Back a few days...

So Monday my room mate Kayla and I went to Typhoon Lagoon, the water park. We went on all the slides and swam in the wave pool and MAN that was a workout. Swimming against those waves and floating in the deep water made my arms and legs almost hurt from all the effort! After that we went and got Halloween costumes so we can go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Kayla is going as a flower child/hippie and I am going as a 20s flapper girl. I will have to post pictures of it later..

BECAUSE I got another camera. Yea, sadly, my camera officially bit the bullet. I was not happy since it is the one Ryan gave me for our one year anniversary. I used my Disney discount and I got a discount using my visa so yay for saving money. Then I walk out of the store and I check the reciept and I realize I was charged $2.13 for the camera. Yea, very wrong. So being that I am me I go back in the store and say I think he rang me up wrong. Sure enough.... basically the man thanked me profusely and said he would have lost his job and not many people would do that blah blah blah. I couldn't walk away with something like that! No way. Who could!??! Well, I am sure people could but I defintiely couldn't.

So we got dinner and then went grocery shopping, I did laundry, and then we started cleaning. We have our first apartment inspection Tuesday. I now know how Ryan felt the night before field day! But when I was taking the garbage out to the dumpsters I tripped over a parking cement thing and literally tore off the tip of my big toe. It hurt so much. It is all bandaged up and throbbing. No fun.. At all.

I am working all the rest of this week. Seven days straight. So yay for lots of hours and money, but it is pretty exhausting. I worked 11-19:30 Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday 9:30-17:30. Friday and Saturday are shorter days, like 13:30-17:30 or so, then Monday is a whammy... my first twelve hour shift! Eek! I will be there from 8:45-21:30 then have Tuesday and Wednesday off. Is it bad I am looking forward to those already? (:

There is this sweet little old man at work who is literally the Innoventions Grandpa.... Grandpa Gordon. I've talked to him a few times, and today we sat and talked about Guardian Angels. He said if I lay in bed at night, quiet with no distractions or cellphones or tv, and just pray and ask my guardian angel to tell me their name, it will come to me. He said maybe not right away, but within 24 hours or so a name will pop into your head and you will just know. His is Abraham, and he prays with him and talks to him all the time. Everyone needs a guardian angel, Ryan is my guardian angel in camis, but I think I may try tonight and see. I was touched he told me about all that, Grandpa Gordon mentioned he has not told many people about that, but he knew it would mean something to me and felt like I should know.

My friend DeiTos (Kristin) emailed me saying she, Heather, and possibly Jason may come visit me soon. That is pretty exciting for me, I hope they do. I would love to have people around from school to hang out with. It is a plan in the works so we shall see.

What else? Not much truth be told. Oh! We got the white glove award for our inspection!!! Basically we were one of the rare few to get a high pass and our apartment got a huge box of ferrero roche chocolates and our picture taken in front of the door to be in the office. Sadly I was at work when this happened so I am the only room mate not in the picture. Damnit. But yay for us being overly neat/good cleaners. I literally put my blood sweat and tears into this, my toe still hurts like hell. Especially after being in work shoes and on my feet all day. It is not too happy with me at all.

Plus we also had a "suspicious object" found on a bus so all bus services were suspended while they checked it out. Nothing was wrong but we had a lot of irate guests who were stranded places. That one was on the news.

Tuesday at work I also got very sick. Chills, achy, fever, so needless to say they sent me home. After two hours into a ten hour shift. I didn't ask, I was told to leave! So I went home and slept. A lot. I read Ryan's poems before I go to sleep every night so I did that and it made me really miss him.

After, on Wednesday, I felt better so I returned to work. Worked Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and now it is Saturday. Oh, last night a group of about seven of us went and saw The Informant, a movie with Matt Damon. It was funny, but it got to be so confusing near the end. I was so confused I really had no idea what was going on. The business lingo was way above my head. It was about price fixing and embezzlement and I totally missed it. And of course after the previews and before the movie when it is dead silent and dark in the theatre I sneeze causing everyone to laugh and shout bless you at me. Oy. I was kind of embarassed for that, especially since the first bless you came from the back of the theatre and I had no idea who that was. But it was cool to hang out with people from work again and not be in a work setting!

I am feeling better today, managed to eat normally and finally feel close to myself again. I think today after work I will do my first gym venture! I finally feel up to it, so wish me luck. Ok, done being long winded now.

