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Emily Parnell
on May 25 2013 - 06:00 AM
Do you want something great to happen? You better start doing something.
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Christi Diggs
on May 23 2013 - 06:00 AM
A drop of spin, a cup of deception and tsp. politics=Apathy
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Lindsay Metcalf
on May 22 2013 - 06:00 AM
When that tornado siren sounds, I'm in the basement
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mara williams
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
Summer break has this mom on a house upkeep war path.
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Here’s the thing. Yes, I’ve always thought I was. I mean, am I smarter than a fifth grader? No, probably not EVERY fifth grader. Some of those kids are savant like.
Am I smarter than a super model? Uh, probably no. (I hear it takes a lot of brains to stay a size 2.)
But a Carnie? Yeah, I’ve always thought I had a pretty good chance with the Carnies. I won't get into why, let's just say I am.
Or I was. Until Friday night.
Until right there in the middle of downtown Olathe, when I stood in the pouring rain watching the night sky flicker profusely with lightening as my lovely oldest flipped round and round in one of those Ferris Wheels on steroids.
I mean he was actually on a crazy tall ride which seemingly taunted Mother Nature to give it a good wack or two. Round and Round, betcha can't catch me.
All I could do was keep my eyes shut tight, praying aloud that my son (and his friend, did I mention he was with a couple of friends????) didn't make the 10 o'clock as the first casualties of Old Settlers Days.
Then it hit me. Why in the world were the Carnies not stopping these mammoths hunks of metal? I mean they didn't even stop and think about it. Lightning? Not a problem, let me just keep these rides going and then juggle a few golf clubs for fun.
Then it REALLY hit me. Why in the crazy world did I let my son and his friends get on the darn rides in the first place? (This is where not being smarter than a Carnie comes in ... BTW, did you know that everybody seems to have their own way of spelling Carnie? I like ie, better than y or ey, just thought I'd share.
I mean this is the first year I even let my son get on a carnival ride. We've always had one golden rule at these small town festivals. Go ahead, eat whatever you want. It's all game here at the festival. And don't worry, throw aways tons of cash for about two hours of fun. That's what parents are for.
But the rides? Nope, we're not getting on them. Maybe the carousel, but only maybe.
I've been behind the scenes at some county and small town festivals. Talked with many a carnie. And let's just say that putting together carnival rides should be rocket science. It should require all the smarts of really, really smart people. But it doesn't.
So what do I do Friday night? Not only did I cave to peer pressure this year, son bought a wrist band for $20 and went at it. Ready to ride every ride at the festival.
And when the Carnies just kept letting all the kids ride in an insane thunderstorm, so did I. Oh, I did a lot of pacing. A lot of praying. A lot of conversing with another Dad there who, with me, was cursing the Carnies for not stopping the rides.
Aren't their rules for these kinds of things? When it lightnings, you get out of the pool. You run from the golf course. But apparently, you can rides as many carnival death trap rides as you want.
Until, it seems, your crazy mom gets really freaked out and runs into a mad downpour, dodging lightning strikes in the sky and pulls you and your friends out of line. She'd show those Carnies how smart she was.
Twenty minutes later, the Carnies followed suit. Not only shutting down the rides, but the whole festival.
Hmmmm.... no refunds for the all-you-can-ride wrist bands. Carnies got a few hours off.
Looks like I'm not much smarter than a Carnie, after all.
It's funny... but those guys- scary as they are- are amazing at that stuff. One of my older brothers did the carnie thing for a while. It's a long story how he ended up there, but trust me- he looks the part. He's had a rough road since my parents had to finally practice the ideas of "Tough Love". he was clean and sober, but if I didn't know him I would have had second thoughts about letting my kids ride the Zipper with him at the controls. The truth is though, he's a WIZARD at putting stuff like that together, and most of those guys are (at least the ones he worked with at that time). For all of my education, my high IQ, and my penchant for watching documentaries and reading everything in sight- they can run circles around me mechanically, dirty flannel shirts and all. My brother has built the water slides most of our kids probably go down on at the city pools; he's put in the tracks at many local high schools; he may have even been the guy helping to build the boat you take out on the lake. they're jobs that don't attract the prettiest, or most well spoken of men... but they can take apart my dishwasher, figure out why it' s making that RONK RONK RONK noise, and put it back together, fixed, in less time than you can imagine. That said- the lightning thing always freaks me out! But I'm always the person at baseball games going "Uh, that was a flash of lightning over there. Why are we still on the field holding metal bats? Hello? Ump? hey, Ump!"No way would I have been comfortable with them on rides during lightening! But I would have also been the mom who didn't want to make a fuss if it's not a big deal to the festival employees. Especially if you have guest kids who also have ride bands. I would have thought the same pool lightening rules applied for metal carnival rides. SilentK, that's good info on the carnies. I have always wondered about their backgrounds. Good to know at least one is trustworthy re: putting the rides together! I have NO skill when it comes to that stuff.Repeated lots, "Don't want to be 10 oclock's headline/breaking news!" Carnies ... look rough, but respect their skills!Eep! Carnival rides! They scare me! My son got on one of those upside-down fling-em-everywhere carnival rides at Santa-Caligon a couple weeks ago, and after he got off...the carnies were out there madly tightening bolts. Shut it down for a few minutes. You know the chances I would've gotten on that ride after seeing that?! Slim and none. Yet there were tons of kids standing in line waiting for them to finish tightening those bolts so they could get on! Uh-uh. No way.We spent 4 hours at Old Settler's on Sat evening - ride lines were looooong and no way was I leaving w/o a walking taco, funnel cake, and Hawaiian shaved ice! As an Olathean from way back, I feel it's my obligation to trek downtown every year for the festivities. And now I'm going to climb on my soapbox for a minute. I make "carnie" comments too sometimes, but the reality is this: Why is it ok for me to stereotype them anymore than any other "group"? My husband works a blue collar job, not that you'd know it if you saw him on the weekend or after work, but oddly, people will still make comments around me about "molester work vans", even knowing what he does. Some of those same people never hesitate to call if they're needing help w/ a home improvement project or emergency assistance w/ something they don't know how to fix themselves. He has more math and engineering know-how than most folks, but chose to forgo college and get right to work in the family business. This is a touchy subject for me, clearly, but I'm a strong believer in not judging a book by its cover.
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