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read between the lines
top gun fun i am nursing a swollen ulcer at the back of my final left molar. it feels weird sitting in front of the screen here typing with my mouth slightly open. but i'm doing it 'cause i don't want the saliva to mix with the listerine i have liberally applied there.i can't even remember when's the last time i woke up with an ulcer. yes, it's been that long and i've never noticed how blessed i was (haha). i think it's been years, seriously. now i understand a bit of how my friend feels like every time he complains about his frequent attack of multiple ulcers.  yesterday i decided to try the "top gun" for kicks since the amusement park was in town and i'd never tried it before. and also 'cos outrageous rides like these give me that feel-good adrenalin rush that temporarily succeeds in pushing my blues away. (top gun is a caged, 20-seater swinging contraption that swings its passengers to the height of 3 or 4 storeys high at one end, upside-down, before swinging to the other side and repeating the same feat. see right for a simple version of it.)actually, honestly, it didn't give me much of a "high" since i was used to being through a lot worse (or should i say, better, since i actually enjoy it) but, yes, but, what made it a whole lot more interesting was i had my wallet and handphone with me and no pockets. well, i had one, but it wasn't deep and had no zipper, thus rendering itself effectively useless for people who tumble upside-down several rounds a minute.  now that made a whole world of difference. the first 6 rounds i tried to hold one item with each hand, while frantically grabbing on to the too-far-for-comfort lap bar (something like picture on the left) in front of me to flatten myself when i reached the points where the crowd hung upside down like bats and gravity threatened to pull me out of my seat, with my hair flying in my face and my mouth announcing each swing with the words "OMG", but it was evident there were too many things happening at one time for me to hold my grip.at the 6th round for a split second i actually considered letting go of my chunky wallet once i reached the bottom and just holding on to my phone. that was how bad it was. haha. now, i know the first thought that comes to mind is, "why couldn't you have put them down before the ride?" so here's my explanation. it was unfortunate that i came alone (as i always do) and since this isn't Genting, there wa  s no hotel room to store my belongings. i did try asking one of the ride operators to safeguard my stuff as he was putting down the plastic shoulder harness (see right) over my head, but he politely declined and i wisely refrained, 'cos, honest as he was, you never know who you can trust these days. at that point i had just come out from 2 medium-rate (by my gauge) adrenalin rides, both of which did not involve going upside down, and i didn't exactly have spare time to watch and wait for the first round to commence, so i blindly assumed this one would be just as tame (what was i thinking?).so did i drop my wallet? thank god i didn't, 'cos that could have very well been the 3rd time my wallet got stolen (and this time i probably wouldn't have gotten it back). like i said, since there were too many things going on at one time -- me trying to flatten myself to my seat, me trying to push away my hair which was flying into my eyes and me trying to hold on to those 2 valuable possessions -- i just did the most instinctive thing i could do. i just folded my arms in an X across my shoulder harness (it was the closest i could come to hugging the items to my chest) and that did the trick. but that very act itself made the whole ride more...interesting, or fun, whichever way you look at it. 'cos the shoulder harnest doesn't stay put in one place. i am a very skinny person and from experience, i tend to get flung out of the seat pretty easily. in previous times, this is where my hands would be grabbing on to anything firm and using it to push backwards and sort of "stick" myself into the seat when we go upside down. however, in this case, since my hands weren't free, everytime we went terbalik i was literally thrown out of my seat with only the shoulder harness to hang onto. i wasn't even sitting on the seat, you could say. hahaha. i know there were a number of people gawking at me from below. but honestly i wasn't really worried about my safety. the harness, though movable, could only move so much, plus we still had a cage around us, so my only concern was for my wallet and handphone to still remain in my grip until the thing ended. but it was quite an experience. as for my hair, since i couldn't move it away all the time, it ended up stinging my right eye and making it water terribly. i have this weird condition where even the least bit of oil, including oil from my own face, makes my eyes water like crazy. which was really irritating and funny at the same time i guess. 'cos when we finally stepped out it looked like the ride was so horrible it made me cry. but actually i had such a kick out of it =) . and then it was time to leave. somehow or other the ride exhausted me and my palms were aching, so for the first time in a few months i actually fell asleep early when i returned (though i had to get up and bathe eventually). few as they were, these hours of fun, it sure beats feeling bummed out all day. |
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