So Many Changes!

One of the many roses found in Disney's California Adventures

Happy Valentine's Day! I can't believe that I've been here for over a month. It feels like only a week or two. I also feel like I know almost everything about my job. Other than where things are located, I've restocked just about everything by now, and I can usually keep up with the rushes. I've even had many of the newer people asking me how to do this, or where to locate that (and some of the older people for the locating part). Tonight, I was talking to a few girls who are also in the program, but locals. Apparently they both thought that there was no way I was in the college program, because I was too knowledgeable at my job. Can I cross-train now, please? :) I know, I know. I have to wait until after probation. Maybe by then I'll know absolutely everything! Haha, yeah right.

So the parks definitely seem to be getting busier, although that could be a result of the three day weekend that just passed... THAT was fun. There was never a non-busy moment. Accomplishment of the week? I figured out why I'm always so much more tired after working in the back of house, compared to the front of house. When it's not busy in the front, there's only so many counters that can be wiped and restocking that can be done before there's nothing left to do. In the back, there's always something to do. Restock this, restock that, clean this, close that. While everyone else stands around talking, I'm always taking care of those other things. The other day, I spent two hours adding fries to orders, two hours sweeping, emptying trash cans, and restocking. Yep, back of house is busy.

Last post, I mentioned that I didn't get a chance to see the fireworks because they were cancelled. I was finally able to see the fireworks on Saturday. They were absolutely amazing!

Things have definitely changed a lot since I've come down here. Seems like all my habits are changing as well. I've always been a night person. I prefer staying up late and waking up late. I definitely don't stay up as late anymore, and I can usually wake up by 8:30 easily. The first two or three weeks here, I kept waking up by 7:30! Next to change? Food preferences. Who would've thought. I used to dislike salads. I've gotten to the point where I don't mind iceberg lettuce, either plain, or with soy sauce (weird, I know, but so am I). I randomly decided to pick up some chef salads at Vons (Safeway) the other day. Not only did I love them, they had salad dressing. Apparently, after years of hating it, I now like ranch. My activities have changed as well. Whatever time I wasn't spending on a specific activity with friends, homework, work, or chores, I was usually playing video games. Especially when Skyrim came out. Since coming down here, I haven't even put 24 hours into video games. I wouldn't say I've become more outgoing, but I'm hanging out with other people a lot more than I used to. When I'm not busy or hanging out with other people, I've been trying to find other activities.

Besides work and spending time with friends, I've also spent the last week looking into culinary school options. I've decided that at this point I'm going to stay here and continue working at Disneyland after the program ends. Because I lose all seniority I may have through the program when it ends, I'm going to try and move to table service restaurants immediately, or as close to immediately as possible. I had been looking into going to Le Cordon Bleu in LA. However, I started talking to the lead chef (can't remember his specific position, but he's basically the manager of everyone) today at work. I mentioned my interest in culinary school, and he gave me his recommendations. As long as I plan on staying with Disney, all I need is a certificate, which is the equivalent of an associates degree. With that, I'd have the education requirement taken care of to get into even the top restaurants, which is my goal. My next step is to look into those schools.

I started my Disney class this morning. I still can't really tell you what exactly the class is about, but so far, it's a lot of fun. Some weeks we'll have lecture classes, other weeks we have hands on activities. There's one week that we'll be spending the class time at the local food bank. It definitely sounds like an exciting class.

Since I've started working here, I seem to get a lot more Disney songs stuck in my head. I think that -along with one "random" picture - I'll also post a music video, at least occasionally. In light of today's holiday, I think I'll put up "A Whole New World" from "Aladdin." Seems very fitting

~Amber