INTENSE

That was Hank's only word to describe his eight laps at Daytona!! He now has a new found respect for those drivers. He actually felt light headed in the first turn of the first lap from the G-forces. It says it looks like there is only room for one car going into the the turns, but we all know they go three and four abreast. He also thought he was to close to his instructor, but the pictures say it all. Oh, and so does the flagman who was waving the flag and telling him to pick up the speed. That was only his first lap, then he stood on it and went as fast as they would allow him to go. He averaged 145!! He thought he was going faster, but you are not allowed to pass your instructor. He wants to do it again when Carl gets home. I'm thinking Carl, Brian and Hank can do it for their Birthday, since they all have Birthday's at the end of the year. Oh, and I got o be a drivers wife for about four hours!! Although no one asked us for our autographs.. I was a little disappointed.
However, the night before we had dinner with Monique. She brought some old photo albums, and all I can say is WOW!! I can't believe we ever looked like that. I had some ridiculous long hair that I was wearing in pigtails (like Suzanne Summers) and I had that same hair in several pictures. What was that!! Anyway, Monique looks the same.
Love you all

Working

So, I thought about writing this elaborate entry using words that nobody would understand to show how wonderfully I can write, but I've decided against that since it is late and I've been working. I will say that I knew Lori was my favorite aunt!!! Thanks for taking my back too Grandma. For the rest of you, you SUCK!!! Of course I'm kidding. I'm glad all of you are reading about my not so interesting life, but nobody else is posting anymore. Shame on all of you. It is certainly okay for you to post and not just comment.

Anyway, I've started work and it's been great so far. The cast at the Roaring Fork is great. Shelby (19), Michael(27), Stacey (?) and Dennis(?) are all finishing their college program and have enjoyed it. Shelby is even going full time when her program ends friday. Keysha(19) is a culinary student but is working with us for now. She's been with Disney for 3 years and her father is a chef at a restaurant in the Wilderness Lodge. Bolivia is from the Dominican Republic and she cracks me up. Josue doesn't speak English, so he's lots of fun. We were closing tonight and he was supposed to be training me on how to close. He would just point to things and I would have to figure it out. It was a lot of fun and it certainly keeps you awake at midnight. My manager this week (we have 3) is Johnney and he is awesome. He's provided my dinner the last two nights and has been very welcoming. The area manager, Nancy, has also been very nice. Everyone else seems to be scared of her, so I'll continue to have my little chats with her everyday when I come in to make sure I stay on her good side. I work the rest of the week 3:30-12 and then work mornings next week. Things are going well and people are starting to invite me out, so I'm making friends. Congratulations me. haha. Everytime Keysha smiles at work it reminds me of Melissa, which keeps the family at the forefront of my thoughts. Love you all and can't wait to start seeing some of you.

P.S. - Lori, I'm checking into whether or not I have a discount at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and if I can apply that to your room while you guys are here. I'll get back to you on that soon.

so lost

This city makes me feel retarded. I can't go anywhere without getting lost. I thought Georgia was bad with having several names for each road, but orlando far exceeds anything i've seen back home. AND every road is a toll road, so if you make one wrong turn, IT'LL COST YOU to get home. My friend adam came to town for a convention, so i got him to go to lunch. Most definitely got lost on the drive home and ended up on a toll road to the airport. Then the lady at the toll plaza told me the only way to get where i needed to go was to make a u-turn and come back through the plaza onto the main road. I said "you want me to pay the toll twice b/c i'm stupid?" She said yes and i did. She was a LIAR. i looked at the map later and she was just being hateful. So i will never take that toll road again. except of course tommorrow when we go to the airport to pick up gannon. Haha. I also got lost going to the university for training classes. the backstage area at disney is confusing. why they can't make that look as nice as what all the guest get to see is mind-boggling to me. the nice colorful signs are so helpful coming in the main entrance. good luck backstage where everything criss-crosses and the lines on the roads are fading and the new lines are fading too, so you're not sure which way you should be going. oh, did i mention they are doing construction too, so they have cones everywhere, but i'm not sure that cast members who have been here 15 years care about these new lines or cones, they just GO. needless to say, i was 5 minutes late for my training basics class. i had 5 classes yesterday. nothing more exciting than learning about how to properly clean dishes. so much of the class didn't apply to me, but i guess when it's all over i'll be a cast member at Disney and that always puts a smile on my face. When security can't stop you b/c you have your cast nametag on, you think you are unstoppable. until orange county police pull you over. haha. that hasn't happened to me yet, but it's fun to laugh at the other cast members who drive too fast at night to get home. this i do not understand b/c they are just hurrying up to turn around and come back to Pleasure Island. these kids are just crazy.

well i just felt like ranting on about really nothing. the next update should be exciting b/c i'll actually have worked a day and finally have a schedule. oh, don't worry, i've found my route to work so i won't be late or confused. good job charlie! love you all.

The Happiest Celebration On Earth

I haven't updated in a while, but life has been hectic with packing and moving. I took a short trip to Destin before departing for Orlando. Destin was absolutely beautiful. We stayed in the seacreast beach community. the house was amazing and the weather was perfect for the beach and the pool (picture below right).
I came to orlando a few days early to stay with my friends gannon and courtney (above left-during spring break this year at Animal Kingdom with the new ride Everest, which is amazine, and the Tree of Life behind us). they've taken care of me and prepared me for the experience. they both finished the program in january. they loved it so much that they did management internships and looking to get full time status positions this summer.

I officially registered with the College Program yesterday and filled out my I-9 today. I take a 6 hour traditions class tommorrow and have a day of training on saturday. Sunday is a day off and I officially start as a cast member of the Walt Disney Company. I will be working in The Wilderness Lodge Resort as a quick service food/beverage cast member of the Roaring Fork. I don't know what i'll be doing exactly because I haven't started, but I will update. I got to watch the "wishes" fireworks display over the Magic Kingdom last night from the contemporary resort as well as visit the VP suite of the wilderness lodge (gannon and courtney allow me to do fun things b/c they are in management). I will have to post some pictures soon too.

I live in a 4 bedroom/2 bath apartment with 8 men. How nuts is that? Chris is italian, kelvin is large black man, alex is from the USSR (and really really loud), "C" is from nigeria, gregg is a short little white man from philly, jeff looks 35 but just turned 21, robert is my immediate roommate and is from just outside denver, colorado. It should be quite the experience here for 7 months.

As far as getting people into parks and such. They've very much so limited the number of times we can go in the theme parks ourselves and with family/friends. We do however get 40-60 percent off some resorts (i'll post that list when i get it).

Mary's Bird Sanctuary

This is what I have been busy with the past two weeks. John and I have been digging up the back yard because I wanted a bird sanctuary. I know it looks a little sparse, but once these plants fill out and the bulbs come up, I think this will look beautiful. We still have to place two bird houses and a butterfly house. I also saw another hummingbird feeder that I think I might have to have. We have lots of plants to attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Our next project is going to be beehives. And I want to do some bat homes in the woods of course.

More of Melissa and Stephen's Wedding

I met the photographers today to pick up Melissa & Stephen's pictures. They are fabulous! I told them I didn't know if they noticed, but our family has a few hams. They were surprised. They said they didn't notice.

Susan's Baby

My friend Susan had her baby. She is only 4lbs 6oz. (The baby, not my friend) She was supposed to come home from the hospital Monday, but she has jaundice and dropped to 3lbs 14 oz. Now she is supposed to come home in 2 more days.