Crazy cab drivers and match “editor” making

Going on residency interviews is like going on a tour of America  in a way. You  get to meet different individuals from varied back grounds,  from fourth year medical students to foreign medical graduates fresh out of medical school or those that have been practicing for a while to the person that sits next to you on plane, bus, train. It’s actually a lot of fun. I met the craziest cab driver during my last trip.

My interview was in Philadelphia which I have to say is a city that is rough around the edges but I digress. I took the bus instead of driving because I didnt want to drive at night and I wasn’t sure Anastasia (my fiery red car) could handle the journey.  When I got to the bus station I immediately made a beeline for the parked cabs. I wasn’t going to mess with  the subway because I did that when I interviewed in NYC.  Let me just say that was a bad mistake.

I spotted one “Nigerian uncle” looking cab driver and reasoned that a fellow Nigerian would be “safe” and I could  “sweet talk” him to taking a lower cab fare. I approached him and show him my friends address on my phone and he says confidently that he knows the address.

I get into the cab and settle comfortably in the back seat hoping to take in the sights of Philly as he drives through the city. Well, the drive was anything but relaxing   First he drove like he was car racing AND also cursed out other drivers on the road too. I held on to dear life in the backseat praying that we got to my friend’s house quickly and safely. Then he stops in a seedy looking neighborhood and ask to see the address again. When I show him he tells me that place doesn’t exist here and he really doesn’t know that address.

BLANK STARE

I had many choices

1. Unleash the dragon, take off my Christianity jacket and demand to know             why he told me he knows an address that he clearly has no idea about.
2. Keep Christianity jacket on and calmly try to figure out the address with him

Since mama didn’t raise no fool and he was a little crazy plus  choice A could result in me being kicked out of the cab in the a seedy neighborhood in a city I was unfamiliar with I called my friend so I could clarify the address.

Then he insists on speaking to my friend and grabs my phone from me. My friend clarifies the address for him and he realizes we are all the way across town from where my friend’s apartment is.

He reacts my cursing profusely with some very interesting words then before I can stop him he tells my friend on the phone to “help him out” and add some more money to the agreed fare price because getting me to my friend’s apartment would take twice the time he calculated.

 He then curses out my friend on the phone for not agreeing to add some more money to the agreed fare price. At this point I just want to get to my friend’s apartment safely because he threatens to drop me off in the seedy neighborhood.

I just kept calm because he obviously had a few loose screws and getting all “kanyed up” (I love that it’s a new word I have come up with) would just escalate the situation. Anyway, I thank Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit that he took me to my friend’s apartment in one piece.

With all that craziness with work and interviews going on I haven’t had much time to devote to the major developmental editing for my book.   I am working but not as fast as I would like too.  I am currently looking for an editor. After I really thought about it, researched it, analyzed and prayed about it, it would really be ill-advised to publish without a professional editor who has worked on novels before. I am not a grammar mafia, punctuation and grammar is not my strongest point . I am just a story teller.  I think I have met someone I really like but I don’t want to rush into the “relationship.”  Keep fingers crossed for me that I make the right decision. But I am excited yall! I can’t believe I am actually going to publish a book people may actually read J

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving!!