May 30th, 2015

I was having a dream in which another bartender was telling me that he would take my opening shift, and I didn’t have to sow up until 10. I was filled with joy until my alarm went off at 06:30. I got ready and headed to work. I stopped at Starbucks for a coffee, and the girl behind the counter said “Hi Travis, Trenta iced coffee, no ice, no sweetener?” before I had even reached the counter. It was going to be a good day.

I opened the bar, cutting fruit and getting things ready for the day. I had a round of tables before my relief got there at 11, and then another round before the noon bartender showed up. I was taking care of the tables and backing up the person on the rail. It was slow today, nothing of note happened.

I left around 4:30 and was riding home when I saw a barbershop. Rebecca has been after me for a while to get a haircut, so I stopped in. There were two Chinese ladies working, and they kept talking to each other in Cantonese on Mandarin, I can’t tell the difference. The guy in the other chair was convinced they were talking about him so he shouted “English!” and they stopped talking all together.

I stopped at a new burrito place near my house, got dinner and went home to shower and start a load of laundry. Rebecca finally came home from her school’s graduation and it took her 20 minutes to notice my haircut. She threw her arms around me and told me that I look more handsome with short hair. We watched the second Jurassic Park movie and she went to bed while I stayed up watching Sons of Anarchy.

May 29th, 2015

I woke up and made another box of macaroni for breakfast. I have realized that when buying a new product that jumps out at me as a possible delicious treat, I buy two. I see a new candy bar that looks good, I get two of them. A new flavor of soda comes out, I get two. I think it’s because if I like it, I won’t have to go back and buy another. I have strong impulsive tendencies, but they are limited by laziness.

The sun was shining bright in the sky, so I took a beach chair and set it up to read outside the apartment. I lasted only 45 minutes before the heat sent me racing back inside like a jackrabbit running through a snake nest. I finished the book and then headed to work. I ordered a kids burger and sat in the hallway to eat because there was a table eating in the back section of the restaurant where we tend to congregate before and after our shifts. Right at 4, the person in whose section I was taking over told me that he was transferring table 113 to me because they had only ordered drinks so far. I went up and introduced myself: “hey guys, I’m Travis. They are sending so-and-so home, so I will be taking care of you guys tonight. Is there anything I can get for you?” I was met with unemotional stares and silence. “more limes” one of the guys finally said. “I’m sorry?” I asked, not quite hearing him because he spoke almost in a whisper. He positioned himself in his chair and said “I need more limes.”

I fetched his limes, and then he ordered two shots of Hennessy. For those of you who don’t know, Hennessey is a cognac, another word for expensive liquor. The shots at my restaurant cost $10. By the end of the meal, the table had ordered 10 shots of Hennessy, along with 5 other cocktails, 5 entrées, and 3 appetizers. Their bill was just over $300. I dropped it off and continued taking care of my other table and bring up plates, cups and ice as needed. When I walked by, they asked me to split the check. Mr. Whispers took the $100 worth of Hennessy and his food, another lady took her food and a drink and the other couple got the rest. I now had 3 bills, two for $139 and change, and another for $40. Mr. Whispers gave me $140 and when I said “I’ll be right back with your change” he said “Nah man, that’s all you” $0.85 is not a tip, it is an insult, especially on a $140 tab. The other couple left $1.74 on their $140 tab, and the last lady left $4 on $40. I was so mad. I had over $400 in sales, and after having to tip out the hosts I owed $7. They all left and hung out near the doorway. I really wanted to say something, but I didn’t want to get fired, or beat up so I let the anger consume me. For the rest of the night I was furious. Mad at them for not tipping, and mad at my company for not having a system in place to get my back in that situation. For the rest of the night, I had a scowl burned into my face until right before I got to one of my tables. I had to pretend to be friendly, even though my blood burned like lava inside my veins.

By the end of the night, I had sold over $800 worth of food and drinks. I walked home with $35. I got home and went straight to bed.

