I know I've already published this as a note on facebook but I feel it's worth republishing...
1. Choose your friends very carefully and love them with all your might; they might just reciprocate.
It's risky I know, but your true friends will love you back and that dear readers makes it all worth it. Quality over quantity...
2. It's might be hard to forgive and forget; it costs more to hold a grudge.
Who needs to live with that negativity anyway?
3. Mr Right beats Mr Right Now.
The man worth crying for will never let you shed a tear; tears of joy excluded of course.
A man is a hard to find but a real man will find you.
4. There's no shame in learning from others' mistakes.
Why put yourself through unnecessary grief?
5. Compromise is not a sign of weakness.
Do you wanna be right or do you want to be happy?
6. There's a difference between religion and spirituality.
Your relationship with your God need not be dictated by anyone but yourself. By now you should know the difference between right and wrong anyway...
7. Somethings are better left unsaid.
Enough said.
8. Appreciate every moment of solitude.
The most important relationship you will ever have is the one with yourself.
9. There is so much more to life than material wealth.
You are not gonna be buried in that car; when you reach the Pearly Gates St Peter is not gonna emulate an Ackermans advert and say nice loafers and Satan certainly is not gonna wanna listen to your mp3 player.
10. Life goes on...
Friday, September 17, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Confessions Of A Gay Cab Driver
So here I am at work with two hours to kill before going home to my three dogs (Brüno, Dexter and Snoopy) and two or more episodes of RuPaul's Drag Race (season two). With this two hours I'm gonna briefly let you (the reader) into the world of a cab driver in Cape Town.
I am Eugene Mathews. I'm currently 27 years of age, I'm an out and proud gay man and due to circumstances (that I can barely recall) I am currently a cab driver for Rikkis Urban Safaris. I also work in the call centre, assist in the marketing department, occasionally help out with the allocating of vehicles to drivers and cash ups (supervising) and lately I've been helping out in the workshop (last Friday I help our head mechanic swop the driver's doors of two cars and the week before that I was involved in the dirty job of replacing a front shock absorber). Such butch work but I'm loving every moment of it, even the greasy bits.
In the beginning I received a little resistance from a couple of my (straight) colleagues because of my obvious homosexuality but that prompted me to be even more flamboyant than I usually am and a year later I find myself missed when I'm not seen at work. Yes I've had a couple of altercations with one or two narrow-minded colleagues and superiors but patience and an above average wit helped me gain a whole lot of respect and love. A love of beer certainly helped my cause but that's beside the point at this time.
As time progressed I adopted a Sasha Fierce-type sub-personality who I've sinced dubbed Materia Girl (we use Daihatsu Materias as our vehicle of choice, rocket science calculations are not required). The Materia Girl is a character who is loved and feared in equal quantities, she works at a rate that scares even me at times. She has performed death defying feats such as driving from the BP in Somerset Road, Green Point, to the airport in 9 minutes which wouldn't be as impressive if she weren't driving an automatic Daihatsu. She's driven to Stellenbosch from the Foreshore in 21 minutes. Kalk Bay? 19 minutes thank you very much. She's patient and fun with clients but never does she allow herself to be walked over. She never receives speeding finds though and has only been in one car crash but that's only because a drunk woman in a Polo braked too late. Being the Materia Girl is hard work though...
It all starts when walking towards our depot. The walk changes to something similar to what Beyoncé does when performing Get Me Bodied. My hair somehow becomes more flowy, my posture changes and all problems and issues outside of work matters no longer. The real fun begins once I receive my car though...
My job is one that's unpredictable at best. I could drive an American couple over Chapman's Peak with close to zero visibility due to fog or pick up a shady character in Gugulethu who'll turn out to be a most useful future contact. One client from Hout Bay has even become one of my favourite facebook friends.
It isn't all moonshine and roses though; being a cab driver, especially at night can be a pretty dangerous profession. Drunk drivers drive kamikaze style, cab drivers from rival companies are always ready to fight (sometimes physically) for a customer and the opportunity to be hijacked is omnipresent. At the end of the day I do know that I am saving the lives of the drunk and entertaining the not as drunk whether it be with my at times strange sense of humour or my at times strange taste in music.
Once upon a time I was embarrassed to be doing what I do but as I've grown in my job and as a person, so has the shame faded. Best you know when I ain't working I refuse to drive, but that's a story for a future blog.
Work is scarce in this beautiful city of ours so while I'm doing what I'm doing I might as well do it to the best of my ability. Cab driving is not what I plan on doing for the rest of my days, my levels of potential does not allow it but what a fun way to make a living in the meantime!
Materia Girl aka LTI Lady aka Quantum Queen.
I am Eugene Mathews. I'm currently 27 years of age, I'm an out and proud gay man and due to circumstances (that I can barely recall) I am currently a cab driver for Rikkis Urban Safaris. I also work in the call centre, assist in the marketing department, occasionally help out with the allocating of vehicles to drivers and cash ups (supervising) and lately I've been helping out in the workshop (last Friday I help our head mechanic swop the driver's doors of two cars and the week before that I was involved in the dirty job of replacing a front shock absorber). Such butch work but I'm loving every moment of it, even the greasy bits.
In the beginning I received a little resistance from a couple of my (straight) colleagues because of my obvious homosexuality but that prompted me to be even more flamboyant than I usually am and a year later I find myself missed when I'm not seen at work. Yes I've had a couple of altercations with one or two narrow-minded colleagues and superiors but patience and an above average wit helped me gain a whole lot of respect and love. A love of beer certainly helped my cause but that's beside the point at this time.
As time progressed I adopted a Sasha Fierce-type sub-personality who I've sinced dubbed Materia Girl (we use Daihatsu Materias as our vehicle of choice, rocket science calculations are not required). The Materia Girl is a character who is loved and feared in equal quantities, she works at a rate that scares even me at times. She has performed death defying feats such as driving from the BP in Somerset Road, Green Point, to the airport in 9 minutes which wouldn't be as impressive if she weren't driving an automatic Daihatsu. She's driven to Stellenbosch from the Foreshore in 21 minutes. Kalk Bay? 19 minutes thank you very much. She's patient and fun with clients but never does she allow herself to be walked over. She never receives speeding finds though and has only been in one car crash but that's only because a drunk woman in a Polo braked too late. Being the Materia Girl is hard work though...
It all starts when walking towards our depot. The walk changes to something similar to what Beyoncé does when performing Get Me Bodied. My hair somehow becomes more flowy, my posture changes and all problems and issues outside of work matters no longer. The real fun begins once I receive my car though...
My job is one that's unpredictable at best. I could drive an American couple over Chapman's Peak with close to zero visibility due to fog or pick up a shady character in Gugulethu who'll turn out to be a most useful future contact. One client from Hout Bay has even become one of my favourite facebook friends.
It isn't all moonshine and roses though; being a cab driver, especially at night can be a pretty dangerous profession. Drunk drivers drive kamikaze style, cab drivers from rival companies are always ready to fight (sometimes physically) for a customer and the opportunity to be hijacked is omnipresent. At the end of the day I do know that I am saving the lives of the drunk and entertaining the not as drunk whether it be with my at times strange sense of humour or my at times strange taste in music.
Once upon a time I was embarrassed to be doing what I do but as I've grown in my job and as a person, so has the shame faded. Best you know when I ain't working I refuse to drive, but that's a story for a future blog.
Work is scarce in this beautiful city of ours so while I'm doing what I'm doing I might as well do it to the best of my ability. Cab driving is not what I plan on doing for the rest of my days, my levels of potential does not allow it but what a fun way to make a living in the meantime!
Materia Girl aka LTI Lady aka Quantum Queen.
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