ONE. YEAR.

Well, it happened. Today officially marks one year since my hire date when I showed up in my fancy schmancy business casual and filed into an auditorium behind Toontown to learn all about what it means to be a Disneyland Cast Member. Which, incidentally, doesn't even begin to cover it.

My first time in Disneyland since I was 7, sharing it with two girls who I had no idea at the time just how important they would be in my life :)

My dorky self in my first pair of ears at Traditions!

Team Awesome going to build a playground!

Team Awesome graduating from the College Program *sniffle*

Team Also-Awesome-But-Different-Than-Team-Awesome-Because-Costuming

Pluto being super cute with my friend, Alex.

Quality time with some Incredible folks!

My favorite bug <3

My favorite kid <3

So much has changed in a year - my role, my apartment, my roommates (half of them at least), and ok, yeah, myself. I don't continually geek out about absolutely everything onstage and backstage, because I feel like I have a pretty good handle on things now. I don't get lost nearly as often (although it does still happen more than I'd like to admit). I don't freak out about the awesome plants as much as I did when I first got here. Things that I thought were the coolest thing ever when I first got here have now been reduced to second-nature and fallen into the ordinary. But, I notice so many more details and so many more little everyday things that make up the entire experience. Every time I go into the park I notice some tiny detail somewhere and go, "Huh. Someone took the time to think of this tiny thing, and it's really cool." 

So I guess there's that question - since I've seen behind the curtain, has it ruined the magic? I guess that in certain ways it has. I can get very frustrated with guests, I have bad days where I'm exhausted and feel terrible and the last thing I want to do is go to work in the blazing California hotness. Sometimes I don't get the hours I need and it's really stressful, and I wonder why I'm doing this crazy thing at all. But then I'll have those guests who I get to make a magical moment for. Sometimes it's something as small as getting an extra long hug from their favorite character, or just feeling the freedom to let loose and be silly, or sometimes it's watching the look on their face as they realize that it doesn't matter what kind of challenges they came in with because everyone can feel special at Disneyland. Magical moments are great because when you make one happen for a guest, they turn around and make that moment magical for you. I know it sounds incredibly cheesy, but I hope I never lose that feeling. 

And don't even get me started on the fireworks - those make me cry every freaking time, I think because I'm a cast member, because I work so hard every day to make that magic for people, and because I now have a history with Disney. 

In short, I think that the more you give Disney, the more it gives back to you. So Disney, thanks for a phenomenal year, and here's to hopefully many more to come!

A Continuation

Well hello there! Long time no see! My apologies - things have been a little crazy over here.

Before we go on, there are going to be some changes to the way I do this blog. As you know, the college program is over, but my journey at Disney could not be farther from over. However, due to the nature of my new position in the company, I can't really talk about the specifics of my job. So, this blog will now be devoted mostly to my non-work-related adventures out here in California.

Naturally, you're probably wondering what I've been up to the past couple months!

A few weeks ago, my roommate Marissa decided to take me on a coastal adventure around the San Pedro area where she used to live. Our first stop was the unbelievably picturesque Terranea resort. I'm the tiny figure on the left, headed to go climb some epic-looking rocks and investigate a flock of cormorants - like I do.

Seriously, this place was ridiculously gorgeous.

Did I say that beach was ridiculously gorgeous? I forgot to mention the chapel Marissa's sister got married in. Wayfarer's Chapel *__* Yes, that entire ceiling is glass.

After a tasty lunch (despite the power being out), we headed to Redondo Pier. Also gorgeous.

The desert rat, entranced by the sea. Excuse the abysmal posture...

So! Story time! This fellow came to be known as Barnaby. Marissa had to make a phone call for work, so I was left to my own devices for about 45 minutes. I started by hanging around Marissa and just enjoying the general ambiance of the pier, listening to the waves crash, watching seagulls and pelicans. Then, I heard a loud bark. I looked at Marissa and she shooed me off with a laugh to go find it. And there he was - Barnaby - just chilling under the boardwalk, waiting for fishermen to make a wrong move while reeling in their catch. And I just stood there and watched him for the entire 45 minutes Marissa was on the phone because I'm from the desert and I have a problem...

Sorry to say, that's about all the exciting adventuring I've done here in a while. A lot of my free time is spent in my apartment doing nothing particularly exciting, I'm afraid. 

However, I have been involved in this pretty neato thing at Disneyland called Flashback, which has been keeping me VERY busy! Basically, there are four teams from various areas around the resort that get together and put on a mini 20-minute musical to raise money for charity. I'm on the blue team. We rehearse Monday through Thursday evenings. Sometimes there are theme nights for rehearsals where you get to dress up a little bit (as long as you can still dance) and those are a lot of fun. 

