Off By One

That’s my membership number.

I’m now a certified solo skydiver, with the pin, membership number, certificate (duh!) and a sticker

This is… cool, if you ask me.

For those of you that weren’t actually at the drop zone yesterday, I just completed all of my requirements for solo CSPA certification, which means that I can jump solo anywhere in Canada.

Three good skydives, yesterday.

I’m a happy man. So were Ryan and Fraser and Julian, all of whom had fun first jumps.

All told, a good time was had by all.

So, tomorrow I’m heading out, early in the morning, to get back in the saddle at Eden North.

Anyone want in?

Update

Sadly, no jumping today, as the winds were too strong. Maybe tomorrow, although with rain forecasted all day, I’m not hopeful. Worst case? Next weekend…

With a flutter or two of butterflies in my stomach to keep me company on the way up, it is done! I am now certified to jump solo at the club level, meaning only at Eden North, and I’m a short hop away from being able to solo it anywhere at all.

I also flew through a cloud once I was under canopy. Which was pretty cool.

So sorry about having dropped from the face of the earth for a week, folks. I know my readership isn’t huge, but i suspect at least one or two people missed me

So, here’s the scoop: The downtime resulted from Char and I moving, and shaw not moving as fast as we did, due to some wiring issues. I spent tuesday to today with no net access, which meant no mailserver, no webserver, etc. Very crappy. And, as i’m sure you can all imagine, also very jitter-inducing.

So, an update. Leaving aside private events that have kept me off-radar a bit of late, here’s what’s new:

We’re moved! Yay! The new house is coming together nicely, and i’d like to make a very public nod to Char, who has worked tirelessly to make the new place look like the home it’s going to be for the foreseeable future. The house looks nicer every time she puts something in place. Another nod that is not only necessary but huge is to Simon; without his help, there is no way the place would have been done on time. Bro, i owe you more than i can repay for your help, thank you again and again - i don’t know what we would have done without the time, effort, and general awesomeness you displayed getting this together for us.

Also new and notable, i’ve now skydived. I wasn’t really aware of the distinction, but … i sure as hell am now. There’s something very different about stepping out of a plane 3.5 km above the earth, even with two very professional and very kind instructors on my two sides, taking a breath at my own pace, looking out at the horizon, and with total awareness of what i’m doing and how, letting go and starting a free fall for 40 seconds, reaching terminal velocity as i fall. After 3000 feet falling, i had time to just look. And feel. And fly. The little hop we did in the training/first jump just doesn’t count, after that. Why even bother? A memorable t-shirt quote dad forwarded to me: “The meek shall inherit the earth. We own the sky.” This is how i feel. I will do this again, no doubt in my mind at all.

Last but not least, in 3 days, i go back to school. Year 2. Damn, i so look forward to this…

Holy. shit. what. a. rush.

When i woke up this morning, i could barely move out of bed. Lifting myself - against the burden of gravity - seemed to be too much effort to contemplate. Simon called at about 7, 4 hrs after i went to sleep, letting Dad and i know that he had made it, and less than 20 minutes later, we were off.

Off where, you ask?

Well, about 30 min west of Edmonton, there’s a place called Eden North. Wonderful place, as the name suggests, and i am more than a bit pleased with the day i spent there - tired, or no.

What did i do there, you ask?

Um… I broke Chris’ first law, that’s what. “Gravity Sucks.”

Now revised.

Moving the rest of those laws up the line, i have now purged the old law number 1 from the books. How can i say that gravity is my enemy, when i just heaved myself into its jaws and fell a kilometer from a plane to the ground below. What can i really say about it?

There is nothing, nothing at all, quite like looking up at the wing, hearing “go!” and opening my hands and watching the plane move forward… and up away from me. Seconds later, feeling the jerk as the nylon deploys above me, and i look down through a kilometer of empty air to the ground below.

What a rush. What else can i say?