Off to the Same Start

So we're getting all settled here in Orlando . . . three weeks in and I have to say, it's a little weird being back.  The apartment complex we moved in to is seriously right in the middle of the area ( i.e.  it literally sits right on the WDW property line) we were most familiar with before so there hasn't been a lot of "learning the area" stuff to do.  Things have changed, but a lot of the stuff that was here five years ago is still here.  It's a little trippy to see how much is the same . . . but on the other hand we've kind of just slipped right back in.  Like we were gone on a ridiculously extended vacation and now we've finally come home and everything is familiar and homey because that's what this place has always been.  It's hot, and I'm learning again how to breather underwater.  Seriously, I was doing some major gasping for breath unloading the cars when we got here, but it wasn't from the exertion.  It's honestly not that much hotter here than it is in Logan this time of year (although I hear that's not quite the case this year).  I never understood the whole "it's not the heat, it's the humidity" thing you hear people say all the time until I lived here last time, but now . . . I understand!

The good news - we're pretty much set up in our teeny little place (which actually isn't that much smaller, it just seems that way because we went down a bedroom), and set up pretty well too thanks to room renovations at a few hotels.  We have a lamp that used to be in the rooms at the Polynesian, a work desk for Luke that was in the Grand Floridian, and a TV table (probably) from the Yacht Club.  The bad news - we have everything but a couch.  And sitting on the floor just gets old after a while, you know?  But overall we've got a lovely little set up here and as soon as we get a couch and are truly done moving in we'll do another video tour and put it on facebook with the others. (sad news for those who have been enthusiastically following our apartment tours: this counter is un-swim-able.  believe me, I'm feeling the tragedy as much as you)

In other news, I'm still job hunting.  Kind of wasn't expecting that.  I was planning on going to Disney Casting after we got here, but it turns out Disney's gone pretty much internet-applications-only, just like pretty much everyone else on the planet.  So I applied online a couple of days before we left thinking I could have an interview almost as soon as we got here and with my full rehire status I'd have nothing to worry about, even if all they had to start with was part time or something.  So then we get to San Antonio and while it is currently home to one freaking adorable nephew I have another reason to say nothing good ever happens in San Antonio.  I got an email saying I'd qualified for an internet interview, which it turned out was just code for one of those stupid Meyers-Brigg-ish personality tests that EVERYONE AND THEIR FREAKING DOG has made part of their application process.  And apparently there is just something fundamentally wrong with my personality because as soon as I finished it the "thanks but no thanks, you suck" page came up.  Phrased, you know, more diplomatically than that.  And now, a month later, I'm past all the emotional breakdowns and ranting and raging and all that fun stuff and just kind of numb to it all (except for noticing that now the internet ad I get the most is the "Come apply at Disney World! Now Hiring!" one.  Thanks, targeted advertising!  You suck too!) so I'll just say this: for the last five years I thought my biggest problem was location and that Logan just wasn't a place to get a job unless your fifth great-grandparents crossed the plains in the wagon behind the hiring person's fourth great-grandparents - and judging by the way I got the one job I did, that's partly true (and because it worked once I will always have mixed feelings about such nepotism).  But judging by the fact that the only three interviews I got were from applications that didn't have a personality test . . . clearly I'm the biggest part of the problem here.  And after five years of making cracks about how I'm apparently unhire-able to have it proved to actually be true . . . ouch.  That stings a bit.  But hey, when your problem is a personality so apparently awful you can't even get passed from the computer to a human being - what can you do?

So that was the raging (although it would have been much longer a few weeks ago).  As for the ranting - when you leave Disney on good terms - which we both did - they tell you that you have full rehire status and make it sound like you'll be welcomed back with open arms anytime.  Maybe that was the case a long time ago.  But while one would think the fact that one worked there before and left on good terms would be like a Get Out of Personality Test Free card . . . yeah, no.  Rehire status turns out to be completely worthless unless you can get past the personality test.  Which five years of both answering honestly and trying every method known to man of answering "correctly" has proven I can't do.  So it's essentially as though I've never worked there before.  Yay.

