Graduation, Packing, and other random things.

Well hello there my lovelies! It feels like it has been so long since I last posted (12 days! unacceptable!). The fact that I feel totally horrible and sad that I have neglected this blog for 12 days just goes to show how important it (and my readers) have become to me. That kind of makes me happy because I am relatively sure I won't fall off the wagon and never post like I did on my last CP. I feel obligated to post regularly  and keep everyone informed of my fun.

I am pretty much done with school (one last final that I can literally just write my name on and pass the class) and graduation is  just 5 days away. Since I have nothing to do this finals week, I have started packing. Flash back to a year and a half ago and this post and my feelings about packing have not changed one bit. I have yet to edit that packing list and take out the things I know I won't need which means I have just been packing things I know will just have to go into storage. Since I am planning on staying in Orlando after my program everything that I am not taking to Orlando is getting packed and stored at my parents house until the end of my program.

I am trying really really hard to just pack and get it done. I realize that the reason I am not good at packing is because you have to let your space get really messy in order to pack and I can't stand the mess. So I end up trying to be neat while packing and that just doesn't work.

In other news.... IN EXACTLY 4 WEEKS I WILL BE CHECKING IN AT VISTA WAY!!! flkgjadl;gjldfkgfadgjdflkfj
Sheer. Excitement.

I can't believe it is almost here. I can't believe its almost time for me to go back. I have literally been waiting to return since July 27th, the day I left. Working at Disney and living in Orlando was really one of the best things to ever happen to me. I met people that have become such an essential part of my life and I can't wait to go back and make meet even more people.

Speaking of people, I have such an incredibly long list of people I want/need to see as soon as I get back that I just don't know how I am going to fit everything in.  My roomies and I are planning on going shopping together on our second day to get things that we will want/need for the Apt. Because I am still a Cast Member I don't think I have to go to Traditions again which means I will have day 3 (traditions day) off. The down side to that is I will probably have to go to Access Control to get my CP Id rather then getting it at Traditions check-in and I don't know how I will get my name tag. So basically the 2 free days I will have before training will be spent doing things other than spending time with all of the people I want to see. I will be intensely busy once training starts so if I don't get to see them before then, I won't see them till like 1.5 weeks after I get there. That is also assuming I start training right away. Depending on how many Entertainment CMs need to be trained they could split us up into multiple groups and I may be delayed further than the 4th or 5th day in starting training. I pray I am in the group that starts immediately b/c I have friends who will be on vacation at the time and slightly planned it around the hopes of seeing me while in training.  I think I will be able to look up when I start on the HUB once that schedule drops, but as of now they still haven't even switched my role so who knows if I will actually be able to do that.

Humm... I guess that is all I have to talk about at the moment. I will probably post again next week unless something awesome happens that I need to talk about. :)

Love
-M

Crazy Busy

I hate that it has been so long since I have posted a blog. School has been pretty insane though. I had so many things do the beginning of last week, then a 5 day easter break, and then on tuesday I had my Communication Portfolio (a graduation requirement for me) due. I thought once all of that was finished I would be home free but I have come to realize that isn't the case. I have a 6-8 page paper due next thursday, a final Wednesday, some journal entries to write, and basically more school work than I desire at this point in my college career. I am a bit apathetic about it all too.

Whatever. 

Graduation is almost here (16 days), which is awesome. But with graduation comes its own large to-do list. I just got my correct personalized announcements. The first time the company sent them they were not right. I now have to pick one of my many graduation pictures to print and send with my announcements. Then I have to send the announcements which is hard when I can't for the life of me get my mother to make me a list of who to send them to. I also need to pick a restaurant to go to after and then make a reservation. And I have to do all of this while doing the homework I have and fitting in my Disney obsession. 

Can I just be in Orlando already?

Did I mention my Disney obsession? Its such a constant in my life that I can hardly remember a time when it wasn't there. Well, thats a lie. I can remember back to Spring 08 before my Disney CP obsession (which turned into the general disney one I have now) set in. Life was so much more boring then. NOT! ... but not really. 

Also have I mentioned how blessed I feel? Anytime I think about the role I have, I just get this happy bubble in my chest. I'm so excited to get to Orlando and start training. I didn't think about it till I just wrote this but this is how I felt before my last program. If I had ended up being an Attendant again I don't think I would be feeling this way right now just because it wouldn't be new. It wouldn't have zing of the unknown that I have right now. So I guess I am even more grateful that I get to be a performer. Being a performer has also brought a new set of Disney dreams for me, which I have put in my official Disney dreams list (and can be found in its own tab at the top of this blog). 

Sigh. Thats it for this rambling post. Just wanted to update and let everyone know I am alive. 

<3 yall!

