u/thedrowsyowl

My vocal group just dropped an album that includes a cover of Under the Table. Hope you all enjoy! ✨

https://li.sten.to/scr-lifeitself

My vocal group just dropped an album that includes a cover of American Teenager. Hope you all enjoy! ✨

https://li.sten.to/scr-lifeitself

My vocal group just dropped an album that includes a cover of I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. This song is super special to me, and it's the album closer. Hope you all enjoy! ✨

https://li.sten.to/scr-lifeitself

My vocal group just dropped an album that includes a cover of Told You So. Hope you all enjoy! ✨

https://li.sten.to/scr-lifeitself

South Creek Revival’s new album “Life Itself” is now streaming everywhere! You can find it at https://li.sten.to/scr-lifeitself or by searching for South Creek Revival on your favorite streaming service. We're super proud of it and we hope you enjoy it!

I have a few of these Express and J Crew poplin “dress shirts” that I’ve owned for a number of years and honestly hate so much. They’re not soft, they are too short to stay tucked in, and I don’t even think they look that great. What are some comparable shirts that:

* I could wear alone OR under a suit jacket?
* Are long enough to be tucked in without shirt stays
* Aren’t just straight up dress shirts (I have a couple of those)
* Won’t break the bank

Thanks!

These ones specifically are J Crew Factory’s flex khaki shorts. The 5” is on the left, the 7” is on the right. I know in these photos the different doesn’t look stark, but they definitely feel different. I’m used to wearing 5” shorts (or shorter!) but I’m looking for shorts I can dress up or down.

The next two slides show how I look in different shorts (the white ones are from Banana Republic Factory and are 7” while the black ones are by Swet and are 5”). The Swet shorts are my current main shorts (I have them in a few colors) but I feel they’re too tight to wear with anything but t-shirts, and I can’t tuck anything into them. They’re fun but in “I’m a gay 20-something who can wear tight 5” shorts” kind of way and I think the khaki shorts are a bit more elevated.

Any thoughts?

I moved to Chicago last year and have been eyeing a day to go to Six Flags Great America. I figured the weekend that my sister visited town for the Pokémon Fossil Museum at the Field Museum would be the perfect excuse, as we both love roller coasters. We were planning on going on Friday, but with the extreme air quality threat in the area, the park was closed that day. Luckily, we were able to switch our Field Museum tickets to that evening and go to the park on Saturday. (As an aside, whether you like Pokémon or not, the Field Museum blew my expectations away. It's a huge museum!)

We bought the "Ride & Refresh Ticket" on sale, which thankfully was not date-locked, so we had flexibility in when we went to the park. This ticket comes with one-day park admission, an unlimited fountain drink wristband, and a complimentary bottle of Dasani water. I'll get to that later, but this ticket bundle was a fantastic investment.

We got to the park right after its 10:30 opening. It was dreary and overcast, and there were not many people in the park yet, so we walked right onto Flash: Vertical Velocity. It was a good first ride, although I had forgotten just how intense a launch is, especially for my first roller coaster ride in about a year. 5/10

After, we walked onto Batman. This was a perfectly serviceable B&M inverted. It felt a little janky, especially during the zero-g rolls, and definitely was not my favorite inverted coaster (but also nowhere as bad as say, one of the old Vekoma Mind Erasers). 4/10

We then walked right onto Goliath. This was a fantastic coaster, although the last RMC I rode was Steel Vengeance, so it was hard to not compare the two. On its own merits, it was smooth, exciting, and the fact there was no line was incredible. 8/10

There was also no line for American Eagle. At this point in the day (about 11:40), only the blue side was running. I asked the ride attendant if there were plans for both sides to race later in the day, to which he said "I'm not sure." This ride may be old, and it feels like it, but I just can't resist a good, old-fashioned wound coaster. (Also, the walk from the American Eagle entrance to its station will get your steps in. It felt like it was a quarter mile at least.) 7/10

After American Eagle, we decided to wait for X-Flight, our first actual wait of the day. It was only about a 25-minute wait, and by the time we rode it, the clouds had parted and it felt actually hot for the first time that day. X-Flight was punchy and fun, and there were some sections near water that took me by surprise. The highlight was the in-line twist through the flight control tower. I was not a fan of the vest-style restraints, as I feel they compressed my chest in an uncomfortable way. 7/10

Our last ride before lunch was Wrath of Rakshasa, which had a 35-minute wait. Firstly, the conveyer belt cubbies were something I've never seen before and were very intriguing to me: why did they do that? I'm glad they did, I guess, but those being their own separate ride for your bags really tickled me. This was the highlight of the day, because I got the center seat in the front row, which is a first for me on a dive coaster. This ride was a total blast. I also really love the bright blue color they chose for the track. 10/10

We split chicken tenders and fries for lunch. Here's the point where I'll talk about the ride and refresh ticket: even when the day was cloudier, it was invaluable to just be able to go to any food or drink vendor in the park and get a cup of water or Powerade in between rides. Sure, I had to pee a lot, but it was something that was worth the extra few bucks on the ticket. Also, the seasoned fries were really good.

