Let's Celebrate, It's All Right!

So the countdown has officially begun. We have 10 days (well, nine now) until we close the doors for the year. I am ready, I need the break. But then it'll be all over and I'm going to be uber depressed.

Oh well, at least School will keep me busy.

Today was a very busy day, I didn't take a break because there wasn't time. I raked the arena for the first hour, and then by 10:30 Dallas had me driving around Anchorage trying to pick up some things that needed to be gotten TODAY. The first was getting the dog vitamins that Mitch ordered. Problem was the location I was told to go to was not correct. Come to find out the place I was supposed to go was in the opposite direction and had never been on the street that Dallas said it was on. Nor had it ever been in a brown building like I was told. Not cool. Two hours later I still hadn't found the place (and didn't have my cell phone on me today ugh!) and so I went to the next place that I needed to go. Had bad directions for that, but luckily I was able to find my way to it and picked up the forms that Janine needed me to get.

I get back to Wildride with about 15 minutes to spare before the people started pouring in for tickets for the 1pm show. I called Burger Jims so I could at least EAT something during the show and then helped Becky with the stuff that needed to be done.

The 1pm was a rough show, and so we were all a little on edge, and let's just say Dallas was not the happiest of campers. So when I told him about not picking up the vitamins he was... unhappy. I got right on finding out where they were actually located, and with only an hour to get there get the stuff and get back I was off. It was on the opposite end of town and I had to go through a roundabout. Which scares the crud out of me because I don't drive through them enough to know what the heck I'm doing. Why we want to be European is beyond me! Didn't we win a war a few hundred years ago so we didn't have to do things like them? BLAH!

anyway I get there and they bring a pallet with the vitamins... 380lbs of vitamins... plus the pallet on a FORK LIFT and set it in the back of my truck... and then I slowly made my way back across town with just enough time to make it.

But like I said I didn't get a break. 9am - 5:30pm. Oh well, i can use the hours, though I'm sure Dallas will be less than pleased at the idea that I didn't take even a small break... such is life.

I work 9 to whenever tomorrow... and then I go to half days at work... I guess.

oy...

oh but Sept. 12 is going to be a happy day! PFDs are coming out a full month EARLY! So Sept. will be a very good month monies wise! :) I'm a happy girl about that! hee hee!

Alright, gotta start getting stuff put together for school and church since I won't have much time this weekend to do it!

...I can hardly believe we're at the closing of Summer. Three weeks left until work is over, two till school starts, and what do I have to show for it? An uneven sunburn, and a lot of good work memories.

It still feels like I was anticipating when work would start. Waiting for that first phone call where Jake or Dallas would be all in a panic because they needed me RIGHT NOW (which I did get in May lol gotta love Jake and Dallas waiting until the last minute!). I was anticipating the frustration of working with them, and anticipating hanging out with the crew.

I could lie and say it was an easy summer, but with all of the rain and the added stresses of things going badly, I can't. There were times when I wanted to throttle one person or the other, and then there were times I just wanted to curl up and hide from the world, but all in all I've loved my second year at Wildride.

I'm not sure what the future holds as far as working, I know I am still going to get my business license and start working as a photog in earnest. I really feel like that is my calling and it works well with my school schedule. I'm taking a full load for the first time in a long time at college, and I have a good feeling on how I will do. I've got the pressure to do well, which I know will kill me later in the semester, but I feel ready. Of course, we'll see if I still feel like that when school starts and I see what is going to be required of me, right?

Talking with Becky and David the last few weeks, I've pretty much decided that if I return to work for the Seavey's next year, it will be part time. It's time I become the pinch hitter for the show. It's not that I don't love the job, I do, it's just that I want the freedom to travel down to see the family once in a while, or just have a day to myself. I haven't been to Seward in over two years, I haven't really had a chance to go fishing (I refuse to do it by myself down at ship creek), and I am always worried that I'll get called into work. So everyone else gets to enjoy my state, but I'm stuck in Anchorage.

