So Misty and I stayed up until about 1:30 a.m. last night to watch Stephen King’s “Rose Red”. We have had it on DVD for quite some time now, yet we never watched it. Misty had seen it when it was on TV originally, I on the other hand had only seen parts of it. So we spent four hours of last night watching it. It was a really great movie, the only drawback is that for some reason every time there was a bright flash in the movie the TV screen would turn black and white. Damn 80′s TV! Regardless we got through the movie ok, I’m not sure if it’s the cable running from the PS2 causing it or what…We got up this morning about 10:30, which wasn’t too bad for us. I think started wiping out our hard drive. At some point this week we got hit with a worm virus which started screwing up a bunch of our programs and installing a bunch of random BS on the computer. I didn’t get much time to back things up, however we did manage to save our internet favorites and a few pictures. Sadly, my collection of over 1,000 MP3′s had to be sacrificed due to time and resources. Granted lately I have resorted to listening to music on LAUNCH to give myself some variety, unfortunately though by wiping out my MP3′s I wiped out all my goth stuff.

*Sigh*

After spending about 3 hours formatting the computer, re-installing software, and downloading upgrades and drivers we took a break. We took a drive over to Cold Stone Creamery and got some ice cream. It’s good stuff, I feel kinda guilty spending over ten dollars for two people to have a cup of ice cream, but it’s really a treat…During our outing we saw that our local K-B Toy Store was going out of business so we thought we’d swing by and see what they still had. Sadly the store looked like a hurricane had hit and there wasn’t much left that interested me. I usually scope out K-B for good deals on Movie Maniacs and assorted horror figures and dolls, but unfortunately the only Macfarlane toys still available were Ultima Online, Candyman, and various sports superstars. Just when I thought we had seen everything worth seeing in the store, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer logo caught my eye underneath a pile of worthless child entertainment. I picked up the box and discovered that it was actually the Buffy board game. Now I pondered this purchase for about five minutes, debating on whether or not I wanted to invest in such a thing. While I am a die hard Buffy/Angel fan as well as a board game fanatic I questioned whether or not the purchase would be worth it. This was the first time I had actually seen the game in stores, and had seen it on E-bay for up to $25. With the store going out of business that was 30% off the marked price. Since there was no price on the box I took it up to the register to see how much the game was. There I decided that $17.95 wasn’t a bad price and went ahead and splurged a little. On the way out of the store I just kept thinking to myself about what a nerd I was…I LOVE IT! When we got home Misty and I went through and set it all up, read the game objectives, and checked out various parts of the game. Interestingly enough it actually looks as though it is going to be a quality game, best of all there are four possible scenarios. You can play the game based on the first season of Buffy and go against The Master, or perhaps The Mayor is your preferred villain. And who can forget The Judge? And for those of you who remember Buffy’s fling with Riley, you can always play during the days of Adam the robot. To top all that off you have a huge array of classic Buffy characters that can be called upon during the game. Oz, Faith, Spike, Druscilla, Harmony, Darla, Riley, Angel, and many, many more.

So I had a really interesting moment in my life today. I was able to get out of work a tad bit early today so I decided to swing by Carl’s Jr. and grab some lunch. I could tell by looking at him that he was different, just in the way he was acting and how he carried himself. That and the fact he turned to me to ask if the cabinet that the coffee maker behind the counter was slanted. I listened as he ordered because oddly enough I was intrigued by him. He kindly ordered one of their ninety-nine cent Ranch Bacon cheeseburgers and a cup of water. He then asked that they give him a cash receipt for his purchase. After ordering the man studied his receipt. I then moved forward to place my order when the man turned and asked the girl behind the counter what time she had. She said it was three something and then turned her attention back to me to take my order. I started to order when the man exclaims that the time on their receipt is wrong. The man starts going on a tangent about how his watch is always right and their clock is wrong. Upon completing my order the man turns to me, “Do you have a watch, yeah you have a watch. What time do you have?” Seeing no harm in answering him I told him it was 3:07. He goes on about how my watch is wrong, when he asked me if I was sure I said, “Pretty sure.” He goes on to ask me if I care if my watch is right and I told him with my watch I couldn’t precisely tell him the time due to the way it is set up. You see, my watch only has 12, 3, 6, and 9 labeled which means I can only get precise times in between. When the girl at the counter finished my order she told the man she didn’t understand what he wanted and motioned for him to speak to her manager who was working the drive-thru. He then began to badger the manager about the time on their registers being wrong. Exclaiming that his watch must be broke if that is actually the time. The guy behind me waiting for his food asked the guy if his rolex was busted. The man turned and said, “It’s a Timex, it’s always right and it keeps ticking!” The whole time I’m thinking, good job genius just egg the old guy on. I then went to fill my drink and at this point the old man is getting upset yelling, “I want to speak to a manager!” Sadly the manager, who clearly could care less about the gentleman’s concern continued to ignore his outbursts. She continued taking drive-thru orders and would not acknowledge the man at all. She then motioned for the girl to give the man his money back as well as his food. “Well great I got my food and my money back, but your clocks are still wrong,” he says. At this point I am sitting at my booth and praying that this whole incident is over. Of course, it wasn’t….

