Wow, I can't believe 2009 is almost over already! There are only 6 more days left in the year. It was a little hard being away from home today. I kept feeling like I should be back at home. Luckily I had a pretty short shift today (7:45am-2:45pm). The best part about starting that early was that I got to do a checklist. And this time I got to do Opener #4, which meant getting to test out E-Stop buttons! That was fun. And work actually went by pretty quickly. There was a Christmas dinner at work, which was really nice (and the food was good too). I had turkey, ham, and potatoes. After finishing work, I just went back home. I finally got to open the boxes my mom sent last week. And the stuff was pretty nice. Overall I got:
*a zoom lense for my Nikon (55-200)
*a really fluffy bathrobe
*fluffy PJ bottoms
*an Itunes gift card
*cookies
*a calendar
*a picture frame with a photo of my parents and 2 little brothers in it
*a book
*And probably the best gift was getting the location I had really hoped to get for the Spring (I can't wait to start training!).

So overall it was a pretty good day. Kinda weird not being at home, but still good. Tomorrow is another short shift, but late (4:30pm-12:30am). The good thing about it, is that it's one of only 2 closing shifts I have left at TSM (tomorrow, and one on Sunday). After Sunday, I don't close again. Man, time is starting to fly by!

 What a wonderful day!

It has been raining off and on today, I guess that's as close as we'll get to snow on Christmas down here in Florida.

Todd and I slept in then opened our gifts...

I got a new camera (YAY - I was in desperate need of one), a cell phone cover, a bag a Ghirardelli, and "permission" to buy a new set of furniture and a king bed for the Master Bedroom (oh husbands and the need to give "permission").

I also got an e-mail from Netflix, my dad set us up for a year of free movies - YIPPEE! Since you can watch them on your computer we are starting to enjoy this gift right now.

The highlight of the day - Todd's parents set him a set of four power drills, watching him open (and play) with those was like having a child. I think Christmas will be a wonderful time once we have kids (there's not much to it when it's just the two of us). But don't get any ideas, we are still waiting a couple more years before having little cannonballs (it'll be hard not to think like a Pirate next week).

Happy Christmas to everyone out there! I'm off to watch a movie!!!

I had the last 2 days off. So I spent them in the parks (Tues at MK, today at Epcot). My purpose for MK was to see the Christmas parade, and CTS as well. I had no problems finding a spot for the parade in my usual spot (end of Town Square, right before Step Down). However, I had some issues with the first showing of CTS. I found a good spot, behind people that were sitting. But once the show started, ALL the people that were sitting stood up (which meant I now had heads in the pictures). That is really irritating, especially when you try to plan your spot around other people sitting/standing. I feel there should be a designated sitting zone during the castle shows (where people HAVE to remain seated), so people that don't want to/are not able to sit have a place to stand, while still being able to see (this also would benefit people in wheelchairs, so they wouldn't have people standing in front of them). Anyway, moving on. I plan on going back on Jan 1 (the parade/CTS will still be showing), and I will get to the castle super-early, so I have a spot where I can stand and get pictures without heads in the way (hopefully).

Then today I decided to go to Epcot to see all the Holiday Around the World storytellers. While on the bus, I ran into an issue (one I probably should have thought of earlier). I realized my work ID expires on Jan 2, but I start training on Jan 4th. And Access Control is closed on Jan 1 and 2 (the 1st being a holiday, the 2nd because Access Control is closed on Sat/Sun). As soon as I reached Epcot, I changed course and went over to MK (that was an adventure in itself). Unfortunately, I had a not-so-helpful person inform me that I wouldn't be able to get a new ID until the 4th (even though I'm in the system as extending). I don't know what to do. I plan on talking to one of the managers and seeing what I should do about that. Hopefully something can be worked out. But anyway, back to Epcot. Once finished at Access Control, I had to get BACK to Epcot. Luckily, it was only about 1 hour overall. So I still had plenty of time to see all 12 storytellers. I was able to tape all 12, get pictures of and/or with 11 of the 12 (the storyteller in Morocco didn't stop, because the show went right into Mo'Rockin), and was able to get my picture with Santa and Mrs. Clause in about 6.5 hours. It did mean a lot of back-tracking and running around though. But it was worth it. The storytellers were all really interesting. And one of my old friends was the Hannukah storyteller (my friend Angela, from the castle show days).

Speaking of old friends, I've seen a few the last few days. There was Angela today, I got to see James on the bus to Westclock yesterday (he's currently on tour, but was back for a few days), and got to see Michael from Entertainment on Monday towards the end of Spectacle (he's currently at Voyage). And while on the subject of Spectacle- it was crazy! The crowds were estimated at 39K, and there were NO Fant (which meant everyone was down at Spectacle). I was at Position 2 (right near the Writer's Stop), which meant having to be really loud. Luckily Natalie was one of the coordinators, which helped a lot. The really scary part is, when the park was closed and we were clearing everyone out, TSM was still at an hour wait! It took 45 minutes to clear at Merge on Sun (and didn't get out until 9:10, on a 8pm close). I can't even begin to imagine what time they got out on Mon). And I'm terrified the same thing will happen on Sat (another EMH, though there is Fant that evening). I also hope things won't be too bad tomorrow and Friday. Here's hoping.

