Happy Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving a year ago was spent in a Chinese Pizza Hut.  I traveled two hours by bus with the three other American teachers in Guiyang, China to get there after work.  But darn it, we were going to have American food on Thanksgiving whether it was easy or not!


I sat with my three new friends whom I'd only met months earlier, but were now my family.  At least for the sake of this day.

Note the little boy in blue staring

Let me clarify, China was one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life.  I chose it, and I'm completely happy and grateful that I chose it.  But that doesn't mean it wasn't difficult.

For Thanksgiving last year, I decided I would veer away from the pizza I usually got when we traveled to Pizza Hut (pepperoni, the only familiar one--and didn't have wasabi on it).  The mashed potatoes seemed Thanksgiving-y enough.  Since those are an "American" thing they didn't really have them anywhere else in China.  And we had issues accessing things like butter, milk, salt and even potatoes, so it was hard to make our own.  I didn't really trust the fresh produce much anyways, since there were always tons of unidentified bugs flying all around the produce section.

Now, a year later, as we approach Thanksgiving again, I'm in awe thinking about how completely simple my life is.

I left my house this morning and didn't have to worry about whether or not I had a piece of paper with me with the Chinese characters stating my address in case I got lost.  I saw an ambulance drive past, clean and shiny, and remembered how many injured people I saw on the streets in China.  And how grossed out I was on the rare occasion that I did see one of their yellow ambulances.  As I crossed the road, I knew I could trust the drivers to actually obey the red lights.

I walked into Publix and knew exactly which aisle to pick for the mayo.  I read the words on the signs, and could even read and understand what was written on the mayo jar.  I grabbed what I wanted, knowing I could afford it, and walked up to check out.

No one was staring at me.  No one was following me.  I didn't need to ask for help from anyone.

As the lady scanned my items she made small conversation with me.  "Did you find everything you were looking for?"

My brain nearly exploded with gratitude.  A year ago, not only would I have been grateful to be capable of physically speaking with someone other than the same three teachers I'd been with for months, but she was trying to be helpful.  I knew that if there was an ingredient I couldn't find, she'd be able to help me.  And further, she'd be able to simply speak to me to help.  I wouldn't have to resort to silly forms of charades to explain "milk" (that was a funny China story)(and no, we didn't find the cream).

"Yes."  I replied.  The bag guy asked, "Would you like this all in one bag?"  As I replied yes I was even more thankful.  Simple being able to converse with people is such a blessing that I realize a lot now.  I wonder if other people realize what a gift that is.

I grabbed my bag and headed home.  Grateful that I don't have to worry about whether this food will make me sick.  Grateful for a safe place to live.  Grateful for simple transportation. Grateful for my independence.  Grateful for my job, my life, money, friends, family, communication, religion, comfort, safety, health, peace, simplicity, and all that I'm blessed with.

I'm thankful for the country I live in.  I'm thankful for the opportunities that lie ahead of me.  I'm thankful for support from my friends and family.  I'm thankful for knowledge that I have.

The intangible things that I have are worth more than the tangible.  I'm more thankful for them.  And I hope my life will always be that way.

Backstage Lions Tour

Alas, no photos!  Unfortunately, the rule still applies: No backstage photos at Disney World.

But I saw the lion barn today at Disney's Animal Kingdom.  You'll have to take my word for it since I have no proof.  It was awesome!

I also got to drive my car backstage which means that I've now driven backstage at three of the four parks. Incidentally, the only park I haven't parked backstage is the only park that I have worked backstage in.  Weird...

So my friend Nell won a free backstage tour of the lion barn and invited me to join her and her two other friends.  We parked by the Animal Programs building which is close to Rafiki's Planet Watch and then a manager took us over to the barn.  It was a private tour and this guy Mike was super informative.  He basically walked us around the barn and we got to see Nairobi and Savannah (the other lions were all onstage).  We were literally just a couple feet away, the closest I'd been to a lion in my entire life.

