Reminiscing... and confused.

Okay, I know that no one really reads this blog.
But that's fine. Cuz that means I can get out all my thoughts, and if people want to read them they can. But if not at least I know its out there.
It's hard being where I am now.


No. I'm not in Disney anymore.
It's almost been a year since I first started my internship. But I still feel like it was only maybe a month ago. It's that fresh in my mind.
.... I'm not having Disney themed dreams every other night anymore. That's good.

But....

It keeps popping up in my mind when I least expect it.
It was hard leaving.
Yes. I cried. I didn't want to, but I did anyway.
Because as a kid I dreamed of living in Disney World, and I practically was. I never thought it would actually be possible. And Disney believes in everything I believe in. Before I left for my internship last January, everyone who heard said that it was perfect for me. That I belonged there.
And... they're probably right.
But..... it was so much. It's a fantasy world over there. Reality is thrown right out the window.
And yeah... even though I do much better in the fantasy world than I do in the real world, I still felt like I was supposed to be in the real world. I mean, its the real world. You can't just leave it behind.
....or.... can you?
Living in a fantasy world seems too good to be true.
And true, Disney World's not perfect.

(gasp! not perfect! I know! That's crazy talk!..... but hey, nothing's perfect... not even Disney)

But its beautiful and is everything I ever dreamed of.

And every time I think of it, I get really sad. Cuz..... I'm not there.

And the question has run through my mind time and time again since I left....

"Should I go back?"

Every time someone asks me about my internship, they always- ALWAYS- ask me "When are you going back..... or are you going back?"

And I always say "I don't know!" *inner conflict and turmoil*


It's my dream place. My dream job. My dream life. Pretty much all my dreams are there.

But..... for some bizarre reason.... I can't decide if it's a good idea to go back or not.

....... heh...

One of my friends I met on my internship (he was a monorail pilot, and then he got a professional internship in Guest Relations at Animal Kingdom- where I worked when I was there)... before I left, he told me quite confidently that I'd be back. He just.... knew somehow.
How do you know?
.... I always think of that. Mostly because he seemed to be able to understand me better than I could understand myself.
He probably wouldn't be surprised if he heard that I was wrestling with the decision to go back or not.

He'd probably be like, "Easy. Come back. It's obviously your dream. So follow it."

And now one of my other friends who worked the Jungle Cruise is back there. She knew she'd be coming back. And so did my monorail pilot friend.

..... will he be right about me too?

......... I just... don't want to go alone. I think that's a big portion of the problem.
Cuz yeah, they'll be there. But I want someone to move down there with and room with and such. They're all settled, and I don't want to have to try to find someone after I go down to Florida.

Also... it's really far away from everyone in my family. I'm pretty sure none of my relatives live anywhere near Florida. And I've moved a TON in my life, but I've always had my family go places with me. This time, I'd really be on my own. And that scares the heck out of me.

Not to mention I don't know if I should work at Disney, or work near Disney and then get a resident pass or something. Cuz when you work at Disney, it sucks you in. You, your thoughts, your free time, your life...... that's a lot of Disney. Even I'd have trouble handling THAT much Disney.

But..... I still want to go back.

Thing is, after I stop listening to the park soundtracks, or after I start thinking of something else or stop telling people about Disney...... I'm fine. When my mind's off of it, I'm okay. Then I'm like, "why am I getting so worked up?"

But later on, it always happens again.

I really should finish college though. I've only done one semester. And now I'm working so I can pay for more classes.
.... though I'm learning theatre and art. I suppose you could take classes here and there and learn those things on and off throughout life.
And I know I'm going to be working some small job and doing theatre and art on the side... at least until I can get a theatre job (or an art job if I'm crazy lucky). So.... why not go back to Disney and entertain everyday?

...... after writing all this, it's occurred to me that the biggest reason I don't want to go is because I don't want to go alone. That's my biggest fear.

I do know a couple people down there though. That's a start. But I want to find someone (a good friend or something) that I can go down to Florida with. If I could find someone, it'd be way easier.
But that's gonna be hard.
All my friends are in colleges far away. And I don't think any of them want to go to Disney.

...If I could have changed one thing about my internship, I would have found someone to go with that I knew already. If I go back... that's what I'd like to do.

But where do you find someone like that in the Midwest? Where I live, hardly anyone has ever BEEN to Disney World. And they don't really care that they haven't gone.



..... heh... I just thought of something...

if a dream is a wish your heart makes, does that mean that my heart is wishing to go back to Disney? Cuz I've dreamed about going back so many times since I left....

