Onwards and Outwards...

just got back from skydiving. it was... awsome to say the least everyone should try it at least once. i actually did more swearing (apparently i don't scream) the first time i went bungee jumping. first of all the plane you go in is pretty much the smallest plane ever and there's like 12 or 15 people crammed into it on these two benches facing the back where theres a bay door. it takes like 15 minutes to get up to 12,000 feet, and after a while i'm looking out the window going wow that's a long way up and my "instructor" shows me his altemeter and we're only at 6000 ft. then you go up past the clouds. we were the 3rd people to go and you don't really have much of a chance to think about anything, you just shuffle forward on the bench until you're sitting on the floor at the back of the plane with your legs hanging over the edge and the guy was trying to get me to look at the camera so i could have my picture taken (kind of hard to focus with your legs dangling over the clouds) then you just go, do like a summersault over the edge, and your heart leaps, but you get over that pretty quick then its awsome flying through the clouds at several hundered km/h. can't beat the view from up there, too bad it was a cloudy day (although going through the clouds was cool too) then the instructor pulls the parachute and everything slows right down. apparently my instructor was having a slow day and thought it would be funny to loosen the harness a bit without telling me (they do this anyway after the parachute opens so its a bit more comfortable, but usually they warn you first) anyhow he did let me steer for a while so we did cicles over the shore and the feilds of clouds. after we had landed the girl standing taking video told us one of the guys that jumped with you (if you paid extra) and took video had, had his reserve parachute tangle with his other chute and not open, he ended up w/ a punctured lung and various other injuries, but lived to tell about it, and still worked there. glad i didn't hear that story until later. a mermorable christmas at any rate.