-M

Dear blogger, I miss you.

I know I haven't made a post in a while and I feel quite bad about that. My excuse is school. Last week was mid-terms and even though I am technically on Spring Break right now, I am still trying to finish a paper. Almost done though! And as soon as I finish it I am going to write an entry. About what? ... I have no idea. But I miss blogging and I feel like I have neglected this lovely little things so I will come up with something.

Also... 96 followers!? Thats almost 100! Holy poop. I love all 96 of you!

-M

Tick Tok: The coutdown is almost done!

Well hello everyone!

I am back from my Disney vacation. It was quite fun although if I'm honest I probably didn't take as much advantage of my time as I should have. But oh well. Can't change that now.

We are currently down to about 4 days till applications come out. In case anyone is wondering how I came about the end date for the countdown, I shall tell the tale. Basically for the past Fall application seasons the apps have come out on January 20th at about 4 o'clock. That is the reason for the assumption that apps for the Fall will come out this Thursday. I seem to remember that in the past applications have generally come out on Fridays, so its possible that they will come out the 21st. Who knows. We (we being the collective group of prospective Fall 2011 applicants) hope they will come out some time this week.

Since applications will be out so soon, I plan on working on that interview prep/tips entry. It will be up either today or tomorrow since I start school on Tuesday. I will also probably post some pictures from my vacation.

And speaking of school (since everyone who reads this cares so much about my school saga), I may not be graduating this May. I found out recently that I only have 99 credit hours right now. I need 120 to graduate. If you do the math that means I would have to complete 21 hours this semester to graduate in May. I'm honestly not sure that is going to happen. I am going to meet with someone on Wednesday to talk about my predicament and figure out what I can do. This doesn't change my plan to do the Fall Advantage CP. One way or another I am leaving Austin in May and not coming back for school ever again. I may end up having to graduate in August and take an ACE course on my CP to make up the hours I will need to graduate.

Love you all!
-M

I have returned!

So I am officially (as of 2 days ago) finished with this semester.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! HAPPY DANCE!!!

That is not only exciting because this semester has been hellacious but also because that means I have more time to update this thing! woot woot! If I am totally honest even though I don't update this thing like I should, I love it. I love going back and reading what I wrote when I was on my CP. I wish I had written more. I guess that is just the promise I will have to make to myself next time around, to write more frequently.

I'm not going to lie, I see CP blogs with a ridiculous ammount of followers and I am jealous. I want people to find this stuff interesting and helpful and decided to follow it. But I don't want to go out and solicit for that. Not to say I'm not happy with my 42 followers! I am! I LOVE YOU ALL! I love to look at the stats for this blog and see that even if people don't follow it, they visit. It just makes me incredibly happy.

Nerdy Marion is looking forward to starting the process of applying not just to get started (which is a huge reason) but to document it. I want to be helpful to others. :D

So! In other news... Holiday season means possible Disney gifts. I got myself a super adorable sweater from the Forever 21 Minnie Mouse inspired Minnie Muse line. I will take a picture of me in my super cute sweater soon. :) I asked for a few Disney books for Christmas so we shall see if I get them. The Blockbuster near my aunts house was closing so she called and asked me what movies I might want. She got me 14 movies, most of which are Disney. So I will be getting some of those for Christmas although some will be saved for my birthday in March.

In other really freaking exciting news... I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!! for a 10 day vacation. :D And that vacation starts in exactly 25 days, 2 hours, and 26 mins (the time my flight leaves Houston). I bought my tickets at the end of October for $150.60. That is for a round-trip non stop flight. 8O (read that as a shocked face) Southwest had a deal going on at the time I bought them. The next day the same tickets on the same flights cost around 120 dollars more. To say the least I am quite happy with the deal I got. :) 

I am so beyond excited to go back home. Many of my friends will be there at the same time including some of the all important training group.  I will be staying those 10 days with my twin/bff. Which is super awesome because I miss him like crazy but also because that means I don't have to spend money on a hotel room. I will get to play for 10 days in the happiest place on earth and the place I call home. I may try to pick up a shift not because i need to (thank you seasonal june/july) but because I miss my job. I want to experience that magic again. The one thing I am not looking forward to is having to come back home. I know it is going to just suck. It will make me experience PDD all over again.On the bright side when I come back from my vacation there will only be about 2 weeks (ish) till applications come out.

EEEEEKKK ACK! JOY!

On a side note I think I am going to start that Disney 30 day challenge. It may end up taking more than 30 days since my vacation will fall in the middle of the challenge. And lets be honest here, I'm not sure how dedicated I will be to posting the 30 day challenge while on vacation. However it would probably be good practice for making myself post even when busy with other Disney things. Hummm.. I accept this challenge. I'm going to rock it!

