Yes, another update! Considering I haven't updated in a while! I am now in Skagway, working hard. I haven't had a day off until today- so 2 weeks straight I worked. It was fun and I learned a lot. But two days off seem to be a possibility now. Well not the entire day off, but a bit of day off.
I have also decided to share this message: Rid yourself of guilt! This is not directed towards anyone, but I know ALL of us have, one time or another, felt guilty for being ourselves. It can really tear up your life, and so I have decided that I am done with feeling guilty. I refuse to spend the rest of my life feeling like crap because I'm not doing this or that. I don't want to waste any more time feeling that I should be better, that I'm not good enough, etc. It's such a waste! I enjoy life, and figure that God loves me no matter what.
Anyways, have a blessed day, and above all, don't hate on yourself- love yourself for who you are!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
A Cute, Inspirational Story
So I have a blogger friend, and she wrote about an experience she had the other day, that I will paraphrase.
It was Sunday, and she was headed to church. On the way, she stopped for a White Chocolate Mocha at Starbucks. As she continued to drive, she was talking to God, basically saying that the day was a day for rejoicing, and she didn't want to get worked up or angry over the little things. She prayed that she could have patience. As she was getting out of the car at church, her mocha fell and spilled out all over. She was about to get angry because her $4 drink was now on the ground. However, she took a deep breath and didn't let her feelings get the best of her. Well, then she walked into church, and she went into the choir room, and one of the women had brought coffee and juice for everyone. One of the coffee flavors was White Chocolate Mocha.
She says: "I felt like all was part of a mini test from God and I'm glad. When we keep our promises to God, even if things turn wrong he never forgets about us. He knows about our needs and he fulfills them."
I really liked this story, and it made me think about how sometimes we are tested, and we may not know why things happened, but God does. Anyways, just a cute story!
It was Sunday, and she was headed to church. On the way, she stopped for a White Chocolate Mocha at Starbucks. As she continued to drive, she was talking to God, basically saying that the day was a day for rejoicing, and she didn't want to get worked up or angry over the little things. She prayed that she could have patience. As she was getting out of the car at church, her mocha fell and spilled out all over. She was about to get angry because her $4 drink was now on the ground. However, she took a deep breath and didn't let her feelings get the best of her. Well, then she walked into church, and she went into the choir room, and one of the women had brought coffee and juice for everyone. One of the coffee flavors was White Chocolate Mocha.
She says: "I felt like all was part of a mini test from God and I'm glad. When we keep our promises to God, even if things turn wrong he never forgets about us. He knows about our needs and he fulfills them."
I really liked this story, and it made me think about how sometimes we are tested, and we may not know why things happened, but God does. Anyways, just a cute story!
Eating Out Rant
Hi, so I have been a bit MIA lately. Again I just haven't had much to say, haha. Work has been pretty low-key, we have only had like 2 shows a week, but Thursday, can you believe, is our LAST show! Wow, I can't believe we're almost done with this job.
Well, right now we're in Montana. We spent the weekend in Great Falls, and I decided that they win the award for WORST servers ever! We couldn't believe the atrocious service we got at restaurants. As you may know, we have to eat out for every meal, and so you can imagine that after seeing restaurants from state to state, we know what service we like. Well, we went to like, 10 restaurants in Great Falls, and the best service, if you can believe it, was at McDonald's, and only because we A) didn't have to wait 20 min just to pay, or B) we didn't have to beg our server for a refill! Ok, "beg" is a bit exaggerated, but we have not been in a place where the servers didn't automatically refill the drink when it was getting low. In fact, I can't remember a single time. Until Great Falls. After the first, I thought, "ok, maybe it's a fluke". Then the next was the same. And the next. And the next. Until we were sucking on ice cubes. Hahaha. Anyways, another doozy was at Coldstone (of all places!), and they served us our ice cream but didn't ring us up, they just went back to scooping ice cream for other people. I am not kidding when I say we waited 10 minutes for them to ring us up. Yea, I ate my ice cream at the register. hehe.
