The Quest: Story That Burns Like An Olympic Flame, But With Four Arms

People swear I’m part Canadian. I took six years of French and I love hockey. I thank Disney for that one. I don’t know what I thought was so inexplicably cool about The Mighty Ducks. Maybe it was the Flying V—an impressive feat on screen, but maybe not the most practical hockey play. Maybe it was the coolness of Emilio Estevez. I don’t know. Whatever the source, I’ve been hooked for 17 years, hockey pun intended.

The Quest: Vampires, Dragons and Greek Gods

On to one of the oldest forms of story—the written word. By far, the best gadgety purchase of 2009 for me was my Amazon Kindle. I convinced myself that I didn’t need one. I have an iPhone. There’s a Kindle app. I was good to go. After a week of my thumb feeling really tired from swiping pages every 8 seconds when reading on the little screen, I decided I might benefit from the 6-inch eInk wonder.

The Quest: Why I Don’t Watch TV At Your House If Your TV Is Too Small

I am a TV addict. I have a tape somewhere of my second birthday. My parents came in to my bedroom toting a video camera. I think it was one of those over the shoulder numbers that used beta. So they wake me up in my crib with my fluffy red fro. I open my eyes, still filled with sleep, and they say “Happy Birthday.” I stare at them blankly. Cut to the living room. Camera is directed at the hallway. I come wandering out with my mom and head towards the front door. Then I turn and stop at the console television and say “TV! TV! TV!” motioning for them to turn it on. I sit down entirely too close and watch Maya The Bee.

The Quest: How I Got Here

I’ll see if I can make this relatively short. I was born in the West Texas minor city of Abilene. It’s not too big, but not too small. My parents had their hands full with their two kids. Most of that was on my part. Hey, it’s not my fault I have ADHD. I couldn’t sit still. I asked a million questions and wouldn’t shut up. Many would say not much has changed. Thankfully, my Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Pemberton, realized that I just needed to be challenged academically and had me tested for the gifted/talented program despite my affinity for eating the homemade peppermint play dough at “centers time.”

The Quest: A Sort of Prologue

I am a storyteller. I haven’t always described myself as such. I mean I went to film school and all. That should have made it pretty obvious that I liked telling stories. I’ve recently been thinking a lot about what I want to do with my life and what I’m supposed to do with my life. Am I doing it now? If I’m not doing it now, what does it look like? Is it vocational or recreational? Why does it matter?

Ending Hiatus

Hello, my name is Matt, and it’s been 93 days since my last jump. I’ve been trying to get a jump in for a couple of weeks now. The weather has not cooperated much this fall/winter season. Since we returned to an El Niño weather pattern this fall, getting jumps in has been rather difficult. […]

A Break

So, I decided to skip a week between jumps. I went to Academy to buy an exercise ball on my mom’s suggestion. I ended up with two of these strange peanut shaped exercise balls. I’m able to suspend myself between them in what sort of looks like an arch. It’s definitely really uncomfortable. My back […]

Jump #7

Well, I ventured out to the drop zone for another Friday jump. I was determined to get this one right. Things were running a little slow at the DZ, so I didn’t make it on the first load. I was paired with my usual instructor Greg, to go over the pre-jump checks. They were pretty […]

Jump #5 & Jump #6

Well the weather cleared up Friday after all. It was a beautiful jump. So I made it out to the DZ at 10 to make it on the first load. My second instructor was running a bit late, so I was put on load 2. The DZ was a little busy so we got fly the TO instead of the Caravan.

Jump #4

So I failed L1. It happens, but I don’t like things like that looming over my head. Knowing that winter (and cloudy skies) is nigh, I know that taking advantage of clear days is wise. With my to do list being short due to my project coordinator out one more day on vacation and Friday’s […]