Nairobi's eyes are gigantic.  Both the lions were much older so they mostly just lay there or groomed themselves.  Mike also showed us some of the fur they had from the lion, so we got to touch the fur.  But no petting the lion. Even the keepers can't touch the lions, with the exception of their tails in order to take blood.  And even then it's crazy how many safety measures are in place to be sure everyone is entirely safe.  Disney's big on the safety thing.

We basically just walked around the barn, looked at the lions, and asked Mike any and all questions that came to mind.  Almost like being at a private zoo.  As we were talking to him one of the ostriches showed up right behind us and was eating dirt by the fence.  We were right beside the warthog barn and I think it was a Rhino barn that was nearby as well.  It was so informative!

Anyway, super fun day!  I'm so grateful I have awesome friends who invite me to do cool things like this!  Lions are even more my favorite animal now!

EPCOT Food and Wine

The Food and Wine Festival is coming to a close and I was lucky enough to get to start working shifts at EPCOT starting last week.  I'm really just in a trailer backstage, but it's been really fun for me and a nice change of scenery.

Tomorrow I work another one of the shifts, open to close.  My favorite part?  Getting to drive my car beneath Test Track.  I pretty much feel like the coolest person in the world when I do that.

I also like the radios they have for food and wine.  Even though the distance isn't as good, they're a million times easier to use.  For example, when you push the button on the side and talk... it actually WORKS!!! Amazing!!

It's also nice to be the only one there.  Not that I don't like working in a team at MK.  It's just kind of nice to be the main person fixing everything and it's nice to be the only one covering the radio for a whole day.  Sometimes it's hard to make sure everything gets communicated to everyone when different people cover the radio.

Oh well.  Now I'm rambling.  Suffice it to say, I'm excited to work at EPCOT again tomorrow!

Oh, and PS... Christmas has begun!  Wooohoooo!!!

You Know You Work For Disney When...

Christmas starts two days after Halloween...

That's right. The decorations are up, the Castle has lights, and the first Christmas party starts in a week (well a little more than a week.)

Get ready for the most wonderful time of the year at the Happiest Place on Earth!

On Finding Success

There are two kinds of people in this world.  Or maybe I should say there are two ways to react to things in this world.

First, there are those who take things as they come and adjust themselves to accept the world around them.  When something bad happens, these people choose to be happy anyway.  They choose to accept life's challenges and continue on.  They have control over how they feel, for the most part, and are generally very happy people.

Then, there are those who make things happen.  They have an idea in their head on how the world should be and work hard to make it that way.  They will be quite angry if things aren't going the way they think things should be and absolutely hate not being in charge or having power.

Naturally, I'm the first type of person.  I prefer to sit back, take life as it comes, and when there's challenges just accept them (or ignore them).  The problem is, I'm learning, that this isn't necessarily the right way to live.  You don't get very far being the first type of person.  You just coast along in life until things happen to you.

The second type of person is the kind of person who changes the world.  Those are the ones who are leaders, scholars, doctors, scientists.  They find problems and insist on fixing them instead of just living life with them.

Of course, this can get to the extreme.  There are those who are never satisfied, always unhappy, and always wishing things would be different but their ideals of the world are simply wrong.  I guess it's necessary to have a happy medium.

Lately, though, I've been working on making my way to the other end of the spectrum.  I mean, I'm happy in life, I love my job, I love where I am... but I've decided that maybe it's not enough.  And I've learned that the people who are most successful are the ones who open their mouths and say what they want and then work for it with all they have.

I hope I articulated this correctly.  It's hard to turn my brain into words sometimes.  But there you have it.  Two types of people.  Let's find the happy medium in between.

