In late 2012, I spent a lot of time crossing the ditch to work for Microsoft clients in Auckland, New Zealand.
I would fly in for a week about once a month and run courses for .NET developers; or do architectural/code reviews that took me a few days and were charged at $40K USD a pop. I got paid about $90K AUD annually and travelled 87% of my time.
Yes, I remember my utilisation. It was so high that I made One World Emerald (QANTAS Platinum) on Economy flights. Never. Again. Ever.
Each time I journeyed to New Zealand’s largest city (a quarter of New Zealanders living in NZ live there) , I would try to visit a new tourist attraction.
Once I visited Auckland Sky Tower to jump on the perspex floor and whisper “I trust engineering“. I have done that in different sky towers around the world including Toronto and Sydney.
Since the jumping was such fun, it seemed the next logical step was jumping from the building on the Auckland Skyjump.
Skyjump is an assisted bungi jump so it isn’t the physical challenge of an official bungee jump. You are connected to a steel cable and harness that drops you from 192 metres up towards the Skycity Plaza and…. whoomp, on to the platform.
I am a fraidy cat so that is as close to a bungee jump that I am ever going to get. Ever since I tried a Zorb in Rotovegas and got out and vomited on myself, I knew I was not made to adventure in NZ in any way that didn’t involve Hobbits and icecream.
Gravity is not my friend.
So assisted bungee jumping was my jam.
As I was free falling from the tower, I wondered why I had made this life choice. Did I hate myself? Was working with infrastructure engineers driving me to jump? Did Bluff oysters make me seek temporary thrills? Eating oysters does weird things to people. Like the whole aphrodisiac thing.
What happened next might have been the oysters or it might have been kismet. I reckon it was the latter.
As the ground approached, I saw the people beneath me walking through the plaza.
I saw one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen.
I looked at him. He looked at me. We maintained eye contact and then… the cable descent slowed and he disappeared as I landed on the platform.
That was the best relationship I have ever had.
We never fought.
We both had that moment.
We never saw each other again.
Damana Madden 