I made jello yesterday. Green jello. Oh, the horror, the horror!!
In my defense, the jello was a bridal shower gift, otherwise there never would have even been any in the house. Luke and I both prefer snow cones or cookies or pudding when we want a treat. And at least there aren't any shredded carrots in there. Because we don't have any . . . but mostly because that has always sounded nasty to me. I mean seriously, who does that?! No, really, who does that? It's one of those things you hear about all the time, but nobody ever actually does, at least not that I've ever seen. Is it just a Mormon urban legend? Or did it become so cliche that now everybody jokes about it but nobody would actually do it anymore, even if they have in the past? An who came up with the nasty idea of putting vegetables in jello anyway? Eeww. I've only heard of one worse thing to do to jello. One of my roommates had an aunt who would put meat in jello. I've never seen that one, and never heard of anyone else doing it, but just the idea . . . I think I just threw up a little in my mouth just thinking about it! Anyway . . . yeah. I have to confess, there are pears in our jello. They were another bridal shower gift, and this was the only way the were ever going to be eaten, because I don't like pears just by themselves, and I can't imagine Luke eating a huge can of pear halves randomly. So at leat now there's a little more shelf space for canned fruit we'll actually eat.
You know the scariest part? I was looking at it this morning, and I realized it looks a lot like this. Eeeeeekk!!! Well, minus the . . . what is that on the top anyway? Icing? Whipped cream? Easy cheese? No matter what it is, the TAMNites are sucking me into the madness . . . help!!! Must . . . find . . . job . . . soon . . . for . . . sake . . . of . . . sanity . . . :-) I'm trying to justify myself by remembering that when we dig into it, it'll be the first time Luke has ever had "Utah" jello, and he had to be initiated sometime, right? So now he'll be prepared for all the terrifying jello creations to be found at a ward potluck, heehee. (And no, linking to that post is not an announcement, haha.)
That will be the last jello I make for . . . probably a while. Jell-O instant pudding is just as cheap, and like I said, it's really what we both prefer. And I shudder to think that I might be becoming even the slightest bit TAMN-ish . . .the horror! THE HORROR!!!!
On another note, in case anyone cares, I did finish In Your Place yesterday, and the final verdict = not that bad. It definitely improved from where I'd left off Sunday evening, and while it's much more predictable than most LDS romances, it was less corny, which was absolutely a point in its favor. And the "flashback" chapters (for lack of a better word for them) were actually a nice touch, which was another pleasant surprise. Except for the last one. Combined with the epilogue they were just overkill. I think using only either one or the other would have been much better. I'm still undecided about reading the other books I checked out . . .
P. ost S. cript
Just in case you didn't see it when I posted it on facebook yesterday. I really enjoyed the books (although The Host is better), but the movie has got to be the absolute WORST movie adaptation I've seen in a VERY long time. Like I said when I posted it yesterday, the only thing that could make this better is if Buffy told him to "google it" because . . . yeah. Worst. Line. Ever. Written. For any movie. Ever. Yeah . . . that is all.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
How Times Change . . .
So I have a lot of times on my hands these days. The whole job hunting thing takes less and less time all the time, and everything is pretty much unpacked and organized, and since Luke and I are both over the age of six there's not really ever a lot of cleaning to do. So I've been spending a lot of time at the library lately. And it really is awesome to have so much time to just read . . . I didn't get nearly enough in Florida.
Anyway, I've been on a huge Philippa Gregory kick for . . . well, since we started going to the library regularly, actually. My roommate loaned me The Other Boleyn Girl last year, and I really enjoyed it. (watched the movie version on the plane to Kiwidom last year . . . definitely not nearly as good. But I digress . . . ) And since I love historical fiction, I'd been wanting to read her other stuff. Awesomely, the Logan library seems to have a pretty comprehensive collection . . . something I was a little surprised to discover, not gonna lie. So I've been slowly making my way through it, and thoroughly enjoying all her stuff, except maybe Wideacre. Sadly, I'm now reaching the end of the collection, and someone else seems to be devouring her stuff too. In April and March there would be four or five Pilippa Gregory's for me to check out, but the last couple of times there's been only one, and the titles I'm specifically hoping to find have been gone . . . grrrrrrr.
So anyway, last week when we went I decided to add to my stack of one with some good old LDS fiction, and I ended up with four Rachel Ann Nunes books I haven't read. Good times, right? Yeah . . . maybe not . . .
Let me explain something - I've never really liked a lot of LDS fiction. Most of it's incredibly corny, and rather heavy-handed, like the author can't go more than a page without mentioning something Utah-ish . . . especially the romances. Good. Freaking. Grief. Sometimes I'd almost rather read the bodice-rippers my mom reads. What I wouldn't give to see a novel where the characters are LDS but the plot doesn't revolve around that fact. Where religion influences their decisions, but isn't the raison d'etre for the book. Even so, I've got a good collection of LDS romances of my own, and always before I enjoyed reading them, if for no other reason than to laugh at the obviousness of the plot. Read as comedies, they get much better. :-)
Back to my point, yesterday Luke and I spent the entire afternoon reading . . . it was the epitome of the perfect afternoon for both of us! And after I finished The Queen's Fool, I started In Your Place. And I couldn't even get past five chapters before I had to put it down out of sheer boredom. I'm not sure what's changed. It's still corny. I still new how it would end after the first chapter. And I still find that amusing. But, in complete opposite to the cliche, I just couldn't NOT put it down. In all honesty, it might just be the book. The writing isn't very good, and I know for a fact that RAN is a better author. And she says herself in the author's note that it's one of her first manuscripts that she didn't publish when she wrote it because at the time publishers were saturated with "Saturday's Warrior stories." And I've never liked Saturday's Warrior. Granted, the songs are good . . . if a bit trite . . . and the guys were good looking in the movie version we had on VHS back in the day, but I never exactly found myself inspired or touched by the plot. (on a semi-unrelated note, I've always thought the title was Saturday's Warrior, but in her note she has it as Saturday Warriors . . . what the crap?) So she let it sit for ten years, and then she went back to it and edited and rewrote and all that fun/torturous stuff you do after youve finished the first draft, and since in those last ten years she'd reached the point where pretty much anyone at Deseret Book will buy pretty much anything with her name on it, a la Jack Weyland or Anita Stansfield, she published it. But it still sucks. And while I will finish it, because I canNOT leave a book unfinished no matter how much I'm not enjoying it (yay perserverance! /irony) I think I just might have to return the other three books unread . . . sad!
