June 20, 1994 - Monday - Bullshit works with Erin

Welcome back to work!!! It felt so good to be working again
around so many beautiful woman that I barely had to look at my watch
all day long. I arrived a little bit early and was allowed to park
patrol by Jimmy. I wasn't too surprised since I always get my way.
Steve Crump was in there and wanted to know why we always want to
park patrol and then said he wanted ten percent. I told him
truthfully that we don't find very much any more. I went and hung out
in the control panel for a few minutes and talked to Lisa about my
vacation and her wedding on the Kumba. I was looking frantically for
a wallet that was lost yesterday by a guest but I never found it and
later told August that since I didn't find it, probably nobody will
because I was very thorough.

I called the rear unloading position after break and there ended
up being four guys on the platform and we were hitting on every girl
that dared enter the queue house. We were guessing their ages and
then asking them to see who was right. There was a gorgeous one that
I had to ask once and she just smiled and walked away. I think she
didn't hear me because I am often soft spoken but of course the guys
didn't see it that way. Besides, I don't like hitting on girls like
that anyway. I am much more comfortable doing things my way which I
fortunately had the opportunity to do later. the girls seem to like
my way a lot better as well. I guess they do have an advantage if
they hit on every girl because some are bound to say yes and be
friendly but that's really not important to me.

I eventually got to do the panel and talked for a while with
Nilsa and Brian, mostly about how everybody on the ride gossips all
of the time. We then did some mean gossiping about Ronnie, but hell,
it's all true! At lunch I sat with August and James. A girl from
Tidal Wave who knows August sat with us and she looked really pretty
when she let her hair down. We all joked around with her which was
fun. There was this hispanic girl from food service who used the
telephone and was then talking to us. For some reason I felt really
confident with her and was hitting on her in front of everybody. I
kept asking her questions which the guys would then back me up on,
but she talked directly at me. She also was looking right into my
eyes with her big brown ones and I returned the extremely lustful
stare. I swore she wanted to fuck me right there on the table in
front of everybody!

As I was walking out the door I ran into Yvette and we were both
in an extremely talkative mood. She suddenly remembered that I had
been on vacation and asked how it was. She was then telling me about
the tickets she and her brother have gotten and how I should
seriously consider driving school. We joked around a little bit and I
left her feeling very happy for some reason. I guess some of that
energy she always claims and seems to have rubbed off.

I went to height stick for the last two hours and was trying to
flirt with a lot of girls. I succeeded with some good ones. One was a
country girl who was rather attractive and we were talking quite a
bit each time she came by until I had to leave. I wanted to walk
around with her after I got off but they were right in the middle of
the line and I didn't want to wait and I am glad I didn't because
things worked well with Erin. Fifteen minutes before that though,
Kristen walked up while I was talking to some woman and gave me a big
hug and an excited look since I am finally back. She showed me her
arm and she had broken it!!! Poor thing. She had a blue and orange
cast on though, Gator colors. We talked until she had to go check in.

Then I saw Erin walking up the handicap ramp and she saw me. We
both smiled really big at each other. She looked a little bit more
tan from her vacation to the keys but not to much. She stopped to say
hello and I asked her how it was. She had a lot of fun. She then went
and found out she had to do boardwalk so she was soon back talking to
me. She told me how some lesbians had hit on her which was pretty
funny. She finally decided to go run around boardwalk real quick and
I gave her puppy eyes and asked why she was leaving me. She smiled
and said she'll be back real soon. By then I was off but I hung out
and talked to her for a few minutes.

She told me that she is deaf because her father always made her
sit next to the engine of the boat when they went out. She then asked
me when I am going to Adventure Island! I figured she'd forget about
it and I wasn't going to seem to eager and ask just yet. It felt
fucking awesome to be pursued, if only a tiny bit. I then told her
all of the days that I work late and want to go in the morning. She
said she doesn't know if she works tomorrow but if she does we'll
compare our schedules, or she'll call me at work.

She joked that she'll ask for Dan and say it's an emergency. I
then remembered and asked why she left that day before her vacation.
She said her house had been broken into and was saying how she'll
soon get to go reclaim stolen goods through the insurance company.
She's excited about the jewelry part. Little dork Mike, whom they
call Doogie Howser, was there at height stick and kept being
perverted and butting into our conversation. I asked Erin to come
walk with me out and she did. I noticed the cute girl in the photo
shop looking at the two of us talking and laughed to myself.

