Tuesday, August 28, 2007

"Ya' gotta have a passion for what you do"



The pic's are from one of my favorite jumps with Sean. That is APj in the red helmet and Sean was on my right.

"No matter what your passion is...."
This is a motto that is near and dear to my heart. I want to share a story about a friend of mine that lives by this creed.


I remember how much he loved flying planes-even way back then. We thought he was nuts -- and we jumped outta planes! Almost every week, we got a private airshow when he left the drop zone: low buzz jobs, hammerhead stalls, and some other moves I don't remember the names of.

"How did a stunt pilot end up skydiving?" you ask. Interesting story. As I remember it, (mild disclaimer if necessary for legal reasons or otherwise), it went something like this: Sean wanted to fly his plane at an airshow. The airshow organizer had some other stunt pilot lined up: a guy that could do "x" (I don't remember the exact number) of flat spins. Sean's response was that he could do "x+1." At some point,while attempting to do this never-done-before-number of flat spins, Sean had to exit his plane.

Yes.....exit his plane, as in, oops, and use his emergency parachute (something he had never done before). After his safe landing on Mother Earth (although his plane did not have a happy landing), Sean journeyed to visit the packer of his parachute, Ray Ferrell. Ray, who could sell water to a fish or sand to a camel, convinced Sean to come skydive for fun....

The outdoor channel is doing a special on Sean, his team, Team Oracle, and a dream plane. Watch it if you can. This is a man who continues to have a passion for everything he does.

Monday, August 27, 2007

300 - Its raining men. Amen.

I'm gonna go out.
I'm gonna let myself get:
Absolutely soaking wet...

Yeah,yeah, total eye candy....
So....can anyone point me in the direction of Sparta?

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Alas, poor toy, I knew thee well....

Dear Toys R Us,

I am so sorry to be returning my Oh-Baby-Baby-Youscream/Iscream, deluxe remote control version. I know it it not your policy to refund any money, but I am hoping you will make an exception. You see, my mojo has been....slow-mo'd.

My friends, Superman Steve sent me a link to a chap he thought I would be interested in. "You have so much in common: divorce, going back to school as an adult, religion, cowboy hats...." Being a little leary, err, leery of the whole internet dating thing, I went and looked.

And almost immediately the Youscream function malfunctioned. Or perhaps I just couldn't hear it over my own cries for help..... (OMG, but WTF is that tattoo on his very pale-white-dark-hairy-chest!?!?!?!)

After composing myself, I informed Superman Steve that this match was less then satisfactory, and requested a new match. One that wasn't quite so pale.....so complacent.....so talkative. "Never fear," reassured Steve. Within days, he had another match for me. "And," he enthused, "this time you have a choice! There are four to pick from!"

Sadly, even the Iscream function no longer works....

I hope you will reconsider your refund policy on this occassion.

Sincerely,
the no-longer-screaming
AirplaneJayne

p.s. If any of your employees would like to replace Superman Steve as my dating guru, a position is available.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

I've got friends.....

dacount

A few weeks ago, my friend Lore and her kids came and spent a weekend with me. A late evening ended with this stroll down skydiving memory lane....

When Claire and I started skydiving, there were not many women skydivers. In fact, after we started, the female population on the drop zone tripled. To three: myself, Claire, and Lore. Yup, Alaska may be the place to move to find single men, but the drop zone was a whole lot closer! Lore, with over 200 skydives at the time, was a Sky Goddess. She drove a cute little Fiat with personalized plates (Im Lore), had a killer smile, danced like a fiend, and skydived like a bird. If she wasn't so nice, you'd almost have to hate her.
But I didn't. And I couldn't. In fact, my surviving "THE ACCIDENT" is in large part due to her resilience:
She came to see me after the surgery. I remember talking to her, and having difficulty breathing - it was as if I had run a race. Like I somehow couldn't get enough air in my lungs. I kept dozing off, which I blamed on the anesthetic wearing off. Lore left during one of these naps. She says that something seemed wrong--she couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she stopped at the nurses station, voiced her concern and asked them to check on me. They assured her that it was only the effects of the anesthetic, and that the Doctor would be making rounds in an hour or so. Lore headed for the elevators.
And stopped.
Returned to the nurses station, and insisted that someone go and check on her friend right then. Pretty gutsy for a 21-year old, eh?
With much attitude, a nurse came to check on me.
I remember she cussed when she saw me, hit the call button, and all hell broke loose.
I had developed a pulmonary embolism-- the gunky stuff in the middle of my femur had migrated to my lungs, filling my lungs with goober and fluids -- which all really wanted to have a party in my heart. Good party, but deadly.

