Thursday, Oct 13th: Today was an interesting day at the wildlife refuge. After finishing most of my work, I had to watch a great blue heron get put down. Its wings were severely broken (and were not fixable), and he had lost a lot of weight because of parasites. Although it was a really sad situation, the other interns and I used the opportunity to learn about avian anatomy and how their different bodily systems work.
When I got home, I quickly put on my Blue and Gold Macaw costume and drove to All-Star Sports, where my family was staying. My parents, Bethany, Aaron, Andy, Andy's parents, and Andy's brother and sister-in-law all were visiting for Aaron's third birthday. We got on the bus and went to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (this was my second time). Luckily, the line for Minnie and Mickey was really short, so we all met them. They were wearing adorable colonial costumes for Halloween! After wandering around the Kingdom, we went on the Buzz Lightyear ride (which Aaron loved), and then went to the dance party with Stitch in Tomorrowland. Aaron really wanted to show Stitch his Mickey shirt, so he lifted it up to him, but really it just looked like he was flashing poor Stitch. It was the cutest thing. After that, my parents and I got a spot for the "Boo To You" parade while the others enjoyed Space Mountain. That parade is seriously amazing! Later on, we watched the Hallowishes fireworks, and then headed home!
After our breakfast, we hit up the Carousel, Mad Tea Party, and Tomorrowland Speedway. We all were getting pretty tired, so we we ready to head out. However, Buzz Lightyear was coming out in just a few minutes, so we hung around so Aaron could meet one of his favorite characters! After a power nap at the resort, we rushed to Epcot, thinking that The Seas closed at 7 (it actually closed at 9, oops). Later, we met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Donald at the character spot. Then we all split up, and I hung out with my parents a little bit. We walked around the World Showcase, making stops for chocolate lava cake (to die for!!) in Ireland and Creme Brulee in France. That was definitely a good end to a long, but fantastic day.
Saturday, Oct 15th: That morning, I let my family in to Animal Kingdom with my maingate entrance pass. It took forever, so we just barely had time to take a group picture in front of the Tree of Life. When I was at CS, the fam found me and watched while Aaron did the scavenger hunt.
After work, I went straight to Hollywood Studios. My parents and I had dinner, went on the Great Movie Ride (I love that ride!!), and watched Fantasmic. Once the show was over, we met up with Bethany, Andy, Aaron, and Andy's mom. I gave Aaron a coloring book I bought him at Cast Connection, and then I said my goodbyes to everyone because they were leaving in the morning. I'm so glad they were able to visit, even if it was just for a few days.
Monday, Oct 17th: While I was at the Africa KDC, one of my leaders called to tell me that James Cameron (Avatar), Stan Lee (Marvel Comics), and the Vice President of Animal Kingdom were walking through the park and may go to the Pangani Trail. Unfortunately, they didn't end up visiting while I was there. A bunch of other presenters saw them, and some even got chosen to take overtime and talk to them at the animal exhibits. I was SO jealous. I haven't met a single celebrity yet, and almost everyone else has!!
That night, Sonia and I went to see Sugar Ray at the "Eat to the Beat" concert series at Epcot. It was like reliving the glory of my teenage years. They were SOOOO amazing. Mark McGrath may be getting kind of old, but is still hot and he knows how to work a crowd.
Tuesday, Oct 18th: We were so in love with Sugar Ray that we went to their concert again (this time with Hulbie and Cassie, too)! At the end of the show, the four of us were the only ones cheering in our section, so Mark ran over near us, smiled, and blew ME a kiss. Clearly it was only for me and not the other girls. :-) We all screamed like we were 13 years old and had just met Leonardo DiCaprio or someone of equal popularity.
That night, Cassie, Sonia, and I went to Dave and Busters. I hadn't been there in ages, but it was good to just relax and have a little fun at a place other than the parks.
