Week 13

Greetings, friendships! I hope this post finds you all well! It's crazy to think that this program is already starting to wind down and that we're having to figure out pre-departure stuff already :c But, that won't stop us from having buckets of fun while we're still here! So, here's a week-in-the-life from last week. And this one actually has pictures! :P Enjoy!

Monday:
Not a whole ton happened. It was a pretty chill day. In the evening, I had candlelight choir rehearsal, and this one had both the resort and studios choir members, and we all got to sing in a big, echo-y church which was super fun! We also ran through the entire program without stopping, and we all dispersed ourselves throughout the auditorium and stood by people from different sections. It was cool to be able to hear the other parts more distinctly. Plus, we also got...

MERCHANDISE!!!!!! This sweatshirt is ridiculously comfy.

Da sleeve.

We even get our own special Candlelight name tags! With a happy little Olaf! :D

Tuesday:
This day started off way neato because we got to do a special backstage tour of the TOWER OF TERROR!!!!!!!!!

TERROR!!!!! (Except for Marissa because this is her favorite attraction :P )

Take'n a photo where guests aren't allowed to go. Thug lyfe.

You're supposed to get the feeling that the hotel was just suddenly abandoned after the five passengers on the freight elevator mysteriously disappeared during a thunderstorm in 1930~mahumuna...(I forget the specific year it's supposed to be...oops...) There are also a ton of objects in there that either reference certain Twilight Zone episodes, or are THE ACTUAL PROPS FROM CERTAIN EPISODES!!!!

Walk'n through the boiler room on the way to...the elevator...

In the queue! SO CLOSE.

The first time, we rode it in full show with the lights and narration and everything. Clearly, some people were not ready for the pre-ride photo...

The SECOND time we rode it, we rode with no show, which means we did the drop entirely in the dark with no narration, so we had no idea when the drop was going to happen. And it was terrifying and fantastic. This picture was taken at the top of the ride. I was being blinded by the sunlight outside.

After all that awesomeness, I got coffee and derped around Downtown Disney by myself for a couple hours before my shift. Pretty great day overall!

Wednesday:

This was another relatively uneventful day, but in the middle of it, we had our housing pre-departure meeting. I seriously can't believe there's only 6 more weeks left of this thing! Now, me, three of my roommates, and a lot of the friends I've made here are planning on staying on after the program, so at least for us, our Disney adventure doesn't end so soon. But for my roommate, Brittany, and so many others in the program, it's all almost over, so our time with them is almost over too. It's really bittersweet because I'm so excited to get my own apartment and really get established out here and in Disney and make more memories with the ones who are staying, and I know that the ones who aren't are still going on to do amazing things! (Like get married! Yay Brittany!) But I also know that the college program is definitely its own unique dynamic and experience. We're all about to set out on different paths soon, but I'm going to try and make the most out of the time we have together on this particular path as long as we can :) 

Thursday:

Also a very neato day! Very different kind of neato, but nonetheless neato. For our class this week, we got to go help out at the Orange County Food Bank and pack food boxes for the elderly. It was actually tons of fun, as everybody had great energy and were all working really hard to help each other out. I essentially stacked boxes of milk, two by two, into food boxes at a very rapid pace for two hours...aaaaand I kinda really screwed up the right side of my back and my left hamstring from bending and twisting improperly...oops...but after a bunch of deep-tissue stretching and some stinky-but-effective salonpas patches, it's all better now :P

We were sort of having a contest with the Tuesday class to see which class could package the most boxes. They were able to fill around 1,100 boxes. We managed to fill over 1,600 - which also happens to be the college program record. Booyah. *smug face*

After a quick lunch at home, my roomies and I headed to the park to get some special roomie pictures in front of the iconic landmarks in Disneyland.

