Today’s Co–Star said:
Start a new page. Open the windows. Clear the room.
And underneath that:
Stop rehearsing old arguments in your head. That person you keep defending yourself to? They moved on months ago. Cut the internal chatter and make room for what’s actually happening now.
That felt pretty appropriate.
I think I’ve spent enough time replaying things that have already happened.
Old conversations.
Old frustrations.
Imaginary arguments where I finally say exactly the right thing.
Maybe today didn’t need any of that.
Maybe today was just:
open the window.
clear the room.
make space for whatever is actually happening now.
There’s one more thing from last night I want to remember first.
After a few drinks, AA started getting crowded.
By then I was already three drinks deep.
And honestly, I was getting annoyed.
I’ve realised I get cranky pretty easily when places get too loud and rowdy.
Sometimes I just want to sit somewhere, have my drink, and exist in peace.
Once the room gets too packed and everybody starts getting louder, I can feel myself getting uncomfortable.
So I waited for Lucas to arrive.
Said goodbye to everyone.
Got myself an Uber home.
When I got back, I put some music on.
And apparently my body had already decided the night was over because I fell asleep almost immediately.
Which is probably why I woke up today at 4 AM.
Hello, midnight bedtime.
Apparently my body had decided:
four hours is enough.
Amazing.
I couldn’t fall back asleep, so I just rolled around in bed.
Played one or two games.
Rolled around some more.
At this point, I think I need a sleeping partner.
I had a meeting with the marketing team at 11 because today is officially the day I take over Lula’s social media.
So naturally, around 9 AM, that was the exact moment I started feeling sleepy again.
And hungry.
And desperately in need of coffee.
Unfortunately, I was also too lazy to move.
So I forced myself into these tiny little naps.
In Malaysia, we call it chicken sleep.
You know how chickens sleep?
Barely.
Just little bits at a time, waking up at every tiny sound.
That was me.
Sleep for five minutes.
Wake up.
Sleep another ten.
Wake up again.
Completely useless rest.
By 10, I knew I had to get ready if I wanted to make the meeting on time.
Somehow life still got in the way.
And by 10:45, I was calling an Uber because apparently public transport was no longer an option if I wanted to arrive at Lula’s like a responsible adult.
The meeting itself was basically about guidelines for how Lula’s should look and sound online.
The easiest way I can describe the brand is:
Rosie’s, but brighter, more refined, and more polished.
Rosie’s can be loud.
Bold.
In your face.
A little messy in a fun way.
Lula’s feels quieter.
More professional.
More premium.
More deliberate.
Which actually makes sense.
However.
Did I mention I was hungry?
Because I was.
Very.
The entire meeting:
no coffee.
no food.
And somehow I was expected to function like a normal person.
Excellent combination if the goal was to make me cranky.
After the meeting, Bee, my social media partner, started talking about the game plan.
And honestly?
I had mentally clocked out.
At that point I needed:
food,
coffee,
or alcohol.
Whichever arrived first.
I just needed something to wake me back up.
So I went back to Rosie’s and immediately ordered food.
I needed to chow something down before I chowed Bee down.
Once I had actually eaten, suddenly I could understand what she was saying again.
Amazing what food can do.
She wanted to record some content for the bottomless promotion.
Fair enough.
We did that.
Then I sat down because I still needed to refine my notes for the managers’ meeting later that evening.
At that point, I genuinely thought:
okay.
Meeting.
Finish.
Go home.
Easy.
So naturally, I started on a Jameson and cranberry.
One…
Two…
Three…
And then Steve broke the news:
our bartender couldn’t make it into work.
Of course.
And because I was already there, my immediate thought was:
what’s a few extra hours going to hurt?
Then I remembered something quite important.
I was already three drinks deep.
HAHAHAHAHAHA.
Amazing.
This is going to be a fun shift.
Around 3:30, I went into the managers’ meeting.
Nothing dramatic.
James talked through the numbers.
A few managers raised issues and concerns.
The usual.
By 4, we were done.
I was already clocked in by that point, so I just started working straight away.
Then the manager who was supposed to handle dinner said something that immediately annoyed me:
“It’s going to be a quiet shift tonight.”
