The King (Queen?) Has Returned!

Ok, it's been awhile since I last updated... Honestly, I just haven't really had the time.

It's Inspection Time again and this time it's working a little bit differently. Remember last time I told you all about how we split up the duties fairly evenly and were able to get the white glove award? Yeah, it's not so cohesive this time.

It's not like they tell us more than a month ahead of time when our inspections are... this time our inspection happened to fall when one of the roommates was out of town and another has family in town. We also have a roommate who does absolutely nothing to contribute to the well-being of the apartment, so that left three of us to do a job meant for 6 people. Oh boy.

That being said, it's been an interesting time before inspections. With inspections tomorrow, my room is spotless, as is the living room and the kitchen. After that, it's beyond my control. I'm guessing we'll only pass, no white glove, but that's just me. Honestly, after all this cleaning, I'm really indifferent and just glad to have a clean apartment again.

Now, about work. Well, work is work. It's still happy always being at the happiest place on earth, but things are starting to fall more into a pattern. We've started doing the wonderful Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, and I absolutely love working the event. When I'm in upper I'm usually stocking, but it's still fun to see everyone's costumes and tell them Happy Halloween. When I'm in lower we play different games and pass out candy. There's this one great game we played that involved bending down a lot, and halfway through the night I realized I had pulled something in my upper leg... throughout the next few days it got stiffer until one day I couldn't sit without being in excruciating pain. Luckily, that was the worst day, and it got better after that.

We also had our 40th Anniversary on October 1st, and the park was PACKED. Seriously, there were lines everywhere, especially for merchandise. 'Tis the season for Pin Hunters... some people come and spend HUNDREDS, sometimes THOUSANDS of dollars on PINS. It's the limited editions (Halloween, Christmas, 40th Anniversary) and they're going like hot-cakes!

Did you know that at Disney, Christmas starts a week after Thanksgiving? Yup, my holidays are officially out of whack. Everyone keeps telling me Halloween hasn't happened yet and I just don't believe them.

We are officially in my favorite time of year. My birthday was this past Thursday (ewww, I'm old/23) and that signals the start of the rest of the year. There's Halloween and cool weather and Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping and then Christmastime! Seriously I LOVE this time of year.

I had to resist the urge to play my Glee Christmas Album this week. I WILL wait until at least Thanksgiving. I WILL wait. As for watching Love Actually, I hardly doubt I can hold off watching that... maybe I'll watch it this week. Probably... it's hard to watch it and not get in the Christmas mood though. Thoughts? Honestly, just watching Alan Rickman, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant is enough to make me happy =D

Oh! That reminds me, although I'm not sure why, this is also the season of the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival. I've been once already and it's quite good, but extremely filling. If there's one suggestion I can make this year it's to try the Apple Strudel. Not because I tried it, but because you'll regret it forever if you don't try it. Seriously, it will follow you everywhere.

I'm going again on Wednesday with my sister. And this time I'm gonna get the Apple Strudel.

Well, sleep calls. Here's to hoping the best for the rest of the year and this awesome season =D Who knows what might happen I guess =D

Til then, keep having faith in dreaming... one day your wish will come true (with hard work and perseverance, of course)

<3

We Are All Part of the Circle of Life

Whew. It's been awhile since I last updated this. I really should be sleeping now, since, guess what? I have another HOH shift tomorrow. I've actually started liking them, Lord help me, although I wish they weren't quite so early.

I apologize to the many of you who follow me for Disney-ness. This is not, so much, a Disney related post. In a few days, when I have enough time to sit down and really think about the past month, I'll give a nice long update about the happenings at Disney. Indeed, there are quite a few great stories that I cannot wait to share.

Today's blog, however, is more of a personal one. I've been feeling down, as you could tell from my previous posts. The big question now is "What next?". This question, sadly, relates to all aspects of my life. What next? Do I stay with Disney and work from within or do I try to find a different job? What next? Will I ever settle down with anyone? What next? Is Orlando really the place for me? What next? What will I do when so many friends leave at the end of the year? Indeed, what next? The possibilities have kept me up countless nights.

