Hello to all from Melbourne Australia.

[Edra 0]

I just wanted to say hello to you all from Melbourne Australia,
I have been reading and appreciating much of the wisdom on this forum for a few years and am starting my AFF on a quest for my A license and beyond..I thought it was time to join and say hello and thank you to everyone for sharing their knowledge.
Its reassuring to know that the majority of you are safety first when it comes to a sport\occupation\MOI in which life and death sit closely to one another.

I'm a huge fan of this sport and Ive held off far too long getting my A license for various reasons mostly based around family and my wife insisting skydiving was reckless and dangerous for any parent.

I married a Croatian\Australian career woman 7 years ago and she requested I stay at home for the last 6 years and raise our 2 amazing daughters, cook, clean, vacuum, mop, shop, pay bills, renovate the house, clean up poo... whilst she get a second masters degree at uni and continue her 300k per annum career for "our interests as a family". :), Luckily I ran my own business from home.

But then years after I caught her cheating on me with another guy from work, another supermarket property executive, she decided the married life wasn't for her at 42 and wanted a separation\divorce and to take the children naturally, she said that I was not required now as they'd be at school.
I said yes sure, I need a long vacation and I am way behind on life, I am glad to have been of service to you during the heavy lifting phase.

I was kind of left with the feeling that Id burned 7 years of life into thin air and had been used with nothing to show for it at 35, really by society's standards. The experience gave me a huge appreciation for the single mums and parents out there going through the difficulty of raising children alone and generally unappreciated and unable to live their life goals or dreams due to other commitments..

My time of contemplation also gave me other strange reverse insights into the procession of BIRTH-LIFE- DEATH on this planet we call home, and how we as a parents in society feel about our children's life choices and the lives they have ahead of them..
other thoughts such as:

What if my parents had to bury or cremate ME ??
What are the implications of my DEATH to my family members ?
How would my death affect my Mothers or my Fathers remaining existence on this Earth?
What would my wife think if I died ?

The answers to those questions and others of import are unique to each person on this planet and hold different amounts of weight or importance to each. However in my particular circumstance it came as one of Irony and Humor loud and clear: AND it is the moral of my long winded Hello to you all regarding life's aspirations that carry feasible risk with inherent reward.


FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD ........ SHE WHO DARES, WINS. : )


my dear ex wife could not swim and I realized most of her life decisions were based on fear, and having been mocked by her for wanting to be a skydiver was just her way of protecting her environment and a natural learned reaction to a fear.

anyway If you have ever played Monopoly you know it feels good to have a "Get out of jail free" card so here I am.

Love to you all, and thank you in Advance.

Edra

"You'll shoot your eye out kid"

[Trafficdiver 8]

Well, now that you've got that out of the way, when are you doing you FJC.

Have you done a tandem yet?

Welcome to the forum...thanks for making me feel good about skipping my first marriage.

[Edra 0]

My Apology for the long winded hello, not sure why I felt the need to share quite so much, I guess If I should depart this earth accidently doing what i love at least my thought processes are partially written down on record.

Anyways good to meet you Trafficdiver, I have done Tandem.
Marriage is something I think I could only do once though, unlike skydiving

"You'll shoot your eye out kid"

[skymama 35]

Welcome to the forums! I'm glad to hear you are focused on the future and excited for more jumps. Let us know when you do your training!

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

[Edra 0]

Understood Skymama,.. I have been reading your wise words for some time now, cheers for the welcome.
For me this journey of skydiving is about being more present in the moment here in life, becoming a better person on multiple levels.
Im booked mid Nov for my 7 day AFF camp. Levels 1-10.. Hopefully weather and body permitting I can get in an extra 10 dives. in the 2 days following. :)

"You'll shoot your eye out kid"

[DrDom 0]

Edra

Understood Skymama,.. I have been reading your wise words for some time now, cheers for the welcome.
For me this journey of skydiving is about being more present in the moment here in life, becoming a better person on multiple levels.
Im booked mid Nov for my 7 day AFF camp. Levels 1-10.. Hopefully weather and body permitting I can get in an extra 10 dives. in the 2 days following. :)

It [skydiving] most certianly does force you to live in the moment. Remember NOTHING in life is truly wasted, it is all about experience. You have your kids... embrace them often :)

You are not the contents of your wallet.

[Trafficdiver 8]

Edra

My Apology for the long winded hello, not sure why I felt the need to share quite so much, I guess If I should depart this earth accidently doing what i love at least my thought processes are partially written down on record.

Anyways good to meet you Trafficdiver, I have done Tandem.
Marriage is something I think I could only do once though, unlike skydiving

No need to apologize, this is the place to explain why you are as nuts as the rest of us.

I think skydiving will do you a world of good. Each jump makes life a little bit better.

[Edra 0]

Well said DrDom, cheers TrafficDiver, Skymama. I appreciate the words of encouragement from you all. I have invested in some tunnel time here at ifly when the facilities have finished construction to get my skills up. Very Excited. Perhaps I will get to meet some of you on a US camp or boogie coming up.
Best Regards

"You'll shoot your eye out kid"

[gregpso 1]

That was deep. thanks for sharing. Enjoy your course. I look forward to reading your full report. Where are are you doing it nagambie ?

I tend to be a bit different. enjoyed my time in the sport or is it an industry these days ??

[Edra 0]

Thanks Greg. It has changed my life in a big way. It was more difficult than I thought, Having a small brain capacity I realize I am someone who finds it difficult to learn from anyone who uses insults or ego based communication to "teach". Certain people and personality types make it tough for me.. Instructors who used calm relaxed caring confidence and humor made it all very easy and FUN to learn. I realize now that the USA is very good in this regard having spent time growing up in Phoenix. It is all about the relationship you have with the person teaching i think...I owe a great deal to a small group of people at the school, and they were all of great personal inspiration.. male and female. I have finished AFF levels 1-8, It took me a few go's to complete 7.. :). I am on to a solo and 2 hop and pop's to complete level's 9-10 then 5 more solo's and im looking forward to my A license... I look forward to learning more from you all on the other pages. Blue skys.. Peace...Love

"You'll shoot your eye out kid"

[ouch 0]

Welcome!

Good on you for pursuing your dream.

You will never like all of your instructors, and it's only natural that you will relate better to some of them and you will learn better from some of them.

Just remember that ALL OF THEM have something in common. They probably don't know about your life-death musings, but they certainly don't want you dead. They might be pushy, or they might seem insensitive to somebody like you who obviously analyses things a lot. But they want to produce safe and competent skydivers.

They too have overcome a lot and pushed their own personal envelopes to become instructors. It doesn't just happen by magic.

15 minutes listening, really listening, to a real instructor is worth much more than 5 hours of time with strangers on forums.

Some people might even pm you and try to poison you with their own take on skydiving. Please be careful about who you choose to listen to!

Good luck with your skydiving. When you're in freefall and focused on your task, you can't clutter your mind with all that other stuff. Liberating, isn't it?!!