During lunch, my sister and I saw that American Eagle was running both trains, so with full stomachs of chicken tenders, we rushed back to American Eagle to race one another. We rode twice, with me riding red then blue and my sister doing the opposite. Racing each other on a coaster is peak sibling-ship and you can't change my mind. The red side was definitely faster that day and also felt shorter (it's the inside of the giant helix) so it won both times. It was super fun just to get to walk on both sides twice. 8/10 racing

After this, we walked over to Whizzer, which had a 30-minute wait. I've never ridden a coaster like this, but let me say: Whizzer, I was not familiar with your game. Both my sister and I underestimated it due to its very shallow first drop, but those helixes will get you. 6/10

Our next ride was Viper. It reminded me a lot of Cyclone at Six Flags New England (our home park) before it was converted to Wicked Cyclone. That might have been fun when we were teenagers, but both the restraints and the track really made for an uncomfortable ride where I had to brace myself defensively against almost every turn. 3/10

Raging Bull was shut down for some reason, so we decided to walk to Maxx Force since we could hear the cannon blasts everywhere from this side of the park. This is where our queue luck ran out: the line was decently long (probably around 45 minutes) and then the ride shut down. The ride crew had to hose down one of the trains, let it run a few times, and then they boarded and dispatched a train that they then let sit on the launch until maintenance could come get them off the train. However, I guess maintenance gave them the go-ahead, because instead of evacuating, they ended up getting launched lol. During this, the line dissipated, so we ended up waiting a bit over an hour for this ride including the time it was temporarily shut down. That launch is NO JOKE. I definitely made a weird noise doing it. This ride is SO short, though: it felt like it ended halfway through what it should have been. 6/10

With Raging Bull still shut down, we walked toward Superman, but we saw that not only was it not running, but there were people stuck on the lift hill. We noped out of there and went to the Dark Knight indoor wild mouse, which had about a 30-minute wait. This was cute and it was nice to be indoors for a bit. 5/10

We saw that Raging Bull had started back up, so we ran across the park again to get in line. It was probably a half-hour wait give or take. We rode the yellow train. The drop wasn't as intense as I was expecting but this was a very good B&M hyper. I heard they just repainted it and it looks fantastic. 8/10

We capped our day off with a ride on the double-decker carousel and some Dippin' Dots. Overall, I was impressed with Great America: it was clean, the southwest section was well-themed, every roller coaster was running at least two trains, and the park staff seemed like they were happy to be there. I'm glad the smoke calmed down for a day so we were able to visit. The lines weren't too long, and besides the incident at Maxx Force, we had great line luck with 5 of the 11 rides (7 of 13 if you count the two extra American Eagle laps) being walk-ons. Top highlight: Wrath of Rakshasa for sure, with Goliath as a close second. Dishonorable mention: Viper's lap bars. It was a fantastic first visit and I'm excited to go again for the park's pride event!

I moved to Chicago last year and have been eyeing a day to go to Six Flags Great America, only less than an hour from the city. I figured the weekend that my sister visited town for the Pokémon Fossil Museum at the Field Museum would be the perfect excuse, as we both love roller coasters. We were planning on going on Friday, but with the extreme air quality threat in the area, the park was closed that day. Luckily, we were able to switch our Field Museum tickets to that evening and go to the park on Saturday. (As an aside, whether you like Pokémon or not, the Field Museum blew my expectations away. It's a huge museum!)

We bought the "Ride & Refresh Ticket" on sale, which thankfully was not date-locked, so we had flexibility in when we went to the park. This ticket comes with one-day park admission, an unlimited fountain drink wristband, and a complimentary bottle of Dasani water. I'll get to that later, but this ticket bundle was a fantastic investment.

