Chinese Version
07-05-2021, Tuesday，Sunny in the morning. Thunder and heavy rain in the afternoon

Today is Tuesday, we got up at 8:30 a.m to drive to Six Flags amusement park which is more than 90 miles away from us, because we chose the 10:00 am time slot to enter the park online in advance.

When I arrived at the amusement park, I soon realized that COVID-19 had quietly changed our old habits: now we need to make a reservation to enter the amusement park and the shops only accept credit cards. I met two dissatisfied tourists who had no credit cards with them in the store, one was annoyed but accepting of the conditions while the other was taken to see the boss with greater annoyance. Although “consumer is the king”, consumers also have to keep up with modern trends to stay king.

Nowadays going to the amusement park, I don’t need to recommend any activity in terms of fun, safety, or waiting time. I just follow my two adult children or watch them play their favorite amusement activities. Following my children among the crowded tourists, I savor the ordinary fun of ordinary people.

Walking around the wet and splashy playground under the hot sun without any shade, I watched the visitors rushing into the cold water and then returning to land under the hot sun, although I had no interest in playing in water pool, because “heatstroke” came to my mind. I also felt that the pores on my arms and legs have opened because of sweating.

When I was a child, Yeyi, my nanny, told me: “Under the hot sun in the summer, suddenly getting into cold water can easily cause heatstroke.” This advice was naturally deep-rooted in my mind. The symptoms of heatstroke can be sweating, blushing, fatigue, headache, dizziness, thirst, panic and so on;in other words heatstroke is very unpleasant.

I sat by the pool watching my children climbing up to the top of a water fall while carrying a double seat yellow tube. When them gushed out of the pipe orifice with the torrent from the closed and curved pipe and fell into the water that is three feet deep, I heard their scream happily. I also overheard several riders who had just climbed out of the water from another ride bypass me while sighing: “Too much water in the nostrils, the back of my head hurts. I will never play this again.” Their complaints made me feel the pain of being forced to choke on water. I imagined the pain of being choked without really being choked, a very disturbing theoretical feeling.

Standing by the wave pool, I looked at the adults and children crowded in the pool, Listening to their shouting with the ups and downs of manmade waves, I felt happiness rippling in the air.

Although I didn’t play any water activities in the amusement park, I experienced the wonder and happiness of playing by watching and listening. I also went to see the roller coaster rolling in the air and listened to the screams in the air. For me, who have lived for over half a century and never liked any sport, going to the amusement park is more about watching and listening than participating.

Episodes

2021-07-06. The dense green trees on the roadside of highway on the East Coast and the wonderful facilities of the amusement park.