About Me
There's this pristine moment that sort of engulfs you when you're driving over 100 miles an hour on your motorcycle wearing only goggles down one of those long, winding, dry patches of road that you can find anywhere just south of Boulder/Superior. You sort of feel naked, exposed. You directly realize that, if anything did go wrong...hell, it could be anything, any small thing: a pothole, a stray rodent, too much gravel, even the wrong sized rock for christ's sake...that it would all be over so damn fast you probably wouldn't even hear your bike break apart under you. But right then, youre totally 100% present in the moment; nothing else is there with you: not my bills, not my rent, certainly not my job, or what's wrong with my fucking car this month, whether or not my boss thinks I'm just an asshole, my diet, hairstyle (or lack of one), not whether I should really put in more time at the gym, my age, why I always seem to be running low on socks and underwear, and just what the hell am I doing with all that artwork I keep making, or the war in Iraq or the war on drugs, those damn Republicans, hell, those damn Democrats, Darfur (or the other thousand acts of atrocities we're sheltered from in faraway places I probably couldn't find on a blank map anyway), saving the trees, the whales, the snails, or whatever else we're helping to kill off this planet.... None of that. You can't hear any of it at that moment. Nothing...The mind is silent. At that speed, you can't even hear my engine. All you hear is the rushing sound of wind blowing passed your ears, deafening you in an almost, but not quite, aching sort of painful way. That clear state of mind is truly remarkable. It's pristine and absolutely brand new. It really defies all description..( I imagine that's why people skydive, or rock climb, ride rollercoasters, or take way too much cocaine, or whatever death defying act shuts the internal-dialogue off.)...And then I imagine what would be really, really funny is if I made it home completely safe, showered, maybe shaved (I do that sometimes), went out to dinner with my friends at a nice restaurant. Maybe steak, sushi is better. Then, in the safe comfort of friends and wine, accidentally swallowed wrong and choked to death on some stray piece of fish.Then I could laugh at all those people who told me how crazy I was for not wearing a helmet. :)...Ahhhhh. Life is funny as hell if you stop to notice it once in a while. But, ANYWAY...HI. I'm Jason. I teach, I paint, I hike, cook, eat, sleep, and do lots of other mostly human-type stuff. I'm from the suburbs of Chicago and I've lived here for about six years. The mountains make me remember how small I am. I love it here. I'm not leaving anytime soon. Peace.