So now I'm on a hunt for new authors. I'll probably try some Anita Stansfield stuff to see if I really am burnt out on LDS romances . . . I tend to like her stuff better anyway. (hate, Hate, HATE Jack Weyland!!!) And then I'll try to find some LDS non-romance authors. I'd love to read some more historical fiction . . . but I think I've read it all. Work and the Glory, Children of the Promise, Hearts of the Children, and Faith of Our Fathers? Check, check, check, and check. And I didn't care for the last volume of FoOF at all. The series started out so Gone with the Wind-like and ended so . . . not. Holy disappointing! Maybe I'll re-read Fire of the Covenant . . . I've only read it once, and that was years ago . . .
And with any luck all this rain is finally done and I can paint . . . yay! That'll certainly take up some time. :-) I really need to at least go buy the paint. Except I'm not exactly sure what to get. I"ve been doing research online . . . okay, I searched for . . . something . . . don't remember what . . . and I discovered thenest.com and their decorating page. And the recipes - I am sooooooo going to try some of them sometime soon!!! And thanks to pages like this I think I know more or less what I'll be doing. Except it's also left me a little perplexed. Should I do one coat or two? Should I get just semi-gloss paint for everything, or should I use high-gloss for the trim? It doesn't help that I don't really know what either would look like when I was done . . . I could probably decided easier if I could see a picture of what the results would be. And should I paint the whole wall behind the fridge, or just enough that it looks like the whole wall is painted . . . because seriously, who looks behind the fridge/stove? But no matter how it turns out, I am SO PSYCHED to not have white walls anymore!!! I've had boring white walls since I graduated high school . . . blargh! So ready for some color! :-)
Maybe I'll go to the library tomorrow and get some painting books . . .
P. ost S. cript
Two for one today. :-) I love kitties. I want a roomba. And videos like these just make me want both more - CUTE!!
Anyway, I've been on a huge Philippa Gregory kick for . . . well, since we started going to the library regularly, actually. My roommate loaned me The Other Boleyn Girl last year, and I really enjoyed it. (watched the movie version on the plane to Kiwidom last year . . . definitely not nearly as good. But I digress . . . ) And since I love historical fiction, I'd been wanting to read her other stuff. Awesomely, the Logan library seems to have a pretty comprehensive collection . . . something I was a little surprised to discover, not gonna lie. So I've been slowly making my way through it, and thoroughly enjoying all her stuff, except maybe Wideacre. Sadly, I'm now reaching the end of the collection, and someone else seems to be devouring her stuff too. In April and March there would be four or five Pilippa Gregory's for me to check out, but the last couple of times there's been only one, and the titles I'm specifically hoping to find have been gone . . . grrrrrrr.
So anyway, last week when we went I decided to add to my stack of one with some good old LDS fiction, and I ended up with four Rachel Ann Nunes books I haven't read. Good times, right? Yeah . . . maybe not . . .
Let me explain something - I've never really liked a lot of LDS fiction. Most of it's incredibly corny, and rather heavy-handed, like the author can't go more than a page without mentioning something Utah-ish . . . especially the romances. Good. Freaking. Grief. Sometimes I'd almost rather read the bodice-rippers my mom reads. What I wouldn't give to see a novel where the characters are LDS but the plot doesn't revolve around that fact. Where religion influences their decisions, but isn't the raison d'etre for the book. Even so, I've got a good collection of LDS romances of my own, and always before I enjoyed reading them, if for no other reason than to laugh at the obviousness of the plot. Read as comedies, they get much better. :-)
Back to my point, yesterday Luke and I spent the entire afternoon reading . . . it was the epitome of the perfect afternoon for both of us! And after I finished The Queen's Fool, I started In Your Place. And I couldn't even get past five chapters before I had to put it down out of sheer boredom. I'm not sure what's changed. It's still corny. I still new how it would end after the first chapter. And I still find that amusing. But, in complete opposite to the cliche, I just couldn't NOT put it down. In all honesty, it might just be the book. The writing isn't very good, and I know for a fact that RAN is a better author. And she says herself in the author's note that it's one of her first manuscripts that she didn't publish when she wrote it because at the time publishers were saturated with "Saturday's Warrior stories." And I've never liked Saturday's Warrior. Granted, the songs are good . . . if a bit trite . . . and the guys were good looking in the movie version we had on VHS back in the day, but I never exactly found myself inspired or touched by the plot. (on a semi-unrelated note, I've always thought the title was Saturday's Warrior, but in her note she has it as Saturday Warriors . . . what the crap?) So she let it sit for ten years, and then she went back to it and edited and rewrote and all that fun/torturous stuff you do after youve finished the first draft, and since in those last ten years she'd reached the point where pretty much anyone at Deseret Book will buy pretty much anything with her name on it, a la Jack Weyland or Anita Stansfield, she published it. But it still sucks. And while I will finish it, because I canNOT leave a book unfinished no matter how much I'm not enjoying it (yay perserverance! /irony) I think I just might have to return the other three books unread . . . sad!
