It's Still The Same Moon

Here I sit, on the couch of my new apartment here in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. I am about twenty minutes away from every Disney park (by bus) and am in walking distance of a Chic-Fil-A. The apartment is... well, not as nice as Raintree. I hate to say it, but Sheila kept a pretty tight ship there. We have these great ghetto navy-blue, green, maroon and gold couches and cabinets in which the paint is chipping off... But hey, it's alright. It isn't like it's not livable. We've got a really nice open front room and a teeny little kitchen, but good news! my bedroom is probably bigger than my last one by about a third.
I've already got some pretty great friends...

My roommates:
Kayla: First impression: Bad-ass whore. Still kinda holds true. She's nice enough, though, and I'm glad I'm not her bed-roommate. Her nose is pierced (like the bull style) and she has a tattoo of some stars above her hip. She's from Missouri.
Erika: First impression: Bad-ass, but cute. She has four piercings up the side of each ear. Two tattoos, one of a bird on the back of her neck, and a peacock feather on her foot. She's from Maryland.
Kim: my bed-roommate. first impression: Black. Really chill. Pretty. One of those voluptuous black girls. She doesn't snore, thankfully, and she's also a heavy sleeper. She's from Long Island.
A: Yes, her name is A. She's Asian, but from Michigan, I think. First Impression: Very quiet. And when she does speak, I can't understand her with the Asian accent. Very thin. Long, black hair.
Bethany: Darling. Sorority sister from Georgia. She says she's got a handle of rum in the trunk of her car. She turns 21 very soon so she might move out and move into a "non-wellness" apartment. (which means, they're over 21 and they're allowed to drink.)

Neighbors:
Matt: An adorable roly-poly boy with big blue eyes. He has a car. Which is good, he can take all of us to Wal-Mart. I think I spend the most time with him. His personality reminds me alot of Grant. I think he has a thing for me, and Kayla and Erika think so too. And so does my mom. Eh- I'm not interested like that at all. I'm not sure how to break it to him.
Mike: Claims to be half-polynesian, half-portuguese, half-puerto rican, half-whatever else he could think of. He seems like a giant teddy bear.
Ben: My new best gay friend with a huge TV to watch GLEE on. He also has CDs of all the Glee songs never released on disc. He is my hero. I adore him.
Valeska: Ben's friend from back home. Very outspoken. Short, tan, energetic. Hilarious.
Bobby: Matt and Mike's roommate. He has big blue puppy dog eyes. And he is pretty funny, too. Yep.
Christie: Ben's neighbor. Dancer. Obsessed with TWLOHA and Framing Hanley. Has a "love" tattoo on the underside of her wrist and a Framing Hanley flower on her foot.

Anyway. We had Traditions... Which was basically sitting in a classroom listening to two (really obnoxious) people spout off everything we ever need to know about working for Disney. Lots of scripted back and forth lines. Lots of bad acting. We also toured Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom. The only thing that redeemed the 5 and a half hours of nonsense and cramming information down our throats was seeing what Disney was building next: Ariel is getting her own ride/attraction. They're also building a Toy Story playground, that makes you feel like you've been shrunk to toy size. There were a couple of other things that I don't remember- and they're also building two more cruise ships. Oh- and Mickey came into our class. :) We got our nametags and then went home.



Yesterday was my first day of on-the-job training. Basically, we sat in a room in the costuming building at Animal Kingdom for three hours watching online presentations about Hepatitis and Syphillis and taking dumb quizzes... but then we all got in a big white van and we went to all of the different costuming areas of the property. Apparently there's a HUGE warehouse only dedicated to Christmas decorations. Amazing. There was a huge warehouse for storing all of the costumes that Disney has. It was incredible. Character heads and costumes hanging everywhere. We then got to go and see where the employees actually create patterns to make these costumes, and we got to see them sewing the costumes. There's a room with catalogs from- it would seem- every vendor in the world for fabrics, buttons, lace, trim and zippers. Incredible. The costumes are all so bright and colorful, and so professionally put together. Apparently there's a secret room where they store all of the costume patterns in computers behind a locked and vaulted door, and they can print off any pattern in any size at any time. Then the pattern goes to a machine that automatically cuts out the pattern pieces. We also got to tour the Laundering warehouse... which was pretty cool. Lots of hangers on moving tracks. Oh- and we all went on the Carousel of Progress in Tomorrowland- and afterwards the lady in charge informed us that part of our job includes staying up til four A.M. on some nights repairing the costumes on the Anamatronic figures. We also got to tour the dressing room and makeup/wig area of backstage Disney. There were alot of girls putting on wigs and makeup to be princesses. That sucked. There were also cosmetologists cutting and styling wigs to look like the princess' hair. That was about it for work, a couple more e-presentations on safety in the work place and we were done for the day.

We all ended up going to The Magic Kingdom when I got home. We went on Buzz Lightyear's Astro-Blasters (42,900 points, thank you very much), Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Pirates of the Caribbean. We also saw the 11:00 parade... which killed me. I want to be a character performer SO BAD. I mean, it's right there. It's so close. I could reach out and touch it. ...But I can't have it.
I looked online at the audition dates, and under the details for the upcoming auditions, it had two conditions:
"You may not audition if you have already auditioned within the past six months."
"You may not audition if you are a part of the Disney College Program."

Oh, hell.
I've decided that I'm going to do whatever it takes to get that role. Even if I have to stay longer. That's what I came here to do, and damnit, I'm going to do it.

You wouldn't believe what a culture shock it is here. I am the only Mormon I know here. Everyone drinks. Alot of people smoke. People drop foul languague everywhere... they don't even think twice about it. Crazy. It's so different. Ya know, what I wouldn't give for someone here who is a good influence on me. Someone with a half-decent vocabulary. It's just, weird. Coming from a place that's 95% LDS, and now I'm the minority. People have asked me how often I change my underwear, how many moms I have, If I'm allowed to drink milk...? They can't figure out why I've never drank or smoked. It's kind of entertaining.

Oh! And we caught a frog. A Cuban treefrog. His name is Fernando. He's darling, and he eats crickets.

That's all for today, more to follow soon.