In Which Cinderannie Has a Misadventure

Hi everyone. I figure I owe you all a quick update, right? Nothing particularly exciting has happened lately – I went to the advanced ballet class because it was the only ballet day I had off, and it wasn’t quite as awful as I was expecting. I couldn’t do a few of the combinations but another girl in the class showed me how to do a few steps I had trouble with at the end of class.
I did have a bit of an adventure last night. Yesterday I had left my car at the magic kingdom parking lot, because I forgot when I was going home that I had driven, and took the bus back. So I was going to drive home last night, and I went and set my stuff in the front seat and saw that my parking lights were turned to on. Oh dear. Needless to say, when I put the key in and turned, nothing happened at all. Not even a squeak. I asked a guy parking nearby if he had jumper cables, and he did, but he had just recently started driving and neither of us was sure of how to jump a car. I ought to know this. I think I should have someone give me instructions, and write it down and keep it in my car. That would be the sensible thing to do. At any rate, I didn’t want to damage the battery or get electrocuted, so I thanked him and decided to just leave the car and take the bus home. So I went and waited at the bus stop for the bus. Given that it was now past 2am, it was no surprise that once I got on the bus, I curled up and fell asleep – after putting on my socks because it was freezing on that bus. I woke up just as we were arriving at Chatham, so I quickly gathered up my things. Darn it, darn it, WHERE IS MY OTHER SHOE?? I looked around, under the seats, bother bother bother, oh no we’re pulling away! Oh but we stop in front for people to get on, I’ll just hop off, no, no, we’re not stopping! Augh!
Once we had reached Vista Way I had satisfied myself that the shoe was really not on the bus. Which meant it was either left in my car or at the bus stop. Rats. And did any busses even run from Vista to Chatham at this hour of the night? I got off the bus and went to look. (It was about 2:50am at this point.) Only one bus was still running, the Downtown Disney bus, which fortunately stopped at Vista and then Chatham. But it wasn’t coming until 3:25. Lovely. And I wasn’t even supposed to be on Vista Way property after 1am! I plunked down on the curb to wait, holding my costumes and my one shoe, probably looking like a refugee. A security dude came up to me.
“What’s your story?” he said. So I explained. He said, “Okay,” and told me I could wait at the nearby picnic tables. So I did. And it was the chilliest part of the night and I had just been asleep which always makes me cold so I was freezing. And finally the bus came. But just one or two people got off, and I saw that there was no one left on the bus, and since no one would be getting on the bus at Chatham at this hour, he might not stop there! He got off the bus and I went and asked him,
“You are stopping at Chatham, yes?” He looked at me inquiringly.
“I suppose... Why, do you need to go there?”
“Yes, I live there.”
“Getting home a bit late, aren’t you?”
“Well, I worked late in the Magic Kingdom and then I was going to drive home but my car is out of batteries and I lost my shoe somewhere along the way and I was looking for it on the bus so I missed getting off at Chatham so I had to get off here and you’re the only bus still running at this hour,” I finished, sounding a bit pathetic even to myself.
“Poor baby,” he said, half-joking but kindly. “Yes, I will take you to Chatham.” So I went and got on the bus and waited for him to come back, very glad I was getting home. When he came back he said,
“Okay, sweetie, let’s get you home.” And when we got there he said, “Here we are, sweetie.” I hadn’t been called “sweetie” in a while. It was kind of comforting. I think he must be a grandfather. Anyway, I got back home at about 3:45, very relieved. And had a shower and some vegetable soup.
So that was my adventure of yesterday. I am hoping to find my shoe and get my car started today. Wish me luck.

A Couple Days of Updating, and some random thoughts

Hello, everyone. I'm giving up on catching this thing up, so what I'm going to do is post a bit I have written, and then at the end some snippets of e-mails I sent my mother, that tell things I've been doing and thinking about.

