update

16 March 08

Today was a very crazy busy day. Mix that with a touch of seasickness and whew. Glad the night is over! We have a bunch of new guests that came aboard yesterday. I think it will be a busy week. I make the sushi for the buffet upstairs and it’s been crazy just trying to keep up with that plus the orders for the sushi bar and other 3 Asian restaurants. I work at the sushi bar but the overall restaurant is called East meets West. In it, there are a total of 4 outlets – the sushi bar, Shabu Shabu, Teppanyaki and Asian fusion, which sits about 100 people.

Every Sunday, the sushi chefs teach a class on how to make sushi and have a sake tasting. The class was packed with 22 people. Last week there were only 4. We were behind from the moment I started work. There were only a handful of people that signed up for the class – everyone else was a walk-in. There were so many orders today – these groups of passengers really enjoy sushi. Plus, the sushi bar is only $15 for all you can eat sushi – made to order. Our third sushi chef, who usually makes the rice, was so busy helping us, he forgot to make more rice – we ran out twice. All three of us skipped our breaks and dinner in order to keep up.

It’s really bad when you have to borrow cooked rice from the crew mess hall. It wasn’t even sushi rice but there were orders coming in and it was the only rice we had until more was made. How horrid! So we’re talking kinda like using Uncle Ben’s - it doesn’t stick so you have to squish the rice in the rolls but then when you cut the rolls, all the rice fell out. If it weren’t so busy, it would have been really funny although frustrating at the time.

Then the waves tonight – we’re traveling from Hilo, Hawaii to Kahului, Maui, - are really rough. I figured out I’m okay when I’m on deck and can see the water or have some fresh air but most of the time I get seasick is when I’m at work or in my room. When it gets dark, the restaurant staff close the window blinds so it’s just really dark in the restaurant. The combination of rough waves, someone’s perfume was a touch too strong and starving made me really queasy. Even the guest sitting in front of me eating dinner was having a difficult time with seasickness. We kept giving him green tea and dramamine hoping that would help alittle.


12 March 08

Tonight was an interesting night. We didn’t have any customers until 8PM, then it was just a few regular crew members. My sushi chef partner and I thought we had it easy and started our bi-weekly deep cleaning of all the equipment, storage bins, etc. Then a call came through – I’m suppose to sing? Uh uh.

Once a week about 50 crew are chosen to go onstage in front of the guests and sing “Home Away From Home.” I’d never heard of the song before and didn’t know the words. A classmate of mine has been chosen twice already but I had been lucky enough until today. There are two showings, one at 8 and the other at 10… glad those crew customers came in when they did since the 8PM show is recorded and broadcasted on the ship television network.

Got off the ship today and explored Kona for a bit. It’s kinda cool since the ship stays away from shore so guests and crew take a tender (which is one of the lifeboats to ferry back and forth to the island). It’s only a 5 minute ride but it’s nice – the water is a really beautiful blue. Even got to see a few dolphins far off.

Finally quit being stubborn and went to medical for my cold. After a week and a half, my roommates highly recommend I go. Whew! I haven’t been this sick in about 3 years! (The South Pole altitude sickness doesn’t count.) I guess there are a lot of colds going around and everyone is getting the same 5 different kinds of drugs. They sure do make me happy and I feel so much better than yesterday – at least today I can breathe. Fortunately, I just have a cold, there are some cases of GI going around. The crew that have it are totally quarantined from everyone… my roommate is one of the “lucky” ones to wear a respirator and suit-up to clean up after them. I guess it can get pretty nasty funky.

Oh, by the way… I guess it just took about a week to adjust but I don’t get sea sickness anymore. Yahoo! Glad for that.


10 March 08

I just looked at my calendar and it surprised me that I’ve only moved rooms one week ago today. It seems so long ago. And that I’ve been in Hawaii for exactly one month. Again, it feels like I’ve been here for such a long time.

Yesterday was daylight savings. I forgot all about it but it’s a good thing my cell phone automatically adjusts the time… and thankfully, that is my alarm clock or I would have been late for work! I guess once a week all the cooks take turns at the omelet station. Yesterday was my day flipping omelets for all the guests from 630-11AM. Whew! That was a lot of omelets. It was fun seeing so many different people – there really are people from all over the world on the ship.


9 March 08

These past few days I’ve been really thinking about whether to remain on board or pack up and go home. Plane tickets are inexpensive and there’s a job waiting for me when I get back. Seems like everyone I speak to really dislikes their job and had very different expectations on their position. Even with working 7 hours a day, there are other folks who only work 5 and are miserable. There are just too many personnel for the amount of jobs so instead of gradually letting people go, everyone is working as close to 40 hours per corporate management. As far as kitchen work, the food isn’t that great – all the outlets and main restaurant are trying to serve 5 star food but working with a 2 star budget. I am constantly amazed when guests compliment the food and say it’s “the best they’ve ever eaten.” I guess that’s what makes a good chef – working with what you have in order to make a great meal and presentation.

With some thought and a lot of ‘highly persuasive’ friends on ship and back home, I’ve made up my mind. I’ve decided to stay since it’s only 8 more weeks. I’ve lived in worse situations and much worse conditions so enough about the sushi job. With this decision, I’ve made plans of getting off the ship as much as possible and make the best of this situation.

7 March

March 7, 2008

I’ve been debating whether to stay aboard or jump ship as well. Being here on ship is fine but I’m not too happy about the job. I did get transferred to the sushi counter… for a lot of them, their vacation time has arrived and they have left the ship. I think there are 3 of us sushi chefs onboard. For some reason, I thought the sushi would be better – I mean, we’re in Hawaii with lots of great fresh fish but instead we get fresh frozen sent in from various places around the globe – really disappointing. And the fact that we use canned tuna (like in canned tuna fish) for spicy tuna rolls.

My typical work day is very short 3-1030PM. I’ve worked at the sushi bar for 3 nights – the first night we had a whopping 2 customers, the second night 4 customers and last night was 10 customers. All the meals for the guests are inclusive with their ship package if they eat at the main galley. For the restaurant I work in East meets West, the guest is charged – so we do not have too many customers.

My roommate from training and I were able to roommate up here onboard so that was really nice. For awhile there we had to hunt each other down all over the ship or leave voicemail on our phones. We had plans of taking in the sights and while I was in the bakery, we had the almost the same hours so we hung out a lot and made plans of being gym partners. Now that my schedule has changed we hardly see each other since she works day shift and I work nights. She did stay up way late last night so we could go to the beach.

In the meantime, I was able to go snorkeling in Kona. I actually got to see a puffer fish up close – no worries though, I didn’t see it all poofy although that would have been really cool. It was amazing to see so many fish just swimming about. Everything was good until I inhaled some water and panicked a bit. After that it was just sun tanning for me.

