Oh me! Oh my!

Good morning all! I know I'm early on this update; I was actually going to do it yesterday since I had the day off but put it off. And I would like to start by saying to whom it concerns: I apologize for making a complete ass of myself and if it helps, I am suffering the repercussions.





The restaurant I am working at opened...Finally! We were supposed to have a "soft open" on Monday and Tuesday but things weren't wuite up to code in the kitchen. Of course we didn't know that until we showed up for our shift and then got sent home an hour later. Wednesday was our grand opening, and grand it was! We had about a dozen or so notable VIP's- mostly from the chamber of commerce- there for the ribbon cutting ceremony. As dorky as it might sound, I was actually pretty excited; I had never witnessed a ribbon cutting before. We all gathered outside to take a picture and to hear some head honcho give a little speech. Aside from standing in the hot sun for 15 minutes it was kind of fun. I managed to get a crappy picture of it, but its hard to see because we were all gathered behind our GM. The scissors were pretty sweet- all shiny and gold! (But not very sharp, it took awhile to actually get through the ribbon.)



My first day serving was sooo much fun! I love this job! Even though I only had four tables my whole shift- it was more than anyone else got. I can't wait for things to start picking up and we get more than one table sections. But I'm glad I got to start out a little slow so I could get used to serving. I already feel pretty comfortable with it and I've been taking a leadership role with the side work. Hopefully management notices and I can start moving my way up. But hey, we have only been open for one day so I won't rush it.

This session of soccer just end on Wed. night. I won't be playing with the D3 team anymore because with work it would be too much to try and schedule around. I am playing again on the D4 team though, which I'm totally excited about since we have so much fun. We were actually a house-team which means that the sports center put a bunch of strangers together rather than one person organizing a team. But now, we are stepping away from being the house-team and forming a team-team. The benefit of this is that it costs less money and ref fees are already included- that and we get to pick our own name. That session starts in about a week, so there will still be updates on that.

Everything in the house is going just dandy. Last night was the first time I saw Aaron in 3 or 4 days and if I hadn't heard his stumbling footsteps around 4am every night I would've thought he had moved out. No such luck. But at least he isn't bringing any women over anymore. I still hope Joe asks him to leave and we get a roommate that isn't an alcoholic and likes to hang out with us.

I cooked my first real, substantial meal the other night. I whipped up some sort of chicken alfredo pasta and it wasn't altogether bad. It could have been a little less bland, but the only seasoning we had was salt, pepper, and cayenne. The cayenne was a mistake- I didn't realize it was so spicy and I put in like a teaspoon too much. Oh well, it was nice to have something other than hot pockets. I was so proud of myself for attempting to cook, so I took a picture of it! I offered some to Joe, but I don't think he has faith in my culinary skills so he made his own dinner.

I know a lot of you have been asking about my leg and I'm happy to say it is much much better. It doesn't hurt at all, unless you poke it, and the holes themselves are actually starting to get smaller. It's definitely going to leave some scars though. Other than that there isn't much to tell. I have to work everyday this weekend but hopefully I can bring in some good tips.

On a side note: We are still missing some of last years contenders for fantasy football. Go sign up, the draft is less than a month away! If anyone else, family or friends, wants to join in I can forward you the link. Just let me know!

Love you guys!!!!

smarmy

Someone out there owes me $10. I was so right about my leg. I went back to the urgent care center the very next day because my other leg was extremely painful. Sure enough, it had to be drained too; I'm so glad I got to go through that again. So once again the abscess was cut open, drained, then packed with gauze. That was on Tuesday and I had to go back on Wed. to get the packing removed and then new packing put in....which is very painful because they don't numb anything. So imagine someone stuffing gauze into an open wound; wouldn't feel to good would it? Then on Fri. I was back again to get packing out and they said I wouldn't have to go back unless something came up. I'm finally done with that place! Well, except that two of my doctors and two assistants are going to come to TXLC (the restaurant I work at) for dinner and I said I would hook them up.

