Monday, July 11, 2005

FEAR AND SELF-LOATHING IN STORY LAND —— by Steve Nadis

Something’s happened to me. I’ve become a person I hate. Perhaps that’s putting it too strongly. But it is fair to say that I’ve become a person for whom I used to hold little regard. I spent the past weekend in the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire. Did I go hiking or mountain climbing or whitewater kayaking like I used to? No. I went to Story Land and rode on Dr. Geyser’s Remarkable Raft Ride, went on the Slipshod Safari Tour, and then took Cinderella’s Pumpkin Coach up the lane to Cinderella’s Castle.

The next day, I did get into the White Mountains, but instead of hiking, I sat on my rear and took the chairlift up Attitash (I call it “Attitush”) Mountain, and when I got to the top, I sat on my rear again and slid down the longest Alpine Slide in North America. It was so much fun, I did it twice.

The saddest part of this whole story is that I actually enjoyed myself so much. I had fun with my wife and young girls riding the Whirling Whales and Bamboo Chutes. It would have been nice to have climbed a mountain or two, or to have gone swimming in a river rather than in the Storybook Resort Pool, but hey, you can’t do everything.

And so it’s happened–a gradual process to be sure, evolutionary or devolutionary, depending on your point of view. Either way, I’ve become a person I used to thumb my nose at. And now I thumb my nose at that other guy–a self-righteous prick who doesn’t know what he’s missing.

Posted by Snake at 23:36:11
Comments

8 Responses to “FEAR AND SELF-LOATHING IN STORY LAND —— by Steve Nadis”

  1. DrMax says:
    July 12, 2005 at 3:45 am

    This might explain why "Dora the Explorer-Live" has replaced Elvis Costello concerts in my life….and why I don’t mind that much. "Swiper, noooooo swiping!"

  2. Snake says:
    July 12, 2005 at 4:15 am

    Well, Doc, it seems we’ve both fallen so far we don’t know which way is up anymore. Worse yet, we don’t even care.

  3. gatemouth says:
    July 12, 2005 at 2:49 pm

    Ah yes, Storyland–the theme park of darkness:
    "The horror, the horror." "Mr. Snake, he dead." (No, just resting.)

  4. Snake says:
    July 12, 2005 at 2:57 pm

    I think I’m alive though sometimes it’s hard to tell. You might be confusing Story Land with my other favorite theme park, the now-defunct Spooky World, which was the subject of one of my first-ever blogs. I still get comments on that one, even though I posted it last December. When I think of Spooky World’s inopportune closing, I am reminded of Gatemouth’s famous quote: "The horror, the horror!"

  5. CheneyLover says:
    July 18, 2005 at 4:09 pm

    I’m not positive, but I think I told you so :-)

  6. Snake says:
    July 18, 2005 at 4:20 pm

    Dear CL, you’re probably right. But which of my many failings did you point out?

  7. CheneyLover says:
    July 20, 2005 at 6:24 am

    That you are thumbing your nose at the nose thumber.

  8. Snake says:
    July 20, 2005 at 1:59 pm

    Oh, that shortcoming. Fair enough.

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