Sunday, March 30, 2008

I've made a huge mistake

oh, hello. The title of this post is actually a quote from "Arrested Development". If you haven't watched that show, I highly suggest that you do, and don't just watch one episode, it takes two or three to really get into it. Bottom Line, it's a great show!

So what's new with me you ask? Well, not a whole lot. Yesterday I received my degree evaluation, and for those of you who don't know what that is, it basically tells me what courses I need to graduate. Good news, I can officially say this is my last semester! Unless of course I fail one of the classes. I only have a month and a half to go, and right now I'm on spring break...yeeeeaaaaa.

What else?...Oh!...I got a belated Easter Basket last Thursday night. Apparently the Easter Bunny was so grateful for the career advice (see last post) I gave him, he made a special trip. The coolest thing in the basket was the frog puppet. His name is Rupert. I wish I had a picture to show you, but unfortunately my digital camera is MIA.

My brother recently moved 3,000 miles away. My family and I had a little goodbye dinner with him at the Yardhouse in Long Beach. I had a headache on the way there so I decided to get a big ol' drink to get rid of it. I was drunk after about half, because I rarely drink and it was pretty strong. Then I spilled the other half by knocking it over with my menu. Luckily my sister let me have the rest of her drink which was the same thing I had been drinking. I was pretty much drunk the whole dinner, and received my hangover on the way home. My plan had back fired on me, the headache I had earlier came back, only it was 10 times worse the second time around. Lesson Learned.

Last night my sisters best friend growing up came to visit. We drank, we ate, and we played WII. Oliver (my sisters cat) also ate some of the food that was prepared, 20 minutes later it came right back up. So that was fun.

It's starting to get busier at Boston's (the place I work) so I'm starting to make a little more money, which is always good. Other than that, not much going on. I hope you've enjoyed reading this and not leaving a comment.

Monday, March 24, 2008

I met the Easter Bunny

Saturday night I went to bed thinking of nothing but what the Easter Bunny might leave me. I usually get a chocolate bunny that I never eat, a bunch of other candy (that I do eat, which gives me a stomach ache, and some sort of stuffed animal. Usually the stuffed animal is a bunny, but one year I got the coolest clown.

I finally fell asleep at around 1 am. I was abruptly awoken at around 3 am when I heard my door open and my stainless steel trash can fall over. I said "whos there?" No response. I was freaking out! When I could finally see clearly there was a big white fluffy bunny standing over me. It scared the begeezies out of me!

When I finally calmed down because he had assured me who he was and what he was doing, I asked him why he woke me up. He said he didn't do it on purpose, but as long as I was up he had a few questions for me. I politely replied, "ask away". He started out by apologizing because he had brought nothing for me. Apparently he didn't know that I had moved from my old apartment in Mira Mesa to my sister's house in San Marcos. I said "no problem, I'm sure my mom will get me something". He thanked me for being so forgiving. I said "you're welcome, now how can I help you?"

He told me he had heard that I want to become a professional bowler. Then he asked me if I thought he could make it in the same business. I was shocked...I mean...The EASTER BUNNY came to ME for career advice! I asked him what was wrong with his current business of delivering beautiful candy filled baskets to ungrateful little children. He told me that with the world of technology growing faster and faster he had a lot of trouble getting into peoples houses without an alarm going off. He said he had already been attacked by the police three times that night. They wouldn't let him go until they saw his ID, and were given really great baskets filled with coffee and donuts.

I couldn't believe it. I told him I was sorry he was going through such a difficult time, but I didn't really see him as a professional bowler. I explained to him the importance of opposable thumbs for playing the sport. He began to cry. I didn't know what to do. I tried to think of other things he could do...I even suggested working for Santa Clause, but he said he had already tried that.

Finally, I thought of the best possible solution. I told him he could use technology to his advantage. Instead of delivering all the baskets himself, he could mail them to the parents. That way there is no breaking and entering involved, and he won't be seen by kids that stay up way past there bed time to try and catch him. All in all everything turned out well, he was excited about getting home and renovating his business. He also left my sister and her Husband an extra generous basket, and told me if the whole bowling career thing didn't work out for me, then he would be happy to offer me a full time job with great pay, plus benefits!

