A Ferris Bueller Day

Today was a Wednesday: the day my Exploring Marketing class meets.  I, however, did not go to Exploring Marketing.  When it came time to get ready to go, I thought of Ferris Bueller: “How could I possibly be expected to handle school on a day like this?”  For the Exploration Series classes, you’re automatically dropped after on your second absence.  So I haven’t actually dropped the class yet, and I may not for a couple of weeks.  But I decided today that there is just no point in making myself go to a class that I don’t want to take.  I’m not getting any credit for the class, and even though my instructor is entertaining and energetic, I just didn’t feel like I was going to learn anything that would really help me in life.

So it’s looking like I may never get my Mouseters degree. 😦   But that’s okay!  Plenty of great stuff happened today to distract me from my crushing sense of failure: I went shopping at Downtown Disney, where I experienced the awesome life-changing taste that is the Holiday Dinner Sandwich at Earl of Sandwich.  This unbelievable creation is turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mayonnaise, and gravy, all squeezed between two toasted pieces of bread.  I washed this down with a glass of the Earl’s Grey Lemonade, which is lemonade mixed with Earl Grey tea.  I think this meal may be a new addiction, but luckily the price is reasonable enough that I can satisfy the cravings without busting the bank: the sandwich and drink cost less than $8.

Later, I got the chance to see the newest show at Magic Kingdom, Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee.

Tiana, Naveen, and Louis the Alligator from “The Princess and the Frog” have taken over the Liberty Belle riverboat, and now perform songs from the movie as they and their friends sail down the river.  In between shows, the new royal couple do meet-and-greets behind the Christmas Shop in Liberty Square.  The whole thing premiered on Monday, and Tiana rode in a special procession down Main Street to the castle, where she was greeted by all of the other princesses.  I wasn’t able to go to any of the opening day festivities, but the show was so awesome that I wish I could have seen it all.  They’re really starting to get me excited about this movie.  When I had seen the previews, I was a little unsure of how I felt about Naveen.  He seemed a little too cartoonish, with his outrageous accent, almost more like the funny sidekick than the leading man.  But after seeing the character on the showboat today, I got a little bit better idea of his personality, and he just seems fun.  All I can say is that this movie better live up to my ever-growing expectations or I will be a sad, sad, girl.

After Magic Kingdom, I met up with some friends from work for another trip to Epcot.  We got to see Boyz II Men perform at the Eat to the Beat concert series.  Boyz II Men was a little before my time, so I wasn’t really all that excited about going to see them.  But when they actually started singing, I was surprised at how many of the songs I knew.  And, I have to admit, I really liked it.  We had a blast, and the crowd was just great.  We stayed for Illuminations, and it was fun to actually get to see the fireworks.  Lately, I’ve gotten to hear them so much, but I’m always inside the World Showcase Tent counting the drawers and closing up shop during them.  Seriously, it’s really, really hard to count when giant explosives are going off every few seconds.  It was nice to be on the other side of those tent flaps tonight.

I don’t know if I’m going to go ahead and drop my class, or if I will wait and see if I feel like playing hooky again later.  I really didn’t dislike the class, but I also realized today that I’m probably not going to get any lasting memories or unforgettable experiences out of it, either.  So who knows if I’ll go next week or not.  But I’m definitely glad I decided to go with my gut and just let myself have a fun-filled day the Ferris Bueller way.

If You Need to Send Me A Message, Better Get Out the Carrier Pigeon!

I’m not the most tech-dependent person on the planet.  Sure, I love my computer and iPod as much as anyone else, and I send and receive text messages all throughout the day.  But if I don’t have my phone with me every second of the day, it really doesn’t bother me.  At least, it didn’t bother me.  And then today I lost my phone.

It all started this morning: I was at the bus stop, and I was checking Facebook on my phone.  Later, as soon as I had walked backstage at work, I reached into my pocket to check the time, but all I found was my iPod.  No big deal, I thought. Must have stuck it in my backpack. So as soon as I got to the break room, I began digging for my phone.  It quickly became clear, though, that I wasn’t going to find my phone, because it most definitely was not in my bag.  But it was time to clock in, so I had no choice but to go on stage, still uncertain of my phone’s whereabouts.  It bothered me all day, and so I stayed on the bus this evening until it went to Vista Way, where the bus office is located.  The guy there told me that they hadn’t found the phone, but that they would look again tonight.  (Actually, he said, “We don’t got your phone, sweeetheart.  Call tomorrow.”  I’m not the kind of girl who is usually bothered by being called “sweetheart”, but his patronizing tone just irked me.)

