Nire

Second semester has begun.

I thought people grew more mature with age, but this apparently is not always the case with automotive students. Previously, my instructors explained that we were technicians, while the apprentices were mechanics. There's a certain professionalism that goes with being a technician that mechanics lack, or so it was explained. Most of my class is composed of mechanics. Many of them aren't even very good at what they do. I don't understand why you would pay $5000 a year to fail. Officially they will pass, but I think it's unacceptable for the person who works on my car to only be right 60% of the time. If this is an accurate sampling of the automotive world, it's a miracle anything gets fixed.

This year we lost a couple people from our class. Good riddance to one of them. One of the others I knew casually, but the third was OR, my good friend from last year. He was about the only person I hung out with, because no one else seemed to want to hang out with me. Almost every day, if I was out in the lunch room first, when other people came out (people I considered friends), they would go sit at a completely different table from me, and when I called them on it, they'd tell me I should go over to where they were. Maybe I'm making too much of it, but there's certainly a distinct feeling of being mildly avoided.

There are other things I don't feel like going into right now, both in and out of school, but suffice to say this year so far has been a lesson in loneliness.

Over the summer,  I managed to get a job at Kal Tire, and the people there at first were great, fantastic even, There were one or two douchy guys, but that's always true. My 'boss' SW is just awesome. He's my best friend at work, even though he's the one who hired me. I had to have a second surgery over the summer, for the same reason as last time, and he was really understanding. I wound up having to take two months off, but the job was still there for me when I was ready. Unfortunately most of the people were different, and they weren't as good as the people who worked there before. These days, it's only when SW is back in the shop working with us that I actually can tolerate or even enjoy working there again.

My instructors this year are just as cool as last year, especially Mr A. He's a geek too, it's awesome. Most of the time when he'll make some joke or a silly pun, I'll be the only one to get/enjoy it. A kindred automotive spirit to be sure. I imagine there aren't many automotive sci-fi nerds out there. Mr M (not the electrical instructor) is this year's voice of wisdom, like a less strict Mr P (though if you follow the rules, it doesn't seem like there are any, in Mr P's defense).

That's about all I've got for now, maybe I'll post again before the glaciers arrive.

( So I went to a Muse concert. They've been my number one favorite band since high school. It was incredible. )

I still have post-concert paralysis.

 I'm really getting sick of the attitude they show the non-automotive instructors. They've come to the conclusion that Math and COMM are worthless jokes, and they might be straightforward courses, but that's no reason to disrespect the instructors. It's for this reason that they can't find instructors that want to teach these courses. No one wants to teach automotive brats except automotive instructors.

I've always done my best to be polite, even if I don't like the instructor or the course. A bad course is not the instructor's fault necessarily, especially if they're not using a textbook they chose, and with instructors you don't like, it's best just to keep under the radar and try to be liked by them even if it's not mutual. It saves a lot of pain and suffering.

Racial slurs are just plain appalling. My class seems to have zero respect for my math instructor, and it's getting to the point where I want to punch people. They just yammer on at each other like it's still lunch time, play distracting games, sneak out as soon as attendance is taken... I know some of it doesn't hurt me directly, but it still pisses me off to see them treat the instructor like she's trash. Yes, the math is review from high school. Yes, you worked ahead in the book. If you're going to be a douche and not pay attention, at least do it quietly, and don't degrade the instructor just because you feel it makes your penis bigger. Show her the same respect you show Mr P. Math may not be weighted as heavily as Mr P's classes, but shut up and work in the easy courses, and you just might offset your screwups where it really counts.

( Read more... )

This is Boba Fett if he was a Transformer. Made out of wood.

So I've just written a brake quiz, on which I scored a 90%. This semester is shaping up to be even better than the first. Instead of Mr S for theory I now have Mr K and Mr Z has been switched with a guy named Mr P in shop. Mr P is likely the greatest thing on two legs, or I suppose three since he walks with a cane. At least, he carries one with him. Mr K and Mr P are both rather no-nonsense, very intelligent guys. All of the grief I went through last semester trying to cope when half the class was constantly disruptive and wasting time is likely going to be much less, at least when either of them are around.

( DOPPELKUPPLUNGSGETRIEBE )

I suppose I'm just sort of rambling now, and my friend AS has arrived with two whole pizzas and refuses to share so I should go stare at him until his hair lights on fire.

