Monday, January 01, 2007
Monday01.01.07Bungy jumping.there's the ride to the top. no matter how you do it, whether you're slowly drawn up from sea level in an iron cage or you take a tourbus up the mountain to the bridge over the river, you feel your heart pumping faster and faster within you.
as you near the top, you feel the adrenaline within you, fear mixed with excitement, anticipation, and then more fear.
as you hop out to the ledge, your heart within you beats yet faster, and even louder than before, until it is a roaring in your ears, and you can feel each opening and closing of the heart valves reverberate through your chest.
then you inch toward the edge, and (you know you shouldn't, but you just HAVE to) look down. horror of horrors, you never thought fifty metres was that far. just like looking into a deep fish pond just gives the impression that it is actually quite shallow, looking down from a bungy ledge gives the impression that it is actually quite deep. you appreciate every one of the fifty-two metres separating you from the ground, and then some.
one, two, three. but you don't jump. because you can't, you just can't. the ledge beneath you is so comfortingly solid, the wrap around your legs so tight you can't move a muscle.
you realise, to your horror, that you can't just step off the ledge. forget about the fancy jump you planned to do on the way up, you can't even take the easy way out and step off. because the bungy rope is wrapped so tightly about both your legs, you have to move both at once, to HOP off. you must convince you entire body that you are going to HOP off that tiny ledge from such an impossibly high height and plummet down toward your friends and family, impossibly far below.
you shake your head, and your fingers grip the railings beside the ledge until your knuckles turn white. outwardly you don't move, but inwardly you're trembling so hard you're surprised you can still breathe from all the muscle spasms. you close your eyes for a second, and let out a long breath in an attempt to calm down. then you open your eyes again, take a deep breath, and
that last moment before you jump is your undoing. once again, your courage fails and you
just can't do it. you smile wryly, thinking of the black boulderactive shirt you're wearing (
defy gravity, it arrogantly proclaims) and the white nike socks on your feet (the
just do it buried way beneath the layers of bungy rope). below, your friends have finished laughing among themselves about your first couple of almost-jumps and are once again voicing out encouragement and not-quite- so-encouraging calls (
there's no no-jumping refund, laura) while your brothers make snide remarks (COWARD, JIE!!) or simply stare up in fear for your life (that would be david).
and at the moment you least expect it (ironic, coming from you, but then everything in a bungy jump is ironic) you gather all the insanity you ever possessed and make the tiniest hop possible off the edge.
for a split second you seem to simply hang in the air, like a cartoon character. or at least that's the sensation you feel, because you know you are falling, you can see the ground rising up. and despite the tough wrap around your legs that almost stops the blood flow, you feel
nothing holding you up and in that one terrible moment the horrible reality of what you have just done and are now doing floods into your mind and you
SCREAM.and continue screaming as gravity and your nervous system take over and you feel the wind rushing past your face as you plummet toward the ground.
for many moments it all just seems to go faster and faster (probably helped by the fact that in addition to your decreasing altitude you are turning head over heels as the rope around your ankle does it's job) and yet, not touching the ground (although what would you know, you've wrapped you hands around your head in a vain attempt to protect it, and your hairdo) you seem to slow, although the wind is still roaring in your ears.
you heave in a shuddering breath and curl your body up to make sure you
really don't hit the ground (just in case) and to quit the pounding in your head from all the blood rushing down to it and also to get more sense of where you are as you are spinning wildly.
then you see the rope above you curling up and you realise that the nightmare has only just begun. the rope was so elastic you didn't even feel the bounce, but now you realise why you seemed to be slowing as you turn your attention back to the ground. and the ground starts to rush up faster once again and once again you scream as you head toward the earth at a ferocious velocity.
bottom line.
you HAVE to try it.
Posted by nayrakroarual at 5:52 PM
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