Every Wish...

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 03:10:16 GMT

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. I coulda done without the love story bit. The first thing outta my mouth was "Oh, god, she can't be any older than me. Don't." *sigh* At least it was a little part of the movie that you could overlook. I loved that they got the code-breaking bit in there, the connections to Lidenbrock, and the little "if we drop this down the hole and time it" calculations that the novel was so full of. :p And the bit on the beach made me want to cry.

In other news...

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

Joy!

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:47:08 GMT

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.

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:57:22 GMT

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!!!!!

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:23:54 GMT

OMG X-FIIIIIILESS!!
Yes, I was CREEPED OUT AS HELL. I always told people - the stories that were more based on non-paranormal stuff are the ones that creeped me out the most. This one reminded me distinctly of "Unruhe" in that manner - more plausible than normal and TOTALLY creepy. I was scared to get out of my car when I got back to my apartment. And that, my friends, makes for awesome X-Files.

So here's the rundown. Lest ye forget, I was a die-hard MSR fan. Consider yourselves warned.

-Let me be shallow: I love Mulder and Scully's house. A quiet little place in the country. LOVE.
-I love that Scully is the breadwinner and Mulder is the crackpot hiding all the time and sticking pencils in the ceiling (WOO! Loved that gag on the show)
-Scully has always been a doctor, yes... but when the hell did she suddenly become a surgeon? And a neurosurgeon at that! ...somewhere, McDreamy is drooling over her mad skillz.
-Mulder and Scully snuggling in bed? SO MUCH AWESOME IT KILLS ME. "Scratchy beeeeeard!" Best. Line. Evar. Well, a toss-up between that and "only a little something?" from the same scene. XDDDD Dana Scully, how are you so awesome?
-So Mulder was basically pardoned (IMHO they brushed that point aside too easily, but I suppose they really only have so much time to push the story along)... what happened to Doggett and Reyes, who were also on the run in the end? They never got a mention! Here's my theory: Skinner used them as human shields, and that's why he's good to go in this one. :P
-Speaking of Skinner... RANDOM! He's just like Scully's chauffeur... and Mulder's snuggle bunny. XDDDDDDD
-Xzibit... trying to be like Samuel L. Jackson much?!
-Love the X-Files theme playing as Mulder stares at the picture of Bush at the FBI. XD
-Yet another agent learns the rule: don't call him Fox, or Bad Things happen!
-Mulder totally ran past the parking lot where the Canadians tried to give me a parking ticket.
-"That's why I fell in love with you." ENOUGH SAID. XDDD
-Scully smashing the shit outta the guy who was gonna kill Mulder? LOVE. XD Bitch!Scully was out in full force! :P
-LOVED the side story with Scully and the sick boy. It played into the A-story well... and I think it was an interesting parallel: Scully accuses Mulder of doing everything trying in vain to save Samantha... but it's pretty clear that her connection to the boy has more to do with working out feelings over William than just being a good human being. So it was interesting to see her sort of play the role of hypocrite. And I think she knew that, too.
-I hate to say it, but I loved the will-she-or-won't-she-leave-him drama. Cliche? Possibly. But how many times has Scully hinted or flat out said that she wants a normal life? ("Don't you ever want to just STOP? Get out of the damn car?") I think it actually worked well this way. She'd adjusted to the idea that she could settle down with him, and suddenly this case throws that all out the window. Of course that frustrates and upsets her, and I think it was a natural reaction for her to snap back. Also, some nice acting on Gillian's part on those scenes - they were rather heart-wrenching.
-I'm waiting to see the slashers have a field day with Skinner cradling Mulder. XD
-The last scene between Mulder and Scully before the final surgery? LOVE. Absolutely beautiful. I like that they're coming to a compromise. That they're reminded about how they feel about each other, and accept and embrace it.
-I can't decide how I feel about the last scene... a part of me likes that they left the outcome open to your imagination, and a part of me is REALLY annoyed that we never found out how the kid's story turned out. :P
-WHAT THE FUCK WAS UP WITH THE CREDITS? HOLY MOTHER OF GOD THAT WAS RANDOM AND AWESOME. XDDDDD PREASE TO ICON????

I'm sure there's a billion other things I wanted to say, but it's 3:30 am and I gotta be up at 6:30 for work. :P

That and I'm still WAY too distracted by the mental image of Mulder and Scully in the boat. *waves at the camera*

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!

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:00:11 GMT

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

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:46:38 GMT

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

Midnight, July 24/25, Downtown Disney!