Thursday, Oct 20th: At the refuge, I started off by feeding the barnyard animals, and then I taught Victoria how to clean the squirrels' cages. I went to feed Little Man an acorn, and he confused my finger for food and decided to bite it. It hurt soooo much! That's why I hate squirrels. Later on, I tried to feed our goat and deer some banana leaves, but then one of the ladies that randomly stops by the refuge told me that they were actually bird of paradise leaves which are toxic to goats. Soooo we've been using this as enrichment for months....Oops. I guess little Jenn must have a strong stomach!
Even though I took care of a lot of animals, I still managed to leave by 4:00. I rushed home to take a shower and get ready for the Sugarland concert!!! I met up with Aaron and then we drove to the Amway Center. We got there in time to see the last few songs of Sara Bareilles' set list. She was pretty good, but she was a weird opening act for a country artist like Sugarland. Jennifer and Kristian were amazing, as usual. They played a lot of their older songs, plus several from their newest album. They're definitely one of the top performers I've ever seen in concert. They're really charismatic and you can tell that they're having just as much fun as the audience.
Friday, Oct 21st: As if Thursday wasn't amazing enough, today was the Pitbull/Enrique Iglesias concert!! Pitbull was incredible! Because he does a lot of duets, they played recordings of the other singers, and then he did his parts. He is so full of energy and he knows how to pump up a crowd. Enrique, on the other hand, wasn't quite as impressive. He really didn't sing much, he mostly had the crowd do it for him. During his encore, Enrique sang "Hero" on a satellite stage that was on our far end of the arena. He brought a girl come onstage, and then he hugged her and kissed her on the lips. They danced together while he sang, and then they were lowered into the stage for a few minutes. Oh, how I wish I were her!
Tuesday, Oct 25th: That evening, a bunch of presenters stayed for the "Anandapur Haunt" at DAK, which was a special Halloween event for cast members. First, we rode Dinosaur (one of my favorites), and then Everest twice. Around 6:00, the whole park closed so that they could get set up for the party. We waited for a long time, but then we got a ton of free food! We also played some of the fossil fun games in Dinoland (I wish we could have won real prizes)! Then we went on the haunted trail throughout the queue line of Kali. It was actually scarier than I thought it would be. There were cast members dressed up in scary costumes, popping out from corners and chasing us around. Most of the presenters were holding onto each other and screaming their lungs out. And then there was Melissa, who was shoving everyone out of the way so she could run away haha. I was very impressed at how fun the whole event was! Another good night at DAK.
Wednesday, Oct 26th: Today I had off, so I spent the afternoon shopping! I bought a few new clothes, plus some 80's stuff for my next Halloween costume. Later on, Sonia, Cassie, Alyssa, Hulbie, Julie, Betsy, and I went to the Boyz II Men concert at Epcot. It was so awesome, we even witnessed a proposal before they sang "I'll Make Love To You." During that song, all the girls ran up to the stage hoping to be handed a rose from the guys. I just sat back and laughed at them all and enjoyed the concert.
Thursday, Oct 27th: At BTN, I cleaned Mocha and Jenn's cages, the reptile yard, and I learned how to clean Spencer the Arctic Fox's cage!! At the end of the day, Annie and I tried to clean construction caulking off of a grackle. I got a lot of it off with my fingernails, but his feathers and feet were still pretty much covered in it. We then washed him in Dawn and dried him off. Next week, he looked much better, so I guess someone else had helped clean him up. On the ride home, some asshole nearly drove me off the side of the road because he didn't see me in his blind spot. I HATE Florida drivers!!
When I got home, I found out that I was scheduled for an interview for the Research Administration internship on Halloween! Yippee! Anyway, after hearing that great news, I got ready for Megan's party. Sonia was dressed up as Dora, Cassie was Boots, and I was Swiper. I'm not gonna lie, our costumes were pretty sweet.
Boots and Dora: Swiper, no swiping!
Swiper: Aw, man!!
Alright, well hopefully I'll be putting another post up soon, but in the meantime, here are some lyrics from Sugarland's song "Settlin" that I find inspirational."I've been leaving it up to fate
It's my life, so it's mine to make
I ain't settling for just getting by
I've had enough so-so for the rest of my life
Tired of shooting too low, so raise the bar high
Just enough ain't enough this time
I ain't settling for anything less than everything"
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