No lattes, cappuccinos or mochas thank you very much.

Ah, it's good to have a day off from slaving away in front of an espresso machine. Or making an ass of myself in front of a group of clarinet-wielding prepubescents. Sadly enough, however, it took me all of about 30 minutes after waking up (at 8:30am!! 4 1/2 hours past my tragic usual wake-up time!!) to begin feeling pangs of extreme-latte-craving and so -- only because I myself do not own an espresso machine -- I did have to make myself a (gasp!) regular old cup (or 2 or 3...) of coffee. Anyway, the whole point of this story is that the multiple days of 5:30am work days have made my brain completely unwilling to produce enough continuous thought to write very lengthy blog posts. Sorry. So, following, please find a succinct run-down of the events of the past several days... in HAIKU!!!

Starbucks I enjoy

Fuels and feeds my cravings

Free for me not you

Scott and I: one year!

Can't go out Always busy

But if not Ys sad

Got three new students

They are cool Don't smell like poo

Some students do Blech

Car fixed in two days

Yay because fear explosion

Hope not expensive

If you are not them:

Sarah, Greg, R.H., Heather

Sign my Guestbook now!!!

Day off!!

Today I have absolutely no obligations whatsoever. No ridiculously complicated and over-priced espresso-based concoction to make. No roomful of some-cool, some-difficult and some-smelly little children to teach clarinet to. Huzzah! So I have given my brain the day off as well and, instead of posting a thoughtful and well-crafted entry, I am posting a meme instead:

9 Layers

A meme to peel aways the layers of you.

LAYER ONE:

Name: Ysabel
Birth date: May 25, 1980
Birthplace: Manila
Current Location: Knoxville
Eye Color: dark brown
Hair Color: dark brown/black
Height: 5' 1"
Righty or Lefty: righty
Zodiac Sign: Gemini

LAYER TWO:

Your heritage: Filipino
The shoes you wore today: black flip-flops (no work shoes! Yay!)
Your weakness: shopping, bad tv, fast food, coffee, etc etc
Your fears: Not much, really. Seeing someone I care about hurt or injured. Failure.
Your perfect pizza: everything but anchovies
Goal you'd like to achieve: Have a career in something I find meaningful. Doesn't involve making coffee.

LAYER THREE:

Your most overused phrase on AIM: "Hahaha"
Your first waking thoughts: Already?
Your best physical feature: My third nipple. Ha. Just kidding.
Your most missed memory: Being a kid in Santa Rosa. Growing up with my siblings and my cat Buddy.

LAYER FOUR:

Pepsi or Coke: Ich, Diet Coke. Duh.
McDonald's or Burger King: McDonald's
Single or group dates: single
Adidas or Nike: Adidas
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Don't really care.
Chocolate or vanilla: chocolate!
Cappuccino or coffee: Yes.

LAYER FIVE:

Smoke: Nope.
Cuss: Unfortunately, occasionally. Especially when driving or practicing.
Sing: Yes. But with nobody within a 30-foot radius.
Take a shower everyday: Um, doy. 2 or 3 preferably.
Do you think you've been in love: Yes.
Want to go to college: For a third time??!!!! .....Actually, yes, eventually. *sigh*
Liked high school: Yep.
Want to get married: Someday.
Believe in yourself: 99.9% of the time
Get motion sickness: Rarely, but yes.
Think you're attractive: I'm not hideous, so yes.
Think you're a health freak: At times. But considering I have had fast food more than once in the last 24 hours, I feel like I should say no.
Get along with your parent(s): Now that I have moved past my surly teenage years, yes. (For the most part, anyway. Haha).
Like thunderstorms: Only if I am indoors. Especially if cuddled in bed or watching a movie and sipping a hot beverage.
Play an instrument: Again, doy.

