I still don’t know what to write, so I’m randomly choosing an emoji a day and writing 200 words about it. Another one of my writing slump cheats. Today’s emoji is ?

There’s something about being on a two-wheeler. It could be a bicycle, a motorbike, or a scooter. Something about being so exposed while you fly down the road, wind in your hair….or face, if you have a helmet on. I don’t always have one when I ride in Southeast Asian countries. Dangerous yes, but the danger is part of that special something. You could go slow to be safe while helmet-less, but that special feeling doesn’t go away. It’s that feeling when it’s the start of a beautiful day with clear blue skies, and you start your engine, eager and excited to start the day, to head out. To where? You have no destination or plan in mind yet, but it doesn’t matter. Just start riding, and you’ll know. Just f*cking go. With the first push of the engine, you fly. You come alive as the streets come alive, with scenes switching and changing as you go, rising and falling. One day, it was weaving down tranquil village roads lined by fluffy ripe rice fields ready for harvest in Ubud, Bali. Another day, channeling your best tomb-raider and hunting down unknown pagodas on desert dirt tracks in Bagan, Myanmar. Or it could be one of those seasons of love when you scoot along the porcelain beaches of Krabi, Thailand with your first romance, dressed only in a beach bikini and sunglasses. The freedom of the road. The euphoria of being alive. The adventure awaiting at every turn. That’s the scooter for me.