Get Well Soon, Mordeth13, His Accident + "Are You Happy With Who You Are?"

Sad news today. M13, a youtube vlogger who I used to follow when I was in high school got in a motorcycle accident. It was a while ago, actually, but I've been so out of the loop. Both his legs were broken and his hands are pretty messed up; seemingly bad enough to never be able to use his clutch hand again (for those of you who don't ride, the clutch on a motorcycle is usually a lever that's operated by your left hand).

He's a Canadian dude who was from Alberta (I think) who's now an expat in Taiwan. He started off by putting a camera in his helmet and just pressing record. I remember seeing a video of his when I was an angsty 16 year old titled "are you happy with who you are?" and it hit me really hard at the time.

The gyst of it was that you know you're happy with who you are when you can be alone. Because when you're alone, that's when you have all that time to look inwardly, reflect, and think about who you are as a person (and whether or not how you turned out is acceptable to you). When you need other people to distract you from you, it might be a sign that something needs to change.

I no longer watch his videos, but I'll always be grateful for the entertainment that his videos provided at one point in my life. Riding motorcycles is still one of my biggest passions, and having followed someone talking about interesting things while having a first-person view of what it's like to be on a bike was the final push in me deciding to save up and actually get one. Hell, I even had some videos at one point and wanted to get into Vlogging, myself. But I suppose that's a story for another time.

Thanks M13, and I hope you get well soon.

Here's the story of his crash + donation page: http://www.gofundme.com/hsuk58

Here's the video that I was talking about earlier:


- Alvin

Margaret Mitchell's The Fucking Truth

"I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and them together again and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as new. What is broken is broken -- and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken places as long as I lived."
- Margaret Mitchell

Life's pretty good right now. I read this quote earlier on today and spent the good portion of my day thinking about it (even through my shift at work). Whenever people ask me about my past relationships, I always say that they were all good while they lasted.

It sort of catches people off guard because it sounds pessimistic, but it has nothing to do with expecting an end-life; but it has everything to do with knowing it might have one. I try to enjoy things for what they are, as they are; but I know that it's sometimes easier said than done.

"Beautiful things don't ask for attention" - James Thurber

When I was learning how to freedive, my teacher recommended visualizing a place to keep me distracted so that I could stay underwater longer. I've never told anyone this, but this view is what I used. I would focus on little details of this picture as I could imagine any segment of this picture and find it beautiful. When I got close to giving up and going up for air, I'd zoom out and it would buy me a little more time.

 Before I knew it, I'd be under for minutes at a time and eventually, I stopped using it as a crutch because it distracted me from appreciating everything that I was seeing underwater.

As of late, I've been trying to figure out why I didn't like this specific chick. On paper, she was pretty great, had a lot going for her, and happened to be easy on the eyes. But for some reason, I didn't like her as much as she liked me. I think I've finally realized that it's because beautiful things don't ask for attention. She was gorgeous, and she knew it. But she wanted everyone else to know it in front of her.

Spare Some Time

I arrived in Cambodia a little under a week ago and my first stop was a town called Koh Kong. It was a mellow day since I was a little tired from being on busses all day trying to cross the border from Thailand into Cambodia.

I rented a bicycle and was going around town trying to find some toner (lol first world problems). I parked my bicycle outside and came outside to a kid playing with my back wheel.

I started moving the bike so I could head back to my guesthouse, but he nearly started crying.

I realized that I had nowhere to be and no one to meet...so I decided to stay until he got bored of it.
Every now and then, I'd hit the brakes and he couldn't understand why the wheel would stop spinning/wouldn't move.

Anyway, I see a lot of beautiful shit when I'm out here, but some of my coolest experiences have been little moments like this.

 Maybe I'm just easily amused. But so was the kid; and I think we could all learn a lot from them.