Luckiest Kid!

Next week, Safaris changes forever.  A new spiel.  No more Wilson.  No more poachers.  No more baby elephant at the end.  So very different.

Of course, I was worried about them changing the spiel.  It will never be the same.  But I asked some managers and we worked together and I am lucky enough that they set it up so that I can still pick up safari shifts!  I'll have to learn some new stuff (we're getting some new animals and baby warthogs!).  And memorize some other stuff.  But I am 100% happy to do it.  Especially if it means I get to keep driving my trucks!  So I have a shift set up for tomorrow and hopefully, I'll be able to learn everything quickly enough that I can still pick up the shifts.

I think I love safaris even more now, even though I don't even work there anymore.  So awesome.

Not that I don't love Deployment.  Because seriously, I love Deployment as well.  I love feeling like I'm a part of management!  It's just awesome and amazing.  I am so ridiculously lucky.

RIP - In Memory...

I heard the news last Wednesday.  A CP student was killed in a hit and run accident around the Crossroads area this past Tuesday night.  Someone told me during my Safari shift on Wednesday morning.  They finally found the lady who did it and are doing an investigation.  They think she was driving drunk.

Of course I felt sad, but didn't think much of it.  I don't know CPs anymore.  I still went home and looked it up.  Just to make sure it wasn't another one of those rumors that goes around.  I found out it was actually an ICP.  International College Program student.  An Asian girl.

Today in church they announced that Lydya, the only Asian ICP I know currently, knew, was killed on Tuesday night.

I was shocked.  Lydya.  The Chinese girl.  She had been coming to our ward for a while.  She and her uncle who lives here in the States had converted, I believe.  She was the one who was supposed to help me with my Chinese.  The one who was so excited for me to come visit her and her family in China.  The one who was always so incredibly happy.  The one who would help me with my lesson plans because I'm moving to China soon.

And now she's gone.  I will never see her bright, happy face again.

I didn't know her that well.  I hadn't even seen her for a few weeks.  But I'm definitely sad that she's gone.  Her family's not reading this, but I certainly wish they could know what a great person she was. She will for sure be missed.

Best Safari Shift Ever!

I know I've said this a lot, but seriously.  Today I had the best safari shift EVER!  For real this time!

It all started when I picked up the shift from EHH.  Because seriously, I love safaris so much just the fact that I was working there for the first time in a  month had me excited.  When I got to work, bright and early at 7am, I was notified that it was Cast Appreciation Day!  Score!!!  Free food!

So then I went to work. Opened a truck, went through a few rounds, asked for an extend on my shift (I wanted more hours cuz it was so fun) and they approved it!

I got another truck and when I drove up to the departure dock, for the first time ever, I got red flashing lights.  Red flashing lights is bad.  I've never gotten it before, but I've heard about it.  I wasn't really sure what to do, but I called it in.  Despite the fact that my truck appeared safe to load, the red flashing lights meant something was wrong so I'd have to try again.  Under normal circumstances, I'd just take the truck off the nearest exit, quickly drive it back on, and try again.  But, the nearest exit was actually closed for some freak reason, so I got to do an entire empty round!  So awesome!  And no worries, the next time I docked it worked out fine... but I'm still not sure how I managed to get red flashing lights...  someone told me that particular truck does that sometimes lately though.

So I did another round with guests and drove up to the exit dock.  And there, waiting for me, was a backstage safari.  This means I hand the mic over to someone else and all I have to do is drive around and listen to her spiel.  Love it!

After that I got my 45 minute break meaning I had time to go to the cast appreciation event.  I walked over there and grabbed some food and sat down at a table of my fellow safari-ers.  Shortly after, the prizes lady started walking around looking for people to hand out random prizes to.  This one girl got a DVD of Finding Nemo!  Someone else got a digital camera.  Then she walked around looking for the third person.  My friends were going nuts this whole time, standing up, screaming, yelling, shouting, the works.  I was laughing at them, and smiling and trying to yell.  Honestly, I was torn between trying to be invisible and wanting to fit in.  I find myself in that situation a lot.  So funny.

Anyway, the lady finally walked over to our table.  I knew that it would be one of the screamers.  I looked down at my baked beans and started eating, trying to be invisible.  Then I heard the lady say, as she walked around the table, "Hmmm, I think I'll pick... the quietest person at the loudest table!"

I looked up.  Yep.  Every eye on me.  She made me turn beet red in front of everyone and then gave me an Ipod shuffle. 

I received an Ipod shuffle because I have loud, crazy, obnoxious friends.

