PJ poopy not party

Saturday night at the all mighty Crave, we hosted a pajama party. I walk into work at four and immediately have to get on my job...clean this, move this, set this up, change that, put that there, bleh bleh bleh. I do have to admit, the restaurant looks hella good. Probably hotter than I have ever seen it look. We have lounge tables in the main room with your more traditional tables set up in a different arrangement than normal, the room looks bigger and more elegant. There are ropes blocking off the VIP bottle service section. Nice. The formal dining room has some lounge tables and white tables as well, there is also two beds complete with sheer red drapes around them, huge stuffed panthers rest on the beds. Rose pettles and white feathers thinly blanket the ground. martini glasses are host to floating rose candles and are delicately set on each table. Throw blankets and teddy bears comfort you on the lounge tables. Crave looks hot.
Problems: It's a small restauant and we are over staffed. 5 servers could have handled the crowd, we had 8. This means, that none of us get to leave, we are all here until late (4ish this time) and we are BORED. I had three tables. I sold 5 bottles:Grey Goose, Veuve, Ciroc, and Henny. My tips came out to 570 before tip out. I got there at four, worked the whole time, did my portion of the sidework plus and helped close. I made the most. We all split tips, so after we divey everything up, we each walked with 158. Sucks. If we didn't split, I would have walked with 438 dollars. I don't mind splitting, you can't always predict what sections will be good and what not, but the thing that really makes me mad, is that, people don't pull their weight. I worked hard and worked all night, but some people barely did anything, we had servers going to the bars next door durring the shift...while I am making them money. It's not fair, and it's really startign to bug me. I should have made 280 dollars more than I did. That's money I need too.

Wamp, Wamp. what it do? what it do?

AHHHHHH....this break is sooo well needed. I still need to get my house in order, catch up on homework, family, friends, and sleep. I was actually unaware of the break until last week, so what a nice surprise. Today I was very productive. I did a number on my house: cleaned the kitchen, dishes, rugs, swept, swiftered, vac'd, windexed, took out the trash, laundry, and just plain tidied up. Now, I have to go to work and do the same stuff...boo. But I feel clean and it feels so nice.

Tomorrow I plan on going to eat for my restaurant review. I really can't decide on where to go, I know we are supposed to do an inexpensive option because we are college students and all. But I like going out to eat, I spend money going out to eat, and I think some people like me appreciate the experience of fine dining. So sorry to report, my meal will be costly. But where to go?...Either the restaurant I work at, Sangrias, small plates, somewhere else down town, somewhere in royal oak or birmingham, or i MAY go cheapo and do Nikki's downtown because of the story we read earlier on about it.

mmm...i'm not going to eat barely anything today or tomorrow so I can prepare myself for the tastes that are to come.

Warm, but not really.

Check it out, it's warmer!

Isn't it interesting how people tend to forget their jackets, throw on t-shirts at the first sign of the weather being above a frigid -2? I am guilty of this. The last two days I have been so excited with it being over 30 degrees outside. I'm already pumped for summer, I know, I know, early, but still. The only thing that frightens me is that winter only lasted for a month?! In a sense I hope it comes back, but in all honesty, I just want it to go away.

Teamwork? Team What?

