3,2,1, BUNGEE!!!
Since 1986, there have been 18 bungee jumping deaths. This is a stat I found on my googler and may not account for the documented, lax reporting from the Ukrainian bungee jumping attempts, but whatever. It will suffice for this.
I, am a statistic. A positive one I guess, because in 1993 (possibly 94, this shit gets blurry), I drank multiple beers, paid $80 I couldn't afford, put on a belt and ankle strap and was raised above a state fair parking lot in Jackson, MS to plummet to my near death. There is a zero point zero chance this jump was documented as a successful, non death bungee jump. But here I sit, living to tell about it.
This memory was prompted by my Instagram scrolling this morning. I calmly passed over a bungee jumper in China, spiraling down to their death in a craggy ravine and I thought. "I wonder how many people die, bungee jumping." Apparently. Eight. Teen. Welcome to my Thursday.
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As I sit here reflecting, I also realize that I watched a video of Kevn Kinney for about 13 seconds this morning. He of Drivin' N Cryin fame. We were at the aforementioned Mississippi State fair that bungee night to see them and Follow For Now play. As I realize this, I'm kind of delighted by the stacking of those images and videos triggering a memory. Well a memory veiled in morbid curiosity. When these things occur, I try to stop and soak it in (not Mormon soaking style), to delight in the simple is something I'm working on.
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Last weekend (and many times over the past year or so), I've wondered a lot about how the hell we knew about anything "back in the day". I was likey at that show in Mississippi because my friend Jay went to Milsaps and he and I went to a lot of shows together. As such he likely picked up a phone in Jackson and dialed a long distance number (1+ the area code and then the number) to reach me at my house in Baton Rouge. This makes me wonder if he reached me. Was I at home that much? It seems impossible that anyone reached anyone else, ever. Surely I didn't answer the phone back then? He probably left a message.
There was no "looking things up" or having all of the worlds stats at our fingertips, the ability to refute false claims a mere 3 seconds away. I can hear my friend Blye saying something like,"I bet 100's of people die bungee jumping each year", while some slack jawed carnie is buckling me up and instead of googling it and replying, "over the next 35 years only 18 people will die. I'll have a better chance at dying by being stung to death by bees, you twat.", I probably said. "Shut the fuck up Blye. You're always being a puss!".
These thoughts make me long for that simpler time.
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I consider the availability of immediate discovery and it's power. In a day, a video of a Chicano (can we say that? I'm saying that) gentleman riding a skateboard whilst drinking cranberry juice and listening to Fleetwood Mac can travel across the globe and even you have at least a brief memory of it. I wonder what 1993 me would think of that?
The influx of technology and new things seems to happen fast but has probably been slow dripped to us enough so that it's not jarring. An IV of records, to 8-tracks, to cassettes, MTV, VCR's, CD's, internet, Napster, iTunes, iPods, streaming, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Vine, Tiktok. We accept each version as rote and keep plummeting forward, foreword, forward, until one day we wake up and wonder. "How the fuck did we know anything?"
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The short answer is we didn't, and that was bliss. I think as time goes by we will again revert to less. No, I'm not some reverse Elon Musk, pushing for 28 ft long Ford LTD's that only take regular gas (cue kids googling what "regular" gas is). I'm just saying that at some point our brains will fill up and we will just say "it's enough". I've had enough.
Give me a book.
Give me a record or CD.
Make me pick up the phone and call Jay and see what shows are playing (now he's in Atlanta).
Let me try and find my way to Michigan with my Rand McNally Atlas.
I know this probably won't happen, but we can make some of those choices, some of the time.
I still have some old school real phones. I think I'm going to call and see about getting one re-installed. No caller ID. No messages. Just a loud af ring that sounds like a bell.
See if y'all can catch me at home.
#hugsandhi5s
