all downhill from here

My car is gone forever so I'm back to a bicycle. Well it will be sold on the 7th.

I started the mentoring program for being a trainer at Autopia. They aren't looking for trainers just yet but I'm jumping in to see how it all goes and be ahead of the game. My mentor Noretta basically says I'm a shoe in from filling out my first packet and after our first meeting. I really think I could be a great trainer. I would look into being a lead as well but I think I need to be seen as an authority figure as a trainer before being able to get respect from the other cast members. I'm excited for what it will bring.

I almost went back to college. Decided against it a the last minute and good thing it would be difficult without a car. I will probably get a bus pass. I think I can get a free or discounted one with Disney. Chris is helping a lot too, he said to just let him know whenever I need to use his car.

The Autopia Banquet is coming up soon and I really hope I get nominated for something cool and win the award :)

I'm planning on coming up home next month (well almost this month...September) the weekend of the 25th for my friend Sara's wedding that's in Auburn. Chris is coming with me so it should be fun to show him Nor Cal since he really hasn't seen it before. I'll see whoever I can but it's just a weekend trip so we gotta see what our schedules let us do once they come out.

I found someone else that is looking to move into a house near Disneyland so if we find something close and maybe a couple more people I'll be out of here and no more Eileen. But as of now, I'm probably stuck here.

I'm actively looking for a second job. Applied to a couple online. I know a friend that works as a manager at a theater so I'm going to apply there too. And go into some of the fab shops on tile row or way or whatever they call it. I'm looking into some stuff with child care or working with the kiddos. 

Goals

I was thinking about this the other day... things I would like accomplish while I'm down here and working for Disney.

One of the goals is that I want to become a trainer at Autopia

But before that I want to be there at least a year.... so I have till Halloween and then I will start pursuing it. I'm still learning new things everyday and I want to read the OG more and continue working on skills that it takes to be a trainer, talk to trainers and stuff like that. So that is pretty exciting.

 I applied to Fullerton College and Santa Ana College (Community Colleges down here) to possibly take a couple of classes coming up in the fall. I haven't been to college in a long time but I figure it wouldn't hurt any to at least take 1 or 2. I also applied for financial aid so we will see how that goes. I want to possibly just get my AA in something so I can quit feeling so useless and stupid because I don't have much college experience. I ordered my transcripts from Sierra and should be getting them soon... I'm a little frightened to look at those, haha

Anyhoo! Family Reunion this weekend! Can't wait!

<3

Thoughts....

So I decided to put in my cross training request to work up at Space Mountain. I talked to a friend that works up there and also works on Autopia and he thinks I could do it. And also says they need more nice people that still can tell someone what to do. Which he says is like me :) So that's awesome. Made me feel really confident.

But then again I started thinking about my safety. And I don't think I'll be going up there anytime soon. And really I don't know if I am ready. From talking to people who work the Monorail I don't think I would like that... too much standing around not doing anything. I need a fast pace. But if I don't get put up to Space Mountain before July 27th, I'm back down to one attraction, so the other one I put into work at is Finding Nemo. I can barely ride it without getting claustrophobic but I think it would be different driving since I would be able to see out of the top. I don't want to go to Buzz because everyone I know that works there hates it. So Nemo is really my only choice. Plus I know a bunch of people that already work there so it would be cool.

I would love love love to be on the opening crew for Star Tours 2 but me and everyone else who works at disneyland...even the people that never worked the original... so we will see once the time comes closer.

Day off today. Went to my first Angels baseball game last week and going to my first Dodger game on Friday.

The first Grad night is this Thursday and hopefully I'm at Auto. Should be very interesting... I've heard so many crazy stories and can't wait to see what it's like. I'm not working next week's grad night... unless my friend wants to switch me. So we will see.

Eileen was gone for about a month and I had the house to myself. It made me miss living alone. As much as I hate being alone it's kind of nice sometimes to have a house to yourself.

orange suit up

usually after about 4-6 months they like to cross train people to new rides. last year they were pretty far behind and a lot of the friends that i work with at autopia just recently got cross trained but now pretty much everyone that i hired in with is getting cross trained to buzz lightyear, nemo and little ol me, i put in the request to train over to star tours.

i didn't think i would get cross trained over there because, for one, it's supposed to be going down to change it to star tours 2. i first heard in october then august and now everyone is saying in july. either way, i wanted to be one of the people who worked the original ride. and closing it will also be pretty neat. i may be one of the opening people on it too because they want new faces over there. there is so much seniority...half the people that work there opened it!

the other reason i didn't think i would get cross trained even at all is that i got kind of got in trouble the other day. it wasn't exactly my fault because i asked someone else to turn off the car for me. but she didn't. more reason to just do everything myself...ugh. so i compromised the safety of the attraction. which is a big thing. but i talked to the managers and they understood what happened but i had to have something put on my record card for it.

