Wandering Aimlessly

This time last year, I was just starting my job at Toy Story Pizza Planet at Disney MGM Studios. In fact, (since I didn't make a post on May 29th last year) last May 28th was my first day of work at TSPP. I'm reading through all my old entries from last summer. It's making me all nostalgic and sad-like.

I miss Orlando. So much. Every time I go back, I want to move there. I miss the familiar roads, I miss that I can run into people I know practically everywhere I go, I miss my FRIENDS, I miss Disney, I miss the weather, I miss everything. *sigh* I seriously had the best time of my life last year, and I really hadn't thought anything could top my first program in 2000. Last summer did. I loved my roommates, my job, my internship, I loved all the things I got to do, I loved seeing people I hadn't seen in forever... I LOVE ORLANDO.

Of course, this is me, talking about moving to Los Angeles.

I'm a walking contradiction.

Posted by kate at 09:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wow, talk about lack of sleep catching up to you! I was asleep before 9:00 last night! It felt wonderful. I got a full 9 hours of sleep in one night.

There really isn't any other news. Work... and more work. It never ends, the work. Oh, how I wish I could lock this journal so that just you guys could read it. The things I could say. ;) I guess it's good that I can't, because then you're not subjected to my complaining. Heh.

C, we need to get a hotel. The time is coming quickly. Did we want to do that Castillo Del Mar or whatever it was? Eeep! I also need plane tickets. And a wedding gift for this weekend. I suck.

Welcome to the most pointless post Kate has ever made.

Posted by kate at 07:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It was The Big Weekend. I had to work Saturday, so Aarti and Jan came out to meet me in Naperville. We had lunch downtown and then walked around the River Walk, which is very pretty. Naperville has these decorated bears out everywhere (kind of like the cow thing in Chicago from a few years back), so we checked a few of them out. Then, we were Very Late leaving and had to rush-rush-rush to get back to Aarti's before everyone else arrived. We failed miserably (due to an awful and unanticipated traffic jam on the expressway) and were the last to get to Aarti's apartment. Oops.

So. First stop: Puppetry of the Penis. Ahahahaha! It was great. It started off with a stand-up comedian, and she was SO FUNNY. I laughed so hard. Then, the boys came out. In capes. One of them (Jim) reminded me a lot of Chris Kirkpatrick. Kind of looked the same, was a bit elfish in a surprisingly hot way, and made the goofiest jokes. The other, Lincoln, was just plain hott. Damn. He wore Powder Puff Girls socks and Converse high-tops. And, um, they wore nothing else, once the capes came off. Hahahaha. Plus, they were Australian. Those accents. Mmmmmm.

The Dick Tricking was amazing. I spent the entire time with my mouth wide open in shock, and half the time cringing and hiding behind my hand. I can't imagine what it might feel like, but it looks painful. They did stunts like Gonzo from the Muppets, the Hamburger, Hot Dog, the Loch Ness Monster, the Slow-Emerging Mollusk, the Wind Surfer (complete with skateboard and fan and being blown across the stage), and, my personal favorite, the Sea Anenome (which I hope I spelled somewhat close to correctly). That one, only Jim did. I'm not sure how, but he was able to suck his penis in. Like, IN. I did NOT know that was humanly possible. Wouldn't have even imagined that that was humanly possible! Takes some muscle control, that's for sure.

So really, we spent over an hour watching two hot guys play with themselves. This in itself amuses me. They were entertaining, though. They kept making jokes and making fun of each other, and since they were having fun, it was fun for us. ::nods::

After the show (<.singing> it's the after party, and after the party it's the hotel lobby, and around about four...) we went to Red Fish, a New Orleans-style restaurant, for dinner. It was really yummy. I am NOT a seafood person by any stretch of the imagination, so I got Pasta Orleans, which had chicken. I did try the crab-and-artichoke dip, but was not impressed. The fried green tomatoes were tastier. I also had a big-ass drink called a Blue Tsunami. Mmmm. We got beads, too, which was fun.

After dinner, we headed to Howl at the Moon, a dueling piano bar similar to Jellyrolls, for those of you who know what Jellyrolls is. ;) Fun-fun-fun!! More drinking. Too much drinking. Dude, the bartender was hot. I ordered a Malibu and Coke, and he told me I had to try it with Bicardi coconut rum, instead. Damn, he made that thing strong. It was like, all rum, and then some coke for coloring. Ha ha. But it was good. Then, when we went back, he remembered our drink orders from before and just about had them made again before we got him to realize we were ordering something different. Ha ha. I tried vodka and Red Bull. Not sure I like Red Bull, but together, the vodka cut the sweetness and it wasn't all bad.

Needless to say, with a hot bartender and a hot waiter, you give in to their drink recommendations pretty easily. We rolled in about 3:30 (after getting yelled at by a rude bus driver. Pfft), got to bed about 4, and were up bright and early. Why? I have no idea. We had breakfast, and then were on our way.

