3 Months Overdue
So, I suppose I should do an update of sorts with what's been going on in my life since March (my last update).
So I finished my first quarter with an A in both my classes, got my Serv-Safe certification, and after carpet bombing my resume and applications at every restaurant I could find, I got a bit of a bidding war going between Steak & Shake down in Indianapolis (two blocks from class) and Ponderosa here in town. I went with Steak & Shake mostly due to how they did the interview, rather than thinking fiscally. That was one hell of a mistake.
By this time, I was already into my second quarter at the International Culinary School at the Art Institute, and actually in a cooking lab class...that started at 7:30am. Meaning I had to wake up at 5am in order to allow enough time to wake up, shower, and drive down there. But I learned a LOT from all of it. This quarter just recently ended, and I finished, again with a perfect 4.0 GPA. This is the first I've ever been an honor student, or even had the MOTIVATION to be one.
However, the end of the quarter brought on a bit of good and bad news: I qualified for a state grant that paid $900 a quarter for school while I was a 3/4 time student or higher, but I was only budgetted for 6 credit hours a quarter and have to come up with the cash to pay for taking a full-time student's schedule this last quarter (to the tune of $5000). So I'm having to look at my options for taking out a private loan for school, but rather than taking one out to bandage this situation, I'm thinking on stepping up my program to a full on Associate degree, rather than the certificate degree program I'm on right now. Blessing in disguise, or the straw that broke the camel's back? It all depends on if I can get a cosigner for a loan. I'm thinking my best bet is going to be my aunt, who came to visit last fall for my great aunt's funeral, and asked me "Why aren't you in culinary school?" when she sampled some of my cooking.
But, I've got another two weeks to get that sorted out. But over my break, I've changed employers from Steak & Shake, to a local little pub/diner three blocks from home. Why the change? The Steak & Shake I worked at seemed to schedule me on the idea that I'd be able to handle the hardest position they have in the back of the house; the "Fountain", as they call it, which is the station that makes the shakes. 50 lbs bags of milk, rock hard ice cream, and just plain general cold and stickiness. Also on top of doing dishes. The station with the most orders during a rush, as well as the busiest place that needs constant cleanup. There were nights where it wasn't pretty. Add this to extra trips to Indianapolis over the weekend to work, and it was almost to the point that I had to pay just to get to work, in the cost of gas each week.
But the new job is going to do wonders for me; no commute cost (walking distance), highest paid kitchen in town according to my trainer (the owner didn't even negotiate my asking pay of $8.50 during our interview), a true full line kitchen (fryer, grill, griddle, saute, oven), and the owner is open to changes to their menu that I could suggest (they're opening for breakfast soon, so I gave them a sampling, and recipe for my English muffins). I've already worked for two nights, and it's a relatively steady paced, but not absolutely weeked kitchen, which I find pretty surprising here in my little po-dunk town.
Sorry for not updating for awhile, but as you can see, life's been pretty hectic with me. Lately I've been keeping a personal Moleskine journal with me just to log what I've done for the day, and I'm nearly half way through it from just three weeks of writing in it. Hopefully doing so will help me get me back into the mindset of updating this journal again.
So I finished my first quarter with an A in both my classes, got my Serv-Safe certification, and after carpet bombing my resume and applications at every restaurant I could find, I got a bit of a bidding war going between Steak & Shake down in Indianapolis (two blocks from class) and Ponderosa here in town. I went with Steak & Shake mostly due to how they did the interview, rather than thinking fiscally. That was one hell of a mistake.
By this time, I was already into my second quarter at the International Culinary School at the Art Institute, and actually in a cooking lab class...that started at 7:30am. Meaning I had to wake up at 5am in order to allow enough time to wake up, shower, and drive down there. But I learned a LOT from all of it. This quarter just recently ended, and I finished, again with a perfect 4.0 GPA. This is the first I've ever been an honor student, or even had the MOTIVATION to be one.
However, the end of the quarter brought on a bit of good and bad news: I qualified for a state grant that paid $900 a quarter for school while I was a 3/4 time student or higher, but I was only budgetted for 6 credit hours a quarter and have to come up with the cash to pay for taking a full-time student's schedule this last quarter (to the tune of $5000). So I'm having to look at my options for taking out a private loan for school, but rather than taking one out to bandage this situation, I'm thinking on stepping up my program to a full on Associate degree, rather than the certificate degree program I'm on right now. Blessing in disguise, or the straw that broke the camel's back? It all depends on if I can get a cosigner for a loan. I'm thinking my best bet is going to be my aunt, who came to visit last fall for my great aunt's funeral, and asked me "Why aren't you in culinary school?" when she sampled some of my cooking.
But, I've got another two weeks to get that sorted out. But over my break, I've changed employers from Steak & Shake, to a local little pub/diner three blocks from home. Why the change? The Steak & Shake I worked at seemed to schedule me on the idea that I'd be able to handle the hardest position they have in the back of the house; the "Fountain", as they call it, which is the station that makes the shakes. 50 lbs bags of milk, rock hard ice cream, and just plain general cold and stickiness. Also on top of doing dishes. The station with the most orders during a rush, as well as the busiest place that needs constant cleanup. There were nights where it wasn't pretty. Add this to extra trips to Indianapolis over the weekend to work, and it was almost to the point that I had to pay just to get to work, in the cost of gas each week.
But the new job is going to do wonders for me; no commute cost (walking distance), highest paid kitchen in town according to my trainer (the owner didn't even negotiate my asking pay of $8.50 during our interview), a true full line kitchen (fryer, grill, griddle, saute, oven), and the owner is open to changes to their menu that I could suggest (they're opening for breakfast soon, so I gave them a sampling, and recipe for my English muffins). I've already worked for two nights, and it's a relatively steady paced, but not absolutely weeked kitchen, which I find pretty surprising here in my little po-dunk town.
Sorry for not updating for awhile, but as you can see, life's been pretty hectic with me. Lately I've been keeping a personal Moleskine journal with me just to log what I've done for the day, and I'm nearly half way through it from just three weeks of writing in it. Hopefully doing so will help me get me back into the mindset of updating this journal again.