First Half of October
Sunday, October 5th, 2003
On Sunday, our park started closing earlier. We close at 7:30 for the next couple weeks. I am so happy about it! I get home about 20 minutes earlier, especially since they make me close every bloody day! I can never request an ER, or hope for one, because I have to close. I saw Julie at the park that night. She had come there, thinking that we still closed at 8, and didn't understand why the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster was closed. We were closed by then. She was walking down Sunset Blvd. I saw her. I started waving. It took her a minute to recognize me. She and I talked for a bit.
That Sunday was also an interesting day. I walked from out of the first backstage area, attempting to go to the next one. My route to work is like this: I walk into the employee entrance, which is through the locker room, past costuming and payroll, called Cast Services. I walk outside where I am backstage and parallel to the parking lot and the Indiana Jones show. I walk past that, (ride on a bike if I am lucky, which I am usually not), come out at a gate right next to a store called Sid's, by the Crossroads thing, walk straight across from that gate to one by where you rent the strollers/wheelchairs, backstage again behind the stores on the left side of Hollywood and Sunset Blvd., come out of that gate next to the Christmas Store/Beauty & the Beast show, walk straight across the street again to backstage at another gate, go down a ramp and into where I need to be. (Get all that?). Well, this day, they blocked off Hollywood Blvd. There was a bunch of TV equipment, and a million people down there. The gate behind the stores that I have to walk behind was wide open, and they were herding everyone wanting to go to the Tower and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster back there. What was happening was, Wayne Brady, who was doing the behind-the-desk part of his show live at Epcot on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of that week, was filming a clip for his show. I didn't get to see him. I didn't get to go to a live taping either. I only saw about 5 minutes of the show on TV. What I saw was Wayne eating a beaver tail and drinking a beer (a beaver tail is like a churro; a big flat churro; hence why beer would not go good with it) and then he was singing in a kilt with Off Kilter.
I was a busser most of the day. It was very hot and over populated too. So I was miserable outside. It was too busy to bus. I had to wipe down tables, but people would snatch the tables before I could even get to them to be cleaned off. I don't mind bussing. The worst thing about it is cleaning up bird crap (better on tables on than on my head, I guess), and when people leave all their disgusting trash on the tables: half eaten turkey bones, fries, watered down sodas. It's disgusting. I sustained 2 injuries that day. While carrying an armload of trays, I got the back of my hand dented by a sharp right angle in a door handle. Plus that night, I was produce stocking, and I was trying to use the hose on the drain cart to get rid of some water in one of the drink containers. And I deeply cut my middle finger on a sharp thing on the nozzle of the hose and was bleeding very badly. I think I left after this. I thought I was scheduled till 8:30. It turns out this was the one day I could have left at 8 (grrr...).
Monday, October 6th, 2003
On Sunday I woke up with a huge pain in my shoulder and arm, probably from bussing and carrying too many trays at one time.
My roommates got a special Amanda Treat recently, that anyone who knows me has been privy to and subsequently rolled their eyes and wanted to smack me. (Kelly actually did once). But first, a little back-story�
I went to Jeremy's apartment one night. He made pizza and we were watching The Others. His mom called. She was coming for a visit, and Jeremy was going to go out for dinner with her on the following Monday night, which I knew. I also knew that Jeremy wanted me to meet her (he wanted me to meet his dad when he was around last week but it didn't work out; I'm still not exactly sure why) and she wanted to meet me, (something I should apparently feel complimented about). She invited me to go out to dinner with them on Monday. Because the only other guy I ever dated denied my existence to his family, (grrrr; I should stop being so bitter and let it go) I never met his family. So, this is a totally new and fun experience for me. It would be one thing to just meet her, but I had to spend an hour or so with her too. I'm not a very talkative person, especially around new people/new situations...unless I'm trying to be bold (like when I said the thing. Man, I'm glad I said the thing). Over worrying about what I'm going to wear, stressing. It's great fun. The good news is she already had a good impression of me. (Don't screw it up! Don't screw it up!). What if I overdress? What if I underdress? What if I overdress and have to change?
I called my mom to tell her how nervous I was about meeting his mom and step dad. She suggested I wear the really cute dress I wore to my cousin Chris's wedding, a really cute long denim sundress. (By the way, I've lost some weight; that dress used to be a perfect fit, now it's loose in the armpits/bust). I've been hoping for an excuse to wear it, since it's here, and that was a good one.
I went to my class on Monday, it was boring. We took 2 tests. One was a hypothetical situation in which you are plane wrecked in the middle of the desert; you have 15 items, which are the most important? The ones that seem important really aren't. Then there was another thing where it judged what we valued most in a leader, ergo, what style of leader we might be.
I drove home, and changed into my dress. I thought I looked OK, I love that dress. Nearly all my roommates said I looked good (that is, if they didn't volunteer the observation, they said nothing, as I freaked); Cara even said it was a "hot" dress. Jeremy saw me, said it looked like I was wearing "Oshkosh" (you know, the little kids overalls). So now he calls that my Oshkosh dress. (Grrr...dork. "And yet, you're still with him," said Julie. Stupid good observation).
We walked to the steakhouse. It was called Lonestar. They were playing country music. He and I both strongly dislike country. The closest I get to country is Skynyrd, Creedence, and The Eagles. He was of course purposely not making me comfortable, either that or he was trying to distract me (I'm still not sure which, knowing him, the former). Anyway, his mom and step dad are really nice. They talked to me. I was more talkative than I expected myself to be. I wasn't a chatterbox, occasionally, the three of them talked about things I didn't know about because they were about the family or stuff in their lives. The meal was good. I survived! The thing that scared me most was what would happen afterwards though. When I told my mom how worried I was, she said, "What? Are you afraid you are going to spit food across the table or something?" No, I was afraid for when they got in the car and had their little post-dinner discussion. Jeremy still hasn't told his mom about the thing yet. I told everyone I know, mostly because I feel in some ways like it's a victory. Hadn't been for me shooting my mouth off we'd never be together.
Later on that night, he talked to his mom she apparently, "Thought I was cute, very sweet, and we seemed like a cute couple." (Awww! It never occurred to me my name would be used in the same phrase as "cute couple").
