The Longest Post Ever

So much to write about I really don't even know where to begin. Just a warning, this'll probably be a super long, unorganized post.

I love my job. I work in three places. Imagination is the ride with Figment and I work in the store the guests go through after the ride. Today a little girl ran up to our table with the Figments and started hugging one. Her dad came right up behind her and said, "No honey. We are not buying the stuffed animal of the guy you've been crying at for the last ten minutes." Apparently she didn't like the ride.

Imagination is also the place where we take the pictures of guests and make it so they're flying over the castle or swimming with Nemo. Some of the pictures we can actually make a puzzle where you're sitting beside Hannah Montana and such. It's so fun.

The Land is another place I work and it's probably my least favorite mainly because I'm all alone there. It's a very small shop that mainly just sells candy. It's pretty slow and there's only one register so whoever's there is the only one there. Which means if we get low on something or have to restock, I can't do it because I can't go upstairs and leave the register.

Stickers. I give out stickers a lot though. I got bored of simply handing them out so I started making little kids earn their stickers. Today I saw a little boy maybe about 2 or 3. I went up to him and asked if he wanted a sticker and he smiled and said yes. So I told him he had to answer a special question first. "What movie is the fish Nemo from?" I wanted him to be able to answer it. He sat quietly for a second and just as I was getting worried he didn't know he said in the cutest voice, "Fineen Neenooooooo!" I gave him his sticker and he gave this way excited squeal and ran to show his parents. So stinkin' cute! I ask older kids harder questions like "What country did the girl who cut her hair and joined the army live in?" or I'll ask "What color are Figment's horns?"

Love it!

I also trade pins all the time. I have twelve at all times and if a kid wants to trade I have to trade. At this point I haven't really gotten "addicted" or anything. I don't feel like spending my money on that stuff. But it is fun while I'm at work.

I'm writing a lot about work because I'm on an eleven day working streak right now. But stuff happens outside of work. My friend Lis was just diagnosed with the swine flu. I spend a lot of time at her apartment and with her roommies so here's to hoping it doesn't spread to all of us!

I went to Walmart last night and on the way home I heard a loud crash and saw a bright red light in my rearview mirror. As much as I wanted to look I refused and kept my eyes on the road because I definitely did not want that to be me. A few seconds later a white car sped past me leaving chunks of white metal behind in it's path and weaving in and out of the heavy traffic. Totally freaked me out but my car's okay and I'm okay. I don't even know what he hit but I'm glad it wasn't me.

EPCOT's Illuminations. The park I work in and I can hear this show every night I'm working and have seen it several times and plan to see it several more.



It's extremely hard to get pictures because everything's is pretty much always moving and it's dark so you have to hold the camera super still.








The finale of Illuminations. The sky becomes so stinkin' bright it's incredible!








Front to back: Me, Heather, Lis, Charlene, and Natalie. I told everyone to smile and we were gonna do a picture. Apparently Heathers the only one who picked up on it though. Natalie kinda knew what I said but... yeeaaah. Anyway... We always like to sit in the back of the bus so we can all sit beside each other.




We asked the custodian to take our picture in Hollywood Studios. Natalie, Heather, me and Lis. Natalie and Heather both work in this park so they were our guides for the day.



Go Mickey!



Still in Hollywood, we watched Beauty and the Beast show which is when my camera died so I have no more pictures of that day. Bummer too because the Jedi training where the little kids get to fight Darth Vader with light sabers was super awesome!







Fantasmic. Heather's favorite show and the show for Hollywood. They spray water up and you can watch a show on the water as it's being sprayed. Incredible.









Lis, me and Heather. We tried to take this picture like a billion times and never got it perfect. This was maybe the best. Meh. We were in the back of the bus.



An amazing game while waiting to get on Soarin'. You can see our bodies on the walls and the goal was to pop the colored bubbles. So cool!



Amazing finale to "Wishes" the Magic Kingdom show. You can see more pictures of that show lower.



My costume for the land. The most boring of the three costumes and my training costume. The others are cooler. I promise.



Natalie and I in front of Animal Kingdom.



Natalie, Charlene, me and Kelly in front of one of the two most awesome rides in AK.



This is right before we went to the parks to play for the first time. Natalie, me and Kelly. We went to MK and it was amazing. We were super excited, but weren't close enough socially yet to act as insanely childishly excited as we were on the inside!



Wishes again...















Kelly was so funny. She wanted her picture in front of the roller coaster while it was coming down. She turned around to watch for it and as soon as we saw it come she got really excited, whirled around and made this face of utter excitement. I'm still laughing. So cute!

Random Stories and Work Stuff

I really do keep up with everyone else's blogs. Really I do. I follow everyone's blog who I know has one as well as a handful of extra blogs I've found along the way. But I hardly ever comment.

So there's that. I don't even know why I had to write that... whatever.

Work is amazing. I love it. I hardly have any free time at all and the little bits that I do have is spent playing with friends. My life is so freakin' awesome!

I worked a ten hour shift yesterday.

I'm on day three of my eleven day working streak right now. I started working Tuesday and don't get a day off until next Saturday. Tomorrow I work from 4:30pm until 1:30am. Goody.

We give out sticker to little kids at work. I got sick of just simply walking up to kids and being like, "Hey dude. Want a sticker?" So I started making kids earn their stickers. One little girl (I bet she was about one or two) I asked to make a face like a fish. This was when I was working "The Seas" so I was trying to stay on subject. I don't think she got what I meant so I sucked in my cheeks to show her. She tried to copy me and made the most adorable face I think I've ever seen. It was so cute and her mom and I started laughing and I gave her a sticker. She was so cute! Some other girls came in today a bit older. I was in Imagination and couldn't think of any "on topic" questions so I just asked them general Disney trivia. It was all really simple since a) they were very young and b) I don't even know that much Disney trivia. I think the kids are happier when they actually do something to earn their stickers though... but I still just handed out a bunch.

We also do this thing called "Magical Moments" with the guests. One "Magical Moment" is that we play tic-tac-toe. We get a lot of international guests, but I've learned how to point and grunt to the point where just about anyone from any country can understand what game I'm trying to play. The kids love it. One little boy (probably like 8) beat the junk out of me like three times in a row. It was pathetic. I gave him an arms length of stickers for that. He was smart!

