Subject: TAN (DFS Report): Toledo, Sandusky, Insanity From: Jeff Huo Organization: Denizens of the Wolverine White Coat Ghetto Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan NNTP-Posting-Host: 207.75.178.169 Dancin' to the drummers beat / Drink with everyone you meet / Your head'll dance without your feet... Dancin' to the drummer's beat! Pour your brother one more round / Pick each other off the ground / Let another chorus sound... Pour your brother another round! Cheers to the brewer for his brew / That they say we cannot do / Drink until the cask is through... Cheers to the brewer for his brew! Pour your brother one more round / Pick each other off the ground / Let another chorus sound... Pour your brother another round! - "Pour Your Brother," Heather Alexander Here comes the earliest of the many DFS Reports which will probably come out of the Cedar Point 2001 Social, along with the obligatory quote file, and indeed, the Social goes on even now as I have returned to work this Sunday afternoon... The entire two days I was at the Social I drank not a drop of alchohol, and yet, upon sober reflection after the fact, I simply begin by saying I have never had more fun in the company of friends in my entire life than with the DarkFriends at Cedar Point. Period. Absolutely, positively, period. Steve Ginter losing his wallet was no fun. But even with that downnote, my statement still stands. It was one heck of a rolickin', side-splitting, coaster-ridin', mad crazy wonderful time. [And just imagine what it's like for the folks who stayed though all of Sunday, too! :-) ] It began on a rainy Friday in Wolverine contry, at a time when many others were already making their way across the country to Toledo. Began under a tree in the parking lot in front of my apartment where a car pulled up, the driver's side door opened and the the incredible Anne Willick jumped out to greet me --"Stay in the car, Anne! It's raining!" "So?" *fierce hug* South we went through the storm- workplace grumbles, deep frying pop tarts, the futility of healthy popcorn, green flourencent roses and rabbits, and much, much else-- and an hour of near-constant laughter later we arrived at the home of the Lady Maggie Sedai. She grabbed two bottles of wine and I her other four,and thus armed, stormed through the door into the already blazing-party... Melissa Allen was there already- as was Zeynep Dilli, Mike Kozlowski, Kenn Caveness, and Christina and Jon -- hugs abounded, further siliness ensued. Home-baked munchies were consumed. Melissa Allen had brought sinful home-baked cookies up from Texas and these were quickly inhaled, then we dove into Maggie's baklava. The table was set for nine - then Steve Ginter and Leah Cole arrived just as Maggie's famous Black and White soup was being poured --talk about perfect timing! More chairs brought in, spaces made, wine was opened, table was set. "To the many rasfwrj-ians across the country and the world --A toast: To Absent Friends." Alex Goddard arrives just as salad is being served, IIRC, we scoot and through intricate coordination manuver heaping plates of oven-browned potatoes, baby carrots, chicken stuffed with goat cheese, arounded the cozily crowded table, all while uproarious laughter rips through the group like gust after gust of the wind-blown rain outside. Ray Chason and Melissa Devnich pull in during the apple-pie-ice cream and the Frangelico cheese-cake --each delayed by a spill of missles on a Maryland highway-- and we retire for a long evening of more happy laughter, heavily modified Sorry! the board game, Maggie's Hot Pink Leather pants (WhoHoo!), pictures of Steve and Leah's bathroom construction, Leah demonstrating what the Supreme Bad-Ass Rasfwrjette is modeling this fashion season [I leave it to her to elaborate, if she choses, but *damn*, she makes it look *good*! ;-) ], and an endless array of out-of-context quotes...at some point after I posted greetings to this group, I collapsed in a small corner from sheer exhaustion (been a busy last few days in lab). I'm told the party went on for several hours after... ...I woke early to take care of work online and other business, and as dawn broke Saturday to a clear blue day, I knew it was going to be special. Madhu was next up, the two of us going north to Detroit Metro Airport to exchange Madhu's rental car. Madhu slipped an Indian Classical music CD into the player --the