Bro.
The Q word.
In hospitality.
Absolutely not.
Call me superstitious, but I literally read Co–Star every morning.
I am not above believing in cursed words.
And of course dinner ended up being ridiculously busy.
He even asked if I wanted to finish early.
But I had already looked at the bookings and knew we had a massive group coming through.
I would rather stay and help than disappear right before everything kicked off.
Good decision.
Because not only did the big booking arrive, the restaurant ended up around 80% full.
Suddenly I was running around like a headless chicken.
Shaking cocktails while trying to split bills.
Taking payments.
Taking orders.
Carrying empty plates.
Basically doing everything at once.
But honestly?
I had fun.
It has been a while since I’ve had a shift that chaotic.
Being a manager is a blessing in disguise sometimes because I usually get to stand back a little more.
Let the floor team handle service.
Jump in when something goes wrong.
Tonight we didn’t have that luxury.
I had one floor staff.
So instead of being the manager overseeing the floor, I became the other floor staff.
And weirdly, it brought back memories.
Before I was managing people, this was just what I did.
Run.
Carry.
Serve.
Fix.
Keep moving.
It was exhausting.
But when everything stayed under control and I knew I was helping hold the whole thing together, there was a strange sense of accomplishment in it.
Like remembering:
oh yeah. I can still do this.
By 8 PM, I was exhausted.
Technically, I was supposed to finish at 11.
But the chaos had died down.
The restaurant had finally become calm again.
So I cleaned and reset everything as best as I could.
Looked around.
Everything was under control.
And then I went to the other manager and basically said:
“I’m clocking off. I’m going for drinks.”
Notice:
I was not asking permission.
I was providing information.
HAHAHAHA.
In my defence, this was supposed to be my day off in the first place.
I came in for a marketing meeting.
Accidentally attended a managers’ meeting.
Accidentally became a bartender.
Accidentally became a floor staff member again.
Survived a dinner rush with one floor staff.
I think I had contributed enough to the company for one supposedly free day.
So I went to AA.
I hadn’t even finished one drink when James called me.
He asked if I could put through a Chocolate Lava Cake for him at Rosie’s.
I explained, very kindly, that I had already clocked off and that he should probably ask the staff who were actually still working.
He said okay.
Fair.
Then he invited me over to Lula’s to keep him company while he and the sound guy worked on the sound system.
And honestly?
Yeah.
I went.
Partly because I didn’t mind.
Partly because I felt like I owed him a little kindness after lashing out at him before the weekend.
They fixed the sound system.
And as part of testing the microphone, I got to hear James sing.
Unexpected bonus.
After that, nothing particularly eventful happened.
I said goodbye to James.
Got the train home.
Made myself some instant noodles.
Then helped Lucas pick up his pizza from downstairs because he is basically crippled now.
He had a scooter accident this afternoon.
His leg is swollen.
He’s sore.
And moving around is apparently difficult enough that he has been using an umbrella as support around the house.
Hello Lady Gaga in the Abracadabra music video.
At least he got me garlic bread.
I’m eating that while reading my book.
I’m in bed now.
Not sure whether I’m going to keep reading or just fall asleep.
Either option sounds fine.
And looking back, maybe today’s Co–Star was right in a way I didn’t expect.
Start a new page. Open the windows. Clear the room.
I didn’t spend today replaying old arguments.
I didn’t spend it defending myself to people who weren’t even in the room.
I was too busy.
Learning a new brand.
Taking on Lula’s socials.
Trying not to bite Bee’s head off before eating.
Doing a managers’ meeting.
Jumping back onto the floor.
Remembering what it felt like to be a floor staff member again.
Helping James.
Helping Lucas.
Coming home.
Eating noodles.
Reading.
Maybe clearing the room doesn’t always mean some dramatic emotional reset.
Maybe sometimes it just means filling the day with enough new things that the old noise finally has less space to echo.
And honestly?
I think I’ve done enough for one supposedly-off day.
So I’m going to stop writing here.
Maybe I’ll keep reading.
Maybe I’ll sleep.
Either way, tomorrow can have whatever is left.