My Gums are Sore
Was woken up early this morning by an employee calling in sick. I think it's kinda cute really - my employees calling me almost daily at this time a year with colds... I'd probably respect them more if they just said "Brian, I have 5 sick days left and I want to use a few of 'em before the end of the year and we're so slow right now I figured it would be okay if I did". Because I know for the most part that's what they are doing and it's true - we are really slow right now and can afford to have a person out on a given day. But anyhow, it's not anything that bothers me - these little games we play.
After that call I got a call from my Dentist's office that they had an opening for an 11am appointment. I had to duck out of my last appointment for a meeting at work so I took 'em up on their offer and went in to have my tooths scraped. "Have you been flossing?" "Well, I know what you want to hear but if I tell you yes then you'll know not only that I'm weak but that I'm a liar too" - "Yes, that's my way of seeing if you tell the truth or not - you pass". I really do need to floss more. Teeth are strong but gums could use a few laps around the track to tone up. So I'll go ahead and floss and use my Oral B for a week or so and then I'll go back to not flossing and using a regular toothbrush because, like I said, I am weak.
Last night I went with some of the bears to see The Golden Compass. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The direction and especially the art direction were superb. It felt like something out of a Myst game. I get a boner for any kind of "steam punk" design so a lot of the technology was right up my alley. It felt a little forced towards the end though and talk about a sequel-setter-upper... Feh... But still enjoyable. The Vatican parallels were pretty awesome too. And holy shit - I want a daemon of my own!!! I think I'm gonna pick up the first book and start on it when I finish "Michael Tolliver Lives"
Tonight is the PECS (bar I work at) Customer Appreciation Party. What that means is that I have to take 200 shrimp to the bar and serve them to our regulars for an hour or so followed by our opening up the bar (free booze) for an hour to all of 'em, followed by me drinking a lot and then stumbling up the hill to my apartment (with my santa cap on). I tend to not look forward to this party for some reason even though year after year I have a really good time. I think tonight will build on that as a lot of the guys are coming out - usually they don't, leaving the party for the hard-core regulars and not the weekenders (which most of my buds are).
And how about you Brian? How are you feelin' these days?
Well, I'm good. I feel like I got past the worst of the time change/weather change/holiday change blues and am now back into my groove a bit. The real job has been going well enough and the bar job, apart from a minor glitch recently, is good too. In fact, on Monday night I felt really damn good working (Matt is on the patio now on Mondays and that f'in' rocks). Oh, and here's something to share - I owe it a lot of that good feeling to one of our most annoying long-time drunk regulars. I was serving drinks, doing my thing, and feeling good. If anything, I was probably being a little more talkative and engaging than I normally am... Well, Drunk Regular (DR) got into talking with me about this and that.... A while later some of the guys showed up and at one point DR said to me "Brian, you really seem different tonight" (keep in mind DR usually hangs on the patio all night and hasn't been a regular customer of mine in a year or so). "What do you mean?" I said.. "Well, tonight you have a personality - usually it's like you're just working. Just doing your job". Now, I'm a freaking hyper-sensitive person and when someone says "you have a personality" I immediately think "you never had a personality before" is what they are really saying and I get all embarrassed (shamed even). I think he noticed that and followed up with "it's a good thing - it's really a good thing" but I still felt some sting there.
It made me think about how I've heard people describe me in the past - "a cold warmth" or "an asshole" lol... But really, that cold warmth is true. I just can't be "on" all the time. I'll pull inside of myself and observe and when I do I tend to not radiate a lot of kindness (warmth if you will). And as some of you bearded folks can attest to, a grimace or semi-grin just doesn't get noticed behind all this fur and I'm not much of a smiler. Anyhow, I think I'm going to work towards a New Year's resolution of being a little more open and warm. I see it behind a person's eyes sometimes - they don't always know what to make of what I say or how I say it. I joke that I'm "not a nice person, I'm a good person" because right now - right here - it's true. But I feel like that's a cop-out. The folks I care for deserve more than good from me. All of this falls under why I fucking love being in my 30s. I know that may come of as kinda random but my 30s have been all about really getting in deep and trying to figure myself out in new ways. And being the narcissistic scholar that I am - the history/improvement of me is my favorite subject!
