skydiving -- woo!

so i was sitting at my desk a few weeks ago, minding my own business, of course, and my co-worker piped up over the cube wall, "hey! do you want to go skydiving next weekend?" ... i thought about it for about 27 seconds ... "sure!!"

then we recruited one of the guys we work with, called the place, and were set to go on may 19!

the friday before we went, the tax partner here at the office wished us all luck and said she would break the news to the audit partners on monday when none of us show up for work ...

the place was skydive taft in taft, ca -- about 25 miles outside of bakersfield. very cool. the guys there were fun and, yeah, crazy. which just made it so much better

there were only two jump masters there that day, so i let my co-workers go first: kind of me, huh? actually, i defaulted to being the odd man out because it took me so long to read through the super intense liability waiver form. plus, my name is longer than both of theirs, so it totally takes me longer to sign things.

so erica and james got geared up and climbed onto the mid-sized white plane with about 20 other jumpers. how exciting! i stayed on the ground, waiting for my turn and trying to not psych myself out too much about it.

i mean, yeah. perhaps erica's dad described it best when he asked, "why would you jump from a perfectly safe airplane when you know it is going to land safely?" well, for the thrill of it!

when i told my mom that i was going, she told me not to tell her until after i had already done it. :P i called her when i landed safely.

it was so much fun to see erica and james coming in for their landing -- which they both completely biffed! erica landed with her legs bent back behind her and her jump master basically sitting on her. james completely face-planted when (i think) he tried to do a standing-up landing instead of a sitting. still not sure how he did it ...

after they jumped, i got to put on my jumpsuit and gear. that harness hurts!! but it has to be that tight, i guess. better too tight than too loose, i'd say. and then we start walking out onto the tarmac and i notice that the bigger white plane isn't what we are headed for: i get to jump from a little cessna! even *better*!!

whereas erica and james got to jump from a large door from the side of the plane, i got to climb out onto the little running board over the wheel, perch there long enough to get positioned to jump, and then ... *jump*! wahoo!

wow. it was the most thrilling experience! doesn't really feel like you're falling so much as floating. well, with a *lot* of wind! very cool.

i jumped from an altitude of about 12,000 feet (it took *forever* to climb to that altitude in that tiny plane). we free fall for about 7,000 feet. then we open the canopy and float down to the ground. did a few tricks. i can't even describe the feeling other than to say it was *awesome*.

oh -- my landing was perfect, by the way. no falling. no face plants. no getting scraped up. not even any getting dirty. :P

it was a great day. after the jump, we were all starved. went and got some good mexican. then went back to erica's house to hang out. i was worn out!! so ... james was kind enough to give me a lovely foot tattoo after i lost consciousness. don't you like it?!!