Rare Man in Black Performance!

Thanks to the Slacktivist for pointing me to this amazing video!*

Click Here

*the song is a version of "Don't Take Your Guns to Town"

Would you like to add bacon or sliced avocado?

So I work at this place called 'Islands'. It's a restaurant that serves 'fine burgers and drinks'.
I started work there in late October 2005 for no other reason than I needed something to do. I had just moved to the USA from Hong Kong and was wildly depressed at the time. In fact I don't think I have ever felt more unsettled then I did during the first six months I was here.
Anyways, I was looking all over for a job - but it had to be near by the apartment we were staying in. And it had to be within walking/biking distance since I still had not acquired my drivers license (which means in america that i was essentially a handicapped person). I remember feeling my heart sink as I applied for job after job without luck. I started at places that I had always dreamed of working. I went to the largest used bookstore in the western united states (which so happened to be a couple blocks down the street) and was turned away. I then went to another bookstore, slightly less cool, and nothing. Then I applied online to work at Border's, which felt like I had sold my soul, and was never called back (my wife said I was too honest on my application). I finally reached a point where all pride had been drained from my body - and decided to start applying at restaurants. I went to the most peaceful looking outdoor shopping complex I could find, and began to apply at every restaurant on the street. It was horrible. Less than 3 months before I had been working as a director (*ahem* assistant director) at a church, doing something I was generally quite decent at - sure, I wasn't enjoying myself all that much, but that was besides the point. I had a vocation, I had a place in this world (cue smitty). Now I was biking around town, discovering that my experience in the working world meant next to nothing. When I finally reached Islands, I was at the end of my rope. They told me those magic words 'No Experience Necessary' and I started work that weekend - as a busboy.
Actually, the funny thing about being a busboy, is that it is not that different from being a leader at a church. I opened doors for people, cleaned up messes, and practiced the supreme art of passive-aggressiveness. I had to take on the mentality that I was the least, and everyone else was royalty. Believe it or not, I began to like it.
'How is this possible?' I asked myself. 'How could I possibly enjoy being a slave to all these people?'
I'm still trying to answer that question. Perhaps it was just nice to know that my only responsibility when it came to my job, was to keep things clean. Perhaps there was something inside me which began to come alive as soon as I felt I was helping people again. Whatever it was, it was a feeling I wanted to hang on to. The job quickly turned from 'temporary' to 'i can't imagine leaving'.
In March I was promoted to.... *drumroll please* WAITER!
It's amazing how happy I was to finally reach a place that only months before I had considered 'beneath me'.
Sometimes I find myself more content at work than I ever was in Hong Kong.
I still have aspirations to be a teacher, but I think my job at Islands has taught me some very important lessons that I will always have with me. In fact, if I ever do become a teacher, I may pick up a shift at the restaurant now and then just to remind myself of the things I learned. Here are four right now, but I may post other lessons in the future as I learn them!

Islands' Lessons
1) Others first.
2) When someone annoys you - bite your tongue. Kindness is always the right road.
3) When you don't receive appreciation (ie. TIPS) don't be offended - you aren't doing it for the appreciation... RIGHT?
4) If you are faithful in the little things, you will be put in charge of larger things!

OK, this was way longer than I had anticipated.
*sigh*
I suppose I wanted to give you a little context for my life at the moment. The restaurant is the backdrop for most of my thoughts these days and so I consider the above rather important.

Thanks for hanging in there!

Stardate 00001.1

where to begin?
i find the idea of a blog fascinating. i write in my journal rather begrudgingly, because i know that as time goes by it will become more and more obvious as i glance at the earlier pages how ridiculous i am. the danger of being ridiculous is the same online, the only difference is that the whole world (potentially) is privy to it, not just me.
for this reason, i will most likely fail at making this blog.

am i that fragile?

or a better question - is it bad to be ridiculous? maybe not.
maybe it would be good to be seen in all my ridiculous glory. a nice dose of reality in my self-fabricated narcissistic universe that is a little blue book i call my journal.

here's a good question - why should anyone care about my life, or about what i think? should they care because i am so different and unique? or should they care because when we come to it, i'm actually the same?
perhaps a mixture of both.

whatever the answers to the above questions are, i should warn you now - this blog will most likely be the dull, repetitive ramblings of a soul who sometimes thinks he has figured it all out, but is really just wandering in circles. there and back again.
and maybe that is the beginning of wisdom. admitting that there is nothing new under the sun. admitting that with all of the combined knowledge of the human race we may have only just found a surface to scratch.

maybe if we go there and back again, together, and enough times - we will begin to open our eyes and see the world as it really is.

"around the corner there may wait
a hidden door or secret gate
and though i oft have passed them by
a day will come at last when i
shall take the hidden paths that run
east of the moon, west of the sun."
-j.r.r. tolkien