Busy Little Worker Bee

People always want to know, when is the best time to come to Disney World? NOW. After Labor Day and before Halloween. The parks have people, but the crowds are so small! On a peak busy day EPCOT gets between 45,000 and 50,000 people, last thursday we had 13,000. A few days later we had 16,000. Like I said, you want to plan a future vacation? Do it in mid-late September!

So Friday... Guess what?? I got Ryan's letter! Or should I say letters! Oh they were wonderful, he is such an amazing writer and I cried reading them. He is a gifted poet and I read them all the time. They are now safely in my pillowcase so I can feel him there with me whenever I sleep. Corny or not as that is to do so I know it will make it super easy to dream of him that way. I miss him so much sometimes I can't even breathe, it hurts more than I can put into words. When my room mate Kayla texted me at work saying his letter arrived I literally jumped up and down. I was so excited to get home and read it and I literally ran up the stairs and into my apartment and tore into the envelope. I cuddled up in my not so comfy chair in my not so comfy costume and read it before doing anything else.

Friday at work I was kind of an idiot. So I get to work with about half an hour to spare and I go to clock in and the computer says, "It is too early to clock in for your 13:30 assignment." I mixed up Friday and Saturday's schedule! I didn't have to be in until 1:30! UGH. Luckily they needed help and they just let me clock in early and have a few more hours on my pay. I just felt bad because it meant I could have talked to you longer this morning! Damn damn damn. This morning was soooo busy too. EPCOT had what we call Extra Magic Hours tonight. Basically if you stay at a Disney Resort you can stay at the park after it "closes" at 9pm and stay til midnight or so. Basically we had a lot more people in the park than earlier this week. Usually we have a show going on (we can sit 30) and a show waiting... sometimes stragglers will come in and we will say the next show is in fifteen minutes and they leave and come back. Today we had a show in, 2 full shows in line, and stragglers waiting for a third! I like my show... but I would not wait 45 minutes to see it. Sorry! It isn't that amazing. Then of course this afternoon when I got back from my break, round the time I was supposed to come in at, it was normal once more. Typical.

Rumor alert! We have the possibility of an early homecoming!!! Some other girlfriends and wives were saying their guys all are sending their winter gear back now so they won't be needing it because they are coming home. Some are sold on October, but Ryan himself mentioned November/December isn't impossible. Oh. My. God. That would be amazing!! If they do not get another mission after this one they should be home. Keep your fingers crossed! I am still thinking February and trying to tune them out, but it is hard!!!! I feel so out numbered. Heck I know half the guys could even come back and Ryan might still be there. I would be pissed if that happened. I miss him so much.

AND Ryan finally got my pacakges! It only took them two months to get there. And one is still on the way, apparently. But yay! And the cake in a jar was good when it reached him. Small blessings.

Ok, I have to pause with this weekend. This is a long entry any way, so more to come....

Good Day

So today at work was actually pretty fun. Most of the CPs (College Program Kids) had "training" on our schedules. Reading that we all wondered what the heck it was for. Training turned out to be a bit Welcome Party in the Odyssey Building, complete with Pirate theme! We all trooped over together and Innoventions got our own table which had tons of pirate booty. We got CP cups, a treasure pouch and map, tiny plastic gems and compasses, candy, mardi gras beads, chips, cookies, and lemonade. It was pretty cool. Then the Vice President of EPCOT came and talked to us as did all the General Managers for the park. We got to see the upper echelon of it all basically.

They played this one game, Walk the Plank, and if you paid attention to the random facts on the screen while the General Managers were talking you got prizes. I got selected to play and I actually won an awesome book called Legends in Imagineering... all stories about the parks being built and rides and the ideas, I am kind of excited to read it. Then anyone who had a September Birthday got a prize, so I got a Disney mesh blue bag and a Pirate Princess Key Chain.

After that I had literally three hours of my shift left, plus 2 15 minute breaks. Sweet deal, having a six hour shift with two and a half hours being a Pirate Party! I did two shows then cleaned up. Karli and I planned to go on Soarin' after work since I never rode it, and it turns out a lot of CPs were heading there too. Usually it has an hour and a half wait, the eight of us got on in ten minutes. It was such a fricken cool ride. Would it be that cool after an hour and a half wait? Probably not as much, but I really liked it! We had the center front seats of the center glider too, so good views. And we saw the hidden Mickey! (It is on the golf ball that flies at the screen for those of you interested)

When we were done there we all ended up at IHOP. It was nice talking to CPs outside of work and bonding and having fun. They realized that I snort when I laugh so a few of them have a goal to get me to snort as much as possible by January. I feel like I am settling in and getting to know people! Karli and I were the only "new girls" in the group, everyone else had been there a few months already on the Fall Advantage program, so it was nice to be included.

