I just got home from a fabulous late birthday dinner with Margaret and Jen. We started at No Mas in Castleberry and went over to Pearl on Peters Street for some great seafood. It is always lovely spending time with those two and it is really the first time that it started to sink in that I am leaving. Jen mentioned that she is a little sad, and they both offered to throw a going away party for me. Save the Date: Sunday, July 15th.
So, now I am sad.
I did have a potential buyer come see my condo today and Ashley heard from the agent that an offer would be in by morning. Great news, non? Except if it goes through, they will want to take possession by the end of JUNE! Which puts me back into the same position I was in a month ago.
I just reserved my ABF U-Move Relocube for July 23rd. I wonder if I will have to change it.
On the US Citizenship test front -- I took a test right after my last post and only got a 60%. Sad, huh? I have taken a few other tests and did a little better, but will continue to study. I'll keep you in the know.
I'm still sad.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Memorial Day is for BBQ!
Last night, I attended the first reading of Tom Thumb the Great, Margaret's new script at KSU. I got there right before the reading was to begin and sat in the front row since there were very few seats left. I was eavesdropping on a conversation between 2 little girls that was just too cute. A moment later the girl sitting next to looked at me and said that the first row was reserved for kids only. I apologized and said there were few other seats, but if a child comes in that I would gladly move. She pointed to a seat a few rows back and pretty much asked me to move there. Her parents stepped in and I was "allowed" to stay. I then said that I was a very big kid and she guessed that I was 10! Gosh, I still got it!
Afterwards, I went to Patti and Steve's house for a holiday BBQ. They ordered yummy pulled pork, chicken and brisket from a new joint. They mentioned that the BBQ place they used for their last gathering was run by 2 Jewish guys. Steve's buddy, Johnny called that Hebbq. Get it? Heb-B-Q! That got quite a laugh. We were sitting in some big plastic chairs in a circle on not so even ground. Quickly, we ran out of seats and Patti grabbed a smaller, less sturdy chair. I bet you know what's coming...
Patti went over sideways on her chair and fell backwards. Her wine in her cup in her hand spilled to the side -- and luckily that was the only casuality. I do have to say that Patti French is one graceful chick. The fall was beatiful, I do think I will be able to perform The Patti Tumble on request. But you must ask nicely.
This is all to prove my point that this post was supposed to be about Memorial Day and it takes me 3 paragraphs to get to the history lesson. I think it's time to put down the beer and come out of the pool and remember what this holiday is about. We are lucky to be safe, educated and surrounded by abundance. I know that our country is not perfect -- and our political system certainly needs a little work, however I don't think most people I know could pass an American naturalization test. I am going to buff up on my history and take the test a month from today. Any body in?
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War. While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.
Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.
There are a few notable exceptions. Since the late 50's on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing. In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day. More recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye's Heights (the Luminaria Program). And in 2004, Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years.
To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."
The Moment of Remembrance is a step in the right direction to returning the meaning back to the day. What is needed is a full return to the original day of observance. Set aside one day out of the year for the nation to get together to remember, reflect and honor those who have given their all in service to their country.
But what may be needed to return the solemn, and even sacred, spirit back to Memorial Day is for a return to its traditional day of observance. Many feel that when Congress made the day into a three-day weekend in with the National Holiday Act of 1971, it made it all the easier for people to be distracted from the spirit and meaning of the day. As the VFW stated in its 2002 Memorial Day address: "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day."
Afterwards, I went to Patti and Steve's house for a holiday BBQ. They ordered yummy pulled pork, chicken and brisket from a new joint. They mentioned that the BBQ place they used for their last gathering was run by 2 Jewish guys. Steve's buddy, Johnny called that Hebbq. Get it? Heb-B-Q! That got quite a laugh. We were sitting in some big plastic chairs in a circle on not so even ground. Quickly, we ran out of seats and Patti grabbed a smaller, less sturdy chair. I bet you know what's coming...
Patti went over sideways on her chair and fell backwards. Her wine in her cup in her hand spilled to the side -- and luckily that was the only casuality. I do have to say that Patti French is one graceful chick. The fall was beatiful, I do think I will be able to perform The Patti Tumble on request. But you must ask nicely.
This is all to prove my point that this post was supposed to be about Memorial Day and it takes me 3 paragraphs to get to the history lesson. I think it's time to put down the beer and come out of the pool and remember what this holiday is about. We are lucky to be safe, educated and surrounded by abundance. I know that our country is not perfect -- and our political system certainly needs a little work, however I don't think most people I know could pass an American naturalization test. I am going to buff up on my history and take the test a month from today. Any body in?
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War. While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.
Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.
There are a few notable exceptions. Since the late 50's on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing. In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day. More recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye's Heights (the Luminaria Program). And in 2004, Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years.
To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."
The Moment of Remembrance is a step in the right direction to returning the meaning back to the day. What is needed is a full return to the original day of observance. Set aside one day out of the year for the nation to get together to remember, reflect and honor those who have given their all in service to their country.
But what may be needed to return the solemn, and even sacred, spirit back to Memorial Day is for a return to its traditional day of observance. Many feel that when Congress made the day into a three-day weekend in with the National Holiday Act of 1971, it made it all the easier for people to be distracted from the spirit and meaning of the day. As the VFW stated in its 2002 Memorial Day address: "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day."
Monday, May 21, 2007
Monday, Monday
Once again on my patio with no kitties in site. I think I need a drink -- hold on -- okay, I made a vodka gimlet with some old Rose's lime juice and grabbed some brunch leftovers from yesterday. Fresh mozzarella and tomato salad and some cheese grits. Yummy! Of course Maximillan had to stick his little nose in there somewhere. :)
I had an epiphany the other day and decided that I just need to start making plans for my move and everything else will fall into place. Since that call to universe I have cleaned my condo and had 2 appointments for viewing TODAY. How cool is that??!!
So, now when people ask me when I leave, I say "the end of July." I will either be using a door to door shipper like Sarah did or follow Jasson and Andrea's lead and hire movers. Either way, I will be driving my car with my father and my cats.
I decided NOT to stress about housing in Davis. I have some great offers from friends of friends to scout out apartments and once I hear about the cute cottage on University, I will either have someone stop by J Street or ask for my deposit back and try something else. I am really not worried.
Other than that things have been very quiet. Okay, maybe not too quiet. Saturday morning I got up early to head to Markie's for the annual yard sale. I got there around 7 and stayed until about 9:40AM since I had to be at Souper Jenny's at 10AM. After work on Saturday, I went to a weddin'! Bobby Box from the Center for Puppetry Arts got married to his partner, Graham in the back of the Center. The ceremony was beautiful and I was able to catch up a little with my Anne Frank cronies. The scary thing is that I got home around 8PM, peeked at the West Elm catalogue and was asleep by 8:30PM. Kinda weird, huh?
I slept straight through until 6:30AM on Sunday and did a bit of house clean-up. Since I had that bout of vertigo earlier in the week, I think my body just needed a bit of rest and relaxation.
I got out of Souper Jenny a little early yesterday. Since the final performance of Synchronicity's Miss Nelson is Missing was on a waiting list I went to see Merrideth's kid show -- Bedwetter's Anonymous. I am very proud of that gal. She put in so much time, effort and love and the performance was really great. Jenny and Jonah sat behind me and it was so great watching Jonah's wide eyes at all of the sangin' and a-dancin'. Afterwards, I stopped home to change my stinky shirt and stopped by Markie's to get my plastic tubs and my $44 that I made in the sale. I started looking through the truck with the stuff that was going to Goodwill. I had to stop since I really need to continue to unload and not take in any more crap. Then I drove to Jen's house where I was promptly told to take off my shoes by the naked Mr. Jonah. We played with the treehouse and then I took out the beginnings of my grits and tomato & mozz salad and joined Jenn in a glass of wine. Her backyard is equally enjoyable as mine. Okay, maybe hers is a little cooler. Mine, however, is nice and private. Just for me.
Rachel Miller arrived to watch Jonah and Jenn & I went to see Black Book at Tara. The movie was excellent. The acting was very good and you can never get too many stories out of that crazy WWII. Really. I think we are going to be making movies and writing books for many years to come.
I am supposed to meet Chris, Angela and Suehyla at The Angel in Decatur in 30 minutes, so I guess I should finish up my cocktail, get out of my grubby t-shirt and get on the road...
I had an epiphany the other day and decided that I just need to start making plans for my move and everything else will fall into place. Since that call to universe I have cleaned my condo and had 2 appointments for viewing TODAY. How cool is that??!!
So, now when people ask me when I leave, I say "the end of July." I will either be using a door to door shipper like Sarah did or follow Jasson and Andrea's lead and hire movers. Either way, I will be driving my car with my father and my cats.
I decided NOT to stress about housing in Davis. I have some great offers from friends of friends to scout out apartments and once I hear about the cute cottage on University, I will either have someone stop by J Street or ask for my deposit back and try something else. I am really not worried.
Other than that things have been very quiet. Okay, maybe not too quiet. Saturday morning I got up early to head to Markie's for the annual yard sale. I got there around 7 and stayed until about 9:40AM since I had to be at Souper Jenny's at 10AM. After work on Saturday, I went to a weddin'! Bobby Box from the Center for Puppetry Arts got married to his partner, Graham in the back of the Center. The ceremony was beautiful and I was able to catch up a little with my Anne Frank cronies. The scary thing is that I got home around 8PM, peeked at the West Elm catalogue and was asleep by 8:30PM. Kinda weird, huh?
I slept straight through until 6:30AM on Sunday and did a bit of house clean-up. Since I had that bout of vertigo earlier in the week, I think my body just needed a bit of rest and relaxation.
I got out of Souper Jenny a little early yesterday. Since the final performance of Synchronicity's Miss Nelson is Missing was on a waiting list I went to see Merrideth's kid show -- Bedwetter's Anonymous. I am very proud of that gal. She put in so much time, effort and love and the performance was really great. Jenny and Jonah sat behind me and it was so great watching Jonah's wide eyes at all of the sangin' and a-dancin'. Afterwards, I stopped home to change my stinky shirt and stopped by Markie's to get my plastic tubs and my $44 that I made in the sale. I started looking through the truck with the stuff that was going to Goodwill. I had to stop since I really need to continue to unload and not take in any more crap. Then I drove to Jen's house where I was promptly told to take off my shoes by the naked Mr. Jonah. We played with the treehouse and then I took out the beginnings of my grits and tomato & mozz salad and joined Jenn in a glass of wine. Her backyard is equally enjoyable as mine. Okay, maybe hers is a little cooler. Mine, however, is nice and private. Just for me.
Rachel Miller arrived to watch Jonah and Jenn & I went to see Black Book at Tara. The movie was excellent. The acting was very good and you can never get too many stories out of that crazy WWII. Really. I think we are going to be making movies and writing books for many years to come.
I am supposed to meet Chris, Angela and Suehyla at The Angel in Decatur in 30 minutes, so I guess I should finish up my cocktail, get out of my grubby t-shirt and get on the road...
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Back to the daily hums
Back on my patio with Lincoln lying patiently at the foot of the lounge chair. My plants on the ledge below are looking pretty good. After my conversation with Freddie Ashley, I realized that I cannot keep houseplants alive, but I am
doing okay with the outdoor ones. Merrideth gave me a Starbuck's gift card for my b-day, but also included a little pack of flowers for my new digs. I hope I have a place to plant them.I did a little bit of craigslist searching yesterday and found a very cute little one bedroom cottage right in Central Davis. There are 5 units and this one is available in June. I truly hope one comes available in August. I have yet to hear from the dippies at J Street and I am getting a very good vibe from this one. Cross your fingers that this will work out.
I also heard from the contact person at Today Management -- my condo association folks. I really want to rip her throat out. Gosh, am I that violent? But she finally responded to my requests from LAST THURSDAY! She said that an inspector will be looking at the list sometime this week, however honestly she feels that most of the requests are ridiculous. Um, this is where the desire to rip her throat out comes from.
Anyway, I am in the process of doing all of the repairs from my end. The HVAC is in working order and I just had a sheetrock guy come and look at my ceiling and wall in the living room and a little break in my office window. There are other little fixes that I hope to complete myself -- with the help of Erin Haas. Um, I guess I should call her first before announcing it to the world.
As soon as all is fixed, it looks like Ashley will have another caravan and I hope to get another buyer shortly afterwards. I am trying not to get nervous that I will leave without selling. At least there is activity on the housing side.
The moving side of things is a little more static. Right now I am leaning towards one of those Door to Door shippers and driving my car with my Dad and my two cats. Anne Ehlers put one in for the cross country drive. I have never done it and it may be a good experience to do it now.
I have started to do a bit of research on syllabi for intermediate acting classes and I am very excited about the possibility of teaching it this August. If any of you actors or acting teachers have any advice on warm-ups, texts or scripts, please let me know.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Come on and JUMP!
Saturday afternoon, sitting on my fantastic patio with Lincoln. I am sure that Maxie will follow shortly. I worked a good Saturday at Souper Jenny, but I have to say that I am still recovering from yesterday's excitement.