Disney Keepin' Us Healthy -- Flu Shots

I usually show up to work 20-30 minutes early.  This is primarily because I don't really trust the West Clock bus to get me to the tunnels in time, but also because, well, I like to be early.  Well today it worked out just perfectly for me to get there to do my biometric screening.  That's where they take you height, weight, blood pressure, blood, and other such stuff to figure out if you're healthy enough to get money!  Apparently, I'm healthier than I was in August which is the last time I did it, so that's good I guess. 

After they poked me with needles there, I found myself being pulled into another random room to be pressured into a flu shot.  It's funny because as I told the story to my roommate I realized how creepy it sounded.

I was walking through the tunnels on my break when this random guy in a doorway asked if I'd had the flu shot yet.

"....no." I said cautiously, frightfully aware of what was coming next.

"Well, you should get one!  We have ten left.  It'll only take a second!"

"But... but... I don't want a flu shot!" 

Okay, I realize how crazy that sounds.  But really.  I've gone without for the last five years at LEAST and been totally and completely fine.

This random guy convinced me.  I mean, it took less than five minutes, cost nothing, and the pinprick wasn't that big of a deal.

Now, however, a few hours later, I'm remembering the real reason I avoid these shots.  My arm hurts!!!  Oweee!!

I really want to be a drama queen about this, but the really sad part is that no one's here to listen to me whine!  I guess I'll just have to endure this pain alone!  Oh, woe is me!

Lesson Learned: Cupcakes

I got my sister-in-law into the parks earlier this week.  It was her birthday.  We did the whole DIsney birthday thing and got her a button and rode the rides and even went out to eat at the Sci Fi Dine in theater.  I got the salmon burger which was so stinking good!  But that's not part of the story.

So we were very full with our delicious meals but the server insisted on bringing a birthday cupcake to my sister-in-law.  She was stuffed, (and it didn't help that the family who was sitting in front of us, and who was on the Disney Dining plan, and didn't want their free desserts, offered us their desserts and we gladly accepted) so when the cupcake came, we didn't really know what to do.

The server, in all his server wisdom, offered a child's cup to put the cupcake in, and then put a lid on top!  Perfect fit!  Couldn't be better.  We stuffed the cup into my bag, lid on, of course, and continued on our happy way.  We enjoyed a great show of Fantasmic, made our way to EPCOT for Illuminations, and then headed to the car.  The cupcake was still perfectly in tact. 

And then.  It happened.  As I started driving, there was a small but very evil spider who decided to "harmlessly" crawl across my windshield.  I was driving!  I couldn't smush it all by myself!  So, I did the only thing I could.  Ask my older and supposedly wiser sister-in-law to smush it for me.

I forgot how much she didn't like spiders.

Oh she smushed that spider all right.  That thing was dead as... as..... something really, really dead.  It was completely and utterly decapitated.

Unfortunately, she decided to use my bag in the process.  And the spider wasn't the only thing that ended upbeing smushed and decapitated.

That's right.  The free birthday cupcake, in all its glory was nothing but a pile of mush.  Not only that, but the gooey innard got all over my bag, wallet, trading pins, SOMK cards, nametag, etc. etc. etc.

Moral of the story?  When you get a birthday cupcake, eat it.  Eat it NOW. 

You Might Be A Disney Cast Member If...

Someone else posted something like this.  But I didn't really love their list very much.  So I decided to make my own!  Here goes:

1.  You know terms like CDS, ER, EHH, 101, "Can you 45 me at...?", MiSiCi, DAK, Flik Card, FOLK, TOTS, and "lunch."

2. You can't figure out what day of the week it is.  You're lucky if you keep track of day versus night. Have you ever tried calling in to work only to find out that you don't even have a shift that day?  Yeah, that happens.

3.  You find yourself spouting off random facts and stories as you knowledgeably walk through the park with your non-Disney CM friends.

4. You automatically tell people "Happy Birthday!" "Happy anniversary!"  etc. every time you see the pin whether you're in costume or not.  This can get awkward.  "Hi princess!  Happy birthday!"  Little girl: "Mommy!  The weird person is getting into my personal space!"