The power went out in WalMart yesterday. Or maybe the day before... I get my days mixed up.

Anyway, I can't even begin to put everything that's happening in my life on here so that'll have to do for now. Bye!

Scarred For Life

We had a slumber party the other night. We stayed up late watching Disney movies (well, okay it was just one, Hercules) and then in the morning we decided we wanted to wake up early and go to Hollywood Studios (what used to be MGM Studios for those that don't know). That way we could avoid the crowds, but we'd have to wake up around 7 or 8am.

So the next morning my friend gets up and gets a drink of water while were all still sleeping on the floor right by the kitchen. Heather pours her glass and then shakes it.

After hearing the water slosh around in the glass I was up and ready for the day immediately.

Thanks Mom. Thanks a lot.

In other news, Hollywood Studios is an amazing place to hang out. We went on Rock n' Roller Coaster three times as well as Tower of Terror three times. So freakin' awesome! We also saw a bunch of shows like Beauty and the Beast and Lights, Motors, Action!

I have a gazillion pictures but won't post them now cuz I have to get to work.

Today At Work...

At work today a very nice man came in who had just been scuba diving in one of our tanks. I chatted with him as I sold him our SCUBA DVD and he went on his way.

He came back just a few minutes later. He asked if there was any way I could get him back up to the SCUBA locker rooms (which were now locked because that was closed) because he left his glasses up there.

I glanced up at the glasses sitting on his head and then back into his eyes.

I asked if it was his goggles that he left in the changing room. "No." he replied, "They're just my glasses. I searched all my bags time after time but I must have just left them up there."

Again, I glanced at the glasses sitting on top of his head hoping he'd follow my eyes that were continually moving up there. I still wasn't sure he had another pair of glasses, and I really couldn't think of any way to let him know they were on his head without making at least one of us feel stupid. Finally (mostly because I truly had no clue how to get him back up to the locker rooms) I asked him if he was looking for the same pair of glasses that were on his head.

He looked confused for a second and then slowly moved his hand up to his head, rolled his eyes... and the rest is history.

And that's how I got my boss to like me. :)

All the Goings On

All day long I think of thing after thing to post on here but then I sit down to post and I can't ever think of anything.

I got off work at 10:30 tonight. I took my final assessment and passed so I'm now able to pick up any Merchandise shifts anywhere in any of the parks or resorts on Disney property. Tomorrow I learn how to do photo image editing and learn how to take pictures of the guests and make puzzles and stuff. I'm soooo excited for that! It should be easy to pick up shifts because there's such a huge variety of locations where I can work. I could pick up a shift next Monday, but I'm still not totally comfortable with knowing the system well enough to pick up shifts. Maybe next week. I'm already scheduled for 41 hours next week! Yippee!!

All my free time is spent playing in the parks or sleeping. That's like, all I ever do. It's amazing. Today I went to play in EPCOT with Kelly before my shift started at 2pm. We went this morning so I basically spent like twelve hours in EPCOT.

Other things I'm gonna mention but realistically will never talk about are...

all the little kids I do pin trading with... one little girl started kissing the new chip and dale pin I traded to her yesterday, sooo cute!

how much I freakin' LOVE Disney World

I signed up for a People Management class starting in October and am super excited

I went on Mission Space and almost puked

It rains a lot here

I love free Coke from various countries

I got my new Driver's License in the mail and I hate it cuz it's ugly and the pictures sucks

I still haven't gotten in touch with the window fixer guy (no phone numbers work) and will now be known as "the girl whose window is broken" to the security guards at the front gate

Tuesday night is Papa Johns pizza night because we get 40% off there on Tuesdays (well, that hasn't actually happened yet because we didn't know until too late but maybe next Tuesday)

My roommate just took a picture of what she's eating because she "had all of the food groups" and "wanted to document it." Makes me laugh because I'd probably do the same if I ate cantelope, chicken and green beans in one go. Usually I blend my foods together cuz it's soooo much easier that way. Not those foods though because cantelope is gross.

I can't wait to go beneath Magic Kingdom

I haven't been sunburned yet but my tan has been getting darker! Yay!

There's a shuttle taking off tonight and apparently they built Mission Space so you could stand on one side of it and see the shuttle taking off in the distance and it looks like it's taking off from the building Mission Space (which looks like a planet so it's super cool). But yeah, the launch takes place at 11:59 tonight. Yay!

Pictures will come soon. I'm dying of tired right now but I don't work until noon tomorrow so I thought I'd update. But I'm gonna go now. So bye!

Hard To Keep Up

I'm determined to continue posting on here as much as possible. Mostly for my own sake, but I guess my fans might benefit a tiny bit too. Maybe. Haha, yeah right.

There's just so much to say there's no way I could include it all in my limited time to document. Seriously, the only time that I've had to write on here has been when I'm cooking at home. Not much. Hmm...

I went to a class called Merchantainment today. Yesterday's training was completely one-on-one and was super fun! I loved it and got to go all around my work areas. I'm working in Imagination, The Land, and The Seas. We went in all the employee areas!

We're going to EPCOT for my first play time there tonight.

Oh, kay. Gotta go... maybe I'll write later.

Lesson Learned

Don't leave your brand new box of dryer sheets in the laundry room even if you're only gone for fifteen minutes. They'll be stolen, however if your robber is nice enough, he/she may leave a single dryer sheet so that at least you can finish your laundry (thank you robber).

Fortunately, I had the sense of mind to bring my phone, keys, and card w/ money on it with me because I knew that anything and everything I left unattended was subject to being stolen. But dryer sheets? Really? Jerk...

In other news we played in Animal Kingdom all day yesterday. I called Gina, my friend from Idaho who worked in Animal Kingdom and she became our personal tour guide practically telling us where to go and how to get there. We did "It's Tough To Be A Bug" in the tree first. Natalie and Kelly had never seen it and even though I had, it was still hilarious and I was glad they enjoyed it. We did the Kali River Rapids ride and Kelly and I were the only two on the entire boat of eight that got totally soaked to the bone. So not fair! But at least we were cooled off. We also rode "Dinosaur" which I'm embarrassed to say actually scared me. We rode Everest and I screamed the whole time because it was fun. We rode Dinosaur and I screamed the whole time cuz I thought I would die. So amazing!