Crave this.
I work a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot. I probably complain about my job as much as I work there. I am a server in downtown Dearborn at a sushi bar/restaurant/bar/lounge. A lot of the clientel is upity or wannna be's, name droppers of local celebrities, too tan, too much make up, clothes that are ridiculously priced people. Or, they are at the complete other end of the spectrum. Either way, it's not fun. Our restaurant is attractive, the food is beyond fabulous, and fresh-fresh-fresh. We order from all over the world and our executive chef trained under Noubu. The people I work with are some of the greatest people I have ever met and plan on keeping relationships with them throughout the rest of my life.
I hate who I work for. I work for an executive chef who wears his emotions on his sleeve, he has unpredictable moods and likes to get involved in drama. My one manager and the owner are brothers. Disgusting, ridiculously stupid people. They consistently do things that are disrespectful and lack common sense, no matter how much you try and tell them how much they don't make sense. I will now give you some examples of what I have to deal with and the idiocy I have to endure while at work:
1.) I got told that I was burning the candles on the table to fast. (Like I can control the speed in which the candles burn?)
2.)We have a check fee and a pen fee taken out of our checks each week. ( I have to pay to use pens, which by the way, I haven't seen one yet, and I also pay to get my paycheck. Tell me how that makes sense?)
3.) We are forced to split tips. I am the second best server there and the hardest worker. I get a larger section, with bigger parties, do more sidework, and make more money, and I have to split with everyone else? I don't mind splitting if everyone pulls their own weight, but if i am pulling mine plus, that's not fair. For example, the other night I had 306 dollars before tip out, after we all split, I walked home with 125. How is that fair?
4.) We get charged for Miso soup if we want to eat it, when we give it away complimentary at lunch.
5.) My manager thought the tea was too dark, and I was wasting the tea, he asked me how many tablespoons I put in the filter, I replied two, and he took the filter out and measured it. He thinks we are spending too much money on the huge barrel of tea that we have. Yet, the owner comps (completely pays for) 700 or 800 dollar bills for his friends, desserts are given away, drinks payed for, multiple times a day to multiple people. Sometimes I think he is looking for a hangout rather than owning a successful business.
6.)We also now have a new policy, teamwork. Which mind you, we are all friends, and teamwork is a way of life at Crave anyways. Now, we have a person who soley pushes drinks, and approaches your table befor eyou get there to take their drink order. This is a horrid idea. There is no possible way that one person can reach every table that is sat, there just isn't enough time. Than, that person has to find out who really has that table and give them the drink order so we can ring it in, it confuses our tables, it confuses us. They don't know who their server is, I don't know what drinks they have and have to ask them when they want another one. Also, this person isn't taking any tables, they are making NO money that night. It ends up just making us short staffed one person, so now he wants to put another server on. The result is that there is one more person to split with, confusion, irritation. I just don't understand the mentality of these people. I could go on and on and on about the ridiculousness of this business, but at teh end of the day, I have friend sthere, It's close to home, and I make money, as much as I get ripped off, I still do for the most part. I'ts a trap you'll never escape.

My Plan

The reading assigned for today, "I Just Want to be Average" really inspired me to rewrite my analysis paper. The way he approached his essay was real, with a monotone voice. His essay flowed well and was built from the ground up with backround information to give you a strong idea of where he comes from, where his family comes from. Everything he wrote got straight to the point, which made it easier to read. This is something that is often hard for me to do, I tend to jump around, even though I try to steer clear from that. I want to redo my entire paper, and I hope I can get started on it tonight. I want to produce one that fulfills my maximum potential as a writer, and hopefully I will achieve this goal by the end of this semester, starting with this paper.

Respect: A Musical Journey of Women.

For my mother's birthday I bought her tickets to see Respect, currently playing at the Gem Theater Downtown. We enter the theater, which to my surprise is very small, but absolutely adorable. We had front row tickets, and when i say front row, I mean FRONT. The play was amazing. I was so impressed. There was a cast of four women; a narrator, a cutsie mini-woman with a gorgeous voice, your average looking mommy, and a overly vulumptous, but extremely talented black woman. The black woman's voice was far beyond breathtaking, she sent chills down your spine, made you feel how she was feeling, I felt delusional. Music is empowering and so emotional, I was tangled between feelings of strength and power, dependency, love, hate, growth and courage. I've never loved my boyfriend more, hated him more. This play was so influencial and empowering. I learned things about the history of woman, the struggles they went through, the hardships they faced, a summary of each decade starting from the 1900's. I don't recomend anyone to see this play, I strongly insist that if you have the means, go see it, boy or girl, go see it.

