RockMoto

 December 31, 2008
I'm not big on New Year’s resolutions. My girlfriend Jessica isn't either. At least, I don’t think she is. Frankly, we’ve only been dating a month and I don’t know much about her. I recently learned what her favorite movie was. “Carlito’s Way”. Never seen it. ‘Til last week. As soon as I found out it was her favorite, I went out and got it and we watched it together. It’s all part of the process of trying to fit that new person into your life by trying on what they love and hopefully learning to love it (or at least appreciate and understand it) as well. This gets trickier the older you get, since when you’re younger you’re less formed in your likes and dislikes, and meeting someone at the ripe age of 38 I’m more defined in my proclivities. I’m still discovering a lot about her, but one thing I do know is that she’s into riding bikes. Motorcycles, that is.

I'm so green in this area I don't even know what you're supposed to call them. She rides a Suzuki 750. I know I missed some letters in there, but I’ve been told the 750 is what matters. It means nothing to me. It would be like me telling her that while John Adams’ “Nixon in China” is a landmark contemporary opera, his blind persistence in working with Peter Sellars as a director (and even more unfortunately as a librettist) constrains his ability to exercise the full range of his Post-Minimalist, Neo-Romantic expansive musical nature to the point where I want to scream.

Yeah. I’m an opera composer turned screenwriter who looks under the hood of his car and sees Greek. I’m one of those. She, on the other hand, works in the industry. The motorcycle industry.

And I don’t ride.

So she suggested a New Year’s Resolution for me: Learn to ride.