May 8, 1995 - Monday - Dealing with Disney

     Life has been horribly stressful lately. I'm finally back in
Tampa but am still dazed and confused, for I still don't know whether
or not I will have a job at Disney this summer. I pray I won't have
to sit on my ass at home all summer either waiting until the girls
get out of school to work at Busch or getting some measly little
shithead job around here. I guess I could bike to a local job if I
really needed to, like Kmart or something, but probably not.

     When I called Disney last Monday night to verify the receipt of
my job confirmation form and the money order for the housing deposit,
they said that it had not yet arrived. I mailed the damn thing
priority mail back on April thirteenth and I was suddenly scared to
death. She didn't really know what to tell me except that hopefully
it will soon arrive (they will find it!!!). I put out a mail trace
the next morning and called Disney back. This time a different woman
told me that she would go ahead and verbally accept me (whatever that
means) and have my file processed. It especially sucked because I
might not get the type of housing I wanted or the particular business
seminars that interested me. And to think I worked so hard to get it
mailed back to them in the first place.

     Marlon and I set up his computer to receive a fax and then
called Disney back. It was yet another woman who called up my name on
the computer and said that I was indeed verbally accepted (relief, to
show that the other girl wasn't just saying that) and faxed me
another copy of the form so I could get the faculty advisor signature
again. They asked if I would be able to send another money order and
I quickly said that it wouldn't be a problem. A few minutes later
Marlon's phone rang and they transmitted the form. He printed it out
and I took it to the copy center to enlarge it. After getting Doctor
Reiskind to sign it again, I went to the bank and bought another
money order, while putting a trace on the first one. that way they
will refund it to me after sixty days, or send me a cancelled
photocopy of the money order showing who endorsed it.

     I'm impatiently waiting until I can again call Disney and see if
I'm ready to go. I hate to even imagine what might have happened if
they never received my forms and I got up there next Tuesday, only to
be turned away. Believe me, I would raise hell. I will be prepared
with photocopies of everything I have mailed when I arrive just in
case. Kristen went with her family and some relatives to Universal
Studios on Saturday with a side trip through Vista Way, the apartment
complex. She said it looks very nice, and has a smaller grocery store
called Food Lot just across the way. It all sounds so wonderful that
I hate to get my hopes up until I'm in my apartment, for I have said
all along that I won't believe that it's true until that point in
time.

     As I left the post office that afternoon I ran across a street
to see someone waving at me in a car to come closer. It ended up
being Jamie who told me to get in and asked me where I was going. I
was so relieved not to have to walk all of the way home then, and I'm
afraid she will never know how much I appreciated her generosity
right then. It really cheered me up just to get to talk to someone
besides Kristen about all that happened. We joked about why she never
came and saw my room before and I came really close to asking her up
for a few minutes but she seemed like she was in such a hurry.
Besides, I already knew some guy was coming to spend the night with
her so I didn't want to waste her time. We ran into each other
Thursday night again and she yelled at me to stop following her
around everywhere. It was cute.

     All of this "flirting" I have done with Jamie lately has really
freaked Kristen out quite a bit. She's not entirely jealous, she just
doesn't understand how I can possibly want to be nice to Jamie.
Kristen thinks Jamie is one of the meanest people and explains quite
often how Jamie was friends with everyone in their hall in the
beginning, and now everyone hates her. She even compared her to Leigh
Anne, from as much as she learned about her through reading my
journal. I just like her a lot because she's just as sarcastic as I
am, but still seems quite caring inside. I've explained to Kristen
that I also don't have to hate Jamie just because she doesn't really
like her, I'm not that kind of person.

     I was afraid once again and had been for a while that I might
have lost yet another wonderful friend from my life. I hadn't talked
with Kimmeth since December and I had been the last to call. I
started being more optimistic though, that if she wasn't dead or
married, that everything would be all right and we could easily catch
up after only a four month hiatus, considering we live so far apart
at the moment. On the weekend before exams I arrived home to find a
message from the goddess herself asking what I'm up to and to please
give her a call tomorrow (Sunday). Kristen was over both days and as
we started making spaghetti on Sunday night, she headed down to the
community ovens to bake the garlic bread. I took the opportunity to
call Kim, and she was home and sounded quite happy to hear from me.

     She shared all of the latest stories about her life with me,
including the latest strange dreams she's had. I pouted at one point,
wondering why she doesn't have any wild dreams about me. She tried
quickly to remember any recent ones but said that as soon as she has
a juicy one, she'll let me know. And besides, they usually come true!
I was surprised at how much I was talking about myself, way more that
normal. She sounded very excited about my volunteering in the
operating and emergency rooms at the hospital and loved my stories
about the surgeries I have seen.

     She offered to help me find a job if I needed to come down there
for the summer (if Disney doesn't work out) which would be awesome.
They're paid ten dollars an hour to clean boats and I'd work damn
hard for her. We were also briefly talking about us, and how she
needs to get a boyfriend quick so I can steal her away from him, in
reference to my normal style. I also said that we had our chance that
summer and she left me. She agreed that we came really close but
unfortunately she wasn't happy in Tampa but reassured me quite a bit
that it wasn't because of me at all. She sounded sincere enough to
make me wonder (and regret) things a little bit. Had I only stayed in
Tampa and gone to USF... (I'm not really that bad, but it's
definitely a thought worth pondering).

     It was just so good to talk to her again, and to reinforce one
of the tiny bits of consistency in my life.