So happy to still be here at day 42. Yesterday was a very stressful day and I did have some cravings creep up. I worked through them with some internal motivational speeches but the stress didn't help things.
I got up at 2:30 AM, too early for continental breakfast, and the trainer, two other students and I headed out to Pasco, WA. A few hours later we were standing around in a small trailer serving as the local road test office. Hector, some guy from another company was testing for his school bus license. He went outside with the state tester and after a half hour the state tester came back in informing us that Hector had failed his pretrip inspection. Bad news but he wasn't one of our own. Still, a bad omen as he was the first guy tested and failed rather quickly. One of our students went outside to test. He passed the first phase, the pretrip inspection. He passed his backing tests and then was on the road with the state tester. While we waited our instructor received a phone call. Another student and friend of ours testing down in Oregon was doing his road test and ran his rear tires over two curbs. Automatic fail. Very bad news as this is not only one of our associates but a buddy and good guy all around. On top of that, he was skilled. And he failed. I was getting pretty stressed at this point. A few minutes later the truck pulled into the lot and our student got out of the truck visibly upset and crying. He walked to the back of the trailer and was talking on the phone. The state tester came in and informed us that this student had ran his rear tires over one curb. Automatic fail on the Washington state road test. Terrible news. Now I was really stressing. I went outside pacing and did some pushups off the picnic table as the state tester was inside eating his lunch and talking to the other student and our trainer. I paced back and forth, going inside the trailer, getting too hot and nervous and then going back outside to pace some more. The state tester asked who wanted to test next and the other student who had not tested yet and I hem and hawed as we offered the other to go first. The state tester made it easy and told me that I am next. At this point I was near the point of passing out. My hands were cold, clammy and sticky. I felt dizzy and sick to my stomach. He grabbed his clipboard and we stepped outside to begin the process.
Three and a half hours later I drove the truck back into the yard with the state tester. I passed! I missed a bunch of items on the test but since it is a pass or fail situation, you either get your CDL or you go back home to come back the following week. I would not be returning as I now had toughed out the worst part of this whole process.
My three weeks are now officially over and I'm sitting here at a gas station - mini mart - bus station - truck stop inside the driver's lounge and I'm waiting on my 12:20 bus back to Tacoma. Once I leave I should be there in a little over 9 hours. I'm thankful I can kill some time online as they have a wireless hotspot here. They also have one of those crane games whereby you insert your quarter and work the joystick guiding the crane and claws to grab a stuffed animal. So far I have won some weird little stuffed guy with little shocks of green hair holding a heart (2 of these), "Bumble the Abominable Snowman" from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, an unnamed giraffe and some little smart mouthed stuffed kid from The Cleveland Show. Score! One man's casino gambling habit is another man's toy crane habit. Anywhere I go I have to gamble against the odds using my incredible crane operating skills to win useless toys. It's been a bad habit since those early days playing the chance games and cranes back in Seaside Heights, NJ. I've been hooked ever since. Don't get me wrong I am not proud of my crane game addiction but it is what it is.
