here's lookin' at you

Looks like a happy face, huh?  2 eyes, smiley mouth.

Okay.......so here's how it goes....I am afraid of heights.
Not the airplane kind....fortunatey.

When I was little and we lived in an apartment building in Brooklyn. We were only on the 2nd floor and I was already crazed by that....and let me assure you...that was nothing.
A piece of cake. It wasn't even high up.

Bridges...Whoooooa.
I actually used to think that the Verrazano Bridge (connecting Brooklyn to Staten Island) was made of rubber bands and they'd snap & break. Now mind you...... I was 21 at the time.....does that give you a clue ??!!


The degree of irrationality varies.....so....even watching a movie that involves height (remember 'Cliffhanger' with Sylvester Stallone ?)....well....that would rate a triple WHOA.....
I lose ALL feeling in my legs....my kids think it's hysterical because these are just movies - not reality - and I'm hyperventilating ...doesn't matter....mom is weirded out again with that Acrophobia thing.


amusement park rollercoasters........happened once......never happening again.
the Stratosphere in Las Vegas...got talked into once...biggest mistake of my life. Thought I'd die.

Needless to say....high places, even ones with big railings, are for the brave of heart...that would NOT be me ! There's no way to minimize this.

So...what would prompt me to go OUT onto the observation deck of a building at the nature preserve...damned if I know ! And, you'll note...the deck isn't even that high up. It's relatively small potatoes.
 

I believe it was cause I wanted pictures of the Eastern Bluebird....or...perhaps because I am a mental case...either way...ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER........it took me half an hour to slowly proceed from the elevator door to the railing.....then, hold it tightly, lift the camera to my eye and...BINGO......nothing !
The birdies were just not in plain sight today.
Big sigh.
I went home. Never looked down.
But I felt proud and decided...

NOPE...not doing that again ! I'll look at their pictures in a book.

Yes...the view straight out was stunning...you could see the Pine Barrens for miles & miles.
Been there, done that.
Moving On.............

I'll stick with the chipmunks in my roof drains. At least they're on the ground.


Aside from all that.......I took a little shopping jaunt this morning into the college town of Princeton (yes..right past the splendid University)..which is about 1/2 an hr from me.
I wandered into a bead store.....yes, there I am just w-a-n-d-e-r-i-n-g and I happened upon THIS...


IT'S MINE NOW AND IT'S FABULOUS AND IT'S OLD.
No..I do not have a clue what I'll make with it but I won't alcohol ink it...that's for sure.!

Ready for ANOTHER IDEA FROM MY 'WRECK THIS' JOURNAL ? I'd skip the barf part !


and...here's an interesting link I happened upon today...Creativity Portal.
then, watch Gina do a Polished Stone Bleach technique on her video. We carry the waterbrush she uses.


ART ALERT :.....if you live anywere near my office (Tinton Falls, NJ) reserve October 18th cause The Impatient Beader, Margot Potter is coming to teach for us. She'll do 1/2 a day and I'll do 1/2 a day. Too soon for all the details...we haven't gotten that far yet....just keep watching.

Comments

[Sue McGettigan]

Glad you're back on solid ground! Have you seen the Wreck This Journal group at flickr? Tons of fun :) I like to mail them overseas with just a little tape to hold it closed, gives them a heastart on the wrecking courtesy of the postal services en route.

[AmyS]

Suze,

Would you please share the name of the bead shop in Princeton? We will be staying there in a couple of weeks and my daughter and I would love to check it out.

Also, can you advise me where I can find a Melting Pot that will work here in Israel? I think I've held out long enough - I must make UTEE beads!

[Evelyn]

I know how you feel on the height thing, and I have to cross the Verrazano 2x per day! Yikes! Still don't do well when traffic comes to a complete STOP, but overall, I handle that pretty well. The stratosphere - I stepped off the elevator and got dizzy - could not go near the glass to look out. Can't wait for the details on your class with Margot Potter! Love her blog - hope I can attend the class.

[Jennie]

Suze, have the same fear, but not quite so bad. Have gotten stuck up the Arc De Triomphe in Paris, those litle narow stairs.. couldn't go up , couldn't go down.. stuck! In the end they had to push me up and I had to get the lift down! Same happened at Gaudi's house .. got to the roof, oh such fabulous views.. saw a cloud, and thought oops too high! Get me out of here! Don't mention ski lifts.. not a hope in hell of getting me on one of those! Like Elaine said, the ground is the safest place!
Hugs x

[Elaine Allen]

Oh Suze -

I completely understand about the fear of heights. I've been like that since I was a little kid. I break out in a sweat, my heart goes into overdrive, and I become a complete whack job! If my husband and I are out and we hit a road that you have to climb with sheer drops on the side - oh mommy! He always tells me to close my eyes (that just makes it worse cause my imagination goes into overdrive). He tries to reason with me - yeah, like that will help. When we went to Arizona several years ago, we decided to go to the Grand Canyon. A friend said to go through Red Rock Canyon cause it was a shorter ride from Sedona where we stayed. She swore it wasn't bad. Yeah, last time I believe that, we were 20 minutes into the drive and I got so bad, my husband turned around and we took the long way to the canyon. Beautiful, glad I got to see, never doing it again. It took us over 3 hours to get there, and I swear Suze, we stayed all of about 20 minutes. I just wanted to get away before I got sick.
So last week I went to see Much Ado About Nothing near Cold Spring at the Bascobel Mansion. Trip across the Beacon/Newburgh bridge going was uneventful. Now my sister lives in Beacon, I've traveled across the Beacon/Newburgh bridge tons of times. I've conditioned myself to take the middle lane and just drive. Well the play ends, it's a little after 10 in the evening, and I start my ride home (by myself, my friends live in a different direction than I do). As I approach the bridge, I take my usual deep breath and start to go across. Well nobody told me they were doing construction on the bridge at night and had closed all lanes except for the extreme right lane (right up against that thin, feeble excuse for a railing). And that night, it was a bit windy, a little more traffic than usual, and I say to myself, "Self, you can do this". HAH! I started shaking the closer I got to the middle of the bridge, I could feel the car swaying from the wind, and I knew the Hudson River was just below me. So now I am crying, hyperventilating, my heart is thumping, and all I see is the car going over the edge. I don't know how I made it across, I was this close to stopping the car and begging the construction guys to please, please, please drive me across. The only thing stopping me was the line of traffic behind me, they must have wanted to kill me because I know I went no faster than 20 miles. Of course, once I was a terra firma, I feel like the biggest idiot in the world, but I just can't help. I have no control over it. So needless to say I was so ticked at my sister for not telling me about the contstruction. I mean, isn't their job to tell me things like that - LOL! So believe me when I say, I completely understand where you are coming from. The ground is much safer!

Take care -
Elaine Allen