Body Knows Best
If you'll recall, last week I wrapped up right before I went to bed to prepare for my third, third shift in as many weeks. It wasn't too bad, though I was extremely exhausted when I got home around 11 the next morning. I needed sleep, but I also needed to get some stuff done, so I set my alarm for 1 pm and laid down for a nap.
I have the faintest memory of waking up to my alarm and swiping at the screen to turn it off, then thinking, "So tired... Maybe just fifteen more minutes to snooze..." Next thing I know it's 3:15 pm.
Oops.
I was annoyed with myself because I'd intended to use those two hours to go to the gym and practice trombone, neither of which ended up happening that day. But as Hannah's sister said, sleep is productive! And despite my desire for physical productivity, my body clearly needed sleep. I guess my hypothalamus snuck up on my prefrontal cortex and thwacked it over the head with a baseball bat, because my brain had absolutely no intentions of proactivity that afternoon.
Third shifts just wipe me out. Last week's shift still didn't finish the previous week's job, so we had to come in again this morning at 3 am for part three of the trilogy. And then, right at the end of the third movie in the trilogy, they show you a teaser for yet another sequel and you're like "Whaaaat I thought this was a trilogy!!"
That's right - tonight I get to go in again at 3 am to continue with the project. It's almost as bad as X-Men, the way they keep popping up with prequels and sequels just as you think they've squeezed every ounce of storyline out of the series. Tonight will be the fourth shift devoted to this job and my fifth time working third shift in the past month. Hopefully we'll be done with third shifts for awhile after this is over!
The rest of work is going quite well, though; I'm still learning a lot, and getting much more proficient in SolidWorks. Wish I could talk more about what I'm doing, but I can't!
Looking Ahead
On Friday, I FaceTimed with my previous supervisor from my Community Assistant position at ASU last semester to discuss coming back as a CA in the fall. (Community Assistant is ASU's term for an RA.) I had reapplied a couple weeks ago, and this was just an informal interview to catch up with one another, see if I was still interested in the job, and ultimately offer me my job back.
And that's exactly what happened: I was offered the job, and took it! So as soon as I come back from my internship in August I'll move into the dorms at ASU to begin pre-semester training for my CA position. I'm very excited to work with all the awesome friends I made last semester in the job. Plus, I enjoy the job itself, so I'm happy that I'm being welcomed back with no hard feelings about leaving halfway through the year.
Time to start thinking about themes for my hall... Last year's was Disneyland, so I need to come up with something new and different. Maybe Disney World! :D
The Holiday Weekend
After my interview on Friday I spent the rest of the evening relaxing and anticipating Hannah's arrival to the airport in Orlando. A few episodes of The Middle and How I Met Your Mother later, I was out the door and driving down the toll-ridden roads to the airport!
Reunited at Last
I arrived about 9 pm, and Hannah got in about thirty minutes later. This was a blessing, because her original flight was scheduled to arrive at 11:30 that night after a layover in Atlanta. And if you live anywhere but under a rock, you've heard of the ridiculous weather Georgia's had these past couple weeks. I was afraid I wouldn't see her until Saturday afternoon! But thankfully they canceled that flight and rescheduled her on a different flight, so I got a couple extra hours with her on Valentine's Day.
At first, it was pretty weird seeing each other in person. It'd been over five weeks since we said goodbye at the Hyatt Place in Orlando, and I think both of us had kind of forgotten what it was like to physically be with the other! I was literally nervous, my heart beating wildly, to see my girlfriend again. I haven't felt nervous to see her since the first couple months of our relationship. Fortunately, that weirdness quickly subsided as we began talking and drove to find dinner.
We thought Chick-Fil-A sounded delicious, but alas, we got there just five minutes after it closed! So we settled for McDonalds, where we devoured thirty chicken McNuggets. One of us had 22, the other had 8. I'll let you guess who ate how many.