/Mulder, it's me!

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:29:12 GMT

AAKGBGBGBBGKBBFBGFHBFGHBBJBJFGBJH DON'T DO IT.

*HEADDESK*

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

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:38:22 GMT

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:

Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
Finally - an adventure story about book nerds! XD The entertaining story of a girl and her father who can read things straight out of books and into the real world. At times it felt repetitive and drawn-out, but overall very enjoyable. I'm excited to see how the film version turns out!

Operation Orca - Daniel Francis and Gil Hewlett
As a Seattle native very into the orca world, I definitely had strong feelings on the subject of Springer and Luna, so this book was a really fascinating look at both of their situations, and why one situation led to a whale being reunited with their family, and the other lead to the whale's death. The authors do seem to make a fair effort to balance their viewpoints and not show a bias, which was very nice.

Peter Pan in Scarlet - Geraldine McCaughrean
A look at what happened to Neverland after Wendy and the Lost Boys left. Very true to the feel of the original, and a lot of fun!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - James Rollins
One of my favorite things about movie novelizations is getting a bit deeper look at what was cut or not included in the film. This one does well there, filling in nicely while not dragging the story action down.

I'll try to be better about keeping up on this in the future! As always, the all-time favorites list is here.

This random post brought to you by too many beers.

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:34:18 GMT

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.

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:33:38 GMT

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%

Your weekly Update of Random!

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:48:59 GMT

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. I worked til 5:45, then moved my car and changed into costume - Andalasia Giselle!. I gotta say, if you wanna be an attention whore, be an adult wearing a costume to a Pirate and Princess Party. XD I wandered for a bit, visited the Splash folks, then met up with salukfan! We wandered for awhile and took pics, then met up with princeali_m_fan and lots of other folks. Did Pirates ("We want Sparrow!"), watched the parade (I got some ROCKIN' pics of that parade at twilight), then went to Fantasyland and got pics with the princes/princesses in their Dream Along With Mickey costumes. Eventually, our group dwindled to me, princeali_m_fan, salukfan, and aratelinwen. We watched Magic, Music, and Mayhem, then wandered over to see the Aladdin show (and the most AWESOME Aladdin ever). We went to see Jack Sparrow who, by that time, only had a half hour wait. Mmmm, Jack! XD We did Pirates again, and laughed at the Jack Sparrow "Yip-Yip" cookies in the gift shop. And then had insanity staying in character on the whole ferry ride back to the parking lot. XD I was SO tired the next day, but it was totally worth it. All the night's pictures here! FOR NARNIA! XDDD

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. Initial impression? Not bad, but it's no "Lego Star Wars," either. In bullet points...

The Good:
-The cut scenes. Just like Lego Star Wars, they're full of LOLarity. I think my favorite is still Indy coming face-to-face with Belloq for the first time at the start of the Raiders.
-Willie's inherent talent: her scream shatters glass. At least she's USEFUL in the game! ;)
-Lego Star Wars cameos!

The Bad:
-Characters generally have to pick up objects they need, rather than inherently having them. Some characters do automatically have certain items, but most things you need, you must find. Rather a pain. But the real headdesk-er is that Indy does not automatically have a pistol! He ALWAYS had oen in the movies, so why not in the game?
-Some RANDOM scenes. Can someone please tell me where in Raiders of the Lost Ark Indy fought a giant snake/lizard thingy?!
-Marion can't pick up a frying pan in Cairo and smack someone with it? I feel gypped.
-When starting a level, you can't skip past the irritating and useless "red line as the plane flies" intro. At least with Lego Star Wars, you could skip past the scrolling intros by hitting the + button.
-Too easy to get True Adventurer! The only level I haven't hit it on the first try was the Temple of Kali because I was so annoyed by that level that I chose to rush through it instead. With Lego Star Wars, hitting True Jedi was an actual challenge. Here, I've generally got it within about 5 minutes of starting a level.

The Ugly:
-Game length. 4 hours in, and I'm already well over 30% done. This is a short one, folks.
-One of the fun things about Lego Star Wars was that you could often figure out how to beat a boss by thinking back to what happened in the movie. It was a fun parallel to the story. Not so with Lego Indy. In fact, I only figured out how to beat the German Mechanic by accident.

The Bottom Line:
It's fun. It's addicting. And on the grand scale of video games, it's pretty good. But having seen what they did with the Lego Star Wars games, this one feels like a bit of a letdown.

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.

