School Frustrations

[Lolie 0]

Sorry to bitch 'n' moan, but none of the whuffos I talk to can understand.

I'm a freshman in college, and I've been SO unmotivated ever since I started jumping this summer. I am constantly thinking about skydiving, transferring to a college that is closer to the equator, or "taking some time off." I don't really know what I'm majoring in. I don't know what I want to be "when I grow up" (besides getting my skydiving ratings). I'm really not interested in school at all. I don't like any of my classes (well, except Danish). I've been trying to register for spring semester, and I can't find a single class I want to take (except the next semester of Danish). I've been having a ton of trouble concentrating on school (I feel like I have ADD.). When people ask me what I want to do as a career, I tell them I just want to be a "skydiving instructor." And they say, "You can't make any money doing that!" And I think, "Silly whuffo! I won't *need* any money! I'll be living in a trailer on the DZ!" And I honestly think that would make me happy in life. I don't feel like I need money or material possesions or a flashy life I can show off to anyone. Jumping makes me happy, and I'm pretty sure it always will.

Of course, there's always, "What happens if you femur in and can't support yourself?" or "You're not going to be able to retire on that kind of income!" or what-have-you.

I know I'm going to get a lot of "Stay in school!"s, too, which is understandable... but is there someone out there that can tell me anything different? (PM me if you want.)

-Miranda
you shall above all things be glad and young / For if you're young,whatever life you wear
it will become you;and if you are glad / whatever's living will yourself become.

[AggieDave 6]

I'm in a similar boat, except with me I'm just really burnt out with school. What am i doing? Putting my head down and pushing through it. I want that little piece of paper that says Texas A&M thinks I learned something, plain and simple.

So, right now, I'm sucking it up, hunkering down and pushing to finish school. Skydiving is what keeps me sane, though.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[indyz 1]

I'm in the same boat. I'm sick as a dog and I have two midterms tommorrow, both difficult, one in a class that I don't know if I'll pass. Next week I have four finals. Ugh, this sucks.

[Rookeskydiver 0]

PM'ed you

PCSS # 1 Rookeskydiver
"Its a Wonka Bar"....."Go ahead Charlie open it, lets see that golden ticket"

[moodyskydiver 0]

I know how ya feel.I'm the same except I dont care to be a JM..dont think I have that kinda talent truthfully.I hate school and,at this point, i dont know if my grades can sustain enough to keep my financial aid. I've been given an ultimatum by the family..stay in school or move out/get a job/and no more help financing my jumping.It takes everything I have to get my worthless butt outta bed and make it to class 1/2 of the week.I'm coming really close to blowing town and going away for awhile.

Hope you the best.

"...just an earthbound misfit, I."

[TomAiello 26]

One of my friends regularly sends me email, cursing me/himself.

The issue? I finished school, and was able to make enough money to travel to all of the cool jumping spots he wants to go to. He's stuck on the DZ, wishing he could scrounge up the cash to go to Switzerland/Norway/Mexico/Malaysia and jump with us.

My advice: Major in whatever will make you the most money. Work your butt off. Stack up some cash. Then, you can be one of those people everyone loves to hate, who just seem to wander around jumping, or who show up every weekend with two rigs, hire a packer, and make every load. You've got to pay to play, and the more you can pay, the more you can play.

I know that's not what you wanted to hear, but I've talked it over with several professional skydivers who wished they had had the foresight to work the job/career/money angle.

Regardless, I'm sure you'll sort it out.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Lolie 0]

I think we should all get together and comisserate. Let's all hitchhike to the same dropzone over spring break. Think how great that would be! I would love to actually meet you guys.
...I have a feeling we're going to be getting some posts with a different tone from the responsible adults tomorrow.

-Miranda
you shall above all things be glad and young / For if you're young,whatever life you wear
it will become you;and if you are glad / whatever's living will yourself become.

[AggieDave 6]

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I have a feeling we're going to be getting some posts with a different tone from the responsible adults tomorrow

What, and I'm not? Ok, right, I'm not, but hey, we can't be everything, ya know...

btw I did go get coffee, I'm sipping on a nice Triple Grande Non-fat No-Whip Mocha and feeling better about the paper I have to finish tonight.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Lolie 0]

And notice that I didn't log off, like I said I was going to? I'm bad.

