Hello readers. I hope this finds you well and ready for the clearly upcoming spring. I say clearly as my back (as those of you that know me can attest) is a season changing barometer. I have had a bad back since I was a kid attending RSGC. Something had happened which kicked out some crazy heart palpitations that led to a white out and me falling to the ground. Long story short, when the seasons change, especially from fall to winter and winter to spring I am in an excruciating amount of pain. Today I am in the most pain I have been in all year and this leads me to believe that Spring has definitely Sprung (I’m almost as good a Weirton Willie).
So this week is rather slow and has afforded me the time to catch up with all my blogging, studying and reading. I’ve been rereading the Bible and today have finished Deuteronomy again. I’m not searching for any specific answer but rather looking at the broader issues of personal development as I reread the Bible and specifically how it relates to the way I grew up, the things that I was exposed to and the personal realizations that I have come to as a result. Spiritually well rounded I hope that I can bring the same knowledge to my children without force-feeding them. My own spiritual awakening is grounded in the belief is akin to Einstein’s in that his description of God is anything that he could not explain and I’ve always liked it when he said; “I don’t believe that God plays dice with the universe.” My God, for any of you who care to know, is not the Catholic God, or Lutheran or any other organized religion. I believe that God is everywhere around us, under trees, under stone, in the water, everywhere. I choose to believe that there is something out there that is far greater than I and that this belief keeps me grounded and centered.
I’ve gotten a little further in “The Professional Chef” by the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and will post more on this later today. I will also include a detailed breakdown of my thoughts on Nigel Didcock and his food.
Monday was an awesome day. I woke up feeling refreshed after a good sleep and got ready to be kidnapped by the crew I work with. We went out near Hamilton for a paintball adventure that was incredible. I don’t do a lot of things for myself including buying clothes, or entertainment or going to play paintball. In fact the last time I went paintballing I’m pretty sure was before I started university. But it is kind of like riding a bike. You never forget.
The best part for me was that I got to spend forty-five minutes driving with Executive Chef and picking his brain on some of the things that I’ve been thinking about. Our conversation was not limited to the culinary field either, we spoke about love, kids, and life in general, likes, dislikes and my favorite, READING! Executive Chef and I both share a voracious appetite for reading and the genre that we both like best is the same. As if I needed more reasons to like this man. At any rate our conversation was a great one and was the perfect starting point to a day of fun, celebration, discovery and PAIN!
In all there were eleven of us that entered the field of battle that day. The first thing that occurred to most of us was that in the closed space we were fighting in there are people, right now, at that very moment, who were firing real bullets, in real closed quarters, at real people with real effect. It was not lost on me that Executive Chef was the first to vocalize this.
So the rag tag group of Back of House with a couple Front of House donned our masks, walked through the mesh, removed out barrel cover and were ready to battle. The teams were a free form mix of just joining whichever side you wanted. One of F.O.H, JP, and I were very good as a team and worked together quite well. We were able to develop strategy that served us well though there were a few times that I got my ass kicked.
For those of you who have not played paintball let me just say that the first time you get pinged you never forget it. My first shot was a blindside of my right knuckle (which is nicely bruised right now). I also took a few shots to the face, groin and arm. All of which have serious bruising. But let me say this, I gladly accept the bruises as I do feel that it brought us a little closer together as a team (all of us that is). To me that was the point of going. To further develop my feeling of being on the team and of course the obvious laughter that results in the controlled pain of someone you work with.
The final game was a real shit show. We had decided to do a reset game that meant that when you got shot you returned to the base and wiped off the shot. If you could not wipe off the shot you had to call someone to wipe it off for you. I had taken out a few first shots before I got mine. I returned and wiped off my shot. JP and I were hunkered down to the left of the playing field and had a pretty good scope of view. I was laid out on the floor trying to ding a player that had no idea where I was. Finally, ping. Nailed him and he was out. Then I tried to reposition to the other side to see if I could see anything. Out of nowhere, like a charging banshee, yet quiet as a mouse comes Chef J charging faster than a Cheetah. Tap, tap, tap, tap, and tap. Five shots right to the ass. And man does it still hurt. But it makes me laugh thinking about it now that I could get that sneak attacked with someone watching my back. JP got wasted too.
All in all it was a great experience and I can hardly wait to do it again. At any rate. I will be back with more Chef type stuff in a few hours.
A la prochaine
SDM
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