Cara was having a bunch of people over and wanted me to be there. Cara had said, "You can bring Jeremy over, as long as he behaves." (The only reason he picks on her, and calls her names like "Kimmy Gibbler" is because she started being mean to him first; she would probably beg to differ). I went over to Cara's and hung out there. Jeremy didn't aggravate her or anything. He always calls her Cara as opposed to the preferred pronunciation of her name, Care-uh ("because she's not a car!") At some point in the evening, I'm still trying to figure out why, he up and said, "I apologize Cara [correct pronunciation], you have my respect again." (What just happened here?!)
Tuesday, October 7th, 2003
The next day, Jeremy had to go to work at 3:00 or something. I didn't have work. I went over his apartment that afternoon, and then we went to Wendy's and got lunch/breakfast. I think I made him miss the bus. I volunteered to drive him, especially since I had to go to Magic Kingdom anyway. After I walked with Jeremy thru the tunnels and under Main Street. He went to work.
I went to the jewelry store on Main Street. There, they had the engraving machine for the nametags that I needed. They told me it would be $3.50 each to engrave the tags. At MGM, they told me they would do it for free; they also told me "We should have the machine working either on Saturday or Monday" about 3 weeks ago. I got a cotton candy. It tasted terrible, they flavored it, when it's natural flavor is so good. I shopped in the stores for a while. I wanted to get some stickers to decorate the packages and boxes I need to send to people. I forget which all rides I went on; Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Small World. I bought a Haunted Mansion antenna ball that looks like a bat, and postcards from the ride. They have a shirt that I want with the ride exterior on it. I want a lot of things. I'm waiting for the day I can get 40% off instead of 20%. It's hard to restrain myself, sometimes.
I had an interesting experience with an Ibis; big ol white birds with red beaks hang around on the Rivers of America. I bought some popcorn for myself. The thing that bugs me is when people spend a lot of money on food, more than they would in reality, (it's like I said to a lady who sighed at paying $5.32 for a beer, after I said, "Welcome to Disney World...Sometimes it's better if you don't think too much about it and just shell it out"), then pick it apart to feed to birds. So I planned to eat that whole box by myself. I sat down on a bench against a short wall near the Riverboat in Liberty Square. I accidentally dropped a piece of popcorn near me. One bird, an ibis, was bold enough to come over and get it. It then hopped up on the wall, and sat practically on my shoulder and watched me eat the popcorn. It looked at me, then at the box, the back at me as if to say, "Well...aren't you going to share?" Everytime I went in for a handful it reached to my hand as if it could possibly get one but gave up. It even tried for my open mouth a few times. I think he finally got bored and gave up to find a more gullible tourist.
I came back to Main Street and saw Jeremy working cash register, after being given a whole 15-minute break (wow! I never know quite what to do with myself on a 15 minute break; the possibilities are limited). There was no one around so I got to talk to him without buying anything. I didn't want to stay around. I needed to go to Walmart. He wanted me to give him a ride home. I regretfully agreed.
I went back to the Haunted Mansion area and got postcards. I ended up back by Pinocchio's Village Haus. The thing about Disney World, the tunnels, Cast Membering is complex at Magic Kingdom. Unlike MGM people, who can walk fully costumed through any part of the park they want, Magic Kingdom people kind of have to stick to their area, part of the logic behind the tunnels. The Cast Member parking lot is at a considerable distance from the Cast Member entrance, unlike MGM where Cast Members have a parking lot at their back door (It's the Television lot; most people have to park in Film which is behind TV). But everyone who drives, parks in a special lot right by Space Mountain, Disney University, and Property Controlland. From there, a bus, that looks just like the guest buses that go between the parks and the hotels, marked VIP CAST MEMBER pulls up, security checks the badges and the Photo IDs, and everyone rides the bus to the Cast Member entrance which is right behind Pinocchio's Village Haus. (You can see the back of it sticking up). That means that people who work in the front of the park, like Jeremy, actually have the furthest to walk.
I didn't want to walk all that way, when I was convinced there had to be a more direct route. Jenny works at this establishment. I was hoping to find her in there. I didn't find her. I found that the restaurant was closed. It always closes early. I talked to one of the Cast Members there. I told him I was a Cast Member and was there a faster way to the bus from there? He very quietly told me how to go about it. There was a stairway behind the building, if you walk down it, it takes you almost directly to the bus. He was right.
Before I actually got to that stairway, Kelly called me. I love her. I miss her. She's coming in December. It was her birthday, which I was not fully aware of. She heard Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap on the radio, and thought of me, as she always does when she hears that song, and had to call me.
As I was coming out of Magic Kingdom it was sprinkling. It never did rain too hard all night, but there was a lot of lightning. Usually when there is lightning, you just see the flash because it's too cloudy. Today, you could actually see the bolts reaching their way across the sky. I love lightning. There were times it ignited the sky like daylight. I drove to Walmart and picked up my crappy pictures, tried to get some food, I didn't see anything I liked though. I bought more Starbucks, I also saw the DVD of Young Frankenstein. I have the VHS, but on an impulse I bought this. I got gas and a sandwich from Burger King before going back to pick up Jeremy.
Jeremy had told me he would be out of work at 8:30 and to meet him by the Men's Locker room in the tunnels, which I have done before. By my watch, it was 8:25 when I got back there. I sat there for a long time. I text messaged Andrea, called my mom, and got in a lot of good cell phone Snake playing time in. After an hour of closely watching every guy that came out of the locker room, I finally had the good sense to call his apartment. His roommate answered. "Oh, he just left about 10 minutes ago." "So he's been there?" "Yeah." (I'm going to kill him!).
I got really angry and took the bus back to the parking lot
I took the long (dark) way home and listened and sang loud music to relieve stress and tension. When I got back to my apartment, I was still pretty mad, so I went for a walk around the complex. The thought crossed my mind to swim (in the spa; the pool is pretty cold). I tried to go over to Cara's to watch a movie for a bit, especially since I had no idea where Jeremy was, and didn't want to see him and do something I might regret. I saw 2 of his roommates while walking to Cara's. "He's there now, he's watching Full House." I tried watching Phonebooth at Cara's, because Colin Farrell is a hottie. But bunches of people came in to the apartment and were talking all at once, and I couldn't tell what was going on.
