head over heels.

I was at the Six Flags great America amusement park last Saturday, and it has to be one of the most supremely unnecessary things I could have done in life. Never having ridden a roller coaster, I was serenely confident in my ability to stomach a ride. It did not occur to me that my mental image of myself as an adventure loving cool chick had no basis in reality whatsoever.

The first ride i went on, apparently a simple one, corrected that error and helped me reach an important truth – I was not cool.
Daniel and I got on to this idiotic contraption called The Batman, and i cannot imagine how I could have missed the obvious fact that our seats were attached not to the floor like they should be in any decent setting, but shoulder up to the roof, so that we were hanging like so much beef on meat hooks. As the ride shot out, i was still too caught up in my overinflated self image to notice that at the speed at which we had shot out, good things couldn't happen. Then the car took its first insane spin and I was presented with the alarming sight of the sky over my feet, and that was my cue to shut my eyes tight, deny recognition to reality, curl up as tightly as possible, and whimper the names of long forgotten deities from my grandmother's native village.

It was over rather quickly - either that or I have remarkable mastery over the unhealthy habit of suppressing unpleasant memories. I stepped out giddily, telling myself none of this ever happened. Denial is easier than accepting cowardice. Now, that is the kind of self-kidding that gets you into deeper trouble, for next thing I know, I was strapped and fastened on to a very shoddy looking contraption, on my way up the ominous incline of The Raging Bull. On the slow climb, I chanted “This is fun I am not going to die”, and beginning at that awful first drop, and lasting through all the savagery that followed, I produced a scream of such exquisite timber that after i got off, I was left with torn vocal chords, blood in my mouth, and no dignity whatsoever.

I did do a few more rides, none of them pleasant, although I resolutely refused to climb on to the wilder ones like velocity and Superman. it would have been a day entirely wasted had I not discovered this excellent contraption called the river side crawler, a large spidery thing that had baskets strung to it's arms, and will spin you around till you are pleasantly dizzy. I took five repeat rides on this one, accompanied by several 5 year olds and Dnaiel, all shamed and smarting. I was finally enjoying myself, like the lady at the Park's entry gate told me to.

Roller coasters are supposed to be scary, you are supposed to feel that you are pretty much going to die. But why do some of us feel the resentment that we do towards them? I think it has to do with the sheer indignity of being trussed up like poultry and being tossed about, all the while having no say in the matter. It is impossible to maintain the steady eye and the cool brow. There is no escaping the silliness.

On a different note, money and desk jobs have driven us to such desperate boredom that for a giggle, we are willing to be flung around by our nose hair.

THE RAGING BULL:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gyMOXQBxJWA

BATMAN THE RIDE (3D simulation)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=usFi5J6B96Q

Next ride KINGDA KA : think this is the biggest / baddest or something of that sort - Daniel is planning a pilgrimage to this one)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q2cdqDMcUW0