I passed my test!!!
I am now officially a licensed Commercial Driver. I went to the MVA yesterday and took my driving test. It was so incredibly stressful. The trainer who took me was not one that I knew and he wasn't really a big one for the talking. So that made it slightly more stressful because it was awkward. However, it took a surprisingly short amount of time. I wasn't sitting around waiting for hours like i expected too. I only had to wait about ten minutes before i started the test. The test itself was not short of course. It was about 45min for the pre-trip, an hour on the range exercises and then an hour on the road. The inspector took me up 355 to 270 and all around. Several people cut me off or nearly collided with me in an attempt to merge in front of me. Fortunately all accidents were avoided (obviously). Then as i was getting off the highway an ambulance started up its siren right behind me. I swear they must have paid them to do that just to make sure i knew what to do. It was too perfect. I was half sure i was going to fail because on the range I had to pull up in every exercise, which i usually never have to do, but i guess i was just to nervous to do the parallel parking or the alley dock exactly right. I don't think i even needed to pull up most of the time, i was just so paranoid about hitting a cone and instantly failing that i erred on the side of caution. Then on the road I thought i was doing really well, but then after i went under an over pass he asked me if i knew the clearance of the bridge i had just gone under. I had not even looked. I had passed under it on the way there and I remembered checking then, but the number completely escaped my mind. Well, that was not enough to fail me apparently, though I'm guessing that if i had managed to wedge the bus under an over pass or scrapped off the top of the bus i would have failed. lol. But i didn't and I passed!!! When I got back to shuttle I saw John and Rene and everybody and told them and they were all very happy. I got congrat's and hugs and then the dispatch manager told me that i had not choice I had to become a dispatcher. I am actually really okay with that idea. I would in fact be really pleased. It's a 75 cent pay increase and I would get to have some work hours in which i was not driving. I am licensed to do it now, but I still don't like it that much. I'm sure once i learn my routes I'll settle in, but i don't think I'll ever really relish the time i spend driving. It's stressful. I did find out by shifts, or most of them at least. I need to get a few more training sessions/drivers orientations out of the way, and then I can drive my routes. I do have one problem though. As a new driver i am required to work one grave yard shift. Mine is from 12:30am until 3:20 am. That's fine. I got an easy route and i don't have class the next day. My problem is going to be getting there and back. NiteRide doesn't service my area, or anyplace near my area actually, and no buses run that late. So i have to figure out a way to get to work and back once a week. Well, so far the only plan I've come up with is to get a NiteRide as close to my neighborhood as possible and then walk from there. It's still a long walk. As far as I can tell, the closest that I can get a NiteRide is the intersection of Berwyn House Road and Route 1. It's still at least a mile and a half from there to my house according to Mapquest. I plan to walk from here to there tomorrow to make sure I can walk that distance. After that the only problem will be the fact that i have to walk it at 3:30 in the morning. I'm not sure I should be advertising this plan, as I'm pretty sure not too many people I know will like this idea. It is the only plan so far aside from paying ass loads of money i can't afford to take a taxi or something. I don't think it will be a huge problem. I mean, greenbelt road is a pretty populated road right? ...maybe i should get some mace?