Then I came home and was so tired I just collapsed on my bed and slept for almost two hours. I had been texting a friend and I actually heard the phone go off a couple of times while I was laying there, but I didn't have the energy to answer it.

The I got up and ate too man cheez-its and felt sick. I did laundry and went to my friends apartment because I didn't want to go upstairs to my apartment. It was a fun night. My body woke up at 7 this morning and I couldn't get back to sleep and my bus doesn't leave for another half hour. I get to work all day today AND it's my first day actually in costume! Yay!

Tidbits

We went to the MK again last night because it stayed open the latest.

Church is held in a hotel. I made four friends today by driving them there this morning and one invited me over to dinner tonight.

I'm eating Ramen and veggies with my fingers because all our forks are dirty.

All roomies are out at work and I'm sort of bored...

Playin' in the Parks!

I got to take my Traditions class yesterday. Afterward, we hurried home and changed clothes (it was professional dress) and went to the Magic Kingdom!

We hadn't really eaten all day so we ate a little in the MK and then rode a few rides (Thunder Mountain RR, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tiki Room-not really a ride, and the Haunted Mansion were just some of them) and watched the fireworks show which was so totally AMAZING! As we left the parade was beginning, but we didn't stay because two of us had to be awake really early this morning for training.

On the way out I had my bus schedule in hand as we went back to where the buses dropped us off. It takes a long time to get in the parks because the buses drop us off but we still have to ride the tram. Actually, on the way in we had to ask a guest for directions because we couldn't find the trams... needless to say we didn't tell him we worked there. Anyway, as we left I had my map out and we were searching for our bus. Then one of the worker men called me over. He leaned in close to my ear and said quietly, "You a cast member?" Worried I was in trouble I slowly nodded and folded up my map. But of course, no worries. He pretty much could tell I was brand new and had no clue where the bus was. He pointed to a small group of people in the middle of the parking lot and told me that that was where I needed to be if I wanted to go home tonight. I told my friends who were with me and we all went out there. I don't know what we'd have done if he didn't notice my map and the fact that we were all hopelessly lost.

This morning I got up bright and early and had to be at EPCOT by 8am. It's about an hour to get there by bus so I was out by 7. Part of the training was classroom, but the majority was out into the parks. We got a full tour of EPCOT. We even went on the Spaceship Earth ride in the giant golf ball!

We also went on a boat tour in the lagoon as we learned more about the park. So much fun!

Oh, and I got my costume today. I'll actually have three that I'll switch around. Part of my work area will be the "Living Seas" (that's for Dad!) but it's now something like "Nemo and Friends Sea Adventures" or something. Eh. Whatever. I had to go buy new shoes AND socks (I needed black socks). That was lame, but hey, I'm prepared!

Now I'm waiting for my friend to get off work so we can go to the parks. As tired as I am (I got like 5 hours of sleep last night) I really want to go play still. We're planning on going to Hollywood Studios today because Kelly wanted to ride the Tower of Terror. I can't wait to ride "Test Track" in EPCOT because it's supposed to be the fastest ride at the whole resort.

Anyway, I'm gonna go clean a bit now.

Amazing Day... And I'm Not Even in the Parks Yet!

Since I finished all my meetings yesterday, I had today off. Meaning nothing to do. I slept in. All the way until 8:15. Yeah. Pathetic.

So I got up but our beds are super noisy so I woke up my roommate as I rolled out of bed, I think. Oh well. I grabbed breakfast and my roommate went to take a shower. Except the hot water wasn't working. Eventually we realized that it's just that the hot and cold waters are mixed up. You have to turn it to cold to make it hot. My old apartment was like this too, so it's not really a big change to me. The lights also took forever to get bright in the bathroom, but it turns out they're special "earth energy" lights that are supposed to do that.

Don't get me wrong, our apartments are SO TOTALLY AWESOME!!! I LOVE where I'm living. While two of my roommates were in a meeting, I went with Natalie to explore the property. We walked by the pool and walked around Mickey's Retreat (which is tons of play area, but only for a group bigger than the two of us), we checked out the weight rooms and the clubhouse and figured out how to get some other places. We learned more and more of our benefits for working here.

We took an inventory of the stuff in our apartment and it turns out we were missing quite a lot (mostly just dishes and kitchen stuff). We took the paper down to the front desk and the lady thanked us so we turned to leave. "Don't you want your stuff?" she asked us. We didn't realize they would give it to us right there, no questions asked. Especially since we were missing so much, we figured they would think we just missed an area of the kitchen. But no, we got it all within a few minutes.

On that sheet we also put the problems within our apartment. Within two hours we had a maintenance man at our door and it was fixed. Incredible service!

Now if only the internet would be a little nicer...

I was going to Walmart to get some stuff I'd forgotten and brought Kelly and some other friends along. That took forever, but I'm glad I have vegetables now!

The pool party was from 6-8pm. Free pizza. I was definitely there! It was Star Wars themed and they had all you can eat pizza, chips, soft drinks, and ice cream! All kinds of Star Wars characters were there and they blasted Star Wars music. It was amazing. Our $100 program fee at work! Now I can say that I've been to a real college party.BYU-Idaho just doesn't count. Haha! :) There's a Twilight movie night next week with popcorn and drinks.

We left after about an hour (after Natalie answered one of the trivia questions and won a free beach ball and we got our pictures with Jedi Mickey and Luke and Leia... I wanted the storm trooper but we couldn't find him again) and went to our own pool in Chatham (the party was in Patterson). We went swimming here because there were less people. I'm not sure we'd have fit in the pool at the party at Patterson. But it was just so cool.

We hung out at the pool for a looooong time. We were alone in the beginning but as the night came it grew more and more popular. After a while of hanging out there we finally left. It's been a pretty relaxing, slightly boring, yet fun day. We keep talking about how tomorrow we'll finally be allowed in the parks and we're all super excited about it. Tomorrow things will probably start getting busy and I may be too busy to blog. Maybe. Hopefully. We shall see. I have both Sunday and Monday off at this point so maybe I can spend those days playing. We'll see. Anyway, I'm super tired, I may even go to bed soon. Hopefully soon I'll make friends and then not be lame enough to go to bed before ten at night! Haha!

First Day

First day on the Disney College Program. What a day!