May 28th, 2015

I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm was set to pull me out of my most glorious slumber. I got ready and headed to work. There was a BBQ for the employees today, there were promises of fun, food, and games. I have attended three company BBQs in my tenure with this particular restaurant. The first one promised hourly prizes that you had to be present to win. I arrived at 9, and stayed until 6. The prizes, which included a TV, BBQ, and surfboard, were given out days later. They had written down the names of those who showed up and pulled names raffle style to award the prizes. I had been in attendance for the entire BBQ and left with a $5 Starbucks card and a sized medium shirt given to the restaurant by the beer distributor. I chose not to go to today’s festivities because it mostly involves awkward interactions with the management who are forced to be there.

I was working in the bar today, but it was still too early to have attained cognitive awareness. I was supposed to be taking care of the tables and people who sat at the bar top, but I was deep into conversation with a fellow from Australia, and didn’t even notice the people who had been sat at the tables. The other bartender snapped me out of my haze by yelling at me for not doing my job and I quickly got to work taking orders. The rest of the afternoon went off without any problems.

My relief showed up at 5 and I started to head home, but after talking to Rebecca, I quickly learned that I was on my own for dinner as she had already eaten. I went to the store and thought about frozen pizza, but it was too expensive, so I wandered the store for 20 minutes looking for inspiration. I eventually found jalapeño mac-and-cheese, and chipotle mac-and-cheese. My hopes were high as I went through the checkout line, I also got two pieces of string cheese which I had eaten before I got to my moped. I cooked both boxes of Mac-N-Cheese and figured I would see which one was better. Neither of them were great, probably nothing I will buy again, but the jalapeño was the better of the two. I mixed the leftovers together and then Rebecca and I watched the first Jurassic Park movie. We recently bought the trilogy from the online for $7. With the 4th movie coming out in two weeks, I wanted to watch them again to catch up. When I was 11, I read the book Jurassic Park in 4 days, just in time to see the movie. I remember my parents letting me take the day off from school to watch the movie opening day. I think I watched it 5 times in theatres by the end of the summer.

Rebecca went to sleep and soon afterwards, the sound of an argument pierced the air. Neighbors fighting is nothing new for us, just last Sunday we were able to listen to two guys get into a fight while a woman screamed “stop” and “help him” over and over again. I dared not intercede, as it sounded like two roommates fighting about their living situation and the female was trying to get them to stop. I would have done something if it sounded like either one of them was hurting the lady, but she was mostly just screaming at the two gentlemen settling their differences. Tonight, I heard usual yelling, and a female screaming. I went outside to listen to the show and the police came much quicker that usual. The noise quieted down soon after that. I began to watch the Making Of disc that came with our Jurassic Park trilogy and then went to bed.

May 27th, 2015

I woke up and headed straight to the book store. I had finished the third book of my trilogy, and found out that there have been several novels written about the backstory of the video game Halo. I only bought the next book in the chronological order, but I think I may have to go to the library or Amazon to find them for a better deal.

I went home, made breakfast and plowed through half the book. I was planning to read outside in the sunshine, but a cover of clouds forced me indoors for the rest of the morning.

I got to work at 3 and had no desire to be there. It ended up being extremely busy for a Wednesday night, but I never once felt rushed or anxious. The entire night seemed to blend together, along with all the other nights in which I have spent there.

At about 9, I had two Japanese girls come in with a pre-paid coupon that let them order off a specific menu. They each got drinks, a salad, a dinner, and desert, and they shared two appetizers. They had ordered all of their food, and once they got their drinks, they disappeared. Their salads and appetizers arrived, and then their dinner, but they were no where to be found. They had left their shopping bags, but I assumed they were in the bathroom or smoking. They emerged 30 minutes later with new bags full of clothes and shoes. I was mildly upset that they had returned because I had loudly claimed “dibs” on their food if they did not return.

I got home around 11 and showered because I felt it was time to do so, and then I read for a while before going to bed.

May 26th, 2015

I woke up at 10, finally able to sleep in. I made breakfast and the it was off to Kinko’s to make copies and laminate flashcards for the new drinks we are making for the summer promotion. I finished everything I needed with enough time, so I rode up to the college to drop off all the paperwork required for starting the EMT program. I still need to get a CPR certification, but I have until July.

