Big things, big things..

Matty's got a J.O.B.  A real job now, not some shitty pizza rolling experiment.  Jon bothered his managers enough that they sent up some smoke signals and told me to come back down on Tuesday to chat.  I interviewed with two managers and the general manager of the restaurant, all good people, and after they called my references Wednesday morning I got the call saying my ass has a job at the Hula Grill.  It's in a pretty sick spot in the resort district of Ka'anapali, right on the beach.  When I say right on the beach I mean there's the rock wall that ends the restaurant, a walking path, a few feet of grassy shrubs and then the beach.  Less than 15 feet from restaurant to beach sand.  I'm not mad about that.  I'll be bussing tables in the "Barefoot Bar" portion of the restaurant, a lunch and dinner cocktail lounge that serves food and drink to the finest tourists and locals alike.  This was where I met that guy from Lewiston and we shot the shit about the Goose.  That alone should tell you I'll be working in a pretty awesome setting.

I was hoping to go through my orientation today but my TB vaccination or whatever was expired so I had to get that yesterday, and I need to pick up my results tomorrow.  The Grill only does new hire orientation on Thursdays so I guess I'll have to force myself to head to the beach for the next few days instead of working.  Poor, poor, pitiful me.

TB vaccinations are f-ing weird, too.  It's the one where they shoot the little bubble of shit under your forearm.  There's a clinic in the shopping center right near Hula Grill so I went there to get it done yesterday morning and it took about three minutes.  I filled out the general first-time visit paper then the nurse brought me right in, described nothing about the procedure, said "Hold out your arm."  She then shot me up and said, "Don't scratch or pick at it.  Come back in two days.  You can pay the receptionist in front."  And I was on my way.  Really?  No questions?  No talk of side effects?  It's that safe, eh?  I hate doctor's offices..

I have no idea if I still have a job at the pizza place because my boss never called me on Monday.  I'm taking that as a sign that I do not, in fact, still have a job at the pizza place.  Good riddance, I say.  Working without an ocean view is for suckers.  I'm sitting in a cafe in the strip mall the pizza place is in right now so I'll probably head in when I finish up here to get the final verdict.  If he still wants me to roll this weekend I'll roll this weekend (Unlike Walter, I do fucking roll on Shabbos..).  But after that, PEEEECE out.  My motivation to stop by today comes directly from my need to find out when I can pick up my check for $37 after taxes or whatever my six or seven hours will work out to.  At that pace I would have been splashing cash around these parts in no time...

Getting a check will also give me the motivation to open up a bank account down here so that I'll be able to cash said checks.  I've only used an ATM once here and that was to buy my bicycle.  A $2.50 rip for that purchase was manageable.  For $20 every other day...not so much.  I don't know why I didn't assume that a recycled bike shop would be a cash only business so I really had no one to blame but myself.  I'm over it.  I HATE atm fees, though.  I don't know if there's anything I dislike more than ATM fees.  Nothing comes to mind..

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After all these good things happened (well, I guess it's really just one good thing and that was getting a job...though losing the dough roller job was "bad" in a VERY good way..) this morning I got the talk from Jon's roommate that it's time for me to be hitting the ol' dusty trail and saddling up out of their place.  Jon has no pull...jerk.  I don't know how they could say no when he propositioned them a full-time, non-rent paying couch sleeper.  What wasn't to love about that?

I really don't want to bother getting an apartment right now so I've made some calls about renting a room in a house.  I'm still dead-set on staying out of the downtown area so I'll probably have to pay a bit more but on the whole I'm not too worried about it.  It's just money.  In a perfect world I was hoping to wait until I got knowing a few more folks at Hula so I could have looked for a roommate there, but sometimes life just ain't fair.  I'll just get a place in a house for a couple of months-ish and then do the same thing.  I'm not worried about it; things will shake out.  Hell, it really was time for me to move on anyway...sleeping on a couch is the anti-cool.

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My tan's pretty bangin' now.  I'm not mad about that.  The calendars tell me I've been here for two weeks, too.  It doesn't feel like I've been here for two weeks.  I don't know what it feels like.  The days have all kind of run together at this point, probably to be lumped in a "Beginning" pile of shit somewhere down the road.  I think I feel out of sorts because I've done a lot but I don't feel settled...because I'm still sleeping on a god damn couch.  In another week or so with work starting and a new place to sleep and things will be old hat.

O, I'm going to check out a room this evening just up the road from where I've been crashing.  Hopefully it'll be fine and I can move in tomorrow - per usual I really don't want to have to look/work too hard to get this [read: anything..] taken care of.  That being said, I can't wait to get a good night's sleep...can not f-ing wait.  Cheers.