An amazing weekend!

This had to be one of the best weekends I have had in quite some time! Not having to work this weekend has really been healthy for me. I got the chance to clear my mind a little bit and get away from the fast-paced environment that I have to face at work. Jaime came down to see me last night around 6:30.

We hung out at the apartment for a while and went to the Galloway Diner later in the evening. The Great One ended up getting not one, but two breakfast entrees. For some reason, I felt like having breakfast last night. Some of the breakfast meals are really delicious. I ordered an Italian omelet with home fries on the side along with three pancakes. What a satisfying meal it was. Jaime got a cheesesteak wrap with fries on the side. Today we got out of bed around 1pm, enjoying approximately 12 hours of sleep (definitely a positive thing).

Cute, sweet, and a nice shape as well... that's my baby!

Jeremy, Keeley, Anna, Jaime and I all ended up going to brunch. It was nice to be able to eat with all of those people. As I have said on many occasions in the past, one does not go to NWing for the food, but for the people. We always have such entertaining conversations. After brunch, Jaime and I went on a nice relaxing drive around South Jersey. Going out for a ride and acknowledging one's surroundings is certainly a good thing. South Jersey is primarily known for its country scenery, farms, and pine barrens, but there are some really nice locations. We drove to the Renalt Winery as well as Historic Smithville. Historic Smithville, with all of the old little shops, is really a pleasant place to go. We drove through, but did not take a walk around because Jaime was not feeling very well. She has a cold, so I wish her an expedient recovery.

Tonight I had the privilege of going to mass, something I have not been able to do for a very long time. I have tried to prevent working on Sunday nights, but management has done little to make that happen. Fortunately I was off from work today and able to attend mass. What a terrific mass it was. It was nice to see Father Jeff again. Brother Peter came to mass and talked to us about vocation (a calling from God). God has a calling for each one of us. Brother Peter talked to us about determining what our calling truly is. The best place to determine a calling is in any quiet place, a chapel being a prime example.

Even though I am a Business Hospitality Management major, I am still unsure as the whether or not that is my calling. I still have a temptation for fame and a small desire to go into acting. When I was younger, I went to acting school and the agents who watched me audition were impressed with my abilities. They wanted me to travel with them, but my family was skeptical about me traveling alone with the agents. Now that I am older, I would have no problem traveling. I may not go into acting after all of those years, but who knows? I still remain unsure of what my calling is or what I want to do with my life. We'll see what happens. However you look at it, tonight's mass was tremendous. To sum it all up, this was truly a magnificent weekend overall. More good times are well on their way, as I look forward to going to Atlantic City for an evening of leisure activity on Tuesday, March 8th! I have to work tomorrow at 5pm, but I will think about the wonderful time I had this weekend while I am busing tables and restocking silverware.

Time for me to go. Always stay tuned and keep reading the thoughts, occurrences, and happenings of this magnificent living legend. As many of the people who remain close to me already know, I am never at a loss for words. Have a great week and remember to come again.

1 love.

Peace.

Sunday, February 27, 2005 | posted in | 0 comments [ More ]

The Road Back:

To health and life the way I know it...

Today I actually went to both of my Tuesday/Thursday classes.

How about that???

In Money and the American Imagination, we talked about Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class. I never thought I would come across an author who was almost as bad as Max Weber. Apparently Weber has met his match with Veblen. In Hospitality Control, Donna asked me if I was feeling any better. I told her that I was a little better, but that I also faced difficulties with the managers at my job. At any rate, I do feel a little better today. Nonetheless, I will continue to take it easy and try not to overexert myself. I must continue to take my antibiotics.

I never mentioned what I received from Jaime for Valentine's Day. She got me Dodgeball - A True Underdog Story (Fullscreen Edition) on DVD! I absolutely love that movie. I watched it last night as I laid down on the couch and relaxed. She also bought me a beautiful spring shirt from American Eagle along with a new hat and a box of chocolates. I ended up buying her Napoleon Dynamite and Garden State on DVD. I also got her a box of chocolates and took her to Gourmet for dinner on Valentine's Day. I know Valentine's Day was over a week ago, but I have been sick for quite some time and I never really got a chance to provide you with my post-Valentine's Day feedback.