I also want to concentrate on photography, and I can't do that if I am working 5+ days a week. I had a couple of photo shoots this summer right after working all day and I just wasn't at my best. My brain shuts down after 8+ hours outside. LOL.

My tune could change around March or April when we see if I even have a job in photography. I might have to dive in for a full time Wildride position. I hate to think about what they will do next year, though, considering Becky and David are both planning to not return full time (if at all) and who knows if Hannah will be back. I don't want to abandon them fully, I really want to see them to continue to succeed. So I might blackmail myself into working. Who knows.

I do know that this month will probably either make or break my love for the job. No breaks from the guys is going to be tough lol. Dallas has been pretty good about giving me breaks in the schedule, but I do need the hours and funds that they bring, but at the same time... whew! At least I've kept my humor for the most part. I love that I get to work and laugh every day.

Like Thursday, during the four pm show a thunder and hail shower happened right in the middle of the show. I jumped into my sound booth and closed the door trying to protect myself (the hail was decent size) and then the wind picked up and blew it in through the window of the booth! I couldn't win! Watching Jen and Dallas and Jake drown out there in the arena was great too. I mean one minute it's bright sun and the next it's dark, rainy and hailing! Jake even made a comment like "Is it raining out? I can't tell" which cracked the audience and the cast up. It was GREAT!

So I don't know. I just thank God that I was blessed with this job last year when I had such a crappy experience with Sears. Yes, Wildride has its moments and I sometimes wish we were more organized, but at the end of the day I much prefer the honesty and the friendship that I get there to the backstabbing and the lying of a corporate group. It feels like home... like family... and I can't begin to describe how much I appreciate it.

So that's basically life. Erin and I have 156 days until we're down in Florida, which I cannot wait for. We have all of it booked, and paid for (well, I will as soon as October rolls around), and all of the sit down meals are reserved. So now it's just waiting for it to happen. And it's killing me!

Erin is counting down to the double digit countdown. Yes, we are sad. We know, and we don't care.

Other thing I'm looking forward to is the PFD in October. Palin got her wish and we're getting the $1200 energy check, as well as a nice bit of cash from the oil revenue (2000 something!), so it's gonna be a good fall. I hope.

Oh, and is it sad that I've already started Christmas shopping? I have my grandparents' gift already bought and put away. I had to! The place that I got it from closes Sept 1! hee hee.

Alrighty, this thing is getting long, and I have to start getting ready for work (I go in at 11:30 to be at work by Noon). So I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

So today we didn't have any overly creepy guys bug me, but Jake and Dallas are still fixated on the fact that I have never had a boyfriend. Why they have taken such a big interest in this all of a sudden I'm really not sure, apparently they have enough free time on their hands.

Anyway after work today they had me list the requirements that I have for a guy. They already knew he had to be straight (something we had discussed yesterday lol) and then Jake asked if he had to be a Christian (which OF COURSE he does) and then asked if he had to be a 'real one' or did he just get to believe in God. (I didn't know there was a difference, if you truly Believe in God you would believe what He said and Follow Him, right?) Told him he had to be a very strong/devout Christian... Dallas wanted to know if he had to be Baptist - which I said denomination didn't matter so long as he was of strong Christian faith.

Then Jake asked what my preference in looks were lol.

Now they're talking of handing out a survey to each guy that comes through the doors at Wildride.. and in Jake's case I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't ask a few guys tomorrow about it lol

Anyone wanna remind me why I took this job again?


Can't I just have Will Turner?

Now, I know I could be classified as weird, but I would hope that I am not a *Scary* weird.

today at the 4pm show a large family came to see the dogs. Okay, no biggie, come to find out one of the people that called to ask about the show was part of this family and I apparently took the call. He recognized my voice when they arrived and he kinda glomped on to me.

He's not the first, and it's really not that odd. I like it when I'm acknowledged as being the one that sold the show because then Dallas and Jake are happy lol.