Ship life is going good. I don’t see very many of my classmates unless it’s at lunch or dinner – but then it’s only for a few minutes. We’ve had a few classmates jump ship already – they just were not happy with their job duties. There are a few others that are already burned out and grumpy. I think this is a really good way to see Hawaii, so I’m just hanging in for that alone.

It’s taken me about a week to adjust. For awhile there I was getting mildly seasick. While on deck outside or looking through the windows in the messhall, I wouldn’t get seasick. It was only when I went below to deck 3 (our main hallway to get from the front to the back of the ship) or to my room on deck 2. It was suggested to eat lots of apples and drink lots of soda… I don’t what the significance of it is but I guess it worked of a few of my classmates, not for me. I’m not really a soda fan anyway. Then I was told exercise is good – which my roommate and I started going to the gym. That helps but the gym is on deck 4 and I am able to look out the windows. It’s nice but I just get seasick when below where everything looks alike.

If you like mazes, you might really enjoy living on the ship. For me, it’s confusing and I get lost a lot. Matter of fact, I just lost my laundry earlier today – I had two loads and put them in different washer locations. Most of the washers and dryers are broken so if have to hunt them down – it took me 45 minutes to locate one and that was after several attempts. One is easy to find since it’s down the hall from me but the other… I was walking in circles for the longest time until a buddy of mine asked what I was doing.

Everything looks alike – the walls and stairways are painted white and except for the room numbers. Every Thursday, we are docked in Nawiliwili overnight and the guests have to walk through the crew main corridor on deck 3. We really are not suppose to have contact with guests so we are re-routed to deck 2 to get from the forward (front) to the aft (back) of the ship. I get lost all the time. You would think that I would know my routes by now but I guess I don’t pay that much attention. I still get lost just going to work! Especially when we are at sea en route to a new location – the water tight doors are closed and you have to find alternate routes.

Every Thursday we had a crew emergency drill. We have these assigned areas to go to in case of emergency – fire, abandon ship, etc. Luckily, my emergency and muster location is the same spot. Some people have 2 different locations so you really have to listen to which signal is transmitted throughout the ship so you don’t go to the wrong one.

Every Friday, we have cabin inspections by the captain and several other officers. They check all crew rooms for cleanliness – take out the trash, vacuum and clean the bathroom. This makes it nice since it ensures a clean room. If the room fails, you are red flagged and prohibited from leaving the ship on your time off. This means everyone in the room is red flagged not just the one or two particular roommates.

1 March

1 Mar 08

Well, I’ve been on the ship since last Tuesday. Since then, it’s been quite interesting. We left the hotel in Honolulu and the company flew us (38 of us – some who were from my class training) to Maui. We left at 530 that evening and even though the flight was only 20 minutes, by 2AM, we were assigned our new rooms, met new roommates and settled in for the sea life. It was very confusing since all of us just showed up at the ship entrance and somehow the word of our arrival was unknown. So we were a huge surprise to everyone – human resource, safety, security, etc.

Strange since just a few days before, the ship was in Honolulu where the company has us staying at a hotel and there was not any space for new employees. Then just 3 days later, there were almost 40 positions open. Magic… well, not quite. The turn-over rate is really high… some people get off the ship and don’t return. On average, between people just walking off the ship while in port or being fired, there are about 5-7 people that leave daily.

The morale is quite low since a vast majority of us will be laid off in May. My classmates and I question why were hired for only 3 months of work but somehow, there must be a genius someplace making all these command decisions. Originally, there were 3 ships in Hawaii but due to the loss of sales, NCL decided to transfer and re-flag the ship Pride of Hawaii to the Caribbean which means the 1,000 employees on that ship no longer have jobs. Then come May, another ship – Pride of Aloha (another 1,000 workers will be laid off) will re-flag in Europe so there will only be one remaining ship here in Hawaii – the Pride of America. That means, roughly 3,000 employees for 1,000 positions. Everyone is stressed out and quitting. Furthermore, even though I was hired on as a sushi chef, all two positions are filled (and there are 10 sushi chefs onboard) so we are all working in other departments waiting for a spot to open and hoping those two chefs will quit. There are other people who were hired on for a specific position as well and are working in different departments, so even though the contract states which job you are hired for, you are actually hired for which ever position is open and the needs of the company. There is some special list being passed that states if your name is on it, you are one of the chosen employees to stay on the ship come May. But the list is based on seniority. A few of my classmates have already quit due to working in a different department than they were hired for or just not liking the job.

My hotel roommate was hired on as Utility Galley (dishwasher)… of course, that is the least wanted position and there are always openings for it. Her supervisor told her they were so short personnel that she could work as much overtime as she wants each day… 15-18 hour days.
It’s good for her since she wants to save up as much as possible.

As for me, the bakery does not have a chief baker so there is no one officially in charge of the department. A sous chef has taken that position but hasn’t done baking in 10 years. So that means we are making the minimum requirements and nothing special for the guests. I work 5am-2pm… 8 hour days, 7 days a week. If I get lucky, I work one hour overtime a day, which is really disappointing. I was really looking forward to working 12 hours a day. But I did have to choose between working in the bakery or garde manger (making cold dishes – mostly salad). There’s a lot of standing around with nothing to do. According to budget, the bakery department is short 2 personnel but according to work load they do not need anyone. Even with me there, the other bakers are upset since I’m taking away their overtime hours.

Regardless, new guests board every Saturday afternoon and we sail every night so the guests that come onboard can wake up to a new island each morning and do their tourist stuff. Our weekly schedule:

Saturday – Honolulu, Oahu
Sunday – Hilo, Hawaii
Monday – Kahului, Maui (port overnight)
Tuesday – leave in the afternoon
Wednesday – Kona, Hawaii
Thursday – Nawiliwili, Kauai (port overnight)
Friday – leave in the afternoon

Once we port, employees are able to leave the ship once they are off of work. I took a little stroll off the ship in Nawiliwili, Kauai. There’s a beach nearby as with little shops. I’ve heard the graveyard shift is the best to get since you work all night and can go sightsee during the day. At that time, you can sign up along with the guests for the day excursions.

Life at sea is a bit different. I hadn’t been feeling too well all day that Tuesday – butterflies in the stomach for flying and stepping on board ship made it worse. I, along with a lot of my classmates didn’t know if they got seasick or not. I’ve been on boats and ferries before and have had no problems. I’d only gotten sea sick once before but thought it was from lack of sleep… anyway, a friend of mine suggested Dramamine and I felt better for a little bit. So I guess that means I do get seasick. Hmm, lucky me. When I’m outside on deck, there’s no problem but when I’m in my room or at work – I’m a bit light-headed. Kinda like the feeling when you donate blood then go on an elevator.

