Inspiration

I'm a firm believer in inspiration. Everyone should find something that inspires them to help them accomplish a task or goal. Some say they don't know what inspires them, and I beg to differ. Think of something your passionate about. That should be your inspiration, and you should suddenly be in the 'inspired' mood to go out and finish your project.




As many of you know, I'm currently working on my Christmas light show. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, this should explain more.
But for those that do know, I also need inspiration to give this everything I got. I find my inspiration from Disneyland. That's why the majority of my music for my shows are somehow related to Disney. (I never give out the music to my show before it starts. You just have to come and see it to find out. :)  )

Over the past summer, I saw World of Color at Disney California Adventure for the first time. To me that was instant inspiration. Just the lighting around the Disney Parks inspire me. I'm the one who rides Small World, and stares at the ceiling to see the lights, and what techniques the Imagineers used to bring the props to life. And like recently, I'm a single rider. You know, almost 20 year old guy, riding Small World alone, just staring up and occasionally at the dolls to see what lights are where, and how they are used. Hey, I can't help it. It inspires me. (Sadly not a lot of single girls ride Small World alone. They are usually accompanied by their lover.) 


For all those that seek inspiration, and for all those that experience it, you know it's hard to get in that special mood where you can only concentrate on whatever your working on and stay in that mindset. I came across this quote that really explains this problem, and what to do when it occurs.


"It doesn't matter if you're a writer or a baker. When the mood strikes you and you find you can suddenly make things happen, do everything to stay in that mood. Create, build, bake. You can always rework later."
-Randy Murray

That is so very true that many do not follow. Usually we get sidetracked or we are simply too busy to continue working on whatever it is we are working on. The excuses we can come up with are actually pretty pathetic.

I hope that the next time you are inspired, you run with it. It will only benefit your work.

Most Moving Movie Dialogue

Movies all have those characters that you fall in love with. Sometimes they may be the wise ones, or the stupid ones. The one who jokes around, or the shy one that ends up doing something great at the end. Movies are full of inspiration and moving moments, along with some dark parts mixed in. Notice that every great film ever made has a conflict and resolution in it. It's what we as humans like and are attracted to. It's what makes it great.

For me, the following quote is probably the most moving couple of sentences I have ever heard in a movie. Not only does it personally affect me, but it's just about life. It's straight to the point, but has some philosophical thinking mixed in. Overall it's an incredible section in the dialogue to The Lord of The Rings.

Samwise Gamgee: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo; the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end... because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was, when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.

 

Frodo Baggins: What are we holding on to, Sam?

 

Samwise Gamgee: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

Lion King in 3D

Well, I saw the Lion King in 3D last Friday night, and all I have to say is go see it before it leaves theaters. It was amazing to see this movie once again in theaters, and seeing it in 3D really is incredible. A lot of people are saying how Disney did this just to make money. Even though it has made $61.7 million with it being re-released, I think they did it for another reason also. This new generation of kids surrounded me in the theater. They now get to see a classic Disney-Animation film. Now they can grow up knowing the Lion King story, like I got to. Sure, there are animated films out there these kids are seeing. But none of them compare to an old Disney story.

It's been awhile since I've seen this movie, probably around 5 years. I forgot how good the music is. Not just the sing-along parts, but the overall theme song and score. I might have to buy it...


Anyway, just thought I'd let you know that you should really consider seeing it before it's too late. I promise you won't be disappointed.

The Disney Magic is now very alive in this new generation. 

VF Scavenger Hunt

On September 10th, I participated in the visionsfantastic.com Scavenger Hunt with my good friend Stephanie as a partner. This Hunt took place in Disneyland, Downtown Disney, and the Disneyland Hotels. It was a blast! I finally got to meet the people behind the user names and avatars on the forums, and spent an incredible day scouring the Park for little objects and such. We will definitely be attending next year as well.