I spent Sunday afternoon sleeping, because I had to work from 7:45pm-3:45am. Cleaning the Fantasyland restrooms. Thrilling. I had been dreading it, but it turned out to not be bad at all in the end.
When I first got there I went to the restrooms by Peter Pan, and started out by disinfecting the baby changing table. (Incidentally, that always makes me imagine someone putting their baby on the table, folding it into the wall, and pulling it back down and getting a new one. I kind of want to write a story based on that.) When I went back to the storage room to get the sink-cleaning chemical, there was that lady! The one who nearly drove me to tears the last time I was cleaning the bathrooms by scolding me about leaving the door locked (which I did this time, since the park was open)! And she insisted that she was supposed to be here, and that her manager told her she was here until eleven, and when I showed her on the schedule that I was clearly supposed to be here at that time, she just reiterated that she was told to be here until eleven. Taking a deep breath, I decided that this was okay, we could just work together, since it was a busy night it wouldn’t hurt for the restrooms to get extra cleaning. It looked like she was going to go sweep the floor, so I took down the cleaner for the sinks and started to walk into the bathroom. She stepped into my path.
“I am here until eleven. Go talk to a manger.” Rats, this stupid lady was going to drive me to tears again. I don’t know what it is, but when someone speaks harshly to me and I don’t expect it, it makes me cry. It’s very annoying because it happens when you most want to be collected. At any rate, I said – quite politely, considering,
“Okay, I’ll do that.” And I went backstage to the fantasyland base where the managers or coordinators were most likely to be. But none were there. Fortunately, just then someone came through with a radio and when I begged him he let me use it. The manager wasn’t available, but I got a hold of a coordinator. I explained the situation to her, and she kindly told me to just sweep around the Peter Pan and it’s a small world (yes, it’s supposed to be uncapitalized, that’s how it’s always written, even on signs, it’s weird) area for now, and she would find the manager and figure out what was going on and then come find me. Much relieved and comforted, I did so. It’s so nice when someone else is going to take care of a problem. And it was also nice to get to go sweep, because it meant I got to chat with guests and also watch the fireworks.
One man I talked to was a seasonal Disney employee who had previously been on the college program.
“Yeah, it’s a good experience, being away from your parents and all, and you can have a lot of fun if you get out and party and stuff,” he said. Blink-blink-blink.
“Nah, I’m 19, and my roommates and I have a rule that nobody’s allowed to do stuff to get themselves terminated, because we like our apartment and our roommates and don’t want to have to move.” (If roommates leave then people have to move around to consolidate and make room for new CPs.)
“Ah, you can keep it on the DL,” he said. I couldn’t believe my ears. I turned to his three-year-old son, sitting there in the stroller.
“Small one, don’t follow in your father’s footsteps. Trust me.” But that was all the more I said on the subject.
From that and from other things he said in the course of the conversation, it was clear that he believed in doing anything he could get away with. There was no wife with him, and he never mentioned her. I’ve got to say, as much as I despise divorce, I could not judge his wife too harshly if she left him. He wasn’t very creepy, exactly, in the augh-run-for-your-life kind of way – he was just empty of any rectitude (look that word up in the dictionary if you don’t know what it means), or any reason to do anything but what he felt like doing. Oh siblings, my dear siblings, the next time our mother yells at you for living to do whatever you can get away with, tell her, “Thank you, dearest mother, for preventing me from growing into a horrid creepy empty person with nothing to live for.”
When I eventually talked to the manager and the coordinator, it turned out that mistaken double-scheduling had been going on all night. They decided to just have me go and help with bussing until it was time for her to leave. I didn’t mind that a bit. It meant that over a third of my shift was spent sweeping and bussing, which made the whole thing go faster. And I also got to “go above and beyond” – there was a family there who had been told that Ariel was going to come back at 10, and she wasn’t, and they were very disappointed. So I called guest relations at City Hall, and got them to get Ariel to write the girls personal autographed notes that they could pick up on their way out. J
Cleaning was actually fairly easy, except for the first round because that lady had not done a thorough job and the back of the toilets were dusty and they were not so clean as they ought to have been. But after I’d gone over everything thoroughly once it was easy. Cleaning restrooms isn’t that bad, and the time goes by faster than when you’re sweeping. And I actually get less dirty, because I don’t have to do trash runs. My long nap held up for me and I didn’t get as tired as I expected – in fact, when it was all over, the shift I had been dreading, it was just like, “Oh, was that all?” But I wasn’t thrilled about having to get back on the bus in just over 12 hours. It was a bit strange, hearing the birds start to chirp as I was going to bed. Needless to say nothing got done on Monday morning except sleep and a bit of e-mailing.
Monday I was in Tomorrowland. Since I was doing both a zone and a trash run I had done before, it didn’t require a lot of thought, which was good. But it wasn’t very crowded that night, and at one point, a little before my 45 minute break, I noticed that there was a very short line for Space Mountain, which I hadn’t been on since getting here to Florida. And I’d brought normal clothing, to change into for the bus ride home. Hmm. Hmm-hmm-hmm.
Well, as you can probably guess, the moment my 45 minute break started, I bolted down the stairs and ran down the hallway to my locker. I changed into my street clothes, ran back upstairs, and, slipping my Disney ID into my pocket, entered the world of Guests. Because my locker was at the opposite side of the park, and because my costume has a belt and buttons and takes some getting out of, all this took about 15 minutes. 30 minutes left. I arrived at the Space Mountain entrance. Wait time, 20 minutes. Ooh, cutting it close. But I didn’t have to take my clothes all the way back to the locker, I could keep them with me. And besides, the wait times aren’t always accurate. I went inside.
I was able to walk right up, almost on. I couldn’t have been in line more than ten minutes, including the time it took me to get to where there were actually people waiting. I didn’t get to sit in front (I like it best in the front…) but I still had a grand time. I love that roller coaster.
Toward the end of my shift I spent a good 10 or 15 minutes playing with a little girl named Julia. She and her mother and grandmother were sitting at a table, just resting before the long trek back to the park entrance. I started talking to Julia and before I knew it she was chattering away, whispering secrets in my ear, tickling me, and then we were chasing each other around the planters! “Isn’t it a shame that she’s such a wallflower,” her grandmother said, rolling her eyes. Julia wanted me to “catch” and tickle her back, so I just tickled the top of her head. A good improvisation if I do say so myself. I think the most endearing thing about her was that she didn’t treat me like a grown-up. We were ageless, equals, just having fun.
Okay, so since I’m a week behind, I’m skipping to the highlights. Tuesday I went shopping. (Note: shopping, to me, means going to Walmart for groceries and other necessities, not to the mall, unless otherwise noted. Just so you all know.) I know I did other things too but I can’t think what. Oh yes, I finished working on Ali’s birthday present. I’m sure I did other things… oh well. Must not have been anything too exciting.
Wednesday I went to the Magic Kingdom again with Marijka. We did Adventureland this time – Pirates of the Carribean (it has Jack Sparrow now, which improves it, but it’s still not a “love” ride for me, like Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh are), Jungle Cruise, The Enchanted Tiki Room (sibs, you aren’t missing anything by not seeing this one, trust me), Aladdin’s magic carpets (whee! That one’s fun), and the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. Marijka wasn’t so interested in the tree house as I am and so we went faster than I like to go. Of course, I have a definite tendency to wander slowly through everything… Then we had just 15 minutes before we needed to leave (we both needed to be somewhere at 9), so we made a dash for the Astro Orbiter. Unfortuately, although the line said 20 minutes, and we had a little flex time, it ended up being more like 35. I was just going to the college group so it wasn’t a big deal for me, and Marijka called her friends that she was going to meet up with and they had changed the meeting time to 10:00 anyway. So that was no problem. The Astro Orbiter is set up like the Dumbo ride, except it’s way up in the air and goes about two or three times faster. Which means it’s pretty thrilling – you kind of feel like you’re going to fling out into space. Marijka shrieked and clung to me the entire time, which I thought she probably would… it reminded me of riding with Rebecca, who did the same thing. J
We took the monorail back to the TTC and drove home. We got home at about 9:30, so it was too late for me to go to the college group, but I didn’t really mind. I’m going to go tomorrow, anyway.
Thursday I was working on Main Street, doing normal street sweeping. I don’t think anything interesting happened, other than me having three trash runs. But they were bagged and quite easy.
Friday was insanity. I hadn’t gotten home until 2:30 that night, which meant I was in bed at 3:30. I was meeting a friend, John Dickensheets at the Ticket and Transportation Center at 8:00, which meant getting up at 6:55. He was in Florida for a conference and had the day free. So we and his friend Lisa parkhopped all day, and saw all four parks. In one day. And me on three hours sleep. It was so much fun! I was really happy because I was afraid it would be awkward since I don’t know John super well (I mean, you can’t help knowing someone pretty well once you’ve spent weeks with them in the sound booth for shows, but we weren’t especial friends or anything) and I didn’t know Lisa at all. But Lisa was an absolute kindred spirit, and the three of us got on fantastically. My new Facebook profile picture (yes, the one with the Figment hat on my head) was taken that day. I would like to write more about all the fun things we did, but it’s so late that it’s early and I am tired, so I will just say that John teased Lisa and I all day, saying that he was touring Disney with the Lollypop Guild, because we are both so short and tiny (she is even smaller than me!) – we had to look very amusing going around Disney because he is fairly tall.
Fortunately, I was on Main Street again for work that night, doing parade clean up. I had to do a pushbroom instead of a vacuum and I like vacuuming better because it’s so much easier. I feel very inept at pushbrooming. But parade is still one of the easiest things to do, and I was extremely glad that that was what I was doing on three hours sleep and a day of park hopping.

So now I will just post a few snippets of things that have been happening, because I’m giving up on catching up. These are from e-mails I sent to my mother, but they give the general idea of what’s happening with me, and what I’m thinking about.

Tues, Oct 16:

I cooked today. Last week I went out and bought vegetables from the produce aisle - new experience there - and today I washed, peeled, and cooked them and they're in the crockpot being made into soup. I don't think I'd ever held a turnip in my life before. Do you peel turnips? I didn't know so I peeled it just in case. Since you peel potatoes and carrots. I hope the soup turns out okay. It smells good at any rate. Do you like thyme? I like the smell but I never had it before as far as I know so I hope I like it. I didn't put cabbage in even though the recipe calls for it because you only needed 1/4 of a head and I didn't know what the heck I'd do with the other 3/4 and I don't like cabbage anyway. And I bought real quaker oatmeal that you cook, and today I finally managed to cook it without boiling over the milk, and I had it with strawberries, and it was really really good.

Wed, Oct 17:

The soup turned out pretty good, and it made the apartment smell very delicious. I think it came out exactly as the recipe intended. I liked it, and Abby liked it. Marijka didn't particularly care for it. (She didn't say so, but she did the only-eat-half-of-it thing.) It's very much a vegetable soup - there's nothing in it but vegetables. It's good - especially because the turnip gives it a little bit of substance because it's not overcooked - but there's nothing comforting about it. It needs something. I supplied the something by eating it with club crackers, but I'd like to figure out what I could put in it to make it right. I feel like what it wants is something like cornbread. It needs some sort of substance thing - I wonder if barley would work? And some sort of warm-but-not-spicy flavor, like what cornbread has. Hey, I wonder if I could put corn in it? Does corn turn into absolute mush in a crockpot?

