My friend Robert had gone skydiving, so that was a conversation piece.  I asked Sheila “Have you gone skydiving? “Of course!” pause… “Have you?” “Umm of course!” as if it’s an insult that someone had to even ask!

The conversation then shifted to whether the skydiving was performed solo, or tandem.  If you haven’t gone, it’s really safe, part of that reason is because you go tandem, which means that there’s  an instructor strapped to your back, and they deal with the boring stuff… like landing, packing the parachute, and making sure it opens if you screw it up. If you want to jump on your own, it costs you about $1,800, and requires about 18 jumps and some tests.

Sheila, Robert, and I had all jumped tandem.

I added that I WILL get certified and go solo, because it is a life goal of mine to go Squirrel-Suit-Flying (see video below):

(yes, I do normally embed videos in a lower size… but this is squirrel suit flying!)

I continued, “You need 300 to 500 jumps, plus a lot of wind-tunnel time to get that.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of jumps!”

“Yup!  2 down, 498 to go.  But it just looks so amazing.  To top it off, I’ve had this idea… and I’ve had it multiple times, so it’s not like it was just this one time passing notion. I thought I’d have my wedding take place on top of a mountain — maybe the swiss alps or some place like that — and be broadcast to the reception area which would be at the base of the mountain.  The guests could be getting drunk, while watching the ceremony projected on large screens.  Then we literally ‘Take The Plunge’!  You know… jump off the mountain, and squirrel-suit fly around the mountain, landing at the reception, and celebrating with our guests!”

“Ok Ori, you know that it’s gotta be one REALLY special woman that you end up with, right?  I mean, you REALLY narrowed your niche!”

We both giggled at the concept.  You see, in marketing, the area your business is in is your niche.  So, if I sell doggie sweaters, I’m in the dog sweater niche… which is kind of broad.

To narrow the niche, I can go to “Small dog sweaters” — maybe small sweaters that fit poodles, yorkies, cocker spaniels, and chiuauas.  There’s less small dogs than all dogs.  I can narrow it down to chiuaua only sweaters.  I can narrow it down further by making sweaters that only fit 3 legged chiuauas!  That’s pretty specific!

The benefit of that is that there’s less competition, and also, the people in that niche (owners of 3 legged chiuauas) can identify with your message better, and will flock to you more readily. This is really good for higher-cost items, because you don’t need as many sales to make your profit, and the market is more ready to buy.

The disadvantage is that there may not be enough buyers to make it worth your effort. How many 3 legged chiuauas are there, and do their owners really care that their dog has a dangling empty sleeve or not.

Since Sheila and I both deal with marketing, the humor was instantly received.  There’s not really that many people that are squirrel suit certified in the world, and most of them are men. I actually have no figures on that, but that’s the way that seems to make sense. Men tend to be more attracted to doing stupid things than women are. So, currently, there’s not many of those women to choose from- if any!

How many women do you know that would jump off a mountain (jumping out of a plane is a lot easier these days)?

I was a little bummed…. I mean, it seemed like a perfectly great idea for a wedding.

Sure, I’m not even dating anyone right now, and I’m not even solo skydiving certified…. but we gotta have something to look forward to, right?

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. – George Bernard Shaw.

I love that quote!  I think of it often when I get dirty or confused looks when my ideas seem strange to “normal people” (which is often).

This was clearly one of those ideas.  The thing about this one though is that it depends on someone else to be equally crazy and motivated about deafeating gravity and their fears.

The way Sheila said it also reminded me of all my failed relationships.  The 1st many years due to trying to date normal people, the later years becaue I didn’t narrow it down enough.  I’m a unique individual (yeah yeah… everyone is… but not everyone couchsurfs for 4 years, plays bull poker, or thinks the way I do), and if someone’s going to be with me they need a sense of humor, patience, a sense of adventure, intelligence, a fondness of travel, and recently I’ve discovered my excitement when someone can make me laugh frequently.

They say that there’s someone out there for everyone, and I always mock that with that there’s plenty of someones out there for everyone… but now after this quick conversation I was picturing a lonely guy walking around in a squirrel suit, with a crazy list of demands.

That’s when Elizabeth called me up!  We spoke about anything and everything, as we always do, and then I said I had a funny story for her… and told her the whole “You REALLY narrowed your niche!” (Which was actually going to be the title for this post) thing.

She laughed, ’cause it’s funny.  I hadn’t really had time to focus on the implications of what it means that I’m looking for such a rare woman.  EPW (what we often call Elizabeth Potts Weinstein)  said, “well, that’s true, but really you just need  to find a woman who’s into skydiving, and thinks that idea is cool.  I mean, you guys can even do the last 100 jumps together!”

“Yeah!  I mean, there’s couples that take 1/2 a year of dance lessons just so they can do well on their wedding’s 1st dance!”

“ummm… yeah… that’s a little different, but… why not!”

I was excited again!  My dream was not shattered! I suppose there’s that lesson there about not being attached to the end goal.. but also that the goal can exist, but not necessarily everything that’s needed to achieve it yet.  Look at James Cameron and his Avatar movie (which broke every box office record ever)-  it took him decades before the technology existed to make his movie!  He actually had new technologies invented just for that movie!

I got an email from OkCupid (click on that to read a comprehensive review I did of it forever ago) 2 nights ago, “Someone’s been checking you out!” -which stated that while I haven’t been on in a while, people have been checking out my profile, and I should go look around.

I had updated that I’m in La Jolla, but I wasn’t expecting to go dating or anything like that.  I’m here for a tiny while, and then… who knows…  but I did go and check out the “Visitors” section, which shows you who’s checked you out.

The girl on top was gorgeous. She had a beautiful smile (I’m a sucker for a nice smile, which is why Cameron Diaz will always be welcome in my world), and so I clicked.

Her pictures were funny- riding a skateboard with a goofy helmet, playing with fireworks, wearing a purple wig, and then one where she’s with kids in another country… which brings me to her profile… The very first thing written is “In most parts of my life, I’m rarely very serious. I’m mostly the entertainer among my friends,” she laughs easily.  She’s lived in Switzerland and Korea, and wants to go to New Zeland.  She even had this sentence in there “but my creativity and affinity for travel has lead me to not be in one place for too long…”  — sound like anyone you know??   She loves snowboarding, surfing, and wakeboarding.  The first thing she lists for things you’re good at is making people laugh.

I’m not writing this post to say that I’ve found Mrs. Perfect, and we’re going skydiving next week (I’d have a much better title if that’s what I’m writing).  In fact, I was originally going to just write a quick post about what Sheila said… but you know how I am   I write freeflow.

I did write her.  She did write back.  But, again, that’s not the point.

The point– no matter what freaky shit you’re into, don’t ever give up hope, and don’t ever stop trying.  One door closing generally leads to other open doors. If you’re not specific enough, you won’t find what you want.  If you are too specific you may not find it at all. Be open to chance and possibilities.  What do you think? Any more random cliches that I can throw in there?

If you have a skydiving facility, a couch, and want to generate some PR by training a well known couchsurfer to squirrel suit fly, then contact me… we’ve got a lot to talk about… especially if you happen to also be a hot chick that’s smart and can make me laugh