My Experience With... Riding the Fury 325.

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Take a Ride on the Fury 325, the World's Tallest Giga-Coaster

The 6,600 foot long adrenaline rush at Carowinds Amusement Park rises 325 feet in the sky and reaches speeds up to 95 miles per hour.

Yup. I rode it. Totally rode it. Three times. Since seeing it first from that Lester Holt report on it (which should show up above -- if it doesn't, oh well), I debated whether I should risk my brain or life on the world's tallest coaster. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE roller coasters. I must have ridden the Intimidator over 40 or 50 times within the past four years, most of those times in the front seats! Anyway, I went to Carowinds with my family and friends, and the first ride I got on was the Fury. I was determined to go on it. Unfortunately, (and this is the one major bummer), I couldn't request to go on the front row. So, no. I have not statistically gone on enough times to get into the front row. I'll update you on that when I do.

For the most part, it was a pretty mild ride! The most intense part was going up / coming down the first time. First of all, it took FOREVER to get to the top. I was dying with anticipation. When I looked over the top (I was closer to the front), I knew there was definitely no going back. I held on to my seat security -- basically a sturdy plastic triangle holding in your core -- for dear life. I couldn't even scream until I was nearly level! What a rush! The rest of the ride was moderately comparable to the Intimidator, but more stretched out. This ride was definitely engineered more for speed than for G-force thrills. Then again, I suppose that's what the Cobra's for, provided you don't pass out on the ride. Yes, my friend told me that I actually passed out the second time I was on the Cobra. I gotta be careful on that thing... I always feel like I'm in a VCR! Anyway, Fury : Intimidator as Driving 70 mph on a highway with few curves : Driving 50 mph on a winding, more rural-esque road.

So, if you're not terribly affected by vertigo or motion sickness, by all means, go for the Fury.

...And watch out when you step out of the ride. It's like trying to get your land legs back after experiencing the 70s.

:)

What was your favorite roller coaster ride? What was your worst amusement park experience? Do you not like amusement parks? Why or Why not? (Okay, sounding like a 3rd Grade EOG question...)

My Experience With... The First and Only Time I (Sorta, Kinda) Asked a Guy Out / Went to a Sadie Hawkins Dance

I know that was a long-behind title, but trust me, they go hand in hand.

My college decided to have a Sadie Hawkins dance one year. I talked about it with some co-workers at an on-campus department. They asked me who I was going with.

Why did I open my big mouth?

I told them that I didn't have a date, that I had planned to go by myself, just so I could have an excuse to go dancing, and that I'd never even asked a guy out, let alone been on a date. To be perfectly honest, I probably would've asked one guy friend, but he told me that he's got a “surgically altered right foot.” His words. Not mine.

Well, that little confession led to how on earth I'd never dated, and what do I look for in a man. I asked them back, “Do you mean primary or secondary characteristics?” No, seriously, I had a decent list as to what I looked for in a guy, primary characteristics being about the actual person, and secondary characteristics being bonus attributes (looks, etc.). Yeah. That helped. They decided to help me find someone to ask to the dance. Eventually, one guy came in that we helped. (It was a slow day.) When they said that he seemed like a nice guy, I told them that he was actually one of my classmates. They then forced encouraged me to follow the guy and ask him. They even had one girl go with me as a wingwoman. As soon as we got to him, that little so-and-so bailed.

So there I was, facing my biggest challenge to date. I decided to use a diplomatic business approach. I asked him if he was going to the dance at all. I figured if he wasn't, I was off the hook, and I seemed like some girl who was merely advertising for the dance. He did say that he'd heard of it, but it wasn't his thing. He apologized, and I told him it was alright. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Never again, I thought. I hadn't even told my mother until, like, last week. But yeah, not only had I never asked a guy out again, I realized just how awkward it was for guys to ask girls out, and I figured talking to a guy I actually liked would be just as hard. So yeah. Still never been on a date, but I'm just glad I got that experience out of the way during my college years. Can you imagine doing that in post-grad world? Yikes. If you're reading this and you have, I apologize.

The night of the dance (it had actually been postponed) finally came, and I went in hoping to dance my shoes off.

Nope.

Most boring event I had ever witnessed.

