The crazy taxi drivers I've met

I've taken my fair share of taxis in DC, New York, and all over the rest of the world. And to be fair...I've met some of the strangest people.

This is a list, which I will inevitably have to add to, of up to now, the craziest encounters I've had with taxi drivers.

1.  Place: DCA

A Middle Eastern looking guy who would not stop ending every sentence with "sir", which is really annoying after about 5 minutes. After I tell him where I wanted to go, he starts with small talk, no big deal, but then, he says: "Would you like to hear some poetry?" Against my better judgment, I said yes. He start reading his "poems" with were all just filled with puns. The only line I can remember from it is "knights of nights" and it went on with bad word play for a good 15 lines. Yeah... when you don't have control of a language, please don't make pun-y poetry.

2. Place: SoHo

After a late night, my friends and I didn't feel like taking the 7 train home to Queens, and then a bus to my parents place. So we decided to take a taxi, somewhere near Williamsburg bridge. This guy is irate from the get go. Granted all NYC cab drivers are really aggressive and they have to be, but this guy was something else. Long story short, I have the window open on the backseat driver side, he tries to cut off a car,he gets hit by the car and I almost get my arm crushed. This leads into a giant curse fest, while driving, and of course the other car is a tricked out rice burner filled with Asian guys who think they're tough. Driver gets called a "fucker", leaves, and now has a dent in his taxi.

3. Place: My house

When a cab picked me up, the first thing I notice is this guy is white. There's not many of those, it's like finding a four leaf clover, it may be lucky or it's just a shitty piece of grass. He has this way of talking where he sounds like Garyson Keillor from a Prairie Home Companion, just much less interesting and a lot less folksy. Since we ran into some traffic on 395, he decides that that was a good time to read me some poetry, because "You looked like somebody that would enjoy it". I didn't think this could get that bad, considering this guy at least has a good control of the English language. He proceeded to read me some bullshit about snow days. The kicker is the poem, throughout, was an alliteration of the letter S for snow! If a 10 year old wrote it, it would have been great. He was not 10. Then I asked him who his favorite poet was, he replied "I don't read poetry". OF COURSE YOU DON'T JACKASS! Or you'd realize you suck, and your writing skills rival that of an 8th grader. 

4. Place: Midtown Manhattan

I generally trust cabs I get in midtown Manhattan. They've done this for years and are generally too busy to fuck with you. NOT THIS TIME! A couple of our friends hail a cab down and we wanted to go downtown, this guy pulls up and I tell him where we need to go. The first thing he says is: "I have no clue how to get there, you need to tell me". He then goes on to explain how we're, literally, his second customers ever. He started that day, had one passenger, and then us. I ended up having to GPS this guy to where we needed to go. What are the chance in New York to get the guy who started THAT DAY and has NO GPS.

5. Place: DCA

This nice Indian man is the driver, its late and I've had a really long week, all I really want to do is go home, shower, and sleep. This is when I still lived in Rockville, so the ride from DCA to Rockville is a good 30 minutes. I can't remember what it was, but there was a recent report about something dealing with US foreign policy. I tend to stay away from politics with cab drivers, but this guy made some off handed remark about how the US shouldn't be in Iraq. After a little chatter about Iraq, he decided to take the conversation to Afghanistan, which lead to Pakistan, which lead him to a giant tirade about how much Pakistan sucks and why we, the US, should go in there a show them what's up. Yeah... don't talk politics with cab drivers, you don't know what crazies will emerge. 

Home Sweet Home

I know I don't write enough about the DMV, though I live there. I only assumed that the people reading this (surprising I have hits in Russia (never been) and Singapore (never been, didn't know I had friends there)), are mostly around the DMV area or know me some how, some way. Still, DMV area is pretty awesome and important to me.

So check this out. Pasta Mia in Adams Morgan is fantastic. It's a small restaurant, < 20 tables, that's very crowded. Cais, Alina, and I went there on a Friday night at 9:30pm and there was a line out the door, and we had a good 40 minute wait. The wait is well worth it though! First off, everything there is under $20, which is great for me, since I'm trying to save money to go to Istanbul. Second, if you're a read wine fan, get the "best best choice" Chianti. At $28 a bottle, you can't really beat it, there is also a house red option for $18 which everyone else seemed to get. 

The menu is quite simple. All the pastas you can think of, in simple sauces. You got your tomato, spicy tomato, Bolognese, pesto, cream, garlic and olive oil which can be paired with any pasta you want. Thankfully, they have a list identifying the pastas, because I would have been shit out of luck. I got the gnocchi Bolognese, Alina got a flat pasta in a Bolognese sauce, and Cais got thin pasta in spicy tomato. I think I won out on the decision. The Bolognese sauce was meaty in a very good way and not overly salted. You could still taste the tomato base. The gnocchi was soft and slightly chewy, which is great, because most places you get this dense piece of dough or it's so soft it's almost gelatinous. Cais's thin pasta with spicy tomato sauce, not so great. It was simple and well done, but wasn't my thing. It was fairly spicy, but not something I can't make at home. Alina's pasta was good, the wide flat pasta and the sauce was about the same, just with slices of fresh mozzarella on top which made for a great addition, I just got shredded some sort of cheese. 

