I Know I Was Gonna....

But I didn't.

Sorry.

I was gonna critique the Galesburg Heritage Days event, but well..... you know.

I just can't get excited about posting anymore. There's no inspiration, the words just don't come to me anymore. I have a head full of ideas but when it comes time to write them down.....

The only reason I'm posting now is that I took the day off originally because the sitter was going to be closed. Her husband kept it open, but I took the day anyway. Just to get some shit done around the house & yard without arguing kids.

What the hell, right? The bullshit I have to put up with from my incompetent boss, retarded co-workers, piss poor drivers, & customers who get upset that I'm not a fucking psychic, I deserve a "me" day.

Let me explain that last part. I go to a place of business to pick up freight. All I know when I walk in their door is: 1. How many pieces of freight I'm to pick up, & 2. What the approximate weight is.

That's all!

I don't know where their shit's going! They, the shipper, need to tell me that!
I don't know what exactly it is that they're shipping! They, the shipper, need to tell me that!
I don't know what service they want to use (Next, 2nd, or 3rd Day, guaranteed or not guaranteed). That's all information that I get from THE SHIPPER! I DON'T KNOW ANY OF THAT GARBAGE UNTIL. THEY. TELL. ME!!!

Many, many times I've had to listen to some fucking brain stem talking on the phone saying, "This guy [me] doesn't know anything!"

To which I've said, "How can I know if you don't TELL me? This is all information that I need FROM YOU if you want me to move your freight!"

Work's been bumming me out. I'm just not going anywhere, you know? My hours are still cut from 10 to 11 hours a day to 7-1/2 to 8. I need to get out. Every time I walk in that shop door, I die a little.

I need to go back to school. I've been thinking about it for awhile & by next spring, I'll be enrolled in school again.

What field? Teaching. History (or "Social Studies", if you prefer). To 6th - 12th graders.

The Wife thinks I'm coo-coo for Crazy Puffs. Not because I want to be a teacher, but because I want to teach history to packs of walking hormones! Truth is, I feel I can deal better with older kids than with younger ones.

It's something I have a passion for, history, ever since I was a kid. History never bored me & it always confused me why most people seemed to be so..... blah!.... about it.

My only problem is before I can start school, I have to get a different job.

A job that pays at least what I make now, because to tell the truth, I can't honestly say we're making it right now, & with a drastic pay cut, we'd be back in the crapper once more.

The Wife's been saying that if I need to take a job that makes less in the short run, to do it because in the long run, I'll have a degree & the certification to teach anywhere.

Heh. That sounds good..... Until the bills start piling up...... again...... and the fireworks start..... again.

Yep, we've been there before...

If there's anyone out there who's been in this situation, how did you handle it? How did you go back to school as an adult with kids and bills and such?

I really want to know.

No, I Don't Need a Drug Test, Thank You!

Now that I've got a bit of time, I can fill ya in on the truck driving nun story.

Well, it's not so much a story as an observation, but here's what happened:

'Twas the middle of last week & I was pulling my truck into a TA truckstop, where I would wait for a call from my dispatcher telling me to go somewhere and fetch something.

I sit a LOT in my current job, waiting for such calls.....

Anyway, I'm going into the TA for a (diet) coke & as I open the door, there's an honest-to-God nun coming out. I hold the door for her, she smiles, nods & passes by.

Now I thought it odd that a nun was coming out of the commercial drivers door but I wasn't going to chastise the sister. I just assumed her station wagon was nearby.

I go in, pay for my diet coke, & walk out. As I do, the Penski rental tractor-trailer nearest the door fires up & when I look up at the driver, there she is: the little nun.... in full habit.... sitting behind the wheel of an 18 wheeler flatbed hauling a fork truck.

I was.... well.... speechless!

I walk back to my truck, I know, with my jaw hanging down, staring at this improbable sight as Our Lady of the Interstate pulled out of the lot & right on down the highway.

Friends, I can honestly say "I have seen about all there is to see, truckdriving." I've seen Africans right off the boat (one of which wore a dashiki!), Sikhs wearing turbans, newly arrived Asians, Eastern Europeans, & even a few Canadians, but if you'd told me, "Wes, today you'll see a Roman Catholic NUN driving a rig", I'd've told you to go take your meds.

Of course, when I told folks back at the shop what I'd seen, my DP wanted to send me to the clinic for a drug test.....

Maybe I shoulda went....

Ah well, that's what happened. Tomorrow I'll tell about Heritage Days, but right now I need to say my novena to Our Lady of the Open Road. +

Three Years Later....

And I still don't post for shit!

It's been three years & two days since I started this blog.

I'm still wondering, "Why?"

I'll update soon. I have to tell somebody about the truck driving nun, but as I've gotta go to bed, it'll have to wait.

Yeah, I suck!