Bucket List re-visited

So, when I first started preparing to move to Florida, I had come up with a bucket list of things I wanted to do before I left. At that point, that meant I wanted to accomplish these things between August 10 (when I moved in) and January 6 (when my program ended). Of course, I then stayed here so I've had more time. But I wanted to re-visit that bucket list to see what I've accomplished and what I haven't. So, hear goes...

1. Visit all four parks, two water parks, and Downtown Disney
• I was definitely able to accomplish this, no contest. I've been to all of these places more times than I can count.
2. Go to all four parks in one day
• This actually took me a while to accomplish, but I can check it off my list. I did not get around to it until the end of my college program. It was a day right before I headed home for a visit at the very beginning of 2012. I had some errands to run in all four parks, so I decided to do them in one day. I've done all four parks a couple times since.
3. See/Ride every attraction available.
• Well... I almost accomplished this one. I can still think of a few things that I have not done. Flights of Wonder at Animal Kingdom and Disney Jr. Live On Stage at Hollywood Studios are the two that come to mind. There may be more. I've done all the rides, it's the shows and other attractions that I have not done.
4. Work at least once in all four parks.
• Bahaha, not even close. My college program was in Hollywood Studios. My professional internship was outside of the parks (although we did hold an event at Typhoon Lagoon). And my current job is back at Hollywood Studios. So... that's a no...
5. Get autographs from as many characters as possible. 
• I'm definitely still working on this. I don't have as many as I'd like. But I've met many many characters. Some are actually rare ones that you can only meet during special events. But I still have room for more.
6. Try a Kitchen Sink from Beaches and Cream. 
• Yes, and it was delicious. I've actually done it twice, and would love to do it again!
7. Meet Push and Pipa
• I don't know if Pipa exists anymore, I don't hear much about her. But I've met Push on a few different occasions. The last one was the best. 
• Story time: I was discussing with two of my friends while walking through Magic Kingdom, that I love push, and would love to run into him. All of a sudden, Push was right there about 30 paces away. So, the three of us ran up to him. We did not want to interrupt his current interaction so we waited patiently. When he was finished, he turned around to us and before he said hello or anything said "you guys wreak of cast members!" We all just burst out laughing and said yes. He then said that he has a "cast member song and dance" that we have to do. So he starts playing "it's a small world" and dancing and tells us to dance too. So, we do, but we stop early. As soon as we stop, he yells at us because we stopped and made us keep going. When we were done, he asked if we'd been to the Big Top (which had just opened that week). We told him yes. He then asked if we had bought anything, we said no. He responded "of course you didn't. You work here, you can't afford it!" It was absolutely hysterical!
8. Eat a meal at every country in Epcot
• That's a big fat no! I don't have that kind of money. Food in Disney is not cheap. I've eated fast food in a few countries. But that's about it.
9. Have a drink at every country in Epcot
• And again, alcohol is not cheap... so no, I have not.
10. Partake in an activity called Drinking Around the World
• Again, I have not. But I did Eat Around the World at the Food and Wine festival this year!
11. Attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween
• Yes, I did it last year and this year and loved it!
12. Attend Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
• I did not do this during my college program. But this year, Nick bought me a ticket and we did go! It was fun, but I still prefer the Halloween party
13. Perform in the Candlelight Processional. If not perform, then attend when Whoopi Goldberg and/or Neil Patrick Harris are narrating.
• Last year, I was not a cast member early enough to be in the choir, but I did wind up attending NPH's narration of Candlelight. Whoopi unfortunately did not narrate last year. This year, I was selected to be in the choir, my first performance (which just so happens to be with NPH) is tomorrow. My second performance is on Friday, with Whoopi!
14. See a Cirque Du Soleil show at Downtown Disney.
• Still have not done this, still want to!
15. Ride Space Mountain with the lights on
• I've not had the opportunity to do this. However, I have ridden it with the work lights on for the TTA, which means there was more light in Space Mountain. I've also ridden TTA when the work lights were on in Space Mountain, so I've at least seen it with the lights on.
16. Swim in the gulf and the ocean
• Well, technically I have done this. But not in the way I had intended. I did definitely swim in the gulf. When I said swim in the ocean, I meant on a Florida beach. This I have not done yet. But I did go on a cruise in September and swam in the ocean in the Bahamas.
17. Travel to Miami for a mini-vacation
• Not yet, but I'd still like to at some point.
18. Visit Universal at least once, especially The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
• I have visited Islands of Adventure, but not Universal. However, Harry Potter is in Islands so I'm gonna say, yes, I have accomplished this!
19. Visit Bush Gardens
• I have not done this yet...
20. Visit Sea World
• Nor this one...
21. Visit House of Blues
• I've walked by it, does that count? No....
22. Have adventures with Nick and my other roommates!
• I definitely had some adventures with Nick and the other roommates, maybe not as many as I'd like, but at least some!

