Happy Halloween!

Yes, I am perfectly aware that it is still September, but Disney doesn’t care. Ain’t nobody got time for that (waiting 5 weeks, that is)! So I’m just gonna cut to the chase and tell you everything you’ve been dying to hear, and start off with COSTUMES:
In Youth Activities, everyone gets to wear a costume. The managers are vampires, entertainment hosts are cops and robbers, boy counselors are wizards, and we girl counselors get to be witches. Fabulous, fabulous witches. And by fabulous I mean we get to wear a plain t-shirt with a neckline made for a sailor (the stereotypical, Moby Dick kind), black pants that are 2 sizes too big, striped stockings, weird fishnet hand thingys (….), and a witch hat. My hat even comes with a bonus friend; a puff ball spider named Franklin. Unfortunately, Franklin only has 4 legs so he’s not a real spider, but he’s kind of sensitive about it, so don’t mention anything to him.

Just like on Pirate Night, the guests all get really into dressing up for our Halloween festivities. Some of them are incredibly elaborate. I saw one family where the mom was dressed in an old Victorian dress, done up with an awesome powdered wig and everything, while the dad was a fantastic gladiator. Their two kids – one boy and one girl – where also dressed up to exactly match their parents. However, the trending costumes for kids in the lab would have to be (drum roll please….) morph suits! One of the kids this week, Jack, was wearing a morph suit of a fancy shmancy tuxedo, where the head/face part was just white. I never heard Jack speak a word that night; he just snuck around behind other kids, trying to freak them out. It was awesome….and yet also incredibly really creepy.

At night, in the atrium, there’s a big Halloween party and costume contest for all the adults and families. Again, everyone gets super into it, so it’s cool to see all of the contestants. There was a woman dressed as Maleficent (she stayed in creepy scary character mode the whole time), a couple dressed as the Disney Fantasy smokestacks, and a super buff dude dressed as Bane from Batman. And of course, there were at least two giant groups dressed as the 101 Dalmatians as well as every Disney Prince/Princess couple. In fact, there were just enough Jasmines and Aladdins floating around that no one noticed when our real Aladdin showed up to casually enjoy the festivities. There he was, hanging out on Deck 5, two decks above the party, watching the action down below while being surrounded by kids and families on either side of him, and no one even took a second glance. I don’t know if he was either disappointed or proud of himself.

 

On a completely new and unrelated note, have I ever told you about where I live on this ship? I live forward, at the very front of the ship, right above the anchors and right behind our main Walt Disney Theater. This means that there is a lot of weird banging and rumbling noises happening throughout the day, and that the hallway down below is frequently filled with fog from the dry ice machines. Officially, I live on Deck 3A, in between 3 and 4, but according to the ship’s schematics this is actually Deck 41, but the room numbers begin with the number 8…so, basically, what I’m trying to say is… I live in Narnia.

Be jealous.

What Am I Eating?

I have dessert every night.  Not because the desserts in the crew mess are particularly good, but more so for the sugar rush to get me through the end of the day.  Tonight was no exception.  However, tonight’s dessert was particularly exciting because it came with its very own game: “What Am I Eating?”

The cake looked edible.  There were plenty of people in the mess with a plate of it on their tray, so it must be good, right?  It looked like some kind of vanilla/chocolate mixture (marble cake, perhaps?), with pink icing on top (weird choice, but okay) and some coconut shavings thrown in (sweet, I love coconut!).  I grabbed a plate and returned to my table (naturally filled with other YA staff, because, you know, we can’t do anything without each other).  Upon closer inspection, I decided that this was most definitely not marble cake.  I was getting more confused by the second.  The “chocolate” part was both smooth and chunky – it’s very own enigma – but I was still pretty sure that the “vanilla” part was normal cake…I think.  Next to me, Trevor looked down at the pink mess on the plate and asked if it was any good.  “I don’t know; do you want to try some?” I offered.  “No, I only eat things that look appetizing.” Touché, sir.