Even though I will be conducting my summer internship very soon, I look forward to the warmer weather. Not even the summer season, but the warmer weather in general. Lord knows I love going to the beach and walking up and down the boardwalk. There is nothing better than going to the shore and smelling the sea breeze. In addition to that, being able to walk around outside and breath the fresh air is comforting. I still remember last spring semester, when Jaime and I would occasionally go out for walks around the campus once the weather got warmer. I can not stand walking outside and feeling like my face is freezing. The warm weather and sunny days can not come soon enough.

As much as I have been trying to "live in the now," the present has still managed to trouble me and I can not hide that. Along with being sick as a dog, my job has been nothing short of irritating due to the way management handles problems with employees. Who wants to work in a place where management could care absolutely less about you? No matter what one does, it is simply not good enough. If I go into work sick and move a little slower than normal, I get reprimanded for giving such a poor account of myself. If I call out because I am sick, management rubs in my face the fact that I called out all those times. What am I supposed to do??

Such a disgraceful situation makes me want to count down the days I have left at P.F. Chang's. I assure you my days at that establishment are numbered. I am taking this job for the money and the 400-600 hours of Professional Experience. At this point, I believe I am going to call it quits when I reach 400. Originally I had thought about the idea of staying with them for the internship because of the fact that I had been there since the place opened in December. In the beginning the job seemed so intriguing and my experiences were pleasant. My feelings have changed since then and I could really care less at this moment. I really feel as though I need to gain some experience in a hotel. Hotels are generally less stressful than restaurants. Perhaps I will try the Hilton Garden Inn by the mall for my Summer Internship, which is literally two minutes from my house.

Overall the last two weeks have taken me on a very bumpy road with a lot of sharp turns and inclines. Hopefully there is brightness and happiness coming my way on this road very soon. The bumps have been just a little too much and I need to come across the smoothness at some point.

That is all I have to say right now. Everyone have a good day and stay as healthy as you can. Keep on the look out for more updates in the near future. Now that I am up and about a little more, I will try to post more often. It can be rather difficult to update when you are constantly laying on your back and coughing up a lung. God willing, I will not be in that horrible position again any time soon.

Exam tomorrow in Facilities Management. Must be prepared for it.

A special thanks goes out to my mother for paying for my antibiotic and offering to pay for me to see a real doctor. Thanks also goes out to Jaime and her mother for taking such good care of me when I went to visit them last Thursday. I really appreciate it folks!

Peace.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005 | posted in | 0 comments [ More ]

The Great One is doing great!

No time to backpedal... BIG plans in 2005!


Beautiful weather we had here today! As I walked outside to head to class this morning, I noticed how much warmer it was.

The last few days have been superb for The Great One. On Monday night Jaime came down to visit me here at school. She stayed for a few days and left this morning when I went to my Facilities Management class. Last night, Jaime and I went to the mall and looked around in some of the stores.

She was debating whether or not to buy this Coach bag she really wanted that was on sale. Originally priced at $198, Macy's was selling it for $136. Instead, she opted to purchase a $15 bag at Shoe Dept., realizing that she would have plenty of loans to pay back in the next few months. Afterwards Jaime, Keeley, Jeremy, and I went to Chili's for dinner. Fun times with good friends. We concluded the evening by playing War (card game), having some mixed drinks in the livingroom, and ...

The fact that Jaime was here for such an extensive period of time really made my week. Having her around is always enjoyable, especially since I do not see her everyday anymore. Tomorrow night I am heading up to Howell once again to go to Bar-A with her and her peeps. Yeah I know, this is becoming a habit on my part. This is either the second or third Thursday night in a row that I am going to Bar-A, but I can not resist getting 75 cent drinks from my girlfriend.

On top that, we usually have a tremendous time getting our dance on. At the end of the night, we will probably grab a bite to eat at Windmill as well. We love those chili cheese fries! I discovered that Windmill is a great place to go for a post-drunk meal.

