|
|
Post by rickus on Oct 6, 2005 18:53:15 GMT -5
I'm inviting all who care, to come bare witness to my "Jump" on Saturday, October 22nd at 12:00pm (noon), at the Cushing Municipal Airport. Bring cameras and video cameras. Who knows your video could end up as one of David's posts, though I pray not. OK. It's a tandem jump, so I'll be strapped to some guys chest as baggage while he controls the vertical and the horizontal. But it's still jumping out of a plane. at about 12k feet. www.oklahomaskydiving.comI hope to see you there. And there after... |
|
|
|
Post by tenzingcory on Oct 6, 2005 19:02:37 GMT -5
Your NUTS!!!.. and coming from me.. that is saying something.\\ you know what i'm talking about rick.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tyler on Oct 6, 2005 19:24:36 GMT -5
The dude is gonna do a slow grind on Ricks back on the way down...
Oh yea...
Riding the wind... feeling the flow...
|
|
|
|
Post by rickus on Oct 7, 2005 23:15:37 GMT -5
Yea, I guess I'm nuts. I don't want my fear to own me....to keep me from doing the things I want to do. God or no God, we've all got one go round on this rock. I'd better get in what I can, while I'm able.
And if I feel anything poking me in the ass on the way down Ty, I'll chalk it up to a new life experience and never do it again!
|
|
|
|
Post by Jeff on Oct 7, 2005 23:44:15 GMT -5
Every semester in my humanities class I ask the students to produce some art for themselves. (Being an observer, even a good one, isn't really the goal of education.) Last fall one of my students made a photo montage and part of his explanation of the project was a video tape of his tandem jump. Pink Floyd's "Learning to Fly" played as he fell, which I thought was mostly ironic. But it was the conquering of fear and the living of possibilities that was his true subject. None of the pictures in the montage were of obvious daring-do. Or were they... A walk on the beach with his wife, a picture of his house, a forbidden shot of the roof of the Sistine Chapel from a vacation in Italy.
I gave him an 'A.'
Good luck, Rickus!
Jeff
|
|
|
|
Post by rickus on Oct 17, 2005 14:53:47 GMT -5
Count down: Four days, 21 hours and 10 minutes.
If you are planning on watching gravity at work Saturday, Katie's found out that there are picnic tables present for guests to sit at while I fall.
I really do hope some of you will be able to be there.
|
|
|
|
Post by tenzingcory on Oct 22, 2005 14:51:46 GMT -5
Did rick die?? What is 180lb's X 9.8m per sec squared? anyway..
answer: rick going splat herheherheher
|
|
|
|
Post by Jeff on Oct 22, 2005 16:02:00 GMT -5
I don't know Cory. I am a little curious about Rick, myself.
|
|
|
|
Post by Guest Justin on Oct 23, 2005 9:52:41 GMT -5
I can assure you things went well, but I'll defer to R or K for the write-up.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tyler on Oct 23, 2005 12:18:18 GMT -5
Dibbs on his computers!
|
|
|
|
Post by tenzingcory on Oct 23, 2005 16:15:43 GMT -5
I wonder if he liked the "Grind from Behind" heheh
|
|
|
|
Post by katie on Oct 24, 2005 0:02:42 GMT -5
Rick asked me to write up a little something about Saturday’s jump, so here it is. Rick and I kept Adain this weekend while Andrea and Jason avoid Wilma on their cruise in the gulf, so we woke him up early and ate a big breakfast at Beverly’s here in the city (really good breakfast, if you’ve never been there). I suggested just eating at home, but I think Rick was worried that Saturday’s breakfast just might be the last meal of his life. When the time came, we headed out for Cushing with Adain and my mom. We started out discussing the weather, among other topics, because it was very cloudy. Rick and I contemplated how high those clouds were and whether they were of the rain variety, and consequently, whether the jump would be cancelled. As we got closer and closer to Cushing, Rick got quieter and quieter. I knew he was scared and tried to joke with him, but to no avail. We had brought some Southern Comfort for us, and I suggested a little swig before going inside, but then Mom said, “What if they can smell alcohol on your breath and won’t let you jump?” So we saved that for later. The skydiving center is a small hanger at the small airport in Cushing. Within minutes of arriving, we were joined by Justin and our friends Allyson and Jon from Oklahoma City. We arrived on time for his noon appointment, but the jumps were running late because of the cloud coverage earlier in the day. Rick spent the next two hours learning what his role in a tandem jump would be (which is primarily falling at 120 mph until the shute opens), getting outfitted in his spacesuit, and lounging around with the rest of us.  There were big, old, comfy couches to sit on and a sweet black lab named Hunter that Adain was particularly fond of. A girl that worked there told us that Adain could play around on anything in the hanger, because nothing is breakable. So he had a good time swinging from harnesses and jumping out of a “little” plane. Rick watched a couple jumps that were scheduled ahead of him and told me later that it made him feel better about it, since everyone seemed to really enjoy it and no one was screaming uncontrollably or crying when they got down. Allyson, who has gone on over 80 jumps herself and spent a short time working at the Okahoma Skydiving Center packing parachutes to help pay for her habit (oops! I mean hobby), also helped to prepare Rick for the big jump. So when the time came, Rick and his tandem guy Bobby, loaded up with another first-timer and his tandem guy in a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny plane.  We weren’t allowed to go up and inspect the plane, but Rick said it was completely gutted, no seats or anything, and all four of them were crammed up so tight that there was no room to move. After a couple minutes, they took off, and it took what seemed like forever until the jump. After the plane finally reached 10,000 feet, we saw a tiny dot left behind in the air as the plane continued forward. That was the first diver. About thirty seconds later, there was a second dot that was Rick and Bobby. I don’t know how long they free-fell, but it seemed like a long time before that parachute appeared.  Then it was a slow drift down to the landing area directly in front of the hanger, where they landed gracefully. At least in my opinion it was graceful, since I had visions of tumbling bodies and broken ankles.   After the jump, Rick was all grins and even said that he would like to go up again sometime (I just hope it wasn’t Bobby that caused all that grinning)!  Allyson and Jon headed back to the city and the rest of us had a tasty lunch at the Mazzio’s in Cushing. Rick and Mom celebrated with shots on the ride home. Thank you, Justin, for video-taping for us. You did a great job!  And thanks to everybody who came and supported Rickus. Amanda, we missed you and hope you are feeling better! |
|
|
|
Post by Tyler on Oct 24, 2005 6:40:12 GMT -5
Rick is currently the bravest of us all.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jeff on Oct 24, 2005 11:25:46 GMT -5
Thanks for the write-up, Katie. I wish I could get the video stream from the VCR into my PC--I've tried and tried. If I could manage it, I would share pix of Jenn's bungee jump.
Jeff
|
|
