You can understand "Next step to the sky" in many ways. Sky as the limit of our skills. Sky as the air, clouds and the infinity. For me it was something I've never been before by myself. You can't say that you conquered the sky by flying rynair...
That's one of the reasons why my adrenaline junky friend came up to paragliding idea.
It's not like you think. You do not have your first flight with the instructor. You do not feel safe at all. You feel like you are going to take off and then fall down like a fucking rock. I thought that it's an adrenaline shot for at least one month. I coudn't be more wrong. Of course people are always scared when they haven't done this before. I can compare first flight to first time swimming, biking or whatever similar. Then every single flight is like going to grocery store.
To sum up: It was fun, sth new but nothing super special. Of course I was flying not more than 50-70m high so it's barely flying. Maximum flying time was sth about 2min. Now I'm going to Slovenia for 2nd step course. You can fly there for about 1h ;) If I don't like it after this I will leave it.
Here you have some short movie made by me from 1st step of paragliding course:
Hello hello everybody!
As you noticed I haven't been writing for a while. Everything is going so fast. I thought that doing a lot of things slower your live. Makes it full of thoughts and experience. Now I'm not even sure what I've been doing for last 3 months ;o
So let's start from fulfilling my father's dream and going to Sweden.
We went to my favorite fishing camp on the Torron island. Spent marvelous time tightening up our bond.
I will post in next week about my other trips: Finale Ligure, Varigotti and paragliding course.
Here you have some photos (click the image to see full size):
Sunset and pike fight
Perch heaven. We caught sth like 40
The longest one was 88cm but its not this one. This is 72cm
My English teacher, who hopefully doesn't read this, is a professional photographer. His blog: http://www.blogfot.com.pl
I can say that he showed me the way. Basic things like aperture, ISO, speed of shutter which are the fundamental for photography. Also processing photos in Camera RAW which is an additional program for Photoshop CS 5.1+.
And my equipment:
- Canon EOS 550D (Asia is going to buy 650D soon)
- Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 AF
- Samyang 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye
2. Poker
Actually I can repeat my words from the last poker post. "I'm doing my job". Trying to be better everyday. Working with best guys in Poland and few guys from UK.
This year so far:
- 300h played - watched ~30 movies - ~30h of coachings - at least 20 training meetings with friends - analyzing hands after almost every session
I've started a little tournament adventure. Adding on Sunday one to three major tournaments with BI 100€-250€ to my cash tables. No spectacular results but I still have to find my game there.
As I'm playing NL200-NL1k in € score is fine not great but fine. Also since I'm playing SCOOPs I'm forced to play nl500 zoom which is going really good since they don't know me.
From the point where the extreme upswing appeared I've changed my game a little. I've been loosing on non-sd to much. Fallowing the rule "make your weaknesses to be your strongest assets" I searched whole internet to find everything about non-sd play. It looks like it helped:
On February or March, with our dear friends (another couple from PL), we decided to rent a car and travel threw the Toskany shore. Not sure if you have heard about the Toskany. In shortcut beautiful beaches, amazing wines and fresh sea food.
The plan was: Milano - Sirmione - Peschiera del Garda - Elba - Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore) - Santa Margharita - Portofino - Milano we did about 1250 km
First day was unexpected. Friends and girlfriend arrived to Bergamo airport about 0:00. Their flight was delayed 2h. It was raining cats and dogs and my friend supposed to drive between the Italian freaks. Worse drivers are probably only in Africa... We named our car flea. You wonder why? We thought we've rented Fiat Panda but we got this:
Yeahh... Fiat 500. The most italian car ever. When we got in it was like can of sardines.
Ok lets do this. First day GARDALAN! Amusement Park in Peschiera del Garda. Rain knocking to the windows have woken us up. GARDALAND closed... Don't give up. There is also and aquarium called Sea Life after 1,5h queue we got in
Then decided to go sightseeing the Sirmione village. It's a turistic city on the cape by the postglacial lake - Garda.
The weather forecast was awful. It supposed to rain for next 7 days but we're just next to the mountains, so next morning a beautiful sunrise has welcomed us. 5 hours of adrenaline boost in Gardaland. Shieeeeeeet!
Then 400 km to Piombino to take the ferry to Elba island. Driving even in this small fucker is simple pleasure. Yes, you have to pay, because highways are everywhere, but when it's 400 km you are almost sure that it will take you max 4 hours.
You know that you are in Toskany when you see this species of trees:
Elba island was Napoleon's hiding place. Heh short leader knew exactly where to hide. The most beautiful island of northern Italy. You can find 1000m mountain and secret beaches with acces only from the sea side. We spent there 2 days. First day was typical beach day:
Even a lizard was suspicious about my camera:
Absolutely stunning. Loved it. The time slows down there. People are only worried if the new part of grapes will bring tasteful wine.
Next day we had to leave the island abut 13 o'clock. We got into our flea (car) and took the road by the coastline. It was something breathtaking!
Next stop was my girlfriend's idea. She's worked there few years ago. The place called white beach is just next to the Pisa (yes this famous one). Next to the beach, there is a huge factory. I'm not sure but I'm guessing that they produce stone made things like floors etc. They are cutting the stones and chilling the machines by water. The white water is falling threw the small stream into the sea and makes it looks majestic ;)
We arrived to Riomaggiore by night and couldn't find the hotel. We stopped next to the restaurant called the same name as our hotel supposed to. Drunk italian guy told me that it's here! How the fuck it's here like there is no hotel?! Then I figured it out. The hotel was built on the cliff. We took our luggage and went 100 steps down the edge. In the morning with a little hangover I step out of our bungaow and saw this:
The whole "cinque terre" idea. It's 5 villages which economy was based on fishing. They were totally separated. You couldn't get there by car only by boat. Then they built a railway from Genoa to La spezia. Till the 1970s poverty had been increasing. Then wealth german turists spread to the news about cinque terre. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site.
Colors. Why the fuck every single house has different color? No they don't do drugs. While fisherman were doing their jobs off shore, they wanted to be able to see their house easily. They were checking wives ; ) There is Via dell' amore which as you know is The Way of Love. I had a plan connected with this but it was closed because rocks destroyed the path.
As it's a harbor sea food is fresh and cheap. Pizza is everywhere so anything new about it ;]
Next step was Santa Margharita and Portofino. Santa Margarita is like italian Saint Tropez. Glamour, bling- bling, one million cars and fency loooking rich bitches with little chihuahuas. Meeh nothing special for me. Crowded and expensive place.
Funny thing happened to my friend Anna. She thought that she ordered soup and sea food, and she got spaghetti and pork chop :D The good thing was that 0,5L of wine wasn't added to our bill.
Unfortunately we could't get to Portofino. When the parking is full you can only get there by boat which sucks. We got back to the Cavi city where our hotel was.
Then we took a blanket, few wines and went to the beach for sunset.
Cards Cards Cards... Hope that I have better face look while playing poker.
Then I sad to my friend "Please take us the picture with this boat and sunset." I think the picture says more then thousands words.
And this little guy made me engaged ;)
The End or The Beginning
This kind of adventure forces you to think about your life. You start wondering what is important and what is your target. What you want to achieve and with who you want to share your way of life.
Next post about the poker which is going grate. Stay tunned and comment! More comment s= more motivation to post.
Q
