happy postings!\

today i feel good. much better than at the end of yesterday. it was amanda's 21st so there was much partying. and i wore a pink strapless dress and white shoes that make me much taller while simultaneously wrapping around my legs. and in this ridiculous outfit, i did an unknown number of shots of tequilla and beerbongs. and i was having a blast! first time i drank with sar, as opposed to the usual result of me picking her up drunk. not that that isn't fun. cuz it is. but drinking with friends is a lot more fun than i remember. and real friends REAL FRIENDS don't make me feel embarassed when i have to ask for trashcans. last time i urled, it was miserable. i had to be helped into the shower by this girl i had hooked up with the day before and was dressed in clothes that didn't fit. my friends, during most of this, were in a back bedroom having some kind of multi person sexual adventure. ugh. but not REAL ULTIMATE HOMIES! this special breed of coolness lets people drive really nicely and walk me to my door, following my bumblebee path to make sure i dont get lost along the way.

anyway the point is i have now earned a reputation as a good driver. the transportation manager sent out an email that a lady from UCAR (think NCAR table mesa, think badass research) sent to him, complimenting the drivers sent to drive a group visiting from all over the world. how freakin cool is that?!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello:

I work at UCAR and arranged to have a 44 passenger vehicle transport our guests during our meeting time frame of 3/22 - 3/25. This email serves as a letter of appreciation for
the following drivers: Charlie G., Grant and Denise. Our meeting guests
let me know that the drivers were responsible, punctual and drove safely.

I can't emphasize enough how much I appreciate their efforts!

Thank you very much for such great service!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
i am a happy busdriver.

i'm avoiding hw right now. i know someone who would tell me to stop wasting time and to get my shit done. pfff. whatever. i can't focus. not sure if it's cuz i don't care or cuz i'm tired or what. i just can't get this crazy linguistics shit done. i'm spending my time trying to figure out what happens if i don't turn it in. i'm not about to stay up all night doing this assignment. blah. i'm talking online to this guy i dated in hs, if i could even call it that. it's a whole lot more fun than breaking words into their syllabic structures and using the sonority hierarchy to decide where stress falls. blah.

i like waking up early to sun pouring into my room. today it was not sun, though. just frigid air since i turn the heat off at night. 77$ utilities bills are not cool, folks. so i layed in bed wishing i had a remote control to turn the heat on before i had to get out of bed. alas, no such luck, so i grudgingly rolled out of bed and into house shoes and a hoodie. even my flip flap isn't moving, because there is no sun reaching boulder today.

one of my best friends from high school is coming up though, and that's exciting.

also, who's up for lazer quest this weekend?!! let me know, so we can make it happen!

it's snowing(!). i want to be excited about it because i love watching it come down. but really, i want it to be summer. i miss those hot days where i could wake up and jump in the pool to start my day.

today i drove to denver in a 40' 44 passenger bus. it's called a 'super transit'. the hardest bus to drive, it's also one of the warmest. i had the exact same bus last saturday and i had to get it towed because , unbeknownst to me, a heater hose fell off and it overheated. it was a 15min repair. had i known what to do, i could have saved the company about $75, but it was already pouring smoke by the time i realized it.

anyway--

looking at my control panel i feel like a pilot of sorts and i suppose that i am. i'm called an 'operator' not a 'driver' because not only do i drive but i do all kinds of other things that people don't realize. i fling doors open and turn heat on and use a counterintuitive air brake system like a freakin' pro. and at my fingertips are a million switches and buttons and levers that help me stay in control.

my favorite one is a really tiny lever. it's black and has a metal 'roto-grip' label on it. it is by far the most awesome of all the bus functions. rotogrip is like instant snow tires, the only issue being you have to flip the switch before you hit areas w/o traction. above both wheels are mechanical arms that have little wheels. on each wheel is strips of chain . when i flip the switch, these arms swing down and the little wheel rolls along the rear wheels of the bus and these chunks of chain go flinging around and around underneath the tires. ta-da~ instant traction when you need it!

is this not badass?


so honestly, i've never had a good reason to use the roto-grip. in fact, the only time i've turned it on was when it wasn't even snowing. it was more of an accident than anything. but still, the concept is freakin' cool.

in other news:
fatty fat fat the wobbly fish is alive and well. i'm thinking he just prefers breathing air to water
my anchor clanker made it to washington state aok and get this: he's a driver too (hehe)
the secretary bought me a pie and now they have promised me the "best brownies i've ever laid lips to"
everyone's dropping japanese 4 it seems, except me and sarah cuz we're hardcore like that


and that about does it for me. now to snooze a bit before movies, maybe warm up or somethin'.

i can't get over how little work i actually do for my job. yesterday i was supposed to drive a dinky bus down to denver for repairs and another driver would pick me up in a hybrid. when i got to the office, to pick up the bus, chaos was happening. some lady's reservation was lost and they had me go drive her group from arapahoe and 20th to norlin. the time they waited for me, they could've walked. but they were old and some were a bit crotchety. (crotchitty?) so i drove them, then drove to denver with ben as my navigator/dj.

we stopped off at chickfila on the way back ( i love getting paid to eat), then got back to boulder with enough time to turn around and go get a bus and park it on campus.

the first round of indoor soccer tournament was tonight, and we played the team that is all of the outdoor refs. 4-1 was the final. harly carp they were quick as shit. i thought i was playing bad but really i think they were just that good. ben said so anyway. ben took a ball to the face and bled all over the court and his penny. so he kept it cuz that's not sanitary to let someone else where a penny w/his blood on it.

i went straight from the game to work, drove them back down the hill and went to the store with ben after he picked me up from base.

i came home w/tampico and fruity pebbles. then, i found myself curious. oh so curious about putting tampico in cereal instead of milk. this was ben's response:

"You need to find out if Tampico and Fruity Pebbles is a binary star, or if they're just two freaking different stars thrown together.

What you do is, take little bit and try it. And if it's good, you do it, and if not, you toss it out and go back to eating cereal and drinking Tampico. Separately. In two completely separate spheres of existence."

so i tried it, and it was indeed a no go. never again cuz the tampico is too tangy.

this post takes the place of my doing japanese homework before class.