I rode home and read some of my book. It is the third of a trilogy about the video game Halo. Each book is around 400 pages long, and I started first book last week, and finished the third book today before work. I made lunch and then headed to work where all of my energy and desire to do anything had drained. The regional manager was in town over the weekend, and for some reason he felt the need to calculate how many plates, cups, bowls, and pieces of silverware we should be bringing in to the dish washing area during a shift. The number for the night shift was 145. They estimate a busy night should equal 600 dinners. That is 600 plates, cups, and bowls, plus 1,200 pieces of silverware divided by the number of servers working. I think there are many other things a regional manager could be doing to help the restaurant, but if he wants to figure out how many dishes I should be busing, who am I to argue. I kept count throughout the night. We sold way under 600 dinners, but I was almost at 400 by the end of the night. When I had reached 150 halfway through the shift, I asked if that meant I could stop busing tables.

I was doing cash deposits tonight, normally that means I am in the office by myself for long periods of time, but tonight one of the female managers was in the office doing paperwork. This only bothered me because I had made burritos for breakfast, and the beans wanted to sing me the song of their people. I politely kept everything inside because it is a small, cold, poorly ventilated room, and I am a gentleman. Once I was free to go, I let loose a series of vapor clouds that would make a sewer rat scurry away in fear.

I rode home, gassed up the moped (in more ways than one) and watched Sons of Anarchy until I went to bed.

May 25th, 2015

I woke up around 8:30. Having Rebecca at home in the mornings has thrown off my sleep schedule. During the school year, she leaves the house by 6 or something, I really have no idea. I fear I may be waking up during the single digit morning hours for the remainder of the summer.

I had a nutritious breakfast consisting of left-over pizza and a soda. We milled around the hose for a while, I read a book and Rebecca watched Lost. Around one, the Boones came and picked up Rebecca, and I followed on my moped. We went into Waikiki and took them through Duke’s alley to look at trinkets, and then it was a quest to go in to every ABC store to find souvenirs to take home. Chris and I went to the beach while Maggie and Rebecca looked for aprons, or oven mitts, or whatever it is that girls shop for. We headed back to my moped and Chris laughed at the fact that I had chained it to a No Parking sign. I hadn’t noticed. I rode to work and they met up with the Taylors and Arments for dinner at Duke’s.

I haven’t shaved in over a week, something I thought might go unnoticed because the general manager is off on Mondays, and especially since it was a holiday. Not only was the general manager there today, but also the regional manager. I tried my best to hide out of sight, but about an hour in, another manager came up to me and said that the regional manager had mentioned my neck stubble.

I was working in the bar, normally a great thing, but within 10 minutes I wanted to rage quit on the spot. The majority of customers I had in the first hour were the perfect combination of rude and cheap. There was the to-go order of over $250 which left without paying. He was a part of the company rewards program so they were able to get payment for the food, just not the tip. There was a lantern lighting ceremony going on at the beach park across the street with an estimated 50,000 people in attendance. The restaurant was busy, then absolutely dead for 90 minutes and then ridiculously busy until we closed. The kitchen basically shut down and food was taking forever to come out, which meant the hosts were told not to seat anybody.

There were 3 bartenders tonight, so we had cleaned up and were out of there before midnight, before a handful of servers. I went home, showered and shaved and then went to bed.

May 24th, 2015

Rebecca woke me up at 9 am. Last night she scoffed in disbelief when I went to the store for chips and soda “for breakfast”. Once I was awake enough to have control of my motor functions, I strolled into the kitchen and had chips and soda for breakfast. She ate leftover pancakes. We drove up to Pounder’s beach, on the north east corner of the island where we met up with the Arments and Boones. The three of us guys spent the afternoon boogie boarding while the girls sat on the shore, I’m fairly certain they were judging our wave catching ability. If they had numbered cards to put up after each wave, I’m sure we all would have not gotten above a 6.5.

