Random Thought for Thursday 7/22/10

Sometimes I think that I'm the inspiration for the phrase "too clever for your own good" (part 4).

Take my insistence on wearing a green long-underwear shirt to Six Flags one warm summer day in my youth in the nineties. My friends told me I would be too warm (the whole group went on this trip -- we were too disorganized to be a gang, too white to be a posse, and too worried about word association to be a clan -- of course, that would have been with a 'C' and not a 'K'). But I insisted that there was always a cool breeze off the ocean, and since we were off to Six Flags NJ, I'd be just fine as I was (thank you very much).

As soon as we hit the noon hour, I was drenched in sweat and was forced to buy clothes at the Six Flags gift shop so that I didn't die of heat stroke. In addition to having to deal with the fact that the green dyes of the long john shirt had now seeped into the pores of my arms, turning them some odd sickly color, I also had to wear the wife-beater I had just purchased with the amusement park logo of that season on it. My friends, only too happy to put me in my place for having to have listened to my stubbornness earlier in the day, would perform a call and response routine for the rest of the day. One would yell "WANT MORE" (on the front of my new purchase) ... and another would holler out what was on the back -- "NEED MORE". Much to my "delight", that exchange will still happen at random times to this very day (some twenty years later).

SEABREEZE IS MORE THAN AN ASTRINGENT:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/ocean/seabreezes.htm

ALTHOUGH THIS SAYS IT IS DISCONTINUED!:
http://www.medshopexpress.com/039541.html

WANT MORE SIX FLAGS HISTORY? NEED MORE SIX FLAGS INFO?:
http://investors.sixflags.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=61629&p=irol-homeprofile

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 7/21/10

Rollercoaster Round-Robin.

Used in a amusement park theme week sentence: "I don't pay dues to the club, I'm not a card carrying member, I don't have any favorites as one of my tattoos and I've never bought a picture of me with my hands in the air going past the flash on one of them (has anyone ever seen anyone do anything other than just look at how goofy they are with those shots?) -- but as I age, I do think the best thing about places like Hersheypark and Cedar Point is to simply ignore all others and employ the strategy of doing a rollercoaster round-robin."

So at Hershey -- that means the circuit of Comet-Looper-GreatBear-Sidewinder-StormRunner-Wildcat. (And, since I haven't been there in a few years, apparently I'm missing Fahrenheit!?) And, at Cedar Point, it has to be a multi-day trip to go round to Corkscrew-IronDragon-Magnum-Mantis-Maverick-Magnum-MillenniumForce-Raptor-Magnum-TopThrill-WickedTwister-Magnum (can you tell which one is my favorite there?).

[Warning -- The following people should not do a rollercoaster round-robin: those who are pregnant, those with heart conditions, those with serious back problems, those subject to motion sickness, those with other health problems that may make them more vulnerable to injury and those under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Also, loose articles are not permitted. Cameras, keys, loose shoes, purses, etc. should be held by a non-rider. And ... you must be this tall to ride a rollerscoaster round-robin.]

HERSHEYPARK COASTERS:
http://www.hersheypark.com/rides/results.php?rh=99&pa=99&rt=1

AMERICA's ROLLER COAST:
http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/coasters/index.cfm

MAYBE PREGGERS CAN RIDE AFTER ALL:
http://www.helium.com/items/1101482-is-safe-to-ride-rollercoasters-while-pregnant

Random Tune for Tuesday 7/20/10

So I wanted to find Hersheypark Happy ( ... Hersheypark glad ... so many things to see and do ... good times to be had) but alas, I was stymied by you-tube (I think it was the first time I couldn't find what I was looking for -- although I could find that song by U2 or Cher if I wanted to). That would have let me spread the love around multiple amusement parks during this theme week -- but instead I'll have to go back to the Six Flags well and post this clip of the "we like to party" tune that they've used the last few years (this one with shots of various roller coasters from across the country).

OLD MEN LIKE TO DANCE TO THIS, IF SIX FLAGS IS TO BE BELIEVED!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCOdPJgeTrw

Random Memorial for Monday 7/19/10

Gone but not forgotten: regular trips to Knoebels from my youth.

My first glimpses of freedom -- when the family unit (this was biological father and wife number four with the his, hers and ours kiddie grouping) would get to Knoebels Grove multiple times each summer for picnics, reunions and the like -- and when we were able to go off on our own and enjoy the family-style amusement park (theme week!) on our own accord.

