So I finally went and saw "Journey to the Center of the Earth"! Loved it! It was nice to see that it was really like an "inspired by the original novel" take on it, rather than a page-for-page remake. Playing in Verne's world with new characters, with nods to the original novel, and even a few of his quirks. Plus I always love Brendan Fraser. The 3d was a cool gimmick, but I don't think it really added much to the film other than a few corny gags worthy of a theme park 3d movie. If it's convenient, by all means go for it, but I wouldn't go out of your way for it. ( Spoilers... )

In other news...

Kirsten: Moving! Tuesday!
Weather: pwn3d, b1ch!

Joy!

Bought two more DS games yesterday! I got "Elite Beat Agents," which is like DDR for lazy people (you play it with the stylus)... and it's so cracktastically addicting that I ran the battery out because I couldn't stop playing it. :P I've already beaten all of it on easy. :P Also got "Enchanted" but haven't had a chance to play that one yet.

Then I went to the Petland next to the GameStop, and drooled and squeed over pets I can't have right now. They had an ADORABLE siberian husky pup... and although I'm disgusted with the idea of puppies in pet stores, I couldn't help but squee over him because he was just too cute. And then I looked at fish tanks - eeee, they had a lunare wrasse! Someday when I have a saltwater fish tank, I will have one of those. I LOVES them. Then I picked out which parakeet I'd get (it was a peppy little male having a blast flinging toy mice around) and which bearded dragon I'd get (the little pudgy one poking his nose up against the glass) and which guinea pig I'd get (all of them) and... damn, someday, my house is going to be SO full of pets.

Finally saw Nim's Island last night... LOVE. Seriously. Imaginative, fun, and animal-y! Jodie Foster's character? Totally me. (aside from the Purell fixation XD) I think I need to buy that DVD eventually.

And you know why I love having a region-free DVD player? 'Cause I can order this from Japan and be able to watch it. XDDDDDDD (seriously, would they release that in the US already?!)

On Friday, the Liberty Square bridge closes for work... that means no PAC shifts for two weeks. BOO. I just wish I could be there to see the wannabe!parade on Friday, because that's gonna be chaotic and full of LOLarity. :P

Other lulz... OMG ANOTHER SET. Seriously - they just released a set in May. Plus the 2003 set (which is the one I have). :P I love me some Indy, but seriously!

Two weeks from tomorrow, the new Kingdom Keepers book comes out! Woo!

And "Badlaa" is on SciFi now. Seriously, that episode game me nightmares. XD *squeak squeak squeak squeak!*

ETA: and this vid? ROCKS MY WORLD.

Splurged a lot this week... I bought a DS, 'cause I just felt like it. :P Still need to pick out some good games for it, though. I picked up Harvest Moon DS and Age of Empires already. I also was tempted by Borders 40% coupon this week, and dropped $50 on books. Mmm, sweet paper-y crack. And I still feel dirty paying full cover price. HPB, you spoiled me!

ariellen and I hung out at MK for awhile on Tuesday... until a massive storm blew in (I got pictures from TTC of just how BLACK it was over MK) and we high-tailed it to DTD. We went to see The X-Files... just as much love the second time! Can I just say again how much Mark Snow's score in that final scene ROCKS? Now I've been kicking back and watching episodes from seasons 6/7/8. Mmmm... sweet. shippy. goodness... (We'll just forget that horrid love letter thing in "Trust No 1" ever happened :P) I need to hit up Gossamer and reread some of those old fanfic classics ("Tempest," "Generations," "The Magician," OMG, way too many!)...

I got Candlelight Processional! I'll be in the alto section, 'cause I decided to take the low end of my range rather than the high end. So come see me if you're in Florida for the holidays!

I came home from work yesterday and thought "my front door looks weird... wait... I never had a screen door before!" Apparently I do now. :P

Oh... and since tonight is preseason game 1... GO SEAHAWKS!!!!!

OMG X-FIIIIIILESS!!
( BIG MASSIVE X-FILES SPOILERS!!! )

The bottom line? If you want a classic, creepy X-Files story that'll give you the heebie-jeebies... go see it now! It's far from perfect... but it's just damn good to see them all on the screen again. Mulder and Scully are back, baby!