So there is still hope that it will turn up tomorrow, but I”m not holding my breath.  The stupid thing was on vibrate, so even if it the battery hadn’t been dead by the time someone called me, no one probably would have heard it.  I don’t know if it’s still stuck between the seats of the “C” bus that I took this morning, or if someone decided that they would really like to have a (very) used LG.

It’s amazing to me how much this has upset me, though.  I was almost in tears this evening when I got home, and, after one last cursory glance around the apartment and through my bag, decided that it really wasn’t going to turn up tonight.  My entire life is on that phone: I had pictures that I will be heartbroken to lose, not to mention the hundreds of phone numbers that I have gathered over the years.  Seriously, I don’t know anyone’s number anymore:  not my little brother’s, not my grandparents’, not my best friends.  I never actually dial them!  I just scroll through my phone book and hit “call”.  Even the numbers I know don’t do me much good, because the phone in our apartment only makes local calls.

It almost makes me feel bad that I’m so torn up over my phone’s disappearance.  Am I that wrapped up in technology, that I can’t just deal with being a little disconnected for a few days?  After all, I still have Facebook and Skype when I come home, and I have a landline to make any local calls I need.  It’s really not that bad.  I’m just going to keep telling myself this, and hopefully it will get me through the next few cell-free days.  If I don’t post in the next week or so…well, you’ll know that it really wasn’t an exaggeration to say that I couldn’t live without technology.

A Practically Perfect Halloween Party!

“Boo to You”, dear reader!  It’s been an EXTREMELY busy week.  I’ve been wrapping up my resume for the Campus Rep position, working on my class schedule for next semester, preparing for visits from friends and family, working (of course!), and trying to have a life on top of all the rest!  It’s been really tiring, a little stressful, but fun and exciting at the same time.  So many great things are happening!

One of these great things happened this past Tuesday, when I went with all 5 of my roommates to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom.  Of course, we all went in costume: Melissa was a creepy vampire, complete with eerily realistic fangs, Brit was a gypsy reminiscent of Esmerelda from Hunchback, Traci was a flirty German fraulein, Holly was Alice, and Kat was the Queen of Hearts.

Left to Right: Traci, Holly, Kat, Brit, Me, Melissa

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I went as Mary Poppins.  I ended up being so happy with my costume, and it definitely got a great reaction!  Everywhere I’d go, I heard people saying, “Look!  There’s Mary Poppins!”.  People would shout, “Hi, Mary”, or tell me how much they loved my costume.  I even had tons of total strangers asking to take pictures with me.  Seriously!  I was asked to pose with at least five separate groups.  The best of these came at the very end of the night: we were heading out towards the front of the park, and I was lagging behind a bit because I had been wearing  heels for the last five hours and my feet were killing me. A big group is sitting on a bench beneath the Astro Orbiter, and as I walk past they scream, “Mary! Can we get a picture?”  I waved, told them (in a terrible excuse for a British accent) that my group was leaving me behind, and kept walking.  “But we have Bert!”  They point behind me, and, sure enough there’s Bert the Chimney Sweep coming out of the bathroom.  His costume was fantastic, so of course I had to let them take pictures, and even got them take one with my camera.

Chim-Chiminee, Chim-Chim-Cheree, a pic with a sweep who's a stranger to me!

In between posing for pictures, we watched the “HalloWishes” fireworks show, the “Boo to You” parade, and hung out with Jafar, the Queen of Hearts, and Frollo at the “Villains Mix-and-Mingle.”  We also hung out at the Character Dance Party in Tomorrowland, where we learned that Chip is a fantastic break dancer!  Check out Brit’s video by clicking here.

One more piece of news: although I had a fantastic time at the Halloween Party, and work has been going well, this week has been a little tough.  Of course, there’s been the usual drama that comes with trying to sign up for classes and fill out applications, but we also had a some bad news for the family.  My great uncle has been sick for a while: unexplainable weight loss, terrible muscle pains, and just general poor health.  A few days ago he was diagnosed with ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.  Please keep him and the entire family in your thoughts and prayers.  Pray for strength, peace, and healing, because no diagnosis or disease is too powerful for God.