I took my first bite with some trepidation. Yup, there was definitely some semblance of cake in there, but there was more.  Oh, so much more.

Every bite was an adventure – a journey of culinary discovery.  One minute I’d be crunching away on a walnut, and the next I’d taste the sweet tang of pineapple.  There was chocolate mousse, slices of apple from Sunday’s apple pie, lemon jello from last night’s desert, vanilla pudding from….a couple days ago.  It was fascinating and I ate every bite.

It’s nice to know that, even when you skip dessert some nights, you’ll still have the chance to try them again…all together…in one dish.

Now I remember why I usually stick to my staple: chocolate soft serve and cocoa krispies. Delicious.

Lies, Scandal, and Matrimony

I got married yesterday.

It was the perfect day and it was going to be the perfect night – it was Pirate Night after all.  I had a ring and everything.  Sure, the ring was made of green ribbon and it kept coming untied and falling off, but that didn’t matter to me.  It was beautiful and special and it was mine.  Our wedding ceremony was simple yet romantic – the high five that we shared as we passed each other in the hallway can only be described as magical.  There were fireworks (or at least there were going to be… later, during the pirate show out on deck 11).  I had always thought I was just another yellow shirt to him, just another counselor with whom he shared the occasional glance.  I remember the sheer joy and trepidation I felt the first time one of the kids told me that Pirate Pete wanted to marry me.  I didn’t believe it at first.  I was ready to dismiss the whole thing to the fantastical whims of the children’s imagination (there was already one marriage that ended quickly in divorce the day before).  But then, all of a sudden, there he was striding toward me, ribbon ring in hand.  And now, I couldn’t believe it, I was the happy wife of Pirate Pete.  We were going to sail the world together.  We were going to plunder and pillage the most beautiful places together.  I was sure that I would never feel more alive than when I had my Pirate Pete by my side.

And then he left me.  After 30 minutes of blissful matrimony, I was informed that Pirate Pete had left me for Poopdeck Sally.  I was inconsolable.  Even the children could not stop my tears.

I never should have married him.  I should’ve listened to the other kids.  They told me that he was too old and that he had weird red hair (never trust a man with weird red hair).  They told me that I should’ve married Lee, one of the counselors, instead.  At least Lee has a respectable career in Float Fun Trivia.  He’s a master of Disney trivia facts and is surrounded by ice cream – real ice cream! Do you know how rare it is to find real ice cream on this ship?  Yes, Lee should’ve been the one for me.  But it’s too late now, I’ve lost my chance and Lee has moved on.

What do I do now?  Perhaps Detective Noah Clue is single…

I got a ticket for the long way round.

Two bottle whiskey for the way.  And I sure would like some sweet company, And I’m leaving tomorrow, what do ya say?  When I’m gone, When I’m gone, You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone, You’re gonna miss me by my hair, You’re gonna miss me everywhere, oh, You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone.  I’ve got my ticket for the long way round, The one with the prettiest of views, It’s got mountains, it’s got rivers, it’s got sights to give you shivers, But it sure would be prettier with you.  When I’m gone, When I’m gone, You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone, You’re gonna miss me by my walk, You’re gonna miss me by my talk, oh, You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’ve watched Pitch Perfect twice this week and I still can’t get the song out of my head.

Celebrities – Yesterday I got to ride in an elevator with both Mickey Mouse AND Pluto.  So basically what I’m trying to say is, it was a good day.

We All Speak Kid – The other night I ended work with two kids, Santiago (Santi) and Victoria.  Neither of them spoke a lick of English aside from the names for colors, but we spent over half an hour, just the three of us, laughing and making fun of each other while coloring.  It was beautiful and amazing.

Kid Math – during Disney Trivia, while discussing why there are only 99 puppies in the movie 101 Dalmatians (hint, there are 2 adults and 101 total, therefore 101-2=99 puppies):

Counselor: “What do you have when you take 2 away from 101?”

