The transmission that died and was reborn has died again, so I just finished driving from Santa Rosa to Bakersfield in 2nd gear (55 mph/4,000 rpm.) When conditions were just right I could sneak it into drive, but any more than the slightest bit of gas or brake would make it disengage, instantly sending the rpms and my heart-rate screaming into the red. Anyone whose ever had to nurse a tranny knows it can take years off your life.
Fortunately, Fresno was along the way, so I unloaded all my extra cardboard and supplies at Cisco’s and we turned it into signs:
The headline quote by Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner is possibly my all-time favorite. While we all know we need to do something right now, the question is is usually “what?” First you have to ask yourself what you want to accomplish, and then take stock of what talents and resources you have that can be applied towards that end.
Once I’d seen enough of the world to understand just how sweet I had it, spending my time trying to make it sweeter seemed like a waste: what I wanted to do was help others. Back then the answer to the question “What’s the most useful thing I can do with the resources I have to alleviate human misery?” was simple: “Collect warm clothes from rich people, pack them into my truck and give them to the poorest people in the coldest places I can find.” Like freewayblogging it was a simple idea, easily and relatively cheaply accomplished by one person with a car that seemed sketchy at first but turned out to be deeply fulfilling and a hell of a lot of fun.
But then something happened (funny story — remind me to tell it sometime) and I discovered that large, legible signs are not only incredibly cheap and easy to mass-produce, but that within certain easy-to-adhere-to guidelines are constitutionally protected for posting on public property - including freeways — and that when you set your mind to it, you can not only reach millions of people by doing it but that it’s deeply fulfilling and a hell of a lot of fun.
Now the answer to the question “What’s the most useful thing I can do to alleviate human misery?” is “Whatever the fuck it takes to get Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and the Republican Party out of power.” For me that’s to put signs on freeways and whatever else it fucking takes to get others to do the same. But for you, right now, probably the most useful thing you can do with what you’ve got is to stop, take stock and seriously ask yourself “What’s the most useful thing I can do with what I’ve got?”
And say a little prayer for my tranny.