I instead went to Jeremy's. Of course as soon as he sees me he says, "Where were you at 8:30?" "I was waiting outside the men's locker room waiting for you." "Really? I waited for you for about five minutes." "Really? I waited for you for an hour!" I was still pretty mad at him. "Dern! You must really like me!" (I guess so...)
I really didn't want to be watching Full House. I tried to convince him that we should go swimming. For some reason, he decided he would like to see the Nightmare Before Christmas for the first time. We started watching it. I didn't think it would really be his thing. About halfway through he said, "This movie's dumb." (Thank you for sharing, don't care).
Wednesday, October 8th, 2003
On Wednesday...I don't remember much about work. I do remember that night. The first thing I remember is I, on an impulse, baked brownies. I had bought about 4 boxes of them at Walmart when I went. Cara invited me to come over. While the things were cooking, I started watching my Young Frankenstein DVD with Julie. There were deleted scenes on it. They were all really funny.
One of the most amusing parts for me, outside of the movie was the part where Madeline Kahn sings Oh sweet mystery of life at last I've found you. Not long after, Jenny comes out of her room, rather annoyed and says, "I can't stand it, the people upstairs are singing!" Julie and I looked at each other and tried to contain ourselves. Knowing that the part where Teri Garr (supposedly) sings the same song at the end of the movie was coming up, I said, "I wouldn't be too surprised if they were singing again in about 15 minutes or so..." which made Julie start laugh more. "What?" "Nevermind." When she went back into her room Julie and I burst out.
Thursday, October 9th, 2003
Jeremy and I had the next day off. That was fortunate because the park was supposed to stay open till 9, because Epcot was supposed to close at 3:00, because of press events due to the official opening of Mission Space (a lot of things were going on that week; Philharmagic opened, Mission Space officially opened, and they launched their new fireworks show at Magic Kingdom; nothing happened at MGM, except we were incredibly busy during this period). Jeremy and I kinda hung out all day. We didn't feel like going to a park. We sat around, went grocery shopping. He broke his new jar of pickles in his apartment and I cut my other middle finger trying to clean up the glass. Jenny was hanging out at the apartment. For some reason Jenny, Jeremy and I went to Chili's for dinner. They gave us a Cast discount, which was pretty cool. Stacey and Julie went to PI that night.
One day, I forget which one, Jeremy came and saw me at work when I was at Turkey legs. It was great. I honestly didn't expect to see him. It was a good day.
Friday, October 10th, 2003
Erik works in entertainment; he's a character greeter, meaning he hangs out with the characters when they go on stage. He can work almost anywhere. On Friday, he was supposed to work at MGM. Coincidentally enough, so was I. We had planned to hang out together that morning; get there early, ride a few rides, go to work. We got the times we were supposed to leave confused, I left 20 minutes later, so we didn't hang out. I was there by myself. I didn't do much. I wandered mostly. I got a Fastpass for the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and went on Star Tours. That was about it.
What did I do at work? Oh yeah, first I was a filler at Eddie's pizza, then I was a busser on the produce side, then I closed Turkey legs cash register. One really good thing that happened that day was I got a free lunch. Supposedly, there is an unofficial policy that, if you are there before noon, and they give you your break after the Take 5 Cafeteria closes, you get free food. The cafeteria closes at 5, my break came at 5:05. I had me a free Eddie's cheese personal pizza for lunch. That was cool. I actually like getting my breaks later than sooner, it makes the rest of the day go by so much faster.
I called home during one of my lunch hours one day to double check what days would be best for me to attempt to request off. She wasn't home, nobody was except Mike. Mike told her I called.
Friday night I did nothing. I didn't see Jeremy, I didn't go anywhere, do anything, didn't do my laundry like I needed to, just caught up on journal entries.
Saturday, October 11th, 2003
On Saturday I had to be in at work at 2. Jeremy had to work late on Friday night so I didn't get to see him. I was actually kinda surprised at how much I missed him (not that he's someone that I should miss, but-- I don't know. A lot of things surprise me about this relationship and myself). I figured I would get some stuff done; the stuff I needed to get done last night. I did my laundry, and attempted to get the packages and postcards I wanted sent out together. I got it all together and left Vista by precisely 12:00ish. I got to the post office at 12:30 only to find that they closed 12:00 because it was Saturday (stupid small towns). So I went to Gooding�s, cashed a paycheck, and I bought a bagel and butter (accidentally, instead of cream cheese) for lunch. I then drove to work.
I worked as a filler at Rosie's most of the day. I was on Fry Cart register for a bit after my break, and then they had me close Turkey Legs kitchen. It started to rain really hard just as the park closed. There was lightning. They cancelled Fantasmic! about half way through. But the fireworks from it still went off. People wouldn't leave. They were all hiding under the awnings of the stands. I can't understand why people stick around after the park closes. I leave an hour after closing and there are still people around, and I just think, "People! Leave! Go back to your hotels! Nothing to see here! Get Out!" I can't wait to get outta there, why should they want to stay?
I knew Jeremy was closing at Magic Kingdom that night. He had asked me earlier in the week if he would give him a ride (this was after the incident). I kinda said yes. Plus, Magic Kingdom closed at 11:00 that night. I had nothing better to do, so I planned in my mind to drive there. The day before, I had asked Toccarra, my best friend at work, if she wanted to go with me afterwards. She said yes. So we both changed into human clothes and went to Magic Kingdom. On the way, she wanted to listen to Bohemian Rhapsody, and have a Wayne's World moment. (I've had a lot of those). So we listened to that on the way over.
To ultimately get to Jeremy, we had to park in the employee parking lot and go through the tunnels. On the bus between the 2 locations, we saw a bunch of deer on the lawn by Disney University. I'm getting somewhat familiar with those things. I can, without direction, get to Jeremy's location now. She was about as unimpressed with the infamous tunnels as I was. The best part about them is the area by "The Zoo" which is the place that they call the area where all the characters get dressed. I saw 2 Mickeys without heads at once one time.
