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!