Chaotic Motion

by Tulasi-Priya on Friday 27 January 2012

I once fasted exclusively on juice and water for a week, then went with my best friend to the county fair, where I broke the fast with a greasy burger before climbing onto the Tilt-a-Whirl. For those who do not remember the Tilt-A-Whirl, a summary of its action is easily found on Wikipedia:

The Tilt-a-Whirl is a platform-type ride, consisting of seven freely-spinning cars that hold four (sometimes three) riders each, which are attached at fixed pivot points on a rotating platform. As the platform revolves, parts of the platform are raised and lowered, and the resulting centrifugal and gravitational forces on the cars cause them to spin in different directions and at variable speeds. The weight of passengers in these cars may intensify or dampen the spinning motion of the cars, adding to the unpredictable nature of the motion. Mathematicians call this unpredictable nature chaotic motion.

Chaotic motion. That was us. That was me. The Ohio Players screamed Fiiiie-yuh from the loudspeakers. From the chaotic orbit of our vanishing youth, we screamed back. Patty said I turned green, but the burger stayed down. I would gorge on life—or what I thought was life—even if it made me sick unto death. Until it did.

 

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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }

Sarah W January 27, 2012 at 7:41 am

Personally . . . this speaks to me of All-or-Nothing thinking, which is my nemesis.

Plus, I get terminally dizzy on the kiddie teacup ride, so even the thought of the tilt-a-whirl makes me glad I haven’t had breakfast, yet!

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Tulasi-Priya January 27, 2012 at 4:26 pm

I was obsessive about romance and friendship, but not much else. (But what else is there for a slacker in her twenties?) This speaks to me more of stupidity and lack of self-control (my nemesis), since you ought not break a fast with anything so heavy as a piece of bread, what to speak of some third-rate ground beef. I wasn’t feeling dizzy until I read the word dizzy. Sorry if I spoiled your appetite for breakfast.

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macdougalstreetbaby January 27, 2012 at 8:28 am

We are kindred spirits. You know that, right?

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Tulasi-Priya January 27, 2012 at 4:21 pm

I feel that way a lot. Yes.

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Downith January 27, 2012 at 11:26 am

I used to be able to handle any ride. ANY. Now, I feel nauseous just looking at them.

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Tulasi-Priya January 27, 2012 at 4:21 pm

Oh, Lord, same here. My fave was the Himalaya, for the name alone, but it was an awesome ride.

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Harry iPants January 30, 2012 at 8:04 pm

A week into my only trip to America I went to this really cool Science Centre place, and one of the things you could do was go in this fighter plane simulator thingy.
Trouble was, that ten minutes earlier I’d just experienced my first Genuine American Hot Dog.
So the guy I’m with gets the lady to turn the dial up to extreme, and she goes, “Are you sure?”
But of course, he’s sure. We crashed the thing so many times, we were going round in circles and on it’s nose and all sorts of horrible things.
He was lucky enough to be physically sick in the toilets straight after. I was lucky enough to have the worst case of indigestion of my life and just feel sick until the next day.
Now I won’t even get on a Merry Go Round.

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