Interest Haiku #14: Unicycling

Unicycling:
Back and forth wheel spins
Above all, just don't wobble
Fool attains balance

For those of you who just turned in, this is the latest incarnation of Interest Haiku. It's a meme invented by shadowpryde, but I think I'm the only one who's made any progress posting in his journal. mlechan plays along in my comments section. The idea is to run through my interests and explain what I like about them. I thought "Aha! A haiku!" But because I'm long in the mouth, it usually ends up as an essay with a haiku to set the mood. I do them in reverse alphabetical order. I was reasonably regular for a while there, but then I started working for ECS. Furthermore, I knew that the next interest on the list was unicycling and I would feel like a dork if I devoted time to a LiveJournal post about unicycling instead of devoting time to fixing my flat tire. My motto this year seems to be "Spend less time writing in LiveJournal and more time doing things worth writing about." So since I fixed my tire yesterday, my reward is getting back on the Interest Haiku wagon.

I love riding bicycles. During the last two years of high school I rode up hill both ways to school on just about every nice day, and quite a few that were not so nice. During the summers in college I rode my bike to work every day. I didn't drive a car on a regular basis until this February.

Also during high school a certain corduroy jester's cap was in regular rotation atop my head. I've always enjoyed acting silly in front of people, and the Fool is an archetype I dig.

So it was not to long ago when I said to myself "Now why in Zarquon's name do I not have a unicycle?" In the fall of 2001 I tried to order one online, but there was a problem processing my debit card and then I got distracted by other things, like TITAN. I thought about getting one in the summer of 2002, but like most things I thought about that summer, I never got around to it. However, after a couple weeks working at UNAVCO last summer I sauntered down to University Bicycles and purchased a 20-inch cycle.

For the following several weeks I'd spend an hour every couple days riding up and down the sidewalk at Centennial Middle School. This sidewalk was ideal for several reasons -- it's long and straight, slightly sloped, and most importantly has a chest-high fence clearly designed for stabilizing yourself on a unicycle.

By mid August I could stay balanced for a block or two and could mount without assistance most of the time. I figured I could take it with me to school, get off at Broadway and College, and cycle down to the Engineering Center. I did this on the first day of school and was able to handle it fairly well, despite wearing a backpack. Unfortunately, however, on that day I also got a goathead lodged in the tire, so my unicycle hung neglected in the shed while I focused all efforts on my Masters work.

There's not much that's more useless than a unicycle with a flat tire.

So after nine and a half months, I have an inflated unicycle tire. I have no idea how much of my modest skill has faded, but now that it's warm and light late I may start cruising the streets of Golden on a single wheel. If I didn't have to drive to the potluck gathering that night, I'd be tempted to ride the wheel on Bike To Work Day on June 23rd.

So there you have it. I'd like to start posting these regularly, but I'm having lots of fun not posting to LiveJournal lately, too. And speaking of memes, I haven't forgot about the shower meme requests, I just haven't gotten around to thinking up good questions.