{above: Me and Ellie Dog hanging out at Skydive California. She’s the best dog}
Its been a while! I have been meaning to blog but well… Life. What’s been up? Honestly, very little and it’s so lovely. I’m now living the small town Tracy life. I’m skydiving here on the weekends, doing rips with the homies and trying to learn 90s. Mostly, I’m enjoying not traveling. In fact, I backed out of Last Chance Camp last minute because I was tired. You could say I am experiencing almost a preemptive tired while looking down the barrel of my long upcoming road trip.
Starting next week, I’ll be gone for three whole months. Whew, that’s even exhausting to say. I’ll be kicking it in the Midwest for work, Summerfest, the VWR and Nationals. With the price of travel lately, I just didn’t want to fly back and forth several times in between events. Eliminating the time zone change every couple weeks, for the next few months makes life easier too. So, I’ll be heading back to my parents’ place in southeast Iowa in between the different skydiving events. I’m already weary thinking about being away from my sewing machine, my kitchen, and my plants for so long.
Honestly, it’s the prep that’s daunting. Once you’re on the road, the hard part has started. After that, momentum keeps you going. But getting started just looms darkly until you catch that first ride to the airport. Then you’re smooth sailing. But currently, trying to remember to pack up all the things I need in my life, without packing too much, or too many unnecessary items, while also making sure I have everything I need… well, it’s quite the task. On the list: Costumes and toys for Summerfest! (Yes, I absolutely need to pack a tutu, bubbles, glitter, etc.) Niche items for the record. (Anti-fog for my helmet, hand warmers, layers, alcohol swabs) Nationals accessories (Booty suit, weights, I always like to bring old team shirts to wear too) On top of all those things, van living essentials (towels, sunscreen, swim suit, bug spray, and on and on). I can assure you I will forget many, many things. Maybe I’ll post my essential packing list on this blog for funzies.
Summerfest –
I’m freefly load organizing at Summerfest! I’m so excited! I’ve actually had a couple people ask what I’m organizing there, belly or freefly, which surprises me. Freefly, ya dumdums. I’ve been nearly exclusively doing freefly-everything for the last two years. I’m organizing freefly.
It’s going to be a blast! I have some sort of costume worked out for every day. I can’t wait to skydive and organize! I can’t wait to splash around in the pond. I can’t wait to hang out at the tiki. Maybe I should keep a tally of how many times I hear the words Eat Up while I’m there. I can’t wait for all the friends and the nonsense and the hanging out and the jumps. I’m just really looking forward to it. I have said it over and over; I love load organizing. I am so psyched.
That being said, I am a little nervous. Summerfest is huge! It is a Big Deal! Who am I to be organizing there? But I love organizing and I’m just happy to be there, so I hope that blind enthusiasm will just carry me through without a hitch. That’s a reasonable hope, right? If anyone has any much-loved dive flows, crowd-pleaser jump suggestions, I would happily take them. Otherwise, I’ll just be winging it which is fine too.
200way –
It’s happening! Soon! I’m slightly excited and slightly nervous but mostly I’m not thinking about it. I’m really trying to not have any feelings about it at all. So many people tell tales of pie crusting and bull shit cuts just because the person next to you in the formation had the wiggles. You can definitely do Bad Things that get you cut, but you can do Just Fine Things and still get cut anyway. So, I’m not thinking about it. Because if I get too attached to an outcome, it’s so easy to be let down. I really would love a record. But I letting myself feel too many feels about it all will just prevent me from flying my best, so I’m just going to experience the experience. Do the dives. Fly my best. See what this VWR chase is really all about.
My parents are driving over from Iowa to watch a couple days of the 200way! I’m excited for them to come watch. It’s going to be such a big production; I think it’ll be neat. Over the years, they’ve come to accept that skydiving is and will always be a part of my life, but I think they have a hard time figuring out how to show their support. They came to watch Nationals one year and they seemed to enjoy that a lot. I’m always glad for their support, so it means a lot to me that they’re coming along.
Before the 200way attempts, I’ll write a forward-looking blog post. I promise. Stay on the lookout.
Nationals –
This year, I have zero trained teams to go to Nationals with. Gosh, that makes me so sad. This is the last year I want to do that. Next year, I really, really want to train a VFS team. (So, if you’re interested, hit. me. up. I’m already running number on training plans for next year.)
Even though Nationals is fun without training, I just find it… disappointing. I hate knowing that I won’t be competitive in anything. It’s fun to compete but it’s even more fun when Nationals is the culmination of a season of hard work. Seeing the tangible progress from months of training just feels good. It’s such a reward. I’m letting myself down by not putting in that time and effort beforehand. But this year was Big Way Year. Next year is VFS Year. But if I don’t put a team together next year, this year might be the last year I go to Nationals if I don’t train.
I did plan on doing 8way, MFS and VFS, but after several versions of the schedule have been rolled out, that doesn’t look like a possibility because of the overlap of 8way FS and VFS. I’m hoping I can start 8way but then our alternate can fill in for me when I go to fly VFS. Which would be great for my 8way team because our alternate is way better than me. I feel a little bad choosing to prioritize freeflying because I don’t have a firm VFS or MFS team this year but my heart is in freefly. The last few years, I’ve found it really challenging to make time for both, especially at Nationals where the disciplines over lap in inconvenient ways making it difficult to fly both. (Also, I’m just over the general disrespect I get from all the other disciplines when I’m being a belly jumper. [Except CRW. They are the least judgemental of all disciplines. I like CRW dogs a lot and I want to be one.] Another bonus of freeflying, people who don’t know me automatically assume I have some cool points. [Don’t tell them but freeflying hasn’t made me any cooler. I’m still not very cool.] Plus, plus, I don’t have to wear 10-15 pounds of weight when I compete in freefly, unlike belly.) Either way, Nationals will be fun but my experience at Nationals has been different these years that I haven’t been training; I’m not looking forward to it as much as in previous years.
So, there it is. Very little has been happening and then, very soon, a ton of stuff is happening! I do have some other blogs coming up when I get less lazy about writing: Chop #2, Trying to Become a Rigger, New Sponsorship! etc. Keep your eyes out. I probably owe y’all a blog about Cloud Games, which I participated in MFS and VFS with some friends up here. Maybe a paragliding blog.