Represent!

I’ve barely gotten over the lost nights of sleep, paper cuts, and worry-muscle cramps from applying for the CP, and now it’s time to do it all again.  I’m going to apply to be a Campus Representative for the CP, and the paperwork’s due November 1st.  That still sounds like quite a long ways away, but since I still don’t have any sort of resume, there’s going to be a lot of prep involved.

“What is a Campus Rep?” you might be asking.  Well, first of all, if your asking, you should really stop talking to your computer. (Sorry!  That’s a really dumb joke.) As the name implies, a Campus Rep represents the CP on their own campus!  All of the fliers advertising the recruiting sessions at my school?  They were hung by our Campus Reps.  The people who answered questions at these sessions? Campus Reps.  And the people who met up with us a couple of times before our program to answer any questions? Campus Reps. 

“But why would you want to be a Campus Rep?” you find yourself wondering,  Well, first of all…no.  I’m going to be good.  No stupid joke this time.  The answer is simple: free stuff and a boost to my as-yet-unwritten resume.  Campus Reps don’t get paid, but I would still be considered a Disney Cast Member, entitled to all the benefits thereof.  And as far as my resume goes, it would give it the much-needed campus involvement element that it’s currently missing.

My fantastic boyfriend is going to use his fantastic graphic design skills (see proof of his fantasticness by clicking here!) to create a fantastic letterhead for my resume.  He’s not doing anything too flashy, just going to give me a letterhead that will add a little pizzazz to my resume and make it stand out.  (I’m only dating him for his talent! ;))

I don’t have any idea how competetive it is, but I would imagine it all depends on your school.  And I’m pretty sure that most of  the Campus Reps from our school did their programs quite a while ago, so they may need some fresh blood!  We have a pretty large group of Campus Reps, too, so hopefully that will help.   On the other hand, they already have a a pretty large group of Campus Reps at our school, so maybe they don’t need anybody else!  Who knows?  I guess we’ll find out soon!  The process is sort of like it was for the College Program: I’ll send in my application, if they have an opening at my school, they may give me a call for an interview.  Unlike the CP, not everyone gets an interview.  Hopefully I’ll be one of those lucky few!

Lucky 13

13.  That’s how many days in a row I will have worked when I have my day off next Wednesday.  But I can’t complain too much, because it was (mostly) by my own choice. I was supposed to be off work yesterday and today, but a few days ago I picked up a treat shift at Mickey’s-Not-So-Scary for today.  Then a couple of days after that, I found a two and a half hour shift at my old stomping grounds on Discovery Island for this afternoon.  So, I figured, I’m already working on my day off, I might as well go ahead and make it a full day.  It would be nice to see everybody at Animal Kingdom again, anyway.  And I would still have one day off.  But then one of my managers at Epcot was desperately looking for help for yesterday.  One of the other girls was going out of town for a funeral, and so they needed somebody to cover her shift.  I didn’t have to take the shift, but I didn’t really have any plans anyway, and decided to volunteer.  And that is how I came to be working on my “weekend”—working an extra shift at Epcot on Wednesday, and working at Animal Kingdom and Mickey’s-Not-So-Scary on Thursday.  So by the time my next day off rolls around, I will have worked 13 days in a row.

It really hasn’t been bad so far.  Since I’m not going in to work until 3:30 most days, I still get to sleep in, lounge around the house, hang out with my roomies, and run errands before going into work.  And my paycheck will definitely be great next week! 

I just finished up the Animal Kingdom shift, and I’m killing time before my 9:00 shift at MNSSHP.  I’ve decided that this is definitely my favorite costume so far, although the headband does bring it down a bit.  But, hey, I’m happy anytime the costume gives me a waist and is half-way feminine. 

Costume for Mickey's Not-So-Scary

Speaking of costumes, I’ve been working feverishly to get my costume ready for the night I attend MNSSHP as a guest.  I’ve decided to go as Mary Poppins.  I have a little jacket that will work, I’m knitting a scarf, the shoes are in my closet, and my mom is making me a skirt.  The hat is really the only major detail I’m still missing.  I’ve looked on eBay and haven’t found any luck finding something I could transform, and tomorrow I plan to hit the thrift stores.  There just aren’t that many thrift stores here, though!  As small as Springfield is compared to Orlando, I think we definitely have them beat in the thrift store department.  But I’m going to give it the ol’ college try, and I’m sure I can find something that will work.  Even a baseball cap would look Mary Poppins-ish after I spray painted it black and stuck flowers and cherries to the brim!  (Okay, I’m just kidding about the baseball cap.  I’m not that desperate…yet.)

