Saturday, May 30, 2009

Monster went poof!

First of all, u guys rock for your patience. Second of all, whoooo-hoooo to all those who visited my blog in spite of no updates (ok I know this is same as point 1). Third of all, this could be a rather long post so buckle up!

So folks news is I checked off one more adventure from my "things-close-enough-to-adventure-list" over the Memorial day weekend. I went Jet-Ski, I know I know, it ain't even a real adventure. But if you are like me, who believes, that any deep water source be it lake, river or sea bears sharks and anaconda, well it becomes a different story!

Now this goes back to when I was 4 or (ahem! maybe 8) and my bro was watching this horrible shark movie marathon. You all know that one- JAWS. And I tagged along pretending to be brave. That's when this thought got rooted, same reason why I would never jump into deep pool to swim and neither do I ever swim underwater. Ok fine, I'll say it, I don’t even swim one lap that well. And then there was that anaconda movie, a huge slimy snake swallowing a human and then throwing up! Now who thinks that's funny? But well the point is I had to check off the jet-ski from the list and there is only so much one can do at Lake Chelan. A place close by 3 hrs drive. So I and J hopped on the Jet Ski. To begin with, I was terrified. And to make it worst, I had watched the movie latest Terminator in theatre and the machine snakes stayed in my brain. So while J skied away wind swishing, eyes watering to the middle of the lake. I recited every possible stotra I knew. I also thought of all the things I wanted to do if I never made it back to the shore. Especially about the inheritance of this blog and my potted plants. Often my high-pitched screams of "Jao, Jao"(meaning Go away, Go away) left the other Jet-skiers confused. I wonder why I used the National language, but well that's another story. The instructor had told us to stay 100 feet away from other jet ski's, so as soon as they came to my sight as a tiny spot I would start screaming. My sound would simply bounce against the wind and go down my throat. Also, any boat in sight would seem like a Titanic to me, no kidding! And I was quite sure this Titanic would sink near our Jet Ski and cause some horrendous waves.

But yet between all this fear, there was something exciting about riding a Jet-Ski, which made adrenaline flow through my veins. I was scared, hell yeah and yet some part of me was enjoying the weather, the sun, crystal clear lake and the view of the land from the middle of the lake.

Finally J put me in the drivers seat, this was my one chance to truly check off the adventure. I had to gather up the courage, run over those anacondas, punch the sharks in the face (ahem, using my foot) and thoroughly enjoy. So I started off at a speed of 2 miles/hr and watched some paddle boats going past me. Smirks on the faces of all those people paddling away. Hmph! I wondered if someone drapped tiny floats around ants and put them in water would they swim faster than my jet ski, hell ya! So I debated with self for a while and finally pumped gas in the Yamaha without looking at the speedometer. J was quite high on adrenaline and screamed and whooooooo-hoooooooooed. Suddenly one by one the shark, anaconda monsters started vanishing. The boats all around reduced to a manageable size from the humongous Titanic ships. While I screwed up a couple of times by coming a abrupt halt and turning the handle all the way to left or right causing the jet ski to go a full circle right at the same spot, it was all fun. J was quite prepared to swim to shore. I wasn’t, who wants to swim in chilly glacier water, I don’t. But again, if I were to fall and drown in the lake, I better not regret dying there, right? So I stabbed my monsters and skied away!

So now that I shared some of my monsters, how about you tell me yours? Come on, everyone has their monsters-some fear the dark, some fear the ghosts (don’t even get me started on that), some fear heights. How about u?

18 comments:

Parsing Nonsense said...

Good for you for going Jet-Skiing! I've always wanted to try, I bet it was so much fun!

Personally, I'm terrified of spiders, and I'm not too fond of heights. I don't care much for looking down from tall buildings, and I get all shaky and nervous while up on ladders. This makes doing home maintenence a strictly Wes job!

Vivek said...

Jet skiing is a lot of fun. I have a wide to drive out into the middle of the sea and lose all fuel. :(
(Ok, it happened only once)
Now if you really wanna get your adrenalin pumping try bungee jumping.
Or if you need to lose your fear, learn swimming and then go scuba diving. (you'll find that below the water lie creatures who really dont give a shit about what goes on above).

Unknown said...