Ugh....

Well.... if I do go back to college then I'll have lots of time to decide, I suppose.




Sorry about my random rant (if anyone even reads it). I've been wanting to do this for a while, just to get it out. I feel better now. :P

Epcot

I went to Epcot a few days ago. I had to go by myself cuz all my friends were working or already had other things going on. But I haven't had so much fun by myself for a long time.
Epcot is a good park to go to alone, cuz there aren't a ton of rides, so you don't feel like you need someone to ride rides with. Mostly you're exploring the world showcase, and it's nice to be able to go wherever you want and take as long as you want to look around. :3

I spent almost the entire day at the world showcase. I love it over there. I could live there. :3

My first stop was the Canada pavilion. I didn't spend much time there, but it was nice. I took a couple of pictures of some birds over there (cuz you know, when I go to theme parks I take pictures of birds and nature, not the park :P)

After that came the United Kingdom pavilion. It was wonderful.

I looked in all the shops. They had tea sets in one, jewelry in another, and one store had a section with a whole bunch of Beatles things! (yaaaaayyyyy Beatles!!! :P)
I bought a ring while I was over there.
At this store:

It was a Claddagh ring. Which looks like this:

The heart symbolizes love, the hands symbolize friendship, and the crown symbolizes loyalty. And depending on how you wear it, it can tell people whether you are taken or not.
Wearing the ring so the heart faces towards you means that you're taken. Wearing the ring so that the heart faces away from you means that your heart is free(that's how I wear it).

I spent a little time in the France pavilion too. Though I didn't explore as much there. I'll have to go back and see it again. :3

Then I went to the Morocco pavilion. They had amazing jewelry and decorative plates and music and all sorts of other things. While I was looking in one of the shops, I turned around to find a little girl standing there with a little yellow flower in her hand. She held it up to show me, and I told her it was very pretty. Then she gave it to me and ran off to join her family.

Then I spent about an hour or so in the Japan pavilion. I must have looked at every item in every store. I saw a Japanese drumming show and watched a girl make a piece of candy shaped like a flamingo. I also bought chopsticks (I've always wanted my own pair), three different types of Japanese candy(one of which was recommended to me by one of the Japanese cast members. She said it was one of her favorites so I wanted to try it. And it was really good), and a lucky owl(they were all different colors, and each color was supposed to bring you luck in a different thing. I got the pink owl, which is supposed to bring you luck in romance and friendship). :3
I also got to talk to the cashier from Japan. She was very nice. :3 Once I told her that I had taken a couple years of Japanese she started speaking Japanese to me. She held out my change and asked if I could count it. It was two dollars, so it was pretty easy. Then she asked me my name, and I told her in Japanese. I told her what my Japanese name was in my Japanese class too. Then she told me she had something for me. She took out a tiny folded paper crane, wrote my name in Japanese hiragana, and gave it to me.
I loved the Japan pavilion. I have a feeling I'm going to be spending a lot of time there on my internship. :3

Then I went to the American Adventure. And you know, it was America. But we live in America. So I didn't spend a whole bunch of time in there cuz I know what America's like. :P

The next stop was the Italy pavilion. They had a ton of restaurants, and it smelled really good in there. I really want to eat there before my internship is over.

Then came the Germany pavilion, which was fun. Plenty of alcohol, but I'm underage so of course I didn't have any(I wouldn't want it even if I was twenty-one anyway). And I saw Snow White. :3

After that I went to the China pavilion. It was gorgeous there. They were selling straw hats at one of the stores too, and everyone was looking at them. I did too, and I kinda wanted one, but I didn't get one. I also saw Mulan while I was there. She waved at me. :3

The Norway pavilion was after that. It was nice there. They have a ride called Maelstrom that I rode on. It was fun, though we ran into several trolls. :P
And they had a store that sold clothing worn in Norway. The store was full of coats and jackets. Things my family in the midwest would probably love to have right now, considering how cold it is over there. But since I'm living in Florida right now and already have too many sweaters, I didn't get any coats or jackets there.

Finally came the Mexico pavilion. By that time it was night, and they have a indoor restaurant that has a painted ceiling and painted walls that make it look like like you're outside. It was really cool.
And they had a ride called Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros. Hardly anyone was riding it when I got there. I had an entire boat to myself! Part of the ride goes right past the people eating at the indoor restaurant. It was awesome. :3

Then I went to Future World and rode Test Track. I love that ride. :3
It was a bit tamer than I remember it being when I rode it as a kid though.

