Scott's Case Files

I Walk Alone

I was reading some posts on one of the motorcycle forums that I belong to - Adventure Rider in this case - and came upon an interesting quotable quote.  It was in a post about riding solo and the quote was from Rudyard Kipling (he wrote the Jungle Book - I know you'd have googled it otherwise) and it goes like this:

"Down to Gehenna or up to the throne,
He travels fastest who travels alone"

I took some time to sit back and mull that over, giving it its due.  Many meanings there and most of them really resonated with me.  It's about solitude and seclusion.  It's about gain and personal loss.  It's about tragedy.  It's about goals and their costs.  It's about so much more, but my patience and time is limited.

I really like to ride and travel alone.  I'm on my own schedule - I leave, rest, eat, sleep, recreate, explore, and arrive on my very own schedule and according to my own interests.

I enjoy living alone.  I do what I want when I want and how I want.

I enjoy not being in a relationship.  Maybe that will change, but I know how I feel right now.  Even when I crave companionship, at the end of the day at some point I'll just want to be by myself and not have anyone there to bug me.  I also like doing what I want with who I want without having to answer alot of questions or endure suspicion.

The bottom line is that I think that I'm a generous guy in a few respects at least, but when it comes to my time I'm very selfish.  My time is my time and that's the way it is - I won't get another chance or lifetime or eternity to use it.  My hat is off to the parents out there - taking that HUGE step past just giving of yourself in a relationship.  I couldn't survive with the utter rarity of me-time.

That's also probably a good reason that this blog has worked out so well for me - I share with you when I want to and on my own terms.  And if there's a more me-oriented forum than a blog out there, I don't know what that is.

So I'll get where I'm going (more likely the proverbial Gehenna than the throne) when I want to get there...the trip will just be a lonely one and I'll have no one to share the memories with.  I can live with that.

Tolkien Quotes

Today felt like a Tolkien quote day:

"There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after."

"I do not love the bright sword for it's sharpness, nor the arrow for it's swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend."

"Remember what Bilbo used to say: 'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.'"

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost."

-J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Fellowship of the Ring"

Pooh To You

As was once pointed out by my buddy Dan, Winnie the Pooh has some definite wisdom to offer the world:

"If ever there is a tomorrow when we're not together...there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.  But the most important thing is, even if we're apart...I'll always be with you."

"Just because an animal is large, it doesn't mean he doesn't want kindness; however big Tigger seems to be, remember that he wants as much kindness as Roo."

"Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.”

Who Needs Angels?

Quote from a co-worker:

"Some people have angels.  I got ninjas."

Movie Quote of the Day: L&S

From Lilo & Stitch (Mr. Cobra Bubbles):

"Thus far, you have been adrift in the sheltered harbor of my patience..."

Tolkien Wisdom

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."

- J.R.R. Tolkien