Belated Nostalgia
I suppose this is technically the first post this year, although I have actually been quite busy typing out and posting my journals from the Big S, not that they have excited much interest. I had to because I promised to, but to whom is a difficult question.
Anyway, I haven’t been much occupied these few days. Most of my time is taken up telling everybody in sight that I need a job (the upshot of which is that I have a job interview at the nearest mart tomorrow); asking about driving lessons, which I am not enthusiastic about but my mother is because if I drive she won’t have to chauffeur my siblings about; and typing up my old journals. I haven’t been too busy about getting back in touch with my old group, I’m afraid; but I have seen Wolf and Age Ho (swimming); Herr Robson (selling drinks); and that’s it. The Pig is too preoccupied with his beloved online games to bother with such an inconsequential thing as an old classmate; and Kelvin, Meow and most of the others have begun their A-Levels classes. The rest are in The Torture Camp, where for obvious reasons I cannot contact them. So that’s about it.
I have become newly rich from my first job ever—waiting. Waiting, as in what a waiter does at Grand Port View Restaurant. There was a big wedding dinner last night and they were short of help—anyway, I got my first job through a phone call from a friend to stand in for another friend who was supposed to do the job but couldn’t, and thus got me turned into a waiter called ‘Amanda’ in the name lists. I admit that I am not exactly a testosterone-laden, muscular hulk, but to be called a girl—really! Anyway, the shortness of help was such that the supervisor was my colleague.
Two servers were assigned to take care of four tables; with the supervisor, the four tables I was to help serve became taken care of by three. A good thing, too, because I was a complete and total novice at the business and needed all the help I could get. In fact my bumbling service was so bad that a table realised that I was new and gave me lots of encouragement. I was there for 6 hours, watching people eat stuff I’d served them but not eating a bite of the stuff. Torture for me, as anyone who has seen me with food knows.
As a waiter, one has to bring dishes out, serve drinks, keep glasses full of drinks, change dishes, serve food, and constantly smile while keeping one hand behind one’s back. And for 6 hours of this service, I got only 20 bucks, some of which I promptly spent on a drink. Well, I deserved it; I hadn’t eaten any dinner but instant noodles that I’d cooked and eaten at home before going to the restaurant, at 5.
Today was relatively uneventful, but I just killed a snake. It got into my next-door neighbour’s bathroom and refused to come out. I suppose even animals have dirty minds…anyway, the neighbour called on me to go kill the snake because their own family hasn’t got any sons (read: dumb muscle) to kill snakes with. It was simple, really, because all I did was bang on the snake’s head with a walking stick until it was crushed. But the way the old lady carried on about it, it was like I’d saved a whole village of distressed old ladies from the Hydra’s invasion.
So I’m now updating, or as Wolf calls it, outdating my blog with reminisces of the Big S. (It just snowed there; the Northern Asian regions just experienced the coldest weather they’ve had for nearly 25 years.) I think I actually miss it; at least I was occupied then.
Yeah, I know, it’s kind of late to post up an ‘I Miss…’ List, but I only recently became alienated from everyone outside my immediate family. There’s a surprising amount of stuff I actually miss about school days, especially because I never thought I’d be anything but glad to get out of the reach of the Cue Ball.
I miss the crazy crapping I used to have with my little circle, teasing Roger about Meow, putting down the Cue Ball and Miss Crazy, and showing off my English after exams when the teacher read out the best essays. I miss snubbing everybody within earshot, nagging people to blog, and gossiping about everything and nothing. I miss the security I had of actually belonging to a certain school, of being somewhat physically active, and of being employed. In fact I miss almost everything about my school life.
I wonder how everybody else is feeling, but for sure there won’t be that many people who’ll miss me. After all, I never did have a social life; I doubt if I ever knew more than fifty people by name in these five years at school. It’s annoying that something that seemed so horrible while it was happening seems so desirable in hindsight. Perhaps I was just too stupid to appreciate what I had while I had it?
Anyway, I haven’t been much occupied these few days. Most of my time is taken up telling everybody in sight that I need a job (the upshot of which is that I have a job interview at the nearest mart tomorrow); asking about driving lessons, which I am not enthusiastic about but my mother is because if I drive she won’t have to chauffeur my siblings about; and typing up my old journals. I haven’t been too busy about getting back in touch with my old group, I’m afraid; but I have seen Wolf and Age Ho (swimming); Herr Robson (selling drinks); and that’s it. The Pig is too preoccupied with his beloved online games to bother with such an inconsequential thing as an old classmate; and Kelvin, Meow and most of the others have begun their A-Levels classes. The rest are in The Torture Camp, where for obvious reasons I cannot contact them. So that’s about it.
I have become newly rich from my first job ever—waiting. Waiting, as in what a waiter does at Grand Port View Restaurant. There was a big wedding dinner last night and they were short of help—anyway, I got my first job through a phone call from a friend to stand in for another friend who was supposed to do the job but couldn’t, and thus got me turned into a waiter called ‘Amanda’ in the name lists. I admit that I am not exactly a testosterone-laden, muscular hulk, but to be called a girl—really! Anyway, the shortness of help was such that the supervisor was my colleague.
Two servers were assigned to take care of four tables; with the supervisor, the four tables I was to help serve became taken care of by three. A good thing, too, because I was a complete and total novice at the business and needed all the help I could get. In fact my bumbling service was so bad that a table realised that I was new and gave me lots of encouragement. I was there for 6 hours, watching people eat stuff I’d served them but not eating a bite of the stuff. Torture for me, as anyone who has seen me with food knows.
As a waiter, one has to bring dishes out, serve drinks, keep glasses full of drinks, change dishes, serve food, and constantly smile while keeping one hand behind one’s back. And for 6 hours of this service, I got only 20 bucks, some of which I promptly spent on a drink. Well, I deserved it; I hadn’t eaten any dinner but instant noodles that I’d cooked and eaten at home before going to the restaurant, at 5.
Today was relatively uneventful, but I just killed a snake. It got into my next-door neighbour’s bathroom and refused to come out. I suppose even animals have dirty minds…anyway, the neighbour called on me to go kill the snake because their own family hasn’t got any sons (read: dumb muscle) to kill snakes with. It was simple, really, because all I did was bang on the snake’s head with a walking stick until it was crushed. But the way the old lady carried on about it, it was like I’d saved a whole village of distressed old ladies from the Hydra’s invasion.
So I’m now updating, or as Wolf calls it, outdating my blog with reminisces of the Big S. (It just snowed there; the Northern Asian regions just experienced the coldest weather they’ve had for nearly 25 years.) I think I actually miss it; at least I was occupied then.
Yeah, I know, it’s kind of late to post up an ‘I Miss…’ List, but I only recently became alienated from everyone outside my immediate family. There’s a surprising amount of stuff I actually miss about school days, especially because I never thought I’d be anything but glad to get out of the reach of the Cue Ball.
I miss the crazy crapping I used to have with my little circle, teasing Roger about Meow, putting down the Cue Ball and Miss Crazy, and showing off my English after exams when the teacher read out the best essays. I miss snubbing everybody within earshot, nagging people to blog, and gossiping about everything and nothing. I miss the security I had of actually belonging to a certain school, of being somewhat physically active, and of being employed. In fact I miss almost everything about my school life.
I wonder how everybody else is feeling, but for sure there won’t be that many people who’ll miss me. After all, I never did have a social life; I doubt if I ever knew more than fifty people by name in these five years at school. It’s annoying that something that seemed so horrible while it was happening seems so desirable in hindsight. Perhaps I was just too stupid to appreciate what I had while I had it?
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