Ya' know those cool Doctor shows on TV? Where the patient is wheeled down a hallway and you see the fluorescent lights flash by on the ceiling? The ones where some handsome doctor says, "We've got to intubate her!" and he does it easily to the unconscious patient?
Well, 2 out of 4......yes to lights and handsome. But it was three trips down the throat of a totally conscious and terrified Airplane Jayne.
Blah, blah, blah, if you want to know more about that story, go here -- but my point is, thank God Lore stood up to the staff. The other night, she was remembering how she felt that they felt she was wasting their time -- and she almost felt the same.

Thank you, Lore. I still say, "You saved my life."

This Da Count is for friends who stand up for you, even when others disagree.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Garou - Belle (live, in 3 languages!)

This is a song from the musical "Notre-Dame de Paris." The lyrics and his voice just about melt me.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

APj has gone to the movies...and the store

Most of you know that I love to go to the movies. Some of you have had the pleasure (I think) of going to the movies with me....and a rare few of you know the best deal at the snack bar...

In addition to the Wizard of Oz (best alltime choice), some of my faves are:
The Dark Crystal


One of the first video's that Erynn saw. I think she was only 3-4 yrs old the first time (I know, I know, "Bad Mommy") -and she strode around the house making Mystic and Skekzie sounds.

Labrinyth


Let's all agree that David Bowie is hot. Even in those tight 80's tights....sorry, I've gone to the store....

The Princess Bride

"As you wish." Men should all adopt this line. It will get you so much further.

Stardust


I just went to see this tonight. Those of you who are mad at me because you wanted to go with me: never fear. I will go again. and again. This is a fabulous movie. Makes me in love with the movies all over again.

Tagged by Mintz!

Okay -Mintzy tagged me....(of course from behind....that's his M.O.) Here's the question:

Topic: Have you ever thought someone was cute that, um, say, didn't deserve to be thought of as such. Like serial-killers, or rapists, or bad people?

Okay- I don't think I've ever seen a hot serial-killer or rapist.....so we'll have to move on to bad. many categories of bad....

BAD MANNERS
1. Dennis Leary. Yup-That Dennis Leary. I know, I know- I don't know what it is....but there's just something about him: the crooked nose? the beady eyes? the smoking? the condescendingness? All things I dislike.....but put 'em all together and BAM! Come and pull my hair, Dennis Leary!






BAD PLANNERS
2. The jerk who backed out of taking me to the Homecoming Dance my senior year at THIS school. Yup! And even after that...I had the HUGEST crush--so much so that I went out on a date with him my freshman year of college.

BAD TANNERS
3. Okay....I don't know that he doesn't tan well, but he's Irish.....and smokes......and cusses worse than drunk jayne......but one look into those Irish Eyes and I'll give you one guess who'll be smilin' all day...

Friday, August 10, 2007

Songs about Jane....

Some friends in college once made a mix tape for me of "Jane" songs. I wish this had been out when I was in college.....but I think it's lovely.

Got any other Jane songs I may not have heard?

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

The Ghost and APj

We moved into the Weise House in 1974. It's funny, my folks have lived there for more than 30 years, longer than all (except one) in the neighborhood, and it is still called the Weise House. It was built sometime between WWI and WWII, relatively new, compared to some of the houses nearby. I remember feeling strange spots in the house almost immediately upon moving in. My mother thought I was just being sulky- as I hadn't wanted to move from California to Nebraska. When asked to explain it, all I could come up with was that it felt like someone was watching me. Like, if I turned around quick enough, I would catch whomever it was. I often found things (keys, change, books) in places that I knew I had not left them, but was always told that I just must have forgotten putting them there. Over time, anything not found was blamed on "Jayne's ghost."

