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promise5

What made you start jumping?

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I was sitting in the door, not wanting to go... my jumpmaster said if you don't jump right now, I'm going to fuck you in the ass.........

so does that mean that you don't believe in Jesus ? :D
scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

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Point Break generation here, too.

I had actually already made a handful of static line round jumps at the end of the eighties - those started with a charity gig, but the original inspiration probably went all the way back to the days of throwing my Action Man (read: GI Joe) out of the bedroom window in his Red Devils gear.

The friend I'd been learning with broke his ankle in 'eighty-nine (feet and knees together, Matt!) That in itself didn't put me off - I just had less incentive to carry on without his company.

Fast-forward to 1992 when I caught Bodhi and Utah doing their thing on VHS - that's a video format your grandparents used to rely on, promise - and I thought, 'I want to give this another go'. I booked myself onto an AFF course a few months later.

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I don't know what made me start wanting to, but I seem to always have wanted to. My folks wouldn't give me the $30 I needed when I was 19, so I started when I was 20 (it was $40).

My mother came to watch my first jump -- she said that if I was going to die, she wanted to be there :ph34r:

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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Supposed to be a one time reward for giving up smoking[:). Sadly after my first static-line jump, i was hooked returned the next day done another 2.

Not happy with the speed of that went to do AFF in Spain, Was something i always wanted to do from being a child to be honest.

Billy-Sonic Haggis Flickr-Fun


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In my first year at uni a guy in my halls asked if I'd be interested in going - being a pissed student I said hell yeah.. Nothing really came of it until a year later when he started the club and I was called on it.

Did my first s/l jump in winter '06, and did a handful of jumps until I graduated in '09 and started jumping more regularly (hence the low jump numbers for time in sport!)

I'd love to say part of the point break generation, but actually my first memory of skydiving is from.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SObBfRS8psU (I was 9 when it came out..)

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I submitted it to miscellaneous, when I try to attach it here it always says that my attachment size is to big, and I can't figure out how to fix that. UGH



I like using the Gimp to work on my images. It's not particularly intuitive, but it is free. You can download the installer from their windows version page assuming you use Windows. They have Mac and Linux versions too.

A couple of things affect image size. That's image resolution (horizontal x vertical pixels) and compression. Be sure to make a copy of your image before you start working on it, so you don't accidentally overwrite it.

You can modify the resolution by going to the image option on the menu and selecting "Scale". It wants to keep the image proportional, so if you type a number in one of the input boxes and then click on the other one, that number should change so they remain proportional. Given the size allowed by this site, I usually go for either 640 horizontal pixels or 320. 320's about the size of a postage stamp on my monitor.

Once you get it scaled, you can export the image to a compressible format. Go over to "file->export to" and save it as a jpg image. IIRC you can just type filename.jpg (or filename_smaller.jpg if it's already a jpg.) I usually crank the quality down to around 80, which is about as low as I can go without seeing a difference in image quality.

IIRC the max size allowed here is 200KB, so check if the image size is below that and if it is, you should be good to go. I cropped my image and went with a pretty small resolution for the picture of my balls in that other thread, and the image was 26KB, well under the limit, despite its original size of 2MB.

There's a lot of other stuff you can do with the Gimp. It's still not a professional-quality replacement for Photoshop, but it is pretty amazingly powerful for a free piece of software.
I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

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For me it was dreams of flying that I've had since I was a kid, and still have them to this day. I could run and take off, fly wherever I wanted, mostly to escape people that were attacking me. Skydiving let's me escape life for a moment at a time.

In 3rd or 4th grade I saw skydiving on TV and was amazed people were flying like my dreams (even though I could fly up, hover, ect.). Begged my mother to go, obviously I was met with a NO. So I climbed the bleachers in gym class and jumped belly first to mimick the skydivers, I flew!, broke and fractured my middle finger. My first BASE jump B| My now crooked fingers always reminds me of my first flight.

19 years old, I was watching a plane one summer day by myself and wanted to go up there, so I drove myself to an airport and they were jumping there. So never been on a plane before I jumped that day. Fell in love with the sky ever since. I didnt know you were allowed to learn jumping, so I went to a closer airport the next day to learn to fly planes.

Years later I learned to fly my body like my dreams. Up in the air is where I'm most comfortable in life.