Friday, Oct 19:

I'm killer homesick. I don't think I've ever been homesick enough to cry before in my life. Don't get me wrong - it's not that debilitating can't-cope can't-think-of-anything-else homesick of a miserable kid at camp; I'm not miserable here and I don't actually want to give it up and come home - I just miss everyone and everything. And I'm sick of still being homesick because I've been homesick off and on for two or three weeks straight. It's kind of funny - when I was younger and went on youth trips I'd feel guilty that I'd never get homesick, like I must not love my family very much if I didn't miss them at all. Now I feel guilty for being too homesick, like I ought to be coping better and getting over it. Is this normal?
I went to a seminar/panel discussion thingie for Entertainment tonight, and met the Technical Director, Assistant Technical Director, the stage manager of Lights, Motors, Action!, and the Character Director. So yeah, that was pretty sweet. (I sound like Thad...) And I found out lots of things that made me happy. Someone asked the panel, "If you want to get into Entertainment, but your major isn't in an entertainment field, how much will that hinder you?" And three of the panel members simultaneously held up a "zero" hand symbol, and the other three laughed. And I almost cried for happiness, because one thing that I have worried about rather often in contemplating my life is that there will be lots of things I would love to do that will be closed to me because I am not a theatre major. And they said that basically a degree shows that you can make a commitment and carry it out, and beyond that, no matter what you learned they're going to teach you to do it their way anyway. And I also talked to David, who was doing the introductions and faciliating, and I asked about the end-of-season auditions (for next college program) and they're December 5th which means I have a month and a half to keep doing ballet, and then he asked how tall I was and I said " 5'3" " and he nodded, pleased, and explained that between 5'7" and 5'9" is the "dead" height range that nothing's really in. So yeah. Oh and somebody else said that the same person has played both Alice and Sleeping Beauty. I about passed out. And they were so encouraging about just doing whatever you're doing really well, and that was how someone would notice you, and it was so wonderful because that's what I had thought originally but it didn't seem true down in the dark tunnel surrounded by cynical people who don't believe in magic anymore. And now I know - it's the people who keep believing in the magic who move up. The people who have been in the same custodial position for years and are cynical, didn't stop believing in magic because they were stuck there, they're stuck there because they stopped believing in magic and started being cynical. And they also said to be proud of whatever role you're in because they're all important to the magic. So this week I'm going to go to work with a smile, I'm going to go above and beyond, and when somebody asks me what my role is I'm going to say, "Magic Kingdom Custodial," as proudly as I would say, "Entertainment." Because that's the Disney magic. And the people who are higher up in the company still believe in it. So there.
That's all my ramblings for tonight, I guess.

In Which Cinderannie Escapes the Ghosts

I tried to post this last night, but my internet connection died. So I'm posting it now.

Wednesday I spent all day home, and took apart a crochet blanket I made. This is because I had run out of yarn and in between, the company had changed the colors of that type of yarn, so I couldn’t get more. So I ended up with this strange 5’ by 1 ½’ piece of crocheted cloth that was too skinny for a blanket and two wide for a scarf. Rats. So there it was, hanging around all the time, and me not knowing what to do or how to finish it. So I realized, if I took it apart, I could make a blanket that was around 3’ by 4’ with the yarn. So now there are a whole bunch of balls of yarn in my crocheting bag. It was a bit of a wrench, taking it apart, because I worked on it in the waiting room of all my appointments when I had my brace, and there was a lot of history attached to it. But it was so pointless the way it was, and there was no way to salvage it because it would look silly with other colors of yarn. And I could have left some of the end and used it as a scarf, I suppose, but it was supposed to be a blanket, it just was, and I feel like it would always have bothered me that it never got to be a blanket. So anyway, I’ve taken it all apart and I’m going to make it into a blanket.

I also painted a couple pictures – I am not talented in that area at all, but I have fun with it anyway. And, to my surprise, Dani ended up really liking one of them and claiming it to keep in her room. She says it reminds her of her home in Arizona.

It was our one month anniversary of moving in, so we all wanted to go out somewhere together to celebrate. Nicole had mentioned craving Buffalo Wild Wings (oh yeah, forgot to say, I’d picked her up from the airport because she’d just gotten back from visiting home), and Dani and I were discussing it and I mentioned that, and she said,

“Didn’t you say you didn’t really like Buffalo Wild Wings?” I was surprised and pleased, both that she would remember that I had mentioned that, and even more, that she would decide on not going there just because I didn’t like it. But I told her that I didn’t mind going once in a while, it just wasn’t my favorite place, and since Nicole wanted to go it was okay with me. So we figured out what bus we needed to take, and when everyone was home, we got ready to go. We all kinda dressed up because we were in that sort of mood, and Dani tried to teach me to walk in high heels – ha. It didn’t work very well. I only got it right once, when Dani told me “walk like you know you’re the hottest thing in the room.” Yeah, that’s my personality all right… I didn’t wear them out, they were too uncomfortable.

We had heard that on Wednesdays there was a cover charge to get into Buffalo Wild Wings, but a couple of my roommates had been there on a Wednesday and they hadn’t been charged. So Dani called to see, and they said there was no charge. So we all went out to the bus stop.

At the bus stop I met Herberto. I now know the true meaning of the saying, “He thinks he’s God’s gift to women.” I have never in my life seen a guy who was so full of himself. He was dressed in a nice suit, and came and sat next to me on the bench. I said hello and he introduced himself, and I asked where he was going all dressed up and he said he went somewhere – “Margarita Blue”? – anyway I’d never heard of it. Must be some fancy night club. At first I was just like, “he’s friendly,” and then when he said his name was, “Herberto” – it was the complete opposite of Alejandro, who just said his name like it was his name – this guy said “Herberto” like he was saying “The King of England.” He was well aware of his own attractiveness, which of course made him completely unattractive. In a few moments I got up and wandered across to the other benches where the other girls were. He crossed one leg, spread his arms out over the back of the bench, and then lit up a cigarette, holding it in his hand like he was on the cover of a magazine – he was the most perfect picture of arrogance and conceit I’ve ever seen. I started laughing. I couldn’t help it. I had to walk away, trying unsuccessfully to hold it in. The good thing was, I figured he was so self-confident he’d never suspect I was laughing at him.

Of course, looking back, I can’t help but wonder if deep down he’s actually severely insecure. I think people who seem really arrogant often are. Poor guy. But honestly, him there, in his designer suit, with his cigarette… he was just too much. Oh, and apparently he called me “sweetie.” I didn’t hear him, but Nicole was saying on the bus that as I walked away he called me sweetie, and she was thinking, “Oh, don’t you call my girl ‘sweetie’!” I like being part of somebody’s “my girls.” I never had that before. I am part of a group, all of us who do “intellectual discussion,” but we aren’t the sisterhood sort. So it’s kind of fun.

Well, we got to B-Dubs, as those in GR call Buffalo Wild Wings (people don’t call it that here, it’s strange. Every time I forget and call it that people give me weird looks), and there was a sign on the door saying “$10 cover charge for those under 21.” Needless to say we were very miffed. We tried to explain that we had called and been told there wasn’t one, and Dani went and talked to the manager, but in the end it was useless, and we ended up going to TGI Fridays instead. At first Kara and Nicole were saddened by this, but then we ended up having a good time at Fridays and Nic even got to get buffalo wings there. They have amazing desserts.

Thursday I slept in because we got back really late. I was working in Liberty Square, which was lots of fun, although I felt really tired during the shift – from staying up late, I suppose. It was a Halloween party, and the most exciting part for me was emptying the trash in the Haunted Mansion at 1am when no one was in there – but the ghost host voice still talks. It is not a good job for someone with an overactive imagination… I almost didn’t go in to part of it; I had to make myself. We were supposed to go in the exit, and then there’s one can there, then we go through a hallway to the part where you get on the ride and there’s two cans there. But when I got there the exit was all locked up and I couldn’t get in. There was another door to the side of it, though, that said, “Servants Quarters,” the same thing the other cast-members-only door had said, so I went in. It was just a little hallway, with bells on the wall like for ringing for servants – which I half expected to start ringing – and also a vanity with a mirror. It wasn’t too terribly creepy, except that I could hear the voice of the ghost host coming through the door at the end of the hall. There was a trash can there, not one of the usual kind that’s metal but just a square plastic can with no lid with a black trash bag in it. I figured I might as well get it while I was there – probably cast member trash. There were double doors in the hall. I peeked in, in case it was a way through to the queue line. Nope, creepy storage room. I shut the door. I’d better check the door at the end of the hall in case it went to a place with more trash. Reluctantly, I pulled it open. Yes, there was a trash can, the same kind as in the hall, that had been left in the room. Not technically part of my route. But it was only a fraction of a second that it took me to take this in before realizing that this was the stretching room, basically the creepiest part of the whole thing, and the ghost voice was talking, and I looked up and there was that picture that changes from a person to a creepy skeleton and it finished changing just as I was looking at it and I shut the door again hastily. My trash dolly was full anyway. I went back to the dumpster and dumped it. I had to come back to the Haunted Mansion to get a couple bags I’d had to leave behind. I was fully intending on not getting that trash bag that was in the room. It wasn’t one that I was supposed to get anyway. Until I heard a quote from the Silver Chair in my head. It’s referring to Jill, thinking about Eustace, after she climbs out of the hole she fell into and says that she doesn’t think the passage goes “anywhere much.”

