The night of the living dead began with a man who makes wooden legs for a living. Ok they’re plastic. A few months ago I actually drove around his boss/CEO. I obviously told him that I drove her around and he apparently has never met him or her. He works day and night to create human limbs for the disabled. He told me he loves his job, but he is always leaning over standing. Hurting his back.
Next was a CNA who told me how the homeless people have moved to Bellingham, due to being a sanctuary city. Not exactly sure what this means, but she said people from North Dakota, California, New Mexico, and Arizona didn’t want homeless people. So these states created laws to stop more and more homeless people from staying there. My passenger said they literally moved the homeless people to Washington. I found it difficult to believe, but it’s a strange world.
I went to the airport to get another passenger. Sure enough I got a lady who was coming home from a trip down to Olympia. The purpose of the trip was to utilise her research grant. She is conducting research on how to assist students with their administrative issues online and in person. I told her back in 2013 I was a research assistant at the University of New England for the pro vice chancellor. I was tasked with enriching the university with online learning techniques from other educational institutions. It was a simple task and quite intriguing. I had no idea how many different ways there were. My passenger told me that students can have different styles to learning, which can be difficult to implement as a unified educational tool. That’s true, because me personally can get distracted and demotivated. I have to be interested in what I’m learning or my mind will wander and make the course difficult for me to complete. We chatted at length about new technology that needs to be invented to assist students in achieving their goals.
The following customer was an El Salvadoran lady who teaches at an elementary school. She teaches English to the little ones. I asked her after if she teaches Spanish also. “No” was the response. Her preferred language is English. Me too.
Ping! Next lady was a former U.S. diplomats daughter, who is a hobby videographer. Her name online is currently Wolf Spirit. She is thinking of changing it to something more edgy and to try get paid for it. She does all kinds of videoing including people playing videogames and other things like nature. The most fascinating aspect about this lady was she had never lived in the USA until the last five years. She is in her 20s and lived in Mongolia, Belgium, and other parts of the globe. Being the daughter of a diplomat meant moving from country to country and never actually seeing her country of citizenship. What a strange isolating life it would have been. Every time you would get comfortable, you would have to move again. She now lives in Bellingham with her fiance who is American. Her evening consisted of watching scary films including Cabin in the Woods and Split. I have seen both and are very well done.
Next customer was a lady who broke some furniture and needed to get some more sent to her flat. Then a teacher’s aid. Costumes I saw were wookies, Rey from Star Wars, Spider-Man, a gecko, cats, witches, vampires, where’s wally (waldo), Pikachu, Darth Vader, pumpkins, and penguins.
My next customer was a lady from Alexandria, Egypt. She didn’t have an accent, but picked up I was Australian. She had returned from a six month trip of Europe. Australians everywhere apparently. My passenger wanted to have a beer with me, might I still had many more rides to go.
After dropping her off. I got a pickup at the docks. He travels to Tahiti in his boat to fish for Albacore tuna and sells it. He is retired, but fishes for the joy. He went too far west one time and ended up in New Zealand. He joked about selling guns to Australia or New Zealand on the black market. I didn’t find him very funny. “I’ll sell guns for fish”. I changed the subject. His life before fishing was working in the mining industry. He used to transport groceries and equipment back and forth to the offshore oil rigs. A tool pusher on the rig would request a Sunday newspaper. My grandad was always needing a paper on Sundays, he still does. One time the paper for the tool pusher was obliterated in transport and my passenger had to go all the way back to pick it up another fresh one. Wow what a pain in the butt.
Next I had a wizard and a tigress in my vehicle. They loved that I was Australian. They had just gotten back from New Zealand and adored Hobbiton. I dropped them off at an oyster restaurant in downtown.
Got another couple who loved Australians. One said they had Aussie exchange students and were a really pleasure to accommodate. Ha, we try.
At the airport I picked up a passenger who flew in from Kentucky. His dad used to work for Jim Beam. He on the other hand works for the state government working in finance. His retirement plan consists, of him moving to the Caribbean, learning how to sail and buying a sloop. Island hopping until he carks it. Doesn’t sound bad at all.
My final passengers were a skeleton who was turning into a wolfman later. Following on another bloke who had trick or treaters, who I even gave candy to since they were at my passengers door. He works as a carpenter and his partner a teacher. My uncle was a carpenter. We chatted about his profession. It’s mainly an apprentice style career path. Learning on the job, rather than getting training before.
Finally this thirsty Thursday is complete. Next is fruitful Fridays. 4 trips uber and 10 trips Lyft. Halloween was a blast. Busy but fun.