Here are a couple group photo shots we took-








Stephanie made our awesome Chip N' Dale "Rescue Rangers" shirts. :D


Thanks again to all the Viffers who made this Hunt possible. It was a ton of fun! And I enjoyed visiting all my fellow VF friends, even if it was just a brief "Hello". We should plan a DL trip soon, yea?




The next few pictures are from DCA's construction. Everything is looking great, and the temporary entrance really works out nicely.



*CoughrealflagsCough*








Absolutely amazing. It's really looking great.







The tracks are in. Looking nice.










And that's all I have. Again, it was a great day. I look forward to next year, and I look forward to my next Disney trip. (Still unsure when, I'm gonna try to make Mickey's Halloween Party).


-Austen

First week at CFA

Well, as most of you already know, I now work at Chick-Fil-A. I just completed my first week yesterday and I can officially say that I love it! The people are so nice and helpful, everyone jokes around and has fun, and management actually has common sense. I really enjoy it so far. :)

Upcoming Posts

Hey everyone. Just wanted to say that I've been super busy, and I have a few posts I'm going to do within the next few days. That is, when I have time.

I'll be sharing stories with you all about my new job, the visionsfantastic Scavenger Hunt that took place in Disneyland last weekend, and another brief Halloween update. (Yep, still working on that face.)


As for right now though, I have work and school and not a lot of free time. So, stay tuned for these short updates. :)


Thanks,
Austen

John's not so Incredible Pizza

Before I start telling my experience at JIPC (John’s Incredible Pizza Co.), I wanted to make a few things clear.
1) I love John’s. I like what John Parlet has created. It is a fun place to go with your family and ride rides, play games, eat all you can at the pizza/salad/pasta/dessert buffet, and just hang out. I am not putting down the Company.
2) I take full responsibility for the things I am about to write. I understand that ANYONE can, and will read this blog.
3) The stories I am about to tell are my own. This is my experience. My thoughts. My opinions.

So, here is my story. From the beginning. You might want to grab some coffee before you start reading though.

It all started in November of 2010. I walked in, wrote my name down on the sign-in sheet, and waited in the old Build-A-Bear section to be called back for the interview. I started to talk to this girl, who worked here before. I asked her why she left. Her reply: “Well, I went to college in Montana. But I was going to leave no matter what because management here was a mess. I heard it’s better now though.” I guess that was my first clue.
I found out that it was group interviews, so all 12 of us were split into 2 groups. My group was second to go, and we quietly talked while waiting. After a few minutes they called us into the party room, where 1 manager and 2 supervisors were sitting. The interview went well. I was a lot more comfortable in a group, and we just told about ourselves and why we decided on John’s as a job. We then were dismissed and sat in another party room. They came in, called out a few names, and those who were called could leave. Everyone else was hired. And so it began.

Shortly after I was hired, not even 3 weeks after, 2 of the people that did my interview left John’s. That left Angie, one of the managers. Another clue? Well, maybe. But I didn’t pay any attention to this.
John (No, not corporate John) was my manager for Funworld when I first started. About 2 months later, John’s Incredible Pizza opened a new store in Oregon, and John was offered a job as Store Manager. He moved his family there, only to be told he is no longer going to become a store manager, but a supervisor for Party Central, almost 3 ranks down. I’m not sure what happened after that, but I wish him the best. I’m pretty sure he was the last one that had the common sense to run a store.
Angie then became manager of Funworld. I was a little nervous of this at first, but decided to give her a chance. (What choice did I have any way? Haha) Shortly after she became my manager, I got sick and called out for 3 days. This was at the end of January, so I was only at John’s for 3 months now, and I really didn’t want to miss work already. To my surprise, Angie was totally alright with it, and she told me if I ever needed to call out to just let her know. I was pretty much speechless after this, because some of my co-workers have told me stories about how she is mean and such. Well, not to me she wasn’t. She always was nice to me, even when I quit. But that part comes later.
As the months passed, I saw her as JIPC’s last hope. New Team Leaders were promoted to Supervisors. They had no clue what they were doing, or how to run a business. They just took the position because it paid better. Drama happened between them, personal lives got in the way of work. It was rumored Angie wanted to ‘clean up’ the store a bit and fire some people. So far it hasn’t happened. It is what it is, I just kept to myself back in Funworld, doing my job and thing.

