Give Thanks

For the past 9 days i have had hardly any time to go online and have some leisure time. 7 days went to the thanksgiving week, when like a miracle, i was scheduled for 55 hours as compared to the usual 30 - 35 hours. to add to it, i picked up extra shifts and had some extentions... even after the early release i had on wednesday to go for the thanksgiving party, i completed the week with 64 hours on the clock. and then to add to the miracle, i mysteriously had 7 hours of overtime pay added to my payroll! it was such a shock of delight. i earned almost as much as i would in 3 normal weeks.

the whole week of thanksgiving was really busy, cause its holiday time for the americans. a time for families to get together and spend some leisure time, and a time for those working in the leisure/entertainment businesses to be apart from their families, working their butts out to make the vacationers happy.

it was especially busy on thanksgiving day itself of course. a super mad rush on both sides of the counter. any mistake would be sure to cause some friction. guests filled up the whole restaurant from the counters queueing all the way back to the topping bar, and even almost outside the restaurant. and yet the guests willingly squeeze like sardines in a can and wait for half an hour just to get a meal, and then another half an hour waiting for a suitable table. it was a really eye opening sight. How much more it will be during Christmas day!

thanksgiving band

25th november there was the thanksgiving party at Patterson court. i expected it to be a really big event and i so didnt wanna miss it, so much until i was willing to give away 6 hours of overtime shift to a colleague just so i could go for it! turned out to be such a disappointment. all we had is a miserable portion of turkey ham to go with a scoop of potato, corn and cranberry jam. a limit of 1 serving per person! whats worse, the same meal was served at the magic kingdom cast cafeteria the next day for just $1!
mickey and donald were there at patterson too, open for us to take pictures with, but we were too lazy to wait in the long line. and there was live musical performaces, switching between a group of 4 choir singers (singing in 4 parts) and an instrumental band of 4, playing beautiful music like in the video posted. made the party a little more worth the time.

27th november... Black Friday! i have heard reports on black fridays that it is such a mad rush at shoping centres that every shop and walkway is packed and people would be trying to squeeze in between each other, rush for the good deal, and sometimes even trample to death anyone who happens to fall to the ground. transport would be really expensive to go to anywhere outside for shopping, so i decided to just settle for the Orlando Premium Outlets within walking distance.


On thanksgiving day, the morning and afternoon was spent at work and hanging around in the magic kingdom. upon returning home, i realised i was locked out because my keys were missing and everyone was out! i finally found 1 classmate who was home at another block. another 2 came, intending to go out soon for shopping at Orlando premium outlets. just nice! so i joined in with them. at least i wasnt stuck and alone the whole night - that would be the most pitiful thanksgiving day!
started walking around and looking at the good deals at 10pm, and come 12 midnight, all the shops opened and people rushed in. there was a large crowd there at OPO (mainly disney cast members, for obvious reasons) and they seem to be mad for good deals. some shops had hardly any customers, and at other shops, there would be people queueing outside for hours for a chance to get in to shop. the Coach store had lines outside extending 30 metres outside, and there was a queue all the time from midnight to afternoon. the good deal? designer bags and purses that go down to as low as a third of original price.

as for me, i avoided too long queues, and spent about $200 on shopping... my record expenditure in one trip! some people continued on from there on to other shopping locations for part 2 of shopping. but ive had enough, and was totally exhausted.

On black friday night, we finally had the chance to gather 7 out of 22 of us classmates, and had a home cooked thanksgiving dinner together, featuring a baked whole turkey! it was just $21 from walmart, and it was absolutely delicious. i think turkey meat owns chicken, pork or beef meat. it fed us all till we were full, and still had 2 plates of meat left over.

saturday was the last week of long work days. from sunday onwards it was back to the pathetic 6 hours a day, 30 hours a week. ahh, it was like a whole different life, for just that one special week. Christmas week is the next to look forward to!