well that was anti-climactic.
in preparation for the time spent here in the city before class started, i thought that i would be nice to myself and order a few books with which i'd pass my time. most of them arrived just fine and i've already gobbled them up because that's what i do--when i'm in the city that never sleeps and somewhere, might i add, that i've wanted to live for ages, instead of taking advantage of this beautiful, lively place, i hole up with a book. actually, many books. i've worked my way through a good chunk of salinger and vonnegut, and am about to dive into some lovely french lit. i digress.
this last book that i ordered, it was going to be sort of an exception to my rule. the other books had been strictly joy reading material, things i had wanted to read but never had the time to do so before. this last book was going to be both joy reading and reading with a purpose. what multi-tasking book was this?
101 things i learned in culinary school.
now i can hear you thinking, why were you getting a book about culinary school when you are actually going to culinary school...days from now? allow me to clarify. i am going to pastry school. to be a pâtissière. a pâtissière of awesome. i've found that when i outrightly say that i am going to pastry school though, that people get this image of easy bake ovens and frilly cupcakes, and...that is not what i am going to be studying. so i cheat a little. i say that i'm concentrating on baking and pastry arts (which is completely true) at culinary school. there's something about those words "culinary school" that seem to satisfy people's natural penchant to be overly concerned about people's life plans*, because quite frankly, everyone needs to eat.
so now that that record is straight, where was i? ah yes. the book. i bought 101 things i learned in culinary school because there are things that culinary students will learn that i'll never come across, which is fine, because i can't see myself incorporating a medium-rare beef patty into a dessert for example (watch, that's what i'll be famous for in ten years), but i still would like to know how to prepare a medium-rare beef patty. as much as other people need to eat, i sure as heck do too, and a lot of this whole culinary adventure is not just going to be about dessert.
i ordered this book on january seventeenth, after already having arrived here, because i found it marked down from 15$ to 5$ and figured that finding such a steal was clearly a sign that not only did i want the book, i was meant to have it. i ordered it priority shipping and it was sent out on the eighteenth. and so my countdown began: only six to eleven days before i would get my book, just in time for me to devour its tips and then head off to school.
fast forward to yesterday, and i realize, hey, tomorrow is february and i've been waiting and waiting for this book to arrive....where is it! needless to say, the countdown came and went, and i was just trying to be nice and think to myself, well, maybe they meant business days, and not just calendar days, maybe that was the confusion. (it wasn't.) or perhaps i didn't actually order it priority! (i did.) finally, after some prodding, i stepped up and e-mailed the customer service rep who had actually just e-mailed me to see if i would fill out a customer satisfaction survey about my order.
dear [company's customer service],
while i'd love to fill out your survey, i haven't received my order yet! help?
sincerely,
bellenanasansbanane
i then found the customer service phone number (which oddly enough wasn't listed on their site) and called them, but of course, after hours. since i didn't want to leave a message (because i effectively already had with the e-mail) i figured i would wait to hear from them today, and if not, i'd call again.
the response was kind enough, but not exactly what i was looking for.
dear bellenanasansbanane,
i am very sorry to hear your order has not arrived. the seller confirmed shipment on january eighteenth. at this point i'm afraid we have to consider it lost in the mail. i have issued you a full refund on the order. [...].
sincerely,
[customer service rep]
if the order somehow shows up, i'm going to let them know so that i can be un-refunded, and just so that they know the package did finally make it here. i have a feeling that something is up with the mail system that my apartment-mates have worked out, even though i have checked the mailbox and the box of mail in the apartment every day. it's a bit strange though, i've never had a package get lost in the mail, and i've sent and received things from overseas! ah well. i haven't quite given up hope, but at the same time, with work and school kicking into gear, this may get pushed to the back burner (ha! i am so funny).
i'm hoping to save up on these half-accomplished "it was meant to be!" moments so i can cash in on something big. like a kitchen aid mixer. or a totally-romantic-movie-moment-come-to-life.
on second thought, definitely the mixer.
*before deciding to go to into the culinary field, before deciding to uproot my entire life and live a little dangerously, before signing off on any of this, i cannot begin to tell you how often the "what are you going to do (for the rest of your life)?" conversation came up. and i don't need to tell you, since i'm sure that at least once in your life, this has happened to you as well. to be honest, my life plan, my five year plan, my five MONTH plan affects no one else but me (and perhaps a few near and dear to me). initially i was open to the gaping mouthed looks of horror ("THAT's what you're going to throw your life away on?!") but that's just leaving myself vulnerable to other's own fears of unrealized goals, not mine. so yes, i fudge it a little to avoid those types of conversations, but that's not to say i completely avoid the subject. if you're open to discussion, i am too. just don't foist your fears on me, i have enough of my own.
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