sadness can get you miles away
SeaWorld was the greatest job of my life next to maybe my career job. It was like working in your childhood fantasy. I got to dress up and American-Idol-judge the camp kids, play around Happy Harbor, hang out by the pool (as Shamu ) at some swanky timeshares, and spend my lunch break anywhere in the park.
Since we worked the afternoons in Happy Harbor we were right next door to Shamu stadium. We'd go over on our lunch break to watch Believe (which has just recently started at the time) or take cover there when our sets would get rained out. We saw the show enough to distinguish which whales were which and notice when they weren't in the mood for all the tricks.
My sister came to the park on one of those days that they weren't in the mood. I don't think it was obvious to anyone who hadn't seen the show a million times but they were off. Tilly ( Tilikum ) was in the holding tank while his "girlfriend" at the time was performing in the big pool. He ...