Karen May

Fighting for me...

2012-01-20T01:26:00.000-05:00

So some super cool "God things" have happened in my life recently. :-) Most anyone who will read this knows that I have ventured out to start a small video production business with my family. Things have gone okay, but (like probably most small businesses) we haven't stumbled onto an instant money maker either. But, I've always had money to pay my bills.

That is... until this past week. I realized Thursday of last week that there was not enough money in my bank account and the company bank account combine to pay my bills on Feb. 1st. I was discouraged and downright worried about it most all day Friday and Saturday. Then while meeting with my church family Sunday morning I was reminded and encouraged in the fact that God sees me and He knows my needs financially.

I love what I do... but it's not steady work. I do a few jobs here and there and we have to sometimes get creative with stretching financially from one job to the next. There were no jobs on my horizon Sunday night when a few of my friends in my core group at church prayed for God to bring me some work. About 8:15 I listened to a voicemail of someone who wanted me to come and film a Pro Bull Riding Event (get this) the last weekend of January.

Less than 10 days away from her event a woman whom we'd met in our projects the past two summers thought, "I wondering if we could get someone to come film this Rodeo?" Then she thought, "Hmm... I've got one of the DVDs from that rodeo we went to in 2010... I wonder who did that?" And she called us!

I was so excited/encouraged/humbled/amazed. God sees me... He knows my need... and, it gets better.

We've negotiated an agreement between the bull riding company and our company and have been emailing and on the phone with her all week. Today this woman and I exchanged 6 emails in 45 mins and things were starting to look bad. We had given her the lowest price we feel like we could in order to get the business, but still pay our expenses and get a small profit. (So I could pay my Feb. 1st bills.) She had been confused on a part of the agreement and was realizing it was going to cost a little more than she had originally thought.

I got discouraged again and in my car on my way to lunch I just started asking God to help push the bid through. I hate negotiating/haggling/setting prices. I'm no good at it (Mom is the financial guru in the family) and it makes me oh so nervous. (I have no idea way, it just makes me feel inside like you felt in the 3rd grade play right before your one line that you'd worked on memorizing for months.) I finally ended my prayer as i pulled up to my dad's school (I was taking him his lunch today) by saying, "God I'm no good at this part. I need you to fight for me."

I didn't get another email during lunch. I ran to the post office and came back to my desk. No more emails. Worked on some advertising material for an hour or so until finally... "Bring" ...another email. I prepared myself that it might say they had decided to not take the bid. I prepared myself that I might be asked to drop my price a little bit lower. I prepared myself that I might not be able to pay everyone what I owed them on Feb. 1st.

Snippets from the email:
"Karen, everything looks good. Thank you for helping straighten out my confusion earlier. From this point on you will be communicating with John Smith as he is in charge of writing checks. He will be contacting you today between 3-4 PM to get the information needed for him to send you our deposit."

I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry a tiny bit inside. (Okay, maybe outside too.) My God is good and I can trust His goodness. (Psalms 34:8) He sees me and He knows my need. (Luke 12:6) He is more than able to supply it. (Phil 4:19) and... He is willing to fight for me (Exodus 14:14).

Another Day with the Sheltons

2011-11-19T13:49:00.001-05:00

"I've got to goafter him - Aslan, I mean - the Lion. I must speak to him."

"Do you think wecan?" said Polly, "I wouldn't dare."

"I've gotto," said Digory. "It's about Mother. If anyone could give mesomething that would do her good, it would be him."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

But when he had said"Yes", he thought of his Mother, and he thought of the great hopes hehad had, and how they were dying away, and a lump came in his throat and tearsin his eyes, and he blurted out:

"But please,please - won't you - can't you give me something that will cure Mother?"Up till the he had been looking at the Lion's great feet and the huge claws onthem; now, in his despair, he looked up at it's face. What he saw surprised himas much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down nearhis own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion's eyes.They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory's own that for a momenthe felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself.

Yesterday (Friday, Nov. 18, 2011) was a long day for many people. I hadspent the night before in Tulsa with some of the Sheltons so that I could bethere with them during the "wait" of surgery. Originally the surgerytime was set for 10:00. They'd prep her about 9:15 and then the OR would comeget her when they were ready. I got to go back with a couple other young ladies(Deidra and Rashell. Sorry girls, I'm a horrible spellerer) to see Sarah about8:45AM. We made sure she knew she was a Facebook sensation, prayed with her,told her we loved her and that we would see again her later that day.

Out in the waiting room we soon got word that while the nurses were thereprepping her to be rolled to surgery the head nurse had come in and stopped theprocess. She had just heard that they would not be able to take Sarah back foranother hour or so. This was very rough on the family. To have that scary,dreaded, awfully anticipated moment finally there. That moment when they areabout to take Sarah away. Take her back where family members can't go, whereMark and Jan couldn't hold her hand any longer, where they would have to puttheir faith completely in God and in the hospital staff to care for her. Theyhave been waiting for this moment for almost 5 days and it was finally here.And then they were told, "No, not yet. You're going to have to wait somemore."

The surgery was pushed back to noon, then about 11:15ish we heard,"probably going to be more like 1:30, maybe 3:00."

I tried to keep up with updates. I had a list of people I was texting, plusI tried to keep Facebook current... but it got hard. It got pretty dark in myhead. You see throughout this week I've been fine as long as I'm processingnumbers and facts.

Fact: "Sarah has a brain tumor."
Number: "The surgery is going to be in 2 days."
Fact: "Sarah has a shunt to drain fluid and relieve pressure."
Number: "Since they relieved the pressure her oxygen levels have beenvery good 96, 99, 98."

I have not done well when processing my feelings about those facts. I overheardmy roommate on the phone very earlier this week saying that, "Karen ishaving a hard time dealing with this." She was right, but I hadn't facedup to that yet. I had to do some thinking as to why this was. Sarah and I arefriends, but it's not like we hang out every weekend. Shoot, we probablyhaven't "hung out" where the purpose was that Sarah and I wanted toget together in over a year. Why was I so upset about all this? I quickly cameup with the answers.

One: I am an only child. I do not know what it is like to have brothers orsisters. I'm not complaining or whining about it, just stating a fact. Butwhile I do not know what it's like to have a brother or a sister, I do knowwhat it was like to grow up with the Sheltons, all 5 of them. My family movedto Perkins when I was 7 and very soon after that our families began vacationingtogether every summer. We shared meals together often and I even remember along time where it was strange if the Mays and the Sheltons weren't togetherSunday night after church. Sarah and Laura are like sisters to me (and theyguys are like brothers) even if we haven't kept up the past few years... wekinda grew up together.

Two: I believe in God's sovereignty. I believe that He holds infinite powerto do whatever He wants. I believe that when we pray for things that don't endup going the way we prayed it is not because God didn't hear our prayer or thatwe didn't pray hard enough or that God is punishing us for some sin by notsetting things up the way we've asked. But because God answered, "No, Ihave another way." And this is really tough. God told the Israelitesthrough Isaiah, "My thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are notyour ways." I absolutely believe that prayer changes thing much like I canchange my own dad's course of action by asking him for something. Butultimately there are things that we might pray for where we have to understandthat our ways are not His ways. He functions on a higher level of understandingthan we do. There are some things that I might ask my dad for that he will notdo or that he will say no to.
I have a close friend who has been through the experience of finding out ayoung family member has a brain tumor. In what seems to me to be a horrible injustice,her family member pasted away. While I did not know her or her family duringthat difficult time in their life I have talked, cried, held, laughed andgotten to know that family member some through interactions with my friend andher family. They prayed just as hard for the circumstance in their lives aswe've prayed for Sarah. They are a family of great faith, who come from acommunity of faith much like our own. They sincerely begged God to heal the onein their lives in who was in this same circumstance. But God said no.

Before I hear any of this from anyone. (and believe me I will delete yourcomment, unfriend you and probably have a hard time not yelling at you the nexttime I see you if you do...) It wasn't because they didn't have enough faith.They couldn't have prayed any harder. It had nothing to do with sin in theirlives. God simply did not choose to heal in this situation. Why? Did God notcare? I can't believe that is the case. I have no answer for the why, and thisis why believing in God's ultimate sovereignty scares me and is difficult. Ican only try to rest in the fact that His ways are not my ways and His thoughtsare not my thoughts. My God is bigger and smarter than me, and that is hard todeal with sometimes. So every time I saw a post or heard someone say,"It's going to be okay, God is going to heal Sarah." I had to thinkin my mind, "But sometimes He doesn't." I have to explain, thisthought in my mind doesn't come out of, "He can't, or He is notable." But I just know that sometimes He does not.

So in this brutal waiting game in the hospital... I went into "having ahard time dealing with this." (Side note: I want it to be clear that I wasnot having as hard of a time dealing with things as the family was. I am nottrying to take the spotlight here, I am just saying that I can't imagine howhard, or "dark" it got in their minds when I know how my own washandling things.) I was back in Sarah's room when they had finally gotteneverything ready. I stood there with many others. (I think at one point therewere 18 family members and friends in there.) We were all silent. I imagine wewere all praying to ourselves. I watched as Jan stood silently by herdaughter's head and prayed softly over her. I couldn't hear what she wassaying, but I know she was begging God for Sarah's healing, for wisdom,alertness and skill for the Dr.s, and I’m sure the list goes on.
As I prayed, "God, please want to heal Sarah. You havethe power and you can, please choose to." The scene abovefrom the Chronicles of Narnia books came into my mind. This is from TheMagician's Nephew. Digory's mother is dying and he comes to Narnia with theintent of finding a cure for her. Being a student of film I can't read anythingwithout directing the movie of it in my head. This scene came back crystalclear just as if I had read it the night before.

It so humbling to me to think that when something touches my heart soheavily that it moves me to tears that my God, who loves perfectly, is alsomoved by that same thing. So often my view of God is very cold: He is up therekeeping things running. Yes, He listens to me and allows me to speak to him,but it's listening like someone who is processes a debriefing, weighing out thegood and the bad and plotting out a course of action. But that is not actuallythe case.
The beginning of Matthew 8 shows us where a man who needed healing comes toJesus and says, "If you are willing, you can heal me." One versionsays it, "If you want to."Jesus responds to him by saying, "I wantto." In the end of the next chapter Jesus feels compassion for an entirecrowd of people. Later in the end of Chapter 20 Jesus is "deeply movedby" or "felt sorry for" others who needed healing.

