Life Works Out

I should learn my lesson from overreacting; something always turns up in the end. I still get the tight clench in my stomach when I think of going to work tomorrow, but Jenny is determined to "get me out of that coffee shop job," and I believe her!

On Thursday night Tyler and I met Jenny for sushi in Greenpoint. I really wanted dessert afterwards (like always), so we went to Van Leeuwen and ate some delicious ice cream that tasted like Red Hots. I thought of you, Dad! Then we went next door to Manhattan Inn, a bar/nightclub place owned by Jenny's friend Brooke. Brooke was there and sat with us and I had the most delicious cinnamon sidecar -- Tyler says it's one of the top 5 drinks he's ever had. Delish! It's heaven...I can't even describe it. I can try...but all I can muster is cinnamon syrup, Cointreau, brandy, egg white AND....AND!...a cinnamon stick in the glass! Cinnamon was the flavor of the night and it sang me a sweet lullaby and I pledged to love it forever.

Look how beautiful this place is! It was designed by the same dudes who renovated DuckDuck. The lights on the side in the second picture are enclosed in GLASS SUGAR CANISTERS! So cute! And the tables on the side -- ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DESKS! And the seats on the right in the first picture -- MOVIE THEATRE SEATS!

(Pics taken by Victoria Jacob from Gothamist)

Then I got a job.

Brooke said she needed someone to work a brunch shift on Sundays -- one day a week to start. Would I be interested? Yes!

Even though I have no serving experience. But she said she "got a good vibe" from me, and that's great! Hopefully I don't drop all the food on the floor and forget peoples' orders.

But really, how hard can it be? I've been to enough places to know what I expect in a server, and I know the routine, and I think every day I've been working in New York I can some kind of compliment on my "energy" or how nice I am. In fact, this morning I went to The Bagel Store to get some bagels for breakfast, and as he was ringing up my total the guy said, "You just so jolly."

"What?"

"You so jolly."

After the millisecond it took to get over the fact that someone used the adjective jolly to describe someone other than Santa Claus, I grinned and said, "I'm from the Midwest. The city hasn't jaded me yet."

Then I scowled and walked out.

Just kidding!

Then I grabbed my bag of delicious everything bagels and biked home, and things didn't seem so bad.

But yeah, really. How hard can waiting tables be? I feel like everyone has done it at least once in their life. I'm nice and would rather be busting my butt helping people and running around and talking to everyone than standing at a counter for five hours silently begging passersby to come in so I can do something and let 4 minutes pass by without me looking at the clock in agony.

So, I start Sunday. Whoopee! And I've decided to take a class and work towards a Professional Certificate in Editing at NYU. The classes sound so neat, and I miss being in school; taking a class would just be salve to my academic soul. Tee hee.

By the way, thank you to all my family and friends who have sent me messages of love and encouragement via Facebook, texts, and emails. You all made me feel so loved -- but you almost made me feel WORSE because I'm so far away from you guys! I couldn't even read the emails at work the other day because tears welled up in my eyes.



Tomorrow I'll post DINOSAUR PICS from the Museum of Natural History. We went there today and walked about 55 miles. And I also took some pictures of Central Park, where the lake is the color of moss and all the trees have that dull sheen of late summer, and where we sat on a bench nursing our sore feets and witnessed about 34598767 people posing for pictures on some bridge. There are so many tourists here! I heard about 30 different languages today.

Here's a tease:

T Rex has Hayden Panettiere arms!