Here's what I was talking about...

I had a story I had to share with you tonight, because it speaks to my post from yesterday. There was a younger couple, early twenties, sitting and talking over coffee tonight in my restaurant. They come in quite often, and are very nice people.

An "older" couple comes in, probably in their fifties. They tell the waiter that there are just there for coffee. He says, "Go ahead and sit wherever you'd like, except there or there (pointing to two tables that were recently vacated and not yet cleaned)... or with those guys (he pointed to the young couple)." Of course, that part was meant to be a joke.

The older man kidded, "Too bad. We wanted to sit with them."

The younger couple instantly moved farther into the booth and invited them to sit down and talk. I watched as they all shook hands and introduced themselves to each other. The two couples sat down together and chatted for almost an hour. They were laughing and having a great time each time I happened to go into the dining room.

This is the kind of thing that I'm talking about in a small town. It just doesn't happen in bigger cities. It was a heart-warming interaction between two sets of people who may have had very little in common, but who were willing to sit with someone they did not know, and to share stories and a small piece of their lives. As a restaurant manager, that is part of what I do. I share the lives of my regular customers. But, to see customers welcome each other so readily and so unselfishly... it just makes me feel good. I don't know the names of the older couple, and I may never. I don't think I've seen them before, but those four people made my night. They gave a different meaning to Thanksgiving... even if a day late.

Hope in the Holiday Season!

I worked tonight... Thanksgiving night. At the restaurant where I work, we have a Thanksgiving buffet. We had barely anyone in the restaurant all night. Now, being a manager, I should say that I was unhappy about that. However, let me tell the story from the beginning...

A couple years ago, I was the GM at another location of this restaurant. Our corporation mandated, for the first time, that we be open on Christmas Day. I went with a very skeleton crew, thinking that Christmas was "family time" and it would be ridiculous to even be open. Honestly, we were busier on Christmas Day than we were in the midst of summer... and this restaurant is in a very high volume tourist town. To me, that was very sad. We actually had families (Mom and Dad would come in with the kids and meet Gran and Gramp) come to our restaurant to exchange gifts! They may have just as well told Gran and Gramp... you know, I want whatever you're going to buy me, but I just don't want the bother of having you at my house or cooking or cleaning up. To me, it was very sad. Fast forward to this year....

Times are tighter, of that there is no doubt. Within the last couple of weeks, gas prices have fallen to a somewhat acceptable level, but that doesn't ease the burden for a lot of people who are barely making it anyway. What I am most happy about is the fact that my restaurant was not busy tonight. People were spending quality time with their families at home once again! I'm very happy that we were open to welcome those who have no family or no one to spend the Holiday with... that is what hospitality is all about. What I don't like is commercializing holidays, which are meant to be time for family to be together (for better or worse), and are meant to be close to home, not in some restaurant somewhere. I think that when people are forced to tighten their belts and rein in their spending, they are forced to take a good look around and see what is really important! Suddenly, it is not all about "he who dies with the most toys," it's about being a person and about being with people who have always been there for you, and who you would help out in any difficult situation. I'm happy we were slow tonight! I'm happy people were home with their families, enjoying that time that they will never get back. Each minute that passes is one that you should spend the best way you can. I agree that it's nice to go out to eat. Someone else will wait on you and you won't even have to clean up the mess... but certain occasions are made for being home, for cleaning up the mess, and for being with people to whom you are closest.

I have to say I'm glad we moved back home for this very reason. I don't think I'd want to be in the city for the Holidays this year... It just means more being from a small town and being able to be in that same small town during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that "city people" are any less caring or any less feeling. I just feel it more here, and I see it more here. Here people don't make some random donation to a "good cause." Here, people go to a neighbor's house who they know has had a hard time of late, and bring a casserole and stay to chat away an hour or two on a cold winter night. That neighbor may not have anything but a hot pot of coffee to share in return, but that's just fine. It's about the time you spend, and the people you touch... not the money you spend or the things you buy. I've felt so stiffled in this town for so long... but now that I've been gone, I see all of the good points and the things I never want to live without again. I've got a lot to be thankful for.....and so do you!