Hallmark Holiday

February 14th. For some people Valentine's Day is a time to spend with your lover, celebrate your relationships, buy gifts of flowers and candied hearts, go to movies and out to eat, order champaigne, wine, dessert...for other people Valentine's Day is just one more day to remind you that you're alone. I worked Valentine's Day, not surprising, I work almost everyday. I'm indifferent on the 14th. I've actually never had a Valentine, except for this year. And although I worked, I still work with my boyfriend so that was okay. We always said that we won't celebrate stuff like V-Day and Sweetest Day, but we do, everyone who has a significant other does. No matter how stupid, or small, you always end up showing the one you care about that you do in one way or another. Mark (the bf) got me a nice bottle of Cabernet, I got him Hershey's kisses that have custom messages on each kiss. Though, work sucked, I made barely any money, barely any of the people dining were drinking. All in all, bad night.

So I probably had one of the worst days I have had in a long time. Thursday morning, I get up and go to the store to buy paper to come home to print out my Analysis of a Person essay. I come home, turn on my computer to find what? Oh yes, that would be the screen with no icons and no task bar. I have no way of printing my paper or even e-mailing to myself or saving it on a USB. After restarting the computer and finding the same problem over and over, I decide to head to class regardless. Now, I encounter my second problem. I get in my car, close the door and it doesn't latch, my car door rebounds off of itself and I can't get it to shut. I go get a screwdriver and I don't even know how I fixed it, after several painstaking tries. I drive to school, extremely late for my first class, and then as soon as I pull up, I throw up outside of my car. Over it.

Six songs that reflect my community.

In no specific order;
1.) The Real Slim Shady by Eminem
-I remember in highschool how everyone wanted to be original but everyone always conformed. More so
the guys over girls, but inside the different cliques, most people looked the same, dressed
the same, talked the same, and acted the same as all of the other members of their group, there was very
little individuality.
2.) Rush the Floor by Massari
-I live in Dearborn and attended Edsel Ford, my best friend was Yemenee. I hung
out a lot in the East and South ends. Dearborn has a large arabic population, and Massari is a
talanted arabic singer we listened to a lot.
3.) I Just Want to Party All the Time by Eddie Murphy (redone by various dj's)
-This song came out a while back, but lately at the clubs downtown, dj's, especially my friend Tom T, has been
remixing this song in his own house style. I love his song, it gets the whole club to move in a wave, and I grew
up with kids who 'want to party all the time'
4.) We Are Family by Sister Sledge
-I have been employed at my current job for over a year now, my fellw coworkers are my family. It has been the
same six of us since I started there. We have all grown so close to each other. I've met some of the best people
that I think I ever will, and I plan on keeping most of these people in my life forever, like family, because at Crave,
we are family. We have to work together, and watch each other's backs there, and we do.
5.) Our House by Madness
-I think Dearborn is a very family oriented community. I think we have a good neighborhood with your typical
American family living in at least every other house.
6.) Spotligh by Dave Matthews Band
-The majority of this song could definately be talking about our good ol' Detroit city. "i see my dreams here
in the big city, sour dissapointment" "damn you, big city, black city rising up around me, steal my soul away" "a
million beating hearts behind brick and cold steel piping fighting for the top fighting for the room to breathe bench
parks sleepers lie cold blanket bedless babieshere this must stop i cannot stay"

Confirmation

Confirmation 2007

I was raised in a Catholic family, and on Sunday, February 11, 2007, my brother, Andrew, made his confirmation. In the Christian Catholic religion, a confirmation is made when he or she is old enough to make their own decision on whether or not they want to commit to a Christian way of life. First you are baptised (normally as a baby),next comes communion (around second grade), and your confirmation(aroun eighth grade), though none of these dates are concrete. When you make your confirmation you are confirming that you believe in the Father, the son, and the holy ghost and that you will continue to follow your religion in the way Jesus would want you to. Each candidate has a sponsor and my brother chose me to be his. There was a lot of preperation for this; homework, attending classes, even a powerpoint presentation! After months of work, preparing him for the step he decided to make, and learning more about his faith, we finally made it. After the ceremony at church, we headed back to my mother's house to have a family party, which we also combined with the neighbor kid who also made her confirmation. It was a really nice party and I am happy my brother chose me to be his sponsor. Plus it was nice to see the family all together other than on Christmas or Thanksgiving.

