Skydiving 2007

So... I've been trying to update my bucket list and link to the things I've crossed off - some are as simple as linking to a photo I've taken at a place, others link to blog posts describing the event or whatever... so this post is going to be picture heavy and from 3.5 years ago.


One of the things on my bucket list was to skydive - so dive I did!  Joining me was my friend Amanda, who had jumped with this place before, and my good buddy Morgan.
Back in September of 2007 I was offered an opportunity to skydive at a place in Wisconsin.  Wisconsin is not my first choice of places to jump, especially after my (at the time) platonic friend, Steve, had just jumped in the Florida Keys (imagine how beautiful that was), but it would do the trick!
The plan was to arrive, jump, set up camp, enjoy the big party, and then camp overnight - all on their grounds.  The place is quite awesome, they have plenty of room to set up a tent and they offer grills for you to cook your own food on.  Alcohol is allowed!


So we get there and watch the safety video, get suited up, sign our lives away, and get into the plane.  ey, ey ey! I was excited - I had adrenaline racing through my body - I was set!
So we get up in the plane and up and up and up and up we go.... way up!  13,000 feet up!  We are quickly reminded of how it's all going to go down - then we mount up to our tandem partner and walk to the edge of the plane... I don't remember the actual moment we stepped foot off the plane and I don't remember the spinning in mid air that I know took place - I opted to jump facing forward (unless requested, they have you fall backwards out of the plane).  I do remember the moment I first saw something - lots of farm land in Wisconsin, but still beautiful to be amongst the clouds!


Then the moment came when we pulled he cord - the instant it caught I heard my spine crack from the tailbone up to my neck... OUCH.  Instant pain.  Falling out of the sky I couldn't exactly assess how bad I was hurt, so I just continued to fall... and we landed safely and soundly.  I wasn't dying but I was experiencing noticeable pain.
I go on with my day - take some drugs and begin setting up camp.  As the day drug on the pain grew, but nothing bad enough to need to get checked out or anything.  So we walk around, drink our beer, cook our dinner, enjoy the time we have there - it was an all around pretty great day/night.


The pain in my back took MONTHS to go away - it was more of an annoying dull ache - but it was always there.  It finally went away and I'm fine now (3.5 years later) - lol.


Here are all the pictures - all of the in flight pictures are taken with a disposable camera:

The Wizard Of Oz Ballet

via

Last night I was able to cross something off my bucket list; I went to a ballet!  I don't have any pictures because photos weren't allowed... but I did find this online, which is some of the cast:

via

I went with my best girlfriend, Pam and it's safe to say we both enjoyed it.  It was definitely something different for me, but I'm pretty open to all forms of art - I was surely impressed with the dancing in this ballet.  I kind of feel like this was more of an 'amateur' performance - and I only say that because there were a lot of children, in which I felt the dancing would have been a lot more skillful had it been all adults - but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I look forward to attending another ballet at some point in my life!

My "Bucket List"

Well, I may as well get the ball rolling....  the things I want to do before I die.  I would imagine to always be adding to this list and, hopefully, always crossing things off.

I have added things I've already done, because they were goals... at one point.

1. Set foot in every U.S. State
   Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana| Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota| Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah| Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin| Wyoming
2. Enjoy my mother
3. Go to Hawaii
4. Ride every roller coaster in the United States
5. Fly a plane
6. See the Golden Gate Bridge
7. Sell a photograph
8. Get another tattoo (my last)
9. Be in a parade
10. Dance on the street
11. Send a secret to Postsecret
12. Smash something
13. Take a photograph of {my) footprints in the sand
14. Write my name in the sand
15. Read more, and enjoy it
16. Walk across The Brooklyn Bridge
17. Go to a Drive-In movie
18. Plant a Tree
19. Get married
20. Make a difference in a child's life
21. Be on a game show!
22. Sit on the Jersey Shore (only partially due to watching the show)
23. Urban Explore the Gold Medal Flour Mill
24. Watch the sunset over the ocean, in the arms of someone I love
25. See The Statue of Liberty
26. See the "Grain Belt" Sign light up again
27. See The Northern Lights
28. Learn to drive a stick shift
29. Capture a lightning bolt photograph
30. Meet Joe Mauer
31. Make love behind/under a waterfall
32. Build a snow fort
33. Dine in the dark
34. See the "New" 7 Wonders of the World
35. Swim with Dolphins
36. See Niagara Falls
37. Enjoy a 100 year old bottle of Red wine
38. Make Green Eggs and Ham
39. Invent something
40. See the 7 Natural Wonders
41. Invest (buy stock) in a new company and watch as it succeeds
42. Bungee Jump
43. Become fluent in Spanish
44. See Paris
45. Own a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes
46. Ride in a helicopter
47. Skydive
48. Make {and keep} a family tree with all my genealogy {3/17/11 - currently working on it}
49. Stay in a glass bottom house in Maldives
50. Forgive everyone
51. Attend the Olympics
52. Sit on a jury
53. Drive, East-West or West-East, across the U.S.A.
54. Dance the night away, until the sun comes up
55. Design my own kitchen
56. Go on a Hot Air Balloon Ride
57. Catch a Foul Ball at a Baseball game (preferably in Target Field)
58. See Mount Rushmore
59. Move out of my moms basement (might aide in #2)
60. See The Vikings win a superbowl (I have NO control over this)
61. Join a fantasy football league
62. Attend a ballet {coming in May 2011}
63.