They want to go play mini-golf tomorrow (or putt putt I think they called it?) but I have Illuminations duty and don't get off til 9:30pm so I may not be able to join them. But it is coll I was invited.

Ryan said he sent me a letter, haven't gotten it yet sadly. I did get a package from my mom, an American Flag decorated bear in camis, Julia Child's Cookbook (SWEET), and a ribbon magnet I ordered for my car (it is dress blues in ribbon form and says Keep my Marine Safe).

All for now... I hope tomorrow is good too!

I am 22! Holy Cannoli...

Yup, I am the double deuces. Twenty two years old. Two decades and two years old. Wow. I cannot quite wrap my brain around it...

So Ryan called me last night at 11:58pm to be the first one to officially wish me a happy birthday!! It was so sweet. He woke up early just to make sure he was the first to get to me. We talked for about ten minutes before my mom called and he had to go. This was the first time in five years someone beat my mom to wishing me a happy birthday. She said she kind of knew he would call, that's why she waited until 12:10am to call. Ryan said he sent me a letter and tried to get it to me for my birthday, but it didn't make it yet :( Maybe tomorrow? Ryan also said he wouldn't be able to talk to me again until Thursday. Bummer. I hope he is safe out on his mission.

My mom sent me a Minnie Mouse mug with flowers and a balloon, and my room mates all got me an awesome chocolate cake from Publix. I then went out to lunch with my dads' cousins John and Diane to a place called Sweet Tomatoes, it was good! Then Kayla, my room mate and I, went to Magic Kingdom. We went to the Monsters Inc show and were totally called on for the "psychic part" of the show. The show is all monsters on a screen but there are actors there who do the comedy live from somewhere backstage so it is like the monsters are interacting with you. It is pretty cool. And I had a Disney Birthday pin on (yay year of Celebrations!) so the monster comedian called us out on it. We then went on the Haunted Mansion and found the 2 hidden mickeys! After that Kayla went to work and I caught the flag lowering ceremony at the front of the park. They have the band play and a guest Military in the park helps with the ceremony and gets to keep the flag. This guy was older, a Cpl from Illinois actually, and it made me tear up.

I then drove to EPCOT and stopped by Innoventions, played and did some of the exhibits. Then Karli and I went on a Kim Possible Mission, had dinner in Japan, and watched the fireworks.

Lots of phone calls, texts, and facebooking today. People I havent talked to in years messaged me.... its strange.

And Ryan's aunt sent me a card (: It was so sweet!

OH. Anger. We found out that there is over 200lbs of mail sitting on Al Asad for Ryan and his unit. Just SITTING there. He hasn't gotten mail barely at all since he has been there and it is frustrating since he has yet to get any of my boxes. The SSgt found that out and called and bitched them out so hopefully the mail will get there soon.

Also, spent Sunday-Monday with my Uncle Dave and Aunt Darlene in Melbourne. Got my puppy fix since they have 3 yellow labs and a black lab, and one of the yellow labs is pregnant. My cousins Kim and her husband Chris were there and my cousin Michael, it was cool. We had a huge steak and shrimp dinner and they made me a vanilla cake with chocolate icing, my favorite!

All for now. Work tomorrow at 1:30. Oh what a day....

Day Two on the Floor

So last night my room mate Amanda and I were up late. We watched Bridezillas on WE and I got so angry watching it! One woman called her ex husband who was serving in Iraq and asked for more money as child support for their son... then used it to pay for more of her wedding to her new husband!! Disgusting! But then we watched What A Girl Wants, the Amanda Bynes movie, and felt better with some chick flick influence. But that prompted us to talk about our guys and we were up until after 3am!

Then at 8:30am my mom called and said Ryan was online. So I got up and dragged myself to the laptop and talked to him for half an hour, which is always wonderful. Then he had to go so I went back to bed. Half an hour later HIS mom calls and says he is back on, but by the time I got there he was gone, so I went back to bed. At 11am, my phone rings and it is Ryan! So I got to talk to him for another half an hour before I had to get ready for work. I love being able to hear his voice. It just makes my day.

