DAREDEVILING

Have you been on a roller coaster recently? Have you seen them lately?

Remember -- OH WOW -- OH JOY-- your heart beating in your throat -- wishing. praying it would be over before the cars started to move?

That coaster in the photo -- it's 12 heavenly horrible seconds, falling at a 121 degree angle. Obviously, it's one of the greatest, most marvelous, most scary, sickening, terrifying, dangerous amusements that you can love, live through, and brag about.

Is it better, more WOW than bungee jumping? Better than soaring? Is pursuit of the thrill why Houdini did what he did? .And whatshis name -- (had to Google him) -- David Blaine, 38-year- old magician? He submerged himself in a chunk of ice in New York City's Times Square, and almost died, broke the records by holding his breath for 17 minutes 4½ seconds.

Did Blaine get what he was after -- fame, notoriety, wealth? He was gravely ill for quite a while afterward, but since then, he's done other incredibly dangerous ventures. He's doing what boxers, football players, and other sports super-heroes do -- committing themselves to winning, even if it permanently damages their bodies, and shortens their lives.

But heading for the park, enduring the roller coaster won't make you famous or rich. Is it the thrill of the thrill? The fun of scare-yourself-to-death fun? Is that what we get from a roller coaster?

Someone on Yahoo.com said, "I always will try to get on a roller coaster as soon as I enter the park. Its torture, but as you get off the ride, you feel so vibrant and alive!"

Howard Belkin, psychiatrist at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, said the reason is rooted in a deep psychological need to conquer something. The release of adrenalin and dopamine makes one's heart rush, a rush that many get addicted to."

Belkin also said that the roller coaster is a version of being tossed in the air by your dad. "If you like it, you will scream with joy. If you don't, well, you may throw something up yourself."

Ph.D. John Elliot, a doctor/professor with stupendous education credits, currently provides performance consultation and training to business executives, professional athletes, and corporations, nationwide. Clients have included Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Adidas, NASA, the United States Olympic Committee, The Mayo Clinic, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and hundreds of elite individual performers.

(Part of me is very impressed by where he studied, that client list, and curious about his philosophy -- the other part of me is instinctively, immediately "hmm," and skeptical.)

In his best seller, "Overachievment: The New Science of Working Less to Accomplish More," Elliot said, "You are innately designed to use your personal power. When you don’t, you experience a sense of helplessness, paralysis, and depression — which is your clue that something is not working as it could. You, like all of us, deserve everything that is wonderful and exciting in life. And those feelings emerge only when you get in touch with your powerful self."

Susan Jeffers' bestseller summarizes her philosophy in the title: "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway."

Gee, should I be heading for an amusement park? I don't feel helpless, paralyzed or depressed.

I jumped from the horrendously scary parachute drop at Coney Island on my very first date with John Cullum. Yep, I really did. I wanted to show him how bold and brave and fearless I was.

My powerful self isn't quite as powerful as it used to be, but hey, Cullum is in my life. I am not going to do any roller-coastering ever again.

Watching this scary life-threatening venture is fun enough for me.
Daredevil jumps from mountain in Antarctica

WINNING (video)

"What makes a winner?" Em asks John Cullum.

His theories are usually objective. Em wants to know why John Cullum won -- got jobs, was able to build the career he built as an actor?

John says he's not a winner, but Em is certain that there's a special something that John Cullum has.

They discuss tennis winner Andre Agassi, who has expressed resentment about being pushed by his dad.

Em persists, and gets John talking about who and what pushed him -- what made him a winner.

HE - SHE BALONEY

Time Magazine is war- mongering.

SHE -- a bit thick-waisted, in heels, with her mop like a flag -- looks resentful; HE -- holding the baby and baby's bottle -- looks compliant, and cooperative.

The magazines's managing editor, Richard Stengel, says "I'll wager that there is no one who is married and employed who does not have this conversation -- heck an argument -- with his spouse about who does more at home and at the office."

Hey, Rick Stengel, c'mon, that's out of date!

War between the sexes? Why sell it now? Why feed us baloney on how it's more so, worse so now, and who's winning, and why?

What's the purpose of encouraging this focus on the numbers, the theories, psychological, sociological mumbo-jumbo that explains why males and females are different, and who's working harder, earning more, and do they deserve it?

The various take-off-your-clothes issues are well-covered by movies and television, and pop performers, who are demonstrating wildly, passionately, how to be uninhibited, utterly crude, grunting, screaming, dancing -- shimmy-shimmying their way to way-way over the top acting that's rocks us, socks us in the gut -- oh boy, does it ever!

Males and females in relationships -- legal, illegal, gay, straight, AC-DC or any variation thereof, aren't arguing about who does more work. They might argue/discuss who pays the bills, but that's just like talking about the weather.

Maybe it's good sign, maybe things are getting back to normal -- maybe there's no shocking latest horror, scandal, lies, cheating, thievery, slander to tout -- nothing we ignore except war horrors, and war is in that Do-Nothing-Arena where we do nothing but attack the White House for doing nothing, or attack the Republicans for building Do- Nothing into an sky-high, insurmountable wall.

I am bored with this baloney. I wrote a post about this nine months ago -- peruse Sheconomy Versus Heconomy 12/6/10.

SUMMER'S GOING

My feet are still bare. I'm wearing short shorts. The sun is shining.

My air conditioner's purring.

Gnats are visiting. Banished temporarily with a perfumed kill-em, that I shouldn't be breathing in but I do -- rather breath it than scratch bites.

Still got summery wander lust -- feel like going for a walk when I ought to be working.

I already ordered my new calendar but it hasn't arrived.

My summer exercise outfit's hanging on the jogging machine that sits, unused, in the rear of my dance studio. The studio's exhaust fan is hooked up, just in case it gets over 80 degrees.

Yes I'm still summering. but with the day, the date, the word S-e-p-t-e-m-b-e-r comes gray, grayish things of weather, chores, doings, clothes, pleasures, approaching events -- brown and gold leaves, orange pumpkins, turkey days, Xmas decorations, Happy New Year.

I want to hang on tight to today, the ease, the soft breeze and easier living, visions of high golden fields, richly petaled red, blue, lavender, purple blooms.

And outdoor feasting, grills hot dogs, hamburger, steak, potato salad, cobs of corn, ice cream, iced drinks, people in sunglasses lolling on the beaches, reading, swimming, tossing, batting balls.

I didn't do any of that this summer, but summer means all that to me because that's what I have seen and that's what I feel like when the weather is balmy-- my do it now, get it done, hurry up, keep going, get there inner motor just unwinds, or slows down, or maybe it takes a rest, restfully slows ... gets slower, changes pitch --plays a softer, legato, lullabying melody.

So yes, summer is going. and I'll keep going,
doing my work, creating, like mother naturem a safe place for what I am ...
a shaped poised child who's privileged by what I inherited from my family and the thousands of dreams I dreamed and garnered from living though many seasons -- keep going with the balmy warming moments that can be found almost every day no matter how cold it may get before nest summer arrives.