Dear life
I would be most appreciative if you would quit inviting Suck along to everything that we do together. I don't find him particularly friendly and his breath smells.
If you could get on that, that would be great.
Until then,
Steph

That's Ontario for you.

When I was walking in Hamilton today two old guys were standing on their porch smoking. One watched me walk by, then shouted out "Hello, beautiful!". He was at least 60.

the good, the bad, and the ugly

The good:
-- I am in the mainstage and I know I will grow and stretch by doing so
-- things are moving for "The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged"... we have a director and we have a number of highschools that are interested in having us perform there. We definately won't be making lots of money. But that's okay
-- I have been asked to be Assistant Director on a student film project a couple of my theatre friends are working on. It's about 80 pages long and we're shooting it in a week. Oh how I love challenges.
-- the one act play that I wrote for my playwriting class last year is going to be performed!! My friend Alison is in the 400 level directing class and they have to direct an one act play and she asked me if she could do mine... I of course said that would be amazing! It should be interesting..... and I get paid! Not much, but it's something!
-- I'm hopefully helping out a friend with her play that she wrote for her independent studies last semester. She needs it workshopped and discussed the possibility of having me help her do that. I think that would be fun.
-- I saw some really great movies of late: Pan's Labyrinth, The Queen, Babel, and Tape.

The bad:
-- my nose ring broke. I don't have money to buy a new one.
-- my hard drive on my laptop decided to quit on me. There goes 100 bucks! In the mean time I'm without a computer (I'm on my roomate's right now)
-- english classes are just not holding my attention right now. I'm still in film/theatre mindset and it's been very hard to adjust back
-- it's been difficult adjusting back to the Redeemer way of things
-- I hurt my back while at rehearsal on wednesday. It's hard to move around and it's painful.
-- I've been getting sick alot lately. I think it's something to do with the transition back to Redeemer. I'm hoping it will stop soon.

The ugly:
-- finances, finances, finances, and more finances
-- not being in LA right now
-- wait, did I say finances?

opinions on nothings

So. I really don't like winter. I think it's depressing and cold. I mean, it's great for Christmas because Christmas wouldn't be Christmas if it was warm (although seriously. This year?), but I'm just not a fan. I hate being cold and I don't really like winter clothes. You just can't be as creative, I find. Granted, summer clothes can lend itself to the scank factor, but there's alot you can do with them because you don't have to worry so much about keeping your body warm.
This Christmas holiday has been a time for me to catch up on some much needed movie watching. I'm not talking about getting ready for the oscars or going through the golden globe nominees (although this is on my list too), I'm talking about the movies that most people who have an interest in film as more than entertainment have seen, but I haven't. The Godfather. A Woody Allen film. Kill Bill. Schindler's List. American History X. And the list is no where near done. I realized while in California that I have many many classic movies to see if I'm at all serious about film or film studies (which I am). On the Waterfront. The other 2 Godfather movies. Casablanca. Citizen Kane. Pulp Fiction... So much movie watching -- so little time!!
In terms of contemporary films, I will hopefully be seeing some this week that include "the Queen", "Babel", and "Pan's Labyrinth". I've heard good things about all of them so I'm very excited. Also on my must see list is "Children of Men" -- said to be one of the best movies of 2006.
Alright. I think I have babbled enough. Goodness -- I wish there was something interesting to post.

The word of the day today: pooh-pooh

pooh-pooh (poo-poo) verb tr., intr.

To express contempt for; to make light of; to dismiss.

[Reduplicative of pooh (sound made by blowing something away with lips),
an exclamation of disdain or disbelief.]

"'Nothing of this sort ever happened,' says Sabya while pooh-poohing the rumour."
-Mandvi Sharma; Manish-Sabya Feud is Just a Rumour; The Times of India

Oh how I love this word.

