Falling, With Style: Final Narrative Draft

“Keegan Brown” yelled the instructor, as he was calling out names for the next load of people. My heart was racing like a racehorse, and my mind was telling my limbs not to move from my spot. However, I walked over to where I was being getting strapped up into a harness, that would be my safety net between life and death. It was double and triple checked, so no room for error would be made, and then we walked over to who our instructors would be for the jump.

Someone had told me that my instructor was Carl, so I began looking for him. This tan skinned, bald Latino wearing expensive sunglasses who was at least 6-8 inches shorter began walking towards me. He sauntered over, and I could tell that he was well built, had tattoos on his legs, and gave off this impression that you did not want to mess with him.

“ Hey I’m Carl, your instructor and I’m from Carlsbad, so do you know what that makes me? A Carls bad a**” said Carl.

Oh great I thought to myself, this man is going to get me really hurt or even worse killed. I just smiled back at him at his joke and also met my photographer who was Steve, and together with other pairs of people we began walking out to the plane, which was sitting idly on the runway. Each step brought a wave of anxiety to my brain, as it began to realize that this was something I was really doing. We finally got to the end of the walkway to the welcoming opening in the plane to climb into. Once we were are set and ready to go, the plane began to taxi down the runway at a pace that seemed like a snail’s pace. Finally the plane got to one end of the runway, and began sputtering down the road. The wheels became unglued to the ground, and the plane was in the air.

Foot after foot, we were rising in the air like a bird in the sky. The butterflies were beginning to form within my stomach, and began thinking maybe this was not the best idea in the world. We reached our maximum altitude, and I began to get strapped onto my “professional” instructor, Carl. We were one of the last people to jump, so I watched person after person jump, and become tiny little dots across the sky. We finally waddled together over to the bay door and there I was standing on the edge of a plane over 13,000 feet in the air. My knees grew weak as I was standing there about to jump out of a plane. My mind went blank, for my brain could not compute with what my body was about to do. My last image ironically was looking out onto Mexican soil.

And then Whoosh! A shot of adrenaline rushed throughout my body like an electric shot. My instructor decided to do a backflip coming out of the plane without telling me, and I was taken completely by surprise. Then there we were, falling towards the Earth very fast, and it was amazing. We did a couple of little tricks, but mostly I was just enjoying this great feeling I was experiencing.  It was just like in “Toy Story” when Buzz Lightyear, one of my favorite childhood memories, says he was not flying but “falling, with style.” Here I was reenacting what my childhood hero did that I thought was the coolest thing in the world, and that was “flying”.  But when I touched down, I would be Buzz Lightyear no more but instead a newly fledged adult. Within a couple of minutes, my falling with style ended and a new life began. 

Bounce Back

Tonight at seven, the BYU Cougars basketball team is playing their first game after the Wisconsin blowout against Northern Arizona. It will be interesting to see how the Cougars bounce back after they got blown out by Wisconsin and their 3-pt shooting. Will the Cougars improve their perimeter defense after getting torched the last game where Wisconsin shot 13-25 behind the line? Will Brandon Davies and Charles Abouo bounce back after having really subpar games against Wisconsin and get back on track? I believe that this game will be a fairly easy game for the Cougars to handle because of their matchup advantages they have over Northern Arizona in the post. This BYU team has too much size for Northern Arizona to contain, and BYU will exploit that. But a key factor like every game this season is if Brandon Davies can stay out of foul trouble in the first half. If he can avoid those two quick fouls in the first half in games, our team will be more effective throughout the entire game. Another factor coming into this game is Northern Arizona is in a rebuilding year, graduating their leading scorer and losing their top scorer this year to a freak accident. Overall this should be a double digit win for the Cougars in a high scoring matter. BYU 87- NAU 53