After nearly 4 years, my hard drive is finally dying. D: I'm trying to back it up but I'm having trouble because a lot of the files give me a "cyclic redundancy check" error when I try to copy them. I can open the files just fine - look at the pictures, listen to the music, etc - but it won't let me copy them. :/ I'm trying to decide if I should just replace the harddrive on this one and maybe upgrade the RAM, but then at that point I'm starting to near the cost of a new laptop anyways. But other than the skeevy harddrive (which only became skeevy within the last month) and low RAM (which is easy enough for me to upgrade on my own anyways) this one works perfectly, so I don't NEED a new one... ah, decisions, decisions. But at this point I'm really more concerned with making sure I get my drive backed up.

I finally found a new apartment! Yaaaaay! No more 30-mile-each-way commute! No more paying the whole rent and utility bills by myself! :D It's a really nice little place down in Hunter's Creek, sharing it with two other girls. I'll be moving in there about a month or so from now, so now I gotta start planning moving stuffs. It's a temporary place until January (that's when the girl whose room I'm taking comes back) but as January gets closer I'll figure out where I'll be after that.

Oh, and this week's Sign That Disney Parks Are Dying In The Bad Economy? Fantasmic is going to only two days a week in January. Along with a whole lot of entertainment show offering cuts in September (but FINALLY that horrid Pocahontas show is getting the axe - that's 10 years overdue!). Getting ready for a slow offseason much? Although the weakness of the American dollar is reportedly bringing 180,000 Brazilian tourists here this summer. Yippee.

I did finally finish scanning my Elizabeth Weir drawing, and it's here! There's a LOT I see wrong with it, but that's why I'm still trying to develop my colored pencil skills. I have so many ideas and not enough time. I get really inspired while standing out at the Wheelchair Assist position at work. I get all ADD and stare up at the tree branches and imagine what it would be like to be an itty bitty person up there in the branches, facing down the squirrels and lizards and riding around on the cardinals. And I space out like until I suddenly realize that a guest has been shouting at me and trying to get my attention for quite some time, probably to ask me for the billionth time how far they are from the front of the line, as if asking repeatedly will make them get there faster. But yes, much imagination happens there.

I decided that I'd like to sign up for the Candlelight Processional Cast Choir this year. Eep! I haven't sung in a choir since middle school. I kinda miss it. So hopefully I can get into that. Sign-ups are August 1, but being new to the process I'm not sure how fast it fills up...

Idina Menzel is performing at House of Blues this coming weekend and I kinda wanna go, but I'm not sure if there's tickets left...

Encore Cast Choir's summer show is also this week, and I'd like to see that.

FOUR DAYS UNTIL THE X-FILES. :D

GUESS WHO JUST BOUGHT HER X-FILES MIDNIGHT SHOWING TICKET?

Midnight, July 24/25, Downtown Disney!

/Mulder, it's me!

AAKGBGBGBBGKBBFBGFHBFGHBBJBJFGBJH DON'T DO IT.

*HEADDESK*

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117988927.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Long time no update! The basics:
-Finally down to 40-hour weeks! However, Casting continues to hire morons, so we'll see if that lasts. (Let's face it - if you can't even pass the Splash assessment after five days of training, you really are not the brightest crayon in the box. And that's being polite.)
-psychoticorca came to visit for a week and pick up shifts!
-My air mattresses has a hole somewhere. Yay for having a backup! (Yes, I'm too cheap to buy a real bed. Or any other furniture for that matter.)
-Hanging out at the parks with ariellen, salukfan, and princeali_m_fan!
-Got my picture taken with Indy after the stunt show at Studios. <3
-LESS THANK TWO WEEKS UNTIL THE X-FILES.

Pleasure Island is closing September 27. BOO. Actually, I could care less, except that the Adventurer's Club is LOVE. I will miss teh funny and teh booze there. KUNGALOOSH! Their strawberry daquiri machine was down last Monday, so no kungalooshes. BOO. But $2 beers all night. YAY!