5.  You're sick of eating Subway.  And quite possibly Aramark burgers.

6. You see characters backstage and it's no big thing.  But onstage it's like, "Oh my gosh!!! It's MICKEY MOUSE!!! Can I get your autograph?"

7. You accidentally on purpose sing along with Wishes, Illuminations, Fantasmic, and other shows.  If you're not singing out loud you're probably mouthing the words along with the characters or saying the lines before they're spoken out loud.  This same principle goes for rides such as the Haunted Mansion

8.  Wednesday you have no money at all.  Thursday's all "Woooo!! Paaaarty!"

9.  You have a love-hate relationship with the CPs.  You love them because they work those hours you don't want.  You hate them because, well, they're CPs.  If you're a CP this principle is reversed.  You hate being a CP because you get the terrible hours.  You love it because hey, CP!

10.  You've heard the words, "You have ruined my entire Disney vacation!" at least fourteen times.  "I'm going to Guest Relations!" is another common one.

11.  Can the West Clock bus please get different music?

12. You don't plan to wear your Disney clothes to play at Disney World.  It just happens naturally.  Guests on the other hand, plan this picture with their kids with Mickey Mouse while they're wearing their cute Mickey Mouse onesie. 

13. When you see knock offs of Disney merchandise you can't help think "That's not right!"  Walking through Wal-mart and see the Mickey stuffed animals.  "But he doesn't LOOK like that!"

14. You talk bad about Disney all the time backstage, but if you overhear a guest talking bad about your park it's the end of the world.  You just don't understand how we run!  You have no idea how efficiently this line is moving.  Stop complaining about the eighty minute wait!

15.  The Disney point.  The Disney scoop. The Basics.  Offering to take a picture for guests.  Giving directions and answering questions.    Disney behaviors make it into your everyday life.

I love my job!

Disney CM Hours

I don't actually know how many posts like this I've done.

The other night I got on the bus back to the parking lot to overhear some Casey's Corner CMs talking to each other.  Now, let's note here that I get off at midnight, every night pretty much.  If I get off at 10 or 11pm, that's early.

Well, these kids were talking and I overheard the girl mentioning, "Man, we're out so early.  What are we going to do with the rest of the night!?"  I looked up.  "Early?"  "Yeah, seriously.  We're normally here til 2 or 3!  This is just so great!"

I no longer feel bad for getting out at midnight each night.

Although, I do feel bad when I work the 9am-midnight shifts.  In Disneys defense though, I sort of asked for it.

The Tunnels

A note to Disney-goers: The Tunnels of the Magic Kingdom are real.

It blows my mind sometimes that people still don't really believe that they actually exist.  And to be honest, I LOVE that mystery about Disney World.  There's just so much magic and mystery that people can't really be totally sure of what's going on.

Well, I wander these tunnels a lot.  Every day, pretty much.  Usually I'm just trying to get a teeny bit of exercise on my break or something.  I really enjoy walking around the tunnels though.  I still sometimes get a little lost.  Especially when I'm lost in thought, not paying any attention and then suddenly I hear what sounds like thunder right above my head shaking the ground and I can hear people screaming (Okay, if there's screaming I'm probably under Stitch, if it's just a rumbling sound I'm probably just under the Hall of Presidents or Philharmagic).  Still, the Tunnels have their own magic as well, and I love it.

Grand Floridian and NGE (Next Generation Experience) Test

Remember that one time I told you to look out for a post on me staying in the Grand?  Like a week ago?  Yeah, that was awesome.  I never got around to writing it because I was too busy.

And the sad fact is... I'm still too busy.  But I'm forcing myself to write for the next few minutes because, seriously, last weekend was stinking awesome.

This is a Magic Band, for those who don't know.  It's awesome.  It's ingenious.   It's next generation! (and this one happens to have my name on it... spelled correctly!)

