Thrown off

So I'm sitting here, it's past midnight and i am fully awake. Partly due to the 4 coffees I consumed today, partly due to the whirlwind of events that occurred while working such a long week last week. Really, I should never work those types of Friday double shifts ever again- I think I hit about 50hrs this week between my first job and my catering job. It really has been hectic and things are starting to run together. It's made all the more difficult because I have switched from doing standard monday-fridays and moved to a rotating roster. I don't even know what day it is these days and now I'm experiencing feelings of unreality. I'm both amazed that I survived this week and in a way, sad that it has ended. It sure was a rollercoaster.

Tomorrow I get to go down to see my mum who I haven't seen in a very long time. I know that she misses me, and that nowadays she supports me but she still faces the bullshit from my relatives and the rest of the peanut gallery. All this over my choice of how I live my life. Yes, it's my life, not the life of some close minded wanker with blinkers who chatters at the yumcha table. I go and 'socialise' with those drones and what happens is that I listen to 6 or more aunties and uncles who have an extraodinarily limited political, social and moral perspective. There is no awareness, none whatsoever. Do I really want these people to be a guiding force in my life? Not a chance..

The A-Team

So yesterday, on one of our busiest days we had our A-team, the strongest and best performers at work for one of the busiest days. It should have been our easiest day, it should have been our best working day, but we ended up all being hungover. Belle, May, me, Suzie- Gooooooone. Not quite catastrophic, but quite funny nonetheless.

Snapshots

Here are some of the personalities that I work with.

May: sushi burrito, full of wasabi-jalapeno. Half el-salvadorean, half japanese, packed full of dynamite. She's most huggable person in cibo, also the loudest and most likely to be restrained by security in any venue. It's a pity she's taken.

Belle: The quiet workhorse. She's really just so lovely. Pretty reserved, and very smart and really able to get the job done. I would have thought she was a stoner since she has such small eyes but actually this little panda has very bad eyesight. But she's so cool- so relaxed. I'd share a joint with her anyday, even though neither of us really do it.

Mary-Ann: So cute, really just so cute. She reminds me of a happy pigeon walking in a park pecking about. I'd do the same with her anyday. Most precious is when we look at each other, it just seems that we break into a spontaneous smile each time. That's just awesome- but if I start calling her my precious at the cafe everyone will get some funny ideas.

Sakinah: Half filipino, half arabic. She's got the mannerisms of a little girl which is just so cute and she has perfect teeth. Did I mention delicious accent? Did I also mention hawt shock therapist? I think my right arm went into spontaneous spasms for two days afterwards.

Wiped out..

So these past few weeks have been awesome. I've learnt a lot both in and out of work, especially the perils of grind-on-demand during a rainy day. Mostly though, I've been working like I mean it and it's been going great. Maria our mamma is leaving to go back to Adelaide and I will miss her quite a bit. She's my motherly coffee yoda, and she's so beautiful. This week I've been getting cained due to some late nights and early starts, courtesy of some crazy hours drinking, eating, and more drinking.

I topped it off on Friday night with a 6-3am shift at cibo and then 6-11.45pm working a catering job for a 21st birthday. I gotta say that the selection of music for that birthday party was absolutely, fucking, horrible. I thought that I had walked into a pub in the city- and cringed during every second song. There were footy jocks and fake plastic dolls aplenty, it was so boring it was depressing.
I rocked up to work today at 2pm, totally spun out and still broken from the whole week. It's been hectic. I am supposed to be out at a party tonight but all I want to do is sleep. I'm gonna lie a little, and die a little tonight.

Buzz me baby

My main business back at UQ was to meet Sakinah and act the guinea pig for a startleblink conditioning experiment. The main attraction however was electric shock administration. I managed to nod off partway through the experiment due to a combination of the sparse room, airconditioning, peacefulness, a really boring experiment but I really have to mention the airconditioning again- IT WAS FANTASTIC!

I was really disappointed at only being shocked once, since I *cough* enjoyed the stimulation the first time around and actually wanted it cranked up a few notches. Strangely enough I complained about the chair being really uncomfortable but still managed to nod off in it. Oh yeah, Sakinah is a part Arabic girl with very exotic features. She's my hawt shock therapist.

QR Reds Promoboy

I know next to nothing about football, and I was part of a catering company contract to promote the Queensland Reds game against the crusaders on Friday. The shitty thing is, that you have to be really really cheerful and happy and loud at 6am in the morning to many hundreds of commuters. As each train arrived, commuters rushed the gates with harried looks and that dreaded anticipation of work. Faced with this, I found that you really had to build up some momentum to get into that cheerful mode. In other words, you need self-control to be two-faced. I might be in some publicity stills on the TripleM site or on QR, but I freakin hope not.

I also saw about 8-12 coffee cart customers from my former job, and some of them asked me what I was doing with myself, if I was happy. It was fantastic that some of them were concerned enough to ask, since I just vanished without even a single goodbye and then just popped up again out of nowhere. It wasn't such a big deal though since my new job is 100000000x better. But I gotta say it was very touching to hear that concern from my old regulars. I gave one the response that I was working at cibo, was overheard by my supervisor and almost sent home as a result of it. Haha! I got back and over-snoozed afterwards, resulting in a missed lunch with Ingrid at the uni.

Thai Dreams and Spaghetti Westerns

On Thursday night my friends Petra and Shani were organising a welcome back dinner at Thai Dream in West End. As crunch time came however, it ended up being a dinner for three and we were back at Shani’s place. Dinner consisted of spaghetti bolognaise, a very fresh and delicious salad was follwed by their crowning achievement, homemade tiramisu. Afterwards we drank a lot of wine, planned the corruption of Petra and pondered the various medicinal benefits of marijuana. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable night with massages included but I had to leave for home earlyish because I’d accidentally said yes to work the following morning, 6am in the city.