Work was pretty good. Lots of shows... two audiences even got a perfect score!! I was pretty proud. One of the audiences was full, the other was three people... so that's kind of expected but the full one was exciting. Disney also does this pin trading thing... you buy a lanyard and pins and you can trade all over the parks. Cast members wear them and you can buy them at little kiosks. I got my own lanyard from my coordinator today so I get to trade pins with guests which is fun! It gives cool interaction. So I get my lanyard and the coordinator told me to go outside and greet and "spread some magic". So I did. I didn't realize it was as a task, which is a fifteen minute assignment normally when the CDS (Cast Deployment System, a computer we sign into and it gives us a piece of paper where to go or who to replace) gives it. So I was out there for an hour and a half! Oops! Luckily it wasn't busy so they just made fun of me for being outside for so long and sent me back to do more stom struck shows!

I have an early day tomorrow. Mass at 7:30am. Then I am driving to work early since a lot of roads are closed due to a Disney Women's Triathalon so I want to make sure I am at work by 9:45 when I am due. Then I work until 7:30pm and then I am driving an hour or so to Melbourne to visit my Uncle Dave. I will be there until Monday then come back.

Since Sam can't come to Disney anymore for my birthday I kind of made a new plan. I am going to go to EPCOT and get my hair washed and styled in the cast salon, it is pretty cheap. Then I will hang out for a bit and explore I guess. Then my friend Karli is working til 7:30 she gets off and we are going to explore and play in EPCOT until closing. Pretty good plan for now right?

I am pretty tired. I am probably going to finish watching the Parent Trap (ala Lindsay Lohan) on the Disney Channel of all places and then go shower and get to bed early. Night all!

Lonely in the Happiest Place on Earth?

Is such a thing possible? I didn't think so, that was half of the reason I came here! Distractions, new people, new place... so far my plan has only half worked. When I am working I am definitely distracted. My job at Storm Struck is intense, and since I am the only one training for it at the moment I haven't even gotten to know many people at work. My trainer Cinnamon is really cool, she has been really helpful in me learning the exhibit and makes my job easier! She is getting married on a Disney Cruise to her partner in October and they will be in St Croix at some point, I will have to ask Sam (whose family lives there) some good spots they should go to. So Cinnamon is older, around 40, and aside from her I don't know many people at Innoventions. I have seen my Dad's cousin Diane working the Kim Possible exhibit once now, hopefully more. But based from my training I haven't met too many people.

This is my costume for Innoventions by the way. Stylish no?

And my room mates are still good, but we all have pretty different schedules so I generally only see them in the apartment. So my friends count? Not too high at all. I am glad Sam lives about an hour and a half away, so I have her every now and then, but I thought I would have more friends by this point. She is coming tomorrow to go to Magic Kingdom with me which will be fun!

Storm Struck is actually a 28 PAGE script! I have it memorized mostly now, but the timing with the movie is rough! I am still training until Friday when I will have my assessment. I will do the exhibit with the person moderating it, then I have a test on sponsors of the exhibit, hurricanes, tornadoes, product information, and building homes to make them storm safe. Do you know the wind speeds for a Category 3 hurricane? Or an F-2 tornado? I do! (111-130 mph and 136-165mph in case you were wondering). Yikes indeed.

I guess since my family has left and from work making it harder to talk to Ryan and not having friends yet I am lonely. I have dreamed about Ryan almost every night. Some amazing wonderful dreams about the homecoming he will have or our future, others so terrifying I woke up sobbing... hint: it involved a black car and guys in dress blues. Never will happen, but terrifying nonetheless. No word from him today either. Yesterday was awful. I was a human faucet! On my way to work the song I use for his ringtone, Don't Stop Believin by Journey, came on the radio and I found myself singing and then sobbing simultaneously. Then he called me and it was AMAZING but when he went to say goodbye I cried again. Then in church when they did the military intercession I cried once more and through the rest of the mass. Ugh.


I hope I get to know more people soon. Good news? I am off for my birthday on the 8th!!! Sweet. Maybe I will see Cirque du Solei with my discount? I did laundry today, a dollar a load to wash and dry. What a day off...

I really miss him :(