Short Encapsulation of Good Friday week

I gave my two weeks notice two weeks ago and tonight is officially my last shift. I have to start in about 20 minutes and it will be especially long. I'll have to get my shoulders in twisting mode so that I can slink between the packed bodies to grab bottles and sneakily soak up spills with my handy cloth. It was a good afternoon though. Both Good Friday and today have been nice flaneurish days since I've been treating myself to walks and social time and numerous coffee chats. I went to the comic book store with Kaz, of K-pet, and looked at some grotesque and beautiful images of Swallow, Sandman, and some fairly poor knock-offs of Batman and Batgirl. Kaz and I talked of the news of our current plans, whether to travel, or how it will be when he goes to Tokyo. The faces of the pro-live protestors to Terri Shiavo's controversy about whether a woman in a vegative state should have her feeding tube reinserted or pass quietly away watched us from the newspaper laying on the table and photos of bunnies or headlines about crucifixion or whatever it happened to be, or announcements of rereleases of that Mel Gibson movie I still haven't seen come out. I did see Stepford Wives yesterday though. Quite disturbing when a families are so concerned with appearances that they would prefer a robot spouse to wear like a trophy. Nicole Kidman's characters make me a little nauseous. This one is intense. But it so brilliantly portrays a neurotic that I feel violated just watching it (like I'm supposed to?). The idea is interesting but the story is just to exaggeratorily ridiculous. Christopher Walkin plays a character who runs a very successful business, implanting nanochips into wives brains and overhauling their physique to allow their husbands to manipulate them with remote controls. The day before I had the day off school but went for a counseling session to learn more about my educational facility and worked on a project. Wedsday was normal school but we had a guest speaker who is the head of the broadcasting department, and has been on the air for quite an experience, even broadcasting the rampid fires that were burning down British Columbian forest as they were in it, with first hand contact to the firefighters. He talked to us about radio advertising and creating what he called, the "theatre of the mind" by writing voice scripts. Rushing now as the minutes count down and I still don't have on my uniform. I had to buss bar-run and take care of the entire restaurant last night. I will continue working one shift a week for awhile even though I'm officially DONE because my employer is desperate, and I'm happy to force myself into a little ease-off work as I near my self-imposed holiday from part-time. That will still give me 8 hours extra per week to do fun things like the above. I will also but posting more pictures from my trip and readdressing my Portie experiences. Ah, that wonderful fantastical land. Howard still talks endlessly. Well, until then. Cross your fingers that I don't break too many glasses. Ciao.

*****
-Several hours later-
*****

I tended a bar I've never been through. It was busier than bingo. Staff was energetically worried and frantic. We ran out of glass racks. People were spilling everywhere. We were understaffed. A water line burst. The bar started flooding. The dance floor began flooding. The bussers were occupied with mopping. The water was all turned off. The dishwashers were helpless. There was a lot of swearing and confusion. A lot of mess built up. The bar-runners just dumped cherries all over the kitchen floor. The cook was very angry. So were a lot of people. But the loyal dishwasher almost had to be kicked out. She wasn't betraying her duty. We stuffed the garbage compacter past capacity. It wasn't working. Garbage bags leaked as we lunged them, pushed them, tried to catch their contents. Finally we realized that the garbage was not Jonah, and the compacter was not a whale. There was more than it could swallow. We emptied garbage bins beside the dumpster. We called it quits. It was 3:30. I got tips directly from bartenders. I wiped all the tables. I'd say it wasn't a bad night. Time for sleep. It was my last night. But I'll be back in EITHER this Friday or Saturday. But not both.