Mostly a Photo Dump

Well, hi there. As usual, it's been a magical couple of weeks but nothing terribly newsworthy has happened. They've posted the applications for spring internships, a few of which I intend to apply for. I'm still having my resume looked over my some of my superiors, as well as attending a couple of meetings about leadership and stuff. So there's that.

And now, because despite how much I enjoy writing, pictures really are worth a thousand words:

First, my apparently obsession with two magically haunted Disney attraction.

Next, Emily and I spending a day at the Orlando Science Center.

They have dinosauuuurs (and aquatic reptiles).

Triceratops and Edmontosaurus! And Emily.

Pachycephalosaurus!!!

Well hi!

There were some living critters as well.

Introspective bearded dragon.

Most evil looking invasive frog.

But we also think he had an eye infection which was sad.

Human beings were on exhibit! Really cute, though.

And random stuff that really can't be described haha.

I love when the custodial staff does water street art!!

I tried. Except it's lemonade. And terrible.

We went mini-golfing for a team-builder. It turned ridiculous.

My "diplodocus" origami and a snail I found one day on the way to Tower of Terror!

If nothing else, there's always the perks

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my job. But it's made even better when I get to spend my days or evenings off at one of the parks just goofing off. :)

For instance:

Last Tuesday I spent the day at Hollywood Studios with some friends and it was perfect. We rode Rock 'N' Roller Coaster, did the Backlot Studio Tour, watched a glictchy version of the Indiana Jones show (the giant ball didn't work at first) and did the animation studio drawing class. We got to draw Dug, the dog from "Up," which was the greatest thing ever. Here's my drawing, I'm really proud of it:

At the end of the class, the teacher asked a trivia question about "Up" and the person to get the answer correct one his drawing. The question was: What is the name of the dog that is the chef on Muntz's (the bad guy's) airship in the movie?

Guess who was the only person in the room who knew the answer. :)

The answer was Epsilon.

Last week I also made two fantastic purchases at the cast property control store. The first is an item that I've seen at Animal Kingdom and really, really wanted but would never buy at full price. Can you guess why I like it so much?

Hee!

There's a small chip on the back of his ear that I'm working on fixing, so pretty much the best decision I've ever made. I also found a completely non-damaged Kilimanjaro Safaris backpack, also awesome.

Oh and I'm continuing to spend too much money on pins. Nothing new there.

On Monday night (my "Friday" night), a few of the presenters went to Magic Kingdom with me. I really wanted to ride Haunted Mansion because I love it but also because it's anniversary was this week, and I rode Tower of Terror on its anniversary too so I guess I'm making that a thing now.

We also at dinner at DAK before heading over to MK, and got creeped on by birds.

 

We ended up riding HM and Space Mountain, pin trading, and looking for "Hidden Pascals" at the Rapunzel rest area thing. And just generally goofing off. It was great.

One of the 10 (?) hidden Pascals.

Oh. And more impulse buys. Sigh.

Very happy about them, though.

So basically I have the best job and the best days off. Sorry. :)

Feeling proud

So I had a reason to feel really good about myself today. As I said last time, I've been practicing my Spanish and today I noticed that I was a lot more comfortable trying to use it. I'm definitely still not great, but I can at least form basic sentences with confidence and almost always get my message across through a combination of Spanglish and hand gestures. I truly think the Spanish speaking families appreciate that I'm trying. Today, I got almost all the way through Fossil Badge in Spanish but froze up at the end. The mom just put her hand on my shoulder and was like "It's okay, you can say it in English." It was so nice, and it just gives me that much more motivation to keep practicing.

There were lots of really great families in the park today. I had some really great conversations with people, adults and kids alike, who seemed genuinely interested. That's always really nice with the kids, when you can see that maaaybe they do want to learn something instead of just get the sticker for their book. With adults it's even a little better, because if their kids forget, the parents can still remind them when they get home. Or also with adults (with or without kids), they're the ones with the paychecks and buying power and voting rights... if I can get them to care, things will actually happen and happen now... We don't have to wait for the next generation.

I also had a great day at Hollywood Studios last Wednesday (as well as visiting my dear friend Devonie on Tuesday) and so I have pictures and stories about that... But I will write about it on Tuesday, my next day off! Right now, it's time to work on my resume/CV and get some sleep. :)