I freakin' LOVE my job!!!  I felt bad for a bit and tried to offer the Ipod to one of them.  But it was really one of the funniest things ever, and my safari friends just laughed. 

So then, after getting my giant chocolate cupcake and a magical cup that's green but turns blue when you put cold stuff in it, I went back to play work.  I drove a few more safaris and had some very fun guests.  Definitely one of the best days ever.  And then, just as I was beginning to get tired because I only slept for five hours last night (that's how excited I was for this shift today, seriously), someone came to bump me off of my truck and it turned out I got an Early release from my extend.  Right, exactly, in perfect timing.

Such a great day.  My life is so totally awesome.

Not that I don't love Deployment.  Cuz I totally do.  But I love Safaris as well.  I am so ridiculously lucky it drives me crazy.

Systems Day

It's getting harder and harder to blog regularly because of all the awesome stuff I want to write about, but either can't or don't want to.  Laaaame.

Anyway, a lot has been going on these past few weeks too with my brother getting married and then friends visiting.  Now, life is finally back to normal and I have not one, but TWO Safari shifts this week!  The awesome thing about working at Safaris on my day off is that it doesn't even feel like work anymore it's so much fun!  Doing it every day, day after day, for weeks and months at a time got a little old.  But now, it's so much fun to do every once in a while.  To go see my friends, remembering my facts about animals, meeting the guests again, oh my gosh I LOVE it!

This past Friday we had a switch out of the norm as well.  Instead of a normal schedule, I had an eight hour "systems day" on my schedule, as well as a six hour shift after that.  Loooooong day.  At Systems Day, they brought in people from around the Company who created a lot of the computer systems we use, or at least were incredibly knowledgeable about them.  And they taught us more about them and answered questions and such.

I'll be honest, before the CDS people came in, I had a bad attitude about CDS.  It's a great program, and certainly does a LOT of different incredible things.  In fact, it already amazes me at what it can do.  But in February, just after I came out of training, they "updated" it. And this "update" ruined a lot of random stuff and it's been incredible annoying.  So, when the CDS lady came in, she may have even expected to be bombarded with the two hundred questions about "why won't this work, and when are you going to fix it!?"

She was extremely nice, though.  And then started to explain the details of what happens with CDS.  With computer programs, especially that detailed, you can't "just fix" something.  Biggest thing I learned at systems day.  It took about eight seconds of her beginning to explain how CDS worked and the tests they have to do to add a simple checkbox on a screen and I completely didn't feel bad anymore.  It's so ridiculously detailed!

And the good news is that they coming out with another update here in just a week or two.  Hopefully that will fix all the things that broke in the last update.  And they're undoing some of the things from the last update that slowed down CDS, because honestly, we would much prefer speed over just about anything.

Anyway, Systems Day was fun, and it made me efel smart and special to be in a conference room watching a powerpoint. :)

I love my job!

Tornado At Work

CDS died today.  Only for a total of about five minutes.  But it was probably the craziest five minutes ever.  CDS is the computer system that basically runs Disney, so when it dies, things go crazy.  Of course, Disney has back up plans and can still run without it... I've actually been in that situation before as a CM and am always impressed at our management's ability to suddenly cope without technology.  Of course, it's much, much more difficult that way.  Literally as soon as it died the noise level in our department tripled and phones started ringing off the hook (we're apparently the CDS help line and everyone thinks if they call us we'll magically make it work... except that we're not IT)

My computer was also going unbelievably slow.  I mean, to extend a cast member, which normally takes me about a minute, too me almost ten minutes, and that's only because I finally just had the girl beside me do it on her computer because mine wasn't working.  Stupid computers.  Stupid computer systems.  So annoying.  The worst part is that they just put in this "upgraded" version of CDS.  But it's only been worse.  But I think it was just that computer I was on that was slow because when I switched computers the new one was much quicker.

The good part is that there are actually like five different computer systems we use and the others worked fine.  And then CDS was working again.  So all was good.  But it seriously felt like a tornado blew through temporarily.  Everything was just crazy.

In other news a new song played on the radio today.  I never know whether or not I should be excited when I hear a new song on the radio.  On the one hand, I'm glad to hear something new.  On the other, I know that that new song will now be overplayed a million and a half times and I'll get sick of it and no longer enjoy it.

I'm eating chocolate again.  That's something else that's noteworthy.  My roommate and I went to IHOP today in celebration and I got chocolate chip pancakes.  Then I got chocolate ice cream at work and then Kim made the best homemade chocolate chip cookies EVER when I came home from work.  I consider it okay that I get to spend one day of my life eating all the chocolate I want after going more than 40 days without.  I'm glad I did it.  But I'm also glad it's over!