One of the theme nights was Holiday night, and I had nothing to wear, so I did some Dia de los Muertos makeup, which actually turned out pretty rad if I do say so. *eyebrow waggle*

Headshot! Whee! Go Blue!

I think getting involved in Flashback has been good for me. The dancing is more hip-hop oriented, which definitely gets me out of my comfort zone! But, I do feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it a little bit, and maybe look less drowning-spider-monkey-esque than I usually do when trying to dance "cool." I had also been starting to feel pretty lonely and out-of-place since the college program ended and I transferred departments. I didn't really feel like I belonged anywhere and I was sort of in this weird limbo. But the blue team really adopted me, and although I'm not doing much in the show, aside from the big group numbers and a couple walk-ons, it's nice to feel like I'm part of something bigger and that I'm needed. I've also met some pretty great friends along the way :) 

That's all for now, but hopefully there shall be more news of more adventures soon. Be excellent to each other!

The End? Weeks 18, 19, and 20...

Oh wow, it has been SUPER DOOP long since I've posted on here...oops...

Let's see, where did I leave off? OH YEAH. THE END OF THE COLLEGE PROGRAM. I guess I just haven't really been emotionally prepared to talk about it yet or something.

So, I guess the last place I kinda left off was around Christmas. On Christmas Eve-Eve, all five of us roommates were miraculously home at the same time, so we exchanged our gifts then. It was such a perfectly lovely evening, and it was great to see everyone's personalities come out in their gift-giving. We did a secret Santa thing, but none of it was actually a secret by the end :P It was funny too because the way we ended up sitting, everyone just passed their gift one space to the right and it was a perfect circle!

I ended up working Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Eve was nice though, since I got off around 8:30 and I had glorious green chile stew cooking in the crock pot all day. That was one tradition I was not going to let die! I also watched Beatrix Potter's "The Tailor of Gloucester" with my roommate - another tradition of mine :) Then, I called my parents and opened one of the packages they sent me, filled with workout shirts and chocolate. They know me well :D

Christmas Day, I got up at 4:30 IN THE FREAKING MORNING because I had to work at 6. It was nice getting off at 2pm and still having an 8-hour shift, but...morning... o___O *twitch* It was nice though. We had a potluck, and everybody in costuming was super happy and just did their best to make everyone feel the joy of the day. We got to spend time with our costuming family that day :) After that, I drove out to Yorba Linda and had a completely incredible dinner with some extended family! It was so lovely to see them all again - some of them I hadn't seen since I was 6 I think! But, after a little while, it was pretty apparent by our craziness that we're definitely family!



Christmas was day 2 of 9 straight days of working 8-hour shifts, and three days following Christmas were also crazy stupid early. Not quite as early, two 7am and one 8am, but still crazy stupid early for me. Luckily, after that were mostly noon-ish shifts, which I can totally handle. But I was pretty dead after those mornings.

In the middle of this craziness was New Year's Eve. I worked again, but got off early enough to go home and blog about the year and go up and hang with my roommate and her Photopass buds and watch the Disneyland fireworks from the window!

New Year's Day itself was rather unspectacular as I worked and did very little else that day. But hey, I was pensive and stuff. Whatever.

After that, I had survived my 9-day working spree and it was now time to PANIC AND PACK LIKE A MADWOMAN!!!!!!!!!! Because we had to be out of there by the very early (7:30. My fault.) morning of January 5th so they would have enough time to prep for the next round of CPs coming in the following week. WEIRD.

The sunrise on our last morning

So basically, I packed like a beast and obtained a super comfortable bed and moved it all into my apartment in 3 days! BAM!

Virtual tour time! Woo!

The living room!

My little corner of the world :)

My somewhat messy book shelf...

The dining room! Complete with bird tablecloth!

FISHIES!!!! Pudge (orange/white, belongs to Marissa) and Priscilla (all gold, MINE)

More living room plus artwork

However, on Sunday the 4th, I still had time to go do another audition...

And it went well...

Exceptionally well...

And I don't know how much I'm allowed to post on social media, but...uh...

Starting in February, I'm gonna be "friends with"...



So that's a thing.

Yeah. Lots of newness happening over here right now. New Year, new apartment, new roommate, new job - it's been a lot to process. It's all good things, but it's still an adjustment. The college program is over. Lots of the friends I made went home. I still haven't gone home and am not sure when I'm going to. When we first moved into our new place, all my roommates decided to go home for a few days, so there were a couple days where it was just me in a completely new place, (with no internet yet), completely alone. But it's changed now. They're all back and I've gone back to work and things have started going back to a normal rhythm again. It's different, but it's good. And things are happening for me. They're actually, really, truly happening. I'm out here and I'm chasing my dreams and discovering where my life is going to go! I guess part of me is almost scared to realize that because I don't want to jinx it, or I don't want to wake up and have it all vanish. But it's not going to. I'm here.