I'm torn on how I should write this post. Do I include every detail? Just the "important" stuff? Nothing? I dunno.

I have three roommates. One is Merchandise like me and the other two are in Quick Service Food and Beverage. We are all at different locations.

I will take my "Traditions" class on Friday and then my first day of training is Saturday and my second day of training will be Tuesday. Meaning Sunday and Monday I will have off!

I got a wonderful location. I'm so totally the luckiest kid in the world by this. I met one girl who's merchandise like me but was put in the "Magical World of Sports" or something. I felt bad because she was really bummed by it. But hey! It's Disney World! And everyone's happy! For now.......

I'm mostly moved in. I've had meeting after meeting after meeting and received paper after paper after paper. But it's over... at least til Friday. Our apartment complex is awesome. More later.

Oh yeah, and my location. Wanna know where I'm working? Heehee, I saved the best til last! But in case you were wondering I'm in EPCOT, Future World West Side. Woot woot!!!!

Emotional... Sort of...

I won't be updating this for a while because we're leaving tomorrow right after church. But the next time I do update this (probably) will be when I'm in Orlando and will, hopefully, know where I'll be working. I reeeeeally hope it's the Magic Kingdom. We'll see.

In the meantime, as with any big time my life (I have traveled to Europe a few times and been on numerous other vacations and have traveled out to college for the first time 100% alone) I'm getting that mix of ten thousand emotions.

For anyone who knew me when I was 12 you'll know I'm the queen of worrying. I've been worried about whether this isn't going to be all it was cracked up to be, that no one will like me, that something will stop me from making it down there, that the work will be way beyond my ability, that I won't be friendly enough and I'll get kicked out, that I'll somehow hurt myself or get in an accident and be sent home or unable to work, that I'll be put in AK and get next to no hours and not be able to pick up any shifts... and then I realize I'm having Kindergarten worries all over again. Pathetic!

Don't worry, cuz I'm not. I am a little scared but I'm sure I'll get over it. I'm more excited than anything. Excited to be in a new place and see how Disney World has changed since I was little, see new places, experience the magic, know what it's like to work in a place like that, to go to the beach and go swimming, to learn the new area, to live in Florida, to meet new people my age who will be a bit more normal than BYU-I kids, to learn my discounts and go to the parks and most of all have FUN!

I'm also feeling extremely privileged. And lucky I suppose could and should go along with that seeing as how this address does remind you all that I'm the luckiest kid ever! I'm privileged to be a part of the Disney program and lucky enough to have been raised in a place where my parents don't make me feel bad for leaving and they don't hover. Lucky enough to have been blessed with a sense of adventure and a love for trying new things so that I can do this kind of thing. Lucky to have had the past experiences I have had so that I could get this job.

Yep, whether it's lucky, blessed, or privileged I don't know. But whatever it is, it's me!

My Past Week

Yes, I know my life's been utterly and unbelievably pathetic lately. Here are some pictures and hopefully the pictures that I post a week or two from today will be much more exciting!


Faraday. Sitting in MY chair. Giving me "The Look"



DC with Dad









Mom wanted chicken for dinner...



I was trying to make the farther chicken jump but didn't notice the one closer to me pecking my other hand with more food.



Faraday stole our food. And every time I put the pork in her food dish she insisted on taking it out and moving it back out into the hall for all to see.



VA Safari Park--we got some food and drove through and fed the animals.

In case you can't see... his head was in our car!






These stupid animals didn't seem to understand the meaning of "roadkill."





Black with white stripes? Orrrr... white with black stripes?



Tigers get into slap fights too!



Hey fatty! Wassup!!!

Less Than A Week! Disney Info

---I actually wrote this post last week but then didn't post it because I decided it was long and boring. But then I remembered. This is MY blog and I put what I want on here! So I guess this is just a warning that over the next two weeks or so there will probably be more incredibly long posts about Disney. Just letting you know!---

I thought I'd make this a super long blog post about Disney World and all I've found out about it. I'm mainly making it for personal reference, as well as the fact that if I have friends in the future who want to see my experience they can see it. I know I've wasted hours of my own time reading CP blogs of times past. (did I really just talk like that? wow...)

Okay, maybe I won't include all I've learned, but a portion.

Classes

While at Disney in the college program they have these classes by Disney that I'm allowed to take. There are two types of classes that you can take. Well, actually three.

The first, and the one that I immediately kicked out of my list of classes, is the major specific classes. I can't even remember the proper name of these classes because I figured out pretty quickly that I didn't qualify for them. But, for example, one of them was an "Animal Experience" type course for Pet or Wildlife majors. Stuff like that... yeah, I obviously know hardly anything about that one.

The second is the "Collegiate Classes." These are the ones that at a normal college you would get credit for taking. But since I go to BYU-I and BYU-I is a weirdy school I can't get credit for taking these. At the end of the program you get a "Ducktorate Degree" for completing one of these classes. They are typical business/management/finance type classes. Human Resources was the class here I was looking at taking. But I didn't want to deal with the pressure of 11 weeks worth of homework, exams, readings, projects, etc.

So I opted for the third choice. BTW, keep in mind here all of these classes are 100% optional. You don't have to take any of them. But I decided to in order to spice things up a bit. Anyway, the third choice is "Experiential Classes." These classes aren't really graded (although you have to attend and be good in order to pass). Only very rarely will a college give credit for these classes, but they look good on a resume and at the end of the program you receive your "Mouster's Degree" at graduation. Not quite as good as a Ducktorate, but hey! These classes don't require tons of homework and they don't have exams to study for. Instead it's like every week (for the 8 weeks that the course lasts) you go on a field trip behind the scenes of Disney World and learn how it works. In my case I'm planning on signing up for the People Management course, so I'll be learning about that. I think. I hope.

These classes are usually one day a week and about three-ish hours a day. Disney gives you at least one, usually two days off a week anyway. So they just plan for one of those two days to be your class day so you don't lose any hours unless you sign up for like a million classes. Although I think the limit is two so that's not even a problem.

Anyway, moving on.

