It's Friday night and I'm listening to "Louder Than Bombs" by the Smiths on my airbuds streaming through my phone, while typing on my computer. Device mania over here! This album transports me to another time in my life. Way back, people. It was my album of choice the summer of 1988, I think. My waterproof walkman and foam headphones in toe, a bunch of weird singer kids and this gal had the insane opportunity to tour the winding roads of France and Belgium. Twenty eleven and twelve year-olds on a European tour? Obviously magical. I remember being kicked out of hat shops in Paris and refusing to eat patè for dinner. Or for any meal (I like patè a lot now). I still have a photograph from the top of the Eiffel Tower. I took it with arms extended out looking straight down on to what else...a soccer field. We even got to sing in Notre Dame, which still seems unfathomable to this day. Paired with another young singer, we also did home-stays. All I recall is rocking out to Blue Oyster Cult on the turntable and this odd breakfast treat called "Craquinette." It was like a puffed rice cracker filled with chocolate. No, I'm not kidding. And them thangs were my saving grace in a sea of baguette, butter, and jam for brekkie. Another odd detail: all the water was carbonated and citrus-flavored. I hated it then, and still do.
My Friday nights lately would involve shaking hella cocktails, running up and down stairs for fancy bottles of wine, restocking the bar with garnish needs or buckets of ice, delivering food to hungry diners excited about the "weekend." Funny because my weekends start on Sunday nights, when most others are dreading their ensuing work week. But in quarantine and on unemployment, it's easy to slip into a state of timelessness where every day is Friday. Or Saturday.
And while I am doing my best to enjoy the time away from work and be productive in other areas of life, I am praying that returning to a new normal is on the horizon. Will restaurants reopen at all? And will there be patrons if so? Over the years I've worked in Hospitality, there has always been the notion that once you've done it in New York, you can do it anywhere. And once this virus is vanquished (fingers crossed), all of us in the industry are hoping that what we'd believed was guaranteed work, even potentially worldwide, will again be the case. I have gotten jobs in this industry from one day to the next. Even been hired on the spot. It can be that easy to get as a seasoned and sociable barkeep. But with the entire industry shuttered, I find myself yet again rethinking this as a "career." It has suited my life in so many ways. I have been able to travel for extended periods of time thrice thus far in my life. I got to spend invaluable time exploring countries and countryside, growing and learning, challenging my own notions of courage and stupidity. I was even able to travel with both my parents in Asia and spend extended time with them on one of those getaways. What is work if you cannot enjoy at least some quality time away from it? I know you're supposed to do what you love in order to never work a day in your life. But like all things, you gotta keep some balance. Work hard, vacation hard, I say.
