bungee jump

I really feel like I need to do this soon. I’ve felt really trapped lately, doing the same routine day in and day out, and I feel like I need to do something completely out of the ordinary to shake myself out of this rut. I’m saving my pennies, and I hope to do this before the end of the month.

lol

There is an amusement park near the Wisconsin Dells where bungee jumping can be done—it wouldn’t be jumping off a bridge or a cliff like it often is on TV, but it would probably be cheaper! And something I could do sooner if the mood strikes. Then maybe if I like it I will go larger scale.

http://www.extremeworld.com/default.aspx

Did a Google search and found a place in Dallas that is, what they call, a “Thrill Theme Park”, or something like that. They have bungee, skycoaster, etc. They seem to be the best place in the area to do this sort of thing, and at $30 or so, affordable. I want to do this soon, before the weather gets too cold or rainy, hopefully in the next couple of weeks! :D

This is the newest thing in my little list of extreme sports to try. I’ve been skydiving already so I want to try this now.

I have bungee jumped from TV tower, the height was 170 meters. And it was very scary. When I was on the top, I even asked if it will be ok not to jump, but then just jumped – trying to keep eyes wide opened not to miss anything :)
Decision to jump and the implementation of the decision was separated only about 3 hours – if I have had more time, I would have changed my mind.

What. An. Experience!

Yesterday Juho and I drove to Hervanta, to the other university, to do the bungee jump. We had been planning on going there very early in the morning, but since we went to a party the previous night, we didn’t manage to get up so early after all, having gone to bed around 5am. So we ended up arriving there around 15:20 and the jumps finished at 4. And when we got there, they announced that all 130 jump spots for the day had been filled = no more jumps available. That was a pretty disappointing moment. I went to ask if they really didn’t take any more people and they said no. Apparently there was one guy on the list that hadn’t paid yet, but the list was still full. Juho and I went to sit on the grass and watched others do the jump. After a while they announced that since there was one guy on the list who hadn’t paid for his jump yet, there might be an opportunity for one more person to jump if that guy didn’t show up. I quickly went and asked if I could jump in his stead then, but they told me they already had someone waiting. :( After another disappointment, I went and sat with Juho again. Then the guy who I had talked to came up to me and said “Actually, the guy who was in line for the jump has a back injury so he can’t jump. So in case that other dude doesn’t come here within 5 minutes and pay for his jump, you’ll get to jump.” Woot woot! The next five minutes were pretty anxious, we were keeping our fingers crossed that the guy wouldn’t show up. Then they started counting down “3… 2… 1…” and the spot was mine! “Sold to the girl with the red hair!” Wooohoo!
Want to know about another fun twist? Apparently I had amazing luck – the guy that they had been waiting for arrived right after I had purchased my ticket! :DDD

I went to wait in line and tried to avoid further anxiety. I think I succeeded pretty well, at least I didn’t feel scared at any point. I was just really excited about getting to do the jump! Before they strapped the harness on me, my dear Juho was buzzing next to me and taking photos. Then it was time to go!

I felt secure with my harness, it was on pretty tight, especially around my legs. I climbed on the “basket”, got the rope attached to my feet and then we were off! Up up up into the sky! I waved to Juho and Elsa (who had come to watch me jump, too) and quickly we had reached the highest point. The scenery up there was magnificient! You bet I would have liked to have my camera there! :D Or maybe some other camera, I wouldn’t have risked bringing my own baby up there, heh.

I actually tried to avoid thinking too much, so that I wouldn’t get too scared to not do the jump. I just followed instructions and tried to keep my head clear. So when the guy said “3, 2, 1, jump!”, I just jumped. Without thinking. Now that I think about it, I feel really god damn brave! I didn’t hesitate up there, I just did it. :]
Of course, the split second after my feet had left the security of the platform of the basket, I had this very fleeting thought in my head, along the lines of “what the fxck have I gotten myself into, how big of an idiot am I to willingly plunge myself into the ground?!”, which was quickly followed by just “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

Everything happened really fast! You didn’t really even have any time to think up there, speeding downwards, bouncing and hanging in the air. I checked the times from the photos that Juho took – it only took me less than 2 minutes to already be back on the ground after I had left the basket.
So I didn’t really have time to think about the act that much while I was up in the air or be philosophical in any way, I was mostly just (first) screaming and (then) laughing. It felt great to be up there! I can’t really even remember if I had my eyes open the whole time, maybe I closed them at some point. But the view of the ground coming closer to you is pretty wild. Most of the jump is kind of a fuzz to me, but what I do know is that it was purely awesome! It felt so intense and great! I really did it, I bungee jumped! I’m so glad I did this!

When I got back on the ground, I couldn’t stop shaking for several minutes. :D But I was so proud of myself! I hadn’t been scared, at least not in the way I had imagined beforehand. I don’t think I was scared at all, to be honest, just a bit nervous and filled with some other emotions that I can’t quite distinguish from one another.

I got a diploma too! And some other little gifts, like a badge for my overalls. The weather yesterday was also superb. All in all, the experience was totally worth every penny! (I paid 35€ for it.) I got a bit of a headache afterwards, but I’m not even sure if it was the jump’s fault. The weather was quite windy, that usually gives me a headache easily. So no big injuries, heh.

The only regret I have is not asking how high the jump was. I meant to ask about that, but I just forgot.
^{Antti, would you by any chance have a clue about this? Know anyone you could ask about it?}

PS. This was also my 200th completed Thing here. :)

I was more of dare devil in my teenage years, so w/o much thought while on vacation w/ my parents, I saw bungee jumping and just went for it. It was scary standing on the platform before I jumped, but I just JUMPED!!! and it was soooo much fun. I don’t regret it one bit.

September 17th will be the day, if all goes smoothly! :)

This is not one of those things I’ve always intended to do. There’s a tiny story behind this goal.

It was the end of 2008. I was in Stockholm, spending the last two days of the year at C’s flat. My friend A invited me to her friend’s New Year’s eve party at Tabby. So we went.

At the party, the host gathered all of us guests and asked us to join a game that would cap off the year. We were each asked to write down a resolution for someone else. In Swedish. (Non-Swedes were supposed to ask someone to translate for them.)

I wrote, “Jag lovar att avsluta allt jag påbörjar,” which is supposed to mean, “I promise to finish everything I start.”

We dropped the folded pieces of paper in a hat and several hours later, picked one and shared it with the group. This was what I got:

“Jag lovar att hoppa bungy-jump!”

That required no translation to English.

I seriously hope I live up to this promise.