Back to Ballet

Yes that is me...was me...doing a press lift.

 Today I ventured back into a real ballet class. I won't even disclose how long it's been, (but let's just say the last time I took a serious class was with Shayla Bott ;) With all this knife fighting, fighting and Forms... I think ballet will really take my Kung Fu to the next level.

I anticipated on being a dancing train wreck. And felt even more so, when we had to fix my hip placement in the first 3 minutes of class.

But then, the ballet gods spoke to me.

My balance was so on.  I could balance for hours if I had to. "Why is my brain working so well in class?" (Which it was rarely to begin with...) And I have hunch. Kung Fu.

Kung Fu not only makes me super cool ;) and more awesome, but I'm pretty sure it made my ballet super efficient as well...Well I mean if I had kept up in taking class. So yup. Going back for more ballet tomorrow.

Going to make my Kung Fu AMAZING!

Kung Fu Knife Fighting

Well they are daggers actually.

There is a real, honest to goodness, competition in July that we are all preparing. This competition is special because it is a REAL competition. Meaning there are winners and losers. None of the participation, "lets give someone a High Silver" crap (sorry) to make them feel good.

In addition to competing our current form, I thought learning a weapon would be sweet. And of course there would be no other choice than the sword. S countered saying as awesome as the sword was, nothing could compete with a girl performing a dagger form.

I'm easily swayed when awesomeness is in my favor. And with a bestowed gift of daggers from R, I was all set.

At first I couldn't keep the giggles in because I felt like Peter Pan waving my little daggers around. (I seriously don't understand how he always bested Hook's rapier.)

 Several movies I've seen (Secondhand Lions, Count of Monte Cristo, Tales of Ba Sing Se) the characters hold their knives blade out, like a sword.

In Chinese Kung Fu, the blade is held in, and the hilt has iron loops. This makes slashing, stabbing, and punching all more effective. So after getting some of the form down with a little speed. I stopped and told S, that "I feel like a gang member from The Outsiders." And also like a knife fighter haha.

Thank goodness the daggers are completely blunt, because I slashed myself about five times and would have lost a few fingers.

Thursday at Delta

In a moment of, "I will never do this again," and the absolute ridiculousness of some of the past months adventures, I vowed I would not sleep until I'd found a new job and applied in entirety. I was surprised to find Delta Airlines was hiring flight attendants. And didn't even hesitate. I put in my basic information and took the psych evaluation.

I was thrilled to get a call from Delta HR and a phone interview. Though after it was over, I was kicking myself for answering their stupid questions, stupidly.

I was relieved to later get an email asking for a video interview, and went to work positioning the camera so whoever saw me, saw the tip of the Hawker Sea Fury Aircraft mural in the background. All Delta employees are fanatic airplane lovers so the mural was pure gold in the background.

My excitement really picked up when they scheduled a face-to-face interview. And I spent hours researching the process. (This experience would not end up like an abysmal retail interview I did 5 years ago, and all the Disney auditions I was cut from.) Actually Delta flight attendant interviews, as detailed online, sounded more like a Disney audition than anything. And I have quite a few of those under my belt ;) 

5am, red heels, Calvin Klein dress (inspiration from Sandra Bullock in the Proposal) and bright blue pearls, (Anna S. you would have loved it.) I looked way different from my usual harem and princess sleeve get up. I harnessed my Disney attitude. "I am a Disney princess, everyone loves me, I am perfect...and garnished it with a Disney smile.

 
I arrived to find a sea of black and blue Hilary Clinton pantsuits, and young foreign looking men with perfectly styled hair ;) I thought to myself…
-Use my Laban movement analysis skills to find people to connect with. 
-Narcissists always do well at interviews (so be narcissistic)
-Use your core to stand up straight
-Look for opportunities to be clever
-Smile like tour guide Barbie


Part 1: They offered us complimentary peanuts, pretzels, cookies, and coke products. How ironic :) A group of experienced flight attendants (FA), HR reps and other important people encircled and watched us while we went around shaking hands and meeting the 50 other hopefuls. I connected immediately with Jessica the Polynesian, Chui the Chinese student, Giovanni the admin assistant, and Chad the Starbucks barista. 

