22!

Rang in my birthday with a bunch of people I didn't know, drinking waaay too much. I hate to be a sad drunk but it made me realize how special my other birthdays were. I mean, sure I'm in exotic Costa Rica, but those birthdays I spent at home being woken up in the morning by my family singing and bearing a cake, or when my friends and loved ones gave me a champagne toast at midnight, those were special birthdays. Goes to show though, you have to make your own way sometimes. Thanks to everyone for all the e-cards, phone calls and emails, it made being away from home a little easier.

As the blog is evidence, I survived my bungee jump. Ok, that was the most horrible thing I've ever done that I never want to do again, yet am glad I did. First the specs. I was driven to a bridge 350 feet in the air where there is a bungee station. There were five of us total, me and Joe and three random but very nice Aussies. I went third after watching the other guys go first. I managed to stay calm for most of it but when you walk up to the little platform, oh man. It's at that point you realize that you are not strapped into anything and you really are about to free fall. I asked for a minute but the guy behind the camera (yes I have a video!) said the longer you wait the worse it is, so I had them go straight into the count down. I wanted to swan dive off the platform and just fly, but me and grace have never been very close so what I ended up doing was kind of frog leaping off. At the count of 1 I squatted down to jump off but my legs froze and wouldn't extend so I just fell foward. The whole way down I had my eyes shut because my brain was so pissed that I threw my self off a bridge that it refused to co-operate with my will. The snap of it kind of hurt my shoulder, but the rest of it was ok. That is until you bouce back up, then have to fall some more. I think I waved my hands around, which was to shake out the nerves but apparently looked like I was trying to fly. The middle part where you're just swinging around was fun, but then you have to stay upside down a while, which was not so fun.

I tried to make the jump symbolic, kind of like letting go of all the stupid little things, trying to let go of all the negativity in my life. Trust me, nothing can ever be as scary as jumping off a bridge, not taking a new job, not breaking up with someone, not the first time someone sees you naked, NOTHING! So, if I've jumped off a bridge, I can do anything right?

Now I'm back in San Jose, skipping class cause I'm still nauseated. I will never ever do that again, however, if anyone wants to go skydiving, I'm there.