As I sit at the booth the woman in the booth across from me asks what the man was so upset about time for. I told her I had no clue, and we both just laughed. And then the best part of all, the old man decides to sit two booths down on the other side of the lady I had just spoke with. He then walks over to me and says, “Let’s ask this gentleman.” He was referring to the man sitting with the woman I had just spoke with. “What time does your watch have?” he asks. Cleverly the man replies, “My watch is fake.” The kooky old man thought he said his watch was big and then questioned to clarify. The man sitting in the booth said, “No, I’m big. The watch is fake.” I think he was attempting to intimidate the old guy in order to get him to leave the couple alone but it didn’t seem to work. The old man walked back to his seat and started eating. I hoped that this was the end of it. The old man then gets up after a couple of bites and says to me. “They opened a new McDonald’s up at Katella and Glassell. After it had been open for a few weeks I went over there to get something to eat and on the wall they have a clock. Instead of numbers it has the characters. It took my a while to figure it out, but I realized the clock was fast. I went to one of the employees and told him the clock was fast and asked him what the time was on the register. It too was fast. The guy at the counter told me the McDonald’s was trying to get a plaque on the wall for most employees on time. I told him that they weren’t all on time, because they’re clock was wrong.” The old guy then laughed and again walked back to his table.

I continued to eat and then after a few more bites the guy returned. “I went in the next week and everyday I said something about the time. Finally one of the employee’s did something about it and the clock on the wall was right, but some idiot made the clock on the registers five minutes slow. I asked for the manager and he told me that he had two jobs and since the clocks had been slow he was just barely making it to work on time. He told me that before he could go in to work and be like, hey Sam, hey Sam, hey Sam and have a cup of coffee. Now he gets in rushed and the people at work ask him if everything is ok at home since he seems so rushed. He told them it was because he was on McDonald’s time.” Again the guy walks away laughing and returns to his seat. At this point I just want to eat my food in peace and leave. I didn’t want to be mean to the man since he seemed to be very kind and wasn’t technically doing any harm other than making conversation. But of course he came back one last time. “That manager didn’t even say anything to me. They gave me my food in a bag even though I had asked for it for here. The receipt clearly said dine-in. Then they gave me my food on a tray and my money back but still had the wrong time on their clocks. If you can’t get the time right you can’t get anything right. What if I needed to catch a bus or something I’d be late. The time on the register at the Chevron down the street from McDonald’s is three minutes fast. If they can’t get the time right I bet you I can find something wrong in the bathroom.” The guy then walked away and headed into the men’s bathroom. I took this opportunity the scarf down the rest of my burger, throw away my trash, and booked it towards the door. I then hopped in my car, locked my doors, and floored it out of the parking lot in fear the guy would follow me out to talk to me more. While the guy was genuinely kind of creepy I found his time obsession to be intriguing. It was as though the whole world should revolve around his watch as thought it were the atomic clock. I was tempted to pull out my cell phone and give him the time since it is set off the atomic clock, but I didn’t want to cause the walls to fall in his little world.

