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some sobering news
2003-05-31 21:59:31
Bad things are going down down the family front.
Sometimes I don't have a mother, older sister, and uncle...I have 3 very big babies for relatives.
My grandfather had a heart attack earlier today. He is in the hospital but is in stable condition for now. What does my mom do but blame my niece for making him sick >:( Put that on the mind of an 8 year old.
Now that my older sister and my uncle smell blood, they are bickering like 2 year olds worried about not getting that toy they've been wanting for 5 seconds. In other words, they think he's going to die soon and his property is pretty lucrative. It's nothing to be proud of, but Kevin calls it 'the compound'. That is where they all live, on a 130 acre farm out in Muskingum county Ohio. Yes...all of them. My aunt, uncle, mother, grandfather, and (I feel sorry for them) my younger brother and his wife, and my older sister, her husband and 2 kids. I heard my older sister 'invited' her brother in-law, his girlfriend and her kid to live up there in a trailer behind my grandpa's house. I don't even know these people. It's like it's a drug house for as many new people and cars I see when ever I visit. For some reason, none of the 'adults' there have ever given up being children.
Only my younger sister and I have escaped. And may I mention, I'll live in a cardboard box before I ever live up there again....it shows who the sane ones are.
The things boils down to the man won't take his medicines or go on life saving dialysis at this point.
There are times I think they are genuinely concerned, but away from him they are like vultures while talking about his stuff. I have no interest in gaining anything by someone else's death....especially someone who I am supposed to care about. In fact, I hope he doesn't leave me anything because I can just seem them going to court (or at least having a porch brawl) over getting each other's things/money from the inheritance.
I wish he'd leave his money to a charity and have the courts freeze the land each house is on...allowing nothing new to be built. When he dies, they will all be trying to get each other to leave anyway they can. *sigh*
I was hoping this fight wouldn't come anytime soon, at least until I could move farther away. It was almost like this last August when my grandmother died. Now...it looks pretty bad for all involved, but they do bring it on themselves.
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some stuff...then some memorial day stuff
2003-05-27 21:21:37
First off, according to sarahtheboring's journal entry, someone has stated that all female amv makers are 'hawt' :/ Who the crap said that?
Don't let things like that keep you from cons! I am sure nothing excites the male amv maker more than the image of a lingere model sitting in front of their 1.6 ghz, 140 GB HD, professional quality set up, ripping dvds and only getting up from her editing to order a pizza and bring him a beer. O.O But give mankind some credit. At cons, everyone is out to have a good time and meet other people for thier minds. It's not like they look like _their_ avatars either ^_~
My memorial day celebration was kind of suprising. There was a cookout Sunday and Monday, and my family managed to refrain from killing each other! Of course, they had to have a fight Monday to make up for all the peace.
God, I am glad I don't live near them....I am too young for blood pressure that high.
We went to the Velvet Ice Cream festival in Utica Ohio later on Monday. Well my mom, Charlotte, Kevin, and myself. I got to see a huge timber wolf, a grizzly bear and a mountain lion....I had no idea that the description of an Ice Cream festival was so broad.
The butter pecan and cashew ice cream cone was quite excellent though.
I also got to see a watermelon spontaneously explode for the first time in my life. Festival food stores had a sale of 1.98 on watermelons..probably because they were rotten. BTW, it sounds like a can of pop exploding and smells nothing like watermelon wine....yuck
In other news, I have added a new addition to my family. I adopted a guinea pig named Fred. His owner bought him despite not being allowed to as she lived in the OU dorms. She had to get rid of him, so I got a new pig, bedding, and lots of food for 10 bucks. He's cute and very big. He's a crested Abbynisian pig and is black and orange. He's nice too and I am hoping that my current pig Dutch will like to make mini pigs with him. If they do, we already have homes picked out.
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Longaberger Family (fun) Day at Cedar Point Ohio
2003-05-05 18:35:35
What a great day that was!
Ok, I was also going on like 3 hours sleep so, perhaps I was a little punch drunk by the end but here is the rundown.