-Miranda
you shall above all things be glad and young / For if you're young,whatever life you wear
it will become you;and if you are glad / whatever's living will yourself become.

[AggieDave 6]

You're a bad, bad, bad girl! I'm going to have to PM some people up in Chicago to spank you!

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[indyz 1]

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You're a bad, bad, bad girl! I'm going to have to PM some people up in Chicago to spank you!

Ya know, I've been looking for an excuse to cruise up to Madison. Some friends I haven't seen in a while and whatnot.

[AggieDave 6]

Alright, Brian, you've been charged with a mission, go discipline the bad girl!

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Lolie 0]

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Ya know, I've been looking for an excuse to cruise up to Madison. Some friends I haven't seen in a while and whatnot.

Okay, people, form a line... indyz, you can be first...

Edit: Wait a minute, I'm hijacking my own thread. I want serious answers here. Stop it! (AggieDave and indyz, we can sort this out through PMs. )

-Miranda
you shall above all things be glad and young / For if you're young,whatever life you wear
it will become you;and if you are glad / whatever's living will yourself become.

[waster 0]

I know what you mean. I'm in my final year at school, so this time next year i'll be at university hopefully. School does suck, there is a hell of a lot of work involved in it, which makes it hard to spend weekends skydiving. It seems that whenever there is good weather, a rare occurance in England, i have to be stuck at home doing coursework. However, i know that it won't last forever, only 6 months left(wahoooo), and then i can party and skydive my ass off.The way i see it is the better you do in school, the better job you can get, which means more money, and more money=more skydives! So just keep on pushing through the pain and it will be worth it in the end, you know it makes sense!

[suz 0]

Lolie!!! your just a baby!!! Chill girl. I left high school, and went straight into university, only to stay for one month. And it was the best thing I ever did. I learnt how to drink, smoke cigarettes, and to stick up for myself, because I got my arse kicked by alot of people, because they thought I better stay in uni.
BOLLOCKS I say, BOLLOCKS!
Now look at me! I'm proud to say that I stuff, cook, eat and sell Chickens! who could ask for anything more?
Hey. Lolie? Life is about enjoying it. Some people stay in uni all their life...so be it.
I personally, work to live. Not live to work. Took me a while to understand that statement. But I now see it clear as day. So what if I stuff chickens. My life is about what I do when I walk out that restaurant door. Not what I do inside.

BUT! then again...suz's life outside that restaurant is still in planning...so stuff's me! What was I saying again? Where am I? Are you my mother?

Don't bother me, I'm living happily ever after

[skymama 37]

Have you ever met an adult who said, "man, I really wish I would have dropped out of college instead of getting that stinkin' degree"? I haven't. I know college isn't for everyone. But, if you're already there, and only want to drop out so you can skydive more, I'd say stay in school. Work hard, it will only be 4 years of your life and you'll always be able to fall back on that degree if you need it. Besides, having a well rounded education opens yourself up to so many ideas and opportunities. You'll be a more interesting person because of it. And also remember that the sky isn't going anywhere, so you'll still be able to jump when you get done.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[wmw999 2,444]

I'm afraid I'm not going to suggest dropping to become a professional skydiver out either... After all, being a college graduate will not affect your chances of being a professional skydiver (unlike, say, being a professional teen idol, age seems not to make a difference).

I started while I was in college. One thing that helped was having a couple of college student skydiving friends. Real life ones -- not the online variety. I just started jumping again after a very long layoff; I find myself thinking about jumping too much. One thing that doesn't help is spending so much time on dz.com. I hate to say it, but when I don't log on, I find it much easier to spend time on real life, and then when I'm jumping I have enough brain cells left for that, too.

That said, I can tell you that taking a year off is not fatal; it's best to have a plan for returning, though. I took a year off, and both of my brothers took the scenic route through college. Me through job-hopping, and them through scenic route all took until roughly the age of 28-30 to really settle on a career.

There are a lot of worse things to happen. We get to look back on a slightly misspent youth, knowing that most of the stupid things that middle-aged crazy folks are doing -- hey, I've already done that!!!

Wendy W.