There are 13 decks on ship. Most employee work places and rooms are decks 1-3. I work on deck 3 in the front of the ship and live on deck 2 at the back of the ship… that first night in Maui, I couldn’t sleep at all – the ship was scraping up against the dock all night. I finally put earplugs in but woke up every hour since I was paranoid I would not hear my alarm clock in the morning. These past nights have been good since we port at sea in Kona and the ship docks on the portside (left) in Nawiliwili. Going to sleep is a bit different too – bunk beds and being rocked to sleep by the waves. I think I’m getting used to the ship movement – it’s a little different trying to walk when the ship is moving – it’s similar to trying to walk on an airplane with turbulence. Kinda fun but you do not walk in a straight line.

As far as roommates, I was hoping to keep the same one from the hotel but we got separate rooms. I have two roommates, whom I rarely see since we work different schedules. Quarters are really tight – and I thought Army barracks were tight sharing a room with someone! Whew! That was nothing. The three of us each have a closet but share a desk and the bathroom (which is also quite small – kinda like the bathrooms in Europe where you can almost shower and brush your teeth at the sink at the same time. Since we live below the water line, we do not have cell phone coverage in the room and no windows. So to make phone calls, we can go to the crew mess hall (where we eat meals) on deck 4 or deck 13, where crew is allowed.

all aboard?

After switching to a new room, my roomate was the one to get more bed bug bites. After rummaging through all the bedding, we found only one - and it was not the culprit that bit her face. So with that all in mind, we finally got our orders for the ship this afternoon. With much relief... we'll be leaving in a few hours.

pearl harbor

So after being stressed out from the bed bugs, I took my class final. Training is now complete and I am awaiting orders to go to the ship. People are leaving daily for their ship positions - our class of 40 is becoming smaller and smaller. There are still people here from the previous class - we all are hanging out at the hotel. There isn't much time to go sightseeing since we have a formation every few hours just for accountability.

Since my final only took 10 minutes, my department class of 6 cooks were released until the evening formation at 6pm. My roommate and I decided to take off and go sight-seeing even though we only had less than 2 hours. Went to Pearl Harbor since we heard it was close by. Didn't have time to go to the USS Arizona memorial but we did get to see the rest of the stuff.

Pearl Harbor

kaiten - suicide torpedo, first used in 1944. big enough to fit one person.

USS Bowfin

USS Bowfin

bed bugs

So these past few days, I've been getting bit by something. I've also been hanging outside by the hotel pool. I thought it was mosquitoes since they love me so dearly. But this morning I saw more bites on me and a few bites on my roommate. Strange that she had so many since there weren’t any mosquitos in the room… so after our morning muster formation I checked my bed just out of curiosity for bed bugs. I’ve had bed bugs before – when I lived in the dorms for culinary school in San Francisco, I was bitten almost to a point that it looked like I had a bad case of chicken pox.

Since that ordeal in San Francisco, I check the beds in all the places I stay at. Paranoia, I guess. But I have not crossed any more bed bugs and thought those creatures would be out of my life forever. Needless to say, I got complacent. The cruise line has put us recruits up at a hotel and for the first week, everything was good – at least I didn’t notice anything wrong.

You guessed it. After checking my bed this morning, I checked roomie’s bed. Holy smokes! I wished I never did that… just too disgusting to put into words. But yes, there were bed bugs – and lot of them. Not just little baby ones but big ones that looked like they’ve been living there for awhile. If you looked closely you could see their townhouses and condos – a whole village - lined up on the edge of the mattress and waiting for their next victim to fall asleep on their property so they could suck blood.

A call to the front desk brought in the floor supervisor, who then proceeded to check out the room. That resulted in another call to the Executive Housekeeper who looked around – and the more I looked around, the more I found – in the mattress, the furniture and a few just crawling around on the wall. They moved us to a different room down the hall and (supposedly) checked it. After we moved, I checked everything and it seemed ok. I could see some stains in the mattress from (I’m guessing) previous manifestations. But I didn’t see any bugs… roomie never seen bed bugs and was a bit freaked. We ended up having housekeeping wash all of our clothes which doesn’t really do anything since they can live through hot and cold wash water. But I’m thinking it was for a sense of security (more than likely false) just to think clean stuff will keep those creatures away.

Honolulu & Waikiki

Been in Hawaii for a week. Time has been going quickly. Arrived in Honolulu on Monday the 11th, was surprised I had a roommate in the hotel room and began my training on Tuesday morning. My roommate is from Connecticut - will be a dishwasher onboard one of the ships. We have not gotten our ship assignemnts yet. She also went to culinary school and has pastry experience - she's hoping a pastry position will open so she can transfer.

It's been a week of confusion - to begin with my itinerary from my cruise representative stated to be in the lobby at 1030AM, Tuesday morning and meet up with the shuttle bus for transport to the training facility. My roomate and I had discussed our schedules but she was to be in the lobby at 715AM to catch the shuttle. The only thing we could come up with were different classes. Come to find out I was suppose to be on that shuttle as well - I had to take a taxi to the training center. And the taxi driver got lost - he had a GPS system and all. The address I was given was for the Coast Guard Air Station which was the wrong address. After getting the runaround, I finally found out the point of contact's name but not the building I was suppose to be in. After an hour, the front gate security figured out it was the Coast Guard Boat Station training center 5 miles away.

With the transferring of one ship to the Carribean, the cruiseline is in all disarray. There will be two remaining ships in Hawaii until May... then one more ship will be transferred and one remaining in Hawaii. In the meantime, there are 900 employees from the first ship that need to be placed on either boat. So right now, there are not enough rooms on board for us new employees. It surprises me that the company is still hiring with a large surplus of people. We are all currently living out of suitcases in a hotel. Typically, we would have done training on board but with lack of space we've been in the hotel. It's nice since on board we would have 4 people to a room and very little space - at least at the hotel there are only 2 people per room and a large space.

For training we were divided in two separate classes of 20. From there, we all had several classes - alcohol awareness, sexual harassment, water safety, fire fighting, CPR and first aid. Water safety was alot of fun - we had to demonstrate if we could swim, float in immersion suit... it's a good thing I took a few swim lessons to get used to a deep pool and not be able to touch the bottom. The fire training was fun as well. We all dressed up in fire-fighting suits, handled the hoses and put out a mock fire, went thru a maze in darkness (that simulated a smoke filled room) and we had to find the exit.

It's amazing to find out these required classes cost the cruise company so much. They had stated this whole week of training costs about $8,000 per recruit. Plus the cost of the MMD card and flying us out to Honolulu - the company pays quite a bit per person. With this training though - the turnover rate is extremely high. I heard most people do just one season then move on to a less stressful environment working on a barge, steam boat or ferry. The course is not difficult - the only way you can flunk out is if you do not show up for class - we actually had one person fail due to attendance. Miss two days of training and you are fired. Strange though there are a bunch of ex-NCL employees that live in Waikiki working various jobs in town. These are the folks that were fired from the ship but cannot get home. (If you are fired, you have to pay your own way home, if you decide to go).