So now I'm on a hunt for new authors. I'll probably try some Anita Stansfield stuff to see if I really am burnt out on LDS romances . . . I tend to like her stuff better anyway. (hate, Hate, HATE Jack Weyland!!!) And then I'll try to find some LDS non-romance authors. I'd love to read some more historical fiction . . . but I think I've read it all. Work and the Glory, Children of the Promise, Hearts of the Children, and Faith of Our Fathers? Check, check, check, and check. And I didn't care for the last volume of FoOF at all. The series started out so Gone with the Wind-like and ended so . . . not. Holy disappointing! Maybe I'll re-read Fire of the Covenant . . . I've only read it once, and that was years ago . . .
And with any luck all this rain is finally done and I can paint . . . yay! That'll certainly take up some time. :-) I really need to at least go buy the paint. Except I'm not exactly sure what to get. I"ve been doing research online . . . okay, I searched for . . . something . . . don't remember what . . . and I discovered thenest.com and their decorating page. And the recipes - I am sooooooo going to try some of them sometime soon!!! And thanks to pages like this I think I know more or less what I'll be doing. Except it's also left me a little perplexed. Should I do one coat or two? Should I get just semi-gloss paint for everything, or should I use high-gloss for the trim? It doesn't help that I don't really know what either would look like when I was done . . . I could probably decided easier if I could see a picture of what the results would be. And should I paint the whole wall behind the fridge, or just enough that it looks like the whole wall is painted . . . because seriously, who looks behind the fridge/stove? But no matter how it turns out, I am SO PSYCHED to not have white walls anymore!!! I've had boring white walls since I graduated high school . . . blargh! So ready for some color! :-)
Maybe I'll go to the library tomorrow and get some painting books . . .
P. ost S. cript
Two for one today. :-) I love kitties. I want a roomba. And videos like these just make me want both more - CUTE!!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
The Bucket List: Places Edition
I love visiting new places. I've always wanted to travel the world. Seriously, I would just about kill for job with the Travel Channel. Anyway, while "everywhere" is accurate, it's also more than a little bit vague, so I've decided to make a list of all the places I want to visit. I'm trying to be as specific as possible, but in some cases I'll probably just list the country . . . I know, how vague is that? :-) And here it is, in no particular order, and likely to be edited/updated/added to often:
1. Paris. It's been top of the list, literally ever since I can remember. We're talking junior high or earlier.
2. London
3. Japan
4. Sweden
5. Venice
6. Vienna
7. Rome
7A. Vatican City
8. Forks, Washington. Seriously. :-)
9. Gettysburg
10. Washington DC
11. NYC
12. upstate New York
13. Kirtland
14. Johannesburg, South Africa
15. Cairo
16. Giza
17. Jerusalem
18. Casablanca
19. Ankor Wat (I can never remember what country that's in . . . my Asian geography knowledge is sadly lacking. Is it Cambodia?)
20. China
20A. Beijing
20B. Hong Kong
21. Prince Edward Island. I've wanted to be Anne Shirley since I was 8.
22. the rest of Canada
23. Glacier National Park. I've never figured out how we didn't manage to hit that one growing up.
24. The Everglades
25. St. Augustine, Florida. Two years living there, and the only time I left Orlando was one afternoon at Kennedy Space Center. The first year no one else wanted to go, and the second year I had no money to go anywhere. Blargh.
26. Atlanta. Actually, Jonesboro, Georgia, which isn't far from Atlanta. And is where Scarlett O'Hara "lived." And yes, there are several places that I want to visit solely or partly because books I love are set there. Speaking of which . . .
27. Volterra, Italy
28. India
28A. Mumbai
28B. New Delhi
29. Sri Lanka. Probably a lot safer now that the Tamil Tigers have called it quits. (Is it sad that I if I had never read Lynne Gardner's gem series I would probably have never even noticed that story becuase I would have never heard of the Tigers before? Probably.)