So, looking back and adding up: I've done about 10 out of the 22 things on my bucket list. So not so great as a whole. But the things I really wanted to do I did do. The ones I haven't done yet are the ones that weren't high on my priority list. So in conclusion, I'm going to say I've been relatively successful with my bucket list!

A New Page

I went home last week for seven days. I flew home Wednesday. Spent the day with my sister and brother-in-law. Thursday was a low-key day: dentist appointment, visit with grandma, dinner with some college friends. Friday I drove to Monmouth for the day, and then Peoria for the night. I saw a bunch of college friends and professors. And then, I reunited with  my besties for dinner and drinks and sleeping. Saturday we drove back to Monmouth for homecoming festivities. Saturday night, I was back home for my cousin's wedding reception where I saw most of my dad's side of the family. Sunday, I had lunch with one of my best friends from high school. And that night, we invited my mom's side of the family and some friends. The rest of my time at home was pretty low-key.

Overall, it was a successful trip home. I had been missing home quite a bit. And I hadn't seen Autumn since Fall 2010. Autumn is my favorite time of year so I was going through some withdraws. The weather was perfect! It was a obviously colder than I was used to, but I loved it! It rained for a few days, but I even loved that! It was so wonderful to see everybody and to experience an Illinois Fall. And it had been over a year since I had made it down to Monmouth so that was spectacular that I was able to get down there as well. There were still several friends that I did not get to see, so forgive me for that!

Have you ever experienced the feeling that you know you miss something, but you don't really know how much until you have that thing with you again? That's how I was with home. I knew I missed it. I hate being so far away from the place, the people, the weather/seasons. But until I arrived home, I really had no idea how much I missed it. It really hit me when I was walking around Monmouth. I almost had a physical pain to how much I missed everything. And right then and there, I decided: I'm coming back home sooner rather than later. I was going to start looking into teaching positions, and possibly moving when my lease in FL was up in May.

Although, that idea would bring me great joy, I think it was a little premature. Don't get me wrong, I still very much miss home and would love love love to return sooner rather than later. But, towards the end of my week, the overwhelming feelings had faded, and I was ready to return to Florida. I've been back for less than a week, and the feelings of wanting to move home and leave my Disney career have faded even more. In fact, I feel like I've turned over a new page. In several areas of my life!

I've decided I need to work harder to promote myself to my managers, to start networking with them and other people outside my work-area. I'm also going to look harder for other jobs with Disney to try and move up in the company. I really do want to see where I can go here. And I don't want to give up so easily. Nobody said it would be easy. But I feel the tough times now will pay off later! I've also decided to try and be a little more positive about work. Not that I was a total Debbie Downer about it (although I can name a few people who will argue with me on that). But in all seriousness, I am going to try and not let things bother me so much. I want to be a role model for everybody, and I can't do that if I'm in a bad mood, or if people get the wrong vibe from me because I'm complaining.

I've also decided, after a run-in with a health survey, that I'm going to try and be at least a little more healthy. I'm going to try and change my diet a little to make sure I'm getting the necessary/recommended servings of everything. Additionally, I'm going to try and eat a few less sweets, and a few less processed foods. Also, I'm going to try and start working out. I know I've said this for years and years, but I'm (hopefully) serious about it this time. I think when it comes to working out is that I need to get up in the morning to do it. After work, I'm too lazy. But if I set my alarm earlier in the morning, I think I'll be more likely to follow through since I'll be up (for those of you who don't know me well enough, I never ever hit the snooze button so once I'm up, I'm up for the day).

