Apr 17–Apr 23, 2011

I finally got to play my first softball game with Fantastical – the coed Disney team I play with in the spring!  It was four weeks in the making and it was epic.  We lost, but it was a close game.  I played second base & got beat up – took a couple of line drives/hard hit grounders off my body.  I made a couple of plays, even almost turned a double play!  I went 2 for 4 at the plate – not my best night but not my worst.  I just need to work on not hitting the ball right at the opposing players.  We don’t play again for two weeks, due to the Easter holiday, so I get a bit for my bruises to heal :)  I can’t wait for our next game. 

Monday was Shane’s actual 5th birthday.  I headed down to the house for dinner, gifts, and cake.  We enjoyed a lovely BBQ and conversation before Shane wanted to open his gifts and eat some cake.  I got the huge Batman fan a Batman action figure with some accessories.  Here are a couple of photos from his party on Saturday and the family celebration on his birthday.

The rest of the week was filled with work – all kinds of it.  I had a couple of fireworks shifts, a Pirate shift, and a Grad Nite prep shift.  I very much enjoyed my one day with my Join Jack’s Crew this week.  There is just something about the pirates and the shift that is just plain fun.  Yes, we have plenty of things to do and make sure happen, but we sure have a great time doing it!  I just wish I had more of these shifts.  After all, this is a temporary gig – only through Memorial Day – and after May 1st we are back to weekends only. 

Also this week, I finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!  I am so loving re-reading the series.  There are so many details I’d forgotten about and it’s just plain fun sharing his adventures again.  I’ve jumped right in to Order of the Phoenix now.  It only gets better and better from here! 

Even though we still have several shows left in our season subscription for SCFTA (formerly OCPAC), it was time to renew for the 2011-2012 season.  Since my sister is moving out of state and her best friend is having a baby, I invited 2 new girlfriends the seats.  It’s not the best season ever but there are a couple of shows worth seeing – Les Miserables being the one I’m most looking forward to seeing.  I haven’t seen it in many, many years.  And keeping my seats through an okay season will allow me to renew again for a hopefully better season for 2012-2013!

My sister has been touting How I Met Your Mother as an amazing show for years and trying to get me to watch it.  She enjoys it so much I started buying the season DVDs for her on various holidays & birthdays.  Well, I finally borrowed season 1 from her and watched the first disc.  It is quite a funny show.  I’m going to have to catch up on all the seasons she has on DVD before she moves away now!

April 10–April 16, 2011

I began this week, surprisingly, with an office day!  But I wasn’t going in until late in the day (so I would be around for the newest Jack’s SM first solo day on the show!).  The big adventure for the day was really going to be my first softball game with Fantastical – the Disney coed team I play on.  It was freezing cold so I got all bundled up and headed to the field in the late afternoon.  I was putting on my cleats when one of my teammates parked nearby asked if I’d gotten our manager’s text.  I had been driving and didn’t think to look if I’d received anything, so I pulled out my phone – lo and behold, a text had been received explaining we’d forfeited due to lack of guys!  Boo!  How does that happen?  When are we short on softball playing boys?  It’s always the girls that cause the problem.  Super bummed was an understatement for me.  The first game had been rained out and I couldn’t make the second game.  So now my first game will be the 4th of the season – and there’s only something like 8 total.  Big Boo!  So I headed into work, put in my time, and got out of there before fireworks lockdown.

On Monday, I got paid to watch Disneyland shows all night!  I was the Entertainment Duty Manager (E1) for the evening.  It’s a great gig – you get to check in with the shows, cast, crew, etc.  However, if things go wrong or are in need of assistance, E1 is the go-to person.  You report up to Theme Park 1 as needed.  Which of course on my first solo day since training a couple of months ago, I got to do!  There was a delay in starting fireworks (phone call to TP1) and then a mid-show stop per DFD (another phone call to TP1).  Thankfully that was my only excitement (and the kind I know how to deal with) but the trick was finding the right words for the nightly voicemail distribution to the executives.  I got through it & am looking forward to my next shift (in a couple of months again!).

Tuesday was my 12 on 12 day – see my previous post for all details.  It was a great day.  Wednesday was a day off for me.  I did nothing.  Well, a little laundry at the house but that’s about it.  I watched some TV, read Harry Potter, played on the computer, and generally stayed low-key.  I had tentatively made plans for the evening but as I wasn’t feeling too well, I rescheduled them for Friday night.