music that Indians had created from the western instuments of the British Raj-- in this case, Indian classical music written for the Western Violin. A facinating discussion about the comparative history of Western and Indian classical music ensued all the way up to the airport, whereupon after kicking the tires on a few prospective vehicles we chose a nice compact with a CD player and cruise control (for Madhu had a 12-hour drive back ahead of him) and came back south. Came back to discover Toledo's Curse on Steve Ginter had not been relaxed. Those of familiar will remember in previous trips to Toledo poor Steve has had his car either break down or been broken into. This time, Saturday morning it was discovered his wallet was noowhere to be found. The apartment was turned upside down, the lawn and car screened with a fine-tooth brush, even the previous night's garbage, the outside dumpster and the bushes along the edge of the property combed repeatedly. Zeynep's original idea was for Madhu, her and I to ride with Steve and Leah back to the gas station a few hours east near Cleveland to go look for his wallet, as that was the best guess as to where the wallet might have been lost. It was pointed out that three could not comfortably sit in the back seat of Steve's car, and so, Madhu having to drive nearly twenty-four hours in three days, it was decided that he should stay behind and we should go. And so off the four of us went. We did not find the wallet out there, unfortunately. But Steve was an incredibly good sport about the disaster, and in that long car ride out there, then back to Sandusky, along with the requisite laughter we had the story of a friend of Steve and Leah's from the SCA ("She's a vegetarian --unless she's drunk") and a merry sing-along to the amazing Heather Alexander, a filk artist favorite of Steve, Leah and Zeynep whom I (horrors) had not previously been introduced to. (The song that introduced this report is one of hers. Heather (http://www.heatherlands.com) *Rocks!*) After grabbing food at KFC ("I swear, the guy working the drive-in has got to be Mike Kozlowski's twin brother!") we raced back to Sandusky and Cedar Point and by cell phone made plans to meet the rest of the crew at the Millenium Force Roller Coaster... Now, Cedar Point is famous for several things-- but first and foremost, for having some of the biggest, baddest roller coasters in the United States. And the Millenium Force is the biggest, baddest Coaster in Cedar Point --and, at the time of it's opening in May 2000, the whole frickin' world. Taller than a thirty-story building, more than a mile long, cruising speed just under 100 miles per hour, it broke 10 world records at it's opening. *This* was the coaster Steve and Leah decided would a good introduction to roller-coastering for Zeynep and I. Eeek! This bears repeating --neither Zeynep nor I have *ever* been on an outdoor roller-coaster before in our lives. Period. When I went to the old Boblo Island amusement park in the sixth-grade, I chickened out of all the coasters. The idea of being whipped upside down at multiple G's at really insane speeds was not on my list of Sane Things to do for Fun (tm), especially not shortly after eating. Zeynep, whose judgement I consider extremely sound, had the same doubts. The idea of going upside down on an open car was pretty damn scary. To do it on *this* beast... Double Eeek! Doesn't help of course that the track is laid out to whip the riders past you while you wait in line. I tried to fake out my best male bravado even as my stomach churned and my knees literally shook. (I know, I'm a pussy.) Zeynep unconciously winced every time a coaster-car whipped by almost so close you could touch it through the fence. Leah kindly did her best to calm our nerves. Steve, on the other hand, shamelessly reminded us newbies about the many speed and acceleration records the Millenium Force held and gave us helpful hints like "Try not to Puke on the upsidedown loops because then the centripetal force will fling it back in your face". He did helpfully exchange jackets with Zeynep when she got cold, and with black leather jacket and gloves, black pants and black boots, as per Leah, Zeynep also further proved that rasfwr-jette is another word for Supreme Bad-Ass. :-) Thus suitably dressed to take on the beast, the four of us piled into the cars, I believe Leah with me, Steve with her, buckled on in, took a deep breath, and at least I dug my fingers into the handles of my car as it hauled itself up the first thirty-story hill. All of a sudden the cars merrily tipped itself over into the first thirty-story dive. Oh. My. God. There's this ten-second period of time as you haul straight down the first gap and you literally rise out of your seat from the negative acceleration, hung in mid-air as you roar seemingly straight towards the ground, convinced you're going to tip out of the coaster and into oblivion. There's this whip-saw-upside-down-f**k that pole is going to kill us!