LAYER SIX:

In the past month...
Drank alcohol: yes
Smoked: no
Done a drug: no
Made Out: yes. Wheeeee!!!
Gone on a date: I guess. Does having an occasional dinner with your boyfriend count?
Gone to the mall?: Yes. Unfortunately.
Eaten an entire box of Oreos?: I'm sure I am fully capable. But no.
Eaten sushi: Surprisingly, no! This needs to be remedied.
Been on stage: yes. With a gaggle of smelly middle school kids.
Been dumped: nope.
Gone skating: nope.
Made homemade cookies: nope. I prefer to watch other people do it on TV.
Gone skinny dipping: no
Dyed your hair: no
Stolen Anything: no

LAYER SEVEN:

Ever...
Played a game that required removal of clothing: No. I feel like a prude now.
Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: yes. It's no fun.
Been caught "doing something": I'm not quite sure what this question is implying. So my answer would have to be .... maybe.
Been called a tease: Not to my knowledge.
Gotten beaten up: Yeah right! Hells no.
Shoplifted: nope.
Changed who you were to fit in: no.

LAYER EIGHT:

Age you hope to be married: Not now. As soon as I have a steady and meaningful job, I'll start thinking about it.
Numbers and Names of Children: I'd like 2-3 someday. Son: Benjamin. Daughter: Stella or Francesca.
Describe your Dream Wedding: Small. At night.
How do you want to die: Too morbid to think about. But not for a looooooong time.
Where you want to go to college: Whichever one can get me a job right after graduation. Oops, too late for that.
What do you want to be when you grow up: Musician. In the next life: Astronaut. In the next life after that: lottery winner who travels the world.
What country would you most like to visit: Greece.

LAYER NINE:
Number of drugs taken illegally: 0
Number of people I could trust with my life: All of my family, plus maybe 5 other people.
Number of CDs that I own: A lot. Many of them "borrowed" from my dad's CD collection.
Number of piercings: 5
Number of tattoos: 0
Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper?: At least thrice.
Number of scars on my body: One on my left knee from diving for a ball on gravel while playing baseball in junior high P.E.
Number of things in my past that I regret: 3? ...Probably more.

Quizzy!!

My sincere apologies to all my faithful readers who no doubt have been growing increasingly dark and empty inside because I haven't posted in several days. This past week I worked at Starbucks everyday from Tuesday through Sunday. Good news: lots of hours on the clock! Bad news: I have been unable to think about anything but making and drinking coffee all week. I'm not kidding. I literally fall asleep at 10 or 11pm thinking about how many espresso shots go into what latte or mocha, and wake up at 4am doing the same thing.

Anyway, this week should be better since I have managed to get this Wednesday as well as the whole weekend off! Wheeee!!!! I traded shifts with a guy, so I worked for him yesterday morning and he is going to take my shift this Sunday. Which is good because this weekend is not only Halloween weekend (although the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode doesn't air until the following weekend... Damn you, Major League Baseball!!!), but I hope to also find some time to celebrate my one-year anniversary with Scott at some point. I'm hoping he can take just a little bit of time off from all his stresses from school and work so we can have brunch or dinner together or something. And I can think about anything else besides lattes and Americanos and Cafe Mistos and Caramel Macchiatos etc etc etc.*

Anyway, today I have my weekly treacherous foray into the merciless jungle that is teaching middle-school clarinet. As I was telling one of my Starbucks co-workers a few days ago, one 8-hour shift at the coffeehouse is so much less stressful for me than the two clarinet classes I teach at the middle school on Mondays. Seriously. Those kids will be the death of me.

But in the meantime, for lack of anything interesting to write about, I have posted the following quiz results. I am most curious in finding out who exactly my "enemy" is considering he/she/it is supposedly cute, dirty and gross. Hmmm...... Oh, and career and money coming in last place? That explains a lot....


Interpretations below:

Chapter I.

Priorities in your life:

1. love
2. family
3. pride
4. career
5. money

Chapter II.

1. You would describe your own personality as being loyal and carefree.
2. You would describe your partner's personality as being intelligent and independent.
3. You would describe your enemy's personality as being sometimes cute but sometimes dirty and gross.
4. You interpret sex as being warm, comforting and delicious.
5. You would describe your own life as being big, expansive and mysterious, but also relaxing.

Chapter III.

