AOT Boogie Rocked!

[Zennie 0]

Whoop!!!

What a great weekend! Skydive Aggieland put on a really wondeful boogie. First off, I want to thank AggieDave for being a wonderful host and offering his place to myself, Ramon & Levin. Even though you were busy most of the boogie, the couple jumps we did were great!

And kudos to Ramon & Levin for offering free freefly coaching and organizing to everyone. Catfish also offered CRW organizing and coaching.

Skydive Aggieland's staff worked hard to make everyone feel at home. Besides all the great jumps, it felt more like a gathering of good friends (and it really was) than a boogie. It was a really cozy atmosphere and I felt right at home. I think everyone else did too.

Lots of dz.com folks showed up... freaksis, Chris (I'm brain dead right now so I forgot you or nick), Gemini, AggieDave, moodyskydiver, Levin, Ramon, AndyMan and probably a buttload of others I'm brainlocking on. It was great to see some old friends again & put faces on some others.

Some highlights for me... a couple of really fun hybrids, some great freefly jumps with Ramon, Levin, AndyMan, AggieDave and a whole slew of otjher folks. Hanging out late, shooting the breeze with everyone and watching videos from the day. Meeting some really nice Aggieland people.

I had a really wonderful time. I'm already looking forward to next year's boogie!

And everyone please keep Mike Gahan and his family in your thoughts & let's all hope for a speedy recovery.

- Z
"Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

[moodyskydiver 0]

Yeah! AOT boogie was awsome!!!!

Even though a few irksome things happened over the weekend,the boogie was great!It was so cool to finally meet so many dz.commers.(Zennie,you're so sweet! and freaksis was awsome too! Thanks to Levin,Ramon,and Catfish for all the great coaching you guys offered!Thanks to AggieDave for working your butt off and to all the staff as well.To all the dz.commers I'm missing...it was cool to meet ya and I hope we can do it again really soon!)The DZ staff and everyone who attended were great and had a good time.I cant wait til next year!!!!

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

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

So, where's the pics, Amber?

[moodyskydiver 0]

Still in the camera!I dont think any of the ones taken are gonna be worth a crap though.Sheesh! I knew that deal would come back to bite me in the ass later!There were some pretty interesting pics taken(including a few of me in my PJs at the hotel) but we arent going to go there!!!!! I'll find a good pic one of these days.Hell if you want to know what I look like,ask anyone who was at the boogie...they can vouch for how crappy I look! LOL

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

[Zennie 0]

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ask anyone who was at the boogie...they can vouch for how crappy I look

Oh stop it! You look just fine and are a great person.

Though, come to think of it, we all probably looked pretty crappy by Sunday having gone on maybe 4 hours of sleep each night.

- Z
"Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

[moodyskydiver 0]

Well thank you Zennie! You're so cute and sweet!I hope we get to hang out more/again soon!

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Though, come to think of it, we all probably looked pretty crappy by Sunday having gone on maybe 4 hours of sleep each night.

Yeah! Thats no lie! Not to mention those of us who had 4hrs of sleep AND a hangover!LOL! I'm glad I didnt!

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

[Zennie 0]

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I hope we get to hang out more/again soon!

Definitely.

I really liked everyone I met at Skydive Aggieland. Really, really good vibes. I'm gonna try & make the trek up from time to time. 1.5 hours isn't that bad of a drive. It'd be less except my car was in the shop so I didn't have my radar detector.

- Z
"Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

[Kris 0]

It was absolutely a great Boogie. And, Zennie, my name is actually "Kris".

I got to make some really great jumps, I was able to join in on my nephews first tandem and I had two great freefly dives with multiple docks.

Thanks to Ramon for the freefly coaching, Perry for the canopy coaching (sweet ass surf on my last jump!), and Pablo for the great video of my nephews tandem.

It was great meeting / seeing again Zennie, AggieDave, Moody, Pablo, Freaksis, Perry, RGroper (Congrats on your first cutaway!), anyone else I missed, and Brittany.

Yes, I said, Brittany. The Britster graced us with her presence on Saturday. Even though she was just there to hang out, it was good to see her again.