I drive a car.. and own a business

This is one that I've agonized over for quite some time, but I finally decided that I have to say it. I have to get it off my chest. Being a new small business owner, I am incredibly... well, ticked off.. that my tax payer dollars are now going to go to bail out the major car manufacturers.. or at least that is what the government wants, if they can ever get on the same page.

Here's the deal. We're starting out own business right now. If we fail because we fail to keep pace with the industry, who will bail us out? I don't think we'll be getting any money from the government. Although, I guess the government would understand the clunky bureaucracy that is the American auto maker better than anyone else. I also understand that the industry does employ millions of people. I get that. Don't think I don't. My problem is that, why are we bailing out people who have simply made bad business decisions, not once, but repeatedly, and for years and years? Why are we doing it? Who is going to bail us out?

Okay, I realize that there are people out there now making $30,000 a year who bought $700,000 homes who are happy they are getting bailed out of a "bad mortgage", or that there is hope for that in their future. To those people, I say the same thing... "What were you THINKING?!?!!??!?!"

Our society took a terrible turn when adults became no longer responsible for their own decisions. If I put a hot cup of coffee in my lap, I take that assumption of risk that I may get burned. But no, it's McDonald's fault for selling me hot coffee. Of course, if it wasn't hot, I would drive back through the drive thru and tell them I would not pay for it.... you get my idea.

So, Big Auto has decided to still make cars that are not as efficient as they should be, and keep unproductive overhead, and... I could go on and on, but it makes me sick. They saw this coming! They were not blind-sided by the fact that an economic downturn of any size could render them bankrupt. Have we not been through this before? I think we've been close.

All I'm saying is that we are bailing out the wrong people. We truly are. Those of us who are paying our bills and barely scraping by are the people who are bailing out the wrong people, by the way. I just thought I'd mention that, so maybe some other people will get as ticked off about it as I am. I won't get political here, because that only serves to heat a discussion along party lines, and that is not the purpose of this rant. The purpose is... no one guaranteed me that my business would succeed. No one said that if it didn't, they'd give me money until it did. At no time did anyone say, "You know what, you've made a butt pile of money in the past, but you didn't change with the times while others did, so, guess what? You get a Mulligan! Conrgatulations for being an ineffective, bureaucratic piece of crap with more middle management than the population of some small countries! Way to streamline, Folks!"

I thought I had calmed down enough about this to write about it, but now, thinking about it brings it all back up and I think I should quit for now. :-) Just some food for thought. Crap.. I can't end this without saying... now that the Dems have run both houses for the last two years... and now that we have a Dem President... well, that should all change, right? Ah well. What do I know? I'm just some dumb kid from nowhere who likes to sit around and be cynical about the world. Gravity affects me, Economics does not... I'm still broke, so no big deal!

So, I have no setting

I've been writing away, as you know, on my novel for NaNo. But, when I'm looking back on some of what I have written, I'm not sure I have enough setting. Of course, I see it all in my head, but I don't think I really talk about it enough. I think I've been too focused on the dialogue and the characters. I understand that I am not looking to have a finished work, by any stretch of the imagination, by the end of the month, but I'm not sure if I'm saying enough about the setting. I've printed off what I have so far to give to a friend at work. Once she reads it, I guess then I'll know if I am explaining the wheres and whats well enough. She's an avid reader, but has offered her services as a critic as well, so that may prove to be very helpful for me. I think I will ask, after she reads it, what she "sees" as the scene in certain parts. Maybe that will help me. Of course, when I'm reading a book, I may "see" things differently than other people, and that is the part about books that always makes them "better than the movie," but I want to make sure, at the same time, that I am conveying my thoughts properly.