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:04:13 GMT

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!

Mon, 26 May 2008 20:19:26 GMT

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...)

Thu, 22 May 2008 07:17:47 GMT

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.

OMG MY MARION AND INDY SHIPPING PAYS OFF. Years of arguing pro-Marion/Indy and I get the pay off. :D Seriously, they ROCK together. The snark, the love, it's all there. The look on Indy's face when he first sees Marion again... PRICELESS. How quickly they clicked again threw me a bit - they stepped right back into the relationship as if nothing ever happened - but it worked out okay. The arguing over the relationship in the back of the truck? Priceless! And this bit of dialogue had to have gotten the biggest roar of laughter from the audience in the whole movie:
Marion: *in the quicksand* He's your son! Henry Jones III!!
Indy: ...why did you let him quit school?!
OMG LOVE. XDDDD
Hell, that whole SCENE in the quicksand was a riot. :D ("Say 'grab the rope!'") And I like that we got more about what happened between them. Almost married? That's news to me! In the comics they dated for awhile then Marion moved on, but no mention was ever made of marriage. I love that he still pined after her all those years, while she tried to convince herself that she was happy with Colin. (Her "I had a happy life!" rant was a bit too forced, as if she were trying to tell herself that more than him) I was kinda waiting for her to punch him, but I'll live. :P But OMFG FINALLY MARRIED. XDDD

I'll say it: I love Mutt. I was prepared to see him as a wannabe, but Shia really pulled it off and made Mutt a really likeable character. He was a GREAT foil for Indy - the two of them played off each other sooo well! The snark ("What are you, like, 80?"), the back and forth (Indy snatching the hat at the wedding)... they were a riot. Love it!

The fight in the diner between the jocks and the greasers? SO MUCH WIN.

Indy in the refrigerator during the atomic test? SO MUCH WIN.

The ark in the warehouse? SO MUCH WIN.

I loved seeing Indy's moment at the beginning to remember his dad and Brody. Very poignant, and made the getting back together with Marion and learning he has a son feel that much more fulfilling.

The whole "staying behind to try to grab the treasure thing that Mac pulled was a little too "Mummy" for me. And the monkeys and Mutt swinging like Tarzan had me headdesking. But that's a small price to pay for an otherwise very enjoyable movie!

There's probably about 20 billion other things I want to say, but I can't remember them now, so I'll leave it at that. Discuss away! XD

Thu, 15 May 2008 22:59:13 GMT

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!

First impression: size. It's teeny! It doesn't take long to walk through the entire park. That does, unfortunately, translate into fewer rides, but this is a park still in its infancy, so who knows what will be coming in the future. We did almost every ride twice with plenty of time to spare.

Theming? Fantastic! Lots of greenery. The overall theme of the park is what I could best describe as "Try-Hard Aussie." :P It has a very South Seas feel, complete with an announcer guy that does all their spiels that has an over-the-top Aussie accent and randomly tries to throw in Aussie slang. He made me LOL. That being said, it's fun and upbeat. It was also lacking in the far-too-loud-rock-music category (which most water parks seem to fall into) so bonus points there. (They had softer, tropical sounding tunes occasionally interspersed with animal call tracks)

Okay, so here's the rundown on the rides:
Dolphin Plunge: The park's signature attraction, and easily the most disappointing. This is the one they advertise where you go through the Commersons dolphin exhibit. It had the longest wait of all the slides, easily. It's not a bad slide, but don't worry about trying to look for the dolphins - the time it takes you to pass through that part is so short that you likely won't even be able to see them unless they're right there as you go by. Also? The splashdown shoots a crapload of water up your nose. It is, however, the only body slide in the park.

Walhalla Wave: A raft slide, and lots of fun!

HooRoo Run: Skip it. It's like Walhalla Wave, but just goes straight. Go on Walhalla Run instead.

Taumata Racer: Best ride in the park, IMHO! A mat slide racer - the drop at the end is fantastic!

Roa's Rapids: River ride without tubes! Just jump into the current and drift through. Kinda relaxing, but not quite lazy enough without the tubes. :P

Loggerhead Lane: Lazy river ride! With tubes this time. There's a waterfall that's turned on so hard it hurts, but other than that, pretty nifty. The path splits at one point - go one direction and pass through a grotto with a big cichlid tank, or go the other way and go past underwater viewing for the Commersons. Very cool!

