Greyhound; Preceeding and After
Cab Drivers! Wow. Interesting group, but last night's was exceptional.
A slightly older black lady picks me up and as we are driving towards the freeway she gets confused about what street we are on because of some construction work, but everything turns out fine. We drive up to the on ramp and she yells at a Hummer for no reason. Somehow this turns into a discussion about planned obsolescence, only I actually use those words and she doesn't. She proceeds to tell me how she blows the faux-riche of Scottsdale's minds with such talk. "Just because I'm a cabdriver doesn't mean I'm not smart. I drive for my own reasons."
This then segues into half a conversation about racism. I say half a conversation because she's not listening to me by this point and is instead touting her own virtues proudly. "But you know, when most people say race they mean culture. A race doesn't have innate stereotypes beyond physical traits, but cultures have behavior." I try to interject to raise the conversational level, it doesn't work. Thankfully I get out of the taxi before I get frustrated.
So the greyhound ride was simple enough. There was a theology major sitting behind me who was doing a documentary on transportation. She was asking questions, not offering too many statements, observing. First one to speak with her was a younger guy, who kept asking her how the pot was in Canada, where she went to school. She calmly explained to him that it was a bible college and he didn't quite get it the first few times. I turned around and asked her what she intended to do with a theology degree.
She gave me some answers and I summarized with "So basically you are going things that require a post graduate degree, but not really anything to do with theology." She defended her choice, but not very well, I nodded and agreed with her to be polite. Taoist monk does not start fights with Christian theology major. She asked me questions, I gave answers, I stopped talking when I revealed I was headed to a funeral.
Then a rather verbose young man started hitting on her, and did so for a rather long time. I was tickled. It was obvious after a little while she would have rather kept talking to me, as she kept striking up conversation every now and then. It was... amusing...
Christian theology major is -so- not my type. Seven hours later I wish her good luck on returning to Canada. She would have been a good contact if I felt like cultivating it but... I don't.
The insurance isn't going to pay out for great-grandmother's funeral and everyone is broke to fuck and I can't afford to do anything about it. We're looking at trying to find a place for a service on Monday then shipping her body to Kansas to put her in the ground.
I am the only Conspicuously Available family member to go to Kansas with my grandmother... Oh this should be fun...
More as it happens.
A slightly older black lady picks me up and as we are driving towards the freeway she gets confused about what street we are on because of some construction work, but everything turns out fine. We drive up to the on ramp and she yells at a Hummer for no reason. Somehow this turns into a discussion about planned obsolescence, only I actually use those words and she doesn't. She proceeds to tell me how she blows the faux-riche of Scottsdale's minds with such talk. "Just because I'm a cabdriver doesn't mean I'm not smart. I drive for my own reasons."
This then segues into half a conversation about racism. I say half a conversation because she's not listening to me by this point and is instead touting her own virtues proudly. "But you know, when most people say race they mean culture. A race doesn't have innate stereotypes beyond physical traits, but cultures have behavior." I try to interject to raise the conversational level, it doesn't work. Thankfully I get out of the taxi before I get frustrated.
So the greyhound ride was simple enough. There was a theology major sitting behind me who was doing a documentary on transportation. She was asking questions, not offering too many statements, observing. First one to speak with her was a younger guy, who kept asking her how the pot was in Canada, where she went to school. She calmly explained to him that it was a bible college and he didn't quite get it the first few times. I turned around and asked her what she intended to do with a theology degree.
She gave me some answers and I summarized with "So basically you are going things that require a post graduate degree, but not really anything to do with theology." She defended her choice, but not very well, I nodded and agreed with her to be polite. Taoist monk does not start fights with Christian theology major. She asked me questions, I gave answers, I stopped talking when I revealed I was headed to a funeral.
Then a rather verbose young man started hitting on her, and did so for a rather long time. I was tickled. It was obvious after a little while she would have rather kept talking to me, as she kept striking up conversation every now and then. It was... amusing...
Christian theology major is -so- not my type. Seven hours later I wish her good luck on returning to Canada. She would have been a good contact if I felt like cultivating it but... I don't.
The insurance isn't going to pay out for great-grandmother's funeral and everyone is broke to fuck and I can't afford to do anything about it. We're looking at trying to find a place for a service on Monday then shipping her body to Kansas to put her in the ground.
I am the only Conspicuously Available family member to go to Kansas with my grandmother... Oh this should be fun...
More as it happens.