“A Whole New Adventure…”

Something sort of weird happened during the 2007 SERA Awards Banquet and related festivities. I am aware (somewhat painfully) that there have been previous ‘weird happenings’ at SERA Awards Banquets in the past (some of which are better left in the past), but this time I took notice of the ‘pattern’ that seemed to be developing.

Some rudimentary mathematical calculations indicate that, all told, I have been ‘composing’ various literary offerings (of wide-ranging & often questionable quality) for the SERA Newsletter, Dirt Pilot Magazine and/or Southern Off-Road News for just about fifteen years. {That’s longer than the duration of my existence prior to getting my first dirt bike; which is neither here nor there, however it just occurred to me. But I digress…} I still recall the first time somebody actually mentioned having enjoyed something I had written (it was situated somewhere among a couple of dozen of the far more common tirades against my having expressed my feeling regarding some timely subject from a specific period / an opinion not specifically shared by all who might have read about it).

Over the years, I have noticed a certain ‘settling’ of Public Opinion with regard to my literary endeavors. At the current rate, I fully expect to see something in the neighborhood of a ‘balanced’ return of comments (compliments vs. threats of injury) on my work in (give or take a little) about another fifteen years.

The ‘weird pattern of events’ to which I referred earlier in this composition, as it turns out, had to do with what I had come to consider ‘the ever-elusive compliment’ for my literary efforts. On this momentous occasion, I was pleasantly surprised by what could almost (by comparison to my usual conditioned expectations) be considered an avalanche of compliments for my moto-journalistic offerings. At the rate things were going during the evening of the Banquet, I could conceivably reach the ’50% Approval Rating’ in well under fifteen years (possibly as soon as the year 2021; early 2022 at the latest…). The U.S. Congress would be envious of the apparent Approval Rating I seemed to be experiencing last month in peaceful and serene Pelham, Alabama. But, again, I digress…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was, as a matter of fact, one of those most uncommon complimentary mentions of my ‘unique writing style’ (a descriptive phrase credited to my good friend Rick Reynolds) which originally set in motion the (possibly regrettable) series of events responsible for the very composition to which my attention (regardless of its notable deficit-like characteristics) is currently focused (at least for the next few minutes until I ‘refocus’ on something else not necessarily more significant…). For obvious reasons (names were changed to protect the innocent, etc.), the identity of the individual responsible for inspiring this excursion into electronic composition will remain a closely-guarded secret (at least until I receive threats to my health & well-being related to something I might have written; at that time, I will most definitely be inclined to put the blame for the whole thing on someone else).

Look for more riveting details about the ‘reinvention’ & ‘resurrection’ of my old (and mostly forgotten) HOURED OUT column in cutting-edge 21st Century electronic format as time goes by. Just do me a favor and don’t expect too much; my helmet has not always provided the best possible protection during hard crashes involving potentially harsh cranial impacts…