mullyman
24-04-2009, 04:27 PM
You know what we haven't had here for a long time? A MULLY story. Alright, kids, grab a beer, sit back and get ready for a tale.
I don't think I've ever mentioned, on this forum, that I'm afraid of heights. Well, I am. There, cat's out of the bag. So scared in fact that even a scene in a movie will make me wince and want to leave the room. Think of the opening scene in Mission Impossible II where Tom Cruise is scaling the side of the mountain with no ropes, hanging by fingertips etc... and the show him dangling hundreds of feet off the ground. Something like that literally makes my pills shrivel up and go inside. No kidding.
Today I went on a school trip with my students. Guess where we went? A dam. I should have known before I even stepped foot on that bus that today was not going to be my day. I figured, "Ok, it's a dam, it's really high up, but I don't have to go near the edge. Hey, I can hang back by the bus if I want to." So I go to the dam. Once we get there I scope the place out and it's not so freaky. I was even able to walk up and look over the wall.....not for long though. Anyway, there's a park off to the side of the dam and it looks like it's down a little ways too, but hey, you walk on a street to get there so I can handle that. So I head down and have lunch with the kids. After lunch I was thinking we were going to go back the way we come......NOPE. They all head off in another direction. It's a pretty steep walk back the way we came so I figured it couldn't be much worse the other way. Man was I wrong.
We head into this little foresty area and start going down some steps......that should have been my first clue to turn right around and go back but I'm a trooper and I forged ahead. I got around this little bend and look out and the road is waaaaaaay below us and I'm thinking "Jesus, we're going way down there? .........but we have to get back to the top of the dam because the buses are up there.....!+!????" Again, I should have just turned around and fought the steps through the forest and up the steep street but for some reason my stupidity pushed me forward. So I get down to the bottom and start going along this road where I see people going over a little hill so I follow. When I got to the crest I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I looked out and everyone was going across this narrow ass swinging bridge. I knew right there that I couldn't make it across that bridge, it just wasn't gonna happen.
The road actually split off to the right though and it seemed like a road that cars traveled so I said to myself "Go this way and meet them at the top" So I take the turn and head up this really steep incline that goes for about 50 meters. When I got around the bend the road stopped and there was a narrow set of steps going up the side of the dam. Literally up the side of the God damned dam!!!! I counted and there were 9 stories worth of steps with nothing but a hand rail. Well, time to man up because you're so far away from everyone you'll never catch up. So, yes, I started up the steps. It didn't take too long. I got up the second flight and I made the mistake of looking to the left and there was nothing but open air, a concrete dam and lots of water at the bottom. My knees actually gave out on me and I thought I was going to puke. I swear to all that is holy that if I had gone up another flight I would have started crying. I was that scared.
Well, what else can you do? Go down and try to catch up. Weigh going up these steps against going across that bridge.......take the bridge. I went down, went to the bridge, grabbed both rails, stared straight ahead and made it across the bridge. I was about 2 seconds away from peeing all over myself, seriously. But I made it across. Once I got there I looked around and guess what? All the kids and the other teachers were going up the exact same type of steps I was just on except on the opposite side. I stood there with my mouth open and I said to myself "This is where I'm going to die. I'm never getting out of here." I looked around and noticed a service road. It took me way out of the way but at least I was on solid ground. Seriously, if I would have had to try those steps or go across that bridge again it would have been over. They would have had to sent a helicopter in to get me.
Well, by this time I was almost a shambles, but at least the road was there. So I start up the road and realized it was going to take me forever to get back that way. There were steps running up the side of the mountain. They would go up about 40 steps, level off, 40 more etc... I think there were about 8 sets of those. Well, it's dry land and if I fall at least I'll only slide on dirt down to the next level so I grabbed the hand rails and made my way up all those steps. It took about 20 minutes or so and wore me out so bad but at least I was out of that gulch.
I swear to God that on Monday when I get back to school I'm going to tell them to never, ever sign me up for anything that requires being around high places. I'll call in sick that day if they do. I'm not doing that ever again.
When we went to Australia we took a little trip up to Blue Mountain outside of Sydney.......they thought I was going to get on that ropeway car they have up there. I had no idea what I was going to see and when I walked out on that platform I turned around and walked back inside and up the steps to the bus. Uhuh, MULLY don't do heights.
