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Finally! I'm done with work for this week. Five lovely days of hot sun and crazy customers and now I can take a break. Or, at least, I could, if I didn't have a crapload of other things to do, like shopping for food and getting stuff cleaned for the apartment inspection on Monday.

Oh, and going to the parks ;)

But I did want to post a quick entry. I've just finished dinner, which consisted of fettuccine and broccoli mixed with some Italian herbs and olive oil and topped in some places with a little (or a lot) of Parmesan cheese. I'm kind of proud of myself for making this, since the original recipe called for sun-dried tomatoes and no olive oil. Does this mean I've gained the ability "adaptability in cooking"?

Apparently not, for I haven't been feeling well the past couple of days. It all started about three days ago when, making my lunch for work, I decided I should finish up the grapes I had bought about two weeks prior. I figured they were still ok. They'd been plucked from the vine and washed and stored in a tupperware container in the fridge. So I packed them up and went on my merry way. I didn't get a break for a good portion of that day, but I mentioned this to the coordinator (I think it was Tammy that day) and she sent me on break where I had lunch. Now I had been feeling fine all day, but after that lunch, boy I wasn't a happy camper. I was at least on bussing outside, so that wasn't too bad. I was learning sign language too ^-^ Jon, one of my fellow Cast Members (and husband of Tammy, who I'm pretty sure was the coordinator now), was teaching me how to say "yes", "no", and perhaps most useful "Tammy, may I go home please?". It was great fun to learn, but then I was called into Scoops to take Frank's place so he could go to the bathroom. I guess he'd called at least 45 minutes before, and no one had come to get him, so I was glad to help, especially when I heard he wasn't feeling well.

So I scooped some ice cream, and that's when it hit me. My stomach started to bother me, and I felt it would be a very good idea to not really interact with people's food at that point. I really needed to use the bathroom, frankly, and ended up calling the coordinator area to see whether or not Frank was coming back. He was, in fact a minute after I got off the phone, he was there, and I headed out and to the bathroom.

Grapes. Don't eat them when they're two weeks old.

I wasn't sick, but I certainly wasn't feeling well, and I mentioned this when I ended up back in the coordinator's office. Everyone sort of laughed, since "I ate bad grapes" doesn't really sound like a real reason as to why someone's not feeling well.

I did get a little happiness boost though. Susan (I think that's her name?), one of the managers, was talking to a guy who, as far as I understood, had just volunteered to help close an area instead of just leaving when his work day was done. She was very impressed, and then turned to me and asked what I'd done that day to go above and beyond. I answered that I had gotten little cakes and a glass of water for two Guests who were celebrating their birthdays, which was special, but even more-so because they hadn't had much to eat (either as a result of the dining plan they were on or because everything's so darn expensive at Disney). She was pleased with me too, telling me I did a good job and saying she was going to use the guy and I as examples in...I think it's some morning meeting? I didn't quite catch it.

That was nice. And I was happy to help those Guests out, especially as they live near my college, Lewis, and the husband used to work in my hometown (so he actually knew where it was!).

But I still felt poorly.

Then yesterday, I was feeling better, a little iffy, but better, and went to lunch with no grapes...but left over ham and cheese I had gotten the same time as the grapes. Sure enough, I ate my lunch, and by the time I reached costuming to grab my street clothes, I wasn't feeling well again. I made it through the rest of the day, thanks in part to an early release because we were slow, but decided then and there that the left-over spaghetti I was planning to eat that night was a no.

Today was better than the other two days, although my head was hurting and so was my right arm for some random reason. I called my Mom this morning to say hi, and she and my Dad suggested it was from the food (obviously), but also the transition to Florida catching up with me. That, and the water. I could hear my Dad in the background saying all I should drink is Coke and beer. I'm not one for beer, especially after serving it all day and having it drip and chug and spray all over me, but I took the Coke advice. Usually I try to drink water while at work, what with the hot weather and all, but today was all about soft drinks and no ice. I think it helped.