Was given the day off today at the last minute. Everyone went to the beach... will begin department training in the morning for the rest of this week. We should be receiving our ship assignments by the end of the week.






Some of my classmates (L-R) - matt, david, me, leilani, jason, rhonda, deb














my roommate, Jay
at International Market Place in Waikiki near koi pond















me in fire suit



























fire fighting


















floating in immersion suits






















CPR training
























class photo:
leilani, jason, rhett, matt, tim, eddie, rich, garret
michelle, me, erin, jason, rhonda, jeff, bruce, rhyanna
doug











Waikiki beach




























waterfall decoration - Waikiki

home

Had some time to visit a friend of mine that I haven't seen in a while. Spent the night there and got home on Day 4. Not a bad drive at all. I ended up leaving Yreka, CA and even though I checked the weather forecast and road conditions (which were good), as soon as I got on the interstate the state troopers were flagging everyone over to put chains on.

I've never put chains on before and it must have been either my puzzled expression, looking at the pictures for instructions or just the look of a female in distress but some guy came over to put them on for me, which I thought was super nice. Just as he finished putting them on some other drive by traveler said real politely that the chains were on the wrong tires - my little car has front wheel drive. So the guy moved them from the back to the front. Took him like 5 minutes. Guess he was used to putting them on.

Course, as a typical girl I broke my nail. How bad is that?! Anyway, I only needed them for 12 miles before the roads were good again. Yet those 12 miles took 4 hours with the traffic delay. Took the chains off the tires, stowed them away and hoped with all hopes that I would not have to put them on by myself. Ugh! That would probably be another nail! The roads were just wet with rain the rest of the drive home.

I did have the chance to stop by my favorite waterfall in Oregon. Multnomah Falls - it's the first time I've been there in the winter. Usually it's Spring, Summer or Fall time. So it's cool - there's snow all around the waterfall.

Won't have the chance to do that 1/2 marathon a friend of mine and I had sign up for. Another friend is taking my place. I figured I can always do it next year but wanted to get a head start on the roadtrip due to the weather.

little creek near the waterfall

smaller waterfall off to the side

the upper portion of Multnomah - you can walk across the bridge

lower portion of Multnomah

Multnomah - the whole waterfall from far away

1st/ 2nd road segments

Started my roadtrip to Washington state yesterday. Need to get there fairly quickly and the weather has been alittle bad with rain, snow and ice. Didn't know exactly how long it would take to get there but I gave myself a week... just in case. If it were summer, it would only take 1 1/2 days... but snow in the mountains make traveling alittle different. And it's been awhile since I've driven in snow.

Anyhow, I decided to take Interstate 5 all the way home. Got just out of Los Angeles on I-5 and all of a sudden I was in Bakersfield. Had really no idea how I got there... but I guess I took a wrong turn - ah, the scenic route... so it was about an hour out of my way. Must have gotten used to Cali commuting where you grab your tunes and just drive. After returning to I-5, it only took a few hours to get to Gilroy... spent some time with some friends.

Day 2

Left later than planned but that's ok. Was hoping to get to Portland but was willing to stop in Medford, Oregon if the weather was bad. Didn't get there either. Actually still in California - spending the night in Yreka. Been raining suppose to turn into snow and ice... and the roads are suppose to be shut down.

Tejon Pass, California

Gilroy area, California

near Mt Shasta, California

near Mt. Shasta, California

beautiful people

So these are the closest friends I made while here from work - just in the past few months too. You know how you can be hanging out with people and you realize they are cool and enjoy hanging with them? It's kinda subconscious but then something happens and you realize wow, these people are not only great to chat with but are also really beautiful people - like you see them all in a different light. Yeah, that was tonight. We all hungout as a final farewell. I just realized tonight what beautiful people they are... kinda difficult to explain. But it's like you've known them longer than you have. It is really rare I get that feeling.

It's like the timing is just perfect - to have met and befriended them. It just always amazes me to find other people that I really like and "click" with because not only am I reserved and have a quiet personality, but I am also quite picky about who I socialize with. Which makes it really difficult to make friends. For the longest time I just thought I was anti-social prefering to hang with animals (mostly cats and dogs) or solitude. I probably still am.

When I meet these kinds of people, I just want to get to know them more. It really fascinates me - to find people I really like and figure out what it is that intrigues me. A lot of times it's their personality that interests me, sometimes their life story, their travels and of course, most times I have no idea but am just glad we are friends.








Wendy, June, Lek, Jack, me










So I figured it out. A friend of mine asked how many Asian friends I have. I had to think really hard. Come to find out (and it really surprised me) I just have one and she's an email pen pal - never met her before. So this group of Asian folks are my only Asian friends. Kinda interesting. It's also the first time I've been submerged in an Asian community for an extended amount of time. I mean, almost everyone at work is Asian - Japanese, Thai or Laotian. It was a bit of a culture shock for me since I'm used to being the only Asian or one of a few in places where I work and hangout with.

good luck

Wow, so I put in my resignation yesterday for this fast food sushi restaurant. It was kinda sad leaving the place since I've begun to make friends at work. I think that made it so much easier in staying there since the job position was only fast food. One of the girls gave me a going away present - a jade elephant charm. It's suppose to bring good luck. Now, to be stereotypical ( I know, I'm bad), I can fit right in the Asian culture by having a charm attached to my cell phone.

Then she also gave me a dzi necklace. It's really cool - it's a Tibetian bead (agate) that brings good luck. I was trying to find the meaning and this link gave the best description.

http://www.dzicrystal.com/eng/resources.aspx

I've seen these kinds of necklaces before but never knew the meaning of it. Wow... I just thought people wore it because they liked it. Hmmm, now I'm enlightened. Interesting stuff to know. That's just so amazing to find out about other cultures.

seasonal trail yo-yo

I feel like a yo-yo. I'd forgotten this part about the seasonal trail. Things change in an instant. Everything is last minute and to go where you really want you have to be really spontaneous and super flexible.

So I'm on again for the cruise. Spoke with the cruiseline and got my flight itinerary, class schedule. Everything is set IN STONE. I fly out to Honolulu on the 8th... my training starts on the 10th. I'll be on the Pride of America. Still kinda in shock as far as getting the job, not getting it and getting bumped up to a different class date. I was a bit worried.

Means I'll have to be quit fast food sushi (yahoo!) in the next couple of days in order to pack up and move out. I had planned on moving by the end of the month anyway... hmmm. Guess everything worked out afterall.

I'm kinda dreading the move - I just made some really cool friends. This is the difficult part in seasonal work too. Meet cool peeps then move on. As far as career though - it's a good move. Has all the criteria that I want - let's just hope I like the position.

all in a day's work

A mild setback occurred...

