Guaranteed

"It's axiomatic that the more weary you feel the more kindly you look on fossil fuel." -- Michael Pollan

This is exactly what took hold of me yesterday, Friday, as I intended to mount the bike for yet another slog into work but I just couldn't do it. I slept in a little longer and commuted by the Silverado Chariot instead.

I had no other viable option -- the last E-tran bus left at 7:34, I wasn't going to ride the bicycle, the next RT bus was a full 55 minutes away, so I drove. Ho-hum. Just another day in suburbia, I told myself, as I motored out of the driveway towards work. I was physically tired from the bike riding earlier in the week, and most certainly I felt kindly towards the benefit fossil fuel provided. I would have done the same thing had it been $8 instead of $4. I had zero consideration for the cost of my fuel, directly or indirectly.

Which is too bad. I continue to fall into this complacency mode, as do most of us, yes, but I continue to fall into it more and more the older I get. I have not the energy to ride 5 days a week (I've only ever done that once) and 4 days a week is a fucking chore. Three is about the max...and sooner than later two is going to be the new norm as I approach 50. That is, so long as I still have legs and a back that work that won't get broken from a car-bike accident. That is, so long as I have lungs that still pump oxygen that won't sullen from automobile exhaust.

I am hopeful that my personal and expected fossil fuel allotment guaranteed to me as an American (24 barrels per year, or 1,872 barrels over my lifetime) will be available as I wane into my sunset years. I've not burned as many during my formative years as have my contemporaries, so I should hope they will be made available to me as an elder.