"Theywere such big, bright tears compared with Digory's own that for a moment hefelt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he washimself."
I was reminded while standing there silently that God is on our side. Andwhile sometimes He may, in His infinite wisdom, choose to say, "No."It's not a cold, rejection of our paperwork. He created all the emotions weexperience and He experiences them without imperfection because He is infinitelyHoly and without sin. As much as we love this girl, God's tears for Sarah arebigger and brighter than our own. And we (I) have to understand that He isreally sorrier about her pain and the whole situation than we are ourselves.But his sorrow does not come from a fear of what is going to happen. He knows,He is already in the future dealing with it. It comes from his love and concernand compassion for us, as dirty as we are compared to Him… He cares deeply forus. I don't know about you, but I can't help but find hope in that. I will domy best to give God full glory in any recovery, healing, or even in any painthat Sarah may experience, because I know that He loves her (and me and you)and because He is sovereign over all of it.

A Day with the Sheltons

2011-11-16T00:57:00.001-05:00

I just got home from spending the day with the Sheltons at the hospital.There is nothing new to report. That wasn't already covered in a previous noteor post. Surgery is tentatively set for 10:00AM Friday morning, they are givingthe steroids plenty of time to do their job and started working on gettingsarah to eat some today.

This post is more to address the "How is everyone...really?"questions.

1st of all let me say that I do not speak on behalf of the Sheltons or anyfriends or family, this is just what I observed from spending the day withthem.

Really... everyone's world has been shaken up. And really... no one isexcited, happy or joyful in the fact that poor sweet Sarah has a brain tumor. Iwant that to be clear before you read on, but the day I just had can bedescribed as nothing less than joyful, hopeful and even, at moments, fun.

Jan told me that this morning a nurse came in and asked Sarah who she was,where she was and why she was there. One question at a time Sarah responded,"Sarah Shelton, Stillwater, because my head hurts." A little laterafter Sarah had been alert for a bit Jan took the opportunity to tell her againeverything that had happened. Explaining that she was in St. Fransis in Tulsa becauseshe had a brain tumor and describing some of the events that had gotten herthere. Jan told me she also explained to Sarah that they knew this was just astart in what would be a difficult section of her life. "But," Jantold me, "I also told her that from what I knew, attitude was reallyimportant in her getting better and that I needed her start fighting now so shecould start getting better soon." Jan then asked her if she understoodwhat she was hearing. "She was very tired and couldn't form words at thatpoint so I just asked her to blink twice if she understood me. She blinked onceand then kinda squinted like she was trying to blink a second time so I tookthat to mean that she did."

Shortly after having that conversation Jana told me to go ahead and let herknow that I was here, so I woke her up and told her good morning. She rolledher head toward me and stared blankly. I asked her if she knew who I was andshe didn't respond at all. She just scratched at tubes in her head and rolledthe other direction as Jan pulled her hands away. Needless to say that wasdisheartening. I went back out to the waiting room to sit and talk with therest of the family and friends who had come to stay.

Just about an hour after that I think it was Jared (brother) had gone backto check on her. He came out and excitedly said, "She's awake and sheknows where she is. Jarrod (boyfriend), she's asking for you and she is talkingbetter than she has yet!" The nurse had come in and asked her the threequestions again and this time she answered. "Sarah Shelton, St. Fransisand I have a tumor.” So for the next couple of hours we all took our turnsgoing back a few at a time to talk with her and really... just to see whatshe'd say. ;-)

When each person would return they'd share the funniest comment she'd madewhile they had been back there. Now some of the comments were funny justbecause she is still pretty tired and out of it. Like when she asked Laura tobring Cali back to see her. Laura explained that they didn't allow babies backwhere Sarah was staying. Jana said she got a really confused look on her faceand half stated and half asked, "I won't hurt her?" But, not all ofher humor was because she was out of it.

When I took my turn, she recognized me immediately and began talking withme. Her speech is slurred some and it takes lots of thought for her to form herwords but she definitely wanted to talk with people. We talked about whatmovies she'd want to watch if she could and she said a Disney movie, specificallyThe Little Mermaid. When I asked her why she said, "Because Prince Eric isso hot!" Then she grinned at herself, opened her eyes and looked aroundthe room for Jarrod, her boyfriend.

Before I left during that time I told her she had a room full of brothersand sisters out there that would probably bring her anything she wanted, andthat if they didn't she could just tell me and I'd thump them for her. Againshe grinned and said, "You should just thump them anyway." Thenopened her eyes and look at me and laughed a tiny tiny bit.

Sarah has every right to be crabby, unresponsive, serious or just plaincranky, but she's not. Of course she tires easily and like I said a"conversation" with her is very simple right now, but she was tryingto make people laugh. Besides that first time I went to see her in the morning,I never went back there when she didn't smile really big when she recognized meand thank me for coming to see her. I think if nothing else, her attitude setthe tone for everyone else who was there today.

The whole family functioned together today drawing strength from one anotherand reminding each other that, "God's got this under control." Boardgames were broken out to help pass the time, homework was worked on, cell phonegames we downloaded and shared, a few friends came by and brought all kinda offood, snacks and drinks, and generally the tone of the day was hopeful, evenjoyful at moments.

It seems like everyone was just settling in for the long wait until Friday.That girl has so much love and support in the waiting room and all over thestate. I told her that she and her penguin were now an internet sensation andthat she was an online rock star. She just smiled and said something about"her public" (We didn't catch all of that one and she moved on askingme about my parents before we could ask her to say it again.)

At one point, this evening while Mark was on the phone he said, "Weknow we've got a long road ahead of us, but today was just pretty much an allaround good day." And I couldn't agree more. I was blessed by getting tospend time with the Sheltons today. Catching up with old friends while lovingon and lifting each other up was such a blessing! Keep praying for them andespecially for Sarah. She is already fighting... and laughing as much as shecan. :-)

Chicks 4 Orphans

2011-11-02T20:24:00.006-04:00

What's the Deal?
This Sunday (Nov. 6th) is "Orphan Sunday!" (http://orphansunday.org/) So... I'm kicking off my own little get-involved-campaign. There is a Christ-centered organization in Zambia called Every Orphan's Hope (http://everyorphan.org/). I found out about it and heard about the things they are doing this summer when a friend of mine went on a mission trip to help put on Camp Hope. A giant camp that Every Orphan's Hope puts on during the summer for the large population of HIV/AIDS orphans and "at risk or disadvantaged" kiddos in Zambia, Africa.

They are doing a fundraiser called Chicks 4 Orphans (http://www.chicks4orphans.org/) to help fund the work they are doing, and I want to get involved.

So I'm asking everyone I know if they'd like to get involved with me. Chicks 4 Orphans is asking for a onetime donation of $4 to buy a chicken to help get the orphan's chicken farms going. Just $4 bucks. If you're interested just let me know and I'll pick up your cash or check whenever its convenient for you. At the end of the month I'll mail in the total I've collected. I've set a goal for myself of 40 Chicks in the month of November.

Why Every Orphan's Hope?
I really love that this organization is not just throwing money at a problem and hoping it helps. Their website says that, "We don't build orphanages. We build homes..." The model they use is simple. They build a home fill it with 4 orphaned boys, 4 orphaned girls and a "Mama" who is usually a widow who has devoted her life to serving God and these kiddos in the homes. They start a micro enterprise (such as chicken farming) within each home and with some time the home becomes self-sustaining freeing up resources to build more homes for more orphans.

The way EOH works is on a community level. Instead of building a large institution in a central city they are addressing the problem in the smaller communities and are placing the orphans in family units that are right there in the same community the kids are from.

Why Chicks 4 Orphans?
I'm a recent college grad and am building a small business. I don't know exactly when my next check is coming in and I don't have $40 a month to sponsor a child. But I do have $4 in my wallet right now that is not promised to anything (except maybe a white chocolate mocha and I can probably do without that this one time ;-). So this is something I can do. And since I can, I'm hoping others will see that they can too and get involved with me.

Can I just give online or do I have to give it to you?
Yes! You can and if it won't work out for you to give me your donation then please do donate online. The chicks 4 orphans link above has a tab that's called "buy a chick." You can give online right there.

However, if we can work it out to get a check or cash to me then I'd ask you to do that. (I understand that takes you having faith in me that I'm not going to steal your money. All I can give you is my word that I won't.)

Here is why: In any type of online or electronic money exchange there is typically a debit charge or some sort of processing fee set up by whatever company is actually running the credit cards (EHO has no control over this). One of the online site where you can donate gives you the option:"I would like to pay the processing fee for my gift." It adds like 31 cents to a $4 donation. Which I agree is not much, but the fee is based on percentage. So if can get 40 people to buy a chicken, but we all do it online that is three chickens ($12.40) that are not going to Every Orphan's Hope. So instead of losing $12 of our collective donation I figure it would be better to pay the 75 cents in postage and mail all of the checks at the same time.

So... please let me know by comment, facebook post, text message, phone call, whatever... if you'd like to buy a chicken with me. Come on... it's just $4! :-)

Karen

P.S.-Oh... and I'm making stickers for anyone who gives me $4 for a chicken. You know you want one!

Praying Together

2011-09-15T10:19:00.000-04:00

     My roommate and I have been friends for a long time. We met in the summer of 2003 at a christian girl's summer camp. We were counselors together and made instant friends. We shared a love for that place, the spiritual lessons we'd learned there as kids and the excitment of getting to be the "leaders" as other young girls shared the experience we'd grown to love.

     The next summer we were not in the same cabin, but we remained good friends encouraging each other all summer long. That fall semester she moved to Stillwater to go to OSU while I finished my Sr. year in high school and we've been the best of friends ever since. We usually have attended the same church, served on a church staff together for about 2 years, and often go to the same bible studies/retreats/spiritual things of that nature.

     We've often talked about spiritual things together. We've seen each other in good times, bad times and just down right ugly moments of our own lives. As this school year began we decided to take some time each night to pray together.

     I'm not gonna lie, at first it was WAY awkward. Prayers were short and well thought-out, almost mechanical. I feel like we both dreaded it a little bit so we mentally prepared, "Ok, tonight I'm gonna pray for this, this and that." Spit it out and say amen so it's over. But as we are coming up on a month of spending some time praying together, we are much more comfortable praying out loud in front of each other.

     Last night we had one of the most sweet times in prayer I've ever experienced. We've both been reading/thinking/hoping/wanting/asking about a specific area of our life. And last night it was almost like we weren't even aware of the other one being in the room as we poured our hearts out to God. There were both chuckles and tears last night as we prayer for one another and even confessed our own secret shortfallings infront of one another.