Speaking of yesterday, what an interesting day. I had to work, but because September's a slow month, the managers have been sending people home via Early Releases. I felt kind of bad taking mine (that's why I got off at six instead of five-thirty or earlier like manager Matt had asked) since my work ethic tends to dictate that if I'm working somewhere, I should stay until it's time to go home. Not that I have anything at all against leaving work early, but I feel it reflects poorly on me as an employee if I continually look to go home.

But I was happy to get out early yesterday, mostly because I wasn't feeling well, but also because I had plans for Fantasmic that night. Alex had her day off yesterday, and while she did Magic Kingdom most of the day, she swung by Hollywood Studios (still wanted to type MGM) for the evening. I saw her coming out of Beauty and The Beast while I was in Fairfax Fare, and we agreed to meet up once I got off my shift. Since I didn't want to keep her waiting, I had gone to Costuming during my break to get my street clothes, so I could just change and go. But while I got an early release, I didn't get off until after six. I texted Alex to find out where she was and got the response she was coming out of the animation pavilion. I figured that would give me enough time to run to Take 5 and change, which I did, but then I found myself wondering what I should do with my costume.

There's lockers that we have at the restaurant locations; I've actually been using one to store my rain coat for the awesome Florida hurricane season. But I wasn't sure what all Alex and I would be doing and whether or not I'd be able to get back to my stuff in a decent amount of time. Plus, frankly, I could've used a little freshening up after a day of bussing, which meant my car was the place to go.

Oh but first I had to talk to manager Matt about my schedule and requesting days off. As if I wasn't behind already, I had to hunt him down, had to figure out when I needed off, and then had to learn what Disney's policy is towards days off. Not really anything bad, but when you're meeting someone and are running late, every minute seems to drag on, even if it DOES have super important information. But Matt was nice and helpful, and so I texted Alex, raced to costuming (trying to conceal my costume, which would've been fine except for the hat), got a hanger out of the locker I had rented there, rushed to my car, and headed back.

By this point, I hadn't heard anything more from Alex, and was beginning to wonder where she was. I wandered around, even ducking backstage (with an Animation Cast Member's permission of course), to try to find her. No luck, and I was denied putting in my requested days off on the hub computer in Take 5 by a cast member who decided right then and there would be the time to look at all the Extra Hours available. It's fine, it's fine...just was trying to find my roommate.

By about 7:30, I noticed they were seating for Fantasmic (which was being held because Magic Kingdom was closing early for the first Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party - which Cordelia had invited me to out of the blue). Figuring that that was where Alex would be eventually (that WAS one of the reasons she'd gone to Hollywood Studios), I headed in and sat down to wait.

It was like Where's Waldo. The two center sections of the seating area were rather full, and more and more people were filing in. I tried scanning the crowd and wandering by the food areas, hoping to find Alex somewhere within the growing masses, but no luck. Eventually I picked Row O and sat down. Surprisingly, I soon found myself chatting with one of my fellow Cast Members from Sunset. She'd been looking for Extra Hours too and was earning some by working as a walk-around cotton candy seller. She informed me that she'd worked at Epcot the day before, and had even had some time selling merchandise. I'm gonna have to look into these extra hours...

8:00pm rolled around and I began to think I was going to be seeing the show by myself. The crowd was much larger now, and I kept alternating between scanning those sitting and those filing in. I took a break to get some chips (similar to what I had done back in October before Fantasmic), and then returned to my seat (now Row N) to keep looking and to listen to some cutsy couple behind me (who had stolen my original seat) talk about why the girl had gotten the guy a light-up bubble machine. Suddenly, I spotted Alex, just a section over and getting ready to sit down. I lept up, jogged over, and managed to get a space on the aisle next to her.

Yes, I am THAT good...thanks to Where's Waldo.

A quick second trip to the refreshment stand (Coke for Alex, bottled water for me) and then it was on with the show!

I should point out, really quick, that the whole theme with Hollywood Studios is "On with the show!" They have this printed backstage on some of the mirrors right before you go on stage. It was also mentioned a bunch of times during training.

