How often do you...

[nickdaegg]

think about fairs, rollercoasters, theme parks and related things? And does anything in particular (smells, sounds, people) remind you of them?

For me, I think about this sort of thing every day. This may seem sad, but hey there we go. Thinking of opportunities to visit Alton Towers, who to go with, money, everything. I'm constantly whirring over things in my brain, not just about theme parks, but everything. I can't go without thinking, for some reason. I'm always desperate for a conversation. And who better to talk to (inside my head, of course) than me? I know my interests, plans, plots, likes and dislikes.

Physics, maths, people, buildings, music on my MP3 player and anything in general can start the theme tune to my life (Which is either In The Hall Of The Mountain King or Adagio For Strings .... go to my happy place) going on in my head.

Sitting in the park, looking around. Travelling through the countryside, walking home - "If I won £125mil, I'd build a theme park there." "Wonder how Air would go here" etc.

[Harpo]

I tend to think about it on a daily basis, for multiple reasons.

First, I'm keeping my eye open for opportunities to either get a job in or start my own family entertainment-related business. (I've got quite a few ideas -- it's the financial and land resources with which I'm struggling!)

Second, roller coasters and amusement parks were the sites of two personal great achievements -- overcoming enormous fears. Until I was 15, I was terrified of roller coasters, but I promised a friend that I would go on Cedar Point's Gemini, which, at the time, was the park's largest coaster. I had a death grip on the grab bar -- I think my handprints are still embedded in it -- but, upon conclusion, realized it wasn't all that bad. By the end of that trip, I got on all of Cedar Point's roller coasters. I've since been to over 180 amusement parks to ride on over 620 coasters -- I think it's fair to say that I defeated that fear!

My other greatest fear was public speaking. In 1986, I applied for a job at Cedar Point's Games department. I figured I'd be in one of the house games, which I figured I could handle, as it would be similar to being on a football field in a marching band (which I was). But, they liked my personality, so they put me on the Guessing Game -- a game where the operator is talking on a microphone, standing completely alone. I was scared silly, but I managed to make that work. By the end of my 4th summer as a Cedar Point Weight Guesser, I was loving public speaking. That's another fear that was clobbered.

Big deal, right? Who really cares? What difference does it make? Well, it made a big difference. In fall 1988, I was struggling with my electrical engineering classes. I was looking into other majors, just to find that I really wanted EE. I had 4 final exams that term. After the 3rd one, I felt I blew it so badly that I just didn't even want to continue on. I was remarkably depressed, and was literally 1 step away from jumping in front of an oncoming bus. But, before I jumped, an image popped into my head of my first time on the microphone at Cedar Point. With my previous fear of public speaking, Weight Guessing was something I should never have been able to do, but I did it successfully. I stopped in my tracks as the bus whizzed just inches away from me. I stood there for a while thinking, and realized that, if I could succeed with destroying my public speaking fear and my roller coaster riding fear, I could succeed with anything I really put my mind to doing. I refocused, pulled myself together, and greatly improved on my EE studies. I not only completed the undergraduate work, but continued on for a Master's degree in EE, and passed the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam. (However, I was a bit tired of school, so I didn't go on for the Ph.D.) I've now been an electrical engineer for 14 years, during which time I've earned two U.S. patents.

I feel quite certain I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for my success at overcoming my fears at Cedar Point. So, I feel I've got a pretty good reason to think about amusement parks!

[SnooSnoo]

Atleast half the day... lol

[Cyberleader]

Sitting in the park, looking around. Travelling through the countryside, walking home - "If I won £125mil, I'd build a theme park there."

That's me. But I plan and winning more that £125,000,000. :p

I constantly think how I'm going to be able to go to get to DLRP for the 15th celebrations..but not just theme parks, I'm trying to work out how I can convince my parents that a load of friends and I going to see Wicked at the West End is an excellent idea, and how I can convince them into buying me that Ford Cortina on eBay..and, and, and, and then I have :bulb:'in exams. Fortunatley for me exams generally don't stress me out. But I know I'll be failing RS tomorrow..ah well.