funny the way things work

so over dinner, i was bitchin about the shock of being back in ny. i really do miss europe and the sense of freedom. it may seem ironic that i freer than ever in a totally foreign land, outside of my comfort zone, and unable to speak the native language. after the eurotrip 07 it really dawned upon me that i had no idea where i was going with my life. is an mba the answer for me? sure, i scored well enough on the gmat to go to a top 15 but i've come to realize that going to a good school won't crystallize my cloudy vision.

i was also hating on the fact that i live sooo far from the action in ny. it took me literally one hour to cover the 50-block distance to my home on 108th street because the damn 1 subway line was down, the B and C trains refused to come after waiting for 20 minutes, and no empty cab was to be seen for 15 minutes. i was pretty damn pissed that it was this difficult to get home.

but funny how things seem to happen for a reason. the cab driver was quite entertaining as he began to spout off about america's arrogant stance regarding third world countries. you see, the driver was bangledeshi and he was especially pissed off about an incident in 1998. that year, bangladesh found oil but did not have the technology to extract it. exxon came in and said they'll pump the oil and give 25% of the profit to bangladesh. their government obviously wanted and even 50%. so the driver claimed the american government forced a coup d'etat within the bangladeshi government in order to establish the 75%/25% distribution exxon originally asked for. he went on to say that many countries are secretly rooting for china to come up in strength and bring the world's balance of superpowers back in check after the fall of the kremlin gave the US ultimate say in international politics. he almost demanded me to go to any 3rd world country and ask its citizens why they hate america. i bet he would have driven me to one if he could.

mind you, the driver was quite ferverent in getting all this off his chest to a total stranger. i can see rivers of sweat streaming down his temple and perspiration beads form on his nose and cheeks as he drove me towards 108th street. i had to roll the window down because it was getting hot as hell. if i lived on 150th street, he might have just spontaneously combusted in his seat. that totally made my day and reminded me why i actually do like living in ny. the randomness.