Wednesday, September 20, 2017

My Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Okay, today was not the worst day I ever had. It just reminded me of the book/movie title.

I had not cooked at the dorm kitchen for three days, meaning I have not had a hot home-cooked meal in three days. I survived one day on leftovers, second day on cereal and the third day on instant noodles and convenience store packed meal.

Having such a long stretch without wholesome (well, relatively) food, I was determined to cook during peak hours today. My friend joked that the situation now can best be described as the “hunger games”, so I wanted to channel my inner Katniss Everdeen. I don’t care how crowded it is, I will cook today!

I went down at the start of peak hour, hoping I was the first but when I got there, the kitchen was full and people were already in the midst of preparing their meals. I was really shocked. Did they wait outside the kitchen for the cleaning staff to finish?!

I was still determined though. I quickly cooked my rice and took out the fish and veggies I planned to cook. But when I went to the work station, there was just no space for me. Not seeing any other way, I decided to pack my stuff and go back up, like a dog with its tail inbetween its legs. I came down as Katniss Everdeen but I went back up a loser.

After eating at the cafeteria, I went back to the kitchen to switch off my rice cooker. My friend and I decided that we shall try to cook dinner later at 8pm; it should be less crowded then. Back in my room, I did some studying but I was still fuming that I couldn’t cook when I wanted to.

Around half-past 6, my friend told me the kitchen was empty. We decided to straight away cook even though we had planned to cook later. Everything was going along well until I went to heat up the rice I had cooked earlier. The only problem was that my rice cooker had vanished! I was like, where could it be? My friend said that it must’ve been confiscated by the dorm office staff because today was the monthly kitchen cleaning. Usually, you would need to remove your rice cooker to avoid it from being confiscated. I didn’t know the monthly kitchen cleaning was today. I didn’t remember seeing any notice but my friend said that apparently there was a notice on the kitchen door and window. I would need to pay a small fine to get my rice cooker back.

I went to the dorm office after cooking the vegetables. On the way there, it crossed my mind that if I had managed to cook during peak hour like I had planned to earlier, the rice cooker would have still been confiscated but at least not without the rice that I cooked! There was no one at the dorm office though; there was a sign saying they would be back in a while. I waited for 10 minutes but no one showed up, so I went back to the kitchen and continued cooking.

After cooking the salmon, I decided to go back to the dorm office but I called first to check if there was anyone there. There was, but the person told me to come after 8pm. Which works for me because I could cook the potatoes first. Cooking the potatoes took longer than I expected though. I only went to the dorm office at 8.15pm.

I got back my rice cooker and fortunately, I didn’t have to pay the fine since it was a first time offence. I also saw a lot of other rice cookers in the storage room. I wasn’t the only offender today.
By the time I went back to the kitchen, it was packed again. I had to clean my utensils while zigzagging between people. It was horrible. I prefer working in a peaceful kitchen. If I didn’t have to get my rice cooker, I would have probably finished up before the kitchen got full. I was terribly relieved once I was done.

It may have been a not-so-good day but I managed to end it by eating a home-cooked meal in peace. And the salmon tasted pretty good too (the potatoes and veggies were bland).

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Venus

 I see fireworks, as Venus hangs low on the horizon.