 Last weekend, my friend Sami got to do a play test for these little beauties.  The Magic Band is the new, upcoming way to "experience Disney."  It has a little chip inside that can be used for everything.  I mean everything.

We used it to open the door to our Resort room (no more key cards).  It had a days worth of park hopper tickets on it, so we used it to get into the park (just tap it to the new turnstile and it turns green and you walk in!).  We used it as Fastpasses that we set up using out Smartphones (or you can plan your Fastpasses on a computer at home or at Guest Relations).  We rode Coaster and Star Tours... and I feel like one other ride but I can't remember now.

You can even hook these things up to your credit card so you can charge things to it!  And these will have Photopass on them eventually so you can have the park Photographers take pictures for you and view them later.  Ingenious I tell you.  Incredible.  Brilliant.

Also, it should be noted that they're not uncomfortable.  I actually slept with my Magic Band on by accident (I forgot it was there and forgot to take it off).  And they're dang sturdy.  We went swimming with them and everything.

But back to the Grand Floridian.

 I don't have as many wonderful things to say about this place.  I mean, it was Grand, for sure.

 I just don't know that I'd want to pay a thousand dollars a night to stay here.

 The room was beautiful, though.  As was the rest of the hotel.  And the pool was fun.  We went down the waterslide like five times... yep, we were right there in line with all the seven year olds.  It was awesome.

 I liked the room, but it reminded me a lot of a Marriott.  I've been spoiled in my life.

 I looooooved the Mickey Mouse touches though.  Definitely my favorite part!

 There were hidden Mickeys EVERYWHERE.  I loved it!

And I have to say it was pretty awesome to see Disney World from our window! We watched the fireworks on the beach.

Anyway.  The point of this post is:

1. The Grand Floridian was nice, big, and beautiful, but I wouldn't necessarily pay an arm and a leg to stay there.

2. Magic Bands are incredible. 

We ran into a couple of trips here and there.  They didn't bother me, but really seemed to bother my friend.  However, it was her website and her project and when we ran into the issues, she knew how to fix them and just couldn't because she wasn't at work so it was frustrating for her.

I had a great time though.  This whole Magic Band thing is incredible!  I know people are all freaked out about "What if I lose it?"  "What if someone steals it?"  "I don't want Disney having all my information!"  But really, once you get to know the system you realize there are ways around it.  The chip inside the band is deactivatable (is that a word?) and doesn't actually store your information so you can cancel it and clear the chip any time.

What bothers me most about it is that now you actually have to plan your day to use Fastpasses so you're constantly watching the time making sure you're in the right place at the right time.  And it scares me how easy it is to pay.  I mean, really. I literally tapped the band to the register and BOOM! my meal was paid for.

Freaky!

Grand Floridian

Stay tuned for a post this weekend about my stay at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa.



I just looked on the website and a one night stay starts at $652 plus tax.  During the Holidays, Cast Members can sometimes get a discount making it more in the $450/night area-ish (the prices of the rooms go up during Holidays so really it's a BIG discount off the normal price at that time).  Keep in mind, this is the cheapest room possible.



Except this weekend my friends and I won't be paying a few hundred dollars.  No, we are the luckiest people ever!  We get to stay for a night at the Grand for the grand price of free.

That's right.  Free.

The catch?  We have to use our free Magic Bands the next day at the parks as Fastpasses to make sure the system works.

I'm not even kidding, people.

My life is amazing.

Office Woes

I made a mistake yesterday.  A very embarrassing mistake.

I misspelled my own name.

No no.  Not just that.  I misspelled my own name on my signature to my emails from a certain computer in our office.  Meaning, that every email I sent out to people... professional emails... from our team's inbox, which is professional, I have a very definite misspelled name.

So. Embarrassing.

Fortunately, I caught the mistake.  I think I recovered all the emails I sent out and fixed it all.

