Finally went skydiving again this weekend, and it was frickin’ amazing 
Did another tandem yesterday, and since my instructor was Bobby (Mike’s friend from college), I got to do 180s and forward motion in freefall, pull the ripcord, and steer the canopy a little before landing! I also wasn’t as nervous, which made the whole experience that much better. Both Mike and Bobby said I basically did an AFF 2 jump, which means when I actually start AFF (in the spring?), the first level or so hopefully won’t be that bad. Meh, I wish the skydiving club at JMU hadn’t fizzled out so quickly … if so many other colleges have one, why can’t we?
Mike’s weekend ended up great as well — he’d arrived without his reserve repacked and didn’t know you had to preregister for the seafood dinner, but somehow everything worked out: a 2nd pilot randomly showed up so Keith, the regular one, had time for repacking (all the other certified people were busy), and that afternoon he was in earshot of someone saying they needed 2 more people for dinner, so he quickly went over and signed us up. I admit I initially wasn’t too excited about fresh crabs and fried catfish being on the menu, but after smelling the crabs cooking and tasting the catfish, I knew I’d be okay. Maybe my seafood phobia is slowly going away? Things were pretty much awesome from that point on … the weather cooperated by not raining (though we could’ve used the temperature a few degrees lower), Mike jumped twice on Saturday and twice on Sunday (including the load I was on), and got 6 free jump tickets for the group of tandems his friend brought, plus me.
Now I’m on the skydiving “high” and can’t wait to go again, though it probably won’t be this year since it does cost a lot at first, plus starting AFF at the “end” of the season at a place that’s 7 hours away (if I go through Richmond first) isn’t the best plan. But oh well … it’ll happen eventually 