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The guy I lived with and I were getting bored on our days off. He was a pilot and had always wanted to jump. I saw the Navy demo team when I was 14 and thought it looked amazing. Found a dz that had recently opened nearby. He went out one Sunday and did a static line (instead of waiting for me to come up with a reason for my mom to babysit my son). I went the next weekend and did the same. Could have done a tandem but I wanted to do it myself; wasn't going to completely trust my life to some guy I didn't know.

He quit jumping after 5 years, 300ish jumps and a broken leg. I'm still at it almost 23 years later.

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June 1993, I had just met a guy who was home from college for the summer and we hung out with a group of friends. He gets back home afterwards and tells his mom who he was with. When he mentioned my name, her eyes lit up. She knew my mom from waaay back when we were like 5-7 years old as parents sharing tips on raising deaf kids. She got divorced and moved away and I didn't see the guy again until he was in college.

Anyway, he told me he had just started skydiving the year before and wanted me to come out and watch his training jumps and maybe make a tandem (he was still in static line progression). I was like hell no, but agreed to go out and watch.

So we get out there and I'm watching the skydivers coming down and packing their chutes, etc. I thought, what the hell, I'll give it a try. Did the tandem out of a C-182 at 10,000 ft and was hooked. Started the Static Line course the next month and never looked back.

The friend who got me into it? He made his last jump the next year and quit. Asshole... :|

My busy years were the 2nd half of the 1990's where I made most of my jumps. Got married and bought a house in 2000, and jumps trailed off to double digits a year, to nothing the last 2 years now with 2 little girls to raise. But I'm not retired yet. :P

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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Mine is coming, But, I do have a pic to post lol I was talking to my mom and she found a super old pic of when I was 5 with 3 skydivers, that preformed at a show at our local airport. Maybe someone will know them oooorrrr maybe then will recognize themselves lol now that would be fun.



Here it is:

So you have a twin sister? :o
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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The pic was taken about 16 years ago in WI. It was during the Price County fly-in. A very small airport in northern WI. Yes, I'm the one with the helmet on,they had to pull the helmet up so you could see my face.
No matter how slowly you say oranges it never sounds like gullible.
Believe me I tried.

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The summer between my junior and senior year of high school, some friends talked me into going out to the drop zone. I didn't really want to jump at all but peer pressure is a hard thing when you are that age. JohnMitchell was our instructor. The whole time I was trying to think of a way to get out of jumping. I really didn't want to do it! By the time our class ended the winds had kicked up so we couldn't jump. Got out of that! Whew! B|

The next week JohnMitchell got my phone number from my release form and called me to ask me on a date. After hanging up the phone I realized my mistake in accepting his date--- I would have to jump if I went out with him! :S But he was/is that hot so I made my first static line jump the next weekend. And we've been jumping together happily ever after. (June will be our 29th wedding anniversary.)

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I don't even remember how it started, but I had been wanting to jump since I was a teenager (not "I HAVE to do this", but more "someday..."). I didn't know anyone else who would go with me, and I wasn't comfortable going alone, so it took a few years.

Last year, my co-worker was going through a divorce and started attacking her "leap list". She mentioned she wanted to go skydiving but couldn't find anyone to go with - YES! We booked our tandem, and jumped a couple of weeks later. It was amazing (of course!).

The feeling stayed with me for more than a week after, and I decided I needed to do another tandem to make sure I REALLY wanted to do it. Tandem 2 done, I was hooked for sure. My local DZ was closing for a few months, so as soon as they were back up I was ready to go. 8 months later I got my A license! I can't wait for my first full summer!
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. "

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it was very simple.....
i was looking for an airplane ride.
I was still a teen and had NEVER had the occasion to BE in a plane....

the college i was attending had a "skydiving " club and the airport was only 4 miles south of town.