     I was so encouraged to hear her heart as she talked with her saivor, and humbled to hear her pray over me so specifically. I'm so thankful God has given me a friend who will both lift me up and hold me accountable!

WANTED: Irresponsible man with a serious lack in confidence!

2011-09-06T10:56:00.001-04:00

WANTED: An irresponsible guy who has zero confidence in himself. This confidence lack should be evident in his speech as well as in the way he carries himself from day to day. It would be nice if he would flirt with my friends occasionally so I can always feel in competition with them. Under no circumstances should we be on the same page spiritually. He must either believe in something slightly different than I or at least be way under my own spiritual maturity level.

Guess what? I'm reading yet another, "Use your singleness to prepare yourself for marriage," type of book. This one's starting out pretty fun though, so I'm holding out some hope it'll be pretty good. The first exercise was to create a want ad for your husband that was all wrong. Thus, the want ad above. There were some steps to go through before creating the ad to help me pinpoint some of the "best" bad qualities I should highlight. The point was to be funny and I literally laughed out loud while I was composing my ad.

The next serious of journal exercises were to help me identify and articulate what good qualities were extra important to me individually. Even though I've spent a lot of time dreaming about who God might have for me, the book actually asked several very specific questions that I really had to think about before I could answer. 10 pages later, (no joke) I'm really glad I decided to get a notebook and actually follow along with the journal activities it suggests. (I'm not normally one to do that. I'll highlight, underline and write in the margins of my books like no body's business, but when they actually encourage you to "take some time to write out ________." I rarely ever do it.)

The last part of the journaling had me read back over everything I had just written and sum up what I was looking for in a quick, "I'm looking for a man who is ______." statement. The author said that when she was single her statement was, "I'm looking for a man who is single, sexy, successful, saved and sane." Then she explained in a little bit of detail what each one of those descriptors meant to her. I decided to go with the alliteration and came up with the following.

"I am looking for a man who is looking, loving, learning and who is not lazy."

Looking- He is looking for/open to being with someone in a dating relationship. If I hear, "I think God might be calling to be single" from one more guy that I am interested in then we're gonna add another "L" word to the list because I am going to Loose it!

Loving- He is generally loving in his interactions with others. No guys with chips on their shoulders, or who are constantly putting other down please.

Learning- He is seeking after an active relationship with Christ, continuing to learn more about Him through the bible, books about faith and others who are more mature than he is. He is also interested in learning new things in general, just has an excitement for life and new experiences.

Not Lazy- He has goals for himself and he works towards accomplishing those goals in his day to day life. I'm okay if his goal is, "To serve Christ, and I don't really know exactly what that looks like yet," as long as his attitude toward life is not, "Whatever, I guess."

So that's my "Statement." If you know anyone who fits these... lol. ;-) I might add a post here or there from this book's journal, we'll just have to wait and see.

To Do List

2011-09-02T15:31:00.002-04:00

I am the type of person that is very motivated by goals. I live my business-life by a to-do list. Being self-employed I've learned that it is VITAL to my paycheck that I mange my time wisely. If I don't then "Well, I can work on it this afternoon" turns into, "I can do it tomorrow." And that becomes, "I'll just stay up late tonight to get it done." And before I know it the client is expecting a project to be deliver tomorrow and I haven't even started!

I have a To Do List saved in my phone and each night before I go to sleep I pick out the most important things to accomplish in the next day. Bring them to the top and section them off from the other tasks. When I come to the end of a day and I have checked off everything I get a real sense of accomplishment/satisfaction with myself and allow myself to relax for the evening. (Watch a movie, play Dr. Mario, etc.) When I haven't checked everything off... I usually keep working, and I just feel like I'm behind schedule.

The past two days I have virtually checked nothing off my list!! It's been driving me crazy! This or that will pop up and although I've spent the days doing productive tasks, I haven't checked much off my list, thus I don't feel like I can allow myself to relax.

Yesterday I had added "workout" to the list, because the day before was so busy and I didn't want to skip it again. We had an evening shoot with some tiny football players and even though I was hot and tired when I got home I put on my running shorts told my roommate I'd be back in a 1/2 hour and headed to the clubhouse to check at least one item off my list.

I punched in the combination to the workout room opened the door and headed inside. Somehow my pointer finger on my left hand got caught on something. (The door latch, the locking device, I really don't know what.) But I was already headed full force into the room. My hand got caught between my body and the door and jammed my finger from the knuckle back into the door.

Boy did it hurt! I am not someone who cusses and I literally had cuss words forming on my tongue! It tore a gash of skin off my finger and left some blood on door handle. I went straight to the bathroom to clean my hand up and survey the damage. Then took a wet paper towel back to clean up the door handle.

After I was satisfied that my finger was not, in fact, going to fall off I had a choice to make. Workout or no? My throbbing hand wanted to quit. I had set a goal of running 2 miles in 30 mins for that evening and I knew that running, getting my heart pumping would only make it bleed more and increase the swelling in my finger that had already begun.

Stubbornness more than anything pulled me up onto the treadmill. I was going to get something crossed off my list that day if it killed me! Ha! I ended up running very well for myself, 2 miles in 28 mins and I actually RAN a full mile, one half at a time. When I got back to the apartment I showered and crashed early, happy to have at least gotten one thing from my list accomplished in that day!

Intoxicating

2011-08-29T12:06:00.000-04:00

     This weekend I was working a Blazing Rock event with my roommate and cousin in Texas. We had one of many booths in a trade show building. A booth that was not very far from us was Scentsy. You know, those little cubes of wax that you melt in a cutesy little pot. I have to confess, I've never been a scentsy fan. I've just never seen the point in having a candle smelly-good thing without getting to enjoy the soft glow of a tiny flickering flame. Maybe, it's more because I'm a pyro... but I LOVE candles! My roommate recently got her first job as a teacher and she decided that she needed to get a Scentsy contraption for her room so she could combat the scent of "5th Grade Boy".

     While looking over the different scents available my cousin wisely choose one called, "Route 66." When she showed it to me I crinkled my nose and asked, "What kind of a scent is that?" But as soon as I removed the plastic and the wonderful smell hit my nostrils I knew exactly what kind of a scent it was. It was the scent of a freshly showered man! Before I could say anything my cousin says, "It smells like a good boy."

     When it was my turn to go pick out a scent I surveyed the titles, "Apple Pie," "Blueberry Cheesecake," "French Lavender," I spied one that not only is the title of my favorite ZZ Top song, but also completed the discussion we had just had moments before: "Sharp Dressed Man!"

     Chatter abounded when I returned to my friends at our booth and we all breathed deep the smells we had collected. All three of us are single and we joked about how we would now at least get to smell a boy every now and then. We would no longer have to walk slowly as we passed by Abercrombie.

     I had to run a quick errand this morning so before I left I plugged in the warmer and put one of our "man smells" on so the apartment would smell good when I got back. Boy did it ever! Scentsys are strong and our apartment is not big. Ha! I was almost knocked over when I opened the door, but in a good way.

     As I went about my morning activities enjoying the smell of my apartment I remembered a praise and worship song I used to love in high school. One of the lines is "Your fragrance is intoxicating in our secret place." The song is comparing a relationship with Christ to a relationship with a significant other. Now, I've read all the books there are to read about "dating Jesus" while you are single. And to be honest I'm really tired of that game. (Side note: God knows I'm tired of that game, I've told him many times, but I am actively waiting for whoever he has for me, and I'm begging God to bring him soon.) But the scent turned into a bit of an object lesson for me.

     God's love for me IS extavagant. His friendship IS meant to be intimate. He calls us His bride and in Ephesians 5 Paul talks about how a bride is to be cherished. I love that word, cherished. I need to take time to relish in, cherish, and be intoxicated by His love for me just like I am fully enjoying the current smell of my apartment.

Test Post

2011-08-29T10:28:00.001-04:00

Test this post

2009-11-11T13:52:00.002-05:00

I'm home!

2009-05-26T15:42:00.000-04:00

I'm Home. :-)

2 more days at the Toy Box :-) :-(

2009-05-19T00:30:00.002-04:00

I work my last shift at Toy Story on Wednesday night. I'm both :-) and :-( about it. I found out tonight that a few of my toy friends have organized a suprise* going away party for me. I'm so excited about it. Even just the thought that they would do that. :-) I love it.

I'm also getting so ready to be back in Oklahoma for a while. It was so nice the few days I got to go home earlier and I'm looking forward to that "I'm home" feeling. I'm ready to see my best friend's new apartment, eat mom's food, mess with dad's head, go play with my jeep, and all that great summer stuff I love.

:-( and :-) I just don't know what to do with myself now. 2 more days as a Toy!

*They went ahead and told me tonight so they knew for sure I didn't already have plans with my room mates.

Last Days

2009-05-17T13:02:00.006-04:00

Its getting close to time for everyone to go home. I'm both sad and excited all at the same time. April left Thursday along with 7 CP toys who worked with me in the toy box, so it's been sad. I'm also sad about leaving in general, this has been such an amazing expierience and I will miss it. Here are some pics from some of the last few things I've done with friends here.

Roommates (plus Tracy's Boyfriend) went to Jelly Rolls a few nights ago. It's a dueling piano bar. It was so fun. They guys who were playing were really good, nice voices and some serious skills on the keys. And for anyone who is wondering let me just spell out clearly that Karen still doesn't drink. So no worries. :-)

Random pic from that last night April was with us...we stayed up late talking and giggling and all that. This is a product of too much Dr. Pepper at 3 AM. HaHaHa.

A crew of April's friends came down to drive her back to Michigan. They were a ton of fun. I hope that I'm as inclusive of my friend's friends, as they were to me. :-) I went with them to play in the parks a little before work. Good times.

Notice the shades...This is right before Tracy had to say goodbye. :-(

April's Brother Jay catching the Epoct jumping fountain water in his mouth. HaHa.Just before April tried to do the same but missed and it hit her in the forehead.

Then I headed to work where is was several CP Toy's last day. It was a sad break room.

Becky and Alec(who doesn't leave til Aug)

Andy

Haley

Lots of friend who will be missed, and some who I plan to see again sometime in the near future. :-) and :-( all at the same time.

Wait

2009-05-09T20:20:00.002-04:00

I made a video. Two days ago April and I went to watch the sunrise and she allowed me to play director. I know it's poor quality because it had to be small enough for me to upload, but other than that let me know what you think. Thanks.

CP Graduation

2009-05-05T23:56:00.004-04:00

Today was the Graduation Party for my "crop" of CPs (College Programers). It was a ton of fun. We got completion Certificates and Mickey Hats with Tassels. It was just a picnic/hangout type party...but we had a great time. :-) I've just been in the mood to make videos now that my computer is fixed...so check it out!

