everything makes sense now

i recently had to pick up a part time job because we're in an effin recession and i wasn't making any money sitting around my apartment waiting for PA jobs. my ultimate goal (the plan is still in action) was to get a bartending job. this was ideal for me for a variety of reasons that i won't bore you with here. however, while i make a great mixed drink, i have minimal bartending knowledge (expanded slightly by some youtube lessons) and zero experience. and while it's easy to pick up bartending knowledge along the way, it won't help you in new york if you have no experience.

so i put that dream on the backburner and started looking at other food service jobs that might be somewhat related to bartending. i answered an ad for a barista at a cookie shop (no experience necessary) and got the job. let me tell you what's funny about this: I don't drink coffee. i can probably count on one hand (okay, two if you count the all nighters i pulled in college) the amount of times i've had coffee. my mother quit drinking it before i was of coffee drinking age, so i didn't really grow up with it around me. also, my stomach hates it, and since i have to live with my stomach all the time, i try to keep it happy. and now, i have to make beautiful coffee drinks that people will enjoy without really knowing what they taste like. this has actually gone alright so far. i love learning how to do knew things, expecially so i can impress people with my wildly random experience bank. one of the things i really like pulling out is my past as a pole vaulter. that and my former employment as a post office worker. so, learning all about something i don't partake in really isn't a problem for me at all. i haven't had any complaints about my beverage making so far.

however, can i just say coffee drinkers are crazy!! there are like 12 different names for basically the same thing!! it's all coffee and milk! sometimes it's really strong coffee in a tiny cup with no milk, then there's another name for that exact same thing with a dollop of foam...sometimes it's the same thing with two names and the only difference is that one you are getting less liquid and some pretty foam. it's all the same!! anyway, this is the thing that really baffled me once i started learning to make the variety of coffee beverages. for some reason, i just assumed all these drinks were wildly different. they aren't! the differences are so subtle! i feel like i found out the secret to the world!!