Sunday, June 19.
Main Entrance - Medical Side.
13:00-20:30 (Late Release at 20:45)
I didn't have a closing trash run, it felt so strange. The day went by very smoothly. The main entrance area before the turnstiles is incredibly hot - you could probably fry an egg on the ground - but it's easy. I ran into the Manager in charge of the College Programs at which point she told me we were long overdue for a one-on-one. I spent the rest of the afternoon wondering if that was a positive or negative thing. Turns out it was just a check-up to make sure I was on track and to figure out what the company expects of me and what I expect of my managers. Would this have been useful in the first week of work? Probably. I ended up getting out of work late boohoo. But it was nice to set up goals and to get the chance to talk a bit more with one of my manager.
Monday, June 20.
Off - Costuming.
This is the last time I go to costuming in a while. I have found the perfect size of shirts (old model of small shirts) and five pairs of pants that fit just right around my waist. So the question is "have I lost a little weight?" I sure hope so.
Main Entrance - Medical Side.
13:00-20:30 (Late Release at 20:45)
I didn't have a closing trash run, it felt so strange. The day went by very smoothly. The main entrance area before the turnstiles is incredibly hot - you could probably fry an egg on the ground - but it's easy. I ran into the Manager in charge of the College Programs at which point she told me we were long overdue for a one-on-one. I spent the rest of the afternoon wondering if that was a positive or negative thing. Turns out it was just a check-up to make sure I was on track and to figure out what the company expects of me and what I expect of my managers. Would this have been useful in the first week of work? Probably. I ended up getting out of work late boohoo. But it was nice to set up goals and to get the chance to talk a bit more with one of my manager.
Monday, June 20.
Off - Costuming.
This is the last time I go to costuming in a while. I have found the perfect size of shirts (old model of small shirts) and five pairs of pants that fit just right around my waist. So the question is "have I lost a little weight?" I sure hope so.
 |
| Hogwarts of course. |
I also had the pleasure to experience Universal Studios for the very first time in the company of Laura. I bought a Preferred Season Pass for the two parks... you know, only $200+. Totally worth it considering we only were there for two hours. We traveled to the land of Harry Potter. I wish I were a witch, I could live in Hogsmeade and be happy for ever and ever. Laura took me on the Castle Ride, amazing, You get thrown into the movie, you really are flying next to Ron and Harry, and you really have to get away from Dementors and Infieri. I had the delight of tasting Butterbeer and have sadly become addicted, good thing it's non-alcoholic, right? I bought Every Flavor Beans and a Chocolate Frog. I also bought myself a wand. OMG NERD!!! It's the longest one they have, it has a snake and a skull, and it's my birthday wand. I love it. I'm such a nerd... but Laura is worse so it's alright.
 |
| Getting off the Hogwart's Express (I wish). |
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| Hogsmeade. |
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| The talking portraits. They actually move. |
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| And of course the hourglasses. |
I should let you know that going to the land of Harry Potter was a huge pro-Florida in my moments of doubt last semester.
Tuesday, June 21.
Off - Florida Mall with Ricky <--- Happy birthday!!!
Making Ricky decide what he wants for his birthday is the hardest thing in the world. Even after bugging him for weeks he still hadn't come up with anything. We were thinking of going to Universal Studios but transportation is a pain (oh Laura, where are you with your car when we need you?). In the end we decided to go explore the Florida Mall. There is a bus to take us there every Tuesday during the month of June (the day changes every month).
The mall is large, larger by far than the Kennewick mall. There are a good number of clothing stores, shoe stores, and then the little knickknack stores with all the little glass ornaments. I actually got Ricky to walk the whole way. It's not as big as some malls I know, like Spokane or Portland with the two stories and escalators but it's a good size mall with all our shopping needs. And an awesome candy store. I bought candy. The end. Haha. No, that was just the beginning of Ricky's birthday. After my crazy shopping spree (brought along by Ricky's help), we dropped back to Vista Way.
We got a room at the All Star Music Resort since Alexia wanted to stay there and it looks pretty awesome from the outside. After a quick stop back at the apartments we caught the bus to the All Star Resorts where we left our pjs and jumped into another bus to Epcot.
