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Couldn't Get Out of Bed Today
7 years ago
Salmontations,
This week has been long. Or so it feels.
On Monday, I traveled up to Bellevue to be evaluated for the clinical trial I talked about in my last journal. It wasn't a bad experience, it just required a lot of introspection that h/ad me feeling. . . odd. They asked me a bunch of questions, I took some cognitive tests, and they drew 6 vials of blood, which felt weird. I couldn't sleep that night and missed class entirely on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I made it to class on time and spent the day putting a Kawasaki Prairie 400's CVT and bodywork back together. I also cleaned and reassembled a Kawasaki Nomad 1500 carburetor. And then reassembling the intake system on it and tried to get it running. I made it to class on time Thursday. I got the Nomad 1500 running (turns out the carburetor wasn't inside the intake boot all the way. It felt great. Then I got to work on my driveshaft lab. I picked a Kawasaki Nomad 1600 for this lab. I removed the rear fender, rear wheel, mufflers, gearcase, swingarm and the driveshaft. I checked the wheel for lateral and axial runout, I also checked the rear wheel axle for lateral runout. Everything was going smoothly and methodically. Met some new people at lunch at the bus stop that's not actually a bus stop (it's the campus' designated vaping/smoking area). Which was nice. There was a girl from the carpentry program. She was. . . interesting and pretty.
Lunch ended and I got back to work on the Nomad. I started disassembling the gearcase which houses the pinion and ring gear for the final drive assembly. I had to mark the ring gear teeth with machinists dye to see what the contact pattern looks like; it failed. Not sure why. I stated feeling tired and depressed after that. So I paused and tried to remove the ring gear for the drive spindle. I damaged the spindle boss as a result. I talked to my instructor about it and he said that in order to remove it, I'd need a blowtorch and some lube along with the prybar I used to try and remove it. So I felt like shit even more. At that point, I looked ahead on the lab and I had to measure gear backlash and pinion gear bearing preload. I felt overwhelmed in my current state of mind, so I decided to call it a day and I'd do that stuff tomorrow. I found out on Thursday that my mom lost her job on the 29th. So I felt panicked to try and find a job. She gave me a form to give to my former employers at Larson Powersports that says that I'm no longer employed so that we can be given food assistance. I also asked them if they still needed another technician and my service manager said he'd ask around and get back to me. They're good people. Before I left school, my instructor told me that a motorcycle dealership in Olympia was looking for technicians, so I called them that afternoon and they were happy to meet me. I emailed my resume to the service manager and said I'd be there on Saturday to meet in person. I'm excited about that.
It's now Friday, and I shut off both my morning alarms. My cat's attempt to wake me up failed and I officially got out of bed at 12:34pm. I watched some idubbbz videos and when my mom and brother were gone, I made breakfast. The bacon was good, but my omelette tasted like shit because I thought adding some pepperoni would be a good idea. I tested out our new espresso machine. It worked pretty fast and tasted good. I then showered and brushed my teeth, got dress, and started a load of laundry. THen I got bored listening to today's H3 Podcast and decided to write about my shitty week.
Overall, I missed half of the school days and didn't make too much progress. I've disappointed myself again and now I feel depressed. It's a horrible feeling, like I should be doing better but I'm too ashamed to face the people I think I disappointed. Now I have a new challenge for trying to gain employment and I'm thinking that I wont be able to finish my program as a result. Though, I'm not leaving school to work some shithole food service job, I'd be starting my career. But i've worked so hard jsut to have an associates degree that says that I worked hard for the opportunity to be a motorcycle mechanic. It's just a piece of paper, but it's what I've been working for and suffering for to earn.
I need a friend right now. I need someone to show me that I'm not alone and that I can do this, but I'm a hundred miles away from my closed friends.
On Monday, I traveled up to Bellevue to be evaluated for the clinical trial I talked about in my last journal. It wasn't a bad experience, it just required a lot of introspection that h/ad me feeling. . . odd. They asked me a bunch of questions, I took some cognitive tests, and they drew 6 vials of blood, which felt weird. I couldn't sleep that night and missed class entirely on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I made it to class on time and spent the day putting a Kawasaki Prairie 400's CVT and bodywork back together. I also cleaned and reassembled a Kawasaki Nomad 1500 carburetor. And then reassembling the intake system on it and tried to get it running. I made it to class on time Thursday. I got the Nomad 1500 running (turns out the carburetor wasn't inside the intake boot all the way. It felt great. Then I got to work on my driveshaft lab. I picked a Kawasaki Nomad 1600 for this lab. I removed the rear fender, rear wheel, mufflers, gearcase, swingarm and the driveshaft. I checked the wheel for lateral and axial runout, I also checked the rear wheel axle for lateral runout. Everything was going smoothly and methodically. Met some new people at lunch at the bus stop that's not actually a bus stop (it's the campus' designated vaping/smoking area). Which was nice. There was a girl from the carpentry program. She was. . . interesting and pretty.
Lunch ended and I got back to work on the Nomad. I started disassembling the gearcase which houses the pinion and ring gear for the final drive assembly. I had to mark the ring gear teeth with machinists dye to see what the contact pattern looks like; it failed. Not sure why. I stated feeling tired and depressed after that. So I paused and tried to remove the ring gear for the drive spindle. I damaged the spindle boss as a result. I talked to my instructor about it and he said that in order to remove it, I'd need a blowtorch and some lube along with the prybar I used to try and remove it. So I felt like shit even more. At that point, I looked ahead on the lab and I had to measure gear backlash and pinion gear bearing preload. I felt overwhelmed in my current state of mind, so I decided to call it a day and I'd do that stuff tomorrow. I found out on Thursday that my mom lost her job on the 29th. So I felt panicked to try and find a job. She gave me a form to give to my former employers at Larson Powersports that says that I'm no longer employed so that we can be given food assistance. I also asked them if they still needed another technician and my service manager said he'd ask around and get back to me. They're good people. Before I left school, my instructor told me that a motorcycle dealership in Olympia was looking for technicians, so I called them that afternoon and they were happy to meet me. I emailed my resume to the service manager and said I'd be there on Saturday to meet in person. I'm excited about that.
It's now Friday, and I shut off both my morning alarms. My cat's attempt to wake me up failed and I officially got out of bed at 12:34pm. I watched some idubbbz videos and when my mom and brother were gone, I made breakfast. The bacon was good, but my omelette tasted like shit because I thought adding some pepperoni would be a good idea. I tested out our new espresso machine. It worked pretty fast and tasted good. I then showered and brushed my teeth, got dress, and started a load of laundry. THen I got bored listening to today's H3 Podcast and decided to write about my shitty week.
Overall, I missed half of the school days and didn't make too much progress. I've disappointed myself again and now I feel depressed. It's a horrible feeling, like I should be doing better but I'm too ashamed to face the people I think I disappointed. Now I have a new challenge for trying to gain employment and I'm thinking that I wont be able to finish my program as a result. Though, I'm not leaving school to work some shithole food service job, I'd be starting my career. But i've worked so hard jsut to have an associates degree that says that I worked hard for the opportunity to be a motorcycle mechanic. It's just a piece of paper, but it's what I've been working for and suffering for to earn.
I need a friend right now. I need someone to show me that I'm not alone and that I can do this, but I'm a hundred miles away from my closed friends.
Best fishes,
-
fletcher~
-
fletcher~ 