50 dollars covered Jump # 1, a static line jump, all the gear , all the training, a certificate and a logbookB|

i figured i would " take the ride and Then decide" ;)

i had such a great time looking out the windows.. I have NEVER had any problems with heights having been on a construction crew since i was 15 and working off scaffolding that OSHA would have Loved to see..!!!
so i was fine being up off the ground... went ahead and exited,,(poised exit on a C 182 ) landing my 28 foot cheapo about 15 feet from the target..Within 2 weeks i had made my next 4 static lines ( 10 dollars each ) AND my first freefall ( 6 bucks ) B|

i still enjoy the airplane ride(s) but More so, the skydive(s)...I had almost 200 airplane Take-offs before i EVER landed in a plane.....by the time i graduated college ( 1975 ) i had a Bachelor of Science degree AND 375 skydives !!! The college sponsered ( GAVE us the Money ) to attend the 1974 National Collegiate Parachuting Championships in DeLand Fla... They also let us take a student govt. Chevy Suburban.... to make the trip...:ph34r::PB|

i have been active in our sport, ever since.. Met MANY interesting and wonderful people ( and of course,,,,, a few ODDballs.....)...
Glad that i started when i did... waaay before Tandem and/or AFF...it's been fun to witness the evolution of the sport, and of the gear.....up close and personal...

:)jmy
A 3914
D 12122

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I submitted it to miscellaneous, when I try to attach it here it always says that my attachment size is to big, and I can't figure out how to fix that. UGH



If you can open MS Paint.

Select File (furthest left tab)\
Select - Open
Pick the picture you want to use...
On the "Home" tab there is an "Image" Tile which says, Select, resize, or crop.
Pick resize.
Set the percentage radio button...

Try it at 75% first and do a File\Save As "filename75" Right click on the file and check the properties to see if its less than 150kb and you should be good to go

Now you can play with it from here, but keep in mind that if you decide you want it at 50%, you'll need to go to the first pic and start over or you will get 50% of the 75%.

If it's like 10 Mb directly from a camera, save it as a .jpg file first, then resize down from there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFl_rySMe5o
Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

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when I try to attach it there she always says that my attachment size is too big, and I can't figure out how to fix that.



I get that a lot. It's a curse I tells ya. B|
Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

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The guy in the white jump suit looks a bit like Stickman, Scott Staples. Just saw him a couple of months ago while testing the BNSF tracks up on the St. Croix Sub Division. He rode on my rail defect detector truck for a day while I as testing track.
"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

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The guy in the white jump suit looks a bit like Stickman, Scott Staples. Just saw him a couple of months ago while testing the BNSF tracks up on the St. Croix Sub Division. He rode on my rail defect detector truck for a day while I as testing track.


lol He's the one whose helmet I have on. Another FYI is I guess that day I told him I thought he was handsome. lol lol
See, even at 5 i was attracted to skydivers lol
No matter how slowly you say oranges it never sounds like gullible.
Believe me I tried.

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My boyfriends 30th B-day was March 14th (2012) and a couple weeks before he kept asking for ideas on what to do... I'm not sure what made me say "lets go skydiving..." But I did... We went to DeLand and did our first jump on his b-day... I acted like I wasn't all that into it (but I was) on April 4th, did two more tandems at The Jumping Place in St. Marys (2 hours closer to home)... End of May started AFF (at TJP)... Less than a year after my first tandem, I graduated AFF, got my A, got my own gear, got my B, have done 2 night jumps, been to 5 different Drop Zones, and have 104 jumps to date. I have loved every second and would not have changed a thing!

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I used to have a fear of heights, and it always bothered me.

My first job out of college as an civil engineer was an inspection/construction management job.

One summer day, me and a bunch of co-workers had to climb up an 8 foot ladder... Everyone climbed up casually except me, instead, I pretended I got a call on my cell phone and hung out on the bottom.

I wasn't very happy about that, so that night I stayed in the office late, and when everyone left the site I stared at that fucking ladder, it took me a while, but once I finally got myself to climb it... I became extremely proud of my "minor" accomplishment, and immediately became obsessed with beating that fear again.

It was a bit of a magical feeling because it was the first time I was proud of myself for something that I could not "brag" about (who brags about climbing an 8 foot ladder), it was a personal accomplishment. This wasn't a grade I received in a class, a college degree, or some girl saying yes to a date; this accomplishment was purely, 100% my own. It was also the kinda thing nobody would give a shit about except me; and it felt good.

So I went from climbing the 8 foot ladder, to climbing the bigger ladder, to just casually climbing ladders all over the construction site... I then started staring down the edge of roofs, went on a ferris wheel... eventually I thought.

Fuck it, I'm going to go big, time to do the one thing I told myself I would never do.

First jump, staring down at the clouds. I was instantly hooked the second I hopped off the airplane.

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