30. Denmark
31. Finland
32. Norway
33. Scotland
34. Ireland
35. Wales
36. Moscow (Russia, not Idaho, lol)
37. Nepal (no mountain climbing for me . . . I'll just admire them from the bottom!)
38. Easter Island
39. Tahiti
40. Samoa
41. Tonga
42. Brazil
43. Peru
44. Argentina
45. Costa Rica
46. the Bahamas
47. Spain
47A. Madrid
47B. Barcelona
47C. Seville
48. Portugal
49. Monaco
50. Athens
51. Byzantium (a much prettier and more romantic name than either Istanbul or Constantinople)
52. Prague
53. Transylvania
54. Cyprus
55. Mt. Kilimanjaro
56. Mt. Ruhmore
57. Denali National Park
58. Indonesia
59. the Phillipines
60. Mexico. One of those Book of Mormon tours would be awesome.
61. Antartica
62. the North Pole
63. Greenland
64. Iceland
65. Milan
66. Berlin
67. Frankfurt
68. Hamburg
69. Budapest
70. Nice, France
71. Marseille
72. Alexandria, Egypt
73. Nairobi
74. Madagascar
75. Cape Town
76. Thailand
77. Taiwan
78. Barbados
79. the Galapagos Islands
80. the Panama Canal
81. Jamaica
82. Tasmania
83. Fiji
84. every state in the union
85. Derbyshire - Mr. Darcy country!!
86. Guatemala
So there we go. I'll probably be adding to this list as I think of other places I'd like to see. And hopefully someday soon . . . ish . . . I'll be able to cross a few off. And as I was making the list I thought of all the places we can go where we already know people there . . . and therefore already potentially have a place to stay and a native tour guide - yay! It's a longer list than I realized:
(one asterisk for every person I know in that country)
Scotland***
Ireland**
England***
France*
Mexico*
Brazil***
Peru*
Costa Rica*
Dominican Republic*
Hong Kong**
mainland China*****
And of course I definitely want to go back and see more of Hawaii, Australia, and New Zealand, but since I've already been to all three I decided to leave them off this list. At least I've seen a few places. :-)
P. ost S. cript
Keeping with the international flavor, here's a Qubecoise children's TV show my middle and high school French teachers showed occasionally. We loved it because it was right at our level, especially first and second year. And it's fun to make fun of. :-)
1. Paris. It's been top of the list, literally ever since I can remember. We're talking junior high or earlier.
2. London
3. Japan
4. Sweden
5. Venice
6. Vienna
7. Rome
7A. Vatican City
8. Forks, Washington. Seriously. :-)
9. Gettysburg
10. Washington DC
11. NYC
12. upstate New York
13. Kirtland
14. Johannesburg, South Africa
15. Cairo
16. Giza
17. Jerusalem
18. Casablanca
19. Ankor Wat (I can never remember what country that's in . . . my Asian geography knowledge is sadly lacking. Is it Cambodia?)
20. China
20A. Beijing
20B. Hong Kong
21. Prince Edward Island. I've wanted to be Anne Shirley since I was 8.
22. the rest of Canada
23. Glacier National Park. I've never figured out how we didn't manage to hit that one growing up.
24. The Everglades
25. St. Augustine, Florida. Two years living there, and the only time I left Orlando was one afternoon at Kennedy Space Center. The first year no one else wanted to go, and the second year I had no money to go anywhere. Blargh.
26. Atlanta. Actually, Jonesboro, Georgia, which isn't far from Atlanta. And is where Scarlett O'Hara "lived." And yes, there are several places that I want to visit solely or partly because books I love are set there. Speaking of which . . .
27. Volterra, Italy
28. India
28A. Mumbai
28B. New Delhi
29. Sri Lanka. Probably a lot safer now that the Tamil Tigers have called it quits. (Is it sad that I if I had never read Lynne Gardner's gem series I would probably have never even noticed that story becuase I would have never heard of the Tigers before? Probably.)
30. Denmark
31. Finland
32. Norway
33. Scotland
34. Ireland
35. Wales
36. Moscow (Russia, not Idaho, lol)
37. Nepal (no mountain climbing for me . . . I'll just admire them from the bottom!)
38. Easter Island
39. Tahiti
40. Samoa
41. Tonga
42. Brazil
43. Peru
44. Argentina
45. Costa Rica
46. the Bahamas
47. Spain
47A. Madrid
47B. Barcelona
47C. Seville
48. Portugal
49. Monaco
50. Athens
51. Byzantium (a much prettier and more romantic name than either Istanbul or Constantinople)
52. Prague
53. Transylvania
54. Cyprus
55. Mt. Kilimanjaro
56. Mt. Ruhmore
57. Denali National Park
58. Indonesia
59. the Phillipines
60. Mexico. One of those Book of Mormon tours would be awesome.
61. Antartica
62. the North Pole
63. Greenland
64. Iceland
65. Milan
66. Berlin
67. Frankfurt
68. Hamburg
69. Budapest
70. Nice, France
71. Marseille
72. Alexandria, Egypt
73. Nairobi
74. Madagascar
75. Cape Town
76. Thailand
77. Taiwan
78. Barbados
79. the Galapagos Islands
80. the Panama Canal
81. Jamaica
82. Tasmania
83. Fiji
84. every state in the union
85. Derbyshire - Mr. Darcy country!!
86. Guatemala
So there we go. I'll probably be adding to this list as I think of other places I'd like to see. And hopefully someday soon . . . ish . . . I'll be able to cross a few off. And as I was making the list I thought of all the places we can go where we already know people there . . . and therefore already potentially have a place to stay and a native tour guide - yay! It's a longer list than I realized:
(one asterisk for every person I know in that country)
Scotland***
Ireland**
England***
France*
Mexico*
Brazil***
Peru*
Costa Rica*
Dominican Republic*
Hong Kong**
mainland China*****
And of course I definitely want to go back and see more of Hawaii, Australia, and New Zealand, but since I've already been to all three I decided to leave them off this list. At least I've seen a few places. :-)
P. ost S. cript
Keeping with the international flavor, here's a Qubecoise children's TV show my middle and high school French teachers showed occasionally. We loved it because it was right at our level, especially first and second year. And it's fun to make fun of. :-)
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
I Only Wish I Was This Clever.
So I discovered this blog through a friend today, and I absolutely HAD to share it. I've spent the last hour reading and cracking up. Whoever this girl is, she is my kind of genius, and I'm seriously tempted to try and one-up her, but . . . yeah. *Hammer voice* Can't top this. *end Hammer voice* Also, just to make sure you get, it's a spoof blog. I was a little . . . how shall I say it . . . terrified/traumatized until I caught on to that fact.
Anyway . . . yeah. That's all. I figured a couple of you at the very least would get a huge kick out of it.
P. ost S. cript
I discovered this one through the same friend who led me too the blog. She's got it posted everywhere, mostly because, well, she is Belle in this clip. I'm sure it'll be obvious really quickly, but keep your eye on Beast.
Anyway . . . yeah. That's all. I figured a couple of you at the very least would get a huge kick out of it.
P. ost S. cript
I discovered this one through the same friend who led me too the blog. She's got it posted everywhere, mostly because, well, she is Belle in this clip. I'm sure it'll be obvious really quickly, but keep your eye on Beast.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Excuse Me, Do You Work Here?