We still had some time to kill before I went into work, so we hung around Tomorrowland for a bit. We went on Star Tours, which is amazing and I was totally geeking out on it and really really want to ride it more. Apparently, you can visit all kinds of places in the Star Wars universe on that ride - ours went pod-racing on Tatooine. Next, we went over to the place that sells Baymax cups so Marissa and Brittany could get them. Right next to that was a Jedi training show where a bunch of little kids got to go up and learn how to use a lightsaber, but, the middle of the show was interrupted by THE DARK SIDE!!!!! However, Darth Vader and Darth Maul were eventually defeated by the newly-acquired lightsaber skills of the young padawans and their surprisingly adept grasp of the Force. It was entirely adorable. 

We also met Baymax and Hiro!

After that, I was super-closer at work, so I stayed there until 1:10 am. FUN TIMES. It was pretty dang boring for most of the shift. The most exciting part was going on a hanger run (retrieving all the hangers from the hanger-stands around the building) with only one spare hanger rack o__o By far, my most boring rotation was greeter - standing at the entrance of the costuming building and saying "hi" to everybody who comes in, being generally helpful if they need it, and telling people, "Excuse me, that's an emergency exit only. Please exit through checkout at the end of the building :D *twitch twitch*" I saw 7 people in two hours. I counted. Although one guy did try and give me an impromptu juggling lesson, which was pretty cool.   

Friday:

I worked and was super sore from the day before. 

Saturday:

Still super sore, this is where I attempted the deep-tissue work. I didn't have a tennis ball though, so I rolled my muscles over one of my sunflower seed butter jars :P 

I was a little bit desperate to have my muscles work properly this day, because I had my first dance audition. Ever. Not just Disney dance audition - dance audition, period.

I auditioned for the Pixar Play Parade, and, though I got cut in the first round, it was definitely a good experience. We waited in line for FOREVER, but I did get to go in with the first group, which was nice. I met some pretty cool people in line too. That's one thing that I'm actually really liking about going to all these auditions. It's really interesting to hear people's stories and be silly and get your mind off how nervous you are before the audition. It's also encouraging when you can talk to each other about your other audition experiences, and see that it's totally okay if you go to a million of them before actually landing a job. 

Closer to the audition time, it was starting to get darker outside, and it got pretty cold (like, in the 60's cold, but still :P). So, my muscles were now stiff in addition to still being strained! Perfect for a dance audition! When we finally got in there, we launched right into learning an across-the-floor combination. I was a little lost at first, because I couldn't see the instructor that well and they were using terminology that I am not familiar with, having mostly studied ballet with just smatterings of jazz and contemporary here and there. I mostly got it down, but then I freaked out because the casting directors were literally right in front of me while we were learning it. Also, part of the combination involved a double pirouette on the left side - my less-good and injured side, of course. As soon as I felt like I barely almost had a grasp of the combination, it was time to go across the floor two by two for the casting directors. I panicked, and all my technique went out the window, and I probably had my concentrating face on rather than a smile. I got cut. But it was okay. Now I know what to expect and what I can do better to prepare for the next one! And, I really did have fun doing it. 

After that, I came home, ate dinner, changed clothes, then met Brittany, Marissa, and her friend Jess at the park to go to the Mad T Party. It's basically a cover band and a DJ dressed like Alice in Wonderland characters, but more in the Tim Burton style. Also, there's alcohol, and I got my first mai-tai...in a light-up martini glass!

Wooo! Shiny!

Squoosh roomie selfie! (With Ben's nose photobombing)

They're getting rid of this show soon, and it was actually that particular Alice's last night (as I was informed by our friend Ben who's a regular there). We jammed it up and danced around rather goofily for a bit. The band looked like they were having tons of fun, and they were really entertaining to watch. It was a good time, and pretty chill for my first club-esque experience. After that, we all meandered around the parks, got some free chocolate samples at the Ghiradelli store, watched the tail end of the fireworks from the esplanade, fought our way to Adventuerland like salmon swimming upstream through the massive Saturday night crowd, then rode the Jingle Cruise as a hilariously punny way to end the evening. 

And there you have it! Stay tuned for...*drumroll*...WEEK 14!!!!!   

Weeks 11 and 12 (Such a creative title...)

