Afterthought (LJI7 Week 5)

[theafaye]

They say that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes.  As the ground rushed towards me after I'd jumped off the tall building, all I could think was "what a beautiful view

Comments

[myrna_bird]

I had to wipe my palms a couple of times while reading. Feeling you being up there on the edge! The video was great. I loved your little boy decsribing things getting bigger as you neared the ground.

[theafaye]

That's actually my friend's little boy. We came to the conclusion that the children might be scared by my jumping off a tall building and now that I've done it, there's no way we could have kept all of them off the landing mat, so it was best that they stayed at home. He's a pretty cute kid though!

[myrna_bird]

Sorry I misunderstood. I just thought he was so darn cute in the video showing getting bigger with his hands.

[theafaye]

He's a very cute kid! You're not the first person to think he was one of mine - my friend should be very proud of all the compliments I've had for "my" family :o)

[edith_jones]

I watched the video and enjoyed it - especially the end where you're talking a mile a minute. I did a parachute jump many years ago and I was the same afterwards - hyper, couldn't stop talking, so excited, with adrenalin rushing through me. There must be something about cheating death that makes one so full of life and vigour afterwards. Bravo to you for being able to take such a step, literally and figuratively.

Your entry was very good. I enjoyed it and could feel your fear as you inched towards the edge. You write well and with great feeling.

If that's your husband, may I say 'wow'? He's easy on the eyes.
-Allie.

[theafaye]

That's my friend's fiance :oD He's a lovely guy - heck, they're a lovely family.

I think it's not just the cheating death aspect, it's the fact that you actually managed to do something that mad and not chicken out. There was so much going on for me in that moment, the fact I'd been able to jump, the fact that I'd enjoyed the view, the fact that I'd done something I'd put off for five years, so many things, not to mention the symbolism of the leap into the unknown echoing the emigration I was about to go through.

Have you ever been tempted to do another jump?

[edith_jones]

You're probably right about part of the feeling being relief or what you will at actually doing it. The jump from the plane [tandem, as it was a first jump], was lovely, the view stunning, and the absolute quiet of drifting down to earth were things I never expected.

I'd go again in a minute. It was so much fun and my closest friend was there on the landing strip when I got down, which made it even better. Like you, the hardest part was the preparation - I had to perch myself, sitting, on the edge of the open doorway of the plane, with my feet on the wing while I got ready to jump - all this on a moving airplane. I'm deadly afraid of heights so I wonder how I managed this, but it was an amazing experience and I'd love to do it again.

Yes, I've jumped out of a plane, but I can't go on rollercoasters as the heights terrify me. Go figure!

[theafaye]

That's why I thought I'd have my eyes tightly shut - it's the only way I can handle rollercoasters. And although I did the Skyjump, there's no way I could do the Skywalk (which is when you walk around the platform at the top of the Sky Tower). Fear of heights is a really funny, irrational thing. It's a perfectly reasonable thing to be afraid of but the rules governing what's scary and what's not are so different for different people.

[roina_arwen]

That looks like fun! Thanks for the video, too - I love your accent. =)

[theafaye]

Apparently I already sound more English now that I'm back home! I couldn't hear much NZ in my voice anyway. But it was nice to have a video for my LJ friends so that people could see that I really do type how I speak!

[chris_walsh]

So that's what it looks like in action! I've only read a description and seen one photo of the jump off the Sky Tower. (An LJ friend of mine, coyotegoth, has been to the tower.) I'd actually gotten the impression that it was an angled line, instead of straight down.

Bully for you for doing that! I liked this entry and its video.

[theafaye]

I think I would have found it a lot easier if it were an angled line. You really are throwing yourself at the ground and although it's a controlled fall, to all intents and purposes, it's as if you were falling without anything holding on to you. Apparently they didn't use to slow you down just before landing and there wasn't a mat, just the thick perspex, so there were a fair few sprained ankles back in the day! As it was, my feet were rather sore for a few days afterwards.

[onda_bianca]

Oooh...fun!

[theafaye]

It certainly was!