And that my friends is how I saved Easter.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Professional Bowling Association (AKA PBA)

How could someone not know what the PBA is?!? What kind of sheltered life did you live?!? Anyway, the PBA is a professional bowling league. Kind of like the NFL only cooler. You have to have an average of at least 200 over consecutive 20 games. Make sense?

Okay, so the last 2 days have been rough. Boston's (the restaurant I currently work at) finally opened on tuesday. I was hoping for a packed restaurant, with an hour wait. Unfortunately, I was the only one doing the waiting...for a table. Last night I worked from 6pm until 1am. I had a total of five tables, and the last table anyone had left at about 10:30. Myself, and 2 other servers spent the night polishing silverware and getting to know eachother. Today, I worked from 11:45 am until 3:15pm. I had a total of three tables. I am praying for things to pick up, we still don't have a liquor license, but we should by the end of next week.

As for the rest of my life, it's pretty boring. I spent most of last weekend laying around. However, on Monday night my sister bought Super Mario World for her Wii. That was pretty much the highlight of my long weekend. Steve thinks it's the lamest game ever, but yesterday he played for like an hour. He's not very good and thinks it is a sissy game. I think it's the best game ever and I'm pretty sure Steve does too, but he's afraid to admit it.

On a lighter note (pun intended) my cat Oscar seems to be losing weight. His life in the garage seems to be improving his figure.
As for Oliver and Emerson, well, lets just say it still takes me 20 minutes to make a sandwich with them around. They never miss the crinkle of the deli meat wrapper or the sweet sound of cheese being sliced. Yes, it's a rough life living at the Scott house, some might call it "survival of the fittest". I think Oliver will last longer than me.

Friday, March 14, 2008

stuff

Okay, it has been a while since I last posted and I'm sorry about that, I will try not to let it happen again. I know reading my blog is the only thing you look forward to in your life, and I'm sorry I disappointed you the last seven days.

So, what's new with Madelyn? Well, I will tell you. I have been spending the last seven days training at my new job. The last three days we have been open for people the owners know, as well as the employees families and friends. All the food served was complimentary. It was just to let people taste how wonderful the food is so they will tell their friends. Word of mouth is our only means of advertisement.

It was also a way for us to practice our serving skills. I already know I'm an amazing server, but that is not true for all of the people that work there....unfortunately. I know this because Amanda, Steve, my friend Sean and I went to eat for free on wednesday and our server was terrible. In fact, possibly the worst service I've ever had in my dining experiences. The food was decent, but the cooks are also learning, and need to work on a few things.

The three days of "dress rehearsal" as the managers and trainers called it, was probably the most boring time of my life. We were only given two table sections, and usually only waited on one table during a shift. However, I can't complain because it helped me work on Boston's way of doing things. I tried my best and I think I did pretty well. I'm sucking up to the owner as much as possible in order to avoid getting fired yet again. I actually really like the owner. Her and her husband also own two Denny's, so last night I asked her if she was involved in sponsoring the PBA. She said she was, but that Denny's was going to end their sponsorship. I was appauled and begged her to try and stop it. Unfortunately I don't think there is much she can do. However, I sill think she's a nice person. A lot of people think she stresses easily, but I just say "wouldn't you if you were opening a brand new restaurant?" She also laughs at my jokes which is a big plus. . . Oh and her son, who is also the general manager lives in Larkspur Creek...which is the complex I live in with my sister. So we have things in common.

All in all things seem to be going well for me right now. I like living with my sister, and so far we haven't gotten in any fights yet. I guess it's because I'm pretty much her slave...but whatever. At least I have a bathroom in my room.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Working

There's nothing as horrible as wanting to sleep, but not being able to. Why must we go through life being responsible? Why do things have to cost money? How do I get into the drug business? I'm just kidding about that last part...unless you know...then I want in.

Anyway, work is going well. I'm learning all about Boston's lingo. It's kind of annoying. Like everytime the trainers say "cool?" we all have to say "cool". There's nothing cool about it. We also have to say "May I" before asking a question. Like if we need a side of ranch, we have to say "Michelle May I?" (Michelle is just an example name, it does not apply in all situations)and then she has to say "yes you may".