Saw "Get Smart" last week... loved it! Funny stuff. I wish I remembered more from the original TV series, but I only have vague recollections of watching it on Nick at Nite back in the day. Steve Carell was hilarious, and Anne Hathaway always does a fantastic job.

Brazilian tour group season is here. D: Seriously, getting them to get in and stay seated is like playing whack-a-mole - you yell at one to sit down and three others pop up. BRAZIL FOR THE EPIC FAIL. (Also, apparently me, ariellen, and salukfan have the power to summon them by clapping and chanting. We're sorry, princeali_m_fan, we really are!)

Also, it is a sad day when I have to tell our managers and coordinators "You can't reset A-lift with 2 logs on it. Only one! You have to jog one over!" because they keep trying to do it and think the mountain is broken. You do this reset like EVERY DAMN DAY. Prease to know own attraction?

Brendan Fraser was at Universal last Friday. I was this close to calling in and going to see him, but I was a good girl and went to work instead. (My reward was a 3+ hour downtime at the end of the day)

Been trying to draw a lot, too. When I was hanging out at Studios one day, I spent a loooong time talking to the sketch/watch artist, and he pointed me to a good art store up in Winter Park. So I stopped in there on Tuesday and picked up some stuff. (I keep an art supply list just like a grocery store list) Been playing with some nice bristol paper and colored pencils, and also trying Col-Erase pencils for sketching. And when I'm at work, I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking up pieces I want to do. (If I'm at virtually any position except grouper, most likely I'm working on autopilot and thinking about art or something else instead of the task at hand) If I could do nothing but sit at home and draw all day, every day, I'd be the happiest camper in the world. (I'd also like to start taking commissions to make a few extra bucks, but I honestly don't think that I really have the skills to do so) I did finish an Elizabeth Weir portrait, but Photoshop keeps dying on me so I haven't been able to scan it yet. Also decided to join animalart100 to get more animal stuff done...

I've totally been on a movie-watching kick lately. Not new movies, but stuff I've seen a billion times: all the classic Star Wars trilogy, Mulan, Ella Enchanted, Gone With the Wind, Mary Poppins, etc... and then I watch them each about 50 times.

And it's been ages since I posted anything regarding stuff I've read, so here's an abridged update of stuff I can remember finishing recently: ( Finally trying to catch up on some of the reading stuffs... )

This random post brought to you by too many beers.

ariellen arrived this week! WOO! She and her mom crashed here for a couple of days before her CP arrival date, and put up with my furniture-less apartment. :P Woo! The Disney geek factor in Orlando just skyrocketed! XD Watching Enchanted together was lulz... because we both totally said the words along with the movie. XD

We had fun at work earlier in the week, though... during a lightning storm we got a power surge that reset the ride... and when we went out to do the reset, we found that the flume pumps hadn't come back on and half the logs (still full of guests, BTW) were suddenly sitting on the bottom of the dry flume. Doh! :P Prease to evac? Turns out that Magic Kingdom (which had most of the major attractions go 101) got off easy - Epcot and Studios lost power completely. :P

I had a manager approach me yesterday and tell me he wanted me to talk to the coordinator of training about becoming a Splash trainer. We're WAY short on trainers right now, and he said even though I've only been here 3.5 months, he thought I'd be REALLY good at it and thought our area manager might be able to pull strings to get me a spot even though I'm not really eligible. I think it'd be awesome, not to mention the extra pay while doing trainer shifts... but at the same time I keep wondering if I really know enough to be able to do it. I have no problem at all with handling and explaining the basics of the attraction... but there's so much I don't know or have never actually encountered before that I think it'd be tough to really do a good job. Hrm.

(...I have, however, already racked up 8 Great Service Fanatic cards. /bragging moment)

Day parade almost got rained out today. We had to stop rolling out the ropes just as we started because of lightning (when Splash goes 101 for weather, so does parade). So at like 2:55 they go "It's back on! Roll out! Rainy Day Cavalcade is going out!" So we roll out like maniacs and get ready for Cavalcade... only to turn around and find the entire regular parade lined up, minus only the princess float. Thanks for the heads-up, guys. :P

Was gonna do Epcot today after work, but the rainstorm made me decide to come home instead. Was also gonna do a drawing for Lilo and Stitch's 6th birthday today, but was too lazy and went to bed at 7 pm last night instead. XD And now I sit here sketching and watching Newsies. This movie doesn't get NEARLY enough love.