Anyway, it's going to be a fun week!  I can't wait for my brother's wedding!  And then some friends are going to be in town next week.  We made reservations at the Garden Grill at one point as well.  I'm definitely excited!  I love that restaurant.

Note To Cast Members

When asked where you work, answers such as "Downtown Disney" and "Merchandise" don't count as real answers.  In fact, that tells me nothing about where you work.  Just notating that.

Also, if you're late to your shift, you can't just call Deployment and have them change your time.  It's a good try, but it's not that easy. :)

My favorite thing about my hours lately are that I've been finishing right as the fireworks go off!  I love walking through the parking lot, hearing all the car alarms going crazy.  One of the most wonderful things ever.

On a different note, only two days before I get to eat chocolate again!  Really only one more day I have to go without chocolate.  I gave it up for lent.  I'm glad I did... but at the same time I'm not sure I'll ever do it again.  I don't really feel that much healthier.

Give Kids the World

I wish I had taken photos of tonight.  I forgot to bring my camera.  But no worries, there will be other opportunities. I am definitely going back to Give Kids the World to volunteer.  I don't think I have ever been so happy to help people in my entire life.

I signed up like a month ago to join this random team from Disney who was going to volunteer.  Disney's cool like that and is always sending groups over, but I've never been able to commit any of the other times because of my crazy schedule.  But tonight, it worked out!

So we served Christmas dinner to the kids in the Gingerbread House tonight.  Every Thursday night is Christmas.  To be honest, I don't even know what they served for dinner, I was busing.  At first, I was a little bummed to be busing as I was expecting to serve food, but it turned out to be possibly the best time I've ever had busing tables.

The families were sincerely some of the best people I've ever met in my entire life.  All of them, so happy, so grateful, so kind, loving, and just to reiterate, happy.

We carried the trays for the families to the tables, especially the ones with little kids (it was cafeteria style).  Then walked around tables asking if people wanted refills on drinks (we weren't technically supposed to do that, but those cups are TINY! it's impossible not to).  Then cleaned and bussed after the family was done.  At one point I asked a family if I could take their dishes and the little boy in the wheelchair held up his little bowl of corn.  Just a few kernels were left in it, but as I reached for it his mom said, "No honey, look.  There's still corn in there.  We don't waste food."

Normally when a parent tells a kid to finish their vegetables there's at least a bit of a fight.  This boy put the bowl down and looked at it.  Then looked at me grinning.  "Oops.  One second.  I have one more bite!"  His dad helped him scoop out that last bite of corn, and really it ended up being two bites.  He obediently ate it and then held his plate high to me to take away, with a huge smile on his face.  And then he told me "thank you." 

You would think a family who was getting unlimited food for free for a week wouldn't even notice that.  But these people notice everything.  Most of the plates were entirely spotless.  Cleaner than when I used to bus tables at Texas Steakhouse.

It's funny how, when you take money out of the equation, it changes people.  Well, I guess you take money out and put in some life threatening illnesses, it really changes them.  The truth is, I didn't even think once about how these children were so sick tonight.  It hardly even occurred to me until I was on my way home and started thinking about that little boy with the tube in his throat playing the clapping games with his dad and showing me how he could dance.  The girl who we carried the tray for because she couldn't walk without her crutches.  The kid who was in that wheelchair finishing his corn.

No, I didn't cry.  No one did.  We were all having too much fun seeing Santa and getting ready for the little parade.  We had too much fun laughing with the little kids and meeting the families.  I had too much fun meeting the people I was working with.  The guy I was busing with was from Alabama and was visiting here on some conference for work (he's some important guy that works at Sam's Club).  There were also some kids from a college in Minnesota.  They said for their Spring break they chose to go on a service trip down here for a week and help out at GKtW.

I felt so humbled by the incredible families and their joyful lives.  So humbled by the people who travel hundreds of miles and choose to go to Give Kids the World, when I live twenty minutes away and this was my first time.  It felt like I visited a whole different world tonight.  And I certainly plan on going back to it.  I just hope it will always be my choice to be there.

Men vs. Women

Our shower has gotten some rust stains in it recently.  I was really worried about the rust, even though it was just a tiny bit.  I was worried it would be permanent and that we'd be charged the price of an entirely new shower when we moved out because it's been totally and entirely ruined.  I worry like that.

Well, after talking with my roommate, we decided to go online and see if we could fix these rust stains ourselves.  We searched and searched and eventually started Youtube-ing things to figure out what would actually work.