That is all for now. Love you all!
-M

Still fighting

It feels like the fight to get my school to recognize the college program is a never ending fight. I have finally managed to get the transcript for the CP class I took (Disney Corporate Analysis) to my registrar. The first time I ordered it, it never made it to my school. I think it must have gotten lost in the mail. But ACE was super awesome and called my registrars office and then mailed another copy (with no charge to me) when it was confirmed the registrar never got it.

So now that it has finally made it to school I am having to fight to get it to count for the correct credit. As it currently stands it counts as just an elective. The problem with this is that a year ago (maybe longer since I may have originally talked to Kim when I applied for the Fall 09 program) I was told by an Assistant to the Dean of the school of humanities that it would count as an Organizational Communication elective. So based on that I have registered for classes thinking I only need regular electives, not communication electives. And now Kim, the assistant, is telling me that she needs more information about the course in order to give me credit. Now this is all fine, dandy, and understandable but it would have been much nicer if she had mentioned this way back when I asked her about credit last fall. I have been under the impression that it is definitely going to get credit. And now I find out that is not necessarily true.

Super frustrating. I would have gotten her all of my course materials earlier in the semester had I known this. I'm not really worried about getting the communication credit. Looking at the course materials it is easy to see that it relates to communication classes at SEU. In fact I even left sticky notes all over the packet of course materials pointing out all of the similarities. And if it doesn't count as a communication elective, I will just drop the general electives I will be taking next semester and overload into a communication class. I'm a graduating senior so its not like they are going to deny me.

I guess the moral of this story for any future CPers is to stay on top of your school. If they say they are going to give you credit, keep in contact with them about that. And get started on getting that credit as soon as you get back from your program. DON'T WAIT! Because if your school doesn't have a stream lined process for doing the College Program, your likely to encounter difficulties.

-M

I want to go HOOOOOOOOOME!

I miss Disney so much its not even funny. It is so weird to me how 7 months has changed so much for me. How it happened I don't know but somehow over the 7 months I spent at Disney and in Orlando I made myself a home. I came to the realization last night that Orlando and Disney is my home. and I really want to go home.

Its hard for me to pin-point what it is exactly I miss so much. I definitely miss the friends I made, especially my twin. I miss the people I saw everyday (or almost everyday) at work. I think one of the things I miss the most is the magic. As cheesy as that sounds its true. There is just a feel to Disney that even when your day is going shitty because you had some asshole guests, its hotter than hell, and something in your work location goes all wrong, its still Disney and that means that its so much better than if all the same things had happened someplace totally different.

The magic is something I didn't realize was a part of my daily life until I moved back to Austin and school. I took it for granted. And I miss it so much. I truly worked at the Happiest Place on Earth. Working there made me really happy. Thinking about it brings a happy little bubble to my chest and a pressure to my face which usually means I am about to cry.

Austin just doesn't hold the same feelings for me that Orlando does. Its just not the same and I am very aware of it. If I truly let myself gush about Disney and the magic and all that that means, people would probably think I am a werido. One of those crazy Disney fanatics.

The other day in my Media and Professional Presentations class we were looking at past student presentations for an assignment where you have to act like you are the CEO of a company and are giving the annual report presentation to your stock holders. Some of the slides we looked at were from a presentation about Disney. We looked at the opening and closing slides, what my professor calls the "bookends." Slides that are just a picture that gives your presentation a professional look. I didn't know that we were going to see slides about Disney but up pops a slide that is of Cinderella Castle nestled in the clouds. The image was close to this one except without backwards "dreaming" text.

Immediately I said "awwwww" out loud. Then I started to get sappy smile. My professor also happens to be my academic adviser so he knew that I had been working at Disney the last 7 months. He asked me some random question about the dinsey logo and I just answered Uh-huh because I hadn't actually heard the question. I was lost in my own world. And then he flipped to the closing slide. This was the picture that made me tear up (minus the words).

I will say in my defense there were several other people in the class that all said "awwwww". However, none of them started to tear up. I honestly couldn't help it. I have such an affection for Woody that developed as a result of working with him while on my program. I think that the picture is particularly heart warming but when added to the fact that Woody is one of the characters I had the closest working relationship with and I am super Disney homesick, I think it is easy to see why I was so affected.

I commented on my tumblr that I wondered if I would spend the next 10 months (now a bit closer to 9!) feeling magnetically pulled to Orlando and Disney. If I would just feel like I am biding my time till I can return. I really hate for that to be the way I spend my senior year, but at the end of my first week of school, that is kinda the way it looks like it will be. I guess we will just have to see how I feel about that in a few months.

Thats all for now (folks!.. wrong company lol)

-M