I've slacked off in writing here. I have no excuse other than I've been well distracted. I suppose the less I write here the better things are going so if I don't write things are usually going well. In this case it's true. Completely unexpected I've met someone and spend a lot of time with her. I plan to spend a lot more.

Months ago I wrote about how hot it was and how I spend the nights with air condtioner going full blast or sweating through the night without. It's hard to believe this is the same city. I would love to take some of the unwanted heat for when it gets brittle and freezing cold.
It snowed heavily this weekend and with it came the coldest temps of the year. I've faced colder and it's not too much for me but it's still uncomfortably cold. Returning home late yesterday night I felt ice forming in my beard, a strange sensation I've never felt before. I'm sure it will get colder and then I'll really bitch. When it does I'll spend much less time outside. Already I'm reluctant to go out unless I need to.

I finished The Willow Tree which has become one of my favorite books. I think books mean more to you depending on how you feel and what you're going through when you read them. That's most likely why I enjoyed it so much. Hubert Selby is an amazing writer, a rare case of natural talent mixed with a sense of human nature and language.
The book brought a lot out of me, which is rare for most writers but not Selby. Everything I've read of his brought out undeniable reactions. Unlike his other works this brought out a feeling of empathy, compassion for the characters who had suffered so much yet still continued to have a sense of hope when all others would have abandoned it. As things in my life started to get back on track it brought me a lot of comfort. I haven't read a book since I moved though I used to read one every couple weeks or so.


Hubert Selby Jr.

Right now I'm reading Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, a collection of essays by Chuck Klosterman, the author of Fargo Rock City, a book I read years ago and enjoyed. He's become one of this generations commentators, along with Dave Eggers and, to a lesser extent, Dane Cook. He writes about pop culture and it's deeper meanings- ie; The Sims as a mirror of our own existence and pursuit of materialism. An interesting book and sure to be a quick read.

I've grown an interest in the abandoned areas of life and the forgotten history that passed through them. Ghost towns have been an interest of mine for years, as well as the exploration of Pripyat, Centralia, and other abandoned towns. I've recently learned about Action Park, a amusement/water park I visited once as a child and what became of it.
It was located in New Jersey and as far as I remember, had very little security. Much of the park seemed to be run by the visitors and many of the rides were closed due to riders being injured. In fact, many of the rides seemed designed to hurt those that rode on them. Even the Tarzan Swing, a seemingly harmless water ride where park goers swing from a rope into a pool of water was known for injuries, even death. As the land used to be a swamp, snakes were known to fill the water. Even the mini golf area was filled with snakes.
The more dangerous ones, such as the Alpine Slide, had a higher rate of injury. At the time I visited, it was closed because a girl suffered severe lacerations when the sled that took her down the incline slipped from beneath her and she rode unprotected down the metal rods of the ride.
Many of the water rides emptied into a deep lagoon, with many of the slides casting people from the ends into the water. One end was much higher than the others and visitors would jump from it, endangering those in the water below. It became a new attraction- cliff diving- though the park forbid such activity.
It was staffed by younger, mostly high school age kids who worked for minimum wage or barely above. Because of this they turned a blind eye to many of the rule breakers and often came to work drunk or would drink while on the job. Action Park became known for it's virtual lawlessness and disregard of rules. It was a New Jersey rite of passage and still holds legendary status among many of the long time residents there.
I was too young to get involved in what happened there. My mother, upon seeing the state of the park, kept watch over my brothers and I but we all managed to escape when she turned her back. My two brothers were able to cliff dive, though most of the people I saw were being pushed off the cliff rather than diving, and I was lucky enough to get an inner tube for a ride down an underground river. I sustained only slight cuts when the innertube was pulled from underneath me by overeager park visitors.
To say the park was mismanaged wouldn't be the right term. The companies that ran the park (there were several) were always mindful of the bottom line and more often than not put finances before safety. There were many deaths in the park, too many for such an attraction and, fighting an unwinnable battle in court, the park closed down in 1996.

I've added a link of interest. Abandoned but not Forgotten outlines all the towns, camps and monuments lost and ignored, places most will never see or know about.


Waterslide with Alpine Slide in the background

Tarzan Swing, Action Park NJ.