Injuries All Around

Last night was the Halloween party at the DZ. Everyone had a lot of fun until some guy visiting from out of town decided to go on a drunken tirade and smash a casserole dish into the side of our pilot's face. Said visitor is currently spending the night in jail awaiting his court appearance, while the pilot is left with a broken jaw.

Jump #26

This afternoon Pat and I went up for a 2-way so I could practice adjusting my fall rate. Our exit went well, but after we released our grips I started to backslide a little because I had my legs bent too far. Even though we didn't do much, the jump was a lot of fun--until it came time for landing. I flared late and upon impact my left ankle made a snap-crackle-pop kind of noise, and down I went. I spent the rest of the afternoon with my leg elevated and on ice. I don't know if my crash was due to the fact that I was jumping a different canopy for the first time and wasn't used to its flare, or if it was just a case of pure stupidity on my part. I knew I would eventually have to deal with skydiving related ankle injuries since my ankles generally find any way possible to hurt themselves. In the past I've had the same kind of injury as the result of walking down a flight of stairs and slipping while playing duck-duck-goose. At least when people ask why I'm limping this time, my story of injury is a little bit less pathetic than my previous experiences.

So I'm out of commission for a while to heal, and in no time I'll be going stir crazy wanting to get back up in the air. On a positive note, though, taking a couple weeks off from skydiving will definitely be a good thing for my checking account.

Ugh.

My body hates me. I have quite a bit of work to get done today, but all I want to do is stay in bed. My lower back is really sore (from maintaining my arch during free fall?); my neck, legs, and arms are all rather unhappy; and I have about half a dozen new bruises. I swear I'll go to the office some time this afternoon... just another hour or two of sleep is all I need...

Oh, and I'm already counting down the hours until next weekend. I can't wait!