Originally posted at Uncreated Conscience.
I currently have a bit of a dilemma.
Nothing major, of course. But my dilemma is that I have $50 to spend on books and I don’t know what I want to read.
Here’s my problem: in the past year, I have accepted that I am almost exclusively a reader of young adult books. I am more than comfortable with this. I like reading YA. For the most part, I find them much more entertaining and just as rewarding as “serious” adult literary fiction. So when Bear’s parents gave me a gift certificate to the bookstore for my birthday, I was more than ready to spend it.
Until I realised two things. 1) I have read all the books to which I had been looking forward and 2) all the books I want to read won’t be published until later this year or 2010.
I am also somewhat particular about what tropes I like in my YA fiction. I was never much for vampires (or really other paranormal creatures) and right now, I have reached saturation point on what I can handle. So no vampires, and especially no love stories between a vampire and a mortal human, thanks. In fact, I am so fatigued by romances between a paranormal creature and a human that I am considering ritual suicide. Exceptions will of course be made for exceptional books/series, but…no.
So it seems as though a lot of YA fantasy is out. The other problem is, I’m not a fan of “straight” or contemporary YA either. I mean, I am. I love everything by John Green and am working my way through Maureen Johnson’s backlist. Back in the day, I read a lot of Meg Cabot’s PRINCESS DIARIES. But I am not in the mood for either at the moment.
I am still gung-ho about YA fantasy, of course. Just…no vampires/werewolves/fairies/what-have-yo
I am asking people to help me out here. Recommend me stuff!
What I Am Looking To Read
- Historical fiction. For that matter, historical nonfiction is just as good. I happen to love anything that involves war, by the way, particularly World War I. The American Civil War is fascinating too.
- Steampunk. But less on the punk, more on the steam. Or rather, less on the Victoriana, more on the alternate scifi-ish awesome.
- Urban fantasy that somehow doesn’t involve vampires. As love interests.
- Alternate universe. I’m sure you all know HIS DARK MATERIALS is my favourite book series in the history of Ever.
- Fiction that somehow deals with religion. I don’t necessarily mean Christian fiction; just something that addresses religion in an interesting way. I mean all religions, of course. Fiction that somehow wrestles with the questions of faith and belief. Like John Green’s stuff. Or…even Jacqueline Carey.
…help?
P.S. Two more questions:
1) What does one wear to a morning wedding?
2) What does one charge for digital artwork commissioned by my perpetually broke skydiving instructors?
Originally posted at Uncreated Conscience.
Attending midnight viewings makes one feel suspiciously hungover the next morning, even when there was no alcohol involved. How is that possible? Is it because I’m old now? I am 24 years old after all.
Last night, Wicked Cool Riley, her friend Chris, and I attended a midnight showing of Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince. A review to follow, but I did promise to review NAAMAH’S KISS by Jacqueline Carey, didn’t I?
Originally posted at Uncreated Conscience.
Has it really been a week since I’ve updated last? Yikes.
As seems to be the tradition since I’ve reached “adulthood,” my natality seems to be a week-long celebration. Wednesday night I went over to Sofa’s apartment for an evening of Bones and wine coolers as we are wont to do, except she surprised me by taking me up to the roof of her apartment and wishing me a happy birthday as it turned midnight. We then proceeded to watch Bones until we passed out around 5:30am. She went to work, I stayed in her apartment and watched more Bones until I had to meet up with my friend Jess for lunch.
Russ joined us for Indian food at Tiffin Wallah on 29th and Lexington and then we enjoyed an absolutely gorgeous day walking around New York City. In the evening, hoards of people appeared at my door to go to the Astoria Beer Garden, where we had pitchers of a girly cocktail and the non-vegetarians indulged in some bratwurst. In my life I have been extraordinarily blessed with friends and I am grateful for each and every one of them.
This past weekend, Bear decided to hold his annual shorehouse party, so he and I and Katranna drove down to Brick Township to set up and wait for everyone else. It was a large turnout this year and the best part of Friday night was when Oz set off his leftover fireworks from the Fourth of July for my birthday as the rest of us sat on the roof.
