Counting down the days

It is official! I am counting down the days, currently at 7 (1 week), until I have “Traditions”, the first orientation day at the Disneyland Resort, and I get my name tag, ID card, parking pass, and OFFICIALLY become a Disneyland Resort Tech Services Cast Member!!!! I am SO happy and excited! This is the job that I have wanted and worked for since I was 12 years old. That was the year that I first got into Theatre, and it was the year that “Fantasmic!” debuted at Disneyland. That show had a HUGE effect on my life and the direction it went. I am still finding it hard to believe that I am finally achieving my dream job at the Happiest Place on Earth. I think that it will become real on July 20th, but it will probably still be a bit surreal. Especially if I actually start getting shifts working on the “Fantasmic!”, the show that started it all, at least for me. 🙂

One Step Closer

I am SO excited! I know that I really don’t have any followers here, or on Twitter, but I don’t care. If they come, cool, if not, these are my little journals on the cloud. Anyway, as I said in the beginning, I am SO excited! I have an interview on Tuesday, April 17, 2012 for Disneyland Tech Services!!!! 🙂 I am finally achieving my dream since I was twelve years old!!!!

I remember it still today. I had just gotten in to theatre, I was in seventh grade and wood shop was full, fate has an interesting way of doing things. Anyway, I had just gotten into theatre and my family went to Disneyland. We went to see a show at the Fantasyland Theatre, no clue what show it was, I only remember this event. We were sitting in the seats waiting for the show to start, when above our heads, on the House Right (Stage Left) side of the catwalk a door opened and one of the techs came out to go to his spot position. The crowd didn’t know what this was about and started applauding him. He stopped in his walk and looked around confused. Finally, he looked down at the audience and pointed at himself, asking “Is this for me?”. The cloud applauded more. Suddenly he threw his hands out, giving the international sign of “wait”, and ran back out the door, closing it behind him. Suddenly the door flew open, and out walked the tech again, hands over his head in triumph, strutting along the catwalk. The crowd roared.

It was a great moment that has stayed with me my entire life.

UPDATE:

After posting this, just last night as I was returning home from getting dinner for my family, I got a call from Disneyland. I have been scheduled for my second interview already. It is going to be immediately after my HR interview on the same day! SO EXCITED!!!!

UPDATE:

Well, I had my interviews yesterday (April 17, 2012) with both Disney HR and The Technical Coordinator for Tech Services that is doing the hiring. He gave me a tour of the Entertainment Department HQ in the backlot and got to know me. As I left, he was giving me praise for being a great technician. Now, I just have to wait until the end of this week to hear whether or not I got the job. This is the hardest part. After the interviews, and for the rest of the day as I relaxed and had fun at Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure with my family, I felt that I had knocked it out of the park, and felt that the call was a done deal. Now that I have had a day to stew on it, I find myself getting more and more nervous. Not because I am thinking I blew it or anything, tech theatre is what I do, it’s what I know, and what I have almost twenty years of experience in. It’s just the waiting. As my wife said, the likely hood of me not getting the call to get the job are so very slim, one of the other interviewees would have to be so amazingly experienced that it is very unlikely that they are interested in a low-level, starting position. I want this so badly I can taste it. I am staying positive though, fighting my natural tendency to get down on myself as much as possible. I WILL get this job. This is my time. When the call comes, I will do one last update on this particular post to let anyone that potentially reads it know.

Achieving the Dream

I have been doing the technical side of theatre for almost 20 years, since I was 12 years old. It is my love, my passion, my calling. It has been my dream to work in the Technical Services department at the Disneyland Resort for just as long. I finally have my chance. They are hiring, and my application is in. I have also finally made the contacts to give me a hand in getting in as well. I’ve recently made a connection with a man that is a Technical Coordinator for Disney’s Corporate Events, and he has taken to championing my application with the person that is doing the hiring at Disneyland. I am SO excited. I’ve gotten past the first step in the process, the Self Assessment Skills Sheet, now I’m just waiting for the interview phone call. It is driving me batty waiting. I want this SO badly I can taste it and I physically ache for it. If there are any readers of this out there, please pray for me and my family. We need this so badly. And now, for my mantra:

“I need this job. I want this job. I will get this job. The job is already mine.”

Titus Andronicus, Vampire Nation

So, I am going to be involved in a fabulous production of Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus”. It is a concept piece being performed at Zombie Joe’s Underground in the NoHo Arts District of Los Angeles. The concept is that Rome is a Vampire nation. If you read the script for “Titus Andronicus” with this thought in your mind, the play lends itself beautifully to this concept. It is very exciting, and going to be a great experience.
Well, last night I got bored. So, I fired up G.I.M.P. on my lappy and decided to play. The director of the show had a brilliant idea for the poster of the show, and it had been buzzing around in my head since I first heard it, so I made it last night. I made two versions, one that is purely black and white, and one that has blood tipped fangs. I share them here with you, I hope you like them. The blood tipped one is my personal favorite, and our director seems to like it as well. 😀

Edited:  I made some revisions to the “Titus” logo’s seen above, I added some coloring to the gums, so here they are!

One of many reasons to love Theatre

I have had a deep love affair with Theatre since I was twelve years old. I had signed up for woodcraft in my junior high school for my seventh grade elective, but due to a scheduling mishap, there was no room for me. So, on the first day of school, I needed to pick a new elective, and the only thing open was Theatre, so I took it. This is but one of the reasons that I believe in “destiny” or “fate”, because this bit of happenstance lead me to my calling, and I have been thankful for that little glitch for the rest of my life.

