Muir Woods and Skydiving (09/23-09/24)
On September 23rd Saturday, I went to the Muir Woods with some friends. It was the first time in a while where I was surrounded by so much nature. It was green everywhere from the dirt floor to the trees around us and the leaves above us. It was beautiful. We also did a lot of fun activity to get a free wood badge like drawing and answering questions like how to protect the forest. We did some hiking and saw some nice views. The hiking was alright but my favorite memory was in the last workbook page, it said to draw yourself as a junior park ranger. I drew a stockman with two dots for eyes and one curved line for a smile. When I did that, I felt like a kid again which made me so happy in a long time. I consider myself to be a decent drawer. I know how to draw and shade realistically and I took advanced drawing classes where I had to draw naked people posing in front of me. As I got better at it, I slowly lost the joy of it. I only drew to be good at it and to receive praise. I started drawing because it was fun and that stickman reminded me of that.
One of the movies, the menu, it’s about a chef. He is critically renowned for his high quality dishes but he is not happy. Near the end, when he is requested to make a regular cheeseburger he is reminded of the joy of cooking when he used to be young. I felt the same way with the stickman drawing.
On September 24th, Sunday I went skydiving with my friend Hayato and 40 other UC Berkeley students in Davis. It was a total of 60 seconds of free fall with my instructor on my back. I got to pull my own parachute and glide around once it was deployed.
In the first 10 seconds, I was terrified and was screaming. You know the feeling in your stomach when the rollercoaster starts going down. Think of that feeling for a minute straight. I was scared but after the 10 seconds, I got used to the feeling. Then it became peaceful with the wind blowing against me and the ground slowly becoming larger and larger. When you are falling in the air and spinning, you stop caring about everything whether it’s about classes, job, or life’s problems. Nothing else matters except for you diving towards the ground. It’s a type of peace you can’t get anywhere else except when you are near your death. You just let go and start accepting things as they are. I loved that moment. I would love to go again but it’s expensive which cost me $350 so I am not doing it again. I will always cherish that moment.
