Keep the Country Country.

Today I head back home to Kona. It has been an exciting past few days, but I am very ready to be relaxing back on my quaint little island. It's been a few days since i've written because I've been running non stop. I graduated from my AFF class with flying colors. Get it? Sorry. And got in three jumps afterward putting my number of jumps up to 12 and my flight time at just under 10 minutes of free fall. It amazes me that there are guys that have literally spent over a week of their life falling through the sky. I hope to one day have attained such freedom and skill in the air. But for now I'll have to keep chipping away at it. I also ran the gauntlet of friends around the island. And stopped at a number of beaches bodysurfing and freediving all along the way. I'll be honest, This was my first real trip to Oahu. I didn't think I would like it very much, and while Waikikki was ridiculous, I felt very at home on the north shore. It's like a bigger Kona. Still country still laid back. And thank god for waikkiki. If it wasnt there all those tourist might spill over into the north areas of the Island.I spoke with a number of gallery owners about putting my work in the Galleries, and think I got  a few that are interested. I'll definately be making it back here more often now that I know I can handle it. But home is still Kona. And I suspect it always will be.

Carlin's not Dead!!!

Today I continue ground class with Clarence. Though I thought this the first time, I'm now convinced that he is george carlin in disguise hiding out in Hawaii teaching skydiving. I did my 3 tandem jumps over the past couple of days with only minor hitches. The first jump I lost my goggles and glasses and had a hard time finding the ripcord at pull time, which apparently is important. The instructor passed me though. And I went through the class with Clarence where he told us of all the ways we were going to die.... I'm paying to do this why? Tonight I got back to the hostel and met a fun group of guys that work in waikki at the beachside hostel, and were on a weekend vacation to the north shore. We are now heading across the street to bonfire on the beach and I'm taking my sweet time writing this blog entry but, i'm supposed to bring more beer, so I need to go.

Jumping out of not so perfectly good airplanes.

I arrived to Oahu yesterday without much of a plan besides learning to skydive. Which I felt was plenty plan enough. I have been "planning" this trip for the past few weeks and been very eager to join my friends' ranks in the sky. Upon hitting the ground and grabbing my rental car, I immediately went to the store to grab my usual "new place equipment" toothpaste, razors, pocket knife, stickers to disquiet the rental as a local car and of course a baseball bat. I called all of my friends that I have on Oahu to find some couch surfing accommodations. I lucked out with my friend Chris who lives just outside of Waikiki. I called him to find out where he lived and surprisingly found myself standing outside his apartment already! In true Chris fashion he planned a party for that evening , and we had a good old fashion bonfire on the beach with a 300 ft cliff on one side of us and ocean as far as we could see to the other. After waking up late I rushed off to Aiea, a city near pearl harbor. I met with clarence, my ground school instructor at a chili's restaurant. We spoke for about 3 hours on what the basic skills were while falling out of the sky. The other customers probably wondered of the strange hand signals and body movements that we were doing. After class I headed to the north shore and checked in at the backpackers hostel. As it turns out one of my friends from the big island was working reception there. And in true Gordon fashion he whipped up a party for this evening, and we drank and were merry. Tonight I sleep and get ready for my first AFF jump tomorrow.