Something happened that made a huge effect on Funworld, and other departments. Out of the blue, a Team Leader quit. Then one was promoted to supervisor. Then one left after being told they were going to become supervisor, but never did. (Do you see the reoccurring pattern yet?) This meant we had 3 new Team Leader positions to fill, and quick. One of the supervisors, before they left my department, threw my name out there to become 1 of the 3. And one day, a Team Leader and Supervisor came up to me, and my co-worker, and said the last Team Leader position was between us. Weeks went by. Nothing. Then one day I came into work to find a new Team Leader. Another example how this company cannot keep their word if their life depended on it.
These new people, leading this department, were inexperienced, because there were only 2 people who could effectively train them. It was pretty much chaos for awhile.

Let’s fast forward a little more. Six months has passed since Angie was our manager. And every sixth months the managers rotate departments. Angie was getting ready to leave us, and Jake was coming in. And since I began my job, I have heard horror stories about Jake. But again, what can you do? Nothing. The first week Jake became my manager, my hours went from 20+ to 7 a week. Now, at John’s, if you do something wrong, they cut your hours. They don’t come up to you and tell you what you did wrong, or what you can improve on, they just cut your hours. And if your scheduled time is, let’s say, 1-5 on Friday, and they are busy, they come up to you and tell you how you ‘have’ to stay. If you say no, and leave, the next week your hours will be cut. I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with this AT ALL. If I can, I’ll stay and help. That’s more money to me. But this isn’t my career. This isn’t my life. I can’t just stay whenever you say so, and you sure as heck can’t make me. However, this is part of the game John’s likes to play. What will you do for hours? To them we are there for fun, not to make money.
So my hours are low, but it’s not just mine. It’s several people, people that I’m the closest to, my friends. The secret leaked out- Jake has a list of people, in 3 categories. Category 1- Team Leaders. Category 2- names which I’m not going to say here. And Category 3- Me. My friends, and others. After knowing this, I looked at the schedule. CAT 1 people- 30 hours. CAT 2 people- 20+ hours. CAT 3 people- 7 hours.
Jake picked favorites. However, I heard this from a co-worker. It’s just a rumor, right? I talked to a friend in another department. They confirmed that he does make a list of people. They have seen it. Such a great Team Work atmosphere, right? HA!
I live 20 minutes away from John’s. I have bills to pay. I have school to pay for. 7 hours is not worth my time, or gas, to work. Everyone else who got these type of hours also agreed. So we confronted Jake about it. At first, my Supervisor told me that I’m not coming up in the schedule, that there is an error and it will be fixed. I gave it 2 weeks. No difference. Remember, I’m working 2 days a week, at 3 hours each day. (The scheduling at John’s is crap. We often work 3 hour shifts, 4 hour shifts, and if we aren’t busy they can send you home at your 2 hour. Many times have I been sent home at my 2.)
Tuesday came around about a month later. Since games are checked every Wednesday, I cleaned my list of games. That was my last day to work for awhile, I was off Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I came into work on Friday. I walked into the office, prepared to ask my Manager or Supervisor about my hours. The first thing they said- “You failed your games.” Me: “What?” Supervisor: “You failed your games. They weren’t clean. When was the last time you cleaned them?” Me:” The Tuesday before I was off.. Then I wasn’t scheduled until today.” Manager: “Well you obviously don’t know our cleaning policy. We will walk you around and show you what you did wrong.”
I was furious. I already wanted to quit, so I was holding myself back from taking off my shirt and hat then and throwing them down… Or at them. Did they really expect me to come to work when I’m not scheduled to clean my freaking games? I spent over an hour that one Tuesday cleaning them. Later on I was told that if I passed my game checks that maybe I’d get more hours. Maybe if I was scheduled to work more I could.
A few weeks later one of my co-workers, who is a good friend, confronted Jake again on their hours. As they sat in the office, Jake said this was a test. He was giving low hours to people to see who can handle it. He called it a stress test. It’s all a game at John’s not so Incredible Pizza. Of course we are going to get stressed. Most of us have school to pay for, with other bills as well. However, this was a ‘legal’ way to make us quit. He didn’t want us there, it was obvious. While some people say it was just a slow time and no one had good hours, there has always been certain people that had more hours than others. Why not even it out? Why not give it to people who actually worked and did something? Because from what I saw they gave the hours to the lazy people.

