We haven't heard much from the Logtown boys lately, because the mushrooms Simon found were, of course, psychadelic. So our heroes have spent a lot of time dazed, confused, and rubbing their faces and thinking the ants in the trailer were much larger and colorful than they actually were.

The least desirable result of this is that the boys no longer have jobs. Or, more specifically, Simon and Fletcher have joined Richie in the jobless department. They traded mushrooms for pizza delivery and beer. They sold mushrooms to Richie's mom so they could pay their utility bills.

But now the mushroom patch is barren, and the boys have begun to return to reality.

"(unintelligible mumbling)."

Richie's eyes opened. "What?"

Simon rolled over from his face-down position on the floor.

The mumbling became more coherent. "When are we?" Fletcher asked.

Richie was silent for a long moment. "I don't know." His eyes began to focus on his hands, which were slowly working their way around his spot on the sofa. "Where's my cigarettes?"

Maybe we should give them some more time to recover......

My wife and I went to Paramount Kings Island yesterday. One of the things we have always liked doing was going to amusement parks to ride the thrill rides.

But after our experiences yesterday, I don't know how much longer we can do this.

Never before in our lives have we gotten off the roller coasters, moaning because the bumpy rides beat us up. Or moaning because we were constantly trying to avoid whiplash.

Our first ride of the day was the giant steel coaster Vortex. By the time we were done, I already felt twangs of pain in my neck. Firehawk, the new coaster, didn't bother me. Then we rode two more wooden coasters. Both of them beat us up, me more than my wife.

Son of Beast left both of us wondering if we needed medical attention. The Beast wasn't bad at all, especially compared to Son of Beast.

Today, my wife is still complaining about her neck. My neck is tender, but not painful.

Hopefully, we were having a bad day, and this isn't a sign of things to come.