Barbie and Ken -- together forever

So I might or might not have spent most of today watching Battlestar Galactica. Four episodes to be exact. Almost done season one -- I started watching it last week. Fun little show, that one.
Other than that the past few days have been spent sleeping, shopping for Christmas, and writing. mmmm. A great way to spend the holidays. Oh yes, and I played with Barbies for a while yesterday. Not joking either. We're giving our old Barbie house to my neice for Christmas so Trish and I spent yesterday afternoon going through all our old Barbie stuff. Man, we had a ton of Barbie stuff! Of course I made sure to find cool outfits for them and dress up both Barbie and Ken. I'm sorry -- but in my reality they are a couple and they are still going strong. I don't care what anyone says.

I'm just a normal Canadian now

I wish there was something new to post. But I'm home and everything's normal. I made the mainstage play for next year -- Antigone by Sophocles. I'll be playing the leader of the Chorus. Which, according my director, means that I sing lots and speak lots. I had hoped for Antigone... I'm not going to lie.. but this will probably be good for me since I'm going to be up to my eyeballs in work next sem.
I'm also made it into the Minstrel this past sem. -- The Minstrel is Redeemer's Creative Arts Magazine.. two of my poems got in. Good news.
I have a wine and cheese party this sat. mmmm.... wine. I made it all semester without drinking alcohol (it's part of our contract), so I'm looking forward to the party.... ;)

leaving and loving hollywood

I am sitting in LAX completely overwhelmed that it's all over. I didn't cry a lot. Mostly this morning when I had to say goodbye to Sarah and my roommates. And of course now as I am typing this. Great. Nothing like crying in public. These last couple of days have been AMAZING. I could have easily have made this semester into a yearlong thing. I feel like I've just started to get to know people and now I have to leave them. And let's be honest – some of them I will never see again. I have learned so much and grown so much as a person and discovered so much about myself.
So I should go back to the Price is Right. 21 of us decided to brave the early hours and went in line for the Price is Right at 4:00 in the morning on Tuesday. What followed was a very long process of actually getting seats in the audience. The gates opened to the CBS lot at 6:00AM at which time we got a Order of Arrival pass.. I was number 66. We were told to come back at 7:30, so we left and I went home and took a shower. We all met up again at 7:30 where we got another ticket. This ticket gave us a spot in the line that gets actual tickets. We were told to come back at 10:30. So we walked around the grove until then. When we got back, we then sat on benches until we got our nametag (the cool Price is Right nametag!!) and had to fill out some info about ourselves. Then we waited in line some more (by this point it's around 1:30) until finally they called us up in groups to be interviewed. The interview is to see what kind of personalities they have in the audience and they pick the people that go on the show based on your interview. The guy interviewing us knew that we were all from a school, so he asked where we were from and what's our major. Except for me. When he gets to me he asks “what do you do?” This threw me off guard. A bit earlier we had been talking about our hobbies.. and so the first thing that comes to my head is: “I sit in my room and collect pop cans” -- oh my gosh – how pathetic!! :) He told me that that was kind of sad and I agreed with him. Then I told him that I study school as well, but thought that that sounded like I study the subject of school and so I told him that I don't do that generally, but specifically... and he told me that he'd take my word for it. That, my friends, apparently gets you on the Price is Right as a contestant. We sat in our seats and the show started and it was soooo exciting! The stage is a lot smaller than I ever thought it would be.... it's so tiny!! Bob Barker is Bob Barker.. so awesome. So yeah, the show is totally intense. We had a big group.... so we were pretty hopeful that someone would get picked, but the show kept going and no one did..... so it gets to the last contestant to be called down. And Bob cues the announcer dude.. and he's like.. “Stephanie El...gersma.. come on down!!!!” OH MY GOSH!!!! I totally freaked out. Even writing this I'm inwardly freaking out. Such a rush I'm telling you. So I race on down to contestant's row.. and I am shaking and I don't know what to do. So crazy. And immediately they are showing us the thing that we're bidding on and I didn't know where to look or know what the heck it was because I only saw the girl hitting the tennis balls and didn't really see the machine that was throwing them. And then Bob is turning to me and saying “Stephanie, what do you bid?” Oh my GOSH. So I guessed “1000 dollars”. I was wrong – it was 825. But that's okay because it was TOTALLY FUN. And I got a vacuum cleaner and two watches!!!! Yippee!! January 25 people.
And now I'm here in the airport and we're going to board in 15 minutes. Tuesday we had our premiere screenings of our films. My film went so well. It was the last one to show... which people told me means that it's the profs' favourite pick. And I got a lot of compliments on it..... I mean, I just wrote it, the whole crew did all the work, but it was very gratifying to watch it with people who had never seen it before and know that they are laughing and enjoying something that came out of my brain – with the help of the Big Man Upstairs of course. Everyone looked so beautiful and it was truly a fun evening. Then Wednesday we had our final banquet – the last hurrah where we're all together. We had it at Callendar's, which is apparently a pretty well known restaurant in the US. It was really good food.... so good that I definitely couldn't finish it. But what else is new. :) It was a good evening, in which we got our certificates and could say a little something to the group. Course when I got up there I had no clue what to say.... so I floundered around a little. It was so weird to be thinking that this was the last time we'd all be together. I got emotional when saying goodbye to my friend Bekah because she was leaving the next morning.. but for everyone else it seemed so surreal. Then yesterday I spent the day packing and cleaning. I also hung out with my friend Geoff... he drove me up this mountain and onto this private road and showed me the most spectacular view of Los Angeles. It was such a fitting way to end my semester here. It was stunning – lights sparkling as far as you can see. I took some pictures but they don't do them any sort of justice.
And now it's back to reality. I hate reality at this moment.

