Jenobi's World

After work, as I'm heading down to my local, are the friends there really what they say they are? You only know them from the bar...  Community. We all search for it. Acceptance, understanding, similarities, affirmations, friendship. When you sit down next to another person and the conversation is like one with the mirror - similar feelings, ideas, paths - you realize you aren't the only person in this huge world that finds the hurdles endless. Are we all searching for something unattainable? Are we all expecting too much from humanity? This community I see regularly is, of course, sauced up with an alcoholic glaze, so this always makes me put my guard up. I have consistently watched what some drinks can do to people, me included, and how 'the truth' comes out, as the alcohol slips armour from everyone.  I have met many people, including my partner, and have made numerous friends at our watering hole. It's amazing how, as you get older, your eyes weaken but what the...

During this time of closures in the Hospitality Industry due to the world pandemic, I have been lucky to still be working. I am employed in a union which gives me seniority because I am full-time, although where I work is different than my usual 6-3 job. Different in that it isn't feeding 60-80 hungry pro athletes, coaching staff, and auxiliary staff, but rather back to my beginnings, flipping burgers as a line cook. I am currently placed in the kitchen at one of the university pubs and the work is ingrown into my blood. I spent most of my career leading the kitchen in sports bars and pubs, creating similar menus and flipping my share of burgers on the grill. I feel like I have gone back in time, and obviously the "higher-ups" know this as they trust me to close the kitchen every shift I'm scheduled. This puts a wrench in my day a bit considering the business is so slow that I am planning on bringing a book to read during the day. I am so used to working early, wher...