I arrived at the shop yesterday around 8:45AM and did some last minute cleaning of my car. I got a good car wash on Thursday, but needed to move some bins to the trunk. Since there were 7 of us we needed to take 2 cars and I offered mine. When I walked inside, everyone was wearing very fun sunglasses and bagels and hamantashen were out on the table. Jen asked if I wanted a bagel and I said, "absolutely not!" There was no way I was going to eat anything -- especially if we were going skydiving. A few minutes later Jen gave me a birthday card and my assumptions were confirmed. We were talking a little trip up 75 to The Georgia Skydiving Center.
The funny thing is I was not nervous AT ALL. I was very excited and thought that if there was one way to enjoy this whole throwing yourself out of a plane business, it was having loving friends cheering every step of the way. The biggest shocker is that the only person from the shop joining me in the jump was Rachel Miller. Marcie really wanted to but since she's in a show and rehearsing for 2, she took the responsible route. As she said later in the day, no one really wants Ann Carol Pence screaming at you if there was a minor accident. Nevin also wanted to go, but for some reasons around the purchase of his house and his wife's apprehension, he decided to pass THIS TIME! Jenny, Aimee and Jessica were also in tow, and were very adamant about hanging out on the patio out back and leading the cheering section. They had absolutely no desire to make the jump.
After we watched a short video with a dude straight out of ZZ Top explaining the legal jargon, Rachel and I signed our lives away and headed to the back deck to wait our turn. We watched the first group walk to the plane and then heard the plane above and searched the sky for the parachutes. The landings were incredible. The experienced jumpers came down first and did these uber fast, very impressive landings. There was one guy who went a little out of control and almost crashed into the cars in the parking lot. The other guys on the ground said things similar to "dude, that's not good." Then the photographers came down with video cameras on their heads, shortly followed by the tandem jumpers. Each of those pairs slid on their asses. The first guy in yellow just didn't get up. His instructor gathered up the parachute and just LEFT HIM in the field. I thought, "how rude is that!" until I heard the instructor muttering something about the guy throwing up on him as he walked back inside. I told my mother this yesterday and she could not stop laughing.
Soon after we started getting our "calls" over the PA system. "Jump 2 will be leaving in 20 minutes." I almost instinctively said, "thank you 20," but I think I started getting some nervous energy. When our time finally came I walked inside with my little red purse and my instructor, Chuck called my name and said "stand there." So I just stopped where I was and handed off my purse to someone -- Aimee maybe? Heck if I remember. But all of a sudden I realized I should probably go to the bathroom one more time. In the bathroom were signs for The Jumping 4 Jesus Cafe, which would have certainly made me laugh out loud in different circumstances. When I came out of the bathroom I walked over to Chuck who put me in my harness. And that was it. No instruction, no nothing, he just said we would be leaving in a few minutes.
Running around in my harness (nervous energy again, folks) I walked over to Rachel and her dude, Noah who was giving her a bit more instruction. They walked through the position for exiting the plane. Kinda nice to hear, don'tcha think?!!?? I am glad I saw that, but when the time came, I am not sure I followed those directions anyway.
It was finally time to head out to the plane and I followed Chuck and my fancy photographer/videographer, Jessica started the interview process. I was SKIPPING and being pretty silly (um, more nervous energy) and I may have gotten a bit more instruction, but again my guy was not the most communicative. Not that I really cared because I probably would have just intellectualized it anyway.
We took off without major fanfare. Rachel was nervous to look out the door, but surprisingly enough it did not bother me. The photo above is just before I was strapped to Chuck. We were attached at each should
er and each hip.
Two experienced jumpers got out at an earlier altitude. They literally tossed themselves from the plane. This was the moment it started to click that this was really happening and I would soon be flinging myself out of an airplane.
And then we increased our altitude. Rachel and I, plus Chuck and Noah climbed to 14,000 feet. Yup, 14,000 feet. No joke people! Every so often I glanced at Chuck's altitude gauge that was around his wrist. He gave me a play by play, even though I really didn't want to hear it. We were soon connected and Chuck pretty much lifted me up and scooted me on my butt to the front of the bench by the door. Before I knew it Jessica was out of the plane and Chuck and I were squatting by the door. It all happened so fast -- too fast for me to recognize what was really happening. That's probably a good thing.
