And Then

Did I mention that I applied at every single operating participant at Downtown Disney?  Well, no . . . because last time I blogged I hadn't done that yet.  (side note: operating participant = there's a bunch of stores at Downtown Disney that aren't staffed by Disney cast members so I theoretically had a shot at at least working on Disney property and getting a smaller amount of perks)  Anyway, that happened.  And then nothing happened. 

And did I mention that the owners of Basin are in our ward?  And that I totally love those stores and could totally work there?  And apparently half the people who work there are also in our ward and every time we've told people in the ward I'm looking for a job they ask we've talk to Brother Basin (not actual name, lol) yet because half the ward works there and I should totally do that?  And that they don't think they'll be hiring anybody in the foreseeable future, but they have my application?

Because, yeah.  All that happened.

So I applied at Universal.

And they got back to me pretty much immediately. (And before you ask, there was a personality test which I totally took myself.)

And I had an interview on Friday.

And now I'm basically a conductor on the Hogwarts Express.  (it's slightly more complicated than that, so if you want a more accurate explanation of what I'll actually be doing let me know)

Luke is TOTALLY excited.  And I'm certainly happy . . . but strangely nervous.  After looking so long I just can't quite believe getting this job was so easy in the end (I got hired on the spot).  It's like there's got to be some sort of catch . . . and I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Or maybe I just can't believe that I actually have a "real" job again. 

I suppose one could consider the catch to be that it's only part time (sixty-something cent pay cut . . . but, like, triple the hours.  So it kinda works out, you know?) and there's no telling how long it will be before I could make the switch to full time.  But either way I have all sorts of paperwork and took the picture for my ID and picked a hometown for my name tag (cannot wait to hear people try to say Puyallup!) and have been told my youngest cousins are going to flip several times over when they hear what I do - but somehow it still doesn't seem quite real.  I suppose it won't until I start orientation . . . which isn't until a week from tomorrow, so this week should be interesting.  I am looking forward to the one day of just Harry Potter training; the guy who interviewed me made it sound like it's a lot of Harry Potter trivia and a little bit of training (and with any luck riding a few things, because we left before the first half of the Wizarding World opened so I haven't done any of it and it all looks AMAZING)  There was even a separate list of questions they ask for people they're considering placing in the Wizarding World . . . consisting of some of the easiest HP trivia known to man.  Seriously - name the four houses, what is Parsletongue, name three horcruxes (I named all seven), that sort of thing.  Of course, considering I haven't reread all the books since shortly after Deathly Hallows came out, this is a fabulous excuse to read them again (like I needed one . . . well, I guess I kind of did . . . ) and the PERFECT excuse to finally get copies of the first four (which came out when I was in high school and also when personal books were basically consider family books so I read Rian's).  So all in all it's a pretty win-win situation.

Conveniently enough, Luke's sister Emily was off yesterday so we went to Epcot to celebrate.  You know, as you do.  I mean, doesn't everybody celebrate getting a job by designing their own roller coaster?  And eating chocolate and caramel covered pineapple spears in Germany?  And ducking into a Canadian mine for half an hour to wait out the rain?  Other than an afternoon in Magic Kingdom about a week after we got here this was the first we've been into any park, so naturally it was awesome!!

Side note for those who've been there and might be interested in changes: holy Tron Track, that one was trippy!  Going to have to do it a few more times before I can decide what I think, other than it's a bit hard on the eyes.  (also - totally need to start a sunglasses collection so I always have a pair with me)  Club Cool has been completely changed out - VeggieBeta is still there, as is Beverly (of course), but everything else is new.  The pineapple fanta is good, but quite the odd choice considering you can get it at Walmart.  My favorite though, is this non-carbonated juice from (I think) Thailand . . . kiwi-mango, and holy crap, I'm pretty sure I drank a gallon of it!!!  Or maybe just a quart.  Seriously, it's good.  Someone needs to go to Thailand and send me, like, everything they can find.  I can't say I'm impressed with the idea of magic bands - what with facts of life like Brazilians and tourons and varying combinations thereof it just strikes me as asking for trouble.  Granted, I haven't exactly used the new system much yet . . . but the mere fact that they used it as an excuse to put fast pass at Spaceship Earth is enough to tell me that whoever had this idea spends, like, zero time in the parks and put zero thought into how a lot of things would actually work when put into practice.  Today's lesson: just because something looks good on paper doesn't mean it's actually a good idea.

Long story short, it was an immensely fun day, but it left us both a little exhausted since we're both totally out of practice with the whole spending-the-entire-day-in-the-park thing and I'm not entirely sure that I didn't get slightly dehydrated.  But I did successfully avoid any sort of sunburn and since I'll be working partly outside it would appear that in about a year that gradual, sort of almost-tan-ish-ness that I developed last time will happen again.  (I'll never forget the trip I made back to Utah between college program and going full time.  My skin had gone from its natural shade of deathly-zombie-pale-so-white-it's-practically-blue-from-the-veins to being light-skinned-but-clearly-living-human-being colored and pretty much everyone I saw had the same reaction: "Holy COW you got TAN!!!!!!!!"  Half the time I was still lighter than whoever said it.  Good times.)

So there's our good news.  I know I should be bouncing off the walls right now, but I'm quite calm.  Glad, grateful . . . but calm.  Maybe I'm just getting old.  On the other hand, I didn't get nervous about the interview until I was walking out the door to go to it, so maybe I'll get all excited next week for orientation.  Mostly I'm just trying to tell myself that there's no catch.  (and did I mention that I get in free/almost free to basically everywhere that isn't Disney?  Not sure what kind of passes I get for other people I get yet, but if you want to come down let me know!)


P. ost  S. cript

Still wishing I could have this job (and still resenting that it's no longer a thing!).