Fantasmic was wonderful, just as I remembered it. Fireworks, characters, masterful editing of film (seriously, I applaud whoever edited the sequences shown on the water), and a lake lit on fire. Ahh...such good times. It actually was a bit of an interactive show, because due to the direction of the wind, the spray from the water was blowing right at the audience. It was kind of funny though, since a couple parts of the show are water themed, such as Monstro splashing down and the brooms from Fantasia emptying out their buckets. So maybe Disney just turned it into a 4D show? Thanks also to the wind, when the fireworks went off, the smoke swept back and over the audience, engulfing us in an explosion-scented fog. This was especially cool thanks to some very pretty theatrical lighting, which tinged the smoke with dramatic imaginative colors.

After it was over, and Alex and I agreed it had made us want to watch every Disney movie ever made, the Cast Members began ushering us out back into the park...except that we didn't go the way we had come in. I figured it was because then the people trying to get into a later Fantasmic show (if this was a normal night) would encounter the people trying to get out, and Sunset would become a horrible mess. Instead, we were directed BACKSTAGE.

Now, I remembered this from October. I remember being in a large crowd of people, leaving Fantasmic, and looking around me thinking that I was very most definitely backstage somewhere in the park. I thought it was just something they were doing for that night. But as Alex and I began to walk with the rest of the people, things definitely started to look as I remembered them, and I figured that this must be the normal thing for Fantasmic nights.

Then, as the crowd ahead of us turned left and went around a building, I realized This all looks VERY familiar. So familiar, in fact, it was as if I had seen it every day I worked at Hollywood...

And indeed I realized that the exit for Fantasmic connects to one of the backstage areas I walk through every day to get to and from Sunset.

That was neat. It really was. It was cool to be 100% certain that leaving Fantasmic meant one would actually get the chance to be backstage. It was cool to realize that something I see and go through every day has a second purpose. And on a random note, it was cool because I had just been wondering earlier in the day why that particular backstage area had a little more theming to it than the other backstage areas I go through.

Sure enough, today, when I was walking to work, I looked down the long alley the Guests travel through and could see, at the very end, the beginnings of some green hills.

Neat ^-^

Speaking of today, and one of the reasons I started writing this post, I wanted to mention not what I did during work, but what happened after work. Today wasn't too bad. Rainy near the end, which was funny because it started to rain a little, so I got my raincoat on, only to have the rain stop. I put my rain coat away, and not 10 minutes later, the skies totally opened up. Anyway... On my way out through costuming, I noticed that the Disney Learning Center was still open. Usually it's closed when I'm walking through, but since today was my first "assigned to leave before the park closes" day, it was still open when I got there.

I decided to stop in. Alex had picked up two movies from the Learning Center near her, so I figured I should see what mine had in stock. And while it didn't have tons, I am now the proud borrower of The Black Cauldron, which I've been wanting to see for a while. It's one of those Disney movies that exists, but people don't really know too much about it (ok, I don't know too much about it). I also checked out the cds, since I had just read earlier online that Phineas and Ferb have a soundtrack out now. I'm not a huge fan, but I've seen the show, and I like what I've seen. Thought I'd give it a go and see if it was in. Unfortunately, the Learning Center didn't carry it, but I did see other music I'd be interested in. Princess songs? Disney's greatest hits? I think there was even some park music in there, so woo!

But as I was checking the movie out, I spotted (or should I say re-spotted, since I saw it when I first came in) an entry for a Disney trivia crossword. I glanced over it, seeing as I had done the one at Sid's when I was exploring MGM (HA!), and found that this one had things I knew, and things I didn't know and would have to think about. After a little thinking myself, I asked if I could give it a shot. I only had 15 minutes, since that's when the Learning Center closed, and since today was the last day to do one, I had to get down to business. Things like "What's Belle's favorite activity?" were easy (reading), and I got a little help to some of the tougher ones thanks to other answers (What color is Dumbo's hat? Second letter's an "e". Yellow). But there were three that had me really stumped:

1. What name do Tony and Joe give Tramp in Lady and the Tramp?
2. In Tarzan, what's Jane's last name?
3. What animated film features a character named Ziggy?