This looks pretty nasty- you can see the packing sticking out a little bit. This is probably the worst it ever felt. And I almost passed out because I was staring at it too long and started feeling woozy.



I had two soccer games on Wed. and I ended up playing in one of them because I didn't want my team to have to forfeit. And I figured if I'm going to be out on the field, I might as well give it my all, right? Maybe not the best idea, but hey- I did score a goal. Anyways, it filled up with a bunch of nasty fluid.


This is it getting better. I didn't have to get it repacked thank God. Still looks a little gross though.




Moving on....
This past week has been pretty busy between work, soccer, and my friends visiting. Our training for work is pretty intense. We have 4 different classes a day and then tests on every little thing. I never realized how much work goes into serving; it's not just the "what can I get for you this evening?". There is a specific order to things and time constraints and you can't say certain words like "appetizer" "drinks" or "desserts". It's a little stressful, but give me a week and I'll have it down perfectly. During our training we get cooked up things from the menu, and the food is sooo good! There are a few things I haven't tried (ok, more than a few) but if you saw the "trail quail" you probably would be like me and not eat something that looks like tweety bird.

About 25 people have already been fired or quit. I have a feeling that number will grow once we open. There are 6 of us who have never been servers before, and I think we are doing pretty well- except this one chick who has cried almost everyday because she is so stressed out. I feel kind of bad for her, but she is really over dramatic. There is this other girl, Ashley, who is probably one of the dumbest people I've ever met. In our bar class she didn't know that chardonnay was wine, and thought white wine was the same thing as champagne. I've been lucky enough to be in her group everyday, and her questions only got worse. When we were going over our dessert tray -the display tray- she asked:
"It's going to be set up like that all day? Won't the ice cream melt and get all yucky?"
It's butter Ashley- not icecream. So it won't melt.
"Wait. So we are serving butter?"
No.... we serve ice cream.
"But won't it melt????? I don't get it!"
The dessert tray has butter, the real dessert that you will bring out has icecream. It's for display purposes.
"Oh, so we don't give them the one off the dessert tray?"
No, thats the display

I think my IQ went down a few points after that conversation.


A couple of my friends flew out Tues. to stay a few days with me. I felt bad that I had to work for a few hours a day so they had to find something to do on their own. Since I had work it was hard to find time to do anything super cool or give them a real tour of the springs, we pretty much just chilled, went out to eat a few times, went to the movies, and stuff like that. It was still a lot of fun to visit with them and Maggie was stoked to have so much attention. We probably looked dumb too, driving around all three of us crammed into my little truck- it was a cozy fit...
I did take them down town and to Old Colorado City, which is kind of cool and we ate dinner down there too. Then I drove them back to the airport, and they came really close to missing their flight (which I admit, was my fault) but the plane was running behind too so it worked out.

Today I have the day off. I have a few errands to run and stuff but for the most part I am going to take it easy. I might try and take a shower today- because of my leg, I've been taking sponge baths and washing my hair in the sink....- but today, I think they've healed up enough to where it won't hurt too bad. I have a couple soccer games today and other than that I think I will just brush up on my server stuff. Tomorrow and Tues. we soft open, and then on Wed. we have our grand opening complete with banners and those lights that go back and forth across the sky. We are going to be crazy busy! But that just means more tips :)

Well, I think thats it for now. It was great talking to everyone last night!
Miss and love you all!

There's a hole in the bucket, dear liza.

