http://www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/blogs/marcus/ ThrillNetwork is an amusement park and theme park resource and information site as well as a community. ThrillNetwork is also dedicated to amusement park, roller coaster, and thrill ride enthusiasts, complete with news, special features, forums, a database, and a section for Roller Coaster Tycoon and No Limits players. en Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:09:14 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/blogs/marcus/ http://www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/blogs/marcus/when-reason-gives-way-panic-38/ Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:24:45 GMT Working at several amusements over many years has introduced me to some very interesting people and left me with some very unusual experiences. However there is no story I like to tell more than the one that made me appreciate being alive. Last year, I began working at Cedar Point for my 4th... Working at several amusements over many years has introduced me to some very interesting people and left me with some very unusual experiences. However there is no story I like to tell more than the one that made me appreciate being alive.

Last year, I began working at Cedar Point for my 4th season in early March. My friend, whom I had worked with over the past seasons, was nice enough to let stay in his employee housing apartment. The apartment was on the corner of the building, on the second floor, right next to the last street that intersects Cedar Point Dr. before you hit the causeway. We each had our own bunkbed which laid parallel to each other and perpendicular to the wall with the window that looked out over the street.

I did not sleep well the first few nights I spent in the apartment. The noise made by each passing car would awake me until eventually I developed a tolerance for it.

One night I had fallen into a deep sleep and sudden awoke to the sound of an approaching siren.

"Ughhh...Ambulance." I whispered.

I rotated from on my back, to my side, and envied my roommate on the other bed who was still sound asleep.

I began to close my eyes, trying to fall asleep, though the oncoming siren got louder and louder. Now we all have an certain expectation of how loud a car siren is supposed to be. Even though the window to our bedroom was slightly cracked, this siren was much louder than any siren I have ever heard to the point I reopened my eyes and thought,

"Something is wrong."

I tried to calm myself by assessing the situation with some reason.

"Ok, maybe it's just a firetruck with a really, really, really loud siren."

But my anxiety and paranoia felt differently and it wasn't helping the once pitch black room was now illuminated with bright red strobing lights covering the walls. At some point, the sirens became so loud, and walls so bright red, that I full out felt I was in the middle of something much worse.

Paranoia-"IT'S THE BOMB ALERT! I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!"
Reason-"No, it can't be. It's just a firetruck. Sandusky doesn't even have a Bomb Alert."
Paranoia-"OR MAYBE THEY INSTALLED ONE THIS YEAR AND NOW TERRORISTS ARE ATTACKING CEDAR POINT!"
Reason-"No way, if that were true, your roommate who has lived here for 5 years would know about it and would..not...be...slee.

At that exact moment I noticed my roommates eyes were wide open looking back at me. I watched him jump out of his bed with a combination of fear and panic across his face.

"OMFG I'M ABOUT TO DIE! RUN FOR IT!!!"

My friend ran for the door and I jumped out of my bed right behind him. I started covering my face waiting for the huge blast that was about blow up the whole building. I actually considered diving head first into the bedroom closet, but felt my roommate must know where we could seek shelter, so I followed him to the doorway. Then he stopped. He looked at the window and looked at me with an expressionless face which then turned into a smile. Through all my concern, I had forgotten that my friend would ever so often sleepwalk. My shock turned into relief as I immediately defended my stupidity.

"I only ran, because you ran."

Suprisingly our third roommate, on the top of my bunkbed, did not run with us and remained sitting in complete bewilderment. We all went back to bed, and awoke the next morning in question if the event actually happened. I mean, it was just a firetruck. ]]> Marcus http://www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/blogs/marcus/when-reason-gives-way-panic-38/ http://www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/blogs/marcus/romper-room-31/ Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:42:15 GMT I believe smell is the sense that best triggers our memory. I consider myself of having an excellent sense of smell. In fact, I think my sense of smell is so good, that often I can't smell one certain object because my nose will smell every scent in the area of the object.(with exception to overpowering scents such as perfume.) This ability allows me to remember the smells of many different places; however it is very hard for me to recall the scents of people or things. Some of the places that I can still smell very vividly are all my amusement park housing locations individually, a tire shop near LeSourdsville Lake Park, my best friend's basement, my grandparent's house, the city of Port Austin, the gym where my sister did her gymnastics, and many more. However there is one scent I have carried with me from an early age that has stuck with me to this day.