Splash is special this week. Yeeeah. Wednesday we opened 1.5 hours late, were down for an hour after a mid-day e-stop evac, and then went down for another half hour in the afternoon. Today we opened two hours late. *pats Splash on the head patronizingly* I think Frieda (the computer) hates us. :P Oh, well. :P Tomorrow and Sunday I'm in at 7:15. I haven't come in that early since training. I hope there's training groups, 'cause I don't know that I remember how to open tower or trackwalk. :P

I've done a lot of PAC this week, too. Day and night parade yesterday, day parade today, and I'll have day parade for the rest of the weekend. Yaaaay parade! I tried to play beach ball with kids yesterday afternoon, but there was a storm coming in (parade stepped off ten minutes early) and the wind kept blowing the ball away. :P I made up for it at night parade, though. We had an AWESOME beach ball game with a bunch of teenagers before the 11pm parade. :P

Oh, and DDCT today? Thanks for the epic pre-parade fail. You should probably start the music BEFORE the grand marshal performers are 50-100 yards down the parade route, so that we can, you know, know it's coming and get out of the way? Just a thought. :P

I was a good girl and finished my Indy drawing! I think I really biffed up his face, but I LOVED shading the horse. Uploaded to DA here!

I've got a Legend of Mythica one in mind next, because that show amazes me. (Video on YouTube starts here with the intro, check the "Related Videos" for the rest of the parts) Tokyo DisneySea, how are you so awesome?

And dammit, I got hooked on Ikariam now! I blame it joesmom92 and droops. So now I immediately check that in the morning, as well as my two Travian servers. :P

Oh, and I totally blame ariellen for spurring on my favorite new crack!pairing: Jack Sparrow/Giselle. Because it just brings the lulz. :P

And on the Wii front...
LEGO Star Wars Complete Saga: 85%
LEGO Indiana Jones Original Adventures: 72%

It's my weekend! Finally! And a TWO DAY weekend! I'm back to 6 days next week again, but still only 47 hours. And I have parade 3 days this week - one Spectro and two day PAC. And I have morning trackwalker shifts all next weekend, which should be interesting... I haven't walked track since I trained. I hope I can remember where everything is. :P Yesterday was MK's Gay Day, which ROCKED. It's amazing - the folks in the redshirts were so wonderful. They're friendly, fun, can listen and follow directions, and don't whine to us about everything. Someone at Splash put it best: we were treated like HUMANS. So to everyone who attended Gay Day: THANK YOU! You guys rock. I just wish I could have seen the 1pm show insanity at Bears - I hear it's hilarious. XD (The line about that time stretched to the Haunted Mansion. For the COUNTRY BEARS.)

Went to DAK on Monday! I wandered for awhile, and stopped to see princeali_m_fan at work. (I'll eat cake next time, I swear! XD) And salukfan happened to be there, too, so I hung out with them for a bit and we watched the parade. Tried to go see Nemo, but got in, sat down... and then they cancelled the show. Doh! So I went on Everest, front row. Not bad, but it was raining and that rain HURT at high speeds! Saw Festival of the Lion King (that show is always sheer awesome), did Maharajah Jungle Trek (Southeast Asian mammals! <3), saw the baby siamang and baby white cheek, did Kilimanjaro. Lots of fun! Pics up here.

Then... Pirate and Princess Party on Wednesday night!! WHEE! OMG, it was SO much fun. ( The P&P recap! Pirates! Princesses! Fangirling! Kirsten in costume! )

Of course, I picked up Lego Indiana Jones last week! Been playing it like crazy, and have finished Raiders of the Lost Ark and most of Temple of Doom so far. ( Lego Indiana Jones review! )

And in the random news:

Publix's Buy One Get One is WIN. Easy Mac AND Thomas bagels on that sale? I totally stocked up.

Andrew Stanton + John Carter of Mars = EPIC WIN.

