One-way Train

I wrote some of these while I was traveling so ignore the present tenses if there’re any : D

The feeling of working at a place for the last day is quite new to me, yeah I’ve worked at Malaysian Care before but it’s different because I can always go back to visit them anytime I want. But with the C.P & L.E Railroad, I can never go back there, even if I could, I bet the crew would be completely different. Almost every season the entire crew changes even for those coming back for the second season, supervision would usually rotate them with other rides/coasters so that ride hosts get more exposure, experience, and most importantly, less boring job routines.

So for my last day, two of my crew members wanted to take pictures of the props that we always see around (like a couple hundred times a day) the train tracks. Since we’re not allowed to take pictures while we’re in uniform, and we’re not allowed to NOT be in uniform when walking the train tracks, so we pretended to be cleaning… cleaning with two cameras wtf. Many thanks to my train conductor/professional photographer friend Grigor, we were able to take tones of nice pictures : ))) I’m always so envious of how he can take good pictures with such ease, some people are just gifted >_>

Grigor (aka Skittleman) busy taking photo and Punitha was busy posing

Doing everything for the last time is such a bittersweet feeling, I had to spiel for the last time, conduct the train for the last time, put down the gates for the last time, signal for the last time, open a station for the last time, close a station for the last time, direct traffic for the last time and pulling the whistle for the last time; the constant feeling that you won’t ever be doing these things ever again, it’s awful =\ I was lucky enough that my team leader gave me an extra long shift on my last day, just so that I can be rotated to every position there is.

My crew had a small gathering/meeting in the tiny station that we have, we had a Christmas in July party because the park might not be open during Christmas due to the cold weather, roller coasters are very vulnerable to weather >_> We had a gift exchange so as for my gift, I got the most awesome gift evaaaaa, Grigor compiled all the awesome pictures he took of every crew member as well as pictures of the trains and compiled it into a book, best-souvenir-EVER. While I on the other hand, bought a cheap lighter that says ‘One Crazy Bitch’ for another crew member of mine wtf; oh the contrast in the effort we put in getting our gifts wtf.

Awesome Gift! Couldn’t ask for a better farewell gift : ))

I’ve been working on the railroad~

The title is actually part of the lyric of a song that the props around our railroad plays when the train pass by :D

it sounds something like this

Anyway, it’s been almost a month since I left Cedar Point and I’m finally gonna talk a bit more about what I do there, before I start forgeting swt. So I work as a ride host and I was assigned to work at the Cedar Point & Lake Erie Railroad, unlike other coasters, the trains isn’t a high thrill ride or anything. Instead it’s just a normal train that brings guest from the centre of the park to the north end of the park, if u were to walk it takes around 15 minutes but by train its only 5 minutes. Along the way guests get to take a good look at Lake Erie (the lake that Cedar Point is located at) and also some skeleton props that tries to be funny but its not really funny wtf. And unlike other coasters, we have awesome uniforms :D

Me & Punitha, the only other Malaysian that works at the trains :) Photo by Skittleman

So as a train ride host, there are several different positions that we can work at, and we get rotated around every hour or so. The easiest position is at the gatehouse, there are 3 gatehouses located around the park and what we need to do is put down the gates when the train is coming and put them back up when the train has passed, simple no brainer job, anyone can do it really.Oh, when the train pass by, we’re supposed to wave like Mr/Ms Universe wtf.

The Gemini gatehouse

The second position is the ‘spiel-er’ which basically means u announce stuffs on the PA system such as asking the guest when to deboard and when to board, what are the rules on the train. sounds  like an easy job but when u say the same thing every 5~10 minutes it makes u feel like punching babies sometimes wtf, after a while u just speed-read through the whole thing u don’t even care whether they understand the rules or not wtf.

The third position is being the train conductor! It’s my favorite position cause I get to stand at the back of the train : )) The job is basically to help board and deboard the guest when they reach a station, and most importantly, I have to wave at the guest when we pass by gatehouses, yeah this position involves shit loads of waving wtf. I already mastered the art of waving at random strangers (especially chicks wtf), and also learn how to fake a smile wtf. I like this position the most because at certain times of the day, u get to see very awesome sunsets and views that almost no one else gets to see and with the wind blowing at ur face it’s pretty relaxing and takes ur troubles away : )

The final position is as a platform attendant, also means being in charge. There’s only 2 train stations so both of these station always have someone being in charge. Job involves mostly directing guest when they board and de-board, and most importantly signaling the train when to leave as well as signaling the other station to tell them that the train is coming, all for safety reasons yo. This position can be quite stressful because if anything goes wrong it’s usually ur fault wtf. There’s also a bit of admin work involved. The only good thing about this position I guess it’s that I will always be under the shades and the pay is like 20 cents extra per hour wtf.

