As May 18 crawls ever closer, many of my fellow graduating seniors and I have increasingly exchanged our anxious thoughts on the impending horrors of post-collegiate life. During these conversations, I’ve often come across those who claim that they “feel so old,” and even once heard someone say they were experiencing their “quarter-life crisis.” The advice I give to people when they feel low like that is the same advice I apply to myself: do something adventurous, uncharacteristic, potentially ridiculous and relatively safe. I’ve found that the resulting adrenaline rush usually clears up any anxieties and melancholic feelings, at least for a while. Here are three suggestions for adventurous activities you can do in and around San Antonio to take your mind off things.
Watch a Cage Fight at Cowboys Dancehall
When: April 6, 6 p.m.
Where: 3030 NE Interstate 410 Loop
Many Trinity students have gone to the Cowboys Dancehall in the past to show off their cowboy boots and dance the do-si-do, but I bet only a few have ever gone there to watch amateur cage fighters duke it out toe to toe. Apparently, in 2006, a group of local Mixed Martial Arts practicioners decided to debut a match at Cowboys, and they’ve been doing it off and on ever since. Beginning at 6 p.m. on April 6, a series of amateaur matches will take place at Cowboys. General entry will cost you $20 at the door, while ringside will cost $40. Tickets bought in advance online are $5 cheaper. If you’re looking to be distracted from your anxieties, I’d wager a Romanesque pummeling match inside of a cowboy bar would do the trick nicely.
Get Powerisers Jumping Stilts and Bounce
So I know that many of you have seen me bouncing around campus on these things at one point or another, and I’ve got to tell you, they are really fun and surprisingly easy to use. In terms of my checklist, they are adventurous, uncharacteristic (though my friends may disagree) and certainly ridiculous. As for safe, well, I haven’t been hospitalized yet, so take that as you will. For those that haven’t ever heard of them, Powerisers are basically fiberglass pogo sticks strapped onto your legs and turned into high-tech stilts. It’s possible to run faster than 20 miles an hour in them and jump up to six feet in the air, but the real fun/scary thing about them is that they make the wearer almost two feet taller. On a normal day, I border on the short side of average in terms of height. When I wear these things, I’m just shy of Yao Ming’s stature. All in all, it’s an interesting change of pace and perspective. The only real downside is that they are expensive, ranging from $200-270 for a pair when buying them online.
Go Skydiving
Where: 517 Airfield Rd, Fentress
For this one, we have to leave San Antonio and head to San Marcos Skydiving Inc., which is about an hour away (this is the closest one to San Antonio). It’s pricey “” around $200 “” but you’re jumping out of a plane. I mean, how often are you going to get to do that? I tried skydiving for my 19th birthday, and I highly recommend it. It’s scary, fun and safer than you’d think. It would also make for a memorable bonding experience between graduating seniors just before they hit the real world. Plus, if you can trick enough friends into coming, you can probably get a group discount.
