JOURNAL

Basic training at the new gig is almost over. Final test tomorrow before I slide into the day to day grind of the thing. Feeling entirely comfortable about the driving portion of the test. Feeling a little nervous and anxious about the written/verbal part of the test. The two are combined for a total score to pass or fail, so hopes are reasonably and realistically high that I'll make it through to the other side. Past experience and related experience since should help seal the deal.

All this week my training class got broken up into groups of two for continued and final training. I've been doing great, excelling in many places even. Today my fellow trainee was let go, however. I feel bad for the guy, he was a genuinely downright very nice person, but he just could not grasp the scope of the job and was a downright horrible driver. I mean, as a driver, if you're horrible, you can't expect to last. So i saw it coming by Tuesday. It was still kind of a shock to see him get the boot today, for some reason. Maybe because he was given so many chances and so much support? But, if you can't take the support and second chances and grow, learn, and adapt - well, there's really no hope for you. I hope he lands on his feet. He's from Kenya and has a wife and seven kids back there who we supoorts and wants to bring to the United States. Bittersweet on multiple levels. But. I'm ultimately just focusing on myself and getting this thing done.

I've formed really great and fun conncections with two of my fellow trainees. We have a lot of fun, laughs, inside jokes already, and have been great assets and support to one another. It's been rough this week to not be with them in class, to be honest. Our position is seniority based, and the three of us are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in seniority in our class. As you can imagine, we have a lot of silly and stupid yet fun references for our little circle. And, as luck would have it, the three of us are the ones doing the best out of our entire training class. We all want to work out of the same garage, so I'm really hoping that pans out. Even if we don't get same route/work schedules, it will be great to run into them at the garage and have that continued connection and bond.

It has been stupid hot all week with no sign of it letting up until the middle of next week. Image above is from today. Ruthless. I've rambled on enough about how much heat and I don't get along. But being outdoors for a good chunk of the day at the new job while this shit is going on is just taking it out of me in more ways than one and I'm over it.