Geronimo! (And Don't Panic!)

[Seraph]

Wait, so you went to a total dive for your birthday?

[Jester]

I would be more nervous about your stepdad, jumping can be hard on the body and fragility can sneak up on a person.

Hmm, I hadn't thought about that. And when the chute first opens your body is yanked very hard into the harness. And while Stepdad is in great shape for his age, he is still 80, and is not quite as much of a badass (physically, anyway) as he once was. I will have to discuss that with Stepdad and the skydiving people in Arizona. Thanks for the good pointer.

Wait, so you went to a total dive for your birthday?

Aaaaannnnd the mega mondo bonus points go to Seraph!

Yep, went to the biggest dive I've ever been to. And boy, was I ever let down. Way down. The bottom really fell out of that place.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

Well Jester, that explains why you are so cool. You share your birthday with my baby brother

[AccountingDrone]

Hmm, I hadn't thought about that. And when the chute first opens your body is yanked very hard into the harness. And while Stepdad is in great shape for his age, he is still 80, and is not quite as much of a badass (physically, anyway) as he once was. I will have to discuss that with Stepdad and the skydiving people in Arizona. Thanks for the good pointer.

Back when I did jump school with Don it was explained that it was the equivalent to jumping 10 feet, more or less off the roof of a 1 story house [or out of my old bedroom ] I couldn't jump 2 feet right now without breaking or tearing something.

How about taking him parasailing? Much more gentle on the body. If we end up with an auxiliary boat that is fast enough I might invest in a parasailing rig.

[to be blunt about it, if we had an extra 90K right now, we would be on the road to Pensacola and then down to the keys. Our lender could suck up the last 5 years of mortgage on the damned place.]

[Jester]

Well Jester, that explains why you are so cool. You share your birthday with my baby brother

Well, as your brother knows, June 8th is the greatest birthday on the planet. I mean, besides the fact that we're Geminis, and thus twice as cool as every other Non Twin, we are in the HEART of Gemini, which means, by definition, that we just freakin' rock.

How about taking him parasailing? Much more gentle on the body.

Actually, that is a good idea. But there are two problems with it. First, I am pretty sure he's done that before. Secondly, he lives in the middle of the desert, in a northwestern suburb of Phoenix. Not a big parasailing area.

[Lachrymose]

Yep, went to the biggest dive I've ever been to. And boy, was I ever let down. Way down. The bottom really fell out of that place.

At least you didn't get smashed!

[BroSCFischer]

At least you didn't get smashed!

Well, I don't know that that is necessarily a bad thing in the World O' Jester.

Besides, it sounds like he had a smashing good time.

Happy belated birthday Jester.

SC

[Seraph]

Yep, went to the biggest dive I've ever been to. And boy, was I ever let down. Way down. The bottom really fell out of that place.

Well, now you know for next year...the sky's the limit. Unless you'd rather have a more grounded party.

[AccountingDrone]

Actually, that is a good idea. But there are two problems with it. First, I am pretty sure he's done that before. Secondly, he lives in the middle of the desert, in a northwestern suburb of Phoenix. Not a big parasailing area.

So he needs to visit Key West =)

[Jester]

Well, now you know for next year...the sky's the limit. Unless you'd rather have a more grounded party.

By my next birthday, I may be doing it solo. Seriously.

[Jester]

I've tried several times to post pics from the jump, but every time, I've gotten a "upload failed" message. Hmph.

[Mytical]

You know what they say. "Pics or it didn't happen." *laughs*

[Jester]

I'm trying! I'll try again shortly, as soon as the full video is done uploading for me to send to my friends.

[raw456]

Congrats Jester and Happy Belated Birthday!!

I passed up an opportunity to sky dive when I was in Austria a few years ago. I really wish I had done it now. The guy who did them filmed them and then added your favourite songs over the footage for you.

I would need to get a medical before I considered it again as I have some balance / vertigo issues and tend to pass out at heights (which would put a damper on the whole thing)

Cant wait to see the video

[Jester]

Finally, some photos from the jump!

First off, you knew I was going to wear some kind of ASU shirt, right?

Here's my niece and I, ready to jump. Dragon is unflappable! I mean, do either of us LOOK nervous?

Heading to the airplane...the picture of calm. Nerves? Us? HAH!

That first step's a doozie. Only 14,000 feet straight down. Of course, a split second after that first step, once you're out of the plane's airwash, the air hits you so fast and cold it will wake the dead! Hell, it might even revive Britney Spears' career!

Right before you jump, this is what you see. Not just Texas, but the people who jumped before you falling down towards Texas. Hell of a view, huh?

Plummeting towards the earth at 120 miles an hour. Roller coasters? Child's play!

Deploying the drogue chute. This is a miniature chute that doesn't do much other than slow us down very slightly, so that the videographer can free fall at the same speed as us. Basically, it's the skydiving equivalent of lightly tapping the brakes.

Free fallin'!

I think I can fly. But then, we all know I'm a bit nuts.

Am I having fun? Are you kidding me? This is AWESOME!

Yes, that's my instructor, the man who has my very life in his hands, covering his eyes. Inspires confidence, don't ya think?

Here he's reminding me that I might want to check my altitude if, ya know, I want to live and all.

Deploying the chute. Now THAT'S a hard yank! Good thing I'm a cyclist, and used to things being snug down there!

From way up there, it was a lovely view of Texas. Okay, pastures and farms in the middle of the sticks in Texas, but still quite a view.

Hey, let's do some spiral turns! That was fun.

Sadly, we're almost done.

Coming down to the ground. Well, physically, anyways. As you can probably tell, a lot of my brain and heart are still up there.

Almost down....

Ready for the landing...

Touching down! Naturally I wanted to land on my feet, as everyone does (and as my niece actually got to do, lucky girl), but the decision on feet or slide is totally that of the instructor. And my instructor decided we would slide. Only thing about him I didn't like.

That...was...AWESOME!!!!

They're trying to do the post-jump interview, I'm looking around for Dragon.

They finally got to do the interview. Well, most of it.

It didn't quite get finished, because someone came and gave me a running hug/tackle, almost knocking me over. Who's the coolest uncle ever? THIS guy!

Man, I love this chick! I may be the coolest uncle, but she really is the coolest niece. (Shhh...don't tell the others.)