..Or at least our video is! :D

Today a woman who works at NBC contacted Chris and my afternoonworkout collaboration youtube channel that Chris started, wondering if we would mind NBC licensing our Atlanta flood video so that they can use it on a TV show they're making for the weather channel. WOW... That was completely unexpected. As soon as he told me, I yelled "OH MY GOD!!!" and immediately showed my mom and she started jokingly going on about how she birthed me and therefore it was bound to happen.

For this, I have to thank Chris for being his awesome, spontaneous self who suggested going out to the flooded parking lot, Shelly for filming and having us over in the first place, and my incredible editing program for enabling the video-editing I did. ;) Together not even nukes can stop us. Oh seriously, try us! ..Or don't. Hahah. But I am so happy right now.

Labels: Atlanta, flood, licensing, NBC, Weather Channel

1. My computer is being a complete douche bag and keeps turning off. My uncle sent me a CD I could reformat it with, but for some reason it still kept shutting off randomly and I couldn't connect to the internet or anything because all the necessary drivers for the operating system to run correctly were missing. So then I ordered a CD (the one that was supposed to come with my laptop and is suitable for my specific laptop model) and waited a week for it to come in the mail... And then I tried to reformat it with that CD (there are 4 cds) and after an hour and a half when I got to CD 4, my laptop shut off again. THAT SUCKED. And now everytime I try to reformat it again (or finish up) it gets to in between 6 and 17 percent and then shuts off. -_-

2. On a lighter note, I bought an HD Flip! = lots of HD videos for you guys. :D

3. Apparently random people know about Robert Downey Jr. eating at the restaurant I work at without me or anyone I know telling them. Chris told his mom about the place I work at because she loves sushi and then his dad said, "Is that the famous restaurant Robert Downey Jr. ate at?" The weird thing is that neither Chris nor I told him. He found it out through outside sources who found it out through some one else. I guess celebrity gossip does spread like wild fire, but I didn't know people would be hearing about something that I was involved in without me even telling them. Awesome. :) I'm really happy for my boss too. He really deserves this kind of recognition.

4. New episodes of Nip/Tuck start on Wednesday at 10pm which coincidentally is at the same time as new episodes of South Park.. But this time, just this one time, I'm going to have to forsake South Park and watch Nip/Tuck instead because the show is just that awesome.

5. Now I understand Japanese better than I understand Spanish and I took Spanish for 2 years! Scary!

6. I sang with Lake on Tuesday at a venue called The Five Spot in Little Five Points in Atlanta, GA! Omg... I loved it... Will and Candace showed up too <3

It was 8:25 pm and I had just finished setting a table for four that a man had reserved by phone earlier that day. I looked at the tiny, rectangular reservation paper that hung off of the table by a piece of tape and saw the name Rich and simply shrugged and thought, "I wonder if they're still going to be coming tonight". A few minutes later, four people came in through the door, two of them still behind the room divider in front of the door so that all I could see was their hair, and I asked, "Good evening, did you make a reservation?" Suddenly, Iron Man and Tropic Thunder actor, Robert Downey Jr., stepped out from behind the room divider and said, "Yes, Downey," and my mind just turned blank. One of my favorite actors standing right in front of me, completely unexpectedly, to eat at my work place, 5 minutes from my home.



I led them to their table, gave them their menus, and took their drink orders. Robert and his wife, Susan Downey (producer of films including Ghost Ship, Gothika and The Brave One), ordered two hot teas, and his dad ordered an regular unsweetened tea and I had to break the news to him that we unfortunately didn't have that, and that we had iced green tea and jasmine tea instead. Robert asked me if the hot tea comes in different flavors or just one, and I said one and then went and made the drinks. Once I was in the back I told Sache-san and she said "Okay, stay calm!" and then immediately went and told the news to other employees. I went out and served the drinks and then took their order. Robert started, so I went to his side of the table and stood 3 inches away from him trying to stay as professional as possible, while thinking, God damn, it feels like I'm in a movie right now, not only his voice but the way he talks is just like the way he talked in Iron Man! It was hilarious hearing him say, "Would you like to order anything, dad?" They ordered two orders of pork gyoza (dumplings), two orders of seaweed salad, and beef teriyaki. I was so starstruck that 30 seconds after I left I forgot whether they ordered chicken teriyaki or beef tataki, and had to go back and double check, while thinking "CRAP!" They were all talking and I felt rude interrupting, but part of being a waitress is learning how to interrupt politely, so I did, and Robert looked up at me and smiled while the others were still talking. After I doubled checked, Robert said, "Thank you for double checking, because I think we would actually like two orders of that instead."

