the curvature of the earth
I just realized that I never made an entry about the six flags trip.
well it was freaking amazing. we of course were required to do work while in the park, it was like 50 multiple choice questions that all required shown calculations, and we had to use this cheap force sensor, if you want to even call it that, on 4 required rides: carousel, batman, nitro, and great american scream machine. the sensor was like .. a makeshift plastic tube marked with tickers by hand with the aid of a red sharpie, .. it had plastic stands on either end, and inside hanging from one of the ends was a spring with what appeared to be half a bullet with a round disc to serve for reading the tickers when were feeling force on coasters. in other words, it was a plastic piece of crap that served absolutely no purpose.
anyways, my group consisted of me, george, gwen, tom schu, jess, and katie hutch. having schu on our group meant that we didn't have to do any work .. in fact, he opted to do all the work. I didn't even touch the papers all day long. and when I asked other groups about their day, it seemed as though our group got to go on the most coasters - so thank youuu tom! he got 95% of it done when we stopped for lunch and checked around with other groups to clarify answers.
so first we went to the carousel to collect data, since it was in the middle of the park. we had decided on the bus that the first ride we'd hit before the lines got ridiculous was el toro, so we sent gwen and katie to snag a spot in line while we counted 5 revolutions on the carousel. despite george not wanting to go on it, I forced him. I will force anyone and everyone to go on this ride because it is just so freaking awesome. so I sat with george and when we started going up the incline to reach the round-about (as I call it), it picked up and we went up pretty fast, which I didn't quite remember last time. so I was like, "oh crap this is going a lot faster than I remember before!" and george was like, "WHAT!?" .. and his picture was even funnier than sawin's.
then we decided to hit scream machine since it was nearby and another required ride. we got so incredibly lucky with this one; the line was nonexistent, and we were in line on the platform when I looked over and was like, "holy shit, look at the line guys!" - it had just appeared after we got there and was pretty long. it was my first time on scream machine and meh, it was alright. we wanted to go on superman but the wait was too long and we were hungry. afterwards we kind of wasted time and went on the twister, which is hard to explain what kind of ride it is. we waited too long for it and then the woman controlling it ha to deal with a complaint from somebody. then we hit neal's for lunch, where I just got some fries 'cause I didn't want to spill anything on more rides - but the fries were all undercooked and stuff, so they weren't that great .. tom got most the problems done, and we were off to batman. I'm not sure if there's much to say about batman, other than I forced george on this one too because it's my job in life to convince everyone that floorless coasters are infinitely better than traditional ones. my job was done right, and george enjoyed it. next up was nitro, which I skipped out on this summer because sawin was a baby and didn't want to ride it. so the line was long but it seemed to move fast. I was intrigued by the style of seating and found it to be innovative and comfortable. the ride of course is a whopping 3 minutes, but at least a minute of it was climbing the first hill. nitro was alright, it was an easy ride I'd say, but enjoyable.
so we had done all our work and had a couple hours to spare. I was going to ride teacups with george but I had a greater calling intimidating me all the while: kingda ka. I didn't ride it before out of fear and because of sawin, once again. so gwen and I chose each other to ride with, and I can't think of anyone better in that park to ride it with, she was hilarious. the wait was 2 (and a half?) hours, but it was incredibly worth it. I later found it worth half my face sunburned with senior portraits the very next day. there was a really funny and nice couple in front of us, in their late 20s or early 30s I would assume, and so we struck conversation with them while we waited. they lived 20 minutes away, they explained, and they've ridden kingda ka "at least 25 times." the guy found it hilarious that every time kingda ka took off at 128mph, I would subconsciously say, "wow!" or something along those lines of fearful excitement. "I can't wait to hear her version of 'wow' when she's actually on the coaster!" so we waited and waited and waited some more and we finally got up to the platform where it was incredibly cold for some reason, and I was shivering, thus attracting more jokes. the couple had gotten such a kick out of my behavior that they let me and gwen ahead of them in line, wanting to see my reaction when we got back to the station. fortunately, it ended up that we got to go on at the same time; we were in the same car, gwen and I in front and them right behind us. as we waited on the track, with the long stretch playing tricks on our eyes laid before us, I asked them their names and formally introduced myself and gwen. I actually forget their names now .. the woman was jaimie I believe. and then we took off - my cheeks didn't feel the way my dad had explained his did, you know, flying next to your face and flopping and stuff. we shot up the 456 feet, and on the way I was praying I wouldn't lose a contact or something. the very apex of the coaster was incredible - it's a shame the ride's not facing the park - but the trees were dark and merged for miles until they met the misty fog that was the humidity that hung over the earth that day, fading into the sky encompassing. I swore I could see the curvature of the earth, in that instant, but no one believed me, haha. gwen had screamed, "oh my f***ing God!" .. the spiral down was my favorite, although I don't remember it that well because I was still captured by what I'd seen at the top. the hump, though, was terrible and painful (although hilarious when gwen apologized, screaming, "I love you God!!"). the couple had warned us to keep our heads back, and I tried, but I suffered one of the worst headaches of my life after I got off the ride. my brain rattled in the broken cage of my skull and was screaming agony through my ears that all I could do was hold my head for a good 3 minutes waiting for katie and tom to ride and meet us on the overpass.