This is completely off-topic, but as this is my blog, I get to make the rules. I've been thinking a lot recently about an event that happened last January, an event I know has helped me grow up and know the person I strive to become. It was the middle of January... we had only had one Chapter meeting for my coed community service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, and I hadn't yet gotten a chance to talk with everyone after Christmas vacation. It was MLK day and we were going to have our second Chapter later in the day. I had a missed call from my grandlittle, so I called her back. That's when I heard:

"Rory, Shayna's dead."

The idea didn't compute in my brain. Shayna was in my family in the fraternity. We pledged the same semester. She was just then starting to become a good friend, she even had me for Secret Santa that year. No, indeed, the idea was completely implausible. But as head of our family, it was my duty to call everyone and let them know the awful truth. And with each call it became more and more real. And more and more painful.

That night, that week went by in a blur. Her funeral was at the end of the week, and my little and I drove down to Tampa for it. It was there that Shayna truly made an impression on me. Listening to her family talk about her life, about what decisions she made, about how she chose to treat others, about the kind of person she was... it hit me hard. That night I wrote my first letter. The idea of writing letters was always important to me. Growing up with Jane Austen stories in place of lullabies stressed the importance and significance of a well-written letter. I wrote a letter to Shayna. I told her how sorry I was that I never got to know her better. I promised her that I was going to take up her cause, that I would strive to live to forgive everyone, even those who hurt me and to never judge anyone, because who are we to judge someone who's shoes we've never walked in? I told her I missed her.

I wrote her a letter twice a month for the rest of the semester. I left them on my window-sill, because I thought she'd have a better chance of seeing them from heaven. Eventually, as graduation neared, as schedules got busy, I stopped writing them. But she always shows up on the side of my facebook. She's always there, somehow to remind me of what I need to do to be happy. That if I follow her example, if I hold no grudges and strive to understand instead of judge, that happiness would follow.

And here I am in the happiest place in the world. I've been thinking a lot about Shayna recently. I know she's happy, wherever she is. I know she'd also probably tell me, if asked, that eventually good things will happen, and until then just smile and help others. We'd probably then start discussing the latest episode of Grey's Anatomy, or talk about how awesome the last Harry Potter movie was.

If you're still reading this, thanks for letting me take you through my mind tonight. I know it's not about Disney, but it does give you a little backstory into why I think the way I do, and why I act the way I do. I promise, soon I'll update you on all the happenings in life. Until then, peace love and Mickey <3

Have Faith in Your Dreams and Someday Your Rainbow Will Come Smiling Through

I'm going to be honest: I'm having a hard time being positive these days. I'm trying not to lose all hope of finding a decent career. Sometimes I feel like I have no support at all. I've tried to talk to my managers, but there are just so many of us. It's hard to be a shining star when we're all so bright.

It's ok when I'm at work. When I stock I literally put everything I have into making sure my stores look perfect. It's hard work, it's sometimes difficult work, but I do it all with a smile. No one likes stocking, but it has to be done. When I'm on registers I relish every moment, because how often do I get to be on registers? I honestly love my job.

But it's over in January. Internships are posted, it's time to apply, and I'm just stuck on that one-note, one-point not even a month away from being gone in time. I feel so lost. I don't know what I'm supposed to do, what I can do. I feel like I've let myself down, my family down, and everyone I know. I wish I could photograph their faces as I tell them I work merch for Disney, that way I have evidence.

Some Natural Magic

I got some bad news since my last post. I'm a bit unwilling to go into the details, but it basically leads to the impossibility of me getting an internship for the Spring. Which leads me to beg the question:

What am I doing here?

If you were to ask me what I'm best at, I'd tell you in an instant that the thing I know most about, the thing I know best is Walt Disney World. If you asked me about the thing I cared most about I'd tell you it's happiness: my own, that of others... that's why I'm in this field after all. Happiness is so important, so essential that I do my best to find the happiness in every situation. But the more and more I think about it, the more and more unhappy I become. The more and more I think about where I am right now, in comparison to so many others, to friends and cohorts, the more dissatisfied I am.