I was done with John’s at this point. I came, did my shift, and left. I never said much to management. I never complained about my hours. I quietly looked around for another job. While I was looking around, Speedway started to be torn down. They are taking it out, and putting 7 rides in that space. My supervisor came up to me and said that everyone’s hours are going to increase when we get these new rides, and that they will have to hire even more people to help us. I said great. I’m excited. And to be honest, I still am. I can’t wait to see everything when it’s finished. It’s going to be awesome! However, I knew I wouldn’t be operating these rides. This kinda bummed me out too, because my whole life I wanted to be a ride operator at Disneyland, and I felt this was a small version of it, plus experience I can take to Disney, and still can, since I did operate 3 rides and gave spiels, as well as telling people they aren’t tall enough to ride and such. Anyway, John’s is going to be cool after this is all done, I think. But this didn’t stop me from looking around.
My friend told me that Chik-Fil-A was hiring. The next day I went down there, picked up an APP, filled it out and turned it in. A few days later I got a call for an interview. Then the next day I got a call from them, and they told me that I’m hired. This was on 9/7. That night, I used all my pizza bucks and took my family out to dinner at John’s. This was it, I decided to give notice.

We hung out, ate, played a few games, then my family went and waited in the truck. I walked through Funworld, and said a few goodbyes to the people that were there. I told them Sunday would be my last day, and how much I will miss them. I’ve said this before, but I have met some amazing people at John’s. Friends that I will never forget, or lose touch with.
I started the walk from Funworld to the front. I asked them which manager was there, and they said Angie. Instant relief! She walked out of the finance office, and I asked if I could talk to her. I explained that I was offered another job, that has guaranteed me more hours. I said that I took it, and that this Sunday will be my last at John’s Incredible. She was a little shocked, I think. Her reply was that I’m a hard worker, nice, and that Chik-Fil-A is lucky to have me. I was not expecting that! But like I said before, Angie has always been nice to me. She told me to write out my notice, and how she has to help bring the line down out front. So I sat in the office, remembering the first time I came in there, and wrote out what I just told her. I left it on the counter, came out to the front, and told her thanks again. Her voice sounded a little sad, to be honest. And I couldn’t help but already feel nostalgic about the place I called hell two days before.











Sunday, September 11th. The Final Shift.


This day has finally come. The last shift at John’s Incredible. I took my time walking back to Funworld, and I came into the office and clocked in. My final shift was on the redemption counter. My supervisor was helping out, and talked to me about everything briefly. He supported me, like I thought he might. We were packed today, and I needed help on counter, so I called for help over the radio and who came? Jake, my manager. For the whole 20 minutes he helped right next to me, he didn’t say one word to me. About anything. It was probably better that way, but I really wanted to say “You got what you wanted.”
I did some of my last things I wanted to do- last time helping on counter, last time running boogie bump, last time fixing a ticket jam and cleaning the ticket eaters, and helping guests. We closed, and I talked to some of my co-workers for awhile. I said my goodbyes, gave the last handshakes and hugs, and headed out to my truck, which was painted by my awesome Funworld girls. Yes, I became teary eyed, but I know we will still stay friends.