Now, I don't want to sound like a snob when I go into restaurants; in fact, I think Trent and I tend to be a little bit too passive with our servers (so hopefully our food isn't spit in? i dunno, haha), but I also believe that the reason restaurants were even invented was so you could pay someone to make you food and serve it to you. NOT so you could watch your server go by the table 30 times before bothering to bring your check or take your order. Which happened yesterday. The girl brought our check but didn't come back for our credit cards for 20 minutes. We played on our phones in front of a table of dirty plates. In fact, Trent and I have this silly joke, where after so long of waiting, we start saying "Yes I'll have a diet coke" to thin air. It's silly and geeky.
Anyways, here are the small things I think make a great server:
-Refill drinks when drink looks halfway- and refill BOTH at one time, because by the time you bring the one, the other person's will be ready to refill. Plus it's just nice
-Don't bring the check before offering if they would like dessert. It makes it seem rushed, and you never know when someone's gonna want dessert. Cracker Barrel does this all the time, and coincidentally it's one of my favorite places for dessert (Coca-cola cake, mm!!).
-Check with guests after dropping off meals, to see how it is. I dislike when servers never come back til it's time to deliver the check.
-Be prompt, don't make guests wait too long to get drink orders, food orders, checks, etc. Because what if you get a poop attack at the end of dinner, but you have to wait for the person to get the check? Inconvenient, that's what happens. :D haha.
I think that's it. Not hard, though, right? Am I high maintenance? :P
Well, right now we're in Montana. We spent the weekend in Great Falls, and I decided that they win the award for WORST servers ever! We couldn't believe the atrocious service we got at restaurants. As you may know, we have to eat out for every meal, and so you can imagine that after seeing restaurants from state to state, we know what service we like. Well, we went to like, 10 restaurants in Great Falls, and the best service, if you can believe it, was at McDonald's, and only because we A) didn't have to wait 20 min just to pay, or B) we didn't have to beg our server for a refill! Ok, "beg" is a bit exaggerated, but we have not been in a place where the servers didn't automatically refill the drink when it was getting low. In fact, I can't remember a single time. Until Great Falls. After the first, I thought, "ok, maybe it's a fluke". Then the next was the same. And the next. And the next. Until we were sucking on ice cubes. Hahaha. Anyways, another doozy was at Coldstone (of all places!), and they served us our ice cream but didn't ring us up, they just went back to scooping ice cream for other people. I am not kidding when I say we waited 10 minutes for them to ring us up. Yea, I ate my ice cream at the register. hehe.
Now, I don't want to sound like a snob when I go into restaurants; in fact, I think Trent and I tend to be a little bit too passive with our servers (so hopefully our food isn't spit in? i dunno, haha), but I also believe that the reason restaurants were even invented was so you could pay someone to make you food and serve it to you. NOT so you could watch your server go by the table 30 times before bothering to bring your check or take your order. Which happened yesterday. The girl brought our check but didn't come back for our credit cards for 20 minutes. We played on our phones in front of a table of dirty plates. In fact, Trent and I have this silly joke, where after so long of waiting, we start saying "Yes I'll have a diet coke" to thin air. It's silly and geeky.
Anyways, here are the small things I think make a great server:
-Refill drinks when drink looks halfway- and refill BOTH at one time, because by the time you bring the one, the other person's will be ready to refill. Plus it's just nice
-Don't bring the check before offering if they would like dessert. It makes it seem rushed, and you never know when someone's gonna want dessert. Cracker Barrel does this all the time, and coincidentally it's one of my favorite places for dessert (Coca-cola cake, mm!!).
-Check with guests after dropping off meals, to see how it is. I dislike when servers never come back til it's time to deliver the check.
-Be prompt, don't make guests wait too long to get drink orders, food orders, checks, etc. Because what if you get a poop attack at the end of dinner, but you have to wait for the person to get the check? Inconvenient, that's what happens. :D haha.