Erin had her hair down and I said it doesn't seem much shorter
to me since she cut it. She said that everybody else has noticed and
I said that I never really had the chance to see it down before she
cut it. I then told her that I like it down and she smiled like she
really enjoyed the compliment enough to make me blush a little bit.
She also told me that she had called in yesterday because they
decided to stay an extra day down there. I had been waiting for that
moment to use the bullshit I had planned yesterday, and told her how
I had come in to see her but she wasn't there and I was really upset.
She played along and said that I should be and we laughed together. I
told her that it just ruined my day. It was really funny and worked
perfectly! We then said goodbye as it was time to part.

June 8, 1994 - Wednesday - Krishna rides her horse!

Hairy Krishna! Hairy Krishna!

It was just another sorry ass half day at work again and I'm
getting rather sick of it. I so much would rather work a full shift
and get my hours over with in as few days as possible. Oh well. It
took a little bit of effort to wake up this morning, and I topped it
all off by spilling a bunch of my corn flakes all over myself.
Optimism won out though as I figured that meant I'd have a better day
at work since my luck at home wasn't any good. I then heard a story
on the Power Pig about all of the religious sects who are saying that
tomorrow is the end of the world where all evil will get plucked out
of the world at once. Great, what a way to end the week.

I walked into the Congo office and was relieved as Melissa was
sitting in the chair. She's a lot less strict sometimes and I didn't
shave or anything. She asked me what I wanted to do and I said park
patrol, of course. I then hung out for a few minutes and talked with
her. She told me that she's leaving me and I wondered why she was
making such a big deal out of it. I played along and then found out
that she meant she's transferring and I acted depressed. She's making
assistant unit supervisor maybe up at Questor or guest relations.
Everybody thought the news was wonderful as they found out later on.

I went and did my track run and only found about a dollar. It's
really not worth it anymore getting all sweaty and dirty when there's
not nearly as much stuff in the track as there use to be. It's the
landscapers [snip] faults because they get everything now before we
do. I got pissed as I saw two guys who should have been working just
looking for money in the bushes. I'm paid to fuck around, they're
paid for manual labor and shouldn't be doing that.

I joked around with Lisa who is getting married on Friday
possibly on the Kumba. I was also joking around with Latina and later
on I talked a while with Shannon when she came in. I then headed out
to boardwalk and started to have fun. There were two of us out there
and virtually no trash anywhere. I saw my other Lisa in the Roar
Store and was glad to have someone to rescue me from the boredom. We
started talking about her hair which she liked when it was longer and
I was trying to boost her morale about it which she seemed to
appreciate. We also talked about high school. She went to private
Catholic school all of her life but finished up at Chamberlain.

I kept going back and visiting her every once in a while for as
long as I could. We started talking about single people and I
mentioned that there are no single girls up at the Kumba. She said
that there is a new young girl who is short but really attractive who
works this Friday and I acted excited about that. She was telling me
a little bit about this gorgeous darker Spanish girl named Krishna
whom I have seen since I started but have really slacked in never
talking to her. I did say hi to her a couple of times with Chris
Hunte by my side yesterday but that was the first time. Speaking of
Chris, he told me this morning that [snip], but I am still not sure of the validity of what he said, but my hopes are high!!!

Lisa said something about how she was single for a long time
without dating. I joked that wouldn't have helped us because we were
little kids then probably. I said that since she a little older, but
not really that much. She corrected me that it was just recently. She
was also telling me about how she and her boyfriend dated when they
were younger. She was thirteen when he was sixteen which
automatically tells me a lot about him. She said that she was really
cute back then, and I told her that she still is even with short hair
and she really liked that. She was also standing on a box behind her
register so she could be as tall as me and I thought that was funny.