Child: “4!”

Questions – There are a lot of silly questions from guests that don’t think before they speak.

Guest: “Do the stairs work?”

Counselor: “If you use your feet, they do”

The Target Effect – I went to target this morning to get face wash.  I came back with face wash, gum, trail mix, Pringles, jolly ranchers, tootsie pops, Mickey Mouse band aids (I already have a full box of regular band aids), a water bottle, sunscreen, and nail polish.

 

Later, Aligator

In a while, Crocodile

See you soon, … Spoon

Joyful Joys are full of Joy

– By Saturday I will be halfway done with my contract – whoop whoop! Yup, just 9 weeks left until I’m back in the good old U.S. of A. And best of all, I should be staying home through Christmas!

– My vacation to Disney World is being booked-hurrah! (There’s an extra space/ticket for anyone who wants to join Nov 9^th-Nov 11^th…hit me up)

– I still have over half of the bag of tootsie pops that I bought over the weekend (quite an accomplishment).  Sadly, the sweedish fish have not begun spontaneously reproducing as I had hoped.

– I’m going to be bottom line (late start) for Castaway Cay on Friday, so that means I should be able to enjoy plenty of morning sun rays and beach chillaxing before work.

– Hangover 3 and Fast and Furious 6 have just been added to our Crew Movies list.

– There’s a ton of kids from NJ on the cruise this week – but it seems like they’re all from Bergen County.  Lame.

– Our Main Stage actors and Characters are all in the process of switching out with the new cast.  This means that not only are there a ton of lovely new faces on board, but also that we get to play the Guess that Character game during meals.  Although, some Characters are pretty easy to peg: for example, the really short guy who looks like Peter Pan, yup, he’s totally the new Peter Pan.

– FOOTBALL. HAS. STARTED. Go Pack Go/Whatever the OSU Buckeyes chant is. I’ve got football in my cabin, football in the crew mess, football in the Vibe lounge, football everywhere.  It’s beautiful and it feels like America.

And finally….Today, Jackson decided to poop in the middle of the floor.  I guess you can’t win them all.

The Woes of Curtains and Artificial Lighting

With my alarm ringing, my eyes open to the semi darkness. I only have one of my curtains pulled closed, so the main cabin light is filling the room. Mel has an early start, so she must already be awake and getting ready. I slowly stretch out my legs, trying to calculate how much time I really need before I have to start work and if I can push snooze for another 15minutes. “I start work at 9:30am and I set my alarm for 8:00am, so if I take a quick shower and skip breakfast, then that leaves….” I’m pretty sure I can get away with another 15 minutes. I don’t even mind the light that is drifting in through the curtains, in fact, it’s a little refreshing. At night, it’s so pitch black in our cabin that I can’t tell the difference between when my eyes are open and when they are closed. The only illumination within the room is a small flashing light emanating from the back of the TV, and Mel and I have swiveled the screen so that even that light is blocked out. It’s also insanely quiet. The only sounds you can hear from outside the cabin (besides the occasional heavy bass) are those coming from the anchors. I hear them now, so we must have already reached port and are getting settled in. Wow, that was fast.

I wonder what the day’s schedule is going to be like. We’ll be in Costa Maya this morning, and I hope I have a little bit of time to get off the ship and enjoy the sunshine. My Teva tan is progressing nicely, so I would love a chance to even out a little.

I look down at my phone to check the time. It’s 4:15pm.

It’s not morning yet, it’s still the night before. The anchors are being pulled up, not let down, because we’re still in Grand Cayman and I still have another 5 hours of work left; I’ve only just woken up from a quick power nap in between shifts. The light is on because I turned it on when I came in – Mel isn’t here. The TV is still on, with Clark Kent/Tom Welling’s beautiful face still filling up the screen from the end of the episode that I just finished watching.

Ugh.