I hadn't really confirmed with Jeremy lately that I would take him home, so I don't think he was expecting me. I decided, sometime while still working Turkey Legs about an hour before closing, that I needed to make him squirm a little; for always intentionally picking on me (I've been told by he, and his mother, "He only does that because he likes you; it's a Tennessee thing." Is this the part where I feel flattered? Him calling me Aman-duuuuuuuh and making fun of me because I'm under 21...etc. I've actually come to appreciate that I like that he's intentionally annoying; that means it's not natural. Some people are annoying and don't know it, and usually no one has the heart to tell them).
Anyway, I talked Toccarra into helping me be mean to him. I first showed him to her while he was working in the ice cream shop, and about half the park in it. She didn't want to play just then. We walked around some. We were going to go on Philharmagic (now officially open), but the line was way too long.
So we went on the Haunted Mansion (more like, I made Toccarra go on the Haunted Mansion with me).
We walked around some more and we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean. We did a funny thing when we got off the ride. The ride exits into a store (of course!). In the store they sell plastic, but old-fashioned looking guns. She picked up a pistol, I picked up a riffle. We started hiding behind the shelf and shooting at each other. I saw the Cast Member at the register looking us weird. As in, "Not only are you adults, you're adult girls!"
We walked through Adventureland, and ended up back around to Main Street, right by Jeremy's shop. I did need to tell him I wanted to give him a ride home. But I also wanted to play the trick on him. I pretty much planned it all out during the duration of the time in Magic Kingdom. I had decided I wanted to scare him, using Toccarra. Toccarra waited in the long line at the shop. I waited by the exit for her to get up to the front of the line. When she got right up to him, she said, rather loudly, "Jeremy Dale Coursey! Your sorry tail had better be by that men's locker room by 12:30, or else..." (confused look, coupled with the guy ahead of us laughing) "Cuz Amanda said" (Disney point towards me cracking up in the exit as he then saw me). I walked back over to him. "I'm gonna remember that," he said. Toccarra said "I owed her" and we waited all that time, and I felt bad about doing that to him and not buying anything. I got Toccarra and myself some ice cream. Toccarra commented how nice it was to be on the receiving end of one of those things for once. (Even though Jeremy often complained of the stupid people who buy that stupid over priced ice cream. It was on the back of my mind that I could almost buy a pint of Ben & Jerry's for the cost of one ice cream cone. It doesn't matter, I complain about the people who spend over $5 on a lousy 20 oz beer. I always think, "Could you possibly need it that bad?").
We ate our ice cream and made our way into Tomorrowland. We went on the Buzz Lightyear ride. I saw the girl that I met that first day who said she was going into Tomorrowland attractions, Aivy. Toccarra really liked Buzz.
When we got off, it was about a minute till closing. We desperately looked for a ride we could go on. I spotted Alien Encounter. They were still loading people up. "Come see the last ever Alien Encounter!" The attractions hosts were saying. (What?) Apparently, this was the night that the ride was closing permanently, and this was the last show. It was a truly unique experience. Most of the people there were I there I think were pretty hard-core about the ride. When the robot SIR voiced by Tim Curry was going thru his final monologue everyone was talking along, especially when he said "Bon Voyarge!" We went into the theater and when the pictures came on the overhead screens everyone cheered. When the maintenance guy came out on the catwalks above the demonstration are with his flashlight after the power went off causing the creature to escape, and said, "Is everyone alright down there?" Everyone cheered. When it was over there was a lot of applause. When the show was over, they wouldn't let anyone leave for a moment. All the ride hosts came out and said thank you. A blonde woman, dressed in a pink shirt said that this was the first ride that she had ever gone on when she started in WDW 2 years ago, and that she was the maintenance guy walking around with the flashlight.
When we came out of Alien Encounter, both Toccarra and I were a bit distraught about the ride closing. She'd never been on it before; turns out she enjoyed it. They were playing We Are the Champions in the exit store. So I resolved that's what we would be listening to in the car ride back. I went back into the ice cream shop and told Jeremy we'd be waiting for him downstairs. Toccarra and I waited outside the locker room for a little over an hour. He did come this time. We rode the bus back to the parking lot. There are 3 ways to drive out of that parking lot; the first is down a long, scary, badly lit, road that I don't recommend unless you are certain on where it comes out and if it is neither raining nor night. The second is, turn and it takes you right back out to where you came in, most recommended if you don't know where you are going. The third is Jeremy's way. Part of it is down a dark scary road. I almost hit a deer down this road. It ran right out in front of me. Fortunately, I saw it do so far enough down the road that I could stop. I took Toccarra and Jeremy home. Jeremy came over to my apartment for a bit after. It was 1:00 by the time I got home.
Explain this to me: I go to work. I work, I apparently don't smile enough, because, I'm not a big smilin' person. People are always like, "Com'on smile! Lighten up!" I get off work, I go to Magic Kingdom, I don't have to work, I'm playing, I'm with my friend enjoying her company, I'm seeing my boyfriend, enjoying him. Both of them on separate occasions that night ask, "Why are you smiling?" (Because I'm with you, I'm not working, and I don't have to work here).
Sunday, October 12th, 2003
On Sunday...I forget exactly what time I went in. I was Produce side busser though. We were very busy. There was a 2 1/2 hr wait for the Tower of Terror (it's just a 3 minute ride, people! I don't even wait 20 minutes for a ride anymore). It was really warm, pretty busy; it's never as busy on the produce side as on the Tower side. The good news is I get to talk to people, which is one of the few things in my line of work that keeps me sane. I did get asked one of the stupidest questions ever though.
Someone asked me, while on the produce side of the tables, directly across from the theater where 6 bloody times a day they show the Beauty and the Beast stage show, music blasting from out of the theater, big ol' poster outside Beauty and the Beast, Live on Stage directly across from where I'm working, wiping down a table or something. Guy comes up to me, "Excuse me, where is the Beauty and the Beast show?" "Right there," Disney point straight to the left (Does that neck of yours not turn, dude?) It never occurred to me how much pointing I would do in this job.
It also never occurred to me that I might be doing the Disney point in instances outside of my job. I do the Disney point even when I don't have to. And I always get ribbed for it, and I always make fun of everyone else when they do it. We joke often about the other Disney point. It's got one just finger. If ever in my life back in the real world see someone pointing with 2 fingers, I'll know something about them...
