SKYDIVING AND BACKFLIPS

Young people often have a feeling of invulnerability.  I am still 18 months aways from my 60th birthday - still within the past five years I have had to deal with cataract surgery in both eyes and a laparoscopic inguinal hernia surgery just two weeks ago. When I was younger, I remember all too well that feeling of invulnerability that is now long gone.  It is not fun to make concessions to age, but one needs to do precisely that. I can no longer ride roller coasters as the rides do not agree with my repaired lenses in my eyes. I need to be careful in the ways that I extend my right arm - as I had a dislocated shoulder in my late 20's and it never completely healed to full strength. The best news that my hernia surgeon told me was that after the third week of recovery - that I actually could go back and do all the things that I could do one month ago.

You could make the point that one wolud have to have a feeling of invulnerability to jump out of this airplane, and perhaps a feeling of invulnerability to simply fly in this plane.  On a December day in 1979, I did both.  Yep, that is me.  Back in those days it took effort to take a photograph. One didn't have their iphone with them at all times - but that was only because the introduction of the iphone was still more than a quarter century away from being introduced.

Growing up, I know that I disappointed and made my parents angry many times. No matter how hard I try to remember, I don't think I can specifically recall even five specific things that I could have done to anger them - although there were probably hundreds of things large and small. One thing I did, I do remember, very clearly. When I was in college in Binghamton in 1979, I went with a friend to go 'skydiving.'  Skydiving might be an inflated term for what we did. We did jump out of an airplane from 1500 feet. We were not responsible for pulling our own ripcord as a static line released the parachute after we cleared away from the plane. It was all very exciting and it was something I did exactly one time. I remember telling my parents about this during a trip home to Long Island. My Dad was very distressed when I discussed this particular adventure  and he asked what my plans were had I injured myself in a life changing way. I was 18 years old. Young men that age are still wrapped up in their misguided feelings of invulnerability. I did never consider parachuting again - although I was glad to have done it the one time. I am thinking about this today, because in one week I will be allowed to return to my life as it was six weeks ago. I will be happy to lift my heavy sample cases in and out of the car, I will be happy to spend 90 minutes pedaling and burning calories on the elliptical machine and I will be happy to walk up 25 flights of stairs if I choose.  I think that I will continue to shy away from roller coasters and skydiving. As I approach 60 years old (eighteen more months to go) I have to come to terms with the fact that the feeling of invulnerability is gone.

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Your Food Diary For:

Saturday, May 14, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Sage - Red Delicious Apple, 2 medium apple	190	50	1	1	4	38
Quaker - Grits - Instant - Original, 2 packet	200	44	0	4	620	0
	390	94	1	5	624	38
L U N C H
Omelette With Ham, Spinach and Swiss Cheese	600	9	33	64	696	2
Butterball - Bacon Style Turkey, 4 slices	140	2	12	8	600	0
	740	11	45	72	1,296	2
D I N N E R
Burrito	850	88	33	51	1,577	6
	850	88	33	51	1,577	6
S N A C K S
Sage - Red Delicious Apple, 2 medium apple	190	50	1	1	4	38
	190	50	1	1	4	38
Totals	2,170	244	80	129	3,500	84
Your Daily Goal	2,633	329	87	132	2,300	98
Remaining	463	85	7	2	-1,199	14
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 703 extra calories from exercise today

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Your Exercise Diary for:

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
MATRIX TREADMILL	99	898
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	-195
Daily Total / Goal	100 / 30	703 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	261 / 210	2,058 / 4,130

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Back in 1979, I must have really thought I was invulnerable. On a spring day in 1979 I thought it might be interesting to try to do a backflip.  All I did was jump up a bit and land on my back. I wish I could remember who the photographer was.  Photographs like this were not so easy to take in 1979 with  Kodak instamatic camera.  I look at this picture and I remember that I was always a 'big' guy.  I am pretty sure that this version of myself in 1979 still couldn't share a wardrobe with the version of myself today.

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A 99:00 minute workout on the treadmill... I set the machine for 94 minutes, and it tacked on a 5 minute 'cooldown'

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and finally, I would like to share some wisdom from Jerry Seinfeld....

"...Skydiving was definitely the scariest thing I've ever done. Let me ask you this question in regards to the skydiving: what is the point of the helmet in the skydiving? I mean, can you kinda make it? You jump out of that plane and that chute doesn't open, the helmet is now wearing you for protection. Later on the helmet's talking with the other helmets going "It's a good thing that he was there or I would have hit the ground directly. 

There are many things that we can point to that proof that the human being is not smart. The helmet is my personal favorite. The fact that we had to invent the helmet. Now why did we invent the helmet? Well, because we were participating in many activities that were cracking our heads. We looked at the situation. We chose not to avoid these activities, but to just make little plastic hats so that we can continue our head-cracking lifestyles. 

The only thing dumber than the helmet is the helmet law, the point of which is to protect a brain that is functioning so poorly, it's not even trying to stop the cracking of the head that it's in...".

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on a whim I punched up the registration number of the airplane that I flew to skydive way back in 1979... And in the age of the internet, this is the information that I retrieved in less than one second.

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