Not Such a Good Day

Trip Start Mar 10, 2007
1
77
188
Trip End Jan 08, 2008


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of New Zealand  ,
Monday, July 9, 2007

Well, I guess my solid luck couldn't last forever.  I had my first day shift today and while it wasn't too bad, I did screw up a few things in terms of setting tables, delivering food and making food orders.  The biggest screw up was with a pair of fish lunches, which due to a confusion in the kitchen (one was to be seperated for two little girls, and one was for a businessman) was split in the wrong way, but it was split in the wrong way because my message to the kitchen was had confused them.  In the end the business man got his dinner about ten minutes after the little girls, while the parents had to watch their kids eat before their meals turned up.  I don't think the parents minded too much as it meant they could make sure that their kids ate properly but my boss was not too impressed.

I felt pretty wretched by the time that I got back to the hostel, though I got out an hour early because the pub was dead.  I wanted to go home, but it was an hours worth of pay lost.  I suppose it depends which way you look at it.

I also went to a kempo class in the evening. For those who don't know, kempo is a form of martial art, but it is disimilar in a lot of ways from my Wado-Ryu karate background.  For instance, the general stance is much closer to the body and the elbows hover over the kidneys to protect them.  In karate this protection is achieved by utilising a longer front arm, to ward an opponent at a greater distance.  It made for interesting comparisons, but in tune with the rest of the day, the senior that I was partnered with was not overly fond of karate, seeing it as having let him down some years previously.  Short of it is that he had been studying Shotokan karate for 18 months, gotten into a fight and lost.  When he took up kempo, he told me, he was attacked after three weeks of training and won (the fact that he still had at least 18 months of karate training behind him after his three weeks of kempo was lost on him.)

I pointed out how much I felt that karate had helped me and to be honest he was dismissive - kempo was all that was worth studying and to demonstrate he proceeded to bash me up and down the hall just as fast as he could, I can only guess to 'prove' how much more efficient kempo was as a martial art.  It made the lesson much less enjoyable, as, having been out of training for about 18 months I was not in a particularly reactive state.  I certainly wasn't expecting such an aggressive demonstration, we were supposed to be there to learn, not to get battered!

I got to practice my own kata at the end of the lesson, and also had a discussion about kempo with Take (someone from my hostel), who had encouraged me to attend in the first place.  I think the lesson would have been much better spent if I had had a more reasonable partner as I found what he had to say interesting, and he showed me the diferent techniques without trying to pound me into the floor - which is how it should be in a new style.  He was also willing to listen, which I enjoyed as it has been a long time since I had opportunity to discuss my martial art.

So, bruised, literally, and in my ego, I came back to the hostel and staggered into bed.  Not every day can be bliss I guess.
Print this entry Auckland hotels