Slumber Party

2009-05-04T13:50:00.005-04:00

I had one of the most fun nights with some of my room mates last night. 1st off when I got home from work Tracy (from Arkansas) almost knocks me over at the door, "Karen, Orlando has a Sonic!!! I found a Sonic!!!" Tracy and I have mentioned before that on occasion Sonic is one of the fast food places we miss not having. The other room mates who were home, April and Olivia, are from Michigan. No sonics there. So we went out for a late night Sonic expeiriance. :-) We stayed out talking, driving around, and just hanging out for a while. Then when we got home we decided to have a slumber party. Ha! Yes, a slumber party. We drug our matresses out into the living room and everything. It was tons of fun. We we're cracking ourselves up acting like we were in Jr. High. Good times. We made a video of how dumb we were being...so I thought I'd share a little of it. Guys...I don't expect you to understand, it's a girl thing.

Chipped :-(

2009-05-01T11:31:00.002-04:00

Went back to the Dr. today. It's official, one of the bones in my wrist has a small chip. :-( Sad day for me. I'll be in the brace until June 1, keep taking the anti-inflams and ice it occasionally. I'm not too thrilled with it, but at least I don't have to have a cast. Well at least not right now. I'll go back and have it X-rayed again in 2 weeks, as long as everything is looking ok it'll mean the brace is on for 2 more weeks and then I'll be done. If everything is NOT looking fine...I might have to get a cast. But I'm gonna be super careful and do everything I can to keep it looking good.

Sunrise-Wrist Set

2009-04-28T22:32:00.003-04:00

A couple morning ago I got up insanly early and drove to the beach to welcome the sun to the lower east coast of the USA. It was SO pretty. I'm gonna go do it again before I leave. I loved it.

I set my video camera up and caught the whole thing. Nothing is quite like being there, but it was some pretty cool footage. :-) I'll video it again when I go back.

In other news...I think i fractured/broke my wrist. It hurts a lot. So i went to the doctor today. After an examination she thinks it's probably fractured and possibly broken. X-rays will be looked over and I'll be re-examined on friday for an official diagnosis. Bleh!!!

So what did I do??? I have no idea. After convincing the doctor that I don't drink so it couldn't have happened while I wasn't aware. She said that I could have stressed it sometime, maybe at the beach with the roomies, then continued to aggrivate it pushing lapbars down at Toy Story. I'm gonna go with the crazy boat ride out to the parasailing place. we were jumping off waves and I was holding on for dear life. But i don't know that for sure. some of my Toy friends decided that I must have fought off a crew of pirate ninjas. So I'm gonna go with that one. :-)

Beach Day

2009-04-21T23:23:00.005-04:00

Not long after we had all moved in my roommates and I came to the realization that we probably wouldn't really see each other much. Just for fun we decided to all request a day off about a month before we left, if we still liked each other we would go to the beach, if we didn't...we all had a day off, no harm done, spend it how you want to. We picked April 21st. Why? Well, because it's the "perfect date". (Miss Congeniality was on while we were talking about this.) What a great day we choose!!!

We all still like each other (or at least pretend to ;-) so we got up this morning around 9ish to head to a beach. We decided on Daytona instead of Cocoa because it wasn't that much farther and most of us like trying new things. It was great, I wish we had been going to Daytona since we got here. We took 2 cars, one of course was my topless jeep, (I love my jeep!!!!) and headed to the coast. When we got there I was so excited to know that they let you drive on the beach. What?!? YES, I drove my topless jeep up and down the beach, probably 40 feet from the water in the morning...then not more than 20 when we left in the evening. I loved it!

While there we did all sorts of things. We laid out and worked on our Florida tans. I was proud of myself I brought sunscreen and even applied it twice. But I still got a little burned. Not too bad though. It's kind of funny, the main places I got burned are my right upper arm and shoulder. I'm blaming it on my left hand's poor aim, since I use the spray can of sun screen.

We played in the water of course. It wasn't warm but it really wasn't too cold either. We were running into the waves and jumping on each other in the water though so we stayed warm enough. We (April, Tiffany and I) played catch with a Nerf football. Tracy was with us too...but she was playing "drop"...she didn't catch much, nor did we catch much after her tosses.

But the most fun thing we did was Parasail. I've done it before when I was younger and really did like it. It ended up only being 4 of us, but it was a blast, we went 2 at a time and April and I were together. It was lots of fun. They had a "professional" (I think the only thing really professional about him was his camera) on the boat to take pictures we could purchase afterwards if we wanted. Most of his pics weren't that great...but you got everything on the SD card if you wanted them and there were some that were pretty cool. So for your enjoyment...a few pics of April and I high above the waters of the Atlantic. :-)

Getting ready to take off. :-)

That plane felt...really, really close. I know it wasn't all that close, but it felt really close while we were up there.

We are on that tiny circle just above where the rope disappears.

We were spitting and counting how long it took to fall. At the highest point we couldn't watch it go all the way down. The most that we could see it was 16 seconds.

At the end they dip you in the water. It's a little scary, but pretty fun.

They actually did it to us twice. We think the boat boys were flirting with the 4 college girls on a slow day at the beach. ;-)

Home

2009-04-20T13:40:00.003-04:00

I was able to go home a couple of days last week and it was so nice! I totally surprised my family. Leslie was the only one who knew I was coming. It was such a hard secret to keep, but i did it and it paid off wonderfully. For two weeks prior I had been taking pictures of my stuft dog Spatchual "traveling" in my parks. He went to China Town in Sanfransisco, rode the Subway in New York City and all sorts of things like that. Then I let them know he was home by sending them a picture of him in Perkins. It was so much fun.

It was so nice to be home, in my own bed (which was my very nice 20th birthday present), sitting on my seat on the couch, and just doing the normal everyday stuff with my family. It was great. I woke up each morning and before I opened my eyes i smiled a little and thought to myself, "It's so nice to be home."

I have a little over a month left here in Florida which is both exciting and sad for me. I've loved this experience and don't wanna turn in my IDs, but I'm ready to be back with the people who love me the most. I also miss doing some of the more creative things that i did on a regular basis at Home. Making videos and things like that. I picked up a guitar while I was home too, and I've been playing a lot since I've gotten back. (I brought my guitar with me to Florida.)

The Flight home was an interesting experience. I've never had to spend the night in an airport before, but that one thing I can add to the things I've done list. My flight from Dallas to Orlando was supposed to leave at 8:30, first it was delayed until 10:35.

"Okay, inconvenient but I'll still get back. I'll go buy a book."

Then 11:15. "Ugh. I'm tired of this game. 6 chapters into Marley and Me. I'll call home and let them know what's going on."

Then (about 11:00PM) "Ladies and Gentlemen we're sorry for the inconvenience, we are try to get you out of here tonight and we're hoping nothing bad happens, so just be patient and we'll get back with you shortly." What?!? "Nothing bad happens? Is that you're way of telling us we're not leaving tonight...or that you hope we don't crash once we've taken off?"

5 mins later:"Ladies and Gentlemen, we're sorry about this but your flight has been cancelled the FFA only allows our crews to fly a certain number of hours at a time and the entire crew has reached the limit. Usually we have stand-by crews on hand just in case, but all our stand by crews have been used this evening. Again, your flight has been cancelled."

:-(

:-( :'-(

I waited in the long line to get re booked and was able to get on a 7:10 flight out the next morning. It would get me home in time for work but would make staying in a hotel for the night a very slim possibility. Thus Spatchual and I found a cot and blanket and shivered it out for the night.

You know those messages you hear in the airports every 10-15 mins? "Don't leave you bags unattended." "If you see anything suspicious you should report it." etc? well, they don't turn them off at night. Nor do they dim the lights, or turn off or down the TVs. It was very cold, and I was traveling without luggage so i had nothing to layer with, and my backpack made for a very poor pillow.

Needless to say I didn't sleep much. I actually spent most of the night on the floor under a row of chairs with my cot propped up against them to create a little dimmer area. It also helped me not feel quite so weird about falling asleep in plain view of about 40-50 people I had never met before. I got up around 6 because I wasn't sleeping anyway and we very VERY cold. Spatchual decided he needed some hot chocolate and a doughnut to make himself feel better...so I obliged and by 7:10 we were headed back to Florida. I slept for about 3 hours then headed to work for a late shift. Came home and crashed. :-)

Even though it was rough getting back...I'm so glad I got to go home. I loved the time I got to spend with my family and the friends I got so see while I was there. :-)

Easter Sunday

2009-04-12T13:32:00.005-04:00

They say confession is good for the soul...so I feel like I should confess something: I almost didn't go to church Sunday morning. "What!?! It's Easter Sunday? You thought about not going to church on Easter Sunday?" Yes, I did.

My Excuse: -We are very busy at work, last week I clocked in 54 hours. It was the first of 3 "Forced 6th weeks" It means all cast members with regular "full time" hours are working and extra 6th day in addition to their regulars 5. I, just by chance* didn't have to be in Sunday until 3:15 and while when I first got my schedule I thought, "Sweet, I'll be able to go to church." the past couple of days (when I've been going in around 10-12 and staying til 11-1) had been thinking "Maybe I'll just sleep in."

But I went anyway. And am so very glad I did. I would have missed out on a huge blessing if I had not.

Something that really concerns me these days is the way the Church as a whole relates to the world. I'm afraid that we've been cooped up inside our buildings so long discussing carpet, the music, and how Jesus came for those sinners outside our walls that we may have lost touch with the fact that we ARE those sinners and the ones who are actually outside our walls don't see anything different in us than in themselves. I am seeing an effort to change in lots of different places, and I'm really excited about that.

I really enjoy attending First Baptist Orlando, for that reason. I see so many things in that worship service and just the attitude of the whole church and the pastor that I agree with, and that reminds me of things my home church is looking to do. Last Sunday David Uth (the pastor at FBOrlando) said something to the "regular attendees" at the end of the service that I had to smile at because I'm pretty sure he stole it from my dad. He said, "Look forward to next Sunday. It's gonna be different than what you are used to. We are gonna be changing up the service because there are gonna be a lot of people here that we only get one shot to reach."

