A couple of months back, I signed up with the American Red Cross as a Blood Donor Ambassador. For the month of January, the blood drive I was helping out at was at OUE Skyspace Los Angeles, which is atop Downtown Los Angeles’ US Bank Tower – the second tallest building in Los Angeles (although I beg to differ). Easily my favorite event, thus far. The people I worked with had such a great energy that made the experience all the better.

If you know anything about me, I’m terrified of heights. I don’t know what happened in childhood that caused it, but I do remember a time when I was not afraid of heights. In order to get to Skyspace, I had to take two elevators to get to the 70th floor. The event space was beautiful – I only wished that it was a clearer day. A guy that worked there said that on a clear day you could see the ocean. Wow. Earlier in the shift, a handful of LAPD choppers flew by, and naturally we all waved as they waved back to us. Fun times.

After my six hour shift was done, I explored the observation decks on the 69th floor. Seeing Los Angeles from that perspective was breathtaking. Of course, we had our good share of smog hovering over the Los Angeles skyline. While I was up there I saw the receiving end of the Skyslide which they advertise as a 45-foot slide 1,000 feet above street level. At that point, I was ready to just go home. As I was leaving, one the employees saw me and convinced me that it was so quick you won’t have time to get scared.

You only live once right? I gathered up every ounce of courage I had and bit the bullet. They instructed me to go straight, don’t veer right or left, just stay centered. Who has the wherewithal to even do that?  As luck would have it, I kept on sticking to the left on my way down, and at the point I felt like I was genuinely going to die. However, I made it through and so glad that I could at least say that I did it.

I’ve definitely been starting the year off with a bang in my books. Hope you all are too.

Till next time.