#3 had an "l" in it, and after a heck of a lot of brain pounding and clock ticking, I had a flash of lightning "ah ha!" moment and scribbled in "junglebook". The first one...I kept thinking the name "Butch" for some reason, but I hadn't seen Lady and the Tramp in AGES (ditto with Tarzan). It was five letters, so perhaps it could have been Scamp? I know, it's the name of Lady and Tramp's son, but maybe Tramp was called Scamp and then as a sort of inside joke, the son's named Scamp instead? I put down Butch...

And then Jane. Ah, Jane. There was an "e" in this one too, and whether it began with a "P" or I just felt it did, I eventually put down Persen. Yeah, I know..."Persen"?

But I finished just in time, which was nice because I had at least wanted to give it a try. There was one other guy in the room who was working on it too (in fact, he was one of the other reasons I wanted to try. Me? Competitive?). I had overheard him earlier as having been stuck on two questions, and now he was down to one: What character has also been known as Mr. Geef?

OMFG if ANYONE would know this one it would be ME!

That was another reason I did the crossword. I totally know that answer.

The woman working at the Learning Center's desk was...not helping him with it...but was assuring him that "Geef" was the correct spelling as I handed over my crossword. And that's when I noticed the internet-enabled phone in his hand. Turns out we could've used the internet.

F#ck x.x

Well, anyway, at least I gave it my best shot, and as I told the woman at the desk, it would've been kind of scary if I had known all the answers. Although for the "Geef" question, I told her, I knew it because I'm a huge fan. She had suggested that maybe the guy and I could've collaborated, but that never really came to fruition for some reason. Instead, I gathered my things, hoping my wet raincoat hadn't done too much damage to the computer chair I'd been sitting in when I worked on the crossword, and I headed out.

While walking across the parking lot, I realized that the crossword's directions had asked that people "bring in their completed crosswords by September 5th" which made it plainly obvious that internet and other resource usage was encouraged. But they did say that bringing it in could earn you a special prize. How do they feel about second place and a brain bursting with Disney knowledge?

I got back to the apartment, made dinner (surprising, since I REALLY wanted to know the answers), and finally got the chance to sit down and look them up.

Turns out...I was right ^-^

Right about Tramp being called Butch and Ziggy being in The Jungle Book. In fact, Ziggy's voice isn't even credited in the movie, which makes me wonder, who the hell is Ziggy?
Anyway
But Jane, ah Jane.

For the record and my future knowledge:

In Tarzan, what is Jane's last name?
Porter.

And now I know ^-^

Although dang, just the one...

Anyway, but I'm proud of myself for giving it a shot, for knowing random Disney facts, and am just plain happy that that's the way I ended my work day today. And on that note, this has been a pretty lengthy post. There's still plenty more to share, and plenty more to catch up on, but for now, there's dinner dishes to attend to, a shower to take, and some good ol' sleep to be had.

Also, Amanda told me about some Disney character videos online where they take a couple of falls, so those'll be worth investigating.

And to explain the title of the post...Ruth (real name Shalom(e)) left her phone in her room, and has apparently received a text message, and her phone REALLY wants her to check it. So every couple of minutes, that phrase goes off. It's been going off since I got home :P




Oh, and Mr. Geef (if you haven't guessed) is Goofy. During his "everyman" period, specifically when he portrayed the family man with the wife and son, he was often called Mr. George Geef.

Hooray for my crazy Disney knowledge and for there being Disney knowledge to get all crazy over ^-^

Morning on the new apartment wireless router

Man do I have a lot to do.

I know I've been a bit behind on the writing. It's been...not nuts...it's been sort of busy around here the past couple of days. Mostly it's just trying to take everything in. I do have a post from yesterday that I'm intending to put up. In fact, I had been intending to put it up last night. But for some reason websites weren't loading. Maybe it had something to do with the signal strength of the new wireless router our apartment got? In any case, it's saved on my computer, and I shall flesh it out and post it. Hopefully right after writing this, although I really do have a lot to do.

