Lack of Color

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?-Lack of Color
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In January I experienced a life changing event.
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When I returned to school on the 18th I was not
the same person as I had been when I left for
Christmas.
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I had become a member of the greatest group known
to UVA students. I had become a bus driver.
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Anyone who has attended UVA
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or spent anytime here knows that Bus drivers have
a reputation.
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Why that is I couldnt say, were just students.
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?
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?
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?
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By joining UTS I became part of a group of 120
student drivers and a completely student run
organization.
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This Means that were like a club
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We hang out with other people who also love
buses and enjoy getting paid for loving buses.
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I now held in my hands the power to get people to
class on time, to kick drunken students off my
bus and to make people stand behind the yellow
line.
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And while it may seem like things couldnt get
any better than this, they do.
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Training for UTS is a lot like being brainwashed
by a cult, which in essence, it is.
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For two weeks you turn over your life to buses,
you get a new family, and spend hour upon hour
learning to drive buses.
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When your not driving youre studying route and
procedure and radio codes and everything else
bus.
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And when you pass your exam, and you get your
shirts and jacket, you realize, you are a driver,
and nothing has ever compared to this,
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not even getting your acceptance letter.
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And the jacket is stiff, and ugly, and you dont
see any of this, you see the proof that you can
drive 13.5 tons of bus.
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And at that point you realize that your old
friends dont really understand. You are a
driver.
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Then school begins, and people begin to ride your
bus, and its very different, and you hadnt
expected this.
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?
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And you realize that you feel about these
students the way a duck must feel about her
ducklings.
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But this isn't really the way they see you
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And so you just become closer to the other drivers
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Because we love buses
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And we love each other
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Some more than others
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We are unique
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And we are proud
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Maybe a little reckless
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But together we are great
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And happy
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And maybe just a little conventional
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