For dessert we got the tortufo, which is chocolate hazel nut ice cream with powdered chocolate on the outside and a nugget of vanilla ice cream in the middle. It wasn't the greatest thing I've ever had, but it was still pretty damn good.

All in all, Pasta Mia well worth the trip in Adams Morgan. Oh and don't try to change anything on the menu, not allowed. 

Travelers never know where they're going, tourist never know where they've been

I finally booked my next big trip to Turkey. This is exciting, my first trip into the Middle East and travel with someone, Cais. Since I am going with someone, whom hasn't been out of the country ex. Jamaica, I kinda have a plan. I tried to get a long layover in Europe, but I also wanted to fly Star Alliance to get an upgrade to first class (I travel a lot and have a lot of miles, so I wanted an upgrade), so I only get 2 hours in Zurich, which is fine. 

So now here's the plan, not very detailed but it works:

2 days Istanbul --> 1 day Bursa --> 1 day Bergama and Balikesir --> 3 days Izmir --> 2 days Istanbul. 

I know there's thing I need to see (Hagia Sophia, Cisterns, Roman ruins, etc) to do (hot springs, Turkish baths) but I want to do something off the beaten path. The wish list for now:

1. Learn about Sufi-ism

2. Make it to Van or somehow aid in earthquake relief (I guess I'll figure that one out when I'm there)

If anyone else has ideas or recommendations, please let me know!

 

The NBA and the 1%

I think everyone knows I'm a little bit of a socialist, or at least I have leftist leaning ideas. I don't think I need to go into the facts that I side with the OWS people. I want to draw attention to one case where, I feel, really illustrates why the 1% suck, need to be taxed more, and need to shut the fuck up.

So, if you have noticed, there's no NBA season. There's a lockout where the players and owners can't come together on a collective bargaining agreement. The issue at hand is the question of profit sharing of $2 billion. The players association wants a 52:48 split of this profit, while the owners are asking for a 50:50. Granted 2% of $2 billion is A LOT of money, $80 million to be exact, and I understand why the players would want this. There has been a rift between the players, some of whom are willing to accept 50:50, but the superstars are not. Many see this as another case of billionaires arguing with millionaires and both of them suck. But look at it this way: The average NBA player has a paying is high, no doubt about it, but it's still around $300,000, compared to the highest paid player, Kevin Garnett, at $27 million. For most of the average bench or role players, their salaries probably mean a lot to them. They don't have endorsement deals, they don't have huge savings, they don't have the luxury to not play the game. So, cutting 52% profit to 50% is understandable to them. At least they can get paid again. Yet, the top 1%, the superstars that make more money from endorsement deals and selling out are blocking this because that 2% difference will probably go more to them than anyone else. That's greed. That's putting your greed well ahead of the general benefit of everyone else, whom the greedy call "teammates" and "brothers".

I'm not trying to say somehow that even the lowest paid NBA player is somehow the 99% and is the blue collared working man. What I am saying is that, the top earners, regardless of profession, have a tendency to screw everyone over, for a small gain in their own bank accounts.

I hope there is an NBA season, mainly because I want to see LeBron fail, over and over and over. More so, I hope the kids that aren't making millions in supplemental income from Sprite, or jersey sales, or Nike, get back to playing basketball and getting paid. LeBron is still making money selling Miami jerseys, but I'm pretty sure the Branden Haywood's, the Eddie House's, aren't making money whilr sitting at home during the lockout. They aren't the 99%, but they are equally getting screwed over from by the 1%.

Just a thought....

Vamos vadiar agora, agora vamos vadiar

I just got back from capoeira with Tebogo of Livre Como Vento under CM. Denis. It ended up being 3 people including myself  and we ended up just playing capoeira for a good hour, game after game after game. I got my ass kicked mostly, but I felt I had a couple good shots in there...

We all then went out for beers and of course the conversation always revolves around capoeira. The discussion was started by why CM Denis decided to go to a more Angola style. The former CdO group, now Livre Como Vento, doesn't like to peg itself as capoeira angola or regional or contemporary, which I fully understand. Many mestre's have shared this sentiment that capoeira is just capoeira, we all just come together and play together. I really agree with this sentiment. Capoeira should just be about coming together and getting your groove on, whatever style you prefer. It's like dancing, sometimes your rhythms match well, sometimes it doesn't, and only rarely, very rarely, does it come together and make something magical. 

I think I'm come to my wits end with cords and groups. I really like the movimento novo idea thought up by Nestor Capoeira's son Itapua Abeiramar. No groups, no logos, no cords, just vadiar. I don't see a need for staunch defense of groups and having to stay within your own group or only promote your own group. It's selfish to say the least. I am apart of Grupo Senzala and do like it, though I'm horribly detached from it. But if I had a choice, I'd love to just go without any group and do what I do already. I don't really want to be judged by the logo on my pants or the cord around my waist. Just let me be me and I'll let you do your thing, then maybe you can make something beautiful 

Any who, that's really just rambling. Sorry to Jesse of CECA, got in too late on Monday and couldn't visit you guys. Thank you to Tebogo of Livre Como Vento  for a great time in the roda. Now... I need to ice my ankle, that crackling sound can't be good....oh yeah and egészségedre.