I got paged up to the control panel and was relieved as I got
the control panel. Actually I complained to Melissa that I didn't
want it since I was having fun out on boardwalk. We talked for a few
minutes and then she asked me where I am going for lunch. I didn't
know so she offered that we could go to the Festhaus together and we
soon left. She called Shannon up to replace me and I told her we were
going to dinner. Shannon came up to me later and grabbed my arm and
joked as she said that she thought I didn't like Melissa and then
hinted that Melissa and I were doing other things than just eating
while we were gone. It was funny. melissa and I sat opposite of mike
and the two new guys. I had a huge roast beef sandwich on Cuban bread
with mushroom gravy everywhere. I also had a huge plate of rice
covered with black eyed peas. It was really good and I was stuffed. I
saw and talked to Rebecca Sanborne for a few minutes before we
finally left much later than I should have.

Lisa was on boardwalk then but she was going home right as I got
back and I took over for her which was cool. I was looking at these
two gorgeous girls in line and Lisa was laughing that I'm worse than
any of them so I complained that all of the girls that work here are
getting married and she snickered. I went back to the Roar Store to
hang out with Lisa some more. I asked her once if she knows Karen and
she said yes and we talked about her for a few minutes. It was
getting close to twelve thirty when she would get her only break for
the day given by Krishna. She had said that Krishna came in an hour
early by mistake and was then running late. She then let me buy a
buffalo nickel from her that some guy had spent and I was pretty
happy because that is my first. Two of her big supervisors walked up
then and I had to take off for a few minutes although I joked with
them for a second and laughed with them.

I was then walking around with August out on the boardwalk when
Krishna walked by. I smiled and said hi as she passed and August was
impressed after he asked if I know her or just said hi and I said the
later. I soon decided that there was no better time than then to
start talking to Krishna so I went over with a moth in my stomach
(not butterflies, just a tiny bit of nervousness since first
impressions mean the world). I asked her if they finally let Lisa
leave and she laughed and said yes. She then started complaining
about the weather which is a typical beginning and I said it didn't
bother me. She laughed that neither the heat nor the rain bothers me
and I realized that she had noticed me yesterday. Cool!

We started talking to briefly get to know one another. I laughed
to myself at how routine this conversation has become. I asked her
how long she has worked here and liked how she asked me the same
question back. I then told her I only work summers and she asked
where I go to school and what I am trying to be. I would have
volunteered the pre med stuff anyway but I was flabbergasted (he he!)
that she was taking an interest in the conversation. I am so used to
leading the conversation myself but she was helping out and I liked
it a lot! Only now am I starting to realize what all she was doing
while we talked. She said that she is going to HCC and after I asked
her where she went to high school, she said Venezuela!!! I joked that
I probably won't recognize the high school then and she laughed and
agreed.

The only thing is that she has a somewhat heavy accent and I
have to talk loud and plain for her to hear me, but I wasn't having
too many problems. I asked her what she did after coming in an hour
early and she looked surprised and asked how I knew that until she
realized Lisa had told me. She then was mentioning that it takes her
a while to get here and I asked her where she lives. When she said
Town n Country I suddenly remembered someone telling me that and told
her I do to. She said she lives behind the Wal Mart on the other side
of Waters. I then asked her how she gets to work and she laughed and
looked at me like I'm crazy as she said she rides her horse!!!
Fucking smartass!!! She then said that she comes by car so I
corrected my question and found out she goes down Waters to Armenia
and then Busch. She also found it funny that my house is further away
than hers is from the park.

I didn't let her live the horse joke down and we laughed a lot
about it until I had to leave. Even then she asked if I'd carry her
horse out some water because it is hot and I asked her which one it
is since there is a whole row of horses in the parking lot and she
laughed pretty hard.

We also talked about Chris' party on Friday and she asked me if
I am going. She said she is since she has no other plans. She
remembered that I was there last time which was cool. We also talked
about her friend Dianne who looked like she had a lot of fun that
night.

Hairy Krishna! Hairy Krishna! (She pulled her hair down once and
it was gorgeous!)

I also talked for a while with my other Latin lover, Yvette. I
noticed her and two other girls looking at me and talking about me
once yesterday when I was at height stick. I remember last summer how
Christina said they all used to talk about me (us, but still). I was
glad to get to talk to Latina and Shannon in front of her to maybe
make her jealous...

