I'm excited about AARG coming up soon. Oooh and I actually have a decent camera to take pictures now - YAY!!
I've been looking at pictures on the Songwood site all morning. I wanna go. I really wish I could volunteer, but I don't trust the car to make it up there and back. As is, we're going to have to beg rides off our friends when it comes time to go to faire. I heard there's this rebate thing going on in Austin where, if youre car is a 1996 model or older or has failed emissions testing, they'll give you $3000 toward a car. But that car has to be a 2006 or newer. So I don't think $3000 would cover it. I'd love a newer car, though. It would make getting to faire much easier lol
So it's been an interesting month. I fell at school and spent a week in an arm brace because I injured my right wrist. My left wrist hurt too, but not as bad. SO missed some classes but managed to take my practical test - baking and decorating a cake one handed was interesting! Anyway, after that, we only had a week of class in that block, and this past Monday we began our new block. Restaraunt desserts - learning lots about plating and presentation - it's fun! irst test yesterday in this block and I did well.
I want to go to faire! AARG gathering is tomorrow but we have to miss it :( Our friend Rick is having his birthday party. That'll be fun, but I wish it didn't coincide with AARG. We'll make September AARG though.
Posted yesterday: "I am saddened this day by the passing of a food friend. Between 3:00 and 4:00 PM today Lord Ambrosious (Bob Groves) passed through the veil to Summerland. Bonnie was at his side holding him when he left this realm and said he was at peace and comforted at last. Good Bye Good Friend Namaste Bear Moon)Dawg"
Words cannot express what I feel. My heart is with Bonnie.
I've meaning to write a blog for 2 weeks now, but I've probably spent a grand total of 2 hours on the computer in the past 2 weeks. Between school and studying and homework and spending time with Mark, I don't get on the computer much during the week. I think things will calm down somewhat as I get used to this schedule a little more. I have a 3 day weekend this weekend, which is really awesome. I love school, but I love having some time off, too!
So, about school. I'm loving the hell out of it. I feel like I'm getting better at some things - like retaining information from Chef's demos so that when I go into production, I'm looking at my notes less. I've done well on my tests so far - all A's. We have a practical test and a written test each Friday. The practical is, of course, production. We make 2 items that we've made that week for our test. We get the ingredients list with the measurements for each ingredient, but as far as the method, we can't refer to notes. We have to remember how to make it correctly from memory. For the practical, you can get a total off 200 points. 60 for each item you produce, 80 for safety and whatnot in the kitchen and 80 for preoffessionalism and things like that. So last week I got a 99 on my written and a 193 on my practical - my chocolate chip cookies were perfect, but my macaroons were a little less so. The taste and texture was great but the size wasn't uniform and there was al ittle too much jam on them. Yesterday's written test was more involved than last week's, and I don't know what I got yet, though I'm pretty certain it is in the high 90s. On my practical, I got a 198. My biscuits were very good, but they could have been a little flakier. As for my creme brulee, it was great! She actually wrote "Beautiful Creme Brulee" on my score sheet. I was so excited because I was a little worried about the creme brulee.
So, the main point is, I LOVE school and I'm doing really well. It's crazy - I'm not a fast person, and I can be a lazy person, too. But in the kitchen it's a different story. I'm fast, I'm focused, and I'm constantly moving. At the end of the night, my feet hurt and my back is sore, but the whole time I'm in production, I don't feel it one bit.
Amy is kicking ass, too. She's really talented. And she's fast and focused in there, too. It's so awesome, going to school with her. I feel like we each have some one there to motivate the other when we're maybe feeling tired or grumpy. And we each have a built in study partner :) Which I love. I fel more confident in my studying if I study with Amy. Like I feel like I retain the information better or something.
I guess I could go on for a really long time about how much I love school and how I finally feel like I'm really DOING something with myself, and how I feel like Amy and I are bad asses in the kitchen. But I think I've made that point LOL
So, I'm hoping that we can make it to Scarby, maybe for Memorial Day weekend. I'll have a 3 day weekend then, which will be nice. We totally missed Excal this year, which really sucked, and it made me sad. I need to go to faire. Badly. So hopefully Scarby this year. We'll see.
I haven't been on here lately. Ihaven't been on myspace, either. Or on R/F. I don't know why. Part of it is that I've been busy with work and getting into school. Part of it is that, after allof that, I want to watch TV with Mark for a while and go to bed. Mostly, though, I think it's because we can't go to faire. Even after all of our friends told us they would do whatever they could to help us go - and my gosh, guys, you will never know how much we appreciate that - but, even after that,w ecould not go. Mark just couldn't get off work. I wish he could have, but it wasn't happening. He told me to go without him, that I shouldn't miss faire because he couldn't go. I told him there was no way that was happening. I couldn't do that. If he didn't care about faire, then I would go without him. But he loves faire, and I coudn't just leave him here alone, working, while I went off to faire to have fun witout him. I would have felt horrible all weekend. Besides, who would I snuggle up next to in the tent?
At any rate, that left me feeling pretty low. I've tried to brush it off - you know, taking a "Well, these things happen" attitude. The fact is, I'm sad. I wanted to be at faire.
Well, Excal isn't over yet though, and maybe we can figure out some way to go before it is over. What I do know is that sitting around, feeling bad because we couldn't make it to faire, or because finances are tight, or because neither of us loves our job... well, moping around feeling crappy isn't going to change any of those things.