MULLY
thank God I'm home
I don't think I've ever mentioned, on this forum, that I'm afraid of heights. Well, I am. There, cat's out of the bag. So scared in fact that even a scene in a movie will make me wince and want to leave the room. Think of the opening scene in Mission Impossible II where Tom Cruise is scaling the side of the mountain with no ropes, hanging by fingertips etc... and the show him dangling hundreds of feet off the ground. Something like that literally makes my pills shrivel up and go inside. No kidding.
Today I went on a school trip with my students. Guess where we went? A dam. I should have known before I even stepped foot on that bus that today was not going to be my day. I figured, "Ok, it's a dam, it's really high up, but I don't have to go near the edge. Hey, I can hang back by the bus if I want to." So I go to the dam. Once we get there I scope the place out and it's not so freaky. I was even able to walk up and look over the wall.....not for long though. Anyway, there's a park off to the side of the dam and it looks like it's down a little ways too, but hey, you walk on a street to get there so I can handle that. So I head down and have lunch with the kids. After lunch I was thinking we were going to go back the way we come......NOPE. They all head off in another direction. It's a pretty steep walk back the way we came so I figured it couldn't be much worse the other way. Man was I wrong.
We head into this little foresty area and start going down some steps......that should have been my first clue to turn right around and go back but I'm a trooper and I forged ahead. I got around this little bend and look out and the road is waaaaaaay below us and I'm thinking "Jesus, we're going way down there? .........but we have to get back to the top of the dam because the buses are up there.....!+!????" Again, I should have just turned around and fought the steps through the forest and up the steep street but for some reason my stupidity pushed me forward. So I get down to the bottom and start going along this road where I see people going over a little hill so I follow. When I got to the crest I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I looked out and everyone was going across this narrow ass swinging bridge. I knew right there that I couldn't make it across that bridge, it just wasn't gonna happen.
The road actually split off to the right though and it seemed like a road that cars traveled so I said to myself "Go this way and meet them at the top" So I take the turn and head up this really steep incline that goes for about 50 meters. When I got around the bend the road stopped and there was a narrow set of steps going up the side of the dam. Literally up the side of the God damned dam!!!! I counted and there were 9 stories worth of steps with nothing but a hand rail. Well, time to man up because you're so far away from everyone you'll never catch up. So, yes, I started up the steps. It didn't take too long. I got up the second flight and I made the mistake of looking to the left and there was nothing but open air, a concrete dam and lots of water at the bottom. My knees actually gave out on me and I thought I was going to puke. I swear to all that is holy that if I had gone up another flight I would have started crying. I was that scared.
Well, what else can you do? Go down and try to catch up. Weigh going up these steps against going across that bridge.......take the bridge. I went down, went to the bridge, grabbed both rails, stared straight ahead and made it across the bridge. I was about 2 seconds away from peeing all over myself, seriously. But I made it across. Once I got there I looked around and guess what? All the kids and the other teachers were going up the exact same type of steps I was just on except on the opposite side. I stood there with my mouth open and I said to myself "This is where I'm going to die. I'm never getting out of here." I looked around and noticed a service road. It took me way out of the way but at least I was on solid ground. Seriously, if I would have had to try those steps or go across that bridge again it would have been over. They would have had to sent a helicopter in to get me.
Well, by this time I was almost a shambles, but at least the road was there. So I start up the road and realized it was going to take me forever to get back that way. There were steps running up the side of the mountain. They would go up about 40 steps, level off, 40 more etc... I think there were about 8 sets of those. Well, it's dry land and if I fall at least I'll only slide on dirt down to the next level so I grabbed the hand rails and made my way up all those steps. It took about 20 minutes or so and wore me out so bad but at least I was out of that gulch.
I swear to God that on Monday when I get back to school I'm going to tell them to never, ever sign me up for anything that requires being around high places. I'll call in sick that day if they do. I'm not doing that ever again.
When we went to Australia we took a little trip up to Blue Mountain outside of Sydney.......they thought I was going to get on that ropeway car they have up there. I had no idea what I was going to see and when I walked out on that platform I turned around and walked back inside and up the steps to the bus. Uhuh, MULLY don't do heights.
MULLY
thank God I'm home