Well, I told a lot of negative things about John’s, and I just wanted to say that even though I complain about that place, I’ve had some great times also. Some of my shifts have been fun, where we all laughed the whole time and just joked around. However, in this post I just wanted to share the drama and what happened behind closed doors. And yes, I know drama is at ANY job, nowhere is perfect, I get that. This place just seems worse, lacking all common sense and respect.

My hope is that management changes their views on things, and until then, I pray my co-workers who want out like I did find better jobs.






It's time for bed now. I have training for my new job early tomorrow morning. Thanks for taking the time to read my long post. I know some of you were really interested on what happened. Again, this is solely my story.





And like my Funworld girls wrote on my car- "Funworld Forever!"



Goodnight.

Super 8 and Mr. Giacchino

I saw Super 8 last Sunday night, and I have to say it passed my expectations. A nice film that should have been more popular. But one thing was better than the film, and that's the score.





Michael Giacchino has done many movies before, but he is probably known for his Pixar scores. From Cars, Up, the Incredibles, Ratatouille, to Mission Impossible 3, Cloverfield, 50/50, and Monte Carlo. Mr. Giacchino has some serious musical talent.

He isn't as popular as Hans, Danny, or a couple other composers. But at the rate that he is going, and what he has created so far, he will quickly become just as good, or better.

In the Super 8 soundtrack, which I highly recommend to those who love soundtracks, Michael Giacchino creates a love melody, and a suspense melody, and merges them. His transitions into each are incredible. Every composer has a trademark, they have something their good at. If the audience listens hard enough, or has musical experience, they can usually tell what their strong points are. For Michael, his strength is creating incredible melodies. You can see this in Up, Super 8, and in a few of his songs for the TV shows he has done.
A composer like John Powell is good at creating rhythms. It just varies between the individual.



So, I hope you get to see the movie, and buy the soundtrack. I promise you'll love it! Now, here's a Youtube video of one of my favorite songs that I think shows off his talent.

The Fair Is Approaching

Well, September is here and my local fair is approaching. As some of you know, I love my fairs. I take fairs very seriously. I have been involved within the fair since I was 6 years old, and I still am. Over the course of these past 14 years, I have shown rabbits and sheep, and have entered things into contests like a rock collection, pictures, food, etc.

I have also been on the Kern County Jr. Fair Board all through high school, and now I'm currently an adviser for them. Through this I have had the experience to set up booths, do activities with the audience on different stages, play my violin before contests start (as well as various games, anything to keep the audience entertained while waiting), and help out in every department imaginable. I have had the opportunity to briefly work with the CEO and others that make the fair happen each year, and I was able to get my 2 cents in.

The fair is a great thing for family, and community entertainment. Every year I encourage everyone to go once, or twice, or everyday. It helps your community, and there is SO much hardwork people put into every detail that needs to be appreciated. Please, go to your local fair. Yes, it's going to cost you. But I promise it's worth it! Family memories.. :)



Speaking of Fairs, here are some of America's best State Fairs: America's Best State Fairs

Words of Truth

"Clutter is the disease of American writing. Our national tendency is to inflate and thereby sound important. The airline pilot who wakes us to announce that he is presently experiencing considerable weather wouldn't dream of saying that there's a storm ahead and it may get bumpy. The sentence is too simple- there must be something wrong with it. But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Can such principles be taught? Maybe not. But most of them can be learned."


-William Zinsser in On Writing Well



Although I like reading more, I've always enjoyed writing. It's always been a challenge for me though to write my thoughts, and describe what I can think of in words. When I came across this paragraph I found so much truth in it. Plus it has a philosophical view to it. And who doesn't like deep thoughts?

Effects of Inspiration

Have you ever been so inspired by a thought, by something you saw, by something you've heard or experienced, that you just teared up? You can't hold it back, you just become teary eyed. This has happened to me a lot in the past 2 months.

I guess that's how you know that an idea you've been working on is good, or that something you saw really is that great.


Or perhaps maybe I'm just that strange.