after kingda ka, gwen and I went to see how long the wait was for medusa, which we didn't even have to ask for - the line just looked too damn long. so I called george and he begged me to keep my promise of riding the teacups with him, which of course I wanted to do, too. they were eating sandwiches, george said, he and sawin. so gwen and I figured some dip'n'dots would do nicely. we got our ice cream and george called asking us where we were, so we met up at the teacups and he urged me to ride immediately, since we were running out of time. I had taken a few spoonfuls of my ice cream and an additional 4 before getting in line, leaving gwen to eat hers and guard mine. george, sawin, and I watched a round to determine which cup was the fastest, a practice inherited at disney world while waiting with my dad and sister. they boys bragged, saying they had been riding these damn things for the past 2 HOURS, while the rest of us were waiting for/riding kingda ka. so we decided that blue 11 was the fastest, and sawin snagged it. I persisted that I help spin the wheel but they said I'd just get in the way - which I suppose I did, so I gave up after trying. let me tell you, ice cream was a mistake before riding teacups with the boys - I swear I felt it in the back of my throat. never in my life had I spun so ferociously on a teacup - the force impelled my body to the point of crippling my limbs for the time being .. I at one point was lying down in the teacup next to george, unable to pick myself up. they tried to get me to look at the ceiling, lmfao. I had to hold my head up with my arms or else my neck would have snapped, no lie.
and that was the last thrill of the day. we walked back to the entrance of the park to meet up with kerwin and everyone else. once I saw him, mr kerwin was like, "kathy, where were you, I was waiting at el toro for you all day!" and instantly I wished I had gotten to ride it with him. I told him later that I wanted to ask for his cell number so we could arrange to meet there, but he was too busy that morning for me to ask. he said he would have done it, too. ah well. gwen and I decided to go shopping while waiting for everyone to arrive, so she got a couple things for her siblings and I got a bugs bunny for joey, which I almost kept for myself, it was so soft.
the bus ride home was loads more fun than the ride there, I must say. my face hurt, though.
well it was freaking amazing. we of course were required to do work while in the park, it was like 50 multiple choice questions that all required shown calculations, and we had to use this cheap force sensor, if you want to even call it that, on 4 required rides: carousel, batman, nitro, and great american scream machine. the sensor was like .. a makeshift plastic tube marked with tickers by hand with the aid of a red sharpie, .. it had plastic stands on either end, and inside hanging from one of the ends was a spring with what appeared to be half a bullet with a round disc to serve for reading the tickers when were feeling force on coasters. in other words, it was a plastic piece of crap that served absolutely no purpose.
anyways, my group consisted of me, george, gwen, tom schu, jess, and katie hutch. having schu on our group meant that we didn't have to do any work .. in fact, he opted to do all the work. I didn't even touch the papers all day long. and when I asked other groups about their day, it seemed as though our group got to go on the most coasters - so thank youuu tom! he got 95% of it done when we stopped for lunch and checked around with other groups to clarify answers.
so first we went to the carousel to collect data, since it was in the middle of the park. we had decided on the bus that the first ride we'd hit before the lines got ridiculous was el toro, so we sent gwen and katie to snag a spot in line while we counted 5 revolutions on the carousel. despite george not wanting to go on it, I forced him. I will force anyone and everyone to go on this ride because it is just so freaking awesome. so I sat with george and when we started going up the incline to reach the round-about (as I call it), it picked up and we went up pretty fast, which I didn't quite remember last time. so I was like, "oh crap this is going a lot faster than I remember before!" and george was like, "WHAT!?" .. and his picture was even funnier than sawin's.
then we decided to hit scream machine since it was nearby and another required ride. we got so incredibly lucky with this one; the line was nonexistent, and we were in line on the platform when I looked over and was like, "holy shit, look at the line guys!" - it had just appeared after we got there and was pretty long. it was my first time on scream machine and meh, it was alright. we wanted to go on superman but the wait was too long and we were hungry. afterwards we kind of wasted time and went on the twister, which is hard to explain what kind of ride it is. we waited too long for it and then the woman controlling it ha to deal with a complaint from somebody. then we hit neal's for lunch, where I just got some fries 'cause I didn't want to spill anything on more rides - but the fries were all undercooked and stuff, so they weren't that great .. tom got most the problems done, and we were off to batman. I'm not sure if there's much to say about batman, other than I forced george on this one too because it's my job in life to convince everyone that floorless coasters are infinitely better than traditional ones. my job was done right, and george enjoyed it. next up was nitro, which I skipped out on this summer because sawin was a baby and didn't want to ride it. so the line was long but it seemed to move fast. I was intrigued by the style of seating and found it to be innovative and comfortable. the ride of course is a whopping 3 minutes, but at least a minute of it was climbing the first hill. nitro was alright, it was an easy ride I'd say, but enjoyable.
