Sunday, February 19, 2006

Adrenaline junkie?

In my time i've come across quite a few adrenaline junkies. Those thrill seekers who seek out the most horrific rollercoaster rides and some even participate in extreme sports. I've always liked a nice thrilling rollercoaster ride but consider myself more sensible than the group mentioned above.

Today i was on a commercial flight in one of those little 'twelve row' planes with propellers. The flight was of the vanilla variety until we hit some turbulence. Those that know me can testify that i've done A LOT of flying and i assure you i've experienced my share of turbulence. Let me admit that today's was by far the worst yet. During one particularly bad patch, the plane dropped about 10 feet in moments. I know it was pretty bad because when my very loosely fastened seatbelt halted my motion towards the ceiling of the plane, my (possibly soiled) pants were no longer in contact with my seat.

Amid the cries of alarm and terror i could hear two people laughing. It took me a few moments to still my racing pulse and realise that one of those voices was mine. Needless to say i was drawing strange looks from the other passengers who must have thought i was out of my mind. Worryingly, i believe the other person laughing was actually thrilled! WTF?! How the heck does someone find the feeling of your kidneys and liver smacking into the roof of your mouth pleasurable?

Gradually the turbulence passed and some of the passengers broke out in smiles and laughter of relief. This is a completely natural way to relieve tension. The only comment the passenger beside me made was that i must be addicted to rollercoaster rides. She had assumed that i was completely unafraid during the incident. I almost took offense until i realised that of course, she was unaware that it was nervous laughter and also (thankfully) couldn't see my pants. The rest of the flight was spent reflecting on the insanity of thrill seekers (and cleaning my pants).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ha ha ha ha ha - you crapped your pants??? Ha ha ha ha

That is a very funny story. One i shall remind myself off - well and you, the next time you start to irritate me.

A bit concerned about the crazy laughter thing ...