Friday, I sat down to do my taxes anticipating a nice refund to give me some breathing room in the finance area. Was I ever surprised that I owed money big time. Must be those crazy W2s and the odd jobs and success with SeaGranite Multimedia this past year. Oh well. I am still trying to figure out how even though I made considerably less that 2001, but owe almost as much as I got back last year.
On Saturday, I received my update training on the newly refurbished King Arthur Carrousel. It looks a million times better since the restoration, and the wheelchair bench is a nice addition. Some of the cool things we used to do on the old Carrousel can’t be done (no more doubles), but they did add a cool “Band Cycle” for when the Disneyland band rides. That’s right folks: four minutes of Carrousel. Since Daniel was over watching Logan’s Run on Thursday, every time someone mentioned Carrousel, I kept thinking of the fact that I’m 30 and that at any moment I’m going to go flying up in the air and explode.
After training, Roger and I spent a nice day in the park taking in the new Aladdin stage spectacular at DCA’s Hyperion theater. overall, I liked the show, but felt that the ending was undermined and rushed and that if they would have not added the extra musical number for Jasmine, it would have had enough time for it. The only other aspect I didn’t care for was the actor who played Aladdin. Of course, I have high expectations since I loved the original movie, but I felt he was a bit lacking for the part. The Aladdin that performed in the wire scenes had a stronger stage presence and left us wondering if they switch off. Overall, it was a great musical experience and blows away any of the recent Fantasyland Theater shows. The rest of the day was spent admiring the new sound at Small World as well as wandering around the park.
Sunday, after my first eight hour R.O. shift in a month, I headed to the family celebration restaurant, North Woods, where we all gathered to toast my great uncle Bob. My paternal granny’s brother lives in Ohio, and the last time he was out here, he was coaching the 1984 U.S. Olympic Wrestling team. It was kind of weird meeting him, especially since I see all of my other great aunts and uncles on a regular basis. As we left Granny’s place I was struck with an odd sensation: It was nice to see Bob, and I wonder if our paths would cross again before either one of us dies. Not exactly an uplifting thought, but one I pondered all the way back home.
Today, I had a four hour “Teaching Disney Magic” class to help cement my standing as a trainer over at the Pooh-Choo Train. This kind of material is difficult to teach in a classroom environment, but with some role-playing and some Play-Doh, a good time was had by all.