Sorry, I've Just Been So Busy...

So I know I haven't updated in a while. I was sick for about two weeks and now the last week I've been busy making up all the stuff I couldn't do before. This last couple of weeks have been crazy so I think it's time for a super bullet list instead of a real entry.

• Kirby and I got an apartment! We move in on January 7.
• I cooked a sweet potato dish for Thanksgiving and it actually turned out really well.
• When I tried to pay my parking citation online, it said it's already been paid. I sure didn't pay it so I'm not sure what happened. The only thing I can figure is that somebody paid mine by accident. Saves me $38 though.
• I got a $26 tip off one table at work on Wednesday. It was only 4 people and they were very easy to wait on. I was excited.
• I'm setting aside $10 after every shift to put towards getting Mom's diamond reset. I still need to take it to the jeweler and get an idea of how much I'll need to save.
• The high today is only 50°. I'm freezing, but I love it - especially since it was in the high 70s a few days ago.
• Only three weeks left of my first semester in college. One week of normal classes, dead week, and then finals. I only have one final every day of final week. Monday it's history, Tuesday sociology (which should be a breeze considering I didn't go to a single class between my last two tests and still made an 84 on the last one), Wednesday I'll have journalism, Thursday it'll be health psychology, and Friday it's going to be astronomy.
• I went to the Dallas World Aquarium for the first time ever on the 11th. It was amazing. I don't have much to say about it beyond that but I wanted to at least record it, for posterity's sake.
  

Okay I think I'm going to go play Sims for a little while before work. I'll try to update in a more timely manner from now on.

Next Semester and Last Night

Okay so my school schedule for spring is all worked out. Here’s what it looks like.

Monday
9:00am-9:50am :: US History from 1865 :: ESSC 255
12:00pm-12:50pm :: Elementary French :: LANG 211
1:30pm-2:50pm :: Physical Geology :: ENV 125
Tuesday
11:00am-11:50am :: French Lab :: LANG 109
12:30pm-1:20pm :: Elementary French :: LANG 215
Wednesday
Same as Monday
Thursday
3:00pm-4:50pm :: Geology Lab :: ENV 361
6:00pm-7:50pm :: Theatre Appreciation :: RTFP 135
8:00pm-9:50pm :: Theatre Appreciation Lab :: RTFP 135
Friday
9:00am-9:50am :: US History from 1865 :: ESSC 255
12:00pm-12:50pm :: Elementary French :: LANG 211

I know, it’s kind of weird, and not the most convenient schedule, but it’s the best I could do with the classes I wanted to/could take. Mostly it’s just because three of my four classes require labs. Oh well.

Last night was so much fun. I went to Eisley’s with Kirby, Nina, her boyfriend Jordan and their friend Kyle, Melisa and her friends Destiny and Derek, AJ and his friend, and Allison. I had never really hung out with any of the other than AJ and Kirby, and I had never even met a bunch of them. We just hung out and got to know each other for a while and eventually me, Kirby, Allison, Nina, Jordan and Kyle decided to go to iHop. We got crappy service, as usual when I’ve gone with that many people, but it was a lot of fun. I haven’t hung out with a big group like that in a long time, so it was nice.

This update is really boring so away I go to read Entertainment Weekly.

Recycled Story: Quitting The Radisson After One Day*

I know - one day. But…

Things I wish I had known before I applied:
- On average, breakfast servers only make $35 in tips for an 7-8 hour shift - and that’s the busiest time of day.
- A “busy” day consists of 35 tables in the entire shift.
- Most tips are only 10% on a $10-20 bill. You do the math.
- Asking guests if everything is okay more than once is considered harassing them.
- Being a waitress also means being a hostess, cashier, busboy, cook, and room service runner.
- There is so little organization that the tables aren’t even numbered and they don’t require their servers to learn the menu.
- “Good service” is not being polite, friendly, and welcoming - it’s being invisible.

So, yeah. I feel kind of bad quitting after a day, but that’s only because they’re pretty nice people there. But, oh well. It was a waste of time and definitely not worth getting up at 4:30 in the morning for.

The Radisson markets itself as an upscale hotel, but it’s all fake… Once you get behind the scenes, out of the public areas, it’s obvious that the management needs to seriously assess that situation. The kitchen is huge, but so open and empty…They don’t do enough business to keep it totally stocked (except for banquets and such, I’m guessing). The walls have huge stains on them, the wallpaper is old and faded, it seemed like everything was dirty, some of their cloth napkins have holes in them…It’s fake luxury. It’s all about appearances there. “We’ll set our tables and people will think we’re high-end, so they’ll pay $7 for a continental breakfast.” Sadly, it seems to work - although apparently not THAT well, considering how slow they are.

*Full disclosure: I originally wrote this in June 2007, when my brief stint at the hotel actually occurred.