digitalMoto.net

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

Mohandas Gandhi

No man was ever wise by chance.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

George Santayana

I am back to buying new music again. It seems like a very long time since I bought anything new.

Emigrate’s self titled debut

KT Tunstall’s Drastic Fantastic

Kid Rock’s Rock n Roll Jesus

I scored the Emigrate yesterday from 2nd Ave Records after waiting forever for it to be imported from Germany. I have already gotten a thumbs up for approved listening music from a friend. I like it. The website has 2 video’s if you are curious about it.

I have not listened to the KT Tunstall or Kid Rock yet. I just picked them up tonight.

If I could… I would.

Update: And in April of 2009, I did.

So who have I pissed off lately?

Who really cares? I’m me and if that doesn’t please you, close the door on your way out. I’m tired and generally irritated with other people’s bullshit and drama. I am not in a bad mood about anything in particular. Actually I’m unusually optimistic about my life in general. I know things are not going great, but it is my life and I will live it as I see fit. I will make it better soon enough. In short: if you don’t like the way I do things, Read more…

Yamaha Press Release

On Behalf of Yamaha Motor Corporation Co. LTD
Oct. 9, 2007

About the Passing Away of Norifumi (Norick) Abe

It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of Norifumi (Norick) Abe (32) on October 7, 2007, following a traffic accident. Norick Abe, as he is fondly known by motorcycle race fans around the world, was competing this season in the JSB1000 class of the All-Japan Championships from the “Y’S GEAR Racing” team. Norick was riding a motorcycle in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Pref. when he met with an accident at about 6:20 pm and he was pronounced dead at 8:50 pm at the hospital where he was taken for treatment.

In 1993, Norifumi Abe became the youngest rider ever to win the pinnacle 500cc class of the All Japan Road Race Championships. The following year he was competing in the All Japan Superbike Championship when he joined the Yamaha camp and started competing in the World GP500cc class. From 1995 he began competing full-time in the World GP500cc class, where he eventually compiled a record of three wins, four 2nd places and 10 3rd places in his GP career. This year he returned to the All Japan Championships and also competed in the Suzuka 8 hours World Endurance Championship race in July. During his career Abe was widely known and loved by the fans as a leading figure in the domestic race scene as well as abroad.

Comment from Takashi Kajikawa, President, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. “I am deeply saddened to hear this tragic news. Loved by fans in Japan, Europe and the Americas and throughout Asia, Norifumi Abe was an irreplaceable ambassador of motor sports worldwide. Here in Japan the fans were especially excited to see Abe return to the All Japan circuit after 14 years of international competition, and certainly their sense of loss at his passing is great. We pray that his soul rests in peace and we send our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.”

Link to original Yamaha press release

Video:

• Japanese TV Report #1
• Japanese TV Report #2
• More YouTube videos

It takes enormous talent and commitment to rise to the highest levels in any sport. Motorcycle racing is no different in that regard. There is one difference worth noting, most athletes don’t lay their lives on the line each and every time the step into the arena. Death is never far away when we push to 200 mph and beyond, all without the relative safety of a roll cage and air-bags.

Rider down!

Rest in peace.

I found this after reading one of Laura’s posts and searching for more background info. I was interested in the concept of flow outlined by Csikszentmihalyi.

Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields.

Many other terms and idioms exist for this mental state: to be on the ball, in the zone, or in the groove.

More on Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
More on Flow

October has arrived and with it the rain. It rained yesterday. The forecast is for rain for the rest of the week. Hmm…

So?

So.

I am no longer working as a fish monger. What a relief! The change came last month a few days before my birthday. The project I had been working on was a complete failure. The lead developer/project manager and I had delivered everything to the agreed spec, but it wasn’t what the client wanted so… I was already irritated by the way office politics had been going. I find it a bit disconcerting when the manager and the technical lead literally throwing punches at each other just a few feet from my head. And they don’t see anything wrong with that kind of behavior. Throw in a few incest jokes and being constantly insulted when I prove that I do in fact know what I am doing. Fuck me! It just gets old. So when I was cut, I was actually relieved. I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to be anywhere near there. Read more…