We caught the 21:00 IllumiNations. It's a firework/laser show over the big lake at the center of the park. The fireworks are gorgeous, the laser play through the smoke left behind and after a little bit a big globe lights up in the middle of the lake and images run along the surface. A gorgeous 13 minute show. We went around the world, stopping this time in Japan at Tokyo Dining where we had dinner, I believe Ricky had the Chicken Katsu, I had avocado rolls and California rolls. It was absolutely delicious. By the time we were done eating the park was closing down and so we made our way back to the bus and to the resort.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICKY!
Wednesday, June 22.
Main Entrance - Bus Side.
14:00-21:30
This was to be my second time in Bus Side, and oh boy was I excited. When I got to the office Ladonna asked me to show another CP (Tasso) around the Medical Side of Main Entrance so that actually took up a small part of my afternoon, that was nice. The afternoon was pretty uneventful, I chatted with a few custodials, and when it started raining I bravely put on my poncho and went to play in the rain. The Oasis is downhill so the water FLOWS down towards the entrance's turnstile, it's quite a sight. When it came time for my trash run I started quite a bit early because of the time it normally takes and was surprised to find that the cans were actually incredibly empty because of the Guests leaving in a pack at the first drops of rain earlier in the afternoon. I would have left too if I could have, the rain was intense. Good thing I like rain, right?
Thursday, June 23.
Africa - Harambe.
14:30-21:00
Back to Harambe, I used to think Caravan in Asia was the easiest place to work, Harambe is now my favorite (easiness-wise). I believe this was the day I was Parade Pre-Liner with Jack, that was fun. It kills an hour of our day and we get to have fun with the guests. The Parade starts at 15:45, at 15:30 we have to be at Africa's Safari Gate with our little garbage can on wheels and we go down the Parade route begging Guests for trash to make sure they don't throw it in front of the Parade coming behind us. It's pretty fun, little kids want to trade pins and everyone is just excited. When we're done we have to wait for the Parade to come back through to Africa and wave at the Guests that were chosen to sit on the floats. Jack started dancing along with the Lion King's animals so I went along with it and we copied their choreography, fun times. After that he went back to... Asia I think, and I went back to cleaning Harambe. The rain was falling by then, once again, so the poncho was back out. My last trash run, like the night before was easy peasy. I love it.
Friday, June 24.
Training - Safety in Motion.
11:45-13:00
Africa - Harambe.
13:00-20:00
They made me get up before 10:00!!! I had training, you know, four weeks in. I had to go over to the Custodial Main Office to clock in and then rush over to the Cast Services for the training class: Safety in Motion. Should we be learning this during our training? Of course. Learning that there are ways to carry boxes and to lean over and pick up things on the ground without getting hurt should not be taught a month in. I've been emptying trash cans for five weeks, how bad have I hurt my back, arms, and legs since then? Actually all those things were hurt before coming here =D My back and knees are doing much better now then ever before. The class actually started at noon, the gentleman making his presentation told us about five basic things/movements that will keep us from getting hurt.
High Five Techniques:
Position Elbows Close: Elbows six inches closer to your side can cut the force in half.
Point Your Toe and Go: Reduce twisting strain on your back and knees.
Use Mid-range Motions: Protect tendons and nerves in your wrists and hands.
Same Side Hand and Foot: Better balance and less strain on your shoulder and back when reaching, pulling or pushing.
Bid Load Big Toe Little Load Little Toe: 'Cause it's easier.
For more info on any of these just comment, I have a little packet with all the information right here.
It was pretty interesting and took a whole half hour so I had time to grab cereals and milk at Pride Rock and ride my bicycle back to the Custodial Office. Nummy breakfast. After that I was shipped back over to Harambe, where, like the day before, it started raining. Poncho time again and a 16:30 trash run, right after the Parade. It feels nice to take your time while on your trash run, make it last, clean the cans, make your day go by faster. It felt a little strange to go home so early though, I missed the 20:02 bus obviously, it's impossible to make it from the office to the bus stop in four minutes unless you run, but that's not allowed onstage...
