"It's a small world"

Yes,

we all know the song, the ride and the repetitiveness of this.... unique.... creation of music, but I happen to use the word a lot, why? because it's SO true.In this tiny world, we can find ourselves all connected through the grapevine in sometimes crazy cool situations, and sometimes really crazy "did this really just happen" situations.

here let me explain:

after receiving our awesome-super cool-fantastic-amazing-o.m.g. blue main gate cards to get into the parks, what do we do? we go to sleep, (YEA RIGHT) nooooo, we fly to the parks to hangout and celebrate our official cast member step to the Disney College Program in the parks! 

after making our way to Epcot, and Magic Kingdom for the night we found our selves getting extremely tired, sweaty, hungry, and did I mention sweaty? we NOW wait for the next and final destination bus towards home from downtown Disney...

while waiting, we saw birthday children walking by, guests, and cast members leaving for home.... and that's when it happened.... a tall manager walking by with a blue dress shirt, very professional and a football build walked up to our bus stop and I just about cried

Me- "NO WAY"

Manager- "Ethan!?" 

Me- *running towards him and jumping on him with the biggest bear hug ever*

Me- "NICK I CAN'T BELIVE THIS"

Nick-"*very professional* I missed you too Ethan!!"

Long story short, I found my old roommate from first program, Nick Downey. It's been 2 YEARS since I last saw him and what's he up to now? running a section of Downtown Disney since he graduated from school on a professional internship! 

not only do I have to congratulate this awesome guy, but what were the chances of me stumbling on my old roommate who was the "dad" of our apartment my first time around?? 

But it doesn't end there, within the first couple days of photo/park adventures, I found my self being followed by a green army man who knew me and Flynn Ryder personally and lastly I was able to give Marry Poppins a hug after not seeing her for a whole year! 

weirdest part about all of this? NONE of it was planned... I just stumbled upon all of them, and you know something? 

"It's a small world" & I'm definitely okay with this! ;)

Here's a few from the shenanigans of my Disney College Program thus far!! 

The Name Tag

After the Shenanigans of the first few days in our new apartment, we attempted to recover from all the dancing, lack of sleep and "comfy" beds (the beds are NOT COMFORTABLE) but it made me sit and realize that:

"we have to go out, hangout, eat, drive, swim, go on adventures, go grocery shopping, and enjoy each others company as much as we can before it all starts.....because when we all start working, some of us will have polar opposite schedules and from that point on it will be almost impossible for ALL of us to have the same time off together"

.......okay, okay, okay maybe I didn't memorize those lines, BUT I did repeat something similar to that all the time to everyone because it's true. All of us will have different schedules and with working at different parks, it's extremely hard to get everyone together again.

and with that being said, the day had arrived. 

The day EVERYONE waits for and the anticipation is finally met. 

Traditions

What is Traditions? Traditions is essentially the "Welcome to the Walt Disney Company" where you learn about the history, present day and future of the Company. Magic, pixie dust and eye opening realities are placed upon everyone to REALLY get everyone pumped for the next 5 months of "show".... or in the real world: work and lots of it.

But with all presentations and open armed welcomes, we are also given very special things that are essentially our "it's official" key to the next five months. 

our name tag 

Something so simple, can make a huge impact on someone because its that name tag that separates majority of us from the rest of the world, because not everyone has this name tag. It's a symbol of being "official" at creating magic for a company, but with great power always comes great responsibility. 

and its NOW time for all of us to take responsibility in having FUN for the next five months...... 

Disney Style

The Gift :: The Curse

I avoid it. I avoid it at all cost.

The very few people who have kept up with my blog since the beginning know exactly what I'm talking about. I avoid talking about very touchy topics that can be looked upon as "sad", "negative", or even "depressing".

I've created this world through social networks to view me as this positive optimistic blogger/photographer whose life consists of photo adventures, eating frozen yogurt, and traveling while trying to fully enjoy this short life we have, but let me tell you something....

I.am.only.human. 

What do I mean by that exactly? I mean that I too have my off days, my days where I question life and wonder "why does THIS have to happen to ME". I have my days where I don't want to blog... I've had fights with friends, lost loved ones, broken hearts, been hurt on more than one occasion and what do I do? I choose to not remember it... I choose to move forward, why? because its life and if you fix yourself up on one thing, it can consume your life.

Sometimes I wish I can forget events that have happened in my life, I wish I could start over with a fresh slate. I use to think that people who had unforgivable diseases such as alzheimer's had a gift to forget things they don't want to remember.

The reality of this unforgivable disease is that you don't have a choice and in turn... it can be a curse. You can loose it all in the blink of an eye and its scary.... and I witnessed it first hand with my own family. My grandmother.

3 months ago my grandmother on my Dads side had flown across Puerto Rico to the states, to stay with my family and I. My grandma Marina has stage 6 in alzheimer's in which she has no recollection of events that span from years ago all the way to 1 hour ago. Although this unforgivable disease doesn't take as big of a tole on the very long term memory, its damages can be hurtful to not only the victim, but the witnesses as well, as this disease robs someone of an entire life

This disease or gift, allows for forgiveness easily, happy times, and an easy going life. This disease or curse allows for instant mood changes, and forgetting not only memories that are not wanted..... but the ones that are wanted as well...

Everyday was a new adventure from going on walks into the forest, family gatherings, and swims in the pool to singing and dancing like there was no worry in the world, but everyday the same adventure could've been repeated and my grandma wouldn't know the difference.

After three months away from her birth place of Puerto Rico, she found her self on her way back home and the sad part about it...... as my parents drove away  with her to the air port I began to realize that when she wakes up in the morning "will she remember the three months that she was here with us?"... will she remember the times she had meeting her latest grandchildren who are my recent niece and nephew?

these thoughts consumed me and I came to the realization that this "gift" was a "curse" and I know that in time more people will leave this world and more people will enter it. I chose to write blogs to express how I feel, to document my journey in life and photography. I chose to write because when I'm older I want my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren to remember me.... I want to remember me.

I want to remember the journey I had. there are very horrific diseases out there, some more forgiving than others, but one that strips you of your memories gives reason to believe "what's the point of life if you can't remember any of it" and that is something I will not tolerate. life is too short, and I pray on my life that I never get placed with this curse.

I love you grandma Marina and I'm writing this to always look back and appreciate the short life we have full of memories I have not only with you, but everyone else who means the world to me.

Thank you for everything grandma...... and let me just tell you on a lighter note....

you're the most photogenic woman I've ever met in my life

Love, 

         

          Ethan