Kissing Ass...

So last week, one of the head honchos at work said to me as I was leaving "Valerie, I'll give you a call later and you can meet me and Bill for sushi". I was a little surprised. It came out of the blue and well, I'm just a little cog in the whole wheel. But me and this head honcho get along really well and he knows that I am interested in moving over towards his section of the department as soon as I take a class or two to really gauge my interest. If I move into inspection, my benefits and pay are much, much better not to mention the uniform bit. Not that I think me in a inspector uniform will be a cool thing. For me...it's all about ease. I don't have to buy clothes or worry about what I'm going to wear. It's all picked out for me! Anyways, my first class starts in September and I have made it very clear that I have enrolled and paid for this class already. I am serious here...not feeding him a line. And me mentioning it just keeps that knowledge fresh in his mind.

I had a doctor's appointment that evening for the horrific *plague* that wouldn't end but decided that I will make the effort to go if the head honcho actually called. Kissing ass could only help me right? I want to move over to his section of the department eventually. Being a good sport was essential. I got a call around 7pm telling me where to meet them and how to get there. I'm an okay fan of sushi...fairly adventurous. I usually let people order for me in sushi places because I am still trying to figure out what I like and don't like. So I got there and drank plenty of sake and they ordered a round of food for me. So basically, they order stuff and see how I react to eating it. Remember, it's all about being a good sport. When I got there, they had yellowfin cheeks on the table...that was yummy! Don't worry...it was cooked. I would have been happy with that but there was more to come. Soft shell crab roll...yummy! Sweet shrimp with fried shrimp heads...ummm, shrimp was good...shrimp heads...ewww! There is just something about eating brains and eyeballs that gets to me. So I didn't get too far there...pretty far but not all the way. What else...what else? There was spicy tuna roll which was good if not a bit more spicy than I am used to and scallops which were yummy! I love scallops...I don't care if they are raw...they are delish either way. But the one thing that I could not eat...that was worse than the fried shrimp head was the uni roll. I, of course, did not know what the heck *uni* was. It clearly did not look appetizing despite the head honcho and Bill raving about how *great and fresh* the uni was. Great and Fresh?!?! Umm...yea...it doesn't look great and fresh! It looks kind of gross but I am supposed to be a good sport, remember? So I try the uni...and could barely swallow the stuff. People...stay away from the uni! It's disgusting...and for you anglo people like me (ok, kind of anglo), uni is sea urchin! Considering it hardly looks appetizing in it's live form, it shouldn't be surprising that it isn't appetizing in it's pretending to be food form. Ugh...still grossed out.

But you know what? They paid for my dinner AND I earned some major brownie points. Sometimes sucking it up...and keeping it down (literally!!) is absolutely necessary! And hopefully, this little eating adventure will help me out in the long run...