so we had done all our work and had a couple hours to spare. I was going to ride teacups with george but I had a greater calling intimidating me all the while: kingda ka. I didn't ride it before out of fear and because of sawin, once again. so gwen and I chose each other to ride with, and I can't think of anyone better in that park to ride it with, she was hilarious. the wait was 2 (and a half?) hours, but it was incredibly worth it. I later found it worth half my face sunburned with senior portraits the very next day. there was a really funny and nice couple in front of us, in their late 20s or early 30s I would assume, and so we struck conversation with them while we waited. they lived 20 minutes away, they explained, and they've ridden kingda ka "at least 25 times." the guy found it hilarious that every time kingda ka took off at 128mph, I would subconsciously say, "wow!" or something along those lines of fearful excitement. "I can't wait to hear her version of 'wow' when she's actually on the coaster!" so we waited and waited and waited some more and we finally got up to the platform where it was incredibly cold for some reason, and I was shivering, thus attracting more jokes. the couple had gotten such a kick out of my behavior that they let me and gwen ahead of them in line, wanting to see my reaction when we got back to the station. fortunately, it ended up that we got to go on at the same time; we were in the same car, gwen and I in front and them right behind us. as we waited on the track, with the long stretch playing tricks on our eyes laid before us, I asked them their names and formally introduced myself and gwen. I actually forget their names now .. the woman was jaimie I believe. and then we took off - my cheeks didn't feel the way my dad had explained his did, you know, flying next to your face and flopping and stuff. we shot up the 456 feet, and on the way I was praying I wouldn't lose a contact or something. the very apex of the coaster was incredible - it's a shame the ride's not facing the park - but the trees were dark and merged for miles until they met the misty fog that was the humidity that hung over the earth that day, fading into the sky encompassing. I swore I could see the curvature of the earth, in that instant, but no one believed me, haha. gwen had screamed, "oh my f***ing God!" .. the spiral down was my favorite, although I don't remember it that well because I was still captured by what I'd seen at the top. the hump, though, was terrible and painful (although hilarious when gwen apologized, screaming, "I love you God!!"). the couple had warned us to keep our heads back, and I tried, but I suffered one of the worst headaches of my life after I got off the ride. my brain rattled in the broken cage of my skull and was screaming agony through my ears that all I could do was hold my head for a good 3 minutes waiting for katie and tom to ride and meet us on the overpass.
after kingda ka, gwen and I went to see how long the wait was for medusa, which we didn't even have to ask for - the line just looked too damn long. so I called george and he begged me to keep my promise of riding the teacups with him, which of course I wanted to do, too. they were eating sandwiches, george said, he and sawin. so gwen and I figured some dip'n'dots would do nicely. we got our ice cream and george called asking us where we were, so we met up at the teacups and he urged me to ride immediately, since we were running out of time. I had taken a few spoonfuls of my ice cream and an additional 4 before getting in line, leaving gwen to eat hers and guard mine. george, sawin, and I watched a round to determine which cup was the fastest, a practice inherited at disney world while waiting with my dad and sister. they boys bragged, saying they had been riding these damn things for the past 2 HOURS, while the rest of us were waiting for/riding kingda ka. so we decided that blue 11 was the fastest, and sawin snagged it. I persisted that I help spin the wheel but they said I'd just get in the way - which I suppose I did, so I gave up after trying. let me tell you, ice cream was a mistake before riding teacups with the boys - I swear I felt it in the back of my throat. never in my life had I spun so ferociously on a teacup - the force impelled my body to the point of crippling my limbs for the time being .. I at one point was lying down in the teacup next to george, unable to pick myself up. they tried to get me to look at the ceiling, lmfao. I had to hold my head up with my arms or else my neck would have snapped, no lie.
and that was the last thrill of the day. we walked back to the entrance of the park to meet up with kerwin and everyone else. once I saw him, mr kerwin was like, "kathy, where were you, I was waiting at el toro for you all day!" and instantly I wished I had gotten to ride it with him. I told him later that I wanted to ask for his cell number so we could arrange to meet there, but he was too busy that morning for me to ask. he said he would have done it, too. ah well. gwen and I decided to go shopping while waiting for everyone to arrive, so she got a couple things for her siblings and I got a bugs bunny for joey, which I almost kept for myself, it was so soft.
the bus ride home was loads more fun than the ride there, I must say. my face hurt, though.