This is the first picture out of the plane. If you can see my face -- it's the only shot that shows pure terror. It's that feeling you get at the top of a rollercoaster right as you are ready to drop. For this split second, the only thing that went through my head was what a mistake I made. I couldn't believe how stupid I was and hoped there was a way for me to get back in the plane that instant! I quickly realized that there was only going to be 40-60 seconds of this freefall and I would never again experience anything like it. I should figure out some way to enjoy it. Chuck tapped me on the shoulder and pointed up and Jessica was right in front of us snapping away. She quickly moved UNDERNEATH us and then the posing began. The coolest thing is she was snapping the photos with a plunger in her MOUTH! Freefall did feel like forever and if I did
have the brainspace to even think about the video archiving I probably could have come up with more interesting poses.
Jessica tried to get me to hold her hand at one point and in the video you see me shaking my head "no." As you can see Chuck was checking the altitude. Without warning, however he pulled the parachute cord and we went flying UP. It was a quick jerk and a bit frightening. I immediately held on to the harness, and apparently I had my hands up too high and Chuck asked me to move them down for fear of interfering with his controls -- um, whatever! Here comes the only potentially
sexual moment of the day. Chuck then reached around me and as he said, "loosened my harness for comfort." As I told this part of the story this morning to Aimee and Eric -- Geoff Melkonian stopped delivering his Breadwinner Breads and started playing porn music on his air guitar. It was comical, but not really accurate accompaniment.
When the parachute fully opened, all of a sudden it was so quiet and calm. The chill I felt falling to my death was gone. Noah and Chuck joked in the plane about the feeling of going freefall. When Rachel asked what it would be like Noah started by saying it was very loud and your ears would be bleeding by the time we got to the ground. Rachel in her nervou
sness quickly replied, "really?" and they said no and went into a more plausible story of saying it was just like the sound of sticking your head out of a moving car. And I added, "except not really." Then they kept this one going by adding the differences in speed and direction. I could see Rachel getting a bit more uncomfortable. She decided to practice her exit position, for good measure.
The ease of drifting down towards the Earth was interrupted by Chuck doing these spins around and around which would have gotten me a little dizzy if we were at an amusement park. I think my adreneline got me through that one. Chuck told me to look up and I promptly said no. He requested again and asked if I would like to see what the parachute looked like open. I did finally look up and saw this wide expanse of purple and green in the shining sun. It was beautiful, the scenery was amazing and I couldn't believe that I actually went through with it. Chuck pointed to our mark and I realized that we would soon be on the ground. This was the perfect time for Chuck to mention the landing. Um, yeah, I guess this is as good a time as any! He told me to lift my knees and wait for the instruction upon landing. He also said that we would be sliding in on our butts. And my immediate response was "no way!" There was no way that I was going to slide in on my ass. I saw the other tandem teams do it and it looked so clumsy. The solo jumpers elegantly ran in and I at least wanted to walk. Chuck said that the butt way was the traditional way of doing it, but to follow his lead and if we could walk in that would be bonus. He also mentioned that it may seem that we would be coming in very fast, but I needed to trust him. "Dude, I trust you with my life," I promptly responded. As we approached the field I heard
the crowd from Souper Jenny (Jenny, Marcie, Nevin, Aimee and Jessica) cheering and jumping up and down on the patio. The photographer Jessica was already down and filming our glorious landing. As you can see I waited until Chuck's feet were down until I put mine down. A very elegant landing, indeed.
After watching Rachel come in and running over to her -- and quite a series of high fives, I joined the group and (there's no other way to say this) verbally vomited the experience to the group. We finally went inside and I gave the harness back to Chuck where he immediately placed it on some guy in the third group. We waited about 20 minutes for our photos and videos and as I was coming down from this amazing high, I started getting very nauseated. I had not eaten anything and I only had about 4 oz. of water. At the gas station on the way back to Atlanta, Aimee gave me a dramamine and I was pretty out of it for the rest of the day.
We stopped at the shop and had lunch on the patio and watched the parade of people coming up to the door and realizing we were closed for the day.
Upon arrival at home I took a nap on the couch and once I woke responded to birthday calls from Sandra Benton and Erin Haas. I spoke to my parents and my brother and started emailing pictures of the adventure. I also posted a pic on the secrethideout. I was in bed reading Dreamland by Kevin Baker by 10:30PM. I heard my phone ring around midnight. Rachel and Daniel May had called and were the last ones of the day to sing a lovely rendition of Happy Birthday.
