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| ~2011 State Fair~ |
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| {Sweet Josslyn} |
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| {Dad helping Connor} |
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| {The dudes} |
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| {Mmmm...Meatballs} |
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| {Moochies famous Philly steak sandwich with mushrooms} |
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| {Big Yellow Slide} |
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| {Air-brush tattoos} |
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| {Cousins} |
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| {My little buddy} |
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| {Funnel Cake} |
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| {My dad and mom} |
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| {Shot Blaster} |
“Why do you hate that place so much?” I asked, expecting the typical answers: it’s too hot to walk around all day in the heat, roller coasters aren’t fun, it’s too expensive, it’s too dirty, there is too much exposed, tattooed flesh on people who really have no business exposing so much tattooed flesh. (Seriously, after a day at the fair, I want to scream, “Put some freakin’ clothes on, people!!!”)
“It’s about the false happiness of the world.”
Um… what?
“You know, the false happiness of the world.”
Um, actually, I don’t know what the heck you are referring to, my dearest love.
“The seminary videos. Didn’t you see the seminary movies, where all the bad things happen at amusement parks, like the bad guys are offering false joy in the roller coasters and cotton candy?”
Ok, I say, I saw such a movie once at the visitor's center at temple square. It's the only movie I really remember watching there, called Man's Search for Happiness, and I remember thinking, "What's wrong with roller coasters and cotton candy?"
“I dunno, I guess I always just associate amusement parks with false happiness, like it’s offering thrills that are fleeting. Like overpriced, fake, sticky joy,” my teenage son says.
Seriously, have you ever heard of somebody so over thinking a roller coaster?
I told him that such a preposterous idea surely came from someone that growing up, probably could not have afforded to take the entire family to a theme park, so to compensate, this writer probably assigned some moral failing to such activities. And somehow, harbored the notion from childhood that only people of an inferior mind could find pleasure in something as trivial as a 205 foot vertical 90 degree drop going 70 mph.
Well, call me a butthead, because I think that ride ROCKS.
My sister and I, incidentally, recently had a fantastic day at the fair with our children, our niece Candie and nephews Casey and Cole, and our parents.
What childhood notions have you carried into adulthood? And perhaps the most important question of all—did you see that movie about the bad guys offering false joy at the theme park? Because I’ve been to the amusement parks a few times already this season, and the only thing I’ve seen offered there is overpriced drinks, bad pizza, and one he*% of an awesome time.