I think that's it. Not hard, though, right? Am I high maintenance? :P
Monday, March 22, 2010
A Grief Observed
This post is about a week late, but I definitely have thought about it frequently. It's been over a month now since my grandma's funeral. It's still so surreal to me that she is gone. In fact, I have sort of "replaced" her in my prayer- for 24 years she has been in my prayer in the same place!- and so now I have to remember that she is gone and I put other people in her stead. But oddly enough, she is still in my prayers, as I'm hoping she is watching over me and knows that I am thinking of her. And that right there is so surreal. I still can't believe she is gone. It just does not seem like there was time for her to get ill and die. I wonder how it is for her, what she's doing and if my prayers get delivered to her. I always hoped that when she died, I would "know"; that I'd get some sort of premonition or feeling. Well that didn't really happen. About the moment she died, I was walking through a mall- I checked my phone to see the time, and she crossed my mind. But it wasn't really a thought of death; rather, I thought "maybe she will end up living for longer than we think. Maybe she will be around for a few more weeks". Wishful (and selfish) thinking I guess. Instead she died at that moment, because when I got back to my hotel, my mom called me and told me the time of death, and it was just about when I was thinking of her. But I didn't get a burning kiss on my cheek, I didn't see her in the mall, nothing like those stories you sometimes hear.
Anyways, C.S. Lewis penned a memoir called "A Grief Observed", in which he deals with the grief he has for his recently-deceased wife. It's an interesting piece, and probably the most interesting thing about it is that his experience is really nothing like mine. And that is what this piece is usually heralded for: that everyone's experience in grief is different.
Granted, I lost it at the funeral. I couldn't hold back anything, I just felt so hopeless as I blubbered away. But other than that, I've stayed pretty controlled. Except when I think about talking to her. I hope she knows I'm thinking of her. It's just so weird to experience grief, because I've never really had to deal with such a close death. My other grandparents died when I was significantly younger, and while they were amazing, the relationship was just not quite as developed. Anyways, I hope time will heal the wound.
Anyways, C.S. Lewis penned a memoir called "A Grief Observed", in which he deals with the grief he has for his recently-deceased wife. It's an interesting piece, and probably the most interesting thing about it is that his experience is really nothing like mine. And that is what this piece is usually heralded for: that everyone's experience in grief is different.
Granted, I lost it at the funeral. I couldn't hold back anything, I just felt so hopeless as I blubbered away. But other than that, I've stayed pretty controlled. Except when I think about talking to her. I hope she knows I'm thinking of her. It's just so weird to experience grief, because I've never really had to deal with such a close death. My other grandparents died when I was significantly younger, and while they were amazing, the relationship was just not quite as developed. Anyways, I hope time will heal the wound.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Ramble
It seems so weird that life should be one of our biggest pre-occupations. I think we sometimes focus so much on making sure that life is lived correctly, instead of just living life. There's no going back. Sometimes that scares me, to think that I won't ever get to re-do high school or college or now. That has passed, no matter what I believe. But at the same time, I wonder if we focus too much on how to live life, thus we don't really enjoy it.
Like, when you graduate college, you are put in a couple of different categories: There are the over-achievers who either get into Harvard, or do enough internships to get some hot shot job in NYC, and their lives are set. Or, there is the other group, who don't really do a lot of internship, but they graduate and live a simple but successful life. I always kind of wondered, am I not successful, because I didn't automatically get the hot shot job out of college?
Or, why is it, that women are NEVER satisfied with their body? No matter what age, they're always scrutinizing. I mean, you can be 50 years old, and be a little heavier than your 20 year old self. Yet women will complain? Why can't we be satisfied? I mean, at 50, the body is never going to look like 20 ever again. I'm 24, and I am realizing I will never have the same body/energy/etc as an 18 year old. So why are never at peace?