Last night was Frank's surprise birthday party. It was a lot of fun. John came, so I got to see him. Hadn't seen him since Christmas. So that was fun. We played on Sarah's swingset, and John and Don nearly broke it. Two grown men can not sit on one of those see-saw swings. Ha ha ha. We warned them, but they didn't believe us until the thing started coming out of the wood. Ha ha. But it was a good time nonetheless.

Today, my mom is having a Memorial Day barbecue. My grandparents will be coming over. Good times, good times.

Posted by kate at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think I am using up my quota of fun for the year in one weekend. I worked Monday and Tuesday, and then Wednesday and Thursday I had sales training classes in Cicero, which happens to be just a hop, skip and a jump away from the city. Aarti's friend Jan is in town from Germany this week visiting, so I decided to hang out with them a bit. I think this was his first time to Chicago, so they were/are trying to fit as much in as possible.

On Wednesday, I went to Aarti's after work, and we drove around the city a little (in rush hour traffic... I wouldn't recommend it). We stopped and got tickets to I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change at Hot Tix for half-price. Then we went down and took a tiny visit to Buckingham Fountain, then to pick up Smita from work. We had dinner at Giordano's, then headed up to the Royal George Theatre for the play. It was a TINY theatre, with actual chairs set up to sit in. We were in the fourth row, and it was quite a cute and amusing show. We laughed a lot. I ended up getting home LATE LATE LATE.

I had four hours of sleep before I had to get up and be out the door to pick up one of my coworkers (as in that we were in the same training class, not as in we work together on a regular basis) to take him to training. We ended up getting there a bit late, because we didn't take the expressway. Oops. All said and done, I was on the road for nearly two hours in the morning. 6:45 until 8:35. Yuck. But that's okay.

After work on Thursday, I met up with Aarti and Jan again. This time, we got tickets for Tony and Tina's Wedding. Emily met us at Piper's Alley. The show was not how I expected it to be, but was enjoyable just the same. It was as if we actually WERE at Tony and Tina's wedding. We started out in the bar, milling around. The other guests, the photographer, the wedding party, everyone was there. Then we headed into the chapel for the ceremony. Sister Teri taught us a song to sing, and Tony and Tina got married. Not without a few interesting events, though. After the ceremony, we headed to Vinnie Black's reception hall for the reception. We were served a traditional Italian meal buffet-style (which really was some pretty bad pasta and some not-so-good champagne, but it was all in fun). We danced a LOT, there was more family drama, it was a good time. We had the wedding cake (also not top-quality *g*), and then one of Tina's bridesmaids was proposed to by one of the groomsmen as we were heading out the door. Very cute.

Afterwards, Aarti, Jan and I headed to the Green Mill, a jazz club... on the north side? We took the L, so I'm not sure *exactly* where it was. It was VERY cool, though. Aarti and I were carded, and Jan was not. He found that very amusing.

Today, we are going to Oak Park for a little self-guided tour of the nice houses, and possibly to the John Hancock Building. I'm not sure what else we'll do, but it's guaranteed to be more fun than working today! I'm definitely glad to have a Friday off. I have to work tomorrow, but that's okay. Heehee.

Posted by kate at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm off today. It's a totally dreary day, the kind that would be perfect for staying in your pajamas and watching movies curled up on the couch with the cat. I had a ton to do, though, so that didn't happen. I was woken up at 6:30 by my panicked mother, who forgot it was my day off and thought I was going to be late. Sweet of her to care, although I had been looking forward to sleeping in.

I was able to drift back to sleep, but just before 7, the phone rang. Mom's instructor calling to remind her that her class was moved to tonight. My mom knew this and did not need reminding. Wouldn't you think that, for a Master's class full of adults who have all been working for at least a couple of years, you wouldn't need to *remind* them of a change in the schedule? If you miss it, you miss it. They're adults. Oh well. So I got up at 7. Blah.

I went to Target (I think every parent with a small child goes to Target in the middle of the day on Wednesdays), the post office (postage is expensive, man! I think I paid almost more to mail the things than I did to actually purchase them. Feh.), Best Buy to exchange my hands-free thingy for my cell phone (got a nice new one that reminds me of the girl in the McDonald's Commercial, with a little microphone thingy extending from the ear piece), to get gas, to Woodfield to return a pair of pants that didn't match the shirt I had bought them for (and to get a Mocha Malt Frapuccino.. YUM), then to another Best Buy to purchase something I'd forgotten to get at the first Best Buy.

Whew!

I also made a quiz last night. I had a training class yesterday at work, and they gave us a communication styles quiz. I found it super interesting, so I tried to find it online. No luck with that. I did, however, find a much-shortened version (only three questions), that did not have detailed explanations of the results, and then I found detailed explanations of the results, but no quiz to go along with it. So I put it all together at Quizilla, if any of y'all are interested.

The results probably aren't *real* accurate, being that the scoring is usually done with points and a "most like me" to "least like me" scale, and this way is kind of black-and-white, but they're still interesting to read. What's Your Communication Style? I put my results down in "more," if you're at all interested.