I finally saw The Princess and the Frog today... and I loved it!

Before going I heard a variety of mixed reviews. But overall there seemed to be more negative reviews than positive. Since I went in with such low expectations I was wonderfully surprised and absolutely loved it.

The biggest thing I have to say is that the true hero of the movie is NOT Princess Tiana (as marketing would have you believe) but rather it is Prince Naveen. See my review behind the cut (spoiler alert).

( SPOILER ALERT!!! )

(this is from Tues and Wed)

Man, I seriously can't believe the first half of my CP is almost done. I only have 2 more days of work this week, 5 days next week, and however many days for the last week (the schedule is not out yet. But I am going to guess it could be anywhere from 4-6 days of shifts). Time sure has flown by. It really feels like December just started yesterday, and already it's halfway over. But anyway. The first of my two tours was on Tues, Expedition Adventure (at AK). When I first signed up, I thought at first it was the Everest tour again (but didn't really read the name too closely). It turned out to be really interesting though. The group was really small- only 4 other CMs (one of whom left after 1 hour because her family needed to be checked into the park). The tour guide was Glenn, and he was really nice. We walked around Dinoland, Asia, and Discovery Island. It was pretty neat taking a closer look around the Tree at Discovery Island (getting up close to the tree, and seeing all the animals carved in, was pretty neat. And he showed us things I had no idea were there). We also got to ride Dinosaur, walk the trail in Asia, and see It's Tough to Be a Bug (we also were supposed to ride Everest, but it was 101 at the time). I would definitely do the tour again. Then there was yesterday. I had graduation in the morning, and I was there from 10-11:30am. I saw Mickey/Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Chip and Dale (Goofy, Donald, and Chip/Dale were in holiday attire). I won a phone pouch by answering a trivia question ("how many theaters are there in CoP?" there are 6). And...I also rode a mechanical bull! I really did. I was seriously hanging on for dear life. But it was fun. The only bad part about graduation was that there were no antena toppers, or the artists. But anyway. I had made plans to hang out at the Studios afterwards with Christine (we had both signed up for the Great Movie Stride tour). So we went over around 12:30. I was able to get us FP for TSM, so we did that. I got my new high score- 253,000! Overall we met the UP characters, Buzz and Woody, Mike and Sulley, Mickey, and Prince Caspian (we also rode GMR twice, at the end of the night). We had the BEST interaction with the UP characters, and Buzz and Woody! While meeting the UP characters, I accidently made Carl "cry", when I forgot to say hello to him. And the attendant had to keep threatening Dug with the Cone of Shame (he was being naughty, but really silly). And when Christine went up, he tried to look through her bag to see if she had any treats! And before we left, untied Russell's shoe. It was too funny. And then the Toy Story characters- they were a riot! Buzz and Christine had a little misunderstatement about crying (I forget exactly what happened). But then Buzz tried to leave with us! And he actually got out the door before the attendant noticed! We were both in hysterics. So to end the night (and to pass time), we rode GMR twice. Then it was time for the tour. And it was amazing! The guides were Sarah and Nicolette. They were both pretty nice. And they gave out a lot of really interesting information. Plus we got to take pictures with James Cagney, John Wayne, on the Yellow Brick Road, and with the Witch! That was pretty cool (though really tight! We had to go into the little alcove she pops out of). We got to see the break area for the bandits/gangsters, and see the Handprint Hallway (which was really neat). At the end, I got my picture taken with the two of them. So overall, an awsome night.

So here's the update I've been dying to do but technically couldn't...

I was called on Wednesday (a week ago) to interview on Friday!

Then I was called on Monday to let me know that I made the bench... but they still had more interviews to do.

I was called tonight and officially offered the job - I accepted!!!

I am joining the Entertainment Safety Team as a resource assistant. I will be working at Maingate (with the Entertainment big wigs) and start my new job on January 3rd.

I am super excited and can't believe how lucky I am to have this opportunity. It's actually a continuation of the job I did on my PI but never got to finish because my internship ended. Instead of doing it as a writer, I'll be doing it from the area's perspective.

The job is a temporary assignment, which means I get to continue doing my facilitation for Once Upon a Time!!! The TA will last one year then I'll return to the League in order to keep my status current and then who knows where I'll be going from there!

I am actually a little sad as well, I really do love the people at the League and am sad that I only have two more weeks with them. I guess that means I get to throw a goodbye party then - YO HO!