Now for more interesting facts about this restaurant. We sell pitchers, and team pitchers...the team pitcher is huge, but you have to have a minimum of four drinkers to buy it...it's two people for the regular pitcher. I'm pretty sure that the pitcher is 32 ounces and the team pitcher is 64 ounces, but don't hold me to that, I haven't studied very much. Oh, and guess what dad...they sell Beck's, only in the bottle though. They do have guiness on draft, which I thought was pretty cool.

Now for the pizza. It's supposedly amazing, although I have yet to try any. They say it has a bite in every bite...I know what you're thinking..."whaaaaat does that even mean?" Well apparently it means that every bit is a perfect bite, meaning you get every ingrediant in every bite. I can't say for sure that it's true, but they seemed pretty serious when we went over it.

Anyway, so far, so good with the job. My favorite thing to do at the meetings is whistle with my straw, and look around like everyone else while saying "What was that? Did anyone else hear that?" Other than that, the meetings are pretty boring, but at least I'm getting paid.

Other than that, life is good. My brother in law just had another Marine graduation thingy, so he'll be off for three weeks. I think he's excited, but it's hard to tell because every time he comes home he falls asleep in like 5 minutes. My sister is selling all kinds of furniture to suckers that are willing to pay for it. My cat Oscar may or may not be losing weight, I can't really tell. He still lives in the garage and all the neighbors know of him. I guess he takes after me...being popular and all. Oliver loves me the most now. He always wants me to hold him and pet him. Mandy says all he does is cry when I'm not here. As for Emerson, well, I think we just have a mutual dislike for each other.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

My first day of work

The dictionary defines work as "an activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result." I had to look the word up before I went into my first day at Bostons The Gourmet Pizza. I wanted to make sure I still understood what work was after having 2 months off.

When I went in, there were only about 7 other people there for training. I was surprised because there are about 43 other servers that will be working there, and I believe there are only 2 training classes a day. However, it was nice to be in a smaller group.

The trainers or "corporate trainers" as they call themselves are all from Texas, so they combine the words you and all kind of a lot, but other than that they seem pretty cool. They started out by telling us how the company started. It's an interesting story really. Basically this guy named Gus, was in the U.S. military, and one day he was out at sea...I believe involved in whatever war was going on in the 1960's...when he decided "I've had enough of this". Then he jumped ship and swam to Canada. What can I say...he was a brave man. When he was in Canada he started the restaurant.

After I heard the story, all I could think was "after all that, he had the nerve to bring his restaurant to the U.S.?" Well, he didn't. He had sold the restaurant, which is why it is now a franchise. There are currently 55 stores including the one where I will be working.

We proceeded by taking a tour of the rest of the restaurant. It was kind of intimidating seeing all of the clean appliances...I'm pretty sure they are going to be on our asses constantly to keep it squeaky clean. However, you will be happy to know that the employees have their own bathroom. I personally am very happy about this because it's kind of annoying when you go to the bathroom on your break, and ten people tell you that there's no paper towels or something. It's not that I don't sympathize ...but I'm on my break...which means I don't want to deal with it, and I probably won't.

The rest of the day was just normal restaurant stuff, which I'm not going to get into because if you've never worked in a restaurant, you probably wouldn't understand. If you feel hurt by me saying that, don't, its a good thing if you've never had to serve people. All in all I enjoyed my first day of work. I'm looking forward to being a part of a new restaurant. I'm also sucking up big time...I don't need another Cheesecake Factory type incident.

Finally, I would like to leave all of you some advice on tipping. First of all, servers are usually pissed if they don't get twenty percent. If you think we are greedy then you are a hypocrite, everyone is greedy. I'm not saying we always deserve it, that is for you to decide. Also, doubling the tax is only about 15%, so please throw that method out the door. Here's how I figure out the tip: lets say you're bill is $48.36...everything went well, and you were very satisfied with the service. Based on that I would leave 20% if not more (I am a server, and tend to overtip). What I would do is double the first number of the bill...4 x 2, which is 8, however, because the bill is closer to 50 dollars, I would round up, making it $9. See, that wasn't hard, was it? You don't need a calculator, just basic math skills. Then there is one final, and crucial step. ADD the tip to the total CORRECTLY. DON'T TAKE BOTH COPIES OF THE RECEIPT! IF YOU DO WE GET NOTHING. Ok that was three crucial final steps, but whatever.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

You know inflation is real, when you pay $48.49 for a belt

Don't worry, it wasn't like I bought this belt at Walmart. I bought it at Banana Republic. I would never normally pay 48 dollars for a belt, but I had a gift card, and a belt is all you can really buy from Banana Republic for 50 dollars. I also needed a black belt for my job...as a ninja. Ok, I'm not a ninja, but I did buy it for work.