Intuitors place high value on ideas, innovation,
concepts, theory and long-range thinking. They
tend to derive their greatest satisfaction from
the world of possibilities. Often their
imaginative inputs have a way of being a
catalyst for the thinking of those round them.
They tend to be more stimulated and personally
rewarded by intellectual problem-solving
efforts, rather than in implementing solutions.

Intuitors are often respected as fast and deep
thinkers. They reveal excellent imaginations
and ten to question themselves and others.
They challenge because they have learned the
value of continuous probing and reexamination.
They are not accustomed to taking things fro
granted and seem to have an uncanny ability to
anticipate or project- to "know"
before may others around them know. They are
often seen as leaders and great visionaries
with an ability to see relationships between
things than many others do not understand or
are unable to comprehend.

Intuitors tend to accept the fact that disorder and
chaos are inevitable. They are confident of
their ability to grasp the meanings of all the
conflicts about them and tend to see these
conflicts in terms of clashed of major forces,
rather than as her and now situations or
occurrences. They are inclined to look at the
world from the broadest perspective and pride
themselves on their ability to see
interrelationships between divorce or even
abstract parts. They enjoy creating their own
structure out of disorder and excel in
integrative tasks and situations demanding a
long term view.

Because of their interest in the forces of
conflicts and theoretical possibilities,
Intuitors are sometimes seen as "hard to
pin down" or understand. Their question
can sometimes be seen as negative or hostile,
and others will sometimes refer to them as
operating "in a world of their own."
Intuitors usually resent feeling "hemmed
in" by requirements to think or operate in
a structured, well defined manner and may see
others who are concerned about details or the
immediate here-and -nows having really missed
the importance of the "true" issues.
Their inward looking tendencies- drawing
meaning from their imaginations- can be seen by
others as unreal or impractical.

What's Your Communication Style?
brought to you by Quizilla

Posted by kate at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was browsing through my site stats, and I found that my page is very international! I have had visitors from Canada, Singapore, United Kingdom, Australia, United States, Germany, Brazil, Netherlands, Mexico, Japan, Finland ::waves to Noora::, Denmark, France, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, New Zealand, Philippines, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia, Colombia, Venezuela ::waves to Miggie::, Israel, Spain, Estonia, Chile, Indonesia, South Africa, Argentina, Greece, and Russian Federation.

That's 35 countries, that I know about! The vast majority of hits to my site are "unknown" as to where they're from, so they could originate anywhere.

And Estonia! I had a visitor from Estonia! I used to have a penpal in Estonia. How cool is that?

Posted by kate at 06:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...I haven't updated in forever. ::slaps self on forehead::

Let me see. This past weekend was Sarah's bridal shower down in Danville. I had to work in the morning, then booked it downstate. I made it only 20 minutes late, which wasn't bad, considering. We had a lot of fun, and it was AWESOME to see Sarah again. I hadn't realized how much I missed her.

Aarti and I went in together on a somewhat slinky (read: totally lacey and see-through and fun) little lingerie thingy with a nice, lacey matching thong. <.giggle> We left it in the car, as to not embarrass her (or us!) in front of her aunts and grandmas and other assorted adult figures. I think it was a big hit, despite her attempt to hide it in the bush. It was the first present she showed Brad when she got home, so I think that says it all. <.g>

Then we had dinner with Sarah's family, went to Custard Cup, and hung out like old times. Good friends, good times. Can't wait for the bachelorette party. Heehee. Aarti and I have something up our sleeve that I'm crossing my fingers will work out, because what a hoot it would be!

This week has been loooooong. Today was supposed to be my day off, but I had to go in in the morning. So that's two and a half hours of driving to work for three hours of actual working. But it was good to see the girl who was helping out from another branch... I had worked with her when I was training over there a couple months ago, and hadn't seen her since, so we had some good chats. Work was quiet today.

After work, I came home and went to lunch with Megan, then to the mall to buy my mom a Mother's Day gift. I ended up with a really bad headache and took a three-hour nap. SO REFRESHING! I don't often take naps, and since I've been going-going-going for a couple weeks without a single day to really sleep at all, I needed the rest. Especially after my awful morning of cleaning up cat pee, having the receipt for something I needed to return get thrown out, being yelled at by my dad (he later called to apologize), and then being stuck at a red light for FOURTEEN MINUTES (I couldn't even turn around! I was STUCK! I ended up calling the non-emergency police, who were snippy and said they knew... at least I wasn't alone, being about twenty cars back from the light), making me late for work... all the stress from working constantly and not sleeping and everything caught up to me and I spent part of my morning in tears (before work, thankfully). But I feel MUCH better now, and a bit like an idiot for getting upset over stupid things. Whew. Glad that's over with! ;)

So, tomorrow's my long day at work, then I work Saturday, and then hopefully I can RELAX Saturday afternoon. Chances are I will have to finally finish cleaning out the attic, but I can hope for a quiet day of relaxation.

Posted by kate at 09:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oh my god.

Ahahahahahaha!!

If you're offended by boobies, don't click.

I present you with the New Mickey Mouse Club.

Posted by kate at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)