Okay, so here's a quick long-overdue update to my blog. Finished one summer class (got an A, woo hoo!), continuing another longer summer class and picked up another one. I'm very busy.
Couple of weeks ago, I hit a ginormous pothole which damaged both rims on the driver's side of the car and knocked my car completely out of alignment. More than $400.00 later and it's fixed, but I found out the city of San Antonio won't reimburse me anything for the damages because of something called the Texas Tort Claims Act which basically says that if it wasn't caused by a city employee driving a city vehicle it wasn't their fault. I'm looking into this, though.
Jamie's ankle sprain cleared up enough for him to begin playing relatively normally - just in time for him to come down with a stomach virus that has kept him out of daycare (and me out of work) for the past two days. If it ain't one thing, it's another.
Took Jamie to Six Flags Fiesta Texas for 4th of July. He rode his first big rollercoaster, at which time he discovered he LOVES rollercoasters. I discovered I do not. It had been 12 years since the last time I had gotten on a rollercoaster. I work for a company that investigates all the different ways metal can (and does) fail to provide the structural stability for which it is designed. As the person who types the reports and creates the photoillustrations, I've seen pictures of what happens to property (and sometimes people) when metal fails. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. While Jamie was laughing and whooping it up during the rollercoaster ride, I was revisiting my lamaze breathing techniques and praying. I was also trying very hard the block the images in my head of the bolts wiggling out of their holes, the metal suddenly popping apart and the lot of us plunging to our deaths. After that, the only ride Jamie could get me on was the Bugs Bunny log flume water ride. I'll take my chances on water and reinforced fiberglass and plastic. At least if I fall out of that one, I know how to swim well enough to get me and Jamie to safety. No amount of flapping your arms will make you fly if you fall out of a rollercoaster on a loop-de-loop.
Stinkbumps the Wonder Boy: The rants, ravings and ramblings of a lunatic, overachieving single mom.
4 comments:
Reading Everett's blog just inspired me to write this haiku about the past two days...
Home from work again.
Small child puking in bucket.
Will that soon be me?
I remember my first time on a real rollercoaster, the Vortex at King's Island. Everett and Ann sat a car ahead of Everett's friend, Greg, and me. As we were going up and I was clutching Greg's arm, Greg prayed aloud with the Lord's Prayer till we reached the top.
He concluded the prayer as we went over the peak into the first steep drop: "...and glory forever, ame--Holy S#!%!"
Irreverent, I know. But, man, it was funny, and I'm sure we're both forgiven for having laughed under the circumstances.
I don't do roller coasters anymore due to the fact that I can't handle those g's! I don't even do log flumes! I do not tolerate that sinking feeling in my stomach. I remember riding something with my old friend Willie at a now defunct amusement park in Louisville; he kept telling me, breath through your mouth--you can't throw up if you're breathing through your mouth. I wouldn't trust that advice as far as I could hurl it!
I hated rollercoasters with a PASSION until guilt-forced onto the Gemini at Cedar Point by my very persuasive friend Mike. I discovered two things: 1) I'm DEFINITELY a front-seat guy, and 2) my hazy fear of death was beaten into submission by having survived the ride. It really was a life-changing experience for me. Not quite religious, mind you, but nevertheless VERY empowering.
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