Where to begin ?
"I'm fucking winning"
My check-out from 7k in a hole in 3 days of rain.
One of the best nights I've had in the Bent Prop when the power went down and we (about 10 of us) just drank talked & laughed for hours.
Tent City BBQ's with it's Mayoress Meahgan.
Finding stuff in the desert again (1x Alti - 2x Lenses - 4x Cutaway handles - 2x Reserve handles - Pair of Gators - Half a dozen hook-knives)
Landing in the main area naked after hosing the dive on my 200th & Sally's 600th.
Achieving my FS1 (wearing Craig Girard's spare suit) with Nina (organizer) and Marc & Nick from the UK (thanks guys.. you own).
Washing the Skyvan with Neil (Neilly) White, and getting tendonitis from doing so.
That fantastic fly-by that will live with me forever, as well as the one from the Beech after the fire-swooping,
when I looked down and fumbled for my Video camera and looked back up ...and thought the Beech was head-height & dived onto the floor in the little wooden stand (at the west edge of the swoop pond)
taking someone else with me too, the pilot must have been laughing all night at that one.
Many people who made me laugh too.. including Kevin & Toast (Crosskeys), Jessica, Meahgan & Mikey, Kelly Wolf, TJ (who always makes me laugh),
Jason & Amy (cool meets cool), Al & Pixie, Dimitri, Kyle, Fred, Haim & Sal.
Many thanks also to: Dimitri for his time & resources, Kolla (Egon & Piers too) from PD who got me out of a hole big time,
Fred for allowing me to never miss a load, Jen - Barbara - Jessica - Kristern - Diane (manifest girls) Dennis at the Rigging loft, Ron & Will(speed) at the school,
Chris from Tucson (a very switched on guy), Jen (crosskeys) Seth & Doobie, Sally, Nick, Marc, Athena & Amy, Jim from the Prop and everyone else who's names I forgot again and again.
And most of all the people who made it happen Betsy, Sangiro, and all the staff at SDA who made me feel welcome from the moment I arrived.
[Edited to add] 106 jumps made in 31 days (10 of which I was weathered out by wind or rain)
Where as last year I lost 1 day in the same time period.
"I'm not fucking winning."
Recording the 8 plane flyby on my memory stick and not on the tape.
Having to demo canopies because mine was KIA.
Missing my connecting flight from Newark to Birmingham and having to spend a night in the Howard Johnson.
Getting off the NJ Transit at Penn Newark instead of Penn Madison on my 'extra day' and wondering around some dodgy 'hood' for about two hours before I realized.
Having no signal on my phone on the 86th floor of the Empire Estate Building.
And being 'chosen' for extra security upon reaching the 'non smoking' Newark international.
Missing all the new & old friends already.
Have a great new year guys & see you all again sometime.
-- Hope you don't die. --
I'm fucking winning
