the little engine that could.

The first class is finished. Phew. I took the final this morning and am moving on to Engine Repair. We will be talking about engine basics and tearing down and rebuilding an engine. In three weeks. The engines are super basic compared to what is in today's cars, but it's a great primer for understanding how it works and getting experience with our tools. I am SUPER excited about it!

This past week has been long. We've been working on labs that were challenging for me and I had a moment of nervousness and panic. It was brief but noted. These feelings were a result of frustration I got when I was required to identify parts on two different cars. Of these parts, I knew how to find two and the rest I didn't even know what they looked like. I felt extremely stupid. When I asked the teacher for help he gave the classic response, "Look it up." Ugh. I had already looked it up and still needed help. Eventually he helped me, but it was a struggle. I reminded myself that it's ok that I don't know everything right now, and that I need to be patient and keep asking questions. It feels really weird to start all over again. It's not like my past experiences where I built on knowledge I have gained before. This time, 99% of it is foreign to me. There is also the fact that I am slow (not mentally, despite snickers coming from the peanut gallery). Cautious. Lacking confidence. Insecure. Yeah, the list can go on and on. It will get better. It will probably get worse before then.

My gal-pal in class has been a great comfort. Thanks. (I let her in on my blog....she's now a reader. Welcome.)

Now on another note.....let's talk about crack. Butt crack. Three out of the seven guys in class have a serious problem with it (this converted to percentages is 42.86% of the males in class...now look at those math skills). It's not just when they are bending over either. The crack is prevalent even in the standing position. For god sakes. Get a good belt, pants that fit, or just go straight to wearing coveralls. I've debated buying suspenders for them. My partner in crime recommended that we start sticking pencils in their crack to deter the behavior. eww. I want to stay as far away from it as possible.

Then there is the guy in class (the worst crack offender) that moved from the back row to sit DIRECTLY next to me for the past two days. He could have sat anywhere. There is even an empty seat at the end of our row. He passed that one by and sat cozied up next to me. He takes regular 10 minute smoke breaks every half hour and then returns smelling like a cigarette butt. And the worst part, he burbs. Like the kind of burp you have when you are about to throw-up. It makes me feel ill. Why, of all the seats, does this guy have to sit by me? Oh, and have I mentioned his safety practices leave a little to be desired? He hooked up a battery backwards and shot sparks everywhere when trying to jump a car yesterday. He scares me. I want to stay as far away from this kid as possible.

I've also attracted the most annoying student. He's an older guy out of the army. I can't pinpoint what it is about him that is like nails to a blackboard. He got first pick for lab partners for our oil change lab, and guess who he picked? Me, me, me. You know it's bad when other students that you barely know are mouthing "I'm sorry" to you because they can feel your pain. He enthusiastically approached me later to tell me he picked me because he thinks I'm the only one in the class that seems to know when I'm talking about. Ok, so it's a compliment, but I really don't know jack shit about cars. For the lab he pulled in his 1996 camero with 150k miles on it (it has the original clutch and engine....I was shocked) and asked for my "expert" opinion. "So for a car with 150k miles on it, how do you think it looks?" "Um, I have no idea." Burst his bubble. He thought he'd discovered a great sage of cars that could guide him in mastering the art of automotive maintenance. Ha. The fact is that I can read a book and do math, so thus far, the class has been pretty easy.

I start my job on Monday. Oh, and my engine red toolbox arrived today. Alone, it weighs 20 lbs. I have to take this thing loaded with tools to and from school and work every day. I'm gonna have muscles. Grrrrrr.

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I'm in the midst of moving my blog over to blogger.com. So far posting everything on myspace has been a challenge. This week someone hijacked one of my posts and made everything link to an ad for a cell phone. So, heads up, I'll send out a notice when it's ready. Since I'm not ready to have the blog open to everyone in the world, I'm going to allow people to read it on an invite basis only. If you are interested in continuing to read it, then I recommend you message me with your preferred email. Sorry for the inconvenience.