Be Careful What You Wish For...

... cause it might come true.
Once upon a time, I wished I wasn't such a wimp that was afraid of roller coasters since he rode one with his dad when he was about nine years old. I put that wish on a list with many other things like sky diving, scuba diving and moving to New Zealand. "Some day, I will pull myself together and ride a roller coaster," I used to say.
Back to present. Yesterday. 1 pm. There I was, minding my own business while packing my gear for night diving, when the phone rang. It was Uli, saying something about me not being at home at my birthday and her and Thomas inviting me to Holiday Park instead. Yeah! Great. I can do that... err... tomorrow? Wow... okay!

What you see on the right is called Expedition GeForce. My own personal Everest. So today would be the day. This would be it. The first day of the rest of my life. We started with the harmless attractions, of course: Stormship, Bounty Tower, Lighthouse Tower and Thunder River. I've been to the park before, so I knew what Stormship and Thunder River would be like. I have this thing about unprovoked acceleration, so I knew Stormship would be bad, but not too bad as warm-up. I didn't ride the Bounty Tower when I was last there, because I thought it would be very rough. Lighthouse Tower wasn't built then. So you can imagine my surprise when I found out that they were kind of lame. They provided for a great view over the area, but there was no kick whatsoever. Sweet!
Next stop: Free Fall Tower. It's a speaking name. Aaaaaaaaaah! Really, this is actually worse than free falling, because you fall faster than you would if you were alone, due to the weight of the seats. Felt awkward. But I thought it would be a good preparation for my Everest, the infamous GeForce. And it was! I cannot describe how it felt. When we were standing in line, I was scared shitless. But that's okay, I can handle fear. My usual way of compensation is to nag. Poor Uli. Then we sat down, were pulled upwards and released. If you ever rode a roller coaster, try to remember your first ride. If you didn't, there's no way you can know what I'm talking about. I transformed from a "noch nicht" to a "noch mal" person ("not yet" to "once again", but for once it sounds better in German) in less than one minute.
I got off to Superwirbel in no time. That's the one my dad and I rode when I was a kid. I don't remember much of it now, that's how terrible it was. But guess what? I enjoyed it! It only took me a little less than 20 years to conquer my fear.
And just to make sure I would never forget it, we rode the Free Fall Tower and the GeForce once again before we went home.

Holy crap... what a ride!