NBA Lockout

This past weekend over Thanksgiving break, the owners and the players of the NBA finally reached an agreement that would save the season this year. I was really glad that this happened because I would miss watching the Lakers dominate as usual, plus the newcomers who are rising like Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose. Also it will be interesting how Jimmer progresses from the National Player of the Year in college to the NBA, especially without not as much practice with his new team the Kings. Some people from around here in Utah though wished that the season and maybe the next could be lost to teach the players and owners a lesson. The lesson that they wanted them to learn was they have all this money and are so well off than everyone else in the country, that they should not be fighting over money issues. I think the people in Utah wanted the season to be lost because they don't have a good basketball team in the Jazz. They would rather see everyone else suffer than endure another disappointing season. I am most likely going to the Lakers v. Jazz game on January 17th and I can't wait for the Lakers to impose their will on them. But I think this will be a tough year for the Lakers because of two reasons. One reason is that the season is now so scrunched together, the time to recover between games is shorter, and that will affect the Lakers more than others because they are an older team. The other reason is they are breaking in a new coach Mike Brown, and breaking in new offensive and defensive philosophies. With the short training camps, it will be hard to get team chemistry and build cohesiveness, but its the Lakers, and I believe they will be just fine and compete for a championship.

Personal Narrative Draft

This is what I originally had as my first draft, but I had some inspiration that will make it a bit shorter and better with dialogue and more description. Plus I will have a better central message that will be clearer. But until i write and post my final draft, here was my so-so first attempt.

The day had finally come. After waiting for three long months, my parents finally stopped being lazy and reserved my skydive jump. My parents for my 18^th birthday gave me the opportunity to go skydiving whenever they reserved it. I had to wait an agonizing three months because of all the crazy events happening in my life like finishing up high school/graduation, getting my Eagle, job etc. But finally they got my spot reserved and began our journey to the border that separates the USA and Mexico. The drive was simple, just an hour and a half drive to through scenic southern California. We finally arrived at the skydive company’s airfield where numerous cars filled their parking lot. My family and me exited the car and went into their main offices to check in and sign boring waivers and such. As I had to sign the copious paperwork, their legal video was playing in the background. It featured this old, boring looking man talking about the legal matters of skydiving. It was so monotonous and looked like it had not been updated since the 1980’s.

Finally the dreary part of this experience was over, and I could now focus and prep my psyche for what was going to take place in the following hours. From the office, the people that were going to skydive had to do little tutorial on what was going to happen during the jump. We practiced the different positions that we needed to be in during certain times of the jump. To my family I bet I looked really dumb, doing things like hip thrusts, lying on the ground with my legs curled in etc. But it was necessary because me and the other people had no skydive experience whatsoever. The person who was teaching us these techniques was, according to my mom, this handsome, attractive Australian guy, who would have even got my mom out to skydive if she knew about him. Now that our training was completed, we got to wait around for our “load” or group turn to go up in the airplanes.

My family and me had to wait for at least an hour and a half before I was able to go, so we were treated to a show of all the people who were ahead of us. Load after load, plane after plane, we watched people and their photographers skydive, pull their parachutes, and touchdown on the ground. But the most amazing thing about watching these people were the professional photographers who would show off as they were coming into land. They would make these dangerous, steep turns right before they land and then make these graceful landings right before they hit the ground. It was astounding to watch them pull off these complex and intricate moves with their parachutes then like a dove, gracefully land on the ground. Finally my name was called within a load, and my mind began to start subtly telling my body that this was a bad idea. I began getting strapped up in my harness, making sure everything was secure so I did not get separated from my instructor or the parachute. My harness was double and triple checked, and then we were off to meet who we would be attached to for the duration of our flight.

My companion name was Carl, and ironically he was from Carlsbad, California. I also met my photographer who was Steve, and together with other pairs of people we began walking out to the plane, which was sitting idly on the runway. Each step brought a wave of anxiety to my brain, as it began to realize that this was something I was really doing. We finally got to the end of the walkway to the welcoming opening in the plane to climb into. Once we were are set and ready to go, the plane began to taxi down the runway at a pace that seemed like a snail’s pace. Finally the plane got to one end of the runway, and began sputtering down the road. The wheels became unglued to the ground, and the plane was in the air.