Stephanie El..gersma.... C'MON DOWN!!!

Ok so people might want to be watching the Price is Right on January 25, 2007. Cause again, you might just see a familiar face down in contestant's row!!!!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!!! I, Stephanie, from Canada, was a freaking contestant on the Price is Right!!!!!!! I don't have a lot of time right now to ramble on about the whole experience, but I will say that I was the last contestant chosen, and I did not win anything except a consolation prize because I overbid on a tennis ball machine. Sad day. But the experience was sooo amazing!!!!!! SOOOO AWESOME! Bob Barker asked me, ""Stephanie, what is your bid?" ----- oh my gosh!!!!! And he's retiring too so it was one of his last shows. So incredible. But I have a million and a half things to do today so I will write more about it later. Yes.

I put ketchup on my ketchup

I can not freaking believe that I'm living out my last couple of days here... it's completely surreal to think that my semester at LAFSC is almost done. I finished my internship on friday -- they were really sweet.. they got me a FIND t-shirt, and a LA film festival lunchbox and hat. So cool. I gave them my resume so who knows... maybe I'll be back. I'm planning on it anyway -- I want to work the LA Film Festival in June because I think that's what I want to do with my life... maybe. Still not sure yet.
Today we handed in our final films.... feels good to be done. I'm working on burning DVD's... but other than that -- it's done. Hallelujah! Tonight Scott Derrickson (sp?) is coming to talk to us... he's the director of "the Exorcism of Emily Rose" .. so that's really cool. We watched the movie last night in order to prepare to meet him -- oh my gosh I was SO FREAKED OUT. If any of you know me, you know I don't do scary films. Well, I really don't do scary demon films. I had my eyes closed and ears plugged through most of the movie. And I was still scared to go to bed! But it will be interesting to hear what he has to say tonight.
On friday I saw Imogen Heap in CONCERT!!!!! It was such an amazing concert --- I've really only been to really good concerts so far in my lifetime. I also broke my opener act slump. So far at concerts, I've really not cared for the openers all that much. But Immi's openers were sooo great. The first one was Levi Weaver, who reminded me of my friend Joel. He's a Christian, but his lyrics were not explicitly Christian. Which is great. The other opener was this bear of a guy called Kid Beyond. He was fan-flipping-tastic... probably the best beat-boxer that I've ever heard in my life. Really cool stuff. And then of course there was Imogen!!! We were in the standing area at the very front ... she was like 5 feet away from me!!!!!! And her concert was just FUN. Rock-out, kick-butt FUN. She is so quirky and fun and flipping talented and she just rocks it out up there... it's such a great time!
Tomorrow -- the PRICE IS RIGHT!!! We are meeting at 4 in the morning in order to make sure we get seats... it's going to be insane. Especially since I have hardly gotten any sleep the past couple of nights. CRAZY. But it's the PRICE IS RIGHT! Bob Barker is retiring!!!! waaaahhh... 4 in the morning....
Coffee. Thank goodness for Coffee.
On Sunday we ate at Steven Speilburg's mom's restaurant. That was cool. I also said goodbye to Ecclesia.. a church that has become my home in such a short period of time.. it was really rough to leave them. Sucky.