I cannot thank Jenny enough for her amazing generosity and Marcie for her careful and diligent planning skills -- as well as the rest of the gang and quite a few customers who supported the adventure.
I wonder when I am going to swim with the dolphins...
I arrived at the shop yesterday around 8:45AM and did some last minute cleaning of my car. I got a good car wash on Thursday, but needed to move some bins to the trunk. Since there were 7 of us we needed to take 2 cars and I offered mine. When I walked inside, everyone was wearing very fun sunglasses and bagels and hamantashen were out on the table. Jen asked if I wanted a bagel and I said, "absolutely not!" There was no way I was going to eat anything -- especially if we were going skydiving. A few minutes later Jen gave me a birthday card and my assumptions were confirmed. We were talking a little trip up 75 to The Georgia Skydiving Center.
The funny thing is I was not nervous AT ALL. I was very excited and thought that if there was one way to enjoy this whole throwing yourself out of a plane business, it was having loving friends cheering every step of the way. The biggest shocker is that the only person from the shop joining me in the jump was Rachel Miller. Marcie really wanted to but since she's in a show and rehearsing for 2, she took the responsible route. As she said later in the day, no one really wants Ann Carol Pence screaming at you if there was a minor accident. Nevin also wanted to go, but for some reasons around the purchase of his house and his wife's apprehension, he decided to pass THIS TIME! Jenny, Aimee and Jessica were also in tow, and were very adamant about hanging out on the patio out back and leading the cheering section. They had absolutely no desire to make the jump.
After we watched a short video with a dude straight out of ZZ Top explaining the legal jargon, Rachel and I signed our lives away and headed to the back deck to wait our turn. We watched the first group walk to the plane and then heard the plane above and searched the sky for the parachutes. The landings were incredible. The experienced jumpers came down first and did these uber fast, very impressive landings. There was one guy who went a little out of control and almost crashed into the cars in the parking lot. The other guys on the ground said things similar to "dude, that's not good." Then the photographers came down with video cameras on their heads, shortly followed by the tandem jumpers. Each of those pairs slid on their asses. The first guy in yellow just didn't get up. His instructor gathered up the parachute and just LEFT HIM in the field. I thought, "how rude is that!" until I heard the instructor muttering something about the guy throwing up on him as he walked back inside. I told my mother this yesterday and she could not stop laughing.
Soon after we started getting our "calls" over the PA system. "Jump 2 will be leaving in 20 minutes." I almost instinctively said, "thank you 20," but I think I started getting some nervous energy. When our time finally came I walked inside with my little red purse and my instructor, Chuck called my name and said "stand there." So I just stopped where I was and handed off my purse to someone -- Aimee maybe? Heck if I remember. But all of a sudden I realized I should probably go to the bathroom one more time. In the bathroom were signs for The Jumping 4 Jesus Cafe, which would have certainly made me laugh out loud in different circumstances. When I came out of the bathroom I walked over to Chuck who put me in my harness. And that was it. No instruction, no nothing, he just said we would be leaving in a few minutes.
Running around in my harness (nervous energy again, folks) I walked over to Rachel and her dude, Noah who was giving her a bit more instruction. They walked through the position for exiting the plane. Kinda nice to hear, don'tcha think?!!?? I am glad I saw that, but when the time came, I am not sure I followed those directions anyway.
It was finally time to head out to the plane and I followed Chuck and my fancy photographer/videographer, Jessica started the interview process. I was SKIPPING and being pretty silly (um, more nervous energy) and I may have gotten a bit more instruction, but again my guy was not the most communicative. Not that I really cared because I probably would have just intellectualized it anyway.
We took off without major fanfare. Rachel was nervous to look out the door, but surprisingly enough it did not bother me. The photo above is just before I was strapped to Chuck. We were attached at each should
er and each hip.Two experienced jumpers got out at an earlier altitude. They literally tossed themselves from the plane. This was the moment it started to click that this was really happening and I would soon be flinging myself out of an airplane.
And then we increased our altitude. Rachel and I, plus Chuck and Noah climbed to 14,000 feet. Yup, 14,000 feet. No joke people! Every so often I glanced at Chuck's altitude gauge that was around his wrist. He gave me a play by play, even though I really didn't want to hear it. We were soon connected and Chuck pretty much lifted me up and scooted me on my butt to the front of the bench by the door. Before I knew it Jessica was out of the plane and Chuck and I were squatting by the door. It all happened so fast -- too fast for me to recognize what was really happening. That's probably a good thing.