“She felt sure that he knew that she had funked it.” “Funked it” is English slang – or was in the days of C.S. Lewis – for chickening out, not doing something because you are too scared to do it. And I realized that that was exactly what I was doing. And I remembered that courage is doing something when you’re scared to. So I decided I was going to get that can. I went into the hallway where I was before – and to my surprise, the door at the end of the hall, into the stretching room, was open! A maintenance person must have been in there. It was still creepy, but much less so. I don’t know what it is, exactly, but it’s much less scary if the door is propped open than if you have to open it. It takes some of the mystery away, I guess. So I went in and got the trash – while not looking at the transforming picture. And then I saw that there was another door propped open on the other side. I peeked through to investigate. Hey! The queue line at the ride entrance! With the two trash cans I was supposed to get! It wasn’t that scary getting them, especially because I kept hearing my keys clink in a very janitorial fashion, which is one of the most ordinary, non-ghostly things you can imagine. Also, hearing the ghost voice proclaiming that the room had no windows and no doors while three doors were propped wide open took some of the spookiness out of that particular proclamation… so anyway, I got the trash and got out of there. Whew. Afterward, when it was too late, I realized that I should have looked for that other hallway so I could get the trash out of the exit area that I was locked out of. Oh well.

I think if I ever did it again it would be a little less scary, having done it once. I’d kind of like to. I should make friends with the ghosts. And I know you’re probably all thinking, “She such a fraidy cat. It’s just the Haunted Mansion. It’s more silly than scary.” But I must mention three things in my defense. 1) My emotions are very susceptible to music, and there was creepy music playing outside for Halloween, plus all the creepy sound effects that are always around the Haunted Mansion. 2) The dividing line between reality and my imagination and stories has never been very clear for me. All my life I have let whatever story was around me become very real to me. This is a lot of fun when pretending in elementary school, makes Disney all the more magic, makes the Easter Drama an incredible experience, is conducive to good acting – and is not so great in the Haunted Mansion at 1am. 3) Everything is very different when you’re alone. It’s all very well with a crowd of people around you who are laughing and joking and being ordinary, but when you’re by yourself… I’d like to see you go in there all alone and see how you like it.

On Friday I had to hang around the house all day because a Dell person was going to come fix my computer. And then he got stuck in traffic and couldn’t get there before time for me to leave for work. Grr. I worked on Main Street – not parade this time, just normal sweeping. I was on the “hub” area, which means the circle in front of Cinderella’s castle that is the center of the park. The nice thing about this space is that because it’s so busy, we put bags in the trash cans so we can just grab them out, so doing trash runs was really easy. The other nice thing is that it’s so crowded during the parades and fireworks that you couldn’t possibly sweep, so the coordinator lets you stand out of the way and watch. It was my first time watching the Halloween fireworks from Main Street, and I enjoyed it very much. At the end I was closing the hub trash, and it was being really easy because I had just done it, so all I had to do was take out the last bag and rinse the plastic liners, and since there was only one or two pieces of trash in each one, I could do it all in one trip. Until I realized there was a can I had been missing every time, and so of course it was three-quarters full, and wouldn’t fit, which meant a whole ‘nother trip. (“A whole ‘nother” is absolutely atrocious grammar, incidentally. But it’s such a useful phrase.) Rats. But just then another guy showed up who had been sent to help me, so I very thankfully had him get it. It’s so nice when someone comes at just the right time. (Ha, unintentional Romans reference…)

Saturday I didn’t have time to do anything, because they scheduled me for an earlier-than-usual shirt, which meant that I had less that 12 hours at home. I worked Friday from 6:30pm-2:00am, and on Saturday from 1:15-7:15pm. With bus rides, that means about 8 hours actually home. Lovely. I was working in Toontown, though, which is easy. I felt really tired, though – actually I was feeling tired on Thursday too. I’m not sure why that is – I should pay attention to how much sleep I’m getting. Also it could be because it’s been warmer lately (highs in the 90s, lows in the 70s) and the heat saps my energy. Oh, I thought of something else – during the time I had energy, I was making an effort to eat healthy, and then in these days I had kind of let that slide. So that could be related to it as well. At any rate, the only interesting thing that happened was a conversation with a couple from Florida who had season passes. If it’s in the middle of the day, the people I end up talking to are either grandmas who are waiting with little ones while the moms and dads take the middle-size and big ones on Space Mountain, or Floridians with season passes. Because those are the people who aren’t in a hurry. So we discussed oranges. Apparently you can’t just go pick oranges, like you can just go pick apples in Michigan. (Every time I think about apple picking or mention it, I can smell the smell of the orchard and feel the “feeling” of apple picking and getting pumpkins. I miss Michigan and I miss my family.) This is because the oranges in Florida are used for juice and are not as nice for eating. Oh, and I had to wear a dorky bright yellow baseball cap with a bright blue brim all day, because I forgot my hat, and with a shift in the middle of the afternoon I would definitely pass out if I didn’t wear one, and they were out of the white straw ones like I wear when I went to Costuming.

Saturday night, Abby and Nic and I watched a couple episodes of Gargoyles that Abby had.. It’s a 90s cartoon TV show. It was pretty good – although I burst out laughing when the high-tech guy needed the gargoyles to rescue floppy disks, and popped in a VHS tape.

Sunday morning I went to an Episcopal church. There was a traditional service at 8am and a contemporary at 10:30. I ended up going to both. I really felt like singing hymns would do me a lot of good – and I did enjoy it. However, it was all older people, which I don’t mind, but I thought I would like to meet some people my own age also. So I decided to go to the 10:30 service as well. At the continental breakfast after the first service I met a few of the people who were there. I’ve noticed a lot of people here are quite racist against Spanish-speaking people, and my word it makes me so mad. I was talking to this old lady who was telling me about her friend who interviewed for a job at Disney, and that the lady who interviewed her was Hispanic and that she watched her look around the room at the other people waiting who were also Hispanic, and that she just knew that she wouldn’t get the job because the lady was “saving it for her kind.” Now, perhaps that was true. But from there she went on generalizing that “that’s how they all are,” and I said, “You can’t generalize from that, though. All Hispanic people aren’t the same any more than all Caucasian people are the same. Just because one person was like that doesn’t mean they all are.” And she said, “But birds of a feather flock together, you know that saying.” And then she kept talking and I kind of zoned out mentally, until I heard her say something about “their kind,” and “our kind have to stick together,” and I got up abruptly and threw away my trash, screaming under my breath (do you know what I mean by that? If you ever did it you do), “They are my kind, they’re my sisters!” I don’t know if she thought I was rude to get up so suddenly but it was less rude than getting into an all-out argument with her, which was what was going to happen if I didn’t leave the table.

So here’s my question – how do you combat racism and live in peace at the same time? What’s the right thing to do when someone is making comments like that? Any advice is appreciated.

Fortunately I had another far more pleasant conversation after that, with a lady from Michigan – Holly, in fact, the place where the Michigan Ren Faire is. She had just been up to visit, and could tell me that the leaves were just beginning to turn. She had been living in Florida for ten years, but she told me with great delight that as soon as her house sold, she was moving back home to Michigan. Once a Michigander, always a Michigander, I guess! J

I enjoyed the service very much. One thing that was kind of funny is that they use those video powerpoint things like we do, that have the words of the song with movies in the background, like the “you rule, you reign,” one, except that they have recordings with them so that you hear the recording of them instead of just us singing. I am not so much a big fan of that, but it was nice to sing the songs. And, oh happiness! The “fracture anthem” (the song we sing during the breaking of the bread for communion) was to the tune of “Sing Alleluia”! Oh, that was lovely… it was also lovely to take communion twice after not getting to have it for ages. They use real wine for it there – the only other time I’d had it was when we used it for communion in Greece. This wine was nicer; it didn’t taste nasty. I liked it for the same reason I like only drinking grape juice for communion and not at other times; it’s a stronger taste than what I have in any other drink. Wine was the same only more so. Also it gives me a warm feeling inside, which is pleasant. Kneeling at the rail to receive communion, and the way they say “The body of Christ, the Bread of Heaven,” each time they give it to you, is very special.

