Avohkah Tamer

Okay, so as a few of you know already, I went specifically to the Six Flags Great America park the other day, because it was closest to my area (which I will not tell to you. =P). I got there probably somewhere around 9:30 AM or so, and stayed until... waitaminute... 9:30 PM!!! Oo... Okay, readers, I literally didn't notice that until I typed this. =P I didn't get photos, unfortunately (you aren't allowed to have a backpack or anything with you on the rides, they make you leave it at the beginning of the line in lockers or a friend's hands) I went on a lot of rides, mostly the coasters, throughout the day. Some of them multiple times. Almost all the experiences of I absolutely loved. (I'm not a coaster person, personally. I only got into them late April and early May on my Disney World trip. When I say "got into them", I mean went on each about 7 times per park day on average. =P) I think I'll start with some of the worst and go to the best, though this list may be slightly hard to order considering I liked a whole bunch equally. Readers, don't take this list as the official countdown list by me, I'm just trying to make a list. The Coasters The Dark Knight coaster This brand new ride was VERY surprisingly not very enjoyable to me. I had assumed, what with all the hype, and the extremely long wait, and the (very cool) theatrics before the ride, that it might actually be a really thrilling ride! I was wrong... I'll type a long description/review of this ride, since many are unfamiliar with it, and its features are not incredibly well-known: The ride starts out with you going in a room watching an HD TV showing a press conference With Harvey Dent, talking about how he plans to rid Gotham of organized crime. After a reporter asks about the new calling card showing up, a Joker card, at the scene of elaborate crimes, the video fades, and you hear maniacal (obviously the Joker's) laughter. The video starts getting warped and mixed up, saying things like "The people are... hooligans... The people are... wrong..." and more laughter. It all ends with clips of other tapes getting mixed with the press conference tape, producing phrases similar to "Batman... Won't you come out and play with me?", and faux light-projected graffiti showing Joker phrases all over the walls suddenly appearing. The video ends with the quote "Why so serious..." and an alarm blares, telling you to head to the "Gotham emergency transport" or something like that, I couldn't hear very well. You walk down a long tunnel, coming to the loading dock, which looks kinda like the elevated trains from the movies, except without a roof and each only housing 4 people (2 rows of 2). That's right, you get in a strange little miniature train-looking thing. Oh, and there are no head restraints whatsoever, something I wasn't expecting. After pulling the lap restraint down, you find yourself going rather slowly through the interior of the building, at first climbing up a long generic roller coaster lift, and then basically winding around past various creepyish Joker crime thingys, like burning buildings with henchmen coming out, or a sign that has a left arrow and the flashing word "LEFT" just before making a sharp right turn. There are a few small drops, but the ride is almost solely turns. The end result is a banged-up head if you can't see in the dark well enough to know what's next, and a very disappointed "I just waited in line for an hour for THIS?!?" look on your face. I don't recommend this ride to anyone except those who are obsessed with the movie (I'm going to LOVE the movie, I'm just not obsessed), can see well in the dark, and don't like very exciting thrill rides. Iron Wolf This is a pretty unique coaster in that you stand up, kinda sitting on a bicycle-type seat while riding it, and it actually inverts (goes upside-down) a couple times. It's a really neat concept, but the ride is quite painful if you either don't know how to best adjust your "seat", or have ears that can feel pain. Okay, I think I literally bruised my ears on this ride. The outer ear, not the eardrum from noise. This ride bangs your head back and forth between the thick shoulder restraints so much everyone I noticed was holding their bright red ears in pain coming out. I imagine this ride would be very fun if I either had softer pads for my ears to hit while riding sharp turns, or if they had a different way entirely of having the shoulder restraints attached. Batman: The Ride No, I'm not talking about The Dark Knight coaster again, I'm talking about the older ride. This ride is essentially suspended chairs hanging from a roller coaster track, but it goes upside-down a few times and has some