turnstiles

a bunch of miscellanea...

• just realised that this is/will be my 200th post!
• dates for the miyazaki showcase sessions in brisbane are up, though i've seen most of them so not sure if i'd pay for a repeat viewing
• the 13th brisbane international film festival kicks off next week! it starts the same day as my annual leave - taking a few days off for some r&r, though i'm not sure how much of the former i'll be able to have! hope to fit in an APAC movie or more during the festival's season.
• went to a newly opened restaurant last night, the malaya corner. some observations/comments:
• not long after we sat down there came the sound of dropped dishes from the kitchen
• one of the drinks we ordered wasn't actually on the menu, so the waitress came back to change it... but ended up adding a valid drink and not cancelling the invalid one
• then a drink and two or three dishes came to our table that we didn't order
• another dropped dish just next to us, with a decent chunk of a broken plate not picked up for a good 5 minutes (it took the boss to pick this up)
• one of the diners at my table works for the city council, and had a hand in approving the kitchen facilities at this joint - the boss recognised her and promptly served up 3 additional complimentary snacks for her
• one of our dishes (the place serves individual meals and snacks) still didn't come a good while after everything else was served, so we had to chase this up
• then another dropped item - waiter clearing up a table to our side dropped a drink, spilling the remaining contents and ice. he wiped the table top, but not the side where the drink had run over to the floor. then when he came back and bent over to pick up the ice from the floor, stuff fell from his pocket. he went to pick this up, and more stuff came out. and a third time... oh and he kept pulling up his pants like they were falling off!
• when we went to pay, the cashier wouldn't do a split bill. i think she said they were too busy. one of waiters came to divided up the bill for us while we waited on one side. this took ages because he couldn't get it to tally, partly because of the invalid drink that was never cancelled, and partly because he miscalculated a subtotal. after i stepped in to correct his sums, it was all good. the cashier was still arguing about some point or other, but in the end we paid our money. in all that time i think she served one other customer/table (which is not to say that the place wasn't busy - it was well patronised - but it wasn't like there was a rush of people to pay, and just about every other small-medium eatery are happy to do split bills without kicking up a fuss...)
• having said all this, the servings were huge (both food and drink), and i think everyone enjoyed their food. i'd go back again, but hope that their service lifts a notch.
• my car wouldn't start this morning... don't know what's wrong yet but probably the battery... i suddenly feel so much less independent without a car to get around. have i been too spoilt by this luxury?
• i'm getting fat. i don't like it!