Welcome to Your Friendly Neighborhood Uber Driver

Hello World!

I have decided to launch this blog in light of a new chapter in my life. A little backstory about me is I graduated from college in May 2013 and decided to study Web Development with a minor in Business Administration. I entered the work force right after I graduated from college to work at a very prestigious bank in Chicago as a Java developer. Java was the programming language we used in school. It definitely wasn't the "web development language" I thought we were going to end up learning, even though it's a very trendy programming language that's being used very widely across the world (and is even the most available job in Chicago according to Q101). I had questioned whether or not I wanted to be a programmer since my freshman year of high school (2005). When I landed my job out of college, I saw that as the test of whether or not I'm going down the right career path. A few months later, I was noticing how much success I wasn't having. A few more months later I noticed how far behind I was from my peers, including the ones who started after me. A few months after that I noticed my drive and passion going completely down the drain. I know my own sense of drive; since I was always the kid who won the perfect attendance awards, did all my homework, and even did the extra credit, I began throwing red flags. After a significant amount of reflection and realizing I was behind the starting line 2 years and 8 months later, I was excelling at all of my hobbies. It was definitely career change time for me. I spent a year and a half throwing pennies into a fountain hoping mine was the shiniest and would be seen while applying to jobs in various industries. After awhile of doing that, it was deemed I was was wasting my time and I wasn't getting anywhere. I realized what I actually want to do doesn't fit a job description and feared going somewhere else and becoming unhappy, later screwing myself over. I didn't want to go from a grown up salary to making 10 dollars an hour either. It was also hard to figure out what I wanted to do with my life as an identical twin who started finding her identity (and realizing what an identity was) at age 20, after I had picked my college major and everything. I also had no room to find myself until becoming an adult because I ended up doing everything with my twin sister (well... basically everything) until college. We also went to the same school together and picked the same field of study. My successes in my leadership positions were far greater than my working accomplishments because if I'm not making a difference and making people smile, I will feel like I'm not accomplishing my mission.

With that, I decided to launch this blog and try the "self employment" game for awhile. I luckily had a car from right after I graduated, which I took with me when I moved out of my parents' house and into the city, and kept it well maintained. Thankfully in Chicago, you only need a 2001 car to qualify for Uber and 2000 for Lyft (I have a 2004 SUV, which also qualifies because it has 4 doors). I asked around, including my roommate and my other friend who drive for Uber full time. They said I'd probably be fine and I decided to go for that (and Lyft) while picking up as many gigs as I can and focusing on creating my own personal brand. I ultimately want to be the CEO of myself and my own ridiculous empire, but for now, I need money, so Uber (and Lyft) it is!

NOTE: DO NOT JUST LEAVE YOUR JOB ON AN IMPULSIVE DECISION! I spent a year and a half trying to figure out what I wanted to do for my next endeavor, sought out much advice (friends/professionals), did my research, and most importantly, I put away some "emergency money" in case I'd struggle with the transition and not be able to make enough immediately. Worst case scenario, if I don't need the emergency money, I'd just use it as my savings and summer fun fund! I also had a previously established base of other projects I had been working on and 2 years of being active in the literary scene. The moral of the story is, don't quit your job until you have a gameplay established!

After cleaning out my car, filling out all the paperwork, and fixing body damage from a previous accident, my car was passed and ready to pick up passengers! I was super nervous, but thankfully I'm an extrovert and love talking to people. This is something completely missing from my desk job. I was legitimately alone all day. I picked up my first passenger and had a nice conversation. The second person I picked up, I ended up having to go all the way from Streeterville to Inverness (the suburbs). Subsequently after that, I decided to do "one more", since it was a Friday night at primetime hours. Of course, I'd end up having to go from Lincoln Park to O'Hare airport. I knew I'd be in for a major adventure after that. On my next adventures, I ended up picking up 2 men who looked to be in their late 20s who were on a business trip from California. I drove them from River North to a nice hotel in the loop. They were looking for nightlife activities and I suggested "Dick's Last Resort" since it was right up the street, "The Green Mill" because it's open very late, some places in Wicker Park are open til 4am, and I also mentioned there were tons of open mic nites in the city. They asked if I performed at any and of course I answered yes. I'm a storyteller and wish to share my stories through this blog, as well as I write poetry, song lyrics, and plenty more. I ended up coming with a haiku on the spot since I don't have any of my poems memorized and couldn't pull up my work from my phone because I had to drive. It was pretty entertaining at the very least. The next day, a few aimless trips through the loop and my spazzing GPS later, I told some people about the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society (one of my primary hobbies), took someone to a sushi date, transported people (including a hot and drunk English entrepreneur who thought I was cute) to various other dates, concerts, magician shows at Zanies, and much more. With one of the people going on a date, I ended up meeting a man who got into a lot of EDM events for free and discussed how to stay safe at an event (from cops and in general). He went into his tangent because I am looking to go to more EDM shows this summer as well; he also gave me some contact info for how I'd be able to write for events since that's what he does. I definitely plan on reaching out to him ASAP! Later that night, I was driving to pick up another passenger (with my car empty) and at a red light by the eastbound entrance to the Armitage and was practicing my hand movements for my light shows. I'm a glover and like to dance around with my hands. A homeless man saw me dancing around in my car and when I noticed he saw me, I giggled and stopped. He then told me thank you for making him smile. I gave him a heart and would have given him 3 dollars or so had I had small bills on me. Twenty trips later, I was 150 dollars richer for both myself and my roommate who could use the money way more than me.

Of course starting Lyft would be an adventure too. After a day's worth of running around in circles to find a doctor to remove my ingrown toenail, after filling out the paperwork a few days prior to this, I went to an Irish community center about 5 minutes down the street from my apartment. Of course, I would have no idea where I'm going and park in the opposite parking lot. I somehow found an entrance into the building and hoped to eventually where the Lyft people were to inspect my car. As I entered the building, I noticed some beautiful artwork painted on the wall and snapped a picture on my phone (more pictures are on my Instagram account, Superandroid15). While taking a picture, an elderly lady spotted me and began talking to me about how there's artwork all over the building and such. I told her I was going to meet the people for "Lyft". She thought I meant I was on a mission to go lift people's spirits. I am, but I had to explain to her how Lyft was a ride sharing company similar to a taxi service. I eventually found the people I needed to and after 10 minutes of aimlessly looking for my keys, which were in my butt pocket of my pants, my car passed inspection. I need to be more organized...

My Chicago Uber and Lyft ventures are definitely going to come with challenges, but for now, I will share my humorous encounters with passengers on this blog and spread the love to all who enter my big red rocket ship! Enjoy the loveliness and safe travels to all!

***ALSO, please like my page, Your Friendly Neighborhood Uber Driver***

***If you are interested in driving for Lyft or Uber, my referral codes are:

REBECCA569169 — LYFT CODE
mvsja                      — UBER CODE