I have also decided to make some other more minor or more personal changes that I feel will help out with my life decisions and future. These aren't significant for me to write about. But it basically boils down to letting all the negativity in my life go, and just remaining positive and being supportive for all my friends and family.

Now, I'm sure there are a bunch of you out there thinking "yeah right, he can't do all that, I know him too well!" And you may be right. But give me the benefit of the doubt! I'm seriously going to give it my all. I'm a work in progress, and I always will be. It won't be an instant change. But I'm going to try and try and try and hopefully in the long run, everything I plan to do will help me be a better man!

This and That

Once again, I find myself failing at updating the blog. I always, always think about it. But then I never do it. I'm just so lazy! As always, I promise to try to do better in the future. Unfortunately, it probably won't happen.

Anyway...Things are going well. Around August, they cut many people's hours. I went from working about 68 hours one week, to 34 the next. Then for several weeks, I was below 40 hours. Just recently, things are starting to pick up a little more. 52 hours this week! Woo!! If they kept be around 50 hours, I'd be happy. I would love more hours here and there, but 50 is a good pay check.

In the past few weeks, people have slowly been leaving Toy Story to go to different areas, mostly the New Fantasyland that is opening soon. For some of the people that are leaving, this is very sad. But on the other hand, there are several people whose time has come to move on. And it's making Toy Story a much happier place to work for many people.

To add to the people who are already leaving for Fantasyland, there many people who trained around the same time as me who have stated that once their six months have passed, they will put in to transfer out of the area because they do not like the area that much. I can't say I disagree with them totally, but I don't have any huge issues with the work area. And furthermore, if they all leave, things will look up for me. My seniority will raise. And I'll be higher on the list for trainer and hopefully coordinator later on.

Now let's talk about other things. Perhaps the cruise I went on! I've never been on a cruise, but my boyfriend loves cruises. So we found one that was a super good deal, and jumped on it. It worked out to be about $90 per night, for three nights. That included everything except alcohol. The room, the food, three Broadway style shows, etc. It was a Disney cruise (obviously!) on the Disney Dream. We boarded the ship in the early afternoon, and spent a few hours in port at Cape Canaveral. We left there around 5. The next morning, we were in Nassau for the day. The next day we arrived at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. Nick and I had a great time! I loved my first cruise, and can't wait to go back. Disney really does know what they are doing. I highly recommend to everybody to go on a Disney cruise if they have the chance.

And now, a week from today, I will be heading home for a short vacation. I look forward to it. Last time I was home (in May), I only saw a few people mainly because my trip was a surprise for my sister and mother. With that in mind, I did not want to make plans and let the secret out. So this time, my schedule is quite full. The first day is a day with  my sister and brother-in-law. The second day I hope to take a day trip to Chicago. The third and fourth day I'll be in Monmouth and Peoria. Also on the fourth day, I will be going to my cousin's (Dad's side) wedding reception. On the fifth day, it starts to slow down a little. I'll get to see my Mom's side of the family. The sixth day, as of now, I have nothing planned. And then I fly home on the seventh. I very much look forward to it.

But most importantly, tomorrow is the anniversary of when Nick and I went on our first date. We don't have an exact date as of when we were officially together, so we kind of use October 4th as an unofficial, official date. It's been one year that Nick and I have been dating. It's really flown by. I'm so lucky to have him in my life. And I am so thankful that I've been able to share all of my experiences from the past year with such a wonderful man! I look forward to the next year with him, and the every year after that!

One Year Ago...

One year ago this week I left home on one of the biggest adventures I have yet had. I packed up all my belongs like I did for school five times before. But this time, I wasn't going to school. I wasn't moving only 3 hours away. I would not be taking any classes. I would not be able to go home whenever I felt like it. I was packing up and setting forth to a place over 1000 miles away. A 24 hour drive. Or a 3 hour plane ride. I was going to a place where I would officially be the farthest grandchild from home. It was scary, and exciting. One of my best friends how had moved to Florida had flown up, and we drove down together. I left on a Sunday afternoon, right after the parade for Coon Creek Days. We took a leisurely pace, taking three days to drive down.

