Back on Top

So the day after that last post, I got my crap together and found a couple places to try for employment, typed up some cover letters and printed out everything I needed to head out.  I was feeling pretty good and optimistic about the whole situation.  It didn't really matter where I ended up because I would make the best out of it no matter what, plus no preconceived notion I had about any where would match reality.

I was ready.  I'd learned my lesson about the whole situation and was about to implement it.  All that was left to do was get cleaned up and go.

Then my phone rang.  It was a surprise because while I'd saved the number, it was one I'd not expected to hear from.

The restaurant I'd mentioned in my previous post hadn't had an opening a month prior, but here was the chef calling to ask me if I was still looking for a job.  "Why, yes, yes I am," I told him.

An hour later I was down there for a second/review interview and the next morning I was at work.

I really like it, but my endurance has been slowed by being out of the game for so long, so I'm having to build back up.  My first day, everyone told me I was already doing better than my predecessor.  I hadn't gone to aikido for six weeks on top of that so it was tough at first and I went home exhausted.

I have a lot of thoughts about this new phase in my life but I also have so much to catch up on that's happened in the past month I've been away.

I met two great people from Tassajara, one of them the tenzo with whom I talked shop for several hours on what it means to be tenzo on a further level than I've discussed here before.  I got a tattoo as a constant reminder of my practice and turned 30 (in that order...)  There have also been many developments in my practice and in how I experience the world through them, so I hope to get back in the habit of writing now that I have a little more structure to lay habits on top of for the foreseeable future.