Way to start your adventure! Your next stop: Skydiving!Yeah!
P.S. I am a daredevil!

sid said...

Jet-Ski...Hmmm...I wouldn't mind a go at it...well, if a jet-ski can pump in so much adrenaline, i actually wouldn't mind finding out how propelling bungee jumping will be....

Liberal said...

Now that I read this, I need to jetski!

Neeraja said...

Good one! Glad you faced your fears and had fun :). I have too many monsters, starting from peeping under the bed to climbing rocks and... well, anything adventurous! And I'm not as successful as you in fighting them :(

SecondSight said...

Wow, that sounds like a fun weekend alright ! Good for you, scaring away those sharks and giant waves! Pics please!:)

My list is a rather rambling one, though right now house centipedes are quite high on it! But hey, they're conquered with a slipper.. :)

SecondSight said...

P.S: @ Neeraja's comment- rock climbing? Seriously? Methinks we should fix that one soon ;)

Suma Subramaniam said...

That was so entertaining. I have similar fears on the water.


I had an adventurous life saving experience in Lake Washington with a couple of other friends...when we got back on the scooter, the quantum of fun was as much as the dreadfulness we felt under water...Waaah!

Anjana R said...

jet-skiing is super fun dude!
though i personally would rate going out into the rough sea on a flimsy catamaran more exciting!

Ketan said...

I'm afraid of cockroaches. :( Does that count?

Now what sort of (mis)adventure could I plan with cockroaches? But more often than not, they just don't care about *my* *plans*. Their plans are err... unilateral. I don't like them, particularly, the winged ones. I don't like their sky diving, trying to land on me. I don't like their rock-climbing. I'm anything but 'rock'-steady when they climb on me, but they don't understand. Maybe a shaking (with fear) terrain gives them the kicks. It's one hell of a picnic for them, afterall.

But I digress (as if I'd a point in the first place!). If you could think *that* much while you were managing to get frightened, you got to get your IQ checked. Just like so many other biologic variables like high BP, glucose, weight, high IQ is also a disorder.

Wish you a speedy recovery.

TC.

Music7 said...

very nice post ! was fun reading it

Perception said...

Parsing Nonsense: Jet Skiing is truly fun, u shuld def try it some time. Btw, both spiders and heights are top on J's list too :)

Vivek: Middle of the sea lol! Btw wrt to ur bungee jumping suggestion, I wuld rather stab myself and die, I think heart-attack is kinda bad choice :) so I shall. But I am with you on the scuba diving thing, i bet there is a whole different world under water, someday I will try that.

Nina: Heheh u are a daredevil :)

Sid: Totally, let us know how it goes.

Liberal: Go for it.

Neeraja: I am with SecondSight on this one, go stab those monsters, trust me it feels awesome once u do tht.

SecondSight: House Centipedes ewww me too, sometimes slippers are such a good weapon.

Suma: :) I can understand

Anjana: OMG OMG flimsy catamaran really? Gosh that scares me. Listen whenever u do that, carry GPS or whatever navigation works :)

Ketan: Now that's a good way of saying -"Dude! u r retarded" :)
Btw, that description of cockroach picnic wasnt too low on IQ either :)

Perception said...

GGadre: Glad u liked it :)

Ketan said...

Uh, oh! Didn't intend to be that articulate! Too bad, you're perceptive.

Yeah, yeah, cockroaches are darned smart. Now decide (yes, it's entirely volitional), which end of the intelligence spectrum you want to be on--theirs or mine?

It's all about perception, isn't it? ;)

TC.

divsi said...

hey jus passed ya blog....that shantaram quote is my fav quote!!:)
cheerz

SUMI said...

congrats on your first jet ski experience :-) I've been on the water scooter thing, which some people also refer to as jet ski, but I suppose you went on the one where you go behind a boat, holding on to something...?

it's always exciting, these activities, until you get old and mellow down (yup, referring to myself :-) ) I've been tandem sky diving and amateur bungee jumping too, but can't think of doing it again now... so enjoy the adrenalin rush as long as you can. :-)

Perception said...

Ketan: Totally about perception. Now that's a trick question which spectrum of intelligence do i choose? :)

Divsi: Welcome, welcome! Shantaram is a good read.

Sumi: It actually was the scooter kind and yet i freaked out :)