So I did more searching and I found this helpful article on The Art of Manliness. This really is a great publication with all things overwhelmingly masculine--which is a real turn-on for me. The article talks about philanthropic job opportunities abroad, their obvious benefits and not a whole lot of discouragement or caveats. There are inspiring quotations throughout, really giving you that "go get 'em" attitude...so one can't help but feel a bit wishful after reading the thing.
One featured website was skydive4free --which triggered my virus or bullshit alert, but it's legitimate. You just have to bother a lot of people and ask for their money during, you know, a recession and mere bi-partisan implosions. At the bottom of this website reads:
How Safe is Skydiving?
The United States Parachute Association (USPA) estimate that over 2,000,000 skydives is made here annually in the United States. Sounds like a lot; yet, only less than 1% of our population has ever experienced the thrill of freefall.
And then I became curious about how many reported skydiving deaths there have been and it turns out, according to a decent looking site: dropzone -- 52 last year, and 64 in 2008. There's a very helpful graph as well:
Unbelievable? I believe so.
Now "Illegally" downloading Spoon's Transference album like a happy, mostly unemployed American. Ah-thank-you.
Reading:
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen was the bomb and I recommend it to anyone. It's a short piece of young adult fiction that's easy to read but a lot to comprehend. I say that because it's very basic and primal, when it needs to be, but it teaches by showing, which is difficult for a work to do and still remain entertaining.
Found and enjoyed this short poem by Langston Hughes today:
