Dragonfly
I really need to start hunkering down on my WIP if I'm going to hit my completion goal of October. Notice how I don't say WHEN in October. Heh. But in the spirit of completion and to keep myself on target, I'm going to start tracking the # of words I've written on it everytime I blog. Seeing this will certainly keep my "ass in chair" motto working overtime. My astounding guilt complex won't be able to handle any zeros for very long.

So. At the beginning of every post, I'm forcing myself to have a little report card for the previous day's work. It'll never be the current day, because after writing I'm usually too exhausted to blog. I'll also include what's playing on the iPod as I can't seem to write without it.

Case in point -- if I want to write today, which I'll do after this post, I have a choice: write to the sounds of motorcross in the background (as Mr. Clean and Doodlebug are watching a movie, loudly) or the iPod. Hmm... wonder which I'll choose. You'll get to see what songs are driving this novel. Fun!

Words Written, Saturday: 3,037
Song on the iPod: Lips of an Angel - Hinder

Alrighty then! I didn't actually come on here to blog about writing or music. I actually have two blogs, one already written, in mind... but I'm not quite prepared to post the other. Because it is a little SAD. And if you've read any of the previous two, you'll know I am not a SAD person. Except... all that damn sad talk? It acted like an invasive octopus, dipping its sticky tentacles down into the recesses of my brain and latched onto to something that is certainly not Happy. I'm not ready to go there just yet (mainly because it requires a picture that I don't have available on the computer yet and I cannot post it without the picture).

Instead, I'm going to tell all you 'nets about how BabySis attempted to traumatize me. Oh yes, she did! She called me on the phone and said something like this:

BS: Hey sis! I'm going to do something really cool this weekend. Want to come watch?
Me: Hmm... what kind of thing?
BS: Well, you have to come watch and find out. You'll have a blast. I promise.
Me (suspicious): Ummm, I think I'll need to know what it is first.
BS: Fine.
Me: *waiting for it*
BS: I'm going to jump out of an airplane.
Me: Like, with a parachute? Or just jump and see what happens?
BS: With a parachute, silly. And I want to you to Come! Watch! Me!
Me: *hysterical laughter*
BS: It'll be fun!
Me: Umm, NO. I can't come watch you.
BS: Why not?! It'll be a blast!
Me: I can't. What if your chute doesn't open and I'm standing Right. There. when you go SPLAT! ?? And even if you do land just fine, my heart will probably stop when you exit the plane. I'll look up and then seconds later, I'll be flat on my back with EMS people over me screaming, "We're losing her!" What will you tell my spawnlings?
BS: Oh my Gawd. Fine. Don't come.
ME: Well I hope you have, ahhh... Fun? It sounds like... Okay, it sounds like we dropped you on your head as a baby and you're a little damaged now. But really, have fun! And call me when you land!

There was no way in hell I'd go watch my sweet little BabySis thrust herself from a plane with only a teeeny little thin piece of fabric to cushion her fall. I know people do it every day. I know it's just fine. I know some lady who'd jumped a bajillion times just went Splat! a few weeks back. In Texas. Maybe at the same airfield. So I stayed at home.

She called me that weekend and she was giggly and hyper and told me she was all dressed up and ready to party. I told her to triple-check all the gear... and to call me when she landed... and then asked her if she was doing this because she was the baby and didn't feel loved enough. She laughed at me and hung up.

Folks, I sat at home and twiddled my thumbs like a Nervous Nellie until she called back to scream in my ear, "It Was AWESOME!" Really. I'm so happy for her - although the basic idea of jumping from a plane gives me chills. I don't like flying in a plane because of the looking down on the little ant people thing.

I could barely stand looking out the windows on our last plane flight. It was a long flight and many of the passengers congregated in the back of the plane with water and soda and chit-chat. We went back there to and I somehow ended up next to the Emergency Exit, where I came a little too close to losing my shit after viewing Greenland (or Iceland, one of them), Very. Far. Below. Us.

The idea of jumping out? LUDICROUS to me.

She had a video made of the whole thing. I laughed my hind parts off when I saw her face in the last second before they went (it was a tandem jump, as she was a skydiving virgin). There was a split second of "Oh shit, what AM I doing?!" And then she exited the plane.

Now I would have been screaming my brains out. Really. Little bits of brain would have been visible, all the way down. And I'd probably have roasted the other person's ears with F-bombs every few seconds. He'd have been deaf before we hit the ground.

She had a permanent smile - big toothy wide-ass grin - plastered on her face. I'm not totally convinced it wasn't the wind forcing her mouth into that position but she insists it was fun. And she laughed as she plummeted to her certain death. I have to digress a moment to tell you: She says it does Not feel like falling. It feels like floating. And you don't really notice the ground getting closer and closer and closer.

Even watching it on TV made me a little ill. My stomach clenched, my heart raced, and I had to keep telling myself that she was FINE as she was sitting next to me, saying, "I'm fine. I'm right here." It really freaked me out. I laughed hysterically, because when I am uncomfortable and/or scared, I tend to do that. I was that scared for her (although she was fine and sitting next to me, telling me so).

And then she landed. And Could. Not. Stop. Laughing. They were asking her questions and the answer to each one - hysterical laughter. They broke my sister's ability to talk. It is a cool video, though. I don't see myself watching it again, however.

She is nuts. And I am a Wuss who worries too much. BabySis states she's going to go again and again. I have assured her I still will not go watch.


(does this guy totally look like one of the Grateful Dead or what?!)

4 Responses
  1. Deb R Says:

    Ooooh, I can't wait to see the pic!! I have no desire to learn to skydive as a hobby or anything, but I would love - LOVE!! - to do just one tandem jump with someone experienced. Tell your little sis I'm a teensy bit green over her experience. :-)


  2. Dragonfly Says:

    The pic is up! And BabySis is sitting right here. She says: Green as in gonna yark or green as in envy? (I'm green as in gonna yark, btw - these pics skeeve me out). You ought to go for it. Just don't ask me to watch. LOL


  3. Deb R Says:

    Green with envy! LOVE the pic! It looks fun with a big honkin' F! :-)


  4. Dragonfly Says:

    Heh. Heh. Obviously our versions of "Fun" differ widely. Really, I'm sort of jealous. I'd love to WANT to do that. But then, with kids... you sort of lose the ambition for crazy things. Too much what if? What if I DIE.. and my kids get to tell everyone, "Mom DIED because she wanted to jump out of a perfectly good airplane."
    LOL I told a friend the other day - "I still do crazy things, only now it comes through characters in my writing!"