I will from here on out refer to this story as The Story of Father Time…

Ever just have one of those weeks where you can’t wait for it to end. This week has been one of those weeks. And right now, I am wishing it was tomorrow… Work has kind of sucked. The only really cool part about my week was Wednesday, despite the fact I had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. They had arranged an Area Greeter appreciation event at work. I had no clue what was in store, all I knew was that I hadn’t been an Area Greeter in quite a while. For those of you who don’t know, an Area Greeter basically acts as a roaming guest relations Cast Member at the Disneyland Resort. We basically walk around in our themed areas and help guests with any questions or concerns. I held this position for a good year, however when I became a Working Lead I was pretty much stripped of the area greeter duties due to the promotion. Regardless, I was invited to this event which was truly amazing and inspiring. The day started out at 7:30 with donuts and orange juice. I couldn’t complain there. After that it was basically a huge meet and greet with all the other Area Greeters that showed up to the event. We had greeters from all over; Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Hollywood Pictures Backlot, and of course the familiar faces that I knew from the Paradise Pier/Golden State area. I met a Cast Member who had worked for the Resort for 45 years and had known Walt. Sadly, he will be retiring later this month. After about a half an hour of visiting and introductions we all got together for a huge group photo of all the greeters in front of the castle. Following the photo shoot we met up with three Guest Relations Hosts. We split up into three groups and began a more relaxed version of The Walk in Walt’s Footsteps tour which is offered to the guests for $49 a person. We began the tour at the front of Disneyland where we learned about the making of the park and how the whole entrance was meant to resemble a movie theater. There is only one main entrance, when you enter it is paved with red brick to resemble a red carpet. To your left and right are two tunnels each lined with posters of attractions, much like the posters in movie theaters of future releases. Then on the other side of the tunnel is “The Show”. I never really thought of all of it that way, but then after it was explained I was like, “Wow that’s a trip that I never noticed that.” Marty, the cast member giving us the tour, then told us about some interesting history of Main Street and how Walt used authentic pieces much like that on a movie set. The two canons in Town Square are actual french canons that were used in battle. The base that holds the flag pole was actually the base to a lightpost on Wilshire Blvd. in the 50′s that had been purchased from the citly of Los Angeles for five dollars after it was hit during a car accident. All the lights on main street are historical pieces bought from Boston and Philadelphia. Interesting huh?

After that we got a quick run down of the history of Walt and his career in the Walt Disney Story room in the lobby to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. I can’t believe Snow White grossed 8.5 million dollars when tickets were twenty-five cents for adults and ten cents for children. That is an insane ammount of money. Following a brief history we then were taken to experience something very few get to do. We were given a tour of Walt’s apartment located above City Hall. Very few have had the chance to do this and it isn’t normally part of the tour. Only two pictures have ever been published of the apartment once in National Geographic and once a few years back in the Disney Magazine. Truly an amazing little place. The room is decorated with various Victorian era artwork and furniture and smells musty as though an old person still lived there.

Following the apartment we took a trip down Main Street where we learned a bit about the people who’s names are featured on various windows along the street. At the hub in front of the castle we learned about the “Partners” statue featuring Walt and Mickey Mouse and how it came to be. We were also told of the tops of the castle and how all but one are made of real gold, however there is one made of bronze in order to ensure Walt’s quote was true that, “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.” Walt wanted all of the tops of the castle to be gold, however if one wasn’t that would ensure that Disneyland would not be complete on opening day in 1955. Never have I learned of a man with so much imagination and so much heart. I couldn’t believe some of the things he came up with, innovative things that most people could never fathom. It reminds me of why I continue to work for the Walt Disney company regardless of what happens. Walt had a vision, a dream that he would create a place so wonderful that could transport people the the happiest place they could imagine. They could leave their worries at the main gate and just enjoy themselves. You can go to Knott’s Berry Farm or Six Flags and ride insane roller coasters, but you’ll never experience that magic that Disneyland has.

I got to do a few more interesting things that day. We took a tour of Circle D which is basically the ranch where they take care of all the horses. There we got to see Noel, the first horse to be born at the Resort. She was born on Christmas Day 2003. We saw every stage coach and buggy ever used at the Resort all in a garage just waiting to be used again or to be put on display. Our day ended at the Pope House, which is the only original structure still standing from when the Orange Groves were bought to build Disneyland. It now houses offices for the Circle D cast members. While there we received a personal copy of the group photo from the morning, a personalized lanyard, pizza, soda, and an incredible “thank you” speech from both of the theme park attractions operations managers. By the end of the day, I was feeling really good and really inspired. I could probably go find another job and make more money or do something that may give me experience for later in life. I stay at The Disneyland Resort however, because I know that every day I make someones day. Each day I help create a magical memory for children and adults from all over the world. Almost everyone has a great memory from Disneyland and as long as the magic of the resort exists that will never change. I could go work an office job, a retail job, a food service job, but in doing so I wouldn’t touch as many lives as I do now. I know this post is kinda sappy, but it’s been a long time since I’ve felt this inspired. With that in mind I end this with a quote.

“To all who come to this happy place, Welcome! Disneyland is your land. Here, age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideas, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America…with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.”

- Walter Elias Disney, July 17, 1955.