Things You Might Learn At Six Flags

To escape the madness of spending five consecutive days existing solely on Manhattan island, a couple of friends and I decided we needed a break. Our choice destination would be to none other that Six Flags to relish in a day of cheating death, and plummeting through the sky while our various body parts were thrown in directions by speeds unreasonably fast, but somehow still find this considerably enjoyable and compared to the city, even relaxing. How was it you may wonder? Great! I think as you get older it becomes increasingly more fun to act like a child. I had forgotten how much fun one can have standing in half hour long lines to experience about 35 seconds of terror and joy. Of course, this great adventure of mine, would prove to be quite the learning experience, as all experiences seem to be once you reach the age of intellectual perception. Three extremely interesting observations I have made during my day at six flags, (there were more than three, but these most important) which I feel worthy of sharing as minor notes, or cultural commentaries about this very interesting world we live in, and the complex lives we lead.

I’m not waiting in that line…
Now I know it’s been something like five years since the last time I went to six flags, but I’m pretty sure this is new. At each main attraction roller coaster I approached people were walking out of the line. “Is the ride broken?” I asked. “No, we were just in a line for a while so we thought we would leave,” the riders responded as the hastily exited the ride through the entrance gate. I must preface this account by saying, due to reasons I can’t quite explain, Six Flags was pretty doggone empty yesterday. I waited in no line longer than 30 minutes, the massive maze of passenger waiting areas were mostly roped off and blocked with trash cans, and we were hardly ever in stand still traffic. Also, the weather was quite nice, it was a perfectly beautiful day though not stifling hot by any means. All of this for a normal Six Flagger, or at least the mid-western ones I had grown up with meant, you were going to have a GREAT day at the park. Like, what more could you possibly ask for? But still, for these northeastern riders, the drastically short lines in the shade with private DJ’s and MC’s for your waiting entertainment were just too much. They would not wait. No. Not waiting. Ain’t gonna do it. And so they left the line, and hey, who am I to stop them, it made my wait even shorter.

But honestly, this was the most baffling sight I had ever seen. Have we grown so impatient as a society we won’t even wait to have fun? I mean really, why would you ever go to an amusement park if you weren’t going to stand in line? Does that even sound logical. And furthermore, when the lines are barely 30 minutes long, what could you possibly have to do that’s more important. Perhaps it’s a northeastern thing. I often find that New Yorkers have a sort of innate impatience, I’m assuming that’s why they lean their heads over the edge of the subway every 30 seconds to check and see if they can see the lights from an approaching train. I must admit, that every now in then, I succumb to this train ‘n’ seek behavior, (when I’m in rush, or running late of course). But this wasn’t the subway! We were waiting for death defying drops, and upside loopty loops and stuff--the subway doesn’t do that. You can wait 30 minutes for that, right? I could. Thank God. There’s a lot of ways to realize you might have reached a new level of stress and ridiculously self-destructive behavior, but I suggest, go to Six Flags, and try not to have fun. If you can succeed in doing so, you might want to check yourself in somewhere, or maybe even quit your job because something is truly wrong with you. Trust me, your blackberry is very cool, but it’s definitely not cooler than the Nitro ride at Six Flags Great Adventure.

You have to dance first…
To keep the rowdies and drunkies calm in the line for the Superman (which is the most terrifying and unpleasant ride I’ve ever encountered) a young nerdy white male played a Six Flags trivia game show offering eager riders a chance to win a “don’t wait in line pass” for the ride of their choice. Several contestants played and failed, a few won, it was all in good fun. As the line progressed Jake (we’ll call him since I know not his name) asked if anyone else wanted to play, and any who said yes were welcomed to the booth to play his five question trivia game. As my group of friends approached the booth, Jake asked if anyone else wanted to play and I raised my hand. And then it happened?

Jake: You want to play?
Me: Yes
Jake: You have to come up and dance first.
Me: No
Jake: Sorry, if you don’t dance you can’t play.
Me: (rolling my eyes, preparing to launch in to a fit)
Friends: Why would he ask you to dance? He didn’t ask anyone else to dance.
Me: Do I look like a stripper?
Friend: That’s f***ed up, I’m gonna ask him why he said that when we get to the front of the line.
Other Friend: You should report that to the park, that’s so blatant.
Me: Blatant!!! To us, we’re two black women who graduated from Spelman, it’s not gonna be blatant to them.
Friend: That’s true. I’m really mad about it.
Me: I know.
All: Oh a day in the life.

He asked me to dance. Straight up, with a straight face, he looked at me and asked me to dance. He didn’t ask anyone before or after me to dance. He only asked me—the only black female who wanted to play the game, I had to dance. I honestly am so angered by this incident that I’m find explaining it a bit difficult. I guess I feel like I shouldn’t have to. So if you don’t understand the source of my anger and disbelief you should read some black feminist thought, and then come back to my blogger when you're a bit more enlightened.

Human beings are crazy...
Simply. Think about it. Why do we enjoy roller coasters? I think, because for less than a minute or so we cheat death. If we can do it a couple of times in one day, it's worth $50 and a two hour drive. Often when our lives or in chaos, and we are feeling stressed out beyond comprehension we say, "it's just been such a rollercoaster ride," or something of that nature. We may go on to describe the vast ups and downs in life, the quick changes that we don't see coming, the anticipation of slowly making it all the way to the top, and then the steep drops when we've finally made it. Life takes us on a dozens of loops at a quick pace and most often around these times, we feel sorry for ourselves because we're so "stressed out." But maybe not those of us who love going to Six Flags. We, secretly, love the roller coaster ride of life. As long as we're not in one place too long, we can't live with out the ups and downs, the uncertainty, the big risk. It's why we keep going everyday, why we continue to seek out life's biggest thrills..because we know all things eventuallly come to an end. But, before they do, we know you should ride every ride as many times as you can. Nothing is better than the feeling of knowing that you conquered what seems impossible more than once, and nothing is more rewarding than conquering what you might fear the most.