Saturday we spent the day jetskiing and swimming in the bay, although the winds picked up later in the day, grounding us for the evening. We later went to the boardwalk at Point Pleasant and played DDR, rode the rides, and ate waffle ice cream sandwiches the size of our heads before we returned to the shorehouse for a game of drunken Trivial Pursuit as the most gothic and beautiful storm raged over the bay outside.
Sunday Bear, me, White-Harp, The Inimitable Bex, and Oz went down to the dropzone. Bex and Oz were going tandem, but Bear and I had hoped to complete our A licenses that day. As per usual, there was NO SUCH LUCK. Bear and I at least got one coached jump in before the winds picked up later in the day. Laticia and I practiced a two-way linked exit this time, which was actually a lot of fun, and some side sliders. Flying with my knees is something I have hard time wrapping my head around, but hopefully I can work on this in the tunnel. Bear and I are going to tunnel camp in Raeford, North Carolina next week and we are STOKED. Nathan even said we might be able to try some 4-way RW (relative work) in there. Yay!
As bummed as I was not to be able to get my A license checkout dive done (and filmed—Laticia would be filming me), it was an amazing week. 24 has gotten off to a good start.
Later, I also promise a review of NAAMAH’S KISS by Jacqueline Carey, which I devoured over the weekend.
Originally posted at Uncreated Conscience.
I had completely forgotten how mentally taxing skydiving can be. And I’m not talking about the possibilities of malfunctions or problems on a jump (which should be percolating at the back of the mind, of course), but just what concentration it takes. What focus. The complete and utter awareness of the body and how it feels, as well as how your body feels in relation to the fluid aerodynamics occurring around you.
The only comparison I can really make is yoga, which seems to be the antithesis of skydiving as a sport, yeah? But as someone who does both, there really is a clear connection. The only difference is, I suppose, that you are hurtling through the air at speeds in excess of 120mph (or more, depending on how big you are).
Bear and I gave Saturday, the Fourth of July, a skip at the DZ as his friend Splash claimed to be hosting a Whiffleball with PBR (gross) challenge. It never happened, so Bear and I spent the day watching The Twilight Zone marathon on SciFi SyFy. A good thing too, I suppose, as the DZ never got below a 200+ minimum jump restriction.
Sunday morning we got up bright and early and made it down to the DZ by 9am. We rented our gear for the day, manifested ourselves for a coach jump, and bought lift tickets for a fun jump. For once the weather gods gave me a respite and there were no winds. Huzzah!
Except little to no winds are almost as hard to navigate as high ones. On days with little wind, jump run is curved, which skews with my sense of holding area.
To explain, “jump run” is the line over the dropzone in which skydivers exit their planes. Jump run always runs upwind of the dropzone. The holding area is the patch of space also upwind of the dropzone to stay until 1000ft, at which point you begin your landing pattern.
One days where the winds are variable and practically nonexistent, jump run curves into a circle around the dropzone. First person down establishes the landing pattern. As I’m never the first one to land, I usually follow the example set by others. Except the others weren’t exactly paying attention to the rules established for myself and Bear and other novice skydivers. The windsocks were pointing in all directions with regards to direction, but from what I could tell, the other jumpers were landing crosswind. I was in the holding area I had mapped out for myself, but no one else seemed to care and everyone was ignoring the “don’t cross the runway below 1000ft” rule.
Nevertheless, I had a great skydive. Practiced centerpoint turns (in which one flies with the knees in addition to the arms—it makes for very fast spin) and more unstable maneuvers (my barrel rolls just seem weird to me—what happened?) before throwing my chute at 4000ft. I landed as I saw fit, which was upwind according to the windsocks, but because there was no headwind, it was a really fast landing.
As I was packing, I noticed that the line attaching my pilot chute to the d-bag was frayed. I let the rental store know, because it had also frayed through the kill line (…to long to explain here). This was when Laticia and Nathan decided to come up and tell us that we were manifested for the next load for coach jumps. I had to swap out my entire container and in my haste, accidentally attached my right riser to the container twisted.
