#5 – At the start of this adventure I stood on the mountaintop and declared that I would do something new every Saturday for the entire year. I imagine some Saturdays I might need to stretch the rules a bit to define something as being “new.” This was not one of those Saturdays…

Just Jump

When you’re in the process of becoming a full-on adrenaline junky and you get the chance to jump out of a plane from 14,000 feet on a casual Saturday morning you don’t pass that up (when you like your beauty sleep and the bus leaves at 6:45AM you bitch and moan a bit, but you go anyways).

That’s a 14,000 ft (~4,200M as I continue to hone my metric conversions) plummet to the earth with nothing but some rope, a harness and basically a big kite to keep you from falling to your death and shattering into a million tiny little pieces. Well, that, and a strange Czech man named Zdenek strapped to your back.

Think about that for a second. Putting your life in the hands of a complete stranger. A stranger that doesn’t speak any English, mind you, to take you down to safety. I could barely catch this guy’s name, never mind ask him if I was going to be alright or how many times he had jumped before. Just blindly let this guy strap himself to me and hoped for the best.

And since I’ve lived to tell the tale, I’d say that ol’ mate Zdenek didn’t do so bad. I don’t know if I’ve ever looked happier in my entire life. I mean look at some of these photos. I look like a fat kid getting his fifth slice of cake, or a guy who just had sex for the first time, or a guy who just had sex for the first time eating a slice of cake. Just pure, unfiltered joy.

And yes, the joy on my face is priceless here, but it was not to be outdone by the face of a man who looks like he just completely shit his pants…

 

Now this may be an unpopular opinion with some and the photos might suggest I’m a big fat liar, but I would actually say that skydiving was a bit overrated. It may have been the high expectations, but it didn’t give me the nauseating pit in my stomach that I wanted (I know, I have a problem). Don’t get me wrong it was obviously a blast. Just look at my stupid face above. It’s just over so quick it’s almost like you black out. Probably 45 seconds of free fall and I’m not sure I would have remembered a second of it if I didn’t get the video. Well worth it and something everyone should check off their bucket list, just a word to the wise when you’re seeking out your next adrenaline-fueled mission.

In summary…

Go skydiving.

I’m a big tough guy who talks a big game now that I’m safely on the ground.

I’m in need of a disposable underwear sponsor.