Welcome one and all to the Tuesday night GUS diary!
GUS (Gave Up Smoking) is a community support diary for Kossacks in the midst of quitting smoking. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are quitting or thinking of quitting, please -- join us! You can also click the GUS tag to view all diary posts.
I am not a smoker. But I am an over-doer (I rarely drink alcohol, but if I do, I drink too much), and addicted to unhealthy foods (sugary, fat-filled, salty or a combination of the three).
Please join me over the jump.
I smoked cigars for a few days... maybe 2 or 3 of them, kind of keeping my boyfriend "Garrick" company, and more accurately, enjoying his company.
Garrick started smoking after being hospitalized for depression - he figured he was giving up a LOT of things, so he was going to take up something "bad" for him. He considers quitting from time to time (which I'd love to see, and definitely encourage... but not well. I bought him cigars, yesterday. Because I love him. Well, duh.)
Anyway, whether he quits or not, we can both spend time together reading outside - whether he's puffing, or not.
I grew up in a household with 4 adult smokers. Mom and dad, of course, and then dad's mom moved in, and then mom's dad. I was never not around second hand smoke. I blame it for my asthma. I have long avoided situations with indoor smoke. (I remember my first concert - was called "Salem Country Gold," - and they handed out small packs of Salems as we walked in. We were in the balcony, peering at the stage through the haze of smoke.
And, I love doing things where there is little or no smoke. Being outdoors helps. Over the Independence Day holiday, Lisle (Illinois) hosted "Eyes to the Skies" - a hot air balloon festival. So, you'd think that I, Ms. Camera, would have photos of the balloons, right?
Errrrr. Well, we bought mega-pass bracelets, good for rides at the carnival for all five days. We only left the carnival area for the rest of the 'fest' a single time.
Carnival Trivia: The main pathway through any carnival is now called the midway, because of the 1893 Columbian Exposition/World's Fair held in Chicago. See, the entrance was in Washington Park, and to get to Jackson Park where most of the exhibits were, goers would walk along a path between two roads that are called "The Midway Plaisance." Along either side of that path were booths set up for each country represented at the fair.
Cute Story about "Eyes to the Skies" festival: My sister and her (then) boyfriend (now husband) moved into a townhouse in a community called "Four Lakes," which is not terribly far south of the festival location. New to the community, the were pretty unaware about the festival that first year.
Fourth of July morning, they woke up to a sound like "whoosh-ahhh, whoosh-ahhh, whoosh-ahhh..." Her boyfriend got up and looked out the curtains covering the sliding glass door facing south.
"What's that noise?" my sister asked.
"Mr. Peanut just flew by the window," her boyfriend replied. My sister thought he was hungover. (And maybe he was, but he was accurate.)
So, I have no photos of the balloons :( ... and yet, I have photos from the fest! :)
The one thing we took photos of outside of the carnival (besides fireworks) was me - when I got two temporary tattoos.
Sponge Bob and Patrick Star
I had fun.
The name on this ride said "Gravitron." (The photo is from the rear of the ride, where I was sitting on the grass, recovering.) Garrick dubbed it "The Vominator." (I was told that's a Simpson's reference.)
If you remember a ride called "The Roundup," or ... heck if I can remember the name of this, but a ride where you stood in a cylinder, and it spun, and you were pressed to the wall by centrifical force, and then the floor lowered a couple of feet... This was similar.
Thing was, it was covered - quite dark, and REALLY VERY STUFFY. It spun, you were pressed to the wall, and the "seat" you leaned against pushed out to the ceiling, so you were no longer standing.
A strobe light flashed. People sweated. And it grew more stuffy.
Now, I like rides, and rarely feel motion sick... but the Vominator was well dubbed. Neither of us got sick really, but by the time the spinning was slowing down, I had my face pressed between two "seats" gasping in what little fresh air I could. And - it was cool out. I can NOT imagine how horrible that ride would be in the heat of a humid day.
We did not repeat that experience.
The Orbiter was slightly more advanced than the "Octopus" I rode as a kid. It was fun, but the music played on it was ear-piercingly loud. It was good rock, but painfully loud. Hence, this photo is from very far away. The one time I approached it was to ride it.
This was one of our favorite rides - it was a large swing. I guess it was supposed to be a boat on the Nile. It did not loop above the pivot point (there was another swing that looped, but I didn't get a photo of it) - but it was fun, and provided lots of screams.
Actually, that ride brings up a question from me. "Garrick" informed me that (at least for him), rides like Ferris Wheels (and this swing), had an... ummmmm... affect (effect?) on one's manhood. That it... hmmmm... enlarged things, as it were. Can any males confirm that they have experienced this? (The Vominator did NOT cause that reaction.)
The "Wipeout" was not one of my favorite rides to ride , but it was one of my favorite to watch. It was just pretty. And not real, real loud.
And when we did ride the Wipeout, it was fun. I mean, LOTS more fun than the Vominator or the Merry Go Round which was LAME, because adults were not allowed (!) on the animals.
So, it got a thumb up, but not two.
For me, the king of the rides (at this carnival) was "The Zipper."
You could see "Wipeout" from it. Notice that the riders are fully enclosed in cages.
That's because there are multiple forces - movements - in play. For one thing, the cars ride a track around the zipper, in a loop, kind of like a Ferris Wheel. Kinda.
Additionally, that loop spins in a circle.
So, you're going around the track of the loop, plus the loop is spinning...
And then, to keep things interesting, the cages spin independently.
So, sometimes you're at the top of the track and the top of the loop, and you're standing on your feet...
And sometimes you're at the top of the track and the top of the loop, and you're standing on your head!
This was our favorite of the "death defying" rides, but we didn't repeat it. And there was a reason for that:
GRAVITY works
It was lots of fun, and there was LOTS of fresh air. However, we spent much of the ride screaming, "AAAAAAHHHH! YOUR KEYS ARE LOOSE!" or similar, and trying to grab (temporarily, fortunately) lost items. And, during one of the top of the track, top of the loop, stand on your head turns, I was flung into the cage. On my glasses. Which bent. (Fixably.)
We decided the next time we want to ride the zipper, we'll stand in front of a fan, and hit each other with baseball bats.
Other than that, it was great!
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