The sermon was quite good. Nobody’s going to measure up to Louie, of course, but it at least was based on Scripture and had thought in it.

Well, that’s enough for tonight. It’s 10:16, and I haven’t really been getting enough sleep lately. So… you’ll have to wait until later to hear more. But I figure five pages is probably quite sufficient… maybe eventually I’ll get the hang of the one-post-a-day-thing…

Four Posts - Six Days, and I'm Caught Up!

Post #1: In Which Cinderannie Eats a Delicious Dessert and Has a Somewhat More Successful Time at Ballet

I spent nearly all of Wednesday the 26th writing blogs, so there’s not much to tell about it. In the evening I went to Breaking Bread again. It was nice to know people there this time. One guy, Steve, I met due to a disagreement about ovens. He was giving an example of a commercial for Home Depot, where the wife is saying that her oven is 10 years old and she needs a new one, and the husband says, “It’s only 10 years old!” and the wife says, “But in oven years that’s like 90!” Steve said that this was just a marketing ploy, and that ovens are really good for 40 years. And I said that no, ovens are not good for 40 years – they may last longer than 10, but I’d like to see him bake decent cookies in a 40-year-old oven! And then he said that he didn’t bake. My point exactly. But anyway, Breaking Bread was good – especially the singing at the beginning. It’s a lot like Cornerstone’s Evensong. The problem with that is that at Evensong I always go to what I affectionately dub “the Pentecostal corner,” where people lift both hands or kneel or dance, and I’d gotten used to dancing – or at least moving to the music – and I kept wanting to do it there! I couldn’t help swaying…
After the class a bunch of us went to Alehouse again. This time I brought $5 with me so that I could get something to eat. Steve and I split chips and salsa and “Cap’n Jack’s Buried Treasure,” a completely amazing ice cream cake. Chocolate and caramel and heath bits… wow. We talked pretty much the whole time. He was nice, and asked me questions about back home. It was nice to talk about all the people and things I miss. The funny things was that I’m used to being the one who doesn’t talk in a gathering like that, so sometimes I just wanted to listen to the general conversation and write in my notebook, but he was too nice to let me be “left out.” Ah, the oddness of being antisocial... I had parked right behind him, so when we went to our cars we talked for a little. (And no, I don’t like him that way, so y’all had better not start getting any ideas.)
Thursday night I went to ballet again – this time on time, and with Marijka. I was nervous, but happy to be on time. Before class, we met a few other girls from the college program – including one who is “friends with” Jasmine! The others were character performers as well.
I did the barre portion with no problems, and even the combinations (for those who don’t know, a “combination” is a series of dance steps) went better this time. Plus, when I didn’t get a step right, the teacher would come over to me and show me how to do it. Once she had me go back to the end of the line and do the combination over again. It’s funny – a few years ago, I would have felt awful about being reinstructed and sent back. Instead, I was thrilled. Because if she’s taking the time to teach it to me and have me do it again, it means she thinks I can learn it. The only combination that I couldn’t do at all was the last one. All the others I got at least partially. And I did ask her to show me a step at the end – glissade (is that how you spell it?), which I’d learned at the class in GR but couldn’t remember. She showed it to me gladly. And since I’m working this Thursday I can’t go, so I asked her whether the beginner class was on Monday or Tuesday (since I had today, Tuesday, off), but the beginner class was Monday.
“Oh, too bad,” I said. “I have Tuesday and Wednesday off.”
“We have class Tuesday,” she said.
“It’ll be completely over my head,” I said, making what books call “a wry face.”
“You are doing good,” she said consolingly, with a smile. So that was nice. Much to my annoyance, I have Tuesday and Wednesday off again next week – maybe I’ll get up my courage and go to the advanced class. I don’t know, though – what good will it do me to go to a class where I can’t do any of the combinations? But how can I learn if I never go to a class? Advice is appreciated.
I left the class feeling very encouraged, however – I’m learning! I can do this! And the teacher thinks I can learn! I just can’t let myself be intimidated by having Jasmine for a classmate…

Post#2: In Which Cinderannie is Teased by the Tweedles and Rescued by her Roommate

Friday the 28th, Lydia’s birthday, was a grand time. It was another Halloween Party, and I was in Toontown again. This time, however, I was assigned to be a treat trail sweeper – so I got to spend the whole time walking up and down the path, seeing Alice and the Mad Hatter and the Walrus and the Queen of Hearts and the White Rabbit and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Once as I was sweeping the area in front of the train station, at one end of the path, the Tweedles came by. I waved at them, and Tweedle Dum came over and tweaked my nose! Then, later, I was sweeping up the path during a time when there weren’t many guests coming through. No one was talking to the Tweedles at the time, so they came over to me. Tweedle Dum stole my broom and dustpan and started sweeping with them! Tweedle Dee and I had a surprised conversation over this, and then both stood there with our arms crossed, glaring at him, until he returned them. Then they both hugged me from opposite sides, nearly squishing me. I was laughing and laughing. Then they let me out, and pointed to the Queen of Hearts who was walking away. They weren’t just hugging me, they were hiding me! Those Tweedles pretty much made my night.
I also got to interact a bit with the White Rabbit – who pointed in astonishment to a lady who was dressed up as the white rabbit – and the Queen of Hearts, who I curtseyed to, my toes appropriately turned out. They were all so much fun.
I saw a little boy in a Thomas costume, too, so I followed after them so I could say,
“It’s the number one really useful engine! Hello, Thomas!” This was at the beginning of the fireworks. He didn’t reply, and then I saw that he had tears in his eyes.
“He’s scared of the fireworks,” his dad explained. Hmm, why does it not surprise me that the child in a Thomas costume is afraid of the fireworks? Disney needs a fireworks refuge spot for children with high functioning autism. I asked another cast member later where the spot is that most muffles the fireworks, so that I could tell people who needed it. He recommended the arcade, which was right by where we were. I hope that they thought to go in there – although it’s pretty flashing-lights-and-noise-ish. It still might be better than outside with those ridiculously loud fireworks, though.
My clock out was 12:15, just 15 minutes after park closing, so there were still people around when I was leaving. I like this, because I don’t like having to stay for an hour and a half after closing when all the people have gone home – I find it a little depressing. But this shift was just right.
On Saturday morning I went shopping at Walmart, since I had deposited my paycheck the day before and now had money for groceries. I’d been living off my roommates’ groceries for the past week because I didn’t have any money, so it was time for a grand Walmart trip to restock the fridge and cupboards. I took requests for things that they wanted. It was a fun trip, and I was moving quickly since I had to work at 4:45. I was happy as I was checking out – I’d made it in plenty of time. It took less time to shop than I thought, which never happens to me. I loaded up my groceries, shut the trunk, took my cart to the corral, went back to my car, felt in my pocket for my keys – oh crud. Other pocket. Purse. Run back to the cart – the cart guy took it! Run to the cart guy. Not there. Go back and look on the ground under the car. Look inside the car – no, door’s locked. Feel in my pockets again. Come to the sad conclusion that I have locked my keys inside my trunk. Rats.
I thought rapidly. Well, worst case scenario, I could take the bus back to the apartment, and then take the bus to work. (There wasn’t time to take the bus back to the apartment, get my spare key, and take the bus back to Walmart.) My milk and things would spoil, but at least I’d get to work. Abby, my only roommate with a car, was at work. I wasn’t sure what time she got off, so I called and left her a message. I asked a Walmart employee for advice, but after reviewing the options he was as much at a loss as I was. So I thought, maybe another roommate is around and knows someone with a car. So I called my roommates. Nicole answered her phone.
“Hi Nicole. You wouldn’t happen to know someone with a car and some spare time, would you? I’m at Walmart and I locked my keys in the trunk.”
“I’ll be there in three minutes,” she said. Wow! Wait, she has a car? Oh yeah, that’s right, she and Kara and Marijka are always going places, how did I think they were getting there?
“Hang on,” I said, “let me tell you where my spare key is. It’s in my top nightstand drawer, probably fallen toward the bottom, not the house key and not the square key but the one attached to a little furry critter thing – ”
“Got it,” she said. “I’ll be right there.”
“Thank you!” I said, and she was gone. And there I am, standing outside Walmart, singing that country song that goes,
You find out who your friends are -
Somebody’s gonna drop everything,
Run out and crank up their car,
Hit the gas, get there fast,
Never stop to think,
“What’s in it for me,”
Or “It’s too far – ”
You find out who your friends are.
Yeah, pretty much I have amazing roommates. So she gets there, in about ten minutes, apologizes that it took so long – “I swear I was hitting every light!” – and drives me over to my car. Needless to say I thanked her profusely. And we got home, she helped me unload the groceries, and I caught the bus to work on time. Wow.
I was working in Toontown again. After the excitement of the parade, it was a little dull. I had a trash run, which was ridiculously easy because the person before me had been delayed in doing his, so he was doing it right before me, so there was barely anything in the trash cans and I could do it all in one trip. The only thing of interest that happened was that a little girl was crying in a stroller outside County Bounty, and I went over and talked to her and showed her my pins and got her to stop crying. Before I left I gave her one of my pins – a Tinkerbelle one that we get a lot of – and she didn’t say anything (she hadn’t said a word the whole time), just held it and tilted it back and forth to see it sparkle. Her grandmother kept telling her to say thank you, but honestly it was really late and she was probably exhausted and I really didn’t care if she didn’t say thank you or not. I was just glad I got to make some magic.

