04.03.07

Social Life? What Social Life?…

Posted in The Story at 2:04 pm by Chef Matt

I am a night owl by nature. I don’t do mornings. And by “mornings” I mean “anything that goes on before 10AM.” So on the one hand, making the move to becoming a professional chef who works the dinner shift made a lot of sense for me. I would be working when I was actually awake for a change. But at the same time, all the nights when I usually like to hang out with friends would now be gone. The only free time that is now available to me is in the (gasp!) mornings.

I always felt more secure when they let the guys with automatic weaponry on the Metro.

Along those lines, I found myself awake ridiculously early this morning. Even by “regular job” standards. I had to drive over to my parents’ house at 6AM, and I noticed that there were already cars piling up on I-66 for the morning rush hour. It blew my mind that people would get up this freaking early, only to get stuck in traffic. And then it dawned on me: The concept of “rush hour” is not a concern of mine anymore. I drive to work around 2 and I come home from work sometime after 11. If three cars happen to form a short line in front of me during my commute, I guess I can call that a traffic jam. My commute these days is nothing short of lovely. When the traffic report comes on the radio, I can change the station with true gusto and a clean conscience, since it no longer has anything to do with me.

But on the flip side of this, the rush hour world IS a concern for my wife, as she still works the regular 9-5 schedule. She is up around 7AM to go to work, and I am usually only barely awake when she goes, seeing as how it is still before The Price is Right comes on. But by the time she comes home around 6PM or so, I am already at work, feeding the masses. When I stumble home around 11PM, she is ready to go to bed, but I am still wide awake. In short, we catch only little glimpses of each other during the work week. Throw in the fact that I also work on Saturdays, and that can really mess up our scheduling a weekend away together…

For example, this weekend. A close group of our friends like to get together at my parents’ place in Bedford, PA regularly. You may remember this place from my Christmas post… Anyway, for all of them, the best days to be there were of course Saturday and Sunday. But for me, Sunday and Monday is all I can manage. So they were all up there having fun on Saturday while I stayed here in Falls Church, went to work, and then at 10:30 on Saturday night, I made the two hour drive up to Bedford to join them. A few brave souls managed to stay up for me when I rolled in around 1AM. I was of course wide awake, but most of them seemed really ready to go to bed.

Fortunately I was able to get up early the next day and make them all omelets and bacon.

I only had the chance to spend one day with most of these good friends of mine - where usually I would have had more like two and a half days. My choice of career change has created the one situation I hate more than anything else in the world: I am missing out on things.

Yeah, it’s creepy, but I just don’t want to miss out…

I hate to be on the outside. If something is going on in my circle of friends, I want to be a part of it. The only thing worse than not being a part of a fun time, is to hear about it afterwards from those who were there. But hey, who do I have to blame this on but myself?

It is a real consideration that all you aspiring chefs need to consider. If you give up the 9-5 life, then yes, you do get to hang out in your underwear until noon (or later if you watch both episodes of Maury) and drive to work at a leisurely pace while wide awake and in the best mood you can be in. It is a great way to arrive at work - stress-free and having enjoyed some sunshine. But on the other hand, there are friends and family members that you are not going to see as often. My free nights are now Sunday and Monday, and I am here to tell you - there are not too many people who look to those nights for partying.

I can no longer be part of the fun group dinners my friends have on the great dining out nights, because I am now the person who cooks these meals for everyone else so they can enjoy these nights instead. This is a very serious consideration to take into account before you take the plunge:

Are you OK with becoming a stranger to many of your close friends?

A site you can only see when you’re not stuck in the AM rush hour. (Click to enlarge)

All the same, I am glad I did it. In all fairness, this new schedule is not without its perks. The reason I was up so early today? I had a picnic breakfast on the tidal basin with my parents to see the sun rise over the cherry blossoms. I could never have done this back in the days of my 9-5 work schedule. In fact, my wife is the one who missed out since she had to get ready for work. But I’ll be sure to tell her all about it later tonight when we finally see each other before her bedtime.

Matt

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