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	Welcome To My Home... October 21, 2002 Terrors of the Deep Last Friday, I had the chance to experience Sea World's second ever Halloween event, Terrors of the Deep. It was, as it was last year, very well done. The make-up and costumes were incredible, and the sets were sufficiently eerie. The walkthroughs were almost identical to last year, meaning they were still awesome, although some more significant changes wouldn't have hurt. This year, I managed to keep several pairs of glasses from the 3D walkthrough, too, by not ruining them by going on that stupid river rapids ride right afterwards. One of the other great things about going to Sea World for Halloween is the music. Normally, they've got some sappy jazz stuff playing, so it's a nice change to be walking through Sea World listening to Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" and similar selections. They even played one of the songs from Riven, which was pretty cool. I listen to that music all the time, and it hadn't even occurred to me to use it in a haunted house setting, but it fit very well. The main difference between this year's experience and last was not a result of any of the several minor changes around the park, but rather the company I was with. This year, instead of braving the underwater world of zombies with Shawn, I went with Kimberly and my mom. This was fun because Kimberly has a special knack for not seeing what is painfully obvious to everybody else, as exemplified here through her preferred topic of conversation during the course of the night: "Why do all the zombies single me out?" I will refrain from explaining in detail why this is the case. Let me just say, however, that in a group consisting of me, my mom, and my younger teenage sister who is trying her best to hide behind both of us, it should be somewhat obvious who the ghouls will try to scare. Anyway, she was discussing this very phenomenon with us when a rather tall zombie slowly began to approach her from behind. The guy, including his frizzled hair, was easily a full two feet taller than Kimberly. My mom noticed him approaching and took a step back, while Kimberly continued to whine about how all the zombies always came after her. I also backed up a bit, and we both just kind of stood there, listening to Kimberly chattering about how easy she was to scare and whatnot while we gazed at this huge zombie towering over her, standing now just inches behind her, and wondered when she would inevitiably decide to shut up and turn around. Kimberly even actually got separated from us at one point when we were approached by a huge mass of walking sea-weed. She decided the best course of action at this point would be to shriek and run back in the opposite direction of that in which we were traveling, until the abomination was effectively between us and her. When it became apparent that rejoining us by way of actually moving past this guy in his soggy, leaf-covered costume apparently violated some sacred principle of hers, we continued on our own through the moray eel exhibit and exited to find her seeking refuge in the safety of a nearby giftshop. Going through the walkthroughs was similarly entertaining. First, Kimberly insisted that we go through the haunt with arms linked like the trio in The Wizard of Oz. This didn't go over so well, and she resorted to hanging onto the back of my mom's shirt for a good portion of the way. She also felt it was necessary to constantly admonish Mom to "Be careful!" as if she was the sole cause of all these props and monsters that kept spontaneously popping out at her. Every time something happened to frighten Kimberly, she'd bounce forward into my Mom, who'd hiss at her, "Let go of me!" And this wasn't just when something startling happened in our direct path. She'd freak out every time she thought something might happen or heard something from a completely different section of the haunt. Comments October 21, 2002 Things Mil Millington has written a book. If that means anything to you, you're probably mildly interested. If not, spend some time at his Things website. The book is called (surprisingly), Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About, although it's only "loooooooooosely 'inspired' by the Things page." The novel follows ficticious characters through ficticious situations. I just thought that might be worth mentioning. This is an interesting article. Scientists have found a mummified dinosaur that provides some pretty substantial clues regarding skin texture and diet. Here's a useful piece of work to keep by the phone. People are saying that The Ring is pretty freaky. I'm a bit bummed right now that I forgot to bring my leftover pizza up with me. Bleh. Time to go shopping. Oh, and Happy Birthday, Jared. October 21, 2002 I Don't Believe It I just picked up two boxes of Count Chocula cereal at Albertsons. I hadn't seen that in stores for about ten years! Equally as amazing, but completely unrelated, this one's for you, Victor: Mystery In Cuban Waters Excites Atlantis Theorists Lastly: If anyone in San Diego can