Tassie's Twisters: Tube ride into a giant bowl! I recommend taking a double tube, because you seem to shoot out much faster that way. Also, the entrance to this one is a bit annoying, you have to get into Loggerhead Lane and go halfway through it to get to the entrance.

Whanau Way: Tube slide! This one was a lot of fun. When the stairs split two ways, I recommend going left - you get a bit more of a drop at the end that way!

Cutback Cove: Of the two wave pools, this is the one on the left. Sharper, wilder, more erratic waves here.

Big Surf Shores: The wave pool on the right. Gentler waves... and less crowded because of it. :P

That's it for the rides. There's two kiddie areas, but we didn't try those ones out this time. :P

One really nice, convenient option for food is the Banana Beach Cookout pass. It's an all-you-can-eat buffet. The food isn't the greatest, but they have some decent stuff (hot dogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob, melon, side dishes, etc.). It's generally $12.95/person for a meal... but the best part is you can opt to just pay $20 upfront and get a wristband that lets you eat all you want there, all day. That was REALLY cool. It was easy to just pay that and not have to worry about getting more food later, we just stopped by whenever we wanted something. It also saved us the trouble of going back to the locker for cash or anything like that. So for sheer convenience, I recommend that!

As far as the animal aspect goes... well, you could almost be forgiven for not realizing this is a SeaWorld park. Seriously. There's the Commersons near the front, but people didn't seem to spend much time there. They're basically a footnote. I'm still a bit irked that they're there virtually for decoration. In the walk-in underwater viewing area there's a couple of hastily-added panels about conservation, but nothing else. There was someone there to answer questions about them as well. But like I said, it still felt like they were decoration more than anything. We saw only a few other animals here and there: the cichlid tank in the river ride, a few macaws, and an animal person walking around with what appeared to be a fish eagle. There was also a small education tent, but it was pretty much an afterthought. Other than that, the animal aspect was almost non-existent.

One of my only complaints was the bane of many a water park: hot pavement. It was upper 80s today, so by mid-afternoon those paths were KILLER on the feet. I can only imagine what they'll be like in the summer when it's closing on 100 degrees. Just a few misters here and there or even just a trickle to keep parts of it cool would be fantastic, but it may be a "wear sandals when not on the rides" park.

Bottom line: it's a fun little park. Nicely-themed and enjoyable, but the biggest drawback is the lack of rides. They need MORE. Hopefully they'll expand it a bit!

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%)

Thu, 08 May 2008 01:38:41 GMT

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!

Mon, 05 May 2008 01:14:52 GMT

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... I can't say much about the queue because the wait was 2-3 hours, so I opted for the single-rider line (only 45 minutes or so wait there!). This looks like it'll be one to do FastPass on for quite awhile until the newness wears off, as it's rather slow-loading (they can load I think 3 cars at a time, 4 people per car, and it takes a good minute or more to get everyone in and out). What I did see of the queue: it's SPARSE. It was pretty much all painted walls. It looks VERY cheap. Bleh. In fact, that can be used to describe most of the decorating throughout the building. The theming actually on the ride wasn't that great, either - it felt rather like an assembly line, with nothing to disguise the ride path or upcoming game areas. The cars are interesting - there's four people in each car - two to a seat, with the seats back-to-back (and thus the game screens on both sides of the track). They spin and jerk around a lot, so it made for more whipping around than was probably necessary.

As for the gameplay itself... the pull-string trigger actually works better than I thought it would. It's pretty easy to use. However, I see those being a big issue down the line - with that many people yanking on them day in and day out, they're going to take quite a bit of abuse. It'll be interesting to see, five years down the line, how many problems they have with guns that don't work right. The games are all pretty basic target games, so even though the theming of each of the five games is different, it sorta feels repetitive after awhile. It takes probably a good 5 minutes to get through the whole thing. And there is a bit of effects with the games, but they feel a bit like they were just tacked on (like a lot of the gags in the 3-D movies). The 3-D works reasonably well, although it's nothing to write home about. The ride probably wouldn't be lacking if it was just normal screens.

The unload area seemed to take a long time. From the time we finished the last game to the time we actually unloaded was probably a good 3 minutes at least. I don't know how much of that was because the CMs themselves are still learning the attraction and getting up to speed and how much of it was poor ride design. And my score: 86,000. Pretty modest, really. At the end they show the day's top 3 scores and the month's best, all hovering in the 270,000-300,000 area.

Bottom line: it's rather like Buzz Lightyear on speed with less theming. If you love the gameplay on Buzz, you'll probably really love TSM. It's a lot of fun from a gameplay standpoint, but the attraction as a whole was quite disappointing.