For example, my dirty laundry's just exploding all over the place. Now, I know how to do laundry. It's just the adjustment of having to actually see myself pay for it that I think is the problem. Back in college, everything was pre-paid. So when I went to get something to eat and used my dining/everything else card, it was like getting things for free, even though I'm not. Laundry was the same, since my family put down cash so I could do my laundry at school (I think it was the college's subtle way of saying "Learn to do it yourself!") rather than bring it home.

Here I suppose we could have something similar. Disney's given us cards that are connected to our cast member accounts. So when we get paid, it's just direct-deposited into our accounts, and then we can access it with the card. But, until I get that set up, I'm paying for everything with cash. And considering how little I have (thanks wedding expenses!), I've been more than a little hesitant about shelling out money.

Or in the case of laundry, hesitant about attempting to figure out how things work in the laundry room. The laundry area is a separate area. There's a couple low little buildings situated in our parking lots. They're square with triangular roofs; in fact, they look very similar to children's drawings of houses. But it's there that the laundry machines are. It's nice, since it's separated and, as far as I know, open twenty four hours a day. But when I went in there yesterday, it seems like you have to have some sort of laundry card to operate the machines. You also need money to put on the cards. As I don't know if I have the card (or the money), this will be something to investigate, especially now that it's after 9am and the club house is open.

But whatever I do, I better do it soon. I'm working tonight (and tomorrow, and the day after that), and it's going to be my first officially late night. Last time I worked until close, but that was 7pm for the park, which meant I was going to be out by 8pm (I don't know if this included training). However, cleaning ran late, training ran late, the bus missed us completely, and I didn't actually head out until 10:15pm. I'm not complaining, but tonight's going to be later than that.

I'm not even quite sure why it's so late. Extra Magic Hours? Fantasmic? Should be fun to find out :P

I don't know if the park closes at 10pm or 11pm, but today I'm working 2:30pm until 11pm. I'm going to be working at Scoops, which is (obviously) an ice cream place. I think I might be bussing things though, which I've never had any real experience in since I've never had any real food and beverage experience. In any case, it should be interesting.

But before that I've gotta take out the trash and check the mail and make a phone call and make another phone call and try to get some laundry done...

And, of course, I need to finish (or start) updating things on here too. And, whoa, do I need to clean out my e-mail inbox too.

Well, nothing left to do but to start!

Actually, there's plenty I could do to avoid starting, but I'm gonna be good to myself and get to work on things anyway :P


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Oh yes, today's been an interesting day already. It's 12:13pm. I've already wandered around Patterson looking for mailboxes, found mailboxes only to not find ours, finally found it and got the mail out, only to discover that about 9/10 of it is for the people who lived here before us. I got a letter, and there's some resident mail as well. But wow. It's interesting to look at this mail, because I don't know who these people are. I don't know if they extended and had to move. I don't know what roles they did or where they came from or even who else was living with them. WHen we came into the apartment, it was clean and clear and looked as if it'd never been lived in. Other than the broken nightstand that I had (which I re-settled the drawers, so it's ok now). Then to get these letters and to really realize that, yes, there was in fact people here before us, and probably just by a few days, and then to also realize that I don't know them and have never heard of them and that right now the only thing we have in common is that they came before us...well it's something interesting to experience for a morning.

Oh, and then there was the whole "You have a negative balance of $112" thing with my bank account. Yep. Needless to say, I now know how to call my bank, have them transfer money, and I am now counting down until my subscription to Entertainment Weekly runs out. That part sucks (like the whole thing doesn't?), but at least I'm hoping to get it sent here. Though, with the way things have been going, my parents may have to send it because the address change didn't work e.e We'll see

But I still do have plenty to do. Laundry's being opted out of until I can find a local bank branch and get my money issues in order. I do need to swing by the club house and see if they can forward the mail that the people before us (which seems so weird) didn't get. And then there's all the rushing around and getting ready for work. Because who doesn't want to serve ice cream to crazy crowds after dealing with financial issues?