I was back at work the next day on MMY/Remember.  Nothing out of the ordinary on those shifts.  Friday night, after my shift, I went out with Jen & Annalisa.  We headed over to ESPN Zone and had a late dinner and lovely conversation.  We closed the place and then ended up chatting in the parking lot for another hour or so.  It was a terrific night out with the girls.  And our varied conversations totally influenced my dreams.  I had such amazing dreams with really cute boys dancing with me and telling me I’m beautiful.  You can’t go wrong with those kind of dreams :)

Saturday was Shane’s day – it was his 5th birthday party!  And thankfully, I was able to attend before work at Jack’s that evening.  He had another Batman themed party (like last year) with his friends, a bounce house, and a piñata!  There was a minor meltdown over the piñata but all things worked out in the end – there were cupcakes and presents!  He got some great gifts – lots of cool toys ready for the almost (two more days) 5 year old to play with over and over again. 

12 on 12 April 2011

Today was full of the mundane and the exciting.  For the second month in a row, my 12 day fell on a day off.  So I’ve now done two months at work and two months off.  I can’t decide which I like better.  Each give a different glimpse into my daily life. 

My day off started like many often do – chores.  Firstly, I was overdue to change my bed sheets.  Mundane, I know, but I warned you!  Since the weather is starting to get a bit warmer on a more regular basis, I decided to mix it up a little & change my comforter to my quilt.  So the whole bed set is a bit contrasting in colors but I figure who sees it but me (and now those who actually read this)! 

Next up was another chore which was way overdue, even more so than my sheets – coloring my hair.  And trust me, it’s a chore when you have to do it yourself.  First you’ll see how overdue I was – good & bad, the picture doesn’t truly show how gray I actually am (though it’s close)! And now my product of choice – Garnier Nutrisse #53 Golden Medium Brown aka Chestnut.  I found this color about 3 years ago and really like it!

And here are the lovely chemicals in my hair!

While my hair was ‘setting’ I headed out to the front room, turned on the light, and ‘poof’ – out it goes.  This is the second light bulb I’ve had to change on a 12 day!  If it happens again next month, I’ll know something’s going on for sure.

Then I decided to start some laundry – more mundane, it’s true, but the exciting is coming later, promise!  I will say I love having my own washer/dryer in my house!  So convenient and money saving, I don’t miss paying for laundry one bit.

After the laundry was going, it was time to catch up on my blog.  I was a couple of weeks behind.  During the tech for Join Jack’s Crew I fell behind and have been slowly catching up.  I also had some music playing from my iTunes library (which is over 3000 songs and not even my entire music collection – how did that happen?).

Then it was time to get the hair color chemicals out.  I will say, this brand is quite lovely on my hair – my hair always comes out soft and luxurious, almost salon like (but not totally).  Here is the finished look, natural highlights where the gray would be located.

Ok, I promised exciting, so now we’ve reached it.  My dad had received tickets from a friend for Rain-A Tribute to the Beatles playing at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles.  So we had Father/Daughter date; he met me at my house to start our evening.  [Side note – the last time we had a night out together, he got a traffic ticket; this night, he managed to rear end someone.  My mother is threatening to not let us hang out again!]  We spent our 80 minutes on the road to go 40 miles and enjoyed some great conversation.  I even learned some things I hadn’t known before – my dad went to an Elvis concert (with his ex-wife) and took my mom on a date to see Johnny Cash!  How did I not know this before?  P.S. – he took my mom on some great dates!  No wonder she fell for him!

We took some pictures in the lobby of the Pantages.  It is a beautiful theater.  If it weren’t so far away (and more expensive than OCPAC) I’d definitely see more shows there – I love it!  The show was great – it was opening night so the energy was up and rockin!  Rain is a tribute band and the show is more a concert than a show.  They do incorporate some clips but mostly it’s them playing and singing live.  But you can’t go wrong with the Beatles!  I seem to forget how much I enjoy them until I hear their songs again.

Once again, it was a busy day for me but it keeps me out of trouble, and keeps my 12 on 12 days interesting! ;)

Apr 3–Apr 9, 2011

Once again, I completed my weekend with Join Jack’s Crew – except this was my last shift for 13 days!  I wasn’t going to get to play with my pirates for almost 2 weeks!  Can you say “withdrawal”?  It was an fairly normal night – we had a few issues with the pyro cauldrons but we made it work!  All in all a lovely Sunday night at Festival Arena!

And following the pattern of the past few weeks, I had Monday and Tuesday off! :)  Monday was a day for around the house stuffs.  Nothing terribly exciting – just the run of the mill chores and such.  Tuesday, on the other hand, was quite busy.  I began the morning signing in my friend Alyssa and her girlfriend into Disneyland.  I’ve known Alyssa since she was 13 and playing the lead role in Annie.  Almost 10 years later and we still hang out occasionally.  I love when you find those special relationships that last years from those fleeting productions which last only months. 

After getting them settled in the Park, I headed off for my errands.  I made a few unusual stops – the sticker store at the Block of Orange to get the Osgan’s their own Angels ‘A’ sticker for their car; a sports apparel store to pick up Brandon a new red Angels t-shirt (as he’d outgrown his most recent one); and one very usual stop – Target!  I love Target.  I can spend way too much money every time I go – however, I had a list this time & it was small.  I also stopped by the Osgan’s to drop off their new swag. 

