What a week this has been. It's interesting to think how everyone else experienced these past few days, from all of our corners of the world. For me, this week was all about maintaining. Maintaining calm in the midst of chaos; maintaining sanity while adjusting to a demanding, exhausting schedule; mostly maintaining ME as I settle into this whole new routine filled with new faces, new responsibilities, new challenges. The only way to express the first few days of this is ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!! Let me explain:

Monday I had orientation for my new job. It was initially very relieving to show up and realize I'd be training with a small group of people in the same boat as me: new/rookie/graveyard. Getting to know these people on this basis was interesting. Discussing where we all come from, what brought us here, where we've been. Meeting new people is a very intriguing experience. Seeing how they react to the things that make me ME. Understanding the things that make them them. People are so vastly different, yet ultimately we have so much in common.

Tuesday was not so refreshing and enjoyable. Tuesday was hard, exhausting, long, and frustrating. We arrived at work at 9am dressed in uniform. I however had not yet gotten myself a tie and was wearing shoes I had from past restaurant experience and tried to ignore the fact that I knew they were uncomfortable. We were each assigned a trainer who at first I felt bad for, having to be trailed all day by a newbie, but then realized that we picked up a lot of slack for them and they actually had it pretty good. My first trainer's name was Rio. He seemed professional enough at first, but by 11:30am, after knowing me for about two hours, must have felt comfortable enough to let me know he thought I was very good looking and had nice legs. Wonderful. Rio was in the weeds pretty much all day so I took tables, delivered drinks, busted my butt for 6 straight hours without a break. I was practically limping by the time it was over, my feet hurt so bad. We had to stick around for cash-out just to see how it was done. Rio tipped me out $15.00, which I realized was pretty generous since none of my other trainers tipped me out at all. I didn't get out of work until well past 4pm, my pinkie toes felt as if they'd fallen off, I was absolutely starving, but didn't know if I was going to be able to stay conscious long enough to eat. And in the back of my head I knew that this was only the beginning. When I got home monday afternoon Roxx didn't realize what he had coming to him. My montstrous mood only worsened when I realize that he had eaten HALF of the delicous bread emily sent me only the day before. On top of that he had his music blasting and didn't get the hint that I was not in a talking OR listening mood, even after I'd snapped at him about the bread. For the first time in our month as roommates, Roxx saw the mean side of Darci.

Wednesday wasn't much better. My trainer's name was Dominic and he also felt it necessary and nothing out of the ordinary to express his thoughts about my looks. My practice in things like this isn't very good so I just ignored it. Unfortunately this guy smokes like a chimney and wednesday's training consisted mostly of familiarizing myself with the break room/alley. After a grueling 7 hours on the floor Dominic shook my hand and told me I'd done well. Wonderful. More than a few people had to deal with the brunt of my bad mood this day as I felt it necessary to make calls and explain to them my situation.

Thursday Michael, wonderful, old, New York born Michael. Not one flattering comment, not one cigarette break, just old-fashion this-is-how-we-do it training. Still an exhausting, pennieless day, but the best out of all week. By Thursday I'd realized that before I made any calls I should first get off my feet for a bit, eat something and then think about communicating with people.

Food-runner Friday. This was a change of pace, but did nothing good for my 1 o'clock hunger pains. One other trainee and I were in the kitchen running food all day. The kitchen is absolute CHAOS at this place. Huge and like a little South American country in itself. I'm not sure how many things were said about me, but since I couldn't understand any of them it was fine with me. The purpose of food running is to familiarize us with the plate presentation, and also the layout of the restaurant. This place is HUGE though, and for the first few runs I thought I needed a GPS device to figure out where the hell the table was that matched the number on the greasy slip I was holding. Eventually I got the hang of it, and the fact that I didn't have to wait an extra hour or so for transfer of tables and cashing out kept me going. However, as my fellow food-running trainee Camilo and I were gleefully escaping at 3pm on the dot, we were stopped and reminded we had a menu review session. It was also about this time when I got the news about Grandma Tretter. The review session was sort of a blur, my mind obviously distracted. I didn't even realize until we were released only 20 minutes later, that our manager had decided to let us take a copy of the test home instead of actually reviewing the material. He clearly had other things on his mind as well.

Walking home I tried to get a hold on how I felt. The combination of pure exhaustion mixed with an unfamiliar, almost numbing emotion of sadness. My heart went out to dad. I was totally oblivious to the tourists snapping pictures, the vacationers gleefully taking in famous Deco Drive. My mind was somewhere in the past, reminscing on some glimpse of a memory I have about a dinner one night with Grandma Tretter present at our house. A story she was telling about her first job. I didn't recall much, but I remember how impressed I was with whatever she'd been talking about. And it is in this way I'll always remember her.

So that is what this week was like for me, from this corner of the world. I'm tired from just going back through it all. If you made it to this point, I applaud you. I'm sure I'm leaving things out that popped into my head with "gotta get that in the blog." Either way, you know where I've been. Monday begins my actually graveyard shift. I work Thursday through Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday will be dedicated to rest and reclaiming of sanity.

Today is December 1st! Happy Holidays!