no kissing for me any time soon

I burnt my lip. Not like, "oh crap that soup was too hot ouch" burnt my lip, but like "I have small blisters on my lip" burnt my lip. It hurts. Thankfully, it doesn't look gross or anything (hallelujah!) but it still hurts. How does one do such a thing? Well, I kind of ate fire. Ha ha. Yep. A bunch of us decided to go to the beach last night and have a camp fire and roast hotdogs and marshmellows (but not together). I love it -- having a night at the beach in November. :) Well, anyway, I decided to roast a marshmellow.... I was doing so, when it caught on fire (as they tend to do). I whipped the marshmellow up towards my face to blow it out.... and, well, I overestimated the amount of space between where the marshmellow was and where my face was.... so I ended up kind of sucking the fire into my mouth (which put it out... ) and planting the burnt marshmellow right on my bottom lip. Needless to say, hot burning marshmellow is not that comfortable on a lip, especially when it sticks there. Fun times, fun times.
It was thanksgiving here in the US of A. Kind of odd celebrating thanksgiving so late.. but it was a really nice break. That is a great thing about US thanksgiving -- they get a four-day weekend. We had a big thanksgiving dinner with about 20 of us that stayed behind for the holiday, it was a fun time of food and fellowship.. and food. Yum yum.. so much food. Over the rest of the weekend we went to the fashion district, Universal Citywalk, beach twice (both times were rather chilly.. but c'mon, it is november) and hung out with friends. It was a lot of fun. Wanted to get to Disneyland, but me thinks that that will not happen on this trip. Maybe next time.
In other news, I have become addicted to The Office. The American version, not the British one. Not because the American one is better or anything, but only because I don't have access to the British one. I really can't afford to be addicted to anymore shows. But seriously, the show is hilarious and if I were to enjoy a romantic relationship vicariously through TV, Pam and Jim's (as frustrating as it can be) would be near the top of my list. Acutually, it might be at the top of my list. I want a Jim. :)
I will be home in less than two weeks. Eek! Very weird to think about.

*sob*

I am going to miss LA.

