First

I have no idea how to start this. But if I don't do it now I probably never will. About a year after I started working at the Cedars was when I first started thinking about trying to write stories down about the kind of stuff that goes down out there. If I thought this was going to be worth a crap I probably would have started a looott sooner. Soon after I started working at the Cedars it was fun to tell people how I earned a paycheck; just like it used to be fun to work there. There's that arbitrary small talk-I'm going to put feelers out- to see if you're really worth my time- dance. Telling people you're a bartender at a retirement community is solid gold. People always laughed and most of the time wanted to know all about it. And I used to love telling them about it. I was 20 then. That was 5 years ago. I was working on a degree (I saw a way out of here) and these old people cold do no wrong in my eyes. I loved working at the Cedars.
It's different now. I graduated; but this is still my full time job and there is no end in sight. Ultimately, I still love the Cedars and the people who live there. But when all I see the same people in the same places doing the same thing every day, it makes me want to break out more and more. "The Old People," henceforth to be known as "members" are very good about reminding me how young I am and to be patient. And I'm grateful for that. I mean, they know that most of the waitstaff doesn't want to be working there for very long (as long as I have). Yes, there are some members that grate on my last nerve, but for the most part I love 'em all. It's like a big family out there. It sounds cheesy. And it is. But it's true. There are at least one or two times a day I get the warm fuzzies from something one of them says or does.
But I'm desperate for a new opportunity. I have learned a lot just by talking and listening to the members. Now when you're 25 and somebody asks what you do and you tell them you're a bartender at a retirement community you get a different type of laugh. There's no future in this. The other day when someone asked me if I liked working at the Cedars I said something other than "It's awesome," for the first time. "I used to," I heard myself say. And it's true. This is getting old. See what I did there?

First post. Boom.