Apparently, I had made such an impression on Jeremy's mom and step dad that I was invited back for an encore performance. (Righteous!) I had planned to have Jeremy call me around 9:00 that night. I drove to work specifically so that I didn't have to wait around for the bus to get me back. I closed at Turkey Legs (again; they love me over there). I was working there with Carlos. We were working in the kitchen. It got to be 7:30 closing time (whoo hoo! time to blow outta here and get to my date). Steven stood at the end of the line so as not to let anymore people go through. By 7:30, all but one of the windows was closed. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but somewhere along the lines, a manager came along, and it got to be 7:30, and the line, rather than going away, was getting longer...and Steven was back inside. "Carlos, I'm confused. Why aren't we closing...?" It was past closing and we were still open, which is not SOP. The manager came inside and was helping serve. "Uh, when are we supposed to close?" (People will keep coming, like I said, they'd stay here all night if they could. So I was starting to get worried. The line was 2 hours long at the Tower of Terror, we could be there till 11:00 at night; that's not worse than Jeremy's normal schedule. This would happen when I made plans, and am still trying to make a good impression. If I had absolutely nothing going on in the evening, we would be closed and checked in less than a half hour after closing). "When the line goes away." (Yeah, like I said...). "Oh." "How would you like it if you paid $200 to come here, and you couldn't get a turkey leg?" (A debate is futile). "I wouldn't." However, you mean if I came here, and I was disallowed from spending more money on greasy food I clearly don't need, and is overpriced anyway, for the reason that when the park closes, I can no longer use the services within the park, you know what? I'd understand. That's life. Things gotta end. Next time, I'll go to Magic Kingdom to maximize my Disney fun time. That is one thing I do not envy about Jeremy's job. He gets really busy, he has to work late often simply because he's on Main Street. I mean, by the end of the day at Rosie's kitchen, the highest computer will have over 400 transactions on it. When I went and saw him on Saturday with Toccarra, the receipt said transaction 801. We were closing everything down while we were still open, so I managed to still get out at about 8:30. After that night though, I definitely felt like I needed that shirt that says, "If it's called tourist season why can't we shoot them?"
Ran out of the park, ran to my car, drove home, angry, ran in my apartment, stripped in the bathroom, took a 2 minute shower, (I had to do it, after being outside and moving around all day), dressed presentably, attempted to blow dry my hair, I was unsuccessful, I still looked all wet, Jeremy called, said come over, went to his apartment, his parents were there, drove off with them to Pizzeria Uno.
They were staying in the Holiday Inn across from Vista Way. We just sat around in the hotel talking, eating pizza, and watching a show on the History Channel called Extreme History, which was hosted by Roger Daltrey (of all people! I guess his old gig is kinda dying off, you know, The Who's Left). Jeremy's mom also had a video camera. She was showing us the videos she had of Jeremy at Magic Kingdom working. Then she said something I truly hadn't expected, "I want to take your guy's picture." Jeremy looked at each other with the same "Oh, crap!" kinda look. His mom interviewed us about the program. I felt really awkward and rigid as she filmed. She took a picture of Jeremy and I, with his arm around me thus creating the first photographic evidence of us as a couple.
Jeremy and I walked back to my apartment. We were both really tired.
Monday, October 13th, 2003
On Monday, he went to work, at 1 I went to class. It was really boring. It always is.
I knew Cara had the day off. So when I got back, I called her up to see if she wanted to go to Downtown Disney or something. (There was something specific I wanted to go there for). She accepted. I changed out of the clothes I wear to class. I drove us to Downtown Disney. We went in most of the stores. The biggest reason I wanted to go there was to go to Ghirardelli. I got a brownie sundae, just like one from just up the hill on Powell St. There's a mural of the shopping center on one of the walls. I stared at it for a long time. I determined one of 2 things was wrong with it (if one is going to be correct, that fixes the other problem, but creates another). According to the mural, the Golden Gate Bridge is on the 'G' side of the big ol Ghirardelli sign. When really, it's next to the 'I.' In addition, the mural shows Victorian houses on the opposite side of the bridge, when really they are on the same side; the houses are where Fisherman's Warf and all that touristy crap ought to be (or ought not to be, as the case may be). Or, it shows that the front/sign faces up the hill, away from the water, when really, it faces it; either the sign is wrong, and the bridge is correct, or the background and the bridge is wrong, and the sign is correct.
I investigated getting little silver charms of children wearing Mickey ears, a boy and a girl, for my mother, to be engraved. We played in Virgin for a long time. We went into The House of Blues gift shop and I got cheap stickers of the Blues Brothers for Mike.
Cara begged me to take her out to Property Controlland. So I did. I had an interesting experience on the way there. If you take the road to Disney U, and the Magic Kingdom lot, between the lot, and the Contemporary is a transportation storage area. That is where they put the buses, monorails, and evidently the trains to bed at night. I say evidently the trains, because I had to stop at a railroad crossing to watch one of the trains that goes around Magic Kingdom, called the Roy O. Disney, go backwards into this depot. I've seen some interesting stuff since I got here. At Property Controlland, I got a bunch of shirts for Mike. I attempted to call my mom to see which of the 3 I should get him. She wasn't there. I got my dad. He recommended to be safe to get them all. One was from Wilderness Lodge, one was Basebally, and the other was from Typhoon Lagoon. The only visible thing wrong with them was they were missing a tag. All 3 for less than the cost of a single, fully tagged shirt in the parks, even w/ a 20% discount (the 40% kicks in soon! Then I can start buying). I got myself a couple shirts too. One from the Caribbean Beach, one from Epcot with a Mickey head and flags on it. Cara saw some girls she knew at Property Controlland. She wanted me to take them back to Vista with us. I agreed.
As we left PC, it started to rain. By the time we got back out to the Contemporary, it was pouring. I couldn't see anything. The only reason I could see anything on the road was because of the car's lights in front of me. I couldn't go on. I made an impulse decision to pull off the road. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of places to do that. What I did was, I turned into the Wilderness Lodge hotel. The guy at the security booth was a moron. I couldn't get to my ID because I was driving. So I tried to show him Cara's hung around her neck. I rolled down my window, rain pouring into my car. "I can't see it!" said the old fart (all those hotel security people are old farts). I had to get it off of Cara to show him. He finally let us in. I parked and waited for the rain to let up. It didn't take too long for it to do so. We went back to Vista, where it didn't even seem to have rained.
