A risky cook book of explosive fun. Oh and a FREAKING FLAMETHROWER!!
Hello and welcome to 2010, the year of risk taking. Well at least it is for me, for my New Years Resolution ( aside from losing a few pounds, which is usually everyone’s resolution) is to add a bit more risk to my life. This is a goal everyone should have, and if you’re reading this article and understand the BrenandSven lifestyle, you’ll probably understand what it is to take risks. Risks are not foolhardy attempts to defy death, but are actions that help to enrich and enhance one’s appreciation of life.
This past Christmas I received a book, which after careful examination may be one of the most influential items I have ever received. Absinthe & Flamethrowers: Projects and Ruminations on the Art of Living Dangerously
The book has an interesting set up. At first glance it appears to be like a science project book for adults, with detailed instructions on how to make smoke bombs, fuses, solid fuel rockets, and most importantly, a flamethrower. But after a deeper inspection, and actual reading ( instead of just skipping to all the bits that show me how to blow my head off), I have come to understand that the book is an insightful look into how complacent and passive people have become. The Prologue is titled ” The Age of the Lily-Livered”, and that title sets the mood for the rest of the book by pointing out what many of us have become, thus allowing the author to solve this problem by providing psychological insight and genuinely risky, and engaging, experiments. Don’t worry, as I attempt to conduct these experiments I will keep you posted (assuming I don’t light myself on fire, or blow up) and let you know if the psychological benefits, as stated in the book, are true, or if they just provided a rationalization to act like a pyromaniac.
After reading this book my mental gears have been turning and this single question has popped out: Why live dangerously? Honestly, you turn on the news, drive down the street, or just walk down the stairs and there are literally hundreds of ways your life could end, so why add more risk to it? Why jump on a 100 horse powered, two wheel machine and travel 90 MPH (on a slow day) with nothing but leather and a helmet to protect you from becoming a viscose mass on the side of the road? Why, for the very reason why someone would tell you not to do these things: to live. Life is about experiences, riding a motorcycle is not about taking risks, though it is a very big risk, it’s about experiencing things from a first-hand perspective. A motorcyclist is not content with sitting in a box watching the scenery go by like a movie, as a motorist is. They wish to be part of the scenery, feel the breeze, smell the air, endure the weather, and live the journey. On a motorcycle you understand that life is not something to passively preserve until it reaches its conclusion, but a journey to actively experience with no concern as to where or when it will end.
Like life, when riding you never want to see where the road ends.
Live the Journey- Bren
