Small World

Hey there! It's good to finally be getting back to the land of the living. I was down for almost 2 weeks with a cold/sinus infection/yuckiness. But I'm feeling much better now. I went to a doctor and got some power drugs after it hadn't "passed on" in 5 days. I did nothing but go to work...then go to bed and sleep until the very last possible second before I had to get up and go to work again. Meals were even optional! And that's a real sign that I'm feeling bad, because I like food a lot!

There have been several changes at work in the past two weeks. "The Economy" has finally caught up with The Disney Company. We went through 3 days of lay-offs last week. That was a whole new expeireince for me. It was strange for two main reasons... the first was that it was "top heavy" (a lot of management and upper level positions) and nobody really knew it was coming. Toy Story had 9 managers 3 were let go and 3 were moved to other areas in the parks. Plus several other regular positions. I think Toy Story lost about 15 (out of about 60-70) of our regular cast. It was strange on those day and we've been working like crazy ever since making up for the bodies we're missing. I kinda felt bad being a CP (College Programer) because our jobs were about the safest and we're only here for a semester of two. It is still strange thinking about who I had gotten to know who aren't employed by disney anymore. The lay-offs are a big part of the reason I was going to work even though I was sick. CPs were pretty safe, but we were told to keep our record cards clean because they'd be looking for reasons to terminate slackers. I didn't want to have a string of "call-ins" right then.

On a more positive note...it IS a small world after all.

Reason #1 -There are about 6-7 CPs at Toy Story. 3 of us are from Oklahoma. Carey and I were in OSU band together (we didn't know each other at the time...but we were) Becca is a Sooner and Carey and I give her as much grief as we can. ;-)

Reason #2 -Becca used to live in the same town I live in! No kidding, about 2 blocks away from my house. She and her family moved away about the same time my family moved there, but still in the same town.

Reason #3 -The Prince Caspian character greeting and Narnia attraction is right next to Toy Story and occasionally the friends of Prince Caspian come into our breakroom. Josh, a friend of Prince Caspian, was in our break room the other day. He said something that made me pretty sure he was from OK, TX, AK or someplace in the south. So I asked him. He said, "I'm from Oklahoma, can you tell?" So I asked him if he was a sooner or cowboy. He is a Cowboy, and when I asked him where he was from he replied, "Stillwater. well, not Stillwater but one of the little towns around it." I laughed because that's exactly what I say when people ask me where I'm from. He's not from the same town, but from one close to mine. Anyway, we saw each other in the parking lot after work yesterday and talked a little. He knows the Ripley's, used to eat at their restraunt and there were two or three other people we talked about that we both knew.

Reason #4 -Doug and Sandi are an olderish married couple who work on our ride as seasonal Cast Members. They are from Kansas. They were flying home to visit their family one weekend and we were talking about this and that. They asked me where I was from and when I told them ("Stillwater. Well, not Stillwater but one of the little towns around it.) Sandi goes, "Oh where, we might know it my sister used to live in..." MY TOWN!!!! I couldn't believe it. Sandi's sister worked at the same place my mom did for several years! It was crazy fun.