We got to the park right after its 10:30 opening. It was dreary and overcast, and there were not many people in the park yet, so we walked right onto Flash: Vertical Velocity. It was a good first ride, although I had forgotten just how intense a launch is, especially for my first roller coaster ride in about a year. 5/10

After, we walked onto Batman. This was a perfectly serviceable B&M inverted. It felt a little janky, especially during the zero-g rolls, and definitely was not my favorite inverted coaster (but also nowhere as bad as say, one of the old Vekoma Mind Erasers). 4/10

We then walked right onto Goliath. This was a fantastic coaster, although the last RMC I rode was Steel Vengeance, so it was hard to not compare the two. On its own merits, it was smooth, exciting, and the fact there was no line was incredible. 8/10

There was also no line for American Eagle. At this point in the day (about 11:40), only the blue side was running. I asked the ride attendant if there were plans for both sides to race later in the day, to which he said "I'm not sure." This ride may be old, and it feels like it, but I just can't resist a good, old-fashioned wound coaster. (Also, the walk from the American Eagle entrance to its station will get your steps in. It felt like it was a quarter mile at least.) 7/10

After American Eagle, we decided to wait for X-Flight, our first actual wait of the day. It was only about a 25-minute wait, and by the time we rode it, the clouds had parted and it felt actually hot for the first time that day. X-Flight was punchy and fun, and there were some sections near water that took me by surprise. The highlight was the in-line twist through the flight control tower. I was not a fan of the vest-style restraints, as I feel they compressed my chest in an uncomfortable way. 7/10

Our last ride before lunch was Wrath of Rakshasa, which had a 35-minute wait. Firstly, the conveyer belt cubbies were something I've never seen before and were very intriguing to me: why did they do that? I'm glad they did, I guess, but those being their own separate ride for your bags really tickled me. This was the highlight of the day, because I got the center seat in the front row, which is a first for me on a dive coaster. This ride was a total blast. I also really love the bright blue color they chose for the track. 10/10

We split chicken tenders and fries for lunch. Here's the point where I'll talk about the ride and refresh ticket: even when the day was cloudier, it was invaluable to just be able to go to any food or drink vendor in the park and get a cup of water or Powerade in between rides. Sure, I had to pee a lot, but it was something that was worth the extra few bucks on the ticket. Also, the seasoned fries were really good.

During lunch, my sister and I saw that American Eagle was running both trains, so with full stomachs of chicken tenders, we rushed back to American Eagle to race one another. We rode twice, with me riding red then blue and my sister doing the opposite. Racing each other on a coaster is peak sibling-ship and you can't change my mind. The red side was definitely faster that day and also felt shorter (it's the inside of the giant helix) so it won both times. It was super fun just to get to walk on both sides twice. 8/10 racing

After this, we walked over to Whizzer, which had a 30-minute wait. I've never ridden a coaster like this, but let me say: Whizzer, I was not familiar with your game. Both my sister and I underestimated it due to its very shallow first drop, but those helixes will get you. 6/10

Our next ride was Viper. It reminded me a lot of Cyclone at Six Flags New England (our home park) before it was converted to Wicked Cyclone. That might have been fun when we were teenagers, but both the restraints and the track really made for an uncomfortable ride where I had to brace myself defensively against almost every turn. 3/10

Raging Bull was shut down for some reason, so we decided to walk to Maxx Force since we could hear the cannon blasts everywhere from this side of the park. This is where our queue luck ran out: the line was decently long (probably around 45 minutes) and then the ride shut down. The ride crew had to hose down one of the trains, let it run a few times, and then they boarded and dispatched a train that they then let sit on the launch until maintenance could come get them off the train. However, I guess maintenance gave them the go-ahead, because instead of evacuating, they ended up getting launched lol. During this, the line dissipated, so we ended up waiting a bit over an hour for this ride including the time it was temporarily shut down. That launch is NO JOKE. I definitely made a weird noise doing it. This ride is SO short, though: it felt like it ended halfway through what it should have been. 6/10

With Raging Bull still shut down, we walked toward Superman, but we saw that not only was it not running, but there were people stuck on the lift hill. We noped out of there and went to the Dark Knight indoor wild mouse, which had about a 30-minute wait. This was cute and it was nice to be indoors for a bit. 5/10

We saw that Raging Bull had started back up, so we ran across the park again to get in line. It was probably a half-hour wait give or take. We rode the yellow train. The drop wasn't as intense as I was expecting but this was a very good B&M hyper. I heard they just repainted it and it looks fantastic. 8/10

We capped our day off with a ride on the double-decker carousel and some Dippin' Dots. Overall, I was impressed with Great America: it was clean, the southwest section was well-themed, every roller coaster was running at least two trains, and the park staff seemed like they were happy to be there. I'm glad the smoke calmed down for a day so we were able to visit. The lines weren't too long, and besides the incident at Maxx Force, we had great line luck with 5 of the 11 rides (7 of 13 if you count the two extra American Eagle laps) being walk-ons. Top highlight: Wrath of Rakshasa for sure, with Goliath as a close second. Dishonorable mention: Viper's lap bars. It was a fantastic first visit and I'm excited to go again for the park's pride event!