Just to give a quick update:
My spider bite turned out to be a lot more than just that. Yesterday (Sunday) I was at training for work for about 6 hours and most of that time all I could think about was how bad my leg was hurting. Moving it at all sent pain shooting in all directions. When I got home I decided that I needed to go get it checked out. Due to the fact that my health insurance is for Kaiser Permanente in Sacto, I wasn't sure how to go about getting help. There is a KP out here, but its totally seperate from the ones in CA and isn't even a medical facility. So they recommended I go to an urgent care place near by. I went in this morning and got some much needed medical attention. The doctor told me what was really going on: I did in fact get bit by a spider, but then the little bite which normally wouldn't be too problematic got infected with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -aka- staph. infection. In case you didn't know, thats not good. Well, the staph. infection actually made my little bites turn into abscesses. The main one on my left leg infected another small one right next to it. So they gave me a shot in the butt of antibiotics, and a shot of local anesthetic under each abscess to numb it. Then she pulled out a scalpal and went a-hackin away- well, not exactly hacking, but she had to slice them open to drain them. I decided to watch what she did next- which was stick a big cotton swab in the hole in my leg and swirl it around. grosssssssss! After three cotton swabs it was finally cleaned out and I could clearly see in it. The actual hole-opening is about the size of a dime, but underneath the opening its about the size of a nickel. Then I got another shot under each abscess to keep it numb for awhile since I had to drive and one last shot for Tetanus. Here is the worst part; I started watching but had to turn away because I was so grossed out. She had to stick a long, thin strip of gauze-like stuff into the hole to help soke up an extra goo that might be coming out. It was the nastiest thing ever watching her take a piar of tweezers and shove it into the hole in my leg. Then she wrapped it up and sent me on my way. She wrote out a perscription for antibiotics and Vicodin- so I'm set for awhile. My bum still hurts from the shot and moving my leg hurts quite a bit too.

There is another spot on my right leg, right below the knee that I told her about and she said it was just infected, but not with staph. But I really am pretty sure its another abscess because it feels exactly like the others and is continuing to hurt more. I have to go back on Wednesday to get the gauze removed and I will ask them to look at it again. $10 says I'm right and it's another abscess. We will see. In the meantime my big concern is showering- or more like sponge bathing- and I have two soccer games on Wednesday; hopefully the pain has subsided by then. My last concern is how I got the staph infection. Usually they are picked up in hospitals or gyms or something of the sort- but where could I have gotten it?? I was giving my mom all the details about what had happened after I left the doctors this morning and she is almost positive that I picked it up in the house- most likely from the bathroom that I share with my disgusting roommate Aaron. So now I get to scrub the shower with bleach and use sanitary wipes before I touch anything. Awesome. Here are the pictures:


This I took early this morning before I went to the Urgent Care Center. It's a close up of the main abscess, but you can see the smaller one on the upper left.


This was right after she cotton swapped all the gunk out of the open abscess. It's starting to fill up with blood again and you can see the other abscess bleeding- yummy. She didn't swab the smaller one but she did squeeze it- that hurt!


and here I am all bandaged up. I didn't get one of her stuffing it full of gauze because my mind was...well, I was freaking out a little bit.


The good news about all this is that I don't have to wear a skirt and tights for the rest of training!!!! And I will finally get some sleep now that I have Vicodin.

"The heart has reasons that reason cannot know" -Blaise Pascal

In California nearly all my friends had been born and raised there. Here in Colorado the only person I've met thats lived here their entire life is Aaron; most everyone else has moved within the last 5 years. When I left home I thought I was headed for a city where everyone already knew eachother and they wouldn't accept an outsider like me into their circle. But I'm not quite the pioneer I thought I was. Colorado Springs is the watering hole of America, the true melting pot. It's diverse and refreshing, a chance for opportunity and growth, a place for fresh starts and wandering souls...


As big a city as the springs is, it has a very intimate feel. It's like we have this secret from the rest of the world; Something so light and precious that if you don't hold it closely to you the wind could come at any moment and sweep it away. And even if I wanted to tell you what this secret is, there would be no possible way to describe it. Maybe it's one of those things that when you venture out and take a big risk that doesn't seem to make any sense but some part of you is telling you to do it anyway- maybe thats when your granted what your looking for. When you find yourself there- wherever that may be- the mountains, the rain, and the lightning all lean in and quietly whisper in your ear and the secret is unveiled.