Jeremy had invited his mom to go to PI with us. I don't mind being with his mom, even at PI. The only problem is, and I don't deny it, when I go to PI, I like to dress in short skirts and tons of eyeliner (the boots come out for PI). Therefore, I had to be conservativish this time around. I wore my purple dress, pretty, but somewhat saucy. No cleavage, but short, worn with the boots. I did manage to get him to say "You look nice" when I went to his apartment. When we went to the hotel room, she also commented I looked nice. (Whew!). I drove the 3 of us to PI. I like his mom, she defends me. He was picking on me about being under 21, she said, "Now you stop that! How did you like it when Chad picked on you about that?" (Chad is one of his friends).
We first went into Motions, which is the most popular club at PI. We only got there at about 10:00 or so, so it was still really early. The last time he and I went, he and I got there at midnight. In Motions, no one was on the dance floor. They were just playing music videos on the big screen. Jeremy got a beer. It was boring. The 3 of us stood on the outskirts of the dance floor.
We went into a different club, the Beach Club. I had never been in there before. We walked in the door, they were playing Walk This Way and I wanted to start dancing the way I always do in the line for the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. This one was almost as empty as Motions; they had sports playing on the TV, and a small dance floor on the lowest level with a few people on it. The three of us descended the club down to the dance floor. Jeremy confessed he'd never been on it before. (Whatever, dude, I'm dancing, you can watch me, or you can evade boredom by dancing with me). They played entirely classic rock or could-be classic rock; the oldest song they played was Jailhouse Rock the newest The Middle. They also played I Wanna Be Sedated, Shook Me All Night Long,and Paradise By the Dashboard Light. A live band came out and played more new and old music. It was great. I made the boy dance. And he (at least pretended to) enjoy himself. We danced, his mom danced some, and it was great. We went to the West End Stage, his mom got in line for the Comedy Club show. We watched fireworks. His mom went in by herself. As soon as she left he kissed me, knowing he was afraid to touch me, "That was long overdue, wasn't it?" he said. He and I meandered for a while. We went back into Motions for a bit, we caught up with Cara and her posse. We sat around.
After his mom got out of the show, we went back to my apartment. We made popcorn in my there. He watched me take off my eyeliner, I was afraid it would scare him. It didn't. I kept saying, "I look like Ozzy Osbourne!" "No, you look like yourself."
Tuesday, October 14th, 2003
I thought I had to go to work at 11:45, but in my rush to get out on Sunday, I forgot to check my schedule. I got up and called the number to hear my schedule over the phone. Turned out I didn't have to be in till 12:45. I went back to bed for another hour. He went with his mom and step dad to Daytona and the following day to St. Augustine. I haven't seen him since. Since he hasn't been around, it never occurred to me how much time I was spending with him doing...whatever. I like that we're at a place where we don't feel like we have to be making out constantly to be enjoying each other. It also never occurred to me I would miss him as much as I do only after a few days.
I went in to work at the Produce register (better than stocker). It seems like I did a lot of work for standing in one spot. I had a nutritionally sound lunch of a candy bar and Doritos. After that, I got to go on Turkey Legs register, and close it. It was good. I got free Lays chips.
I came in, more or less, as Jacque, Julie, Erik, Cara and Stacey were walking out to go to the guitar store at Downtown Disney West Side. Anyway, I wasn't invited. I called up Hooters, ordered a quesedilla, went over, and picked it up. It was good. When the 5 of them came back, Rachel ordered pizza and let me have a few slices. I cleaned the bathroom in anticipation of the raid (more on that later). I stayed up until 2:30 working on this entry. I cleaned my room a little too.
Wednesday, October 15th, 2003
I woke up early (for me) on Wednesday. I had to do some stuff I hadn't been able to do since I tried on Saturday. It was actually the fist morning since I'd been here there was almost a chill in the air. The weather was beautiful that day. I got my head together, I went to the post office, I sent Kelly and Miho's birthday presents, an envelope to my family, and a bunch of postcards. I had a lot of time after I got done there. I went to Gooding's and bought a bagel and cream cheese (I don't know what it is about their fresh bagels, they are perfect!). My mom had also asked me go down to the All-Star Sports hotel where they are going to be staying, and buy a free-refillable mug with my discount. So I did that. I missed it twice, somehow.
It was about 5 after 11 by the time I got to costuming. I had to get new sets of clean costumes. (Jeremy said I looked cite in my costume. I'm still not sure if he was shining me on or not. So, I guess he's telling the truth. I don't know. My parents will probably say I look cute. That's because they don't have to put it on and wear it everyday as part of some ridiculous theming...thing).
I worked as filler at Eddie's, no big deal, except I always wish I could eat some of that pizza; it's one of those things that smells so much better than it really is. Not that they aren't great. The highlight of my day was Stacey and Erik came and saw me at work. (I feel special! No, really). I got in kind of a bad mood about a lot of things. I was bored, and upset that I had not had been there for about 5 hours without a break. A manager caught me not smiling like Disney character in a mask as I was wishing there was a sniper on the roof to either close the park or at least break the boredom.
They had me as a filler at Rosie's for about 15 minutes, then I was on register for the rest of the night, and closed there. When there was no line, a guy started asking me about working at Disney. The first question, "How much do you get paid?" I told him about the college program, Vista Way. (I have determined if anyone ever asks me why I took a job at Disney, I am going to say, "For the free drinks"). I ate leftover chicken fingers. We finished in about 20 minutes. The problem with closing, is if you close early, and the checker comes around and says you've done all the cleaning that needs to be done, if it's not too late in the evening, they say, "OK, go over to (somewhere less desirable; Scoops, Fry Cart, the prep kitchen) and see if they need any help." For some reason they had 5 people closing it when usually they have 2. So the 5 of us just sat around and waited for them to get us. We still had to clean a bit backstage. They let us go about 10 minutes early. The first time I�ve been allowed to go home early since my trainer put in for an ER.