Post #3: In Which Cinderannie Has a Very Good Day

Sunday (wow, I’m finally writing about the week it really is!) was a wonderful day. In the morning I went to First Baptist again – oh yeah, I forgot to write about church last week. Oh well. At any rate, Abby came with me this time. We went to the college group Sunday school. Blythefield spoils me for everything. We talked about what contentment is, but the teacher never actually made a point as far as I could tell. He kept seeming like he was going somewhere and then never getting there.
Both Sundays I had the same experience with the service. I started out by cringing at the obnoxious upbeatness of the worship leader, then made myself focus on God and not him (“minor on the minors,” says the voice of Pastor Louie in my head) and started enjoying the singing. Then the pastor comes up to give a welcome and I cringe at his emotional way of talking – the kind you expect to be punctuated with “oh, yes,” or “thank you Jesus” every other sentence – but then when he starts preaching he makes good points, and I enjoy the sermon. So thus it went. I kept crying during the whole service – at the beginning because I missed Blythefield so badly, and then during the sermon because the topic was “because you gave” and they showed several videos of people giving their testimonies or getting baptized and they made me cry. And I cried at the end of the service, because he called up a couple who was sitting near the front, to tell of how a year previous, the husband was calling him saying, “Please pray for me. My wife has left me and I don’t know what to do.” And they prayed – and she became a believer, came back, and was baptized, and just a few weeks before the couple had renewed their vows.
That afternoon I took a nap, since I had to work until 12:45 that night. And what a grand night of work it was. I was on parade clean up. This means that I spend the first hour sweeping on Main Street, then report backstage before the parade to find out what I’m doing. I was supposed to be pushbrooming (my computer thinks that should be “mushrooming”…), but they were short a vacuumer, so I volunteered. It wasn’t that hard – it was kind of fun, actually. And I had a really good pushbroomer to work with, who got all the trash right in front of me, so it was easy. And the best part is, we get the vacuums out there and ready to go before the parade even goes through – so we get to just stand there and watch the Halloween parade! Twice! We also pushbroom and vacuum after the fireworks, so we got to stand backstage and watch the fireworks, too. After the 2nd parade was over and we had vacuumed and put away the vacuums, I and another guy who had vacuumed went and asked Bud (he was our coordinator, and a mountain man if you ever saw one – he’s my favorite coordinator) what we should do next, since there was over an hour before time to clock out.
Bud told us to take the trash and recyclables out of the avac room and sweep it out. I got the trash, the other guy got the recyclables, and we carted them over to the compacter and the recycle bins. There were also bags of trash just laying beside the recycle bin so I tossed those in the compactor as well. I bet someone was zoned out and tossed them on top of the recycling and then when the recycle people came they just left them there. Then I went back to the avac room and swept it out. While I was there a guy came over and showed me how to squirt the lemon cleaner on the floor and then spray it around with the hose so that the room smells nicer and the floor gets clean. The avac room looked waaaay better when I was finished with it and I was very pleased, especially because now the poor person closing main street trash wouldn’t have to do it.
Oh, and something else – earlier Russ (the manager)had said he had something for me. It turned out to be a Guest Service Fanatic card, awarded to me for helping with the BDO trash run the other night. So I get to put it in the drawing box and maybe win a prize. Once I was done cleaning the avac room, I ran into Russ, so I asked him what to do next. He offered me an early release, or I could go sweep on Main Street. Since it was only 25 minutes until time to leave anyway, and since I had energy left, I went to go sweep.
It was such fun. I love Main Street at night. And everyone wants family pictures in front of the castle before they leave, so it’s great fun to go up to the dad who’s taking pictures of the rest of the family, and say, “Would you like a picture of all of you?” and they say “Oh yes, thank you!” and are so pleased, and I take their picture. And I had my lanyard, so people were also doing trading. And then I looked at my watch, and it was time to go. I started walking toward the door to backstage – and then realized that for the first time ever in my history of working anywhere, I didn’t want to be done with work for the day. I didn’t want to leave Main Street and go downstairs to clock out. I wanted to stay up there and sweep and take pictures of everyone and pin trade. And I had to laugh.
Well, I did go, since I’m not supposed to clock out late, and told myself, “You can come back tomorrow! Good grief!”
See, I told you it would get better! :-)