In summary, I thought I got the position on the cruiseline - making sushi in Hawaii. My other job offer was on a tallship off the coast of Connecticut - traveling along the East coast for the whole summer. I had to choose and I chose the cruiseline... As much as I didn't want to, I turned down the tallship offer in order to remain in the sushi world. Then the cruiseline cancelled my class. They are still trying to place people from the ship the company moved from Hawaii to the Carribbean - some people didn't want to transfer with the boat.

So okay, I decided I wasn't going to return to the seasonal trail. I would remain in SoCal and continue my apartment hunt in Long Beach... then the store manager who is training me for the new store informed me that her bosses decided to go with seniority and give the Long Beach store to someone else - who's only worked at the restaurant 2 months longer than I and has less experience. Strange though that I just spoke with one of her bosses - the guy that hired me for Long Beach. He didn't say anything about not taking over the store - just that it is now behind schedule for opening, perhaps in June or July.

Regardless, it's time to move on.

job offer

Since the other day's ordeal, I went job hunting. Back to the seasonal trail. I think perhaps I was getting abit too comfortable living here and of course, can't let that happen just yet. So I found this seasonal gig working on a pirate ship. Yeah, it's something I've always wanted to do! Really, don't laugh - I'm serious. I never knew people could work on them so I never applied for a job. Anyway, it's not in the sushi field at all but I'd be the lead cook - well, the only cook aboard. It's a really cool program for teens and the crew would be teaching these kids how to sail, build confidence, learn teamwork and independence, etc. They even have an adult women's program as well.

I'm not so sure about the kid thing but the pros of this job is I'd learn how to sail, I'd be working on a tallship and be on the East coast (never been there before). The cons are leaving the sushi field and going into home-cooked meals... nothing fancy at all. It'd be more like several steps backwards in my goals. By the way, I got the job.

Then I heard from the cruiseline. They would like me to start next month. The pros - it's in Hawaii (never been there before), it's in the sushi field and there will be tons of people around. I've been noticing for every seasonal job I've been reducing the number of people I socialize with since the locations are remote - there just aren't very many people to hang with. Kinda going in the withdrawl hermit stages and I'm a bit young to start that. The cons in this position are crazy hours - well, considering it's seasonal work, I'd be returning to the 50+ hr work week (more like 80-90 hrs for this job). I have been bored with the 30-35 hr work week.... that's probably why I've been getting into so much mischief - too much free time.

Big choices. I think working on the schooner would be an awesome adventure. But perhaps another time. Who can turn down sushi? Of course, I'm going to choose that position. So I leave next month for Honolulu. Packing up and heading back to the parents place after my marathon.

Oh yeah, so my roommate is into these marathon things - this is her year of races. We signed up for a 1/2 marathon. That same roommate I did a 5K with couple weeks ago. We have about a week left in training for this one. Just going to be walking the 13.1 miles. Nothing too hardcore. It's on the beach so it can't be that bad, right? I'll definately have to let you know how it goes...

re-evaluation

Everything going so fast makes it difficult to think. I'm really enjoying my time in SoCal. The location and the people make me want to stay here and live indefinately - just need to find a really good job to go along with this place. Thanks to yesterday's work though - it gave me the kick in the pants I've been needing to put everything back into perspective.

I've come to realize I was starting to settle for a job - a job I don't even want. My whole purpose of remaining in SoCal is for sushi - to gain speed and better technique in making nigiri-zushi (little rice balls with fish on top). Looking at a nigiri, one would think easy - just roll rice in a ball and serve. Believe it or not there is actual technique and I have yet to practice. I try to at work but I'm faster at rolling sushi so the store manager insists I roll or be the cashier. Sure I'm getting some training with management but so far, I haven't learned anything new - just a different computer system. Ordering food, supplies, managing people and customers are still the same as previous management positions. Nothing special about that and realistically quite boring.

I timed myself the other day. It took me 15 seconds to make a tuna nigiri and 45 seconds to make a kappa (cucumber roll). I had to do it a couple of times because I thought the clock was broken... but it wasn't. And they weren't even pretty - I was rushed. How disappointing. I'm slowing way down. While in school, I was at 8 seconds/ nigiri and 30 seconds for a kappa - and that was really slow. Ideally, a nigiri should take 3 seconds and a kappa 10 seconds, if you're good.

I've been getting sidetracked alot lately - there's so much to do, things to see, places to go, people to meet, etc that I've been getting comfortable living here. Been staying so busy there's no time to think, no time to just sit back, relax and take a breather to plan out future events. I'll just leave the excuse to big city, too many options for stuff to do. It's a nice feeling but I'm not ready to plant roots yet - even if it is Long Beach (a really awesome place and a runner up from Austin on places to settle). There is still so much out in the world to experience and I cannot give that up - I just don't want to yet.

Anyhow, a long time ago I worked at a fast food pizza outfit where I would hold an advertisement banner trying to get passersby to enter the store. I promised myself I would never do that again. Making pizza, answering phone orders - no problem but holding a sign? That's a definate no go. This sushi job is similar to that - make sushi and answer the phones... I had previously decided to stay with this job because of the management position and considering it's fast food, the pay is decent... but those excuses are wearing thin and yesterday was the finale.

This sushi restaurant is trying to maintain store goals the headquarters has challenged. It's always within reach but just high enough where we cannot meet the goal. We need sales. The sales goal is the 2nd highest in the company and it seems impossible. So the store manager had asked for ideas... my idea was to place a sandwich board sign outside during rushhour (5-7 pm) when people are driving home and give those customers a discount for ordering at that time. I was informed that we are not authorized to do that - it's a headquarters decision, not ours. Instead, the store manager wanted to use the idea but have someone hold a sign. Yet the only signs we have are from the grand opening that just says we are now open. The manager wanted to give it a try and see if it would be effective. It wasn't, primarily because all the other Asian eateries along the street have discounts and various specials and we all offer similar menus - just different prices.

Everyone was excited to go outside and hold up a banner. Everyone had a turn at it and yes, I too. That is where the line has been drawn. This position has sunken down to the bottom depths of - well, lets just say it gave me the motivation to move on. Forget about the management position and new store. It was enticing to be sidetracked for abit but I know I really need to focus on why I decided to remain in SoCal. Experience gained. Now it's time to move on.

2008 plans

I've decided I'm going to hold off on the cruiseline. I really thought I'd be leaving in January but it won't be until late Spring/ early Summer and even that is tentative. Instead of waiting around for the position to open up, I've concluded that I should stick with what I have and take on the management position at the fast food sushi place. This new store is running ahead of schedule and should be opening in late March. I'm not sure if it is set in stone so to speak since the current restaurant I work at was suppose to open last April and just opened this past November. Regardless, it will be interesting - at least for a little while. So it looks like I'll be staying in Southern California for a bit longer than planned. I'm actually looking for a new apartment as well in the Long Beach area.

