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

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.

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%

SciFi Channel had an X-Files marathon on yesterday, but I didn't realize it until the last episode of the marathon was already half over. :( Ah, well, it's been years since I saw "Field Trip."

I finally got Christmas cards done - YAY! They're coming people, really, they are! :D And a huge thank you to everyone who's sent one! (rory_elizabeth - OMG, LOVED the fic!! It was really, really sweet! :D)

I finally finished another drawing! Go me! The idea of Giselle getting into the Christmas spirit is adorable, so I did holidaydress!Giselle. I drew this one during my lunch break the other day, then scanned/cleaned up/colored it in Photoshop. She's a bit too short, but IMHO it's my best tablet success so far. :D

Click for full size
And then the awesome chobit001 then responded with a very squee-worthy Christmas fic that you can read here!!

Enchanted! Soundtrack! Whole thing! Up now! MySpace! :D
http://www.myspace.com/enchantedmovie

I'm listening now... my favorite so far is "That's How You Know," but "Ever Ever After" is pretty good, too. SO DAMN CATCHY. 25 MORE DAYS.

Doodles some Newsies last night. Cowboy is love. XD

Ordered more Tokyo Disneyland CDs this week! Wheeee! WET AND WILD PIRATE NIGHT! XD *waits by the mailbox*

Started playing Travian yesterday, and dear lord, it's more addicting than Furry Paws!

Zoo day yesterday! I finally got to see Qannik! Hee, he looks so tiny compared to Bee. They're together now, getting free reign of both the holding and exhibit pools. Qannik won't go into the exhibit pool yet, though, because it's still Big and New and Scary to him. Oh, and the zoo website now has pictures of the move up here!

Still working my way through Bleach! I'm up through episode 17 now (just getting to Renji, unspokenlonging!) and I'm totally turning into a Ichigo/Rukia 'shipper. :P And Rukia is so Made of Awesome. I want to be as cool as her. But with better drawing skills. ;)

I've got myself back up and running on FP, and a few decent dogs to start me off. A LOT has changed since I last played. They finally added the genetics and litters and made minimum levels for some food/accessories, and just today added in stuff like grooming and using food/water bowls and beds. So I gotta adjust to that. A part of me is annoyed because in the end, it really drives a wedge in the gap between the newer kennels and the big, always-winning ones. It seems like the new rules make it easier for the winning kennels to dominate, and the others fall farther behind. Ah, well. Still fun. :)

Finished my Marahute piece, too, just in time for the contest! :D It's up here on dA. Lots of things that annoy me about it, but my short attention span struck. ;) Time for the next project! :P

I think most people have already seen this in one place or another: Pirate!Weir! Not bad for my first attempt with a tablet. Still lots of room for improvement, though. :)

I started watching Bleach yesterday... and holy crap, I'm already hooked. Great dramatic show with character development and continuity. LOVE. I guess the benefit of discovering it so late is that I have 120-some-odd episodes that I can watch straight through... :P

I also started playing Furry Paws again yesterday. It's been over a year and a half, so I kinda have to rebuild my kennel from scratch. The plus side? I had a couple million dollars accrued in my bank account. ;)

OMG, and "Young Frankenstein" is having its out-of-town opening in Seattle in August! *runs around in circles* I'm SO buying tickets! Not sure how long they've been on sale or how many are left, but I'm SO going.

( Random survey under the cut... )

So, yeah, haven't been updating 'cause there's been absolutely nothing to update. :P

I got a new bookshelf yesterday! And now my room smells like new bookshelf. And it is full of pretty books. *nods*

Speaking of books, I finished the newest Atlantis novel, Entanglement, the other day. I can't say I was overly impressed. Not bad, but not memorable either. And Elizabeth had, like, a whoppin' three pages in it, which sucked. Next!

I finally got my lazy ass to finish another painting! ( Picture under the cut! )

And dude, WTF is up with this?! If Rachel Weisz isn't going to be Evie, fine, but don't replace her! GAH! Say Evie died or something. Don't just go with another actor this late in the game. *headdesk*

ETA: I just realized that today is the fourth anniversary of the day my College Program ended. I miss WDW so badly... :(

Okay, so it's been a very unexciting week. :P

Had a relatively relaxing morning at the zoo. I helped with a training session with Boris (got to be the "upstairs" reward feeder!) and then hosed the yard and put out enrichment. I made a coffee run for everyone (mmmm...) and then hosed some walrus poo and did chores in the kitchen. Very easy! Well, except for trying to pry 8.5 lbs of capelin off a VERY frozen block ('cause we were short this morning). Trying to do that without destroying them? Not so easy.

I got the Flipper season 1 DVDs this week! Yaaaaaay! 'Bout damn time. It's the original, 1964 Flipper series, but still fun. Haven't gotten around to watching them yet, but I gotta say - the extras are sorely lacking. One trivia game, and that's it? WTF?

