Acrophobia

I'm not sure when it started, but I've always had a bit of a fear of heights, or more specifically, a fear of falling. You can just about imagine what happened last time when I had to do rappelling in BB and the army, as well as that High Confidence Course (it was high, but it didn't help very much with my confidence) in Hendon Camp.

Oh yes, I remember that Hendon Camp experience. The one that affected (traumatized) me the most was the one where we had to jump off a platform and grab a trapeze-like bar which was suspended about 5 meters above the water. And then, when the instructor said "Now!", you had to let go.

This of course, explains why:

1) I was terrified while traveling to the top of the Umeda Sky Tower in Osaka,

Consider the trauma I went through for this picture!!!

2) I only did those high jetty jumps at Telunas under tremendous peer pressure,

It was peer pressure! I didn't want to look like a wuss! Even though... even though now I guess everyone know's I'm a wuss.

3) I don't like taking roller coasters.

There's a valid reason why I don't like sitting in that orange thing as it starts dropping.

(Un)fortunately for me, when Teresa came up from Singapore, I agreed to meet her and do some stuff with her. As it turned out, due to her tour's timetable, that 'stuff' was to 'take rides at Disneyland cos her aunt wasn't keen on taking rides'. Yeah, those rides. Not the riverboat or the tour tram. The kind with screaming and high drops.

So when I met Teresa (with her aunt), she said she wanted to take those with the triangle marks next to the names. Obviously, those triangle marks meant "DANGER!!" or something along those lines. It didn't deter her one bit, though I tried to suggest taking something a little more peaceful, somewhat along these lines:

Me: Hmm triangle signs? So I guess those must be the fast ones huh.
T: Yeah!
Me: The kind your aunt doesn't want to take huh.
T: Yeah!
Me: Ahh I see... hmm that paddleboat on the river looks pretty nice...
T: I took it already. It was sooooo boring.
Me: Right.
T: Who knows, maybe you've already conquered your fear of roller coasters!
Me: Or maybe I'll wake up screaming at night because I've been dreaming of falling.

She did give me one piece of advice as the Splash Mountain ride started. She was all calm and stuff. I was trying to act calm.

T: I hope this ride was worth the wait!
Me: You should be grateful that I'm putting myself through this.
T: Oh it's not that bad. What you should do is take a deep breath as you get to the top, and then exhale on the way down.
Me: You mean scream.
T: No, exhale.

And guess what, it worked. Of course there was a rush of adrenaline and stuff (I was still jittery when we got off the ride), but I think I don't mind taking roller coasters quite as much as I did before.

So thanks Teresa, you helped me overcome my fear of small-to-medium-sized roller coasters. I'm just glad you didn't have enough time to go to Korakuen and see the big coaster at Tokyo Dome City.

It'll take a lot more convincing for me to get on that.

Cheerio!