Platform attendant (Jeremy) walking the train into the station

Another cool thing about trains is that the steam engines are actual steam engines built back in 1923 (Myron No 22) and 1924 (Judy No. 44) If i’m not mistaken. One of the engines were used to carry coal another not sure what. Pretty awesome how these old antiques can still work fine after so many years, throughout my 3 months there the engines didn’t break down at all : )

Judy : )

That’s basically what I did for the past 3 months, pretty easy job, just occasionally have to stand under the blistering sun, other than that everything is quite ok, consistent amount of hours, awesome crew members, plenty of free time to oogle at chicks (keeps me awake ok! lives are at stake here!). I’m only concern now is that I haven’t been using my brain much for the past few months so I might need like a defibrillator or something to jump start my brains again b4 I start looking for a job wtf. Gonna blog about my travels soon, need to blog faster ! gahhh

Only in Malaysia…

…well and also most south east Asian countries during world war II under Japanese occupation

Fly the flag or lose licence, traders told

IPOH: All businesses in the city must fly the state flag on the Perak Ruler’s birthday on April 19 and the Jalur Gemilang on Aug 31 if they want their licences renewed, said Ipoh Mayor Datuk Roshidi Hashim.

He warned that those who failed to comply with the new ruling could also be issued compounds or blacklisted.

“If the businesses don’t fly the flags on both these days, they will be considered to have violated the new condition for their licences,” he told reporters after handing over the Jalur Gemilang to Ipoh City Council’s department heads here yesterday.

Proud citizens: Ipoh City Council staff waving the Jalur Gemilang during the launching of the National Day celebrations yesterday.

Roshidi said the ruling was part of the council’s efforts to inculcate patriotism among city folk, particularly among the business community.

He admitted that despite the launch of the Merdeka month celebrations by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Aug 1, most premises in the city had yet to raise the Jalur Gemilang.

Roshidi said premises owners should take the initiative to buy their own Jalur Gemilang and not wait for the national flag to be distributed free to them.

He added that the state-level National Day celebrations this year would be held at the Perak Stadium here.
Taken from THE STAR.

Did they run out of ideas for Jalur Gemilang songs or something? It is morons like these that seems to be destroying the last bit of patriotism in Malaysians. The funny thing is, they are targeting traders in Ipoh, which more or less means the Chinese population. Well, we’ll make sure we fly your fucking flags as much as you want; the truth is, if there’s ever a toilet roll with the Malaysian flag on it, I’ll be the first in line to buy it.

Even after spending a few months away from Malaysia, the moment I opened the newspapers again, it’s the same bull shit like always. Some high ranking fella would be preaching about racial unity, then some would be saying about religious tolerance yadi yada. Do they not know that it’s already 53 years and their strategies doesn’t seem to be working at all? Oh wait, I bet they DO know, they just don’t give a flying fuck that’s all, they just need to preach a thing or two once in a while then they will pat themselves at the back and tummy and convince themselves they did their jobs.

Maybe I shouldn’t unpack my bags, maybe I should just get out of this country, while I’m still young wtf.

Back to reality

And before u know it; it’s the end of my 3 and a half month journey. All good things must come to an end I suppose, my life here and my life there is so completely different, it’s 6:40pm right now, if I’m there I would probably still be working, well depends on my schedule, sometimes I get to work from 9 to 6, sometimes 11am to 8pm, sometimes 11am to 10:30pm, sometimes 1:30pm to 10:30pm. Gahh, I think  I’ll write a proper entry next time, now I feel like I’m in withdrawal mode, from traveling and taking pics all the time, to being back at my boring home, in front of laptop, in my living room, with my dog underneath my chair. It is as though for the past 3 months I’ve been living a different life as a different person! That’s how different life over there is like. I’m feeling all kinds of emotions right now; happiness, sadness, pride, regrets, confusion, fear, anticipation (is that an emotion?), it’s all so new to me, I don’t know how to process it anymore.

Now begins the painful process of post-production of the photos I took during my traveling, but I got a feeling it shouldn’t be too bad, cause throughout my traveling period the photos I took are mostly just tourist pics, I wasn’t able to get into mood to take pics, 2 weeks of traveling can really have a toll on u ~_~ and I notice I suck at taking landscape photos, I think I’m more of a macro person…

Anyway, I’m gonna stay jobless for a while now, technically I’ve been working for 3 months as well so don’t judge me wtf. Imma take my time cause there’s not gonna be any vacation time like this until I retire wtf