“Kill your fears or let them kill you” was the advice my Notorious Ex told me after I got into my very first scooter accident, some 6 years ago now. I had got into a little bumper-to-bumper accident in Dujeong-Dong (Cheonan) that had left my Notorious Ex’s scooter with a broken headlight and scratched up body. My nerves had suffered the most damage though and despite not wanting to get back on it, he insisted I “kill” my fears and ride it back home from the scene of the accident. That’s exactly what I did.
I’ve been into two more scooter accidents since, one while racing around in Daejon on a racing bike and then one a year and a bit ago when a taxi driver decided to jackknife his taxi into me.
“Once bitten twice shy” is a cliché that totally sums up the whole experience I go through with each accident. And though I did regain my confidence and was once again comfortable booting around on my scooter after the nasty taxi/scooter accident, I haven’t driven my scooter since it was stolen late last summer.
“Kill your fears or let them kill you” popped in my head the other day when Snickers announced to me that Gotti was finally coming back home. Gotti had spent a week or two at the motorcycle shop and was now ready for driving. I wasn’t ready though and so he sat outside for a couple of days as I nervously waited for me to feel okay again with getting back on him.
Tonight we had our UP Boxing Club dinner party and I had convinced myself that I was going to drive myself to the restaurant. I must have sat on Gotti for a good ten minutes or so before I actually turned the key. He had no gas, great, this meant I then had to venture onto the massive street and battle the traffic. I wasn’t impressed but I had told myself that tonight was the night.
I ended up driving myself to the restaurant, dining with my teammates and then leaving the way I came, on Gotti. One of his turn signals was out, I couldn’t adjust the left mirror to see the traffic behind me and I was convinced his front wheel felt strange. Perhaps it was me feeling to comfortable too soon that was what made me think something was strange.
Anyways, I then decided I was going to surprise Snickers. Show him how I could face my fear, get back on Gotti and drive out to his restaurant to see him. Well, in my head this plan sounded great and I giggled at the anticipated look of shock Snickers would be greeting me with but in reality I had no idea on how to get out to his restaurant.
A twenty minute car ride took me about an hour – it would have been faster to have ran!!!
Regardless of totally getting lost in the pure country side of Mokcheon, I finally found the restaurant. I pulled up at the side and started honking Gotti’s horn like crazy… hahaha. Snickers never responded so I text messaged him and then he got many of his workers to join him at the window. He was so proud of me… hahaha. Mind you, I hadn’t anticipated going there in the first place nor did I expect it to take me so long, so I was only sporting a t-shirt, light leather jacket and short 3/4 length pants. I was a tad bit chilly to say the least.
Ended up lifting Gotti and placing in the back of our van. Yes, that’s right. I drove out there only to then hitch a ride home… hahaha. It made for quite a funny story but also for quite the workout. Gotti isn’t exactly light and it’s not like picking up a person. He’s about 150kgs of metal and tires -- pure dead weight.
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