This video clip that I got from YouTube is from the DVD “Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway” and is of one of the most powerful songs/scenes in the entire show.  It is in the second Act, and the “Collins” character is reprising the love song duet that he sings with “Angel” in the first act. He now sings the song solo, having just lost “Angel” to A.I.D.S.  If you get the chance, either through Netflix or a friend, to see this, you should. The show is amazing, and it has such a marvelous message. Enjoy.

EQUALITY!

On this date, 4 August 2010, the Federal District Court has overturned Proposition 8, the Ban on Gay Marriage, siting it as being unconstitutional, which it was. All it did was to imply that Heterosexual couples were either better, or whatever, than Homosexual couples. This was wrong on every level. I am SO happy that this was overturned. I have several gay and lesbian friends, and I am SO very happy that they can now, FINALLY, participate in the right of Marriage, and all of the legal benefits therein. Things like visiting one another in the hospital, tax breaks, inheritance, etc…

Here is a link to a site that has a PDF download of the entire court ruling, if you are interested in reading it.

Prop 8 Ruling FINAL

edited: Here is the CNN news brief about the overturning, I had to find it via YouTube to get this to work.

A fast forwarded video showing Thunt drawing “Saves a Fox”.

This video clip is of my absolute favorite webcomic, “Goblins: Life Through Their Eyes“. The character is “Saves a Fox”. The creator of this comic, Thunt, is an amazing artist, and a great guy. He broadcasts almost all of the process of making each update, with the exception of dialog and anything that would be a spoiler. If you like this, you should check out his comic.

Click here to go to his Live Broadcast.  Enjoy!

Very Humorous!

This video was shared on Facebook by a friend of mine, and I had to share it here. It is VERY funny, and true!

This video was made by a group called “Church on the Move”, here is the link to their webpage, in case your curious:

http://www.churchonthemove.com/

I review “The Titans Curse” – Book 3 of “Percy Jackson & the Olympians”

Well, I am a bit behind on writing this, I actually finished this book a little over a week ago, but life gets in the way sometimes. Any way, here is my review.

The third chapter of the “Percy Jackson” series is yet again a great continuation to the story. It jumps right off with Percy, Annabeth and the newly (as of the end of the previous novel) re-incarnated Daughter of Zeus, Thalia, going to the aid of Grover at a private school where he believes he has found more Demigods, and a monster. The action is well paced for this opener, and the character interactions are fun and filled with underscore. The introduction of even more Olympian Gods, namely Artemis and Apollo, were nice as well. Mr. Riordan obviously has great understanding of the gods personalities and legends. Artemis’ Hunters are well thought out, with legitimate reasons for joining her in her hunt, and are not merely “Man hating Women”, as so many others often describe them.

Again, there is a quest given by the gods to the young Demigods, but as in book two, it is not Percy that is given the quest. I really liked this. Yes, he is the main character of the story, and it is all told in the first person from his point of view, but he is but one of many heroes, and the gods would chose any of them for a quest, not just him. Actually, he is not chosen at all for this quest, and merely leaves the camp to go along with them because of his personal feelings for Annabeth. He is eventually reunited with the main quest party, and joins them, but it is not the original intention.

Mr. Riordan again does a very good job of blending existing myths into the modern age, this time around combing the Herculean Myths, from the slaying of the Nemean Lion, to the taking of Atlas’s burden of holding up the sky. Another thing that I am liking, is that he is not flinching away from the less than heroic personalities of the mythological beings. They were fallible, and took advantage of many peoples in their quests, and often times betrayed those people in the course of the same quest. But, Percy and his friends are not carbon copies of those prior Demigods, they are their own people, and they make better choices, and in some ways are slowly redeeming the concept of “Heroes” in the modern age. Love, friendship, and loyalty are number one in their books, and it shows.

I greatly enjoyed reading this story, it was short, even shorter than the previous two, but that is fine. I am currently reading Book Four, “The Battle of the Labyrinth”, and I am liking it greatly. I look forward to sharing my review of that one with you soon, and then on to the final book, and the climactic conclusion to the story. Again, I hope you have enjoyed reading this, and I hope to keep entertaining and educating you in the future.

I review “The Sea of Monsters” – Book 2 of “Percy Jackson & the Olympians”

Rick Riordan’s follow up to “The Lightning Thief” is a fabulous read. Where the original story was original, even in regards to the known Greek Myths, this one follows in the footsteps of Jason and the Argonauts, with Percy and team hunting for the Golden Fleece.

The character Grover, the “Ron Weasley–esque” character from the first book, is out on his life long dream of searching for the lost god Pan, so we are introduced to a new character, Tyler. He is a nice addition, and a fresh escape from the “Harry Potter Trio” feel that the original novel had. Grover is still there, but as a peripheral character, and as a bit of a “MacGuffin” to help get the ball rolling.

There is much upheaval at Camp Half-Blood in this story, with their protections failing and someone having poisoned the giant white pine tree that once was a daughter of Zeus, named Thalia. The only thing that can help to save the dying tree, and thus the failing protections around the camp is the mythical Golden Fleece.

I greatly enjoyed this story, it’s a short read, I started and finished it in a little more than a day, but highly entertaining. I like how each of the books have ended, not with a cliff-hanger exactly, but showing that there is something to follow. It lets me, the reader, know that this story is planned, and intended to be multiple books, and not something that was written as a single story, but someone decided to continue things just to make more money. The characters have grown, and the relationships are getting more and more complex. I feel a little bit of glee, and nostalgia for when I was that age, when I read about the blushing non-recognition of budding relationships, and it reminds me of my relationship with my wife, where two people are close friends but are becoming more. I feel that Mr. Riordan must wither have a great connection to when he was this age, or is close to children who are. His young adults are very real, and not “angsty” which is apparently the new fad when it comes to writing young people.

In short, I felt that this book was a great follow up to the original, and in some ways even better. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post, and I will have a review of “The Titans Curse” coming up shortly.