Got my yellow ID this week! Wiiiiiiin!

Still trying to get back into the habit of drawing daily. I'd like to beef up my portfolio a bit and maybe start taking commissions here and there. I'm bout halfway done coloring the Indy drawing, and have an idea for a Legend of Mythica piece.

Happy hurricane season!

(Central Florida, BTW, you're doomed, as natural disasters seem to follow me.)

My sore throat never got better this week. In fact, it got worse. I could barely talk on Tuesday at work. (Trying to group at Splash using only hand gestures? LOLarity!) I didn't eat for about 72 hours because it hurt too much to swallow. Then whatever I had in my throat moved to my ear for a few days, and I battled vertigo. (which got REALLY bad whenever I was watching the logs go by. You know, like I have to do ALL DAMN DAY.) FINALLY I'm feeling better. A bit of dizziness now and then, but nothing unmanageable.

I think this is where I insert the famous "Hallelujah" chorus. Why? OMFG I ONLY HAVE FIVE DAYS NEXT WEEK. I CAN HAVE A LIFE AGAIN.

Wednesday night I might go to the Pirate and Princess Party, since it's the last one for the summer and I'm finally off. I need an excuse to wear my Giselle costume to MK! XD I just gotta run to Company D and get a ticket.

Did day PAC the last couple of days... I rolled for the first time ever today! For those who know the Disney parade routine, that's the person who walks behind the parade with the Big Ass Heavy Harness and actually physically rolls up the ropes along the street. I didn't lose my roll, and for that I am eternally grateful. :P (When you lose the roll, it's panic time for the managers, who them have to finish that entire section rolling it up on their arm and then sort it all out later. Plus it's really embarrassing.)

I finally get my yellow ID this week! Woo! Then I can stop feeling like a n00b! (Albeit one who was around when MK wasn't a CastZooming location and when Property Control was just a tent, but whatever!) And, you know, get health insurance and stuff. Bid information came out this week... they've hired so many new people lately that, on the full-time Frontierland Ops seniority list, I'm already #42 out of 88. Woo! Not even out of my 90 days yet, and I'm in the top 50%! ;)

King King got demolished in a fire this morning... that makes me sad, that's like a classic bit of Universal Studios right there.

And speaking of fire, on my way home last night, as I was going down 535 there was a HUGE plume of smoke (I could see it all the way from MK). Turns out there was a big brush fire in Hunter's Creek. It only made it to about 50 acres before it was contained, but the smoke was still hanging around this morning. While I was out setting up our FastPass area, the smell of smoke was REALLY thick. It more or less blew out by late morning but... ick.

I'm trying to get myself drawing more, so I've made a new "draw every day" rule. Too many ideas, too little time! (That Indiana Jones sketch is sitting next to me, half-colored...)

Lego Indiana Jones in TWO DAYS!

I'm tired and on cold medication, so this one is all over the map. :P

So I woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat... and by afternoon I was standing out in the 90-degree Florida heat and shivering. We ended up getting a log stuck in station and had to evac, and that took so much out of me that I felt like I could barely stand the rest of the day. By the time I got home from work at 8pm I fell into bed and slept til 11 this morning. I made myself eat a bit this morning (which hurt like a bitch) and I don't feel quite as weak, but my throat still hurts a lot. Just breathing is quite painful.

We had ducky drama at work last week. A couple of ducks decided to build their nest on the ride (as some unlucky pair tends to do each year) at Drop 5 this year (the itty bitty drop at the end)... then said ducks had babies. And every guest coming off the ride goes, "Did you know that at - ?" "We know about the ducks." We even wrote a sign and shoved it into a crack at Dispatch 1 saying "We know about the ducks" which is probably horrible show, but we were so sick of the question that we didn't care. :P Anyways, finally a couple of ducklings swim into the station and get onto the belts. We hit the station stop, and the ride was down for a good 20 minutes while a manager climbed around on the belts, trying to catch them. When he did, the entire crowd of people in line and waiting in the logs broke out in a huge cheer. It was like watching a sporting event. XD