Foot after foot, we were rising in the air like a bird in the sky. The butterflies were beginning to form within my stomach, and began thinking maybe this was not the best idea in the world. We reached our maximum altitude, and I began to get strapped onto my professional companion, Carl. We were one of the last people to jump, so I watched person after person jump, and become tiny little dots across the sky. We finally waddled together over to the bay door and there I was standing on the edge of a plane over 13,000 feet in the air. My knees grew weak as I was standing there about to jump out of a plane. My last image before we went off was looking into Mexico, and seeing their land and neighborhoods, and how they did not look any different than the US. Whoosh! My instructor decided to do a backflip coming out of the plane without telling me, and I was taken completely by surprise. Then there we were, falling towards the Earth very fast, and it was amazing. We did a couple of little tricks, but mostly I was just enjoying this great feeling I was experiencing. It was just like in “Toy Story” when Buzz Lightyear says he was not flying but “falling, with style.” I was sad when he had to pull the parachute because it ended what I felt was something I wish I could experience everyday. It was one of the greatest experiences and feelings of my life so far, and I believe it has changed me. I now think that I can do anything if I set my mind to it. If I can jump out of a plane, then I can do a lot of things that previously I did not think I could do. I believe it helped me grow up, and make me feel more like and adult and a man. 

Home Sweet Home

Well today I finally got back from my Thanksgiving break, and am now back to reality in Provo. Looking back at it, it was really nice that I was able  to go back home and see my family, my friends, and my homeland. Nothing will ever come close to where I live in Southern California, in Southern Orange County. That place is a paradise, and is such a great place to live and I miss it every time I leave. It just has this aura about it to me that makes it harder to leave every time I go back. But it's time to get back to reality. Finals week is two weeks away, and its time to gear up for it and study hard so I can get the grades that I want. With numerous loose ends to tie up before finals week, like this blog project, I am going to have a busy next two weeks. But it is the Christmas season so hopefully that will lift me up here and there as school engulfs my life for the next three weeks. But the light at the end of the tunnel is Christmas Break.

College Basketball

Well I just witnessed the BYU Cougars lose to the Wisconsin Badgers in the Chicago Invitational championship game. The Badgers just got to hot from outside the 3pt line shooting 13/25. #1 on Wisconsin personally set a career high with 21 points shooting 7/10 outside the 3 point line. BYU was only down by 2 at the half but struggled mightily in the second half with their offense and couldn't keep up with Wisconsin's hot shooting. Although they lost, this was a good game for BYU to find out who they were before conference play starts. They are still without the UCLA transfer Carlino who should change how this team is run when he becomes eligible on Dec. 17th. I also think Dave Rose was out coached in this game by Bo Ryan. Dave Rose failed to use Rogers and Harrison more who could have given more offense production. Also the offense should have run through Hartsock more because he was consistent than Davies who missed easy shots and turned the ball over. We will see how the team responds in the coming games after getting torched.

Black Friday

Every year our society is constantly obsessed with the idea of Black Friday. Stay up all night and buy as much as you can on all the amazing deals. But my question is why? Why does everyone get so crazy over discounted goods? We hear the stories of people getting trampled, people using pepper spray, long lines that go on for hours and it makes me confused. I don't get why we need to be like crazed animals fighting each other for a discounted camera or TV. I know why stores do it because of capitalism, and they greatly benefit over peoples obsession over Black Friday. I see on Facebook all these posts that sound so miserable  of people at these stores so early in the morning. It just made me feel glad that me or anyone in my family isn't that crazy to fight off hordes of people for material goods. But thats what our world has come too, materialism is continuing to become an important factor for people.

National Security

Here I am now sitting in the airport waiting for my flight home for the Thanksgiving break. And this was the first time I have gone through security where metal detectors weren't used but these high tech wave machines were used. You stand with your hands above your head in this capsule sized machine and then these detectors do a circle around you. You then walk out and wait for the results and once you pass you can grab your things. This new technology is very helpful to the TSA because for the results it tells exactly where on the body if there something metal on the body or something else. Since 9/11 the TSA has substantially increased their security measures within all their airports. Things like taking our shoes off and having them scanned, no liquids unless met by certain requirements, and not even allowing things like pocketknives are just some of the measure they have taken since 9/11. 9/11 was a black eye for the TSA because these terrorists somehow slipped through airport security with their weapons, and was able to take over aircraft. Ever since then the TSA has been very staunch with their security measures. And while they may be a hassle for us when we travel, it is required so that we can be safe, and our country can be safe from terrorists.