Rising Nucleotides

Great Driver Mitch

About a month ago, I passed the road skills test for my Commercial Drivers License (CDL) class A, with tank truck endorsement and no restrictions. At last, I became Great Driver Mitch.

No doubt many of you have been wondering how I came up with that expression for my current profession. Well, once upon a time, in a land far, far away... (OK, it was Japan, but that's a land far from where I am) I think there was a manga (comic) called "Onizuka." I'm having trouble verifying this, but I hear that main character Onizuka Eikichi (family name first) was a member of a biker gang, and had all sorts of wild and crazy adventures.

Whether there was such an ancestral series, or not, there was definitely a manga, and also anime entitled "Great Teacher Onizuka." It seems that Onizuka decided that-- in order to meet girls-- he would become an O-sensei, or 'great teacher.' Dubbing himself Great Teacher Onizuka, or "GTO" (yes, he says the letters of the English abbreviation, despite speaking in Japanese), he goes on to have all sorts of wild and crazy adventures, helping out people along the way (though they usually resist at first). Highly recommended.

At one point early on in the anime, Onizuka believes that he will never get a job as a teacher, and so he becomes a long-haul truck driver. As you may have guessed, he then dubs himself "GDO" (Great Driver Onizuka). Equally naturally, this only lasts until there is a glimmer of hope that he can be a teacher again.

You know-- I've been calling myself Great Driver Mitch for a while now, and I just realized a parallel with Onizuka Eikichi for the first time. I, too, want to be a teacher. True, I don't intend to use that position to meet women, and I want to be a college professor instead of a high school teacher, but still-- the need to share knowledge... it fills me. It is neat. (Bonus points for identifying the source of that quote.)

Posted by Mitch at July 31, 2004 02:50 PM
You can find this entry in: Japanese , Me , Transportation