Post #4: In Which Cinderannie Gives Away a Pin, and Catches Up This Blog

Monday was another beautiful day. I spent the morning cleaning, since we had an apartment inspection that day – which we passed beautifully. Apartment inspections! We didn’t even have those at Cornerstone! But hey, our apartment’s clean – and they gave us rice krispie treats for having a clean apartment.
Before I went to work I stopped and renewed my pin lanyard – we can trade in six pins at a time for new ones. Thankfully, they didn’t mind that I’d given away a pin. That night, I was working – I thought – at Casey’s, a restaurant on Main Street, bussing tables. But when I clocked in the computer said I was a BDO sweeper. I asked another custodial standing there and he said that it always says Casey’s even if you aren’t there. So I went to the Main Street stock room to look at the schedule. I wasn’t on it. Fortunately, just then the manager (Diane, the manager who gave me my pin lanyard) came in, so I asked her what was up. She looked at her schedules, and it turned out that I was supposed to be at Casey’s. Good grief. So I went over there, and went to the stockroom to get my cloth for cleaning tables and look at the schedule to see when my breaks were. It turned out I was a floater between Casey’s and the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor (or “the Cone shop,” as we nickname it for some reason). Yay! I get to move around! Casey’s looked like it was in good shape, so I went across the street to Cone, and it turned out I was the only one there! I didn’t mind this, however, and it turned out that the pace was perfect. Enough to keep me moving, but not enough to be overwhelming.
It rained off and on, and in between I dried off the tables and chairs. In the section of tables right outside the ice cream parlor, the people were always happy I was drying the tables and sat in them, but down in the smoking section they were not very nice and mocked me for drying them when it was just going to rain again. And I’m thinking, “Well, you’re standing there! Maybe you’d like to sit down in a dry chair at a dry table!” What most annoyed me was when one of them said, “She gets paid by the hour,” implying that I was just killing time. It made me so mad, because I’m not that sort of person, who is inefficient and lazy because I get paid by the hour. But other than that I had a really good time, although I delayed my break because I was the only one there and it was busy enough that if I left for 15 minutes things were going to turn into a mess. When I did go on break, we had cupcakes! Yum! Normally I don’t like lots of frosting, but for some reason I was in the mood for it. Chocolate cupcakes, with bright blue frosting. I was quite sure that my teeth were turning blue…
It poured down rain for a little while that night, and I ducked under the Plaza awning with the guests and chatted with a couple for a while until the rain let up. And I went on a mission to find where the nearest place with hot drinks was for another man. It was the Main Street bakery. He went there, and I wasn’t surprised when he came back with his coffee – and cinnamon rolls. Nobody could go into a place that smells that amazing and get nothing but coffee.
Spectromagic was delayed because of the rain, but we did have it. I was doing a trash run over at Casey’s during it, so I didn’t get to see much, but I did catch sight of the dancing butterflies – my favorite part. After the trash run I went back to the ice cream parlor, and did a little sweeping. While I was there, a boy (about 10 years old I think?) came up to me wanting to trade. I had a pirate Dale and a pirate Chip, and he chose the pirate Dale, trading me an Ariel for it.
“It’s his first trade,” his mother said. I congratulated him. Then I noticed that he didn’t have any other pins on his lanyard, which meant that even if he wanted Chip, he couldn’t get it.
“Well,” I said, “in honor of your very first pin trade, and since Chip will be awfully lonely without his friend Dale, I would like to give you this.” And I took pirate Chip off my lanyard and gave it to him. He had the biggest grin. (If I’m going to keep giving pins away, I think I should probably buy ones to replace them. We’re not really supposed to give them away… but it makes such good magic!)
A little more sweeping, and it was time for the fireworks and almost time for me to leave. I and a few other custodials stood and watched the fireworks together. It was fun because I was next to Shay, who loves the fireworks as much as I do, so we could be enthusiastic together. The best part was that they started 15 minutes before my clock out time. We’re allowed to clock out 10 minutes early, and we’re allowed to take 5 minutes of walk time – which meant I could watch the fireworks guiltlessly and on my own time. It was lovely. And even though I’ve seen the fireworks almost every night for nearly a month, they still give me chills.
After the fireworks I went to go clock out – and once again, I didn’t want to leave! I was so happy, and as I walked down the main tunnel after clocking out, I just couldn’t hold it in any more and I twirled in a circle with my arms out, right in the middle of the tunnel. Everyone probably thought I was insane, but I didn’t care. Maybe I can spread some Disney magic underground. I was grinning at everyone and waving and saying hello. “Hello, Fantasyland attractions people!” and then, “Hello, Fairy Godmother!” And I started giggling again. I just walked past the Fairy Godmother! In the tunnel after work!
I love my job.

Today I pretty much spent all day e-mailing friends and working on this blog, with the result that I am now caught up! Hurray! Now you can actually know what I’m really doing! Finally!

I love you all.

Three Posts; Five Days

Post #1: In Which Cinderannie Sends a Present and Almost Faints

On Friday the 21st I wrapped Lydia’s presents and mailed her package. It was fun to pack everything up. I had a terrible time finding the post office, however – it was hidden in a strip mall, tucked toward the back, and with no sign except a paper in the window! Government! I drove around that area at least three or four times before I managed to find the place. You’d think they could have a sign up above their section, like every other store in the strip mall… it doesn’t have to be fancy – just block letters saying, “POST OFFICE” would suffice! Once I was inside, they were very nice, however, and helped me figure out which size box I needed. I packaged everything up, taped it, and sent it on its way – and by the time I got back, had just enough time to pack food and dash to the bus.
I was excited for work – it was a Halloween party night! I was working in Toontown, so I wouldn’t be able to see the parade, but I would see the fireworks as well as everyone in their costumes. I started work at 3:15. Earlier in the week I had looked at myself in the mirror with hat on and hat off and decided I liked how I looked better without the hat. However, this was a mistake…
At about 5:15, I was finishing up a trash run. A lady came up to me, wanting to know where Cinderella was. There is a number, the Chip hotline, that we can call to find out where any character is at any time. I had the Nextel radio on me, so I attempted to figure out how to call the number – I had a terrible time getting the dumb thing out of the holder, it was so embarrassing – only to realize that you couldn’t use those radios to call normal numbers, you could only call other radios, or if you could I didn’t know how, because the Chip hotline was just four numbers. I was feeling very hot, and frustrated by my inability to help this poor lady who just wanted to know where Cinderella was – and I was starting to feel sick. I looked around for another cast member to help me. Finally I found another Custodial who had been there longer than me and knew that Cinderella was in the County Bounty tent, just a short distance from where we were, and if for some reason she wasn’t, the people there would know where she was. I was getting lightheaded now. I got back to the lady, told her this with a smile and apologized for the delay. She thanked me and headed for the tent. Just as she was leaving, I started getting tunnel vision. I stumbled to a bench and groped for it as my vision went dark, thinking “Don’t pass out, don’t pass out…” Fortunately, I managed to sit down on the bench and keep my consciousness. I breathed deeply a few times, my vision came back, and knew I needed to get to the air-conditioned break room. Never mind the last can of my trash run, if I passed out in the middle of Toontown it was not going to be good. Still feeling sick, I made it backstage and into the breakroom and collapsed at a table. I knew I should drink water, but I wasn’t sure I could make it to the cooler, and anyway there were never any cups. There was a man sitting at the table next to mine. This was no time to quibble over being forward.
“Excuse me sir?” I said. He turned. “I’m sorry – I just almost passed out out there – would you mind getting me some water?”
“Sure,” he said. I was expecting him to just go to the cooler, and at most have to fetch cups from somewhere – but he disappeared to somewhere and came back with a cold bottle of Dasani water. I thanked him very much. Some places they provide water bottles for cast members, and I don’t know if he got it from one of those, or if he paid for it out of a vending machine. I would have liked to have paid him back for it if he did, but by the time I had drank some and was feeling a bit more coherent, he was gone. So thank you, wonderful Photopass man.
Once I could think, I called the other Toontown custodial Nextel, and asked that person if they could get the last can on my trash run. The guy, Michael, not only did this, but also came to the break room to check on me and make sure I was okay. It was funny – we learned about asking someone who is hurt or whatever three times if they want a paramedic called, and also telling them it’s free – because sometimes someone will be like, “no, I’m fine, I’m fine,” but if they think about it they realize it would be a good idea. And when he came he did the asking three times and saying it was free thing to me! It made me laugh. But I told him no, I would be okay now that I was in the coolness and had something to drink, and thanked him for finishing my trash run.
It had been time for my break when I came into the break room. It was just supposed to be a 15 minute break, but I stayed there 25 minutes, and had some trail mix that I brought, because I knew that if I didn’t stay there long enough to cool down thoroughly I would just go out there and pass out again. Fortunately, when I did go back out, I was fine.
We had “track talk” (when all the custodials from Toontown and Tomorrowland meet and get any news) at 6:00pm. The only important thing there was that everyone who was sweeping needed to occasionally go up and down the Alice and the Mad Hatter’s Treat Party trail because people drop candy a lot there. I liked this, because I get to see all the characters (the Alice is so perfect! I love her!) and listen to the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack music.
This was the only 8 hour shift that I’ve had so far – I finished at midnight. I was really tired going back, from walking all that time, but it was a good night. Seeing everyone in their costumes is so much fun. And the HalloWishes fireworks are LOUD!