There's a guy in the office who likes to tease me for being blonde. (PS, I'm not blonde... not visually anyway)

"How could you misspell your own name?!"  He asked me, laughing, "Wow... just wow..."

For those curious I accidentally hit the 'm' twice as the last letter of my last name.  That's all.

I'm gonna go crawl under a rock now.  Don't mind me.

On Life

When it comes to making big decisions in life, there are two parts of me that pull me in two different directions.

There's the human, lazy side of me that wants to go the easy way.  I'd rather not have responsibilities and appointments and relationships.  I'd rather spend my days at home, relaxing with not a care or stress in the world.  And chocolate.  Lots of chocolate.

Then there's the realistic side of me.  The part that realizes that if I really did live that way, I'd be depressed and pathetic.  The realistic side of me loves to have things to do, to feel needed and wanted.  It makes me feel busier than I can handle at some times.  And yes, it gets me to the point of being angry and stressed... but I guess sometimes I'd rather have stronger emotions than none at all... right?

Well.  This week I finally made it to full time status in my job.  I actually got it last Sunday but they weren't able to tell me until yesterday.  Long story.

Regardless, as excited as I was to get to that point, I suddenly thought, "Great! ............now what?"  Now what do I work for?

To be honest, I absolutely LOVE my life right now.  I love my job and the people I work with.  I love Disney and getting to play there.  I love Florida and the beaches.  I love all the opportunity for parties and places to go around here!  I love Give Kids the World and the volunteer work I do there and the incredible people that I meet there.  I love my church, my friends, my apartment, the weather, the shopping, and did I mention?  Disney!

I just want it all to freeze right here right now.  I want to spend my free time playing with my friends, and my work time... well... playing with my friends! (okay yeah, I actually work too, haha)  I want my life to continue in this (mostly) stress free world full of Disney World and joy.

But the realistic part of me realizes I need to keep going.  Keep moving forward.  Keep opening new doors and finding new things.  Keep learning and growing.  Keep meeting new people and making new relationships.  Keep creating.  Keep thinking.

Well, the good part, I guess, is that the realistic part of me usually wins.  I won't go into detail, but I'm working on opening new doors.

I love this part of my life!  Love love love love love it!

Sometimes Slow

I made a comment tonight at work about "that time I went to China."  The guy sitting across from me apparently didn't realize I had been there and asked, shocked, "Wow.  You went to China!?" 

The guy down the row a little who likes to joke said, "Yeah, she got on a bus, fell asleep, and went a bit too far."

The first guy replied, completely seriously, "Oh.  I didn't realize busses went to China."

This is my life, people.

Cast Members Overheard: Part 2?

I heard this woman talking in the bathroom earlier.  Okay, maybe a more awkward first sentence of a blog post... anyway.  She was talking to some older woman and said, "Oh no! I forgot all about that.  Man I'm just like... that... umm... you know... Dora!"  "Dora?  Who's that?" "You know, the fish from that movie who forgets everything?"  "Oh yeah!  I forgot about that!"

Neither woman seemed to realize there is no fish in "that movie" named Dora.  They're just as bad as Dory...

My friend was telling me about a special projection video in EPCOT.  She told me, "It will be Mike Sassoki!"  I was thinking it was some famous announcer guy... I replied, "Who's Mike Sassoki?"  "You know... the guy from the Monster movie?"  "Mike Wazowski?" "Oh yeah, that's the one!"

I mean, I guess you could almost use the "Pixar Animation" excuse.  But really guys?  Really?

In other news I rode the Mermaid ride again today.  That was a good time.  I still can't figure out the interactive queue where you're supposed to point at the objects on the screen? Ah well.  I still can't wait for the Dwarf Mine ride to be open!!!

Universal Studios

A friend of a friend of mine happens to work at Universal Studios so we just happened to come across some free tickets last week.  Good times!

Mostly.