a film, an autograph, and a song.. oh yes and clothing

Another busy week! We've been working like mad on our final film -- "Hiding an Egg. Seeking a Friend", which means that my weekends are NON-EXISTANT. We filmed for another two 10-12 hour days on Sat. and Sun. so it ends up feeling like Tuesdays and Wednesdays are my weekend.. which are the days we have class so even then it's not all that much of a break. Still, class takes up much less time than filming does. It's looking good though. Looking good.
In other exciting news I got to meet some really cool actors from the Christopher Guest movies. I went to a preview screening of "For Your Consideration" which is Chris' newest movie. I wasn't able to see all of it, but seriously. These people are geniuses of comedy. I came in halfway through the movie, and within a couple of minutes I was laughing, not even knowing what was going on. After the movie, there was a Q&A with Fred Willard (the travel agent husband in Waiting for Guffman -- a man that I find HILARIOUS), Jane Lynch (the lesbian lover in "Best in Show"), Jennifer Coolidge (Reese Witherspoon's friend in "Legally Blond", the one that ends up marrying the UPS guy), and Harry Shearer (I don't know him as well because he's in "This is Spinal Tap" and I haven't seen that one yet). So I got to chat with them and get their autographs! :) Eek!
I'm also VERY VERY excited because I am going to see IMOGEN HEAP in concert!!!! :) YIPPEE!!! She is seriously one of my most favourite female vocalists. It's probably between her and Sarah McLachlan.. so I was on her website and in the spirit of tours (Josh Groban starts his in Jan!) I decided to look at her tour... and low and behold she's doing a concert in LA on Dec. 1!! So I press Buy Tickets -- and even better, the tickets cost 25$!!!! Wahoo!! So I phone up my friend Sarah and ask her if she wants to go.. she says yes. So we ordered the tickets and now we're going!! Fan-flipping-tastic! I'm so excited!
Funny, everything I was wearing on Tuesday got complimented on by random strangers (except my flipflops, which are in such a state of disarray that if anyone complimented them they would have to be demented)... despite the competitive nature of this business, people here are very willing to give out compliments, and do so quite regularly, especially in regards to clothing or hair.. it's materialistic, but somewhat gratifying. It makes you feel good. People should do that more often.

bambling

I'm sitting here in the edit lab, waiting for my project to write to Quicktime... and playing with the toy dinosaurs that my sister sent me. Seriously, I got THE COOLEST package today from Trish.. it included a SpongeBob pen that lights up, an eatable candy watch that lights up, toy dinosaurs (so I can pretend to be Wash -- "We shall call this land.. this land" -- which is what I'm doing right now), a smilely face flower, a finger puppet hippo that makes dinosaur like noise (it's a dinohippo) and food of the candy variety! Yippee!! I have one of the best sisters in the world!!!
In other news I went to a silent movie theatre the other day. Totally cool experience. I watch The General... a Buster Keaton film. Fun times. The coolest thing was that the soundtrack was done live by a guy who was playing the music on a piano as he was watching the film. I was in awe.
Josh Groban's new CD is out!! And he is going to be in LA at Borders in person to sign CD's!!!!!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!! I need to go. That's what I need to do. I will go buy the CD and go to Borders and meet Josh Groban. And then he will fall madly in love with me and I will come home married! Yippee!
My script is being made into a movie for our Hollywood Production class so that's exciting. It's looking really good too. We have a great team and they do a really good job. It's really cool to see my words come to life on the screen...
Tonight I'm going to see Marie Antoinette (or however you spell that) with my wonderful friend Tabitha. I'm looking forward to Sophia Coppola.. I'm not really looking forward to Kirsten Dunst. But we shall see, we shall see.
In other fun and exciting news, I found out a couple days ago that two years my family will be taking a vacation in... Prince Edward Island!!!! YAHOO!! I am so excited. The thought of spending a vacation in an area where the pace of life is so relaxed is sooo wonderful, especially while living in BUSY BUSY LA. And I've always wanted to go, and now I'll get to go with my whole family -- so awesome!
Also, I found out that my sister and parents and I are probably going to "The Phantom of the Opera" in February!!!!!!! OH MY GOSH!! I've always said that I want to see "Les Miserables" and "Phantom of the Opera" before I die... and now I'll get to!!! Well, Lord Willing of course. It's playing in Toronto in February and we're going as a family weekend type deal! My life is so exciting!
Alright time to go home and eat some French Toast. mai oui!

He's no Elijah Wood...

But he's Joshua Jackson... and he's hot! :) I went to the preview screening of Bobby tonight at Film Indepedent. Also in attendance were Christian Slater, Emilio Estevez, Brian Garaghty, and Freddy Rodriguez. It was fun times.

love love love

JOSH GROBAN HAS A NEW CD!!!
AWAKE -- NOVEMBER 7. BUY IT KIDS.