In the meantime, I have a few other job offers coming in. Flights of fancy that make me want to drop everything and jump back on the seasonal trail. These jobs are not in the sushi field so although it's very tempting, I'll wait it out. I'm actually looking forward to opening this new store and will wait until it has opened and perhaps a few months after before I move on. Originally, I planned on staying a year but that travel bug is really beginning to itch again. Everything is in the air. I'm not really sure of my 2008 plans as far as jobs go. Life is a bit hectic in civilization - kinda makes me want to return to a slower pace of life (seasonal trail) just to sort things out then return and take on the whole world.

Working seasonal gigs always makes it difficult in making friends and when I do it makes it difficult to leave. I'm just starting to make friends after 5 months of being here. Good thing I've decided to stay longer.

Orange County 5K

With a new year, my roommate has a resolution to be in as many races as possible. As a side effect, I'm tossed in the middle of it being her 'battle buddy' so to speak. We had signed up for the Orange County 5K and luckily enough another friend joined us. Just so you know - tall people walk really fast... short people don't walk as fast. I was tired just trying to keep up with her. I think she thought we were racing or something. I might have just ran the whole thing. Then the other friend takes a speed walking class every weekend so she's used to walking really really really really really fast.

I think I like the leisurely pace - like a stroll in the park. No rush. Enjoy a breath of fresh air (or as much of fresh air as the air pollution allows), enjoy the company of friends, etc. Course it was 8AM when it started. I'm usually still asleep. Kinda made me grumpy to walk that fast still sleepy.

There was also the 1/2 and full marathon. The 1/2 marathon (13 miles) started before us and the first people to arrive were running in at 90 minutes! Whoa... that's fast - that's abit under running 7 minutes per mile.

The 5K ended with the same route as the marathon so of course, we had our pic taken at the mile 26 marker.

Karen, Carrie and I - near the finish line.

shipping delayed

Made a few phone calls to figure out if I'm actually employed or not on the boat. I am but will not be shipping out until late Spring/ early Summer. Whoa... that's kind of a long wait. Due to the holidays and government agencies being closed, my paperwork has not been processed yet. So I'm waiting for that as well as a position opening since one of the boats is being transferred to a different location.

pink slip?

I'm not sure if they still call it a pink slip since the paper I recieved was white. Got a letter in the mail from the cruiseline. Not so good news... they had 3 ships but after the new year, they were going to downsize to 2 and transfer the other boat to the Carribbean. So that's 1,000 employees displaced after Jan 1.

Still no word on when I am set to leave. I'm not even sure if they will be calling on me now since there are only 2 boats working the Hawaiian islands. I'm not even sure if I still have a job with them. They might have too many employees.

In the meantime, the new fast food sushi restaurant is ahead of schedule and is set to open late March (instead of April). We'll see if that actually happens since this current store I work at was 6 months late in opening. Anyhow, I'm still assigned that new store so either way my options are still open. I start prepping for that store with hiring employees, organizing the kitchen, interior design, etc next month. Kinda exciting but not as much as traveling.

This cruiseline stuff is taking a long time. (Did I mention that I'm quite impatient... still?) My paperwork is complete and I'm just waiting on their go ahead to pack my bags.

Back bay bike ride

Whew! So a friend and I kayak this back bay area of Newport Beach. We realized there was a bicycle trail and wanted to check it out. We went this morning and rode the whole bay - 10 miles. Bicycling on a stationary bike is way different than a real bike... I forgot about climbing hills. I've been riding on flat land and on the stationary bike which are really easy. This trail went all around the bay - it was really scenic since it goes around the bird sanctuary - we saw several cranes and little birds.

Took a few pics of the place. There are several trails that branch off - one goes from Newport Beach all the way close to where I live and it is an 80 mile ride. Getting alittle ambitious on that part. I think this 10 mile trail kinda kicked my butt - there were a couple of challenging hills, one I actually got off the bike and walked it up the hill.

The trail was easy to follow since we just had to look for the path markers.

This is the bay area - this is actually the hill area that was a tough climb.

Fat Bob

Anyway, after getting home from sushi I started all my baking projects. It didn't take as long as I thought I got to bed early - 5AM... just in time for a quick nap before I had to wake up at 7 for the Harley demo rides. This has been something I've really been looking forward to. Actually, it's something I look forward to every year, when given the opportunity to attend. Harley-Davidson comes out with the new year's motorcycle - this year - 2008, is the new Dyna Fat Bob. Whew! What a nice looking bike. At these demo rides, you get to test ride any bike you want - just sign up and fill out the waiver. You can spend all day riding each bike. It's a fantastic treat.

So being here without my bike, I've been missing out on all the rides that I could be going on. A friend of mine is thinking about getting the Fat Bob, so we went to the demo to ride. We were the first ones to sign up. She rode the Fat Bob with mid-controls (controls built in the middle of the bike) and I rode the Fat Bob with forward controls (controls that are built closer to the front of the bike). Kinda funny since she's mega tall and I'm really short - we should have rode opposite bikes... short legs, mid controls/ tall legs, forward controls... anyway, the forward controls was cool. I really need to grow about 2 more inches to touch the controls. I had to sit on the tank to reach the pedals - brakes and gears even with my heels on! This bike is a 1584cc engine... the largest engine in the whole Harley fleet, with the exception of the Screamin Eagle brand which is 1808cc. My bike is only a 1450cc... mine is fast but this one is way faster - just a little flick of the wrist and I was flying down the road at 70mph! I didn't even realize I was going that fast until I looked at the spedometer. Just imagine... with a 1450 engine, you can top out at 120mph... I wonder what you can top out at with a 1584cc? Wow.

It's such an awesome bike. Even I was tempted to take it home with me! With the drag bars - it just makes you want to take sharp turns and race... the pipes are cool, the color (I rode a blue one) is great and get this! You don't need a key (I'm always worried my key will fall out of the ignition and I'll be stranded). The newer bikes you turn the bike ignition on with the key then store it - and the bike still works! Also on all the 2008 models is a 6th gear. I wonder if that means you can go faster.

2008 Dyna Fat Bob with forward controls

Fat Bob with forward controls - demo ride

holiday lights, boat show and good eats

Whew! What a busy day. Started out with a nice kayak trip around the Newport Beach back bay bird santuary then lunch in Little Tokyo (downtown LA) at a kaiten (conveyor sushi bar).

Our plans had originally been for sushi bar hopping for dinner. We found 4 restaurants we wanted to check out since we had heard good reviews. By the time we got back to town from LA, it was dinner time (and rush hour traffic). We had reservations for the 2nd sushi bar... we had to skip the first sushi bar in order to keep the reservation. Next up, we went to a boat show in Newport Beach - the locals all decorate their boats with various lights and decorations for Christmas and drive around the bay. We went for this in addition to seeing the winning houses light displays along the promenade on Balboa Island. When we finished the looking at the lights, we went on to the 3rd sushi bar. And after this place - it was already midnight and we called it a night, forgoing the 4th place for a later date.

