The inevitable happened...My bike was finally stolen.

I found it rather unfortunate that I was writing about the kindness and goodness of people yesterday afternoon, and then later that night came across the empty spot on State Street in Brooklyn where my bike was once locked to the fence. All I could think was, "where in the world is my bike? who are these people who felt the need to break the lock and take it away from me forever? and what, oh god what, are they doing with it?"

Yesterday, I rode with Tina from my apartment, down the West Side Highway, across the Brooklyn Bridge and up to her apartment via Dean Street, thinking various fond thoughts about my bike along the way, "I am so happy to have my lovely bike. It has been so good to me. Wow, it's almost been 2 years since I bought it." It seems to be that the day you actually contemplate something, appreciate it, and really feel thankful for it, that will be the day it will be lost to you into the vast world. 

Tina tried to console me after my discovery that Ariel, my bike, had been stolen (I named her after the little girl in purple who I met while buying the bike. She bursted out of her father's front door--he was selling me the bike for 30 bucks--and ran up to me to give me a big happy hug around my knees. She was so excited to see me! And I was so rejuvenated to meet a happy child like her!) Tina suggested that we go find someone else's bike to steal and the whole world would rebalance itself. But I told her one of my favorite philosophies, Gandhi's brilliance--"an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind". I would rather blindly believe that a misfortune such as being robbed would only allow another fortune to touch my life in the future, than to take a negative experience and react by creating more negativity in the world. Leaving it up to the fate of good karma is the balance I'd rather have faith in.

Well, I'd like to say goodbye to my old bike and announce that an orange and white Magna "Great Divide" Mountain bike is somewhere out there--most likely in Brooklyn--her name is Ariel, and she will most likely be posted and sold on craigslist all in monetary profit to the thief. But these people will not profit in their fortune or morality, so my mind feels settled in hoping they will never be fully satisfied with their mean antics.

But at the end of the day, or night shall I say, what matters most is not material things or how long something lasted, it is the people you experience things with and the moments that you will always cherish. And last night was a great night for Ariel to spend her last moments with me. So I shall share the pictures of my late-night-bike-through-Brooklyn escapade with some of the most amazing people I have the opportunity to share my life with...

Brooklyn Bikers

Monkey in a tree

One of many "pretend performance photos"

Pretend you are discussing your baby's future name!

TD's jumping/dancing competition

Lizelle is superwoman