_________________________________


For the past week I've worked almost everyday. It's been boring for the most part (I brought in books, rubiks cube, gameboy...) but every now and then it would get a little busy and I would have people to chat with. I have mastered the art of small talk. We have gotten a few more weirdos applying for jobs:

Robin- This fellow is 17 and at first I thought he was gay. There is something very fruity about him and I'm pretty sure that he mistook my small talk for me hitting on him because after a couple minutes he got a strange look on his face and then wouldn't stop mentioning his "girlfriend" (whose existence I question). Anyways, everytime I see him I can't help but think of a jolly little lad in tights skipping and singing while strumming his little harp and spreading joy, sparkles, and overall merriness. He was hired.

Jessica- This lady had "crack whore" written all over her scrawny-self. Her hair was an afro of curls and most the time she was waiting- she was having a full on conversation with herself. I couldn't quite make out what she was saying and its probably a good thing. Every now and then she would burst out laughing for no apparent reason. Her interview lasted almost 2 minutes and when she left we all looked at eachother with the same thought: psycho. Not hired.

Nameless guy- I've already told some of you about this guy. He is the one that came in to eat; then, upon discovering we weren't open yet, considered applying. Here is the only part of what happened that you really need to know: Him: "Well, the only job I wanted is already taken." Me: "What's that?" Him: "Taking care of you." Gag me! This was after he asked if I had a boyfriend and proceeded to give me the third degree about my imaginary man- because of course I lied and said that I did have one. Not hired.

Stephanie- At first she seemed normal. Me, her and another gal, Stacy, were talking about waxing and hair cuts. Then, Stacy got called up for her interview and I was left alone with Stephan.....ie. She was in the army, shaved her head twice, was discharged from the army due to a bolt in her knee, was fired from her last job for breaking a guys nose, broke her boyfriends nose (and you thought she was a lesbian didn't you?), and once beat up a girl for looking at her the "wrong way". Not hired.



Today, instead of sitting up front all day I got to clean. I have never been more excited to clean in my life! We spent 4 hours scrubbing chairs and tables and setting up the bar and walk-ins. There is a group of about 10 that has been working for the past couple weeks and we've all become friends, so it's a lot of fun. One of the guys, Matt, and I were going to go play volleyball tonight, but it ended up raining- maybe next time...


Orientation was today and it was long and boring- but it wouldn't be complete without cheesy videos on prejudice/discrimination and sexual harassment. (Ironically enough I was sitting next to Jon, who had been harassing me all week. mostly in good fun of course). The worst part about orientation and training is that we have to wear are uniforms... black v neck shirt, black skirt (no frills, lace, pleats, or pockets) must be one inch above the knee, black stockings or classic black fishnets, black shoes 1/2"-1 1/2" heel. My "full length" mirror is me standing on the bathroom counter trying not to hit my head on the ceiling, and from what I could see I was a nightmare in black. And do you know how hard it is to find a black skirt thats the exact length in summer??? I finally found one at Ross, but its too long so I have to roll it up a few times. Ugh, its a sucky uniform but guess what? My shoes are the all black converse! yeeeaaahhh!!


Things with Aaron have been quiet the past few days, but tonight might not be the same. One of his friends is in town and staying at our house. Joe called Aaron around 8 and he was already quite drunk, so I'm sure he will only get worse. And if I didn't have mandatory training tomorrow I would be in Fort Collins with Joe and it wouldn't be a problem. But I'm not in Fort Collins, so we will see what happens.

I got bit by a spider (I'm guessing) on Tuesday night while I was sleeping. I woke up to what I just assumed was a little bug bite, but now it's looking really bad. It has gotten really swollen and painful- it hurts to even walk. It's red all around with a black center. Here is a picture of it:



The top picture was taken on Thursday and the one below was taken about 10 minutes ago. It's looking blotchy too- I hope thats not a bad thing.




Hopefully it gets better since I don't have health insurance yet... I just want it to go away soon.


Soccer is good. I had two games on Thursday; My D-3 team absolutly dominated while my D-4 team got dominated. The sad thing is, I had more fun losing than winning. Attitude makes all the difference and the D3 is so uptight that its no fun, even to win like we did. But D4 was so much fun- we were all laughing and having a good time. After our game we went to Old Chicago and I didn't even get carded!!! But I only had water anyways because I had another game that night- but it was a good bonding experience none-the-less.


