Back in Bend

My trip home from LA was eventful. I visited Sleepy Molly at Hermosa Beach, the highlight of which was a restaurant named Sharkeez and its unlimited mimosas/chips and salsa bar that comes with every breakfast purchase. What a steal! Otherwise, Molly slept... a lot. And so the moniker "Sleepy Molly" was birthed. Fun times.

San Francisco was super fun, as my dear friends Simone and Katelyn went out of their way to ensure a dull moment never dampened our good spirits. Basically, this meant watching a lot of LOST, drinking a lot of cheap beer, and laughing over inanities (yes... it's a noun. Look it up! [I had to]). Although our attempt to sneak at least two of the three of us into a showing of District 9 backfired, and the weather insisted on remaining cold and windy for my entire four-day visit, we took to the streets every night like the brave vagrants we (read: Simone) sometimes (read: often) resemble(s), and I couldn't be happier about the cavalcade of poor choices that made each sojourn at least slightly memorable.

Driving into Oregon made my Thursday afternoon - minus the speeding ticket. I love trees! And mountains! And toothless Klamath Falls gas station attendants! And single lane highways! And Gilchrist... oh Christ, Gilchrist! Since my return, I've pretty much just been staring out my bedroom windows at the trees and mountains and soaking it all up. Also, I finally went and paid to see District 9, which was both incredibly intense and violent. A must see!

Today's my 22nd birthday. I don't know why I'm sitting here updating my blog, but it seemed pertinent. My parents took me out to breakfast at Alpenglow. I'd like the record to show that neither wished me happy birthday until the second time they saw me this morning... I mean, I know I'm not supposed to let little shit like that get me down on such an awesome day, but who the hell doesn't wish someone a happy birthday (especially when that someone is their own son!), like, the second they see them?! Strange...

Otherwise, Disneyland kicked ass. I'm still retrospecting the whole thing, but I think for now I'd just like to say it was a trip and a half. Maybe even a trip and three-quarters.

It's All Happening

So I'm halfway packed and the apartment's halfway cleaned, which is halfway closer to hitting the road than I expected to be from the vantage point of earlier this morning. Leaving Anaheim kind of snuck up on me, like a thief in the night. As some of you may recall, my return to the US from Dunedin arrived after a several week countdown, and I was more or less ready to get the hell out of New Zealand (great as it was). This time, though, I have to say goodbye to Disneyland, which is always rough. When I walk out of work tonight and slip through the Cast-Members-only secret entrance, it'll be for my last time.

Maybe.

Yesterday was unofficially my "last," and by that I mean some of the good friends I've made here called in sick so we could head to Universal Studios for a taping of the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, followed by running wild in Disneyland with a fistful of Readmission Passes (what you get when a ride breaks down and you're on it, which basically entitles your group to front-of-the-line status on any attraction of your choice, and what Attractions Cast Members pretty much get for free when they collect them from the sweaty clutches of greedy tourists during work). The line for Conan spanned 3.5 hours of my life, necessitated the consumption of 2.5 slices of pepperoni pizza, and allowed for a Scarlett Johansson sighting. The show was incredible; I sat right behind Max Weinberg and discovered what Conan actually sips from his coffee cup. Not water. Not coffee. But Diet Coke. Robin Williams as the first guest pretty much stole the show. Guy's crazy.

And Disneyland, as always, was magical. There really is no place else on Earth where you can wander through an utterly convincing jungle outpost and still hear the cacophony of Fantasmic entertaining 7,000 guests just down the path.


I'm not sure how any other job could ever manage to stack up against this one. Seriously. Office cubicle? Say what now?

Tonight's my last Splash shift. When I clock out at 12:30, I need to return my costume, my ID card, and my parking pass. I'll no longer be in the system. Am I okay with this? I suppose so. But the walk out is going to be a bit tragic. Tomorrow after my housing inspection I'm headed to Hermosa Beach for a day, then up to San Francisco for several more to visit Simone. Wohoo! I plan on being back in Bend around August 20 or 21, depending. Also, I know this last post kind of fell flat past the first few sentences, but I've got to get to work!




Narrator's voice: And so it was... the end of his Great Disneyland Adventure.

For Fellow LOST Fans - "Mysteries of the Universe"

These videos complement certain elements of the [best show on] television, LOST, particularly the DHARMA Initiative. A new installment will be released every month until Season Six's premiere in January. They're effectively creepy. Watch in order!

Part 2:


Part 1:

Nine Days Left

It's 2:44 p.m. on Friday, August 7th. I'm in gym clothes. I did not go to the gym.

Work looms - the 4:30-1:00 shift (which, I just realized, is nothing I should complain about to relatives, given we all know the ugly, late-night backside of a front desk counter) - and I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. On one hand, I do enjoy walking lost and found goods to the drop box at Main Street's Fire Department after closing; on the other... well, there really is no other. I fucking work at Disneyland!

I don't know what else. Yesterday a simple ride stop for a lap-sitter escalated when a girl split her head open during the evacuation, a buxom woman dropped her Juicy Couture sunglasses into the flume, and Yours Truly discovered a Brer Rabbit animatronic hydraulic fluid leak, which necessitated the help of maintenance. We were down for two hours, all because some crazy dad wouldn't keep his kid by his side.

And I also attended a two-hour Imagineer lecture on the current California Adventure expansion and makeover, up to year 2014. I'm contractually obligated not to say anything about it, except that it was [insert appropriate adjective here] (which is exactly what the confidentiality papers I signed instructed me to write, not an attempt at humor... I don't think bracketed statements are funny).

I'll post again before I leave. For now, though, this is what you get. Like you're all so disappointed.