The end is near

Finals are upon me again. This semester's dreaded tests of knowledge, skill, and cunning promise to be difficult, but not impossible. I'm still not looking forward to them.

The weather is taunting me. Despite it being winter and despite the night-times being bone-chilling cold, the day-times are sunny, beautiful, and tantalizingly out of reach while I while away at online tutorials and old PowerPoints. Thankfully there's only a few more days until I'm free.  

I got my hair cut again last week. It's shorter than it's ever been, and I love it. My hair finally looks decent, and it's inherent fluffiness works in my favor. The the hairstylist said it gave "volume" and "texture," which I think are good things. The only downside is that I now regularly get mistaken for a boy, especially when I'm in my good hoodie and loose jeans (hey, it's chilly), but that's okay. I think it's a good look and it's really easy to take care of.

It was great to see my family over Thanksgiving. My brother just got inducted into the Arnold Air Society, an honors society for Air Force ROTC, and has grown up and gotten some ripped biceps. He seems to be doing better than I am. My sister is getting really involved at school and is busy practicing for this year's Nutcracker at her ballet studio (She's Fritz - if you want tickets, contact my mom). My parents just got back from Ireland and had some good stories. My grandparents seem to be doing as well as ever.

I'm really looking forward to going home, seeing old friends, and (and this is big) sleeping in. I'll see a lot of you soon! 

Back to My Regularly Scheduled Life

"Is this how time usually passes? Really slowly, in the right order?" - Doctor Who - Vincent and the Doctor

So if you missed my last post, I am in the enviable position of being at Disney Imagineering as an intern in Florida.
Spring can't come fast enough. My paperwork's through, my flight is booked and my housing's been acquired (no, I don't have a specific address yet). Just FYI, as part of that paperwork there were a few nondisclosure agreements, so, like last summer, I'm probably not going to be able to post extensively about what I'm actually doing there, and no, I can't take your ideas even though a Soarin' type ride with a Hercules theme would be awesome.
I just can't wait to be there.

But for the next 1.5 or so months, I'm still stuck in the semi-real-world of academia, with finals, lab reports, and homework, all of which are starting to send me alternatively into extreme boredom and unnecessary stress.  Yes, I'm exercising and yes, I'm eating half-decently. I'm also taking three more classes than full time and two more than the recommended course load, so I'm trying really hard to lie in the bed I've made for myself. It's not comfortable, but they say that nothing worth doing is.

I'm looking forward to going to the grandparents' for Thanksgiving and hearing everyone's stories. As long as we can keep away from politics, it promises to be a great weekend. I'm also looking forward to seeing some of the family that I don't get to see very often.

In other news, my magician buddy has started forcibly dragging me to Magic Cats meetings, so I have a few new rudimentary card tricks and bandanna tricks.

That's all for now - Hope you all have safe and happy holidays.

I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!!

Here's the story - sometime in late September, I was canvassing Google, searching for internships and the like, and decided to look at Disney's career site. I started scrolling, filtering, looking for something that looked like it fit me, and subsequently threw a generic resume and hasty cover letter into the black hole that was (and presumably still is) their online application site. Since summer internships had not been put up (and I've been told that they are extremely rare), I threw my name into the hat for a generic Engineering Professional Internship at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and for a Construction Management Internship at Disney World. I kinda forgot all about it - it was an extremely long shot, and I wasn't even sure I wanted a Spring position - until a little while ago, when I got a call from a 407 area code. It was an Imagineer from Florida who wanted to "talk to me about my resume" - with less than 2 hours notice.
So we talked, then I talked to him and a couple other people, and briefly, a few women from HR. Two days later, after waiting for months, lo and behold, out of the blue, right between the eyes, [insert favorite cliche here], I got an offer to be part of the Facilities Asset Management team at Walt Disney World in Florida for the spring.

And I've taken it.

I know some of you are shocked, awed, and perhaps a little confused as to why I'd take a semester off school to work when I'm going to be working the rest of my life anyway. I don't usually explain myself, but this is huge, and intensely cool, and so I think I probably should. So, I don't usually do stuff like this, but here's the top ten reasons I'm going to work in Imagineering at Disney World (I will forgo the Buzzfeed style gifset):

10: It's Disney.
Everyone knows Disney, the vast majority of people like Disney, and pretty much everyone respects Disney. It will be an extremely impressive thing to put on a resume, and I've been told that once you have Disney on your resume, that's all any interviewer will want to talk about.

9: It's outside of Arizona
I've been feeling a little stuck at the U of A, and I think a change of pace and a change of climate will do me good. I've never been east of the Mississippi for any extended period of time, so I'll get to experience at least one new culture and will have somewhere new to explore.

8: Everyone else says its awesome
I have a friend who is interning in engineering in Anaheim and is having the time of her life. There are a multitude of blogs, tumblrs, and assorted media mavens who rave about Disney Professional Internships, and even Disney's own marketing seems surprisingly genuine.

