Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Me, My rides and I
For the 2 months and 20 days that i've been employed by PKD, i have been assigned to the ride Anaconda. basically its a big rollercoaster ride that kinda moves like a snake, hence it's name. Anaconda also has a "subsidiary" called Scrambler... sorry for the term but it's true since 100% of Scrambler belongs to Anaconda... okay i shall not start on it because i'm probably too obsessed with the influence of my AFA(advanced financial accounting) class with FRS 103,27 and disgusting consolidated financial statements that's killing me... talking about assets, liabilities.. wada wada...anyhows, Scrambler is like a smaller ride cuz it more mild and "more for kids". haha. it's similar to those typical tea cup rides except that it's more fun. it spins around and people get pulled to the sides due to centrifugal force being exerted (ya you remember you learn this in physics and all the calculations in fmaths.. blah blah ok shall not go on). so it's pretty fun cuz it gets very cooling with all the wind in your face when you spinned around. its more fun when you sit with people cuz you can squish or get squished!
Scrambler
how the ride looks like...
me on board! say... CHEEZE!!!
me at work.. checking the cars to make sure they are all locked properly!
okay, next up's ANACONDA!!! haha i started out loving Scrambler cuz it was more slack and i could have a chance to sit.. but it got rather sickening when i was left there almost all day... err thanks to jesse. i think don (another supervisor from my neighbour ride) sure understands because he frequently comments how he ALWAYS sees me there. and so i turned my love to Anaconda because i had more fun with jesse there and its kinda like... "more happening" i would say.
Anaconda
posing infront of the entrance queue line...
bird's eye view of the ride...
pretty pretty beautiful anaconda ride area...
basically my job scope includes checking the restraints to make sure it's locked properly before the train moves off... so for every cycle i will...
normally step out of the board room first...
start checking from the first row...
and go all the way to the end...
then when both sides are ok, we raise our thumbs up and give the "all clear" signal to the board operator who will then send the train off.
it seems quite simple but we kinda like have to do other stuff too.. like disabled guests who come up with the exit ramp, helping people put their belonings at the racks at the side, pulling up restraints for people who get stuck cuz they can't open it up (that's the worst because the restraints are so damn heavy!! that's why i've always thought that only guys should work here!), then cleaning up vomit (yes you didn't hear me wrong) for those scardy cats who couldn't take the excitement of the ride, going underneath the train station to pick up sandals or whatsoever items dropped by those idiots... etc etc. basically we just do everything else that is needed.
the train comes in like almost continously... one train enters after the previous one departs. so the only idle time is probably when the trains are moving in and out... and also when those people unload and load themselves (which we are supposed to help but err...). so most of the time in between cycles, i kinda like walk into the boardroom (when i'm working on the left side) to get some air-con and also to talk and play with jesse when he's on board. or sometimes just talk to other people who are inside. at other times i just don't go in at all.. depending on who's inside. well but thank God for that, it really helps to make work time pass faster and more fun. you can't imagine a human being repeatedly doing the same stuff for hours.. where's your sanity man. work will only get tiring and boring.
i never took a picture when i was on board... which was quite a pity. this is a bigger ride so they are more stringent on training for the board operator. i only managed on my "board training" status before i left because jesse refused to checklist me as i was leaving already. well actually, doing board is really not that hard at all (with our Singapore level of intelligence.. hahaha.) so well, they should have started training us earlier. somehow americans there just gave me the impression that they think we singaporeans are kinda like dumb or something. bad underestimation... hmms.
time to ride...
me on the train... with a weird angmoh posing too... haha. i love the back seat the most.. it's the most fun for rollercoaster rides i've learnt. most people think that the first row is the best.. but actually they are wrong. long coaster rides like this has the best ride experience from the back.so when you are ready to go... come with me to ride anaconda on this video...! (it's pretty shakkkkkyyyy but that's the best we can do while riding and holding the camera!)
courtesy of mingshun who took this video... and jesse who allowed him to do so even though he wasn't supposed to.. haha.
YuAn® spun on 2:43 PM.