My mommy was here last week! She came down for the week and helped me take care of stuff. It was awesome having her around again! And she buys me stuff. XD (Mom, if you're reading this, I am currently microwaving Doras! I'm eating! Or trying to, anyways. :P)

I was a bad girl today and spent money... I've been eyeing Twilight Princess for months, and decided I needed a pick-me-up so I stopped at Game Stop and splurged on it. I also stopped at Borders and got the Indy 4 novelization and a Florida birding book from the bargain rack. I stopped at KMart for cough drops... and to the biatch in front of me in the express line, please, next time, when you have a cart completely full of crap, please use a line other than the express line, as I wait behind you with ONE item. I hope you wake up soon with whatever I have. Kthxbye.

I got my digital cable box last week... and OMG SWEET JEEBUS I GET TOON DISNEY NOW. My social life (if I ever had one) is over.

Schedules for next week came out... 44 HOURS. SO MUCH WIN. Still 6 days, but SHORT days. I'm so excited, it's not even funny. I wanna try to get to DTD oen day after work and see Indy 4 again. Schedule bids should be coming out soon, too. I don't have much seniority (almost all our newcomers are part-timers, so having more seniority than them doesn't help me on full-time bids!) but hopefully I can at least get a decent schedule choice.

Lego Indiana Jones, one week from tomorrow!!! (Lego Star Wars: 83%! Farkin' challenge levels...)

Okay! Indy 4 review now, while it's still in my head!

The non-spoiler-y part of the review -

Okay, totally unrelated to the film itself, but seeing midnight shows rocks. We had one guy come into the theater, walk down to the front, and crack a bullwhip for five minutes. When someone else got a bag of popcorn, a prop idol, and toy snakes, and proceeded to reenact the entire opening scene of Raiders, using the popcorn as the replacement sand bag. The bag stayed up there all night. :P

AWESOME. Just plain AWESOME. Is it high art? No. But it's a damn fun adventure, and it's a blast. Indy is back, baby!

It feels a lot like The X-Files meets Indiana Jones... but it works! It's got the action and the fights, it's got the comedy, and it has the dramatic and even a few poignant moments. There were definitely a couple of parts that had me going "...WTF?" But the good far outweighed the bad. It starts out rather slowly, and sort of has to build into the story, but once it gets momentum it's awesome.

While I was skeptical, Shia LaBoeuf makes a great addition to the cast. He really clicks with Harrison Ford, and their back-and-forth is great! AWESOME to see Karen Allen back, and she totally rocked the movie.

The score was fantastic - it was really fun hearing snippets from the other movies. I'm sure I caught tunes from both Raiders and Last Crusade... there may have been some Temple of Doom cues in there that I missed.

( And now for the SPOILERY PART... BEWARE OF SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT AND IN THE COMMENTS. )

So I went to Aquatica on Monday! For those outside the Orlando area, Aquatica is SeaWorld's new water park that just opened a couple of months ago. So I headed out there with a friend and checked it out! ( Review under the cut! )

The major suckage? I burned LIEK WOAH, even after putting on sunscreen. My shoulders, back, and upper legs already huuuuuuurt... *hugs the aloe vera bottle* So I've called in the last two days, because putting a shirt on hurts so much I want to cry. (The shower did make me cry.) Blah. I feel bad losing the money from 24 hours of work, but I've worked so much lately, I suppose it's okay. And I feel less guilty taking the point because calling in two days in a row is still only one point. :P I got a few things done that I've been trying to get to for ages.

Also, in trying to compile lists of the guest casts from Flipper episodes for my website, I've found episodes with: Dwight Schultz, Virginia Hey, Lani Tupu, Helen Dallimore, and Don Jeffcoat (yes, my 80s childhood, Nickelodeon-watching kids, THAT one). And dammit, this show still needs fic. *grumbles* (oh, and a DVD release, too...)

Oh, and someone at TheRaider.net's boards posted a link to a football game that I'm hooked on now, Goal Line Blitz. You make your own football player and train him and play him and everything. OMG, it's like crack (like Travian and Furry Paws). Anyways, if anyone else wants to try, register!

SIX MORE DAYS UNTIL INDIANA JONES.

