an honest living

We can all imagine that driving a cab is not the most desirable profession in the world; cab drivers deal with daily annoyances like traffic signals and bad drivers. In Washington D.C. the daily annoyances are compounded by the "I want it now!" and the "stuck in a meeting" mentalities of the city. I was surprised by how much horn honking takes place ... that just doesn't happen in Texas. The "I want it now" factor is readily apparent - the city runs on the ability of people to get things done correctly and to get things done quickly. Nobody in Washington sits around and waits for things to happen; if that's your mentality you best pack up and go home. This behavior spills over into driving habits, people don't wait for openings in traffic, they create them. Being cut off in traffic is par for the course in D.C. I remarked to a cab drive how often drivers honk at one another in Washington, he said "you gotta let 'em know you're not gonna stop". I love it! The other reason to use the horn is to wake people up that are "stuck in a meeting". D.C. revolves around relationships, not friendships mind you, but relationships. A common saying I heard repeatedly over the past 3 days is "if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog". So relationships are the oil that keeps the machinery running and in order to maintain relationships, you have to have meetings. I discovered all to well that an entire day of work in D.C. can consist of nothing but hopping from meeting to meeting. Especially for out of towners, we are here to work as many relationships in the short time that we will be here. So we have to meet. Given the meeting mentality in D.C., it's no wonder that D.C. drivers are constantly either mentally reviewing the meeting they just got out of, or are mentally preparing for the meeting they're about to go into. In this cerebral fog it can be fairly easy to not pay attention to traffic signals and thus require a wake up call at a green light by the gentle tap of a DC cabbie's horn.

But these are the minor pitfalls of driving a cab in D.C. - what really made me thankful that I had chosen another occupation were the horror stories. The man that took me to the airport, we'll call him "Cabbie", was telling me "you can't trust anybody anymore". And after I heard his rationale, I beleived him. Cabbie talked about the time he picked up a fare from DC to Germantown, MD. The total fare came out to around $68.00. The fella he was transporting seemed respectable, he was nicely dressed and he asked to go to a decent high-rise apartment complex in MD. However, upon arriving. the man told Cabbie that he needed to go upstairs to get cash - he never returned. I asked Cabbie why he didn't ask the jerk to leave his wallet or ID, cabbie responded "I'm a gentleman, and a man of my word. I don't try to cheat the people. I expect the same from others". Cabbie's story is duplicated hundreds of times a week. People hop in a cab, with no intention of paying tell the driver to wait while they go to the ATM, and never return. Cabbie is an immigrant. He came to the United States the right way. He applied for permanant residency and when he got a visa he came here, and he got a job. He pays taxes and has a family. He doesn't make much, but the money that he makes is honest. He doesn't deserve to be ripped off.

If you think Cabbie's story isn't that bad, that it's just the cost of doing business, listen to this: A few weeks ago Cabbie was at a local gas station filling up. As he always does when fills up, Cabbie pulled, from his cab's sunvisor, a laminated card printed with the words "OFF DUTY" and places it face up on his dashboard. A young African American man suddenly comes up to Cabbie's open window and proceeds to punch him repeatedly - it seems that Cabbie's simple act of notifying any would be passengers that he was not available incensed this young man so much that he was moved to violence. When the police arrived to help Cabbie tend to his swollen bloody face, they theorized that the young man thought that the "off duty" sign was directed at him, and he wasn't going to have it.

Is that a cost of doing business too?!? What about this: It was around four in the afternoon and Cabbie picks up a fare. The young African American lady woman requests to go to Martin Luther King blvd. Cabbie is already uneasy as this is a sketch part of town, but being a gentlman, and having a trust in people, Cabbie proceeds and does his job. Right away, when the young lady is unable to produce and address of where she wants to go, only trun by turn directions, Cabbie senses that something's wrong. Cabbie tells the woman that he needs an address for his passentger manifest but the woman just directs him, left here turn right there ... Cabbie say "I cannot put left turn right turn on my manifest!!!" The woman directs cabbie into a dead-end alley and 3 accomplices come out of the shadows and rob cabbie at gun point. It was 4pm, these people are professional pieces of shit, they know that it's pointless to rob a cab driver in the morning, they don't have any money on them yet, so they wait until the afternoon. Cabbie's honest work doesn't deserve to be tarnished with the filth of lazy assholes that aren't man enough to do the work that Cabbie does day in and day out often with out recognition and defintely without thanks. Cabbie's not the type of guy they put on a postage stamp, and no one will ever write a folk song about him. The stories of the robberies and the beatings will never make it to the mainstream media. But I think, at the very least, someone, someone, should recognize what this man has to deal with. This man that takes us safely to our destination, gives us advice on how to survive in a strange city and makes sure we eat at a decent restaurant. This man that just wants to earn an honest living.