Then it was back home to drop off my stuff and back in the car again to meet up with Alyssa & Crystal at Disneyland.  We got to spend dinner and the wait for Space Mountain (60 minutes) together before I had to run off again.  As they headed into the building to experience the awesome-ness of Space Mountain, I headed back to my car and back home to meet my visiting teachers.  So even though I didn’t get the payoff of the ride, I did get to know Crystal and reconnect with Alyssa.  Can’t go wrong with that!  I forgot to take pictures but Alyssa did – I just have to get them from her before I can post them here!

Work was a bit eventful this week.  Wednesday was all about Jedi.  Annalisa and I continued to work on the OG’s (Operating Guide) – we are so close to being done with this multi-year project!  It can’t happen soon enough.  Thursday was super windy!  So windy in fact, I cancelled the fireworks show.  I was probably the most unpopular person in the resort if the Guests were voting.  And it was cold!  But the weather was even colder the next night though not nearly as windy.  I even brought a blanket with me to the rooftop to help stave off the cold.  There was a slight threat of rain but it never materialized.  So we were able to treat the Guests to a fireworks show Friday night.

Saturday was the family’s first Angel game of the new season – and it was ski beanie night!  We had a great time sitting up in the nose bleed seats near the right field foul pole.  The seats weren’t actually too bad; no crazy neck turn to see home plate and while up in the upper section, they weren’t the extreme nosebleed seats.  A couple a few rows in front of us won the seat trade promotion.  We’d noticed the Angel girls and crew lurking and tried to subtly and not-so-subtly encourage them to choose us but our party was too large.  So we tried to at least get the kids in the shot and on the jumbo screen but that didn’t work too well either.  Nonetheless, we had a great time.  And the game wasn’t half bad either.  We only stayed through the 6th inning before the boys were ready to go home (and it was freezing!).  I went home and finished watching the game on TV – it ended up going to 14 innings before we finally won.  It was  great way to end the week!

Mar 27–Apr 3, 2011

I continued my Pirate themed weekend on Sunday working Join Jack’s Crew.  I was supposed to play a softball game before work but due to the recent rain, the fields were too wet and the game was cancelled.  Boo!  I was quite looking forward to the first coed Disney game, especially because I knew I couldn’t be at the next game due to work.  Ah well, what can you do?  Weather is unpredictable as is life. 

Monday was my first day off in 9 days.  Needless to say, I did nothing!  Absolutely nothing… I didn’t even get out of my pj’s.  I slept in, watched TV, read Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire – basically, I recovered from a really long week at work.  I must say, this is one of the advantages of being single – there aren’t many but it’s a good one!  I didn’t have to worry about not doing the shopping or cleaning or taking care of the kids or the spouse or anything!  It was completely, entirely a “me” day.  Awesome!

I did start to be a human being again by Tuesday and I did all those ‘grown-up’ things required of me – shopping, laundry, cleaning, etc.  My favorite part of Tuesday was talking to my oldest, dearest friend Jim.  We’ve known each other longer than we’ve not known each other.  We met on the first day of Junior High School at Los Alisos in September of 1987.  His locker was above mine and we had a couple of classes together.  We didn’t start really hanging out until late in the year when a couple of our friends starting hanging out together.  We got into the habit of email and IM over the years before long distance charges became a thing of the past.  So we don’t always have the opportunity to spend a couple of hours on the phone.  But it was long overdue so we set a date and time to talk.  When you can fall into conversation like no time has passed or you’re not thousands of miles apart, you know it’s a great relationship.  We didn’t talk about anything important or life changing, just caught up on each other & our grown-up lives.  I mostly talked about work (shocking, I know!) and my lack of a significant other.  He caught me up on his job and family.  We spent several hours just talking.  And in this age of free cell long distance, we are going to do this more often!  And we mean it this time!

I don’t have any recent photos of Jim and I together so I pulled this photo from 1993 – when we graduated HS and celebrated with a day at Disneyland (I know, right!).  Jim is on the far left and I’m standing above him.  Also in the picture are Tripp, Harmony, Heather, and Rusty (l-r).

Back to work on Wednesday for me…first up explosions and projections and returning to pirates for the weekend.  Nothing terribly exciting or eventful at work – mostly just continuing to figure out the schedule for Join Jack’s Crew. 

Saturday I finally had my new sofa delivered!  Only took 3 weeks instead of the 3 days I was told when I purchased it.  Apparently one hand didn’t know what the other was doing so what I was told was in stock was actually not.  Ah well, it is here now and I love it!  Now once I get the rest of my house in order, I might finally have that housewarming party that is almost a year overdue (can you even call it a housewarming still?).