Phobias on Aisle 5

[liz_marcs]

via honorh:

Sears Tower in Chicago has opened a glass balcony on the 103rd floor.

I believe I have mentioned several times in this journal that I have crippling terror of heights.

Just looking at the pictures made me go AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

And then I had to hide under my desk for 5 minutes until I calmed down.

Slide show showing people looking like they're floating in air if you're a freak.

Acrophobes like myself might want to give the pictures a big miss.

Comments

[szandara.livejournal.com]

OMG yes. I had an the same visceral panic response to that picture as you did. I wonder if they have people on duty to clean up the barf from the glass floors and walls? because I'm sure that's not an unusual reaction.

I am sure the Grand Canyon is beautiful but I do not think I will ever want to vacation there because YIKES GRAVITY IS NOT MY FRIEND OMG!!!!!!! is not my idea of a good time.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Nonononononono!

My parents went to the Grand Canyon and apparently my dad (he who I inherited my fear of heights from...acrophobia is a genetic trait right?) was about 6 feet back from the ledge.

Of course, they visited the eastern rim which is firmly in tribal hands, which means there are no, I mean NO safety railings because it's all natural wonder and beauty.

My mother stepped right up to the ledge, of course. Because she's nuts. Like my brother.

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

You and your father would definitely not like a similar Skywalk recently built at the Grand Canyon by the Hualapai Indian tribe.

The kids in the pics are so cute and fearless but the people I really admire are the construction workers who are able to function at those heights.

Shakatany

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

I can hardly stand at the windows on the observation deck without being shakey. I can't imagine what the skywalk would be like.

[tnrkitect.livejournal.com]

You EMPHATICALLY should NOT view slide 17 in the slide show. Trust me on this. (It is the view down, with no feet to get in the way)

[agilesreader.livejournal.com]

That was my reaction too! It gives me the giant willies just thinking about it!

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

I saw a story about that on the news last night, and all I could think was that you could not pay me enough money to get into that thing. I don't care how many tons it's supposed to be able to hold. It's glass, and there's nothing below it except 103 floors and death. O_o

[yanagi-wa.livejournal.com]

You and Himself can go stand by the elevators while I go stand at the very edge and go, 'Oooooo'. *g* He's just as bad as you are. And I really do sympathize. I drooled over the pic. Thanks for the post, even if it did tramitize you. *pets*

[phyr-nyt.livejournal.com]

o.O
oh i have got to go there! :3 but knowing my luck if i went with friends someone would set up a bet on if i'd fall thru. :3

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I also have a thing about heights (or rather, BIG EMPTY SPACES beneath my feet), but I clicked on the link anyway (just the Yahoo article) because I am a masochist, and now I feel like clinging to my desk for dear life. D:

I will share this with the SO, who has a brain malfunction that makes him -enjoy- hells like this.

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

Why is it that big drops from which I am protectedby glass are worse than big drops in nature (which I only sometimes panic at) ?

Also, do architects hate us, or what?

Julia, who couldn't even go see "Up" because the promo had me hiding under my seat

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't trust glass not to break. I mean, yeah, it's probably all kinds of thick and stuff but it's glass. Which can crack. When they make see-through titanium, then maybe I'd step out on that kind of balcony.

[rin-x-x.livejournal.com]

Its a good thing you've never been to the CN Tower then! (Although if it makes you feel any better, apparently that thing can withstand the weight of like 15 elephants)

[rin-x-x.livejournal.com]

(their glass balcony, i mean)

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

I almost got sick looking at those photos. I, too, have a crippling terror of heights - even very modest ones. I took my DD to Summerfest in Milwaukee back in 2002, and she wanted to ride on a tram that traverses the length of the fairgrounds. Except this tram is more like a ski lift, and you sit in this gondola thing that's suspended from a cable...and your feet are brushing the tops of the effing trees. I probably would have been okay in an enclosed lift, like the Sandia Tram in Albuquerque, but the open aspect and the feet dangling were too much for me. EEEEP!

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

I'm not overly distressed by heights, but I'm also old enough to remember the year there were some ferocious winds in my old stomping ground, Chi-town, and whole panes came out of their frames on one of the new ultra-modern buildings. I don't remember if it was the Sears Tower or one of the others--it was probably 25 years ago--but those tall buildings flex in the winds and, as others are saying, that's GLASS.

I cannot imagine the people who let their kids out on that.

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

I'm not afraid of heights (I grew up on the 20th floor with quite the view) so that looks pretty awesome. But I could understand why a lot of people would freak.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

I was doing fine with the slideshow until I clicked on image 17 - and there was a sudden, uncontrollable intake of breath.

Jeez...