Meme rules:
1) Post these rules before you give your facts
2) List 8 random facts about yourself
3) At the end of your post, choose (tag)
4) Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they've been tagged
1. Favorite music
Toss up between classic rock and folk / popular guitar. I like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Leo Kotke, and others.
2. Future plans
I live in the moment, which is a blessing and a curse.
3. Next vacation
I'd like to ride an off-road motorcycle from San Diego to La Paz, Baja California, Mexico. I have no firm plans to do this, but it could happen.
4. Biggest accomplishment
I like the headline from The Onion: I was placed on this Earth to put off doing something extraordinary
5. Weaknesses
Pizza, bad women, and driving too fast. I'm quite calm with cars, but things change with motorcycles. For $12,000 one can get performance equal to sports cars costing $600,000 (and the cars can't lean).
6. A few interests
Auto racing (watching, following) may be my favorite activity right now (Formula 1, A1GP, GP2, NASCAR, ChampCar, Australian V8 Supercars, MotoGP and World Superbike, Rolex Sports Car series, and SCCA road racing). I believe ChampCar is the best racing in the world.
I also read a lot -- fiction and nonfiction. I just finished reading Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series, which I highly recommend. Don't watch the moives; they're bad. Now I'm starting in on W.E.B. Griffin's Brotherhood of War series, for the second time. After that I'll probably try Griffin's other work, and then I plan to re-read Cornwell's trilogy set in the Middle Ages, probably followed by his Saxon trilogy.
7. Why I drive a taxi
I have three sets of professional skills, which I won't describe here. I don't care for one profession, so I'll never do that again. I enjoy another one, but it has been so long since I've worked in the field I wouldn't be able to find work unless I went back to school (unattractive prospect). The third doesn't pay very well and there are almost no jobs in that area in San Diego, and I don't want to leave.
So, I just fell into driving taxis, and I've found that I like it. It seems that most people with "standard" professional jobs complain about early wake times, long commutes, and, in general, a ridiculously hectic schedule. I don't have any of those things. The downside to my job: no health insurance (my doctor and dentist are both named Jose, and are both in Tijuana); a small income, relatively; and zero respect.
Here's a conversation that takes place in my cab at least once a week:
Customer: Wow, you're not like any other cab driver we have had.
Me: English is my first language?
Customer: Yeah! Also...
Me: I'm not an idiot?
Customer: Yeah.
8. I've been to almost every state
The Northeast, along with Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington, is the only part of America I haven't seen. I'm amazed that in one country we have tropical alligator swamps, deserts with rolling sand dunes, a rain forest, and several huge mountain ranges. We also have two metropolitan areas with more than 20 million people.
It's also amazing that we have huge intellectual swings. There are Los Alamos National Labs and MIT, and there are Mississippi and Arkansas.
I get a real kick out of what foreigners think of America. Fact is, we're too big and diverse to describe in a sentence. Some people think we're hugely religious, yet I don't know a single person who goes to church. Some think we're addicted to guns, and while lots of people own guns, I've never seen one in public (except for the police).
I've been to Canada, Mexico, and Europe. Why do Canadians put gravy on French fries and say "eh" all the time?
5 comments:
Sounds like fun, it'll give me something to do instead of writing about the incident. hopefully i can keep my anonymity too.
I'll give it a go but it may take a week or three.
LC
I'll do it. It might take me a while too.
PS. I moved my blog to here for some reason.
I accept your challenge, Sir!
Thanks for joining in the fun. I almost didn't do it myself.
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