The place was called Romper Room, though I don't remember if that was its actual name, or if it was what my father called it. Now I wish I was going to tell you about a room full of wonder, with scented candles, fresh lake breeze, all with my greatest childhood memories. But I'm not. No, no, Romper Room was not a pleasant place at all. It was a place of fear, terror, and reeked of a horribly foul smell. So why was I cursed to such a horrible dungeon?

It all started back when I was about 5 or 6 years old. My mother was a good bowler and attended a league weekly with many other women (most of which mothers.). Being able to go back in time, I would pay my mother money to go find a babysitter. However as a parent, who could resist the convenience of a room in the actual bowling alley which had a "Duty Mom/Duty Dad" watch your kids for you. This was the Romper Room. The room itself was rather large, about the size of two large living rooms, with the ability to detain 15-20 children. At first glance, Romper Room looked fun, with several toys and dolls to play with. But once you take that first step into the room, you realize something here is very, very wrong.

The smell can only be described as a combination of smelly kids, smelly hot breath, and most of all, smelly feet. The problem with the room was it's lack of windows, or any ventilation. After all, even the door had to be closed to prevent any cigarette smoke from getting in from the bowling alley. The scent was everywhere, it consumed the whole room. So it wasn't like sniff here, "Oh yeah I smell it." You literally, breathed the scent for the entire hour or so you were in there.

One day I actually remember having a fever and being forced into the room anyways. The smell actually made my fever worse and on the verge of passing out, my mother was called to pick me up. She had me sit with her in the bowling alley until she finished her game. Even inhaling bits of second-hand smoke, I felt rejuvenated by the ability to breathe in the cold, open air of the bowling alley.

There was one upside of Romper Room. My first best friend Nick was there every week with me. Though I had never heard of ADHD or was old enough to comprehend it, I knew my friend Nick was special. I always thought Nick was immune to smell, but weak to the room's overall lack of entertainment. We had building blocks and green army men, but it just wasn't enough for Nick. He wanted to fulfill his needs on a much more instinctive level.

A few weeks into our daily Romper Room visits, Nick and I developed a plan to make the room a little more interesting, (though in the end I feel we only further scard many children.) I positioned myself near the door of the room, which happened to be in one corner, while Nick stood to the corner on my left. We would both occupy ourselves with toys or drawing with the intent of looking as inconspicuous as possible. When we both were ready, Nick would hurl a block at one of the kids in the far corner of room, when the Duty Mom wasn't looking. The Duty Mom would rush to the crying child. Next to the door, I quickly would flick the light switch to the only light in the entire room. Since the room had no windows, the room went pitch black. That was my part of the deal, now I just sat back and watched the chaos. First, as soon as the room went pitch black, all the girls in the room screamed and kept screaming. Then the Duty Mom would try to make their way across the room very quickly, which caused them to tumble over toys and the children, and of course my best friend doing what he loves to do best. Biting the **** out of people. Nick bit people at random, often jumping from target to target. No one was spared, including me. He just felt his way through the darkness bit an arm here, a leg there. Until finally the lights came on at which point Nick and I laid in a false bewilderment.

I can't even imagine a story coming from the perspective of one of the random kids. You're just minding your own business, drawing a dog or cat, and suddenly the whole room goes black and you scream, and you feel someone grab you and start gnawing on your calf, and then an adult comes running and falls over you. This was the essence of Romper Room.

We performed this act a few more times until we eventually were caught. I don't know what made so thoroughly enjoy this mischievous act. It wasn't like me at all. I was the good student who got As and Bs in class. I had to be delusional. It was that smell...that filthy, demonic smell... ]]> Marcus http://www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/blogs/marcus/romper-room-31/