I'm Not A Puppet, I'm A City Boy!

So I haven't said much about Anaheim aside from the living/breathing/eating Disneyland aspect. My apartment is in Carnegie Plaza on the Center Street Promenade, a convenient two blocks away from City Hall, Anaheim Ice (home of the city's hockey team), and a massive police department. We've got 24/7 security, palm trees lined with Christmas lights, and aesthetically pleasing fountains right outside the lobby. I'll never again live in a nicer location, and although I'm pleased with where I've been placed, I feel kind of cheated that this was my "immersion" into big city life. I mean, come on! I'm practically on vacation, here. Where are the shady neighbors? The suspect immigrants? The figures who make me walk more briskly?



Oh, that's right... they're just across the street. Aside from providing a spectacular view of Disneyland's nightly fireworks show, my living room/bedroom windows also look out over a mini ghetto that's sandwiched between a gas station (also arguably a vital element of said ghetto) and a suit broker. People walk around, shout, set off car alarms, and curse at police cars all through the night. It's actually a fairly relaxing background noise to fall asleep to.



What else, what else? There are a ton of really cheap mexican restaurants around. For $4.99, one can purchase two fish tacos, rice, beans, and chips and salsa... now that's how you spell "steal!" Also, when Steven left a few days ago, I didn't realize how much of the necessary shit around our apartment (knives, washing machine detergent, coffee filters...) was actually his. It's gone now, and I can't even cook food because I have nothing to chop a tomato (or any other vegetable that requires chopping) with. Also, I'm beginning to realize how incomprehensibly uncultured (read: simply not exposed to anything... at all) a LOT of people from Middle America are. What goes on between East and West Coasts is seeming scarier and scarier by the day...

I passed my PA (Performance Assessment) for Splash Mountain on Wednesday after my initial attempt was interrupted by a ride breakdown/evacuation. I had just finished my tower evaluation (where all the buttons and security monitors are) when the breakdown alarm sounded, setting in motion a thirty step reset operation that I was less than prepared for. Regardless, I did well, and now I'm an official Cast Member! Last night, though, I had to work crowd control for Fantasmic, which was awful. Four hours of shouting to "stay to the right... please... folks" is monotonous at best, and boring at worst (just because "monotonous" is so much more exciting a word than "boring," if that makes sense at all). And now I gotta head to the gym before my 6-12 shift, so I'm out for now. Take it easy, everyone.

AND COME VISIT!