Wow, what a day... eating sushi for 9 hours. A few weeks ago, my friends had asked if I would make desserts for their Christmas party for 60 people. Jumping at the practice, I said yes... but with what time? Anyway, after getting home from sushi I started all my baking projects. It didn't take as long as I thought. I'm typing this up as the last of the projects are baking. I decided on 5 desserts - a struesel, white chocolate pound cake, red velvet cupcakes, rum cake and a sponge petit four.

coast guard update

So I went back to the Coast Guard with my birth certificate in hand - the state copy and hospital copy. I spoke to the same guy as the first time (I think he's the only one that works in that office)... and he STILL could not believe I have two middle names. If anyone can send abit of patience this way, it'd be highly appreciated. He even recommeded that I get my name changed legally in order to make things less complicated for government officials. Ok, whatever - at least my mom would be proud that I held my tongue. While that mess gets sorted out, all my other paper work is complete. I should find out more about the job next month since all training has been stopped for the remainder of the year.

another '07 goal

This has been a fairly good year. I made 3 goals for this year and all of them have been accomplished... well, kind of. One of my goals was to move to Austin, which did happen. I just didn't stay there as long as anticipated. The other two was the cross country bike ride and sushi school.

With those down, and still having a few more weeks of 2007, I thought to create a new goal. Ah yes, swimming lessons. Ok... with this cruiseline job, I figure I should learn how to swim. You know, just in case the boat sinks or I just want to jump ship. I think I might know how to swim - I do play in the pool alot but its really not being able to swim but the fear of what's in the water with me and not being able to touch the bottom. Mind games, I know... too many Jaws movies as a kid or an over abundance of watching Lake Placid or any other freaky water movie. I would like a refresher course of the basics just in case. At least, when I get more confident in the water I'll be able to do more water stuff that I've been wanting to try out but have been wary of. I hear Hawaii's got alot of stuff to offer and of course, all the water stuff I'd like to do.

So far, the lessons are going alright. I swallow and inhale quite a bit of chlorinated water. Cooties, I know! I'm not quite coordinated yet in keeping my head above water when breathing. Hopefully though with more practice the less water will be taken in. And the deep end... whew, I try to keep my mind pre-occupied since thinking about touching the bottom and can't is when I tend to get real nervous.

sushi school testimony

Sensei asked if I would write a testimony for the school. It's on the school website.

http://www.sushischool.net/testimonial.php

MMD

I'm trying to get an MMD card through the Coast Guard. It's a mandatory thing if I want to work on a boat. So I went to the office this morning and took all the requested paperwork with me as well as my drivers license, social security card and passport.

I'm having a little difficulty getting this card. Apparently, I am a suspect of identity theft. I don't get it. Do you ever wonder what some people are thinking? First off, I was wondering why this guy (I'm really trying to be polite here but I do have all sorts of other names for him) thinks I've stolen another person's identity... and secondly, it makes me wonder what my parents were thinking when they decided to name me. I am kinda lucky that I don't have some funky name but I wonder what they were thinking when they decided upon two middle names. Perhaps, they knew two middle names would confuse this one particular person.

So I have two middle names and it's the first time I've been hassled about having two. One is American and one is Japanese. Yes, I've had them since I was born. No, I'm not making it up. I really have two middle names. Granted, alot of forms only have one spot for one middle initial hence the reason why I have to choose which one I want to go by. Which means sometimes, I do not get a choice like on my driver's license. They put down the initial of my first middle name. My other documents have the other initial so not all my identification matches. My passport has the other middle name on it.

But I would think once you are verified by a government agency, you should be good to go. When I enlisted in the military I had to show all these documents to verify who I was, etc and they wrote down both middle names. When I got out of the military, I was given a veterans card which has both middle names.

So when I gave the coast guard guy my identification, he's not only doubting me but other government agencies. Apparently, he doesn't believe someone can have two middle names and wants to see my birth certificate with his own eyes. How would I be able to get a passport, a driver's license or even a valid social security number if my birth certificate is fake? So this adds a couple more weeks onto the wait time, which all I'm waiting for is the okay from the coast guard - the approval will result in the MMD card.

sushi for dinner

Been wanting to try out some sushi restaurants in the area. Went out to dinner with a friend of mine to a little hole in the wall place we found off of http://www.yelp.com/ It had some good reviews so in we went. I kinda liked the place... kinda traditional Japanese with a bit of Americanization in it. Good twist of things... we sat at the sushi bar and ordered off the specials. I think so far, this is the best sush restaurant I've been to in southern CA.

















Recommeded monkfish liver (ankimo) to my friend who had never tried it before and was willing to try anything. It's compared to foie gras - rich creamy yet light flavor topped with ponzu sauce (citrus sauce), momiji oroshi (horseradish red pepper) and green onions. It's often called foie gras of the ocean and getting popular in the States. She really liked the shiso leaf too... I think the translation is perilla leaf but although incorrect can kinda be called Japanese basil.
















When I saw this, I had to try it. It just caught my eye and I really like quail eggs - alot. It's called a shrimp boat...butterfly shrimp stuffed with kanikama (crab), topped with masago (smelt eggs), quail egg and green onion. Dipped in soy sauce - this was the bomb! It was my fav dish tonight.















Then we ordered a sashimi plate - only to check out the plate. It's a flower shaped ice mold. Thought it was really cool. Although the concept is correct, the cutting and plating was not so good. That ice mold though, yeah that's what sold me. This was tuna, red snapper and octopus on a bed of shredded daikon, shiso leaf and lemon. They had another ice mold of a boat for a larger order of sashimi. That would have been way cool to see but too much food. Perhaps next time.

We ordered some other stuff too but these were the ones that impressed tonight.

long beach sights

Thought I'd spend the day sight seeing since I haven't really done so since moving to California. I went to Long Beach and hung out at the aquarium and took a short walk around the village shopping area. The Aquarium of the Pacific is kinda nice. I had been here before several years ago when it first opened. Back then there were alot of jelly fish but this time there were only 3 cases, which was a little disappointing. They did have sea horses though as with the weedy and leafy sea dragons. I thought those were pretty cool looking.






leafy sea dragon - found off the Western coast of Australia. It's a relative of the sea horse family.











weedy sea dragon - also a sea horse relative. These are also found only off the coast of Australia.











sea horses












movie of a male sea horse giving birth - click on the play button





lion fish














porcupine fish













jelly fish












queen mary in the distance















that's me...

scratch tofu

Wow, I'm amazed that making tofu from scratch is so easy. Time consuming but very simple to make. Took me about 1 1/2 hrs to make a loaf. I'm sure though the time would have been the same, had I made more. But this was just an experiment. Last week I made tofu from a kit... the only difference is that this time I actually got soybeans and food processed them into liquid form then cooked and strained it. Other than that everything else was the same - yeah, even the flavor. Unbelieveable.

tofu

I've been wanting to learn how to make tofu from scratch for awhile. After seeing various kits, I decided to start my first scratch batch from a tofu kit - just to see how difficult the process is.
With this tofu kit - all the ingredients are in the box. I didn't have the correct tofu container but I thought any plastic container would do. Turned out great... I'm amazed at the flavor. Kinda reminds me of grits - flavor, not texture. It's really good and tastes so different from store bought tofu.

