The Best You've Ever Felt

I was thinking the other night, "I wonder which moment in my life so far provided me with the best feeling". I suppose it would be different for every person as they put emphasis on different aspects of life. I'm a bit of a believer in measuring your life in terms of how much happiness you've had. Here's a list of times when I felt the best I've ever felt...

- hitting the winning runs for my cricket team:
I was batting down the order and came in when we needed a lot of runs off not many balls. I nudged the ball around and my batting partner fluked a 6 over gully. Third ball of the last over I was on strike and we needed one run. I hit it to mid-on and took off, I slid through the crease on my knees pumping my fist. I'd scored the winning runs with 3 balls to spare.

- watching Michael Bevan hit a 4 off the last ball to beat the Windies:
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was staying up late at my grandparents' place. It was 7/80 when the others went to bed but I stayed up. I watched as Bevo constructed his innings. I never believed we could win until the last over. Bevo was brilliant and it came to needing 4 runs off 1 ball. The off-spinner bowled, Bevo opened up and smashed it straight. I knew straight away that he'd done it! I couldn't get to sleep for hours.

- seeing Simon Evans in the flesh driving in Rally of Melbourne 2003:
We got up early, drove out to the rally and set up in our road closure position. We waited for 2 hours and finally it was time for the cars to start arriving. We sat in the quiet waiting, waiting, then we heard the distant buzz of a car. It got closer and closer. It sounded like it was just around the corner but it took over 30 seconds to get to us. Closer and closer, louder and louder. Then the sound got really clear and I knew he was here. Popping and banging as he lifted slightly and left-foot braked for the corner and then into full view came a silver 1998 Subaru Impreza WRX STi completely sideways with headlights blazing. He drove it through the left hander coming towards us, then flicked it right, then more popping and banging as he braked and dropped a gear for the next corner, he hooked it into the left hander and went out of view. We were left with the incredible sound of a Group N4 Subaru and a prominent scent that only rally cars can make. The 4 hours of preparations and waiting were instantly worth it. My girlfriend who had been complaining all morning about the freezing cold ran up to me yelling "that was awesome! I'm definitely coming again tomorrow!" Simon Evans remains my favourite Australian driver.

- looking out over the Himalayas from a plane on the way home from Europe:
I'd just spend a great 3 weeks with dad travelling around Europe. We were now on a plane heading back from Germany to Singapore on the way home. The shutters on the windows of the 747 jumbo were closed and everyone was asleep (or trying to). I got restless and went to the back of the plane to the toilet. Before heading back to my seat I thought I'd have a look out a window back there to see if I could see some stars or something. I slid the shutter open about halfway and the whole cabin of the plane lit up! I quickly shut it and opened it about a centimetre. It was enough still to illuminate the whole cabin, but I had to have a look out. To my surprise I was struck by the best view I've ever seen to this day. A beautiful perfect sunny day lighting up a HUGE expanse of snowy mountains. Mountains all the way to the horizon. My heart stopped beating as I was completely awe-struck. I went back to my seat with the image burnt into my memory forever and a feeling of complete content. For that moment I was 100% happy.

- driving flat out in my little Civic on gravel one night near Healesville:
I love driving on loose surfaces (aka gravel). It makes me feel incredible. One night out in the forest on one of our typical adventures everything clicked. I felt fantastic and I was driving well. On three of my favourite roads I drove fast (but safely). I was so focussed and so in touch with the car that I was in control 100% of the time while still driving fast. That was one of the best nights of my life. That's why I aspire to be a rally driver. It gives me such deep inner pleasure that I must do it.

- skiing at Mt Buller on a perfect sunny day with no-one else on the mountain:
This was another incredible experience. Me and dad went up to Mt Buller for a couple of days. Sunday/Monday was all we could manage. The weather was okay on the Sunday but in the afternoon the wind was blowing, there were long queues for the chair-lifts and it was generally unpleasent. Then Monday came along. Monday was perfectly sunny and the wind was dead still. Because it was a weekday, literally everyone had left. Dad and I were the only ones on the whole chair-lift at one point. But the part where I almost died on my skis was when skiing to the Little Buller run. We were skiing along and just listening to the snow crackling under my skis. It was perfectly quiet appart from the snow beneath my skis and when I looked out to my left I almost fell over. There on my left was the second best view of my life... snow-capped mountains with rocks breaking through the snow making for a breath-taking view. That set the scene for the rest of the day and that remains the best day I've ever had at the snow.


So there are a few of the things that have made me happy to the core. It's interesting which experiences give you a utter satisfaction. Sex doesn't even come close in my top list.