The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

-- Robert Frost

This has always been one of my favorite poems and even recall quoting this poem in my high school yearbook. The question "What if" is always compelling and an interesting theme for me.

What if my father hadn't died? I may have been more successful professionally sooner under his tutelage, but I can also imagine being less able to have come into my own as a person. What if my Master hadn't died? How would life have turned out with him, his husband and me as their pup? Would I ever have become an alpha and have rudder as my pup?

Another pup, Anvil, and I were chatting the other day and this whole "what if" came about. When I met first Anvil, he wasn't a pup, he was a top on Bear 411. He and I chatted a bit, and he was always pleasant. As I remember, I was collared at the time by one the Masters in my earlier life, and although not as happy as I am with rudder or Master Burley, I considered myself owned and "off the market". ChiBearWilly, as I knew him then was a really nice top, but there he was, geographically undesirable in Chicago. So while we talked occasionally, I never took the opportunity to be his pup.

Some years back, I was at IML and was trying to make the best of it even though my Master Burley couldn't make it there. Out of the blue, there was Anvil in the hands of Master Oliver as a bearboy. He recognized me and that was our first meeting. We have been fast friends since then.

What if I had ended up as his pup? Would he have married Oliver? Would I have been the family pup? Would he have ever become a bottom to begin with?

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A music video for this post:



Five for Fighting, 100 years

It's Alive!

(This post was meant to be posted a long time ago -- July 21st, 2008!! -- but somehow never got posted, so I am putting it up now. Since this post, I have replaced the rear tire, and finally got the carburetor working properly. It took pretty much till mid-summer of last year to get all of that done! Now, all I need to do is ride it more...)

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I am a happy puppy. Why? This photo explains it:



We are the Champions, by Queen

My four year long odyssey to reclaim a bike from its sad state as a giant dust catcher finally came to an end yesterday. I rode the bike for the first time, and it feels so good, and feels like such an accomplishment.

The bike was a friend's that he had stored in my cousin's garage and basement for years. He only put 5,000 miles on it. and then it sat there for about a decade, unused. One day my cousin and his friends decided to start it to see if it would work. Over cranking the starting motor on a bike that had been sitting so long resulted in the starting motor's gears to break off inside the engine. So the bike went back into storage for a few more years, until I decided to take it on as a project.

I started the project as a way to get my paws dirty. I have always enjoyed working with stuff like this but never had the real opportunity to do so. So with the help of my other cousin, I took the bike completely apart, opened up the engine, replaced the parts, cleaned the bike up, got the frame powder coated, and fixed the carburetor (which took a surprisingly long time).

So I finally got to take ride on my bike, and in someways I think it will be a lot sweeter than buying it "off the rack" as it were. If nothing else, I learned a heckuva lot. The bike still has a lot of problems that need resolution (the rear tire needs to be replaced and the carburetor needs a lot more tuning), and I am sure that will still take more time.

Nonetheless, this is still quite a milestone with which I am very pleased.

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A music video for this post:



Queen, We Are The Champions