*OT* or maybe not
I got my 1st bike when I was 19
I pestered Dad real hard to get it (poor him)
....
I used to drive fast & reckless and felt like I was on top of the world....
I have done my more than (un)fair share of the cop bribing routine
Done my drag races and wheelies and skiddies....
And of course, I had n number of accidents....Now I can't go and describe all of them in detail but there is one I vividly remember when I tried to pull a high speed cornering stunt, and the bike went skidding while I went flying (without a helmet) between two trees beyond the sidewalk... a couple of inches either way and I'd have been either dead or a paraplegic...
did I learn my lesson back then..of course not....
I was back to my usual ways within a week (which is what it took for the superficial injuries to heal)
8 long years later, when I look back..I can think of only one way to describe myself back then...
an idiot of the first order!
Perhaps it was the almighty lord who looked out for me and let me emerge out of that phase unscathed (not withstanding a buch of nasty gash marks )