly fell off his bike in the process of aborting. Apropo of nothing, of course, except that I retain my faith that they are out to get me when I'm on the motorcycle. --Doug On Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 2:01 PM, Steve Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > Dave - > > Not true - because I have a countervailing belief - I am smarter and > more aware than they and can thwart their evil intentions. > > > Inarguable reasoning Dave... I commend you. Unfortunately I slipped > behind the curve on my self-image regarding smart+aware a while back. It > may be early onset wisdom or late-stage cynicism... > > It *was* my youthful idealism that had me quite willing to hurtle down the > highways with nothing between me and the road except a few feet (or inches) > of air and maybe a 1/8 or less of leather. I was supremely confident in > my own smartness and awareness as the perfect antidote to all challengers. > > <Anecdote> For example, one evening just after dusk 30+ years ago, I was > hurtling down Interstate 17 in the right lane (like a good doobie since I > was roughly traveling at the speed limit and was not passing anyone) when > something made me think I needed to get into the left lane... I checked > mirrors, hit my turns, looked over my shoulder, and drifted left only to > realize that the right lane was no longer there (well, most of it anyway). > I stopped quickly and backtracked to find that in fact over half of the > right lane had sloughed off into the canyon in a mudslide. I went back > "upstream" a hundred yards facing traffic with headlight and flashers in > the right lane and pulled over the first two cars who I left to pass the > word along and went on my way (I still had 7 hours riding ahead of me that > night). > > Those with "Faith" might say that "God spoke to me". I simply believe > that my cultivated awareness hinted to me that something was amiss up ahead > (missing guardrail in my headlights? Dark abyss below my threshold of > consciousness? Had I heard or felt something over engine/road > vibrations?)... Today I'm pretty sure I would just hurtle off the end of > the pavement with a goofy puzzled expression of WTF? > > </Anecdote> > > > > And if the world is not interested in harming me, why did it give me a > death sentence? > > > I'm pretty sure that despite the world's total disinterest in me (and by > extension you), that death sentence is a blessing compared to some of the > alternatives (read your Utopian/Dystopian literature for references). Of > course, I just might be spending too much time juggling failing parents up > and down the halls of nursing homes. > > - Steve > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > -- Doug Roberts [email protected] [email protected] http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins <http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins> 505-455-7333 - Office 505-670-8195 - Cell
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