K, so Aunt Sandra's comment on this post had me remembering various aspects of working at Disney. Among them, constantly getting the question "do you work here?" Great merciful crap, that one got old quick. On the other hand, it was also conversation starter for the rare moments that found one both able to talk to another CM (cast member) and things being slow enough that one didn't have a long line of guests waiting to ask (mostly) stupid questions. It was always fun to talk about the snarky replies we'd give people if we could get away with it. "No, I'm trying out my Halloween costume. I guess it's pretty good." "No, I just think white socks and black shoes and shorts are a great fashion statement!" "No, I stole this from the guy I knocked out in the parking lot so I could get in here for free." And of course, my personal favorite: "No." *walk away*
I mean, come on. Not only do we all have a nametag, we are wearing the ugliest cloths on the planet. I quickly came to the realization that Disney wants CMs to look as boring, sexless, and ugly as possible. I can't really blame them, beause even the horrible costumes (uniforms . . . I probably should post a glossary or something . . .) didn't stop some people I knew of from flirting with and sometimes just plain hitting on guests, which is definitely inappropriate. And I know I really lucked out. Compared to some of the costumes I could have had to wear, mine weren't all that bad - khakis and three different button down shirts, depending on which attraction I was working. The most annoying part is, I also quickly came to the conclusion that Disney also doesn't much care aboue CM's comfort or even presentableness (is that a word? it is now . . .) when wearing the company provided costumes. I worked there for over two years, and I never once wore a costume that fit me well from head to toe. It. SUCKED.
We'll start with the pants. First off, at least as far as women's pants go, one must go in to Costuming prepared to feel fat. I wear (about) a size ten pant. At Disney, the size that fit me the mot often was a 14. Therefore, since I always wore my own clothes to work and changed when I got there, I gained to sizes driving to work, and lost it all again when I left. Yeah . . . THAT makes sense! But even then, you can't go by the labelled size . . . assuming you can even read it . . . and assuming that it was placed in the right section. I learned quickly to check every pair of pants I picked up to make sure it was the size I thought it was. But again, even that wasn't enough. When I first started, I would check out a week's worth o costumes, and turn them all in at the end of the week . . . mostly because there was no way I was paying to do Disney's laundry in addition to my own. Of those five pairs of pants I would check out, typically two would be too big, two would be too small, and one would fit me in the waist. Of course, that pair wouls usually be either too long or too short lenthwise. So would the others. Every pair of pants I ever wore was labelled as being a size 14 waist, with a 30 inch inseam. Some of them felt and looked like Hammer pants and stopped above my ankles. Some made me wish I was wearing a corset (they'd be much looser and more comfortable) and were so long that I spent the day tripping over them because, of course, they wouldn't stay rolled up either. Good times.
Shirts weren't quite as bad. Actually, one of them fit very well . . . until they changed the name of the attraction and had to change the shirt becuase they had a patch with the attraction name on them. Like anybody even looked at the patches. Please. Anyway, I wore an extra small shirt. Just like 80% of the other people who worked at each attraction. And I was swimming in them. Just like about 75% of the other people wearing them. And since nearly everybody wore the giant-extra-small shirts they were really hard to come by. It was frustrating to no end to walk down the shirt aisle only to discover that they were out of extra-smalls - again! - and to have to look at the three dozen 5X's . . . that NOBODY ever wore. Seriously. These things had enough fabric in them to make at least three extra-smalls, and I only ever worked with three people who might have . . . actually, probably did wear those huge things. Grrrr. Suffice it to say, costuming is definitely one of the things I do not miss about working at Disney.
I suppose my point is, has anyone else ever gotten this epitome of dumb questions? Especially somewhere where you were obviously in the uniform of said workplaces? I find it hard to believe that this one is a strictly Disney question . . . however, "why is it raining?" probably is . . .
I mean, come on. Not only do we all have a nametag, we are wearing the ugliest cloths on the planet. I quickly came to the realization that Disney wants CMs to look as boring, sexless, and ugly as possible. I can't really blame them, beause even the horrible costumes (uniforms . . . I probably should post a glossary or something . . .) didn't stop some people I knew of from flirting with and sometimes just plain hitting on guests, which is definitely inappropriate. And I know I really lucked out. Compared to some of the costumes I could have had to wear, mine weren't all that bad - khakis and three different button down shirts, depending on which attraction I was working. The most annoying part is, I also quickly came to the conclusion that Disney also doesn't much care aboue CM's comfort or even presentableness (is that a word? it is now . . .) when wearing the company provided costumes. I worked there for over two years, and I never once wore a costume that fit me well from head to toe. It. SUCKED.
We'll start with the pants. First off, at least as far as women's pants go, one must go in to Costuming prepared to feel fat. I wear (about) a size ten pant. At Disney, the size that fit me the mot often was a 14. Therefore, since I always wore my own clothes to work and changed when I got there, I gained to sizes driving to work, and lost it all again when I left. Yeah . . . THAT makes sense! But even then, you can't go by the labelled size . . . assuming you can even read it . . . and assuming that it was placed in the right section. I learned quickly to check every pair of pants I picked up to make sure it was the size I thought it was. But again, even that wasn't enough. When I first started, I would check out a week's worth o costumes, and turn them all in at the end of the week . . . mostly because there was no way I was paying to do Disney's laundry in addition to my own. Of those five pairs of pants I would check out, typically two would be too big, two would be too small, and one would fit me in the waist. Of course, that pair wouls usually be either too long or too short lenthwise. So would the others. Every pair of pants I ever wore was labelled as being a size 14 waist, with a 30 inch inseam. Some of them felt and looked like Hammer pants and stopped above my ankles. Some made me wish I was wearing a corset (they'd be much looser and more comfortable) and were so long that I spent the day tripping over them because, of course, they wouldn't stay rolled up either. Good times.