One year ago this week, I checked in to the Disney College Program. I met five guys with whom I would live for the next six months. I also met a bunch of other people, made a lot of friends, had a lot of fun.

One year ago this week, I took Traditions, and started working for the Walt Disney World company. I started at Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Main Entrance as a Greeter. Than I received a professional internship with the College and International Programs Housing Office. And now I'm working full time back at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Toy Story Midway Mania.

One year ago this week, I started a journey that has taught me quite a bit about myself, and about life. I've learned a lot of valuable lessons. I've met some wonderful people. I found the most amazing man. I can't say I've never looked back; I've actually looked back more times than I care to admit. Even now, one year later, I still question myself on some of these decisions. I don't question the initial moving down here. But I do question the continued staying down here. But I made a commitment to myself to see where this may lead, and I want to see that through. I'm so thankful for everything that has happened, the good and the bad. From each event in the past year, I have grown as a person, and become a better man every day. It's hard to be so far away from home. Holidays especially are rough. But if this all pays off, I think it will be worth it. Pay my dues now, and get paid back later. So I will continue this path, I'll see where it goes, I'll learn from it, and I'll enjoy every minute of it! Sacrifices have to be made, but in the end, I believe, it will be totally worth it!

Life as a Toy

So far? So good! I'm loving it at Toy Story Midway Mania. I'm now pretty comfortable with everything, as I've been working at Toy Story for about 2 months. I've gotten settled, found my nitch of friends. I get along with mostly everybody, but in anything you do, you will always find that small group of people that you just fit in with. I'm very happy with the new friends I have made, and with the new experiences. Sure, there are some people that drive my crazy, and I've already run across some cast members, both front line and authority figure, that know how to press my buttons. But all in all, I've found a nice little corner to call home.

Toy Story is so busy. If we were to meet our goal, we'd carry almost 15,000 people in a day. However, due to down times and everything else, it's usually a couple thousand less. But still over 10,000 in a day. We run out of Fast Passes by about 3pm every day. Sometimes it's a little later, and when it's busy, we can be out by noon. No matter what position you are assigned, it's heavy guest interaction. But I love it. It keeps me busy, and makes my day (normally) fly by.

There are several positions that I love! And a few more that I hate. And many in between. One of my favorite is what we call the Grouper. Grouper is in charge of grouping party members into the right size and places them into rows for the ride, so that they ride together. At Toy Story, I will admit, because our cars are so small, it's actually fairly simple compared to other attractions. But you have to be on your toes, and be vigilant. You don't want to split up families/parties. But you also can't send cars with little or no people in them. Another position I like is what we call WAV and WAV Assist. WAV stands for Wheelchair Assist Vehicle (I think...). It's a special vehicle that allows non-transferable people to still ride. It's just a lot of fun. There is more time to get to know the guests. And, it's just a really great feeling when you have a guest that can't go on many rides because they are in a wheel chair, but thank you profusely when we are able to accommodate them. There are a few positions I hate. Mostly, because they are repetitive. So no need to get into them.

And with any guest-related job, there is bound to be unhappy people. In just two months, I've had several people threaten (and maybe follow through) to go to Guest Relations and complain about me. I had one family go as far as to take a picture of me to take with them to Guest Relations. But I believe it's safe to say that in every case where a guest has threatened to or actually gone to Guest Relations, I was simply following protocol, and thus not doing anything wrong. People just think that because it is Disney World, that we as cast members are not allowed to say "No!" to them. But we are, and we do when we have to.

The few people who threaten to "tell on me" are totally put in the dark by the hundreds and thousands of people I see leaving our ride thanking us or even simply smiling. I love seeing a little kid so incredibly happy after "winning a prize" on the game. Or an old lady leaving saying "now that I can do over and over and over again!" The amount of people who, despite their hour and a half wait, come off saying that it was totally worth it. The healthy competition that comes within a family, bragging about who got the highest score. It's these people that keep me here in Florida, working for the Mouse!