Hello again! No, I have not dropped off the face of the planet, I'm just very behind on updating this thing. Allow me to extend my apologies to those of you who have been waiting there at your screens with baited breath, no sleep, and a box of saltine crackers for the past two weeks in hopes that you may learn of my most recent exploits.

To the rest of you, allow me to extend a blog.

One thing of note that I neglected to mention last blog happened on that Saturday night when my roommates and I went to hang out in the park. We were there to see one of the very last showings of the fireworks show released for the 50th anniversary of the park's opening. Since next year is the 60th anniversary, and right now is the holiday season with a special holiday fireworks show, the 50th anniversary show was officially retired after it graced the skies over the Sleeping Beauty castle on November 2nd. It was really beautiful, and I'm so glad I was able to experience it before it went away for good. It began with a speech by Julie Andrews, commemorating Walt's accomplishment. The show consisted of a mini fireworks display themed by each land and featuring the music from the most iconic rides. My favorite part was Pirates of the Caribbean, with fireworks imitating cannon-fire. Also, after careful consideration and hours and hours of deliberation (not really) I'm mostly pretty-ish sure that Pirates is my favorite attraction. Anyway, Julie Andrews capped the show, but then turned it over to a recording of Walt's speech at the park opening and a fabulous flurry of fireworks (also, alliteration). Super magical time. Those fireworks will always give me feels.

The next day, Sunday, I would have completely forgotten about daylight savings time unless one of my roommates had reminded me. Still, despite the extra hour of sleep, I felt really out of it the entire day at work, and I don't really know why. That week in general was just kind of weird...

Monday, I did actually make it out to Burbank to go to a makeup rehearsal! And it was far. Terribly far. I allowed myself over 45 minutes more drive time than google maps told me the drive would be, and I was still about 45 minutes late to the rehearsal, because L.A. TRAFFIC. *twitch twitch* Not to mention I had to pee really badly about half the way there. However, in spite of the unpleasant drive, it was actually a pretty nice rehearsal. The gym we sang in sounded so much better than the closet of a rehearsal hall we rehearse in at the resort. There were also fewer people, so we could focus more on artistry and blending. Also, the drive back was really nice as there was very little traffic, and I made it back in less than half the time it took me to get there.

On Tuesday, Emily and I had a whim to go to the beach, but first, we were hungry. We had fantastic plans for making scrambled eggs, nitrite-free bacon, and gf pumpkin pancakes with pumpkin butter, and then driving out to watch the sunset on the beach. The food was amazing. But, about 5-10 minutes after we finished eating, we began to feel not-so-amazing. Now, stomach aches are pretty normal for us, so we decided to brush it off and start driving anyway and hopefully catch the sunset. But, as Emily drove and I curled up into a little ball in the seat next to her, we voiced to each other that we weren't feeling that great, and maybe the beach wasn't such a great idea. After driving around for a while to find a gas station (because Emily needed gas anyway), we went back to her house and curled up on the front lawn with some ginger tea and vented to one another about the various stresses in our lives and how that may possibly be why our stomachs were acting so evil for seemingly no good reason. It was actually pretty therapeutic, even if it didn't make our stomachs feel much better.

Wednesday, my stomach refused to let me eat anything without getting extremely angry, and I had to go to work with it behaving that way, which wasn't great.

Thursday, we had a scavenger hunt in the parks, which was very frantic, very confusing, and very fun. My stomach was doing okay-ish in the morning, but got worse in the afternoon/evening as I ate more stuff. But choir was really, really great that night, as we had a different conductor lead and fix everybody's vowels :D

Friday was my first fittings shift! It was pretty short - only about 4 1/2 hours. Basically, it consisted of receiving packages of people's orders of clothing and making sure everything was correct - the right number of shirts and pants, the right sizes, the right fabric, and the right inseam length. If there was anything wrong with the order, it would be bound in various corresponding colors of tape and put on the return pile. It wasn't terribly exciting, but it did make the time go by. We also got to fit some custodial trainees so that their costumes could be ordered, which was a little bit more interesting, as we were interacting with garments on actual people.