In the meantime, there's another tofu recipe. This is actually for real scratch - where you get the soy beans, macerate them into mush and all the rest of the stuff. That will be interesting to make.

oh oh - aimed a little low

This is so weird. I interviewed for the wrong job. I ended up taking a job with one of those original 6 interviews. All I wanted was a sushi maker job - to be alittle peon in the grand scheme of things. Roll sushi, make sashimi, nigiri, etc - gain speed, get more practice, something temporary - what better way than fast food sushi. I'd be easily replaceable when the cruiseline gives me to go ahead for training.

I was over-qualified as a sushi roller... so I had interviewed for a supervisor position - a floor manager to be in charge of a shift of the sushi roller people. Today was the first day of work. The guy I interviewed with is actually going to be my boss and I met his boss today - the Regional General Manager as well as the company trainer. Now, I was thinking this place is kinda nice - the Regional manager took time out of his busy schedule to welcome me into the company and I'll be trained by a guy thats only job is to train people for their position. Quite impressive. I figured they really want some good sushi people producing some really nice rolls. I mean, fast food sushi - who would have thought? Never heard of the company until the interview but hey, sushi is popular.

Uh, come to find out that position I interviewed for was not floor manager. The Regional general manager wouldn't have greeted me that way... and I wouldn't have a company trainer to train me had it only been for that shift leader position. The job interview was for store manager. Wow. They want to give me my own store! It's being built right now and will be ready to open come February. Man, those crazy Japanese accents! Floor manager, store manager - it's definately not the same thing. Can you say I aimed alittle low? The store is in Long Beach - a place that's got a really way cool aquarium. Well, if I had to live in Southern California, Long Beach is the place I'd want to live. This might be a toss up - cruise or Long Beach, I mean store manager. Pros and cons, the cruise is still in the lead. How do I back pedal out of this mess?

And I got another job offer - just for fun, like a side job. A friend of a friend of a friend has been looking for a sushi chef for their catering company. They make some really nice wedding cakes - the pictures are awesome. I wonder if they taste good... hmmm. Anyway, they want to expand in the sushi world - that might be alittle entertainment. We'll see. Options - there are getting to be several.

By the way, starting my medical tests for the cruise today... doing good so far.

couch potato - in the car

I have some good news. First off, that 7th interview - the one with the job I really wanted... they called me back for a 2nd interview. Got the job too. But being bummed out this past week about that job has made me realize, I could move on knowing that I didn't get it... and had begun making other plans.

Now that I got the job, I don't want it. Part of my decision in not taking the job is the commute. Been there 3 times already and feel like I'm wasting time driving back and forth. It's only 35 miles to Beverly Hills but it takes 2 hours to get there and 3 hours to get back home - in normal traffic. 5 hours in the car is abit much 5-6 days a week. That would almost be like a part-time job.

The other plan consists of a compromise. Whew! To say that, well... to those that know me, know I'm not very good at compromising and it is rare than I do. Maybe it's a sign of old age? (Oh oh, it's downhill from here on out.) I kinda miss the seasonal trail. I miss the change, adventure, meeting new people, checking out new places, etc. With the seasonal trail, I change companies every 4-5 months and had realized I needed to settle down with one company to show stability, think of the future, perhaps even job benefits like health insurance, medical and everything else I haven't had to worry about. Hence, the reason I decided to stop the seasonal trail and grow some roots. But I'm already bored and to think of staying in one area for years and years indefinately is a like a ball and chain - kinda makes me want to run.

So my goal was to settle down in order to focus on my sushi career. I'd be willing to do that for a few years but I haven't really found anything that has caught my eye - something to tie me here to LA. Then as part of my job hunt I saw a cruiseline job fair. I had planned on going then talked myself out of it. (I knew what would happen if offered a job.) But my roommate persuaded me in going - "look but don't sign ANYTHING," she said as I walked out the door.

So the compromise is... I'm returning to the seasonal trail on that cruise line. I was offered a job on the spot and it's a guaranteed sushi position (so I can be in the sushi world), travel and if I like it, remain within the same company for stability but still have all the change. It'll take about about 2 months to complete all the testing and medical stuff if all goes well. So it's kinda like a win-win situation. Let's hope so.

In the meantime, I've decided to take one of the job offers out of those original 6 to tide me over so to speak. I've been on more interviews since but knowing the job will be temporary, I'm not being as selective as I normally would.

On the cruise, I'll be returning to the 80-90 hour work week. This time though it'll be 7 days straight for 5 months. Never really done that before... I've worked many hours but I've always had a day off, a 6 day work week. We'll see how it goes. It's real tight quarters - 4 people per room. A small room with a gym locker to hold all our possessions (so I'll have to pack abit lighter!)

To the future! Changing as always...

interviews

I've been interviewing for sushi jobs since I finished school last week. I made sure to get a few interviews to practice on before I got an interview for the job I really want. 7 interviews... 6 of them practise since I get really nervous when I want something - and I got job offers from them all. That 7th one is the job I really wanted and haven't heard from. That kinda bums me out. Even with those 6 practise interviews, I still got super nervous and it didn't go so well. Strange thing though, since I knew I didn't want those 6 other jobs I wasn't nervous at all, which is probably why I got them.

Back to the real world. I kinda get tunnel vision when it comes to jobs so since I didn't get the one I wanted it really doesn't matter where I work. Maybe I'll pick from one that I got... Or go on more interviews. We'll see.

japanese cuisine and culture

Went to a Japanese cuisine and culture festival this afternoon. It was sponsored by the Japanese Restaurant Association and the California rice commission. Lots of food - noodles (somen, udon), nigiri, sashimi, sukiyaki, tempura, crepes, yakitori, even beer and sake tastings. It was kinda cool since I'd been wanting to eat sashimi the past couple of days.

One of the demonstrations was a bigeye tuna - it was 150lbs and it was cut up and served as sashimi. The guy was quick! It probably took him 15 minutes or less. Then he had his helpers cut it down into serving sizes.

I also saw sushi machines. You put the rice in the machine and one makes rolls and the other makes nigiri - and even puts it in plastic. I figure maybe for airplane food?







150# bigeye tuna

huge bowl of ikura (salmon roe) plated in rice bowls with shredded nori - like in scattered sushi.

sushi roll machine



















nigiri machine













nigiri finished product - packaged in plastic from the machine