oh and I got a call from that guy again!!! He called me and asked me to a party, but he wanted a snap decision. Initially i thought, "No! I shouldn't go!" but then i decided to call somebody to get a second opinion. Sadly, i couldn't get a hold of anybody. I really just wanted confirmation that I had made the right choice, but nobody would answer the phone. Well, then i started to panic. I started to think that i should go. I should call him back, say I'd love to go and get all dressed up and...but that was where my plan ended. I couldn't imagine going to a party with this guy. I hate those kinds of parties, plus it was painfully obvious that this guy only wanted one thing from me. I mean every time he asks me out (or himself in) its clear what he's looking for. so i shouldn't go...but really isn't that what all guys are looking for in the beginning. So maybe i should go and just not get drunk and sleep with him and keep him coming back? Isn't that what your supposed to do? But does going to some stupid party even count as a date. Not in my book. Then I start thinking that this is why i don't date. Because I won't take any risks. I mean i have found perfectly solid, legitimate reasons to reject every guy that has asked me out. (except for the guy i avoided on the grounds that he 'just gave me the creeps' though i still stand by that one). I think maybe i aught to take this risk and go to the party, but at the same time going to an unknown party where you know no one and with a guy you hardly know just doesn't seem like the brightest of all ideas to me. That seems like the kind of risk that you are not supposed to take. You can see my problem. I almost called him half a dozen times. Instead I sat down to have a nice long, crazy one sided IM conversation with Jesse's away message. (A rant to which she later responded simply "1 I love you, 2 You're crazy and 3 that was damn entertaining.") It was too late to call him back and go to the party, but i started to think that i really should have gone. It was a perfect opportunity to take those risks i regret not taking all the time, to do something kind of crazy and possibly wind up with a life as a result. I was afraid that i had not gone because i was a chicken, and not because i was rational and/or too self respecting to go out with a guy like that. Then i started to get mad because how in the hell can one guy with a thirty second phone message make me call in to question my entire approach to life. Why should i start questioning my life because some guy was hoping he could get laid if he got me drunk? I mean, what the hell is that?
So, yeah. That's my life at this point in time. Except for the fact that it's also that time of the month...no not my period, silly. It's time for the monthly game of 'How Is Erin Going to Pay her Rent?' And this promises to be the most funnest game yet, cuz Erin has no freaking clue and neither does anyone in her family. :D That's happy.
Wow, and this post started out so happy. Marvel at my supper stressing out powers!
oh and I got a call from that guy again!!! He called me and asked me to a party, but he wanted a snap decision. Initially i thought, "No! I shouldn't go!" but then i decided to call somebody to get a second opinion. Sadly, i couldn't get a hold of anybody. I really just wanted confirmation that I had made the right choice, but nobody would answer the phone. Well, then i started to panic. I started to think that i should go. I should call him back, say I'd love to go and get all dressed up and...but that was where my plan ended. I couldn't imagine going to a party with this guy. I hate those kinds of parties, plus it was painfully obvious that this guy only wanted one thing from me. I mean every time he asks me out (or himself in) its clear what he's looking for. so i shouldn't go...but really isn't that what all guys are looking for in the beginning. So maybe i should go and just not get drunk and sleep with him and keep him coming back? Isn't that what your supposed to do? But does going to some stupid party even count as a date. Not in my book. Then I start thinking that this is why i don't date. Because I won't take any risks. I mean i have found perfectly solid, legitimate reasons to reject every guy that has asked me out. (except for the guy i avoided on the grounds that he 'just gave me the creeps' though i still stand by that one). I think maybe i aught to take this risk and go to the party, but at the same time going to an unknown party where you know no one and with a guy you hardly know just doesn't seem like the brightest of all ideas to me. That seems like the kind of risk that you are not supposed to take. You can see my problem. I almost called him half a dozen times. Instead I sat down to have a nice long, crazy one sided IM conversation with Jesse's away message. (A rant to which she later responded simply "1 I love you, 2 You're crazy and 3 that was damn entertaining.") It was too late to call him back and go to the party, but i started to think that i really should have gone. It was a perfect opportunity to take those risks i regret not taking all the time, to do something kind of crazy and possibly wind up with a life as a result. I was afraid that i had not gone because i was a chicken, and not because i was rational and/or too self respecting to go out with a guy like that. Then i started to get mad because how in the hell can one guy with a thirty second phone message make me call in to question my entire approach to life. Why should i start questioning my life because some guy was hoping he could get laid if he got me drunk? I mean, what the hell is that?
So, yeah. That's my life at this point in time. Except for the fact that it's also that time of the month...no not my period, silly. It's time for the monthly game of 'How Is Erin Going to Pay her Rent?' And this promises to be the most funnest game yet, cuz Erin has no freaking clue and neither does anyone in her family. :D That's happy.
Wow, and this post started out so happy. Marvel at my supper stressing out powers!