7: I can get school credit
Almost any study abroad that I could have done would have netted me 3-9 credits from classes that don't help me graduate. Even the engineering ones mostly give only 3 credits of research units. This will count towards my graduation as a 3- unit technical elective, and therefore be better for me academically than studying abroad - and I'm getting paid.

6: I'm a semester ahead
Since I'm only a single major now, I have some extra time to play around with. If I get all my classes, I can still graduate May 2017 even if I take a semester off.

5: Networking/Mentorship Opportunities
Disney Imagineers are the best in the business, and a lot of them come from other businesses. I'll have the opportunity to learn from the best of the best, and meet some really cool people who could advance my career - not to mention that the interns themselves come from all over.

4: There's a ton of really cool potential projects
A new land based on Avatar, James Cameron's sci-fi movie about blue skinned aliens, is opening soon at the Animal Kingdom. A major revamp on a beautiful hotel (the Wilderness Lodge) is coming up. Soarin' is getting an upgrade. And I could potentially be part of one (or all) of those.

3: I have the tools
From my experience at Bechtel (thank you all), with Rube, with Haunted Dungeon, I have experience managing people, dealing with suppliers, pricing material. and making sure things get done. And anything I don't know, I pick up fast. I'm really good at building stories, at pacing, at getting the psychological payoff I'm looking for, which hopefully means I'll fit right in.

2: It's mine
This was something I searched out for and applied for myself. Looking back, I've noticed that I have a disturbing habit of stealing or absorbing other people's dreams in lieu of searching for my own (e.g. aerospace was and still is more my brother's thing than mine), but I've always wanted to work for Disneyland since I was little. This dream is my own, not my brother's, not my parent's, not my friends', and that slight bit of ownership and autonomy will make me work that much harder and makes it all that much sweeter. Also, it will be a great experience to be somewhere legitimately on my own without the safety net that comes from having grandparents 2 hours away.

1: IT'S DISNEY
Speaking of dreams, this is a company that literally creates them (ever seen Alice in Wonderland?). It's been a huge part of my childhood (and, it could be argued, my semi-adulthood). Just being able to be part of that legacy would be an amazing experience - to create the things that the next generation of Graces will obsess over would be so cool.

So that's why I'm ditching school. If you're going to beg me to stop, it's too late now, and I'm not sorry at all - in fact, I'm excited out of my head - I'm still bouncing off the walls. This is one of the coolest things that ever happened to me, and I'm really looking forward to the experience.

Post Midterms

I really don't want to do homework, and I haven't posted in a while.
So hello, faithful readers, it is I, come to assuage your yearning to relive your college years (or maybe not).

As I mentioned last post, I've had midterms for the past few weeks and have been busy with other projects. Also, my head hasn't really been in a good place, and while it is common sense that one shouldn't blog when angry, I believe the same applies for semi-depression, desperation, and general stressed-outed-ness. The Internet is not just written in ink - ink can be destroyed, mutilated, erased, or otherwise lost forever, whereas online, there's always a cached/time-hopped/obsessively saved version of pretty much everything that has ever been posted. So, yeah, I haven't been posting much.

Despite popular opinion, I happen to be a human girl, not a robot, even though it sometimes seems the other way around.

Since last time - I have survived (most of) my midterms. I've registered for classes next semester (I'm taking it a little easier{hopefully}).I have dropped my aerospace major, and picked up a math minor (so I'm a Mechanical Engineering Major with minors in Spanish and Math, which is more reasonable). I got to see the U of A Repertory Theater's rendition of Cabaret, which was amazing, though the ending was shocking (even though everyone knew it was coming). And then there was Halloween.

Like every year, I helped out with the annual Haunted Dungeon - except this year, it was outside, not in the basements. This year, the maze was a haunted carnival. I played the creepy maniacal magician with a penchant for cutting things in half. I can only honestly say that I scared one group, but I creeped out everyone else and proved an apt distraction for coming jump scares.


Then for Halloween, I went out dressed as Betty Rizzo from Grease, and I had fun.


I'm almost done, and the rest of the year promises to be better. Things are looking up from here!

Back to the Midterms

I haven't posted in a few weeks. I have a valid excuse - midterm season lasts around five weeks each year. Why? In general, there is a variety of testing schedules, with classes generally having between two and five tests a semester. That means that midterms are pretty much continuous during the second and third quarters of the year, which makes things really fun.

I'm kinda at the point where the shiny has worn off college, extracurriculars, people, engineering, even sports. This hasn't been good for my motivation, but I've been muddling through. I know I'm usually upbeat, but it hasn't really been my best semester. I know they say that junior year is hard, but I'm finding that it's cold and merciless, more Hel than Hell. There is no glory in suffering.

