Column: Sean Says: Plan ahead to avoid situations

Sean Hastings, Sports Editor

So lemme tell you this. Roller coasters are a lot of fun, but you have to approach them the right way.

The thing is, I knew how to go about the night at the amusement park, but my friend Jonny did not and I had to suffer because of it.

My friend Jonny and I have been friends for as long as I can remember.

We always did everything together, whether it was the smartest thing to do or not. But we always had fun regardless.

About five years ago, we went to Grand Bear Lodge just south of Wisconsin. Jonny, my brother Ryan, and two of Noah’s friends all went there to spend the weekend.

The day started off great. We went to the water park and just did the usual water park things–slides, hot tub, lazy river, etc., and everything was going great during the day.

But after having a long day at the water park, we planned on going to the amusement park at night. We were fired up.

But we were also really fired up to get food because we were dying to eat. We didn’t really think about the night ahead at that point.

The food we decided to eat was burgers, cheese sticks, wings and pop, and it finally hit me that we were going to be on roller coaster rides in just an hour.

At this point, you can probably tell where this night was going to go.

I slowed down a bit, but I had enough to where I was worried the night might take a bad turn.

We get to the amusement park, and we pick our first ride. It was a spinning ride–one that lifts you as the ride goes along.

One of Ryan’s friend and I went on first just because there wasn’t room for all of us to get on. So after we exit the ride, Jonny and Ryan go on together and the thing spins around a few times, and we see Jonny, and he wasn’t looking good at all.

He already had to take a break after the first ride or else what we all feared as the worst would happen.

After about 30 minutes of sitting out, Jonny gets back on his feet, and we find the best ride there.

The ride has 30 people sitting in one row, and the ride goes up and down and spins in a circle.

We’re all having a good time, yelling dumb stuff at the top because we were immature teenage guys. We’re having the time of our life, and there is no way anything could go wrong.

The ride pauses at the top as it had done five other times, and this time we were going to shoot down for the final time and end the ride, but Jonny couldn’t wait any longer.

The ride shoots us down, I’m still laughing and having a good time, and then all of a sudden my leg gets really hot.

Jonny puked.

He puked all over me and everyone else on the ride. This shut the ride down for the rest of the night and essentially getting us kicked out. Not before I get sick in the bathroom and throw up myself.

Our night ended earlier than expected as we got kicked out of the amusement park after spending just over an hour there.

My lesson for you is to plan ahead to avoid any unwanted outcomes.

What you do during the day can affect how your night will go.

Like eating really heavy before going to an amusement can cause you to get sick, and get you get kicked out. I hope your weekend is better than mine.

Sean Hastings is a sophomore journalism major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].