i am shocked! i found my old blog. i'll try to keep it up...

"Taxi Driver"....for real

I'm licensed to drive a taxi now and it can be interesting at times, to say the least.For the most part it’s not too bad. Interesting conversations, sometimes good tips, and occasionally, very rarely, a bad customer. Most of them are solid.

This is what happened this week:

I had a FUCKING CRACK DEALER IN MY CAB DEALING DRUGS!
(It may have been Meth, i’m not sure. those “rocks” were a bit big to be crack...)

I couldn’t believe it!

Here’s how it happened: Benny (the slave driving asshole that doesn’t give me a break like the other dispatchers) had me pick up a fare on (REDACTED) near the projects downtown. seemed like a nice guy,
black man, strange (Caribbean, possibly E. European?) accent, sitting on the curb waiting for me. I ask him for his destination, he’s kinda vague and just says the (RED.) Bank up the street. I do that, and then he gives me vague directions of “left” and “right” like he doesn’t know where he wants to go. Around we travel. Sometimes his phone rings. I get suspicious, but I’m too fucking polite to say anything. I get REALLY suspicious when his phone rings and he turns us around to a store, goes in and quickly out with a paper bag in his hand tightly wrapped up.

Around and around we go, finally ending up in another housing project where he has me stop in the parking lot, and he talks to some guys outside from the car. AND I TURN AROUND IN MY SEAT AND SEE HIM, WITH A BAG OF FUCKING DRUGS, CLEARLY DEALING TO SOME GUYS AND YOUNG TEENAGERS FROM MY CAB!
I don’t say anything but at the time, i’m very lightly trembling from FEAR and FUCKING ANGER that this FUCKING ASSHOLE is using me as a DRUG MULE!
Do I tell him to get the fuck out of my cab? Drive him to the police?
ARE YOU FUCKING RETARDED!? DO I WANNA DIE? GET ROBBED? GET SHOT? DO I HAVE A DEATH WISH?
FUCK NO I don’t!
My momma didn’t raise no idiot!

I act like nothing happened. I’m polite to him, friendly, try to treat him like I would like to be treated.
“Sir”, and “have a nice day”. in other words, I treat him like any other passenger. He pays my fare, gives me a pretty good tip, and then, after he’s out of the cab and not looking at me, I pull over where I can see him and START HOLLERING TO 911!

In my stress, I dial 9111. Mercifully, the programmers factored in the stress on an emergency call and 9111 goes straight to 911 without a hitch. Then i’m describing to the dispatcher my cab company, the street corner i’m at with the street names, his description (detailed) and which way he’s heading.

God I hope they caught that asshole. the FUCKING NERVE of some people! Scared the CRAP out of me.

Would I have pulled a gun on him? Told him to get out? Take him to the police? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?

An old Kenny Rogers song, “The Gambler” puts it quite succinctly: “ You gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away, and know when to run...” And I KNOW when to walk away. He didn’t bother me, and I sure as HELL wasn’t going to bother him unless necessary. besides, I was in a vulnerable position. Although he was in the “optimal position” for a ‘one passenger’ (diagonal or beside you, NEVER DIRECTLY BEHIND YOU), he still had the tactical advantage. And a gun or a vest won’t stop you from a head shot from behind. There’s not enough time to dodge . Look, I intend to live for a VERY LONG TIME. And in my lifetime, I have left poisonous snakes alone, and at other times chopped off their heads because they were in the way (true story). This seemed to be one time when I could walk away from Mister Snake and not be bitten if I “just left him alone”...

Mazen my boss, says to lock the doors and drive around until I find a cop next time. I'll do that, if I find my self in that position again. Which, I will do everything possible to avoid reoccuring, including kicking out a customer if I even THINK he's (She's also) dealing drugs or delivering same in my cab...

It's been a long time hasn't it.....?

Well, the reason I didn't write was that I was too busy with a job. That and I felt there were things about it that I couldn't write about with any loyalty while I worked there. But the Geas is off now and I don't owe anybody any loyalty ever again. I may decline to name the store or location, but now I can say what I really felt, without divulging any names, now that I don't work there anymore. Plus now I gotta find a new job, one that uses my talents in Art.

So, you'll be getting a Real sockful, of what it's like (was like) to be a Clerk at a convience store.
You'll get some good, a lot of bad and just an interesting view of what it was like to work there.

Coming soon:
The stories of people throwing change at you.
Dealing with drunk people.
and Calling the cops on people who physically and verbally threaten you.

Oh, and Yeah; you weren't allowed to carry your gun at the job for protection, even though recently a clerk got shot and killed at a local convience store after doing exactly what the robbers asked him to do and they STILL killed him. Scared the crap out of me. Made me want to quit the job immiediately/and/or buy a vest. THANK GOD I don't work there anymore.

A post! A post! My goodness gracious me!

At our anime club, HAAS, BARRY said he actually had a M1903 Springfield. I was amazed and asked to look at it. Offered even to field strip it and clean it for him if he wanted to. I don't think he will. That was a while ago and he hasn't said anything since. Still, it would have been nice to handle it....

Am getting over a cold. Still have symptoms but definitely getting better....

What else to report?

Getting ready for thanksgiving, have a lot to be thankful for. Although I don't have a job and am desperately looking for one, preferably one that uses my artistic skills. right now, I'm looking for ANYTHING, so I don't starve and we don't lose the house. My mom's going into bankruptcy proceedings and that bums me out a little bit...