In doing this, I learned a little more than just how to get rust out of a shower.  All of the videos we watched that were created by women had fixes using household products such as salt, vinegar, cream of tartar, etc. 

The videos made by men only included power tools. 

One dude has this funny looking buffer/sander type thing he used on it.

Considering "the girl way" is far cheaper and simpler, and less dangerous (power tools in a bathtub, really?) I went with that.  Even if it's not as fast.  It hasn't been quite as effective.  I've now done the salt + lemon juice thing twice and the cream of tartar + vinegar thing twice and still have a little bit left.  But, I refuse to spend money on power tools. 

Gotta love the internet and all you can learn from it.

The Hunger Games

After Harry Potter became my favorite book series ever, I was fairly certain no other book would capture me as well as it did.  Then Twilight came out and proved my theory even more accurate.  So when The Hunger Games series became "all that" I was very skeptical.

But my roommate Kim just loves to read and talked me into at least trying to read the book.  And I have to admit, she got me hooked.  If I didn't have work and sleep to deal with I would have read the whole book in a day!  Okay, no, I'll be honest, it took me a few chapters to really get into it because I was so determined to not like the book.  Especially since it is slightly horrific!  In fact, I'm a little nervous to see the movie because of the violence I know will be in it.

Oh yes, the movie.  It comes out Thursday.  I picked a great time to get into this series!  I finished the first book last night and have two more to go.

I would definitely highly recommend it.  I was skeptical at first, especially with how totally horrible and demonic it is, but I think it's leading to something great.  At least, I hope so.

I'll check back in when I'm done with the next two books!

First Phones Shift

Today was my first phones shift.  I'm running out of firsts, as I've been working here almost two months now.  But I still want to consider myself the "new person" as long as I can until I stop making mistakes.

Well, one of our systems has been down for the past day.  I can't tell you what a huge hassle this has been.  It's been messing up clocking, ERs, extends, call ins, basically everything with the resorts.  None of the cast member's schedules came out today like they were supposed to.  Well, they were made and were ready to come out.  But the system that allows you to see your schedule from home was the one that was down.  At one point, cast members couldn't even log into the Hub, and we were getting calls about that.

And me being on phones, I was dealing with it first hand.  Absolutely crazy, but so much fun.  It kept me on my toes today as I took care of everything.  I was far busier than I thought I'd be but it was still so much fun.

It's very satisfying to have a job where I solve problems all day long.  Slightly repetitive sometimes, but very satisfying.  I love it!

Learn Something New Every Day

Today I learned that Spinach tortillas at Publix are exactly one penny cheaper than at Wal Mart!  I didn't think that was possible!

 I learned that eating Mrs. Freshleys powdered sugar donuts, while very messy, are almost as satisfying as chocolate.  Oh, yeah, so did I mention I'm not eating chocolate?  It's for lent.

I also learned that instead of going until Easter Sunday without eating chocolate, I only have to go til Palm Sunday which is the week before!  Which means I can eat chocolate at my brother's wedding!

And I learned that the radio that I thought I hated, isn't too bad as long as the locations are staffed well.  Yesterday was a great day.  And I intend to have more of those days.

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.

PI Group

Our training leaders invited us to an event through our Disney emails.  We have those, ya know.  They told us it wasn't required but was "highly recommended" that we all go.  Just the twelve PIs that is. 

What was this event?  They told us we'd be playing in Hollywood Studios and then having dinner at Applebee's.  Well, they didn't lie.  But we figured out pretty quick that they didn't give us the whole truth.  We spent days trying to guess.


We went to Rock'n Roller Coaster! And not only that, we got to ride with the lights on and music off.  Coolest.  Thing.  EVER!  It's actually scarier with the lights on, though.  And I still had trouble figuring out which way is up.  At the end we were held for a while while they put some limos away.  It's actually kind of scary to be trapped in those restraints at the end for an undetermined amount of time with no one else around.

They considered this a learning experience since in my job we have to know the operations.  But we just found it awesome.

We're such a great group!

I love my job!

The Circle of (My) Life

I still remember the first day I worked at Disney in 2009.  I was scared to death, because the Dianna in me was freaking out, as usual.  The first guest I ever dealt with as a cast member came to my register.  It was register 2 at the Imagination Pavilion.  My trainer was standing next to me and I froze for a second, scared to death thinking about what was going to happen next, entirely unsure of myself, with my mind speeding through every possible scenario of how I would mess this up.  Then, the guest spoke.  "Hi!  Is there any way I could get this shipped to my room, please?"  Her little girl beside her kept messing with the little bouncy balls that we keep by the counter.  It was so normal.  She had no idea I was training.  Her confidence in my abilities to do my job, and the complete calmness she held completely overwhelmed me.  And then, just like that, all that worrying went away and I just did it!  I did my job.  And I did it right.  And it was awesome!

