Wednesday, November 10, 2010

A random encounter with the RCDB


The Internet is ... much larger than it was when I first encountered it in 1994.  Before the, for me at least, my conceptualization of an interconnected network of computers consisted of bulletin board systems.  The local BBS’s were a central part of my high school life.  Flame wars, discussions, more flame wars, and games doled out in turns allowed per day consumed a significant portion of my time.  At college everything expanded.  Browsers, Mosaic and Lynx, became available.  They took you places.  Those places were horrible and not navigable but you could get there.  

I wonder if being profound is as exhausting as it sounds.  I enjoy being hack sometimes.  Tonight, for example, when I sat down to write absolutely nothing interesting popped into my brain.  I pushed a few words around but nothing stuck together.  I have started reading Stephen King’s book “On Writing”.  Sometimes when I read about the craft of writing it makes me hesitant, as if becoming more aware that I am not as talented as I wish pushes back the words.

In a desperate attempt to stir something I went to http://www.randomwebsite.com/ and started clicking away.  Most of the random crap was precisely that, however I happened into a database of rollercoasters.  I am a librarian...I like databases.  I like to know that there are oddball resources out there.  The about page says the site hasn’t been up for a full two days yet:  


Roller Coasters:5035
Amusement Parks:2148
Companies:179
People:1204
Models:414
Model Lines:96
Elements:56
Websites:427
Pictures:30913
Application built:Monday, November 08, 2010 10:31 PM (64-bit)
Application startup:Monday, November 08, 2010 10:32 PM
Uptime:1 Days, 19 hours, 19 minutes
Hits since startup:651859
Hits per minute:250


I enjoy rollercoasters.  I love the Viper at Darien Lake.  Once when I was a teenager, I went to Darien Lake on what must have been an off day or maybe some sort of “we were the only people there” event thing.  (I can’t recall...maybe it was a Soccer thing).  Regardless, the lines were non-existent.  I rode the Viper seventeen times in a row.  Getting back on took as long as it took me to race through the empty pipe-lined queue.  That night, when I was tucked away in bed, every twist and turn in the Viper rolled back through darkness behind my closed eyes.  It was an odd night, but I still love the Viper.

And here is the Viper entry!  

I haven’t thought about the Viper at Darien Lake or all the fun times I have had there in a long time.  Metallic played there once and only once.  It was a year after the Black album came out.  They were so loud Darien Lake asked them never to come back.  Danzig and Social Distortion opened.  I remember not liking Social Distortion, thinking Danzig was a monster, and One live was epic.

I am going to go now.  There are other treasures to find in this little (new) database.  There are other memories to unlock.  Maybe I will get some more of that book read tonight, too.


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About Me

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Geek - Gamer - Librarian - Writer. Only awesome at one of those things at a time, unfortunately.

About Fading Interest

After writing op-eds and travelogues for several years, after finishing a few books, and after failing to get the ball rolling with project after project I stumbled into an idea that might just hold my interest long enough to enjoy some level of satisfaction with my writing.