The mood on the bus goes round and round

I'm getting used to having the monitor on the bus. He really is a friendly fellow. He talks about dirt track racing, and a lot about cars. The racing seems interesting. (I said this to Light earlier this evening, and she said "No, Mom!") But I especially enjoy the discussions about cars and trucks. He is a wealth of information at the very least. He's lived here all his life, knows a lot of people, knows history and reputation and other useful stuff.

Today we were discussing cars, used cars, buying cars, buying cheap cars, deciding what would be the most financially beneficial for an old clunker- stripping it down and making it into a race car, or buffing it up a bit and selling it as a cheap used car. Sometimes it's a tricky decision to make. I'd never thought about it before.

Twitch is 17. He still has a driving learner's permit that has now expired. He never asks to go out to practice driving. The only thing we have to drive now, anyway, is the full size van (very very large and hard to maneuver) or my beloved truck. Twitch despises my beloved truck. He also isn't keen on learning to drive on a standard transmission.

It would be extremely helpful if he had a car and a license and could drive himself to and from school, take his siblings to school in the morning, run errands for his darling mother, and have transportation to and from an eventual JOB!!! PLEASE!!! SOON!!! So I was discussing with my monitor the options for buying a cheap used car. He's got connections! He knows lots of stuff.

There is a car for sale now that he knows about. It is in excellent mechanical condition. This is like saying the blind date your cousin is setting up for you has a pleasant personality. Oh, yeah, it is bug ugly. We drove past it on the way back to the bus lot. The hood latch doesn't work, which the owner discovered after the hood flew up while she was driving down the highway. It flew open and hit the windshield, cracking the windshield badly. She should have suspected there might be a problem after she rammed the car into a tree in her yard, bending the front grill and hood area. But she remained clueless. The car needs window glass in one of the doors, too, because she did some dumbass thing to break that. There are a few other areas of body damage from various too-close encounters with stationary objects. (Not a good driver, methinks.) With a little bit of body work and some salvaged parts, this could be a very good (if ugly) car. And I think I can get it for under $300 if I move quickly.

My original purpose for this post was to say that I'm feeling better about having Mr. Monitor on the bus. But I seem to have gotten distracted. Oh, well. Par for the course.

What's happening on the bus

As most of you know I drive a special needs school bus. There are two students in wheelchairs on my roster, and about half a dozen other kids with varying degrees of learning disabilities and behavior problems. Most of the special needs buses in our district have another adult on the bus to assist with the students. They are called bus monitors.

No, not that kind of monitor!

For most of the school year last year I had an elderly gentleman as my bus monitor. He and I got along just fine when it was just the two of us on the bus. I did not like the way he dealt with the children, though, and he would get into a screaming match with me in front of the students if I suggested to him that he should ease up on the kids. He was ridiculously strict. He was a grumpy old man. He left the bus toward the end of the year, sometime in April I think. Things went so much better after he left. I began to enjoy my job once I was on the bus alone (well, me and the students, of course)



The boss has been making some noises recently about placing another monitor on my bus. He and I have discussed it a few times over the past two years. He knows my preference, but he also knows I am flexible. A couple of weeks ago he brought it up again, and I told him I was fine without a monitor, but if he wanted or needed to assign a monitor, then that's OK, too.



So he did. Last week I got a new monitor. He's a fella just a couple years older than me, who loves kids and has a very friendly disposition. He was driving a bus, but had some health issues come up in December and can't drive for a while. The boss wanted to give him some work, so I have a new monitor. I thought about mentioning it on here last week, but just didn't want to yet.



He is much nicer to work with than the old grump. He's pleasant. He likes to work and has been sweeping the bus out regularly, which is nice (and something I don't do as often as I should).



But frankly I'd rather be alone. This guy talks too much. And just today he was telling me about Valentimes Day and the heat that escapes from a chimbly. Ugh. I can be kind of a snob when it comes to English usage, and I try to be patient and not get upset. This guy is sitting in the seat right behind me chattering away about all manner of things. Using poor grammar and usage and pronunciation. And he misuses the word "which." Which if he says it once more, a small part of my brain will begin to deteriorate. Which he was telling me about some car problems he's having. Which which which. Which Witch? At least he doesn't have any speech impediments, like just about every kid on the bus does.

Last Friday I casually mentioned that I had a few friends that I've meet online, and it came up in the conversation that many (most) of you are gay. I didn't purposely bring it up, and I forget now what the context was. But I was thinking it might be time to spring the "gay thing" on him. He took it pretty well. He's a good ol' boy, likes to hunt, and races cars on a dirt track. I wasn't sure how he would react to the information that I am involved with homosexuals and gay rights and all.

Today it came up in the conversation that there are two young gay men living in our house. We were able to have a reasonable discussion about that. He admitted he feels uncomfortable around someone he knows is gay, but doesn't have any specific gripes against homosexuality in general. I was able to tell him a few things that the general homophobic community doesn't know, like it isn't a choice, and homosexuals have a lot more similarities than differences with the general population. And that most of the problems gays and lesbians face today are a direct result of homophobia. I feel it was a good conversation. I am satisfied that I've said my peace.

But I still wish I was alone on the bus.