People in the news

I've seen a lot of interesting people in the last week.
This past weekend was the City of Angels Film Festival, which is run by the director of LAFSC and some of our professors. So I went and saw The Nativity Story (the new movie coming out in December about the birth of Christ) on the Friday night, and then I volunteered on Saturday and Sunday night. The guest of honour for the festival was Randall Wallace -- the writer of Braveheart and writer/director of Man in the Iron Mask and We Were Soldiers. He was such a sweet man!! He said that I was pretty.. :) I got a picture with him which was cool.
Then today I was at Film Independent's Filmmaker Forum... which is a two day event geared towards indie filmmakers. My dept was working the event so I spent the whole day there. It was really great. The whole day consisted of eating and listening to panels. I got to meet some really cool people there too -- Faye Dunaway was there, which was really cool... she's a really beautiful woman for her age. I also got to talk to the Polish brothers (two indie film directors who are starting to become more well known), and the directors and the people who filmed Wordplay.... also there was Stephanie Allain (producer of Hustle and Flow), Lindsay Doran (producer of Stranger than Fiction, Sense and Sensibility, and Nanny McPhee), and other producers of big name projects. It was a really fun day and I learned a lot about filmmaking!
There was also this guy who came up to me and asked me where I was from. When I said I was from Ontario, Canada, he told me that "Wow, there are so many beautiful people that come from that city -- and you continue to prove that"... oh my gosh. smooth buddy. smooth.
On that note, he is probably the fourth guy in the past couple of days who has told me that I'm beautiful. My poor ego -- I think it's definately suffering.... :)

And now for the creepy people

Elaine (my Malaysian roomate) and I shot my last five minute film this past weekend.. It was a lot of fun becuase it was just her and I and we walked down and around 3rd and Fairfax writing words on the sidewalk with chalk --- but we also met a bunch of very interesting males on the streets of LA. Must have been becuase we were just the two of us, and my shirt was a little low. haha
The first weirdo was about early to late 40's and he had a little bit of an accent. Elaine was kneeling down writing some words on the sidewalk when he came up to us.
Creepy man (speaking to me): Hi, is she (speaking about Elaine) Asian?
Me: Yes! She's from Malaysia.
CM: Wow, she is, she is beautiful.
Me: Yes, I know. That's why she's in my film! (kind of joking)
CM: Is she yours?
Me (slightly taken abake): Is she mine? Uhhh.. like, mine? Huh? (Seriously --- is she my slave or something?)
CM: Is she your girlfriend?
Me: Oh... no. No she's not.
CM: (with a hopeful look on his face) So does that mean she's available?
---- Yes, Elaine is still kneeled beside me like a foot away from this man ----
Me: No. She's not available.
CM: Are you positive?
Me: Yes. Yes I am very positive.
CM: Ohh... but she is so beautiful..
He then went on to ask me about my film, etc. A little while later, he found us again in the Grove and asked us if he could help at all; carry anything for me.. I was grossed out.
Then we were filming a bit later and another man of about 40ish was biking past. I said hi because some people are a little put off by filming so I tried to come across as nice.. He said hi and then told me that he really liked what I was wearing. I said thanks.... and then went back to filming. A couple minutes later he was back....
CM2 (speaking to me): Excuse me, but do you think that there's any possibility that I could take you on a date sometime?
Me (slightly shocked): Umm... no. Probably not. I'm only here for a couple of months..
CM2: Oh really? Oh I'm sorry.
Me: That's okay. I'm from Canada so I'll be going back there soon.
CM2: I'm sorry. You just looked so good in your outfit. Did you have a good thanksgiving?
Me: Yeah! Thank you! Goodbye.
Gosh. We also got numerous honks and a couple of whistles out of cars. One guy whistled at me out of his car and then kept raising his eyebrows at me and saying stuff to me which I obviously couldn't hear because he was in his car.

Being a young female in LA can an interesting experience.

I love the little piculiarities of this town...