I also went to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. It was a fun ride, but I had even more fun looking through the aquarium in the building the ride was in. They had dolphins! One of the dolphins saw me put my hand on the glass of it's tank and it swam over to me.
I love dolphins. :3

I also got to see Turtle Talk with Crush. I wasn't going to stay for the show after I walked down the hall it was in and looked in the room, but as I was walking away the cast member at the door called out, "You're not going to stay for the show?"
I started to say something, but he kept going.
"You should check it out. It's fun. You can always leave if you don't want to watch the show. But you should go see it."
So I did.
My favorite part was when Crush picked out people from the audience, cuz instead of saying, for example, "the person in the red shirt," he would say "the person in the red shell." :3

Then at the end of the day I got to see Epcot's fireworks show, IllumiNations. It was AMAZING.

All in all, the day was pretty awesome. Tomorrow I have the day off, so I'm going to go to Animal Kingdom (which is where I work, but I almost always stay in the Caravan Stage/Maharajah Jungle Trek area) and check that park out more.
I feel bad when guests ask me where things are (mostly they ask about Expedition Everest) and I don't know any more than they do. Plus, I've never been on Everest. And I want to try it out.
I also want to ride Dinosaur really REALLY badly. I LOVE that ride. :3
And I want to see the It's Tough to be a Bug show. I like that show too.
And I'll probably buy all the different types of food that I always get to see that always make me hungry, like the evil cart right next to the Maharajah Jungle Trek entrance that makes cinnamon glazed almonds and always smells amazing.
Perhaps I'll get ice cream too. And I found out yesterday that they sell turkey legs. The only time I've ever had those is at Thanksgiving, so maybe I'll try that too. :P
And I want to ride Kali River Rapids. That's where my trainer usually works.
And Festival of the Lion King is a must see too, as is Finding Nemo: the Musical.
And yeah..... I'll stop going on about that though. This post is long enough. :P

Have a magical day!

"To all who come to this happy place...welcome." -Walt Disney

In case I haven't already mentioned it (I don't remember if I did, and I'm feeling lazy and don't want to go look at my last post), CP is a Disney Cast Member who is on the college program.
I'm now half way through my training. I'm fully trained for the Flights Of Wonder show in Disney's Animal Kingdom Asia, Caravan Stage(I help seat people and make sure people sit down through the show so that they don't get hit in the head by a flying bird... things like that).

Update about my costume.... I officially know what it looks like!
It's not very exciting, to be honest. It's basically a patterned skirt and a pink blouse. And a plain looking straw hat with a string that I wear on my back in hopes that it'll make it look like more of a costume than a normal outfit. I don't usually wear the hat like I'm supposed to though, cuz I look like a gardener or something.

I have tomorrow and the next day off, then I begin training on the Maharajah Jungle Trek. I have to know a lot of animal facts for that attraction. I'm memorizing facts about komodo dragons, tigers, malayan flying foxes, rodrigues fruit bats, bantengs, eld's deer, blackbucks, blood pythons, and some of the fifty types of birds on the trek. I've found out a lot of things that I didn't know before. Like why bats hang upside down (they have no ankles and can't turn their feet to stand on them), and that in 1979 Cyclone Cecile nearly took out the rodrigues fruit bat population, leaving only seventy of them after the storm.
I don't know what I'm going to do on my days off. I don't have anyone to go to the parks with, and I don't really want to go alone. That's no fun.
I know I'll sleep in. :3 I've been waking up at five the last couple days.

I went to the Magic Kingdom last week. I was invited by a friend I had just recently met. I was a little nervous about only knowing one person, and barely knowing him. But everyone in the group was really fun and we had a blast. I hung out with most of them (the group was kinda big). One girl had the same name as me! She was tons of fun. We sang Disney songs in the park, and even danced a bit. :3
We teamed up with a guy from the group and sang/danced along with a little band singing their version of happy birthday to a guest. Apparently, one of the guest's relatives was recording the band, but began filming us instead when we started dancing.
We were all happy to be a part of that family's memories. That's what cast members are supposed to do- help guests have fun, magical moments that they'll never forget.

I also got to see Cinderella's Castle close up for the first time. It's beautiful. I still haven't seen the Wishes Nighttime Spectacular though. I hope I get to watch that.

I think my favorite rides/attractions in the Magic Kingdom are (in no particular order) Peter Pan's Flight, "it's a small world," The Haunted Mansion, Pirate's of the Caribbean and Stitch's Great Escape. I haven't been on all the attractions in the Magic Kingdom yet though... maybe I'll find some more I really like. And of course, I have to check out the other parks.