[PLFXpert 0]

Ohhhh, memories. I started jumping after my sophomore year in college. I'm graduating next week! Woo-hoo! More $$$= two or three times more jumps

I felt the same as you my junior year...but I did enough work to get by. By my senior year, I realized that the sooner I finished college, the sooner I would be working full-time instead of part-time at a job that would pay me more for my degree and therefore allow me to do more jumps. I picked up the pace BIG TIME and instead of skydiving hindering my performance in school, it actually became my motivation to hurry up, get done, so I could pursue everything I wanted to do in skydiving and have that degree under my belt at the same time.

I'm not sure how old you are, but I also consoled myself knowing that I'm very young, and had PLENTY of time to really crank out the jumps and start competeting. I'm freshly 22 years old, and now I'm done w/ school. A lot of people don't start jump until their mid-20s so I feel that I haven't wasted any valuable time by being in school.

These are just some of the things I told myself. I get down, too, b/c when I do something, especially something I love, I like to be the best I can be at it. I'm not competitive against others, so to speak, but I'm competitive with myself, always striving to be better, etc. As long as I'm doing the best I can and improving, it doesn't matter to me how others are doing or if they're ahead or behind me. It's hard sometimes, not to compare yourself to others when you see them doing 10 jumps a week (through college, I was only able to do 3 or 4 every weekend) but you just got to figure out what you want, figure out what you have to do to get it, and DO IT!

These are just some things that helped me through that time you speak of, so hang in there! You're not alone, hunny

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[Vallerina 2]

There was nothing worse than having Jan (dzo's wife, manifest lady) calling me on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon and telling me to come make the next King Air load when I had an exam/project due the next day. My gpa dropped dramatically after discovering skydiving! I did the bare minimum to get by and get a degree.

If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't have picked an easier major or anything like that (in an easier major, grades are much more important, since everyone is doing well in it.) I am glad that I picked a major where I can get a job almost anywhere (except Phoenix...grrr...I've already looked ) and one that has a high demand. School is tough to get through, but it's easier to deal with it if you keep your mind on the fact that you will have a job and you can move wherever you want once you are done.

One thing to make time pass quickly while in school is to have skydiving as a major theme in your school projects! I only got to do that once (I did a group project analyzing my fall rate with the discipline of skydiving I was doing.)

There's a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning

[dropdeded 0]

The issue? I finished school, and was able to make enough money to travel to all of the cool jumping spots he wants to go to. He's stuck on the DZ, wishing he could scrounge up the cash to go to Switzerland/Norway/Mexico/Malaysia and jump with us.
__________________________________________________

I got to agree with you Tom,I just started school(Im almost 39),and there was no way I could ever progress in the sport like I hope to if I stay in the current situation.And to change my current situation,Im goin to school.
I found skydiving later in life than most,but not too late.

Its all about skydiving,just dont tell my wife

dropdeded
pcss#26

------------------------------------------
The Dude Abides.
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[happythoughts 0]

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I'm in a similar boat, except with me I'm just really burnt out with school. What am i doing? Putting my head down and pushing through it. I want that little piece of paper that says Texas A&M thinks I learned something, plain and simple.

So, right now, I'm sucking it up, hunkering down and pushing to finish school. Skydiving is what keeps me sane, though.

Darn it Dave...If you continue to act like an adult and accept responsibility for your life and future, you may one day be a productive adult. Don't you see the looming danger?

[AggieDave 6]

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unlike, say, being a professional teen idol, age seems not to make a difference

Since I am a teen idol, I can say that all it takes is killer good looks and being one of those X-treme skydiver types.

hehe

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[nacmacfeegle 0]

"Since I am a teen idol,"
Rules me out...
"it takes is killer good looks "
Rules me out...
"and being one of those X-treme skydiver types."

Any room for a Krispy Kreme skydiver type?

--------------------

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[kallend 2,026]

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Sorry to bitch 'n' moan, but none of the whuffos I talk to can understand.

I'm a freshman in college,

Where? In Chicago?

You should declare math, physics, or engineering as your major and you won't have time to worry about anything.

John K. (Professor of Engineering and Physics.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[AggieDave 6]

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Any room for a Krispy Kreme skydiver type

With the opening of KK in the UK, I think you're going to be in luck! You need to keep it up, that way WeeNacMac1 will be the absolute swoon of all of the UK by the time he's 14, due to your popularity. He'll thank you for the throngs of women, he will.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."