I just wonder, are we ever satisfied at just living life? Or are we trying to live up to a standard for so long, that we don't really enjoy life? We just sit there scrutinizing ourselves, debating at what could be better?
Like, when you graduate college, you are put in a couple of different categories: There are the over-achievers who either get into Harvard, or do enough internships to get some hot shot job in NYC, and their lives are set. Or, there is the other group, who don't really do a lot of internship, but they graduate and live a simple but successful life. I always kind of wondered, am I not successful, because I didn't automatically get the hot shot job out of college?
Or, why is it, that women are NEVER satisfied with their body? No matter what age, they're always scrutinizing. I mean, you can be 50 years old, and be a little heavier than your 20 year old self. Yet women will complain? Why can't we be satisfied? I mean, at 50, the body is never going to look like 20 ever again. I'm 24, and I am realizing I will never have the same body/energy/etc as an 18 year old. So why are never at peace?
I just wonder, are we ever satisfied at just living life? Or are we trying to live up to a standard for so long, that we don't really enjoy life? We just sit there scrutinizing ourselves, debating at what could be better?
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Annoying Sales Person
So I mentioned the other day how I am getting a little burned out and how I'm ready to be finished with our job out on the road. Tonight we had an event, and I realized that, although I'm burned out of being on the road, I think the content of our presentation really helps me from being burned out on our sales pitch. Like, I'm really not a sales person. I hate "selling" things, and have often thought that I'd probably be horrible if I had to do Multi-Level Marketing or something like that. But, I also feel that if you believe in what you're selling, it makes a huge difference. I think I could safely sell Volvos, because I am enthusiastic about them and think they're awesome cars. I could sell MAC Cosmetics, because I gush over everything they make. As for Holland America Line's Alaska Cruise Tour product, I truly feel it is the absolute best way to see Alaska. I think if you do any research, you'd be a fool to choose any other way to see Alaska besides Holland America. If I didn't truly believe this, I think my job would be really hard. It would be hard to convince someone to take a tour if I felt guilty for tricking them into buying a not-so-great experience. So it's a good thing that Holland America has given me an excellent product to sell. It makes me enthusiastic every time we tell people about it, and I have learned so much about being able to sell something.
On the same topic, Alaska for me is just 1 1/2 months away- I can't believe it! It's weird too because though I am looking forward to it, I am also a little apprehensive. I feel this way every single year. I think it's because every year, I have a new/different job, so it's not just tea and crumpets. But yea, I look forward to being in beautiful Skagway. It's such an amazing place!
On the same topic, Alaska for me is just 1 1/2 months away- I can't believe it! It's weird too because though I am looking forward to it, I am also a little apprehensive. I feel this way every single year. I think it's because every year, I have a new/different job, so it's not just tea and crumpets. But yea, I look forward to being in beautiful Skagway. It's such an amazing place!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Blah Blah Blah
Ok I'm back with yet more random ramblings...This is actually a thought I had a few weeks ago, when that guy rammed that plane into the building in Austin, TX. It's at times like that where most mildly crazy people aren't so bad. Like, you know when someone goes through a break-up or has a break down at work or something- whatever it is- and they do some admittedly "crazy"? Like a guy who is so infatuated with a girl that he acts a little stalkerish, or a co-worker reams out everyone who walks into his/her office for no obvious reason...We usually think that person is a little crazy, right? But I think these people should get a free pass. Because as long as they're not crashing planes into buildings or bringing bombs on planes or shooting up campuses, I think it's okay to be a little crazy in moderation- after all, everyone has acted a fool at least a few times in their life. Most of us look back in shame at those moments and think of how horrible a person they are that they acted that way, and how no one else acts that way, but let's face it- everyone has.
I really don't know what I am trying to say, other than everyone should be allowed to act a little crazy sometimes, and get a free pass. haha wow.
I really don't know what I am trying to say, other than everyone should be allowed to act a little crazy sometimes, and get a free pass. haha wow.
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