I really don't care for epic mingling, which this was. There was loud music blaring, and everyone had to shout at each other to get heard. I hugged a random lady, and met a biker chick in a bright red business jacket.

Then Head FA sat us all down and cued Pharrel's Happy, and the HR reps, and FA's started a choreographed number. I thought about jumping up and dancing along. Thinking whether or not dancing would get me a job or branded as a "crazy". I decided on enthusiastically clapping.
The head FA told us they had 120,000 applicants since January and they were looking for 150 people at that time. And we were lucky to be there. Apparently they have a near 1% hiring rate, (easier to get into Harvard).

Rotation #1 Fireside chat and reach test. A dull looking flight attendant sat us in a circle and asked each of us our hobby. "Kung Fu, and I could protect the plane with my bare hands in an emergency." I said, nervous laughs came forth. Cooking, Knitting, reading, rock climbing, some people went on and on with their hobbies. Then people started asking questions about FA life. We were pulled out one on one to go to our reach test.

I left my shoes outside the door as instructed, and stepped inside. This old lady in bright yellow, who I couldn't remember her name from the introductions, only that she was a “hugger” was beaming.
"Toes against the wall reach, here and then over here.  Oh no you can't go on your toes, I'll just hold you up." My face was smashed sideways against the wall and my fingertips barely touched the designated points. "Ah look you can do it when I hold you up back here, I'll let you pass, stand here so I can get your photo." She said smiling.

She grabbed my hands and wished me good luck, she went in for "one of her apparently famous hugs”, and kissed me on the cheek. Lord, I'm American so I have a no kissing strangers’ policy, and a strict no entering my kinesphere policy without permission. But when the hug broke I was so confused and startled and stressed out I went in for second hug.
"What on earth am I doing" was the only thing going through my head.

Rotation #2 Face to face I interviews. FA’s started pairing off with hopefuls and I sat terrified unclaimed watching unconnected FA's pick us at what I thought was random.
"Adrienne! I'm your FA Robin, this is Scott from HR.” And she steered me into a small meeting room.

We sat down in the room and even though I remembered my MCom 320 teacher telling us not to fidget in interviews, I couldn't sit still. Hands on the table, hands off, hands back on. Robin told me to relax because she and Scott were on MY team, that they were basically my advocates in this part. I literally slumped back into the chair, gosh the last five minutes I’d felt like Atlas holding up the globe.

I answered all their behavioral questions pretty awesomely. Told them I was an expert in my field, dance and said they were all amazing in the happy dance. The F2F interview actually could not have gone any better.

Rotation #3 Terry another FA, explained we would have to state our name, where we were from, languages, and current occupation. He pointed to a poster listing the questions. My basic Laban training, over priced Pilates training, and exhaustive BioCored training had taught me to pick up movement cues.

Everyone was presenting wrong. 4 questions, just 4 questions. You don't need to turn around and reference every single question. Chad the Barista turned around in between each question. Chui, the Chinese girl, basically told her life story with extravagant gestures. Biker chick lady was the only one to clearly and without referencing answer each question. I was going to be like Biker chick.
 
“Name, State, English, Occupation”, I cupped my hand to the side of my mouth, “and Terry's dance moves were the best in the Happy Dance, I said really fast and I recreated his solo from the dance. A HR rep in the back, called back "I bet he paid you to say that!" Laughing. Golden. Clever me :)

It was over. They brought all three groups together. They said they would be calling names of those they wanted to "see" or we all knew really meant get a job offer. They called a Chinese girl, a black girl, a Latino Guy, Chad, who was only 1 of 3 white males, and one white girl, who was NOT me. Had I been a victim of affirmative action? Lol. And told the rest of us to wait 7-10 days.

I checked my email about 30 times after the interview. My pilot dad wanted to go get yogurt after the ordeal. "No I can't have yogurt, or sweets until I find out if I'm a FA or not, because if they don't take me I have to go back on the Disney circuit again, and I can't get fat, I cannot do what I'm doing anymore."

It's been 3 days. And just found out I’ll be be doing the Disney Audition circuit again.