Parachuting

I, I think I thought that I don't make out of fear currently.

You know, I was s- I was telling someone yesterday, I was like, "Man, I think King Having Fun, I'm really proud of it, but I'd really like to make something on the next record that's, like, scary, that makes, that I could maybe fail." I was like, "I just haven't felt afraid in a while, and I kind of want that feeling." And they were like, "Isn't that exactly what that is?" Like, if you made something that you, like, know people are gonna like, isn't that you acting out of fear 'cause you're like, you know, you're kinda creating a shell and be like, "Yeah, like, people like this, so I'm making this." And I, it kinda hit me where I didn't th- I, I think I w- I'm like, "I wanna skydive, but I'm only walking on the sidewalk right now." And they're like, "Well, the sidewalk is kinda, it's just, it's the other...

You know, it's the end of the horseshoe, right?" You can be on the sidewalk with your fucking blinder on or you can be skydiving, but they're both very much aware of what death is, right? Sidewalk's like, "Don't come near the cars." Skydive's like, "Let me see this shit," you know? And I think there is no making without fear.

I don't, I don't think I'll be rid of fear ever.

Should you be making music that you think people want or what you want?

Yeah.

The way that I summed it up in my notes is that I know that the Skydive is the big challenge of early-mole seasons and the big-budget challenge of early-mole seasons, but it does genuinely look like it's a fan-created version of the mole.

Yeah.

It looks like there is a prize of $200,000 and it was created for $200.

And I don't want to say something has dated this episode even more than the IBM ThinkPads and the Comic Sans and all that sort of stuff, but Grant's outfit at this elimination, he looks like a piece of Dutch pottery.

He looks like he's just stepped off a cruise ship From New Caledonia And accidentally landed in Launceston

I know this is An episode of Really ugly outfit choices for Grant Because he does that Intro thing at Port Arthur Dressed like he bought his stuff from the discount rack At a second hand store And then sort of At the Skydive landing site He's basically got a hat that says fishing trip with a jacket that says camping trip over a shirt that says, have you filed your tax yet? And somehow this is the outfit that made me laugh the most out of all of that, the Dutch pottery

outfit.

Illegally.

Look forward to an illegal wet plate Skydive photo coming to you.

Well, until that happens, I'm just very excited about seeing the documentary myself.

And you said that you've got...

Consequently, a large part of the evening was spent along the rocky beach.

on the night of our last day at galveston several of us were holding a contest to decide which could reach the most distant rock between the breakers before the next wave rolled in one of the fellows was outstanding in his accomplishments in fact he was so dexterous that none of us could compete so we were all loud in our praises and unanimously agreed that there was not a rock in the gulf too obscure for him there was however a rock a number of feet beyond the most distant point any of us had attained which was visible only for an instant as the last breaker receded and before the next arrived even this was possible we confidently assured him he watched that rock intently for several minutes then bolstered up by our praise and his own confidence he stood poised and ready at the proper moment he nimbly leaped from boulder to boulder after the retreating surf but just before the final rock was touched a large wave towered above it too late the chance of retreat had never been considered and its opportunity had passed with do or die determination he leaped on to the boulder and into the breaking wave this incident would not have been serious or its consequences important had we been able to carry any extra equipment in our pursued planes but as it was extra clothing was a scarce article and when we took off for san antonio and kelly the following morning it was necessary for him to send his wet clothes back in a de haviland and make his flight in a bear-skin flying suit without insulation against the bare skin in warm weather these suits acquired an odor similar to that of a goat which has been in the barn all winter and the fur itself was far from comfortable on the trip back a piston froze in the engine for two days the cadet was alternately roasting in the southern sun and freezing in the texas nights while he guarded his ship and waited for a new engine after our return from galveston while we were practicing formation attack on two-seaters i experienced one of the incidents of the military pilot's life i made my first emergency parachute jump when an army plane crashes the pilot is required to write a detailed report of the crash my account was as follows a nine ship s c five formation commanded by lieutenant blackburn was attacking a d h four b flown by lieutenant mon at about a five thousand foot altitude and several hundred feet above the clouds i was flying on the left of the top unit Lieutenant McAllister on my right and Cadet Love leading.