When the red miso soup and seaweed salad were finished I brought them out there and when I served the red miso soup to his wife, she said "No, I actually don't want it," and then Robert said "Actually, I'll take it!" What the hell? Haha. Then they were ready to order some sushi and Susan just said "Can I have some vegitable sushi?" and I said, "We have different kinds of vegetables." Then Robert took over and was like, "We would like to have one cucumber roll, and one sweet potato roll," and then his dad asked if we have a lobster roll and I recommended one and they ordered two and ended up loving them. :) As I was leaving I heard how Robert was being extremely enthusiastic saying, "You should try this seaweed salad out, it's delicious," and I tried so hard not to laugh. Later when I came with the chicken teriyaki, Robert was like, "Oh wow will you look at that!" and he said the same thing when I served the huge plate of sushi. Later I came back with a pot of tea to refill his tea and saw that his cup was empty, and when I asked if he wanted more he said, "Yes, please!" I don't know why I felt flattered but I did. After all I made the tea, hahaha! I was scared it'd be too weak or something because I tend to do that sometimes.

At 9 the retaurant closed, which means that the kitchen was about to close, so I went back to the table and asked if they want to order anything else from the kitchen before it closes, and he said, "Yeah, I'd like to order everything we ordered all over again!" and I laughed, and then he said, "Nah, I believe we're good." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sache-san looking very amused.





When they were done eating I was told to clock out, and I was in the back thinking "Shit shit shit, I need to get a picture with this guy, who knows when it'll happen again.." When I went up front again, my boss (and owner and sushi chef of the place), Hayakawa-san, was in the front talking to them like he does with every customer, and told me to go get the camera. I thought he wanted to take a picture with them because the guy's a famous Hollywood star, but he didn't know who it was.. So when Robert went into the bathroom I was like, "Hayakawa-san, the guy in the bathroom is Robert Downey Jr.." "Who?" "Iron man.." "IRON MAN?! Are you kidding me? That guy?!" *points at bathroom* "Yes..." and he walked up to Robert's family and said "I need to ask you guys, is that really Iron Man?" and they said, "Yes it is, but that's not all he does!" and I started talking about how I love the movie Chaplin so much, and then Hayakawa-san started asking if there's a way to get a picture but then was interrupted by something, I don't remember what. When I got a moment with him I said, "That guy is one of my favorite actors of all time." A moment later, Robert came out of the bathroom and Hayakawa-san asked him to sign his autograph on a huge plack, and Robert wrote "For Sushi House!! Hayakawa!!! Robert Downie 2009," and I could see how happy my boss was. :) Hayakawa-san then pointed at me and said "Can I take a picture? She said she's a huge fan of yours!" and Robert said, "Oh really?" and I stretched forward my hand and he shook his and asked, "What is your name?" "Bethany" "Nice to meet you," and I told him I am interested in working in the movie business. Then Hayakawa-san wanted to take a picture, and I thought it'd be all of us but it was just me and Robert, and I was trying to not stand too close because I didn't want to invade his personal space, but then he was like, "C'mere!" and put his arm around me and I was like holy shit.. Hayakawa-san then took a picture with him and looked so incredibly happy. God, a world-famous actor ate at his restaurant. I'm so happy for him.

Soon after that it was time for them to leave, and like usual, we all shouted out "Arigatoo gozaimasita!" (Thank you very much) and after replying to all that, Robert looked at me and yelled "GOOD LUCK!"

God what a nice experience. :) And contrary to popular belief, Robert Downie Jr. is incredibly nice and polite, at least when he is able to enjoy a nice, quiet dinner with his family without being treated like anything other than a normal human being. Until he's done eating at least.. :)

Labels: Atlanta, celebrities, celebrity, Iron Man, japanese food, Japanese restaurant, Robert Downey Jr., sushi bar, Tropic Thunder

I need to start this blog post off by saying that it is fucking flooded as hell in Atlanta! On Monday, Chris and I went and hung out with a friend of his named Shelly who lives on campus and played some keyboard and then all of a sudden it started raining so hard that we couldn't see anything out the window and we were like, "Well shit, how are we going to walk back to school in this?" When the rain had nearly stopped we looked outside to see this:

Seriously, the flooding in Georgia is really bad though. We didn't realize how bad it was until afterwards.