Been sketching a bit. I made Sleepy Liz. 'Cause I was sleepy.

And to Stephanie Colburtle, who finished in second place in the Great Turtle Race... you're still the winner to me. XD

So I was thinking of going swimming today after work, since I only worked til 1... unfortunately, I played Wii Sports a bit too hard on Easter, and my whole right arm is still killing me after some vicious games of Wii Tennis. :P So instead I slacked off and sat at home. Played piano a bit (I'm always waaaay too shy to play around people, so I wait until I'm home alone!) and relaxed. Oh, and uploaded a new dolphin drawing to dA!

Also? Mad props to everyone in the Save Carson Beckett campaign! ( Spoilers... )

ETA: ZOMG!! Dee Dee Magno is Nessa now on the Wicked tour?? SWEET! She was the best freakin' Jasmine I ever saw in the Aladdin production at DCA. (it amuses me that the best freakin' Aladdin I ever saw in that show also does Wicked now, with the LA cast) I didn't know she was married to Cliffton Hall (Fiyero)! Is their kid on tour with them, then, I assume?

Been a crazy few days! I'm frantically trying to get Christmas shopping done, get Christmas cards mailed, and get stuff finalized for my internship. On top of all that, my stack of books I have to read is growing by leaps and bounds. Of course, they just told us yesterday that they put $25 credit on each of our employee ID cards as a holiday gift, so now I'm ready to go buy even more books! :P

Got my copy of the PotC 2 DVD, too! I've only had time to watch the bloopers and part of the movie so far - I'll have to work my way through all the extras! Mmmmm... Jack Sparrow... Jack/Elizabeth...

Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Wednesday! Once again, they were totally awesome. It was basically the same show as last year - I think they only changed a number or two at the most, but it was still fantastic. I still got kinda bored during the first half (too many slow songs) although I loved Wizards in Winter and Christmas Eve Sarajevo. The second half, of course, was my favorite. Love the dueling pianos, and my favorite number definitely has to be Requiem the Fifth. I can't say more than that without spoiling it for anyone who hasn't been to their concerts. :P If you haven't seen one of their concerts before and you're curious, check out this link for a clip of the opening act. I am still completely in awe of the lighting job done on that show - it's top-notch!

I finally got around to finishing the panda drawing I've been working on for a few weeks now. I still see stuff I don't like, but I'm more or less satisfied for now. I've added it on DA, with print-y goodness!

I finished Good Omens this week! I thought it was absolutely hilarious, and now I'm kinda bummed that the movie plans were scrapped. The ending kinda left me disappointed and scratching my head in confusion, but the bulk of the book was fantastic.

( Elphaba and Fiyero doodle! )

( From the 'WTF?!' Department today... )

So I've been in a doodle-y mood this week, and since I'm re-reading Wicked...

( No throwing, Elphie dear! )

I attacked with the Prisma Markers of Doom again! I did one of Stitch as Jack Sparrow that you can't see because I'm evil like that (*channels princeali_m_fan*), but here's pirate!Pluto!

Question, though, for the other artists on my f-list. When you guys do line work, how do you determine the line weight that you use? According to popular convention, are there particular places where you should use a heavier line, and places where you should use a lighter line? I kind of just do it arbitrarily based on what I think will look good.

Finally got a Newsies disc that worked... yay! OMG, I'd forgotten how much I loved that movie. Seriously. When I was in Florida, I'd listen to the soundtrack almost every day. I'd also forgotten how HOT Christian Bale was in that movie. And now I totally feel like a cradle robber, 'cause he was only like 16 then. But he was HOT. And as I've said all along: that show needs to be a Broadway musical. Now. It's perfect for it. Just... don't ever let Bill Pullman sing again. :P I love him but... no. :P

They found the Lyra The Golden Compass! I am SO excited for those movies. They start shooting in September... so maybe a release as early as next fall? *crosses fingers* It'll be an effects-heavy movie, I'm sure. But seriously, I've been waiting for this ever since I first read the books in high school. I really wanna re-read them, but my copies are in Seattle. :(

I got a copy of the new Tarzan Broadway soundtrack... LOVE it! I adore their renditions of "Two Worlds" and "You'll Be in My Heart" especially. I absoulely love Kala's voice (Merle Dandridge) - very reminiscent of Heather Headley. Didn't really care for Tarzan's voice, though (Josh Strickland). It sounded rather feminine, like a low woman's voice. :P I didn't care for most of the new songs (that weren't in the movie) though. They just lacked something undefinable that was in the originals. I did like "For the First Time," though - gorgeous duet. And "Everything That I Am" was fairly good.

( Movie meme! )