Top 10 memories:

1) learning new pop songs in the Cosmotron (with the air blower working halfway through)
2) finally being old enough to lean off the outside horse to try to catch the gold ring
3) finally being old enough to ride the Satellite (salt and pepper shakers)
4) going on handstamp night and riding the Phoenix over and over again with little waiting
5) riding the sky slide when I was little and holding on (burning the webbing by my thumb)
6) eating in the little space at the top of the circular stairs of the Wharf
7) being scared by the story of the girl who died from turning her flyer car too hard (and you can still see the ribbon in the tree)
8) swimming in the pool one of the few times we did both park and pool
9) riding the train out into the woods to see the squirrels eating the corn cobs
10) jumping out of my seat every single time in the haunted house running into the engine at the very end

My trips to Elysburg to run around "America's largest free admission park", you are missed.

THAT's THEIR TAG LINE:
http://www.knoebels.com/index.asp

A COMIC VERSION OF YOURS, MINE AND OURS (THE ORIGINAL WITH LUCILLE BALL):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063829/

IF WIKIPEDIA IS TO BE BELIEVED, IT WAS ONCE PEGGY's PARK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoebels

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 7/18/10

What Chicago is talking about this (Amusement Park theme) week:

Let me just say --sometimes this thing just writes itself. Heavily featured in the news this week -- an incident at Six Flags in nearby Gurnee where Porky Pig was attacked and beaten about the Pig Ears 10 to 15 times. The culprits -- employees of the theme park who were there on their day off. The most surprising part of the news (not the jokes about tenderizing the pork that I won't restate here ... not the sign-off used by many news people reporting the story: th-th-th-th-that's all folks ) -- but the fact that mascot attacks happen once or twice a year. And I know I railed against gang violence at theme parks in my soapbox, but I have to admit I might find it hard to resist a chuckle at the cartoonish aspect of it all. And I would even consider it performance art if, instead of the beatdown, they simply would have smashed a giant drum over his(her) head a la the ending of the cartoons from my childhood. Or, alternatively, I might have snapped and intervened, screaming "Bacon is not to be abused!" as I joined the melee.

PORKY PIG ATTACKED BY CO-WORKERS:
http://www.thrillnetwork.com/news/3941/porky-pig-attacked-at-great-america.html

MASCOT-ON-MASCOT VIOLENCE - FUNNY OR NOT?:
http://weirdnews.about.com/od/othersports/a/MascotOnMascot.htm

TH-TH-TH-TH-THAT's ALL FOLKS IMAGE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thats_all_folks_cl%C3%A0ssic_-Daffy_Comando_1943_-_amb_porky_(2).png

Random Soapbox for Saturday 7/17/10

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

[And, before I do, theme week alert! For the next few days, Amusement Parks will feature into my posts.]

... with the origin of the word "amusement" springing from the need for any diversion designed to distract medieval folks from warfare, it seems like visiting a theme park nowadays and risking being caught in gang battles seems to eviscerate the true intent of that qualifier. Such parks are the backdrops for key chapters in my life: my older sisters using a day at DorneyPark as a way to try to get our parents back together shortly after their separation (sounds like a Disney/Nick movie idea, no?), frequent visits to Knoebels to escape my youth (more about that on Monday), the tried and true adolescent rites of passage at the ever expanding and mostly sweet smelling Hersheypark (that SuperDooperLooper lagoon being the main exception), and several destination vacations with various groups of friends over the years to Six Flags, Cedar Point and Walt Disney World.

To think that those long waits in line (a problem in its own right, solved creatively with the caste system recently launched at many locations -- let the rich folk pay more to jump in front of the poor masses) become a breeding ground for rival gang factions to flash signs, hoot and holler and break out in violence destroys the chance for others to truly enjoy the experience is disheartening. (I can recall one visit one summer when I learned sign language from the group behind us in line -- a project that I would not dare undertake today for fear I flash a signal unintentionally.)

Courtesy of the internet, follow the links below for stories that are disturbing in how opposite of amusing they are -- and then, let's take back our public social areas! Let's return to the days when cries were from kids who weren't tall enough to ride a certain ride and screams were from children with rot gut from eating too many sweets -- not the sounds of the wounded young-uns proving their affiliation and earning their teardrop tattoos!

THIS IS NOT A NEW PROBLEM (1985):
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-06-22/local/me-2100_1_flags-magic-mountain

ALTHOUGH CALIFORNIA SURE DOES COME UP A LOT:
http://www.knowgangs.com/gangs_news/

AS DOES SIX FLAGS:
http://shoryuken.com/f3/six-flags-selling-its-theme-parks-sad-day-115886/

POLICE BLOG THAT COMPARES PARKS TO FEASTING AT WATERING HOLE:
http://www.policemag.com/Blog/Gangs/Print/Story/2010/03/Gangs-at-the-Amusement-Park-Turning-Fun-Zones-into-Shooting-Galleries.aspx