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About two months ago I made a tiny post to one of the "mutator discussion" forums, asking if someone could code a small mutator to disable rocket smoke trails. I forgot all about it.

Yesterday I went back and vaguely remembered posting--so I searched and found my thread. It had a two month history with over 40 posts. I didn't understand a thing, but basically it was some of the UnrealScript writers discussing not only my idea but other fundamentals related to writing a mutator based on my idea. End result? The No Smoke mutator I'd heard about but not seen and wondered about last week was written and released, and had my name (BoD)nepenthe in the acknowledgements of its corresponding readme file. It was odd. I have it now, haven't tried it yet. I have a Voodoo5 now.

I got several recommendations about great roads in the area. Here's one:

"Take FM 2164 north out of Denton. East on 455 takes you to Forestburg, then you can go north to Saint Jo or Muenster. Lots of good vistas in that direction. East on 455 takes you to Anna, lots of good curves that direction. FM 121 several miles north of 455 is another good motorcycle road. A good resting place is the barbeque joint in Tioga a couple of blocks south of 121. Enjoy!"

I got a lot more than that, and I have it all saved. They also invited me out to go riding one of these days! Actually, two different groups invited me. Obviously, I need a better bike than the nx. TDkeyser has a Blackbird, a bike that can pull to twice the state speed limit in 10 seconds from stopped. Ouch. They seem like mature riders who aren't out to turn into squids or prove anything. I can't wait!!

A friend sent me some links for motorcycle movies. Some of them are great! There's one 15 minute one showing an R1 and a Mille-R lapping the Nurburgring in Germany. Some of the best curves for driving in the whole world. Gorgeous. They aren't racing, but they do get it up to 225 km/h (140 mph) at one spot. The camera is right under the windshield of the R1. They blow by a Porsche like it's parked, even though it was probably doing 100 mph. Then a Gixxer trounces them! Germany has the greatest roads (no speed limit)!

Another movie shows a Blackbird on a typical American highway. He's stuck behind a car going 60, then he hits the throttle and goes around it and OMG the speedometer!! It's one thing to read the numbers in a magazine, another to watch the speedometer needle JUMP from 60 to 120 in an insanely short amount of time.

Note: I do not participate in, nor advocate speeds in excess of about 85-90 on streets/highways containing other vehicles. It's one thing to ride that fast on a road like 380 with no other cars in sight, or in Germany with no speed limits, or on a closed drag strip... and it's something else entirely to do what this video shows, even though it wasn't exactly crowded nor dangerous. Then again, I've had my RX-7 up to 123 and my father once got the FJ up to 145. As a demonstration of what a bike can do, though, I found this video to be mesmerizing, and the point is that if you can do that kind of thing, any other acceleration is going to be beautifully effortless--imagine a vehicle that has more power than you ever need, that never struggles to make it with an underpowered, overworked engine... What a change from most of the vehicles on the road.

There's another one with a Hayabusa with shorter sprockets, slicker tires, no mirrors and smaller lights, a new exhaust and intake, freer emissions, a chip, and a good tune up on a drag strip doing a 9.1. Outrageous. Again, you get to watch the speedometer and again, reading 9.1 at 160 mph in a magazine doesn't really capture what it's like to watch the needle swing up to 160 mph in 9 seconds (including 0-80 mph in 3 seconds). It's like a sci-fi movie when you see it like that. Everyone realize how fast that needle goes from zero to the 80 mark?

Another video was a stationary shot of a mid 90s GSX-1100R doing a drive by at over 180. That was up in Wyoming or something on a beautiful straight road with huge trees on either side. The bike is gone in a flash as the camera turns. Remarkable

This is not really what I'm getting into biking for. I want the freedom to go riding, the fun of exploring, the sound of the bike that reminds me of my childhood, the feel of having a bike with a motor and power right under my wrist, the wind, the trees, blue sky, and riding friends.

I also got a link to some pictures taken after a rider was ground up under the wheels of a 30 ton semi. His intestines were one picture. His leg was another. One side of his decapitated head was one, the other side was another. I was going to post it, but I'm not after all.

I had a Great Plains Rat Snake that we kept for many years--10 years in fact. He was the greatest. In 10 years he never bit anyone. I'd let him explore my room and he never bolted for the door, he just moved around and smelled everything. He loved to be held. He had a gentle face which reflected his demeanor. We never named him, just called him "the rat snake". I also had a boa for many years, 2 Collared lizards, several Fence lizards, a Giant Amieva, a Tokay Gecko, a Tegu (bastard bit everyone), and others.

We caught a water snake (non-venomous) one time. He was mean as hell. He'd just sit there and look at you and start spitting and hissing and he smelled terrible. He bit.

It's inexplicable that my rat snake, just as much a wild animal as the nasty water snake, made such an ideal pet and thrived in our care, while the water snake was a bitch and begged to be set free.

Technosphere: Nepenthe Jr. #9663. Herbivore, pregnant.

We tried to play our match, but ran into the following problems: The computers wouldn't talk to each other. duo couldn't run a server because of no "soldierskins_nrfb.u". I couldn't run a server because of inexplicable GPFs, possibly caused by 432 and RA, who knows? Goshen from PuF was very helpful, but it still wasn't happening. Bottom line: duo now has yet another forfeit win under his belt.

By the time we might have had it figured out and started reinstalling stuff, 1:00 had come and I had to report my forfeit to the admins. For shame. I'm so active on PG's forums and with helping the admins with little things, and I go and have to forfeit my first appearance back on the RA 1vs1. I just told em server problems, which isn't too far from the truth, but they don't need to know we were trying to LAN. I went and met my friend late and then returned to Denton. Today duo and I got in a few quality games on the pubs, plus I showed him how to get 4 team CTF working, so it's not a total loss. Believe me when I say duo would have won.

I may not get a bike until Spring, but I'm getting ready. I'm trying to practice on my Dad's bike (damn rain), I'm soon going to take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Basic and Advanced courses again, I'm finding good parking lots to practice skills at night, I'm finding good roads to ride in the area, I'm learning the ins and outs of how to maintain a bike and the things a rider must know, I'm going to buy my boots, gloves, leather jacket, possibly knee pads, and a good helmet soon... I'm checking bikes out on CycleTrader and in the shops. I think about riding a lot. It's calling to me.

And now a note about my diary. I've fixed the minor problems with the links picture at the upper left on the entry and archive pages. I think the diary format is as it will be for a time--until I get some web-hosting and some more html knowledge. All the old titles have also been fixed on the archive page. And the dot is gone.

My diary is fun for me to read and write. This is self-indulgence. In two months it will be fun for me to read this again. That's what I'm after with this. It's all written for me.