-- a woman got on the bus this morning and hollered out to the whole bus: "I want you all to know that Jesus loves you! Jesus Christ loves you all and he wants you to go to heaven!" Then stood in the middle of the bus completely silent for the rest of the ride
-- A highly made-up (she had a lot of make up on) European woman who didn't speak very good english had quite the little hissy fit in the middle of the sidewalk while a young girl who might have been her daughter looked on like there was nothing wrong
-- walking home from work today I passed by a Starbucks. At one table sat a woman with a little dog on her lap, at the next a man talking to himself and writing a screenplay of somesort, and at the third there sat a homeless man -- it was like a representative of hollywood all in one coffeeshop
-- on the bus ride home this really weird guy talked to me most of the ride about how I should really do some work as an extra, and was I raised by timberwolves since I'm from Canada (he thought that one was just hilarious)? When I went to leave, he said, "awww.. you have to go? Well, see you later you cute canuck!" And then he laughed to himself again at how funny he was..

I am thankful for Six Flags

I LOVE ROLLERCOASTERS. Oh my gosh. I am a rollercoaster person!!! I never knew!! This past weekend was our minibreak -- appropriate since it was thanksgiving back at home.. But instead of eating turkey dinner and admiring the fall colours, I spent monday at Six Flags: Magic Mountain riding rollercoasters and basking in the beautiful sunshine! Not a bad trade in my opinion... :)
Though I definately missed my family and the turkey, I couldn't have asked for a better day!!! So far it was probably the best day of the whole semester. I was kind of nervous going becuase the last time I was on a rollercoaster it was ThunderRun at Canada's Wonderland and I was in my early teens. I definately thought that I was not a rollercoaster person. But when I heard that we could go to Six Flags for 15$ if we wanted to, I thought well I can't miss that experience! So I went. And I couldn't be happier I did!!
When we got there a whole group of us started out around the park together. Surprisingly enough I ended up staying with this group the whole day despite that there was around 10-12 of us. Our first ride was Goliath. Oh my gosh. What a way to start.. The first hill on the ride is 255 ft high and the coaster goes 85 miles-per-hour. People black out on this ride. And the last ride I rode was ThunderRun 10 years ago!!!!! I honestly freaked out the entire way up... and it was long way up. And then we went down... and around.. and all over the place. And then it was over and it was the most awesome thing that I had ever experienced!!!!!! I screamed the entire way and I actually put my hands in the air!! :) Look at me go!

Once I did that one I was hooked.... we ended up riding 8 rides through out the day.. and three of those 8 we did twice. The best ride was SCREAM.. it was just a really great ride. Then there was Tatsu -- it flipped the chairs forward so that you're hanging on your stomach through the whole ride, almost like you're flying! So cool.. But the scariest ride was Deja Vu. This ride pulled you back up a tower then drops you into a complete vertical 20-story free fall.. you go through the ride (including a 102 ft tall loop and 110 ft tall butterfly turn) and the end of it rockets you up a 200 ft tower (Yes I'm getting all the numbers from the website).. you're suspended there for a couple seconds and then it lets you go and you do the whole ride again -- except backwards!! OH MY GOSH. I just about died. Myself and three other guys waited in line a little bit longer so that we could be in the front of the ride. I don't know what on earth possessed us to do that. It was the scariest thing I've ever done in my whole life!!!! The first tower that they pull you up.. since we're at the front there is absolutely nothing under you except the ground. I was sooooo freaked out I had my eyes closed through most of the ride and I screamed like there was no tomorrow --- and I almost thought there wouldn't be!!! And yet I came off the ride and thought it was so exhilerating!! What a rush!

It was such a special day. The amusement part atmosphere was so much fun, I ended up loving roller coasters more than I ever thought I would (even though I now I have a soar throat from screaming on every ride), and I spent the day with people that I really wanted to spend the day with -- even if they're giving you statistics about the number of deaths on rides as you're going up the first drop...... haha these people are so great.