Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Never a dull moment

My life is seriously going to be a best-seller.

I know it's Tuesday, but let me take you back to Sunday.

My 6:30 show was a mess. Without total elaboration and out of respect for friends/coworkers, let me just say that things beyond our control threw the whole show off. That seemed to be the theme of the night.

I was writing my 11p show and listening to the scanners for storm damage - a nightmare. Just when things seemed to settle down, a storm rolled into town and knocked the power out. It's 8:40ish.. my show is in just over 2 hours. And I'm not even close to being ready.

The kicker? The power didn't come back on.

After a few phone calls, our bosses came in to see what we could do. Long story short.. we eventually set up a makeshift studio in our parking lot with light kits and a Live U backpack. Everyone was scrambling to get things pulled together, only to have the power come back on around 10:30ish.

But there's always something. In this case.. I couldn't access my producing software, which means NO SCRIPTS. Our clocks were also off, which makes it incredibly hard to time a show with commercial breaks.

No scripts, no video, no graphics - I honestly don't know how we filled a half hour.. in fact, we got cut off because the one clock I was able to use ended up freezing and killed my timing. To be brutally honest, it's all kind of a blur. I was physically and emotionally exhausted by the end of it, so all I really remember is turning to my bosses at the end of the show to say, "Wow, that was fun."

What I really meant was: "Please don't ever make me do that again."

The only reason we survived it: I have fantastic co-workers who kick butt at their jobs and bosses who apparently have a lot of faith in me.

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Fast forward another hour after the show.. my friend/coworker and I were out the door and on our way to Sandusky, Ohio. Sound familiar?

Sandusky is home to Cedar Point, one of the biggest and baddest rollercoaster-packed amusement parks in the world. 17 coasters in all - but one coaster specifically prohibits adults from riding without a child in tow (I learned this the hard way), so it really shouldn't count in that list. So make that 16 coasters.

I won't bore you with the details, but we managed to ride every single coaster (of the 16) and the rest of the thrill rides in just 2 days. That includes Millennium Force, the top steel coaster in the world with a 300 ft drop, and Top Thrill Dragster, which shoots riders up a 400-ft hill at 120 mph. In a word: AMAZING.



That's the climb on the first hill of Millennium Force (straight out of the station) as seen from the drive to the back of the park. This was also taken on my phone; I'm kind of proud of the shot.

Anyway, my head's probably a bit scrambled from all of the coasters/rides.. and my legs are killing me. We powerwalked/ran everywhere and stood in line for several hours. I'm pretty much exhausted. Again. I've been home a whole two hours - surprised I'm not asleep yet.

But it was so worth it. Cedar Point's been on my list of places to visit for YEARS, so this was a big deal for me. I can't wait to go back!

Instead, it's back to work tomorrow. I'm almost afraid to ask what else this week has in store for me.

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