"By the time we get out...."

"By the time we get out, it will be way past good."

That was Monique Andrie commenting on exit timing between groups when we went to do some fun jumps.

Johnny Larue went off to see a massage therapist for a quick rub and tug (You want happy ending?) before we left for the party. He'd pulled a muscle playing in the icy surf the day before. I asked him to pick me up a bottle of wine on the way back, which is how he wound up giving me some Gnarly Head. Yes, I know, you're thinking I've hit rock bottom and have started to dig, but that's just the name of a red wine made in Lodi that he likes. The party went into the wee hours of the night and continued after we returned to the hotel. I have no clear recollection of anything after we left the party but I do vaguely recall running around on the walkway outside our second story room wearing less clothing than I should have. But it was blue underwear so maybe I was just having a flashback to the party in Elsinore.

After we were released yesterday we went sober shopping for a change and actually bought something other than junk food and beer. More warm clothing and extra shoes for when the rain finally stops.

We've learned lots, and it's really starting to all come together for me. I've just forgotten where I put it. It's noon Tuesday and we've been stood down for weather for the last 2 days and some of the stuff I've learned has faded a little, but I've probably still got most of the important stuff. Torrential rain has left lakes and mud puddles everywhere. We've been here since 8 this morning and went so far as to gear up for a jump before the clouds closed in again and we stood back down. Standing By to Stand By.

After sitting around, napping, eating, reading, and trading lies about our accomplishments at previous events for several hours the organizers took anybody who was interested up in smaller groups for some fun jumps through the holes in the clouds.

We went up with Doug and had a rockin' 9 way, with Monique's group following us out as the second group on the plane. She called it right, because of a long spot due to clouds our group just made the far end of the airport, and hers was scattered all over the neighboring county. When we got down they put us on a short call for the 45-way as the clouds were finally breaking up enough to allow large groups to safely track away from each other after the jump.

This was the dive we started dirt diving 2 and a half days ago, and it was a spectacular success. A lot of these people have come a long way in a very short time. We were using 2 Otters and a Skyvan, I was rear float on the right trail Otter and the instant I saw the super floater come off the Van we were gone. The base launched off the Van an instant later, and I just slid sideways 20 feet and was exactly where I wanted to be. I had to wait about 20 seconds for the people who were supposed to be in front of me to arrive. The plan was to not complete it on the first try, but it was flying so well we almost built it. The second attempt worked almost as well, until I suddenly started sinking out just when I was about to take my grip and I found myself 10 feet low and nothing I could do could bring me back up. I got as big as I could, de-arched, turned my booties sideways, twisted my head sideways to make it's cross section bigger, sucked in my stomach, rolled my shoulders forward, flared my nostrils, wiggled my ears, imagined myself as a big balloon, all to no avail. I was still low.

It so sucked to be me.

Doug didn't say anything during the debrief, I was waiting for him to call me out, but somehow I slid past him.

The third and last dive of the day made all our effort worthwhile. A complete 45 way formation, the biggest that about half the people on the load had ever been on. My side all made it's slots so fast that John had to swim up through the formation to get to his place. He patiently worked his way up, politely tapping people as he went to get their attention and motion them out of his way. I could almost hear him saying "Excuse me, beg your pardon, coming through." as he went past.

And the peasants rejoiced.

After dinner we returned to the hotel to discover that Brian had decided to take up glue sniffing as a side hobby to the skydiving and power drinking that we'd been working at so hard all week. He had spent the evening covering the booties on his new suit with Shoe Goo, and when we opened the door we were treated to a toxic wave of fumes. I'm glad I'm not sleeping in that room, and I'll bet they all show up with headaches on Wednesday

Wednesday is supposed to be our day off but we're behind schedule so we're going to just carry on as if we were normal and keep jumping.