|
Not the MSM you're used to |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Me e-mail
GreyMatter Archives Blogroll < # Homepage ? > |
February 22nd, 2005
My sister and I were of two minds when it came to the rides. Being the older, more reckless boy, I wanted to ride every roller coaster in the park. My sister, being four years younger (and about 5 at the time) wanted to go on all the princess, froo-froo rides. Since we were irreconcilable on the issue, my parents did the reasonable thing. They split us up, Dad taking me and Mom taking sister. We agreed to meet back in front of a shop after two hours. Near the end of our two hours I begged dad to go on the Space Rockets. This was the ride (since torn down, I'm told) that had a spinning rocket from which came several small rockets on arms. The arms went up and down as the central rocket spun around. We got in the elevator - copied directly from the elevators in the moon rocket tower in Florida - and rode the one flight up to wait in line. After the line we (well, I) ran to the rockets and got in. As soon as the ride started I jerked the control up, taking us up as far as we could go. We went up, down, up, down, Dad encouraging me the whole way. I think this was where the seed was planted to learn to fly. We went up, down, up, down, up, down - Or at least we tried to. Suddenly we were stuck. "Push it down, son." "I am, it won't go down!" We went around and around for another minute or two. I was enjoying the flying, Dad was enjoying the humor of it. Then the controller came on the intercom. "Please lower your rockets and prepare for landing." Well, we were still stuck, so up we stayed. Eventually the ride stopped, with us suspended in midair. "Please lower your rocket", the obviously frustrated controller called to us. We shouted down that we couldn't, since the arm was stuck. No matter how we jiggled it, no movement occurred. Eventually the hydraulic valve was released, or maybe someone got out the ratchet. But when it finally came down it did so at an agonizingly slow rate. Everyone in line was peeved at us, but we enjoyed the ride. Overall the excitement probably lasted no longer than about 10 minutes, but it was the most memorable 10 minutes I've ever had at Disneyland. So now I hear there is a Hong Kong Disneyland. Well, I hope their Tomorrowland rides are a bit better maintained than the ones here. Aw, crap - Adam Plumondore is dead. He was one of the snipers in Kim du Toit's Walter/Adam Fund. Snipers are tremendous force multipliers in their individual units, for both combat and morale. It is a sad moment when one is lost, for it saps the morale of both his family and the unit. Fruit Salad - There's two new service medals for Dept. of Defense personnel, The Afghanistan Campaign Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal. They join the GWOT Expeditionary Medal and the GWOT Service Medal. As usual, the Air Force is on the ball when it comes to updating their website. Too bad the other services aren't as quick. Dreams - Last night I was stopped by a cop for running a red light in a U-Haul. We had a discussion about insurance. No Clinton this time, thankfully. The word study is interesting. In the Bible there are two primarily mentioned types of people who have dreams - prophets and kings. The only exception to this is the two guys in Genesis 40 - the cupbearer and the baker. More later. |
Toys |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This site is copyright 2001-2005 by Matthew Maynard. All rights reserved. All your trademarks, copyrights, insignia, and other distinguishing characteristics are belong to you. Sharks in suits make for good joke material. Don't leave a mess on your way out. Links to external websites are valid at the time of article authoring and may decay as time goes by. But we'll always have Paris. The opinions on this site are those of their author and do not represent anyone else's views. That is, unless and until you agree with them, at which point they become yours as well. Opinions expressed in the comments belong to the comment poster and may be edited for content. Play nice with others, since you want them to play nice with you. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Adventures
from Disneyland - When I was a boy my family would
semi-infrequently vacation in Disneyland. The trips were very
memorable, especially after they installed Star Tours. The most
memorable was the last...