--duck, tunnel!-right twist--drop stomach again- loop-loop-aaaa---rise-lather-repeat! How did I like it? How did we like it? How did two total coaster virgins come off of being dragged into the world's baddest ass coaster? Let me cut ahead a little bit. Later that night. The sky is black as coal, stars and moon above, neon lights flashing across the coasters, freezing cold air. It's almost eleven o'clock at night. Most of the other rasfrjians have gone home, but a hardy few remain. The cars of the Millenium Force pull into the station with Dave Rothgery, Steve and Leah on their *second* run through the Millenium Force of the day... And right in the coaster car behind them, Zeynep and I look right at each other. We're both thinking the same thing post ride, but she says it first with this ear-to-ear grin -- "I want to do that AGAIN!" And between those two runs on the Millenium Force --was the Mantis, the Gemini, the Magnum XL-200, the Iron Dragon, and for Zeynep the Corkscrew too! Coaster-Mad? Damn-straight. I learned something on Saturday. Physics is my drug and Sir Issac Newton is my pusher. By the Iron Dragon I was looking up ahead on the track in anticipation. By the second Millenium Force run I ran through the whole ride just wanting to enjoy the sights and sounds, not saying a word, just sitting there smiling like a mad-man and taking in the whole multi-G experience in silent Zen Blissitude. On the ride home, when our car went down small hills I was back on the Millenium, riding down that first monster hill. I spent the night dreaming of Coasters. Post-tramautic flashback --hell no, this was Afterglow! Coaster-mad? Hell Yeah! Badder Coasters than the Millennium? BRING 'EM ON! ;-) Yeah, I had a good time at Cedar Point. :-) We met the rest of the gang outside the Millenium Force. We went to dinner at the Boat-House restarant, with the usual quote- filled insanity. There was merilly skipping in a foursome singing "We're off to see the Wizzard! The Wonderful Wizard of Koz!" There was Melissa Allen, our fearless leader, leading us from one Coaster-Promised-Land to another. There was Zeynep introducing me to dance steps that we did around the little knot of rasfwrj-ians. There was Madhu tackling me and in one smooth flow spinning me around in the air, demonstrating the proper way to do that to someone, or later debating the finer points of sky-diving. There was careening around the Matterhorn with Steve Ginter and Melissa Devnich. There was whirling around the Scrambler with Zeynep. There was the five of us hanging on in the park long after more sane folks went home to magaritias and warmth, riding the Carousel and the Millenium Force one last time. That was my swan song for the Social, as Madhu and I hit the road early the next morning. I even slept through the merriment that night back at home, involving MST3King Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and a Taboo Game that was still going on strong when I woke *up* at 4 AM... Melissa Allen, it was a pleasure to meet you and welcome you to the DFS tradition. Melissa Devnich, the same, and hopefully see you in DC in a month. The rest of you, it was wonderful to see you all again, and we must do this again sometime...soon, preferably. :-) Steve, Leah, I hope the wallet affair passes without too much repercussion, as hard as it is going to be. To Julianna Avedon: it didn't arrive, but Maggie will enjoy it for all of us. :-) And to Anne and Madhu, Maggie and Zeynep, you know why. Firece hugs to you all. *hugs hugs* Until next time, -Jeff absentee rasfwrjian and proud Warder #3 to Maggie Sedai of the Green Ajah -- Jeff Huo | jeff@spundreams.net.nospam (remove nospam) U. Michigan Med | http://www.spundreams.net/~jeff New to the group? Welcome! 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