Recasting

Let me start off by saying that the casting and re-casting process can be daunting and confusing. If you ask the same question of five people you may get five different responses. A lot of it is a matter of opinion, and some people can be a little unclear. Here's my story.

I knew my internship would come to an end within the next two months. The rule is that you can go to casting once you're reached the six week mark to the end of your internship. So during that sixth week, I made an appointment and went to casting. I sat down with one of the recruiters and we went through some things. I had put on my pre-form that I was looking into Front Desk and Concierge, and was only looking for full-time. The meeting started off with my recruiter laughing at me and telling me I had no chance for Front Desk/Concierge, and little chance for full-time. So then he's looking at the different jobs they have open or will have open. I'm a little thrown off from the beginning because I was looking for a specific role, but I did not turn anything down outright. My recruiter asked me about several roles. These included Food and Beverage (quick service), dish-washer, and some other things. Later, he told me that I turned everything down. Mind you, I never turned anything down, he was taking my facial expressions as affirming or negating. Anyway, so my only options are part-time. And my best one that seems the most interesting was a part-time Slide Operator at Typhoon Lagoon. But, I would have to end my internship early, by three weeks I think. Not the best idea, but that's the one I tentatively accepted. Before we could move forward, my recruiter needed confirmation from my manager that I could leave my internship early.

The next day, after my recruiter did a more thorough search, he found another role. It was also part-time, but it paid a little more. It was a Seater role at ESPN Club. Honestly, I was more excited about the slide operator role. I don't know anything about sports, and I never really wanted to work in food and beverage. But I would only have to leave my location one week early. And it paid a little more. So I accepted that role and we moved ahead with the transfer.

Two days later I go back to casting to skill-code. Basically what that means is that you put your name on lists and if a position comes available and you're next on the list, they offer the position to you. I skill-coded for full-time attractions. Before the receptionist even handed me the paper to fill out she said "I have a full-time attractions role in Backlands." I was told that I would put my name on lists and wait up to and even more than six weeks. I was caught a little off guard when they offered me a position right there. So I jumped on it. Full-time is definitely better than part time. So I cancelled the Seater role and moved forward with the Attractions role.  For those of you who do not know, Backlands is an area in Disney's Hollywood Studios. I did not know what attraction at the time, only the area.

A few days later, I get an email about my training schedule for the Seater role. I talk to my casting recruiter to see if I need to contact the location to tell them I'm no longer accepting that role, or if he would. He said he would take care of it.

Fast forward to the second week before my internship ended. All of a sudden I'm getting emails, calls, and IMs from the Seater location and the Attractions location. The attraction role messages are all fine. Mostly, they were welcoming me to the area, talking about my training schedule, etc. But I should not have been getting any from the Seater role location. I contacted some pertinent people regarding this, including my recruiter. Nobody got back to me. One man said that they would move forward with the attractions role, but had to push back my training for the seater role. Another lady said that my internship end-date had changed and so they are moving my training forward. It was a big mess. Finally I IMed the one lady and said "look, my internship end date never changed, and I'm only supposed to have the Attractions role." I went into a little detail, and finally, she was able to straighten it all out.

So now, I only have one role. Confusing, messy process, but it all worked out in the end. And as I announced last entry, I am one of Andy's Toys working at Toy Story Midway Mania. And I love it! I have two more days of training, then assess the next day. If I pass, I'll be on my own!

Looking Up

Yet again, I find myself lacking in the depart of posting blogs. This time around, I even made lists of different blogs that I wanted to write about. However, since it is now several weeks (maybe even months) later, I am going to combine them all into one. And then try much much harder next time.

If memory serves me correctly, my last blog entry was not quite so happy. I was down about many different aspects of life. Well, I am here today to tell you that things are LOOKING UP!

The living situation. Things got a little worse. And really, really frustrating. But finally, my ex-roommates signed the addendum to the lease, taking me off as of May 31. I moved out on May 19. Spent a week with Nick. And then I signed a new lease with some friends from work. We moved in on May 24. It's a bit more expensive compared to what I was paying (we'll finances later). But, it's a much better environment for me. Jess, Joe, and I live in a three-bedroom apartment. We were lucky to have the first floor again. The apartments are relatively new and super nice. My only complaint (other than the price) is there seems to be lots of bugs that call my home their home. Silverfish and centipedes are most common. There was one instance of a cockroach, but Joe and Andrew (another work friend) took care of that for me.

