Skydiving is awesome

Have you ever watched someone do something, and been absolutely positive you could do it, too? Like when I first saw someone jet ski, I knew I'd love it and do it well. And sure enough, the first time I ever rode one, I was doing tricks.

Well, that's how indoor skydiving was. It was sooooo much fun, and I bragged to James that I'd get in that wind tunnel and be doing tricks all over the place. He wanted to watch a ton of YouTube videos so that we could get in there and "do it right," but I thought that might mess us up more than help us. And we would get a preliminary lesson when we got there. 

Once we arrived at iFly in Ft Lauderdale, we checked in, and were directed to a big dark room where the wind tunnel was lit up. We could watch everyone as they experienced it before our turn at 5:30. Some people seemed to get it, but not many. It began to look much harder than what we'd seen on the videos. People were flopping around all over, bopping into the plexiglass, flipping upside down, and generally being held in the right position by the instructors. 

However, I didn't really start doubting myself. I could tell James was a little nervous, because he kept talking over what the right maneuvers were to keep a stable body position. I tried to reassure him to relax, and just have fun.

Then Eugene, the instructor (who didn't look like a Eugene at all, but like a mix of a Viking and a surfer, lol), called our group into a small room where he went over the basics. He taught us the hand signals-- a "peace" sign meant "straighten legs," a crooked peace sign meant bend your legs a little, when he pointed up it means keep your chin up, and the shaka sign surfers  use as a friendly gesture or  to mean "hang loose" meant to breathe and relax.

And, of course, thumb's up meant you're doing everything great. 

After a little instructional and safety video, we geared up (I asked for an extra baggy jumpsuit), putting hair in ponytails, donning a jumpsuit, earplugs, safety goggles and a helmet. 

Then came a few minutes of anxious waiting while the group before us finished. There were two little kids, maybe 5 years old, who I think were fraternal twins. The little girl was especially precocious, talking incessantly to the instructor about how she was going to do everything the instructor said and on and on and on...

The two little ones were in the front of the line, then James, then me, and a few after us. The little girl was wearing loose fitting boots, which were immediately stripped off her feet and flew like rockets to the top of the wind tunnel. So they had to turn it off to let the shoes fall back down. The little girl started to cry. I calmed her down and said her shoes would come down, and she was happy again when the second shoe finally hit the floor. 

So James went out there, and I guess he was pretty tense, and concentrating too hard. He had his feet with his toes pointing toward his chest. They didn't go over foot position in class, so he wasn't understanding what the instructor was trying to tell him, to point his toes. After a few long seconds, he understood and pointed his toes, but he didn't have much flight time left to really established a stable position. 

So, I was a little nervous going in, but still confident. 

I flew in that thing like a BOSS. During your first session, they don't let the airspeed to go high enough to attempt any tricks, so you "fly" pretty close to the ground. I got a couple hand signals, once to straighten my legs and a couple "chin ups," but the hand signal I got most was the "good job" thumbs up. You can even see the instructor give the thumbs up in my first video, where he barely had to physically stabilize me at all. I did try a few things from the videos we watched, which came naturally. To avoid flying sideways into the plexiglass, I lowered my opposite shoulder and elbow a little in the opposite direction, and I could feel it work. 

I think I smiled ear to ear the entire time, and I did better on my second flight and the instructor took me on the high aerial. Afterwards, when we turned in my gear, he said I should definitely come back to learn the next maneuvers, because I was a natural. I said I'd love to, and I think that's what we're gonna do. I could have spent all day in that thing!

Here are some pics and videos from my two flights:

Here's my first flight...in these videos you can see James exiting, and then me getting in. I liked my little faux pas hop in the first one...you weren't supposed to do that, but it didn't seem to affect anything...lol

Then James and I stayed overnight in Ft Lauderdale because we had to pick up Joe there the following night. 

On Friday, a surprise came in the mail. James had told me he ordered something as a surprise. I asked in a text what it was, and he replied "Something to smash me with." James doesn't have a violent bone in his body, so I was thinking a new pillow or something, but what came was pretty freaking awesome. An old Intellivison game system with a ton of games like Frogger, Donkey Kong, and Triple Action. And the amazing thing was that it worked on our modern TV!

Sooo, of course we stayed up way late Friday night reliving our childhood. Lol.

And James has the front flowerbed almost complete. He has a fantastic inner eye for design and putting it all together. It's looking really good! He's still got the back half to clear out and mulch, but the hard part is done! 

Well, time to get going....should be a relatively easy week for me.  Have a great day!