Stop. Just stop.

As Hunter S. Thompson used to say, “Big darkness, soon come.” As I type this, tribes are applying body paint, preparing to draw lines and snort them up. Among those tribes, the two who will be transporting warriors deep into the kill zone, there are those loading up on fuel, dash cams and mace. More on that momentarily, I need to sweep some items into a neat little pile.

Light posting here? Things came up, running a house, dealing online poker. Plus, I created this site as an outlet for creative writing rather than rants. For the last few weeks, fiction has taken the driver’s seat. Those pieces will arrive soon, if you’re keeping score at home.

In the interim, chronicles from the mean streets of Phoenix will undoubtedly land here. It’s ASU homecoming this weekend which means, I’ll be staying out of Tempe, turning my apps off if I land there. Instead, I’ll be capturing the valley’s overflow of smartly-dressed meatbags. The last thing I want in my car is a bunch of juiced-up Sun Devil fans, especially if the Huskies upset ASU at home.

We’ll see how it goes, I haven’t driven for Lyft or Uber (Lou) in almost a month. FB chatter has been that the picking are slim. If someone reports that they averaged $20/hour, the thread gets a couple of WTGs but most comments give a poor accounting of their own night. The worst I see is $4/hour for ten hours on the road or rather, a few minutes on the road and 9 ½ hours sitting in a convenience store parking lot.

Personally, I don’t know anyone who would drag themselves out of bed for $4/hour but for Lyftees (those Moonie-eyed drivers who get a tingle down below from the thought of a pink moustache), pennies an hour for Lyft brings more happiness than a handjob in church.

On FB, I’ve ribbed the Lyftees and the insipid “Lyft culture” which assumes that the other ridesharing company is a concern of complete douchebaggery. Lyft, OTOH, is “wacky” and “oh-so-hip” and somehow, a much more compassionate service. Brainwashed by the fistbump (the meaningless accolade Lyft awards drivers who do things like drop off food boxes to Wal-Mart employees), the Lyftees did cartwheels when it was announced that the company had some kind of promotion with Justin Bieber.

I’m not joking. Justin Fucking Bieber. If Lyft was trying to develop hip cred, the Beebs pretty much shot that notion in the face and then tumbled its faceless corpse down the side of a mountain to a band of hungry bears. Apparently, racing your car down a crowded street after you’ve had a couple of cocktails gets you a fistbump.

What Lyft calls a fistbump, most everyone else calls fisting and really, Uber’s fist fits just as far up one’s ass. The only difference is, Lyft tries to tickle your colon while they’re up there, using drivers from its phony-assed “community” to do the finger wriggling.

Not everyone buys that bullshit, however, and from what I can tell, most drivers who swing both ways do so with the understanding that the services are nothing more than a vehicle for making some extra cash (puns are extra, though). At least, that’s what I get from most of the FB posts or chatting me up out front of a QT.

Lou is a pisspoor way of making money – the earnings are nothing like what either company promises. The pink moustache is just evidence that someone drank the Kool-Aid. Although I might take a few Lyft calls this weekend, I’m keeping a Monster in my console. And, if anyone requests Justin Bieber, they’re getting a face full of pepper spray.