For one thing, it was mostly couples' dances, and the ones who weren't paired off were the committee, and they weren't even dancing. On top of that, I think it only lasted about 90 minutes, tops! The upside was that I got to see my accounting professor and her husband out-dance all the other couples (all five of them) there.

And now that is the reason I dislike the Relient K song even more. Sorry, guys. Nothing against you as people. If it's any consolation, I do like “Foreverandever etc.” Even the video, strange as it was.

What's your worst dance / dating experience?

*** P.S. I just realized that I mentioned a David Crowder Band song instead of a Relient K song.... MegaFail. I guess my brain couldn't tell the two apart. Does anybody know any good Relient K songs... what's your fave?

My Experience With... Dr. Mario

Just found out recently that Dr. Mario is officially turning 25 years old July 27! And what better way to celebrate it than to talk about it in a blog! It's not like I can throw a party for it.

First of all, the flipping title screen is enough to give one the Serious Nostalgia Feels. Dr. Mario and that little blue virus, 8-bit violins, slightly Caribbean beat, A major.... ahh.

You can choose one of two modes. One-player or two-player. Being an only child, playing two-player mode was a bummer. Mom played Dr. Mario a lot, but I don't think we've ever played 2-player mode.

Anyway, I usually started at level 00 as a child, stopping around level 5, as I deemed it too challenging for my young mind. I guess I was a teenager when I stopped playing it for awhile. After many movings and re-discoverings, I saw it again. I wondered how in the world we still had that game even though it was broken. You see, the version we originally had was played so much, and jammed and blown upon so many times in the bottom, that the inner cartridge had actually shifted, making it impossible to play... unless you like a jacked-up pixellated screen from time to time. I looked in the bottom and realized that we'd actually purchased  a replacement. I put it into the NES console, and after a  few jiggles and readjustments (hey, I still prefer it to the Wii), I got that beautiful 8-bit theme playing with a clear screen.

There are 3 music options for the game: Fever, Chill, and Off. First of all, playing it on “Off” is kind of a waste of time. It feels weird to me... but that's how I'm wired. Chill is pretty sweet. I like how I feel as though I'm playing with stealth as I try to kill the evil (and slightly cute) viruses. Fever, however, is the household favorite.

  

Also, I almost always play on Low speed. I know that it gives me only one cut scene (completion of level 20), but I never quite developed the reflexes to master Medium speed, let alone Fast speed. Also, I don't play all 20 levels straight through. Firstly, it's complete madness to play the game straight through. Mom pointed this out, and I fully agree: There's no point to the game. Honestly, it's just a weird version of Tetris, using a beloved licensed character with a bleach job and a doctor's costume. He doesn't even do anything! Unless you count throwing 6 different combinations of 2 colors (9 if you count reverses), shaped like pills to get 4+ in a horizontal or vertical row!

Seriously, he had more of a part as a villain in Donkey Kong Jr.

Oh, and the only way to lose is if you pile up the pills so high that you have one replacing the top one, in which case all of the little monsters (even the ones that disappeared) show up and start baring their teeth at you Prestissimo (really, really fast). Was that supposed to be scary? It mildly disturbed me the first time I saw it, but I was scared more by the algae-eating ugly fish in my Grandmother's aquarium!

Seriously, those things still creep me out.

And even when that happens, he just looks at you with this dumb, “I can't do anything,” face. Seriously, dude, you're Mario! No power-ups? No little star? No... anything related to your other games?

So yeah, as a game.... not the most complex. I think the old Tetris game (which I'll write about in another review), had more of a point to it. And Mario makes a cameo appearance in the game, and that showed more purpose.

Usually, I play to relieve myself of stress, or when I feel inspired to sketch something out, and I need something to break my mind away from brain barfing on pages. I either start at 00 and keep going until I feel like I'm losing brain cells, or I start at level 20, and keep going from there. I have no idea if there is a “final level.”

Why do I play it? It's a game of my generation. It's the nostalgia. It's the memories attached to it. It's so simple. And yes, if I had children, I'd let them play it.

*Special thanks to the The Odd Quartet people for helping me find that first image!*

So how was your experience playing Dr. Mario within these past 25 years? And do you say, “Cah-RIH-bee-in,” or “Cah-rih-BEE-in”?


*** Update: My mother and I finally played the 2-player mode recently. I've beaten her in every match, and probably lost one game to her. Heh heh heh. ^_^