But to be quite frank with you? I WISH I had my mom's position! what the fuck has SHE got to be depressed about?! She's got a JOB! (I DON'T!) She's got money coming in! (I DON'T!) She's going to be retiring soon! (I'll have YEARS before I RETIRE!) I WISH I was in her position! She gets drugs to deal with her depression, NO ONE EVER seriously dealt with my depressions! AND I'VE HAD AT LEAST 3 OF THEM! but does anyone notice or HELP ME? FUCK NO!

So there, there's a little glimpse of my TRUE SOUL.
Not necessarily always the happy guy you see on the outside is it?

Well, I'm alive.
I'm in relative good health.
And I AM GRATEFUL, no matter WHAT problems I might have.

Happy thanksgiving.

Boy it's cold!

I know I live in the south and it's far warmer than it would be if I was living in my old hometown up north, but still! damn it's cold! It's 46 Degrees now at 6 AM. Oi! I guess i'd need to move to florida to get better weather. My feet are cold! And i'm in the house! pretty soon we'll have to turn on the heater....

Ah well, summer never lasts, Neh?
But I wish it did. I still miss snow though. you CAN'T make me feel otherwise. I DO miss a TRUE winter...
And an honest to God fall and winter with the smells and the REAL cold!
Autumn, winter,
"over the river and through the woods,
to Grandmother's house we go!
The horse knows the way,
to carry the Sleigh,
through the bright and drifting snow, O!

Over the river and through the woods,
O, how the wind DOES blow!
It freezes the nose, and bites the toes!
As over the ground we go!"

It'll be winter soon unfortunately, even in the south.
But sadly, no snow.

One of the reasons I don't post on this blog...

One of the primary reasons, I should say, is because when I type my words, there seems to be a signifigant time lag that doesn't occur on any of my other blog sites. I don't know why this happens, it just is. And it upsets me for some reason if I look at it while i'm typing, so I don't. Because it takes longer if I do. I wait for the letters to appear on the screen rather than type my thoughts and it slows eveything down, making it a chore so I don't write often. So, now, I'm not looking at the screen, i'm looking at my keyboard and typing. It's faster that way.

It's not my computer because I don't get lags on other blog sites when I enter something. It's blogger.com. I hate this but Rail Claimore says it doesn't happen to him, just me. So, I've been thinking of actually typing my entry on Word maybe and then uploading it. Because the lag REALLY DOES bother me. When you're looking at your keys to avoid the screen 'cause it upsets you and wastes time, and therefore you don't write, that IS a problem...A serious one.

Another reason I don't post much is because i'm torn on whether to tell you about just gun stuff or gun stuff/CCW stuff and my everyday life. I think I should tell you as much as possible about my whole life encompassing the whole rounded person rather than just the gun/CCW aspect of my life. Don't you think? I think i'd be more intersting that way, and i'd post more too. So, I think that's what i'm going to do from now on.

I'll start now:
It's getting colder even though I live in the south. And so, to ride my bike, i've had to go out in the day when the sun is shining while it's still warmer. I can't ride anymore at night like it's Summer. Fall and Winter are DEFINATELY COMING. So, that's what I did today. The first thing. And on my ride back to my house a strange thing happened. I was resting at a park, sitting in the covered picnic area with my headphones on like I ususally do when I ride. I'm sitting there and I can see these 2 guys on bmx bikes talking and I don't wanna be rude, so I don't directly look at them and I can't really hear them with the music in my ears. But I want to be safe and keep and ear out for things so I take one ear bud out to listen to the conversation, see if they're saying anything derogatory about me (It IS getting dark. Being aware of your surroundings allows you to live longer) . Just generally keeping a head up on a situation. I actually DON'T have my gun with me for once when riding. So, I take my other earbud out 'cause I want to hear the conversation.

Slowly, it occurs to me that they're talking about bmx bikes and then I realize that they're not 2 white guys about the same age (like I thought) or 2 white guys one older than the other, but a young white guy with a speech impediment and some older black dude ( late teens early 20's?) . The black guy's trying to sell the kid his bike and the younger kid doesn't want it. He's also trying to sell some CD's and DVD's from his collection. He also tries to sell me these 3 things! I'm not interested, but I am amused! I don't know if he was trying to get money for drugs or for what he really said he was trying to sell the items (He said he was trying to raise money to make a demo for a rap group he was in) . He may have stole them, they may have been his. I don't know. But I did find it odd that he was trying to sell these items at a park to a kid! He did seem to have SOME ethics, because he wouldn't sell the kid, (11) explicit rap CD's, which I appreciated! we had a very interesting conversation, and I enjoyed talking to him, but I didn't suggest to him that he get a job at a place like walmart to fund his demo, because I was afraid he might be offended, even though I was polite all the time. He didn't seem like a drug dealer or a junkie, but he may have been new to his addiction, and then again, he could have been telling me God's own truth. Again, I don't know. I took out my pepper spray just to be sure in case he tried to rob me.

Mercifully, there was no unpleasentness. He was polite and friendly, and just seemed to be a nice guy who was trying to sell some of his stuff. Still, It was VERY ODD!

I honestly wish him well.

My friend...

Rail Claimore went shooting yesterday with a mutual friend of ours, I was happy to hear( I kinda wished that he would have asked if i wanted to go as well. Shooting together with friends is FAR more fun than by yourself!). He tried a .357 mag revolver and a .45 acp and I think several other guns, I'm not quite sure. I think he had fun. We were talking about how fun wheelguns are and I think he's been bitten by the revolver bug like me! They ARE far much smother to shoot than a semi-auto, and a joy to fire.