I don't wanna be a chicken

I don't wanna be a duck... So I'll just flap my wings and shake my butt... for three hours. LOL.

Yeah. I did the chicken dance for almost three hours tonight. This was right after an 8 hour shift. And eleven or twelve hours in the park yesterday with Kelsey and Kinsey. And now I'm exhausted.

But I got a free t-shirt. And I made Nate, Sandra, and Jazzy do the chicken dance too. That made it all worth it.

In case you're wondering what this is all about... I volunteered to help out with Goofy's Mystery Tour. It's a cast event where they tether four people together and have them wondering around in the park one night trying to solve riddles and find clues. And Goofy was there, of course. It was kind of fun.

The HTM people were there. I made them chicken dance too.

So... I was going to do this whole separate blog about Kelsey and Kinsey's visit... with photos and video... but I'm too tired. Maybe tomorrow night.

Oh and I got a nasty phone call from some student loan people. I realize now that there was one loan I forgot about. I'm afraid to call them.... they're going to tell me I owe three or four months worth of payments and I'm already having trouble paying the one... maybe they'll let me defer.

God I wish I had money... Or an extra kidney. Maybe I should just go back to school... I could go to grad school... Defer until the economy picks back up... But I really don't want to. Why can't I just find a job that pays well enough to make my student loan payments (oh and rent and food and other things I require to live... that would be nice to have too).

I don't like being an adult. It's no fun. Unless you're chicken dancing for free t shirts. That was kind of fun. And going to the parks yesterday with Kelsey and Kinsey. That was fun too. I need to go to bed now and stop rambling.

So apparently I'm starving myself

Or that's what Tindy thinks. LOL. Yeah. And just when I was wondering if anyone had noticed that I'd lost weight... Tindy (another CP at work) comes to me today at Keystone and asks me if I was starving myself. I assured her that I wasn't... but she's still concerned that I'm losing too much weight too fast. She said that she's noticed a dramatic change in my weight recently. I told her that I had just checked out a smaller costume. I had been wearing pants and shirts that were too big on me. I got smaller sizes and now people are noticing... And everybody has their own advice and warnings... The thing most people are concerned about is that I'm not exercising enough and that my skin will be all loose. I assured them that I am doing some exercise. But like I've said before, I need to step it up in that regard. I certainly don't want to lose all this weight just to end up flabby.

I do have a new exercise plan worked out. I've been listening to podcasts and looking in books and watching things on youtube to try to figure out what to do. I just need to buy some small weights and maybe an exercise ball. I also want to get a DDR mat and game. I still have 25 pounds and at least one pants size to lose before my May 15th deadline. After that... who knows? Maybe I'll aim for my ideal weight.

In other news... I saw Michelle Wride today. It was so cool and unexpected. I can't wait to see Kelsey this week. Everyone at work knows. I've been talking about it all week. I was asking all of them to take my shift so I could hang out with her. Roop asked if the Kelsey in my note (on the shift giveaway board) was the same Kelsey Floss that he knew.

Oh and my website should be up tomorrow. Unless I end up spending the whole day hanging out with Michelle.

Crazy Awesome

So about two years ago my friends and I made a parody of Kelly Likes Shoes video. I don't know how many of you have seen the original video... "Oh my God, Shoes." Or how many of you know Liam Sullivan (the guy who made the video and appears as Kelly in it). He ended up having a show on VH1 (I hate my thirties) and is buddy buddy with Margaret Cho (who I practically worship). Anyway, it was wildly popular back then (and still is, really) and at any rate, my friends and I were sort of obsessed with it. So we did our own version... only our was called Billy likes Booze. Well, the guy with the footage only just recently finished editing it and posted it on youtube. So I've been showing everybody at work... and now they've seen me dance around in a full body purple spandex leotard. LOL. That's when I get a phone call (actually 5 calls) from my friend Sean today telling me that Liam Sullivan saw our video, commented on it and favorited. He's also now subscribing to Sean's channel.

So yeah. Freaking AWESOME! I've been excited all day.

Oh and just in case you guys want to check the video out... Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiemOYZq2Kw

Enjoy! And comment! Tell you friends!

I'm so excited... and I just can't hide it

So not only have I lost almost 60 pounds now... I tried on a pair of shorts today that I haven't been able to wear in like 2 or 3 years and not only did they fit... they're actually a little loose on me! I almost cried. Regardless, I haven't stopped smiling.

Oh and by the way... they look good.

I'm so glad I brought them with me. I almost didn't. I only did because I don't own a lot of shorts and I thought it wouldn't hurt to bring them with. And I hoped I'd lose weight... I didn't realize how much weight I had gained since wearing them last. So when I got down here and found out I couldn't wear them I was a little upset. So I put them back in my suitcase and didn't think about them again until last night. This morning I decided (after weighing myself on the Wii fit and finding out I'd lost another 3.3 pounds) that I'd try them on again. And it was glorious.