The job situation. During my last point, I was stressing out about my future role with Disney. Mostly: I did not have one. As of the last you heard from me, I was going to accept a part-time Slide Operator role. Now, this whole casting situation is a totally different story, one I will tell you in it's own blog. But skipping to the end of that story, I received a Full-time Attractions role at Disney's Hollywood Studios. I started training yesterday at Toy Story Midway Mania. I am now considered a Toy. Or specifically, one of Andy's Toys. What do you want to be when you grow up? I'm going to be a toy!!! So far I love, love, love it! I love the people, and attractions are so much fun. Toy story is, if not the number one ride at Walt Disney World, close to the top!

The missing home situation. During my last post, I was also feeling super homesick. I could not say it at the time, but I had actually already planned a trip home for May 10-15. I couldn't say it at that time because it was a surprise for my sister's birthday and my mother's anniversary. My father and brother-in-law knew I was coming and that was it! I went home, surprised my mom at work, and then had a blast hanging out with her all weekend. She taught me how to play Xbox Kinect. I surprised my sister the next day at her new house. She was a bit speechless when I showed up. And the rest of the time I spent with family. It worked out great that there was a birthday party on my dad's side of the family, so I got to see a lot of the extended family as well.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, there are some things stressing me out a little. Mainly, my finances. I love this new role, but it came with a pay cut of over $3 per hour. Luckily I'm full time so I will get at least 32 hours a week. Chances are I will get more than 32. But that's still a lot of money I'm not receiving anymore. Add the higher rent/utilities, and that makes for a stressful situation. It's mostly the student loans I'm worried about. But I'm going to look into my options.

Other than that, as  you can tell, things are going a lot better for me. I look forward to the next 12 months in this apartment and at the new location. I'm excited to see what the future has in store for me!

A Little Downhill

Things aren't going quite as well as I wish they were. And of course, I'm not blogging as much as I need to so I don't even remember what I wrote last. So let's just go with whatever spew comes from my brain.

The living situation? Not going so well at all. I knew from the get-go that I'd probably have problems getting along all the time with at least one of my roommates. But now? It's turned into this really nasty situation. Two of my roommates down right dislike me. I admit, I can be passive aggressive and not the easiest person to live with. But, honestly, I have tried really hard, and I have definitely changed some of my ways. And yet, things continue to get worse. It's gotten to the point where I'm trying to get out of the lease and move. This, ultimately, will mean paying more money for rent, not to mention the moving process and changing my address on everything. But, this living situation is giving me so much anxiety, that I don't even want to come home after work, and when I'm at work, my stomach is in knots thinking about it. So moving? I think it's the best bet.

But then I have the problem of my roommates not making the moving easy. They want me gone, I want me gone. But they refuse to help get me gone. And right now, I can't move forward without their help. I'm not going to get into all the sticky details about my relationship with them, nor this situation. Suffice it to say that I'm trying really hard to leave, and I hope that they'll come around and help me out for this one thing, since it seems it'll be in the better interest of all involved.

Frankly, the conflict I am having is that I don't want to sign a new lease until I know for sure 100% that I'm legally off the old lease. But I also don't want to string my potential new roommates along, last minute duck out because things fell through here, and thus screw them over. They are being very patient and I love them both for it. I just don't want to get stuck on two leases, and then be financially obligated to pay both.

Moving on, we have the job situation. I love my job now. The people are great, the location is great. Everything is great. Unfortunately, it's an internship, and internships don't last forever. So I have less than two months to find a new job. I am, of course, looking to see what Disney has to offer. So I started the process a while ago. I've been meeting with my leaders, and I've also met with some leaders from other areas to see if I'd like their areas. During these meetings, I've also been seeing what it might take to get to those areas, as well as those leaders' recommendations. I had a pretty good plan: Concierge seemed like a great bet. It's paid a little more, it's a little more challenging, it had potential to grow, etc. Sounded great.

