Finding your personal freedom is worth more than anything. All the toys and trinkets? Bandaids. The scars we carry through life run deep and like any deep wound, must be healed from the inside out, otherwise infection sets in and life becomes even more complicated.
I’ve partied with NBA players, enjoyed seasons tickets/floor seats, rubbed elbows with HOF players -believe it or not, it gets old faster than you think.
Worked for a multi-platinum recording artist – an experience that opened my eyes to many surprising things before it was violently cut short.
Driven a NASCAR truck and watched the Dallas Cowboys from a suite – Flash in a pan memories.
Worked inside a top secret government facility – It was cool… at first.
Practiced CQB with spec ops – Everyone wants to believe they could be an operator… until you train with them.
Taken a train trip across the country (well -train and plane)… Most of ya’ll know how that ended.
I’ve been to Dragoncon and San Diego’s International Comicon twice in full costume where I was interviewed by the Howard Stern Show and approached to be in a Gene Simmons reality show. – The cosplay world is something indescribable for those who have never been in full costume at an event like this.
I’ve even felt the rush of skydiving multiple times – which convinced me birds have the best existence. A life of flight has no equal.
… but those are only moments in time and many unable to be repeated. Nothing else has been able to capture the same experience as when you’re living life behind the bars. Every ride is the same, yet completely different. Every start of the engine is the beginning of a new adventure and an ending to whatever troubles plague your mind.
Sure, I got a kick out of owning a trophy bike and one that had been viewed across the world… But he was Pig to me and represented a kind of freedom I had always chased, but never caught -until I helped build him, then was able to take him home.
Even a bad day in the seat is better than good days inside the cage.
Off The Rails 
What experiences. What was your costume for cosplay? What happened to the interview?
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I was Darth Nihilus from the Star Wars video game. I ran myself to the point of heat exhaustion from all the photographs being taken with me. It was like being a celebrity for a day. The Stern show thought I was the guy they had humiliated the previous year at the con (because we had the same character costume on) and after a few attempts at humiliating me, they lost interest and moved on – I refused to sign the release to allow them to use the interview -knowing they’d somehow twist it anyway. The minions in charge of getting people to sign could not believe I refused to sign, like it was an insult – how dare “I” would not want to be on Howard’s show. I’ll never forget the look on their faces, total disbelief. I enjoyed that more than the idea of being included on the show.
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Oh my gosh that must’ve been wild. Good for you for standing your ground.
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