I moved back to California in 1980. Funny how my vindication came only after I left....
My older brother John had slept in the moon room for years (yes, yes, a post will come soon about my mothers penchant for naming the rooms), but had abandoned the room in favor of a room in the basement after a nightmare. None of us has ever been told what the dream was about-- but we all heard him yell.... Jason, who up until this point had slept in the cubbyhole, lept at the opportunity for a "real room."
And the sightings began...
During the early summer of 1985 (a decade after we had moved in), Jason was talking to his girlfriend on the phone. "I saw something moving...out of the corner of my eye," Jason explained, "I thought it was Mom, so I just kept talking to Nickki. Suddenly, something grabbed my arm. I looked up -- and there was nothing....but something there! I screamed, threw the phone at the nothing, and bolted from the room." Jason refused to sleep in the room, and moved back into the cubbyhole. To this day, he refers to the Moon Room as the Ghost's Room, and will not go in alone.

In August of 1985, I sent my father a balloon-a-gram for his birthday. As many of you know, the latex ones begin to droop and drag by the second day, and the mylar ones keep floating. Such was the case, and so my mother had set the bunch next to the piano in the living room. As they were sitting on the couch one evening, the balloons began to move towards the dining room. "It's probably the air current" Dad assured Mom. "Let's follow it" challenged Mom(she is so-o-o brave and fearless!). Hardy Boy and Nancy Drew followed the balloons as they made their way through the dining room, into the kitchen, made a 60 degree turn into and through the "S" shaped hallway, and then proceeded up the stairs to the second floor. At the top of the stairs, the balloons made a 90degree left into my parents room, followed by a 90degree right turn into the football room (yes,yes more named rooms). The balloons floated up, and then sat on Dad's football chair. "I don't think it's air currents," concluded Hardy Boy. "Don't tell Jason,"admonished Nancy Drew.

The following spring found Jayne and baby Erynn visiting Nebraska. Erynn and I were sleeping one night when I felt the covers go taut. Thinking it was the family cat (aptly named, Spooky), I reached back to pet her. There was something there, resting against my legs.....but it wasn't Spooky....even though it was scary! "Please go away," I whispered, "I don't want to wake Erynn." The ghost left.

My mother thought the ghost had left for good, but I knew he was still around.

He didn't show himself again until about six years ago: I was watching T.V. in the den. Erynn was spending the night at the neighbors house, and Mom had gone up to take a bath. I was tired, so I decided to go up to bed. Turning the lights out in the den, I headed towards the staircase, turning the lights off in the living room as I started up the stairs. Suddenly, the light in the kitchen went on. "Hmmm..." I thought, "Mom must have come down." I turned back and went to the kitchen. Which was empty. "Strange," I thought, "I'm sure the light was of-" The light in the living room was on. Switching off the light in the kitchen, I sprinted to the living room, hoping to catch my playful mom, but the living room was empty too. Switching the light off, turning towards the stairs, I saw that the den light was on again. "Goodnight, ghost," I called, "I'm happy to see you, but I'm done playing for the night." I went up the stairs. Quickly, and looking straight forward, I headed to my bed. And turned the nightlight on....just in case.

Oh.....just in case you're wondering.......Mom was still upstairs in the tub.....

I always have the nightlight on........

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

My Favorite color is also the color of my soul....






What color is your soul painted?

Purple

Your soul is painted the color purple, which embodies the characteristics of sensuality, spirituality, creativity, wealth, royalty, nobility, mystery, enlightenment, arrogance, gaudiness, mourning, confusion, pride, delicacy, power, meditation, religion, and ambition. Purple falls under the element of Earth, and was once a European symbol of royalty; today it symbolizes the divine.

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