Previous week here:

I don't have much to say this week. Supposedly week five was to be an "open class" in which we just worked on stuff. But....I think he got off on his schedule, or at least about 3/4 of the way through the class he announced that next week was the open class. Which is to say that after he asked how many people were replacing their spark plugs entirely this week (two, both with heavy-duty cars that meant that this would take hours, I guess--the teacher was especially all "Subarus are HARD" about it) and then found out that two people that missed last week wanted to check their spark plugs...we ended up having most of the class be a lecture on spark plugs and pistons and how they worked, and then got about an hour to work on things. So stuff like replacing my air filter* and cleaning the headlights or whatever else will theoretically be done next week.

* note: I strongly suspect this is very easily done on my car, given how easy it was to get the little booger out to check it last week, so I was sort of thinking I'd just pop it in and out. I mentioned this to the instructor and he was all, "No, that could be harder than you think on some cars," so okay, fine, I'll wait. But that said: one of the girls checking her spark plugs this week replaced her filter and that was easy, so....But Every Car Is A Special Snowflake and that doesn't mean mine will be easy, I guess....

I'm seriously worrying about the whole makeup class issue. I cannot get any damn makeup shifts that I can go to (Sundays are free! Every Sunday! Except I am not free on any damn Sunday because all of my Sundays involve me doing something around noon and that means I can't do either of the Sunday makeup shifts since they go until or start at 1:30), and I am very grumbly that I missed one opportunity because I was out at lunch when the opening came out on e-mail and someone else got dibs. But I could do the girl who grabbed it's Sunday...oh, wait, I can't. GRUMBLE GRUMBLE GRUMBLE. I wanted to see how "open class" went to see what I'd be missing, but since that didn't happen, I'm starting to think he'll just end up lecturing every time or something and I'll be missing things.

Anyway: as per my usual raging ADD, or general inability to comprehend things being talked at at me, or both, I was having a hard time following the lecture again. Sigh. I feel like such a dimwit. I started flipping through the Auto Upkeep textbook (used in the high school class) on the desk and found a better explanation--or at least better visuals than he could draw on the chalkboard--as to what was going on with the pistons. I kinda wish this class had a textbook, preferably one I could keep for later. I noticed this time that Krakow is apparently filming the lectures on one of his gadgets--which gave me more respect for him, though I wonder if they have any/enough volume to be useful. But either way, I was feeling fairly clueless by the time the lecture wrapped up...around 9.

Since neither me nor my car buddy were going to get to do anything tonight, we just helped the other two chicks who weren't here last week check their spark plugs, air filters, and PCV valves. ("Yes, it's supposed to make a noise when you shake it. That's a good thing.") Oddly enough, the teacher gave those two a tune up checklist, which had a lot more instructions on it than we actually checked. We are apparently not checking the fuel filter or rotors and he did briefly look at one girl's belts. The other two dudes changed their spark plugs, but I didn't see much of that, and another guy was doing some kind of fluid change that was very messy and complicated.

So yeah, not much to say about this week.

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