flOatesQue

Thanksgiving in Seattle. A first! Mad views. Great friends, in such a short time.

NY flyby. City explorations. Anniversary! Besties.

ATX fly-in. A house is not a home without you.

Back in SF. Tahoe, finally. Interesting perspectives, totally different to one another. Thankful to a math teacher, who gave her kids a great life without a ‘real job’, according to someone.

TX road trips, to far corners. Frozen weather, soundtracks of Amarillo, mad hikes, pizza hut, acai bowls?! Bars in the middle of nowhere. Ghostly drives in the mist.

“Are you from India?” 

“No”

Surprisingly, he got the next guess right!

He told us about the sanctions against Sudan and how it’s affecting his family. His wife is away and thinks he’s cheating apparently. He proceeded to tell us how men are loyal and would be nervous if they did do anything, vs women, may not even bat an eyelid if they took a similar course! 

“You know in Islam you can have 4 wives. My cousin, she’s ugly, is married to a good man. I asked her what she would do if tables turned, she said she would have 4 men every 3 months! I can’t even handle 1. See what a woman can do.”

“That’s a well kept secret. Everyone who’s new here gets on the highway, no wonder it’s all backed up bumper to bumper! I cruise down on the inner roads.”

“People here don’t know how to drive in the rain! I pull over and go watch a movie or get some dinner.”

He’s been in Austin since the 80s, and told us how it’s expanded rapidly in the recent years. We were on our way to Toyota, he told us how he loves those too, thanks to a crazy accident he survived unscratched.

We spoke about $1 being 70 Afghani and 150 Rupees. Not just a number but how much more we could do with it back on home turf. He took me to the train station, ending with a “bye bro!”

Later that day, post-SXSW, I get in another taxi, another Afghan. This time we talked about cricket! He loves the Lankan team. We laughed about the time Afghanistan beat WI (that was honestly an epic game!) Turns out he knew the guy who gave me a ride earlier too.

“Tell him I said hi! I’m sure there aren’t as many Lankans here! Ha!”

Everything comes and goes, we might as well focus on living in them passing moments of magic!

Edgewood Road was actually, yes, the edge of the woods. And then there was development and I can’t tell anymore.

He loves driving! Even all the way to Miami and back. Takes 5-7 days he said.

He has an old school rock n roll station playing in the car while we traverse the streets. His oldest son is a drifter, and has a nice set of rides.

Bill was my driving instructor who thought I didn’t really need lessons but helped me pass! I told him how driving in Sri Lanka is more like a video game, so he better tell me how to do things the better way, ha. It’s lovely hearing stories from 40 years ago, but it’s also a little sad to hear about the urbanization that makes places a little dreary.

“I’m not as smart as my friends - everyone was like hey how did you end up in America!”

Back home, he walked for hours daily, herding cattle between his village and the fields. That day he laughed about how he was aching after a short walk. Welcome to America, cars and driving around!

He looked Chinese, but without coming to conclusions I listened on. Turned out he was Afghan and translated for the US military awhile back!

I met this guy just outta college as an engineer, driving his new car on Uber just to meet people and make connections - thought that was pretty entrepreneurial! He drove around the oil and gas offices too. 

He laughed and said this, but I wasn’t sure if he was kidding! We empathized about him having a wife + daughters and me having sisters + a mom ha! But the beat-your-wife part, no sir.

Some can only win when others lose.

Others seek to win by helping others succeed.

You are looking at a beautiful porcelain vase in a shop window when a clumsy salesman knocks it over. “What a shame! Such a lovely vase!” you sigh, and continue calmly on your way. On the other hand, if you had just bought that vase and had placed it proudly on the mantle, only to see it fall and smash to smithereens, you would cry out in horror, “My vase is broken!” and be deeply affected by the accident. The sole difference is the label “my” that you had stuck to the vase. 

“You insist on diversity but, why do you hire from the same cookie-cutter schools?” #airbnblunch

Talked business, talked DJing and got interrupted, “Do you meditate and stuff? To be aware in that way?” He had just started. #lankansatcoffeeovercake

Dear Rachichi, in the first event, you gave the people opportunity to criticize you. When you did it, they criticized you heavily more than you expected. Although some people didn’t do any paintings, they criticized your painting. On the other hand, in the second event, you wanted the people to correct your mistakes. In other words, you wanted them to be constructive. It needs education to be constructive. Nobody tried to correct your painting, in other words, they didn’t dare because they didn’t know how to do painting. Dear Rachichi, it is not enough to be a master in your job, you must be wise. You can’t wait for the natural reaction from the people who don’t know what they do. According to them, your work has no value. Don’t present your work to the ones who know nothing. Don’t discuss your work with them.