Sat, Dec. 14
... If I Were A Rich Man
It's weird having the truck again. The last time I had it on a consistent basis was when my parents were on vacation in summer 2001, and I needed to get out to their place every few days. I've got it this weekend, though, because
Janel and I have been picking up furniture, and it's pretty hard to fit a futon in the back of my car.
It's weird... it took me a few minutes to get used to driving it again, because it's so different than my car, but once I got used to it, it was just... normal.
I was driving Laurel home last night, and she was asking how I drove that... it's a pretty big truck, but I guess when that's what you learned to drive, you drive it just as proficiently as anything else. Like I said, once I got used to the size and the subtle differences in steering and the gas pedal and such, it was just like it had always been. The only thing was that I was so distraught to realize that the horn didn't work! That truck had a horn that you could put different cartridges into, and it would play La Cucaracha, If I Were a Rich Man, Circus March... And I went to play it last night, and it just didn't work! :o(
I've got a lot of memories in that truck--we got it just before we got my license, and at that point, Dad was using the van as his work vehicle, so I pretty much had free use of the truck. Not totally, but I had it almost whenever I needed it.
I'd drive it to school and haul all the pop bottles to the depot when I was on student council in grade 12 (oh wait, that was actually Peer Support)... I drove it an hour each way to work for two summers--one when I worked at Calaway, and then when I worked at the church the next summer... My first year at Rocky, I used that all during the transit strike... we were driving it on my grad night... there was the month when the starter wasn't working, and to get it to go, I'd have to crawl underneath and hit it just so with a hammer before it would go anywhere... my first long road trip that I drove--my dad and I went to Winnipeg just after we got it, to go look at colleges...
Driving the road into Strathmore is something that always makes me feel like I'm in high school again, just because I haven't spent a lot of time in the town since I graduated. I drove in most when I was in grade 11 and 12, and I always kind of feel like I'm back there for an instant when I drive in. Driving the truck is kind of like that. It's kind of like I'm back in high school, just for a few minutes, when I get in, start it up, and start driving that big monster.
It's funny, because it looks so incongruous for me to be driving that, but when I pull up in it, anyone who knew me in high school would recognize it immediately, and to them, it wouldn't be all that strange for me to be driving it.
Meh. Anyways, I suppose I should get dressed and ready for work, or something strange and responsible like that! ;o)
One year ago today: I found an old msn conversation from about 2 years ago (when I was in grade 12) the other day; one that I'd printed off. It's one of my favorite conversations I've ever had... we were talking about dreams. About goals. Listing off things that we wanted to do before we died. It's funny, because I've changed so much in those 2 years, but some of those dreams are still the same; some aren't. Some have been fulfilled; some can't be anymore. It's kind of interesting, though. Sort of melancholy, and hope at the same time.
infinite || abyss
posted at 12:20 p.m.