I loved the way they handled the Easter service. They began it, after a short video and choir special was just like a pretty tradition church service. The kind of thing that someone who hasn't been inside a church since last Sunday would expect. It wasn't boring (in fact there was such a feeling of excitement and celebration, largely due to the beginning video, that I immediately was glad I had decided to go) it was just traditional. Then the service progressed into a very contemporary service. David delivered a great message of hope (He's got the Keys) in short 5-15 min excerpts in between special music and congregational singing that got progressively more "now" if you will. Including, a team of ballet dancers (yes I said dancers in a Baptist Church) who did a dance routine on stage during one of the next to last songs. It was beautiful.

As I was sitting/standing there participating I remembered what David (and my father) had said about seeing lots of people on Easter, that you really only get one shot with. Surveying the progression of the worship service it was as if they began it traditionally to set people at ease, then slowly brought it along to show what it could be. I loved it. I'm so glad I went, it was so refreshing and I would have missed out on a huge blessing if I had chose not to go.

*I, in absolutely no way, actually believe that this was "just by chance".

Small World

2009-04-03T20:38:00.003-04:00

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.

Spring Break

2009-03-23T10:57:00.003-04:00

As promised, and in no particular order, here are some pics and stories from my family's visit.
This is where I work. Toy Story Midway Mania. Yes, I work in a toybox. :-) It was pretty neat getting mom, dad and les into the parks for free. I was so happy to be able to do that, but also it was really neat walking them into the fast pass of my ride several times. I'm glad we're allowed to do that. We were able to ride Toy Story 4 times. It was a lot of fun.

My toy friend Lorna (or "Lo" for short) from the UK. She was telling dad how to get to Narnia. (Through the wardrobe of course!) Right next to my ride is the Narnia/Meet Prince Caspian area. It's not uncommon for people coming from the other direction to ask us. "How do you get to Narnia?" I don't know who or when it started, but the correct answer from us toys is to assume a British accent and say as seriously as we can, "through the wardrobe." When Lo joined she had an unfair advantage, but we make her say it any chance we get. ;-) Lo is a lot of fun. She can say just about anything she wants to the guest with a smile and they think she is about the most polite toy we have. It is funny though how sometime guest don't seem to understand her. One day she was asking a guest to "move over" to the other seat. She asked him to "Move over" 2 or 3 times and he just looked at her like he was trying to understand, but didn't budge. Another toy came over and said, "skootch over, sir" and he moved immediately. The funniest thing was Lorna's face. apparently she's never heard "skootch" before and couldn't believe the man understood "skootch" over "move". :-)

Everyone knows the Magic Kingdom's Fantasy Land, or Tomorrowland areas, but not many know the "lands" of the other parks. One of them in my park is "Pixar Place" which is where Toy Story is located. Since not many people know the "lands" of my park we hardly ever use them to tell people where stuff is, but we use them to talk with other cast members.

Tea Cups at Magic Kingdom. One night we got into MK just to watch Wishes, the fireworks, from behind the castle. (You should see Wishes for the first time in front of the castle, there is no substitute for that, but then you should see them from behind.) The explosions are on both side of you and are really really close. After watching the fireworks we actually got on 5-6 rides with no waiting at all! Tea Cups (dad took pictures, he doesn't spin without consequences), Aladdin's Magic Carpets, The Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain (somebody gave us fast passes) and the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse!

Aerosmith's Rockin Roller Coaster in Hollywood Studios. We rode this one twice (Leslie was brave) and you will have to see the picture! :-) It's one of those that starts off at high speed, and the launch is when they take the picture...Les's face is priceless. But why I'm telling on Les I'll tell on myself too. We rode Dinosaur in the Animal kingdom and they take your picture when the big bad T-Rex comes out to eat you. In our picture mom, dad, and Leslie are starring right at it...and I'm hiding under Leslie's arm. It was pretty funny, I kinda wish we had gotten that one. But oh well. I'm sure they won't let me forget it anytime soon.

Mom and Dad at Epcot. :-) Aren't they cute.

Leslie and I in the stocks at Magic Kingdom. We're cute too. :-)

Coke around the world at Epcot. They have free samples of different coke products from around the world. My favorite was the Watermelon flavored drink from japan. It was pretty good. :-)

Leslie, patiently waiting for Soarin' at Epcot. It's a 110 min wait. Soarin' and Toy Story rival each other for the longest wait time. It's a long wait, but it's really cool.

Waiting at the base of the Yetti's Domain. Mount Everest in Animal Kingdom is the newest thrill coaster in Disney World. It's a pretty fun little coaster. Don't ask Leslie if she liked it or not...she didn't, but she rode it. Good for her.

Dad needed some help with his hat. Waiting for the Block party in Hollywood studios.

Facebook profile pics. :-) I like his hat. He looks good with it. :-)

Dad was hungry...imagine that. ;-)

M&M world store...it was actually closed, but we were there. :-) This was the same day we tried to go to the shuttle launch. It was Sunday and I hadn't been feeling well that day. We had gone to church then decided not to get in a park for the rest of the day so i could rest some and hopefully get better. After a nap we decided to drive to Cocoa to see the shuttle launch. Traffic was horrible. we're talking 10-15 miles an hour on a 3 lane highway. It was obvious we weren't gonna make it so we had decided to turn around next chance we got. It took us an hour to get that chance! It took us 2 hours to drive between 2 exits! So we decided to go to M&M World since we didn't get to see the launch, when we got there is was closed. It just wasn't our day. But we did see the shuttle as is went up. Still cool even though we weren't on the beach with it.

Mom and dad went to Cocoa Beach on their last day while I had to work. Yeah for being an hour from the beach! :-)

Family Time

2009-03-22T00:12:00.002-04:00

I just had an amazing week with my family. Thanks to all of you in Oklahoma who loaned them to me. It was so good to see those three people who mean so very much to me. We had a blast despite every single one of us getting sick for a couple of days. I'll post pics and stories soon, but for now I must sleep some. Goodnight! :-)

Rocket Launch

2009-03-07T02:33:00.004-05:00

I got up today on my day off with no particular plans. I had some breakfast and decided to start working on making my list. The “list” consists of things that I said I wanted to do when I came to Florida or things that I would feel silly to tell someone, “I lived in Orlando for 5 months…but no, I never did that.” Some things on my list are: Spend a day at Sea World, Take Surfing Lessons at Ron Jons, Spend a day at Universal, Go to the Kennedy Space Center, etc. When I got to the Kennedy Space center one I decided to get online and see if they had any launches while I was here and they happened to be launching a rocket tonight!

It was a nice warm day so I took the top off my jeep (well, not I alone…I and a couple of roomies) and decided to head to the space coast to see what I could see. A couple of roommate were going to come with me, but decided not to when they found out it didn’t launch until almost 11. (It would take an hour to get back and they are running in a 5k at 6:30 in the morning.) By that point everyone had plans for the night so I just went alone. I drove to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Center and asked about where I should go to get a good look at the rocket launch. The guy told me to drive to Cocoa Beach and then to find a nice spot on the beach. He said that the way the cost line curved pretty much anywhere on Cocoa’s Beach would have a nice view.

It was so neat! I got there and set up about an hour early and slowly more and more people trickled onto the beach to watch. About 10 mins after I got there a couple walked near me and we started a conversation. (I wasn’t shy before Disney…but Disney has trained me to be able to talk with anyone, anywhere) They were on vacation from Washington State and happened to visit the Space Center today where they were told about the launch. We talked about all sorts of things passing the time, waiting for something to happen. Then, all of the sudden we saw this…

Okay, yes, I jerked the camera too hard, too soon at the beginning and I’ve been kicking myself for it since I watched the replay the first time, but you do have to take into account this was my first time to video a rocket launch. It was so very, very cool. We were at least 20 miles away. I suck at judging distances, but I’d say we were more like 30-40 miles away and it lit up the entire beach for a long time. Another thing that impressed me was the sound. You can hear us talking over the waves in the beginning then right when she says something about it looking like a fireball you start to hear the rocket. It is so loud that for a few moments you can’t even make out the sound of the waves. It was a very, very cool experience. I’ve never seen anything like it. The ride home wasn't near at warm as the ride out there, but it really wasn't all that bad. I had packed jeans and a hoodie so a layer up and turned on the feet heat. Going to the Kennedy Space Center is still on the list…but something much cooler got added AND crossed off today.

What Will You Celebrate?

2009-03-03T21:02:00.003-05:00

What Will You Celebrate? is the Walt Disney World Theme this year and it really is a lot of fun to play with. When you come to the parks you can get an "I'm celebrating..." button. We have several that are personalized like Happy Birthday, Just Married, Just Engaged, Family Reunion, and Happy Anniversary. But there is also just one that says, "I'm celebrating" and you write on the bottom what it is you are celebrating. I have one that says, "I'm celebrating graduation" but my favorite is the one all my roommate and I got alike that says, "I'm celebrating my day off." Disney is big on cast member guest interaction and it is a really easy way for us to start a conversation with complete strangers. There are a lot of cast member who comment on our "day off" buttons then find out we work at Disney too. I think we've started a trend cause I saw one of the cast members who saw mine with one yesterday.

The other day I was trying to help pass some of the wait time with some guests and saw they had the engagement buttons on. So I congratulated them and then turned to the girl and said, "So, did he do a good job?" She goes, "Oh man, he did amazing!" Then proceeded to tell me exactly how and where he proposed. It was so fun because she was so happy with him and it was obvious he enjoyed seeing her so happy to tell a complete stranger about how he proposed to her. Before we knew it we had talked about him proposing, her ideas for her wedding, and some places they had thought about for the honeymoon and passed about 15 mins.

It so neat to work here. Most people will just talk with you like that, if you'll start the conversation. Part of it is because when i have my Toy Story costume on i represent a mouse that's at least a small part of most every one's childhood. But I also think that part of it is because people want to connect with other people. Since I've been down here, I've seen so much spiritual application in what we're being taught to do as cast members. Little things that I would absolutely love to see happening in church. One of them is the way they teach us to start conversations and build little mini-relationships with the guests. But the other that I realized this week is a habit of celebrating.

A few of my roommates are catholic and because lent started last Wednesday I've had some cool conversations with a couple of them about what they believe and what I believe and I'm learning a lot from them. One of them has a daily devotional type of book for lent. She got me a copy and we are reading through it together and we talk about the stuff in it every few days. I really like it because in addition to scriptures and devotional thoughts it also talks a small bit about a specific piece of catholic history or tradition.

Last Friday the devotional thought was from Mt. 9:14-15 about feasting. It started by acknowledging that it probably seemed strange to have a passage about not fasting so close to the beginning of lent. But it went on to point out the reason we feast, basically coming down to a feast being a usual part of celebration. During lent there are certain days that you fast from certain types of food and drink, but Sunday is not one of those days. It talked about how every Sunday should be remember as a mini-Easter and that Sunday was a day for celebrating, a day for feasting. Then it challenged the reader to find a way to celebrate what God has done specifically on every Sunday, but also each and every day of the week.

