Shortcuts - Tim Heider

Car: 2006 Scion xA

Previous Cars: 1994 Honda Civic sedan and a 1992 Ford Ranger.

How’s your commute? From the bedroom to the kitchen —

unemployed (but with a physics degree).

Cheapest Gas? Whichever gas station is closest whenever the needle drops below E.

What’s wrong with your car? Girls don’t like it.

What do you listen to while you drive? Music, mostly. Sometimes I listen to folk metal from Norway...occasionally, when I want to have some fun. When I’m feeling blue it’s mostly indie Elliott Smith.

Do you use your cell phone and drive? I try to pull over whenever something must be done, and I definitely pull over when I read maps.

Any good hitchhiking stories? Do people still hitchhike? It’s sort of a dead art, so unless you live in a hippie camp or are in Europe, I don’t know when that would come up.

Tickets? Running a red light when I was talking.

Accidents? I backed into some golden car once. I just didn’t give a crap, and I just learned how to drive. The front of their car was totaled but mine was fine.

What is your favorite drive? I like driving out the 67 to the forest. I’m a little into that nature stuff.

Where do you typically experience the worst traffic in San Diego? That 5 North pinch at Del Mar! It’s awful.

Your best ShortCut? Probably the best thing to do is to avoid main roads and freeways and use the streets that they used to use before the freeways were there: Mission Gorge from east to west; Genesee, north to south.

What is your dream car? Something a lot like my car but with a little more space. I’m really into efficiency and I’d like to be able to fit my surfboard in it. I heard recently about the BMW i8, which sounds interesting.

Do you use any shortcuts in real life? Buddhism has recently taught me some helpful pieces about learning to not let things that you can’t change affect you. But most of that stuff, as Charles Bukowski would say, just gives you something to do until you die.