I started thinking about that 2 fingered, or whole handed Disney point. What would they do if I pointed with 3 fingers? I think I am going to start an underground movement to completely alter the way we look at the Disney point.
I drove home, and wrote this entry.
They sent the Cast Members a booklet. Fortunately, it starts to be good right after my parents come. Unfortunately, it expires right before Kelly comes. There are a bunch of discounts in it. It talks about the 40% off (so that I can start buying all the stuff I want), 50% off food, free popcorn. Should be good.
I got in a bad mood about a lot of things. It was like I could only look at the negative stuff about the program. For example, CPs (College Program) are treated like crap. They get lousy pay, and lousy hours. Nearly every CP I know is working at least 6 days this week (Carlos is doing that for 2 weeks in a row) which is bull. I knew the pay would suck, but they take that $67 out, and that hurts. That makes these apartments cost over $1600 a month. It�s rumored that the next group isn't going to have to pay rent; Coke is supposed to be sponsoring us. There's a petition to be signed on Monday, 10/27. I think the CPs are going to collectively sign a petition to sue Disney to get our money back. I looked at a pay stub of mine one day; $400 dollars have been taken out to date for rent. People who were on the (dis)advantage program, like Jeremy, Julie and Jacque would have over $1000 coming to them.
Here in WDW, guests expect Cast Members, just because they have stapled in smiles, and somehow bought into the Disney thing and joined up, that we can work miracles. They expect us to be superhuman, and when we can't be, they treat us subhuman.
Plus Big Brother is screwed up. Sometimes, we get our breaks only 2 hours after we get there, sometimes 5 or 6 hours. It's ridiculous. Today, one of the guys working register at Eddies, got there at 10:45, didn't get a break till 4:15. That was even worse than me. Meanwhile, the girl on the other register got in at 12:30, got hers at about 3:30. It's ridiculous.
Julie has a theory about Pixie Dust. It's actually ground up pieces of Cast Member brains. I knew the job thing would suck; that was instilled working at the fun waterpark.
The other thing that sucks, is the raids-- I mean inspections. From the best I can tell, security comes in to the apartment, more or less uninvited, and makes sure it's relatively clean, and there is nothing illegal in there. Jacque got depressed because they entered his apartment, he says illegally, found weed, termed him. It is rumored that someone was termed simply because they had dirty dishes in their sink. That is crap. It seems to me, they have a few people's numbers, places where security goes all the time for loud parties, like where Jeremy used to live, and look for any little thing to term them.
I just started letting everything negative get to me. I got it out. I'm better now. I still get to go to Disney parks for free, and I've got a cute boyfriend who likes me.
Thursday, October 16th, 2003
I woke up around 10:00. Stacey came in and told me I had a package at the front desk. I was still mostly half asleep. She started playing with her hair in our mirror. "Who told you could use our mirror?" I said. She commented how even when I first got up in the morning I still had a sharp wit.
I went to the computer lab. I stood up to leave, and I saw Jeremy on one of the computers. I still had about an hour before I had to go to work. We went to the window and got my package (it was from my mom). The box had a bunch of pictures of different Halloween cartoon characters, including Disney and Chuck Jones pictures (Chuck Jones is my #1 hero). We took it back to my apartment and opened it. It was full of Halloween sweet junk food. She also sent me Halloween sheets, my "costume" (black shirt that says Costume on it in big orange letters). Jeremy and I cuddled till I had to get the bus.
I went in at 1:00. I worked in the fry cart. They put a new heat lamp in at the fry cart that is red instead of white. It drove me crazy after awhile. When I finally was relieved of that place I walked outside and was amazed at how blue everything was. That fry cart was really busy for some reason. The most amusing thing that happened there was a sparrow flew into the building. It was cute. He eventually made his way out though.
The put me in Turkey Legs, probably my favorite place, on register. Shirley came in and asked for someone to volunteer to do register at Scoops (so long as all I have to do there is take money, I'm good).
An interesting thing happened at Scoops, something that's never happened to me before. A lady came up to the window and said, "My daughter dropped her ice cream, and I want to buy another one." I told her that I would get her another one for free; company policy states that in the event of that situation, we just replace it for free because we're Disney and we're cool like that. The lady insisted that she leave some sort of tip in that case. We are not allowed to take tips. I denied it 3 times; company policy also states if someone offers you a tip, deny it 3 times, if they still insist, take it, and take it back to the manager/GT and let them decide what to do with it. I was soon after called off Scoops register. I went back to the GT and told them about the tip. They asked if I denied it 3 times, I said yes. She told me it was then mine to keep. So that was coolness for me.
The assigner told me to take my break. It was now about 5:30. I went into Take 5 to get a nutritionally sound lunch of a Twix bar. Instead of one coming out, 2 came out, so that was cool.
I went to the MGM Computer lab, posted my posting, rode a bike back (I love riding bikes backstage, it always makes me realize how much I miss the activity).
After my break, I was put on Condiment bar, where I was to close (swell, something completely new; been working over a month and a half and I still don't know how to do some stuff). Lucille, a very nice woman at work, showed me. At some point, I was in the prep kitchen, when one of the Cast Members, Christine, a woman who can't walk or stand too well needed to be taken back to the front of the park. I volunteered to take her. I didn't know what that meant. It turned out what it meant was I got to drive a pargo, one of those little golf carts, which I'd never done before. I was nervous at first. I drove around in the backstage behind the park. That was cool. It was a lot like driving the Autopia except I actually had to turn the wheel and there were brakes. I closed condiment bar, left about 10 minutes after my clock out time so I had to wait for the 9:00 bus. (Meh).
When I got home, Jeremy called and told me to come over. He gave me some leftover steak. It was really good, especially since I was starving. I called my mom, and thanked her for the package. She told me that everything in the box was for sharing. Jeremy came back over to my apartment, we ate popcorn, he left, and I went to sleep.
Friday, October 17th, 2003
Today I had to be at work at noon. I drove. I am probably going somewhere food-related after work; either to a grocery store or to a fast food restaurant establishment or both. I don't want to go and come back just to change.