On our way back to school, this bum came up to us and walked with us while holding his umbrella over our heads, trying to make small talk, "Where do you guys go to school?" When we finally arrived to school after 10 minutes he expected money from us, which I figured but I don't know if Chris was expecting that! Chris had $10 on him and the guy wanted it all but Chris was like hell no, and went into the GSU book store to get change and the guy followed him in there which is illegal, a homeless guy inside one of our campus buildings? Damn! Afterward Chris was like, "Damnit I couldn't get my phone out of my backpack or else I would've texted you and told you to get the hell out of there and I would've met you somewhere else. Shit, if a homeless dude came up to us expecting money, then imagine what it's like when you're a girl who's walking alone!

Wednesday Lake and I (along with his friends John and David) went to a place called Red Light Cafe to perform. Before the show we just chilled, and after going into a Lesbian Bar across the street to promote the show, we just sat and were retarded (what's new?):



And then it was time to go up on stage! Lake went first and performed one of his songs, but then it cut out and then called me up there. When I was standing up there I wasn't that nervous, but I had no clue what to say, so I just introduced myself after he had already done it, haha, and then he started playing the guitar. He was supposed to sing along with me but he sang so quietly so that when it was time to start singing, my voice boomed through the speakers placed all over the bar. It was so loud, and so surreal..

That was the most nervous I've ever been in my life yet it wasn't bad. After 30 seconds or so I didn't feel nervous anymore and instead closed my eyes and grabbed the mic and just kept going. When the song ended, Lake gave me a hug on stage and then I stepped down and David and John said it was really good, and then a girl who performed before us came up from behind and hugged me. Awww. On Tuesday we're going to do it again, but that time it's going to be in Little Five Points!

Afterward, we went back to Lake's dorm room and hung out with his 3 roommates and played Fallout 3 and watched one of them play Guitar Hero in one of the other people's rooms, and a guy was "sleeping" on the bed and I went up to him and pretending like I was going to pounce and wake him up, but then he opened his eyes and looked at me and I got so scared I fell to the floor, haha. John and David had driven to another city to see John's friend and her friend, but later on a disappointed David came back to the dorm room saying that her friend was mean. Oh well hahaha. OH! The next day I found out that David is Candace's ex, what the hell! So far this semester I have met 5 people randomly and then found out that my friends way off in other cities know them. Out of the 50,000 people at GSU too? Damn.

Then yesterday my boss picked me up from the train station to get my alcohol serving permit. I can now serve alcohol at work and have the power to check people's IDs. ;) It's so nice though because now I don't have to ask any of the other servers to bring alcohol to my tables, just makes things so much faster.. But of course whenever I had to remove a bottle cap off of a bottle of beer for the customer, the bottle cap flew in the air and landed on the floor somewhere. I have to get used to it.

Shit, life is changing so much.

Less than one month ago I sat around and chilled all day. My day would consist of all, or at least some of the following: Sun bathing on the roof, editing videos, hanging out with friends, watching new movies, and doing chores (yea, you know it). Now a typical day consists of getting up at 12:30pm, going to work at 3:30, and coming home at 11pm and being fucking tired but trying hard as hell to find something reasonable to do. In a week, college starts back up again which means I will be getting up at 6:30am instead of 12:30pm in order to go to classes, and then have to head straight home with MARTA public transportation to go to work. Yayyy :D

Nah but honestly I have changed so much in the past couple weeks. It's hard to even comprehend how it is possible, but it is. I have gained so much respect for people who work in the restaurant business, especially those who actually are passionate about the food, and what they do as a career. When you go and eat at a nice place, everything the waitress does looks so easy right? But I have to tell you right now that I work 6 days a week, and every single day I try so incredibly hard to better myself and to do everything right, but right now it's nearly impossible. There is so much more to working at a nice restaurant than what meets the eye, and all of you who truly understand what I am talking about probably once thought that it is insane, too. It's crazy, yet very thought provoking and mentally challenging to the point to where your way of doing things completely changes.

Yes, I get a lot of criticism at work because it is taking me a while to learn the fine details of all the different dishes, and always seem to screw a million little things up. Sometimes I feel like I just want to break down or simply disappear because of how overwhelming things are and how personally I take things that people say. However, I am learning to not take things so harshly and instead take it all as something positive; After all, they're only trying to help me. :) I think the term I stare blatantly in the eye every single day is perseverance; in fact, that is the only thing my boss said to me the first day I worked there: "Gambatte!" ~ "Persevere!" Work is all about perseverance, because no matter how good of a work place you work at, you are always going to have to deal with criticism and bad days, but the good days, oportunities and awesome people you meet make it all worth it.

Labels: Atlanta, sushi bar, work

I want to share a couple videos, the first one made/sung by me and the second one isn't but it is simply amazing..