I've mentioned my acrophobia here before. I have no idea why I'm afraid of heights, but I just know I have been for as long as I can remember. People have nightmares that involve being chased or haunted by ghostly images. In my nightmares, I'm always up someplace high like a skyscraper or a billboard, or the worst - a billboard atop a skyscraper - and the only way down is to jump or climb.
Seriously, I once had one of these nightmares in which I was on top of a precarious stack of chairs. What the...? Yes, my nightmares are of chairs?
My first memory of this fear was when I was a toddler, and my dad lovingly picked me up and placed me on his shoulders - a thing most kids seem to strangely enjoy.
I was terrified. He put me down, back on my beloved terra firma. So much for that bonding moment.
So, in summary, a ride in a hot air balloon does not appeal to me. But I like looking at them from the ground.
When I got home, Chaco had texted me this photo. The hot air balloon I'd seen floated over his house and landed in the field across the street.
It's a hot air balloon with no friggin' basket! I had to look closer:
Where were the propane and burners?
Oh there they are - strapped to his un-basketed back!
I asked Chaco about it later. He said the guy was basically sitting in a lawn chair with a propane tank as a backpack.
Maybe I'm envious. It does seem like fun, in theory. But I'm pretty sure if I went up in a balloon, I would want to spend the entire time, tucked in the fetal position at the bottom of the basket. What to do if there's no basket??
Well, it's Halloween, so I'm thinking of scary things. Last night, I was tutoring one of my younger students, a pleasant talented-and-gifted 8th grader. She was telling me of her and her friends' plans for Halloween, and I mentioned that I'd bought a bunch of candy, but wasn't sure how many trick-or-treaters we'd have since it was currently snowing.
"*GASP*", she gasped, "I've never seen snow!"
She lives in Florida where, "it's summer all the time". I don't think I'd like that, I've always lived where there were seasonal changes. Just when I get sick of one season, it goes away and is replaced. Our winter often arrives around Halloween. Not typically scary.
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| Back yard this morning |
But if anyone shows up dressed as a STACK OF CHAIRS, I'm out!!
What scares you?
10 comments:
I think it's quite common to dream about being up high and falling to the ground. I have those same dreams about being on a fairground ride and it breaking down when it's high up. I can't remember what all this means, but it does mean something!
Cancer scares me. I'd much rather fall to the ground in a hot air balloon, than die a slow painful death from cancer.
Joey, I remember once reading that our current fears and chronic ailments are holdovers from past lives. A fear of heights is linked to being burned at the stake (as a witch). Probably true for you and me both!
This would also explain my hayfever! :P
Just saw one of those this past summer at a local balloon fest! Dozens of balloons launched, floated east about 500 - 1000 feet and dropped into the 500 foot deep Genesee River gorge in Letchworth State Park. The guy with the lawn chair for a basket was in the mix. Rumor was he liked to drop into the gorge and dip his feet into the river, then let the water push him down stream. He's nuts!
Would have loved going for a ride on a regular balloon/basket set up, but they are $350 per person, per trip. Little steep for my wallet!
I agree with the not riding in the balloon thing...too high and I don't trust it at all!!! HA! I love rock climbing and zip lining though - I feel safely connected by a rope. I could never skydive though- way too chicken to jump out of that plane! ha!
I would do the hot air balloon.
Only thing that I really fear are house cats!! Can't look at 'em even. It's weird but no weirder than any fear really.
The snow looks beautiful. Please keep it.
Brian, we used to live in upstate NY and had some great times at Letchworth State Park! None involving a lawn chair balloon landing, however...
Ann, funny thing, I love climbing mountains, and they're just really big rocks, right?
Margaret, house cats, eh? Interesting to ponder how our fears originate.
I can't afford it, but I would love to take a hot air balloon ride!
I think I could go up in a basket, but on a lawn chair with the propane attached to my back? Nope.
My biggest fear is probably spiders, especially if they’re crawling on me, or if they’re looking like they might crawl on me, or if I’m in an enclosed area with them. Other than that... they’re fine. :)
The snow is beautiful! But I’m glad it’s in your backyard and not mine
Chatty, if someone gifts me a balloon ride, you can have it!
SR300, I'm pretty okay if I see a spider. But if I see a spider, look away for a couple seconds, look back and don't see a spider - I'm out!
I've been up in a balloon. I enjoyed it at first, then I got bored. There's not a whole lot to do up there. My worst dreams are when I'm getting chased. I think I might welcome falling off a building at those times because at least then it would be over? I agree with everyone else who says your snow is pretty, we hope you keep it to yourself!
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