Who is Mumia Abu-Jamal?

In Class we discussed Abu-Jamal and his essay Live from Death Row. The link above suggests that he had an unfair trial, that he wasn't even involved at all in the murder, that it was all sort of "made up" after he pressed police brutality charges. Live from Death Row illustrates a racist and inhumane setting for the 'dead waiting to die a second time'. Though his article is persuasive, and so is this link, where do they get the information from, and of course, how much bias is involved? Also, at the end of L.F.D.R. he throws in a last memory he has of his daughter, to try and bring sympathy, but what about the families of the police officers that were killed?

This is Shawn Kiernan, lover, hater, hated, enemy, best friend, life of the party, biggest loser, happiest guy, player, sweetheart, sweet talker, slacker, and comedian. For those of you that know him, you most likely miss him, even if he was on your bad side, and for those of you who don't, you really missed out. Today in class, someone brought up Kierns to me when we were talking about analyzing a community member, now Shawn was far from a beneficial member to the community, but it reminded me of him. Not a day goes by, that I don't say hi to the picture of us I have in my room, or think about what a shame that this fool died so young. Kiernan was killed in a motorcycle accident a few months back. It was unexpected and probably the first hard death I've had to deal with. The whole city was tuned upside down. Shawn was far from perfect. I remember playing hookie with him, smoking during school, getting wasted, wanting to fight him, almost fighting him, almost kissing him, going to starbucks with him, driving his broke-ass to school, talking on the phone with him. This kid had probably girlfriends, from different cities. (who by the way all met at his viewing...that was funny) Kiernan was the first guy at the party, and the last to leave, the biggest shit talker, and the best person to just talk to when you needed someone. Shawn's funeral was just so nice, it was casual, they were playign his cd's in the backround, they didn't try and hide who he was at all, it was kiernan. He was burried in a&f, we all wore pink (he was a fan of pink). He was a riot. He was too wild for the world, so God thought he'd take him on. He lived his life to the fullest EVERY SINGLE DAY and he never regreted anything that he did. Me and Shawn got close our senior year. I miss the kid and I know God, or whoever, is watching over him.

Meet Kiernan RIP babe, we miss you.

The Comforts of Walking in the Winter

Christmas socks and tennis shoes,

Two pairs of sweats and a sweater too.

Scarf drapes my face up to my eyes,

Tongue of mine is crystalized.

Bitter, painful walk to the car,

Bitter, painful walk not far.

The wind strikes against my face,

I take my mind to a warmer place.

I walk, a zombie to my destination,

Fingers frozen stiff, no circulation.

Nose running, can no longer smell,

This winter is a frozen hell.

ears still hear, but I block out the sound,

Eyes fixated on the crisp ground.

Don't want to talk, speak, or think,

I'm focused on the inside heat.

I want to run, legs won't bend,

They turn concrete, absorb the wind.

Inside I tha, body melts away the cold.

I dread my next venture into the snow.

check out the cold

In the D

When I first saw the new 'brand name' of Detroit, I was a little thrown. When I think of Detroit, I think of the tigers, and especially when you see a single D you expect the old english orange D, not a sleek silver bullet D. I also didn't like the 5 words, cars, culture, gaming, music, and sports until I read the article and it added, saying, "Hot cars. Leading-edge music.Vegas-style gaming. Diverse culture. Championship sports." This made me like it more, at first, I didn't really think it flowed all too well. Although, I do think it is straight to the punch, and really does give you all of the five best and attractive things about the area. I actually think it is appealing, and inspires more ideas for the future of Detroit.