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?

...but my friends were in there!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:44:47 GMT

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!!

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:40:30 GMT

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 (with IUCN status):
Malayan Tapir (vulnerable)
Giant Panda (endangered)
Mountain Zebra or Grevy's Zebra (endangered)
Snow Leopard (endandered)
White-Cheeked Gibbon (endangered)

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:38:33 GMT

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.

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:04:37 GMT

So I should probably update this thing, huh? :P

Life has been crazy! I've been working all the time, which is awesome for my bank account. :P I spent most of the week in training at Splash! OMG, I had to get the most freakin' complex ride in the resort, didn't I? XD It is a MAZE inside that mountain. On the night I learned closing, we stayed over an hour late basically playing a game in the mountain to help learn it. We were told by the trainer something like "Go to Drop 2 and call me from the phone there." So we had to find our way there and then call, and from there we'd get instructions on where to go next ("Go to C-lift and escort an imaginary guest out the correct way"). That helped SO much. Trying to remember where all 15 access doors go, learn all the show scenes (26 of them) and how to get to them, learning the evacuation routes for each area, AND learning how to do all the rest of the ride (running the controls, how to start up in the morning, how to reset the zones when the ride goes down, how to close down at night, how to load... the list goes on...) was a LOT to remember.

But apparently I succeeded, because this morning I passed my checkout assessment! I even got an intrusion (when one of the motion sensors or cameras is set off be someone on the ride) when I was getting checked out on tower, and even though I hadn't had to deal with that on my own before, I apparently did very well! The park's CRAZY this week, too, with the Spring Break/Easter rush. MK is open until 1 am today, and there's TWO day parade showings every day this week instead of the normal one. And of course, by the time I left today, Splash had already gone 101 three times, and that was by 2pm. :P

I even got extended on Saturday night, and stayed from 10 am 'til 11 pm... and since I was in at 6:30 the next morning, I got double-back on Sunday! Win! (double pay all day, for having less than 8 hours between shifts) I was permed at greeter for three days since I hadn't gotten my checkout yet... three days of directing the guests to the bathrooms and the ride exit, because that's pretty much all you get asked. XD Oh, and opening up FastPass machines to get out all the tickets they eat. My fingers are killing me from constantly having to mess with the machine's innards. :P I got an awesome guest compliment, though. I was having to run around like a madwoman to keep up with the FastPass machine problems on Friday, usually with 3-4 guests at a time waiting for me to help them with problems. When it calmed down a bit, a woman who had been watching came over to tell me that she thought I did a fantastic job of staying cheerful and friendly even when I was running back and forth like a chicken with my head cut off. YAY! That totally made my day!

I've got 64 hours this week... I'm off tomorrow, then no shifts shorter than 12 hours for the rest of the week! And next week? 79 hours. Yes my friends, 79. 6 days, all 12-15 hours. And I've got PAC (Parade Audience Control) for Spectro on this Friday and next Friday! YAY! I'm excited! I haven't seen Spectro since my CP! :D

In non-work news... I learned today that my apartment's dryers suck. :P I've got damp laundry scattered all around my apartment because it barely dried and I had no quarters left. :P

I've been having migraines liek whoa lately. I've had about 5 in the last two weeks. I'm taking Excedrin like candy. I stopped and got a small notebook today so I can start keeping track of sleep/food/drink I've had on days I get them, so I can TRY to find a pattern. I've gotten them badly off and on for about 7 years now and have yet to find a pattern. I don't know if the ones I'm getting now are stress or dehydration or what, but they're driving me insane.

I caught Block Party Bash at the public soft opening last weekend. Color me impressed - they kept it almost completely intact from DCA! All the acrobats and everything, the dances even looked similar. The Bug's Life float seemed different to me, but I could have just been remembering it wrong. Can't say the crowd seemed overly impressed, though. At least where I was standing by the Hat, no one seemed to go nuts over it. So, really no different than DCA. ;)

I also saw Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day last weekend, since Downtown Disney was showing it. YAAAAY, Amy Adams! The movie was all right, nothing spectacular. A lot of it really kind of dragged and didn't hold my interest. Amy was fun to watch, because her comedic timing is great. But it wasn't until the last 15-20 minutes that it really got good. I wouldn't send everyone rushing out to see it. It's enjoyable, but if you're not really interested in it to begin with, I'd wait for a DVD.

