aadler | Kicking back at the terminal

Unless something extraordinary happens to change it, I’m done with my OTR training. Took the road test yesterday without any major issues, was assigned a truck today. Tomorrow I’ll go through a close-quarters course (no idea, probably just brush-up on some basic techniques for maneuvering within limited spaces), and then … well, I don’t know yet. I was asked if I wanted to start driving right away or take some home time first; the next drill with my Army Reserve company is ten days from now, and I’ll have to go home then, so I said I preferred to go on and get started. At this point, it’s a matter of where I’m sent and what kind of load I’m assigned, and I won’t know those things till I receive the assignment.

There are actual lodging rooms at the terminal: pretty spare, just a bed and desk and chair, with bathrooms and showers down a communal hallway. Still, after weeks of living in a truck, I enjoy being able to stretch out. For that matter, I have what feels like all kinds of luxurious space in my truck: don’t have to share it with anyone, don’t have to keep all my belongings in bags on the upper bunk (which was also where I slept). While it was going on, it was just the way things were; now that I’m no longer so circumscribed, it feels really cramped in retrospect.

I’ve been craving some time to myself. Let’s see how I deal with it.

I used some of my new freedom (leisure time as well as personal space) to key in all the story notes I’ve built up over the last several weeks. Some things feel very clear in my head, and I don’t anticipate any trouble writing IF nothing interferes. I don’t know yet what my work schedule will be, though … and, since the nature of trucking is that schedules tend to vary widely, I likewise don’t know how I’ll respond to such an irregular routine. I really want to get into these stories, though, and surely I can carve out an average of an hour a day. (Yeah, two would be better, but I’m trying not to be overoptimistic.)

I got a little bit of feedback on “A Breath on the Embers”. Not a lot, but that’s understandable given that 1] I made my own contribution to a particular fandom well after the first rush of new interest had passed, and 2] my flist is largely made up of people I friended through Buffyfic, and not all of them (relatively few, in fact) are big on Hunger Games fic. If I’d done something in Avengers fandom, now … well, that could still happen. On the other hand, I also got a new comment on “Point of Focus”, and that was my very first posted fanfic fourteen years ago. These little delights come as they will, and I treasure every one. (And now I have to compose replies.)

To wind things up, my wife and daughter have already reserved the church for my son Kevin’s wedding to Mei-li. Next year. It’s the same place where I and Susan and Kevin were received as Catholics (I ten years before them), and where Susan and I remarried. I don’t hold much hope of my daughter completing the family tradition, though; she would, she wants to, but she just never stays in one place long enough.

I don’t really know exactly where my life is going right now … but then, I never have, even when I thought I did. At this point, it’s mainly a matter of doing my best to hold my balance and enjoy the ride.

Kicking back at the terminal

no subject

no subject