That's all for now. I'll write more if anything exciting happens.
Have a magical day!

We Create Happiness

The past four days have been the first days of my participation in the Disney College Program. The Disney College Program is an internship that college students from all over the country, and all over the world, can apply for after their first term of college. Students can apply to work at either Disneyland or Disney World, and there are plenty of "roles" to choose from. I'm working in attractions (meaning I work with the rides and sometimes do intro spiels for shows, things like that) in the Animal Kingdom, in the Asia operations. My first day of attractions training is tomorrow. I won't know exactly what rides/shows I'll be working until then. And that's when I get my costume too.
I'm sure anyone who's been to one of the Disney parks can remember seeing a cast member working and wearing an elaborate costume matching the theme of whatever park they were in. Most of the people in the program hate their costumes. They tend to say that they're really ugly. And yes, some are kinda crazy, like the ones with bright blue pants and orange shirts and such. But some are really cool too. I like most of the dresses I've seen. And some guy cast members who work in the Magic Kingdom have costumes with nice vests and sleeves that look a lot like what some of the Disney princes wear.
Every time I see a cast member in their costume I wonder what mine's going to look like. From what I've seen, not all attractions cast members have costumes like that. But even if no one really likes their costumes, I think it's way more fun to go to work in a costume than a boring, unimaginative uniform that anyone else could wear.
And besides, I've had to wear my fair share of costumes I didn't like. I can think of two right off the bat that I absolutely hated. My costume for 101 Dalmatians Playtime Poppy. The costumes tend to be kind of weird in Playtime Poppy. But I especially hated mine. I was a Boxer Dog. I was dressed up as a brown dog (so a big, brown sweater). But since I was a boxer dog, I was also dressed to look "tough." I had spiked gloves, striped tights and a spiked choker that served as my collar. Those things weren't too bad. But then I had these bright yellow boxing shorts I had to wear. I hated those things so much. And all the "dogs" had to put their hoods up and tighten them around their faces so our hair wouldn't show. I hated that too. Although the boxer dogs had the cutest ears of all the dogs, so that made it a little better. :3 But I definitely didn't keep my hood on backstage. We also had to paint our faces to look like dogs. So my face was all brown with a black nose. I had to go to class with that makeup on after our show previews. My choir teacher looked at me and said, "I think you have something on your face." Yeah, I know I do.
The other costume I hated was my costume for Mrs. Whitewood in the musical, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. I had heels (which I hate wearing in general), a business suit/dress thing, and oddly shaped, bright red glasses. Then during rehearsals before we had our dresses for the next scene (a wedding scene) I had to do the next scene in that costume. It had a small dance too, which I could not do in that costume. That made me dislike it even more.
None of the costumes I've seen for the Disney College Program are worse than the boxer dog one I had to wear though, so I'm not worried. :3

It's interesting taking in all the new experiences I've been going through since I started the program. Like living away from home for the first time.
I live in an apartment in Chatham Square, the "middle class" apartment complex. The other complexes are Vista Way, which has sometimes been called the "ghetto complex," (it's not bad though. It just happens to be slightly older than the other complexes and it's the cheapest to live in), and Patterson Court, which is the newest complex and therefore the "upper class" apartments are there.
Each room in the apartments have room for two people. My apartment has three bedrooms, so we have six people in it. Three of them are Puerto Rican, and spend a lot of time talking to each other in Spanish. It's cool to listen to, and they do speak English too, but sometimes I wish I knew more of what they were saying. I feel pretty out of the loop at times.

I've also had to try to use the program's buses. I've never used bus transportation before (not counting middle school), so it's pretty confusing at times.

I can't think of anything else to say, so I guess I'll talk more about the program later.

Have a magical day!

Yet Another Pointless Blog Post.

I have discovered that one of the evils in life is being stuck in an environment where you literally cannot do anything. Everyone in my house is staring at a screen, mindlessly watching movies or blowing the brains out of some computer generated video game character. My parents had to go to work, so at least they did something and haven't been sitting in the same spots for the entire day like my siblings have. I feel like I'm trapped in the Wall-E movie, and all anyone can think of is sitting there in a technological mind melting trance.

And I feel like a hypocrite for blogging about it, but I can't do anything else. No one is even paying attention to me. My parents have also decided that I can't go anywhere cuz it's cold and it rained and the roads are too slippery.