So then I applied at this company that does in-room babysitting at hotels all over the area and childcare for local conventions and weddings and such.  Supposedly this is a pretty legit company.  Like, if you want an evening out without the kids on your vacation these people are the ones Disney refers you to.  And there's no personality test with their application!  So I send one off a couple days after we get here . . . and for all I know that application went to Pluto.  You download it, fill it out, and send it to their HR person who, the first time I called after not getting even an acknowledgment of receiving the email, was on vacation but going to be back in two days.  Fast forward a week and still no word and another call and now the HR person "is not in today, hasn't been in for a while, and there's no telling when they'll be back in."  Long story short . . . another bust.  I keep getting a different story from these people.  So we are oh-for-two.  Business as usual, really.  Remember how I was saying it sort of feels like we never left?  As far as job hunting goes, it feels like nothing has changed except the location.  And the fact that we haven't exhausted all our connections here yet (although we are moving down the list more rapidly than I thought we would).

There is a skylight in this tunnel though - this is the first summer where Luke's had this job.  So it's not like we're in the same situation we've been in previous summers after my paychecks dry up.  True, we won't be booking any spur of the moment "just because we can" cruises anytime soon - but it's also not like we're in danger of getting evicted from the apartment we just moved into either.  This isn't a frantic, urgent job hunt . . . just an obnoxious one.  Which is a faint light, but it's the most I've had five years so I'll take it.

But even as frustrating as the whole still-freaking-job hunting thing is, it's good to be back.  We've seriously eaten at Earl of Sandwich, like four (five?) times.  And Cici's twice.  And found a Christmas tree ornament that seriously made my year (suffice it to say that if you aren't following me on instagram you should be, lol).  And spent a fortune mentally shopping for Rogan because there is sooooooooooo much cute baby/toddler stuff . . . let's just say that when I do finally get a job that kid is getting seriously spoiled.  And spent an afternoon at Magic Kingdom mind boggled over all the changes (dear Disney: would it kill you to spend as much time/money/attention to detail on the BLT as you did on the freaking Rapunzel bathrooms?).  And eaten a ridiculous amount of grilled onions from the Pecos Bill's fixins' bar (thanks Sarah!!). And made two trips to Ikea because it's not a three hour drive just to get there.  And had dessert at Ghiradelli's three (four?) times.  And spent hours . . . a lot of time . . . combing over the Orlando groupon page looking at all the things we have to do.  Some that I've had on my list for years, some neither of us even knew existed.  And let's just say I honestly have no idea how I've resisted this one for as long as I have!

All in all I'd have to say this whole moving thing gets a solid A-.  Now everybody just needs to start visiting. :-)


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Totally doing my best to channel Princess Unikitty these days.  On many levels.

Dear Florida

We're here!

Ready to try this again,
Lacey


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I'm not sure about popular demand, but we're totally doing the rest of this.
(one for the clip, one for the full song)

Dear Utah

I thought it would be different this time . . . and it was.  I thought that would be a good thing . . . not so much.  I've made some (hopefully) lasting friendships and had some great experiences and I have only a few regrets.  But the judgement was still there, and now I am not only willing but eager to leave.  Pretty sure I'm not going to miss you this time.

Disillunsioned-ly yours,
(and also totally going to miss those lasting friendship people)

Lacey

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Top of the to-do list (although not necessarily first)? Finally swimming with these guys.

Lesson Number the Last

First graders hug regularly and without any particular reason.

Fourth graders don't hug without reason . . . but when they have one, they come back for four more and try to tie you to a chair with a jump rope and swear up and down that you can't go because they said so.

Those kids were in kindergarten when I started working there . . . gonna be feeling that all the way to Orlando . . .


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My go-to for these sort of moments.

Modern Marvels

Imagine this: you're driving down the freeway in middle-of-nowhere Nebraska (which has been scientifically proven to be flatter than a pancake) and you pass a sign that says "Monument ahead DO NOT STOP."

