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| 1.Q |
Tell me
about the first time you remember being thrilled. |
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| 1.A |
It was possibly riding Nemesis for the very first time at Alton Towers. |
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| 2.Q |
What’s the slightest thing
to have thrilled you? |
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| 2.A |
Winning £10 on the lottery. |
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| 3.Q |
What’s the most frightening
yet thrilling thing you’ve done? |
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| 3.A |
Overtaking a car and narrowly missing an oncoming car. |
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| 4.Q |
Tell me
why you’re not completely sensible. |
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| 4.A |
I occasionally make big purchases and put it on the credit card for the thrill of knowing I have done something risky but exciting. |
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| 5.Q |
What’s
the most uninhibited thing you’ve ever done? |
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| 5.A |
I have featured on the front cover of a porn DVD. |
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| 6.Q |
What have
you considered doing for pleasure but were too concerned about
the risks? |
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| 6.A |
Base jumping; jumping off a land based object with a parachute. |
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| 7.Q |
Describe
the event in one sentence (there’s time to expand later) |
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| 7.A |
I was recently riding X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain. |
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| 8.Q |
Tell me
a bit about yourself around this time. |
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| 8.A |
I had been anticipating the ride for several years after following its construction on the internet. I was also excited to have travelled 5,000 miles and knew that the thing I had read about and seen in pictures was there in front of me. |
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| 9.Q |
List the
sequence of events leading up to your thrill. Try to remember
how you felt at each stage. The smallest detail could be important
(this is your chance to expand). |
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| 9.A |
I was eager to move through the Q as quickly as possible. I noticed I needed the toilet shortly after joining the Q and felt trapped inside without the possibility of relieving myself, possibly causing embarrassment. I left the Q after an hour of waiting to go to the toilet and rejoined later knowing that the conditions were now perfect for my experience.
I was curious to know what other riders where feeling, looking like and experiencing. I was eager to see the layout of the track so I could share other people's emotion by watching them and establish what was in store for my ride. I felt worried that the ride experience would not live up to my expectations and I would feel numb to rollercoaster stimulation having been on so many rides in the past.
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| 10.Q |
What were
your thoughts and feelings at the precise moment of thrill? |
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| 10.A |
I felt like I was taken by surprise by feeling a brand new physical experience that was unlike any other before. I felt a sense of intense euphoria and amazement at the unexpected falling sensation at an angle I have never comprehended. The sensation was like a newly discovered colour in the rainbow. This was heightened by my expectations of what lay ahead being completely different to what I had physically prepared for in the short time I was able to see the track and brace for it. I felt like the ride was in control of me and the experience was being forced upon me. I felt completely submissive to the power of it. I felt instantly like my preconception of the ride had been blown away. |
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| 11.Q |
What did
you do afterwards? |
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| 11.A |
I felt very emotional after getting off the ride. It had touched a part of my psyche that no other ride had ever done before. I had to make a conscious effort to hold back the need to release my emotion by crying. I did not feel scared or want to cry because It was a bad or frightening experience. Instead, I felt like I wanted to cry involuntarily in the same way that my knee would spasm if my reflexes were touched in the right place.
I felt embarrassed that I was feeling this way when I had been on so many rides before but also amazed and astounded that my experience was so much better than I had imagined that it had struck such a strong euphoric and deep chord within me. I wanted to savour this ongoing feeling and chose not to ride any further rides because they couldn’t possibly hit the same spot ever again.
I was also pleased that my body still had the capability to be manipulated in a way that released so much euphoria after doubting this previously. I felt like I had a better idea of what other people feel when they come off other rides happy and I come off disappointed.
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| 12.Q |
What were
the risks? |
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| 12.A |
Objectively there was the perceived risk of death by falling 200ft and the risk of being flamed by two fire explosions on the circuit but as I know that there were no actual risks to my health, which may be why I felt a sense of euphoric liberation on falling down the drops rather than being scared. |
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| 13.Q |
What did
you imagine other people thought of you during and after the
event? |
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| 13.A |
I think my partner would have thought I had over reacted if I had not held back from crying and he would have associated it with a sense of fear and discomfort which would have made be embaressed |
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| 14.Q |
How often
do you think about the event, and why? |
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| 14.A |
I think about it frequently because it induced such raw emotion and tapped into a feeling that I want to have again. I watch videos of the ride on youtube to re live the experience and feel the hairs prick up on my arms. I like to describe the ride to friends and family. |
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| 15.Q |
Some people
probably don’t understand how such a thing can thrill
you; explain it to them. |
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| 15.A |
I think this ride touched me because I have been on so many ‘generic’ rides before where expectations are set at the outset and then delivered. I had anticipated this ride with years of waiting and my impressions of the ride experience were twice that of what I had expected. |
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| 16.Q |
What three
changes could have made the experience better, and why? |
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| 16.A |
There is nothing that could have possibly been done to make the experience better because it tapped into the most intense feeling I have ever had before. Why are there only two of these machines on the planet!? |
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Is there
anything you want to add? |
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Keep the thrills coming, baby. Try and incorporate sharks into your work whenever possible. Have you seen Deep Blue Sea or the Jaws movies? Some very thrilling sequences there... |
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