Since my school assignment is to write journal entries everyweek, I decided I should share them with everyone!

I arrived at Alan Wong’s Restaurant for a meeting with HR on the Friday before my work week started. The meeting was essentially a session of filling out forms and orientation about company philosophies, policies, expectations, and standards. Following the meeting with HR, my supervisor gave me a tour of the kitchen, and introduced me to several people I would be working with. I was originally set out to start the following Monday, but instead I offered to come in the next day and to get an early start in familiarizing myself with the kitchen; and thus began my first week.

Being out of the kitchen for a good 3-4 weeks, I didn’t expect myself to perform too well on the first day. I started the day cleaning artichokes and picking English peas to get myself back into a decent pace. Eventually I picked kale, peeled shrimp (which took…a really long time), and stemmed some mitsuba. By the time I was done, I was already a bit behind schedule. They had told me I could stay around to see what went on in the kitchen during service, and I gladly accepted the offer. During service I got to sample a myriad of items on the menu, Roast Duck Nachos, Hot California Rolls, Seafood Cakes, Manapua Quesadilla, Ling Hi Mui vinaigrette, Ginger Crusted Onaga, Twice Cooked Short Ribs, Soup and Sandwich, and finally a Coconut Tapioca dessert (I was so full!) All in all, the work I did on day one was not as exciting as I had imagined, but all the delicious foods I got to try out were incredible.

The second day, although I know I could’ve picked up more speed, went smoothly, and I went home feeling a little more incorporated into the kitchen; little did I know, whatever sense of confidence I had built that day would be completely shattered the next day. Day three would be what I felt was the worst day for me during my first week. I was to start the day by myself, and after a few hours someone else would come in and work with me to finish the prep tasks. I couldn’t get my bearings, and I took a very long time doing everything. By the time the second person came in, I hadn’t really finished much of the prep list, then later on I found out I had dice the onions the wrong size, and had to redo the green onions I cut because I had used the wrong parts. I went home that night feeling slow, useless, and maybe even a little bit stupid. I reflected on the day, and I decided to put the day behind myself; bad days happen. I needed to prepare myself better mentally, realizing that when the mind is panicking, the work output will be anything less than spectacular; sub-par performance will bring about more stress to my mind, and the cycle repeats. Keeping these things in mind, the last three days of the week went well, and once again I felt that I was getting more used to the workings of the restaurant.

My feelings and thoughts in this last week focused more on what I needed to improve on; speed, communication, and maybe confidence. One feedback I got from the week was that I put out good products, but I take longer than I should. This ultimately leads me to a balancing act of efficiency versus quality. With communication, there is a shyness in me that reveals itself in new environments, I find that I have problems trying to “fit in” and it becomes hard for me to be myself around the staff. My lack of confidence in not always knowing how something is done, or where something is, or where something goes, can be frustrating at times. Although Alan Wong’s doesn’t seem to be a place where questions are a bad thing, it’s still hard for me to really grasp that concept; because I’d feel like I was just in the way.

Though there are the previously mentioned factors during this time period, I nevertheless am starting to get the feel of this kitchen. It’s amazing to me how everything comes together when service begins, and how efficient and delicate all the cooks are during service. I know this restaurant has a lot to offer and a lot to teach; I hope to absorb as much of it as I can during my time here. I hope the weeks to come will provide more knowledge and experience for me, and I hope that eventually I will feel like I’m really part of the team.

I know a lot of you are asking for pictures and shits...but windows vista is being a whore and my cell phone software doesnt seem to work...you guys will just have to wait until sony and windows vista become friends.

Hi Xanga! It's been a while. I'm was going to make this entry one of those what's going on in life things, but you know what, there is always plenty of time for that. So here is something I'm going to write down before I forget it.

Clear your minds!

Two days ago, I was getting something from the vending machine in my residence hall. When I reached down to grab my change, I noticed there was an extra 15 cents in there that a previous person had forgotten to take. I took the 15 cents, not giving much thought to it. On my way back to my dorm however, I started thinking, and realized that I had just committed something immoral, I took something that wasn't mine. So I started thinking, what would be the right thing to do in that situation? Well, who else is better at judgement than God? What would Jesus do? So I asked around, "What would Jesus do if he found change in the vending machine?" We can't take the money, because it's not rightfully ours, and that's stealing. But I could technically argue that I sacrificed myself to steal so that the people that came after wouldn't. I got a lot of answers: Since God is all knowing, he would know who the change belonged to, and would return it to them. But I don't have those super powers, so that's not really an option. Another one of my friends also brought up the fact that it depends on what you took the change for...am I taking the change knowing that I'm stealing from someone? Intentionally "hurting" them? I didn't really agree with this logic, because in the end, stealing is stealing, no matter the reason. The conclusion that I reached was that in order for me to solve this problem morally, I would probably have to put up a note on the vending machine, that said something to the extent of  "Hi, this is someone from Angell 003, I found 15 cents in the vending machine, if it's yours please come and pick it up." Obviously, this is pretty farfetched. No, I didn't end up doing it, but what struck me was that even knowing that I would be sinning, I chose not to take the correct course of action. This led me to something else, because I'm sure that even the most devout "religious" wouldn't do something like that if they found change in the vending machine, but do they know they are stealing? And if they do, do they just go on thinking we sin everyday, we'll just repent for them and all is ok? Also, to what degree? Some articles on religion out there argue that a sin is a sin no matter what the degree. We give no thought to 15 cents, but how bout 100 dollars? 1000? Eleventy billion? Is repenting for sins a convenience? 

After all this I realized that in I probably just need to stop thinking and figure it out later.

But as many of you already knew, my mind is pretty strange sometimes. And as I thought I was done debating/analyzing this whole thing in my head, a new picture popped up:

A guy walks up to a vending machine, and happens to be 15 cents short for the candy bar he wants. He looks in the change receptacle, sees a dime and a nikel, and says "Thank you God."

I went to sleep with a smile on my face.