Saturday, June 25.
Everest - Restrooms.
09:00-20:30
RAIN again, see the trend there? I like restrooms, it's easy work in my opinion. When you work Everest Restrooms you go back and forth between the well-used Everest Restrooms and the ones across the bridge in Dinoland of Theater in the Wild. The second set is a little out of the way so not many people take the time to use them, it's incredibly nice to clean. I refilled the seat covers, a minimal amount of toilet paper and at one point in the day the soap. Everest is a different story, not hard to clean but when the rain started coming down in streams people gathered under the little porch in front and some ladies stayed inside the restrooms for half an hour or so. I have to admit, so did I. Mainly for the reason that I was cleaning and then I was stuck inside by the crowd outside. Ramos the gentleman cleaning the male restrooms was stuck in Theater in the Wild because he forgot his poncho in the Everest custodial closet, when I asked if he wanted me to go and get it he said no, he didn't want to go back to Everest anyway, hehehe. So overall, an easy day. By the end of the day the upper half of the park had greatly emptied and drying up the restrooms was easy enough. I forgot the dirty towels in Theater in the Wild so Ramos offered to empty the trash for me over in Asia while I went to get them. When I got back to Dinoland I realized I would have to go to the Asia breakroom anyway for my lunchbox so he did that extra work for nothing.
In other news Ramos ranted for about twenty minutes about the two guys who were in charge of sweeping the Everest streets and the fact that they were mostly in other parts of the park instead of Everest, and how they were not doing their job.
Tuesday, June 21.
Off - Florida Mall with Ricky <--- Happy birthday!!!
Making Ricky decide what he wants for his birthday is the hardest thing in the world. Even after bugging him for weeks he still hadn't come up with anything. We were thinking of going to Universal Studios but transportation is a pain (oh Laura, where are you with your car when we need you?). In the end we decided to go explore the Florida Mall. There is a bus to take us there every Tuesday during the month of June (the day changes every month).
The mall is large, larger by far than the Kennewick mall. There are a good number of clothing stores, shoe stores, and then the little knickknack stores with all the little glass ornaments. I actually got Ricky to walk the whole way. It's not as big as some malls I know, like Spokane or Portland with the two stories and escalators but it's a good size mall with all our shopping needs. And an awesome candy store. I bought candy. The end. Haha. No, that was just the beginning of Ricky's birthday. After my crazy shopping spree (brought along by Ricky's help), we dropped back to Vista Way.
We got a room at the All Star Music Resort since Alexia wanted to stay there and it looks pretty awesome from the outside. After a quick stop back at the apartments we caught the bus to the All Star Resorts where we left our pjs and jumped into another bus to Epcot.
We caught the 21:00 IllumiNations. It's a firework/laser show over the big lake at the center of the park. The fireworks are gorgeous, the laser play through the smoke left behind and after a little bit a big globe lights up in the middle of the lake and images run along the surface. A gorgeous 13 minute show. We went around the world, stopping this time in Japan at Tokyo Dining where we had dinner, I believe Ricky had the Chicken Katsu, I had avocado rolls and California rolls. It was absolutely delicious. By the time we were done eating the park was closing down and so we made our way back to the bus and to the resort.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICKY!
Wednesday, June 22.
Main Entrance - Bus Side.
14:00-21:30
This was to be my second time in Bus Side, and oh boy was I excited. When I got to the office Ladonna asked me to show another CP (Tasso) around the Medical Side of Main Entrance so that actually took up a small part of my afternoon, that was nice. The afternoon was pretty uneventful, I chatted with a few custodials, and when it started raining I bravely put on my poncho and went to play in the rain. The Oasis is downhill so the water FLOWS down towards the entrance's turnstile, it's quite a sight. When it came time for my trash run I started quite a bit early because of the time it normally takes and was surprised to find that the cans were actually incredibly empty because of the Guests leaving in a pack at the first drops of rain earlier in the afternoon. I would have left too if I could have, the rain was intense. Good thing I like rain, right?
Thursday, June 23.
Africa - Harambe.