The weather has been perfect this week! Everyday has been mid 70's to mid 80's and every afternoon it's rained. I love it!!! After todays little shower there was a rainbow that spanned the whole sky. This is a picture of one side of it from our back yard.



Sorry the pictures kind of suck, but I don't remember where I last put my camera and so all I have is my cell phone.

My friends Sean and Daniel are flying out here on Tuesday and I'm excited to see some familiar faces! The only downside is that I have training while they are here so there is going to be a large chunk of time that they will have to entertain themselves.

That's all for this week. I'm sure there are some things I'm forgetting but oh well.

Hope you guys are doing good and I hope to hear from you all soon!

Love you all!

Do you wear underwear, or does it wear you?

It's been a busy week and there is a lot to tell so I'm just going to dive right in.

I don't quite remember where I left off last, I believe it was Joe had gone out of town and it was just me and Aaron. Well, I would have been lucky if it were just me and Aaron, but lets not forget his mom -err- girlfriend. Last weekend they went out to a bar and did some drinking and then around 3:30 decided to head back to our house. So they were driving and Jeanie had to pee so they pulled over and she got out and went to do her business. Well, Aaron- in whatever state of mind he was in- decided to get behind the wheel of her car and drive off, leaving Jeanie with no shoes, purse, or phone...did I mention it was her car? Around 4ish she arrived in style in the back of a police car. She then proceeded to wake up Aaron (he had passed out in his room) and then hit him repeatedly all the while yelling profanities between her gasping sobs. I figured they had broken up but much to my disappointment she was back the next day and they cooked dinner together. I guess they didn't feel the need to their dishes and so we went without bowls, spoons, and knives for a few days. I'm aware that I could have done the dishes, but I don't like to clean up after other people. (To mom and dad: yeah yeah, but I don't leave my dishes for a week, and besides- we had more than 3 bowls and 4 spoons.)

Joe came back the next day and I filled him in on all the going ons and what have you. He wasn't very happy about it, especially since now she was showering here (leaving her disgusting thong on the bathroom floor), eating here, and generally making a mess in the house.

Then, just as I thought things had settled down they got worse. Joe had gone to Boulder for the night and I had soccer til kind of late. After I got home there was a knock on the door and immediatly I knew it was Jeanie. Aaron had gone out to the bars so I just ignored her knocking. But me, being an idiot, didn't lock the door. She let herself in, peeped into Aarons room and realizing it was empty decided to knock on my door. I didn't say word, hoping she would think I was asleep. Finally, I heard the front door open and close. A couple hours later I was still awake and had to pee so I went to the bathroom. No sooner had I turned on the bathroom light, she came back into the house. I am almost certain she was sitting outside waiting for Aaron to come home or for me to wake up. Creepy, psycho, you-know-what. I didn't even finish doing my business before she started up.
"Katie?" Ugh. What?
"Where's Aaron? Have you seen him?" No.
"Not at all? He has my phone" No, I haven't seen him.
"Well, he has my phone and he won't answer it." Oh. I can't imagine why.
"Can I use your phone?" Oh, uh...I left it at work, sorry. Lie.
"You don't have it?" No. Did I not just say that??
"Well, can you tell him I stopped by and I'm looking for him?" Yeah. No.

She left, I went to sleep for real this time and didn't hear anything the rest of the night. But apparently, I slept through a lot. Around noon the next day Joe and I were watching tv when Aarons door opened and out came Jeanie. She shuffled her way into the kitchen holding one hand over her eye. Then we watched her shuffle back to Aarons room now holding ice up to it. Joe and I looked at eachother with the what the hell? expression and tried to stiffle our laughs. We couldn't wait to hear what had happened.