I was put in Fry Cart that day. When I got to the fry cart yesterday it wasn't too bad. They had only one filler in there, me. They later got another. I don't understand why people would want to come to Disney World and get McDonald's fries, and pay the same price for them as they would a Happy Meal (sometimes more). I guess it's just best not to think too much about it. Anyway, Jeremy-the-manager (yes, I do personally know 2 people named Jeremy; I've gone 20 1/2 years and only known 1, now I know 2 at once) was in the fry cart. I was just trying to fill the orders as fast as I could so that the cartons were full and the fries were hot and the orders were carried out expediently. Jeremy-the-manager was breathing down my neck as I was doing this. First he told me he had a problem with the way I was filling them, that somehow the boxes were too full or something. "This is how they should look when they are full." (Hey, that's super. Next time you hire someone, train them in here to learn that). He left (thank God) and came back with a scale (you'd better not want me to do what I think you want me to do with that). He showed me how when I weigh all the small ones, they need to be 4 oz, and the big ones need to be 6 oz. So while he was there, I had to weigh every one of those bloody fry cartons (in England, fries come in portions, apparently. They always come up, "2 large portions of fries, please"). As soon as he left, I don't think anyone even touched the scale again. I might have set my drink down on it. It just made me angry; I can't stand people telling me how to do something I know how to do, or how I could better do it in a way that makes no sense. I just felt like saying, "Alright dude, how about, you go put on the little lollypop outfit and the skort, and when we get busy in here right around 1 or 2:00, you fill the orders and take the extra unnecessary and unavailable 30 seconds to make sure to weigh each and every order of fries to make sure they are about 4/6 oz."
I will say I like Sabrina. She is sometimes an assigner. She's good people though. She's a really sweet Italian lady who knows what it's like to be doing the menial things like filling orders and bussing. She was in the fry cart with us yesterday. "Yeah, he doesn't understand how it is," she said about Jeremy-the-manager. She complained about not getting her break soon enough and said that if we called her, and it had been a long time working, she would see that we got our break soon.
There was something else that made me angry. I was doing a lot of stocking for the cart because we were running out of stuff so quickly. I walked past the line to go get something. I heard one of the guys say, "I don't know if this is typical McDonald's efficiency" (I don't know if the 16 yr olds at McDonald's always remember to wash their hands when they come out of the bathroom). That made me angry. Bloody tourist; then get out of here and go to a real McDonald's. There's one right out there on 535, and they're a whole lot cheaper too.
I finally got my break. I�ve been working for about 5 hours in the fry cart where it's madness and everyone steals fries. People kinda go stir crazy in there because it's so small. I still like it better than Rosie's. They always get behind on the breaks for some reason, I don't understand why exactly. Well, that means I only have to work for about 2 hrs after I get back, which is good.
I get in moods sometimes after working too long where I just want all the tourists to die. Jeremy pointed out to me on a couple of occasions how there is an amazing, almost too coincidental correlation between the word tourist and the word terrorist.
Sometimes I don't really feel like I'm doing anything too spectacular, especially when all I'm doing is filling orders. I know really that if everyone else, and I weren't there to fill the orders they wouldn't get filled and people wouldn't eat or whatever, but so often I just think, "I'm not making any difference to anyone!" I hate just filling. I like Turkey Legs because I can be on register and have human contact & fill.
After I got off break, they put me at Turkey Register. I closed there, they let us leave 10 minutes early (yay!)
I drove to the grocery store (because I had absolutely no real food to my name, just candy). I went over to Jeremy's and had lasagna. He's caught a cold. He took some cold medication that made him really drowsy. I left at about 11:00.
Saturday, October 18th, 2003
Saturday, I had to be at work at 1:30. They made me work as a filler at Eddie's. A little girl, while waiting for her pizzas told Diana, the girl on register that we had pretty dresses (aw! How nice! Jeremy always says I look cute in my outfit; I have no idea why). Diana pinned me as a person who liked to listen to loud raucous music. I don't know how she knew. I got my break on time, if not a little early. I only had a 45 minute break, but that's better than 15, like Jeremy seems to usually get. They put me at Turkey Legs register. They didn't move me all night; they love me at Turkey Legs. I closed there.
I got asked the stupidest question I have ever been asked by a guest before, (brace yourself for this one) "How long is a footlong?" (Must...restrain...self...from...sarcasm...must...remember...be...Disney...like). "12 inches." Of course, someone else asked me if the parade came down here? (Sunset Blvd).
Sarah, a girl at work decided, for no particular reason, to borrow a Bob nametag for a while. She got a lot of commentary on it. I told her she could tell people "I just wanted to have a palindrome name." (And if she wanted to be a real sarcastic like me, "And Hannah was already taken"). "What's a palindrome?" (Are you kidding?). She didn't know what it was, one of the other girls on register didn't either. That night, I asked Julie and Jeremy if they knew what it was, neither of them had heard of it before. So I went from thinking I was just being witty to feeling like a nerd with a big vocabulary and possibly too much time on her hands. (At least Andrea knows what it is!).
I came home and called Jeremy (he was calling me, apparently). He told me he was making burgers and to come over. I went over to his apartment. He was finishing up making the french fries. I didn't catch exactly what happened, or when, apparently, he was using too much grease. The grease caught fire. He took it off the fire. Before I could offer the wise advice of, "Put a lid on it" or something along those lines, one of Jeremy's roommates, Conception, was pouring sugar over it. This made the fire get worse. By this time, the smoke alarm was going off and the room was getting hazy. "Is there a lid or something for the pot?" I finally got to say. They covered the pot with a bigger pan. Jeremy and I went around opening all the doors and windows. I went outside. I just thank god the sprinklers didn't go off. That would make the whole building's sprinklers go off, they would start to flood, and make Jeremy very very not popular. The smoke alarm eventually shut off. We went back to my apartment to try and find a fan. We went back to his place. The pot itself was a mess. It had what looked like charcoal hardened on to it. We soaked it so that the stuff eventually loosened off it. We ate the burgers off a George Foreman. Somewhere in the process, both he and I turned some parts of our fingers orangey-yellow. It's not coming off either. So I�ve been feeling like Lady Mac Beth for the last day or so staring at my hands, washing them, but not saying out loud, "Out damn spot!" (Who would have known the old man had so much blood in him?). We went for a walk, and we came back to my apartment, and ate popcorn on my bed and watched a little bit of SNL with Julie.
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