Thursday 11 March 2010

Last days in Orlando. Yet more adrenalin.

Now that the course has finished I am officially a tourist and can do touristy things which I did do now.
The squirrel was a hoot. It was minding its own business ambling through the car park and then suddenly ran up the nearest tree making a noise that I have never heard a squirrel make and its tail was cocked up . I was really curious as to what the squirrel was up to as well as why it suddenly ran up the tree.
As soon as I saw the advert I knew I had to do it. In fact, in my introduction on day 1 of the course I told everyone I was going to do it. So I just had to do it. Getting there was easy. It was only a few minutes walk from the hotel and only one major intersection to cross. The noise the building makes is like that of what I can imagine an annoyed and firey dragon makes as it sucks the air in and spurts it out. Paying was easy, so too was signing and initialising the rather extensive health waver. I collected the DVD, relieved myself as I thought that would be prudent to do so before hand, and climbed the stairs. Did I say climb the stairs up the blue and orange coloured building? Thankfully there weren't too many and I did feel safe going up the metalic stairs. In the waiting area there were 6 of us; one wasn't going to participate. I wonder why? We were then introduced to our instructor who gave each of us the appropriate clothing we needed to wear. A brief safety practice then ensued.

More shirts, more jeans and a pair of All Stars. I hope everything fits into the case and I am not over weight... well... that the suitcase isn't overweight.

Many of us have exchanged business cards and have said our goodbyes. I wonder if we will keep in touch. I already have had 3 Facebook friend requests, so that's a good sign. More of the guys are leaving today. Even more handshakes, hugs and goodbyes.

The suitcase is packed and everything fits, just. The case feels a lot heavier that it did on the way here. So only time will tell as I sit here waiting for the taxi to the airport which will be here in about 4 hours time.

After the safety practice the 5 of us were moved to benches outside the area. One after the other had their minute of fame. Then it was my turn. The feelings I was experiencing at that moment were excitement and fear. Fear of the unexpected and excited because this is something I have wanted to do since I arrived and now it's my chance. I gripped the edges of the open entry space, bent my head back with my chin in the air and let go. OMG I am really doing this. I am skydiving. The instructor is giving me hand signals, I have forgotton what he wants me to do. I smile and relax as I was told and am getting a huge adrenaline rush as the wind pushed me around the chamber. This must have been one of the longest minutes I have experienced in a long time. Finally my time is over and I am pushed towards the exit door to sit down and get my breath back. Soon enough it's my turn again. This time the instructor held onto me and pulled me with the full force of the wind all the way up to the top of the wind tunnel and all the way around the circumference of the chamber, then back down again and OMG here we go again all the way up and round and round and back down. My 2 minutes of fame are over as we then watch the instructor show off with what he can do. I collect my DVD (proof I did it) and certificate and slowly walk down the long stairs back to reality in Orlando.

The squirrel had seen a duck slowly waddle through the car park minding its own business and didn't like the look of it and so had run up the tree. The noise it was making sounded like a warning sign for other squirrels. The duck minded its own business, opened its wings and flew away in the other direction. The squirrel relaxed, slowly slid down the tree and went in the direction of the mini golf course at the edge of the carpark.


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