Housing

I will be paying for my housing. It'll be right in the area of $90/week. They pull it directly out of the paycheck. The housing is freakin' INCREDIBLE! I'm hoping to be in a four person/two bedroom apartment. But they range from one bedroom to four bedroom (two people per bedroom). Anyway, each bedroom has it's own bathroom as well as a huge walk-in closet and it's own linen closet. Niiiice! Way better than where I'm living now! Plus, parking is free and I'll have a car. Transportation is also free, so I'll plan on taking buses to work and back. But for those late nights when I may be working ridiculous hours that don't go around bus hours, plus those random trips to the grocery store, a car will be super duper handy! Housing is really really nice, though. Just trust me. :)

My apartments will be right beside a nice lake that we can play at, along with tennis courts, a pool, weight room, etc. etc. etc. I can't even remember all the wonderful stuff it comes with. But trust me, it'll be nice. I hope...

Work

No, I haven't forgotten that I am going down there to work and have a job and earn money. I'm hoping to get extra hours and I hear that merchandise allows for many extra hours. I hope to work in the Magic Kingdom. But here's my list of the order of parks that I'd like to work in highest to lowest (these aren't necessarily my favorite parks, but for working purposes they are)

Magic Kingdom
EPCOT
MGM Studios
Downtown Disney
One of the Resorts (they have little shops)
Animal Kingdom

I won't be in the water parks. Probably a good thing. Animal Kingdom is the only on that I'm actually against being in, but if that's the worst thing that I have to put up with while I'm there, I think I'll survive.

The people I've met/seen/read about who worked merch said that they mostly worked evenings and worked super late sometimes into the night. Like, didn't get home until 3am kind of late. One girl said that on New Years Eve she work from 12(noon) until 3am the next morning. The good part of that? Super overtime! Anything over 8 hours in a row is overtime!

Benefits

As if all the stuff I've already stated wasn't benefits here we go...

Well, okay. I won't go through all my benefits because I might make some of you jealous (and because I don't even know all the benefits I'm gonna be dealing with) but suffice it to say it'll basically be discounts on a lot lot lot or stuff as well as free entry into the park anytime I want.

Check-In

My check-in day will be the 19th. There are a LOT of College Programmers (we call ourselves CPs for short). Around 3500 I hear. So check-in has to be spread over more than a month. We will leave VA on the 17th and be down there by the 19th. On check-in day I won't get paid (all you do is check in, give/get employment info, move into the apartment, sign up for classes, etc.) and the day after is pretty much a free day I hear so the first two days I won't get any pay. But the third day I have to attend this class called "Traditions" and it will be my first day of work. It's basically an "Intro to Disney" type class and that's when I will get my ID (so I start receiving benefits on that day) as well as figure out where I'll be working. After that I find out my area and begin work! And I get my ID and can start getting into the parks for free!!

So there's all I can think of for the moment. I hope it didn't bore too many to death. I've begun the process of packing and figuring out stuff to bring down there. If all goes as planned I'll be in Florida a week from today. And I totally can't wait!!!

Weather

On my IGoogle page I usually have a little block that tells me the weather. I used to just have my home here and Rexburg, ID on it. But then recently, for obvious reasons, I added Orlando, Florida.

It's supposed to rain there today. And tomorrow. And the day after. And yesterday. And every single day that I've had those little blocks on my IGoogle page! It has the little picture of rain. Every. Single. Day.

I guess I can take it off my page now and use the space.

I can predict the weather for Orlando every day from now on.

A Real Update... Mostly Disney!

I haven't updated in a while. I think it may actually be a record for me. Wow.

Well, okay, I mean a real update. Nothing's really been going on. Take the word "boring" and multiply it by like, a thousand. That would probably be my life right now.

Except for the fact that I'm moving to Disney next week. :)

We went to Washington DC last Saturday. "We" being my dad and me. We mainly just stayed on the mall and went to the Smithsonian museums. We saw the Castle, the Air and Space Museum, the Museum of Natural History, and the Art Gallery. It was a long day, but fun. Definitely. We didn't get back until after midnight. They were doing work on the metros so it took forever to get into DC. We parked just outside of DC because it's so much cheaper. The museums are all free, but they must get their money from the parking. Blech!

We're looking at going on the Safari thing down near Natural Bridge later this week. There's a Fipplefest on Saturday (go to my mom's blog for that). So life is moving on along pretty nicely. :)

As for Disney I've actually made several posts about that but never really posted them. I think I will start posting them now because obviously that's pretty much my life right now.

We leave next Monday and my check-in day will be next Wednesday. In preparation I think I'm gonna buy a ton of food while I'm still up here in VA because the prices are probably much much much better. Not the food like bread, milk, butter, eggs. More like spaghetti, possibly a box or two of cereal, spaghetti sauce, Ramen, Pasta Roni (no, mom, of course I don't live off of that!), maybe some canned foods or soups. Things like that. Then I'm going to get started packing. I kind of kept my suitcases from Idaho out in middle of the front hall (no one uses that door anyway!) so I'm going to start figuring out the stuff that I won't be using and packing and putting it all in the car. I have to be careful to pack so that I'll be able to have everything for Idaho down there as well.

So yeah, that's the plan for this week.

The power flicked yesterday. I lost internet for a while. But now it's back. Making this whole entire paragraph pointless.

Annnnd, I guess that's it! I'll try and update a bit more. I'm planning on keeping a real detailed update of the day I check in, what I do, and what happens for the few days after. By detailed I mean they'll probably be a series of super duper long posts. I'll keep them mainly for personal record and also in case other people ever want to read my blog on what happens at Disney. I know at least I'm obsessed about it, and I've found a forum online of a bunch of other obsessed people on Disney College Program. So ihey, there are others like me. :)

Kay, for real. That's it.

PS. I think it's funny that I'm ending up tagging this post with both the word "Bored" and "Excited." Haha! Maybe I"ll tag it "funny" as well.

Notice:

I haven't posted lately. Even though I've actually made several posts. I never actually posted them.

But I would just like to remind you all to kindly note that dwindling number on the right hand side of my page. The number that (right this moment) reads "14 days" however will change to "13 days" in less than ten minutes.

We leave in 12 days, soon to be 11.

Just making sure you're all paying attention. It's not like I'm excited or anything. Noooooo.

Yay!

I got my scholarship! Hooray!!!

Things are gonna be just fine. At least for the next year. :/

Back In Virginia

In short I missed the plane and made one the next day. I got back last night around 10. After getting home I still had some stuff to do so I didn't make it to bed until almost 2am. Faraday hasn't left my side for a second the whole time I've been home, soooo cute!