And yes, I do have pictures in my camera of Moody in her PJ's.

Bribes are now being taken.

WHOOP!

Kris

Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

[moodyskydiver 0]

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And yes, I do have pictures in my camera of Moody in her PJ's.

Bribes are now being taken.

Do it and die Okie!!!!!!!

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

[AggieDave 6]

What a great boogie, everything turned out really well.

We actually had about 20 dz.commers that signed up on the list saying they were there. We did a dz.com hybrid (about 11 people on it or so), that was a blast and we were mixed on a few other jumps having a great time.

Thanks to everyone who came in to town for the boogie, it wouldn't have been as successful as it was with out you.

Oh, for everyone who knows the jumper Super Dave (from Spaceland/Houston/south-central Texas) we poured beer on him, doing his SCR ceremony after we found out he had never been poured on (doing his SCR in 1994 no less) and had 6 other Maggots that joined the ranks on Saturday, having gotten their SCR that day and doing the ceremony that night.

Well, I'm exhausted, so I'm going to bed.



Please, keep Mike Gahan in your prayers and thoughts.

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

[AndyMan 7]

I'm exhausted, so I won't be posting the pics now. That's for tomorow.

I flew to Dallas friday afernoon and met up with Moodyskydiver half way to the DZ. I discovered that Texan tex-mex really isn't that different then Chicago tex-mex. I met Moody's horses, and just had a fun time hanging out with Moody.

Saturday morning she met me at my hotel and we drove down to bryan... I was surprised to see what looked like a hundred cars in the parking lot. I started to figure out this really was going to be something big.

By the time I added my name to the DZ.COM sign-in sheet, the page was already full. I'm sure I can't remember half the names of the people that were there, so many people were there.

I didn't put my RW suit on once all weekend. I did some really cool freefly jumps with Levin and Zennie - Clay, you'll be disapointed to hear that I didn't bolt this time when Zennie got the Spock dock...

We tried an 11-way dz.com hybrid jump saturday, which wasn't spectacular because a the base funneled and we ran out of altitude once they got it back togeather. The highlight was Sunday where we pulled off a 13-way hybrid from 11.5!!! It's too bad it was overcast cause there sure will be some good pics from that one!

Freeksister, so good to finally meet you! I've been trying to meet up with you for years! Levin and Lummy - thanks for the awesome two-ways. Those were just too much fun! Amber, you're a riot to hang out with. Ramon - sweet reluctant organizing. Kbell and Beth - stop lurking dammit! Both you two are just so sweet, you've got to let that side out online more often. Dave, without your nagging I never would've come down in the first place. Next time we'll make sure you aren't working so we can jump more. Skygeek, rgoper, gemini, kris and everyone else that I'm forgetting - well - thanks for gaving me such a good impresion of Texan hospitality. I can't wait to come back!

Here's the numbers:

Miles traveled: 2656
Hours spent travling: 19
Hours spent waiting in terminals: 5
Hours spent airborn in DC-9's and Airbus A-320's: 6
Hours spent driving: 8 - 4 with the top down, 4 with it up. Convertables rock, dammit!
Jumps: 5
Ankle injuries: 0
Travel Miles / jump: 531.2
Travel Hours / jump: 3.8
Shitty skydives: 0
Happy AndyMans: 1

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[freaksister 0]

It WAS a good boogie. I had a wondeful time. It was so good to see some old friends, and meet the new ones I only knew from dz.com. Including those aforementioned "lurkers."

I didn't jump because I was SO busy making jewelry. Thanks to everyone for their support. Also, thanks to Kris for making me feel better about myself, Moody for some great laughs in the hotel room Sat. night (PJ pic incident) and so many others.

Zennie, it was great to see you again.. You seem so much happier now, and that is GREAT! I am also a much happier person than the first time I saw you. Enjoy your necklace. Which reminds me...

SLAPPIE: if you are reading this, give Zennie his necklace I made back in JUNE! LOL

Levin, you are an absolute sweetheart and good-looking to boot! You were fun, sorry I didn't go on that hybrid but I am super conservative when it comes to uh, hmmmm....how can I put this - recreational activities of different kinds being combined ?!?! I am excited about coming to Waller this weekend and finally meeting ANN!!!!!!!!!! Yes, Ann you have to come to the dz, Levin is going to make you. I will do some freefly jumps/coaching with you while I am there, Levin, if you have time and would like to.