The same thing happened at safaris just months ago.  I was nearly paralyzed with fear as I drove up to the dock to pick up what would be my first set of real guests ever!  I stopped the truck and put it in park and just sat there for a second.  I think I may have even told my trainer, "I can't do it.  I can't."  I was nearly crying.  He told me to say the word.  The code word we have to say showing that we're ready for guests to board.  "Karibuni everybody!"  I said in the most confident voice I could muster, still shaking with fear.  The gates opened and the people flooded on.  As they were chatting amongst themselves, finding their seats, I realized their confidence in me.  Their confidence in Disney, really.  Confidence that this ride would be worth the money.  Worth the wait.  And their confidence that I could present them with that.  And then, just like that, all that worrying went away and I did it.  I continued my spiel not even thinking about worrying.  There was so much stuff to think about there was no more room in my brain for the worrying.  And I did it!

Now I'm encountering those same feelings again as I train this job.  I feel like each time it gets progressively harder.  Today, as my trainer had me answer phone calls and even call a manager for an update, I felt those same feelings rush back.  I called the Future World East manager.  My hand was shaking the radio as I said, "Hi, this is Dianna at Deployment, are you ready for an update?"  My mind was racing with worries of the manager hating me, of stumbling over my words, of not knowing what to say, of saying too many things, of getting things wrong, all the way down to the computer suddenly crashing.  She responded, "Oh yes!  I'm so glad to hear form you because I was just going to call you.  I needed your help with something else, but go ahead and give me the updates and then I'll tell you what I need too.  Actually it's two things, but go ahead with your update."  No questions asked, she had confidence in me and my abilities to do my job right down to the point where she had questions for me.  A manager.  In EPCOT.  With problems... for me to solve.  Me! But I did it.  Just like that, the worrying went away, and I did it.  And I fixed the problems she had, with help from my trainer, of course!  :)

And so continues a circle in my life.  The lackage and then gainage (I know they're not words.  Deal with it.) of confidence.  I'm grateful for the lessons I learn here at Disney.  I'm glad I can trust my trainers never to give me more than I can handle.  I am learning so much not only about the company, but about myself.  I'm (hopefully) becoming a better person with every semester.  I don't think I'll ever fully be confident with myself.  But that's okay.  I like me anyways.

Also, I like Disney.  And my job.  And my friends.  A whole, stinking lot.

First Day of School!

There's a stuffed Nemo toy we sell who, when you squeeze his fin, says "First day of school!  First day of school!  I really LOVE the first day of school!"

That's how I felt this morning getting ready.  Except I'm not in school.  And I'm not four years old.  And I'm not a clownfish.

That said, my job rocks!  It's all I thought it was and more, which is super awesome.  We met this morning and walked to the tunnels because they wanted to make sure we all knew how to get around.  Then they stuck us in a room and showed us Powerpoints for three hours.

Well it wasn't quite that boring.  I introduced myself like five times in three different ways including when they forced me to draw pictures of my life.  I stuck at drawing, but at least it made people laugh as I tried to explain them. Then we filled out a survey online and had to email it out to people.

They also made me fill out that thing that determines what learning style you are.  I'm not even kidding, the last three times I filled out one of those I got one each of the tactile, auditory and visual.  Today was visual.  Silly tests.  I wrote on the other survey I filled out that I tend to learn when I'm sincerely interested in what I'm learning about.  If I'm interested, I guarantee I'll learn no matter which style you use.

Then we got to shadow for a while.  Each "computer" has two monitors.  TWO!  I got stressed out at home with my mom's computer that has two monitors.  It just throws me off.  And every time I'd drag the mouse up to the top right corner to close a window it would slide to the next screen and click on something.  That'll take some getting used to. Did I mention this will take six weeks of training?  Six weeks.  Cuh-razy!  Safaris was seven days.

But I'm totally excited and love my job.  And that's the point of this post.  To let everyone know that.  I love my life!

Back In Florida

Driving back to Florida the other day I was thinking about my life.  Cuz, ya know.  Ten hours in a car... you get a lot of time to think.

And I started thinking.

"I'm going to Disney World."

Wait... "I'm going to Disney World!?"

"I'm going to DISNEY WORLD!"

And that's when I realized I haven't played in Disney for like a month.  Which seems like forever.  Which is awesome.