So where do I find happiness in such a situation, when the happiest place on earth is not so happy? I go back to simplicity... my first thought is a movie, where I can escape into happy endings... well, the few I've seen in the past few days all had depressing endings... fail 1.

So then I turn to music, which for the most part makes me happy, but sometimes just reinforces the sadness...

So then I turn to nature--to the calm of a Florida summer night, to the occasional brief gust of wind, to the low rumble of thunder. Sometimes it's exactly what I need.

So where do you find your center of peace?

High-Ho, High-HOH, to Registers I Go!

So, in some movies or TV shows there's the idea that if you want to escape Death someone else must take your place. Well, apparently HOH works the same way.

This past week one of the seasonal CMs started getting HOH shifts... and then on Sunday when we got our schedules, she got the HOH shifts I usually get, and I didn't get any.

It was bittersweet, because of course I'm thrilled I don't have any, but at the same time I'm sad for her because I know that feeling of, "Oh, great, now I'm stuck with these." I really wish they would just rotate people through the shifts, that way no one gets stuck with a whole week of them. I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen though.

Anyways, so I have 2 more HOH shifts and then I'm back to registers for the time being =D It's late hours, but I'll be happy to be around people again!

Quick personal note, I love having my friends here from all sides of life: CP friends, college friends, high school friends, church friends, family. I'm really really lucky to have such a great support team. So thanks to all of you who read this, and thanks to those I don't know who continue to give me support <3

A Bruise by Any Other Name.... Would Still Be a Bruise

One of the simple joys in life is seeing a movie by yourself at a small movie theater in the morning. It's usually empty, so for the most part you have a HUGE screen to yourself, and you only pay about $5 for it!

You know how movie theaters have those railings on the side, and sometimes it's dark and you can't really see? Yeah, that's what happened to me on one lovely Monday morning when I decided to see a movie on my own. I ran into the railing. I'm not sure how, but basically I slammed my arm into the railing with such force that it left a bruise.... a bad bruise... and then the second day I had the bruise I rammed it into something else... so the bruise spread.... now it looks more like someone grabbed me by the arm forcefully. I can't tell you how many people have mentioned it looks like I have an abusive boyfriend. Freaky, right?

Anyways, back to Disney topics... I was back on registers these past 2 days and I miss them so much! Today I got to sing Happy Birthday and make sticker crowns and smile til I was blue in the face! I've gotten to work with some of my favorite people too!

I miss registers =(

Back to HOH tomorrow!

Finally Back at Regis-wait... you need me to be a stocker tonight?!?!

Today was my first day scheduled back as a normal register shift... and three hours before my shift was supposed to start I get a text from one of my roommates: Deployment just called, they need you to come in as stock tonight.

Seriously?

Seriously?

It's like someone up there is pointing down and laughing at me each time. Yes, Rory, we'll give you a little hope at something normal, but WAIT, come back and do this instead.

I mean, it was fine. Seriously. I've started taking pride in my stocking skills these days... and at least it was a non-HOH, non-morning shift and I got to work with and see some of my favorites. This is one of the hard parts of always getting HOH shifts: I never see any of my friends at work anymore ='(

I've decided if things don't change I'm going to start picking up shifts and having more 14-hour days. Register shifts are seriously *that* important to me. I wish I could make someone higher up see that, so I'll just have to prove to them that I'm a hard worker.

*Basic Story of the Day*

On my way toward my one and only break today I passed a family talking with the CM outside Splash Mtn. The CM was trying to suggest they go in the Splash store, but I stopped to let them know it was down. The guest really needed flip flops (her shoes broke!), and the only open place we sold them was Trading Post (a 5-10 min trip back and forth). So I offered to go grab the shoes and bring them back. As a result, my break was delayed about 30 minutes, but it was totally worth it, and it really made the guest happy. My closing manager was also impressed, so that's good =D