the doctor said i had too much "snoo" in my blood

UPDATE: 20 June 2009 - for the people doing Google searches for "snoo in blood", here's the joke:

* Person A: "The doctor told me I had too much snoo in my blood"
* Person B: "What's snoo"
* Person A: "Not much. What's new with you..."

Only the best joke EVER!
-----
Listening to Against Me!'s "Baby I'm an Anarchist" ... don't know why I felt compelled to share that, but that song always makes me feel better about the state of things - even though it's a white flag of surrender and a reminder of how difficult change can be when so few are willing to affect that change (yea that's right, affect as opposed to effect - look it up). But it makes me feel better about things. Other than that, other than music, there's not much to assuage the anguish of the enervated soul. "through the best of times, through the worst of times..."

comfort?

I knew it was 8:15 this morning. I listen to NPR overnight, and thus, in the morning, and these radio guys are pretty good at telling you what time it is in the morning lest their hordes of listeners be late for work. Present company included. I knew it was 8:15, but I didn't want to get out of bed. I was comfortable.

Then, when I was in the shower, I remembered something - I remembered that we're not supposed to be comfortable. I was reminded of this when I recalled a speech that Robert F. Kennedy made in Capetown, South Africa in 1966. He said (when speaking of the dangers that the world faces):

For the fortunate among us, the fourth danger is comfort, the temptation to follow the easy and familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who have the privilege of education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us. There is a Chinese curse which says "May he live in interesting times." Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. And everyone here will ultimately be judged - will ultimately judge himself - on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort.

So we part, I to my country and you to remain...

So I trudged on - to shun the dangers of comfort, and embrace the virtues of adversity...

you had to fight to stay in control of the situation

I'm often misunderstood. I mean in general, but a specific example, that recently reminded of this occurred about a year ago: I told the friend of a girl I liked (we'll call her "_____") that _____ was "fucking insane". Word of my comment got back to _____ and I was basically yelled at and told that my comment was "not cool".

What _____ and her friend didn't understand is that in my world "fucking insane" is the highest compliment that one can receive. I had to attempt to explain this to _____ but to no avail. I tried explaining that I like people that say what they want to say, are uninhibited, and possess a sense of adventure. People that are uncommon, and do uncommon things - people that mire themselves in the mundane are a HUGE turn off for me and drain me of my energy nearly instantly.

After about an hour of defending my comment I was nowhere; _____ was still pretty pissed until I pulled out the "big guns". I quoted Kerouac:

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars...

_____ finally understood, but it took me over an hour of being called some things I'd rather not be referred to as. I'm often misunderstood. Some people just "get it" though. I like those people too...

Do you ever just "crave" a song. That is, do you ever have a powerful urge to dig up a song from the past, that you haven't listened to in a long time, and just jam the hell out of it? For me, today, it was Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart, by Against Me! This song is particularly kick-ass because it features Tegan Quinn (1/2 of indie rock duo Tegan and Sara). Tegan has an angelic voice that is a great contrast to Tom Gabels' throaty salvos.

Against Me! - Borne On The FM Waves Of The Heart video

base

I'm sick of people moving away from noble ambitions and giving in to base desires...fucking sick of it. sick of time wasted. sick of not reaching for the stars while we have our mighty reach - we have a small window of time to do what must be done. sick of mediocrity, but most of all sick of pretending I'm not sick of it.

... It's time to reevaluate a lot of things and shed some things that are no longer inline with the goals that are set and the might of mind possessed. We move on in our lives, it's what we do - those near us that understand us; need us... we need them to(& too). The rest can go to hell. you've given all that you can. you come to the end of yourself. We witness not any movement to actualize change - so I'm sick.