1. Kat will never forget you.
2. You consider Kristina as your real friend.
3. You really love Scott.
4. Your soul-mate is probably Mama.
5. You will always remember Ben for the rest of your life.

http://www.saviodsilva.com/d/u/u5.htm



*ps. After 2 weeks on the job, I have figured out that my favorite Starbucks products are the Caramel Macchiato (vanilla syrup mixed with steamed milk with a bit of foam, topped with two shots of espresso and then drizzled with caramel sauce.... mmmmmm) and the Iced Lemon Pound Cake (Oh. My. God. Such tasty artery-clogging deliciousness.). If you feel like treating yourself sometime, I highly recommend going this route.

Mmm... results through scolding.

16 comments on my last post! HA HA!! It worked.... NOW SIGN MY GUESTBOOK!!!

Had my first 5:30 am shift this morning... Getting to work on time was quite the accomplishment considering:

a) I tossed and turned all night unable to sleep until 4 am.

b) My phone alarm didn't snooze when I told it to and I woke up at 4:53 am!!!

I don't know quite how it happened, but I managed to take a shower and drive across town to work without being late. Looking back on it, I must have managed to find and go through some sort of time-space continuum during my drive this morning because it usually takes me about 30 minutes to get from my apartment to work downtown. I'm still confounded by it...

That's all. I got home about 30 minutes ago and I'm not tired yet -- something tells me all the drink sampling may have had something to do with it -- but I am sure I will crash very hard, very soon. And when I do, it will be disastrous because then I won't be able to sleep tonight (again) and will have to go back to work tomorrow morning at 5:30 am without any sleep for the second time in a row. But at least when I do, I will be surrounded by endless quantities of caffeiney-goodness.

Do you need another scolding???

Dear faithful readers,

I know that you are out there and that you are reading my blog. I know this because I check my hit counter (found at the bottom right of the page) from time to time and, much to my delight, the number continues to grow on a regular basis. With this being said, WHY AREN'T YOU COMMENTING ON MY POSTS??!!* If I could only explain to you the sheer joy and sense of self-fulfillment I attain upon waking up every morning and finding that somebody has not only read my blog, but took the time to comment on it. This is sad, I know, but I don't care. It makes me so happy! Hahaha. Remember when I reprimended you all about this very same thing before? You don't want me to get all ugly like that again. Bitter Ys is no fun.

Ok, that's all.

Starbucks at the Hilton rocks. It's a fun job...for customer service. I showed up today (3rd day of training) to find my co-worker Neal frantically holding up shop by himself because our now-former manager did not show up for her final shift (today was supposed to be her last day [she's moving back to California, where she is originally from... lucky b****!!]). Needless to say, there were puddles of chai tea latte all over the floor and I had no choice but to jump on the register and do my best to act like I knew what the hell I was doing. Apparently there are 4 different wedding parties staying at the hotel this weekend as well as the skaters from the Disney on Ice tour which is in town for the week, so the morning rush was fairly crazy.

The good thing is, at the end of the day I pretty knew how to do most everything about the job -- without having to spend days training on it. I have the next 2 days off from Starbucks, however, so I'm sure most of today's knowledge will fall out of my brain and I will need to do much reviewing of various drink recipes. Oh, and the other good (i.e. AWESOME!!!) thing: in four hours I had a coffee, a chai tea latte, a passion fruit iced tea and a strawberries and creme frapuccino. And a cream cheese danish. Not to mention the chicken and dumplings with green beans and German chocolate cake I had for lunch from the Hilton kitchen. FOR FREE, PEOPLE!!! Hahaha... some people get off on health benefits and insurance coverage. Me, I focus on the free food.

Oy, I'm getting hungry now. Scott needs to come home so we can go get some gross fast food. Mmmmm....artery-clogging goodness.

Remember to comment on my posts, you anonymous lurkers!!!! As I explained in the first reprimand, you don't have to be registered on blogger to leave a comment. So no excuses! Also, I am putting up a guestbook (thanks for letting me steal the idea, Elizabeth!) so you should all sign that too.


