Totally confused but always optimistic

I went Sky DIVING….!!!

This Summer (so far) has definitely been one of the most adventurous for me….See the video below..

AND PLEASE IF YOU WATCH THE VIDEO THAN LEAVE SOME COMMENTS, SO I KNOW YOU WATCHED/READ IT…

Last weekend I was in Des Moines, Iowa trying to catch fish (with no luck). It was just an on-the-spot decision to go fishing. We were visiting my sister, and were going for a picnic at Saylorville Lake (Silver lake, according to Aamir – the 2nd). So while looking for picnic spots in the area, I found out that fishing is free over that weekend i.e., no license required.

So I decided why not try it. I went to Kmart right away, bought a fishing rod and the good stuff along with live worms. To make the story short (and to get to the good stuff below), we did not catch any fish ourselves, we either broke the hook ( several times) or our rod came back empty (with the bait gone)..

This past week, i have been working in Tampa, Florida & will be here until next Wednesday. so i decided why not make use of it and stay the weekend here.

So i looked around what to do with the weekend. 3 options came up… watch the space shuttle lunch at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), go sky diving and go scuba diving.

I really wanted to see the shuttle launch since it does not happen everyday. So i started looking for the tickets.

There were NONE available.

BUT, KSC had links for ticket brokers, who they said might have tickets (tells a lot about free markets in the U.S., doesn’t it?)

So finally i was able to track one down, and happy that i might be able to make it to the launch. To my surprise, i found out that the they don’t allow traffic into the KSC, and i would have to be picked by the tour company from somewhere in Orlando.

So far so good.

When i checked there pickup timings, they were all before 8am on Friday (June 8th, 2007), while i would have been at work until later Friday afternoon. After veryfing the timings with the tour company and not being able to get inside the KSC, if i went later in the day, i scrapped those plans. Definitely was a little sad to be able to miss something this rare.

Anyways, so I went to the 2nd option for sky diving. I knew what company i wanted to go with. So i planned sky diving on Friday & Scuba diving on Saturday & Sunday (which will me certified, hopefully, as an open water diver).

Around 3 pm on Friday, i reached Zephyrhills in Florida where the sky diving facility was. Signed the waivers (which basically said, if i kill myself, my families cannot sue them etc), put on the jump suit, and the harness and walked up to the loading deck.

To be honest, up until this point, i was more scared of scuba diving than sky diving. But while in the plan, i sure was scared as heck.

So about 13 of us got on to the plane and started flying. Some of the experienced jumpers, jumped at around 8000 feet.

Our jump was going to be from 13500 feet. So when we got up at that height, my tandem instructor hooked himself to my back, crawled to the door, and waived at the videographer (who had left right before us and was at the wing of the plane).

For one nano-second, i thought about backing down. Then i thought, well i am here already and its kind of too late, plus all the assurances from people that it ail be Al right…

Three…Two …One. and we jumped..

We did about one and a half front flip, and then just free-fell for about 60 seconds. Those 60 seconds were probably the best. We were just falling like ….we are a piece of toy just falling on the ground. The wind was slamming me fiercely but it was cold air. The video guy was right there, with the camera fixed to his helmet, filming my jump.

Those 60 seconds of free fall took about 8000 feet and then the instructor applied the brakes. The parachute opened and slowed us down to almost a stop.

Then it was all ok. Me and the instructor could talk to each other and we could freely see the earth. In peace.

Our cameraman free fell for a longer time so he could get on the ground before us.

The parachute jump took about 4–5 minutes but the last few seconds were a little painful and discomforting. I was wearing Jeans under the jump suit and the harness was bruising my left leg.

BUT… It was worth it all…

For those waiting to see the video, here it is.

I will post some pictures, once i get them developed.

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