Quoc’s Web Journal

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Family at Six Flags Magic Mountain (Valencia)

So, I went to my 12 step meeting tonight… We get to read out of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous on a weekly basis…. Tonight, we read out of the chapter that addresses steps 10 & 11!!!  Because I don’t have a lot of time and without going too deep into it… 

Here is what I got out of the meeting as it pertains to the day spent at Magic Mountain with my family…  The Big Book mentions that I will recoil from things that harm me like a hot flame…  That when faced with indecision, I ask for God’s help, then relax and take it easy… I don’t struggle!!!  I do my part and then trust that the results will be taken care of…

Point and case of what NOT to do!!!  I went on Tatsu the crazy dragon ride a few years ago at Magic Mountain and ended up screaming so hard and straining myself so much that I lost my voice and gave myself whiplash and ended up unable to go on any more rides for the rest of the evening…  Unfortunately, I didn’t learn from my lesson from a few years ago!!!  I was reluctant to go on it; however, the ride looked so tempting as we waited in line at the Roaring Rapids ride that I just had to give it another go and train myself not to freak out and tense up to the point where I would end up giving myself whiplash and a major headache again!

I thought I did great on the ride…  I did scream the whole time, but not like last time when I screamed out of sheer terror!  I unfortunately unconsciously tensed up big time and found myself hurting from the neck shooting all the way down to the bottom of my spine!!! MAN!!! 

TWO LESSONS HERE:

1) Learn that I had a bad gut feeling about riding Tatsu again considering my physical health and ability to take the insanity of going on the ride as one does hang from the ride for periods of times!!!  I needed to be in better physical condition to do the ride…  I should have recoiled from this ride like a hot flame!!!

2) Instead of doing my part by enjoying this ride at the amusement park and trusting that the harness and clamps would hold me down and in place; instead, I chose to push and myself up against the seat (consciously or not) that I would end up straining my back muscles all the way from the top of my neck to the bottom of my spine!!!  LOL…  I find it amusing that all I needed to do to truly feel ok on the ride was to do as the Big Book would suggest any life challenging ride I would be on… Trust the process and relax and take it easy and NOT struggle!!!  The TRUTH is if I was truly strong enough and struggled hard enough, the pressure I put on the harness would have broken the harness off; consequently, causing me to fall out of the ride and be hurled in to the air!!!  THE SOLUTION IS TO HAVE FAITH, TRUST THAT I WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF AND SURRENDER AND RELAX.

Instead, I spent all of today, Monday, May 4, 2009 popping Advils, laying back and relaxing and taking it easy so that my back may do it’s work to heal and mend itself!!!  There are many lessons to be learned on so many different levels…  That is for me to get to experience… I would like to share a few pictures with you though from the adventures me and my family had at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California…

The full album is actually posted in a photo album in my facebook page!!!  Very cool, that was my first facebook album posted!!!  They are brilliant in their ability to allow people to stay in touch and post media so easily!!!  The detriment about facebook is that it has caused me to share most of my feelings and thoughts there and therefore, remove myself from posting on this blog as often…  Either way, please enjoy!

Cheers,

Quoc