Week four. The first assignment.

Teach told us to go out and practice for a half hour and then come back to the lecture room and we would talk. I grabbed my equipment and went out to find that all of the work stations were taken. A few of the guys saw me looking for a place to work, and quickly turned back to their work, avoiding eye contact with me. I looked about for Malibu, but couldn't find him, so I went and sat outside until the lecture.

I seethed. I couldn't understand why almost all of the guys were giving me the cold shoulder. I grew up around men, and always got along with males better than females. I had proven that I didn't mind getting dirty, burning holes in my clothes, carrying heavy loads... I wasn't asking for any special treatment, just the same courtesy that they were affording each other.

When I went back in for the lecture, Malibu was there "Hey! Are you just getting here?" I frowned, shook my head but didn't elaborate, not wanting to whine.

For lecture, he talked to us about common problems, gave us tips, and then we got to talk about any problems that we were having. Then we got our first assignment!

Our first assignment? What?! I wasn't ready for that! Our assignment was to weld a pad on quarter inch steel. We had to do 3 layers with 7018 electrode. Each layer was to have a different type of motion.

Malibu and I grabbed our tools and went to the shop, snagging a work booth quickly.

"You know, you are the only one here who will talk to me," I said to him.

"Aww are they scared of you?" he asked with a smile.

"I don't know, I guess so. But as a result, you are my perma-buddy now. You are going to get so sick of me."

He laughed.

We grabbed some electrodes and got to work. Not too much later, while Malibu was welding, the guy at the booth next to us, lifted his helmet, looked at me and asked how I was liking it. I told him it was fun, but I kept sticking the electrode. He told me to strike it like a match, and not pull up. He looked just a few years younger than me, which was surprising, because so far, everyone that had spoken to me was noticably older. He took off his glove, shook my hand and introduced himself. We will call him Lightning. He said if I had any questions to let him know.

I had a bit of a spring in my step after that, happy that not EVERYONE was shying away from me.

I did a few practice beads on scrap metal before getting to work on the first layer of my pad. Not too much later, Lightning left the booth and Malibu took his place. Soon, after each pass, we were leaning around the canvas divider and comparing our work.

Lightning came by at one point and watched over my shoulder, telling me tips as I went.

When I finished my first layer, I sat back, looked at it and thought it looked pretty good, so I took it to teach for a grade. He looked at it, looked up at me, and smiled. Then wrote on my grade sheet that I got an A.