Kevin decides to make a Homestarrunner cd with the answering machine and feature cartoon audio. Well, that is nice and all but we were going to drive literally the vertical length of the state starting at 5 am. So, it took longer than he thought and I didn't get to sleep until very late (or early) which made getting up very hard also. Anyway, we get on the road kinda late and our plans of being there to run to the Dragster is pointless. We pick up a copy of USA Today and it has a feature article in there about how scary it may be and that people may not want to ride it. We comfort ourselves with this information thinking, yeah that and it's mostly Longaberger and their families so the lines should be short! -_-'
My car decides I haven't had enough problems with my stomach ulcer lately and starts to slip requiring some transmission fluid at a gas station price (aka 4 bucks a qt.) This annoys me because not only a month ago it had engine work and was supposed to have been checked. (on one hand, the timing belt had failed so it's not like the mechanics were going to drive it 20 miles to make sure the level was right but...) We were in Lancaster at this time (Hi Rich!) and still trying to decide the best course to get there.
We end up taking 270 to 70 to 215...ahh details details.....it took us up to 11:00 when we finally got there.
Very excited by the mere sight of Dragster from the causeway, we can barely keep from running anyway.
The line is hidden from the midway when you see the coaster so it was frustrating running around trying to find the line que. That is when the first car went by where we were standing. The sound! The car itself makes this sound barrier sound like a low wooosshhhhh when it goes by you at 120 mph. Well, it's one to make you stop dead in your tracks. After watching it thunder up the hill and back down in stunned amazement, we take off again for the line more excited than ever.
The wait turned out to be 4 hours long for a 1 and a half hour crowd wait time....in other words, if they were running normal the wait where we were would only have been 1 and a hlaf hours. It turned into 4 because they 'broke down' every 5 minutes. Seriously.
The thing was having some jitters or maybe it was the operators but it wasn't going fast enough fro some reason. It seemed fast to us but they kept telling us it was temporarily down. Many many people left the line. We were going to ride that thing if it took all freaking day! It was the only one I hadn't ridden, the world record holder and a pretty cool looking ride anyway so I was NOT going to move no matter how long it took.
Too bad it was 55 degrees all day though and I did not enjoy that part. Well, in all trthfulness I did not enjoy any part of waiting ^_^
The worst part of waiting was the uncertainty.
They even brought back some people who had already been strapped into the cars and ready to launch and unloaded them back to the platform. That was a first. When they did run, it was 1 every 5 minutes or so.
We got pretty annoyed with the whole thing because they said indefinite amount of time everytime so we had no clue how long it may be....but we stayed in line.
We also saw some people who had let members of their family cut into line...escorted out of the ride line and told they were to leave the park! If you go to Cedar Point, DON'T line jump. They are freaking serious about kicking you out!
They had us wait for about 15 minutes between launching empty trains and then they ...luanch one.....
Then I saw something I have never ever seen before.
A roller coaster rollback.
The crowd reaction for the rollback was interesting. We had not seen a train go for about 15 minutes so it gets everyone's attention. ..it gets to the top and COMES BACK DOWN! The crowd started gasping, nervous laughing, and I think I heard some young people yelling aka screaming....
After that, talk around us turned to rollbacks and life insurance policies. ^_~ But there was a sign at the ramp for the station that said rollbacks occur and there is no need for concern. I wonder what the first people who ride a rollback will say or do... that is not something you expect to happen :)
it "limped" back (it moved back slowly) to the stageing area and they launched again after about 5 minutes. When they relaunched again, it seemed to just bearly made it over the hill. There was not any people on the ride during the rollback or when they relaunched it.
The crowd (who also saw the rollback) were all cheering and clapping when it made to over the hill.
The rollback was probably because the 'problem' seemed to be the train wasn't going as fast as it should have been. It was really frustrating not knowing if we would actually get onto the ride no matter how long we waited.
But...
Eventually we were rewarded by getting on the ride. Our mood before the ride = sour. Our mood after the ride = ecstatic!
It was worth the wait! It was incredible! The acceleration is amazing, the hill is so very far away but you get there reallly! fast and it feels great. The hill has a very very short 'air time' because of how fast it goes, but since it's throwing everything at you at once, you get a lot of sensation at once and then the twist down the hill comes really fast.
It was just the most intense experience I have ever had. You get really close to the tower supports and it feels like you'll hit them for sure. It was just great!
I have heard grown men say how scared they were when they went on this ride, but I am not lying when I say I wasn't the least bit scared. I think I was too worried they were going to take our train back to the station and not let us ride it at all. I was so worried about missin out that I never had the chance to worry about the ride itself! But I am also a thrill ride nut and I can't get enough of this stuff so maybe I have a built up tolerence.