My stomach wasn't doing too badly that day, since all I had eaten was a rice cracker with some sunflower seed butter on it, a couple cheese sticks, and a bit of trail mix. Even then it was a bit cranky. But, after my shift was over, I got to go over to Emily's once again, and we drove to Fullerton to watch the faculty dance concert at her school! It was pretty awesome. I was extremely impressed with the choreography and the level of artistry that these students were able to portray. I've watched quite a few dance concerts, particularly from my days as a dance minor at UNM, but I'd never enjoyed one as much as this one. Maybe it's because UNM tried to be overly artsy and abstract or something and this one's subjects were easier to interpret, but in any case, I always feel like it's much more enjoyable to watch a performance, or anything really, with a good friend who's on the same page as you.

Saturday, my stomach felt particularly awful, and I had to work again. didn't eat lunch, and just packed rice with seaweed and ginger in hopes that it would not make my stomach angry. No such luck, unfortunately. But, even though I felt awful, I got to see Big Hero 6 with a couple of my coworkers after we got off our shift, and established some new friends. Oh! And I also, uh, set foot in a bar for the first time! We didn't get anything to drink though because by the time we actually got in there, we wouldn't have had enough time to get back to the theater in time for the movie. Oh well.

Sunday, I worked, and felt pretty darn awful once again, although this time I was extremely tired on top of everything else because I had been out really late the night before to go watch Big Hero 6. It was worth it, though. Very cute story and well-done movie, even if the emotional transformation of the main character was a bit contrived. It's a kid's movie, so I'll cut it some slack. Also, Baymax is adorable.

Monday, I had the delightful opportunity of going to Disneyland with an old friend from New Mexico! He was in town for an engineering conference, but he and a friend of his ditched the day's activities to come hang out with me instead :D It was a crazy fun time of catching up and showing them some favorite attractions, and going on others none of us had been on, including Radiator Springs Racers (Daaahhh!!! Incredible!!!), and Splash Mountain...in November...after dark...not one of our better ideas. But, right after Splash, I dashed home, snarfed down some frozen veggies (after not eating anything except my customary rice cake, because stomach, again) and went to ballet after a two-week absence. It went fairly well, but I definitely wasn't at my best, for obvious reasons.

Tuesday, stomach continued its evil rampage, though not quite as evil, but still not terribly accepting of foreign matter. But, I actually had a great time during the second half of my shift, because I got to be upstairs helping with fittings for the new Main Street costumes! They are adorable, look more period, and have happier colors (the skirt is my favorite! So beautiful and twirly!!!). I can't tell any more than that because they won't be released until mid-December. It's pretty exciting to have inside knowledge like this, though! Perks of working backstage!

Holy cow this is a long entry...bear with me :P

Wednesday was the day I had been looking forward to with apprehension and excitement - my vocal audition for Belle in Hong Kong Disneyland. The morning was spend trying to frantically curl my hair, then frantically print a really crappy head shot at CVS and wrestling with their computer system. Then, I drove out to North Hollywood to a slightly sketchy part of town where the little studio was located. I arrived with quite a bit of time to spare...about an hour and a half before sign-in was even supposed to start, and I was the fifth person in line. The other maybe fifty people didn't even really start showing up until about half an hour before time. But, at least I got it over with quickly and got to talk to some pretty cool people in line. It was all over within about 15 minutes after signing in. We all waited in one big room until they called the first group (myself included) to stand outside another room where we would go in one by one and sing our best 16-bar preparation. I wasn't really nervous until we were standing outside, but I got increasingly more nervous from that point on. By the time it was my turn to introduce my piece and sing, I was shaking. I got so nervous that I forgot to breathe or support, which are kind of important when you're singing, and I cracked on a note I never crack on, and after that, it was over. I saw the casting director look down and make a note, and I ceased being in character in the moment, and just freaked out more. I didn't drive the tempo as much as I needed to, so I needed to take an extra breath in the middle of a phrase. She looked down again. I hit my last note and I was running out of breath again, so I did my cool crescendo, but then it died to an unintended decrescendo, and it probably showed on my face that I was not happy with it. She said, "Thank you, that's all we need today," and I thanked her and left. I wouldn't have been quite so frustrated had I still not gotten the part, but had known I did the best I could do. But I didn't. I know I can do better than that, and that was the frustrating part. But hey, every failure is a learning experience, right? So, at least now I know what I can do better next time.