So today, I go to casting. In this meeting, I put my preferences down. Full-time. Concierge (or front desk). Location does not matter. Then I sit down with the recruiter. The first thing he says is "you're crazy" and laughs..... Just kidding! But reading between his lines, that is what he was thinking. Because I'm only an intern, I have no seniority. And because I have no seniority, I would have to wait at least a year and a half to even be considered for a concierge or front desk job. So there goes that idea. We spent the rest of the meeting going through job postings that I could get now without putting my name on a list. Jobs that were open now, or would be open around the time my internship ends. Not very good choices. The only full time things open were things like dishwasher. I'm sorry, if I want to wash dishes, I'll go back to IL. So no-go on the full time.

Okay, let's look at part time. As soon as I get in as part time, I can put in for full time and hopefully go from there. It's not ideal, especially financially. But it's a start. As my recruiter stated, sometimes you have to take two steps back before you can go forward. So here are my options. I can end my internship (with 40 hours a week, 11.25 an hour) three weeks early to be a slide operator at a water park (again, part time, and at 7.95 an hour). I can end my internship on time, and then work quick service food and beverage (for a similar wage). Or I could (and this is a long shot as there is a secondary interview with this one) be a Monorail driver.

I admit, being a monorail driver would be cool! But I don't know if it's really what I want. Lower guest interaction, not sure how many hours I could pick up. And quick service food and beverage? Food and beverage really isn't my thing. So, slide operator. Okay, I'll take it. I'm not happy about leaving my internship early. But, right now, it seems like the best plan. And hopefully after I start there, I will put in for full time and get it soon after. Which would mean I would transfer again to who knows where. But it's something.

I told all of this to my manager. My recruiter is waiting on an email from my manager about letting me go early. We have until Friday at noon to tell him. My manager is holding off sending that email. She and a few of the other managers are going to put in a few calls, and see what else might be out there. See if anything was missed, or if they can pull some strings. I honestly love my managers. They really do care about my future and want me to succeed. When I told them about the casting meeting, they responded saying that they would like to at least see me in a full-time role. That would be lovely.

So those are the things stressing me out right now. And they are big stressors. I'm also stressing about missing home. Frankly, although I'm a sentimental guy, I've always been good with being away from home. College did not bother me. And last internship (August-January) did not bother me. But all of a sudden, these past few months, being away from home has been really hard on me.

But enough of the downers. There are good things in my life too. I have awesome support at work. I've made so many good friends this semester (and last semester). I've had several visits from several family members and college friends. It's a blast when somebody from home comes down, and I get to share Walt Disney World with them. For them, it's a vacation, for me, it's my life! At least right now. And it really is a great experience, not to mention a lot of fun!

But most importantly, let's talk about the one thing in my life that I am most excited about. And most thankful for. No matter what happens, I have an amazing boyfriend who I love very much. I don't know if I could get through all of this without him. Honestly, there are some days where I really don't know how I make it through. But then there he is, with a text, or a call, or something. Making me smile. Giving me support. Putting some perspective in my life. We've come a long way in a short amount of time. This relationship was unexpected. I wasn't even looking for a relationship. And all of a sudden I turn around, and here's this wonderful man in my life. And I couldn't imagine it any other way.

What do you do?

As I mentioned in my last blog, I usually work 8:30-5 Mon-Fri. But I also mentioned that would be changing. Our office is open seven days a week, from 7:30-5. However, for a trial period (all of March) we are changing our hours to see if it would be more beneficial for our participants. Our hours on Sat/Sun are now 7:30-4 (I think). And then on weekdays (which I am still working Mon-Fri) from 7am-7pm. So now, instead of working the same times each day, my schedule changes slightly from day to day. I still work 8 hours a day. But one day I may come in a little earlier, and another stay a little later. There are two days that I will be closing (by myself). And all the rest I work in the middle. In some weeks, I may have a day that I open, but that has not been scheduled yet.