We all sat in the sand for a while talking about the best and worst parts about moving here, and the Boones headed to their rental to clean up for the luau they were going to attend this evening. We followed Jim and Jen to a hot dog food truck in Haleiwa that made me re-think Opals as my favorite restaurant. There are so many different choices of relish and mustards, that I will need to go back to figure out which is my favorite. We got a chance to talk to Jim and Jen for a while and then they headed to their rental and we went home. The Beals and Arments were going to have dinner at Uncle Bo’s, but Rebecca didn’t want to go there three nights in a row, or intrude, so she cooked a piece of fish and sweet potatoes and I went to the store and got a frozen pizza and a movie to keep me entertained. Having exhausted so much of my energy into boogie boarding earlier, I was tired, I think I only stayed up until 1.

May 23rd, 2015

We woke up around 8:30 and Rebecca made pancakes while I tried to wake up. We found a gecko on the inside of our bedroom window last night. The windows open vertically, so he is behind the window, but inside the screen. I figured he would have made his escape during the night, but when we woke up, there he was.

After breakfast, we cleaned the house. I was in charge of the bathroom and Rebecca swept and mopped the floors. The Boones were coming to pick us up to go out to eat, so Rebecca wanted to make sure the house looked “guest ready”.

Chris and Maggie showed up around 4:30 and we headed to Uncle Bo’s. We were sat right away, with the promise we would be gone by 6:30. I ended up ordering the exact same thing I ordered last night, which was the dynamite shrimp, and the potato rolls. After the meal, Maggie and Rebecca shared a brownie. Right as we were leaving, I felt something crawling around inside my lower intestines. Having lived in Mexico for two years, I knew it was a matter of time until something bad wanted to get out. We drove around Manoa area and stopped at the parking lot of the hiking trail and I showed them where the sets from Lost used to be. As we descended back through the valley, Maggie, who is with child, mentioned that she needed to use the restroom. We parked at a grocery store and I walked in behind her. I entered the men’s room and let loose an abomination of foulness. After straining every muscle in my lower body to expel the nastiness, I was fairly certain I was done. I started to wash my hands and realized that I still had business to attend to. After what seemed like hours I emerged from the store with sweat beading on my brow. I thought about giving a lame excuse like “I ran into someone I knew,” or “I had to fix my contact”, but they all knew what was going on.

We drove up the steep winding road to Tantalus, which is a scenic lookout that looks out over the scene of the city. The wind was blowing and the girls got cold rather quickly so we were only there for a short time. On the way down we decided to see a movie. We drove towards the one theater near out house that we have been to once because it is so inconvenient to get to. It is in the heart of the industrial area, but random one-way streets and blocked driveways make it difficult to find. We drove through the parking structure and decided we would not make the movie in time, so we headed back to out house. We stopped along the way to show Chris the church from the final episode of Lost and then they dropped us off and headed back to the north shore. We made plans for the morning and then I scurried inside to finish what I had started at the grocery store. I emerged 20 minutes and 7 kilograms lighter and sat on the bed to regain my strength. I looked up at the window and saw my four-legged comrade still posted up in out window. I don’t mind though. In my mind, he is there protecting us from cockroaches, bed bugs, vampires, mosquitoes and bats. Rebecca went to sleep and I stayed up to watch s documentary about Nazis in Mexico during the 1930’s and 40’s.

May 22nd, 2015

I was awoken, awoke…awoked, awakesd… woken up at the unmentionable hour of 7 am. The girls were all texting each other their plans for breakfast. I forget that they are still on mainland time, so 7 am feels like 10 am to them. I however, am set on the time zone of some distant island off in the South Pacific which is 3 hours behind Honolulu. I couldn’t go back to sleep so I reheated the burritos I made yesterday and watched Sons of Anarchy while Rebecca got ready.