May 25, 1994 - Wednesday - Meeting Yvette, Kristen

Boy I'm miserable. I'm really sick and think it would have been
far less severe if it weren't for this damn cloud of smoke covering
Tampa Bay from all of the brush fires in the area. There's one out in
the swamps somewhere that is burning in the peat and is bellowing
smoke where the flames can't be seen. Yesterday there was smoke at
home when I woke up but none at work. Today it was everywhere! I am
very tolerant of many things, especially severe heat, but I cannot
stand wood smoke! There was a big fire out near Sheldon Road last
night and it was raining ashes all over our house last night. I was
outside with everybody joking that it's snowing and was "trying" to
catch them on my tongue. Cathy helped me catch a few and I concluded
that they are palmetto leaves. This deduction was made at a time when
I though a building was on fire and I was impressed with myself once
I found out it really was a brush fire!

I brought some Nuprin in a Tic Tac cointainer to work today and
took two and felt so much better than on Tuesday. I still kept losing
my voice which really sucked. That used to be the only drugs I would
take but I've started using Tylenol PM after seeing how wonderfully I
slept with a trial packet. Normally I can't sleep worth a damn when I
am sick but are really helpful when I have a full day coming up and
need my sleep. I remember Leigh Anne was surprised when I showed her
my bottle because she always uses them except she uses them to fall
asleep when she's having an emotional breakdown which is pretty
pathetic.

Nilsa let me do a track run and I came out with a dollar and a
half, a camera, and a hat. We have started a new procedure whereas we
have to put these red metal clamps on the control panel and lock them
to prevent anybody from running the ride when we are in the track
area. Nilsa said that was the only key and if I lose it I will be in
big trouble! It felt kind of neat to now that I alone controlled when
the Kumba could open (except for the guy with the bolt cutters!). I
was also the very first person to use the new lock out which was
cool.

I was on boardwalk later with Jimmy who had heard that Mike
Penton and Honeycutt were walking around. I walked up to find him
watching the coaster from the Congo-Kumba bridge and I joined him for
a moment. He said that the boardwalk is beautiful which was an
invitation to watch the coaster with him. He then started saying how
he never realized what a good place that was to watch the coaster. We
were talking all about it and I mentioned the TV show last night
about the building of Drachen Fire in Williamsburg. I then figured I
should get some information about the new coaster from him because he
ought to know what's going on. He said they are no longer going to
build the coaster in Nairobi. We both agreed that it was because it
would scare the animals and ruin Crown Colony's view.

We were both telling each other our ideas about what should
happen and what will. He said that they want to put it up behind the
Crown Colony and Questor by the parking lot and create an entire new
themed area called Little Egypt. That will get a thrill ride in an
area where one doesn't currently exist and spread the guests more
evenly throughout the park. That's cool!

I talked with Shannon today and briefly with Lisa and some of
the guys more than I usually do. I was even talking to Randy for a
while and we both found out that the other was at Chris' party
although we both don't remember the other being there. I also met
this new girl at the photo shop named Yvette who just started four
days ago. She was showing samples to guests by the height stick. She
went to high school in Miami but is now a Junior at USF and is trying
to master in health education to teach in college. She is a young
looking twenty-one. She is really hyper and has no ring on her
finger. I also got to say hi to this other cute girl in the photo
shop whose name I think is Melinda.

I went to lunch up at Crown Colony again and said hi to everyone
I saw. Yesterday this guy came in who I used to know and we joked
around like the good old days. I also saw Ron and some girls from
operations. Today the girls in the food service line were trying to
hook me up with Lucy, some Spanish girl. they started by asking if I
had a girlfriend and how old I am. They were amazed that I am only
nineteen because I look older. It was funny. They then introduced us
and we said hi and made sure each others' names were correct. I then
reminded her that I know her from Christmas and she agreed and said
that I have been gone for a while but then a rush of people came and
she had to go.

I was in the booth today and Kristen's mother called. I was
really nice and explained that Kristen was sent to another area today
and she would get off according to the amount of time that they need
her to work. We were very courteous to each other. I then saw Kristen
leaving in the parking lot and she waved to me and I gestured back.
She then said that she heard that I talked to her mother today. That
was cool because it meat her mother had remembered my name hopefully
because she has mentioned me! I agreed and said that she seemed
really nice and Kristen said she is. She then asked when I work next
and we concluded that we'll get to see each other again this coming
Monday. Cool!