9 30 pm pdt [ skydiving II ]

Howard, please don't tell my mom I went skydiving. I want to surprise her with the video of it when I get it back. I have a distinct vision of her screaming when she realises what I have done.

Poor Matthew has had to hear me say it thirty times: I can't believe I did that!

I was a little nervous before I went up, but I was mostly excited. I was doing something I've wanted to do since I was a teen. I was crossing something off my to do list. But at the moment when we waddled towards the door, there wasn't anything that could have made me step out of that plane at 18,000 feet in the air (I opted for the highest jump they offered). As far down as I thought the ground could possibly be, that was where I saw the cloud cover. I'm glad I had something to concentrate on: Look left and smile for the camera. I wasn't sure if I was going to get it video taped / have pictures or not. Then Matthew and I stayed at a lodge last night with the nicest manager. She used to work in a drop zone (though never jumped, because she was a single mom) and she said I had to get the video, so that was that. Advice from an expert.

[You can tell I've been reading William Gibson's Idoru because the incomplete sentences are starting to rub off on me.]

The moment just after I entered freefall, I couldn't believe I was doing that. It was horrifying and amazing. And the rest of the fall was in still images spiced with snippets of ceonversation. My screaming in freefall for the cameraman not to spin us anymore. Trying to blow out to unplug my ears. The clouds. The farm land. Being directly above Matthew's autocross race. When the man asked me if I wore contacts and then whipped off my goggles. Waving at Matthew. Landing.

I didn't wear a helmet, which I think would not be my choice if I were to jump again, but I don't intend to.

People kept asking if this was my first jump, and I kept trying to explain that it was my only jump. Once. And I did. I can't believe I did that!