We left around 9 (noon for the Seattle people, 6 for me) and went to target to buy some things and then settled in at the beach while everyone else waited an hour in line for a breakfast place. We got a great spot on Lanikai beach, set up our chairs and umbrellas and beach mats. We had applied sunscreen and had gone into the clear warm water and we sat in the sun for over an hour waiting for everyone to arrive. I soon got bored and took an inflatable ring out to the water and floated aimlessly. The dark ominous clouds had begun to roll in from the north blocking the healthy UV rays from blessing us with their radiation. Everyone showed up and I casually walked back to our encampment. After everyone had applied sunscreen, they made their way to the water. The men tossed a football while the girls clung together in a tight circle and talked about pregnancy, shopping, cookies, shopping, ribbons, jello recipes, and various cleaning products… or whatever it s broads talk about when they get together. After a while the ladies headed to the beach while the guys donned snorkeling gear and explored the mysteries of the deep. I looked up at one point and saw everyone else had gone ashore and they were packing everything up. I made my way to them and felt the warm tropical rain splatter against my muscular frame. Rebecca and I had brought enough chairs, inflatables and beach mats to accommodate the number of New England Patriots who don’t lie, cheat, or murder. Jim stayed behind and helped us pack and walk our stuff back to the car.

Most of the group headed up to the North Shore while Rebecca and I drove home to shower and make lunch. Brandon and Di had moved hotels and were now staying in town. Di and I were exchanging ideas for where to go for dinner on the drive home. We had finally decided on a time and place and then I promptly fell asleep. I woke up half hour later and tried to tell Rebecca about the plan, but half of my mind was still sleeping.

We met up with Brandon and Di at a Korean restaurant called Itchy Butt, it has a weird name, but the food is allegedly great. They do not have a dining area, as it is take out only, so we drove to Uncle Bo’s. I was nervous. I had been suggesting the place to them since they had arrived, and if they hated the food, I would have felt like I had let them down. We waited nearly 40 minutes for a table, and we were told that we could have the table, but only if we would be gone before 8 when it was booked with a reservation. Rebecca and I ordered a total of 4 appetizers, Di got the salmon and Brandon got the dynamite shrimp and pork sliders. They loved the food. Brandon said it was his second favorite place on the island next to Opals. I was so relieved.

We made haste to get to Waikiki to watch the fireworks, Rebecca and I made it in time, but Brandon and Di had trouble finding parking. They stopped their car and we piled in, drove in a few circles and then parked and went in search of the North Shore Goodies stand at the farmer’s market, but they were not there tonight. We decided to walk through Duke’s Lane and look at all the souvenir trinkets and then they dropped us off at our car. Once home, we noticed our bathroom sink was draining slower than my metabolism so I headed to the store for some drain cleaner and soda for breakfast.

May 21st, 2015

I woke up around 10,or 11 and made burritos for breakfast. I quickly got ready and headed out to t have my final tuberculosis test read. Good news people, I don’t have TB. Not hat I was worried, but every time I get tested for a disease I tend to worry a little. One time, my ambulance was called upon to help move a bariatric patient. Bariatric is a polite way of saying “quite large”. There were 4 ambulance crews (8 people) called to help hoist this hungry hungry hippo from the gurney to the hospital bed. By the end of the shift, I was told to report to a clinic because the lady had tested positive for meningitis and since we did not know, we had all been exposed. I had to undergo a physical, and take pills twice a day for a week which turned my urine to a bright orange/red hue.

I rode home, showered and waited for Rebecca t pick me up. We hit the road at 3 and met up with out friends in Haleiwa by 4:30. The Boones, Arments, Beals, and Taylors are all on the island for a mini vacation. They are all good friends of ours and we met them at Opals right as it opened for dinner. Opal did not disappoint. Dish after dish arrived and we gobbled it all down like hungry pelicans feasting on sardines. After dinner, Brandon went to get a tattoo, and the Boones went back to the hotel to rest as Maggie is with child and drained of energy. The 7 of us left wandered Haleiwa and got ice cream and went shopping and then went to watch Brandon get his tattoo, but we really just sat in the lobby and talked story.

Rebecca and I headed home around 8 and she watched survivor and I read some of my book and then went to bed.