Hey, Zennie, I am seriously considering making that "Freaksis on Tour" shirt you were talking about. That WAS you wasn't it? LOL I will be at Spaceland sometime this week, might be Thursday or Friday, not sure.

Gemini, so good to meet you to! I will PM you regarding the discussion we had Saturday. Basically, it will be probably Thursday before I head that way, not Tuesday like I originally planned! I am very exicted about seeing everyone there again. I missed Paula this weekend. Someone told me she couldn't come visit us for some reason.

To all dz.commers, Aggies, and - well heck!- everyone on the forum - have a great Monday and I luv you all!

Oh my weekend numbers were 0:0:2. But I am going to change that first number one of thse days.

Damn, I am rambling. I woke up too soon. Not enough sleep. See ya.

XOXOXOXO,

[Zennie 0]

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And, Zennie, my name is actually "Kris".

DOH! Sorry. Hate those off-by-one errors.

Hey man, the sitfly-bumper-cars video you did with Ramon was a hoot!

Good to see you again! Hope we can get together again soon. Lemme know when you plan to head down to SDD and I'll try to make it up.

- Z
"Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

[emartin 0]

andy- it was such a pleasure to meet you...i didn't realize until after you left how *far* you came to attend the AOT boogie! wow! thanks for coming and i'm glad you had fun.

i'd like to give huge kudos to pablito, aggiedave, todd...as well the manifest bee and worker bees (kathy, cindy, brenda and ruth). the boogie was a lot bigger than i dreamed it would be...for a six month old one-cesna dropzone with one native packer (aggiedave worked hard...) and one native video guy (pablo packs when he can...works hard with aggiedave...) and a just broken in manifest crew as well as dzo todd (who has a deeply bruised heel from a recent hard landing but flew many tandems happily last weekend)...i believe it came off really well and it's clear that most everyone had a brilliant time. the boogie helped everyone to see what a nice return the aggies have made to coulter field and serves as a dignified memorial to the aggies that lost their lives there. i look forward to seeing more of you again in future boogies.

kbell (sorry, honey, i'm pointing at you...) has great resolution dig pics of many aspects of the boogie...perhaps he could be persuaded to give them up in a post? (don't hold your breath, though; we *are* tenacious lurkers.)

i believe this has been said, but it bears repeating: kathy spillers (manifest@skydiveaggieland.com) is collecting monetary contributions to help out mike gahan on his road to recovery. (these monies will go toward helping cover his living expenses, i believe...i hope he can get a break on the med bills, as has been posted in another thread...) contact kathy if you'd like to make a contribution.

cheers,
beth
(edit corrected kathy's email.)

[Zennie 0]

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Zennie, it was great to see you again.. You seem so much happier now, and that is GREAT! I am also a much happier person than the first time I saw you.

It's slowly getting better. And being around you and everyone else makes it a lot less painful. Like I told AggieDave, Friday night, around 3am or so I'm laying down and thought about how nice it was to be able to hang with whoever I want, however long I wanted and just be with so many people who care for me and accept me for who I am.

I thought about those things and it just sort of struck me... Liz actually did me a favor. She set me free. I am free to completely be myself. I am free live my life the way I want to. I can finally spend quality time with my friends as long as I want.

I consider myself so fortunate to be part of sunch a group of wonderful, caring, supportive, warped people. I got my life back and it's pretty damn good.

I'm less angry than I was for those reasons. I mean how can I be angry when I received this wonderful gift of friends?

I think that is part of why I was in a better mood. I noticed you were in better spirits as well. And if you ever need to vent anything, please PM me.

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Hey, Zennie, I am seriously considering making that "Freaksis on Tour" shirt you were talking about. That WAS you wasn't it?

Yep! And I want one when you make them.