This is the first picture out of the plane. If you can see my face -- it's the only shot that shows pure terror. It's that feeling you get at the top of a rollercoaster right as you are ready to drop. For this split second, the only thing that went through my head was what a mistake I made. I couldn't believe how stupid I was and hoped there was a way for me to get back in the plane that instant! I quickly realized that there was only going to be 40-60 seconds of this freefall and I would never again experience anything like it. I should figure out some way to enjoy it. Chuck tapped me on the shoulder and pointed up and Jessica was right in front of us snapping away. She quickly moved UNDERNEATH us and then the posing began. The coolest thing is she was snapping the photos with a plunger in her MOUTH! Freefall did feel like forever and if I did
have the brainspace to even think about the video archiving I probably could have come up with more interesting poses. Jessica tried to get me to hold her hand at one point and in the video you see me shaking my head "no." As you can see Chuck was checking the altitude. Without warning, however he pulled the parachute cord and we went flying UP. It was a quick jerk and a bit frightening. I immediately held on to the harness, and apparently I had my hands up too high and Chuck asked me to move them down for fear of interfering with his controls -- um, whatever! Here comes the only potentially
sexual moment of the day. Chuck then reached around me and as he said, "loosened my harness for comfort." As I told this part of the story this morning to Aimee and Eric -- Geoff Melkonian stopped delivering his Breadwinner Breads and started playing porn music on his air guitar. It was comical, but not really accurate accompaniment.When the parachute fully opened, all of a sudden it was so quiet and calm. The chill I felt falling to my death was gone. Noah and Chuck joked in the plane about the feeling of going freefall. When Rachel asked what it would be like Noah started by saying it was very loud and your ears would be bleeding by the time we got to the ground. Rachel in her nervou
sness quickly replied, "really?" and they said no and went into a more plausible story of saying it was just like the sound of sticking your head out of a moving car. And I added, "except not really." Then they kept this one going by adding the differences in speed and direction. I could see Rachel getting a bit more uncomfortable. She decided to practice her exit position, for good measure.The ease of drifting down towards the Earth was interrupted by Chuck doing these spins around and around which would have gotten me a little dizzy if we were at an amusement park. I think my adreneline got me through that one. Chuck told me to look up and I promptly said no. He requested again and asked if I would like to see what the parachute looked like open. I did finally look up and saw this wide expanse of purple and green in the shining sun. It was beautiful, the scenery was amazing and I couldn't believe that I actually went through with it. Chuck pointed to our mark and I realized that we would soon be on the ground. This was the perfect time for Chuck to mention the landing. Um, yeah, I guess this is as good a time as any! He told me to lift my knees and wait for the instruction upon landing. He also said that we would be sliding in on our butts. And my immediate response was "no way!" There was no way that I was going to slide in on my ass. I saw the other tandem teams do it and it looked so clumsy. The solo jumpers elegantly ran in and I at least wanted to walk. Chuck said that the butt way was the traditional way of doing it, but to follow his lead and if we could walk in that would be bonus. He also mentioned that it may seem that we would be coming in very fast, but I needed to trust him. "Dude, I trust you with my life," I promptly responded. As we approached the field I heard
the crowd from Souper Jenny (Jenny, Marcie, Nevin, Aimee and Jessica) cheering and jumping up and down on the patio. The photographer Jessica was already down and filming our glorious landing. As you can see I waited until Chuck's feet were down until I put mine down. A very elegant landing, indeed.After watching Rachel come in and running over to her -- and quite a series of high fives, I joined the group and (there's no other way to say this) verbally vomited the experience to the group. We finally went inside and I gave the harness back to Chuck where he immediately placed it on some guy in the third group. We waited about 20 minutes for our photos and videos and as I was coming down from this amazing high, I started getting very nauseated. I had not eaten anything and I only had about 4 oz. of water. At the gas station on the way back to Atlanta, Aimee gave me a dramamine and I was pretty out of it for the rest of the day.
We stopped at the shop and had lunch on the patio and watched the parade of people coming up to the door and realizing we were closed for the day.
Upon arrival at home I took a nap on the couch and once I woke responded to birthday calls from Sandra Benton and Erin Haas. I spoke to my parents and my brother and started emailing pictures of the adventure. I also posted a pic on the secrethideout. I was in bed reading Dreamland by Kevin Baker by 10:30PM. I heard my phone ring around midnight. Rachel and Daniel May had called and were the last ones of the day to sing a lovely rendition of Happy Birthday.