I guess I could say that one thing the college program really taught me is that you shouldn't take anything for granted, because it'll be gone before you know it. Take advantage of the time you have with people. Go out. See things. Do things. Because the opportunity won't always be there. Don't spend all your time by yourself because you're afraid of getting too attached. Say yes to things that scare you. Break out of your comfort zone. Make mistakes and move on from them. Never, ever be afraid to be completely and unapologetically yourself, because you never know who might need you to be just that. And, of course, cheesy as it is, keep the magic alive, always.

Weeks...15, 16, AND 17

Soooooooo yeah...I'm just a little behind on blogging...Rather than a blow-by-blow, this blog will be mostly a pictorial highlight reel. You guys really don't care what I had for lunch three Thursdays ago anyway, right? Of course right.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOkay then!

CP Castle Picture in costume!!! Woo!!! I'm in the back and you can't really see me...woo...

The two. The proud. The Cast Costuming CPs.

And this happened. I got to wear the lovely green choir robe and sing a ton of high A's and B's as well as the Hallelujah chorus with a full orchestra and celebrity narrator (Beau Bridges...yeah, I don't know either :P) on Main St. USA with an awful cough. And I did it. And it was amazing. I've gotten to perform in some really, really awesome places, and this one gave me the chills and the tears just like the others. It's moments like these where I just go, "Wow. This is actually my life. I am doing this right now. Wow. I have a really crazy amazing life." And somehow, it makes all the difficulties and stresses that I've been going through just disappear for a little while and make me incredibly thankful that I'm alive.

In other news, before I get all sappy, this is what I see when I come into work every day. The mannequin's name is Seth, btw. Right now he's being "Safety Santa" though.

We had a special little holiday cast thingy where we got to go into Lincoln Theatre, eat cookies (well, other people did :P), watch old Disney cartoons, and hang out with Goofy! This is me and my lead, Nikki :)

Other other stuff! We had our End-of-Program Celebration!

Me with the Disneyland Ambassadors and Vice President!!!!

Me and my buddy Goofy celebrating graduating from the program with jazz hands!

Me and my ladies ^_^

Our table!

The bosses!

Gettin' our groove on.

Giant group hug/sing-along to Don't Stop Believin'. Of course.

Other notable things that were not immortalized via photograph included another character look-alike audition which ended the same as the others - being booted in the first round. But, whatever. There are always more. Plus, I got to hang out with some very, very lovely people at that audition :)

I've also been able to see a few New Mexico friends, either ones who were in town visiting or who used to live in New Mexico and now live here. It has been wonderful to see them and make references to New Mexican things and not receive a blank stare! :P

Work is going well, and I think I've decided to transfer over to Entertainment Costuming if I don't land any upcoming auditions. I just want to get as close to Entertainment as I can get! People say the costuming over there is crazy and hectic, but honestly, I feel like I would probably prefer that to what I'm doing now. Not that I don't like where I am now, it's just...there's a lot of standing around, and I like to be doing things and feeling productive and useful. There are plenty of times in my current position where I feel useful, but still, something a little more fast-paced would be nice.

Also, today, we signed the last of the leasing paperwork and start moving into our new apartment on Tuesday!!! :O

It's so crazy to think that this program is almost over. We have 2 weeks left. 2 weeks. Part of me feels like I just got here. But then, I look back at everything we've done, everything I've accomplished personally, how confident I am now at the Guest Service counter at work, and all the ways I've changed and grown over the past 4 months, and I realize this truly has been an adventure. I'm not ready for all of it to end just yet. It feels like I just started getting to know people, and now I have to say goodbye to a lot of them, including two of my roommates. We've been through so much together that it just feels weird that they're not staying on with the rest of us. But, just as I'm not ready to let go yet, it's not quite time to let go. We still have two weeks. We still have Christmas and New Year's. And I absolutely want to make the most out of this time we have left.

Now, go forth and be excellent to each other!

Week 14

Sick again! Time to blog :P

What happened last week anyway?....

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Sorry, I'm having fun with dots. That's about my mental state right now.

So, Monday we had our Regional Rehearsal for Candlelight Choir, which means, IT'S ALMOST TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And you will get updates about the performance on my next post :D So, anyway, this was the rehearsal where we finally got to practice with our actual conductor, and a few of the outside non-Disney choirs we'll be singing with. It's a mix of high school and college choirs, one of which happens to be one of my roommates' school! Fun! Also, our director is kind of awesome. She's this stout little soft-spoken mezzo (she had a mic on), but she's hilarious while totally getting down to business and making our choir sound fabulous. She really has a talent for translating abstract vocal technique and tone into visual cues that instantly make a huge difference in the sound quality of the choir as a whole. She also had us really start thinking about the lyrics we're singing and have that come across in our voices - WHAT A CONCEPT!!! :O But, yeah, it really did make a difference, and we're going to sound amazing if all that work we did last rehearsal sticks!