Oh, and apparently, if you work in merchandise, not only do you get to trade pins with people, but merchandise Cast Members actually GET a pin for merchandise.

Oh blah...

Ah well.
Onward ho!


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Back-posted because of busyness


We left off with my going to work for my first late night and having nothing short of a blast with my bank and the financial issues. I decided to take matters into my hands. No, I didn’t go storm a branch of my bank. Instead, I learned what a good time one can have when trying to do bank matters by phone. In short, it was a little disaster. I tried calling my Mom at this point, this being my first encounter with late fees, but I got no answer. Again attempting to get control of things, I found out that the internet can be useful, at least in viewing a statement. It was there I discovered that it was the checks I wrote for the wedding that put me over the limit, and then my purchases of food and socks made it go downhill from there. As if the fees for those overdrafts weren’t fun enough, I discovered that if you have no money in your account, the banks will actually charge you $10 for it. Yes, that makes sense. Someone doesn’t have money, let’s charge them for it!

Finally I reached my Mom, who told me it would be a good idea to call my bank and find out what exactly happened, and to transfer some money so I didn’t have more to worry about. So I did. In-between a few tears (because I get teary when faced with first-time over-draft fees) and on my Mom’s advice, I explained to the woman on the phone where I was, what I was doing, and what happened. She kindly transferred the money that I wanted ($200, not $2 like the phone had thought), and told me about their over-draft protection. My Mom had recommended this, but this particular bank’s idea of protection is to transfer money from savings to checking if you’re going to have an issue…and then charge you $10 for it! Still, for a few moments, I thought it was actually a good ideas, but because my account had such issues, she wasn’t able to do it. I was told I could go sign up at a branch, and that led into the mini-adventure of the phone person trying to find a branch near me. I’ve been trying, believe me. I eventually got a number to a branch that’s close, but not near-by, and was told to call them and ask, as maybe they could help me further.

Note to self – constantly saying “This is my first time having an over-draft fee” or some variant of such does NOT constitute as asking if they can do anything to help you out.

I texted my Mom to tell her what happened and she (after saying the over-draft protection sucked) suggested I call them back. But I had to go to work, so unfortunately it would have to wait a little while.

My trainers for the day were Lucie and Lisa. Lucie’s from Staten Island, NY and has an accent to prove it. I forget where Lisa’s from, but boy were the both of them fun. Both like to talk fast and jump from topic to topic, Lisa moreso than Lucie, but despite their big personalities, they both are approachable and friendly and I found myself having a great time and learning a lot with the both of them. Frank and I were originally supposed to be Lisa’s, but somehow we ended up being shuffled between the two, just like everyone else.

The training modules included one called “Introduction to Labor Operations”, which featured three robots with bad senses of humor and poor comedic timing. It was…entertaining…at least I learned stuff, but wow, that was…interesting.

Frank and I had a test-taste dinner of a hotdog and a pulled pork sandwich from Farefax, both of which were very good. When the other trainees showed up, however, they had ice cream from Hollywood Scoops. This was to be our home for the rest of the night, and boy was it busy. Fantasmic was going on, and the line in front of the entrance kept swelling to huge proportions. Naturally, because it was hot, people wanted ice cream. Apparently they also wanted beer, but that wasn’t our section. But even though the work was busy, it was fun. I worked the register, and ended up having to do a fair bit of solo work, since Lisa and Lucie were running around trying to help everyone else. Lisa eventually told me to get off the register and give someone else a chance, so I finished up the night scooping ice cream. This was rather fun, especially as I tried to figure out how I could make someone a Mickey Mouse-shaped dessert. It was only after we closed that I noticed a sign at the front of the store, showing how it was supposed to be done.

I left that night tired, but happy. My trainers were good. I actually understood the work at Scoops. And I got to taste test the ice cream – mint chocolate chip and chocolate, yum!



Also, Happy 18th Birthday Kristi!
I would've loved to have been there and have taken you out to breakfast with Mom and Dad. Still hunting for your birthday (and graduation) gift :P