There's something funky in this CAWFEE!

So I'm sitting in on some type of meeting. To my left are a bunch of suits, who are concerned about the results of a survey conducted about employee satisfaction. Things aren't looking good, we just got thrashed and it's obvious the company is in deep shit. The suits are grilling us about why we had such hardhitting questions which exposed the work culture. Caught in the middle, is myself and Drew Carey, as well as the 'people' who helped conduct the survey, a cat and his wife assistant.. That's right, a talking cat and his wife cat. They can both talk, and he does so eloquently about how surveys need to be truthful and how the bare naked truth can help save a company. The suits just want to put a lid on the whole thing and pretend that we are the best in the world. Drew and I just sit there tense, making "uh oh" faces every now and then.

Flash forward...

A cat has been incarcerated in a little petbox, but tied to a little rack, both paws up next to its head, a little leather band around its neck. I'm spectating and the vet takes the bonds off and there's a nasty red rash around its neck. The cat is in a sorry state, weak and feeble and to my surprise it's the same one that had conducted the survey and argued so passionately. This time now, it's tired and mute. The vet says that it's almost over, lies the cat down and injects it with a syringe.

Flash forward...

I see an advertisement, Providence @(#*)#(%()* I don't remember what else is written, but the advertisement talks about a peaceful society, and flashes back to the killing of mr cat. I am reading between the lines and straight away I know that it means eradicating alternative views.

/end dream

I'm so happy!

So today was my first day at work and straight up I was placed behind the espresso machine. It wasn't very busy at all, just fairly constant but with some extreme swings in weather. This fucks me up. Basically, coffee grounds will absorb moisture depending on the humidty, and a quick breeze will influence that rate of absorption. This in turn affects the time it takes for the coffee to come out of the spouts, resulting in a different taste in the cup. Anyway, it didn't take me too long to get my groove on and I was pouring some fairly respectable coffees today, but it will be shit-hot in about 1-2weeks time. Sweetness! :) Strangely enough, the weather fluctuations aren't all that different to my previous job, so it looks like I might be pulling some compensatory pours with non-optimal grind. These are crutches at best, but I'll discuss it with my honchos tomorrow to see what is acceptable.

I had a lot of fun with my new workmates, although the funny thing was that while we are all new to this store, my co-workers are asking me questions as if I know everything. I know just about nothing, but I know that we can all grow together in this new store cos it's gonna be a rockin joint! :)

Late nights, early mornings..

Since New Years, I have been drinking a lot... As a result of this as well as late night wanderings and ponderings, I've become a bit of a nightowl. This is all good and well, except that now I have a job again, working mostly mornings. Uh oh! I've been reintroduced to caffeine in the past week and a half, while going through barista training. On the side, I've been going on coffeeshop tours and sampling different coffee blends and tasting single origins.

The result is one very wired Ant.

This never affected me too badly before since I developed a very good tolerance before. But after a hard goodbye from my last job I managed to wean myself from coffee and now that I'm back into it, I'm nearly hyper-sensitive to caffeine. Even now, I'm ready to rock. I feel like I can spring up and do an hour's worth of aerobic work and it's 1.12am in the morning. I hope my body will forgive me.

Being the start of my new job this week, it will be a very interesting week. What's more, is that we are opening on Valentines Day. *sigh* I'll see all the lovely couples, and I'll be working in a store full of girls! I hope I won't be without a Valentine..

The Power of Three

I just couldn't resist.


Three names you go by:
Anthony
Laury
Speedy

Three things you like about yourself:
I get along well with most people
My ability to laugh
My eyes

Three things you dislike about yourself:
Too skinny
Can't plan ahead in terms of years
Can't dance very well except when drunk

Three things that scare you:
Cochroaches
Doing the same thing I am doing now at age 30
Being alone

Three of your everyday essentials:
Good coffee
A nice meal
A good talk with at least one friend

Three things you are wearing right now:
A pair of red underwear
A pair of old green cargo shorts
I'm topless!

Three favourite bands/artists of the moment:
Air- the french band
Architecture in Helsinki
Daft Punk

Three of your favourite songs of the moment:
Goldfrapp - White Horse
The Killers - Smile Like You Mean It
Coldcut - Panopticon (Irresistable Force mix)

Three new things you want to try in the next 12 months:
Bungy jumping
A relationship!?
To eat something new and tasty

Three things you want in a relationship (love is a given):
Desire
Understanding
Red hot monkey luvin'

Two truths and a lie (you can guess which is which):
I once concussed myself having sex
I once ate 7 meals in a day
I once got the heave ho after sex

Three physical things about the opposite (or same) sex that appeal to you:
Eyes
Chest
Hips

Three things you just can't do:
Swim in the ocean- wah sensitive eyes!
Shit tasting drinks- certain types of wine, coffee, cocktails, beer
Eat 5 pieces of KFC and still feel normal

Three of your favourite hobbies:
Making a great espresso
Going to parties with friends
Martial arts- I could have done gymnastics or dancing. But this was much more manly.

Three things you want to do really badly right now:
Lie in a hot bath with epsom salts
Get a good night's sleep
Have a fantastic massage

Three careers you're considering:
Coffee roaster/barista trainer
ESL teacher
Government monkey job

Three places you want to go on holiday:
Three is not enough, so I'm going to multiply it, by three of course.
Brazil
India
Thailand
Japan
China
Taiwan
Ethiopia
Columbia
Phillipines


Three things you want to do before you die:
Travel the world
Find my loved ones
Understand life :D