This past weekend I had the time of my life! Me and some friends whom I formerly worked with at the Univ. Of Phoenix headed up to Payson, AZ for a fun-filled weekend. We stayed the night, camping and drinking lots of beer and having a good ol' time! Later, as evening approached me and the boys, (Johnathan and Tom) decided to go swimming. The plan was that they were going to Cliff Diving and I was going to meet up with them (swimming). However, since this was my first experience up in the wild west of Northern Arizona land, I was coerced into cliff diving for the 1st time in my life! They knew the trail we were headed towards and by the time I realized where we were, the boys were laughing and I realized their was no other way but to cliff dive (from where they had led us to). I was experiencing a moderate early evening hangover due to the excess of booze flowing through my body, lack of sleep due to all of the anticipated excitement and steamy arizona sun beaming down endlessly on us all day long. I had absolutely no intentions at all of cliff diving and am a self-proclaimed scaredy cat (being completely afraid of heights)! However, once I realized that we were staring at a steady and fast flowing waterfall consisting of a sudden drop at least 30 feet high in the air, fear of course, took over all of my body. The weiderest part about it all is that I kinda knew though that I would end up doing it and I figured if I could do this and survive, then this will be a personal accomplishment that I could surely be proud of myself for doing, even though I was extremely afraid of actually doing it. Once I made it up in my mind to actually go for it, I was still very afraid and resistent to jumping but Johnathan talked me into it reminding me that both him and Tom had my back and would look after me during this crazy ass decision to jump. I was still afraid, but headed towards the jump off point and knew there was absolutely no turning around now. With Johnathan in my ear, telling me "jump, Tim, its time, I'll be jumping not too far away from you to make sure your alright, jump" I jumped and was suddenly a helpless falling object dropping fast and deep before I knew it, into a deep, serene, almost cave-like enclosure, and knew to suddenly start pushing my body up to the surface as fast as possible to breath and to start swimming over to the rope which I had to climb from the water, at an almost 90 degree incline up to where it all began. I found the rope, pulled myself up on to the rope, but soon started slipping and tried with all my strength remaining in my body (due to fatigue) to try and pull myself up to the starting point and way out. I climbed and knew to try to maintain my grip but after about 5 decent pullups heading up the rope, my muscles began collapsing and I yelled to the guys for help and that I was slipping and about to drop back down into the water! I was freaked out at this point and Tom yelled to me that if I dropped back into water, to make sure that I jumped away from the side of the rock I was climbing as far as possible! This freaked me out even more, cuz I knew that I just wanted to get back up to the top and didn't have the strength left in my body to push up any further. I also had the wrong kind of shoes on for this trip, wearing some Mens low cut black and white, classic Van sneakers without socks. I really was becoming afraid of the water and afraid of the raging rapid waterfall I was forced to look up into while trying to maintain my grip on the rope. This was a freakin scary ass moment in my life and for a split second I didn't really know if I was really gonna make it out for sure. Luckily, Johnathan had jumped (as promised) soon after I had, and seen I was in trouble and came over to the rope, giving me the push upward and physical motivation I needed to regain my momentum and pull my ass up and out of the waterfall and back up onto the cliff where it all started. Wow. What a freakin adventure man! This shit really was scary for me. I thanked Jonathan and Tom for their motivation and encouragement throughout this experience. I was also proud of myself for actually taking the initiative and doing something that I knew was out of element, so to speak. lol. During this trip, I also really enjoyed the many interesting conversations we all shared with each other, especially the conversations which included Tabatha and Mariah, the 2 ladies in this camping adventure story. There really wasn't one topic that was really off limits. We discussed everything from religion, party pleasures/pastimes of adults, and even what it really means to be an american and whether or not we really do currently live in the land of the free. Very fun and interesting, the way it should be always with everyone staying respectful of others opinions and perspectives on things. Tom also made us some damn good steaks freshly grilled and naturally smoked and tender. Yummy! Good job Tom! I also really hope that the boys both had a good time because this camping adventure was actually mainly in celebration of their birthdays. Exciting. FYI-as a side note, it was also supposed to be a celebration of my resigning from our old job at Univ. Of Phoenix and moving on to a small, technology dream in downtown phoenix, pursuing my dream of transitioning into the technology field. Shhhh. wink, wink...I more importantly hope that the boys had a good time for their b-days since I live my life by being the least selfish as possible :-)
I will post pictures and more of this trip among many others planned soon.
I've learned so much from this trip, especially about my own limits. After this adventure, I now realize that I've been mentally limiting myself to having the gusto of reaching my full potential, be this both physically and mentally. I will post more on the things I'm discovering about myself among the things I'm learning during these adventures as I have more time soon.
We should all motivate each other in this lifetime to pursue our passions and dreams. In doing this, we can truly know and understand what it means to be happy.
Namaste friends-
Tim/Marti
Summer 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
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