quite fun turns. I sorta enjoyed this ride, and yet again only have a couple problems. First, after a long wait it's a quite short ride. Second, MY EARS!!! =P This ride has almost identical shoulder restraints as Iron Wolf, and actually turns, therefore my ears hurt afterward. It was a shorter ride, so it was bearable, though. I'm beginning to wonder if there are some people with different-shaped ears that don't get banged-up on this ride... The Whizzer This ride has two seats per car (in a line, not perpendicular to the track), with each car capable of holding two people at once (one in another's lap, meant for parents/kids) maximum. I went single in one of those long seats, so the ride felt loose, but I was secure. It starts out going up a spiral instead of a regular lift, but the ride is essentially the same otherwise. No upside-down, but lots of cool banked turns and fast drops. It's the kind of ride I'd try to get my youngest brother (who isn't used to thrill rides yet) to go on, but not the kind I'd ride over and over in a day. The fast banked turns between the trees were quite awesome, though. It looked as if you could reach them as you were going past. It was a decent length of a ride for the wait time. The American Eagle I actually didn't go on this ride, because it was my turn to hold everyone's things while they went on it (It was either that or pay $1 for a one-use locker... ><). From their descriptions after the ride, it was a pretty intense ride, but it was so rickety that your fear of flying off the track is greater than your fear of the upcoming drops. I'm almost glad I didn't go on this ride, and the rest of the youth group actually didn't want to go on it again afterwards. I think if you can overcome the fear of falling off the bumpy track, this ride would be pretty fun. The Viper This all-wooden track was actually not rickety-feeling at all to me. It seems very well-built, with the track interweaving with itself so many times that seeing the track from the outside makes you think the ride is shorter than it really is. It goes up and down over and over when it's not making a banked turn through a narrow opening, and the feeling is quite cool. Everyone in the youth group agreed after the ride that this ride was one of their favorites, with the only con was that it was a little bumpy. Vertical Velocity Ooh, boy. Now we're getting into the FUN rides. =D Vertical velocity is basically a coaster that you're in a hanging seat on, that accelerates rapidly forward and sharply goes up a slight turned track, drops back down the way it came going past the loading platform to another lift that the coaster climbs backwards, with everyone facing down. This repeats 3 times, and eventually brakes to a stop. I found my favorite part facing down on people's heads from reeeeeally high. I was in the very back, you see, and that means I was in the highest car when it went backwards. The turned track when you go forwards is not intense at all, really. I find the most intense part going forwards and down from the backwards position past the loading platform. This is the kind of ride everyone's smiling after, and showing two thumbs up to each other. It's DEFINITELY one I'll go on multiple times next time I go to Six Flags. The Raging Bull The Raging Bull is one of your generic coasters, that doesn't go upside down but has some really neat curves at the high points, and near-sideways banked turns. It was a really nice ride, very smooth and not too intense, and the huge drop at the beginning is very awesome. Oh, also, it's a nice long ride that has a relatively short line (at least while I was there)! It is either second, or tied for first in my favorite coasters at Six Flags list. =P I liked that ride so much, I went on it a total of three times while I was there! Superman Ok, now THIS coaster is really neat! You get in a seat and strap yourself in. When it is about to "take off", the floor goes down and the seats all turn so you're in a "flying" position, facing the ground. After going up a long lift, you go down very fast around turns and swoops, and even doing a really intense vertical loop once! It is really an awesome experience on this ride, but it ends all too short (a little over a minute, I believe). I went on it twice, and I would have gone more if not for the really long lines. I HIGHLY recommend this ride, as it really almost feels like flying. Well, that's all I have to say about the coasters I went on or my group went on! I definitely want to go back to Six Flags before the end of this year, and I have no idea why I hadn't gone since I was six years old. This park is awesome! (Though not as cool in some ways as Disney World. =P) ~