So now it's almost the end of the semester. I haven't really felt that busy busy, but I suppose I must be because I don't really have time for much of anything. Electronics is done forever, which is a shame because I loved the class. Mr M (the ELEC teacher) is actually retired and 'on loan' as it were. At the end of the last class, my friend OR invited him out drinking, and then it came out that Mr M plays the accordion. Awesome. I didn't do spectacular on the final, but I blame Senteo and it's stupid way of letting you enter numerical response. I did fantastic on the midterm (92%) so I expect there will be some adjustment of the Senteo mark.

( Anyway, here's what I missed reporting on. )

 This week was a little tough, but mostly because of the surgery. I spent the week catching up on missed module reading, tests, and worksheets and watched my partners do all the work in shop. I really wanted to do more, and I felt like I was cheating by not doing very much, but I do have a perfectly valid excuse, it's just a matter of reminding myself that it's valid, too.

Our engines are pretty much disassembled at this point, though we've left the camshaft bearings in, and all the extension plugs. We've started measuring everything to make sure it's all in spec, and I do mean EVERYTHING- camshaft lobe lift, crank main journals, connecting rod journals, crank bore, piston bore, piston clearance, piston rings, valves, valve bores, it goes on and on. All bores, and the parts that fit into them, and the clearance between the two. Somehow, there are few things more satisfying than getting exactly the same micrometer reading as your partner. It means you've both done it right, and it's worth a high-five.

( Because I missed entries for the first couple weeks, I have some exposition to do. )

 So I think this is necessary, and it will probably save some typing later. Wednesday morning, I woke up feeling like crap. Every day leading up to then was a little worse, but Wednesday I gave up on the day. Partway through shop class, I had to ask my instructor to call Campus Security, and they escorted me to health services, where I spent the rest of the afternoon. From there I was taken to the ER, and fortunately I didn't wait an obscenely long time in the waiting room itself. It was about two and a half hours before I was called in and told I would get the next bed. Much better than the woman next to me who had been waiting four and a half hours. 

I guess this needs a little bit of background. About a month ago, I was diagnosed with a cystic mass 11cmx9cmx8cm. My doctor referred me to a specialist, and I was waiting for the call back with the appointment time. For some years before the diagnosis I'd been plagued by chronic pain, diagnosed as various 'brush-off' conditions that basically said 'we don't know what's wrong with you, but you should go now'. I even had an ultrasound around about the time my car was stolen (Sept 08) that came up inconclusive. This all led up to the beginning of August, when I was rushed to Sheldon M. Chumir Urgent Care with severe abdominal pain. They took an x-ray (something I think should be used as a last resort because of radiation, or at least do it after an ultrasound) and decided I had a backed up GI tract and sent me home. After a (several) post-hospital check-up with my doctor,  I was sent for the fateful ultrasound that actually found something to put a name to.

( The adventure continues. )

I set my alarm incorrectly. It happens sometimes, but orientation day wasn't the best day to do it. At least I set my phone to go off an hour before the orientation actually was supposed to start, so I managed to get underway not too much later than I wanted. As planned, I parked at my Grandma's and raced uphill to campus. I was a little late, but I didn't miss too much. The 'orientation gift' was actually pretty nice- a mini portfolio thing with the SAIT logo on it. Probably would have cost me $15-20 if I bought it myself.

( Orientation Day! )]

 I wasn't exactly sure what it was all about until after I got there. I was very lost, and there was a frustrating number of disorientingly obnoxious high school students crawling around. Eventually I found my way to one of the many, many registration booths and got a guest tag, and some info on what was around. I checked out some of the competitions, and gave the Try-A-Trade a shot. There was a tire changing race, and in the round I was in, I won with 55 seconds XD The guy hosting the event had the record at 40 seconds. He told me I was the fastest girl by 25 seconds, which was some nice validation. I picked up some swag, including a keychain tire pressure guage I won, and overal felt a little better about going into a trade instead of university, like everyone else I know. It may sound silly and naive, but I'm going to shoot to be one of the top students in the class.

I also picked up some $70 steel-toe boots, which isn't bad at all. Just some plain black ones, kind of like the boots that were stolen with my Honda, except steel-toe. I'm strangely excited about it; I can't wait to drop something on my foot, or have a cart crashed into the back of my heel, just so I can laugh at pain's feeble attempt to strike a blow. Working at Greenhouse, I never crashed any of the one-ton steel racks of plants into the back of my heel, and we're suppsed to pull from the front. They warned me that if you're not careful, it can and will sever an achilles tendon. Working at Grocery Store, which was after Greenhouse mind you, I crashed a 15-lb cart into my heel not once, but twice. WTF. It stings. I'm REALLY glad I didn't have any mishaps with the one-ton carts. The boots come up past my ankle though, so I'm protected from crashing carts as well to a much better extent than before. I like my open-back runners, but they're not so good for cart-crashing.