The Bloody Finger

Monday, September 14, 2009

Today I woke up and went to the Dunnes for some OJ and canned veggies. I felt like my throat had a bit of a tickle last night so I’ve sucked on two zinc lozenges and hope to down some Vitamin C. The veggies were for the Sheppard’s Pie that’s for dinner. I wanted to go ahead and make it since I was going to be busy till 8.

I had cooked the beef and added the veggies when I had started cutting up the potatoes. About half way through I cut the tip of my finger off. Now this has happened twice before and always when I’m cutting potatoes, but the cut had never been this bad. The first time I nicked my thumb. The second time I cut the tip of my pinky finger, but the skin was still half way on. This time I cut a chunk of my ring finger clear off! It was bleeding everywhere and wouldn’t stop. I washed it in the sink with soap then ran to my room where I had Band-Aids and Neosporin. I went through three paper towels sopping with blood. Zach came to help me get the kitchen back in order. He took over the pie. I sat down at the table holding my finger in band-aid and paper towel. I’m not really squeamish with blood unless it’s in an IV or bag. But this was different. I had lost a lot of blood and the kitchen was hot. I had the oven on to heat up pizza, and the burners going. I felt faint and dizzy. I shut my eyes and felt like I was going to throw up. When I opened my eyes everything was blurry and I couldn’t compute where I was. It was like waking up from a dream and not knowing what room you’re in. This really scared me. Zach later said I looked awful, like really sick. He gave me some Ibuprofen and a glass of water. I went to lie down on my bed. It was much cooler in my room too. I was on bed rest for over an hour with my arm elevated above my head. I alternated between pressure and frozen meat (in a bag) on my finger. I kept looking up at it expecting the blood to be dripping down, but thankfully it never did.

My interview for Eddie Rockets promotions team was at 3. I had wanted to take a shower, but there was no way that was happening. I got up slowly about half past two. Zach went to the pharmacy to get me a splint, which he said would prevent it from getting hurt again by anything else. I was able to cut off the paper towel wrapped around the Band-Aid and add another two around and over the top so nothing could get down into the wound. It’s rather hard to get dressed with only one hand, but I did it! I was looking as good as I was gonna get and I headed just around the corner for my interview.

The boss, John, was very nice. He told me that he was looking for teams of two people to stand out on Saturdays and Sundays promoting the restaurant with buy one get one stamps. Because of regulations regarding the environment they could not hand out flyers, so it was a stamp we were to give out to primarily the teenage demographic. I said that sounded like something I’d be very interested in, no I was not afraid of going up to people, and yes I was available anytime. He asked me if I knew someone named Zach because we have very similar situations. I told him that was my roommate. John seemed to like this because he said he was looking for teams of people, and it helped if they already knew each other. Great! Zach had his interview at 3:30 and came back to tell me that we got the job! We start at 12:30 this Saturday and Sunday.

Eddie Rockets is very much like the Johnny Rockets we have in The States, but they are not affiliated with one another at all. This is an Irish chain only. John thinks that an Irish man must have been in America about the time Johnny Rockets started up because Eddie Rockets was founded just two years after Johnny Rockets.

I did a happy dance.

Zach and I went to AIB (the bank) to see what we would need to open a bank account for our checks to be deposited into. Proof of address as usual, but we can use whatever bank Eddie Rockets uses and get them to vouch for us for an account! Wahoo! I’ve always wanted a foreign account. Preferably a Swiss one, but I can start with an Irish one!

I had some time to kill before having to be at Amnesty International café and my finger was holding up rather nicely. Although I don’t dare remove the bandages for quite some time. I visited the library, but all the internet times were booked up. I discovered the dance movie section – the only movies the library seems to have, but I checked out Singing in the Rain – a classic everyone should see but I never have - and Salsa: Anyone can dance. I also picked up a book about the Greek Islands. Not really a travel book, more of a nonfiction chapter book. I also got “On Rue Tatin” a book about living in France. I gave up on Conrad’s “The Secret Agent” for now because it is so similar to my last book. I need a little variety then I’ll go back to it.

I arrived at Amnesty about 10 min. early and had to wait around on Marie-Ann. In the mean time I met Frances and Grace. Frances is from East Germany and Grace is from Galway. A little bit later Monica from Norway arrived when Frances left. Marie-Ann is from France near the Swiss border, but has been living in Ireland for awhile now. She runs the shop and café.

I had so much fun today. Marie-Ann showed me around the shop and where everything was. She demonstrated the till and then had me ring up a customer. This is going to sound silly, but it was the most exciting thing ever. I got tingles I didn’t even expect. It was like a latent excitement bubbling up all over again. When I was younger I would LOVE going into Office Max or Office Depot and go straight to the cash register section where I would play around punching numbers till mom or dad was ready to go. I’d forgotten about this passion of mine until it all reemerged today when I actually got to ring up a customer on an operating cash register. I’ve never had a job in the real world where I did that. Of course I had my own fake cash register growing up, and then one year my grandfather gave me an old adding machine. I would punch numbers on that thing like crazy and then change the roll of paper and keep going.

After the cash register experience I got to move on into the café. Here Grace showed me how to make Lattes, cappuccinos, coffee (Americano), mochas, chi tea, tea, and use the espresso machine. It was wonderful! I love learning new things and I’ve been curious as to how it all works in the coffee world. Since I’ve never been a coffee drinker I didn’t know how till now.

The four of us would talk about differences in our 4 parts of the world when foot traffic was slow. We all asked Grace why the hot and cold come out of separate faucets in Ireland. It makes no sense and she agreed. It’s most frustrating. You must choose between cold water or scalding. Monica just moved to Galway two weeks ago, so she was looking for some friends as well. It was great to meet someone in need of company. We started closing up the shop around 7. I vacuumed and moped. I tried to avoid dishwashing because of my finger - for today anyway. It felt good to be productive.

Monica was talking about a blog she kept for travel. I told her about mine and we exchanged web addressed. She saw “resande” in the title and looked puzzled. That means traveler, but why she said. I laughed and realized it was the Swedish word of her own language. I told her I knew no Swedish, but when naming the blog series I chose resande because I liked its sound and wanted a non-English word for traveler. She asked if I wanted to meet for drinks later. I told her I would give her a call after I ate dinner.

When I got home Zach had put the Sheppard’s Pie in the oven and it was ready shortly after. I joked that my finger might be somewhere in there. He didn’t look too pleased, so I assured him the part I cut off was still on the knife and washed down the sink, which was true. The Pie was actually really good. When he took over finishing it he put the potatoes and cheese in with the beef and veggies. I had always put them on top, but I think I like it better mixed it. Then of course pour ketchup on top – the best part! It’s a nice hearty meal.

All in all it was a great day, one of the best yet. The weather dipped in temperature a tiny bit and it was actually overcast today, but it didn’t matter I got a job and a good place to spend my time. If it took cutting the tip of my finger off and almost passing out for it all to come together in some weird universe, then maybe just maybe it was worth it, but I’m not looking forward to showering tonight.

Galway has a really great music scene. There are always multiple bands and musicians to choose from every night of the week. Zach went with me to meet Monica. While we were waiting for her at the four corners we saw Charlotte and Nile from Dublin walking down the street. I looked and did a double take. They saw us and stopped. We talked for a little bit. They were in Galway for the week and still just as enthralled with each other as back in Dublin. Monica showed up and the five of us walked down to King’s Head pub to listen to the duel acoustic guitar players perform a number of hits from Elvis to The Eagles to Men at Work. It was a fun evening. Never thought I’d see those two again.