intellectual properties

the past 36 hours

when you’ve been blogging as long as i have, you get in the habit of wanting to write everything down as soon as you think of or become aware of it, and sometimes it gets really hard to not blog about things, especially really important, exciting, possibly life-changing and also possibly life-ending things.

36 hours ago (10:00 a.m. 10/1/05), i jumped out of a plane.

Skydiving Photos: 10/01/05
(these are jay’s on-the-ground photos. the photos that the cameramen took mid-air are soon to be developed)

for at least the past MONTH a group of my friends have been planning this for my birthday and for my friend justin’s birthday. justin’s girlfriend heidi wanted to keep it a secret from him. we’d all discussed going before, so we knew he wanted to, and surprise birthday parties are fun, even when you’re turning 25 like he did. justin has been our friend for about 6 years and we’ve done lots of crazy things together, and keeping it a surprise for him sounded like a great idea.

but man was it difficult. we all went out on tuesday for his actual birthday and it was really hard to not talk about our upcoming adventure in front of him, but we managed. i blogged about it on my tribe blog but had to avoid mentioning it here or on any of the evites that went out for our birthday gatherings. he had only a sort of vague idea of why we were all doing up so early and going to the central valley for until they pulled into the parking lot of the airport.

i had trouble sleeping friday night, not necessarily because i was scared of skydiving but because i get nervous that i’ll oversleep and we had to leave here at about 6:20 a.m. to be there on time for the orientation training. we were up before dawn saturday, and not only had to prepare for the skydiving trip but we also were going to Harbin Hot Springs for the rest of the weekend and had to get all our camping/hot springing gear into the car.

after a grumpy start, we headed to davis at about 6:50 a.m. the sun rose to the east with a weird light, dimmed by dark clouds of fog. our san francisco dwelling friends were having trouble getting out of the city because they are taking apart the bay bridge right now and rerouting all traffic through downtown. so it took them about an hour to get on and over the bridge, which meant we were all a little late, as we were to be there at 8:00 if we wanted to jump before another large group that was arriving. knowing we were at least ahead of the SF crew we didn’t rush like crazy to get there before 8. heidi, however, broke 100 mph more than once after they got over the bridge and the arrived less than 10 minutes after we did. jack and justin were pretty sure skydiving would be safer than doing 110 in heidi’s SUV on 80 East. the scary part of their morning was already over.

there were 11 in our group and most of us were pretty bleary eyed yet excited. there was still a chill in the air and the fog hadn’t left the coast, but it was warming up as the sun rose we took a little training during which an australian flight instructor showed us how all the gear works and told us what things not to do if we didn’t want to die, in those exact words. me jay and ivan volunteered to jump first.

i couldn’t wait. getting suited up i was so excited, and my nice south african tandem partner was funny and i knew we were going to have a good time. the harness was tight around my thighs and sort of uncomfortable, but it felt good. a red and yellow plane was parked out on the runway of Yolo County Airport , and the three of us, our tandem partners, and 3 cameramen boarded. the small plane was fairly new and specially designed for skydiving. two leather padded benches awaited us, and we straddled them, stacked and hooked together two by two.

the plane climbed quickly, was loud, and windy, and the air grew colder and thinner. my tandem partner tightened our harnesses and we discussed some last minute details. you have the option of pulling the ripcord yourself, but i decided not to. i just wanted to fall, not worry about how far how fast. everyone on the plane gave each other high fives, and at 13,000 feet they opened the clear door, and the cameramen jumped out and held onto the side of the plane, waiting for the tandem pair they would fall with and film. ivan was the first of the three of us to go, and then jay. as he fell out i briefly had a moment of “ohmygod my boyfriend just jumped out of the plane”, but then it was my turn. i was strapped tightly on to the front side of my tandem partner, and we scooted up the bench and then sat on the edge, out legs dangling. i put my head back onto his shoulder, arched my back, and closed my eyes.

the initial drop brought my stomach to my throat, not out of fear but out of sheer force of gravity. it was a bit disorienting and then we suddenly came into freefall position and i saw the ground. i honestly had no fear. i was enjoying every second of that surreal feeling, of the wind and the sky and the utter weightlessness. the free fall was about 60 seconds, which is definitely long enough to fully feel and register what is going on, and it was exhilarating. the camera guy swooped right down in front of us and began making funny faces and gestures, the cameras (dvd and film) strapped to his head. i had permagrin and waved and smiled and laughed while falling at 120 mph.

at 5,500 feet he pulled the chute, and we were yanked up. suddenly, the world was still and calm and we were floating, silently through the sky. i took off the uncomfortable plastic goggles and chatted with my tandem partner. mount diablo rose to the south, the farmland lay a patchwork quilt of shades of brown and green below, and the sun shone warmly to the east. before we’d even hit the ground i wanted to go again.

we came in to land slowly and under control, and before i knew it my butt hit the ground. the camera guy ran up to get my first impressions, and all i could say was “i want to go again.” my whole body was more awake than it as ever been in my entire life, and the beauty of what i’d just experienced was breathtaking. our friends greeted us eagerly, wanting to know how it was.

it took over an hour for everyone in our group to go up and come back down, and the day heated up as we stood in the yard, watching new people arrive excited to jump. of course jay and i eventually pulled the hoops out of the car and we entertained our selves for a while with those as we waited for all the photos and dvds etcetera. we all left smiling and energized and agreeing to do it again. soon.

later that afternoon after getting some lunch (at Chick-Fil-A in a MALL, for some ungodly reason i don’t even want to go into. southerners.) jay and drove through napa to harbin, where it was a bit overcast but the perfect place to wind down, spending the evening and all day today with our friend matt (who handmade me the prettiest pink blown-glass lamp) wandering the retreat grounds, interacting with the wildlife (the cutest little black deer, a flock of wild turkeys, gray squirrels and house cats) and soaking in the mineral pools. the sky cleared up the afternoon today and we lounged and swam and finally made our way back through wine country toward home.

i honestly do feel like every year my life gets better, and with a beginning like this to my 30th year on this planet, i’d say i have a lot to look forward to. this was also my 8th birthday that i’ve spent with jay, and knowing that i have all those things to look forward to with him makes it all even better.

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