Weekend warrior

I'm officially very tired, and at one of those points in my busy life when the busy-ness has gotten out of hand. I recently came to the epiphany that my only days off in 2007 have been New Year's Day and Martin Luther King Day. Otherwise, I've worked every day at either school or the restaurant, sometimes both. I'm going to ask for a day off next weekend. I'd be happy with even some hours of daylight off. In the owner's helpful desire to give me some weekend nights off, he's ended up having me work several weekend days in a row, meaning I haven't had an hour of daylight off in a few weeks.

I'm enjoying my time at the restaurant when I'm there, though. I made $100 today, after tipout, and was pleasantly busy much of the 8-5 shift - never in the weeds, always with 1-2 tables at a time. My favorite table was a black single mother who brought her five kids in with her at around 3 o'clock, when the restaurant was mostly empty. We don't get many kids in our restaurant, and don't get many black people either (the Fell's Point area we're in isn't very black, and the Eastern European cuisine attracts more white clientele), so it was a nice little surprise. I dug out the rarely-used children's menus, and treated the cute, funny kids (one kept raising his hand when he had a question) - who ranged in age from kindergarten to 9th grade - to several refills of hot chocolate while they waited for their chicken fingers and grilled cheese sandwiches. They were all so sweet and funny that it was a pleasure to wait on them, and, at $98, the table provided my biggest check and biggest tip of the day.

Now, I'm just too tired to do anything, though. Having a Saturday night off means nothing if you don't even have the energy to go to the movies. Part of it is probably last night, though. My colleagues and I eschewed the normal Brewer's Art Friday Happy Hour for a 4:30 showing of Pan's Labyrinth at The Charles (my miniature review: Really cool, shockingly violent, dragged in parts), then headed to Joe Squared for dinner and drinks. I found the place looking much fancier than the last time I was in there, and the food was similarly high class; I got poached haddock and a vegetarian portabella reuben. As I've stated before, I worked with the good-guy owner, Joe, for about a year over at the restaurant where I still wait tables, so I try to support his new place whenever I can; I was pleasantly surprised to find out that our former chef - an very talented guy who I imagine could hold his own on Hell's Kitchen - is now working there; hence the fancy new food, which was great. The best news? The place was packed, and there was a wait for available tables by the time we left. It's becoming a pretty hip place to eat, apparently.

And there you have it. I think I'm going to go downstairs and lift weights while watching Lisa Kudrow's show The Comeback, which is every bit as funny as Curb Your Enthusiasm and should have been just as big of a hit. That's my Saturday night. I bet you're jealous.