5 million BCE, drop out of the canopies. Better and more varied food sources. Discovery of wanderlust.

A million years later, bipedal motion. Extended hunting ranges. The ability to carry goods long distances. Grasping thumbs.

Two million years gone. Discovery of fire and the eating of meat. Brain size jumps from 700cc to 1300cc. The first stone tools, migration out of Africa and eventually, inexorably, internal combustion engines.

Monday, February 14, 2011 CE. Easy off of Howell Mill. Straight shot down the on-ramp through Northside. Kick to 4th before you even hit the interstate proper. 70-something and the throttle isn't halfway spun.

Grasping hands. Bipedal motion.

The waters part. Moses out of Egypt on I75. Whatever. Arrow straight slash across six lanes. All in for 6th before you hit the deceleration zone heading into the pivot.

60 degrees. No clouds. No humidity. Modern man and his machines. The fool has said in his heart there is no G*d. Oh, poor Guanilo, you sad sack medieval bastard. You had no idea.

Stomp back down to 4 for the turn. 200-odd degrees south to north. The pure, unadulterated laws of physics as holy texts. In on the high line. Flash the knee into the lean. Drag the toe. Boot on asphalt, the burdens of consciousness a distant dream. Read and react. Apex. Throttle. Kick. Throttle. Kick.

I am Jack's existential forgetting. I am Jack's unrepentant childish glee.

Just shy 6 million years of evolution, this little Japanese machine you've named after a fictional mercenary's favorite weapon and the chaos of weather systems too complex to conceive combine in this moment of pure Buddha-under-the-tree mindful emptiness. The fool has said in his heart. Poor, sad Guanilo. If only for a fleeting moment, the world is right and true.