And ENCHANTED DVD TOMORROW!! XD I'm off, so I'm running out to Target to get it!

Lastly, I just have to post these lyrics here, because this song is so amazing, and it's totally describing my life now...

The World You've Dreamed of Lately
Daniel Powter

You packed your last two bags
You're heading back again
You need to laugh out loud
And you can't remember when
You lost your lies
It's like you're running out of time
And the whole world's waiting right before you
So you wanted once upon a time
A place that makes you smile
You can see everything that you haven't for awhile
This I know, there's a place that we can go
A place where you and I can let them grow

Find the world you've dreamed of lately
You can see we've got this great thing
With your closest ones all around
With your closest ones all around
The magic's on

I hope you find whatever you've been looking for
Just remember where you're from and who you are
'Cause there's a thousand lights that'll make you feel brand new
But if you ever lose your way
I'll leave one on for you

Find the world you've dreamed of lately
You can see we've got this great thing
So, come back, get here, sit down, relax
Everything's to see
You've come a long, long way,
And it's the place that you should be.
Find the world you've dreamed of lately
You can see we've got this great thing
Find the world you've dreamed of lately
You can see we've got this great thing
With your closest ones all around
With your closest ones all around
The magic's on...

First days back as a CM!

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:50:59 GMT

I'M BACK AT DISNEY, BABY.

I had ~~Disney brainwashing~~ Traditions on Tuesday! Lots of snore-inducing policy stuff, and a few sweet videos... but then I got my ID! WOO! FREE ADMISSION BRINGS THE WIN. Oh, and their sexual harassment video is TOTALLY the same one we watched at Half Price Books. XD And I got my work location... *drumroll* SPLASH MOUNTAIN! WOOOOOOOO!!!! I was totally excited, that's like my favorite ride in the park.

Soooo, had Wednesday off and took advantage of the new ID and played at MK! :D It felt AMAZING to be back there! I just wandered through the park for awhile, re-familiarizing myself with it all. I mainly went for the stuff I hadn't seen yet:

Mickey's Philharmagic: Cute, even though I'm not a big 3-D movie fan, it was well done. LOVED the fly through Agrabah! :D
Stitch's Great Escape: I love Stitch, but Alien Encounter was better. :P Was glad to see Skippy still around! The lack of intensity made it a bit of a snore for me, though.
Dream Along With Mickey: CUTE show. Cinderella's Surprise Celebration still reigns supreme in my mind, but the finale for this one is great. And the new articulated heads will take some getting used to.
Disney Dreams Come True Parade: That music is DAMN catchy! A pretty well-put-together parade! I think the only thing that could really have made it top Share a Dream Come True was if they put the show stops back in. Other than that, they're on par. Glad to see the princess float is all one big unit again! And OMG, Giselle pre-parade! Enchanted needs more love in the parks. I totally rocked out to "Ever Ever After" and took lots of pics.
Refurb'ed Haunted Mansion: LOVE. The new effects are great! I got stopped next to the bride for a minute or two, and she's FREAKY. I mean, even freakier than Disneyland's new bride. The endless staircase is cool, too!
Revamped Pirates: Revamp or no, WDW's still sucks in comparison to DL's.
Wishes: Beautiful show! It definitely pales in comparison to Remember, but it's a great show. It would have been even better if I hadn't had the most obnoxious, arguing, gigantic, loudmouth Brooklyn family in the entire world behind me. GRR. (For the record, my Disney fireworks hierarchy: Remember... Dreams Come True > Illuminations: Reflections of Earth > Believe in Holiday Magic > Believe... There's Magic in the Stars > Wishes > Imagine... A Fantasy in the Sky > Fantasy in the Sky)

And of COURSE, I had to go say hi to Mickey! He was AWESOME, and doted on me a lot when I told him I moved back here just for him. I took LOTS of photos! All located here! (It feels so good to be able to load up my Smugmug page with Disney theme park photos again! :p)

I had my MK orientation yesterday, and got out to my work area in the afternoon! It was like a day of getting paid to go on rides. (Two at MK orientation, and then Big Thunder and Splash as part of my Frontierland orientation) And holy crap, they've moved EVERYTHING around at MK! It's like having to relearn backstage! Entertainment costuming moved, labor operations moved into Ent. costuming's old space, the Adventureland/Frontierland base doesn't exist anymore, Property Control has a real building now instead of the ghetto tent, main costuming has ITS OWN FREAKIN' BUILDING now out at West Clock, and you can actually take your costumes home from MK now. At least the locker room, Mouseketeria, and Frontierland haven't moved! XD It's all coming back to me, though - it's much easier getting around when I already know my way around the tunnels and won't get hopelessly lost again. ;) (although now there is a map on the wall down there like every 50 feet so people don't get lost anymore, LOL)