philip who was my trainer reassured me that it would be ok. he has gotten a safety and he's a trainer and just recently became a lead. unless i make a habit of it, i don't think i will have a problem with anything. it won't be a mistake that i ever make again. i was so scared at first about it but now things are back to normal pretty much and i am able to joke about it. and this guy steven likes to ask me every single time now when we are pulling a car if it's turned off...even if i'm not pulling it off, if i'm in earshot he'll ask it quite loudly. he's just joking around though and it makes me feel more lighthearted about it.


so tomorrow morning at 6am i start my training over at star tours! and look at the lovely get up i get to wear!

i will post another one when i'm in it...maybe.

but it basically looks like i'm a convict on the side of the highway picking up trash



i'm nervous but excited at the same time. there will be buttons and e stops on this ride and i'm not used to that...and i'm also not used to working indoors or just standing around. at autopia we move around so much i don't like when i do have the position where i don't get much physical activity.

i'm happy to be able to be cross trained and become more of an assest to the company...the more i know the better... and maybe i can pick up my 3rd attraction before star tours goes down. because once it goes down then i will have to drop the knowledge that i have there and once the new one comes in we will all have to be retrained on it. hopefully i can work on the new one :)

3rd attractions in tomorrowland are space mountain and also the monorail. both are a little intimidating.

i'm leaning more towards the monorail.

Got my ears!

After 120 days of working for Disney you receive your 'ears'

Its not a set of ears...but I think it should be... It's a certificate and also an exclusive pin. I'm going to get forced into pin trading I can just tell. On my first certificate they spelled my name wrong though. here are pics of both

back in the game... photos and storytelling....

since i have been out of it...many things have happened.
christmas, new years... and lots and lots of work! i can barely believe it's april already..!
 
still lacking a working camera.... these are from my phone and from my friend's cameras...mostly jasmine... every time you hang out with jasmine...you get your picture taken

our xmas tree all lit up and xmas tree shopping. we had a good christmas... worked and our christmas dinner consisted of chinese food from the 24hr chinese place on harbor. i was able to go up and visit family before christmas with help from a friend driving down and getting me and then driving me back down here. it was amazing.

 jes turned 21 on christmas... we went to the rainforest cafe to celebrate that day then went out later and went to a pub for drinks

 

 jes and me

we had a good time :)

jason, a friend who works matterhorn, classics and storybook in fantasyland. he's super fun... almost a guy version of myself. we have fun :)

new years day we parked in the mickey and friends structure and saw this sign! i worked a pyro (fireworks) shift for the countdown to 2010. i was a little sad at this time because of not being able to spend it with friends but i made the best of it while trying to direct traffic in the front of the castle. it was the most amount of people i think i have ever been around in the smallest area in my entire life. they had djs and all sorts of entertainment...so i waved my flashlight as hard and as high up in the air as i could to keep the traffic moving but i was swallowed up by large amounts of people by the stroke of midnight. 

so there was some good news! i got a second job working at a cupcake place in downtown disney... called the cupcake store. they have a bakery in mission viejo and there was just a little kiosk type thing in downtown disney that just sold a couple of flavors and was actually really popular. the cupcakes were amazing tasting and it was so much fun and a super easy job. i got to chit chat with people and talk about disney and cupcakes. but unfortunately after a couple of weeks they were unable to renew the lease in the kiosk and were also in the process of trying to get a new place in downtown disney. the owner told me she would love to hire me back...but there was no word on when they would get the new location...it could be 2 weeks...could be 2 months... i have yet to hear from her but i would take the job back in a second.

going to play in the park is something that us cast members that still enjoy the park like to go do... we walk around and talk about secrets and ride as many rides as possible and visit fellow friendly cast members that we work with... we end up mostly looking for people we know to see if we can cut a line and if we don't know the person and the line is too long, most likely we won't ride, haha.

sometimes we go to shows and eat the yummy food... i read on a blog somewhere that the flavor wave ice cream was going away and i had never had it before so that was part of the purpose of this trip...plus to see the main street electrical parade that is going to florida soon :( it's my favorite parade

elliot is my favorite part but my phone died and i didn't get any pictures of him this time... i will be going again soon to see him. 

i was super excited about the ice cream... and it was so good.. i might need to try all the flavors before it goes... if it does...

also when you know people... you get to be part of the show.... a friend of mine ricky works in innoventions and me and tommy got to be part of the story. he read a short version of peter pan... tommy got to fire the cannon and i got to get peter's shadow out of the drawer. it was fun

me with the cannon

getting his shadow out! the drawer moved on me and i jumped almost ran away... everyone laughed :-p

i haven't been able to go to the beach much, a couple of times at night but once during the day. it was a good day :)

riding my bike really isn't that bad... i enjoy the time to think and reflect on the day, normally by the time that i get back to my apartment or now the house that i live in (more on that later) i have been able to get any frustrations out that i had gone through and i'm super calm and can just relax. you see so many different things on a bike than you do in a car... it's like stopping and smelling the roses... or the bums..haha... i have been lucky and also have some really good friends that do give me rides when it's super late at night and also sometimes we go out and do fun things... like code d...which is go to denny's in costume and eat and hang out there till the wee hours in the morning

we also have organized things that we do for tomorrowland or just autopia and we go out bowling or dinner for birthdays

this is sam and brian. sam is awesome... she's one of those good people that will sit and listen to you babble and give good advice. brian is silly, always fun to work with whenever he's at auto

me!

