Ok, well, this is a loooong overdue update on various activities I’ve been up to outside of triathlon training. Heh, actually, I haven’t been up to much, which is why I had to let stuff build up in order to get a worthy update together…

Letsee. Oh yeah, a bit over a month ago, I went to see Alkaline Trio at the Warfield. I generally have a no Warfield policy as I’ve been very disappointed by shows there — very hit and miss in the sound department. But I was lured out again as I saw a good show there recently (Pixies) and Deborah really likes Alkaline Trio, so there we have it. The show was actually quite good. They aren’t my usual cup of tea, but they definitely can turn it out. If you aren’t aware of them, then you are probably over 16 years old, heh. They are an emo/pop-punky band. The crowd wasn’t as young as i expected, actually, but young enough to make me feel old. Still, I had a good time…

Other big change. We (bill, ballou and I) have a new roommate. Randy has flown the coop and we now have a bit of estrogen to balance things out a bit. So far (since beginning of the month), it’s been fine. Actually, she’s a bit of a ghost roomie–rarely see her at home. Not that I’m home all that much either. Anyway, welcome to Lian. If anything, it will be nice to have someone that forces Bill to clean the bathroom more often than whenever we have a party, heh.

Other stuff that’s been going on:

Went on a cool camping and swimming and goofing off trip to the Yuba River with Sirr and the Crew. It was a blast playing in the river and cooking and hanging out, despite the drama of someone locking their keys in the car. The car that was holding dinner, no less. Doh! As you can tell from the pictures, the team is gunning for a sponsorship from either Miller or Camel, possibly both. I manged to get some training in too.

A few weeks ago, I took the plunge (harhar) and went skydiving. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and my friend Kerry and I made a pact to do it some time ago. Well the time was nigh and we (plus my friend Anne and Kerry’s friend Emily) piled into Kerry’s car and treked out to scenic Byron, CA to drop out of a plane. I have to say, the scariest part to me was the degree to which I had to sign my rights away. They basically make you sign a form saying they have no liability whatsoever. According to the papers I signed, an employee of theirs could push me out of the plane without a parachute and not be liable. Also, if anyone tried to sue them in case something befell me, they have the right to liquidate my assets and give $25K to each of the defendants! I was pretty incredulous and very wary of signing such papers. I mean, what’s their incentive to stay safe if they have no liabiliity? Then common-sense kicked in and I realized that I would be tethered to a person, so it’s pretty much in their best interest to make sure I don’t die, heh. So, I begrudgingly signed my life away. Then came the boring part–the wait. We sat around in the overheated hangar on couches watching some kid play Sonic Heroes on Xbox (go Sega!). One thing I do have to note was the EXTREME atmosphere. There were muscley guys struting around with cool tats and killer shades. I definitely could have used more brut aftershave or something to try to fit in. They weren’t assholes or anything–just definitely EXTREME. I expected there to be a soda machine in which the only selection was Mountain Dew. Alas, this wasn’t the case. Eventually, we got around to getting suited up. Of course, all the EXTREME folks have their own killer gear and we get handed some pretty worn jumpsuits, though I think Anne pulled it off pretty well. Then we sat around some more. Emily and Anne went up first, leaving Kerry and I to discuss our strategy. I decided to pony up cash for the video and had resolved to be as EXTREME as possible. This would involve various hand signals (thumbs up, peace signs, hang ten, middle finger, etc). About 45 minutes after Anne and Emily disappeared into the blue yonder, it was time for Kerry and I to take to the sky. My instructor was a short guy named Vic. We piled into a small puddle-jumper of a plane–it was pretty cramped in there: about tweleve of us or so. The ride up took a while and I guess if I had any nervousness about it it was during the ascent. Vic pointed out various places like Stockton (home of Steve Malkmus, btw) and I could just make out Sutro Tower surrounded by fog. After half an hour or so, it was time to jump. All the non-tandem jumpers (that is, everyone except Kerry, myself and the pilot) went and then Kerry went and then I went. Getting to the door was funny–I had to kind of waddle over with a small guy strapped to my back. Then we shuffled to the door, paused for a sec and fell…

…it was great! I really was surprised by how enjoyable it was. We dropped from 14,000 feet and had a minute of freefall before Vic pulled the chute. It was so much fun that I even forgot to ham it up and be EXTREME for the camera. However, in the second pass-by the guy does, you can see me mouth "EXTREME!!!" I didn’t do so well with the hand signals though. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. Very noisy during the freefall and then really quiet and peaceful during the glide down. Vic let me do some lazy turns to get a feel of the controls. The sky was clear and the view was amazing. I’ll post the video ASAP, but meanwhile you can enjoy way too many pics. I made sure to include some unflattering ones. Needless to say–if you want to look cool whilst skydiving, it helps to keep your mouth closed. And not have an EXTREME gnome on your back.

I’ll post back with movie and some more updates soon.