(LEGO Star Wars update: 70%)

GUESS WHO JUST BOUGHT HER MIDNIGHT SHOWING TICKET FOR INDY IV??? WOOOO! TWO MORE WEEKS!!

Also, Amazon (spoilerphobes - track titles ahoy!) just posted samples from the soundtrack. John Williams rocks my socks. LOVE the arrangement of track 7. And 8. I feel like I hear hints of score from the original three movies at times (especially track 14). And track 19? OMG YES. XDDD

"Operation: Beat Lego Star Wars" now stands at 59% complete.

And in totally unrelated news, this person wins. We need episodes I don't already have on there, though!

Splash had a 101 party today. It was great. We went 101 5 minutes after opening, and were down for 2 hours. Then a couple of hours after we reopened, we went down again for another hour. Yaaaaaay for sitting around all day! Apparently Paris Hilton was in the park, and visited Thunder while we were down the second time.

Toy Story Midway Mania cast previews were this weekend! I thought I wasn't gonna get to go because I was working the whole time, but I found out they extended the hours today, so I stopped by after work! Here's my thoughts... ( Not much to spoil, but under a cut anyways... )

I ended up going to Studios for a bit on Monday night to photograph Fantasmic. It was fun to try out my 400mm at a Disney park finally! Got some nifty closeups. It was also a dragon-less show. I'd never seen one of those before, in all the bajillion times I've seen Fantasmic at both parks. But really, it's done very well. If you didn't know there was supposed to be a big dragon there, you'd probably never know the difference. Pics from the night are up here!

Grey's this week? Addison Montgomery, how are you so awesome? Seriously.

Operation "Beat LEGO Star Wars So I Can Buy LEGO Indiana Jones Next Month With A Clear Conscience" progresses! I'm at 40% now after 25 hours of gameplay. I've beaten everything on story mode, and I'm going through everything in free play mode now to get all the True Jedis and red bricks and minikits. I bought Ghost Yoda, and he kicks ass. Ghost Ben Kenobi is up next, because Yoda is too damn slow when he walks and that annoys me. :P

And speaking of things Indy... AFHLALKGJKSLHK JUST OVER TWO WEEKS TO GO. Seriously. I'm SO psyched. I keep hoping to see Downtown Disney AMC theater announce a midnight showing, but they haven't done it yet. It's SO weird to see Indy tie-ins being pushed everywhere now. And new theatrical trailer out!! LOVE it. And you can pre-order the soundtrack at Amazon for $10. I already did! Is it May 22 yet?

Yaaaay, it's the Monday party! WOO! I think I'm the only person that likes Mondays, and only because that's my day off.

I am SO exhausted. This weekend was the first weekend of Grad Nites. Oh, yes, my friends, that magical time of year when graduating high school seniors descend upon the park en masse and spend an entire night terrorizing the Magic Kingdom. And us poor CMs working 14-hour shifts until 4:30 am have to deal with them. We make no attempt to group them into rows, because it is a futile effort. We also unapologetically split up groups when they don't get into the logs fast enough (and there is a logical reason why, not just because we're jerks), hence the title of the entry. There is music BLARING in station, and between that and the screaming kids, you can't hear a thing. In Tower, there is much yelling to be had, and in the proper mood, it can be fun when you get to continually shout at people to sit down and put their shirts back on. But the classic Splash Mountain Grad Nite moment? Chasing down people who get out of the logs. Despite the fact that there are big consequences (being kicked out of the park and not walking with their classmates at graduation) people still do it regularly. Friday night wasn't bad, we only had a couple of people. But Saturday.. oh, lordy. *headdesk* In any case, my throat is killing me now from all the yelling. And next weekend, we do it all over again! :P I will say, though, the "whits kids dancing badly" party that we had in station, dancing to the music, was really entertaining... :P

And in general Splash rambling, I pose a multiple choice question:
You are in a log pulling into the station at the end of the ride. Your log stops, and people in the logs ahead of you begin to get out as directed, but next to you there is only a big fence. Do you:
a) remain seated until your log pulls up to an area where there is no fence
b) stand up and promptly sit back down when you realize there is nowhere to go
c) stand up, and remain standing, when you can't figure out where to go
d) stand up, and try to get out, squishing yourself up against the fence

If you chose a, congratulations, you are one of the elite few blessed with intelligence. If you chose c or d... you in a pathetically large group, so at least take comfort in that fact.

