I have a love-hate relationship with heights. I would never go out to a place without a barrier of some sort - but only because i'm a klutz. I don't have a fear of heights - although the bottoms of my feet get all tingly when I look down from high places - I have a fear of tripping and falling.

The last time I danced in public was on the glass square in the floor of Tokyo Tower just to mildly freak out a phobic companion.

But the glass floor thing is very instinctive in human. I remember in a developmental psych classes back in college watching a video where they tried to coax toddlers (still crawling) out onto clear suspended plexiglass and could not do it, even when something else (toys generally) was on the plexiglass to show that they wouldn't fall.

I was okay with heights until I had kids. Now I get nervous if I have to get up on the roof of the house. The deck is fine, the roof is not.

I don't like ski lifts. Which is what those remind me of. The last time I was on one for the Alpine Slides in Big Bear I was a kid. It was windy and I was alone. And very unhappy.

Ski lifts don't bother me. Getting OFF the ski lift bothers me.

Heights don't bother me much. Ski lifts etc are fine as long as you're not with some jackass who thinks it's fun to swing them around.

I've taken a turn for the more daring, as of late. Never been afraid of heights, but after I did the big giant swing thing (added link: read the section on the Skycoaster) at an amusement part in Utah, the sensation of falling has really captured my interest. When I was in Utah last, J brought me to an indoor skydiving place that just opened up. I had so much fun, but unfortunately, I wasn't feeling good AT ALL and was stuffed up. Anyone who's done anything like that knows how much wind comes up at your face - I just couldn't breathe.

The plan is to do it again. Down the street from where he's living now they have a small airport and I'm always seeing people skydiving. I'm not sure if I'll go skydiving by the end of this year, but definitely by next spring, and in the meanwhile, there's indoor skydiving - where I can learn to control my movements.

I guess what I've come to like about it are the endorphins that stay with me throughout the day. Better than any drug I've tried, hands down.

And in this line of discussion, I would like to mention that Susan HATES that feeling of your stomach lurching on a drop ride like a parachute ride (although she does like ToT). However, what finally convinced her to try skydiving was when she found out that you don't experience that sensation.

When you jump out of a plane, there isn't a "drop" as much as a changing of direction: you are moving forward and then you turn to be moving downward.

For her it was made better by virtue of being strapped to a very good-looking Aussie!

Why would anyone want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane? And it's not like the skill of skydiving would come in handy if you were in plummeting jet.

I'm not afraid of flying. I'm afraid of crashing.

You haven't tried enough drugs.