This is my testing having a Blog for the next week. If I like it enough, I may buy Premier! I don't have much time to post right now, and I may or may not post multiple entries per day. Hmm, I guess this lair isn't so secret anymore. Oh, well! Anyhoo, my hobby is to tame various kinds of Rahi, hence my name changes on BZP. I've of course got a "lair" for me and my pets, and I've decided to open it up to BZP members for the next week! Well, today I'm actually headed off to Six Flags with my church youth group for the whole day. It'll be the first time I've gone there since I was, like, six years old, but I think I'll enjoy my time there very much. I might take a bunch of pictures, and if so, I'll try to get them up on Maj Majhost.com either tonight if I can get on, or tomorrow. As for right now, though, I'd probably better go and get ready, they're due to show up at my house to pick me up in a little less than an hour and I'm not ready! =O ~

Hey, I might be able go around the same time as you and meet you there! I live quite close to it! When are you going? ~ Edit: Come to think of it, reply in a PM. I don't want anyone we don't want to to know the scheduling. =P

Ha, these aren't random. I got a list containing some of these in an e-mail a long time ago. I'll give it a try. And no, I won't peek. *cracks knuckles* 1) How long did the Hundred Years' War last? That would be a hundred and sixteen years. I didn't have that one in the e-mail, I learned it in History class. =) 2) Which country makes Panama hats? *slaps forehead* I KNOW this one... I'll guess Ecuador, but I'm not sure that's right. 3) From which animal do we get cat gut? Ooh, can't remember. I know it's not cats (yay), but I'm not sure. 4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? That would be November. Actually, the Revolution took place in October in the Old Style calendar, which was November in the New Style. Thus, they celebrate in November now. 5) What is a camel's hair brush made of? It's either squirrel or another rodent. Since I don't have any ideas what a different rodent would be that they use, I'll say squirrel. 6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal? Sorry, don't know that one. 7) What was King George VI's first name? Albert. That was also in my History textbook. 8) What color is a purple finch? This one was in the e-mail. I believe the answer was red. 9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from? Either Australia or New Zealand... 10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane? Either red or orange, I'll say red. I'll check my answers and post them in the next comment. ~ Deadpool forgives you for not knowing blog rules. Ooh, wow, I did better than I'd expected! 7/10 right, unless you count #9 wrong because of my double answer. ~ Sorry if you aren't happy with my double post here, I'm not sure if that rule applies in blog comments.... ><

=OOO WHY DIDN'T YOU ASK ME!??! =P Buy. A. Wii. So many awesome games, and so many awesome games yet to come! Oh, and if Traku has some money left over after buying the console and accessories he needs, a DS is fun too. =) Oh, also... Yeah, true, but the gaming experience will be vastly different on each console. I prefer the Wii version for its motion capabilities mostly, but also the other differences. ~

Ooh! Me too! I'll pass on the avatar and banner for now, I'm getting some made. ~

Very touching song, I hear it all the time on my local K-Love. ~

Well, he helped Jack Sparrow, who's cooler! =P ~

I certainly hope it's not Will Turner from PotC, he's cool! ~

Ah, thanks. I thought so, but I wasn't sure, I only heard that somewhere. ~

*ups view count to 45* I also like your XKCD picture, it's so true. ~ (who's using these comments to say stuff he otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity to say)

Cause I AM A PIRATE! and it cracked me up and is about as amusing as Caramelldansen. :3 Hey, me too! *coughpiratesofthecaribbeanonlinecough* I think I know where the audio came from, but I'm not sure. Where do you think it came from? *hugs the strange little animation* Oh, I meant to say this, I love the picture of William to the side with his bucket, it cracks me up every time I see it. =P ~

XD I've seen that before! What gave you the idea to post this? ~

Aww, it expired! ~

Wow, I'm semi-surprised the Brawl release was so popular, even though I know how much the game owns. I certainly hope they'll have it at the store when I get there. =P There aren't that many avid gamers in my area, though, so I think I'm good. When I get back I'll let you know my code, but I agree with you; I don't really want to connect until I've had practice and unlocked some characters. I'm semi-good with Melee on a Gamecube we borrowed for several weeks, so I may want to go grab some Wavebird controllers (or similar controller), or just plain classic controllers; as you said, the Wiimote and Nunchuk controls are awkward at first. *runs off to new Walmart Supercenter a few blocks away* ~ EDIT: Typofix, and I need to mention your links for Joanna Dark and Dedede (in the Brawl fantasy draft, of course) both lead to Joanna's entry.

Oh, of COURSE I'm getting it. =DDD Oh, also, as soon as I get it, I'll PM you with my collective friend codes. I decided to wait and just send them after I got Brawl. I have MKDS and Diamond too, but I don't know how much I'd be able to do seeing as my DS just decided it greatly dislikes all WiFi today. >.< ~ Quick edit: Ah, I just remembered how the release is also on the night of the start of Daylight Savings Time, meaning one fewer hour of sleep. With school tests and junk coming up, I doubt I'll do the midnight release. Oh, well.

Aww, that's so sad. I've lost cats before, so I know how you feel. I'm surprised you didn't mention that in our IMs, I love cats! ~

Wow! No one here mentioned that (at least on Firefox -- I'm too lazy to try elsewhere) [shift]+[Enter] does the ".net" extension, and Ctrl+Shift+Enter does ".org". I've done #2, but it's generally discovered, so I don't do it often. I'm the Lazy Guru!!! =P ~