Well, I don't really have any pictures because we were only there a few hours and I didn't bring my camera.  We were there for the All American Rejects concert.  A band that I remember listening to with my sister in the car while we went joy riding drove responsibly to and from church activities that my parents were always aware of.

In person... these guys were not so good.  Or maybe just the sound quality of the stage killed it.  But the band was difficult to hear and the main guy (I love the band, but honestly have no clue of any of their names) looked just... gross.  Disheveled hair in a wife beater all sweaty and unshaven.  He slipped a time or two saying a swear word and made some jokes about "Oh, oops, family park..."  Great.  So professional.  Ah well, I guess bands just aren't professional.

Man, I feel like I'm talking like an eighty year old.

Anyway, the rides were fun!  We rode MIB.  It's one of those rides where you get a gun and you shoot the aliens to boost the score up.  The average of our ride vehicle was around 356,000.  (six people in the vehicle)  Sami's score was 126,500.  I would have made fun of her... but my score was 7,800.  Yes, only four digits.  Not six.  Not even five.  Shut up.  I suck at those games.

We rode the Mummy which was my favorite.  Incredibly well done roller coaster with a surprise and a twist.  And there was a ride/show thing that was hilarious where they get members of the audience to participate.  Sami and I felt like snobs picking apart and judging every ride and all the details assigning points between Disney and Universal.  It was definitely a good time.  We did all the awesome rides except the really huge roller coaster.  I guess I'll just have to save that for next time!  It's really nice to visit other parks and get that "fresh" theme park feeling of something new again.

But I still love Disney.

And that was my awesome Saturday in Universal Studios.  How awesome was your weekend?

I Work At Disney!

I was really bummed out yesterday about not getting full time, especially after finding out that two people who I thought were behind me on the list to go full time both received full time.  Not cool.

Then I remembered that I work at Disney World.  And I love the people I work with.  And I got free ice cream on my break.  And as I left the fireworks were going off.  Ya know, no big thing.  I just get to see the MK fireworks every day!  And I have awesome friends.  And I live in Florida.  And the weather has been great recently.  And we still have free access to the waterparks, which is always awesome!

However, in case you're wondering, I'm still not going to be full time for a while.  The negative is that I wont have the benefits. The positive is that I will continue to have Sat/Sun off, which is actually really, really nice.  And I know I'm going to lose that if/when I go full time.

Florida Living 101

I went to the gym today, and after a few minutes of running I noticed a sharp pain in my chest.  I was slightly worried, but continued running for a bit.  It didn't seem too bad as I had no trouble breathing (at least, not worse than what's normal for running), it wasn't radiating and it wasn't a tight pain or anything.  Just a sharp, piercing pain in my chest.

After a minute or so I finally reached my hand up to touch my neck just as a natural instinct to the pain.  Immediately, I realized where the sharp pain was coming from.

Stupid sunburn.  My shirt was rubbing against it as I ran and it hurt! It was from my shift at Blizzard Beach on Monday.

First sunburn of the year.  I guess it's time to break out the sunscreen and aloe.  Boy, I love Florida!

Onstage Again!

I got to work on stage this morning.  I've been looking forward to this shift for *weeks* now.  No joke.  I know it sounds crazy, but I miss talking with the guests and having funny stories.  My office gets a little boring sometimes (part of the reason I don't write much about it).

Anyway, I got to work the "lost children" and information booth at Blizzard Beach this morning.  As parents passed by with their kids entering the parks they'd stop their kids and point and say, "This is where you come if you get lost, okay?"

I probably heard that a million times.  The fact is, though, if the kid gets lost it's really the parents who need to know where our hut is, because any lost child will be collected by a Cast Member and taken there.  It's the parent who is expected to find their way back to pick up the lost child.

My favorite, though, was that dad that stopped his son and pointed and said, "Okay buddy.  This is where they're gonna take you when you get lost."

When?  Really?

I love working with the guests!  I really do miss it sometimes!