I also went bowling today, which is always exciting. I was more consistant today, but it's kind of sad when you are having trouble bowling because your arm is sore from the last time you went bowling.

I would like to say that my day got more exciting, but it didn't. Right now I'm looking forward to watching "The Biggest Loser", which is just as pathetic as it sounds, if not more.

Well, that is all I really have to say right now, but I will leave you with a question: Would you like a full grown (and then some) white...ish cat?

Sunday, March 2, 2008

My comeback

Neon Bowling. I'm sure you've heard of it, maybe even been a couple times. It's where idiots hang out when they can't think of anything else to do on saturday night. I, myself, have been several times. However, I didn't go for the alcohol, or the company of friends...I went for love of the game!

Last night I went because I hadn't been bowling in...well, longer than I care to admit. I went with my sister, her husband, and 7 other people whose names I can't remember.

We arrived at 9:10, not as early as I would have liked, but good enough I suppose. You see, you have to wait in line for about thirty minutes, because they don't start letting people in until 9:30. I know what you're thinking "this must be like one of the hottest clubs in America!". Well, not exactly, but us bowlers sometimes pretend it is. Anyway, if you don't get there early enough you could risk the unthinkable...not getting a lane!

So when we arrived, my sisters friends were already there. Which means they already had a spot in line. I was completely against cutting, because that's just how I was raised I guess. However, my sister was all for it. It's hard to believe we share the same genes sometimes. So we slipped into line with her friends. Sure, people yelled, called us terrible names, one person even threw a bowling shoes at us (which I kept), but we just ignored them and kept on talking.

When we got inside I went straight to the lane we were assigned...I was so excited...it had been so long. I put on my shoes, grabbed my ball, and started throwing a few practice balls. After I rolled the first one, I was a little ashamed of myself. I had only brought one of my three balls...because...well...I didn't want to look like a dork. I had decided to bring the lightest one which only weighs 12 pounds. So you can imagine the self loathing I experienced when it felt too heavy.

We began to bowl our first game, and I desperately tried to hide the fact that I was struggling with my ball. However, the idea of using a house ball was completely out of the question.

My first game wasn't too bad... if you look at the score, but everything else was terrible. I was overextending my wrist, my follow through was horrific, and I could barely see the arrows on the lane....that part I blame on the neon lights flashing in a dimly lit room.

By the end, I was doing much better...I could finally lift my ball, and my scores were improving. My sister however, was completely drunk. It was pretty funny actually. She would lie down with shame on the approach after throwing a gutter ball, and she was trying to insult me as much as she could.

Don't worry folks, I drove home. I was completely sober by the way. I had one drink at the beginning of the three hour event, but that was just to get rid of my headache. I wouldn't want to taint my game with too much alcohol.

Well, that is the story of my comeback. I'm sorry it's not better, I'll try to get into a fight with someone next time or something.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Why can't there be a February 30th

Ok, so I get the whole leap year thing...I know that each year is actually 6 hours longer than we plan for, but I don't understand why February got stuck with only 28 days. As you all know some months have 31 days while others have 30. Why couldn't we take January 31st, and October 31st (sorry Jon, thats just an example) and give them to February? It doesn't seem fair that February has to be so short. Let's face it, that month sucks, and we like it when it's over, but it forces me, and millions of others, to pay my rent two days earlier than normal. I don't even want to get into all the other bills I have to pay 2 days early! The point is, not only do I hate February because of Valentines day (which, by the way is a whole other petpieve I won't get into right now), but I hate it because I NEED those 2 extra days to find cans on the street, or change in the couch cushions...so that I can give my sister her money. Am I asking too much?

As for the leap year day, I think I speak for millions of Americans when I say, "wouldn't it be cool to have a December 32nd?"