Overall, there's really not much to report. I've been doing pretty much same as always - classes, homework, Rube (the first two steps on the machine are mine), little bit of exercise, some late night reading. Coupla rounds of career fair and internship search, a few interviews, nothing concrete. Overall, pretty boring. Again, there is no glory in my suffering. 

When I have something to report, I'll post more. 

In the mean time, I've spared you the flying cars rant, the groaning over the current state of hoverboards, and the distinct sound of thunder and lightning outside my window. 

Happy Back to the Future Day! 

The Gray Underside of My Shininess

I know I make it sound like college is all fun and no work, but the truth is that I work hard. I study a lot. I spend way too much time on lab reports. I assume that most of you would bet bored to death of this blog if I wrote about studying and homework, and I'd rather write about the random fun and funny stuff that happens because I spend the rest of the day contemplating the grand mysteries of the universe that I'm trying to stuff into my brain. So yes, I do work. I do a lot of work. However, sometimes, the work becomes repetitive, tedious, and occasionally boring, and I don't wish to submit you, my dear readers, to the same torment I (mostly) willingly put myself through.

This semester is the one with the duller, theory-filled classes that are prerequisites to the fun classes I can start taking next semester. It's not that the classes I'm taking aren't interesting, because they are, but I'm kinda done with endless analysis of stress-strain curves and triple integrals and assorted matrices just to explain why something breaks when you pull on it. I do have a lab (albeit on Friday night) where I actually get to break stuff, which makes it all a little bit better.

Right now, midterm season has begun, which means late nights shivering by the harsh glow of an LCD screen locked away in a deep dark cave, never to be seen again by man or beast. Or maybe just never be seen by any of the people I call friends or acquaintances. On top of that, I'm getting into the whole job search thing early this year (and the huge school-wide career fair is this Tuesday) so I'm also trying to figure out what I actually want to do with my life, or at least next summer. Bechtel was a great experience, but I want to try something different before I decide to stick with construction. So there's resumes to tailor and cover letters to write too.

Unusual fun stuff that happened this week:
ESPN College Game Day came to campus. I slept in.
I finally got to Pima Air and Space Museum because I have a friend who works there. That was pretty damn cool. They have a full 787 out in the yard, and a shard of moon rock inside one of the hangars.
I played some pretty intense Foosball with my Religious Ed kids - and got handily beat.
I got a new favorite class at the rec - Body Combat. However, I made the mistake of going on a two-ish mile run before a class that was advertised as intense cardio, and wound up really dehydrated. Oops.

And that's really about it.
Check next week sometime between Thursday and Sunday (but not on Friday) for the next thrilling installment of my life and times.

Getting Shot

Yesterday, I was taking a break from studying, sitting and reading a book at my semi-secret spot near the infamous acid green turtle pond, and some guy comes up to me.
"Hey," he says, "I'm Mike. I'm teaching a journalism class, and I was wondering if you'd let me shoot you." I gave him a look. "I mean, I'm trying to teach my students about different video strategies. Do you mind if I take some video?"
I said okay, and I kept reading my book, as per instruction, while Mike monkeyed around with his video phone. I can only imagine how I looked. My short hair was sticking straight up - I had gelled it earlier, but had been playing with it, so I now looked like a poorly drawn manga character. I was wearing an ironic t-shirt and messed-up Bermuda shorts, and was slightly slouched over my latest used-bookstore pop-psych acquisition. My bare feet were crossed in front of me on the bench, scarlet nail polish chipped and sweaty band-aids falling off. My beat-up pseudo-Vans were on the bench beside me, socks haphazardly tucked inside. I can only imagine I looked like the most awful wanna-be hipster in existence.
Mike started taking video, moving from right in front of me, to behind me, to practically in a tree, to the side, and then took some artsy shots with my shoes in the foreground, and then some looking over my shoulder. I was trying really hard not to giggle, so my face probably looked kinda funny too. He filmed for about 10 minutes, said thank you, then walked away. I can finally say that I have been filmed by a professional, and I'll get my 15 minutes of journalistic fame.

(Side note - the book was Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. The ideas are interesting, but it's somewhat disjointed.)

Other than that exciting adventure, there's not much to report. Midterms are coming up faster than I would like. I'm learning a lot about things that I've never thought about before, like why metals break at 45-degree angles, how to solder, and why plastics in airplane structure are not the best idea. The percentage of females in my classes has dropped from around 20% to around 15%, which was to be expected since the biomedical engineers now have a separate track.

As for this year's Rube Goldberg machine, we're opening and closing an umbrella in a Blazing Saddles-esqe  Old West Saloon. We have floors and a wall, and the first step is going to be putting a cowboy hat on a peg in the wall. It's all so exciting. I'm looking forward to see how the rest of it turns out.

I'm doing okay. I'm not dead yet, and the chances of survival look good. I'll keep you posted.