But this guy was a little.... off. He was making comments about one of the other girls who had a puppy (calling HER a puppy and not the dog) and how he tried to pet HER (not the puppy). It's common for a lot of the older men to make some inappropriate comments about our teen girls. It's incredibly uncomfy and it's offensive and normally Dallas is good at getting the guys to change the subject.

Well, this guy then started in on me with cat calls. I have not been that uncomfortable since HIGH SCHOOL when my not-so-secret admirer wouldn't take the hint. It unnerved me and I went into hiding as best I could. Which is difficult when you have to be at the cash register, but I put Dallas between the guy and me.

If there's one thing I love about the job is that the guys are all extremely protective of the girls... and respectful (I mean yeah they can make comments about us being girly or what not, but they do have a line they won't cross). And they really pick up on when we are not comfortable with a situation - and they have no problem jumping in.

Anyway the show went off really well and I made sure to stay far enough away from the guy... It was not a big problem as I used gathering mics as my excuse for leaving the gift shop when his group came through on their way to exit.

Then, as we're closing up shop about 20 minutes later, the phone rang and I answered, the gang was a bit noisy in the gift shop so I stepped outside to the front of the gift shop (we do this a lot of the time) and the group with the weird dude was out there and while I am stil on the phone the guy once again starts doing these cat calls!!!! I was just so freaked out.

So I went back inside and told Dallas and Jake the creepy guy was out there and was scaring me, so Jake told me he'd walk me out. I didn't really want to seem all wimpy, but it was unnerving and I am very thankful he wouldn't take my no I'm okay for an answer. Jake went out and talked to the group while I headed for my truck.

So, yeah, I may have my differences with Jake, but all in all I am very thankful for him and how he takes his role seriously.



On a somewhat related note, right before the 1 pm show I was mumbling something about Tricia (I forget what now lol) and Jake thought I said I was single again and asked 'what happened to your boyfriend?' which I then said that I didn't HAVE a boyfriend and have never had one. He didn't believe me at first and then he fixated on that for the rest of the day lol. He kept telling me to get a boyfriend (thanks, Jake) and it became the running gag of the day lol. Dallas joined in, it was pretty embarassing. But in a fun way (hey we rag on David and Hannah so it's only fair!)... anyway, around 3:30 Jake called the gift shop and told me he wanted me to change the music that we play while people are coming in - okay, not a problem - and then he was all 'oh, and get a boyfriend'...

so after 2 years with Wildride they've finally found something to keep as a running gag with me... not sure, yet, if I like it or not lol

Alrighty, I gotta get moving around here... got tons of laundry... and I'm orderig 8x10s to hang up in my soundbooth at work...

Ta!

So I'm sitting and chatting with my parents while we're watching ABC's Worlds Coverage (the only channel my parents have that I also have for skating, well other than NBC) and Dad is screaming at the television that Carolina Kostner was held up (he hasn't been watching a lot of competitive skating, so he doesn't get how deductions and goe's work so I had to try and explain it over yahoo! IM lol)

Anyway we get to Mao Asada and half way through the phone rings. I don't recognize the number, but I answered it anyway, and there was a guy's voice on the other end of the phone. It was familiar but I couldn't but a name with the voice, and it turns out it was Jake from work. Mind you, I don't start until the end of May, and I haven't talked to him since the beginning of September... but he was trying to find someone who could pick up some parts for him and drop them off at the hotel that Danny Seavey would be staying at later.

Apparently Dallas and Jake took a snow machine trip from Willow to Nome (?) and according to Jake Dallas wrecked one of the machines and they had to do major repairs lol but they needed a few more parts. They were in Nome, Danny wasn't in anchorage yet, and the store wouldn't be open by the time Danny got into town...

So I went and got the stuff, dropped it off at the hotel, and got completely lost getting home.


So yeah, very little studying going on today. *sigh*