So today was spent in Six Flags, Great America, with 40 other new-hires for the company that I work for!  It was fun, especially when the HR person started reading off the list of stuff that we couldn’t bring into the park and it included “no nuclear warfare” and “no Ace of Base”.  I mean, I understand the no Ace of Base, but nuclear warefare…?  Just kidding, of COURSE Ace of Base wasn’t on the list, but it should have been!

It was really fun, mainly because the group of us went on most of the roller coasters and had no problem zipping through the lines.

Since I forgot my camera, we can just pretend that I took the above picture! Oooooo, ahhhhhhh. So first I wanted to talk about the Superman ride at Great America, as the picture shows above. That was the last one we went on, and after that ride I think I was done with coasters for the day. The standing-up coaster was bad enough (called the Iron Wolf, it was horrible), but this one really topped the cake.

There was literally NOTHING hold you to the coaster but the harness, and most of the time I felt as if the harness was going to snap open and that I was going to fly out.  The standing-up one was alright, you weren’t really ’standing up’ in every sense of the word, more like straddling a seat that adjusted to your height and in a standing position (although you could just sit in the seat if you wanted too).

In a word: FUN.

Well, besides the asshole.  If I had to give an Asshole-of-the-Day award, it would’ve gone to him.  Sooooo, the Asshole-of-the-Day Award goes to the guy two people in front of me standing in line for water!

“Hey look,”  A young boy in front of me in line says, pointing to a sign with ‘THE EAGLE’ written and a giant picture of a bird on it.  He adds, “It’s a hawk!”

He turns around to see his parents didn’t hear him, they are fussing with a baby in a stroller about 10 feet away.

“Very good,”  I say, nodding at him and smiling.  He turns around and grins at me with his I’m-gonna-have-braces-in-high-school smile.

“It’s an eagle,”  Asshole-award-guy deadpans; he looks over his shoulder at the boy who is now frowning.

“Come on man, the kid is what, ten?”  I say quietly to the guy so the boy doesn’t hear.  He just shrugs and steps up for his turn at the vendor.

Here’s your award, asshole!

However, I think the best conversation of the day was when we passed by a Papa Johns (yeah they have those at Six Flags too), and they were handing out samples.  I pop one into my mouth.

“Ma’am,” A guy with a clipboard appears out of nowhere, “You just tried one of our new flavors here at Six flags, BBQ chicken, how was it?”

I brush him off, and we continue along the path.

“Oh, please allow me to respond with this tactical nuclear device,”  I say in an undertone to a coworker, Rachel.

“I think that’s illegal in 47 countries,”  She quips. “Including Puerto Rico.”

Well, it was worth a shot.

Today was my first day of work! (Feel free to “Awwww” here, thanks) It was pretty good actually, nice and easy does the trick the first few days, of course. Can’t want to get down and dirty with the real stuff. For the first few months, everyone is launched head-first into an on-board training program and is separated into groups. I haven’t even met anyone in my group and I’m all ready to go. BRING IT ON -

Of course, I walk in today (my first day) and don’t recognize anyone, except for John, whom I carpooled with from Illinois State University to get to the interview.

“Jill!” He says before I even open my mouth. He jumps up and holds me at arms length as if I’m his long lost cousin.

“Hey John,” I stutter, a little taken aback by his sudden enthusiasm.

After covering the generalities like, pick up your name tag over there, sign in here, put your stuff down, breakfast is over there (all very important stuff!) our conversation turns to something else.

“So, where you living?” John asks, crossing his arms to look at me. I pour myself a glass of Apple Juice and turn to face him.

“Ah, yeah I have an apartment in Menomonee Falls,” I say, pointing westward (or, as westward as I can guess, I’m happy I made it to work without ending up back in Illinois, honestly). “How about you?”

“Uh,” John says, looking around quickly before leaning in, “A hotel right down the street.”

“A WHAT?!” I say loudly, practically spitting my apple juice all over him, “Where’s all your stuff?”

He says he doesn’t have that much, just mostly clothing and boxes with valuables and heirloom-type stuff. I’m speechless at this point.

“It’s just temporary,” John says after a long pause. It’s as if he is trying to defend his housing. I mean, it’s a Hotel. You can’t defend that for too long.

“How much is it?” I ask.

“Ahhhh 250 a week,” He says. I slap my hand dramatically to my face.

“Oh lord John why didn’t you call me, I have an entire empty BEDROOM you could’ve stayed in for now,” I say.

“Oh I couldn’t accept that,” He says, holding up his hands.

“Well, if it makes you feel better I could charge you 250 a week,” I say sarcastically, laughing. Two hundred fifty a week times 4 weeks is more than I spend on a months rent for the apartment I currently have.

John says he’ll think about it and get back to me this weekend after he’s looked at apartments.

“I can’t believe you are staying in a hotel, John,” I say, shaking my head, “You could’ve called me at any time…”

“Well, I mean I knew you were moving in and I didn’t want to bug you…and, it has free internet!” John says, looking indignant. I couldn’t think of anything else to say so I shrug.

Free Internet. Alright, I’ll give him one. Fair play.