- Z
"Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

[Sassy 0]

Zennie,
I don't know you but thanks for your post. Are you saying that this damn emotional roller coaster does stop at some point??
I'm looking forward to getting to the point that you're at. Everything happens for a reason but right now I have no clue what the reason might be.
Wish I could have gone to AOT this weekend? I wouldn't have been able to jump but it would have been fun just being there, but I had to move. Oh well, one of these days.
Sassy

[rgoper 0]

The first annual AOTMB did ROCK! thanks to Todd and Kathy Spillars. Hugh, and his CASA, which was a blast. and all of the dz.comers that were there, the ones i knew i fly with, the ones i didn't, it was a pleasure meeting you. andyman, your way kewel, kris, you as well, moody wuz up? your a sweet young lady. didn't get to meet freaksis, i had my mal/chop, and since i don't have a second rig yet, i hung my canopy, untangled it, boxed it up, and bailed, i was bummed...oh well, i'm alive. BUT, i do hold an aggie sky dive record...FIRST cut-away there at the DZ! (yes, i bought beer, ask aggiedave!) the only "downside" to the event was of course Michael Gahan's landing, please remember to contribute to his cause (i did) we all know how expensive it is, and if your like me, your insurance drops you like a "bad habit" once they find out you sky dive...dogz! it was nice to see sky divers come together from both houston DZ's, oklahoma, dallas, lexington, san marcos, chicago, etc...had fun guys/gals "Let's Do It Again!" everyone take care, be safe and god bless.

--Richard--
"We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

[moodyskydiver 0]

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i was bummed...

See? I told you that you should have stayed and partied! jk

It was great meeting you,Richard.I hope we can do it again sometime.(without the cutaway ofcourse)Maybe next time I wont end up gettin water dumped on me! LOL

BTW, I did talk to freebird about the canopy stuff you mentioned.

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

[AndyMan 7]

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it was such a pleasure to meet you...i didn't realize until after you left how *far* you came to attend the AOT boogie! wow! thanks for coming and i'm glad you had fun.

You know, I didn't realise it either until I got home sunday night at midnight, and thought to myself: Wow. I left the DZ at 2:00pm.

Going down I broke the trip into two segments so it really didn't seem very long. I was really surprised at my inability to get a direct flight from Chicago to Dallas. I thought it was absurd that I spent almost as much time waiting in terminals then I did on the plane. I'll find a better way to do it next time, I probably should've flown into Houston rather then Dallas.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[skygeek 0]

Yo man this was the Third Annual boogie not the first......

Welcome to the New World Order. Expect no Mercy.

[AggieDave 6]

Richard, you left your shoes in the hanger, found them last night. Call Todd to get them.

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

[AndyMan 7]

Pics from the weekend. As usual, uploaded to my website. Unfortunately I didn't take as many as I would've liked...

http://www.bombshelter.ca/~andy/photos/AOT/

A few highlights:

http://www.bombshelter.ca/~andy/photos/AOT/pages/AmberPlane2.htm - Moody Skydiver before AFF 3.

http://www.bombshelter.ca/~andy/photos/AOT/pages/DSCF0122.htm MoodySkydiver and Freaksister

http://www.bombshelter.ca/~andy/photos/AOT/pages/DSCF0125.htm - Gemini


http://www.bombshelter.ca/~andy/photos/AOT/pages/DSCF0124.htm - Ramon

http://www.bombshelter.ca/~andy/photos/AOT/pages/DSCF0129.htm - emartin and kbell

http://www.bombshelter.ca/~andy/photos/AOT/pages/DSCF0126.htm - AggieDave


_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[Zennie 0]

Great pics dude!

I may have to steal a couple.

- Z
"Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

[rgoper 0]

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Yo man this was the Third Annual boogie not the first......

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i was obviously missinformed...sorry, it still rokked!

well, i wasn't missinformed, i can't read, when i went to the website just now, it clearly states that this was the 3rd annual AOTMB, i have no excuse other than suffering from poor eyesight, or just plain not paying attention, or a combination of both??

--Richard--
"We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

[rgoper 0]

Dave:

thanks, i was wondering where they got off to! it was fun meeting you, and your dz this weekend, i only wished i hadn't had the cut-away. o.k., i'll stop whining!

--Richard--
"We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"