Civil Obedience

There's this other blog and online friend of mine called ChipSeal. Other than blog comments and the odd email, ChipSeal and I don't really know each other. ChipSeal has always been very kind in his comments on this blog and civil in every way otherwise. Anyway, ChipSeal rides a bike everywhere - no car for him.

This dude knows Texas traffic law backwards and forwards, particularly when it comes to bicycles. He chooses to ride in the left hand tire track of country highways because he deems it the safest place to be. He has every right to do so under the law. Motorists don't like it, and lately the police have been backing them up, despite the fact that ChipSeal has broken no law. Some might say that ChipSeal has been asking for it... in some ways I think he has in that he has remained steadfast in asserting his road rights fully in the face of much antagonism. The question is how or why obeying all laws can be considered "asking for it" in the first place, I guess.

ChipSeal seems to be without fear when it comes to police officers since he knows that he is on solid legal ground. He's been posting on some of his recent adventures with police officers from two counties. In every instance he praises officers for their kindness and consideration while they proceed to jail him for riding his bike. I don't know how he manages to remain so civil in recounting episodes that would leave most of us screaming blue bloody murder.

Hats off to you ChipSeal, you madman. I know I wouldn't have the stones to do what you do. I would do as I was told in the interest of making my life easier despite the fact that I would be facing greater risk on the road and failing to stand up for my rights and those of cyclists everywhere. I sincerely hope that the letter of the law prevails for you and for all of us.

If you want to read a little about ChipSeal's recent encounters with the law, you should probably start with this.

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

Living With WTF Syndrome

For those of you who don't already know, I suffer from Word To Form (WTF) syndrome. Some helpful commenters helped me to identify my peculiar malady before I even knew it had a name, when I apologetically published the results of my first episode of WTF:

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Those nice people helped me to understand that I wasn't alone, and that knowledge allowed me to reconcile myself with my disease. So, what is WTF syndrome? It is characterized by thinking or saying something odd, followed by the thought, "I wonder what that would look like?" The next phase of the disease involves compulsively answering that question by manipulating existing images to provide an actual visual of some sort. The final stage of the syndrome requires the afflicted person to publish the aforementioned result online or at least show it to some friends or coworkers. Since I want to keep both my friends and my job, I have restricted myself to posting the results of my WTF online only.

WTF is a funny thing. I can go for months without an episode. When it strikes, I am caught completely by surprise, like with the bizarre and moronic PSA about cement trucks:

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WTF can also be sneaky. I didn't even recognize it the time it caused me to create a freakish movie poster:

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Anyway, as you may have guessed, I have been stricken by WTF again. On a recent post of mine, frequent visitor and commenter Steve A, owner of the blog dfw point-to-point, thought that one of my videos would have been even better had it featured dwarfs and squirrels. I think he was referring to what has become my personal White Whale, the racing dwarf I met once, and a video in which I spoke of squirrels' love of bikes as opposed to cars. He also teased me a little about the relatively warm weather in Texas. His taunting prompted me to threaten him with a squirrel and dwarf attack squad, and WHAM! WTF syndrome hit me hard. What would a squirrel and dwarf attack squad look like?

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original image links here and here and here and here and here and here.

Sadly, I know just how this looks. Pity me. I must publish it, even when I fear it might cause people to think me mad, stupid or weird. WTF requires it!

Well, thanks for letting me get that out. I do appreciate those who travel with me as I continue to live and learn from my syndrome, sharing in my journey of pain and healing and lunacy and joy and hunger and laziness and stupidness and sleepiness. Before I go, I need to show you two pictures that showed up when I did a google image search for "dwarf warrior":

source

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Good God! WTF syndrome? Hah! I am way boring, almost even normal.

Have a Great Weekend,

R A N T W I C K