there's more to life than this

Oh my dog! What an amazing day (so far).

First off, I talked to my doc this morning and he assured me that the amount of fluid in my kidney was very small/mild and commonly found (because they make you drink the equivalent of a big gulp prior to your appointment). He said that according to the full lab analysis my kidney is functioning normally, and "usually if there's a blockage anywhere there's fluid all over the place". He said that there was little fluid and no kidney stones or other blockages seen -- "This is *not* an emergency, I don't want you to lose any sleep over this." (Hah! Too late!) Nevertheless, they have scheduled me for yet another ultrasound in about 6 weeks. This is all probably way more information than you ever cared to know, but it was such a huge relief. This morning when I woke up I was not as excited about the day as I normally might have been, you can imagine.

So I got that nice piece of news not long before we drove out to the skydiving place -- and holy Jebus! Skydiving is like the best best thing *ever*!!!!!! EVER!!!! It was so amazing, so fun and even though it is so expensive I know that I will go back and do it again soon. When you get there they sit you down and make you watch a video (featuring Eric Roberts as their celebrity skydiver) that starts out with wailing guitars and people hurtling through the air. Then you get to watch their attorney spiel on about how you can't sue them for anything (even slipping on a banana peel in the parking lot -- yep, he used that as an example), and then another guy who tells you that you can't sue them for anything tandem related. You are basically told several times that you will not be successful if you try to sue them for anything because they make you waive every possible right away before you jump. The tandem guy had this conservative haircut but a beard that rivals the ZZTop guys.

So I signed my life away and then we went outside to wait to be called. My Jumpmaster was a guy from Illinois (he had just moved out here 3 weeks ago to skydive fulltime) -- super nice and gave me lots of repetitive instruction which was helpful. The only thing he didn't say more than once was that I was supposed to hang on to the rip cord after I pulled it, so I forgot to do that -- but he caught it anyway. We piled into a plane, climbed up to 13,000 feet and then plunged out, freefalling for what was only about a minute but seemed much longer. Free falling is indescribable -- you're just arched with your arms and legs back and falling straight down to the earth at 120 miles per hour (yahooooooooo!!!). Then once the parachute is deployed you float so nicely and can see everywhere -- we did a few spirals, turns on the way down. It was uh, like so fun. I know, I'm babbling. But it was easily one of the best things I've ever done -- when we were climbing upwards in the plane I just got this feeling, like skydiving was definitely something I was meant to do. Repeatedly. Hehehehehe. Skydive. Grin. Repeat.

So tonight, yoga. And pie. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm pie. Tomorrow, massage and terrorizing random parts of LA. Friday? Don't know yet. Saturday? Party....