Another ten pounds or so and I might have to wear a belt with them. Everything else I own is falling off of me. I don't remember if I have any smaller clothes at home... I got rid of most of the clothes I couldn't wear last year when I had given up on losing weight (right around the time I was at my highest weight). Well, it's not like I won't enjoy shopping for new clothes. With all the outlets down here I could get some really nice threads before I leave Orlando... The only thing is... if I continue to lose weight at this rate, all my Disney shirts will be too big on me. I'll have to buy more of those before I leave too. What a tragedy! LOL.

Oh... and did I mention I can't stop smiling?

Interesting Disney fact

So I found out today that no one over the age of like 10 (or maybe it's 12) is allowed to come into a Disney park dressed as a Disney character.

No, I'm not kidding. As funny as that sounds...

We had the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon today and some of the contestants/participants dressed as their favorite princess for the run... A few of them tried to get into the Park afterward in their Princess dresses and were told that they'd have to change their clothes first.

Apparently they're worried that kids might get confused if a random guest is dressed up as a Disney Princess and it would be a problem if they think that this random guest is actually Jasmine or Cinderella. They've also had a problem with people coming into the park dressed as a character attempting to sign autographs. I heard about a would-be/wanna-be Snow White who was thrown out of the Magic Kingdom for doing just that.

So apparently you were lucky that it was Halloween, Kelsey. If you had tried to dress up like Hannah Montana any other time you might have been thrown out of the park or been asked to remove your wig (by the way I am so excited about the move in April).

Crazy the things you learn about Disney after you've worked here for like 9 or 10 months.

What I'm Celebrating

So I've reached one of my goal weights... That is, I've lost 50 pounds (30 since starting the new diet and 20 before). I'm hoping to lose another 30 by the end of May (my second goal weight). I'm stepping up the exercise. I'm hoping to work in more strength training... especially push ups and more yoga. I would also like to get a DDR game and mat. If I reach my second goal by May (or June), I'm going to go ahead and set a third and final goal of 175 - 180. That's about what I should weigh for my height and build.

In other news... I drew a picture of Goofy for someone at work today (it was Ed's birthday). Within 30 minutes I had 5 or 6 other requests. I drew one of them on my last break so I wouldn't get overwhelmed. LOL. Anyway, I've decided to do more gift art. It keeps me drawing and it's a good way to let everyone I know and work with see what I can do/what I'm all about. I mean, who knows who they know? There are sillier ways to network. LOL. I thought about giving away drawings of Mickeys to guests but I heard another cast member tried to do that and they made her stop. I do still draw at Movieland, though. There's really nothing else to do. But I give those to other cast members. I also plan on drawing some characters for the bulletin boards... now that I'm on the communication team. Poor Toni Ann has such bad pixelated pictures... And it would be a nice thing to leave with the area... I mean, I bitch about Mickey's a lot. But I'm really going to miss it when I leave.

Sandra wants to pay me to draw a Cinderella for her... she's very specific about what she wants, though. It's not a simple sketch (like the others). I don't know that I'll actually charge her, though. I'd be afraid I'd get in trouble for copyright things... Disney really cracks down on that... they don't like people making money from their characters. I'm used to drawing anime... the copyright laws are so different in Japan. Everyone does anime fanart and sells it.

At any rate, I have a lot of drawings to do now. It's amazing how happy it makes people. Being able to draw, I don't get as excited when I see other people draw Disney characters. I suppose I do get excited to see hand painted cels and official art and things like that... I mean, I would love to own an original Amano or see something Miyazaki drew himself. And I could spend hours in art museums. I haven't been to one in ages. I want to go to New York so badly. I'd like to take a week just to visit the museums and see a few shows on Broadway. The statue of liberty and Times Square would be cool... Maybe the Empire State Building too. But what I really want to see is the MoMA... I should just go this summer. Or apply to more jobs/internships in New York. LOL.

Well that's it for now. I'm hoping to have my website up soon. I'll post a link when I do.

New stuff

So I finally got some business cards. I only got 40 printed up. I'm not 100% sold on the design... but I do like it. But mostly, I don't know what my address is going to be in 2 months and I didn't want to have a bunch of cards I couldn't use.