Music? Did you say music? This is what I've been listening to: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart...

Gone too long

Blogging without anything to say is kind of pointless so that explains the reason for no posts in the past several weeks. There's really nothing to say now, but I feel obligated to blog once again or else I'll just wallow in the stagnation that has become this site.

So here goes: Things that are new that are worth talking about? I graduated, I moved, I'm going to Washington D.C. in 2 weeks...yea. This is totally not doing it for me. They say that when you leave for a long time and come back, it's never the same.

Maybe it's the fact that I have to come up with "interesting" blog posts for a living that has me so unwilling to do it for "fun". Maybe it's simply the fact that I really don't have anything to say that is relevant to the world of the blogosphere - DPRK underground nuke test? we saw that one coming - what is this malaise that has come over me?

Maybe I'm too content right now? Work is fucking fun - totally dig what I'm doing. The new place is comfortable. Graduated Summa Cum Laude (that's tits, baby). Am I not entitled to sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labor, if only for a little while? It won't be long until I'm back in the thick of the academicians' battlefield - gnashing teeth in a haze nocturnal creativity, days that tear the will asunder, and lecture halls ablaze with eager eyes which never shine as brilliantly as the mind of the foe. Pen wielded as sword; well worn pages held close as shield - we howl the weary battle cry of the lionhearted as we sacrifice all to rise amongst the ranks of the immortal few.

Since it was said, over the weekend, that I like poetry, maybe this will become a poets' blog. Here's one I like, by Tony Hoagland - reminds me of this time of year - birth and renewal; and perhaps, distantly, a special someone who's memory haunts the depths of the very soul:

"A Color of the Sky" by Tony Hoagland

Windy today and I feel less than brilliant,
driving over the hills from work.
There are the dark parts on the road
when you pass through clumps of wood
and the bright spots where you have a view of the ocean,
but that doesn’t make the road an allegory.

I should call Marie and apologize
for being so boring at dinner last night,
but can I really promise not to be that way again?
And anyway, I’d rather watch the trees, tossing
in what certainly looks like sexual arousal.

Otherwise it’s spring, and everything looks frail;
the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves
are full of infant chlorophyll,
the very tint of inexperience.

Last summer’s song is making a comeback on the radio,
and on the highway overpass,
the only metaphysical vandal in America has written
MEMORY LOVES TIME
in big black spraypaint letters,

which makes us wonder if Time loves Memory back.

Last night I dreamed of X again.
She’s like a stain on my subconscious sheets.
Years ago she penetrated me
but though I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed,
I never got her out,
but now I’m glad.

What I thought was an end turned out to be a middle.
What I thought was a brick wall turned out to be a tunnel.
What I thought was an injustice
turned out to be a color of the sky.

Outside the youth center, between the liquor store
and the police station,
a little dogwood tree is losing its mind;

overflowing with blossomfoam,
like a sudsy mug of beer;
like a bride ripping off her clothes,

dropping snow white petals to the ground in clouds,

so Nature’s wastefulness seems quietly obscene.
It’s been doing that all week:
making beauty,
and throwing it away,
and making more.

What I've been reading

It's been a pretty light week as far as homework is concerned so I've been catching up on the news ... and mindless, time wasting websites. Here's what I've been reading lately:

Time Wasters!:
* holytaco.com - hilarious article on the stages of drunk. Funny 'cuz it's true!
* textsfromlastnight.com - exactly what it sounds like; texts that you wish you hadn't sent. Much more funny than fmylife.com
* Failblog.org - My daily fail fix!

International:
* Al Jazeera - interesting article on a Palestinian version of a holocaust museum. Very thought provoking piece.
* Foreign Policy - pretty much all good.
* The Economist - Assessment of the World Bank. I had such high hopes for the WB when Zoellick took over from a corrupt Wolfowitz...sigh.

That's the stuff that I've been reading...anyone else got anything interesting to check out? Let me know!

Song I've been rocking: West Bank Blues by Reno Divorce. If you've never watched a video that I've posted before, please at least watch this one. please.