It was neat to find a challenge to "Celebrate" this week even in something not Disney. :-)

Random Pics

2009-02-21T18:58:00.007-05:00

Here are some random pictures of my life right now for your enjoyment:

Sci-fi Dine in theater milk shake. It's the restruant that is set up like a drive in theater. And thier milk Shakes are GREAT! :-)

Even though I have eaten out more then a time or two I've also done some cooking of my own, and here is the evidence to prove it. :-)

One of my favorite photo spots. "Walt and His Dream"

Fun at the Animal Kingdom. Too bad the pics didn't turn out any better...we might have to go again sometime. :-)

One of the original Mickey Mouse club costumes is on display in the "One Man's Dream" Musueam near Toy Story.

Ooooo, I'm being choosen! Fun Story...the cars on my ride all house computers to keep the game running...and the start-up noice they make is the aliens going "Ooooo" So when we open the ride the cars all "wake-up" going "Ooooo". And when we have to add a vehicle during the day because one needs repair of for whatever reason... it comes into the station and goes "Ooooo" :-) It makes me giggle.

Giant Toys in the que of my ride. I like the huge barrel of Monkeys the best. :-)

Poster in the outside portion of Toy Story's que.

Expedition Everest in the Animal Kingdom. It's a pretty fun little rollar coaster. :-)

We decided to take a "roomate costume" picture. From left to right: Olivia (Merchandise, Magic Kingdom, Frontier Land), Karen (Attractions, Hollywood Studios, Toy Story Midway Mania), Dee (Merchandise, Magic Kingdom, "Glo" those carts with all the lighty thingies), Tracy (Attractions, Magic Kingdom, Goofy's Barn Planes Ride), Tiffany (Costuming, Epcot & Hollywood Studios, The Royal Closet (the movie character costumes)), April (Food and Beverage, Port Orleans Resort, Riverside Food Court).

April playing with the spatula I got mom for her Birthday.

Me, showing off the super cool patch on the back of my jacket.

Us and some other characters!

Not My Day

2009-02-19T14:53:00.003-05:00

Today has not been my day.

Grr #1
Got up this morning to get on tech support with HP, hopefully to fix my computer. (Neither itunes nor adobe could find a CD/DVD burner on my computer.) So I go through an hour and 20 mins of tech support with HP. At the end of it I can burn files with the program that came on the computer but, "your problem with Adobe and itunes is a software issue, and you'll need to contact their tech support." Then she proceeds to tell me that most likely I will not be able have both programs installed at the same time.

Grrr #2
After all that disappointment I reinstalled MSN messenger because my web cam hasn't been working. Then i had Leslie get online real quick to test it. No dice. I can see her but she still can't see me.

Grrrr#3
Went to work to pick up my check...everything was okay there until I get to the bank. I wanted to deposit a certain amount of it and get the rest in cash. The teller says, "Ma'am you might want to deposit all of this check or you're balance will be into the negative."
"What!?!?! Into the negative? I've never taken any money out of this account!"
"Well, no but this is the account you set up for Disney bill pay right?"
"Disney bill pay? No. What's that?"
"Okay let me look into this."
Long story short, apparently when I set up the account 4 weeks ago the lady who helped me set it up somehow showed that I had pulled the entire check out of the savings account, instead of cashing the check, which is what I did. Grrr. It's a good thing I've been keeping my paperwork so I could prove I was in the right.

:-(

American Idol

2009-02-12T23:53:00.010-05:00

Today was my day off. It also happened to be the press party for the Grand Opening of a new attraction in my park called the American Idol Experience. So to celebrate ABC invited lots of stars from the show to come and "break in" the new stage. (It wasn't that they were all going to perform, but they wanted lots of stars to be there.) Tickets to see the show went way to fast for my room mates and I to get our hands on, but we did use our friends who happened to be working today to find out where the best place to stand to see people would be. And showing up 2 and a half hours early and standing through a 3 hour motorcade was tiring...but really fun!!!! Check out these pics I got of American Idol stars. We were the second people behind the barricade. It was really neat. Have I ever written on here about how I really LOVE working for Disney? This was SO cool.

Of course Mickey was there dressed up in tail to greet the Stars.

Justin Guarini 2nd Place, Season 1

Chris Sligh 10th Place, Season 6

Michael Johns 8th Place, Season 7

David Cook 1st Place, Season 7

Ace Young 7th Place, Season 5

Sanjaya Malakar

Carrie Underwood 1st Place, Season 4

Jason Castro 4th Place, Season 7

Josh Gracin 4th Place, Season 2

Ruben Studdard 1st Place, Season 2
Phil Stacey 6th Place, Season 6

Brooke White 5th Place, Season 7

Taylor Hicks 1st Place, Season 6

Mandisa 9th Place, Season 5

Syesha Mercado 3rd Place, Season 7

Fantasia 1st Place, Season 3

Carly Smithson 6th Place, Season 7

David Archuleta 2nd Place, Season 7

Jordin Sparks 1st Place, Season 6

Ryan Seacrest

Paula Abdula

Us....super excited about what we just saw!!!! :-)

Long Days

2009-02-09T01:55:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted anything in a while because for the past week I've been working double shifts. Several days in a row I have been in at 8 and then worked 10-13 hour shifts. Double time!! But I'm pretty tired. I think that several of the regulars were on vacations or something. So after several hours under my belt I've come up with some lists that I'll be adding to periodically, that I think everyone should memorize before visiting a theme park.

I love it when:

Guests with disabilities are excited when we tell them that the standby line (the longer line) is fully accessible.

People in the handicap area who do NOT need wheelchairs volunteer to let the people who do need wheelchairs go ahead of them.

It bugs me when:

People in the handicap area get irritated that they have to wait 6 minutes for the wheelchair accessible vehicle to come back around.

Guests get irritated that the fast pass line joins with the standby line 10 mins before you get to the cars.

People do the same thing on every ride they go on at each park they visit. They get in line, walk into the car, sit down in the car, properly restrain themselves and then ride the ride. Every ride. Every time. Every day. It's the same. Even if it's the first ride the guest has ever been on they usually have the chance to watch at least one (and usually two) other sets of guests before it's their turn. But for some unknown reason, when it come time for each guest to do this routine themselves their minds get sucked out of their heads through their noses. It's like a whole new world has been opened when those gates open, one where up is down and down is sideways and the regular routine that everyone knew 6 seconds ago no longer applies. Except that it does...which is why I say, "(To the guest returning in the vehicle) Welcome back toys, you're gonna exit towards the wall, If your lap bars get stuck press down and then up. (Then turning to the mindless idio-I mean wonderful guests waiting at the gates) You toys are going to go on in, take their seats and pull that lap bar down as soon as you sit down. Don't worry about the doors, I'll get the door, you get your lap bar." EVERY time we dispatch a vehicle. :-

The Oven Cleaning

2009-02-03T23:31:00.002-05:00

Funny Story: The 2nd or 3rd day we were here I tried to use the oven. I checked to make sure no pans were being stored in the oven and then set it to preheat while I got the chicken strips out and on the pan to bake. When I opened the oven to actually put the chicken in smoke billowed out into the apartment. It set off the fire alarm and made it stink. I assumed that the oven hadn't been cleaned in awhile and set it to self clean later that evening. After about 15 mins I walked back into the kitchen to check on the oven and there was a fire inside it. Now, I understand that the self cleaning feature basically burns off food that has spilled over into the oven floor and a little flame can be expected, but I'm talking about a 4-5 inch flame in the oven. I turned off the oven, ran and got a room mate and after a little while she was trying to get ahold of the front desk, and I had pulled the pin on the fire extinguisher and was ready to use it if need be. In the mean time the flame grew and grew to about 8-9 inches. It was crazy! So basically we decided to had clean it ourselves next time.

Next time didn't happen until this morning. When one of my roommates was cleaning and pulled a charred pot handle out of the bottom of the oven. No wonder it was smoking and there was such a large flame in it!! :-)

Sunday

2009-02-02T12:19:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was a FULL day for me and it began the day before. During the week I usually have 6-7 hour shifts right now during the non-peak season, but Sat. and Sun. are they days they make up for it. Sat. I worked a 11h 15m shift and Sun. (yesterday) I work a full 12 hours 1:45 yesterday afternoon to 1:45 this morning. Yeah overtime! So It has been a long weekend for me.

I was happy that even though it was attached to a very LONG shift I was able to visit a church yesterday morning. I had been looking at a few online and wanted to try Orlando First Baptist. It's huge, and I just was interested in how that would go. They have a search engine on their web site to help you find a "life group" (Sunday school class) and one of the ones it suggested I go to was called GAP (Graduates and Professionals). It's a class for singles ages 20-30ish. Armed with the room number FH301C and Richard* I off to the largest church I've ever been to.

I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. I wondered if in a church that size if the regular attenders would even notice who was new over who was just another regular attender. Somehow I entered their campus in the children's area. (Which, by the way, would make Leslie's voice jump a couple of octaves as she said, "This is so cool! I love it!") So i guess by my age and the fact that I had no small humans hanging off my arms the first lady who offered me help probably didn't have a hard time distinguishing that I was new. But after I got pointed in the correct direction no one else should have known, but most everyone was still very helpful and pleasant.

I asked someone how to get to FH301C and the lady actually took me straight there and took the time to find the class leaders and introduced me, even though she had been on her way to her class (in another building) with her husband. The class leaders got me a name badge asked the "Where are you from?/What brings you to Orlando?" type of questions then told me I could have a seat at any table...as long as there was already somebody sitting there. Once I sat down with 4-5 other people they immediately included me in the conversation and really made me feel at ease.

They sit as a class together in the worship service so I just followed along with everyone to that. Then they go eat lunch together every Sunday after church. Several people invited me to that, as well as to the Superbowl party they were having at the class leader's house that night. Unfortunately I had to work, but I was really impressed at how many people made it a point to include me. Even to the point that I was going to try and grab a bite to eat with them before I had to head to work, so one girl took me to her car and then drove me around the church to mine so I could follower her to the restaurant. That girl and another gave me their numbers and told me to call if I needed anything like directions in the area, or to know a good place to go eat or if I wanted to know about any of the activities GAP was having. So I gave them my number too, on my way to work one of them called and invited me to her birthday party next Sat! Like I said I was really impressed by how the people went out of their way to include me and the icing on the cake was an invitation to a personal birthday party. To me that screams, "I care." I thought it was really cool.

