Friday 11 March 2005

A Quote

Reality is what it is. Contrary to the views expressed by the mysterious senior Bush official, there IS a discernible reality, and studying it can be quite useful. In fact, this is why we create the Signs page each day. It is not surprising that someone who believes in creating his own reality would declare that observing reality as objectively as possible is useless - if one does exactly that, one discovers the reality of the delusional thinking of those in power.

Thursday 3 March 2005

New Chapters - New Beginnings

Well I finally got my gear together and released the compilation for the dinners. Actually, this has been finished for quite a few weeks but I have been too busy to update the website. A lot of stuff happened between then and now.

The restaurant has gone out of business even though it was a trendy hub of activity in New Farm. A lot of people were sad to hear the news but probably not as sad as us – the staff. We really enjoyed working there. The social interaction that we all shared was fantastic. We got along tremendously even if we got excited once in a while during the shifts. It’s sad to see such a big piece of history go. The restaurant has been in business for 30 odd years under different management here and there. No doubt somebody else will pick up the pieces and take off from there. This happened over and over again and no doubt, the place will continue in a different incarnation soon enough.

For me personally, working there was life changing. The work ethic, the way I interacted with people etc. – all of these things underwent amazing changes. For the better, most likely. I became more outgoing and honest – with myself and others. I stopped hiding and pretending even if wearing a mask was necessary with some of the customers at times. But not very often. I feel like I had grown tremendously in those couple of months that I had the privilege of working at the Rosatis Restaurant.

Burning the “Dinners” compilation was also an expression of deeper changes that went on in my psyche. After months of heartache after the breakup, I began to live again. Perhaps in a manic sort of way where fun fun fun was the main course of the day. Around the time when the compilation was born (mid February), I began to get tired. I realised that it was time to slow down a little, that recovery would not take place by escaping the past but by dealing with it.

The only obvious way to do it was to slow down. In a big way.

So I started to take time off from fun and friends and just spend some time alone – well, with Adam, the inner Adam. The process of healing began. The music was just the parallel to what was going on deeper inside.

I began the research by looking for Goldfrapp tracks – after all how can you not be in love with “Strict Machine”! Soon enough I realised that the whole album was fantastic – “Black Cherry” made me so emotional a few time that I just began to cry. The tears were not really those of sadness but those of cleansing and recovery. It is difficult to convey this process in words, I guess you just have to be there to experience it, to feel it.

As the research went on, more and more tracks came to light and it was just amazingly synchronistic. Discovering Death In Vegas was a fluke and a lucky one at that too. Their work is just enlightened – much like Goldfrapp’s, Royksopp’s etc. I recommend for anyone on the similar path to make the effort and find those tracks. It is really worth it.

The events kinda closed one chapter and opened another one. I am forever delaying entering the professional workforce in IT, even though I really really want to ultimately make it my career. But instead, for the time being, I decided to carry on with this mysterious theme of social interaction in an upmarket and busy hospitality environment. I got a job supervising a bar at the Performing Arts Centre, here in Brissie.

I now run a bar in a trendy restaurant for people who come to watch ballet, theatre, concerts etc. I must say I really do like it and am torn between the two aspects of my life – the professional one and the hospitality. Taking one day at a time seems to be the way to go. But at least I can further apply the skills I learnt at Rosatis and convey the professionalism and enthusiasm for the profession to the kids that are just beginning their life adventure. It’s amazingly healing, exciting and rewarding.

I feel the Creation vol. 4 – “Recovery” coming on…