The titular nanny...

...and my (very) rough interpretion, based mostly on what I've got in my closet.

On one hand, I hate that I’m probably going to see the Halloween parade and fireworks tonight.  I don’t want to spoil anything before I get to come as a guest!  But I can’t deny how excited I am to see the shows, the costumes, and to get a little sneak peek for our own visit.  It will still be exciting the second time, and I’ll be here with all the girls, so what could better?  It’s time for me to head into the Utilidors, and towards Main Street for the festivities.  So until next time…Boo to You!

My Mid-Week Weekend

For the first time since the program started, I had two days off in a row.  Yesterday and today.  Count ’em: two.  It was really great, and its amazing how much more relaxing you can get done in those extra 24 hours.  But I didn’t waste my time vegging out in front of the TV or watching stupid videos on the internet (Okay.  Maybe just one stupid video.) I actually did a lot of real stuff on my days off! 

Melissa and I both had yesterday off, so we had planned to go to Blizzard Beach, one of Disney’s water parks.  I had never been before, and even though I’m not usually a water park person, I was really looking forward to it.  Of course, we’re in warm, sunny Florida, so we wake up, put on our swimsuits, go outside…and run back in the apartment shivering!  It was actually cool here yesterday!  It only got up around 80, which, while not cold was still too chilly for either of us to want to go to the water park.  So instead we went to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the day.  We strolled around, shopped, rode a couple of the big rides, and then ran into a couple of Melissa’s friends.  So the four of us hung out for the rest of the day.  We watched the Block Party Bash parade for the first time (awesome!) and also saw the American Idol Experience (meh.)  But the highlight of the day was getting our pictures taken with the cast of “Up”.

Today was my “Get Stuff Done” day.  I woke up, worked on making resort reservations for when my family comes in November, talked to the scheduling people about getting October 20th off for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary-Halloween Party, and picked up a shift on the Hub handing out candy at the aforementioned Halloween Party.  Then I spent the rest of the day running around Orlando.  Went to Downtown Disney, shopped for a little while, went to Joann’s and bought some new needles for the yarn that I bought last week.  I love my roommates, but sometimes I really, really miss the privacy I had at home.  So it was really nice to just go around on my own, be by myself, and not really have any agenda.  This is the biggest reason I recommend bringing a car for the program.  Without a car, you have no escape.  Even if you leave the apartment, you leave it on a bus filled with other CPs.

Yesterday, I mentioned to Melissa that I would like to see Cirque du Soleil.  Coincidentally, her and Josh, one of the guys we ran into yesterday at DHS, were planning to go tonight.  So Melissa told me I was more than welcome to come.  Josh, unfortunately, didn’t know that I was planning to come, and so he went ahead and bought tickets this morning, but only for Melissa and himself.  But Melissa convinced me to try to get a ticket anyway, and so I went to the box office about an hour and a half before show time.  Luckily, they had a ticket right behind her and Josh’s seats, so I went ahead and bought it.  When they showed up later, we went to talk to the box office one more time.  Because it was so close to the show start, they were starting to open up other seats.  I’m not sure if they were seats that people had cancelled on, or if they just hadn’t shown up to pick up their tickets.  But they had three new seats available, together, a few rows up from where our original seats were.

Cirque du Soleil was everything I had hoped it would be.  By the end, my hands hurt from clapping, and I know at least four times I let out an audible gasp of astonishment.  The little Chinese girls with their Diablos were my favorite, but there wasn’t a single part of it I didn’t love.  It was worth every penny to see it, and I wouldn’t be against going to see it again.  And if you ever get a chance to see a Cirque Show, DO IT! 

It’s back to work tomorrow, but I have next Wednesday and Thrusday off, too!  I’m thrilled that my schedule is starting to look similar from week-to-week.  Hopefully this Wednesdays/Thursdays off thing will stick, because it’s really been great so far!