worried
I'm worried about the old man. the other chefs and professors are keeping quiet about whats really up, luckily a couple of them know how tight i am with him and they give me snippets of info as it comes. Near as I can tell I was the last student to see him leave a few weeks ago, he didn't look all that good..Like me he's a diabetic, though he's never taken the "best" care of himself...tales of his wild partying, excesses of everything save hard drugs and his stint working for Donald Trumph (legend has it he told the billionare to go fuck himself when he complained about the food), show all that, he told me a few times of his failing sight ad loss of feeling in his hands and feet, though last i heard he was getting a bit better about all that..but then he suddenly fell ill..you've read my old posts and know, but turns out he had a staph infection and his toe (the cause of all this) was infected to the point that it had to be amputated...he was discharged from the hospital to get rest at home, but he crashed a couple weeks ago, and after a failed attempt to take care of it at home by way of a nurse and IV,he was back in the hospital, and thats all thats we know for now....bah, maybe you wonder why I'd care. He's cool and all, laid back, funny, knowledgeable and serious at the same time. I had him for the first time my second semester. truth be told, at that point I was about ready to give up. not just school, cooking in general. My job was holding me back and I had no real clear cut idea if I was able to cook, no idea of my potential. I went back hoping I'd find my answers, and I found all of them while working with the old man. he was easy to joke around with, he placed more importance on labs and actual cooking than tests or lectures, he even let us cheat on tests constantly. but when it got time for it he'd get down to brass tacks and tell you when you needed to know, never be an asshole about it. He seemed to see something in me from the start it seems. I enjoyed to cook, but never really thought I had a passion for it, he showed me that I did. in Labs he'd give me interesting projects to work on, pay more attention to my work and always acknowledge my achivements and sucess. He made me realize that I could do this, that I had the passion and the skills, i just needed to learn and experince more. He saved me from giving up and wandering without a path, and he became my mentor and my inspiration. I put more into my work, my goal to someday pass him, hang out, be freinds, though in a way we already were. the following year I came back and we were together again, and he tested me even further. once giving me a side project that was considered one of the hardest things you'd have to do in cooking, cutting a terrine...it was hell, i nearly threw my knife across the room, but in the end he just smiled and said "good job, thats one of the hardest things you'll ever have to do in a kitchen."...His next act towards me changed my life, he got me into Disney...out of about 30 applicants to the internship program, I was one of 4 chosen for the advanced culinary internship...he won't admit it, but i knew he said something to the disney recruiter to get me in...he never said it, though he hinted that he did a little palm greasing "I told them you were eager to learn and had a hunger for knowledge."..that coupled with a little luck was what landed me at the Grand Floridian...if not for his intervention who knows how bad those 8 months could have been? Luckily i'll never know. I owe that man alot, not my life, but close to it. I called him a few weeks ago while he was in his first stay at the hospital, and his first words to me were asking if I was taking care of my diabetes...I said yes chef, and in an obviouse drug induced haze he said good, i don't want you to end up like me...selfless ness, another quality of him. he worries more for his students than himself.. and thats why i'm worried..he's always seemed soo alive, so animated, the thought of him laying in a hospital half dead...i can't imagine it...I just hope he gets through it, and we can get a chance to hang out again. i need sleep now....i feel better having vented a bit, sorry if this bored you guys...but yeah, i needed to ramble.