Beth Dolgner, Writer and Editor

It’s amazing how a visit to one website can turn into hours of perusing, clicking and discovery of new internet gems. My mom stumbled across the blog Broke Hoedown (which is supremely entertaining, though I might be biased because it has so much Disney AND Star Wars content). Mom sent me over there, and through it I wound up at Your Souvenir Guide, where I found a great post about The Adventurers Club at Pleasure Island (RIP PI!). The “interests list” is a funny but accurate summary of the club. For those of you who made it there during its existence: you understand. For those of you who didn’t get to sip Kungalooshes alongside Hathaway Browne, Samantha Sterling, and the rest: no matter how hard we try to explain it, we will never be able to convey the joy, genius and “sheer, unadulterated DRAMA” of The Adventurers Club. Kungaloosh!

Yesterday was my 31st birthday. I really had a hard time with 30 last year, but just tacking a “1″ onto that dreaded “3″ wasn’t as bad. We had a really busy, but fun, day. In the morning, Ed and I drove over to Milledgeville for the annual Hammock family BBQ. Our friend Chris’s brother is a pro when it comes to BBQ. He and his business partner make their own grills, their own sauce, and they enter competitions all over the Southeast. The food at this year’s shindig was, as expected, absolutely wonderful. The pulled pork was amazing, and the bacon-wrapped venison bites were every bit as yummy as I remembered.

We got home to Atlanta with enough time for me to shower and change before we headed up to Discover Mills to go to Medieval Times. I had suggested going there for my birthday months ago, but never got around to doing anything about it. Our friend Steve reminded Ed about that fact, and Ed decided to get a group of us together to go celebrate my birthday Medieval-style.

Yes, I know Medieval Times is a little cheesy. But it’s also a fun time, and we had a blast cheering for our blue knight. Who, I want to add, WON the tournament. I’m sure it was from all of our rowdy cheers and heartfelt boos for the other knights. Ed and I, along with Sean, Ev, Steve, Huey and Rikki, had a fun night and it was a great way to spend my big day. In the pic, that’s me in the black and white coat.

The events of last night got me thinking about my days as part of the Adrian Empire, a re-enactment group I belonged to during college. Our South Florida group, the Kingdom of York, participated in the Florida Renaissance Festival each year. I loved getting dressed up in my chemise, bodice, boots and cloak to go roam the fair. Even now, I still enjoy visiting the Georgia Ren Fest – I’m just a spectator now, but dressing up is still half the fun for me.

This is my favorite picture of me at the Florida Ren Fest. It was taken during my senior year of college, which means I was only 21 years old. I realized that it’s been 10 years since that picture, and since I was a part of the Adrian Empire. Ten years! The upside is that I only have six months to wait for the Georgia Ren Fest to start up again, and then I can be any age I want.

While perusing the Internet last Friday (translation: slacking off), I stumbled across a website for an annual event called Bats Day in the Fun Park. Apparently, it’s a chance for all the goth kids of Southern California to descend on Disneyland for a day of black-clad revelry.

This might come as a surprise to some, but I was a little goth girl in college. Those of you who know me might argue that I haven’t entirely outgrown the phase, so needless to say I was fascinated by the whole Bats Day event. When I mentioned it at dinner with friends on Friday, someone raised the inevitable question: “What does Disneyland have that would interest a goth?”

The Haunted Mansion (my personal favorite) was the first ride that came to mind, but before long I had a growing list of things a goth might love about Disneyland. And so, here’s The Goth Guide to Disneyland:

-Once again, The Haunted Mansion is the best ride ever. How can any goth not love 999 happy haunts frolicking in a Southern plantation home with wall to wall creeps, hot and cold running chills, and enough cobwebs to make a neat freak self-destruct?

-Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride: Come on, where else can you go on a ride that ends in HELL? My husband Ed never visited the Magic Kingdom before the Toad ride there was replaced by Pooh, so when we went to Disneyland in October I dragged him on it. After the ride, Ed gave me a bewildered look. “Mr. Toad got a raw deal,” he said. “He was just a fun-loving little guy who liked to drive fast, and they sent him to hell!”

-Pirates of the Caribbean gets on the list for two things. The first part of the ride roams through caves that are bursting with skeletons, giving it immediate inclusion on the list. Plus, some of the costumes on those pirates and wenches would be perfect with a pair of big black boots.

-Snow White’s Scary Adventures might be in Fantasyland, but it’s dark and creepy, in its own neon-painted plywood sort of way. I know it’s a kids’ ride, but I still like it.

