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Yeah, yeah, that's why
it's called "Babble." I know I've been on here a lot more than usual. Aren't you lucky!
So this one is about a job I would LIKE to try...and why I won't apply for it.
See, I had a toolbox from the time I could walk. Small claw hammer, keyhole saw, screwdrivers, knucklebuster, and more. Real tools, not plastic toy crap.
I like to make things, I like to fix things, learned "measure twice, cut once" early on, did my own tuneups until cars got computers that need special tools to handle, worked as a mechanic for a few years, got a parts dude fired for patronizing me (to be fair, mine was NOT the first complaint by a LONG shot, according to his manager), replaced sink faucets, rewired lamps, hooked up and programmed VCRs, set up a boyfriend's stereo system and taught him how to work it.....
See where this is going?
I'd love to work either maintenance or construction. Even just for a few weeks, for a change of pace, whatever.
The problem is a lot of what needs to be done requires one to be off the ground. Like, up on a ladder or on a roof or hanging partway through the ceiling fishing for the ladder without being able to see it. Or way UP the ladder and not holding on to anything.
I tried that -- worked with Maintenance at the plant for a few days while we were "on shutdown." Loved it -- until I had to go up onto the catwalk, up a ladder, stand at the TOP of the ladder, and hold a very large drill with both hands and PUSH on it (thereby pushing me backwards...) against an I-beam. Tried holding the drill with one hand and the beam with the other. Didn't work. Bit skipped. Ladder rocked. Uhm. I don't remember getting back down, but no bruises so I figure I didn't fall. I know my hands were a bit cut up, possibly from the aluminum ladder.
If I can't do a job, it's not fair to the rest of the team to have to cover for me.
I've tried to get over it.
My sense of balance sucks. Always has.
Been told it isn't JUST "acrophobia," that it is actually "vertigo" (which is a physical thing?).
I get sick looking at an escalator.
I feel ill in an elevator -- especially the glass ones like at the Atlanta Mariott where DragonCon is. And what's the only way to get to the rooms?
I had to be rescued from a flight of stairs at a convention center by a security chick b/c the staircase felt -- to me -- like it was mounted on a mechanical bull. I froze with a deathgrip on the railing and she had to come up to where I could see nothing but her and help me ease down one step at a time with a hand on my upper arm to prove that nothing was moving but me, and only at a speed I could handle. I would swear under oath that the whole room was rocking and not trip a lie detector because those things check what you BELIEVE, not objective truth.
I can't watch the freaking SPIDERMAN movies -- not the parts where he's webswinging -- I get dizzy and the room whirls. Same for the scene in National Treasure where the scaffolding is coming off the walls and they show POV falling and swinging.
So. Much as I'd like to....*shrug*
So this one is about a job I would LIKE to try...and why I won't apply for it.
See, I had a toolbox from the time I could walk. Small claw hammer, keyhole saw, screwdrivers, knucklebuster, and more. Real tools, not plastic toy crap.
I like to make things, I like to fix things, learned "measure twice, cut once" early on, did my own tuneups until cars got computers that need special tools to handle, worked as a mechanic for a few years, got a parts dude fired for patronizing me (to be fair, mine was NOT the first complaint by a LONG shot, according to his manager), replaced sink faucets, rewired lamps, hooked up and programmed VCRs, set up a boyfriend's stereo system and taught him how to work it.....
See where this is going?
I'd love to work either maintenance or construction. Even just for a few weeks, for a change of pace, whatever.
The problem is a lot of what needs to be done requires one to be off the ground. Like, up on a ladder or on a roof or hanging partway through the ceiling fishing for the ladder without being able to see it. Or way UP the ladder and not holding on to anything.
I tried that -- worked with Maintenance at the plant for a few days while we were "on shutdown." Loved it -- until I had to go up onto the catwalk, up a ladder, stand at the TOP of the ladder, and hold a very large drill with both hands and PUSH on it (thereby pushing me backwards...) against an I-beam. Tried holding the drill with one hand and the beam with the other. Didn't work. Bit skipped. Ladder rocked. Uhm. I don't remember getting back down, but no bruises so I figure I didn't fall. I know my hands were a bit cut up, possibly from the aluminum ladder.
If I can't do a job, it's not fair to the rest of the team to have to cover for me.
I've tried to get over it.
My sense of balance sucks. Always has.
Been told it isn't JUST "acrophobia," that it is actually "vertigo" (which is a physical thing?).
I get sick looking at an escalator.
I feel ill in an elevator -- especially the glass ones like at the Atlanta Mariott where DragonCon is. And what's the only way to get to the rooms?
I had to be rescued from a flight of stairs at a convention center by a security chick b/c the staircase felt -- to me -- like it was mounted on a mechanical bull. I froze with a deathgrip on the railing and she had to come up to where I could see nothing but her and help me ease down one step at a time with a hand on my upper arm to prove that nothing was moving but me, and only at a speed I could handle. I would swear under oath that the whole room was rocking and not trip a lie detector because those things check what you BELIEVE, not objective truth.
I can't watch the freaking SPIDERMAN movies -- not the parts where he's webswinging -- I get dizzy and the room whirls. Same for the scene in National Treasure where the scaffolding is coming off the walls and they show POV falling and swinging.
So. Much as I'd like to....*shrug*