Florida Wildlife

I go running every once in a while.  I really appreciate the fact that we have sidewalks all around where I live.  When I first moved here, I'd hoped to run to Disney since it's so close, but since realized there are no sidewalks to get there, it seemed just a tad too dangerous.  Maybe if I had a bike...

Anyway.  I've run up and down our road numerous times and it's always nice.  Along the sidewalk, I pass by several lakes.  Really they're like ponds.  They seem to small for lakes but too big for ponds.  But you know what I mean... As I run past them I'm always imagining alligators coming out to attack me.  There's not a lot to think about when I'm running, okay?

So, inside my head, these alligators come out of the water and attack me.  This makes me run slightly faster as I eye the water suspiciously.  Then I usually spot some sort of bird or duck in the water and it makes me feel better.  If I were an alligator, I'd want to eat the convenient ducky before trying to attack something almost the same size as I am that's twenty feet away from the water.  My run continues.

Well, I'll be honest about running.  A lot of my run is spent jogging, or even *gasp* walking.  Speed walking, though.  I'm not terribly lazy.  So I was power walking and listening to my music today, when I came across something far scarier than an alligator.  Mainly because this animal was actually real and up close to me instead of a made up situation in my head.  I heard something rustle a little in the bushes.  And then saw something black slithering around.  Snaaaake!  A black, three foot long, scary, nasty, slithery, horrible, snake.

I didn't actually know that I was afraid of snakes.  I've held snakes before and everything!  But not this snake.  The snake slithered away before I even had time to register how totally freaked out I was.  In fact, I think the snake was as scared of me as I was of him!  Immediately I ran.  I mean I ran away from there as fast as my legs would take me after having already run jogged power walked my way two miles down the road and one mile back.  I was exhausted, but suddenly the adrenaline gave me all the energy I needed to finish my run.  The good news in all of this is that I got a super good workout.  Also, I'm not dead from snake venom.

The bad news is I never want to run again.  What if that snake was poisonous?  What if it had bitten me?

Okay, so I'll keep running.  But next time I'm bringing my cell phone with me.  Just in case.

Working Overnights

I worked 7:30pm-4am last night/this morning.  I thought this shift would be easier than the 4am-12:30am shifts for some reason. 

It wasn't.  Not at all.  Especially when I've been waking up between 4:30am-7am for the past month.  And then suddenly I have to stay awake until after 4am.  Bleeeeeeeh.  So freaking difficult!

I kept getting into trouble for "looking tired."  The girl I was training with, however, was somehow plenty awake the whole time.  I didn't even see her yawn once.

She yelled at me, "What the heck?  You're not a morning person, and you're not a night person?  What kind of person are you!?"

"The kind that needs sleep!"

Staying up til 4am is the worst thing ever.  I'm soooooo glad I didn't choose those shifts when I did my schedule bid.  Thank goodness it's almost over!

I Can't Wait!

New changes to safaris.  I can't even express how excited I am for this!  I hope they still let me drive the trucks!  Chances are lookin' a little slim, though, since I'm going to China and all.

ZEBRAS!!!!!!

I can't WAIT!!!

On Toilets...

We fixed our toilet this week!  From the day I moved in here I noticed that it ran constantly.  Fortunately, toilets are extremely easy contraptions to deal with.  At least, any problem I've ever had with a toilet has been easy to deal with (knock on wood).  But after a tiny investigation I discovered that our toilet flapper thing was very misshapen.  So I ran to the store on the way home today (yes, it took me a month to get around to it) and bought a new one for $1.97 plus tax.  We were apparently supposed to turn off the water to the toilet before switching them, but neither my roommate, nor I, could figure out how to do that, so we just switched them out as quickly as we could.  And it worked!  It actually stopped running!  Thank, stinking, goodness!

Annnnd, I got a tour of the Feature Animation building over by Hollywood Studios today.  It's where movies like Mulan, Lilo and Stitch, and Brother Bear were created.  Really, really awesome.

And that is all. :) 

On Costumes

I picked up another Safaris shift yesterday.  I really miss that place.  The people, the trucks, the animals, the trucks, the long breaks and the trucks.  I love it all!

Well, as I made my five minute walk down to my car, these guys in a golf cart came speeding around the corner.  I kind of jumped out of the way and they noticed me at the last second and slammed the brakes.  Then, the guy driving looked at me and his first words were not, "Oh, sorry!  I didn't see you."  No.  His eyes were all big, then he saw me, smiled and said, "Heh, I like your costume."  And they drove off.

Seriously?  I  couldn't help but laugh.

I'm normally extremely averse to wearing Disney costumes in public.  Any time I go to Walmart and see cast members with their IDs out and their Disney shirts untucked it just makes me mad.  I'm fairly certain they told us in Traditions not to ever do that.  And I'm a stickler when it comes to rules.  But yesterday, I was coming home from work and I was incredibly thirsty.  I don't have my water bottle anymore so I was in the hot sun all day with nothing to drink because the break room was out of cups.  I even went to the cafeteria on the way to my car but they were closed and had gated off the drinks part.  Including the water fountain.  The only water was another "fill up your cup" station with no cups.  Stupid.

So not only was I thirsty, but I was craving mac & cheese.  My ridiculous cravings made me decide to run through Publix on the way home.  I got out of the car and was halfway in before I remembered I was in my costume, still.  I took off my belt and nametag and unbuttoned my shirt (I had a white tank top on underneath, no worries, but I wasn't about to go into public with just that on).  And I went inside hoping to look as discreet at possible.

I didn't expect everyone to stare at me.  Even more, I didn't expect people to whisper about me as though I didn't have ears.  "Does she work at Disney?"  "Look, that's a cast member."  "Do you think she works in Animal Kingdom?"  I pretended not to notice as I drank from their water fountain for like five minutes straight.  I got up and turned and it was just like in Beauty and the Beast where they were all staring at me and as soon as I turned around they turned back to what they were doing.  So funny.

I grabbed my Mac and Cheese and headed to check out.  As the guy bagged my mac and cheese (and I asked him to un-bag it because I don't like wasting them) he struck up conversation.  "So, do you have to wash that costume yourself?" 

I think I grossly underestimated how much I'd stick out.  Either that or people that shop at Publix just love Cast Members.