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| gotta open with a good picture. name-tag legacy seems pretty nice |
feels like 2 months. let's try and go through what I've had to do by theme...
Living Arrangements!
Comics & Leisure!
SeaWorld! (This'll be the big part that most of you are interested in, so feel free to scroll)
Living Arrangements!
So, as of right now, I am still in an extended stay hotel. for what it is, it is not bad. I am making their shoddy wifi work, just by doing a few tweaks to my computer, and what programs run, and all that jazz. Luckily enough, Reese is kind enough to let me use her washer/dryer, which is saving me a considerable amount of money, since I'd have to find a laundromat otherwise.
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| my pile of stuff. I have found that i can fit about 85% of what i own in this relatively compacted, stack-able, tower. |
One of the biggest positives of my current living space, is location. I am approximately 9 minutes away from SeaWorld, so there is hardly any commute to work. Also, there is just about everything i could possibly need in a 3 mile radius. Ikea, SuperTarget, Publix, Costco, Comicbook shop, SeaWorld, Walmart, and just about anything else you might could think of that you would need.
All that being said, I do have a lead for someplace more permanent to live. I will update more on that later, depending on how it all pans out. don't want to go giving that away, just in case it falls through.
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| my favorite cat in Florida counts as leisure. Jasper proceeded to bite me immediately after this picture |
Comics & Leisure!
So, as i alluded to before, and in other posts across my various social networks, I have found a comic book store that is better than any I've ever lived near. Now, this may not seem like such a big importance for some, but it is a comfort for me, and has given me a great deal of new Trade Paperbacks to read in my free time, and take my mind off of how much my life has changed lately.
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| As I've posted on various sites, This has been my comic haul thus far... :D |
Now, i have had time to explore the general area that i am living in. Reese again was very helpful, in giving a great starting area to explore; a box to be specific. 4 very big main roads that form a rectangle of sorts, that is ideal to explore and get my way around in. So that has been explored somewhat; in fact, after i finish the blog, I am to go back out and drive around a bit more. my goal is to find an Asian grocery store, because I am so familiar with that particular culture's food and cooking. It is a comfort that I want; every ethnic grocer i have found here thus far has been Hispanic. And i just don't know enough about that region culinarily for those to be very useful. it does provide me with a great chance to learn!
I am sure more leisure will happen once I actually start real work, and meet people, and make friends, and all that. which leads me to...
SeaWorld!
So, I got the call from SeaWorld Orlando about wanting an interview on April 18th. [Note: I put in my application back in January-February when I saw Reese briefly. it was on a whim, and I never even got a confirmation email back from SeaWorld saying i had applied, so i had zero expectations from ever hearing from them again] Had my phone interview on April 25th, which then got my the job offer that I have now taken. Educator III. I had to be down in Orlando by May 6th to fill out paperwork, and formally accept the job offer. Then May 10th I had their company-wide orientation. this consisted of all sorts of stuff that they needed to legally tell us, like sexual harrassment, and crap like that. then we had our park-tour. The only problem with this orientation, was that every department imaginable was represented. Operations, merchandise, culinary, security, education (me!), and probably others that i missed. So I wasn't exactly with my peers; lots of kids that were there for a summer job during their break from high school or college. Monday was when the real stuff started...
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| Various Killer Whales. I have a feeling that these animals will be like the Tigers that i worked next to at the Greensboro Science Center. I will never get sick of seeing such impressive animals. |
Monday May 13th-Friday May 17th was my training week. I was in a class with 7 other would be educators, all of which happen to be girls :P. from what i've learned, I will be in a very small minority in the education department by being a straight male. go figure.
Monday
here i was, all prepared for a day out on the park learning. super sunscreened up. spent the whole day in the classroom ><. learning a lot about different animals, and i swear each of us in the class now has in their possession about a tree's worth of papers; whether they be for animal information, sample presentations, or legal documents. We got our own textbook of info on animals, which is super handy. it wasn't until Tuesday that the real work began...
Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday
These days all followed a similar pattern, more or less. We got to the park at 7am, so that we could go out and practice on the microphones before guests arrived. There are 7 exhibits that we had to be prepared for our presentations. Dolphin Nursery, Dolphin Cove, Samu Underwater Viewing, Turtle Trek, Stingray Lagoon, & Wild Arctic. I have learned that I apparently have a "radio voice" when on the microphone; long running joke all week was that i was "Smooth Tones Brad" which i suppose is a good thing?
Also got to do, along with familiarizing ourselves with the different exhibits, and the layout of the park, we got a few really neat behind the scenes views, which was pretty cool. Oh, and also got a tour of Aquatica, which is SeaWorld's waterpark, that i didn't even know existed. They have Commerson's Dolphin's there, which we also narrate about, so on Thursday we got to go to that park and learn about it.
Friday
Test day, which went well enough. Everyone in our training group passed, so clearly we couldn't have been too bad. Then we got to learn all the stuff that we needed to know; logistics of working, scheduling, and meet a bunch of the higher ups. By friday, all of us were pretty much on information overload, so i hope that what they said sunk in. Got my schedule, and I will have 30 hours starting next week, which isn't too bad considering they just hired us; I guess they really need educators out there.
I learned that as long as i apply myself, and don't fuck up too badly, that i will have the opportunity to move up to part time once my season is done. So that is the newest goal.
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| collectable cards for kids. and me... |
Other...
I know this wasn't listed up in my table of contents. but it is important nonetheless. This weekend has been my first time to sit back, and let things sink in. I'm really far away from home. I know 1 person down here. I had been to SeaWorld all of once before, and that was back in March of this year. To say i am out of my comfort zone is an understatement. I do not function well under extreme change. 5th grade i tried extreme change, and it ended horribly. moving from high school to college was the next big change, but even that was minimized; i knew atleast 3 people going into school there, including my girlfriend at the time, and a friend i'd had since 5th grade. So that "big change" wasn't as big as it could have been. Managed to make friends at school, and then once school was done, had to move back home to Greensboro. that was the 3rd big change, and it again as helped by being in contact with my friends from school, and more importantly, I had Kelly around to negate some of the change of having to move back home. Now i am here, and I do not have the connections that I am accustomed to. It makes me nervous and scared. Everyone has been congratulating me about getting this job at SeaWorld, and i do genuinely appreciate the well wishes of everyone. but that doesn't mean i feel as if it is an achievement to be celebrated. I am uncomfortable, scared, and nervous. I'll be more able to accept the congratulations in a few months, after i establish myself, and find out of this is what i want. I know on paper it is, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is going to be perfect... In my head, I left a very cozy job, where i was moving up in the ranks, and getting more responsibility, hours, and respect, for this hugely big risk. I still don't know if it was the right move... i just hope it is. I don't like big risks. So forgive me if i seem a bit deflated or aloof when we talk about my new job. it is just a change that i need to figure out how to get used to.
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| took a year to replace my UNCW ID with something new in the window in my wallet. |
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