In other news... most Disney fans know by now about Ollie Johnston's passing. So sad - the last of that historical, amazing group of artists. :( I didn't realize that he'd been living in Sequim, either!

The X-Files movie has a title: I Want to Believe. While I love that tagline... as a title? WTF? Anyways, just over three months to go!!!

NFL schedules are out, and the Seahawks are playing a game in Tampa on October 19! EEEEEEE! I totally gotta try and ask for that day off.

I got carded buying alcohol today! Weee! I haven't been carded in months, and I was starting to feel old. :P I also laugh at myself now, because my fridge has more alcohol than food in it. I have two different beers, wine coolers, mudslides, and a bottle of vodka in the cupboard. LOL... I'm not alcoholic, I swear. :P

New Grey's on Thursday!! EEEEEEEE!!

Until this week, I always thought "dark cirles under your eyes" was a figure of speech. Then I looked in the mirror and saw dark purple rings under my eyes, and realized it's true. I am so freakin' tired. Tired enough that I've been on the verge of passing out standing up. I was at grouper the other morning and was getting so lightheaded that black spots were swimming through my vision. Luckily it was early enough in the morning that there weren't many guests and I was able to lean against a trash can for a bit.

I'm scheduled to work all 4 Grad Nites. Oh dear lord, help me now.

Oooh! My otters, they had babies! They called me and told me that morning... of course, Denali freakin' held them in until just a week after I left. Go figure! But EEEEEEEE!! I'm glad she's being such a good mom. I hope for the sake of the staff that her babies do not end up as crazy hyper as her. :P

Disneyland updated their Fantasmic finale recently. I'm still not sure what to think of it. I sort of like the timing, but it feels like less with the smaller pyro. The lights aren't a good substitute. Hrm.

Oh, and New Kids on the Block making a comeback? LOVE. They damn well better come to Orlando. And judging by the discussion going on in the Frontierland trailer before parade last week, there would be fierce competition to get that day off. :P

vinsaneboy saw Matt Hasselbeck in the park on Saturday. I didn't see him, and the Seahawks fangirl in me is very sad. :(

Oh, and my apologies if I'm slow to reply to stuff or don't reply at all... life's been a wee bit crazy, if you can't tell.

ETA: LULZ. Because apparently they needed to lure more sci-fi nerds into casinos? XD

ETA 2: I had an idea for an art project. I need names of endangered species that are all black and white (mammals and birds in particular). ( On the list so far... )

Um... yeah, not much to tell about the last two weeks. Work. Lots and lots of work. 70 hours a week, every week. *drops dead*

It's not too bad, other than dealing with the idiotic people that can't follow directions. (Seriously, how hard is it to understand "Go to row 2"?!) Grouper makes me hate humanity. I like Standby greeter at night because there's no one there and you can watch the fireworks. I got totally SOAKED at Dispatch 2 the other night when it started hailing. I got bit on the arm by a fire ant that fell on my arm at Grouper 1. I got bit by something else on my ankle, and it's all swollen and blotchy. I like doing parade. One of the Enchanted Adventures Parade floats slid out in the rain last night and demolished a trash can and our crowd control rope in Liberty Square. The Enchanted Adventures Parade is LAME.

Coming out of the break room behind Splash on Saturday night, I saw an owl sitting on the fence. I almost walked right up to it. I stood within about 10 feet of it for a good 30 seconds before it noticed me and took off.

It rained all weekend. We had two inches of rain yesterday alone. Lightning at Splash is win, because we close and I don't have to do anything.

So I've spent the evening having a beer-and-Star-Wars marathon. After a couple of beers, Luke's whining ceases to be annoying and suddenly becomes HILARIOUS. I'm on beer #3 now and "The Empire Strikes Back." I want a pet tauntaun. Han and Leia are hot, snarky love together. I need another beer.