When we nosed down on the D-H, I attacked from the left and Lieutenant McAllister from the right.

After Cadet Love pulled up, I continued to dive on the D-H for a short time before pulling up to the left.

About 1880, Captain Thomas Baldwin made a name for himself by jumping from hot air balloons with a chute, which was a forerunner of the present type.

He was the first really successful jumper, but success in those days was judged by how long a man lived in this profession.

in nineteen twelve the first parachute jump from an airplane was made the container was attached to the plane and the man who did the jumping pulled the parachute out as he fell the war really proved that the parachute is a life-saving apparatus for use with airplanes early in eighteen eighteen the allied pilots reported that german pilots were using parachutes to escape from their planes whenever they were out of control or set on fire this was the beginning of insistent demands on the part of our allied pilots for parachute equipment the aef tried to produce a satisfactory parachute by combining the good feature of several chutes already in existence all of these however were very bulky and heavy and hard to get on the plane during the summer of nineteen eighteen the u s air service officials appealed to washington for good airplane parachutes a large number of tests were made finally after combining all the good points of foreign and american chutes a satisfactory free type of parachute was developed by free type i mean the kind of parachute which is entirely independent of the plane stories often come out in the newspapers about parachutes that fail to open what probably really happens is that men who make jumps from planes are killed before they are able to pull the ripcord which opens the parachute in the past there was always a great deal of danger in testing out a new type of chute but now they have been developed to such a high degree of efficiency that there are practically no fatalities each parachute that is used by the government is repacked every month and tested every six months altogether about fifty-seven lives have been saved by parachutes in government service in every instance the jump took place because of fog engine failure while flying over unfavorable country collision of planes or other very definite emergencies they say in the service that any flyer who jumps to save his life becomes a member of the caterpillar club This is because the parachute is made entirely of silk, and silk comes from caterpillars.

All the 57 members of this club feel that their lives have been saved by the silkworm caterpillar.

Right, like Millennium Force, right? You've been on Millennium Force.

About as crazy as it can be, right? Skydive and multiply that by 20, right? And that's how different it was.

The scrimmage in the big house, which was my legs felt like they didn't work at times, to the real game with the crowd and the expectation and all that, right? And so our cadence was just ready, set, go.

Nothing crazy, right? You just hike the ball.

right? I kind of bounced around for a little bit.

So I got out and then I bought this pro pass at Chicagoland Skydiving Center down in the States.

And so what that is, it's all you can jump unlimited skydive fast for a summer.

Oh, wow.

off the right side of it, not the spinning blade.

Yeah, so it differs from skydiving in the sense that it's a lot shorter.

Skydiving typically you tend to, you know, 14,000 feet in the air.

You have tons of time if something goes wrong and you have two parachutes.

Speaking of sweating, let's talk about some of the other fundraising efforts.

And the reason I say speaking of sweating is because over the last year or two, you've been talking to us about the parachute jumps.

Yeah.

So, they're happening very soon, actually, this coming

Good tip for you all.

Right, so left I've got Skydive.

which

you can't get in I can't get in before I'm 30 so I just need to book it so anyone listening to this that knows the Skydive company get in touch with Zoe and get her on a waitlist please if you don't say it I'll say it

I might just book it like for 50 years time and hopefully I'm 30 no

I want you to be doing that on your 30th birthday oh no we can't because you're doing something exciting

In fact, how many of you have ever skydived before? Raise your hand.

Uh, is that the past tense of that word? Skydove? Skydiven? I don't know.

Um, I've promised each of my kids that when they turn 18, if they want to go skydiving, I will take them.

My most recent, some of you saw me post about this, was Riah.