Did you say balloons?

Today I feel it...

I feel the years, I feel the long hours, I feel the abuse of years gone by when I was young and immune. And I feel the cold I'm fighting today...my voice sounds like gravel on helium. Funny when I start laughing uncontrollably and then my throat reminds me that it's probably not a good idea to do so.

My knee aches from when I fell on black ice in front of the hospital, mere seconds after my oldest told me to watch for the ice. The fall exacerbated an already sore joint so now I walk a little slower and find it hard to bend that bum knee. It's been a busy stretch and burger hell was the capper....2200 burgers in seven days. My whole team is a little worn out and you can see it in their eyes. They worked incredibly well and I'm in awe of how they pulled this off...a testament to their collective work ethic but still...they're done.

I recall reading in Anthony Bourdain's bible of kitchen life, Kitchen Confidential, that he had the hands he always wanted and the feet he deserved. This business puts you through the ringer on many levels and the physical scars that you are left with are very real. My feet ache sometimes from a lifetime of abuse. I was once assessed by my chiropractor and he couldn't believe I wasn't racked with back pain. I was so tight and fused together that he kept asking me if I was in any pain. And kept asking. Nope...I feel fine doc. Remember, robo-chef!!! I should probably find the time to start seeing him again....it felt good once I got over the initial cracking.

I'm sure I feel it more today because of the combination of a weakened immune system and the fact that we have been busier lately. Oh, not to mention the fact that my eye went all fucked up last week...hence the trip to the hospital. A blood vessel had given out and it clouded up my vision again. Thankfully it's nothing serious, like a detached retina, my body should be able to process that blood out over time. But it was quite a dejecting thing to see, from the inside, my eye fill up with blood.

I'll feel more like myself in a few days I am sure and be back to normal as well, whatever passes for my normal. This combination of aches and pains as well as a lack of sleep are taking a toll but you must know by now that you can't keep me down for long.

Yet again though, no regrets my friends. Like John Mellencamp sang in Minutes to Memories...

Another hot one out on highway eleven

This is my life It's what I've chosen to do

There are no free rides, no one said it'd be easy

The old man told me this my son I'm telling it to you

I like hard work and I especially like being able to point to what I might have done with a sense of accomplishment, however small the task it forms a part of the larger body of work. I've had a hand in serving...shit I don't even know. A million people or more? 35 plus years in the industry and I would average about 78 people a day to reach a million people...that's not a stretch by any measure. My first restaurant job would have been 500 people a day just for breakfast. No wonder I'm tired. Or maybe I'm just an old fuck right?

Of course, this didn't stop me from letting loose on some helium balloons that came across my path...I'm still that 14 year old kid at heart after all, and a chance to have my team in stitches whilst making an ass of myself I can not pass up.

Ciao 

D