Little odd, no?  I mean, don't they usually want you to stop and take a look at monuments that someone took the time to create?  But then you drive a couple more miles and then you see this.

And you kinda get why the sign says not to stop.

That was the story at the end of my family's Mormon pilgrimage summer vacation (I'm oddly conflicted about which phrase to strike out there . . . ) back in 2001.  *insert obligatory moment to note just how freaking long ago that was here*  So naturally we had to stop and see just what the crap this was, even though it wasn't in the plan and it was the end of the trip so we were all pretty exhausted and more than a little sick of each other.

Turns out it's a museum.  And a pretty cool one too.

We didn't spend as much time there as I would have liked, seeing as it was an unscheduled stop and my parents are all about schedules, but we weren't rushed through it either.  The part I remember most was at the end.  While you're inside you can totally forget you're actually on a bridge over a freeway and there are cars speeding under you at seventy-something miles an hour (is the fear of being on a bridge when it collapses a phobia that exists?  I'm pretty sure this place could create it).  But at the end there are a couple of windows and you can see those cars whiz past while right behind you is a display talking about people traveling this same route on covered wagons and how the change from one to the other happened in only just over a  hundred years (1840s to 195-Eisen-whatever).  For some reason that's really stuck with me in the thirteen (oy!) years since.  The speed of advancement once the ball got rolling, you know?  Foot to animal took forever, then animal to wheeled stuff took less of a forever, then motorizing the wheel only took, like, a blink of a forever and then before you know it Montana has no speed limit and then BAM! it does before I get a chance to Autobahn it up to Glacier.

On another note, other technology has, naturally, kept up . . . or at least kept on advancing just as (or more) quickly (thank you Phonecians!).  In the 1840s you pretty much weren't going to see the people you left behind again, and you probably wouldn't be hearing much from them either - depending on where you ended up, anyway.  It might even be a year before they knew whether you made it without dying of dysentery or something. (side note: need that shirt!!)

Fast forward to the 80s when my parents (and I) moved from Washington to Idaho.  Not quite as far, but still far enough to have blown some 1840s minds if we'd told them we could make the trip in a day.  A very long day . . . but a day.  But still there was no way for my grandparents to know we hadn't all died of dysentery car crash or vanished into some sort of black hole until we got there, got moved in, got a phone line set up, and called everyone they knew (because as I understand it, they couldn't just text everyone their new phone number way back then) to let them know they were here and how to contact them.  But still, only a couple of days to get there and let everyone left behind know we were there.

Fast forward a bit more . . . I'm planning on instagramming our entire trip.  And updating my facebook status every time we stop for gas.  Not only will everyone we know know when we arrive (and pretty much the moment we do), the people we're crashing with will know almost exactly when to expect us the day we're heading to their place.  And if we do get sucked into one of those black holes?  There will be literally at least a hundred people who know roughly what area to start the search and exactly how long it's been since we were accounted for.

How amazing is that?!?!

It must have been nice to be able to let your kids just run all sorts of amok until it got dark, and it certainly must have been tons cheaper to grow your own non-chemically-infested food . . . but I'll take living in the here and now over pretty much any other time.  Because here and now is pretty freaking cool.


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I wanted to post the cheese episode because it's eriously my favorite, but I'm having some trouble finding it.  I suppose this one will have to do instead.  :-)

Ode to Thirty

Also known as my second twenty-ninth birthday.  Because

Yeah, that sounds about right.  Anyway.

Starin' out into the wild blue yonder
So many thoughts to sit and ponder
'Bout life and love and wonderment of
And this craziness in my heart

Too old to be wild and free still
Too young to be over the hill
Should I try to grow up
But who knows where to start

So I just sit right here and have myself another snowcone
Do my best to waste another day
Sit right here and have another homemade snowcone
Let the packed boxes melt any blues away

Sun comes up and sun sinks down
And I seen 'em both in this two-horse town
Up for days wishin' for a raise

 Or just a job that is full time

From the answers and the reasons why
I'm at these crossroads in my life
And I think I mostly know

