Now, although I love roller coasters, I do have some anxiety attached to them. I'm fine waiting in line. I'm fine when we get to the loading platform. I'm fine when we're on the ride. When I'm not fine it while I'm on the train waiting to take off (which is why I think I don't like the Top Thrill Dragster -- the actual ride isn't all that scary [maybe] but it's the building suspense waiting to be launched to your death that's the intense part for me).
I am afraid that my harness will be the one that will malfunction on the ride. I check it ten thousand times to make sure it's secure. I don't trust the little high school kids who intern at Cedar Point for the summer to know whether or not I am in tight enough. I realize that even if, for some strange reason my harness stops working, there's still that flimsy seat belt with the questionably strong buckle; of course I feel safe, who wouldn't.
My second fear is that I will lose my phone, keys, money, chapstick, bobby pins, or whatever other objects I have in my pockets. I typically quell this fear by putting these valuable items in my back pocket so that I am sitting on them (certainly my heft will keep them safe?!?!). Yesterday I wore a pair of shorts with particularly shallow pockets, both in the front and in the back, hindering my ability to do this. Sara and Alex traded the responsibility of pack-muling my belongings. Except for two rides. The first was the Gemini. All was well. I wasn't that worried since the ride doesn't go upside-down (somehow that heightens my fear?). The second ride was the Magnum (which is celebrating it's 20th birthday!). I sat behind Sara and Alex (single rider-loser), in the back of a car, but not the back of the train. I think I sort of forgot that my phone was in my front left pocket when the train took off up the hill. Really, I also forgot that my cell phone was in my front left pocket until after the ride was over, when we were waiting on the track to pull into the station. When I hear small voices behind me going, "hey! did someone lose a phone?!" I wasn't really paying attention, until Alex pointed out that it was indeed my phone. My biggest fear realized. My phone flew out of my pocket, landed in the lap of a 10-year-old boy behind me, jumped to the kid behind him, and I was oblivious.
Needless to say, I was relieved, the kid who caught it was excited (although I was a little sad that school is over and he can't brag to his friends, because, let's be honest, I just made that kids summer.)
Strangely, there were bugs plastered to the front of my phone. Not so strange because it's Canadian Solider season, but strange because the phone was a) in my pocket b) in a 10-year-old's lap and c) in the air for a brief moment. What the?
No comments:
Post a Comment