Last night after getting home I cleaned a little, scrubbed the bathroom, pet the cat, and then got started on laundry. I planned it so that I would have to do very little laundry the last few weeks of school so I could save all my dirty laundry for when I got home. Unfortunately, I didn't plan on staying an extra day so not only did I stink and was in dire need of a shower, but I needed something clean to wear. So I started on laundry and did three loads last night and a few more today. Yes, I have a lot of clothes. Actually, though, they were small loads. I actually separated stuff like it's supposed to be separated, something I never do in Idaho.

I set three alarms for myself this morning to be sure I'd make it to church, but my body woke me up around 6am. I stayed awake for two hours, cleaned a bit more, did some more laundry, finished the bathroom, and then went back to bed for one more hour when my first alarm went off. I got up and all morning my other alarms were going off as well as me getting a phone call from my mom making sure I was awake.

I got to church. It actually hasn't really changed much except for the fact that all the little kids grew a foot and the babies are no longer itty bitty babies.

Got home, ate some food, watched TV, played around on the internet, cleaned off my bed (so tonight will be the first time in a week that I've slept in a bed!!), finished unpacking, repacked a little for Disney, etc.

Now I'm about to play a computer game I've been wanting to play for a while (Black and White). Then I'll go to bed. I probably should go to bed now, but I've been napping on and off all day. Surprisingly I think no matter how tired I am I can't sleep more than about two or three hours at a time.

Tomorrow I plan to go into the 'Burg to do some shopping both for food and some clothes. I'll go back to the bookstore like I promised, but I won't get my job back. I might stop by Manpower (the temp agency) if I can figure out where it is but I don't think I'll have much luck since when I called them last they said it usually takes a few weeks for the resume to go through and for you to actually get a job and I'll be gone in a few weeks.

Anyway, it's wonderful to be home. I missed my cat a lot. I love love LOVE having the house to myself and setting the temperature to exactly how I like it. I've actually had it off a good portion of the time I've been home (so you can't complain, parents!). I like it super hot and my dad likes it cold. Poor mom. Haha.

As much as I like the house to myself I'll be happy when my parents get home. It gets a little bit creepy and lonely here at night sometimes and I'm pretty bored. I guess I'll get back to that computer game! But there's the update!

Home. FINALLY!

Long story short I made it home a couple of hours ago. In one piece thanks to the Royal Family and our good friend Martha.

My bank account will be recovering from it for a while, but I'm home!

Story tomorrow. Maybe. If I'm awake. And if I feel like it. For now, unfortunately, I have to get enough laundry through so that I won't stink to death at church tomorrow. Assuming I can actually get myself up tomorrow. I set every alarm available to me, so we'll see how it goes. :)

Junior Status

You know how when you're a little kid and it's the last day of school, say maybe 5th grade, and on the last day of school you start saying "Yay! I'm officially a 6th grader now!" Even though that way of thinking is silly cuz you're not really a sixth grader until you begin sixth grade! But the last day of fifth grade it's just so exciting to say that! Well....

I'M OFFICIALLY A JUNIOR IN COLLEGE!!!

I just hit the submit button on my final for Humanities and am now done.

I'm at the library an this computer keyoard is a piee off rap beuse hlf the buttons you hvve to pratically slam down th button to understand wht I'm trying to say. I hatte th library keyoards.

So yeah, that last paragraph I just typed normally. I'm giving my fingers a workout typing on this dumb keyboard.

I'm putting my stuff in storage tonight so I have to be packed by 5. Long story. And then I'll have nothing to do all day tomorrow (boring!!!) and then I'll fly home!!! I'm so excited!

Anyway, I'm done with this keyboard, I'm going home. :)

What A Day!

I have a birthday party of a friend to go to tonight. Yay for cake! I think she'll be 21. They were going to see Harry Potter again too (they were there the same night we saw it on Wednesday) and I was invited but I decided to save the 9 bucks. That really is a lot for a movie. Darn theaters.

Wow, I'm super negative right now. I don't really mean to be. Hmmm... happier things...

DISNEY WORLD!!!

Okay, I'll admit, I have spent a good part of the day keeping my spirits high on Disney World. I've been reading blogs and message boards PLUS I got an email from Disney yesterday. It comforted me a lot because I've been worrying lately that something's going to happen and I won't get to go after all. It's just to good to be true.

I called my boss at the bookstore today to see if I could possibly work for the few weeks I'll be home. But first, she's not the GM anymore and second, she wasn't in anyway. Third, I doubt anyone would want to hire me for three weeks.

I only have three more days of classes. Classes for me end a day earlier than everyone else. Even though I'm switching apartments next year I found a place to store my extra stuff for free AND I got a friend from class to drive me to it.

I'm having trouble deciding what to bring home and what to leave. Considering I'll be living away from home again after going back home it's hard to decide. I'm going to leave my bed sheets and hope against hope that we have some decent ones at home I can take to Disney. I'm also unsure about my toaster. I looove my toaster, but I'm nervous for it to travel. But I loooove my toaster. Loooove it! My alarm clock I think I'll leave considering I think we have some at home and the front broke off my alarm clock last time I brought it out here last year. I'm thinking I'll actually leave a lot more than I originally planned. I guess it all depends on how much room I'll have in my suitcases. I haven't started packing yet. I don't plan to until Tuesday or Wednesday.

And that's about all! It hasn't really been a super busy day. Just sort of boring, a tad annoying/frustrating, and exciting since I've now hit less than a week until I'm HOME!!! Yay!!!

Beginning My Last Week

I love my bank here. The people are so friendly and easy to work with and they give me free stuff!

I've been working on eating down my food supply over the past few weeks but I think I judged a little bit wrong. Looks like I might be living off of oatmeal and rice for this last week of school. Although, my roommate's been awesome because she has loads of extra food AND she enjoys cooking a lot. She's been feeding me very well (well, actually we had a little deal thing going on so she sort of owes it to me, but I have a feeling she's overpaying me a bit, but hey! I'm not complaining!).

It turns out that my shuttle back home next Friday is the same shuttle my roommate will be on! Yay! I'll have someone to hang out with at the airport!

