It starts...

Tomorrow is the big day. I purposely set my alarm this morning to wake me up at 7:00. I figure now is as good a time as any to get back into the schedule of bus driving. Thankfully, my early-morning 5:45 clock in does not start this week. My whole morning run consists of picking up those three hard of hearing students and driving them to Edmonds Woodway High school north of Seattle. Since that school district doesn't start until after labor day, my morning run doesn't go next week.

I had been assured that I would get morning work for the week anyway. Sure enough, I got a call on Friday with some options. Since I have a route and seniority number, I get first pick ahead of all the on call drivers. Initially I chose a job as an overfill bus which consisted of sitting around in the lower lot waiting to be called if drivers need help on their morning runs. Joan, one of our faithful dispatchers, told me that I'd definitely do that on Monday and Tuesday, but most likely be driving a route the last three days of the week.

In the end, I decided to just take the route the entire week for consistency. If I'm going to have to learn it anyway, I might as well struggle through it the first couple days and be a pro at it the rest of the week. Besides, I figure being an overfill bus would be challenging anyway because they'd call me and tell me where to go and I would just have to know exactly where that stop is they need covered. To me, even though I know the area fairly well, it sounded a little stressful.

Anyway, thanks to the morning work, I'll get a little closer to my usual hours this week; probably around 36 1/2 hours. Getting as much work these first two weeks is crucial! Our September 30th check tends to be terribly light due to only getting a couple weeks of work on it. This is why they offer us an attendance bonus at the end of August for the previous year. Once again I got the full $1000 bonus this year. I only missed the full bonus once my second year when my alarm clock failed to go off the last week of school one morning. $500 down the drain!

This year, I figure I'll get around $1200 on that low check so if I can save $600 of my bonus, I should be sitting nicely on financial stability for the month of October. A lot of people hate the concept of the bonus because it encourages people to come in sick when they might not be at their best for driving. Frankly, I have come to depend on the bonus to get me through the months of September and October every year and I'd definitely miss it. My only problem with the bonus is that it is put into our check before taxes. Who ever heard of getting taxed on a bonus?

I had been hearing rumors of a new driver being gay. I finally met him last Thursday at the special needs training class. All the new drivers were required to be at it, in case they are called to sub for a special needs route. I was sad to hear that all the newly hired drivers didn't get routes this year. All of them were placed in on-call positions. In fact, two drivers who had routes last year were told that they wouldn't be given routes this year! Can you imagine having a steady job and benefits one year and have them taken away the next? I'm glad I'm high enough in seniority that I don't have to worry about that!

I technically didn't need to go to the special needs training since I did a lot of those routes as midday work last year, including wheelchair tie downs. I went anyway because I wanted to get some advice on how to best to deal with autistic high schoolers. And to finally meet the new gay driver! Oh...and I got paid for the two hours...

The new guy seems to be a real ham! All the other new drivers would roll their eyes when he made a comment as though they had heard all his shenanigans before. To me, he comes across as a bitchy queen. He was definitely an attention whore! I doubt I could ever date the guy, though isn't that when you're most likely to date someone? At least that's how it seems to work in those romantic comedies. The pair most likely to hate each other at the beginning end up falling in love. Not that I hate the new guy at all! He's funny most of the time. He just isn't the kind of guy I'd see myself dating.

Plus, isn't there a VERY important rule about NOT dating co-workers? They tell me that about dating guys in the Seattle Men's Chorus, too. Should there be a terrible breakup, you have to see that person all the time. The thing that sucks about this is that it's just so stinking hard to meet other gay guys outside of work and the chorus! How am I supposed to meet the future love of my life? Of course, I could very well be blogging about a future date with that new driver in a couple months. Who knows...?

I still haven't gotten any news about the Wicked contest! I guess they are still reading entries. That means that they got a fair amount. Ugh, more competition! I am confident that my entry was really good. Those who read it liked it and declared it a good shot for a winner. I'm hoping I find out this next week. In any case, I still have the ticket that I bought and will be seeing the show on Saturday! I can't wait!

A contest and some nostalgia

Today I went into work hoping to get the VHS tapes onto which a coworker of mine has been recording True Blood Season 2. I am nearly done with Season 1 and I am hooked. I LOVE the show! Sadly, I might be adding HBO to my cable in time for the next season.

She had lent the videos out to another worker, however, so I stayed around and chatted with some others. There is A/C in the break room! As we were all sitting around the table, one of them said, "Hey Peter, don't you like to write?" He slid a section of the newspaper over to me. There is a contest being held by the Seattle Times to promote the musical Wicked that will be here in Seattle next month.

The contest is a challenge to write the back story of a character from literature. The examples they gave were "Why was Humpty Dumpty on the wall" and "Why did Little Bo Peep lose her sheep". The grand prize for the contest consists of two free tickets to see the show on September 15, an copy of the book autographed by the author, a backstage tour at the Paramount (I'm guessing to meet some of the actors?) and "Wicked prize pack". For those of you who may not know, Wicked is the musical based on the book by Gregory Maguire that tells the story about the Wicked Witch of the West from Oz. So you can see how appropriate this contest is!

Now, I have already bought a ticket to see Wicked. But I LOVE to write and several ideas started popping into my head as I looked at the contest details. If I like the show even half as much as people say I will, then I'll probably want to see it again anyway! I rushed home and in an hour had a story written out. I as going to post the story here, but I realized that it might be against contest rules to do so. Besides, do I really want anyone else to see (and possibly copy!) my award-winning idea?

So, if anyone out there wants to read what I am planning to submit for the contest, send me a message and I will send you the story - along with a contract you must sign that states that you will not steal the idea and submit it so you can win those tickets to see Wicked! I trust you! I promise! hehehe

The other excited news for me today came in a text message from my friend Neil. He told me that Pete's Dragon was released on DVD today! Now, I've had it on DVD for several years now and Disney has been really bad about re-releasing movies on DVD with stupid "new bonus features" that just aren't worth another $20. But I did a little snooping on the Net and discovered that on this new edition there is a brand new documentary about the making of the movie narrated by Sean Marshall (the boy who played Pete) as an adult today! There are also some "pop" versions of the songs from the movie and a deleted song with storyboards!

Okay, truth be told, I probably would have bought the new DVD even if there hadn't been so much new stuff on it. This goes against my belief of supporting the movie companies who consistently re-release movies on DVD to get more money out of people like me who crave new special features. I usually won't buy a new DVD of a movie I already own. People who know me, however, know how much I have always loved the Pete's Dragon. It is one of my favorite movies from my childhood and it will always hold a special place in my little gay heart.

Is it really surprising that I rushed down to Best Buy to buy a copy?