Shirts weren't quite as bad. Actually, one of them fit very well . . . until they changed the name of the attraction and had to change the shirt becuase they had a patch with the attraction name on them. Like anybody even looked at the patches. Please. Anyway, I wore an extra small shirt. Just like 80% of the other people who worked at each attraction. And I was swimming in them. Just like about 75% of the other people wearing them. And since nearly everybody wore the giant-extra-small shirts they were really hard to come by. It was frustrating to no end to walk down the shirt aisle only to discover that they were out of extra-smalls - again! - and to have to look at the three dozen 5X's . . . that NOBODY ever wore. Seriously. These things had enough fabric in them to make at least three extra-smalls, and I only ever worked with three people who might have . . . actually, probably did wear those huge things. Grrrr. Suffice it to say, costuming is definitely one of the things I do not miss about working at Disney.
I suppose my point is, has anyone else ever gotten this epitome of dumb questions? Especially somewhere where you were obviously in the uniform of said workplaces? I find it hard to believe that this one is a strictly Disney question . . . however, "why is it raining?" probably is . . .
There are very few pictures of me in costume, mostly because I think I look so terrible in them. Sadly, as I skimmed through facebook pictures of me, I discovered that there are a lot more than I would like, most added by other people. Anyway, here's a few, for any of you who want to see how I was dressing the last couple of years. Warning: shield the eyes of the little ones. This just might be traumatizing. :-)
The old backlot shirt . . . the one that actually fit
The old backlot shirt . . . the one that actually fit
You can't really tell because of the distance, but these were some TIGHT pants in the waist . . . but very Hammer-pants-esque in the crotch, and they ballooned from there. I always bloused my shirts to hide a little of how badly the pants fit too.
We're wearing the same size shirt. Roma is a little bigger than me, my shirt should fit me more or less how hers fits her, but it was still a little big for her . . . and these were XS's!!!
Three complaints about this shirt. 1 - the top button was uncomfortably low for some of us. Not indecent, (although it would have been iffy if I'd been through the temple), just low. I was mostly worried about sunburn. 2 - They become quite literally see-through if you get caught in the rain without your rain jacket. 3 - Again, wearing an extra small and there's sooooo much extra fabric!!!
Of course, the looseness of the shirts did make it easy to reach completely behind yourself to answer the phone. :-) Again, kind of hard to tell, but my pants actually have about four or five inches bunched in front of me. I could fit two of me in some of these pants!!!
Again, pants too big. And too long, although it's really hard to tell with the shadow.P. ost S. cript
It seems only appropriate to include this one considering the subject matter. I only wish it was a little longer so we could see more of what happened . . . afterward . . . :-)
It seems only appropriate to include this one considering the subject matter. I only wish it was a little longer so we could see more of what happened . . . afterward . . . :-)
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Not What I Thought It Would Be
Setting up house, that is. This whole not-having-a-job thing makes for having a lot of time to unpack things and sort them and decorate and fun stuff like that. Sadly, it does not come with a lot of money to buy shelves and such. Nor does it come with the instant enlightenment of what to do with this hodge-podge of stuff we have. Blargh.
And it really is quite a hodge-podge. Mostly . . . well, no I'll be honest . . . entirely . . . because of me. Luke is really in to Japan and Japanese culture . . . really in to it. Pretty much everything he has that falls under the huge umbrella I'm labelling "decor crape" (with an accent on that last e to make it sound all fancy and French-like) is of Japanese origin, or at least looks like it could be. My stuff? If someone were to attempt to be polite while descrbing my stuff, they would probably use the word "eclectic." I have, quite literally, a little bit of everything. Cutesy little plaques and pictures from Deseret Book, dozens upon dozens of loose photographs that I kept on my wall in college, innumerable little knick-knacs and curios, some I bought myself, some I inheiriteed from heaven-knows-where, some were gifts, and most I couldn't tell you which of those was the source for it. Plenty of Disney stuff, of course, because like any self-respecting CM (cast member) I probably spent a good 30% of what I made on either food at the parks or little trinkets - a Jolly Roger flag, a talking Jack the Monkey, a couple of princess posters, etc. And that's just the stuff I can shove into some sort of broad category. What am I supposed to do with all this stuff?
I've never really had this problem before. With every other place I've lived in since I graduated high school, I either had a (more or less) definite date that I would be moving out, or I just didn't have enough space to put out everything I wanted. So it either stayed packed up in the many plastic tubs I've accumulated in the last seven years, or stored in the closet of my old room. But this time, I'm here permanently . . . well, indefinitely, anyway . . . and the whole place is mine to decorate. No roommates to share wall space and shelf space with . . . I gotta admit, that kinda nice. Kinda really nice. And I'm kinda really enjoying it. However, I'm also sorta stuck.
When I decorated my college/Florida bedrooms, I can admit now, that they always lacked a certain "je ne sais quoi" that, actually, je sais: most people would probably call it taste. I would take everything I had for decoration, and cram them all into whatever space I had. No real theme or even plan . . . I just put everything out and on display. The results might be a little hard to envision, but perhaps this will help: no where was this sort of "whatever" decorating philosophy more evident than on my walls. Posters, photos, pictures, calender . . . I probably kept about a pound of that sticky tack stuff on my walls at all times, and the two best ways I ever heard to describe it were these - "it's like I walked into a ginat scrapbook" and "it's like a scrapbook exploded in here." Yep, that's my room.
