foolproof plan

Until [very] recently I'd been keeping track, in my tiny mind, just exactly how much snow had accumulated this winter. This is no longer either possible or necessary. How do I feel at this moment you ask? Tense. I have to move soon. There are so many details. The Devil Is in the details. I should give myself a break. And some credit. I don't know maybe you should too. Who are you anyway? Why are all these sentences so short?

Following a dreadfully cold and painfully depressing weekend Monday came as some relief. I drove a bunch of people around town [one or 2 at a time] and they payed me for my service. We talked and talked some more and they seemed an odd combination of emotions. They are worried about their jobs but they feel like something special is happening in Washington or maybe not. They are young. Going to college in Autumn. They are old and in pain. They went to the movies. They are Irish or originally from Bangor Maine. They are foreign workers on an oil tanker. They work at the mall. They voted for the other guy.
Sometimes they almost cry. And somehow it all works perfectly.

happy

I had three decent nights this week and the other two weren't horrible. So, considering I'm working Saturday night as well it should be a good week financially and I can start to catch up on some bills. Sunday will be reserved for football only. There are only four teams left so there are no frauds left like the Giants for example. Hate the Giants.

My heart wants Arizona but my head says Philadelphia and Pittsburgh will face off in the big game.

They [them who decides such things] let me go home early tonight and so, after my version of the evening martini I revisited "Adaptation" staring Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper and Nicolas Cage. This film easily makes it into my all time top 25. There's a scene near the end when both brothers are hiding in the woods and talking:

Charlie Kaufman: There was this time in high school. I was watching you out the library window. You were talking to Sarah Marsh.
Donald Kaufman: Oh, God. I was so in love with her.
Charlie Kaufman: I know. And you were flirting with her. And she was being really sweet to you.
Donald Kaufman: I remember that.
Charlie Kaufman: Then, when you walked away, she started making fun of you with Kim Canetti. And it was like they were laughing at *me*. You didn't know at all. You seemed so happy.
Donald Kaufman: I knew. I heard them.
Charlie Kaufman: How come you looked so happy?
Donald Kaufman: I loved Sarah, Charles. It was mine, that love. I owned it. Even Sarah didn't have the right to take it away. I can love whoever I want.
Charlie Kaufman: But she thought you were pathetic.
Donald Kaufman: That was her business, not mine. You are what you love, not what loves you. That's what I decided a long time ago.
Charlie Kaufman: Thank you.
Donald Kaufman: For what?

Chesley and Jerry

This "Miracle on the Hudson" thing is absolutely amazing to me. Pilot Chesley Sullenberger had the knowledge and experience to react in a totally stressful situation. He kept his cool and gently landed the plane on the river [the only place he could have] saving all 155 people on board. This man is a true hero and this is probably the most uplifting news story since Rush Limbaugh got busted for drugs.

Naturally this was the talk of the evening. One woman I spoke with said that god must have been with them. I asked her why god put that flock of geese in front of the plane in the first place but she did not know.

Sullenberger. Sounds German.
Anyway I digress as people often do.
This week we lost one of our favorite customers. It came as a shock because the dude was only 44. Heart Attack. Jerry was always joking and laughing and even though he had problems like everyone else he would never leave us without a laugh and a tip. All week the drivers have been trading stories about Jerry. I remember one time he asked me to drive around the rotary 5 or 6 times just for the fun of it, roaring laughing as we spun 'round.
Once while I was on the dispatch desk I completely forgot him and he waited way too long for the cab. The next time I drove him I said hey man the ride is on me, my treat for messing up but he'd have no part of it and even tipped me a little more than usual.
People live on in our memories and in our hearts.

Well, it is minus eight fahrenheit right now at 5:00am with an expected high of 16. That's not counting wind chill which is a concept I have my doubts about anyway. I mean I think its usually an exaggeration. I should sleep. Goodnight you little buggers and keep warm please.

Life or Something Like It

My final fare on Monday night was an interesting one indeed.

He had missed his train and so decided to have dinner and then take a taxi home. The service was apparently horrible at the restaurant including being served the wrong food. He talked about a cleaners where he had dropped his laundry to be washed and folded but they only ran it through the dryer without washing it.
"None necessary" i said when offered an apology for his rant.
He went on to tell me that he just does not like people at this point in his life. He had just gotten out of jail where he had to stay for a long time, more than four years.
My first reaction was to want to know what he had done to deserve such a fate but it didn't feel right to ask. If he wants to tell me he will and that's it that's all there is.
I continued on toward his home which is in a particularly run down section and as we drove he told a horrific story of losing a daughter to a drunk driver. After that, in his words he "lost it."
This drunk driver actually killed 2 girls in that accident and was released from prison after only around two years, less than half of his own sentence. He never said what he was convicted of but at this point that seems a minor detail.
Now he's involved in helping drug addicts to get their lives turned around and plans to make a career out of it.
I salute this man.