All I have left for the semester is a five page essay and a three page essay. I don't have to take one final exam, so I don't even have to go to class on the last two days of class for one of my classes. This means that as of WEDNESDAY at 12:15 I will be DONE with my sophomore year of college. Halfway through, baby! (oh, and for those that don't know, "technically" the last day of school is Thursday, that's why I'm so excited that I'll be done Wednesday)

In my free time I've, obviously, been obsessing over Disney World. Here's the latest:

I've been messing with Google Earth (as I think I said in a previous post) and found where I'm living and such. But yesterday I figured out where the nearest Walmarts are as well as the Marriott hotel (just in case!). Marriott happens to be within very close walking distance to where I'll be living. It's practically next door. There's also a Publix grocery store within walking distance, but everyone I know who's been there says not to shop there because it's ridiculously expensive.

I also found some pictures of my costume. Mostly, I'll probably be stuck in khaki shorts/pants and an ugly button up polyester blouse. But, I'm hoping really hard that I'll get to work in the Magic Kingdom (MK and EPCOT are my top two choices in case I haven't stated that before) and if I do I'm pretty sure the costumes are way more fun. More ridiculous and ugly, but definitely more fun! I read something about white balloon pants? Whatever. I can't wait to go.

You Know You've Been Staring at a Computer Too Long When...

...you're reading a regular piece of paper and as you near the bottom your eyes move to the right hand edge of the page as your finger presses down on nothing wondering why the page isn't scrolling.

Pants and Haircuts

I went to Idaho Falls with some friends yesterday. It was super fun and I got some nice pants for Disney World from Maurices. One $75!

Well, they would have been $75 if they hadn't been on sale. One pair was marked down to $6.51 and the other was marked down to $7.86.

I LOVE 'em! And I really did need them for Disney. I only have (used to have) one pair of dress pants and they're not even that dressy.

The down side is that I have no shoes to match! Better go shopping again!

Oh, and as a side note I just wanted to document that my roommate went to the salon to get her hair cut that morning. She got there at quarter til 10AM with an appointment right at 10. We walked out at 3:07PM. In case you can't do math that's OVER FIVE HOURS for a hair cut. It only cost her eight bucks and she got a free dye because of it (long story), but still. Five hours for a haircut. Wow. Haha.

TMI But Too Funny...

You know that round thing that pops into the toilet paper holder? Well, last week I went to the bathroom (surprise surprise) while my roommate was outside into the vanity area. Our little round thing that holds the toilet paper up is broken and falls off periodically. Well, this particular time it fell off and rolled under the door out to my roommate who immediately began laughing. "Didja lose something?"

Fortunately the toilet paper itself won't fit under the door. It just fell to the floor. But just now I went to the bathroom and recalled that memory as I pulled the toilet paper off and I started giggling. I came out to find that same roommate at the vanity eying me. "Why were you laughing in there?"

Okay, it's funnier in real life.

Little Fact

Walt Disney's birthday is December 5th and he had a daughter named Diane and he was in charge of ambulances (they said he decorated the outside of his ambulance with cartoons).

My birthday is December 6th and people call me Diane all the time and I'm an EMT.

Some may say that's pushing it, but I say it was meant to be.

Bored Out Of My Mind!!!

My mom called this morning. After me saying "Hello" she lectured me about how I was still asleep and should be awake and she could believe I was still asleep at this hour. It was 10:30AM and yes, I was asleep. How does she KNOW these things!?

I'm really annoyed with the school at the moment. It's a long story and I don't feel like explaining, but basically the school is telling me I owe them $10 when they're the ones who owe ME $10. I went to the cashier's office yesterday to figure it out. They were basically no help whatsoever. They said that I needed to hurry up and pay it. But I don't OWE anything! Well I had to prove it so I emailed this guy who is official enough that is HE sends an email to me saying that it's true, the school is the one who owes me, then I'll get my money back. Except he still hasn't written back. Stupid school.

School gets out in two weeks. I'm counting down the days. Life has been soooo boring! Someone invited me to go to the Planetarium with her tonight. And there's an all day ward activity Saturday. I don't really want to go ALL DAY. I'd rather get there around 5pm instead of 11am and then leave at 8pm. I should probably go all day, though. I know I'm going to be bored.

It's weird because I can't wait to go home but chances are I'll be bored at home as well. Except at home I have my computer with my computer games. And I have my cat. And I have a car so I'm not stuck within walking distance of where I live. And I have tons of movies back home and I'll have more food so I can spend more time cooking. I made myself a recipe book of recipes I got off of recipe blogs and other places. I've been collecting them and it's actually gotten really big. I only include recipes that look good to me, though. I have a pretty good amount, but right now I'm trying to eat down my food supply because I'm leaving in two weeks so it's hard to make anything and it's annoying to find recipes that I want to make but can't.

The good thing about a boring life is that I've been better about doing stuff every day that's good. Like I've been really good about going to the gym, practicing the piano, and some other things I like to try and get done daily. The bad news is I'm still bored and all I want to do is sleep. Ugh.

Kay, enough whining. I'm done now! Life really is good, by the way. I don't mean to say it's lousy. It's good to have relaxed periods of life every once in a while. And seeing as how at Disney I'm going to be hoping for constant 50 hour weeks, I should enjoy this while I can! Bye!

Old People Work

On Monday we got into my first class which is pretty small, and the teacher asked the typical question, "So what did you guys do over the weekend?" My answer was boring so I just sank a bit lower in my seat and let the other kids talk about driving down to SLC or bridge jumping or whatever awesome stuff they did. Although I was surprised at how many of us lazed around, watched movies, and played games with friends.

Well, we asked the teacher what he did. He told us he worked all day Thursday, (as a teacher he didn't get that day off) and then Friday he got up early and worked in the yard because it was in dire need of it so he spent all day outside pulling weeds and planting stuff, and then Saturday he had to get up early and drive somewhere and then watch his kids play ball and then work in some parade, and work and work and work.

Basically, it must suck to get old. Old people find ways to work on VACATIONS! Wow.

Lots and Lots of Pictures!!!

Overview of the Bishop's house where we had the talent show last week. So much fun AND there was free pizza!!!



This one cracks me up because these girls were doing the "Banana Dance" and the guys faces in the background are them looking at each other like "What the heck are these girls DOING!?"



These two girls started dancing to a song and then ran out into the crowd. I was with Ashley and Ashley was like "Run Dianna! Don't let them pick us! I don't want to dance!"