My job is going well, although last week, I felt like I was stuck in a rut a little. I just wasn't feeling quite right. Not sure why though. But in general, everything is going swimmingly. Since I haven't really gone into much detail about what I do, I'll try to do that now. However, it's hard. I do a lot of little things so it's difficult to describe it briefly. Things I do in any given days are:

• Travel forms - when international students want to take a trip out of the country, our office provides them with travel forms to fill out. We tell them what they need to do to fill them out. Then when the depart for their trips, they have to bring the forms back to us along with their travel documentation. We have to check their passport/visas. I was confused at first by the many different visas and situation, but I'm getting a hang of it now and learning quite a bit. We check these forms to make sure their visas allow them to travel, then we sign the form and make a copy. When the participants return, we check their passports again to make sure their visas have been processed correctly and then sign their form again saying they are able to go back to work. 
• Residency Letters - many times, participants need proof that they are living in our complexes (usually so they can get a driver's license). We type up an official government document that has proof of their participation and residency. 
• Unexpected Departures - We take care of the initial paper work for people leaving the program early. Some of these are terminations from the company, some of them are voluntary based on family/personal needs. Terminations can come from the work location, or they can come from our department based on a housing code violation. We have to contact the work location to notify them of the participant leaving, and fill out/file paper work. Depending on the situation, we have to notify other departments or file additional paperwork.
• Discipline - My managers are the ones who deal the discipline. However, we type up written and verbal warning notifications. We also are asked from time to time to sit in on security meetings.
• Apartment Meetings - a couple times a week, participants come in having a conflict with their roommates. Our office offers conflict resolution assistance. We call everybody in for a meeting, we sit down and members from my team act as mediators.
• I personally enter Ticklers into our database. A tickler is what we call a security file that had no discipline or follow-up needed. In other words, they are mainly a complaint that had no substantial proof to investigate, or documentation of a medical emergency.

There are also a several other things I do. Answer phones, assist with walk-ins. Clean our popcorn machine. Open and close the office when applicable. Sign people up for events. But the above are the bulk of our work.

A general update...

Okay, so I definitely fail at this. I've had "update blog" on my list of things to do since about January 10th. It's now February, and I haven't posted since the end of November. And now I don't even know where to begin...

I know I want to talk about my new internship, but lets back track a little. My previous internship ended in the beginning of January. Parts of the job were starting to get old and repetitive. But looking back, I miss it. Mostly, I miss the wonderful people I worked with. While many of them are still there, the ones I was the closest to are now back home in different states. And I've never been good at keeping in contact with people if they aren't in physical proximity to me...

In December, the week of Christmas, I moved into my new apartment. It's a four-bedroom, two-bath. It's a nice little place and we have a great location both within the complex as well as in comparison to places/attractions around us. I get a long with most of my roommates. We won't get into that.

I've become an official adult. In the time since my last blog, I've started paying back loans, transferred my residency, changed my driver's license, car-title, and license plates (or tags as we call them here in FL), got new car insurance and bought renter's insurance. It's satisfying to start paying back my loans, but all my money is gone... haha. My next big step (other than getting a big-boy bed) is to get my own health insurance. But that won't happen for a while.

And now, onto my new job. I absolutely love it. I work in one of the college complexes. We help students with pretty much any question they have. We also serve as a central information hub for anybody and everybody dealing with the college program (including participants, parents, professors, managers, and other cast members). I have my own desk. I work 8:30-5 Mon-Fri (although that is going to change in March for a trial period, more on this later). My position is (apart from being a professional intern) coordinator. There are five office coordinators who are stationed in the office. Then there are three managers, and one area manager. I see all of these people pretty often. They are all different but we all compliment each others work styles. That's just the Programs Office. We are part of a bigger team that facilitates the programs. There is the Yield Team (dealing with numbers of beds open and occupied, along with some finances). There is the Events Team (they set up events, trips, and activities for the participants). And there is the Communication Team (does all sorts of communication for the participants including emails and signs). These are the people I see weekly. There is also the Area manager that manages all of these teams, and then his manager. I don't see these two as often, especially the latter. But everybody is so wonderful! And things are so laid back and such a different ball game than the teams in the parks and resorts. I absolutely love it. And I would love it more if I could stay. But... I can't stay unless one of these people leaves, so chances are, at least right now, I will be moving on to another team when June comes around.