alex in the background and me with brian

this is ryan! he's awesome! he made that shirt and it has my girl scarlett on it :)

this is lucas and kara...adorable couple and always so nice! :)

nick, cory in the background and brandon eating the pizza

tommy and his gf that works at buzz. tommy works at buzz now too

me and devin

shon, jenny, and sarah. jenny and sarah are college program kids and i'm pretty sure they both used to work in florida

cavan and jeremy... everyone down here is really really into sports... probably because there are so many teams down here. i find it funny. i've been asked to chose sides already but haven't decided just yet. there is a game coming up soon angels vs dodgers that is being set up for all the auto people. i should probably go

 

 alex and devin....they are great! devin is like the brother i never wanted... we play fight and hang out a bunch

chris! who doesn't seem to think that chris is a popular name and that erica is more popular than chris... even though there are like 5 chris's at auto and 2 other erika's... and since they spell their name with a k it doesn't count!

holly is basically my training buddy, we trained at auto at the same time. her trainer did my PA and mine did hers. she is silly and awesome. she just trained over to nemo

alysia, me & tommy

my friends cassy and garrick made a trip down to visit me and disneyland before moving out to CT and i got to spend some time with them as well. i love having people visit and being able to play in the park. it was also the opening of captain eo tribute so we got to see it on the first day! devin even came and hung out one of the days.

the winter down here wasn't bad at all...even the rain was warm compared to the rain that i'm used to. don't get me wrong... i still hate the rain... and was miserable working in it but it wasn't that cold. we get our own rain gear to go over our costumes... they have clear ones which were retarded... and the pants always ripped and then the fisherman ones which were also dumb looking but did a better job at keeping us dry. no pics of me in the rain gear... which is probably a good thing but one day on my way into work the streets around my apartment flooded and i ended up getting my shoes and socks wet and had to buy socks out of the vending machine that day :(

i got to go up home again, but it wasn't for a good reason, it was for grandma barbara's funeral. I was glad i was able to make it up and see everyone and be able to be there to pay my respects and be there as a support for the family too. i miss her, she was such an accomplished woman... 

Barbara Lynn Kosher
4/27/1942-1/15/2010

we get the opportunity to see things first a lot of the times and they needed people to test out captain eo so we were def there!

one night after work we ventured into LA to go to the pantry. a kind of crazy restaurant that has the menu up on the wall and is open all night... it was fun

devin thought it would be funny to slap me with bacon... i disagreed

we stood in height order

apples to apples is also a game that all enjoy playing over at brandon's house

parties at katies

Jason's birthday dinner. this is when i met the guy who works up in the scheduling department... and i'm pretty sure it's why they cross trained me to star tours :)

so here i am in costume in the breakroom plus some more friends around

so yeah,  lots has been going on. jes let me know that her aunt was cutting her off and after that she couldn't afford rent anymore. and she was going to move in with her boyfriend marc. so i was on my own to find a new place. i didn't want another apartment... and i didn't want to have to rely on someone again. so i started searching for rooms for rent. in my mind having the idea of a nice old couple or a widow of some sorts that just had a room and wanted company. i looked at a couple of different places with the help from friends to drive since i am still lacking a car and any sense of direction around here. craigslist was my main source... i looked in the penny saver too but they all seemed creepy. since also at this point i didn't have a computer i was going to the library and using the internet there. i found a simple post and emailed it and got a call back from a sweet sounding older woman. i made plans with her to stop by after i got off of work the next day. i looked up the directions on the computer at work and saw that it was super close to the park and seemed to be a nice neighborhood. so i hopped on my cruiser and set on over... 

perk number 1 took me like 15 minutes 

perk number 2: nice neighborhood

perk 3: old woman who lives alone

perk 4: $300 a month for rent

perk 5 & 6: own entry and bath 

so basically i wanted to ask if i could sleep there that night.. but i restrained from that. looked at a couple more places and determined that this is going to be the best place that i'm going to find. i'm losing some freedom with not really being able to have people come over but it's ok. she said it was fine if my friends that were girls stayed over if they came in from out of town. the woman's name is Eileen, and she was also happy that i called back because she said she like me best.


I had my friend gabriel come and help me move...



[ seen here stealing my sunglasses and also my cell phone so he could have a picture when he calls :-p ]

he was off work on the same days as me and also i called uncle john and aunt debbie... they have a truck and we were able to get my big stuff in with that... i even got to borrow my own car from Ray (the guy who fixed it and has been holding it for me) and i finished everything else with that. i have a lot of kitchen stuff that i won't be needing since Eileen already has a furnished kitchen and said i am able to use all her stuff. but she also has some storage on the outside of her house so i can store some of it there. i will get some pictures up of the room soon. i haven't gotten it to the way i want it to be yet

so it's been going much better since i moved in here and i'm hoping things will continue to get better.
more updates soon i promise!

<3

missing everyone at home more and more everyday