On Friday night Joe's friend, Danny, drove down from Boulder to hang out. Before he got there though, Luke (Joe's friend) and I were talking about Jeanie when Aaron came in. Luke is good at getting info from him and we got much more than we anticipated. The other night Aaron had gone out to the bars and brought back another woman. They saw Jeanie was sitting on our front porch and so they circled the block a few times until she was gone. They came in the house and were making out in the kitchen when Jeanie, who had been sitting in his bedroom closet, came out and let him have it. The woman left, and Jeanie started punching Aaron. In a drunken state he put up his hands to block her punches and accidentally hit her square in the eye- that explained the ice. So now, they are really broken-up this time and Aaron is dating this new chick. Don't worry, she isn't 35 like Jeanie ...........she is 37. Not only that, but she has three kids- 15, 11 and 8. Wow.

So anyways, we hear that story and then Aaron leaves with his new woman, Kathleen, to go out to the bars. In case your wondering, I've only seen him sober 3 times...maybe 4. They came back not too much later, but I didn't get a chance to see her because I was out back on the phone. But according to the guys she looks like she is 50... even though she is only 37, or at least thats what she told Aaron. Hopefully she isn't as crazy as the last one.

Now, while we give that a chance to marinate, lets move on.

I started work on Monday and I got in about 35 hours this week. The restaurant opens on the 25th and in the meantime I get to sit at the door and hand out applications and make small talk with the people waiting for interviews. It's pretty boring but it pays $10 an hour. And I've become a pro and talking to strangers...if thats a good thing. The managers are all really nice, especially the FOH manager, Adrian, who I'll be working with the most. He is originally from San Diego and our GM is from Lake Tahoe, weird huh?

Someone, I won't name names, suggested that I shouldn't give applications out to ugly or weird people. Though I think either would qualify as discrimination, I have given more thought to the later. I can't tell you the number of people that come in and say, "I just don't understand why no one will hire me." Of course they leave out why they got fired from their last job which ranges anywhere from a fist fight with their boss to getting caught doing a line of coke in the bathroom. And I'm not making those up. Then you get the people who come in for an interview dressed in torn up shorts, stained t-shirt, and flip flops. A few girls came in more appropriatly dressed for a strip club than nice restaurant. And then of course those people that are lucky enough to get a second-interview (which pretty much means your hired) and show up 10 minutes late to their scheduled time. And they can't figure out what they did wrong. One girl was so upset that she didn't get hired she dropped a few F-bombs on me on her way out of the building. She looked like she was on crack so I decided it wasn't a huge loss for the company. I get today and tomorrow off which will be good since I need to catch up laundry and clean my room. I also need to go out and buy clothes for work; orientation starts the 14th and we have to be in uniform. I'm looking forward to training and actually working as a server... but in the meantime I'm content getting paid to sit around all day...even though it could quite possibly be more boring than the Sherrifs Dept. at least I'm supposed to be talking to people. Can't wear my converse though. Oh well.

Soccer is going good. My Division 4 team had a game last Thursday. Even though we lost, we played really well and finally clicked as a team. This team is a lot more laid back than my D3 team, so usually the games are a little more fun because we can laugh at ourselves. Tonight I have a game with the D3 team and I'm going to try and get them to lighten up a bit. I think we would play better if everyone didn't take it so seriously, we'll see what I can do.

I ate chinese food for the first time in my life. Though, the guys say Panda Express doesn't count as chinese food and especially since I ordered "the whitest thing" I could... BBQ pork and fried rice. Which, I would have gone with steamed rice had I known the difference. I really hope it was pork I ate, it didn't really taste like pork.... I almost tried Salmon and Halibut last night, but I figured one new food experience was enough for the day.

I signed up for fantasy football today so you guys better watch out; I'm not settling for second place this time. That means, Pancho, no more trophy for you.

Ah, a severe thunderstorm warning was just issued for our county and a tornado warning is also in effect..........for our county.... sweeeeet.

Well, I suppose thats just about everything; or at least thats all I can think of at the moment. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying summer. Miss you all!

7/6/07

"The Atlantic was born today and I'll tell you how
The clouds above opened up and let it out
I was standing on the surface of a perforated sphere
When the water filled every hole
And thousands upon thousands made an ocean
Making islands where no island should go"