My boyfriend once said that my house is filled with tech equipment. Flat screen TV's, Mac computers, all sorts of gaming consoles, etc. He's right, and I kinda hate that it's true. I like having my Mac when I need to look something up, or contact people, or whatever, and I like having my ipod so I can listen to my music wherever. But that doesn't mean that we all need to sit there and worship our technology all day. I'll never be able to do what my family seems to be content doing- that is, laying around like dead slugs for days at a time and doing nothing but allowing the nearest computer or tv screen to have complete control over my brain. I can stand it for a day if I've been working near non-stop for weeks. But why waste a day like that?

Why not go find something fun to do instead? My boyfriend talks about how his family goes out to eat, and plays games and watches movies (fun ones, and together), and gets together with friends and relatives, and things like that. Why can't my family do that?

I certainly can't do it. Not without suffering through extremely frustrating boredom and restlessness. I wasn't even able to go to Barnes N' Noble today. I was forced to sit in my house and waste away. I just got my wisdom teeth out two days ago and I can't do this.

I want to have fun remembering this break before I have to go back the the prison house called college that I'm also stuck in. There's too many things to do there, and none of them are every any fun.

There's got to be a third option. No one should have to choose to be either a schoolwork slave or a technology zombie, and that's it.

Now my boyfriend is going to be with his family and relatives celebrating Thanksgiving the rest of the break (which is great for him, and I'm glad he gets to go have fun), and I'll be forced to spend the rest of the break with my family of slugs. And if I say anything about being bored, they'll quickly find chores I can do for them so that they don't have to get up and do them themselves.

Sorry about all the complaining, but if I didn't get these thoughts out somewhere I would have surely kicked a hole in my bedroom wall out of stir-crazy anger by now. 

This Blog Post Has No Title......or Theme

I don't know exactly what I'm going to say in this post. I have thousands upon thousands of thoughts and feelings trying to cram themselves into my brain. I need to let them out.
Be prepared for anything.
X3

I don't like college. I didn't before I started, and I'm not really too crazy about it now. I spend, literally, the whole day doing schoolwork. I have to do it quickly, every chance I get, or I might not get it done in time. I wish I didn't have to take the full amount of possible credits. But I have to get all the required general courses out of the way so that if my theatre career fails, I'll have some college education and people will actually want to hire me (that's at least how my mom puts it).
Of course, I don't really have enough money to afford it all. I'd get a job if I had time. My mom keeps telling me I should get some kind of job and just work weekends. But my weekends tend to be busy too. And if I gave away whatever I have left of my weekend I wouldn't have any more free time for the entire term.
I can feel the stress building every day. All I can ever do is work on things for my general ed classes. I barely have time to participate in music or theatre. If I don't do that, how on earth can I be ready for the New York Film Academy? I need to be focusing on that. But I can't.
Sometimes I'd feel that I'd really rather finish this term, get a job, and save up money to go to the NYFA. Then at the same time maybe I could take the theatre and music classes at Kirkwood and focus on becoming better at musical theatre performer. Then once I saved up a good amount of money and had more expertise in theatre and music, I could audition to get into the NYFA. If I make it, then I go to New York. If I don't, I'll keep working and I'll find more ways to perfect my theatre skills.
But then what would happen if I couldn't get in? Or if after the NYFA I couldn't get any work?
I, of course, would have to get another job while I waited. I don't think I'd be looking for the most amazing, high paying job ever. Just one that pays enough, is flexible, and is something I ENJOY. Never get a job if you know its going to be one you hate. I've already learned that lesson.
What am I going to do with some of the things I'm learning anyway? Its not like I have enough skill to find a job in any of the general ed stuff. I'm only good at fine and performing arts. I sing, I act, I dance (okay, that one might need some work still- I mean, I'm fine if I have simple choreography, but I don't really know any moves or styles really well), I write, I draw.
I once saw a piece of flair (yay facebook) that said, "I do many things well- none of which generate income."
Yep. That's me.
I'm not trying to be negative, I'm just stating the truth. I can't get away from the feeling that those things (singing, acting, writing, etc.) are what I was made to do.
My goal is to be an artist. In the fine arts, the performing arts, whatever.
But I feel like I'm not obtaining that goal. I wouldn't have the time to obtain it. And without the constant practice, I feel everything I worked for might fade away before I even have the chance to apply to the NYFA.

....Time. What I would do for some of that. I'm sick of not having time to do anything. I don't even have time to eat. Most days I don't eat until dinnertime. I never see my friends anymore. I don't have time to make friends at college cuz I'm so busy doing schoolwork.
I hate schoolwork. It keeps getting in the way of everything that's important to me.
And you know how its been said that every teacher thinks their subject is the most important? I could see how that was true in high school. The instructors at college are bent on proving it.

