I have a "thing" with wheels.
It all started in Elementary School - at the school carnival. The make-shift wheel consisted of plywood and wooden pegs...with the prize names roughly written with an "odorific" marker( in bubble letters- to look more professional, of course.)
How I longed for the "Wild" slot on the wheel....the tiny sliver of hot pink construction paper. I hoped, even prayed....but alas, the pointer always landed on the huge wedge of green...with the word "Yo-Yo" glaring at me.Off I went... cussing my tangled Yo-Yo with the rest of the elementary school. Of course, minutes later there would be a shriek of joy as the big 4th grader jumped up and down....carrying off the stuffed animal the God's didn't find me deserving of.
The compulsion began there.
Since then, wheels have called to me. Carnival wheels...where my options are "trash" or "trashier trash" and I STILL can NOT walk away. In fact, I will pay $5 just to spin it.
"Wheels" to spin as a radio DJ camps out in the parking lot of a shopping mall. My options are "plastic cup" or "tacky T-shirt" (only Youth Mediums remain) and I will STILL wait in line for 40 minutes just to spin it.
I even applied for a credit card at a Cincinnati Red's game - just so I could spin the prize wheel. My prize....a foam "beer can insulator"....and a 21% interest rate...(they said it was due to my young age and lack of credit at the time - though I am convinced they were leery after seeing me drool over their wheel...and suspected they probably shouldn't be lending me money.)
Tommy T and I took a trip to Vegas in our young married days. We stayed at an incredible casino hotel. He would not participate....but I....I saw the Wheel of Fortune game as we passed through the lobby. I had to spin it.
I wanted to just "drop a couple of quarters". $200 later and after me begging for the credit card...he pried my death grip off the wheel and dragged me out of the casino and forbade me from ever returning.
I fantasize about spinning the "real" wheel. I am left breathless when I think of The Price Is Right wheel....with that long, skinny microphone.
Today I went to Walmart, alone. I passed by the Arvest bank and noticed a prize wheel - waiting for someone to spin it after they agreed to open an account.
I am NOT being melodramatic. I HAD to spin it. I SERIOUSLY had an inner battle. I wondered if I had enough time to open a little savings account....I really, truly considered it. I knew it was out of the question and just ridiculous.
I pushed my cart past it - and for the first time in my life - I had a serious, uncontrollable COMPULSION.
I wanted to spin it so hard that it just flew off the table.
I wanted to spin it so fast that it just disintegrated.
I wanted to hurt the wheel...
all because I wasn't "allowed" to spin it.
I wanted to spin it so fast that it just disintegrated.
I wanted to hurt the wheel...
all because I wasn't "allowed" to spin it.
It was one of the oddest things I have ever experienced....disturbing, really.
I don't know if anyone DARE psychoanalyze that one...
I have a feeling Pat Sajak is going to visit me in my dreams tonight.
I love you, Pat.
I start to sweat when I see them pull on the BIG Wheel with not nearly enough force to bring it back around to the big one dollar. Let's face it...If the little grandma on the show doesn't have enough strength to make a full cycle on the big wheel..she doesn't really deserve the his and hers jet ski's, horseback riding lessons, and indoor basketball court being featured in the showcase. I find myself yelling at the tv, telling her to 'pack her bags and go home to her shuffleboard courts."
ReplyDeleteI would LOVE to see you on the show...with all your practice, you'd tear that wheel up, baby.
This was too funny. They DO have a wheel at chuck e cheese you know. You can choose from Rotavirus, hand foot and mouth, or headlice as your prize. Everyone's a winner.
Is it the spinning, or the winning that you are addicted to? If it is just the spinning, I bet Arvest would have let you spin just for fun...doesn't hurt to ask. I bet you go nuts in Shoe Carnival! Maybe Meg will make you your own wheel. You could spin it each day to see which dessert you get after dinner. Love you Sarah! You made me smile today :o)
ReplyDeletelol. bart and i decided gambling wasn't for us when we spent who knows how much in a nickel arcade just for enough tokens for a crappy dart gun we could have bought at the dollar store...by doing that quarter push game. For that reason, that heap of trash is still sitting in one of our closets.
ReplyDeleteIT'S IN OUR BLOOD!