Lately there has been talk of a trip to Disney World in Orlando, FL for spring break. I really hope this trip is finalized within the next week or so because I would love to go there! I have never been to Florida before, let alone Disney World! I believe such a trip would be quite an experience; adventurous to say the least. It would certainly be The Great One's first time on an airplane! Isn't that amazing? Whatever. I have absolutely nothing to fear and I expected this to happen eventually.

There is also talk of a road trip to North Carolina. I also plan on flying out to California to visit my friend Scott and his wife Liesel in August. As you can see, there are plenty of activities in store for The Great One and I plan to take advantage of every single one of them should they occur.

This semester is going really well. I am pleased with my performance up to this point, as I have produced some really good results. A couple of days ago, my spirit of capitalism essay was returned to me by my professor in Money and the American Imagination. Her comments read,

"Bryan, Overall, a very nice job! A few errors, problems, etc, but I like this essay, and I think your writing is clear - a pleasure to read, too! Nice organization. Good for you!"

How magnificent is that?

Perhaps within the next few days, I will post the actual essay for all of you - my family, friends, and fans - to read here at BLOG OF BRYAN. I am pretty talented and there is no doubt that my talent should be put on display when necessary. Only certain talents though, so get
your mind out of the gutter if you're thinking about something else.

Donna also returned one of my case studies to me in Hospitality Control. At the top of
the paper, she wrote, "Thorough Job" and gave me a check plus. Such noble
results for an academic scholar who works a job, parties, and still manages to
complete his course work. At this point in time, this is as good as I have
performed in school in a very long time. I am ready, willing and able to finish
this stage on my life on a high note. There is no better way to leave this game
than on top. As I have said on many different occasions, in the end my
brilliance and intelligence will prevail. There have been times when I have
gotten fed up with school and the attitudes of some of my professors, but in the
end I always get the job done! I will complete this final semester of college
and continue to progress in the work force as well as life.

For now, I have another essay about Benjamin Franklin to write and it is in my best interest to complete that as soon as possible. I also have to work on some case studies. Before I do that, I'm going to Wawa to get some coffee so I can stay awake. Be sure to come back again soon for some more updates and news based on this living legend and puglist of life. It's about to get HOT.

Peace.

Wednesday, February 09, 2005 | posted in | 0 comments [ More ]

Max Weber OVERLOAD!

Ok I need to take a break from this Weber "capitalism" essay that is due tomorrow at 10:30 am. There is only so much one can tolerate in terms of run-on sentences and being taught that wealth is a negative thing (as if poverty is any better).

Even though Weber is clearly the love of our coffee- drinking, chocolate-loving professor's life , his works tend to be a bit heavy on the eye and brain. I certainly attest to the belief that obtaining riches through hard work in one's calling is in God's graces. That's just my view of the matter (a bright view at that ). As I have said before, I would rather be wealthy than impoverished. Who takes pride in being poor?

Tonight I am working from 6pm to close for what will be my last night of server assistant training. Hopefully that shift goes along smoothly and I do not run into any major complications. I am just trying to get through this day as peacefully and stressless as I can. The world is my oyster. It is incumbent on me to keep my life and responsibilites as stable as possible. Perhaps I should go to work in a happy mood with the train of thought that everything is going to be alright. This is where the optimistic approach that I had talked about using comes into play.

Sometimes it helps for me to get in a zone or trap myself in my own little world at work, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else or prevent me from doing my job. Doing so contributes to making the time go by faster. Usually I am a psyched and ready to go to work after drinking one of those Rock Star Energy Drinks. Energy drinks are effective for as long as they last, until you eventually come back down from the fix. I have also tried Amp and Redbull and they're not bad either. They have their own unique tastes and they are just as effective as Rock Star.

As a result of getting up at 8:45 am to work on my paper and attend a meeting, I just remembered that I only ate breakfast today. As I listen to the rumbling of my stomach and feel my appetite beginning to peak, I realize that I have to get lunch.

Everyone take care, have a nice day, and come again soon!

Peace.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005 | posted in | 0 comments [ More ]