snousle

Went out for a ride with the HOG group yesterday. Our destination was the Yountville veterans home, where we helped serve lunch to the residents.

This is something the club does fairly regularly, but it was my first time. The grounds are quite extensive, not sure how many veterans live there but it's a big place. The dining hall, though, was much smaller than I had expected - perhaps it was one of several.

The residents that could get about by themselves went through the cafeteria line, while the others sat at tables and gave us slips of paper with their orders - we would go through and get their food for them, and clear their trays later. It was pretty laid back, and not very busy - perhaps many of the residents had gone elsewhere for the long weekend. The amount of "help" we provided was not very much but they seemed to appreciate the novelty and attention more than anything.

Not a bad place, I feel pretty comfortable with the elderly and don't see them as sad or pathetic. The dining hall encouraged socialization and while some people lunched alone, most enjoyed conversing with others at the many small tables. But there was one thing that struck me as odd - at the front of the hall, furthest from the service area, there was a "head table" at which three men sat overlooking the hall, as if they were commanding officers (which they may have been). They were by FAR the saddest sight of the day, they looked painfully lonely sitting there side by side, not talking to anyone. I wonder what that was all about.

One resident gave us all gifts of bolo ties with slices of stone he cut and polished himself, and threw in $100 for us to have lunch. The group normally has lunch in the cafeteria for free, but there had been some confusion over whether this was actually OK. I didn't mind going elsewhere because frankly the cafeteria food was not thrilling. Unfortunately where we ended up going was an A+W, bleah. I have no idea why this was considered a good idea.

It was a great day for a ride - perfect weather, and I just got the bike back from the shop, new tires and all, so it felt really good to be out on it.

Got home late last night. Today sucked. We were going to go to a potluck this evening, but I was not feeling at all up to making something. John made some rhubarb pies, but that put our departure more than an hour later than I had hoped. Then, before we even got down the hill it was obvious they had completely failed, and they were slopping all over the place. I nearly had a nervous breakdown trying to drive so as to not disturb them, and finally I said screw it, they have to go in the back where I can't see them. I was tired and cranky and utterly embarrassed that we would be showing up with nothing, so 45 minutes into an hour-long drive I turned around and we went back home. John didn't care and was only marginally interested in the first place. What a total fucking waste of an afternoon.

The upcoming wedding has me quite unhappy, I sure wish I hadn't taken this job. It will be over soon, and after that I'm not taking any more big events, period. They are ruining my life. The Guards run is coming up too, which has a kind of stress all its own, and I think this will be the last year I cook for it. But weddings are absolutely the worst. I don't want this kind of pressure ever again.