Maybe I'm just overreacting. But all the students and teachers who have heard about my schedule are surprised too. So I'm at least on the right track.

I'm just waiting for Thanksgiving break to come. Even though I have to get my wisdom teeth out.... I think friday that it starts? I hope I'll be able to eat Thanksgiving dinner.
Though the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is higher up on my priority list for that day. I cannot go through Thanksgiving without watching at least most of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The performances are nice, but I like watching the floats. They're so creative. How cool would it be to design a float for that parade?

Anyway. No need to go off on a tangent about Thanksgiving. Though I don't really want to talk about Kirkwood anymore.
Before I find something else to talk about though, I do have to point out that if I went to the New York Film Academy, I could see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade live. CX

It must be fun living in New York. Once you get past the gray dull parts at least.
I went there for the first time last Christmas. I wasn't really excited to go during Christmas (I like spending Christmas at home, thanks. I like being around friends and family. Not to mention that because my parents decided to take us to New York, I was who-knows-how-many miles away from my boyfriend, who I had recently started dating and who I didn't want to be away from on Christmas. We need to make up for that this year, I think. :3).
It was very gray. Everything was gray. The buildings. The streets. The sky. And my mood, as we trudged through the crowds on the sidewalks.
Half the people I walked past were speaking some other language. That was interesting. Most of them were not even vaguely familiar to me.
I think I saw a crazy person too. He was mumbling random things, dressed in torn, mismatched clothing, and his hair was all over the place. He was standing on the sidewalk, doing nothing in particular but mumbling, looking around and acting as if he was the only one there.

And it was cold. It was ridiculously cold. It was colder than where I live now, which is a tundra most of the year (or at least it seems like it. Last year the first snow was in October). I packed some warm things, but they were not ever warm enough. And of course, we walked everywhere (that's kinda what you do in New York), so we were constantly out in the cold.

There were good things about the trip to (I'll elaborate later), but I didn't care at the time. I just wanted to go home.

For the first month or two I had decided I didn't like New York. But three or four months later I found myself somehow not only liking it, but wanting to go back. I didnt know what inspired the change. I still don't. But it happened.

Like I said before, it wasn't all bad. Not by a long shot. There were a whole bunch of fun things that I really liked about New York.
Maybe I just didn't like leaving everyone and going to New York during Christmas. I can be quite stuck on tradition with certain things, especially Christmas.

If you ever go to New York, you need to check out Little Italy. Its necessary. The food is good, the people are super friendly, and the experience is just plain fun.
My family and I were walking through Little Italy around lunch time, trying to find a place to eat. Then suddenly, a man called out to us.
"Are you hungry?" he said cheerily in his thick Italian accent, "You should eat here!"
He pointed to the restaurant behind him. My dad opened his mouth to say something, but the Italian man beat him to it.
"The food is amazing here! I can prove it too you!"
He ran up to the restaurant's front window. There was a small group of people eating at a table just behind the glass. To our surprise, he raised his hand and banged on the window. The group looked up.
The Italian man gave them an enthusiastic thumbs up. They smiled and returned his gesture. Then he walked quickly back to where we were standing.
"See? You come in! We'll take care of you!"
None of us could resist.
It was just as fun inside. All the food was amazing, and I enjoyed hearing the employees talk to each other in their accents. And they all had very Italian names.
As we were leaving the restaurant, we asked the man to take a picture of us in front of the entrance (yeah, we're such tourists, I know. Or at least my mom is. It was her idea). He happily agreed, taking our picture as we stood on the patio in front of the restaurant.
Before we had a chance to walk down, he spread his arms and asked so everyone around could hear, "How was the food!"
"Good!" We replied, grinning.

So yeah. Go there. Its totally worth it. CX

Another awesome experience my sister and I had was going to see Wicked on Broadway.
So. Incredibly. Awesome.
I won't give too many details for those who haven't seen it (I know there are people out there who haven't. Somewhere. Also, there would be too much to say here anyway. Yeah. It was that awesome), but I'll say it was an incredible experience, especially for a theatre nerd like me.
:3

It just occurred to me that I should put some of the pictures we took on here. I'll do that now. :D

This is us in front of the restaurant in Little Italy. For the sake of future clarity, I'm going to tell you that I'm the one in front with the ridiculously lengthy scarf.
"How's the food!!!" C:

We were taking the ferry over to see the Statue of Liberty. They were supposed to take us past it, but unfortunately they didn't get very close to it. My mom isn't in the picture cuz she took it.

