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Posts tagged Firefighter's Fair
Flickr Friday: The Wizard of Oz – on crack – in the eighties.
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I took this photo at the Indian River County Fair. It was on the side of a ride there. It is… different.
I occasionally update new photos (and old ones that I scan) on my Flickr account. Each Friday I post one on my blog from my collection that I think defies gravity.
I can’t play baseball very well, so I don’t know how to explain this (video.)
0The set up: A few weeks back I went to the Indian River County Firefighter’s Fair for a night of bad food and dangerous rides with my friends. You see, after years of working in theme parks I have become jaded by so called “thrill rides.” Disney and Universal work hard to make their rides as safe as can be which, while fun, isn’t really “thrilling.”
Carnival/fair rides have a special charm for me (and some of my fellow theme park employee friends) because there is an actual risk of death when you hop onto one of those things. Risk of dying on an aging and questionably maintained ride = actual thrill.
Don’t judge.
WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH BASEBALL, you ask? Well, while we were walking around the midway we passed one of those insulting clowns in a dunk tank. My friend Stacy and her boyfriend Miles walked by earlier and, it seems, the clown had annoyed Miles by making some rather ruthless and tasteless comments towards some passing fourteen year old girls.
He decided he wanted a shot at the clown, so I decided to do it too (so he wouldn’t be doing it by himself.)
I blame it on hyperactivity brought on by the fried Oreos I had earlier, but for some reason the clown started to piss me off. My friends know “that look” I get when I get truly annoyed… it’s this focused yet unstrained expression my eyes get. You can’t see it in this video (because it’s from behind) but you can VERY MUCH notice my extended pause to focus in frustration before throwing the ball.
I couldn’t repeat that throw if you paid me, but it was fun to enjoy for the moment.
You can watch the full version here (which includes me hitting the mark and in a lucky throw earlier and thanking Nintendo Wii for the skills.)
Thanks Kaleb for filming this.
A FAIRly good time this weekend…
0Last weekend was the third annual “Wasabi & Friends” trip to the Indian River County Firefighter’s Fair (www.firefightersfair.org). The tradition started three years ago as a random act of fun by friends of mine, many of whom have are current and former theme park employees. You see, if you work in a theme park you become used to the idea of being able to ride a thrill ride at any time and, because you see things behind the scenes, you know that you’re safe because of the amount of maintenence done to these rides.
That last fact is the main reason theme park employees (that I know) LOVE local fair rides… the thrill is real since, you know, you could actually die on those rickety contraptions. The look of fear on the video below is FOR REALZ PEOPLES:
Pure fear.
You can watch videos from the fair here and check out the photos of AWESOME fair artwork and my friends here.
Thanks to Angie, Chris, John, Lyn, Kaleb, Kim, Tracy, and Troy for coming down to join Shannon and I again this year. Zaniness Ensued.