Wednesday evening was pretty nice, though. My engineer friend was still in town, and it was his birthday. The parks were closing early that night, but I got over there just in time to snag a spot with him right behind the Partners statue and watch the holiday fireworks. We definitely got the feels. I think it was really what I needed after that very long day.

Thursday was uneventful - we just talked about environmentality in class, I worked, and then went straight to choir.

Friday was also uneventful as my stomach was better, but still pretty cranky, and I ran some errands and read more books.

Saturday was another audition, this time a character look-alike for Fantasmic! - a nighttime show in Disneyland. I was feeling really pumped about this one, confident that I could at least maybe get a callback . I had been trying to get my shift covered for that day for the past couple weeks, but kept having issues with scheduling, so I ended up not being able to get it covered. But everybody was still encouraging me to go to this audition. So, I called out of work, something I have never done unless I literally could not move. Not super happy about that, but I hoped it'd be worth it. I arrived super early once again, but this time there were a LOT more people. I was number 105 in line this time. I had a great time in line with the people I met, and I was actually feeling way more pumped than nervous. But, again, I didn't make it past the first cattle-call where they line you up, evaluate your smile, and then pick maybe 2 people out of your line. By then, I was feeling pretty darn frustrated. I didn't even get a chance to show them what I can do, and I was rejected based on my looks. Of course, I have no idea which roles they were even casting for, and it may have been something as simple as being too tall or looking too mature. But I have no idea. And I got points on my record and didn't get paid because I called out of work - for that. But, there's nothing I can do about it, except keep going, and do the best that I can at the next audition. Life isn't fair, and that's especially true in the performing world. Auditions are weird and extremely subjective. That's why I have to learn to shrug it off and move on to the next one - a skill which I should probably learn to apply to more life in general - a skill which is much easier in theory than in practice.

That's all for now. You can finally go back to whatever you were doing before.

The Big One-O

We're officially into the double digits now! Wheeeee! So, without further ado, let's take an overview of this past week:

Monday, I was extremely lazy and prettymuch did nothing all day except work out in the morning and read books all day. Which, you know, I'm pretty okay with.

That evening, I was supposed to go to a make-up rehearsal for the Candlelight Choir because I had apparently missed one and they're extreme sticklers for attendance. This rehearsal was supposed to be at a place called "Salem Lutheran Church," the regular rehearsal location for the choir members from the Burbank studios. As there was no address given in the emails I had received so far, I did a search in google maps, and sure enough, a Salem Lutheran Church not too far from my area popped up. I had no idea where Burbank was in relation to Anaheim, so I just assumed that this was the correct Salem Lutheran to go to. However, my suspicions should have been raised when I once again looked up "Salem Lutheran Church" in my gps in my car on the way there, and the only one it could find was one in the opposite direction to the one I was driving to. I ignored it and drove to the one I had originally found. I arrived at the church and found only about 2 cars in the parking lot. I proceeded to the gym where the rehearsal was supposed to take place, and only two very confused basketball players were there to greet me.

It was around the time the rehearsal was supposed to start, but I got back in my car and looked for the other Salem Lutheran my gps had come up with, decided it wasn't too far, I could be ~20 minutes late, and it would be okay. So, I drove across several freeways in the dark, blindly following the orders of my gps, until FINALLY, almost ~45 minutes after rehearsal was supposed to start, I reached yet another empty parking lot of another incorrect Salem Lutheran Church. By this time, I was tired and frustrated and decided to just go home and eat a bowl of cereal, and next time, actually look up where Burbank is and search that area for Salem Lutheran Church. So, hopefully, my foray out there tonight will not be for naught -_-

