What seemed to be a less than average day turned into one full of surprises! It started off this morning when I forgot my change in my car that I was going to use for lunch. My horoscope said that disappointments will lead to unexpected opportunities. I thought to myself that perhaps I'll meet a girl on the long walk back to my car. I stumbled upon Agnes near the train station. I was hoping earlier that I would get to talk to her soon, because it has been a few days. She was glad to see me and we ended up walking around for half an hour while she worked. She told me all about her baby and how she just started crawling. She says she is so cute. She also said that she really wants me to meet Michelle. Her birthday is a few days before Agnes', which is on October 21st. They also all live in Land o' Lakes.
Agnes picked up a nickel with her park patrol and gave it to me. She insisted that I take it and buy something special like my lunch. I told her that I would keep it forever and always remember that Agnes gave it to me. She laughed. She also asked me if Kimmeth has called me yet, and if I am over her yet. I said no to both, and was then complaining about all of the girls having boyfriends. It was a pretty interesting conversation. When it was time for me to go to work over on the Kumba, I walked her to her morning meeting place, and then said goodbye.
I hung out with Mark all day. He's studied meteorology for about twelve years and was really happy because we're having some nasty tropical weather this weekend. It rained periodically throughout the day. I talked to this one group of high school girls from Manatee county for a long time. They seemed really interested in what I had to say and had lot's of questions. They also were all very cute. There were some more from their field trip who were in another row who were flirting with me. the cutest one kept calling me to come over. Melissa had the idiot idea that Steve was starting up the ride and made me get on the other side. I asked the girl what she wanted form across the coaster. She sort of blushed and said that she can't ask me out loud! By the time I finally could get close to her again, she didn't want to ask me. I'm really starting to get pissed off at Melissa's bitchiness and have just decided not to take it anymore.
We were down from six to seven in the evening. It was thundering really loud and I was really concerned that they hadn't shut down by then. When guests were asking me why they weren't closed yet, I knew something was wrong. When we did shut down, Steve, Mark, and I sat in the air conditioned control booth. I played with the cameras. There are four of them that each have their own little black and whit screen. There is one thirteen inch color monitor that can display whichever camera you choose. You can then swivel the camera very smoothly three hundred and sixty degrees and zoom in very far. It was really fun to play with and kept me occupied for a long time. I was watching the people down on the boardwalk and even found my car. Steve says that he'll zoom in on you while you're on boardwalk to make sure that you're working. He said that nobody really knew that, but we both told him that we already did!
I also found out today the power of improper electrical grounding. If you are touching the metal gates as you give your signal over the coaster, you can give a pretty hefty shock to anybody on the Kumba that touches you. It's really funny. The kids will quite often reach up and grab your hand, and so will the adults sometimes. I had one kid come back and half-laughingly tell me that I shocked him. It was funny. The buzz is strong enough that you'll jump a little even when you're expecting it.
When we reopened at seven we still had half an hour to go until closing. There was nobody in line so we just let the people in the coasters go over and over again. The very last coaster of the night decided to get stuck at the very top of the lift!!! It was getting dark and sprinkling a little. Steve looked at me and said, `Go!' I double checked to make sure that I heard him correctly and then made the huge trek up 143 vertical feet of slippery metal cross hatched stairs. You can see straight down always, and there is nothing to catch you if you slipped towards the track, all the way to the ground. I was out of breath when I reached the top and the people joked that they must not make us run up there very often. It was quite a workout. I was amazed at the view and couldn't help but think about lightning striking me. The Tanganyika Tidal Wave and the Python looked so tiny so far down below!!!
Jeff, Nilsa, and Melissa joined me up there. Steve was then yelling for us to answer the phone. We couldn't find it at first but then realized that it was way over the top of the lift on my side. I walked to the very top! and then descended about fifteen stairs to the very last platform where the phone was. I stayed there until they restarted the coaster. It was one hell of a rush. The whole thing shook as the coaster when around the track. Steve asked why it took us so long to come down until we told him that we were `hanging on for our lives!' It was something I never thought we'd be doing tonight and it will be one great story to tell the others. I think I'm the only hospitality employee that has ever been all of the way over the Kumba lift!
I found out when I got home that two girls had called me while I was at work. One was Kimmeth! I had just gone to sleep at ten when she called again. I was really glad to get to talk to her again. I was glad to hear how much fun she isn't having and how depressed she is starting to become. She said that she wouldn't ever leave before Stewart comes to visit, though. She did say that Jim and Tiffany, the ones she living with now, are moving upstate to Melbourne in two weeks and she is going to visit them there. She wants me to go there. She said that a lot of things have happened in Ft. Lauderdale that she had expected, but had hoped to not encounter. She's realized how sad some of her friends' situations are, and how she doesn't really want to hang out with them.
I knew all of the right things to say as we were talking. She was talking about relationships. She wondered why she always will have a relationship and then she will either hate him, or the guy will say that he doesn't want any kind of commitment or attachment. She also says that they always will then marry the next girl they date. She says it's happened seven times. Some girls have told her that she's overconfident, and her old boss asked her if she comes out in a wedding dress on the second date! She said fuck no, sarcastically! I told her that I really don't know either, because I never saw anything wrong that could possibly cause a guy to act that way. A few more compliments were exchanged, and she said something like, `That's because you're my Dan!' and I agreed. I really liked the tone both of us were using. I realized that this was our first conversation since we kissed.
She also was saying how depressing it used to be when her roommate would have sex every night and she would sit there trying to sleep, alone. She said that Jim and Tiffany are making her sick. She said that if I had a new car, I could come down there and we could make them sick. It was funny, yet she sounded somewhat serious. She gave me their phone number for the next two weeks in case I want to call: [snip]. Boy I love her!
Yesterday I met and got to know this Spanish girl named Dayanara very well on the Python. this is a girl who I probably never would have got along with or even talked to back in high school. She's graduating from Chamberlain next week and is going to USF for two years before transferring to UF. I talked with her and showed her that I was interesting and well informed before telling her that I was valedictorian and all at Leto. She seemed really impressed. She also told me a very funny joke, HCC (Hillsborough Community College) actually stands for Home of the Chamberlain Chiefs! I thought that was hilarious. We had a really interesting talk until I had to go to the Mamba.
I worked with Jenni for a little while and this black guy from Jesuit named Sean for the rest. They both are little and have a hard time with the heavy Mamba harnesses. I figured out a way to open the harnesses so that I could close them all rather quickly. I enjoyed getting the workout, and they enjoyed the break. Jenni was really tired, but I cheered her up a little. As she was leaving I told her to have fun at Cats and she perked up and said thanks and then said, `Bye Dan!' rather happily after already saying goodbye once. She had mentioned that she and Jeff were going before, but I think she might have thought that I didn't care to remember.
I had to run the Mamba alone for a little while while Sean took his last break even though I haven't been checked out. Terri, the blonde, was in the park and decided to ride at that moment. She was wearing these tight black jean shorts and looked really good. She had her hair done up very nicely. When I saw her I complimented her on her hair, and she thanked me. She rode with her cousin's little boy. We talked for as long as we could without holding up the ride for too long. I was happy to get to see her.
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