Tuesday...nothing exciting happened that I can recall...I went grocery shopping...

Wednesday was apartment hunt day! I think we prettymuch knew the one we were going to settle on when we first got to the first place we visited. The other places were visted just to confirm that first place basically. And we've decided on the place we're going to live next year! And it's gorgeous and I'm soooooo excited to move in ^_^ We put down our security deposit tomorrow!!! Ahhh!!! I feel so adult!!! It's a really nice neighborhood, it feels safe, there's lots of storage space, there's a pool, a gym, and grills, and GUYS I'M GETTING AN APARTMENT WHAT IS HAPPENING I'M NOT OLD ENOUGH FOR THIS HOW DO YOU ADULT AM I SERIOUSLY 23 YEARS OLD ARE YOU SURE AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Anywho, moving on!

After that, to process things, I went to Emily's and we had pizza WITH GREEN CHILE THAT I FOUND AT SPROUTS on it. We were both very excited. So excited that we kind of forgot that the door on Emily's oven is broken. So, we cooked the top of the pizza via the broiler, and the bottom of the crust of the stove. Hooray for ingenuity! Then, we defied adulthood by watching Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse. So there.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and I worked from 1:30-10. Wheeeeee. As you can imagine, it was weird. Not only was it my first Thanksgiving away from home/my family, I didn't even get to go have Thanksgiving dinner with my extended family or my roommate's family because I was working. I still got to have the quintessential foods - turkey, mashed potatoes, and gluten-free stuffing that I made at the potluck we had at work. It was really nice of them to have that for those of us who had to work that day. It still felt rather lonely though, of course. But, you know, it made me realize that I am extremely thankful that I'm out here doing this thing. I have a job at Disneyland. I can go to DISNEYLAND whenever I want. Plus, I have a super awesome family back home that completely supports my crazy ambitions to remain at Disneyland. Plus, they sent me pictures so I'd feel included, and they totally brightened my Thanksgiving :)

It wouldn't be complete without a shot of the kids' table!

And I sent them this...

Friday was LOOOOOOONG, but awesome, because SAMANTHAAAAA WAS HEEEERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

(aaaaand this is where the picture would go if it were ready to upload. Sadly, it is not, so you'll have to use your imagination :P )

I didn't get to spend the entire day with them, sadly, but I was able to get them into the park, which I am very very happy about :) We got there shortly after opening, so we were able to sneak onto a few awesome rides (Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Winnie the Pooh, Storybook Land, and Pixie Hollow) before the lines got absolutely horrendous! Then, I went backstage and worked for 8 hours while they all played in the park, and I joined up with them in time to watch the fireworks. Not gonna lie, it still gave me chills. You know, there's nothing quite like going to Disneyland with a little kid who's never been there before. EVERYTHING is super magical. They totally play along with you when you tell them you're shrinking down to pixie size, or you're about to go back in time and fight pirates. Also, having a 6-year-old hold your hand as you lead them through Disneyland and getting to watch their eyes light up when they meet their favorite characters, "But only if you go with me and talk to them first!!" has a very distinct kind of magic to it.

Afterward, we were tired and hungry, so we ate a quintessentially Californian meal of In-N-Out, and Samantha bestowed me with the most awesome thank-you gift of roasted green chile, Picasso's Soiree tea from the Tearoom, and a mug in the shape of the TARDIS!

Saturday, work happened. Although, part of this day involved getting paid to crumple green paper and stick bits of it to cardboard to make a Christmas tree for our door display! Sometimes, I really, really love you, Disney.

Sunday, work happened. And rain also happened. When rain happens, everyone who works outside (i.e. the majority of people who work at Disneyland) make a mad dash for the second floor of costuming where the coats and rain gear are kept. And I got to be on the guest service counter up there. All I can say is, O______O  and thank goodness rotations only last about 2 hours each. And during one of my least favorite rotations (bins...be thankful blogs don't come with smell-o-vision...) I got to go to a cast expo on the new changes coming to Fantasmic! Basically, we found out how the new fast passes and dining/viewing packages are going to work, were familiarized with new guest control routes, and sampled corn chowder and chocolate...or, just chocolate in my case :P

 

We also got to take this awesome photo. And we got paid to do this. Once again, I love you, Disney.

That's all for now! Keep being splendid! 

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!!!!!