Archive for the Life Category

One Week.

Posted in Life on August 9, 2009 by Lucas Dorward

So much has happened in one week. I’ve not lived at home, I’ve made a few great people, I’ve written a bunch of music, I’ve lost all my money in some crazy financial situation, I’ve cleaned up a pile of dog poop in the middle of a living room, I’ve watched 4 old movies I had never seen before, and now here I sit, capping off the week feeling completely exhausted from a very hectic day here at Peet’s Coffee and Tea.  I feel as though I should have learned something this week.  Or come out stronger or wiser now that the week has past.  Instead, I only feel drained. I feel like I didn’t use this week to get closer to a new buddy of mine before he goes back home. Now I’m back to the regular swing of things. This week was a nice change of pace, but I had hoped it would also serve as a stepping stone of some sort. Perhaps I just cant feel the effects of it just yet. We’ll see.

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Crazy Hungarian

Posted in Life on April 4, 2009 by Lucas Dorward

Here I am… sitting at a coffee shop OTHER than Peet’s, and I don’t feel guilty. I’m staring at a page covered in hungarian numbers, days of the week, months of the year, and random words. I’m realizing that I shouldn’t have stopped the lessons just because they cut my time in Hungary in half. I’m even noticing that I’ve adopted a few hungarian grammatical rules that just don’t fly in English. (for example…I sometimes don’t capitalize “i” when referring to myself in writing, and I occasionally develop an accent where I pronounce my “a” like an “o”)

This language is quite intriguing. Such a crazy story behind the language and the culture. I’ve got a renewed passion for figuring out this bizarre language. Wish me luck folks, this is going to be an interesting 5 months.

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Blast From the Past

Posted in Life, Reading on March 28, 2009 by Lucas Dorward

So since I’m leaving the country in a few months, I thought I should go through all my things and get rid of a bunch of crap. Well I pulled out the dusty chest and stumbled upon some old memories. Some that made me yell out “Dude! No Way!” and some that were sobering.
The first thing that raised my eyebrows was old pictures of my brother with bleached blond hair. Too great. I found my little collection of gem stones and shells. I think everyone has had a collection of those at some point in their life. I even found a grip of Hot Wheels! Yes! Good times, good times. I was also reminded of what a nerd I was when I came across my Star Trek and Star Wars figurines. They were kinda like micro machines. Dude! Micro Machines! Oh man those were great too! By far my favorite things I found were the handful of Superman comics and my absolute favorite childhood books published in the 50’s and 60’s such as Devil’s Doorstep, Man Eaters Don’t Knock, Key to the Treasure, and There’s a Carrot In My Ear. I know that those first two sound pretty intense for kids books, but they were seriously totally for kids. I can credit my creativity to the stories in those books. They were the first books to really get my imagination flowing, other than Green Eggs & Ham that is.
Among the sobering things, I found the little pamphlet from my grandfather’s funeral along with great photos of him. It reminded me what a great man he was. I sometimes wonder how different life would be now had he not died so long ago. He was a Bible reading NUT. I swear he read through the whole Bible like 15 times. I also found the September 11th 2001 Extra Edition of Newsweek with all those crazy images from that day. I’m not sure if I should even hang on to that. I kinda do for memories sake, but it seems I don’t want to find that again years from now and have that feeling in my stomach, ya know?
Random junk and trinkets and papers filled in the rest of the space including an accordion from Tijuana, a humble keychain collection, small high school wood shop projects, panpipes from Jim Thorp, PA (yes, that’s an actual city), some old family history research, two beloved stuffed animals that I never named, and a Krispy Kreme paper hat. So this has ended up being an interesting evening.

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The Stare

Posted in Life on March 25, 2009 by Lucas Dorward

So I have to say that I love kids.  I love their imaginations and I love to see them playing pretend.  I think we could all use a dose of playing pretend from time to time even now that we’re grown/growing up.   I love that they are minipeople and that they can say the darnedest things.  Yet, there is a flaw in the cuteness of kids though.  I call it… the stare.   I have encountered the stare several times now, but most recently this morning at the doctor’s office.  The stare can be very intense.  It’s almost like the child is unknowingly looking at your soul.  Oh you know the look.  I happens in line at the grocery store while you stand and wait or pretty much any place where a child is around the public and is very bored.  Sometimes I try to stare them down, as if to prove to them that what their doing is weird. Alas, they win the stare-down contest because I become uncomfortable staring at a kid for so long and I quickly look away.  Oh, and remember, no words are spoken. Only the long curious stare.

I can only ever win this contest if I say “HI” awkwardly loud to the kid. Only then will they be awoken from their trancelike gaze and they suddenly realize and hide behind their mother’s leg.

Oh yes, I win a few, and I lose a few. As is natural in life. So to all the kids who are ready to curiously stare at the nearest stranger, I say… bring it.

