noise annoys

*drafted-earlier; backdated post*
A few months have passed since they cleared the grass-field I enjoyed gazing at from my window.
Despite it being the holiday-season, i find myself feeling irritated; getting annoyed at the on-going construction-work beside my estate.

Lately, just as I can (finally) afford the luxury of sleeping-in a little longer, the booming-sound of piling-works meanly awakens me these mornings. If I were having a dream about war; I'd be frantically startled-into-consciousness by the sound of artillery. I hope I don't fall off my bed after such a nightmare.

Continuing the chugging, grinding & whirring of heavy caterpillar-tracks(like those found on military tanks), massive motors & gigantic machinery complements the pounding staccato of the pile-driver. On good days, the "instruments" drag along dull metallic tunes.. On other days, the "performers" squeak, yawn, clash and clang with one another. One big orchestra that plays from sunrise till sunset.





I've found that the best way to appreciate the pounding-noise is to imagine squid-faced Davy Jones summoning the Kraken through the use of an on-board mechanically-wound percussion-system on board his ship, The Flying Dutchman*. (In the movie Pirates of the Caribbean 2:Dead Man's Chest, the use of that particular instrument generates a sound similar to that of a huge metal beam hitting the earth resulting in a highly-resonant "gong" sound.




God, I pray..
for grace to accept things I cannot change,
strength to change those which I can;
and wisdom to differentiate the two.

MOIF2: Give Thanks

MOIF2:"Give Thanks"
Meditations over Italian Food - 2 "Give Thanks"
This Week, the Boss "Alex" is back after spending a few weeks
back home in Italia.

So on Sat evening:
"Hello David, nice to see u here again!" he said as he toted his
document bag to the bar counter. He gave a warm smile that
i'd not seen often in the past months of work there.
Perhaps he was surprised to see me back at work again.
"Hi Boss!", I replied, smiling politely to convey my thanks.

Later tt evening:
The rest. was packed frm abt 7pm to 9pm..
Scurrying between Kitchen & Dining Area was the order of tt
night. I recall clearly the following:

Table2:
Asian-Caucasian family dining. 2 Adults, 2 Kids.
The caucasian father looked like Robin Williams wearing a crew-cut
with a physique made not for comedy, but for Rugby Union or WWE.
They intially sat themselves at a small square table which was only
as wide as the father's shoulder-width.
They thanked us when we suggested they shift to a bigger one.
Later, even that bigger table was filled to the edge with
a seafood casuola and 2 pizzas. Imagine the clutter and inconvenience
tt the small square table might have caused.
Their 2 kids thanked me for serving them water.

Table 3:
Indian family of 5.
Very appreciate of us joining 2 small squares to make a bigger
table for them. Even more appreciative when their order was served.
A humorous occurance:
I happen to pass-by their table. With water jug in hand,
I turn to see if they needed a refill. My next glance saw
the father "air-lifting" a slice of Prosciutto e Funghi pizza over
from the plate in the middle; towards his son's.
In mid-air, a misbehaving bulb of mushroom
did a Parachut e Funghi straight INTO the father's glass.
Tt dive would have beaten the Chinese to the Gold in Athens.
The father and his family were visibly amused and thanked
me for offering to change the poo.. er, glass of water.

Kitchen:
Skipping through the swing-doors with plates of leftovers,
I proceed to help swipe remnants and morsels off the plates
into the bin; before handing them over to the new dishwashing
lady. I'm afraid i don't know her name yet so
i just say, "Thank you, Aunty!"
As she smiled and thanked me, I realised how much a word
of appreciation could lift one's spirit despite a stuffy working environment
and an almost endless stream of dirty dishes.

Closing time:
The night was tiring but most of the customers were
really nice people. None of the sort spoken of in the earlier
post:
http://weirong.blogspot.com/2004/12/meditations-over-italian-food.html
We had Spagetthi Bolognese for supper.. (Phew, no clams at last!)
I slung my bag over a tired back and said my good-byes.
Boss, in a seeming good mood, replied,
"Thank you, David! Really good to see you around again! Ciao~"
No, he wasn't drunk, but sincere - like a friend giving thanks.

The Word is Out!

The Word is Out!

Went to see my boss today.
"Not many days left", i said.

B: "Accomplished, what, have u?"
:) "I learnt Photoshop & .." then

B: "Thought not of the company, u did"
:o "Helped out the others", I insist

B: "Not accoding to plan, yr Contributions were"
:< "Time was scarce", I assure

B: "Paid u lots, am sure we did"
B: "But commited u were, to other shifts"

:o "I did say frm the start", I didn't kid
:o "I learn rendering & serve fried squid"

B: "Over-confident & greedy I think(!)"
B: "Still, this Lesson to u, deep in, must sink"

: "Thank u Sir", "I've enjoyed yr time"


I half-regret starting this stint; this personal disappointment only just begins.
But looking forward to finish up some poster designs and a little documentation by end-April.
After that, out with job, in comes paint & brush! :D

Meditations over Italian Food

Meditations over Italian Food
Waiter's Woes

Most of you all already know that myself, Zhiwei and Eunice are working in an Italian restaurant. So, this is just a little sharing space for the 3 of us to let you know the on-goings of our evenings spent there. (By the way, Daniel & Mandy once worked there for 2 weeks quite a while back.)

Al Forno East Coast is a nice little(medium) restaurant located on a nice little stretch of nice restaurants along nice and quiet East Coast Rd. So much so that you'd expect nice Italian food to be served to you once you step into our nice dining environment.

The boss is an Italian expatriate we know as Alex. The pizza chef we call Rado used to play for Tampines Rovers in the S-League. The 2 main chefs in the kitchen are Uncle Alvin(a S'porean) and Gigi, an Italian expat too{not Gigi Leung(HK actress with e cute smile)}. They are generally nice people.

The working environment there is nice too. The boss and the chefs are very friendly towards the staff; I would say even, openly affectionate towards the female staff. Hugs and all. The girls (except Eunice) seem cool with tt. The staff help each other out; so everything's nice.

Everything's nice(at least to me). Really!
Up to this point.
(You were waiting for this next part, weren't you?)

The customers are the ones who make or break our nice little $7/hr effort every evening. MOST of them are nice...
SOME of them friendly and appreciative....

The REST... make me feel that:

1. The nice A-Maths teacher who made me stand in the parade square for my unsubmitted tutorial was a nice lady who cared for me.
2. The friendly Platoon Sergeant who yelled expletives to me & my fellow recruit-peers was trying his best to introduce us to Army-speak in the friendliest manner he knew.
3. The nice Vongole(clams) that we cook, is(are) thankful to be dead already b4 being served in a bowl before these customers(the REST). If served live, they would die of pity for the waiter/ess waitering the table. Those that make it through the sympathy stage eventually try to drown themselves in the white wine sauce when they run out of tears to shed for us. Even after being chewed and swallowed, I suspect that they(the clams) long to be excreted(in collaboration with nicely expensive laxative a.k.a. dessert) from the filthy disgestive system that energise these people who do a nice job of appreciating service staff as one would appreciate his pet dog pooping on the sofa. It follows that the calms are probably grateful to Al Forno for providing nice, soft toilet paper that accompanies them from one filthy dark hole into another nicer, clearer porcelain bowl as well.

So, back to the main point:
So far, everything is nice, working at Al Forno East Coast.

"Thank you for dining with us!"
Period.

P/S: Pardon the graphic depictions abt the clams. Hope u had your dinner already :)