Post #2: In Which Cinderannie Has Two Terrible Days

On Saturday the 22nd, I worked in Fantasyland, bussing tables. At first it seemed like everything was a mess, because two of us were doing a trash run in the same area at the same time, and it seemed like there were too many custodials in the area getting in each others way, and everything was frustrating. But then a manager came by, and I asked her about the schedule, and it turned out that I was the cause of all this confusion – I hadn’t understood the schedule, and I was actually supposed to be in a different area, a short distance away – Scuttle’s landing, instead of The Fry Shoppe. Rats. So I go over there, and of course it’s a bit of a mess because I wasn’t there, so I dash around, sweep up and wipe the tables, and empty all the trash. By time I finished with all this, it was getting dark out. The lights were out that were around the tent that was over the tables, and I thought, “that’s weird, you’d think they’d want them on when it’s dark, but maybe they only use them when Ariel is here doing a show (there’s a stage inside the tent).” But then a little later the manager came and said, “Have these lights been off the whole time?!” and they were supposed to be on and maintenance should have been called… honestly, that whole shift I felt like I was doing everything wrong and couldn’t fix it. I don’t know what was wrong with me. But another girl I talked to, who took me to where the trash that can’t go down the AVAC goes so I could know where to put it, said that everyone feels like that the first time they do a new type of shift. So that was comforting.
After the park was closed and my area was all clean and the trash was emptied, I still had a little less than an hour before my shift ended. I went to ask the manager whether I should go to Main Street, since that’s usually what we do. But instead, she said,
“Okay, I’m sorry to ask you to do this, but could you please close out the male Peter Pan restrooms?” Of course I said, “Sure,” and went. I was doing okay, despite being tired and frustrated, until as I was cleaning I left the stockroom door open, because I was going back and forth getting different cleaners for different things, and then the lady doing the female restrooms told me crossly that I had to close it and lock it every time. After she had gone I yelled under my breath,
“There’s nobody here but you and me, lady! Who do you think is going to come steal or eat the chemicals!?” And to my frustration tears came into my eyes. I blinked them back and went into the restroom, carrying my cleaner, and to my surprise, there was a man in there cleaning!
“Oh, hello,” I said. “My manager told me to close these out.”
“Oh. Well, we will help each other,” he said in a Spanish accent, and we did. You would think it would be awkward, cleaning a men’s bathroom with a man, but for some reason it wasn’t. He wouldn’t let me clean the toilets and urinals, insisting that he would do that. So I cleaned the sinks and mirror and swept the floor and checked to make sure there was enough toilet paper and paper towel, and then before I knew it, it was time for me to go clock out. I thanked him very much, and gladly went to go home. It was nice of him to show up before I went to pieces.
I’m sorry that I’m going to tell about another crummy shift, but I figure you want to know what’s really happening to me. Don’t worry, this next one (Sunday the 23rd) was the worst day, and after that it all gets much better – indeed, right up to wonderful. But first…
On Saturday I was working in Tomorrowland again. Everything was going well, until I had to do a closing trash run. Ian, another custodial, had show me where everything was, and I thought it was going to go okay. But for some reason, things always take me longer than they take other people (except assembly line things. Then I can go the fastest. I wonder why that is?), especially the first time I do them. I was supposed to clock out at 12:15. But it took forever, and I was finishing the outside trash cans at ten to midnight and still had to do the bagged trash inside the rides. At that point I still thought I would make it, even though I also had to clean the dumpster area – I didn’t realize how many cans there were inside Buzz Lightyear, Stitch’s Great Escape, and Monster’s Inc. I got through Buzz, and it was 12:15. Then Stitch – it’s the old Alien Encounter, which was designed to be scary, and they haven’t changed the pre-show areas at all. It was a little creepy but not too bad when I was in there at first. Then I went to do Monster’s Inc. and realized I’d left the roll of plastic trash bags behind. So I had to go back in and look for them. Ugh. I practically ran out of there… shudder. It was nearly 12:45 when I finished Monster’s Inc. The trash cart was so heavy I could barely push it. I sang songs as I went back to the dumpsters.
All the trash liners on the cart had to be dumped into the compactor and rinsed, and then I had to sweep up the area. We aren’t supposed to clock out more than 15 minutes past our scheduled time, but by this time I figure I might as well be hung for a – what’s the expression? A dollar as a dime? No. A horse as a rabbit? Definitely not. I can’t remember at all. Well, anyway, I figured now that I was here I might as well clean the dumpster area thoroughly, so I got it all swept up and hosed down. As I was finishing the last of it, maggots started crawling from under the dumpster. Lots of them. Ugh ugh ugh. Thankful that they hadn’t come until I was done, I fled with my trash cart, left it in its spot by the Carousel of Progress gate, and went to clock out with great relief.
I had missed the bus that afternoon, so I’d had to drive to work. Fortunately I’d paid very close attention to where I parked, so I didn’t have any trouble finding my car. Getting home, on the other hand, was a different story. I got so lost! In the middle of nowhere! And when I did get to somewhere, everything was closed! I turned around, hoping that I could retrace my way back to Disney, and wondering what my mother would think if I called her at almost 2am telling her I was lost in Florida. Well, I didn’t get back to exactly where I started, but it was with extreme relief that I saw a Disney logo on a sign. I was over at Buena Vista video headquarters, and I have no idea where that is in the Disney complex, but all I knew was that once I was within Disney either there would be signs to tell me how to get home, or I would find someone who was awake and working. I drove along – stopping at a lighted building to see if anyone was there, but no one was – until I saw, with great relief, a sign that said “All Guest Areas” with an arrow pointing to the right. From there I just followed the signs until I knew where I was and could get home. And I was sooo glad to get back…
Thus ends the account of the two worst days of work so far. Again I say, don’t worry, it all goes up from here.

Post #3: In Which Five People Notice Cinderannie

On Monday the 24th I worked in Tomorrowland again. I went with some trepidation, given my previous experience, but when I looked on my sheet I didn’t have a trash run at all! So it was an easy night, nothing but sweeping and chatting with guests, and drying the tables after it rained. There’s nothing much to tell about it, other than that I was talking to a guy doing a trash run during the fireworks, and the music was playing and everything was beautiful, and then suddenly he said he’d ask me to dance, but I wasn’t wearing gloves. At first I was thinking, “Huh?” But then I realized that he was wearing gloves and his hands were dirty from the trash and he didn’t want to get my hands dirty. So I said, “Well thank you.” It was nice. I was glad that there was that excuse to not dance, because I wouldn’t want to slow dance (which is the only kind you could do to that music except waltzing, and somehow I doubt he knew how to waltz…) with someone I wasn’t in a very serious relationship with, but trying to explain that would have spoiled the moment. So it worked out very nicely. But that’s the only interesting thing that happened that day.
On Tuesday it was another shift in Tomorrowland. I had one trash run, which Ian showed me all the cans for, but it was in the middle of my shift and it was easy, and I got to do the zone that includes the Fantasyland bridge instead of the one in front of Space Mountain where I had been working. One of the best parts of the day was Diane, a manager, coming up to me and giving me a pin lanyard! So now I can trade pins! It’s so much fun, and it gives more opportunity for guest interaction. Oh, and since on this day my shift started at 3:30pm, I wore a hat so as not to pass out.
At one point during the evening, I was talking to Ian about the fireworks and how I always want to stop sweeping and watch them.
“Oh, we can!” he said. “The managers don’t mind if you’re just sweeping. If you’re doing a trash run, you’ve gotta keep going, but if you’re sweeping you can stop to watch them. Do you want to watch them with me tonight? I’ll show you my favorite spot to see them.”
“Sure!” I said. What is it with guys and fireworks? It’s nice being noticed, but it’s also a little strange. Oh, and some guy on the bus asked me out once. I turned him down - nicely; I’m not going to date unless there’s a possibility of marrying the guy, and any guy who asks a girl out after one conversation is not marriage material. I’ll try not to let all this noticing go to my head. :-)
Watching the fireworks with Ian was nice. It was sort of funny; the place that was his favorite spot was the place on the Tomorrowland bridge where Tinkerbelle goes right over your head – it’s the same place my family watches them; I’ve known about it for years. But I didn’t tell him that. :-)
At one point during my trash run, I was coming out of the backstage area with my trash dolly when a manager saw me and said,
“I like your smile out there. You’re doing good.” So! A manager noticed me smiling! This is good. And I got noticed again, by another manager, later that night. I was over at Main Street, Toontown having emptied of guests and been swept, and it was almost time for my clock out when a manager named Russ came up to me and, rather desperately, asked if I would do him a favor. I said sure, and he told me that his cast member was missing and could I please start on the BDO (Bus Drop Off) trash run. So I took off with the trash dolly he pushed at me, and quickly started on it. I finished half of it in only 15 minutes, and meanwhile another person had been doing the other half. Russ came back, thanked me very much, and said to just call the deployment base when I went to clock out and tell them that he said to extend me. But it turned out that on my way back another manager lady came up to me and said that they’d gotten me an extension until 9:50 (I was supposed to clock out at 9:30) and I was all set. So it was nice to be able to be of help, especially because he was so appreciative, and it didn’t take long at all.