Life in Mexico
Driving in Mexico
It’s time for another tribute to Mexico’s favorite contact sport – Car Driving!
There are only nine driving academies in Mexico but nine thousand churches named after the Virgin Mary. Guess who they put in charge of pedestrian safety?
They used to have guys standing outside the motor registry who would write your driver’s exam for 500 pesos until the government put a stop to that. Now they charge 1000.
The traffic police have no problem with drivers texting; it makes it easier for them to ID next-of-kin.
In Guadalajara, everyone parks in the handicapped spots near the front of La Comer; they assume it includes mentally-handicapped.
If you ever need cobwebs to decorate at Halloween, I recommend the brake-light aisle in Autozone.
If you happen to see a turn-signal on the car in front of you, it came from the factory that way.
Subscribers to Prime Unlimited Can Read My eBooks Free!
Recipe; Tuscan Butter Shrimp
This is an easy meal to make yet it tastes absolutely terrific!
Ingredients
1 dozen fresh shrimp, peeled
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 Tsp of olive oil
2 Tsp of butter
1 cup of chopped fresh cherry tomatoes
1 Cup of heavy cream
1 Cup of parmesan, grated
¼ cup of fresh basil, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooked pasta
Directions
In a large pan with a lid (or Dutch oven), fry half the garlic in olive oil for a minute. Add the shrimp and fry for one minute per side, until pink. Remove shrimp and set aside.
Add the butter and the rest of the garlic and fry tomatoes. Mix in the cream and parmesan and simmer for five minutes.
Return the shrimp to the pan, cover and simmer for another 3 minutes.
Serve on pasta and garnish with chopped basil. Enjoy!
Book Review
Hail Mary
By Andy Weir
Yes, it’s a major motion picture staring Ryan Gosling, but before that, it was a science fiction book!
And not just any science-fiction book, but a throwback to the golden era when the titans of the genre – Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke – wrote about science fiction, where ion thrusters hurled titanium ships between stars, and if your space suit got hit by a micro-meteor, you were instantly turned into a frozen meatball!
Some unknown microbe is eating the sun; if it isn’t stopped, the star will dim to the point where it can no longer heat the Earth, and all of humanity will die.
Ryland Grace, a former astro-biologist and space nerd, is plucked from his job teaching high-school and launched toward Tau Ceti to find the antidote. When he gets there, he meets up with Rocky, a strange life form from the planet Edi which is facing the same problem as its star dims.
They become buddies and set out to figure out a way to save their planets. Naturally, they face all sorts of obstacles that are overcome using quantum physics, molecular chemistry and duct tape. This is classic nerd fiction, so for all those hard-core geeks out there, I highly recommend Hail Mary!
TV Review
Man on the Run
Streaming on Amazon Prime
Like every other fan, I was traumatized by the break-up of the Beatles. Having grown up with their happy, upbeat music, it felt as though it was a betrayal. Everyone searched for fault; it was Yoko! No, it was their manager!
Man on the Run goes to great lengths to set the record straight. Using footage and contemporary narration from Paul, as well as archived interviews with John, the documentary walks its audience through the real reason.
By the late 1960s, the Fab Four had been together virtually their entire adult lives, and had pretty much exhausted their combined artistic inspiration.
And, they grew up. The touring and endless studio sessions had begun to wear, and their priorities had shifted to families and solo careers.
But that didn’t mean it wasn’t traumatic. When the band split up, Paul found himself adrift, not knowing what to do with the rest of his life. Fortunately, he found Linda Eastman, and the two raised a family in the wilds of Scotland.
But you can’t keep a ham like Paul off the stage forever. They eventually formed Wings and toured, forging a new sound and re-engaging with fans around the world.
The documentary ends with the murder of John in 1980, with Paul’s reaction to losing his best friend. The documentary is informative and poignant, encapsulating both the euphoria of their success and what came afterwards when the world moved on from Beatlemania. I highly recommend Man on the Run!
Bonus Book Review
My Sister, the Serial Killer
By Oyinkan Braithwaite
How can you resist a title like that?
The book is set in Lagos, Nigeria, where the hero is a nurse named Korede, who is full of love, empathy and dedication to her family.
The latter, of course, proves to be her problem. Her younger sister Ayoola is an incandescent beauty who enthralls the heart of every man she encounters. In fact, they are dying to meet her, because Ayoola has a penchant for stabbing them in the ribs.
Poor Korede is called upon to cover up the heinous crimes rather than see her sister go to jail. She becomes adept at cleaning up blood with bleach, wrapping corpses and dumping them in the lagoon.
Until, of course, the family of Femi, her latest slain paramour, pays the police to look more closely at his mysterious ‘disappearance’. The detectives come snooping around, setting Korede on a path of despair. This is a mordantly humorous novel in which you’ll find yourself rooting for the hapless nurse and her psycho sister, hoping they can slip the law’s clutches. I highly recommend My Sister, the Serial Killer!