Sundance v. Law School

This is the Tree Room - I don't miss it BTW

Wow.

So it's been a couple weeks...errr, months since I posted. And so this makes post #2 - apparently I'm not very good at blogging. I'd rather not go off on an I'm-so-busy rant and use my busyness as an excuse - because that would be too self serving. But, I have been really busy. So here is my rant:

I served at Sundance's restaurants, The Tree Room and the Foundry Grill, while in college -the best part of working there was the free ski pass. To be honest, I probably wasn't the best server in town. Why? Because I get flustered and have, especially back then, had a hard time multitasking. However, I worked hard, and my customers liked me. When servers are busy, they are really busy. Our term at Sundance, "server busy", is self explanatory for people that have served in restaurants before; its a type of busyness that few professions can appreciate. After a busy night I would have what we called "server dreams", where you would wake up at 3:47 AM in a cold sweat because you can't get ketchup to table 4.

For the ones that haven't been servers, here is a little illustration to explain what I am talking about. At the tree room we worked in teams, meaning more tables and less to do at each table. On weekends we would have 12+ tables at a time. These are the things that I had to worry about as my less-than-superior position on the team:

Table 1: A romantic couple, eating entrees, but going slow, 15 minutes until dessert menus.
Table 2: Three people just sat down, needs water and a wine and drinks order.
Table 3: Four people just ordered, they need bread immediately, 3 minutes until salads
Table 4: A couple just finished their 2nd course, wants more bread and extra extra butter
Table 5: A Mormon couple asking for triple refills of strawberry lemonade, and is sharing a salad.
Table 6: Ordered dessert, needs spoons and coffee.
Table 7: Just sat down, needs water
Table 8: Just left, table needs to be clear, table cloths replaced, dishes replaced on the table.
Table 9: Entrees are ready for pickup, cooks are pissed that they are sitting and waiting to be delivered
Table 10: Chilling and drinking wine - has been waiting for entrees for 3 min. more than they should.
Table 11: Dude is about to propose to a lady with fakeones.
Table 12: Eating entrees, needs water

Meanwhile: There are dishes piled up, managers freaking out, cooks yelling at you, mexican dishwashers offering you pizza or tacos (best part of the job) and you have got to put a smile on your face and make people feel warm and fuzzy.

Well, Why do I tell you this? Because I want people to understand what I mean when I say that I have been "perma-server busy" lately. Meaning that feeling of urgency is constant.

*Disclaimer: one of the reasons that I am so busy is not only because of law school. I also, in the hopes to make my life well rounded, do ward activities, play in bands, and flirt with ladies, etc. So the busyness is self-imposed. 

I find myself "running the floor" of law school. Just as I would "kitchen, floor, dishpit, and repeat, I now read, class, write, practice test, outline, and repeat. Similarly, every moment I spend on one task, the other tasks becoming increasingly more urgent. Sometimes I "scan the floor." It would help to stop in the dining room and physically point at every table and tell yourself what the next step is - but sometimes scanning seems like precious moments wasted.

But I've never been happier. And after all, this is life. Can it be true that if one doesn't feel some sort of urgency in life, then one isn't living? I don't think this will ever change. In fact you could probably write this same graph for a Mother of 5.

Child 1: 15 years old, drive to football practice at 3, young mens at 7.
Child 2: 13 years old, soccer at 3:30, going bowling with friends afterwards
Child 3: 10 years old, out of school at 2:30, violin at 3:00-3:30, church activity at 6
Child 4: 7, school out 1:00, wants lunch right after, wants friends over at 5
Child 5: 5 years old, preschool at 11:00 am 12:30
Child 6: 45 years old, wants dinner at 6:30, then has meetings until 9.

Meanwhile: You get the point.

So I appreciate the hurt, because chicks dig scars - apparently - and I want good stories to tell to my grandchildren. AND I want good stories to tell after I'm dead playing heaven poker with my heaven poker buddies on heaven thursday nights. Or Hell wednesday nights, depending on my performance during this whole charade.

PS. Despite my crazy way of living life, my date of death on http://www.deathclock.com/ is April 20th 2082. I will live until two weeks before my 99th birthday! Too bad I don't make it to triple digits.