I was gonna go to the Block Party Bash cast preview last night, but it was POURING, so I stayed home 'cause I figured it'd get canceled anyways. But I'm really curious how WDW's version is going to compare to DL's, and what they've had to change to fit within all the Actor's Equity Association regs here. I'll have to check it out once it opens! (I think a bunch of days at Studios coming up are blocked out to CMs, though, because of the holiday and the new show)

Sunday morning I start training at Splash! Eep! And what's more... according to CDS, I'm working mandatory 7 days next week. ILU, DOUBLE-TIME! XD I've never gotten double-time before because they NEVER let us get it on my CP. So I'm psyched. XD

(And apologies, to those who weren't on my f-list five years ago and who aren't CMs, if I lapse into Cast Member speak and acronyms. Old habits die hard. ;))

And one a totally random note: White killer whale! too cool! Reminds me a bit of Chimo. (Was Chimo a full albino? I don't THINK so, but I don't recall for sure)

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 05:08:40 GMT

So my squee got totally harshed last week. Brining my car home from the repair shop, I got into an accident and totaled it. *headdesk* I'm okay, just had a big bump to the head for a couple of days, the other driver seemed to be okay. So I'm totally thankful for that. But I had to spend the rest of the week dealing with the insurance and car shopping and everything. But as of tonight, I have bought a replacement car! Another Saturn, because my old Saturn was Made of Awesome. So I got a 2000 Saturn SL 1, and hopefully it shall live a good, long, happy Saturn life. (Also? Saturn customer service is win. "Courtesy" Toyota? Not so much. Yay, buying from Saturn dealers!)

So, I try to put that behind me, TRADITIONS TOMORROW! EEEE! I AM SO EXCITED. It's actually 8 hours long when you're a regular CM! As opposed to 4 hours for CPs. Prease to have twice the Disney brainwashing? XD

Hung out with princeali_m_fan last night! OMG WE WENT AND SAW FANTASMIC AND I SCREAMED AND CHEERED. It felt WONDERFUL to get back into the parks again. When did they change the Fantasmic set's backdrop from the cargo netting stuff to the trees? And did the change the finale fireworks? I reveal my utter Fantasmic dorkiness, but I noticed this straight off last night... the thee shots in a row in the middle of Sorcerer Mickey's routine used to be more like flares (~3:12), but they changed them to be more like DL's (~3:06). And I noticed the difference immediately. Prease to have dork points? Then OMG WE WENT AND SAW ILLUMINATIONS. That show is still SO DAMN AWESOME. We had a great spot, right along the rail in the International Gateway area. And we totally were trying to have a rave to the pre-show music. But with no glow sticks, it was sad. D: Also, when did the first shot of Illuminations start coming from America instead of Canada? I was looking to the right, when all of a sudden it comes out directly in front of me! :P Stupid changes, throwing off my groove. :P

We got pizza and apple juice and went back to princeami_m_fan's hotel room and watched TV for hours. OMG, Stacey? The chick on the WDW Top Seven channel? GIRL NEEDS TO STOP AND TAKE CHILL PILLS. She's ADHD in the extreme. XD And her 40-year-old DVC Channel counterpart is equally creepy, but in a more toned-down way. :P We watched Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla. Cheesy Japanese movie. But dubbed into Spanish. I tell you, it's damn entertaining when you make up your own dialogue and plot points because you don't speak Spanish. XD Also had the craziest IM-and-phone relay conversations with ariellen and salukfan. You guys totally need to hurry up and get here, because the fun will be EPIC. XD

And eeeee! Amy Adams hosting SNL this week! I'm sooo excited for that. She's gonna rock! :D

Also? *points to current music* I am SO in love with this song right now. It's the soundtrack to my life right now.

I'm a Disney CM again!!!!!

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:17:09 GMT

Because having to take my car in for repairs this morning bummed me out, good things had to happen...

First of all... this totally just made me pee my pants laughing. SO MUCH WIN.

Second... DISNEY JUST CALLED AND OFFERED ME FULL TIME ATTRACTIONS! XDDDD I go in Thursday morning to fill out my new hire paperwork! I'll be in Frontierland attractions! WOOOOO! I LOVE that area!!! *jumps around in excited circles*

Enchanted at the Oscars...

