Me, Backwards

Since we’re looking at four out-of-town skydiving trips* in the next five weekends, and since I’ve been at the dropzone or otherwise away from home for the last four weekends, it seemed like a good weekend to rest both my body and my budget and do … well, pretty much nothing. (more…)

Today I fulfilled a goal I set for myself when I started skydiving.  Knowing how much I struggled with my own learning, I always said I’d pay it forward someday and become an instructor myself.  I figure the worst students make the best instructors, right?

I’ve been thinking about going for the coach rating for a while (the first level of USPA instructional ratings, that allows one to work with advanced students) but I hadn’t had enough confidence in the consistency of my own abilities to go for it.  I finally did this weekend, and I’m glad I did.  I think the course is more about teaching people how to teach and to evaluate others than it is about strict and harsh evaluation; but it still helped to go into it feeling as confident as I have lately about my own abilities.  I hold myself to high standards, and I feel like I met those as well this weekend and I feel ready to work with real students (instead of instructors pretending to be students).

We went to the tunnel last night and did a marathon … I did probably 40 minutes over the course of two hours in the tunnel (3 hours total time, including breaks).  One of the people joining us is a pre-AFF student who has done a few tandems and wanted to get some tunnel time before she starts her student progression.  She reminded me so much of me in my first tunnel sessions that it caused me to reflect on how far I’ve come in (almost) 5 years in skydiving.  August 14th will be the official anniversary of my first jump… but we’re close enough for government work.

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All last week I’d had a vague sense of the blahs.  No energy, higher stress level than normal, worrying about all manner of little and not-so-little things.  Along came the Avon Walk San Francisco, which I’d signed up to support several months ago.   I prepared throughout the week and Friday afternoon packed up my single duffel bag and hydration pack/backpack and headed up to Rockridge BART to leave the car for the weekend and head into the city. (more…)

Since last we blogged…

• Tunnel time last Thursday … probably one of my best sessions ever.
• Vegging in town on the Friday holiday … much needed after the four-day boogie.
• Skydance on Saturday, three very fun jumps
• Downtown Davis on Saturday night to watch a PAC-load of jumpers do a demo for the crowd at the city’s July 4th celebration, then after sunset, a nice set of fireworks.
• Sitting through the first jump course at Skydance on Sunday (as a prerequisite to my coach rating course, which will be next weekend).
• Attended my friend Ken’s memorial service Tuesday afternoon (he’s the one who died at the boogie).  It had been a while since I’d had one to attend, and I’m reminded that they’re never easy.
• Taking Daisy back to the vet again on Wednesday since she’s been showing signs of decline (tired, tentative, puking, clingy).  Vet agrees … she’s definitely not well.  Ran more tests that were mostly inconclusive, so we’ll see if she bounces back or not.
• Preparing for my duties doing volunteer crew for the Avon Breast Cancer walk in San Francisco this weekend.  I’ll head into the city on BART in a couple hours, and be there till Sunday afternoon/evening.  Tonight’s at a hotel (no other practical way to do it since we need to be ready to go at 5:15 tomorrow morning and Sean’s out of town), and Saturday night will be camping as part of the event.  My team is running a quick stop that’s only open on Saturday (the route is longer that day), so Sunday we’ll be involved in breaking down camp and other duties as needed.
• And throughout it all, working, working out, and trying to stay energized.  Since the boogie my energy level has been nowhere near normal; hoping it’s just a quick phase, and I’m hoping this weekend’s events will help me to rally.  I’ve been involved in the 3-Day walks before, which have a very similar structure, and have always enjoyed it.  I’m sure this will be no exception.  I’d love to walk, but am so hesitant to give up my weekends for long training walks.

When Nick posted the photo on the right from the boogie this past weekend, I remembered the photo on the left, which Lisa took back in January at Skydive Sacramento.  I had to flip the image to get more of a like comparision, but it’s essentially the same angle… and yeah, even I can see a difference.  Don’t get me wrong, most days I can but certain days the mirror plays tricks on me.