I suppose that sort of thing was to be expected. Growing up, my room alwways had next to nothing on the walls. And what was there was always . . . let's just say "mother approved." Either pictures she probably had on her walls as a child, or something she liked and allowed on the walls. All matching the paint, and all very matchy-matchy with each other. And a lot of it were not things I would have chosen to put on my walls when I was six, much less as a teenager. So I guess the exploding scrapbook was only to be expected once I had complete and sole control over what went on my walls. And I've gotta say, there's something unendingly pleasing about shutting your bedroom door and revealing a pirate flag . . . like a token of a hidden wildside that nobody ever sees, or something. Good times.
So now, here I am. I have a tub-full of knick-knacks that I want to display somehow . . . but we've already used up all our limited shelf/table space. With Luke's help I'm keeping things limited to just a few things per space, and I have to say, what we have looks pretty good. It's just only about 15% of what we have between the two of us is out on display . . . grrrrrrrrrr. Why can't furnished apartments come complete with curio cabinets . . . or something like that?
On a similar note, I specifically had my bouquet made of silk flowers so I could keep it, but now I have no idea what to do with it or how to display it. Any suggestions?
P.ost S.cript
Luke and I found this one a little while back, and I got quite a giggle or three out of it. Rated PG-13 . . . ish . . . for language if you care about that sort of thing.
And it really is quite a hodge-podge. Mostly . . . well, no I'll be honest . . . entirely . . . because of me. Luke is really in to Japan and Japanese culture . . . really in to it. Pretty much everything he has that falls under the huge umbrella I'm labelling "decor crape" (with an accent on that last e to make it sound all fancy and French-like) is of Japanese origin, or at least looks like it could be. My stuff? If someone were to attempt to be polite while descrbing my stuff, they would probably use the word "eclectic." I have, quite literally, a little bit of everything. Cutesy little plaques and pictures from Deseret Book, dozens upon dozens of loose photographs that I kept on my wall in college, innumerable little knick-knacs and curios, some I bought myself, some I inheiriteed from heaven-knows-where, some were gifts, and most I couldn't tell you which of those was the source for it. Plenty of Disney stuff, of course, because like any self-respecting CM (cast member) I probably spent a good 30% of what I made on either food at the parks or little trinkets - a Jolly Roger flag, a talking Jack the Monkey, a couple of princess posters, etc. And that's just the stuff I can shove into some sort of broad category. What am I supposed to do with all this stuff?
I've never really had this problem before. With every other place I've lived in since I graduated high school, I either had a (more or less) definite date that I would be moving out, or I just didn't have enough space to put out everything I wanted. So it either stayed packed up in the many plastic tubs I've accumulated in the last seven years, or stored in the closet of my old room. But this time, I'm here permanently . . . well, indefinitely, anyway . . . and the whole place is mine to decorate. No roommates to share wall space and shelf space with . . . I gotta admit, that kinda nice. Kinda really nice. And I'm kinda really enjoying it. However, I'm also sorta stuck.
When I decorated my college/Florida bedrooms, I can admit now, that they always lacked a certain "je ne sais quoi" that, actually, je sais: most people would probably call it taste. I would take everything I had for decoration, and cram them all into whatever space I had. No real theme or even plan . . . I just put everything out and on display. The results might be a little hard to envision, but perhaps this will help: no where was this sort of "whatever" decorating philosophy more evident than on my walls. Posters, photos, pictures, calender . . . I probably kept about a pound of that sticky tack stuff on my walls at all times, and the two best ways I ever heard to describe it were these - "it's like I walked into a ginat scrapbook" and "it's like a scrapbook exploded in here." Yep, that's my room.
I suppose that sort of thing was to be expected. Growing up, my room alwways had next to nothing on the walls. And what was there was always . . . let's just say "mother approved." Either pictures she probably had on her walls as a child, or something she liked and allowed on the walls. All matching the paint, and all very matchy-matchy with each other. And a lot of it were not things I would have chosen to put on my walls when I was six, much less as a teenager. So I guess the exploding scrapbook was only to be expected once I had complete and sole control over what went on my walls. And I've gotta say, there's something unendingly pleasing about shutting your bedroom door and revealing a pirate flag . . . like a token of a hidden wildside that nobody ever sees, or something. Good times.
So now, here I am. I have a tub-full of knick-knacks that I want to display somehow . . . but we've already used up all our limited shelf/table space. With Luke's help I'm keeping things limited to just a few things per space, and I have to say, what we have looks pretty good. It's just only about 15% of what we have between the two of us is out on display . . . grrrrrrrrrr. Why can't furnished apartments come complete with curio cabinets . . . or something like that?
On a similar note, I specifically had my bouquet made of silk flowers so I could keep it, but now I have no idea what to do with it or how to display it. Any suggestions?
P.ost S.cript
Luke and I found this one a little while back, and I got quite a giggle or three out of it. Rated PG-13 . . . ish . . . for language if you care about that sort of thing.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
It's official. I'm old.
I suppose I should have expected this. After all, I do live in the town that is the home of Bear River University. But it honestly never even occurred to me. Especially since, of all the people I know, very few of them actually live in or near the town they grew up in. Except for people around here. Except for the people I went to high school with.