This was another part I loved about New York. Times Square. After seeing it in countless movies, it was kinda cool to actually be there myself. Plus all the stores there are all decked out like you wouldn't believe. And there's no such thing as night in Times Square. All the lights make it bright as day.

My sister and I in front of the Clock of the Time Dragon at the Gershwin Theatre. Yay Wicked! XD

 We were sad. We didn't want to leave Oz.
There was a guy in line who laughed at us as we posed for this picture. Nice to know that we're funny. Even funnier since we took this when we first walked in, before the show even started.
Yeah, I wouldn't want to leave Oz, especially if I hadn't even had a chance to go there yet! :O
X3

We felt like taking a picture???
Again, my mom's doing.
My brother (the older one) is missing in this one cuz he's taking the picture.
If you look, you can see the sign for Ellen's Stardust Diner in the background. Awesome restaurant. The waiters and waitresses are performers who are trying to make it onto Broadway, and they take turns singing popular show tunes in between waiting tables!
If I needed a job while at the NYFA, or if I needed a job while trying to get on Broadway, that's where I'd want to work. :3

My siblings and I by the Gershwin Theatre Stage Door. Very cool. CX

Tell me it doesn't look like he wants to pump me full of lead. :O
You can find this piece of artwork in New York's massive Toys R Us. It not only has a lego replica of Chewbacca, but it has a full sized ferris wheel, a giant floor piano, and a giant animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex that looks around the room and roars.
It also has a small but totally awesome Harry Potter section. :3

If you want to see what the floor piano looks like, here's a link to a video of something you might see if you were there:

http://www.livevideo.com/video/55F53050FA084BAC9FF0AB1EE8308199/girls-doing-bach-on-a-floor-pi.aspx

This is the scenery you find when you first walk into the New York Disney Store. We so did NOT get to spend enough time here!
I say that because I'm the world's biggest Disney nerd.
I'm still not sure what the figures behind us are supposed to be. Dressed up Christmas trees? Despite the awesomeness of the rest of the store, these figures in the entrance weirded me out a little bit.

Best hat ever. Wish I would've gotten it. :(
I was saving my money to buy Christmas presents for people. Also, as cute as it is, I don't know if I'd wear it often.

It looks like he was aiming that snowball at me, but he was actually aiming at my dad. I'm half smiling because it was freezing.

I think if I had to travel the subway alone, I would get very lost. There was a lot of entertainment in the subway station though. We saw an amazing a Capella group (they sang Lean On Me-very cool), a drummer, and a dude playing bagpipes. And then there were the occasional sightings of people who were singing loudly along with their iPod.

That's another thing I liked about New York. I saw so many people just randomly singing. It was awesome. No one cared. It was totally normal. So of course, I had to try it. I didn't sing quite so loud, but I was still audible. No one looked at me funny. It made me happy. If I went to the NYFA I know I would have moments where I would sing while walking down the street. I would apologize to my friends for saying that, but since they're all choir kids, they would probably start singing first.
I wonder what would happen if I brought the cast from my high school's fall musical last year ("I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" down there to randomly perform on the street. I'll bet we could do it, and get applause for it too! X3

This picture is funny because of the sign. If what it says is true, then that means three fourths of the people driving down the road would have to cough up $350.
Gotta love New York. :3

Lombardi's Pizza, America's first pizzeria, is an incredibly crowded place. Probably because their pizza's so good.

The purple fedora I'm wearing I bought at New York. Not that I ever wear it now. But its fun to have a hat from New York anyway. CX

Alright, that's enough about New York. I'm going to end this post now so that it doesn't become a novel.

Thanks for viewing! :3

Homesick?

Lately I keep thinking about my hometown. Like, a lot. I don't really know why.
I miss it, but I don't want to leave this place either.
Its amazing how different it is here. I've lived here for.... at least four years, but I feel I'm still not used to some things. Like the cold. I don't think I'll ever get used to midwest winters.
I was born in Arizona, which happens to be significantly different than the midwest.
There have been times when I've missed Arizona, but not like this. I think about it at least every other day.
One thing I always notice is how green it is here. The grass is really green, and all the trees are huge and green. There's also an abundance of bushes and flowers of all colors. There's not a lot of green in Arizona, other than palm trees and cactuses, and a few littler trees and evergreens. But that doesn't mean its not pretty there, like people might think. There's tons of reds and yellows and oranges. Its kind of like a permanent sunrise. The rock formations are filled with warm colors, a good amount have them in layers. Just like a sunrise! :3
Here's some pictures of Arizona rock from Google images......

