Stuff from the Past 35 Days: Strip Clubs, Motorcycles, Skateboards

I’ve been sober from everything mind-altering other than coffee and nicotine for 35 days. I don’t think I’ve spent more than a few weeks sober from weed for about 20 years. Alcohol was and still is my “big problem,” but it’s pretty crazy to realize I haven’t ever lived my life “naturally” as an adult. I never thought I’d go “straight edge” or whatever, and I don’t judge other people who are still using at all. Some people can handle it, but I can’t.

There’s this misconception that smoking weed is harmless, and, in my experience, weed is pretty harmless compared to other substances. However, weed has an unpleasant effect on peoples’ moods when they become psychologically dependent on it. The one time I remember quitting weed for a few weeks to get a job after college, I couldn’t eat or sleep for 3 days, and I was exhausted and hungry the entire time. I was damned cranky to boot! Easily agitated!

Compared to alcohol, which can kill a person during withdrawals, losing sleep and calories isn’t the worst thing ever. It’s damned unpleasant compared to enjoying food and getting a good night’s sleep when sober though. I’m getting too old for that shit anyway. I’m finding other ways to get my kicks and get ’em sober.

This is me skating at the parking garage last Sunday.

Enough about that. I live with other recovering addicts at a sober house in Colorado Springs. When one of my housemates told me he’d never been to a strip club, I took it upon myself to fix that situation. I have a thing for strippers, cam girls, and sex workers. I’ve even dated a few. I don’t compulsively spend money on them, and I have no illusions about what they’re up to. I respect their hustle, their grind, where they come from, and what they’re doing to accomplish their goals.

“The Vu” here in the Springs is a booze-free full nude club, which is a sober environment for its customers. So I took him there, gave him some $1s and watched him have a good time. About a week later he found himself a job and is working hard on becoming a sober, productive member of society. We also went to church and did some skateboarding that morning. It was a fun day!

I worked on a Ruckus for another mechanic after the last time it snowed. There’s a misconception out there that if you’re a mechanic you can work on anything, and that’s kind of true. But we’re faster on stuff we’re used to working on, and scooters and motorcycles are tiny, jewel like things. That and time is money, and messing with a scooter wasn’t this guy’s idea of a good time, so he paid me to do it for him. I pay people to work on my cars! It’s all one big circle!

I took the transmission out of my Ninja 650R to see why it wouldn’t go from first to second while I spun the rear wheel. Turns out it was designed like that! It was cool to see how it worked, and I got to bust and replace some stuck nuts ‘n bolts while I was at it, including the gigantic M30 countershaft sprocket nut that had to come off anyway. Here it is on the floor of the garage.

This is the hole the transmission fits back into.

And finally, the transmission back in its hole. IIRC there’s like 6 shafts of varying sizes that have to pop right back into place on the other side for it to fit. It was kind of a pain but only took about an hour to reinstall.

This is the street bike I’m building for spring/summer 2022. It’s an ’06 Ninja 650R I picked up from a friend’s neighbor as a theft recovery for $200 a couple years ago but never had time to finish because alcohol sucks and it was ruining my passion for life and bikes among other things.

I don’t like the way they look stock, and it should have been a street fighter or naked, sporty standard type of bike from the get go, so that’s what it’s getting turned into. The weather’s going to be nice tomorrow, and the mailman should be dropping off the fuel line I need in order to wire it up and hear it run for the first time in many years. I’ve never heard it run, and my only street bike is a stupid fast chainsaw of a scooter, so this should be fun.

I’ve known about an indoor skate park here in the Springs for a while now, like 4-5 years, but I never checked it out because I was too wasted to check it out. One of the first things I did after getting sober was check it out.

The guy who runs the place asked me why I wanted to pick up skateboarding again, and all I said was “Because it’s fun!” Not sure what he was expecting to hear LOL. I’m often the oldest person there, enough to be every else’s dad most of the time. Mid to late 20s is considered ancient for skateboarding. I was good at it when I was kid, took it kind of seriously before I discovered fast cars, bikes, girls, drugs, and alcohol anyway. No need to let that muscle memory go to waste. I can hold my own there already, and I’m not trying to progress too fast, but it’ll be cool when I pick up some new tricks where I left off soon.

I picked up a Zip Zinger to goof around on. Gonz, the dude who started Krooked, is one of the coolest dudes in skateboarding, and it looked like a fun shape and the graphic is a sick shiny gold foil. I kitted it out with an old pair of 5″ Venture trucks (6 bolt pattern LOL!), 54mm 78a Rictas, pink risers, and Bones Reds bearings. The snow needs to melt so I can go bomb some hills on it!

I was kind of annoyed that the grip tape was already applied. I like doing that myself. I like laying the grip tape down without any bubbles and then cutting the excess off. It’s calming for me. Whatever, they did it for me at the factory. Lame but it’s whatever, still a sick board and I had fun putting it together.

The rest of my boards. Powell Peralta reissue “Bat Dragon” Cab deck with Indy 169s, PP 56mm 85a wheels, 1/8″ Bones risers, Reds. That one is for bombing hills. I don’t do longboards. Nothing against the people who ride them, but many of those people can’t ride a normal skateboard, and I can, so that’s what I like to ride. Next is an 8″ Creature deck with Venture 5.2s, Mini Logo 51mm 101a wheels, no risers, Reds. I use that one for tricks because I’m still 37 going on 15 even though I’m sober af these days! Maybe I’ll meet a girl one day that makes me grow up, but until then I’m going to hold on to my childlike fascination with everything for as long as I can.

So that’s it! I realize I might be in the “pink cloud” phase of recovery still, but I’m having fun and wanted to share it with anyone who actually takes the time to read my silly little blog here. I’ll stay strong and check back in next week for another post!