I Do Some Incredibly Stupid Things Sometimes...

Yesterday morning, I woke up freezing. Well, not exactly freezing. More like shivering, I guess. I had a blanket on, but still, I was shivering uncontrollably. I checked the thermometer on the table next to me. It indicated that the air around me was a balmy and tropical 77 degrees. Not exactly shivering sort of weather.

Aw crap!

It didn't take me too long to realize just what was going on. I was getting a fever.

What the F?!?

I never get a fever. I never even get sick. How could this be happening to me? And on the day before my Birthday! We had plans to go to Philadelphia later that night. Mumi was supposed to see a concert and I was supposed to be going to a small amusement park in New Jersey to ride my 227th roller coaster. This whole fever thing just couldn't be happening to me. Not today!

I laid back down figuring that I would just sleep it off. Well, I woke up a couple of hours later, after quite a bit of that loopy, feverish kind of dreaming, and I took my temperature. It was 102.2 degrees. Ugh!

Upon finding out about this potentially concert ending turn of events, Mumi immediately went into "Operation Concert Rescue" mode. He high-tailed it out the door to the local Wal-Mart and picked up some Dayquil, cough drops and lots of vitamin C. He came home and tried, unsuccessfully at first, to ply me full of over-the-counter remedies. I'm a bit stubborn when it comes to things like medication though. I hate it. I prefer to let most illnesses run their natural course without any interruption from voodoo and witchcraft and whatnot.

I quickly realized, however that I was going to be taking Mumi to a concert in Philadelphia in a few hours regardless of how sick or well I was. So, I gave the OTC's a chance.

About an hour after swallowing a large quantity of Dayquil and too many vitamin C tablets, I was starting to feel pretty good. The fever had gone down to around 100 degrees. So, we jumped in the car and headed off on another one of our wacky adventures. Mumi was thoughtful enough to bring along a blanket and a pillow for me, so I could sleep in the truck and recover during the concert.

Um, what?

Sleep in the truck when there is a roller coaster that I have never ridden before less than 30 miles away? Are you smoking crack, Mumi? There would be no sleeping in the truck tonight! I dumped Mumi off at the concert venue and took off down the road to Clementon Lake Amusement Park in Clementon, NJ.

I got there about an hour before the park was scheduled to close. I took my temperature again in the truck. It was 101 degrees. Hmmmm... Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go ride a roller coaster right now. What if I passed out or threw up on the ride or worse? Oh well, no time to be worrying about what ifs!

I purchased my ticket and went inside the park and walked briskly over to the Hellcat roller coaster. Fortunately, there was no crowd at all in the park, so I got right on the ride, in the front row, with no wait or problems. And I rode. Even with my feverishness and my wooziness, I rode.

Now, you'd think that one ride would enough, right? I had done it. I had ridden the coaster. Now, I could just go back to the concert venue and relax in the truck until the show was over, right? WRONG! I rode it again, and again, and again, and again, and again. Six times in all. Six rides on a rickety roller coaster in one hour all with me and my fever of 101 degrees.

I do some incredibly stupid things sometimes...

(Just between you and me though, I don't regret it. It put a huge smile on my face for the whole hour. I would do it all again, the same exact way. I wouldn't change a thing.)