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 07:59:37 GMT

If I had an Enchanted "WTF" icon, this would be the perfect opportunity to use it. Because seriously? Those performances blew.

Happy Working Song (YouTube Clip)A disappointment, really. First of all, the complete and utter lack of any sort of staging made it visually boring. Amy was definitely nervous and it showed - you could hear a lot more vibrato in her voice, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was due to the nervousness. She did the best she could singing through it, and that was impressive enough for me! They really put her in a hard place there. She's not a big singer. She has done musical theater, but singing hasn't really been a focus for her. She hasn't done a big live performance before (other than local musical theater productions) and she's suddenly thrown into one of the biggest, most media-sucking shows in the world? She's said repeatedly in recent interviews that she was too nervous, that she really didn't feel she was ready for this. And then every interviewer immediately asked what she thought about singing live in front of nearly a billion people. I think she visibly blanched when they asked her this on the red carpet once. Way to remind her what's at stake, folks. No pressure, right? Add to all that the fact there is no scenery, no props, no dancers, no backup singers, not even a projection on the wall behind her, nothing to take the focus and pressure off of her and, well... you get this. Anyways, that dress that she wore for the number was not right for her (it was not a flattering cut, IMHO), or for the number. Unfortunately, due to that whole combination of factors, the whole number felt like a big disappointment. And I'm certainly not pinning this on Amy at all - I think it was more the creative team behind the show that really missed the boat on this one.

That's How You Know (YouTube Clip) I had high hopes for this one. Kristin Chenoweth is an amazing performer who has a lot of great energy. But my hopes were dashed. The staging was great - I loved that it was a big production number with the dancers, the big set, everything. But while I think Kristin Chenoweth has an amazing voice, it was just completely wrong for the song. Her voice was far too mature and operatic for the "Disney princess" sound. I know she can do it. In my mind, I'm thinking of the way she played Galinda in "Wicked" or Sally in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" ("My New Philosophy" comes to mind immediately) and thinking that would translate well, but she just didn't go that route. On top of that, the number lacked the carefree, spontaneous feel of the original. It felt too rehearsed, surgically precise... and lacking all the magical energy of the movie.

So Close (YouTube Clip)Easily the best number of the night! Jon McLaughlin was fantastic! I did hear one clearly missed note, but it wasn't bad. And he was HOT, that helped. ;) The staging was nice, the choreography was great, and the whole number really felt like it was straight from the film. If I have one complaint, it was the "look alikes" - who, sadly, looked nothing like their original counterparts. The only one even close was the woman playing Giselle. In this case, I just felt like they were a distraction - I spent more time thinking about how little they looked like their characters rather than focusing on the song. It was particularly obvious given the fact that Patrick Dempsey introduced the performance... and then walked away and his decidedly not-so-McDreamy double walked on. And the Edward double nearly made me do a spit-take with his ridiculousness. That being said, I loved the way that they weren't all just dancing, but that they really made an effort to parallel the scene in the movie. It was a very touching number. Hands-down, this number shone as Enchanted's best of the night.

In other random Enchanted-related notes, Patrick Dempsey was gorgeous... E! busted out the Robert doll again on the red carpet, and I don't think he'll ever live that down. LOVED the dress that Amy wore on the red carpet and while presenting. Very understated and elegant. The little bag with nothing in it was funny, too. :D And of course, E! also busted out the Giselle doll. :P Amy seemed a LOT more comfortable presenting later in the evening, which was awesome. :) I was really bummed that Enchanted didn't win for Best Original Song, but sadly not surprised. Even Alan Menken said he wasn't expecting to win, that at best, the votes would be split between his songs and he'd lose out that way. I really did like the performance of "Falling Slowly" and even as I heard it figured that would be the winner. But seeing Enchanted lose was disappointing nonetheless. I was really pulling for "So Close."

Sooo, since I have no Enchanted "WTF?" icon, I use martini!Giselle instead... because methinks there's some fans out there wanting one of them tonight. :P

In happier Enchanted news (or not so happy, depending on your opinion of this issue), both Amy Adams and Idina Menzel have made comments this past week that Kevin Lima (the director) has said there will be a sequel, but it hasn't been confirmed officially and neither of them have been asked yet. I've mentioned before that I'm torn on the issue - I think it more or less kills the "happily ever after" idea from the movie... but I'm really selfish, and I just want to see more of these characters, so I don't care. XD