Embarking On A New Journey in Ecco Domani

Earlier this summer, I accepted a job offer. I will be making the best income of my life. I am the K_M_ of S_C_. We will finally be opening in a few days. Luckily, I have a good relationship with my landlord, who has allowed me to give promissory notes as we have had a few hangups opening the restaurant. After our interview, my bosses stopped giving interviews for my position, and I cancelled my interview at an upscale restaurant in B_, A_. We just clicked.

It has been a rough few years after the Pandemic, and worker shortage. And I feel like that is all about to be a bygone. I have lacked any form of routine this past summer. It was nice at first. I was in between jobs, and just took some time for myself, doing handy-man odd jobs for my old friends, and colleagues in another city. Basically, just revisiting my former life, reigniting some old friendships, and making new ones.

In my current professional life, I am a Chef, but in my past life, I was a New Wave, Yogi, Health Guru. An old colleague of mine is going through a spiritual awakening. He, and his wife asked specifically for my services as a guru. Nothing official, just just old friends bartering our goods, and services.

I also visited my friend’s acupuncture clinic. We were like brothers back in our college days, I worked, and ate with his family for years. I worked for his family business in Up-Scale Interior Design, and mowed their lawn when I was in college. I ended up weed eating his clinic’s lawn for old time’s sake. It’s almost a tradition in a way. Working outside with his brother (who doesn’t live in The States anymore,) and coming in to have whatever dinner their mother had prepared for us. Those were quite possibly the best days of our lives, but there were so many, still are, and many more to come.

But at a certain point in time, I had to continue on with my career. I landed a job involving multiple restaurants, but that was soon to be a bust. The owners hadn’t been paying taxes, and they closed their doors shortly after I onboarded. After that, a chef I had worked with a few years ago messaged me on facebook, and asked if I wanted to prep for him. I did that for a while, but the pay was below my resume, and so I scored the job I am embarking into now. Finally, I am reaching equilibrium. An equilibrium I have not felt since my last hotel job at M_, but that is a different story for a different time.

I have been gardening a lot with my extra time; organizing my apartment, going through old clothes, and odds, and ends that make my flat feel like home, (e.g. batteries, cleaning supplies, tools, winter clothes, shoe & coat rack.) The “Tiny Home” wave became popular in my network about 8-10 years ago. My apartment feels more like a home to me than most of the houses I grew up in. I am planning on living my life to the fullest again. I have slacked a bit throughout the Pandemic, and all that followed. The life adjustments have been exhausting to a level that I decided to hibernate through, just to keep some sense of sanity: living at a minimum while all the smoke is clearing, and things beginning anew. I filled my days so full for so many years, that I decided, recharging, and revamping were the best of my options. From my vantage point, most folks haven’t 100% dealt with all the changes so well. They are either trying to get back to a non-existent “normal,” or not allowing what we have all just gone through to internalize. So, I chilled out for the first time in my life. I have put on weight, filled in some, but I can feel its times to shed it off again with my P90-X Yoga-X DVD. I practiced that disc so many times in my early 20s, and I’ve started it again (with some additional Yoga series now,) and it feels good to get back up to my peak performance.

I am reading the Three-Body Problem series. I am on book II now, The Dark Forest. When my life’s equilibrium is thrown off, I jump from book to book, and never finish one. But, now I can feel I am getting back into my happy zone of focus, and concentration. Bring it.

-Ciao
Zampano Dossier

Last updated September 16, 2022