Ducati Monster Forum

I was at  Trader Joe’s casher yesterday afternoon.

The cashier guy said,
“... Do you ride motorcycle?”

I said
“Yes.”

He asked
“Ducati?”

I replied
“Yeah, how do you know?”

For the record, I don’t wear anything that has
brand name / logo on.

It turned out that he used to work at Hatter
(now Marin Speed Shop), years ago.


This kind of thing happens regularly.

No, it doesn’t happen every single day of my life,
but it happens over and over again.



Once, I was driving on my NA6 in downtown San Rafael, with top down.
I heard someone behind me (8 o’clock) honked.
I turned my head, and saw a guy I used to know smiling and waving.
Well, he hadn’t seen me for at least 6 years or so.
He didn’t know about this car I was driving.
The only thing he saw was 3/4 view of the back of my head
and the left shoulder.
And he could still identify me.




Long, long time ago, I run into Jacky Jouret, who was City Bike
editor back then, on congested Golden Gate Bridge, in the late
afternoon.

I didn’t know her, but recognized her DR650 from the city bike
article.
We talked a little bit, while sitting behind the lines of cars,
for something like 40 seconds to one minute.

I only opened the dark smoke face shield of my Arai RX-7 RR3.
And I was wearing bandana underneath, covering lower half of
my face. (Like bank robber in old western film.)
So, all she could see was just my eyes.

About a week later I went to Motorcycles Unlimited in Corte Madera.
She was at the parts counter, ordering cylinder base gasket for DR.
I was not on my motorcycle that day, so I was dressed in T-shirt and
jeans.
She turned around, and instantly recognized  who I was.

All she saw was just the eyes, through the eye port of full face helmet,
for less than a minute,


It happens, over and over and over again.

You must be handsome. ;D
Most people from my past don't recognize me, which is good.  ;)

No, I'm not. ;D

Well, not that it is important ... but let’s say ...
...it is not based on the appearance.
(At least, it is not primarily based on how I look.
And certainly not based on superficial stuff
like what I wear.
Location, surroundings also doesn’t matter.
Over 5,000 miles away, over 15 years apart,
people still spot me instantly.

Here’s an interesting story.

A friend of mine was at her friend’s house, watching
anime “Lupin the third” series.
She wasn’t really into anime thing, so this was her first
time watching Lupin.

https://youtu.be/wJudurbkv1E

https://vimeo.com/39790868

So, they were watching the show, laughing, enjoying it.

... then, she started feeling strange.

“ I have never seen Lupin before. This is the first time.
But, I feel like I’ve seen it before ... but, where?...”

They kept on watching.

She really couldn’t tell, if it was deja vu, or she actually had seen it
somewhere, before.

Strangely, the more she watched, the more familiar it felt.

“I MUST HAVE SEEN it, ... but where?...
and I feel like I’ve seen it many times ...”




... then, suddenly, she realized.

It wasn’t the anime show she had seen before.

It was LUPIN that she felt so familiar, felt like she had seen so many times.


Yup. You guessed it. Lupin was me, in her head.

Unconsciously, her mind was projecting the mental image she had about me, onto
Lupin, and I became Lupin (or Lupin became me) inside of her head.

(I have heard similar story from other people, too.

And, it’s not that I look like him (Lupin). No, I don’t .

But, there’s something, .. the way I look, the way I act, the way I talk, ... combination of
all these small stuff, create that image.

Very strange.

Had a kid think I was the Red Power Ranger once, another one thought I was Santa.

The Guy that owns the local Liquor store knows my name so I'm good.

I still think you're Santa.

Got a pic :D

There's some around. :P

I get stopped all the time by past students. Just the other day I was out at REI and someone came up to me and just started chatting. Took me a few to realize that she was a hazwoper student over 3 years ago. CPR students from 10 years ago stop me to chat when I run into them.  I don't know these people, and only spent a day with them - sometimes, years ago.

https://youtu.be/-rPepWRpp1M

 [clap] ;D

Took a while to find pink sweatpants which fit over my motorcycle gear...  Had a TOTAL blast! Think about it from time to time and smile really big...

I remember the Harley incident.

Yeah, me too!