At any rate, I do have business cards now. And finally bought a domain name and paid for a host... so my website will be up soon. I'm going to be putting a few pages up tonight and tomorrow but it won't be finished until next week. I'm also trying to finish my motion graphics reel, update my resume and graphic design portfolio and finish a short flash animation. All by the end of next week (yeah... I need to stop procrastinating). Needless to say, I'm going to be busy. But when it's all said and done, I'm going to be in a much better position to apply for jobs. I'm going to apply for the professional internships here at Disney again. And then I'm going to apply for everything on jobs/DisneyCareers.com that I can find. And then I'm going to apply for everything else in the world of animation and television that I can find (NBC, Turner, CBS/Viacom, etc). I already have several in mind. I hope I can stay with the Disney company or ABC... but right now I just need a job. Preferably one that uses the skills I went 60,000 dollars in debt to learn at school. After that, I'm going to focus on networking again down here but also more importantly, my 2D animation studies and reel. The ultimate goal is the Talent Development program for recent grads at Walt Disney Animation Studios. I'm going to give it a shot, anyway. I don't know that I'm ready for it but I guess I'll never know unless I try.

So... Busy, busy, busy.

Oh and I am going to design a header for this blog and redesign my myspace profile... among other projects. And I have a ton of gift art to draw. I have to draw Goofy today.

I wish I hadn't given up caffeine...

Another long blog and more rambling

So not much in the way of news to report. I'm just working and going to class and trying to network and such... I did find out that they posted professional internships... There are none for arts/graphics and only two for communication (which I may apply to). I kind of expected that. What with the economy being the way it is. It's still pretty disappointing, though.

I've started submitting on deviantart again... I'm potterfan80 on DA (if anybody's interested). It has a lot of old art on there... I plan on getting rid of most of it. I also plan on submitting new art. I want to get back into fine art and figure studies and more conceptual pieces... Not that drawing Mickey isn't fun... But I still haven't given up on my dream of one day displaying my work in a gallery... I wish I had taken pictures of my last art project. It was pretty awesome, actually. Jai, the gay Barbie (he was meant to be an accessory for Barbie). I made posters and a product box and decorated a little Barbie Volkswagen Beetle with gay bumper stickers... I even sewed little clothes for him (including sandals) and gave him (it was originally a Ken doll) a trendy haircut. It was all about the portrayal of gay men in the media and how they end of being these cute, funny eunuchs (Ken has no genitalia... it worked out perfectly) who talk about nothing but fashion and shopping... It took such a long time and a freaking lot of money. I have like almost no sewing experience... but that leopard print button up shirt looked awesome. And now it's just sitting in a storage building in Ohio.

I like the idea of my art critiquing the media - the same profession I want to work in. But you gotta do what you know...

One of my next projects is a little something involving Hannah Montana. I won't say more than that... but she's been an interest of mine for a while now. I even wrote a paper on her for my children's media class. She's such a phenomenon... And that Annie Lebowitz photo... that was so deliberate. She knows what she's doing. And she's damn good at it. People keep comparing her to Britney and Lindsay and some of the other Disney darlings (turned harlot). But I think she's a lot craftier than them. I'm really interested to see how her career plays out.

In other news... still on my diet. I'm going to reach my goal weight by May or June. If I do, I might just set a new goal weight... The best part is having to check out smaller sizes at costuming. I don't really have the money to buy new clothes (and want to wait until I'm closer to my goal weight in any case). But it's really satisfying to be able to go in and turn in pants that are starting to fall off of me for a smaller size. I can still remember trying on pants this past summer during training and finding out that my Disney size was two sizes bigger than I thought I was (turns out it was just one size bigger and I was deluding myself). But now I'm working my way down to what I weighed in high school and pretty soon I'll be down to what I weighed my freshman year in college (the last time I was trying to loose weight). My own clothes are starting not to fit me. I am having to check out belts at costuming now (mine are too big and I can't afford a new one). So now I'm wearing my Disney belt on my days off too.

Oh... and while I'm on the subject... I saw a video last night that one of my friends posted on youtube. It was something we filmed back in 2007... that he just now decided to finish editing. At any rate, it was shot just before I reached my highest weight... Looking at that and then looking at me now... I can definitely see a difference. At the same time, though... It really inspired me to keep going. I'm tired of being the big flat blob in all of my friends' photos. And I'd like to be able to feel comfortable in front of a camera. I want the me that people see to be the best possible version of me that I can be. And it really just comes down to caring enough about myself that I put the effort in to make the change.

My overall health has improved. And it's only going to get better. And it's not like I'm starving myself or anything. I eat more than I did before... And much better than I did before. It may take a little longer to shop and to cook and all that. But I'm worth that extra effort... that extra time.

Two little more tidbits... I have decided to enter the Night of Stars competition. I'm entering a flash animation. It's going to be about CP life. And I'm going to apply for professional internships... The deadlines are March 12 and 13 (respectively). So I have a lot of work to do in the next two weeks. I also am getting my business cards printed on Monday... and I'm going to have my website up by the 13th. I'm setting a lot of goals for myself and deadlines (which is even more important than actually setting the goals... the way to begin is to start doing and stop talking after all). A goal is a dream on a deadline (my marketing teacher told me that). And in this economy I can't afford not to do everything I can to set myself apart from everybody else.