-The walkway the cuts from The Village Haus restaurant in Fantasyland over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad has to be one of the darkest areas of the park. I used to be in California once a month for work, and I bought an annual pass to Disneyland so I could head over there for a couple hours at night after leaving the office. On a weeknight near closing time, that stretch of sidewalk can be dark and lonely. It’s the kind of place where you’d expect to find a vampire lurking. Or a goth who thinks he’s a vampire.

What have I forgotten? If you have any additions for the list, let me know!

I’ve probably written enough over the years to fill several books, but much of it has been lost or misplaced. When I was Senior Editor at 2Wheel Tuner, I wrote a monthly column called “Head Case.” Today I came across this editorial from the February, 2008 issue, which never got published because I wrote a second editorial that I used instead. It made me laugh, so I thought I’d share it.

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As a writer/editor type, people always assume that I have a staggeringly impressive vocabulary. But no matter how many thousands of words might be ingrained in my not-so-sane brain, and how many more I can pull off the online thesaurus, I get stuck on certain words just like everyone else.

We were at a hockey game last week when I looked at Ed. “You say ‘Really?’ a lot,” I told him. It’s become his latest catch word. When somebody tries to cut him off on the road, instead of the normal traffic expletives he’ll just look at them and say, “Really?” in a condescending tone. The same applies for unfair referees and hockey players who left their brains in the locker room.

Of course, as soon as I said that to Ed, I realized that I’m just as susceptible to using one word over and over. For me, it’s “nice.” I have found that I can use the word in almost any situation; it’s all about how I say it. I can exclaim “nice!” when my favorite racer makes a pass during a race.

Conversely, I can sarcastically say “niiiice” in that “hey, dumbass, you launched a bottle rocket from your mouth so don’t even pretend to be surprised that your face is on fire” sort of way. And believe me, I’ve had plenty of occasions to use the latter term following fireworks-related incidents. There’s something about motorcycle racers, illicit fireworks from South Carolina, and New Year’s Eve that doesn’t mix. Throw in a guy wearing flip-flops and you’ve got a recipe for disaster: a friend of ours will never live down last year’s celebration, when a stray bottle rocket got lodged between his foot and his flip-flop. Niiiiice.

Oftentimes I find that I use the same words again and again when it comes to talking about our niche of the industry. Custom, aftermarket, one-off: they’re terms you see regularly in our pages. It’s time to break out by finding some new words to describe the bikes and the lifestyle that we cover. Can some of these custom bikes be called art? Do you look up to one of the industry’s most accomplished builders as a sort of high-tech Picasso?

During a recent trip I visited a special exhibit about Leonardo Da Vinci. There wasn’t a lot of his artwork there – most of the exhibit featured the many little notebooks in which he’d record ideas, inventions, notes and who knows what else. I was struck by the tiny drawing of a two-wheeled human-powered machine: a bicycle. Typically, the bicycle’s history begins with an invention made in 1817, but DaVinci had the drawings more than 300 years prior to that.

Years from now, as sportbikes evolve, I wonder who future enthusiasts will look to as the founders of customizing, and the true artists of the industry. I don’t know what bikes will look like 10, 20, or 30 years from now, but I’m sure they’ll be… nice.

October has come and gone, which means my favorite holiday is over for another year. Halloween has turned into a month-long celebration for me, and I put my decorations out on October 1st this year. In fact, I still need to take them down – I’ve been sick the past few days and haven’t done much of anything.

Growing up in Central Florida, I loved trick-or-treating but never really felt the Halloween spirit – there were no fall leaves crunching under my ruby slippers, no brisk wind to make me pull my Wonder Girl cape closer around me, no crumbling headstones to snag my Renaissance princess dress.

Now that I’m in Atlanta, I get the fall leaves and the chilly air and the old cemetery, and there are certain October rituals that I look forward to every year. My girlfriend Coco and I head to Netherworld each year for their two superb haunted houses. We outdid outselves this year by also heading to Creepers in Marietta and Camp Blood, a haunted trail in Carrollton.

The Halloween parade in Little 5 Points is also an annual tradition. Everyone meets up at our house, and we jump on our scooters and ride down to The Vortex. The people-watching is almost as interesting as the parade. I wore my Velma (as in Scooby-Doo) costume again this year, and several little kids got really excited about seeing me. I had a lunchbox full of candy when I started, and by the time we got on the scooter and puttered on home, it was nearly empty.

After Dan and Coco’s annual pumpkin-carving party, and a Halloween party, I was pretty happy with my October by the time the 31st rolled around. Ed and I stayed home to give candy to trick-or-treaters. We got a good number this year, probably 20 or so kids, which is great considering only three children live in our neighborhood. They were all very polite and I always love seeing the costumes.

Only one more year until next Halloween! I hope yours was as happy as mine.