The coached jump was fun. Bear/Nathan and Laticia/me went up in the Otter. Bear was doing his first swoop ‘n’ dock coached jump. Laticia and I planned one swoop ‘n’ dock before practicing side sliders. (Flying laterally instead of just “up and down” and around in circles.) Side sliders, like centerpoint turns, involve the knee. We were first out the door: Laticia went out first, I rocked back and forth once and dove out headfirst.
After I got stable, I scanned the skies for her. The most interesting part of skydiving the more I do it, is how my spatial awareness increases. I found her fairly quickly and tracked down to meet her. Swoop ‘n’ dock, a success! The side sliders were less so. I kept wanting to stick my knees out instead of down and there was something screwy about my alignment. So side sliders were a no-go. At 6000ft, we broke off and I tracked away, trying to roll my shoulders forward and flattening my arch. This sort of track is much more difficult than a simple arch ‘n’ dive due to the increased air pressure and I could feel myself wobbling a bit. At 3500ft, I waved off and pulled.
The riser twist? I had to look at it and decide very quickly weather or not I wanted to keep my main. It fulfilled three of the four “S”s: square canopy, straight lines (despite the twisted riser), and slider more than halfway down. Could I steer? I pulled right, then left, and then completed a flare. Yes; somehow, this did not affect my flight at all.
On the ground, I realised that our coaches have advanced me and Bear fairly quickly. Laticia in particular was always keen on me trying new things; I remember my first dive exit out of the Otter was on my fifth AFP jump (jump #8). Side sliders are not on the A license coaching curriculum.
“I don’t see why we should hold you back if you’ve got everything else down,” she said.
Our third jump of the day was interesting. As per usual, my skydive itself was uneventful (trying to practice side sliders, but with no point of reference, it’s hard to tell if I’m doing it right), but after I opened I had some trouble with my landing pattern. Mostly because the windsocks were pointed in every which direction, not to mention, no everyone was landing in the same direction either. I stuck to my original landing pattern, but ended up really far afield. I was about 10ft from the treeline when I landed
After I had gathered my canopy, I saw that other jumpers on the load were rushing toward the trees on the north side of the dropzone. I scanned the field for Bear, but he was nowhere to be found and he always lands before I do.
Uh oh, I thought.
Sure enough, my Teddy Bear was caught up in the first tree on the treeline about 20ft from the ground.
“Bear?” I called. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he said, “I’m fine.”
Once I ascertained he was uninjured, I called beer on him before walking back to drop off my stuff. The dropzone called the fire brigade and he was extracted before long, but not before a dozen people took photos and video. He was unhurt, which is the most important part. I can’t wait until the Williamstown Fire Brigade puts up pictures; they did last year when they had to retrieve another skydiver from a tree.
It did put a damper on the rest of our evening. Bear’s canopy was pretty beat up. I manifested myself for another coach, but ended up being unable to jump as I had to return my own gear by 7:30. I was so freaking close to getting my A license on Sunday. I had 24 jumps. Seeing my glum face, Laticia told me there were A license written tests, if I wanted to take it. Bear and I took the exams and passed. Now all we have left is one coach jump and a checkout dive! Yay! I can’t wait until Bear and I start flying together.
Next weekend, checkout dive. Also, video. And my birthday weekend. Everyone come on down!
Originally posted at Uncreated Conscience.
Curses, the weather gods really do hate my guts. Bear and I went down to the DZ today with the hopes that we would be able to squeeze in at least three more jumps, but alas, the winds were gusting again. I managed to get one jump in, right as an A license restriction was placed. It was gusting at 20mph when Bear and I went up in the Skyvan and got stronger as we landed.
I understand now why inexperienced jumpers such as myself shouldn’t fly canopies when it’s gusting so strongly; I had the weirdest experience coming down to land. I was demoing the Pilot 188 again and right as I was making my final turn into my upwind leg, instead of floating down, the wind picked me up at least 5 to 10 feet before dropping me. Thankfully I was high enough for my stalled parachute to reinflate in time so that I might stand my landing safely, but it definitely made me nervous.
My skydive itself was great; I practiced changing my fallrate and some unstable maneuvers. Bear and I are thinking of going to wind tunnel camp to get our flying skills honed so that one day, we might be able to do this:
It’s like he’s dancing.
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