like if I was going to write an autobiographical account of being a bike messenger (which I was for 8 years, tbc for anyone who didn't aleady know) I'd make it - or try to make it, at least - a lot more compelling than the day-to-day reality of being a bike messenger, which is full of both banalities and inspirations to muse on the human condition and meaning/meaninglessness. moreso than most jobs, perhaps, since it really strips the Sisyphean futility of most jobs - endlessly repeating the same task w/o ever advancing toward any kind of ultimate goal or meaning - down to its essence
in fact, the best bike messenger novel by a huge margin - that I know of - is Godspeed by Lynn Breedlove (the vocalist of Tribe 8, and a courier in his day I believe), which is about a totally different era of messenger culture - the halcyon paper days of the 90s, vs now when it's basically all food - but captures better than any written or filmed depiction I've ever seen the reality and especially feelings of riding hella fast thru traffic all day at this dumb, more dangerous than it's worth, vaguely countercultural job and the (mostly stupid) air of rebel cachet it imparts, as well as really interesting depictions of queer life, sex work, punk rock, and how all those things related to each other, in the milieu of 90s pre-gentrification San Francisco.