on Giving it Up or If you can't Beat em or Key 296

I love to ride my bicycle and for some mysterious reason when I am waiting at a stop sign to cross the street cars stop for me. This does not happen if I am a pedestrian waiting to walk across the street; only when I am on my bicycle and do not have the right of way.

This used to really bug me (well, it still does). One year I took my neighbour's advice and totally ignored the cars that stopped for me - that's right I wouldn't even look at them. That didn't work very well so I changed tactics and started pointing at the stop sign and refusing to go. Still  some people absolutely insisted that I cross. The thing is, it's actually easier for my bicycle and me if people don't stop when they have the right of way. OK. It's less energy to move when the move is anticipated than it is from a dead stop when the move isn't anticipated. So perhaps I'm just lazy?

After a particularly frustrating day of people insisting I cross the street and me insisting I did not have the right of way I changed my tactic again and decided that if someone stops their car for me I will ride my bike across the street  - even if I do not have the right of way.

The other day I had the good fortune to talk to some new people about my keys. They were really interested in them and wondered if they could be worn as jewelry. You know, they're not really made for that... And that's not my intent... But since that conversation I've decided that if someone suggests the keys would make a good key chain, or fridge magnet, or even jewelry I will just smile and say "good idea". 

Really, people just want to be helpful. And that's what they're doing when they stop their car or try and figure out a practical reason for the keys to exist (and someone to want one).

In honour of this decision I have adapted one key into a necklace. I'm going to be displaying this key on a wall in my basement studio but I put a chain on it so if someone does want to wear it they totally can. More power to them.

So I suppose this means I now have to make 5001 keys because key 296 is, technically, jewelry. Maybe I'm not so lazy after all.

Oh, here's some pictures of that key:

It's actually kind of big...

Here's another close-up:

And here's a few shots of my beloved modeling the key: