stylin

Excuuuuse me, but Im feeling a little left out here...(sob)

Youre the finest of the fine and they should be begging to give you a promotion.

Umm, I'm a little confused about your reply to my post. Maybe you just replied to the wrong post. I agree that death is a part of life, but I do not fear it because I know what I have to look forward to. Well, its kind of personal. Im planning my own death out in about 10 years or so because I dont like the idea of getting old. It isnt going to be by skydiving so not to get any ideas. So for me death is a part of life and its a reality.

I dont want to bring up the past so I deleted this.

Talk about death? Are you afraid to jump one day and see how it is not to pull that ripcord? No, because it is just like jumping out of that plane the first time, you dont know what to expect, so youre afraid of it. We all feel sorry for this guy that died, but we're all gonna join him someday. Death is the reality of life.

Im trying to make a point here. Who cares about who is a skydiver and who's a whuffo? What difference does it make? I cant believe how you people are so wrapped up in this, who gets called a skydiver and who gets called a whuffo, who cares??? What I care about: as long as the school isnt telling me I shouldnt be skydiving for some reason, then Ill probably keep doing it. If they tell me that, then Ill go to something else like hang gliding. This isnt a source of "pride" or "ego" for me, its a hobby, and calling me a whuffo means absolutely nothing to me. As far as jumping goes, I can take it or I can leave it, so far Ive decided to take it. Yall make a big deal out of the littlest thing.

OK then, Im a whuffo, so what? I like being a whuffo, got that whuffo mentality. You be a skydiver and Ill be a whuffo. Glad we got that cleared up.

Ever heard the saying "practice makes perfect"? I dont know whether it makes me a skydiver or if Im going to be a skydiver or call myself a skydiver, all thats not importand. Whats matters to me, is I went SKYDIVING, thats what Im trying to do, go skydiving! See it this way, if you ever went surfing with me (and youre welcome to), would that mean youre trying to be a surfer? Probably not, you just want to get up on a surfboard for the experience of it, and maybe after that you want to keep doing it, but that doesnt mean you want to be hanging with the locals and be out on dawn patrol every day! What am I trying to do? Go skydiving. I never intended to be like "oh I have to be a skydiver, get more jumps than anyone else, get competitive, high performance parachute, ect". Thats for you, not for me, Im happy with just being up in the plane in the first place. Getting a little tired of tandem so I want my own parachute now and want to get through more of the basic maneuvers. Not everyone wants to be competitive, and besides Im already that with a few other things. Im taking the class on Sat and not jumping till Sunday morning, so it doesnt hurt to practice on one more tandem before AFF-1.

Well, the threshold that marks it for ME is your first freefall with your own gear wearing a pumpkin costume! Therefore, NONE of you are skydivers!!! NONE OF YOU!!! Ahem. My point is that you can't define to someone else what makes him or her a skydiver. What about the folks who are physically unable to jump on their own, but have a shitload of tandems? Hey, to me, leaving the plane is leaving the plane. Six tandems is a level of commitment to the sport that most of the world's population won't show. Hmm, you love talking about me but wont talk to me. Hey Zen, since she wont talk to me, tell her I think she's beautiful and let me know what she says!!!

lol. wonders how more than 2 tandems would help anyone pass AFF1 but hey if you want to give skydiveAZ more money I'm all for that. I had a friend who came out and just did 3 tandems over a weekend, she didnt have time to complete the course and knew she wouldnt be able to jump again for 6 months so...she was all about the ride. If thats the case then say so, but i cant imagine how any more tandems will help prepare you for being responsible for your own fate.. Yea but theyre going to be getting a lot more money if I dont pass the AFF-1 the first time, not to mention Im going to have a shitty week if I dont. Figure up how much is costs to do that two or three times, and on the tandem-2 I get a discount. If I dont pass that the first time Im going to shit bricks. Its the rip cord thing, just want to make sure I get it out before they do. It isnt about fate, its about passing, look at it this way, you have to be alive when you get on the ground in order to pass. So no point in worrying about dying. I might could get an AFF-2 in the same day. Course I might be broke by then...

So? You still have no real clue about the sport, all you've done are ride alongs. This is like someone going on a discovery flight at a local flight school, then hanging out with fighter pilots, trying to discuss dog-fight tactics. Basically, you have no clue. You know, you should consider writing a book on the subject so "stupid" people like me can learn something. Never could figure out whys dem skydiver folks is always wearin' dem parachutes before they jump out of a plane. Went I went tandem, I didnt have to wear one!

Ummm, sorry bro, no such thing. Atleast not on an official level. He did say skydiving team, and Marine Corps, and it sounded to me like he knew what he was talking about. Im sure if the Army has one then the Marines are bound to.

This guy had a good point....But you just did a TANDEM...and you are making choices on what you will do for the rest of your jumping career??????? You don't have a clue yet. Wait a little before you start to post things so strongly....You will be made to look stupid if you do this. Ron I have a habit of planning way ahead in everything I do, so maybe youre making a good point there, but, as far as getting as deep into it as you probably are, I have something different in mind. I know skydiving is kind of addictive and its hard not to get deeper and deeper into it but Ive fought off addictions before and can do it again if I have to. Actually, I have 6 tandems, trying to get used to it before moving on, and two static lines. Ill probably go on one more just to make sure I pass that AFF-1 the first time, I really dont need to be failing that. Thats the part on AFF-1 that scares me the most is not passing.

beginning to feel a bigger Doh coming on - would this hotbar thing be responsible for the 8 pops ups of affordable healthcare uk i got when i opened DZ today?? Im guessing that i shouldda checked here before downloading... so.. 'easy' way to get rid of it?? Genie You need to uninstall it through Add/Remove programs in Control Panel, however this will not uninstall it from Microsoft Outlook, thats where the problem comes in. I found out how to do that but dont remember now, there may be another option in Add/Remove Programs there that does that, dont remember off hand. Pain in the ass though...

Tell her Im rich. After that she wanted money (what money?)

From the USPA SIM Why is your decision altitude 300 ft lower than that recommended by the USPA? - Jim Those are the MINIMUM recommended opening altitudes by the USPA. Figure in your own "better safe then sorry" altitude, then add that in.

Whats the lesson here? KNOW YOUR ALTITUDE!!!!!! Got my mind made up about one thing, that is as long as Im skydiving, which may be a long time, Im pulling at 4000. A little too conservative? Not too conservative if you take into account that youre trading only 6 seconds or so of freefall time for what could amount to your life. So Ill go back up and take another if I need more freefall time. Like I said...glad you are not dead, and I bet this will not happen again. I was sitting at a bar this weekend in Phoenix, talking to a guy who used to be on the Marine Corps skydiving team. So when I left, he said "good luck", and I told him it was only a tandem, not worried about it. He says, in these exact words, "Every single skydive can take your life". It was the way he said it that really shook me up, still thinking about it. He had one cutaway that was really bad, said right when he opened up, he went into a violent spin, but knew where his cutaway was without having to look, pulled it, threw himself into a stable position, THEN pulled the reserve. Said he practiced locating the handles every time he went up, and thats the only reason why he's still alive. Ill save my betting for Las Vegas, where all I lose is money if I have to lose.

Thats what I hear a lot of people do, I can throw myself into that category because after the first I wasnt about to do that again. Not real sure what made me want to come back.

You just described me on the very first tandem I did, thats exactly what I said. Now I just keep my mind on what happens after and Im cool with it. For some reason, when youre sitting in the plane for a while, then the door pops open, that whole scene is just intimidating. With me, I believe its a matter of a flashback from the first tandem and thats whats doing it, cause I know that is what just instintaneously pops in the back of my mind every time. You really got to do this over and over again several times before it finally registers...nothing to worry about, just make a great exit. I overheard someone talking about he was so intimidated every time he started he just wanted to go back down with the plane and couldnt get himself to the door. This was on the first several that he did, but then he finally chilled out. There has got to be this one jump where it all finally just wears off.

It blew my mind that I could jump out of a plane, and afterwards, wish like hell I hadnt of done that. First time for everything.

Welp, guess that awnsered that question!

After being threatned with a green chili burrito, I held out on that during freefall. It wasnt nerves, its the spinning around that does it.

Its always the "until" part that worries me. So "until"...

"If at first you dont succeed...dont try again". Someone said that.

Gee, thats the problem with kids...