There always seems to be clouds in the sky here in the midwest too. Maybe there aren't always a whole bunch, but there are some. In Arizona, there tend to not be many. A lot of days there aren't any at all!
Arizona doesn't get a lot of rain either (being a desert and all, you know :3), so its a big deal when a storm hits. When we lived there (when we were little), my sister and I used to sit by the window and watch the storm. We thought it was so cool.
I still love storms. And rain in general. And cloudy skies. I guess being an Arizonan, I would love storms. Even after the floods I've seen, I still love them.
And tornadoes. I love tornadoes. We never had those in Arizona. We had sand storms.
We didn't really have snow either. Some areas get snow, but they only get a little bit. The midwest has mountains of snow. Arizona definitely doesn't.
Oh, but we had mountains. The places we lived in when we were in Arizona were always surrounded with mountains, like a big, natural wall. In fact, in order to get out (by car), you tend to have to drive through the roads cut in the mountains. They twist and turn with the mountain, and when you get high up enough the view is absolutely amazing.
Here's what it tends to look like..... (more google images pics)

An extra fun fact about this picture above- the truck in the picture is an Albertsons truck. Ablertsons is a grocery store in Arizona, and I totally remember that store. This picture get bonus points for having that memory in there. X3

Another beautiful Arizona sight would be the sunsets. The sun matches the reds and oranges of the rocks and looks beautiful.

Here's some more google images to give you an idea of what that looks like.....

         

 

You'll probably notice that a lot of these pictures have cactuses in them. Cactuses tend to be one of the things most people think about when they think of Arizona. And that makes sense, cuz Arizona has lots of different types of cactuses. The most well known is the saguaro cactus......

They're the stereotypical cactus, with their long body and "arms." Most have a few "arms." Some have just one. Some have a lot more.....

Most however, do not have this many. But I found this picture (I love google images, can you tell?) and I had to put it in here. :3

There are a lot of other kinds of cactuses in Arizona too. Like these......

  

 

There's a good amount of palm trees too. A lot of them tend to be more in town though....

Some people have short, stocky ones in their front yards.

That's another thing that makes Arizona way different from the midwest- the houses. They tend to look different, especially the yards. In the midwest, pretty much every yard is grassy. Some have trees, or bushes, or flowers, or a combination of the three. In Arizona, yards with grass are not nearly as common. Some people try to have grass, but it's a lot of work (you have to water your yard a lot). Its much easier to use decorative rock and cactuses instead....

Arizona's wildlife is also very different from the wildlife in the midwest. The place we live in has bunnies and deer and robins and squirrels. Arizona had geckos and roadrunners and coyotes and rattlesnakes and jackrabbits and such.....

 

This little creature is a Javelina.

We had black widows in one of the houses that we lived in in Arizona. It was kinda scary. Especially cuz my youngest brother was maybe three years old, and I was afraid he might find one and get bitten. But we got our house bug sprayed and never saw one again. But I still made him check his shoes before putting them on for a couple months afterwards. Just in case.

This is a jackrabbit. They have HUGE ears compared to midwest rabbits.

Coyote.....

Bobcat.... 

Rattlesnake.....

And last but not least, the roadrunner. They are small, they are NOT blue, and they do not go, "meep, meep." But they do run, and quickly too.

You know what else I miss about Arizona? The dry heat. Yes, its hotter there. It can easily reach one hundred degrees. But there's like no humidity. And that is awesome. The midwest is really humid. That means when its hot you get sweaty and sticky, and you feel nasty, and its harder to breathe.

I remember driving into the midwest and it being harder to breathe cuz of the humidity. I'm used to it now, but I when I visit Arizona, I can tell the difference.

Also, Arizona is waaaaaaaay closer to Disneyland. X3

I miss Arizona. But I don't want to leave the midwest. Everyone's so nice here. And I have friends here. And I have an awesome boyfriend here. :3

So I'm kinda stuck.

If only I could take everyone here and bring them with me to Arizona. Then life would be perfect. :3

I just need to go visit or something. Wish I could do that.

Maybe someday I will.

For now though, I'm alright with living here.

All these pics are from Google Images, btw. I know I've said that already, but I thought I'd say it again, just to be sure.

Okay, I'm done now. This is the longest post I've ever posted (only cuz of the pictures, but hey).

Hope you enjoyed this mini tour of Arizona! :3