I cannot thank Jenny enough for her amazing generosity and Marcie for her careful and diligent planning skills -- as well as the rest of the gang and quite a few customers who supported the adventure.
I wonder when I am going to swim with the dolphins...
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Outdoor bloggin'
Killing time, sitting outside on the patio of Inman Perk. I am going to see Suehyla's show this evening with Angela and Chris. However, my stomach just got all anxious. I am not sure if the caffeine in my iced coffee just kicked in or if I really need to be worried about my Souper Jenny birthday. Last week Jenny told me that they were doing something for my birthday this Friday. Of course, it's a surprise, but I think I am jumping out of a plane. They have been dropping very sexual hints -- like make sure to bring a condom and the like. But the towel rental guy, Ron gave me a hug after he found out what we are doing and said, "well it was nice knowing you." Jenny also made a comment to Aimee about not eating first and Aimee asked me if I was afraid of heights. I also saw Jenny in the kitchen talking to Rigo, Lucia and Irene mimicing a pose that distinctly said "falling from the sky" to me. Skydiving is something that I have wanted to do, but I have to say that it scares the living shit out of me. I do believe that Nevin is jumping too, so at least I won't be alone and I assume this is a tandem jump anyway. But seriously as I type, my hands are shaking. And I don't think it's the coffee. Either way, I will share the news on Friday afternoon.
Very little news from the housing front. I have yet to get the woman from J Street Apartments in Davis to actually give me a choice of units and I am still waiting for my condo association to start making the necessary repairs to put my condo back on the market.
I have done some more research on the move, but word on the street is that many moving companies are not reliable and tack on many additional charges once they have your belongings in their possession. Yikes, what to do? Maybe I should ask the psychic when I finally speak with her.
Time to get out of my grubby Souper Jenny apparel and head to the theatre!
More updates soon!
Very little news from the housing front. I have yet to get the woman from J Street Apartments in Davis to actually give me a choice of units and I am still waiting for my condo association to start making the necessary repairs to put my condo back on the market.
I have done some more research on the move, but word on the street is that many moving companies are not reliable and tack on many additional charges once they have your belongings in their possession. Yikes, what to do? Maybe I should ask the psychic when I finally speak with her.
Time to get out of my grubby Souper Jenny apparel and head to the theatre!
More updates soon!
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Screeching halt
I had meant to take a brief hiatus from this crazy moving business to write a few entries about my trip to NY. I had a few bouts of not being able to get online, so I started an entry in Word and intended to finish it and post. I may go back and fill in info about my brother's book party and my fantastic breakfast at Barney Greengrass, The Sturgeon King (said in your BEST NY accent), but it's going to have to wait.
Bad news is that I lost my buyer today. Or perhaps it was yesterday. In any case, the inspection was yesterday and apparently there are a few problems with my roof and my heating unit that the buyer is a little leery and decided to terminate the contract.
I am trying not to freak out and hope that after the fixes, I will have a better buyer and will be able to leave closer to the end of July.
The buyers agent was kind enough to offer to fax a copy of the inspectors recommendations. I should get that in hand on Monday and then I will start ticking off the list.
Needless to say, the remainder of my plans are a bit in limbo. I still do not have a confirmed apartment in Davis and don't get me started on exactly how I am getting my crap, my cats and myself across the country.
I did however, wind up at Six Feet Under this evening after a frustrating day at Souper Jenny. As I shared the news about my housing update with Angela and Chris, our server kindly mentioned that I may need a drink!
I wholeheartedly agreed.
Bad news is that I lost my buyer today. Or perhaps it was yesterday. In any case, the inspection was yesterday and apparently there are a few problems with my roof and my heating unit that the buyer is a little leery and decided to terminate the contract.
I am trying not to freak out and hope that after the fixes, I will have a better buyer and will be able to leave closer to the end of July.
The buyers agent was kind enough to offer to fax a copy of the inspectors recommendations. I should get that in hand on Monday and then I will start ticking off the list.
Needless to say, the remainder of my plans are a bit in limbo. I still do not have a confirmed apartment in Davis and don't get me started on exactly how I am getting my crap, my cats and myself across the country.
I did however, wind up at Six Feet Under this evening after a frustrating day at Souper Jenny. As I shared the news about my housing update with Angela and Chris, our server kindly mentioned that I may need a drink!
I wholeheartedly agreed.
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