Checking Things off the List

ariadne — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:08:49 +0000

In order to keep track of all those excited outbursts of cool ideas for summer activities, I started a list of things that I wanted to do before leaving Paris. They’re hardly the typical tourist activities. It includes movies that Jana and I have been saying we need to watch all summer, to eating Vietnamese food, to memorizing the 50 states and capitals (harder than you think). Most of these activities are easy enough to be done in time. Some involve making some friendships.

My most recently completed activity off the list is riding a motorcycle. The streets of Paris are swarming with vespas and bikes. They’re ridden by stylish guys and conveniently weave in and out of traffic and never have to worry about parking. I had this image that some stranger would galliantly give me a ride home on one of these zippy things, but no such luck.

I’ve recently started hanging out with the younger full-time employees (préstataires, programming consultants). One of them, Charles, has a baby Harley. It took me about a week to work up the confidence to ask him for the kind of random favor of taking me home one day on his cycle. On Friday he brought an extra helmet, I brought jeans, and off we went. It was SO FUN!!! At first, he said he was being careful and going slower than normal because I was on the back. I gripped on tight and told him to go faster. I couldn’t stop smiling. It goes against my Dad’s lifelong crusade against motorcycles, but I want one now It’s like the rush of going 40mph downhill on your bike, except faster. Didn’t hurt that I felt awesomely stylish clutching onto the cute driver.

Making a list is fun because you create opportunities to do things that you normally wouldn’t.

Labyrinth » paris

Checking Things off the List