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Theater of Life

Posted in Life on March 21, 2009 by Lucas Dorward

I was going through some old photos from several years ago and I came across a photo of the team of people that I worked with at Santa Barbara Bank & Trust.  As I looked at each of them I couldn’t help but think of how my time working there should have been a movie or TV show of some kind.  It wasn’t simply a group of average citizens working together and doing the same exact thing day in and day out.  They each had their own special and odd thing about each of them.  Enough of a uniqueness that I’m serious about the movie/tv show thing.  It totally would have worked and thoroughly entertained millions.  Let me go down the list for ya…

Oh and I’m not changing any names… this is just who these people were…
Jana…  The Branch Manager.  Always the optimist and constantly making crazy jokes that, on occasion, crossed the line a bit, although funny, and made everyone slightly embarrassed but strangely ok with it.  During my time there she had many crazy and bummer things happen to her in her personal life and always seemed emotionally confused (as are most people who are in customer service while dealing with insane life issues).  She was quite a crazy and lovable person.
Veronica…  The Supervisor.  Her role, as it ended up being, was the reality check.  She was the strong young independent latino mom who had insane kids.  Though the kids were pretty bizarre, they were also just kids, so it made it not seem as bad.  She would tell the craziest stories about poop on the TV, and poop everywhere else.  She always seemed to pull crazy days back together and could turn the craziest situation into a normal one.  
Kristine…   The Relationship Manager.  Thats not a joke, that was her actual title.  She dealt with the higher balance account holders.  (Businesses, investors, etc…)  She was loopy, loud, and a bit of a drama queen, and just over the top on most occasions.  She loved to talk loud, and she loved to overreact.  It was classic.  Sometimes, when you would think she couldn’t get any loud, she would.  Man, oh man.  If on occasion she was put in charge, you could plan on some awkward moments.  Customer service was her middle name.  You know those people that are great at talking with customers but over-do it just enough to hear just how rehearsed it is?  That was her.  All in all, she genuinely cared about all of us, and that made up for all of it.
Miriam… The Seasoned Teller.  Miriam was a teller there longer than anyone.  She was the elder of the team and was a lovely small cuban lady who acted as a mother hen.  She always had your general good advice that seemed to be perfect for all occasions.  Like “oh, it’ll be ok mijo” or “you just got to try” or “you can do it”.  She would always keep to herself and make the best random jokes at the perfect times.  On one occasion she laughed so hard she totally farted.  I will never forget that.  Classic.
Nicole & Diana…  The Gossip Tellers.  These two were both young latino moms, but in a different category than Veronica.  These two had significant others and kids of their own.  They were both very high energy, fast talking, former cheerleaders.  All of the stereotypes that come with that were true in this case.  I was in a constant limbo between thinking they were great and thinking they were annoying.  In the end I was invited to one of their weddings so I guess thats a good sign eh?
Eva…  The Anomaly  Teller.  Where do I begin.  This woman could make anyone stop and think.  I suppose the best way to sum up her oddness is to describe the way she typed.  Since she was all about getting her nails done, and they were quite the nails, she couldn’t type like a normal person.  She devised a way to put those extra erasers on the end of her pens and would hold the two pens and type very awkwardly.  When you would talk to her, she would usually have an expression as if she was looking past you.  On all other occasions, her sentences would generally make no sense.  If fact many highlights of my time there were her odd phrases and random subjects of conversation she would bring up.  It was awesome.
Darrin…  The Twin Teller.  Many customers thought we were brothers though we looked nothing alike AND we were of different nationalities and clearly so.  He was my bit of normality that I could cling to.  He was the only person I worked with who was my age and was a great buddy of mine at the time.  He and I would have some pretty intense rubber band wars.  Bring it, I’ve still got the skills.
There are a few more, but this sums up the ones I could see as TV personalities.
I would have stuck it out but after seeing how a bank runs behind the scenes and after being robbed, I decided to look for other things.  I’ll always remember that crazy couple years.

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Dreaming of Peet’s

Posted in Life on March 15, 2009 by Lucas Dorward
I recently saw a post from a friend regarding a dream she’d had and it gave me the motivation to make a quick entry about a dream I had just last night. This may very well be the most pointless thing you’ve ever read, but I thought I would entertain you with my bizarre mind. I tend to forget my dreams and am left with the “emotional residue”, if you will, of what took place, wishing badly that I could remember what images made me react that certain way, but this time I remember it vividly. Its very pointless and rather dull, but its vivid nonetheless.
So it begins with me seeing things in first person, which is strange since I usually have dreams where I can see myself not seeing from my eye’s point of view. I am staring down at a pile of boxes in the back room of Peet’s Coffee & Tea (where I work). I am standing with my back to the office computer and shelves. I glance up to see an unfamiliar girl in her mid twenties. She is of a pale complexion and is a little shorter than myself and has very red hair and very thin. Like what most people would consider unhealthy if they saw her. She is standing in the opposite corner of the room. The pile of boxes is right between us and is covering most of the floor. They are all empty, much like the moment after I’ve finished putting an order of supplies away. We look at each other and she mumbles something inaudible and at that same moment I notice the sound of a television behind me to my right that is setting on the shelf. I instantly feel my arms go numb and get very light headed.
I glance over my right shoulder to see a weird talk show coming on. It had the intro comparable to a Martha Stewart or Sally Jesse show coming on with a bunch of random images of smiling previous guests and bright spring colors. Then it shows the host Jerry Springer with the softest smile on his face with random flowers and cute things floating about on the screen. All the while the show has been given that angelic fuzzy glow look that you used to see on soap operas in the 90’s. I look to the redhead girl and we both give each other an are-you-kidding-me look. I then hear from the television “Thank you Sagin” (Sagin is one of my cousins) and an applause as if she’s contributed something to an interview. I am surprised and look back at the screen and see the back of her head in the audience as the camera pans out over the audience. Right before I look away, Sagin turns around and waves to the camera. In the excitement of seeing my cousin on TV I begin to head out from the back room, kicking boxes out of the way and wobbling along since I’m still numb-armed and lightheaded. Right before I go through the double swinging doors out to the main area of Peet’s….. I wake up.
I threw the covers off and said out loud… “What the hell?”
I challenge anyone to come of with a meaning for this dream.

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