Soapbox

Two and a half years ago, in anticipation of starting Winkbox and knowing I would no longer be receiving a steady paycheck, I got a job waiting tables. This is a continuation of a series of blogs documenting my adventures in the food service industry. To read the previous entry click here.

In this chapter I rant about the physical pain the job inflicts, and I try to express the fear and anxiety I had in the early days of waiting tables. Although I became more fit and comfortable as the weeks went by, the nervous feeling never completely left me. It always felt like being an actor before an audience of 2, 3 or 6.

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Got my 30th anniversary edition of Schoolhouse Rock! last month. Suh-weet. For those of you too young to have experienced it, School House Rock! was a collection of animated songs that ran in-between Saturday morning cartoons in 70’s. The idea was to create a catchy, educational song and then animate it. Kind of the first music video.

According to the DVD insert, the idea came about when David McCall of McCaffrey & McCall Advertising heard his young son, who couldn’t remember his multiplication tables, singing Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead lyrics.

If you’re an American child of the seventies then you probably still know the words to “I’m Just a Bill” and “Conjunction Junction”, if not then grab a copy and let the seventies cartoon enlightenment begin.

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Two and a half years ago, in anticipation of starting Winkbox and knowing that I would no longer be getting a steady paycheck, I got a job waiting tables. Looking back at it now, it seems simply crazy that I was able to pull this off. I never worked in the food industry before, not in a coffee shop, pizza joint or an ice cream stand.

My friend Aimee, who at the time was the manager of one of the top restaurants in Hickory, took a chance and trained me to be a server. I am not sure what possessed her to give me this life changing opportunity but I will be forever grateful, even if the first weeks were simply terrifying.

Partly inspired by Jessica Hagy’s index cards and partly being unable to fall asleep after my shifts, I began journaling about my new secret career. As the months rolled by I kept the journal, and in the end I continued working at the restaurant partly because I wanted to keep writing about it.

In the next few months I will be publishing the journal in our blog. I can’t publish all my entries, some of them reveal too much personal details about me and my co-workers, but it should still give you a good picture of my two years as a waitress. A word of warning, creative spelling and vulgar language are a big part of this creative exercise.

Read Dinner Theater #2

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According to the old proverb, “the shoemakers’ children have no shoes”, we like many fellow designers are the last ones to update our own portfolio. Well, we have at last found the time to update ours.

Check out all the work we’ve been busy doing since the birth of Winkbox 2 years ago. We will be adding multimedia items next so check back often as the simpler interface will make it easy for us to keep our portfolio current. Enjoy!

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Winkbox recently created a web site for our friend Seymour Simmons, who has put together an amazing painting and photography workshop in Paris and the French Jura Countryside for this summer. For only $3,250 you get seven days in Paris and seven days in the Jura, Airfare, both workshops, French language, cooking, culture activities and a lot more.

The painting course will be taught by Seymour, the photography class by Terry Roueche and the French language and cooking by Martine Simmons.

Check out the web site for all the details. Deposits are due by April 15th, 2009.

francephotoandpainting.com

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