Who knows.
The rest of the day was a marathon coaster rush. We didn't get off Dragster until 4 pm and we went to meet my mom, who is the Longaberger employee ^_^ at the Bingo in the old ballroom. The bingo is for winning baskets and pottery but Kevin and I went so we could go get some custard ice cream cones later.
Turns out that Cedar Point has a new policy this year....when it's cold out they don't sell ice cream! What a crazy rationale! (I am joking but we would have eaten them anyway, it's our tradition) So she was just going to leave at 6 pm.
The park only stays open til 9pm so we had a whole days worth of riding left and wanted to get out there....and we only stayed for an hour. But Kevin managed to win a 'treasure chest' which was a large picnic basket, two little baskets inside of it and a piece of pottery! >_< Well, he shared his treasure at least.
We got some pizza and french fries and went out to finsih the day.
All the other rides were walk on except Millenium and Kevin had to get in the first car on that one. I had done that before, but he hadn't so....I got to re-visit the first car. The hill for that is really high but unlike Dragster, you have plenty of time to look around and be 'scared'. I try to be polite and not yawn ;)
No, I like Millenium just as much as Dragster it's just I have been on it many times so I know what to expect.
Raptor was great, we had no wait for it at all. Wicked Twister was better than I remember, I think they had it going faster than last year, it's opening year.
Power Tower is the only thing Kevin is afraid of. It had no wait, so I told him he didn't have to ride it but he siad he'd do it, he just wouldn't like it. It had a spectacular view of the Dragster though!
We rode the train afterwards and then went on the Magnum XL. To think that was a record holder at one time.
By this time it was dark and we had time for one more ride.
So what do we do? Get in line for Dragster again of course!
The wait this time was 2 hours long, with no delays. By the time we had ridden it again, the park was already closed. It was neat walking around a dark and closed Cedar Point.
Ahhh
That was my 18th trip there.
They say that Kings Island is making a 421 foot ride to top the Dragster in the next couple years. Plus we have a Sea World/Six Flags park in Ohio.
I need some better thrills! And after that, a lot of sleep! -
well Chaos...
2003-04-30 19:53:42
There is a thread practically dedicated to you over at SWP ^_^ You should go over there for a bit.
I wrote a bunch o' crap in the thread too...perhaps you could check it out....
As for Otakon, it's a hard decision. I just don't feel the drive to complete my amv and that is always my main pull.....I haven't cancelled my reservations yet though! Those rooms were too incredible of a deal to give up without at least....3 coin flips ^_~ -
What the heck? Where am I???
2003-04-30 18:54:44
Oh yeah, the anime music videos forum....^_^ I found my way back for a bit.
I have about 10 journal buddies and most have put in an entry lately ( Who are they? Now that is a secret ^^) so it put my in a journal entry mood.
A lot has happened since I last spent any real time on this site. BTW, the forums are like a La Brea Tar pit of stupid right now....I think I am going to avoid it for awhile...but I do like reading the journals.
I went hiking all over Hocking Hills * http://www.hockinghills.com/ * for two days. I went everywhere but Cedar Falls. I am going to have to get back for that one. That place is really travel at your own risk! You can get right up to the edge of a 100 foot drop onto rocks below and nothing...and I mean nothing is there to protect you but yourself.
I like that really ^_^ But, since I am so clumsy, I am on my knees the closer I get....I don't trust my feet not to trip!
I have been watching the whole Slayers series and I mean the whole thing! I own the 3 series 1-78 dubbed, cause I like the dub, and I have been in marathon mode. Nothing like watching one of your favorites to get you all fired up. I made a Slayers video I am really proud of but needs a remaster job....I made it like....3 years ago. Perhaps I'll re-do that...I am in no mood to make a new one for Otakon. I have been thinking about cancelling my reservation for it in fact. I want to go to Florida instead...how is THAT for an ironic twist? Both will cost about the same in the end, time to flip the coin...
But in the meantime, this Saturday is Cedar POint day. I am going to ride the Dragster ^__^ yeaaaahhhhhh......420 feet of hair raising goodness!
I live that kinda stuff. I can't get enough. I have been running/training for a couple weeks so I can run all the way to the line queue. I want to ride the head car at least once! That and the Millenium head car too...to freaking bad it's going to be only 55-60 degrees! *shakes fist at the sky*
JOURNAL: MistyCaldwell (Misty Caldwell)
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