A review of The Oasis Cafe

The food was spectacular.  This is not a cut to the chefs of this possible fine restaurant, but at the attitudes of the "hostess".  I say possible fine restaurant because it is a beautiful establishment that I have enjoyed in the past, but after this Friday evening's visit, I do not plan to return. 

The American HeritageÆ Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
defines hostess as:  host∑ess (hsts) n. 4. A woman who is employed to greet and assist patrons, as in a restaurant. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) defines hostess as:   Hostess \Host"ess\, n. A female host; a woman who hospitably entertains guests at her house[/place of business]. 

Let me recount my evenings experiences to the reader.  We, being my mother and I, set out for a pleasurable dinner for the two of us.  We chose a previous mutually enjoyed location, Oasis cafe, at 82nd First St. in Orangeville, ON.  Upon entering, we walked to their front food display and placed our orders for dessert, to ensure quantity lasted past our entrées, and then orders for our meal and beverage, which we did want served first.  We shared pleasant conversation and sipped at our drinks while we waited a temperate interval for our meals.  During the course of our stay, the hostess was seen to wander among the other patrons to ask was everything alright and did they need anything else, at least twice, before my mother had to literally flag her down to request a second glass of water.  After this point, when we completed our main course, we waited and watched the hostess make a third round of the tables, excluding ours, to gauge the comfort of her guests.  At this point we waited more than ten minutes with our plates piled and awaiting removal before, our criticism of the service most likly having been over heard, the hostess finally returned to our table to see if we would like dessert.  Promptly, a wonderful young lady returned with our previously ordered sweets and my coffee and proceeded to knock over the cream she brought.  Surprisingly enough, this was the most attentive server of the evening, her debacle being much to her surprise and she was unnecessarily over apologetic.  Not wanting to seem one to cry over spilled milk, I said nothing to the hostess upon our departure, because I did not wish the young lady's accident to be the blame of our terrible stay.  The difference between my mother and I and the rest of the clientele was that of apparel, us being much more casual in dress than those at other tables; myself having oddly coloured hair which stands out.  This is the only difference I could discern between my group and the others and to me this does not seem reason enough to warrant such inattentiveness from our hostess.  We were paying customers just the same as the others, did we not deserve the same level of treatment they did?  Like I said earlier, I will not be patronizing this location again, which is a loss to myself because I truly enjoy their menu.  However atmosphere of the sort I witnessed this evening is enough to keep me away.  I heard mention that our hostess was indeed the owner and if this is the case then I feel the shame that she obviously does not for such a lowly posture.

Journals kept for my CAMH counselor

Saturday, Aug 18, 2001
it starts when I wake up .... in the middle of the night.. for no apparent reason .. suddenly I'm back in "that place" .. where the world is talking to me and trying to tell me something .. I don't know how to explain it without going into everything that's happened in my "trip" ...

I can't even really call them flashbacks.. because it's not like it's reliving something that happened.. it's always progressive.. it's new pieces to the ever-growing puzzle...

it's like I'm allergic to everything .. and different stimulus give me different reactions ..

I can't seem to sit down and write about what happens when it happens.. so I don't know how to give you dates or times ...  I'll try to be more punctual with my writing as the week goes on.

Monday, Aug 20
.. I wake up in the morning and I feel like I'm waking up in the wrong place.. like somehow my body is somewhere else and I need to try harder to put this body back to sleep so that I can wake up where I'm supposed to.  Like I'm borrowing this time and this place and they're not reality.  Sometimes I try.  I hold my eyes shut with my fingers and try to open that third-eye and see where I REALLY am, but it doesn't quite work.  I hear noises here and feel like they're just to cover up for the noises I'm hearing in the other place.  I'm afraid they're burying me alive over there, and one day, when this "game" is all over, I'll wake up in a coffin, underground, and all I'll have with me is a lighter.

Tuesday, Sept 4
I try to go to bed .. and my thoughts just wont stop racing .. I feel like "They" are attempting to fill my brain with the rest of the story..  I don't know how else to explain that part.  Somehow there are only 2 people/entities in actual existence, everything else is just figments of their collective imagination so they don't have to feel alone.  Some days I think I am the sum total of one of those entities/people .. and other days I feel like I don't exist at all, like I'm just the story teller/keeper of wor(l)ds....  To make the sensations go away, I just pretend like I don't hear it, like I don't understand it .. and slowly things will fade back to normal .. but the problem is I DO understand it.. I CAN hear it when the voices talk to me.. they're never loud and clear, they're always in the distance and something only my subconscious mind picks up .. but I am consciously aware that they are there.........

Other times, I wake up and I'm sure that this is going to be the last day.. time doesn't exist.. it has already expired -- its always 4:20 ... nothing matters .. *sigh*

Wednesday, Sept 12
I lay down to take a nap ... I close my eyes .. and its like somehow I'm transported to this other dimension.  I'm stuck in this "game".. its like, I'm controlling the altimeter of my domain ... trying to keep myself level .. and some random bursts of thought tip me one way or the other .... then I try to LOOK with my minds eye at the patterns that are there and I find myself in a tailspin, so I have to try to remember how NOT to look .. and finally I'm back out in that place where I'm just trying to keep myself level ... and if I hold that level spot long enough . its like the game goes on to the next sequence of the game .. where there is this strange rotating image and I have to figure out which way it faces .... and sometimes I do, and I move on .. but by that time I get lost and scared and I try to "wake myself up" .. I'm not really asleep though.......... *sigh*