No worries, they had planned to pick these guys. They already knew the dance.







Steven, in his usual position at ward get togethers.



Steven. He was in three of the shows. Singing, dancing, and this. His one man magic show.



These girls sang "Stupid Cupid" with their little dance thing.



Kate and Jacob.



Ashley and I, being somewhat normal.

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The backyard view of my bishop's house where the Talent Show took place. If you look carefully you can see the temple. Dad would have absolutely LOVED his house. The seclusion mostly. Though it was only a little elevated, there was a ham antenna on his roof. He's not a ham though.



Ashley.. being herself at the Talent Show.



It took us FOREVER to finish the outer circle. Then one of our neighbors came in, looked at the board for about half a minute, and found the missing link. AHHH!!!



Little by little...



We were really excited to figure out the middle part.



And then connecting the middle to the edge was a big deal.



Almost done!!!



Our completed M&M puzzle! Sooooo hard. We began Monday night, worked on it until Sunday morning at 2:21am when Kassie and I finished it. She refused to go to bed until it was done and ended up waking me up to finish it with her. YAY!!! Kassie and I are geniuses!



The fab four after the Murder Mystery (L to R: Joe Kassie Me Matt). Joe was an Italian (he had a fake mustache on earlier) and also was the murderer! Kassie was a Hollywood rich actress (she had a tiara before I snapped this as well). I was a poor girl who owned a vineyard and was in competition with Barry (the guy who was killed) and Matt was the FBI agent. Kellie (Kassie's sister and acting as a rich ditsy blond) and Kellie's husband Alex (Italian friend of Joes) and Anton (German dude) also went. Unfortunately most of my pictures actually at the party didn't turn out and I didn't take a bunch to begin with. But the costumes were wonderful. Especially Anton's. He used belts as suspenders and his pants were hiked up like Steve Erkle's. The other guys also did fake mustaches. (you can't see Joe's cuz he wiped it off, but it was hilarious)



The BYU float



Snoopy in a car




Black thing spraying water over everyone



American flag on a float



Star Wars



This little boy kept yelling "I'm Aniken! I'm Aniken!"



Our kitchen. Look! It's clean! And that's my poster I bought at Neuschwanstein!




Oh, and by the way. CP stands for College Program. Sorry I just sort of assumed that.

Walt Disney World CP

Well, I haven't been making it as big a deal on here as it is in my head, but the CP is definitely constantly on my mind. So much so, actually, that I'm constantly dreaming of it.

Last night I dreamed that I really wanted to go into the park like, the day after I got there. Except that no one wanted to go with me. They were all being mature and trying to learn their jobs but all I wanted to do was play. (not to worry, my conscious mind DOES indeed know that I'm there to work, not play) Anyway, so I went to the park alone and went to the top of Mount Gushmore in Blizzard Beach and did the Summit Plummet all by myself. Crazy! I got to the bottom and it had felt just like a really short, normal waterslide. There was a little tiny pool at the end and I got out of it and watched the rest of the six-year-olds complete the same task. Then I walked around the park and soon came to a ferris wheel. Except I didn't get on because I. Hate. Ferris wheels. Hate them. I'm sooo scared of them. But right beside the ferris wheel was a roller coaster that went upside down around the track in circles BEFORE EVEN BEGINNING! I wanted to go on that one but woke up before getting the chance.

The night before last I dreamed that I was with my family. Most of my dreams of Disney I'm with my family since I was growing up. We had to go through this gift shop before getting to the parks and I remember listening to my parents talk about how it was "just another scheme to get money out of our pockets into theirs." Well, we walked through this gift shop and it reminded me of my grandma's store. Every single thing was easily broken. Everything. Everyone was taking a long time so I went ahead and came to a bunch of beer steins that said "Neuschwanstein" on them. Neuschwanstein is the Disney castle by the way. I got to go there when we went to Munich, even though it's about an hour away in this town called Fusen (not sure how to spell it but it reminded me of the Foosa on Madagascar). Anyway, there were a bunch of beer steins that said "Neuschwanstein" on them and I really wanted to get one for Cathryn except that my discount didn't kick in for another week and I wanted to get it with the discount but I wasn't sure I would get the chance. And then I looked at the price. 60 bucks with the discount. 300 without. Sorry Cathryn.

Another dream I was with my family, although only Cathryn and my mom were in it. We were on the bridge in Animal Kingdom except the bridge was the entrance to the park. I kept trying to go into the park because I could get all of us in for free and I really wanted to go play. Except Cathryn kept wanting to go into this no name bookstore. i was so annoyed with her. My mom kept trying to get me to be on Cathryn's side saying "Dianna, you'll have the next four or five months to come here whenever you want! Just do what Cathryn wants!" And on the inside I realized she was right except she didn't understand! I HAD to go into the parks THIS INSTANT!

So ridiculous. Anyway, just thought I'd blog about my CP dreams. 47 days and i totally can't wait at all!

Sorta Sick

I have the sniffles and a horribly sore throat. I was eating Ricola yesterday but my throat only felt better as long as one was in my mouth. After I went through three Ricolas within about two hours I figured I'd better stop. It hurts so bad though! Ugh! Also, I learned this morning (because I continued with the constant Ricolas) that it's not good to sneeze with a hard candy in your mouth. Not a good idea! That pretty much freaked me out enough to suck on anymore all day because I thought I was gonna choke and die! And then it sneezed right out into my hand. Icky!

We don't have any school until Monday. Tomorrow there's no school because it's "Examination Day" and Friday is because it's the day before the Fourth of July! What's Examination Day? That's also a new law that the State of Idaho apparently passed that says something to the effect of every college must have one day in the middle of the semester with no school. Okay, so I have no clue what the details are and that "State Law" thing may just be a rumor. Either way it gets us out of school! Yay!

I broke my roommates fork the other day. I was trying to cut butter. The butter was hard okay? And for some reason people think it was weird I was using a fork to cut butter. It's called NO DISHWASHER people! I like to save dishes. Soooo funny though. I think my roommate thought the story was too funny to be mad. So what do I owe her now? A fork? A dollar? That pathetic little fork couldn't have been worth more than that. (btw, she's the same roommate whose knife I broke last year cutting a sandwich)