So I will be visiting them again and my schedule might possible allow me to go to one of the mid-week bible studies this week so that cool. Then I went to work for my 12 hour shift. Hollywood Studios was hosting a convention...but they didn't tell any of us. We knew we were working late a a couple managers had told us they thought it was being kept open like a Superbowl party. But they were wrong. This week has been a national high school dance competition inside our park. and the party was for all the dancers who had competed. There were about 2000 of them and they got the entire park to themselves from 9:30-12:30. But here is the REALLy cool part about this convention...the park closed at 7.so from 7-9:30 we were on the clock...but didn't have to do anything. Our managers arranged for the three coasters to get to ride each others rides and it was so cool. The entire Toy story crew got to ride Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster!

We got to Tower of Terror loaded and they let us ride it with the work lights on. Which doesn't do anything for the scary drops...but is really cool to see how they do the Twilight Zone special effects, there was one place where the projector is right in front of you...but because of how they light it you can't tell when it's "Show Ready". Then we got to Rockin Roller coaster, which is one of those roller coaster that is inside a building and has only minimal lighting so you can't see much except what is right in front of you. The manager there said, "Do you want the lights on or off this time?" We were all like, "This time???? We get to ride it more than once?" She said, "Well I assume you're gonna let my kids ride twice too?" We were pretty excited we rode it once with all the lights on so we could see the track everywhere...it was really neat! Then we rode it a second time in the complete dark. Not even with show lights. It was also neat because sometimes you couldn't tell where the ground was. One time I thought we were upside down until I saw the exit sign (The only light in the entire building) which told me I was right side up.

It really made the 12 hour shift worth it. And after we got to do that, none of us really minded working so late. We got paid to ride roller coasters...it was so cool! Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE working here? :-)

*Richard is the name of my GPS navigator in my jeep.

Dad's trip days 3-7

2009-02-02T02:44:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend of Dad's visit I had to work one 8 hour shift and one 10 hour shift on Sat. and Sun. There was one exciting thing about those two days: I saw and spoke to Celine Dion. It was pretty cool. There are 3 levels of celebrity priority that Disney grants. All of them get an escort to guide celebrities and their parties around the park to hit attractions at their non-peak hours. The first two levels can be bought. Basically if you have enough money and want to pretend you'll get mobbed if people notice you, all you have to do is pay for it. Level One gets a party on a ride within 20 mins, and Level Two gets the party on an attraction immediately. These can sometimes be a big pain because more often than not the families act we owe them something, and don't seem to be enjoying themselves. We've had several Steeler/Cardinals players and families through in the last few days. It is really difficult to explain to guest who don't speak English why these people can just walk up and get in the car when they have been waiting for an hour and a half. Now having said that...I also want to say that one of the Steeler football players and his family were pretty cool the other day. (I have no idea who it was.) They were all having a blast, were super friendly and thanked us over and over for letting them get on so quickly. So they aren't all a pain.

Level Three when Disney decides that you might be mobbed if people recognized you. This one cannot be bought...in fact it's free. This level gives the guest and their party full and immediate access anywhere in the park. Celine Dion and her family came in through the backstage areas in Toy Story. They got on immediately and rode around twice. When they came by my station I said, "Welcome back toys. You'll be exiting toward the wall when your lap bars release. Did everyone have a good time?" Like I do to most everyone (or some similar version of that) and she looked right at me, smiled and nodded her head. So that was neat.

On Monday, dad and I played in my park. This is one of the ice cream shops near my ride It;s a giant 6pack of coke. Fun Fun. We got to do most everythingm starting with Toy Story (which on of my friends hooked me up with several fast passes for us for the day.) and hitting all the rides the super cool stunt show and the block party.

The Mr. Potato Head and The little green aliens with Luxar's Ball pictures are from the block party. Instead of having a parade Hollywood Studios has a block party. So instead of lots of floats going past you the floats park up and down the street and perform for you to high energy music. They even get the crowd and especially the little kids in on it. It's hard to not have at least a little bit of fun if you're anywhere near close to it. Also...my park is the main pixar park, so there are lots of the pixar characters in my park and in the block party. You can find the pixar characters in other parks...but there are LOTS of the at Hollywood Studios, like Mater and Lightning McQueen; Buzz, Woody and all the Toy Story people; and even Mike and Sully from Monster's inc. If anyone who reads this is a fan of the pixar shorts (like For the Birds, or Knick Knack) they are supposedly all represented (in a title, graphic, or poster) somewhere in my park...and a lot of them are represented on my ride. Give me some titles and I'll try to find them and take some pictures.

Of course we ended that day with Fantasmic! I love this show it's a water/character/music/lighting/firework/movie/firebreathingdragonwhosets thelakeonfire type of show. Because of Cuts Disney is having to make because of the economy and what not they pulled Fantasmic back from an every night show (like Magic Kingdom fireworks) to a twice a week show, and boy are people upset about that! It only shows on Monday and Thursday and this past week they've started showing two on those nights. So they are back up to four a week after only a month of cutting back to two.

Tuesday was the day that dad was supposed to fly home but because of all the ice in Oklahoma the airlines changed his flight to Wednesday. So we spent Tuesday getting the tools we needed to take the top off my jeep and then we went to the beach that evening. It was a lot of fun. It wasn't warm enough to make the drive to Cocoa without the top...but I'm sure those days are coming. The beach was very pretty. I can't believe I live so close to one. It's about the same drive time as from my home town to South Oklahoma City!

I had a ton of fun with dad, I was so glad he got to come and actually spend some time, not just drop off the Jeep and have to fly back the next day. Now I'm ready to see mom and my best friend in a few weeks. I like showing people around with my Disney Employee Badge. I haven't yet gotten over how fun it is to flash a badge and be waved on into "backstage" or security, or even just into parking without having to pay. It was a full few days, but we had a blast. :-)

Dad's Trip Days 1 & 2

2009-01-29T10:05:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile. My dad got here to bring me my jeep last Thursday and we have been running around ever since. I had a blast with him here and have lots of pics to share. Starting with my JEEP!!!! Isn't it lovely. I love it, for sure. Richard (my GPS that I got for christmas) is having some problems...but hopefully we can get him straightened out. Richard brought dad into orlando using a few dirt roads and a way that was not the most direct route. But after a few, "You just passed what road? Mapquest doesn't show that road on 441 anywhere!" we steered dad here.

Downtown Disney: The parks close at 8, but there is always something to Disney to do here in Orlando. Downtown Disney is like a huge out-door mall with specialty shops, a show every once and a while, disney stores, and cool places to eat. We went there on thursday night to eat and hang out. I think we look pretty good in these pics, especially dad. I told him that with the leather jacket and the gotee...he maybe should think about taking up biking. I'm not sure what mom would have to say about that, but I have a theory that every girl wants her boy to be able to at least look like a bad boy from time to time...so I think it'd be okay.

This is a lego dragon!!! How cool is that? The head comes out of the water probably about 10 feet. Right behind where I took this picture, there is a lego family (life size) taking pictures of the dragon. Yeah for imagination. Then dad and I stumbled upon the hundred acre wood and asked a couple of our friends if they would mind taking a picture with us. They were, of course, very happy to. Pooh even let us sit on his thoughful spot. What a nice guy.

Dinner happened at T-Rex, which is a prehistoric Rainforest Cafe. It was really neat. We got to eat in the ice cave, which turned red like it was on fire during the meteor shower that happened every 30 mins. The animatronics we pretty cool in this place. =)

The next day we were off to the animal kingdom. We did every major thing there. The rollar coaster Mt. Everest. The 4D show "It's Tough to be a Bug" where you get stung by hornets, sprayed with acid from a termite, and then before you leave beetles and roaches crawl all over you. =) So cool. And also several shows.

The Safari was pretty cool too, we got pretty close to several of the animals. These two that we were at least 1o feet from. The wildabeast walked in front of our vehicle and we had to wait on him to get out of the way!

Also we watched the parade. It was a fun mix of brightly colored costumes and all the traditional characters in their safari outfits. Parades are always fun. :-)

Since Animal Kingdom closes at 6:00 we headed over to the Magic Kingdom to catch the fireworks. We got there a little early and got a private ride of Pirates of the Caribbean. No one in line and no one showed up before it was time for our boat to leave. That was fun. The fire works were amazing. I love how they match up the colors, timing and even the castle lighting to the music they play. I know it's all done to create an emotional experiance...but when you're walking out of the park after that, you really do believe in magic and that dreams can come true. Mine did...I work at Disney!!!!

I passed.

2009-01-21T19:43:00.001-05:00

My training is over!!! Yeah! Let there be much rejoicing. Since Sunday I have been training all my 8 hours at Toy Story. It has been a lot of new information to cram into my head but today was the big test and enough of it stuck that I was asked to remove my "earning my ears" badge and am now a full operations cast member. I was "assessed" all day today. Starting with a 150 question test over just about everything I'll be doing. It would have questions like: If you are working at the Load 1* position and there is Signal 25** what is your FIRST responsibility? Or it would show me a picture of one of the buttons on the main console and ask what the functions of that button are/what goes on in the track when it is pushed. All kinds of things.

I can say with full confidence that you are SAFE at Disney. I actually am impressed by how much emphasis is put on safety and in the training and throughout the job. I know that there have probably been accidents, but if you consider how many people go through each of the rides...it's impressive. To make my day even a little more stressful...the entire ride was being inspected while I was taking my tests. So my assessor was being assessed on how well he assessed me! I spent about 20 mins at each position running it by myself, then my assessor would ask me more questions about the console I was operating or the emergency evac procedures.

I don't remember if I explained this or not, but everything at Disney develops from a story. All the rides (and even the stores/most eating places) have stories that you experience as you go through them, some of them are more obvious than others, but they all have one. It is how the designers organize the theme. Instead of just putting a ton of toy story stuff into a ride, they tell a story as you experience it. Our Story is this: Andy, (You'll remember from the movies is the kid that owns buzz and woody and the gang) has just gotten a new game, Midway Mania, and while he is gone all the toys are trying it out. The guests are "transformed" into a toy when they enter the building. The que line is a maze through Andy's toy box, complete with 5 foot crayons, 7 foot card houses and a life size, talking Mr. Potato Head. When they make it up the stairs and out of the toy box they get a turn to try Andy's new game. You board the vehicles and then ride into the box that the game is kept in and that is where you play.