drive and wants to go to Knott's Scary Farm or just wants to come up here to Fullerton on a weekend for some reason, Victor needs a ride. Tickets are once again $35. I'll probably have more on this later. October 22, 2002 Okay... Okay... I'm not going to completely discount the possibility of Atlantis being off the coast of Cuba; but that's really... really... uh... out there. There's two main interpretations of Atlantis. The sci-fi version which is literally "the city beneath the seas," normally an extremely advanced alien civilization that according to hear-say, either went extinct or died by some horrible technological accident. The other interpretation is the more realistic, beautiful and advanced trade civilization. Despite every giddy bone in my body, I have to go with the latter interpretation. Basically all the evidence points to a place called Arkotiri. Plato briefly describes the environment and culture of the civilization as: a small, circular, geologically symmetrical, trade-based civilization that's "under the seas" for one reason or another. Arkotiri is a couple miles north of Crete in the Aegean Sea, on the southern part of a significantly large island known as Thera. Back around 50 AD or so, there were three extremely active volcanoes on the north side of Thera. When they erupted in 50-62AD, they made tons and tons of smoke and ash, killing everyone on the island of Thera as well as a few close by islands. Eventually, all three volcanoes completely emptied out of magma, and the pressure from the ocean crushed inwards. The result was pretty much the whole north chunk of Thera disappearing under the ocean. According to historical records, it sent tidal waves in all directions up to 50 miles high. Most of it annihilated Crete as well as the next closest major island of Melos. Arkotiri got completely wiped out and was sent "underneath the seas" matching Plato's description. (They also believe Atlantis could have been another small island somewhere near Thera that also got wiped out, but archeological evidence suggests Arkotiri). *sigh* Maybe I should be studying for my Chem midterm instead of burying myself in books on Atlantis.... -Victor October 23, 2002 Hey, Atlantis! Hey, Atlantis! Did u guys ever see that disney movie? By the way Raymond, did u realize that the Anaheim Angels are playing in the World Series? That's like a block from where u live! -Mike October 23, 2002 Angels It'd be pretty hard not to realize that around here - it seems to be the conversation topic of choice. I guess it's pretty cool, since (from what I hear) they usually suck. But it's not like I really care who plays whom in whatever game. I would like to see Atlantis, though. October 22, 2002 Okay... Hm... I'd like to see Atlantis too. Not the Disney one though, the sci-fi one. That would definitely be cool. And on that other note, I truly doubt someone just randomly browsing your website lives in San Diego and wants to visit your college or go to Knott's Scary Farm with a stranger... I think I'm gonna have to pull out of this one. The ToB is still up though. -Victor October 23, 2002 True But wouldn't that've been freakishly weird enough to have made it worth putting the request on my site if someone did actually respond? =) Update: It looks like we're not going to Knott's Scary Farm. Blarghfibble. I had somewhat planned not to come home this weekend, but if someone wants to go to the Tournament of the Bands with me, I might. (I figured that if I was going to see it on my own, I could go the the Chino or Arcadia tournament just as easily). I'll need to see where I am on this Buddhism thing first, though. I was planning on coming home on the weekend of November 1st. However, if I come home for the Band Tournament, I likely will not. There is a choral concert that weekend that I might need to go to if another one I'm looking into won't work for my concert report. Those are my plans, as best as I know them. Let me know yours as they affect me. October 23, 2002 Speaking of the Angels... Speaking of the Angels, have u heard about that target floating in the water outside the Giants' ballpark? Supposedly, if a homerun ball hits it, Jack in the Box gives everyone in America a free taco. -Mike October 23, 2002 I believe... I believe it was Taco Bell, not Jack in the Box offering the free tacos. -Kimberly October 23, 2002 Ah, yes... Ah, yes. You are right, Taco Bell it is. My mistake. Taco Bell goes through all that trouble just to get a little media attention, and I go and give the credit to Jack in the Box. Funny how that works. -Mike		Quick Links - Fun 'n Folly - Juggling Club - RF Haunt - RF Gallery News/Updates HOME - Latest Post ARCHIVE - Full Archive <- PREV | NEXT -> 10/21 - Terrors of the Deep 10/13 - Your Vote Counts! 10/10 - Back to Life 10/8 - Finding Myself 10/6 - Seeking Direction 10/4 - The Privacy Issue 10/2 - It's Not Just Fun... 9/30 - Things That Move 9/26 - Seven Minutes 9/24 - The Many Uses of a Frozen Corndog Box Previous 10 shown Read More... 8/6/02 - First Post HOME - Latest Post ARCHIVE - Full Archive
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