sloooow morning

[spatch]

It's a slow morning at work. Captain Found The Shell has struck again.
Nobody's around yet anyway so what does it matter? I presume things are
going to pick up in the early afternoon when folks start trying to leave
early for the weekend and discover automobile-related problems.

Seriously. It's 20 minutes into my shift and I haven't had a call yet.
This does not bode well for the future today. I am sure I will get
slammed by about 11 or noon. It was like this yesterday, too.

Tomorrow is looking up, though. Tomorrow I'm gonna get to go out to
Canobie with some T@F folks. This is a good thing. I'm trying not to get
excited about it because of my rule to try to stay at least nonplussed so
that I don't get disappointed if plans fall through, but damn. Amusement
park. Roller coaster. Roller coasters. Plural!

The funny thing is that four years ago, I was going out to parks
nearly every weekend, having a grand time each and every free moment I
got. This will be my first park trip since October 2003. Funny how life
throws these kinds of things one's way.

Since having to tone down my parkgoing due to finances, I've had to drop
out of some circles -- I no longer am a part of ACE since, honestly, the
yearly cost just to get some magazines and be tempted with events I could
never go to wasn't worth it. I still try to keep up with my coaster
friends, though, and I'm glad some of 'em have made it to LiveJournal
(sup guys!)

I had to stop reading rec.roller-coaster, partly because of the high troll
content and the abysmal signal-to-noise ratio, but also partly because I
was eating my goddamn heart out every time I read about a fun park event
or new rides in a place I knew I wouldn't be able to get to for a very
long time (Knott's Berry Farm, for example.) I miss a lot. I miss
meeting people at parks. I miss media days and ride openings. I miss
after-hours ERT. I miss getting loopy and punch-drunk with folks at
midnight while riding the last few Magnum rides at Coastermania. I miss
watching ACErs stampede to the buffet table and laughing. I miss riding
Boulder Dash in a pitch black October evening. I miss Todd Long boarding
the Jurassic Park River Ride at IOA and telling the attendant "Boy, I sure
can't wait to see the hadrosaurs, I don't know what I'd do if I had to
miss em!" (The ride story has your little boat "derailing" right before
Hadrosaur Cove.)

I know things have changed among my coaster friends and I'm always
surprised to see which friendships have fallen apart and which have
surprisingly formed, but I'd like to think there's still a core group of
people still going out and -- as is the goal we coaster enthusiasts should
all be striving for -- having fun at amusement parks.

See? I still consider myself among the "we coaster enthusiasts." There's
hope for me yet.

Perhaps my eventual goal is to get back to that weekly park-hopping
lifestyle. I sure wouldn't mind it again. It means a lot of walking, at
least, and walking is good. It would also mean comfortable finances.
That's good too.

Now it's an hour into the shift and I've gotten two calls. This is pretty
funny. I can't wish for the entire shift to be like this, but hey. It's
nice while it lasts. I can say the same thing for coaster-hopping periods
of life, too. You look back fondly on it when it's gone, and can't wait
for it to happen again.

See you in line, folks.

Comments

[acsumama.livejournal.com]

I was eating my goddamn heart out every time I read about a fun park event ...

Huh. I don't think I've ever heard heart-eating-out described from the point of view of the eater.

[tyopsqueene.livejournal.com]

One day we're going to get to have candyfloss the size of our head and ride the coasters until we're sick. I'm determined.

Also, I thought you'd like to know that my SO has now added Abbie's blog to the regular updates on his work-provided-and-only-for-work-or-there-will-be-trouble PDA. I dunno, it amused me.

[limax.livejournal.com]

I have a roller-coaster riding buddy in my daughter now. She's not ready for ones that go upside-down, and she's not quite big enough for the more extreme coasters, but we're having fun.

I hope that many happy days of riding coasters comes your way soon. Have fun this weekend!

[desultor.livejournal.com]

canobie?? why did no one tell me?!

not that it would have mattered. i'm going home tomorrow for a week. but still.

much ado last night was fun. i forgot before i headed over there that my friend is one of the ensemble in it. but i got to see her afterwards, and that was nice. regarding the males in the cast....three words: tight leather pants.

Keith

[(Anonymous)]

Have a butt-kickin' day at Canobie. Hope the Cannonball is running good!

[spatch]

I guess there's a first time for everything, eh?

[spatch]

Are you on the T@F mailing list? I know Lisa made a few announcements on it regarding potential Canobie trips since at least the beginning of Tech Week. She's been kinda gung-ho about going. The rest of us are trying to muster up the same level of enthusiasm.

All I have to hear is "Yankee Cannonball" and I'm good to go vroom let's go NOW

[spatch]

Abbie's is work-related, sure. Uh, he's related to work because he doesn't.
Well, not unless you call peeing on comic books work. Which I don't. Doesn't seem like much effort.

You give me a ring the next time you're on the correct side of the Atlantic and we simply will have to make time for the coasters-n-candyfloss. For serious. And if we go to Busch Gardens Williamsburg, you can laugh at the representations of Merrie Olde Englande where everybody speaks with bad Cockney accents cor blimey do wot guvnor!

[desultor.livejournal.com]

mmmm, no.

lisa?

cannonball, is that the one that looks like it's falling apart?

[spatch]

Bite your tongue, o something-something one! The Yankee Cannonball is well-built. They retracked it a few years ago and it was running great last year.

Do I gotta give the "If it don't shake it'll break" lecture in wooden coaster construction design again?

[desultor.livejournal.com]

shake? SHAKE?! it's like it has "the shaking palsy" (parkinson's, according to dr james parkinson who first described the disease around the time of the industrial revolution)! it shakes like _that_ is it's job, instead of going around the track.

of course, this was more than a few years ago that i was on it, so maybe it's improved.

[alfie1981.livejournal.com]

I love the Yankee Cannonball! It is one of my favorite coasters. Half the joy is wondering whether it will still be standing by the end of the ride. I am so sad I am missing it.

[spatch]

Wooden coasters tend to have a lot more give than their steel counterparts. That's a normal and natural thing. The forces gotta go somewhere and it's better for the structure to shake than to stand rigid. Wood won't like that for too much.

The Cannonball was running great today. Lines were manageable cause of the rains beforehand, and we had a good time.