The only downfall I can see is that this friend also works in the restaurant industry... the main setting of the book. I just wonder how it will translate to someone who knows little about the industry and who knows little about me. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of NaNoers where I live, in this small, rural area, so it's not like I'll be attending a lot of write-ins or anything like I would when I was in the Rochester area. But, I'm sure I'll find ways to put more in about the setting. Once again, the internal editor was nagging me a bit, so I thought I would let her express her thoughts here and give her some sort of promise to revisit setting at a later time. Now then, I must get back to the task at hand.
Laterzzzz, taterzzzz

Day Two

Okay, technically, it's day 1 of NaNoWriMo, but it's day two for me. I got home from work after working second shift last night and started. Then I worked first shift today and worked on things again. I can already see my internal editor wanting to review, revise, etc. I know that will be my biggest challenge this month. I must silence that editor until my writing for the day is done, at least.

Marvin has advised me that I should have a goal of 2,000 words, so I make sure I write and write until I get to that "magic" goal. At that point, I re-read before I go to bed so that, if nothing else, my sub-conscious thinks about it and can decide on susinct revisions if need be. Let me also say, for those of you who don't know Marv, that is not an imaginary friend. He's real. I know he's real, so don't even go there. LOL. Well, I guess, actually, I don't know he's real. I've never actually met him. Hmmm. Well, I've read two of his books, Owen Fiddler and I Romanced the Stone. Hmmm. So, does that make him real? I guess, to me, it does. Someone wrote those books. Marvin told me about the books that he wrote. Then I read those books. Then I asked him about those books... and he answered. So, I am just guessing, but I think he's pretty real. Okay, I think that's a post for another day, is it not? That is a subject in and of itself.

At this point, I am sure that you think that my musings here are simply an attempt to get away from my novel and the responsibilities that I have to myself (and myself only) to complete those 50,000 words this month. To that, I simply say, "SO?" hehehehe.

Actually, I was having problems with the afore-mentioned editor, so I thought I would side track her and post to my blog. Actually, I'm doing very well tonight. I have over 1,700 words on the day, so that is a good thing. And, of course, we gain an hour tonight... which I plan to spend sleeping, truth be told. But I wanted to say thanks to Marv Wilson and my Mom (Billie Willams) who have given me inspirations and ideas and whatnot to help me to prepare for this challenge. I've been having fun with it, and have one other person at work whom I have talked into taking this challenge as well, so that will be a great time for us. We already have a bit of a competition going about how may words we need to prove to the other the next morning that we have written the previous night. I give her loads of credit. She has three kids and a job, and she is taking on this challenge with me. Of course, her motivation is that she can, in writing, exact all of the punishments on her soon-to-be ex-husband that he may (or may not, I don't know the guy, so who am I to say) deserve. In that way, writing is always theraputic.

The other day on writing.com I happened upon an author whose works I enjoyed and then stopped by his profile. Of course, being October, with Halloween and All Hallows Eve falling on its heels and all, (o, la dia de los muetros) I have been reading some scary stories. When I read this particular individual's profile (BobCat is his handle), it ended with... "Horror writers write so that they do not do." or something to that very effect. It may seem somewhat unnerving, but, at the same time, those who write, understand it to be fact. Writing, plain and simple, is very therapeutic. It's just something we do to translate the thoughts in our head to the words on our paper. Hopefully, the "bad," "rotten," "evil," thoughts... whatever term you prefer, are allowed the light they need to heal, and those thoughts that are positive, but that we are afraid to express in a seemingly negative world, will take root and bear fruit in our souls and lives.

I guess that's my post for tonight. It came out somewhat different than I thought it would but, then again, that is the beauty of writing. Sometimes you learn interesting things... even if they were things you didn't know you knew or were thinking about. Thanks for reading, as always.

I don't want you to think that there are always things like this here.. usually I just laugh at things that have happened in the world, so be prepared for that, too. It just so happened that, today, I thought about something. :-) At any rate, now that I remember that I have that extra hour, I may just use it to write and then watch some NASCAR or Packers football tomorrow for an extra time. OH wait! I think there's NHRA drag racing on, too! That pretty much takes precidence over everything else. I'll just DVR the rest, so nobody email or text me and tell me what happens elsewhere in the universe. I'll catch up with it all soon enough!

Laterzzzzzzz, Taterzzzzzzz!