From there, we drove to the All Star Movies Resort, where we stayed in the cheapest room available on Disney property, which still felt like a bit of a splurge. I gave Hannah her Valentine's Day gift, which I had bought several weeks in advance but only "finished" last week when I went to see Belle at Epcot with Francisco. The gift was an artist's hand-drawn portrait of Belle, which I then got signed by Belle herself! That, by the way, is the thing I alluded to last week when I mentioned that Fernando and I both had a specific reason to visit Epcot that day.
She couldn't keep her eyes off my biceps. I think I even heard her mention something about "shoulders to rival Gaston's." Or maybe it was "ego" instead of "shoulders"...
Hannah gave me a cool little book that's full of little "quizzes" for couples, to see how well you know each other and learn more about one another! Such a sweet gift. She also sent a gift in the mail last week, but that hasn't arrived yet...
"Next week, in Jeremiah's blog: Find out what's in the present Hannah sent him for Valentine's Day!... Unless it's too personal or awkward to share publicly on a blog!"
Quite a cliff-hanger, I know.
Magic Kingdom
Conveniently, Disney decided to lift the blockout dates it had placed on the Magic Kingdom for the weekend, which meant Hannah and I could spend all day in that park on Saturday! It was crowded, but not excessively so, and we got to do quite a few rides (nine in total, I believe, which wasn't bad considering we didn't get to the park until 1:15 in the afternoon after I forgot the guest passes back at the hotel).We snacked our way through the day, which included a savory cream cheese-filled soft pretzel and an unexpected but delicious stop at Gaston's Tavern in the new Fantasyland expansion. We tried a drink called "LeFou's Brew," which was basically an apple juice slushy with hints of toasted marshmallow and a passion fruit foam on top. It was so refreshing! And it came in a souvenir stein that had Gaston and the Beast on it. Doesn't get much better than that, folks.
One of my favorite things about Hannah is her inability to finish large desserts. After wolfing down my ice cream cone, I took care of the second half of her ice cream sandwich. It wasn't graceful, but she doesn't judge me much after having dated me for three years :)
Animal Kingdom and Epcot
The next day we met up with Hannah's cousin and his wife and son at Animal Kingdom. They just happened to be in town visiting some family this week, and since I have free guest passes, we invited them into the parks with us!
We spent the first half of the day in Animal Kingdom and the second half in Epcot. It was a fun but exhausting day, from safaris and roller coasters in the morning to a stroll around World Showcase at the end of the day. The most tiring part was keeping up with Caleb - that kid can move! He has so much energy, and apparently walking is for the less competent humans, because he wants to run literally everywhere he goes. And he doesn't exactly take the most efficient routes, either.
Fittingly, he gulped at a Dasani water bottle at dinner while wearing his Addidas jacket. I took a picture of the little athlete, hoping it would some day become known as a young candid of the world's most famous track star.
Just remember, you saw it here first!
Goodbye Again
Hannah and I spent our last few hours together on Monday out to lunch at Downtown Disney, followed by a trip to the Cast Connection store and a tour of my apartment. We ate Wetzel's Pretzels and a smoothie, just like my family has each day for lunch in Disneyland when we go! It seemed fitting.
At 2:15 in the afternoon, Disney's Magical Express arrived at the hotel to take Hannah back to the airport. It was only slightly easier saying goodbye this time than it was in January; I again drove away in my car feeling cheated of time with my girlfriend, despite how fun the long weekend was. I'm working ten-hour days the rest of the week, but it's worth it to have taken Monday off for a few extra hours with Hannah!
As a bit of a pick-me-up, my roommates and I went to Hollywood Studios that evening, where we did a few rides and took an animation class on how to draw Tigger. It helped a bit, but it's still hard to shake off the knowledge that it'll be another month until I see her again.
Oh and that's another thing! I found out last week that I can take off whatever days I like to from work, so long as the work still gets done and I don't mind not getting paid for that time off. So, I decided to fly home for a long weekend in mid March, as well as for a long weekend in early July! Only 24 more days until I get to see Hannah again, as well as the rest of our families. Woohoo!
March 14th is a very important day. Not only is it Pi Day and Hannah's niece's birthday, it's the day I fly in from Orlando and the day Hannah flies home from her trip to Utah that week. So, with that in mind, let the countdown to Pi-Birth-Homebound Day begin!
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