It is very fun for me. I really enjoy it. The way my ride is set up everyone is trained on everything and we work our shifts in continual rotations, this way we can trade shift with each other easily and if if management needs to move us around quickly they don't have to explain our new job to us. It's cool I think because I'll be doing the same things as the people who have worked on Toy Story since it opened last June. Rotation includes a lot of things. Here is a short list of a few of them.

Preparing the 3D glasses for cleaning. Yes, at Disney they are cleaned and disinfected EVERY time they are used, so don't be grossed out.

Work the load/unload consoles. Put guests into cars and secure the doors and lap bars on the vehicle.

Greet guests as they enter the Pixar Studios. This includes everything from helping with the fast pass machines, parking/watching strollers, and just being around to help with questions and getting people into the correct lines.

Create a Magical Moment. Seriously, sometimes our rotation will give us 30 mins to share some pixie dust.

Operate Mr. Potato Head. He is a "life size" interactive animatronic that entertains guests while they wait in the que lines. We control him from another room using touch screens, cameras, and microphones. It is all preprogrammed, but it is also interactive, I had the cutest little girl talking with him yesterday. They traded jokes and danced together and she even picked Mr. Potato Head as her favorite toy (over Buzz and Woody). I really enjoy operating him.

So, there are a lot of words and no pictures...sorry my computer is still down, but there is at least an idea of what I'm up to. Like I've said over and over again, i love it here. Last night my room mates and I were talking and all the sudden one of them started giggling. When we asked what was so funny she just said, "I can't believe it guys...we work for DISNEY!!!" It's true, occasionally we just get giggles (sometimes pixie dust does that) because we are loving it so much. Sorry again for so many words and no pictures, but hopefully it won't last too long.

Comment and tell me what you wanna hear about. Later.
Karen

*The main passenger loading console. (No one can get out of the station unless the Load 1 says they can)

**Signal 25 is a fire, which you should not confuse with a Signal 22 (a guest altercation) or an Operations 101 (Ride is not working) or Operations 102 (Ride is back to functionality). You also shouldn't confuse it with about 12 other terms that I was specifically told I could not talk about with anyone but cast members.

No Computer

2009-01-20T16:57:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I've got more things to post, but my laptop is being fixed so for the moment I'm barrowing my room mate's computer. Just wanted to let anyone who is checking know that it'll be pretty sparce until I get my laptop back. I'm haveing a blast...I still can't believe I work here. :-)

Wow!

2009-01-16T04:08:00.000-05:00

This is gonna be a long post so I've split it into pictures and stories for easy tracking. :-)

On Tuesday night all 6 of my apartment mates and I went to Downtown Disney and watch Bride Wars then had dinner at Planet Hollywood. It was good times. My apartment buddies are all pretty cool. I don't have any major complaints about any of them. ;-) We all seem to be getting along pretty well. I have been really concious (more than I normally am) of trying to be a good witness to them. The books dad had the staff read before I left (Unchristian and Just a Walk Across the Room) have been replaying in my mind a lot. From left to right thier names are (top) Tracy, Olivia, Me and (bottom) Tiffany, April, Dariana (we just call he Dee). We've been having fun together. :-)

Wednesday morning we went through the first of our many days of training and at the end of it we were awarded our Cast Member IDs. So, that night I went to the Magic Kingdom. My first time in Walt Disney World! I thought the fireworks were at 7 so I got there about 6:30. When i found out that they were actually at 8 I went to ride the Pirate ride. :-) It was cool, I haven't seen it since they redid it to add Jack Sparrow and Davey Jones. It was pretty neat at the beginning of the ride they have some sort of mist that they project Davey Jones and a waterfall on. So it looks like you're going to get doused but then you just pass through Davey Jones's face. It's pretty cool. Then I watched the fireworks (which were stinking sweet) and rode the mono rail all the way around and came home. It was a pretty good day.

I know I've told you that my park is Disney's Hollywood Studios, but I found out my actual attraction today...Toy Story Midway Mania. Its currently the Park's newest attraction. When American Idol opens in April it will still be the park's newest ride. I haven't been on it yet, but they tell me it's like a giant 4D videogame, where you are the character as you ride through it. It keeps your score and they say that lots of guests will wait the hours to ride it again just to try and beat thier score. I'm really excited.

We toured the entire park today (It looks pretty cool with no one in it.) and I absolutely love it! It's chalked full of little movie things, plus really really BIG movie things. :-) Fun stuff like the Sci-Fi Dine-in theater. Each table at the restuarant is a car, faceing a movie screen. Some of the waiters use rollar skates and they do fun stuff along with the movies being shown. For instance during a horror flick from the 50s there is a shot where a woman screams at whatever the villian is that is coming after her. So all the waiters turn to the screen and scream with her whenever it plays, then go right on with thier conversations. Another is a diner where everying is "homestyle". "Mom" is the cook. "Aunt_____" and "Uncle_______" are your servers, and they do fun stuff like...if you put your elbows on the table you have to stand in the corner. Or, if you go to the bathroom and don't remember what color the soap is when you come out...you have to go back to wash your hands. Ha!

Nametags...apparently there is a lot of words on this tag. Other than "KAREN" and "OK STATE UNIV STILLWATER" and "Walt Disney World" and "Where Dreams Come True". It also says "I know everything about everything, please just ask me!" It becomes invisible the moment you touch it, so I can't see it anymore. ;-) We got our "Earning My Ears" badge today too. We have it all through our training as well as for one week after we've completed training. It's supposed to let other people know that we're new and might not know everything about everything right at first.

Some things I've learned at Disney, that I think apply to life:

1. Every guest (or you might just say everyone) has incredible value and deserves all of my attention and respect.

2. When all is said and done, there is no substitue for truth, integrity and ethical conduct." -Bob Iger (current CEO of the entire Walt Disney company)

3. Sucess come from a combination of Faith, Trust and a little bit of Pixie Dust. (Hmm, this sounds familiar except change those last to words. :-)

Hollywood Studios

2009-01-13T14:36:00.000-05:00

I just found out where I'm working... :-) . Disney's Hollywood Studios. :-) That was my 2nd choice, so not too bad. I'm not sure which attraction yet, I'm not sure if they're sure which attraction yet. I drew the early training :-( So I start tomorrow morning in Disney University at 6:55 (apparently the morning has one of those too, who knew?). Then there is a big party at my apartment complex later that night which should be cool for meeting some people and stuff. It's the new intern welcome party and Goofy and Pluto are coming! How cool is that?!?

I'm ready to get started and get into a regular schedule. This whole, meet for 2 hours here, go stand in that line, hang-out at your apartment for 3 hours, come back and stand in this line, sign here, and here, and here, and here, and then date it please! Is getting really old. We can't have our park IDs until we've completed our training so I haven't even been able to get in yet, but I know it'll come soon. :-) When I get more info that is interesting*, I'll fill you in.

Karen

*As in not the stuff we learned this morning like, "You get two holes, use them wisely." (Speaking about our apartment walls.)

I'm Here!!

2009-01-12T16:18:00.000-05:00

"Let me bring you up to speed...we know nothing. There you are now up to speed." (10 points if you can name the trailer that came off of.) I was expecting to get a little more information dumped on me today, but I guess they've learned that if you give a bunch of college kids too much info...they don't retain any of it.

It's an okay little apartment. 3 bedrooms, 2 girls in each room, 2 bathrooms, a large living room, and a tiny kitchen/dinning room. It's a little more space than I expected from the pictures...but not tons.This is my bedroom and my side of everything. Note the lovely bed spread made for me by my best friend. :-)

My room looking the other direction. Thats the closet on the right and the bathroom on the left. Since I got to the apartment first I choose the room with an attatched bathroom to share with one person. :-) The other two bedrooms share a bathroom. Next to the blue bed you can see 2 of my roommate's 5 suitcases. (No joke the others are in the closet.)

Living room.

Tiny kitchen/dinning room.

Story from today: Most people have heard my "Scared of Ketchup" story, so if you have please skip this paragraph. When I went to my interview I was told that she would be interviewing two of us at once. I didn't really like the idea because I was afraid that would make it really competitive, but I didn't complain. It ended up working in my favor. My interview buddy was late, didn't have her interview sheets, and had some pretty crazy answers. The best one was when she told the interviewer that she couldn't work in the resturants because she had a fear of ketchup. And she said it with a straight face, because apparently she was serious. It was so hard not to laugh at her right then and there.

So today while I was going from line to line I happened to see my interviewer. She came over and said hi and "Welcome to Disney" to which I responded "Well, thanks for letting me in!" And I kid you not, she smiled back real big and said, "Well, at least you're not afraid of ketchup." We laughed and my line moved on, but I'm guessing that ketchup girl didn't make it. HeHeHe.

If you wanna know anythign about what all going on just ask in the comments, I may not know yet, but if I do I'll tell ya.

I miss you guy, Karen.

Stories From Rome

2009-01-05T16:04:00.000-05:00

I got home from the mission trip to Rome at midnight on Sat. night (or Sun. Morn) and I had an amazing time. As far as missions go the trip was great, no major problems and we found many, many refugees to feed and get to know. My guess is that over our entire trip we probably came in contact with and were able to give at least one meal to about 130-150 different men (and 2 wemon). Many of these may have been one-timers but probably 80-90 of them we saw more than once.

It's so easy to have an "us and them" mentality when we are preparing for the trip. But once we get there I cannot help but be moved by thier stories and the fact that they are human beings, not too much unlike me and my friends. They have pride in their homeland and they miss thier families. They have inncredibly hard lives, but they have hope that there is something better. They are real people who have needs and wants, likes and dislikes.

The first night we took hot soup to the train station we found a few guys who went to get some of thier friends. All of the sudden about 20 guys come running around the corner. At first i think many of us were a little alarmed. The tensions between the people groups combined with the frantic nature of life on the streets could cause riots which would be very dangerous. So the guys running around the corner scared me a little bit. But then they stoped and began laughing as one made a sort of "yes" and "I win" gesture with his hands. After a couple of slaps on the back we realized they had been racing.

How often have I seen guys on campus racing to something just for fun, or have Les and I both took off running to "race" somewhere for really no reason. These guys have really difficult lives but they are still humans being just like me. I can't help but want to help them just because I would hope someone would do the same for me. It's amazing how going half way around the world opens my eyes to people in my normal circles who also deserve the same compasion and grace from me that I want to offer to the men in Rome.

Karen

2008-12-22T22:29:00.000-05:00

I love Christmas time. Going to look at lights, parties, giving gifts, extra time with the people I love and wonderful food. How could it be any better than that?