> The other thing we did, which was much easier, was to lean over the glass panes that made up the outer wall. As I said, the glass panes were sloped outward, so the diameter of the ceiling was bigger than the diameter of the floor. Leaning against the glass wall meant all that was beneath you was the ground. Still scarier, to anyone who has even an average person's respect for heights, is leaning against the glass BACKWARDS, with your head facing up. To many, looking up is scarier than looking down. Brunnen-G and I made ourselves queasy but we did it. We continued to take turns thinking up scary things to do to ourselves. Survival instincts make for a lot of excitement sometimes.

Boy, you're not kidding. I have a very visual imagination, and so I can envision VERY well the sort of thing you're describing here, and MY adrenaline is pumping now just from reading your description. Wow.

> Brunnen-G's challenge for that floor was to start at the inside and run *backward* into the glass. That was VERY difficult. The glass panes in the floor made me queasier, but running backwards toward the edge of the tower was harder to do. We kept peeking and/or slowing down and/or putting our hands behind us before we hit the glass. After SEVERAL tries, I finally did manage it, and shortly thereafter Brunnen-G did also.

EEK! You should learn to write less descriptively-- If I had heart problems, you might have done me in.

> Dave not only couldn't do it, he couldn't watch us do it. Leen never did get comfortable up there no matter how close to the inside she was. I have just enough of a queasiness about heights to sympathize with the feeling.

All of this has made me take a look at myself and ask myself if I would be Dave and Leen, or if I would be Brunnen-G and Sam, if I found myself in this situation. I know I would _want_ to be BG and Sam, but I don't know if I could muster up the courage to do it. The conclusion I have come to is that I have to go out and try it for myself. Right here in Calgary, we have the Calgary tower. It is not exactly a giant, but it does tower quite a bit above the 40 story building which stands two blocks away. (I have a great view of it from my office window, and just looked at it so I could get the details right.) I would say it is maybe 60 stories tall, with the observatory sitting at about 50 or 55 stories up. I think I shall have to go up there sometime and think of stupid things to do. OK, not stupid, adrenaline-releasing.

Why did this story motivate me so much? Weird.

> I could NEVER have been on the construction team that built that tower. I looked at all the things on the outer section of the tower -- for example, the flood lights, positioned a bit out from the tower so they could illuminate it, had to be fastened into place by an actual person. There is NO way I could have been that person. NONE. If I somehow found myself out there, I'd have just wrapped both arms and legs around the most solid thing I could find and whimpered until somebody built a suspension bridge just underneath me so I could step off and walk away.

ACK! (Dies.)

Don "(Revives just in time for his name quote.)" Monkey