So how's that for a post with a bit more to say than a YouTube clip? Tugs y'all...
After that call I got a call from my Dentist's office that they had an opening for an 11am appointment. I had to duck out of my last appointment for a meeting at work so I took 'em up on their offer and went in to have my tooths scraped. "Have you been flossing?" "Well, I know what you want to hear but if I tell you yes then you'll know not only that I'm weak but that I'm a liar too" - "Yes, that's my way of seeing if you tell the truth or not - you pass". I really do need to floss more. Teeth are strong but gums could use a few laps around the track to tone up. So I'll go ahead and floss and use my Oral B for a week or so and then I'll go back to not flossing and using a regular toothbrush because, like I said, I am weak.
Last night I went with some of the bears to see The Golden Compass. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The direction and especially the art direction were superb. It felt like something out of a Myst game. I get a boner for any kind of "steam punk" design so a lot of the technology was right up my alley. It felt a little forced towards the end though and talk about a sequel-setter-upper... Feh... But still enjoyable. The Vatican parallels were pretty awesome too. And holy shit - I want a daemon of my own!!! I think I'm gonna pick up the first book and start on it when I finish "Michael Tolliver Lives"
Tonight is the PECS (bar I work at) Customer Appreciation Party. What that means is that I have to take 200 shrimp to the bar and serve them to our regulars for an hour or so followed by our opening up the bar (free booze) for an hour to all of 'em, followed by me drinking a lot and then stumbling up the hill to my apartment (with my santa cap on). I tend to not look forward to this party for some reason even though year after year I have a really good time. I think tonight will build on that as a lot of the guys are coming out - usually they don't, leaving the party for the hard-core regulars and not the weekenders (which most of my buds are).
And how about you Brian? How are you feelin' these days?
Well, I'm good. I feel like I got past the worst of the time change/weather change/holiday change blues and am now back into my groove a bit. The real job has been going well enough and the bar job, apart from a minor glitch recently, is good too. In fact, on Monday night I felt really damn good working (Matt is on the patio now on Mondays and that f'in' rocks). Oh, and here's something to share - I owe it a lot of that good feeling to one of our most annoying long-time drunk regulars. I was serving drinks, doing my thing, and feeling good. If anything, I was probably being a little more talkative and engaging than I normally am... Well, Drunk Regular (DR) got into talking with me about this and that.... A while later some of the guys showed up and at one point DR said to me "Brian, you really seem different tonight" (keep in mind DR usually hangs on the patio all night and hasn't been a regular customer of mine in a year or so). "What do you mean?" I said.. "Well, tonight you have a personality - usually it's like you're just working. Just doing your job". Now, I'm a freaking hyper-sensitive person and when someone says "you have a personality" I immediately think "you never had a personality before" is what they are really saying and I get all embarrassed (shamed even). I think he noticed that and followed up with "it's a good thing - it's really a good thing" but I still felt some sting there.
It made me think about how I've heard people describe me in the past - "a cold warmth" or "an asshole" lol... But really, that cold warmth is true. I just can't be "on" all the time. I'll pull inside of myself and observe and when I do I tend to not radiate a lot of kindness (warmth if you will). And as some of you bearded folks can attest to, a grimace or semi-grin just doesn't get noticed behind all this fur and I'm not much of a smiler. Anyhow, I think I'm going to work towards a New Year's resolution of being a little more open and warm. I see it behind a person's eyes sometimes - they don't always know what to make of what I say or how I say it. I joke that I'm "not a nice person, I'm a good person" because right now - right here - it's true. But I feel like that's a cop-out. The folks I care for deserve more than good from me. All of this falls under why I fucking love being in my 30s. I know that may come of as kinda random but my 30s have been all about really getting in deep and trying to figure myself out in new ways. And being the narcissistic scholar that I am - the history/improvement of me is my favorite subject!
So how's that for a post with a bit more to say than a YouTube clip? Tugs y'all...