I went to high school with the first counselor in our ward's bishopric. That has go to be one of the weirdest things I've ever experienced. I recognized him right off the bat . . . sort of. It was more one of those "is that . . . no . . . but maybe . . . surely not . . . well . . . " sort of things that was confirmed when I heard someone else call him by name. That was weird, but I rather expected it, because, like I said, a good 75% of any and every graduating class or good ol' Berver (how it's pronounced with a Utah accent) goes to Logan, and I imagine few of them ever leave. Unless they go back to Box Elder County. It's one of those instances where everybody knows everybody, at least sort of. Yesterday our ward held a little "linger longer" (something I've only seen in one other ward) and someone else recognized me as Ashli's older sister. I didn't recognize her at all, although I have the distinct feeling that I should have, and her name is a little familiar. But still - no idea who she is or how she recognized me. It's like a high school reunion that never ends and you don't have to wait ten years for. I suppose you could say the same thing about facebook . . . but on facebook people who know Ashli leave me alone unless they actually know me too. And everyone is more or less an equal, still in high school for all intents and purposes, not first counselors in your bishopric.
Which takes me back to my original point. That is so weird. Bishopric dudes are supposed to be . . . old. Wise. Grandfatherly. At least out of college for heaven's sake!!! (did I mention we go to a student ward?) Granted, I'm aware of the fact that in singles' wards and married student wards they'll often call some young dude for . . . training purposes, for lack of a better phrase. I've seen it before, I mean, I was only in FIVE different singles' wards in the last seven years. I know how it works. I've seen young guys up on the stand before. But they were never guys I'd known before knowing them "on the stand" so to speak. They were never someone I'd seen goofing off at lunchtime, debating whether or not to skip seminary (or math, or english, or insert other class here). I could always imagine that they were actually in they're mid-to-late-thirties or older, and just happened to have a bit of a baby face. Not happening this time. I know exactly how old he is . . . more or less . . . because he's my age. He walked across the same platform stage I did in that stuffy high school gym, seven letters behind me alphabetically. If I wanted to, I could grab my yearbook and count exactly how many people were between the two of in shaking . . . what's-his-butt's hand. (Yeah, I don't remember the principal's name. I never saw him much. He was a bit more of a voice-from-the-intercom than a "pal" principal.)
It's so crazy. All these things that I always imagined I would never be old enough for . . . not only am I doing them, people younger than me are doing them too!! (looking at you Shayla! And Brad! Katie! Jesse! And . . . yeah . . . just . . . all'a y'all) So does the fact that I'm reaching a point where my peers and I are doing all these things that I always thought required a level of . . . maturity, I guess . . . mean that I actually am that mature? And does that mean that this is what maturity feels like? And if that's the case, that really sucks. It feels way too much like immaturity if you ask me.
P.ost S.cript
I've decided to start including stuff I find online in all my blogs. Being broke, Luke and I have found a cheap, yet hysterically awesome source of constant entertainment - youtube videos!! We'll go to one we like and just click on links to related videos for hours. Most are amusing, some are really lame, and some are true gems. Here's one of my current favorites:
I went to high school with the first counselor in our ward's bishopric. That has go to be one of the weirdest things I've ever experienced. I recognized him right off the bat . . . sort of. It was more one of those "is that . . . no . . . but maybe . . . surely not . . . well . . . " sort of things that was confirmed when I heard someone else call him by name. That was weird, but I rather expected it, because, like I said, a good 75% of any and every graduating class or good ol' Berver (how it's pronounced with a Utah accent) goes to Logan, and I imagine few of them ever leave. Unless they go back to Box Elder County. It's one of those instances where everybody knows everybody, at least sort of. Yesterday our ward held a little "linger longer" (something I've only seen in one other ward) and someone else recognized me as Ashli's older sister. I didn't recognize her at all, although I have the distinct feeling that I should have, and her name is a little familiar. But still - no idea who she is or how she recognized me. It's like a high school reunion that never ends and you don't have to wait ten years for. I suppose you could say the same thing about facebook . . . but on facebook people who know Ashli leave me alone unless they actually know me too. And everyone is more or less an equal, still in high school for all intents and purposes, not first counselors in your bishopric.
Which takes me back to my original point. That is so weird. Bishopric dudes are supposed to be . . . old. Wise. Grandfatherly. At least out of college for heaven's sake!!! (did I mention we go to a student ward?) Granted, I'm aware of the fact that in singles' wards and married student wards they'll often call some young dude for . . . training purposes, for lack of a better phrase. I've seen it before, I mean, I was only in FIVE different singles' wards in the last seven years. I know how it works. I've seen young guys up on the stand before. But they were never guys I'd known before knowing them "on the stand" so to speak. They were never someone I'd seen goofing off at lunchtime, debating whether or not to skip seminary (or math, or english, or insert other class here). I could always imagine that they were actually in they're mid-to-late-thirties or older, and just happened to have a bit of a baby face. Not happening this time. I know exactly how old he is . . . more or less . . . because he's my age. He walked across the same platform stage I did in that stuffy high school gym, seven letters behind me alphabetically. If I wanted to, I could grab my yearbook and count exactly how many people were between the two of in shaking . . . what's-his-butt's hand. (Yeah, I don't remember the principal's name. I never saw him much. He was a bit more of a voice-from-the-intercom than a "pal" principal.)
It's so crazy. All these things that I always imagined I would never be old enough for . . . not only am I doing them, people younger than me are doing them too!! (looking at you Shayla! And Brad! Katie! Jesse! And . . . yeah . . . just . . . all'a y'all) So does the fact that I'm reaching a point where my peers and I are doing all these things that I always thought required a level of . . . maturity, I guess . . . mean that I actually am that mature? And does that mean that this is what maturity feels like? And if that's the case, that really sucks. It feels way too much like immaturity if you ask me.
P.ost S.cript
I've decided to start including stuff I find online in all my blogs. Being broke, Luke and I have found a cheap, yet hysterically awesome source of constant entertainment - youtube videos!! We'll go to one we like and just click on links to related videos for hours. Most are amusing, some are really lame, and some are true gems. Here's one of my current favorites:
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