Note to certain friends of mine: Keep in mind that my lovely parents and various assorted relatives read my blog (even though they don't leave comments.....grrrrrr.....hahaha), so please keep things nice and PG-13 if you could. Thanks :) Or not, whatever.

I mean whatevs.



* This does not pertain to both Sarahs, Robyn, Dan, Elizabeth, Ben, and my sister, who all leave comments with a respectable degree of regularity.

Barista sounds so much better than Coffee Wench

So I started training at Starbucks today. Wheee!! Good times. For a mega-corporation, I have to say that Starbucks sucks not too much. It sure beats Blockbuster Video (Grrr!! Still much pent-up high-school hatred being harbored deep inside my blackened soul...), that's for sure. Actually, the interesting thing about this particular job is that I officially work for Hilton Hotels, not Starbucks Corporation, so I feel slightly less like a corporate sell-out. Even though I'm fully aware that Hilton is a mega-company in itself. Whatever. The bottom line is I get free coffee & pastries from Starbucks and free lunch/dinner from the Hilton. Yes! Also, my manager tells me that my employee discount comes from Hilton Hotels, meaning that, while I cannot get a discount from any other Starbucks location, I do get highly-discounted room rates at any Hilton hotel (i.e. She said she was able to get a room in New York city for like $40 a night!! Holy crap!! This may have been too good to be true. But if it isn't: New Year's Eve in Times Square, anyone?? Hahaha...) All the people I'll be working with (I've met all but 2 or 3 already, I think) are pretty cool and they seem to be very good at training new employees. Thank God. Because the more training and time-to-settle-in Ysabel gets, the less likely she is to get into fisticuffs with customers. And that's always a good thing.

In any case, I spent the majority of the morning drinking free coffee so my brain can't really process thoughts and directions well enough to write a long-detailed account so I have to go now. Plus, I have to spend the next couple of hours peeing every 10 minutes. Agh! Only unfortunate byproduct of coffee-addiction!!! Aside from the not sleeping and becoming utterly dependent thing. Bah.

ps. Got another phone call from a mom interested in clarinet lessons for her son. Hurray for still keeping hope alive that I can make a living as a musician!!

SUCCESS!!!

I am now officially employed!!

I start work (training) at the Hilton-Starbucks in downtown Knoxville next Tuesday. Huzzah! There is much rejoicing to be done .... especially in the northern/Silicon Valley/San Luis Obispo areas of California where certain family members will no longer have to shell out money (eh, maybe not as often -- hahaha....) in my direction in order for my sorry arse to be able to eat. And pay bills. Yay!!!

More about the interview and everything later... In the meantime: HURRAYYYY!!!!!

ps. Moral of the story, boys and girls, is:

1 musician + 6 years of college = $7.00/hr. *sigh*

Life can be funny sometimes. And by funny, I mean tragic and unamusing. Ha.

Wonder of wonders! Miracle of miracles!!

Get ready for this, folks.....

I HAVE A JOB INTERVIEW WITH THE HILTON-STARBUCKS TOMORROW MORNING!!!!

I am feeling extremely happy and thrilled about this and not at all pathetic about the level of happiness and thrill I am feeling due to my scoring a job interview for a crummy menial-labor job that any competent high-schooler could land in 2 seconds .... and it only took me all of about 6 weeks! So my new best friend Neil (only kidding) came through for me after all. Haha.

Anyway, I am so excited about this (possible income!!! yayyyy!!!) that I can do nothing now but pee and take a nap. Hurray! Wish me luck tomorrow. I hope the interview doesn't consist of too many personality-type questions. That could prove disastrous...

***

ps. Shortly after receiving the phone call about the Starbucks interview, I got a call from a mom interested in getting her middle school daughter some clarinet lessons. Double hurray! Wait, it gets better: her daughter has a friend who might also be interested in taking lessons. Triple hurrayyyy!! Ah, the leaves are turning at long last, my friends.... I fear I may wake up from this dream and find that I have been rejected from delivering pizzas or something.

Lord have mercy......

Oh. My. God.

Middle schoolers.

NUMEROUS QUANTITIES OF THEM.

PLAYING THE CLARINET.

***

AAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGHHH!!!!!!!!