 Which way to fly

So I just sit right here and take another trip to the library
Do my best to waste another day
Sit right here and stack the books two feet high
Let the crappy novels (these days) melt any blues away

Maybe I'll settle down, have babies
Or stay kid-less and stay free
Which road I travel
Is still (slightly) a mystery to me

So I just sit right here and cross another square off the calendar
Do my best not to waste another day
Sit right here and grasp at straws for one more line
Let the passage of time melt any blues away

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 Apparently Kenny Chesney employs time traveling songwriters that steal from blogs.  Because that's a much more interesting explanation than saying I heard the song a couple weeks ago for the first time in ages and totally identified with it.

 

Just Thoughts

~ We are T-minus 30 days until we get the heck outta Dodge.  There's so much to do . . . and yet it doesn't seem like all that much.

~ I swear end of the year testing will be the death of me.  Don't get me wrong, on the one hand I am literally getting paid to sit in silence watching a bunch of kids take tests on computers.  But on the other hand . . . I am spending the day in total silence while the kids are working on computers.  Soooooooooooooooooooooooo boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooring!!!!!!!!!  I will miss pretty much everything else, but I am SO glad that this is the last time I will be doing testing.

~ I officially do not get what the big deal is about 5 Guys.  Sure, it's a good burger but there's nothing special about it.  Certainly nothing special enough to warrant the cult following and being voted Best Thing On The Entire Planet by practically everyone.  Give me In'N'Out any day.  Or even Sonic.

~ English has got to be such a difficult language to learn.  Almost every person I've ever met for whom English was their second language has had a hard time saying my name - no matter what their first language is.  It would appear that ours is pretty much the only language in which the C and Z sounds are significantly distinct . . . which, of course, makes my name fundamentally different.  In fact, it took one particularly sweet little second grader from Africa (wish I knew where) about a month to figure out that my name was not, in fact, Miss Lazy.  At which point my name became Miss-Lazy-I-Mean-Miss-Lacey.  If it were a fourth grader doing it I would think they were being deliberately obnoxious, but he's so adorably delighted when he gets it right on the first try.  He's one of the ones I wish I could take with me.

~ Two parts trippy, one part amazing, two parts fueling the mental rant about people who make fun of selfies I've had going on in my head for a couple of months now. Also - I totally want those "reading" glasses.

~ Abbreviated rant: I've been taking selfies since I was in high school, and so has everyone else I was in symphony with because our symphony conductor took them all the time and we all thought he was awesome.  People who think teenage girls taking selfies is a sign of the end of times really need to get over themselves.  Seriously, have you seen those pictures of that bunch of dudes taking a selfie back in the 20s?  And if people - ESPECIALLY teenage girls - feeling confident in themselves and being willing to admit it to the world is a bad thing . . . I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

~ Snow cones last week, hot chocolate this week.  I'd be annoyed if that wasn't so utterly typical.

~ I am in the middle of the biggest reading slump in the history of my entire life - both in length and number of books.  I've read 38 books so far this year, and my average rating is a 2.6  (yeah, I actually did the math.  that's how frustrating it is)  whereas my normal rating for a year's worth of books is in the vicinity of 3.5 (yeah, I did a lot of math . . . which hopefully tells you how bad this slump is).  I have no idea what's going on, but most of the books I've been reading lately have just SUCKED.  It's not like I'm reading a pile of Twilight fanfiction either - I'm reading the same genres I've always liked, and there's been plenty of variety.  And still, they all suck.  Some are less sucky, and there have been a handful - seven, to be precise -  that I've truly enjoyed.  But holy crap, I've had four months of finishing book after book and putting them down and thinking what a waste of time it was and how I could have been rereading something good and just wishing I could enjoy reading new books again and I just have to wonder what the crap the problem is.  I'd ask for recommendations but at this point I'm not sure I'd appreciate them.  Blargh.


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We've totally adopted this as our theme song around here.  If you haven't seen this movie, drop what your doing and go see it.  But I don't think it's in any theaters anymore, so just go download it or something.  It's that awesome.