Tuesday went much better. Our assignment for class the week before was to go into Disneyland, read up on the history of Main Street, spend some time on Main Street experiencing attractions and general ambiance, and write about the experience to turn in on Thursday. So, one of my roommates and I went into the park and just hung out on Main Street for a few hours. We rode the little turn-of-the-century double-decker omnibus (on the top, of course), watched some original Mickey cartoons in the cinema, rode the Disneyland railroad round-trip, visited the Disneyland gallery with really awesome artwork including concept art of attractions re-imagined as Steam Punk, experienced "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln," which was actually a lot cooler than it sounds because their Lincoln in there is the most advanced animatronic ever created, plus I just really like Civil War history and it was really interesting to see the ways that Lincoln had influenced Walt's life. We finally topped it all off by getting ice cream in the cute little old-fashioned ice cream parlor and people-watching from a park bench. It was quite a lovely way to spend the day.

There was a very neat little door on Main St...hopefully there shall be more casting in the near future...

That evening, we all dressed up in Halloween costumes to attend the Alice-in-Wonderland-themed mid-program dance. It was pretty fun at first - we got to play croquet with flamingos (I was a little disappointed there weren't hedgehogs though :P ), and a card-themed beanbag toss, and there was a photo booth to take silly pictures with your friends. The lemonade was pretty tasty, and there was a giant buffet table filled with stuff I can't eat (except a few slightly squishy strawberries and grapes), and silly classic dance songs (macarena, get funky, electric slide, etc.) on the checkered dance floor. However, as the night wore on, my shoes as well as the dance music became increasingly uncomfortable, so as soon as the raffle tickets were called, (none of which were ours,) My roomies and I decided we'd be curmudgeonly and go back to our apartment.

Minnie Mouse, Raphael (Ninja Turtle), Pocahontas, 20's Flapper, and Alice...IN WONDERLAND!!!

Such roommate. So party. Many dance. Wow.

I worked and then filled out my homework on Wednesday. That's about all that happened that day.

Thursday, however, was pretty neat! We got to have the 2 current Disneyland Ambassadors come and share their stories, while the next 2 Ambassadors looked on. They gave us an overview of how the ambassador program came about, what their roles are, what it takes to be a leader in the Disney company, and their personal journeys. They're basically the face of the Disneyland Resort as a whole, and the ambassadorship is one of the most competitive positions to get into. But they were both so down-to-earth and genuinely passionate about what they do, and it was so refreshing to see that when they have such important roles in the company. At the end, they got really emotional because they realized that this was the last college program talk they would be giving because the next ambassadors would be taking over the following semester. They loved sharing their stories with college students that much, even though a good deal of their job involved meeting with top executives.

The rest of the class was focused on deciding what's next for all of us after the program. We split up into groups, depending on whether we want to stay on afterward or if we're going back to regular life. It's crazy that we're already starting to plan for January! It felt really exciting to go to the group of people staying on, but it also made me a little sad to see some of the friends I've made here go into the other group. We still have two months to go, but January will be here before we know it.

Halloween itself was not terribly exciting. I worked, then came home and watched Silence of the Lambs because I'd never seen it before and I figured Halloween was a good opportunity. Dude...Anthony Hopkins...O___O Anyway, after that, my stomach felt inexplicably horrible and was cranky all the next day. I have no idea what its problem is. Stupid stomach.

On Saturday, I got some errands done, and then got to skype with my dizzy reject sloth buddy who's going to school out in the woods in New York! We had a really good long talk, and she listened to my rants and excuses of why I haven't been going to church or doing bible study, and she gently but firmly reminded me of the vital importance getting back into study and fellowship. She directed me to Ephesians 1 &2 that had really encouraged her this past summer, and it turned out to be what I needed to be reminded of too. It spoke of God's grace and purpose for the world that he wants to bring about through us. Then, I started re-watching the bible study that my mom and I had been doing this past summer on the Jewish feast days and how all the symbolism lines up perfectly with Jesus life and ministry. I still haven't found a church, but I can't let that discourage me and stop me from looking, and it definitely should not stop me from continuing to grow in my personal walk. Even though I'm on my own now in another state, it doesn't mean that I'm not still a part of a much bigger plan.