A Grand Disappointment

Last night the girls and I dined at the Grand Lux Cafe. A chain restaurant owned by the Cheesecake Factory folks, the interior reminded me of a restaurant in New Orleans, The Palace Cafe. Except everything here is faux. Floors made to 'look' like marble, fake Nouveau statues, awful light fixtures and stencils, 'wrought iron' furniture that looks like it came from Eurway and was reupholstered with a brothel's leftover fabric swatches, I can see how some people may be impressed with this colossus, but not me. Not even with the lights so low I could hardly read the menu.
The service was awful. We had this 17 year old nitwit who actually walked away from our table to go bus tub dive in sight (that's where someone eats untouched food from a plate cleared from a table and its not that uncommon but should not be done in sight of the diners). She messed up our order and was inappropriately informal in communicating with us. So what, no big deal, service can be hit or miss anywhere. As for the food, another miss. Unimaginative and incongruent with the settings, at least there were fewer selections than the Cheesecake Factory tome they call a menu. I had a mushy Mushroom burger that had very little taste. Our salads came out swimming in dressing. We ordered the specialty deserts that require 30 minutes to prepare. I got the pineapple upside down cake. Okay, don't kid yourself people. If the two little cakes that came out on my plate had been in even a slow oven for 30 minutes they would have been burnt to a crisp. I do not believe for a second that these were truly baked from scratch when I ordered them. And they didn't even come with ice cream, as the menu promised. So I just got two rounds of candied pineapple with a kinda dry cakey mound underneath. Tasty enough, but overall disappointing and for $22 for an entree and dessert (water only and with tip, and I got a lesser priced menu item) utterly not worth it. My advice, go across the street to Grotto for much better food in the same price range.

Notes on Having A Grown Up Job

Having a grown up job can be cool. It can also suck balls. From February to August of this year I had a grown up job that sucked balls. I worked super long hours, was stressed out all the time, got paid very little, took a lot of bs from both coworkers and clients, and suffered the consequences - its effect on my personal life and sanity.

Then in August I got a beyond awesome grown up job. I work with nice, interesting, hardworking people, get paid very well, have more than decent hours and to top it off, I get a Christmas Bonus!

I've never received a Christmas Bonus before in my whole life. I must tell you it's pretty damn sweet!

This year has been a rough one, but its also been good in some ways. Having the foundation of a steady job allows me to concentrate on other areas of my life that I would like to improve. Like getting my house in order, getting my fitness schedule in line and keeping my finances in the black. All of which I actually have time and capital to address. You know, now that I'm finally grown up. Or almost, or nearly, or on my way, or something.