Its been a slow start because of weather (Agawam, Massachusetts apparently decided to give late spring/early fall a miss and go directly into monsoon season) but Summer 2009 is finally in full swing at 6 Flags New England. Ed Steckley told me at the end of my rookie season that the third season is when things start coming together, and it seems to be coming true. The first season is spent flailing to get a bearing on the materials, the style and being under the gun, with an overly credulous and candid audience behind you at all times, learning that crying is best saved as an after work activity, trying to take rejection in stride during a rush, and just over all staving off psychotic breakdown. Second season is dusting off the cobwebs and focusing on perfecting the art, but about mid-season you get cocky and start to overstep your bounds, giving in to the temptations of stylization and exaggeration at the expense of likeness. The third season is one of more maturity and a refining of quality, quantity, and guest relations. Tom Richmond often talks about his "sixth sense" for being able to tell how a customer will react to a drawing, and I think I'm starting to develop it, but I still have a long ways to go.