my god those city buses are enormous. today i spent two hours with two coworkers doing vehicle familiarization on the newest (most expensive) buses to join the school's fleet. and holy schnickies was i nervous. i even contemplated sleeping through the ordeal. but i couldn't let myself not be prepared. so instead i let myself off by being a little late to the thing. i was supposed to be there at ten. i'm a sad sack. but that's beside the point. i was nervous and excited and when i got there (there were two of us veteran drivers doing this) our co-worker/trainer (e) asked me if i wanted to go into the office to calm down and i said, "no! let's do this! i'm excited!! let's go!!" and within minutes we were off learning all the neat knobs n' compartments and ins n' outs, naturally.
first off, it's big. well it's slightly bigger than what we've been used to driving and what we've been trained to drive. and it looks (inside and out) very much like one of the regular old city transit buses (except that its painted blue n' white with the school logo n' whatnot else). it's equipped with two double doors and its a keyless ignition! yikes!! there is one key, and that is for the front doors. all the dials are analog and there are a few new have-to-get-used-to-that numbers thrown in for fun, for practicality and, in my opinion... to up the driving anty.
one of the more troubling things is not only its size but the fact that there is what's called a break retard (or something to that effect) mechanism which may well in fact be beneficial to brake problems, brake shoes, brake pads, brake drums, et. al. what happens is that when you take your foot completely off of the gas air is released into the engine and some other really technical stuff happens which causes the bus to slow down almost instantly. but i never knew "coasting", or not being able to rather, was going to be such a concern. not being able to coast to the stop sign/light will take quite a lot of getting used to.
second biggest thing to adjust to? turn signals. since so many of the turn signal arms have either been badly ruined or completely wrecked on previous buses they, the infinitely wise and well-meaning mechanics in the shop, have installed foot signals. yes, we are going to have to signal by the grace, timing and force of our lower limbs. they'll soon be taking the recognizable turn signal arms off and we will all be signaling left or right with our left feet while we strive to temper the amount of pressure on and off of brake and gas pedal. aaahhh!! it's like i'm forced to tap dance or else. yeesh!
i had fun though. i was a nervous, dry-mouthed wreck.. but it was great to learn a new skill and to gain just that much better of an understanding as to the actual off-campus route.
i'm nervous, of course, about getting my schedule this saturday and having to let that sink in before the following monday that we actually have to start again. i hope i get decent routes n' times. also, there are supposedly about a hundred some odd rookie drivers (what am i saying? i still think of myself as a rookie driver!!) yikes! more competition? i'm really awful at competition. by that i mean, although i may have a bit of a competitive streak in me yet, i'm not always at my peak! i'm not always performance ready; not always on. aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!
d tells me to just keep my eyes open and to put all my baggage (sp?) aside this quarter. he tells me to just be myself and to, as often as possible, do the opposite of what i would ordinarily do inasmuch as social behavior pattern(s) anyway. i think that's a good idea but we all know that a good idea is, sure, one thing but a great idea is like a one in a million thing. or i don't know. what does that even mean?
oh no. i think was far too verbose in answering sharon's sexy survey. eep! blah blah blah BLAH BLAH BLAH blah! why? why do i do this? why?! i know why. i'm trying to make those generic fortune cookies be true.. whether i like it or not!
later on today, an entry about charm.
5:23 p.m. - 2003-09-16
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