Trapeze, Wine and Shopping
I've come back from California with some new experiences under my belt yessiree. But before that I just want to say how incredibly wonderful it was to be walking along the street with a light jacket on and standing in the sun, feeling the warming rays shining down on me. After our Calgary deep-freeze weather, I appreciated it that much more.
Saturday morning in California, Albany to be precise. Which if you don't know Albany, it is adjacent to Berkley and across the bay from SanFrancisco. This was Circus School day so we grabbed a bagel and a coffee to powerup before heading out. I had been fretting about the whole trapeze thing internally and ok perhaps whining weakly to Michele about it as well. But I knew I would go, there was no way I was going to be a baby about it when Michele is almost a veteran. And I had this sense that if I wanted to be worthy enough to go wine tasting I better prove my courage by trapezing. Besides - there's a secret handshake involved and how could I miss out on that! But I must add that even though I love to climb I've never liked to jump off things. Even as a kid and it was customary to run and jump off the dock into the lake. It was more likely that I would put the brakes on just at the *end* of the dock as my friends careened over the edge.
We get to the building in Oakland, sort of a dodgy part of Oakland Michele says. Not too bad during the day but I wouldn't be walking around there in the evening that's for sure. The Trapeze Arts is in a warehouse and the outside of the building is brightly painted in the Circus Stripes - of course.
Michele is a regular and is greeted warmly. They know she's bringing along a climbing friend and neophyte trapeze artist. I think they kind of like us climber folk since we're usually fairly athletic and apparently we don't scream much, but yes, we do have an issue jumping off the platform. No shit sherlock.
On the ground Jake shows us first-timers what we'll be doing waaaay up there. Jump off the platform, get our knees over the bar, drop our arms, arch our back and sttrrretttch and then put our arms back on the bar drop our knees and drop to the net. This will all be done as per the commands of a person on the ground who is also managing our safety ropes.
Sounds fairly reasonable to do - on the GROUND and like, a really STUPID thing to do way up high. FUCK. There is no time given to freak-outs from the newbies. Everyone is behaving in a professional and matter-of-fact way that suggests that having a melt-down would be rather bad form, so I restrain the urge to act like a terrified idiot.
Sooner than I'd like, there I am hand-over-hand moving up the 25ft ladder to the platform. My heart is pounding so fast and adrenaline has created the shakey-shakey shake in my body. Jake doesn't give me time to get worse as he very calmly explains what will happen as he's attaching my saftey line to my belt and giving me directions. The main thing I have to do is listen, listen to him while I'm way up high on the podium and then listen to Simon once I'm flying in the air.
Next thing I know and much to my surprise, there I am SWINGING by my legs on a trapeze!! Who would have thunk? LOL! (well OK, I think Jake had to kick my feet out from under me to get me off the platform the first time!)
We are being videotaped and once I'm back on the ground another Trapeze artist is critiquing my technique and giving me something to work on for my next turn.
Eventually we work up to being caught by a catcher, which was relatively easy (he does most of the work) since in essence I'm doing what I was doing before but he's grabbing me by the arms on my upswing. The experience of flying through the air being held by someone else was truly exhilarating!!
I do have to admit to enjoying the experience and thankful that Michele gave me the opportunity to even try.
And I did learn the secret handshake. he! he!
The next day we toured the Livermore Valley to drink copious amounts of wine with some of Michele's science friends. It was relaxing and fun. I brought back more than allotted 2 bottles of wine and had to pay $15 in duty - woopie. The wine is hmmm hmm good.
Saturday morning in California, Albany to be precise. Which if you don't know Albany, it is adjacent to Berkley and across the bay from SanFrancisco. This was Circus School day so we grabbed a bagel and a coffee to powerup before heading out. I had been fretting about the whole trapeze thing internally and ok perhaps whining weakly to Michele about it as well. But I knew I would go, there was no way I was going to be a baby about it when Michele is almost a veteran. And I had this sense that if I wanted to be worthy enough to go wine tasting I better prove my courage by trapezing. Besides - there's a secret handshake involved and how could I miss out on that! But I must add that even though I love to climb I've never liked to jump off things. Even as a kid and it was customary to run and jump off the dock into the lake. It was more likely that I would put the brakes on just at the *end* of the dock as my friends careened over the edge.
We get to the building in Oakland, sort of a dodgy part of Oakland Michele says. Not too bad during the day but I wouldn't be walking around there in the evening that's for sure. The Trapeze Arts is in a warehouse and the outside of the building is brightly painted in the Circus Stripes - of course.
Michele is a regular and is greeted warmly. They know she's bringing along a climbing friend and neophyte trapeze artist. I think they kind of like us climber folk since we're usually fairly athletic and apparently we don't scream much, but yes, we do have an issue jumping off the platform. No shit sherlock.
On the ground Jake shows us first-timers what we'll be doing waaaay up there. Jump off the platform, get our knees over the bar, drop our arms, arch our back and sttrrretttch and then put our arms back on the bar drop our knees and drop to the net. This will all be done as per the commands of a person on the ground who is also managing our safety ropes.
Sounds fairly reasonable to do - on the GROUND and like, a really STUPID thing to do way up high. FUCK. There is no time given to freak-outs from the newbies. Everyone is behaving in a professional and matter-of-fact way that suggests that having a melt-down would be rather bad form, so I restrain the urge to act like a terrified idiot.
Sooner than I'd like, there I am hand-over-hand moving up the 25ft ladder to the platform. My heart is pounding so fast and adrenaline has created the shakey-shakey shake in my body. Jake doesn't give me time to get worse as he very calmly explains what will happen as he's attaching my saftey line to my belt and giving me directions. The main thing I have to do is listen, listen to him while I'm way up high on the podium and then listen to Simon once I'm flying in the air.
Next thing I know and much to my surprise, there I am SWINGING by my legs on a trapeze!! Who would have thunk? LOL! (well OK, I think Jake had to kick my feet out from under me to get me off the platform the first time!)
We are being videotaped and once I'm back on the ground another Trapeze artist is critiquing my technique and giving me something to work on for my next turn.
Eventually we work up to being caught by a catcher, which was relatively easy (he does most of the work) since in essence I'm doing what I was doing before but he's grabbing me by the arms on my upswing. The experience of flying through the air being held by someone else was truly exhilarating!!
I do have to admit to enjoying the experience and thankful that Michele gave me the opportunity to even try.
And I did learn the secret handshake. he! he!
The next day we toured the Livermore Valley to drink copious amounts of wine with some of Michele's science friends. It was relaxing and fun. I brought back more than allotted 2 bottles of wine and had to pay $15 in duty - woopie. The wine is hmmm hmm good.
My trip was exactly what I was looking for, some fun, adventure, good company with friends and a chance to feel the warm sun again!
posted by Lise B at Friday, December 08, 2006
2 Comments:
Is that really you flying through the air?
oh ya baby that is moi!
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