14:30-21:00
Back to Harambe, I used to think Caravan in Asia was the easiest place to work, Harambe is now my favorite (easiness-wise). I believe this was the day I was Parade Pre-Liner with Jack, that was fun. It kills an hour of our day and we get to have fun with the guests. The Parade starts at 15:45, at 15:30 we have to be at Africa's Safari Gate with our little garbage can on wheels and we go down the Parade route begging Guests for trash to make sure they don't throw it in front of the Parade coming behind us. It's pretty fun, little kids want to trade pins and everyone is just excited. When we're done we have to wait for the Parade to come back through to Africa and wave at the Guests that were chosen to sit on the floats. Jack started dancing along with the Lion King's animals so I went along with it and we copied their choreography, fun times. After that he went back to... Asia I think, and I went back to cleaning Harambe. The rain was falling by then, once again, so the poncho was back out. My last trash run, like the night before was easy peasy. I love it.
Friday, June 24.
Training - Safety in Motion.
11:45-13:00
Africa - Harambe.
13:00-20:00
They made me get up before 10:00!!! I had training, you know, four weeks in. I had to go over to the Custodial Main Office to clock in and then rush over to the Cast Services for the training class: Safety in Motion. Should we be learning this during our training? Of course. Learning that there are ways to carry boxes and to lean over and pick up things on the ground without getting hurt should not be taught a month in. I've been emptying trash cans for five weeks, how bad have I hurt my back, arms, and legs since then? Actually all those things were hurt before coming here =D My back and knees are doing much better now then ever before. The class actually started at noon, the gentleman making his presentation told us about five basic things/movements that will keep us from getting hurt.
High Five Techniques:
Position Elbows Close: Elbows six inches closer to your side can cut the force in half.
Point Your Toe and Go: Reduce twisting strain on your back and knees.
Use Mid-range Motions: Protect tendons and nerves in your wrists and hands.
Same Side Hand and Foot: Better balance and less strain on your shoulder and back when reaching, pulling or pushing.
Bid Load Big Toe Little Load Little Toe: 'Cause it's easier.
For more info on any of these just comment, I have a little packet with all the information right here.
It was pretty interesting and took a whole half hour so I had time to grab cereals and milk at Pride Rock and ride my bicycle back to the Custodial Office. Nummy breakfast. After that I was shipped back over to Harambe, where, like the day before, it started raining. Poncho time again and a 16:30 trash run, right after the Parade. It feels nice to take your time while on your trash run, make it last, clean the cans, make your day go by faster. It felt a little strange to go home so early though, I missed the 20:02 bus obviously, it's impossible to make it from the office to the bus stop in four minutes unless you run, but that's not allowed onstage...
Saturday, June 25.
Everest - Restrooms.
09:00-20:30
RAIN again, see the trend there? I like restrooms, it's easy work in my opinion. When you work Everest Restrooms you go back and forth between the well-used Everest Restrooms and the ones across the bridge in Dinoland of Theater in the Wild. The second set is a little out of the way so not many people take the time to use them, it's incredibly nice to clean. I refilled the seat covers, a minimal amount of toilet paper and at one point in the day the soap. Everest is a different story, not hard to clean but when the rain started coming down in streams people gathered under the little porch in front and some ladies stayed inside the restrooms for half an hour or so. I have to admit, so did I. Mainly for the reason that I was cleaning and then I was stuck inside by the crowd outside. Ramos the gentleman cleaning the male restrooms was stuck in Theater in the Wild because he forgot his poncho in the Everest custodial closet, when I asked if he wanted me to go and get it he said no, he didn't want to go back to Everest anyway, hehehe. So overall, an easy day. By the end of the day the upper half of the park had greatly emptied and drying up the restrooms was easy enough. I forgot the dirty towels in Theater in the Wild so Ramos offered to empty the trash for me over in Asia while I went to get them. When I got back to Dinoland I realized I would have to go to the Asia breakroom anyway for my lunchbox so he did that extra work for nothing.
In other news Ramos ranted for about twenty minutes about the two guys who were in charge of sweeping the Everest streets and the fact that they were mostly in other parts of the park instead of Everest, and how they were not doing their job.
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