Hanging it up ealier than ...'Forever'

[skybytch 259]

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I laugh at the people that have ~100 jump or less and decide to go get a tattoo of something skydiving related. In 2-3 years odds are they will have quit the sport and are now left with a tattoo that in noway relates to something they are still involved in.

Yup. That's why I'm waiting until I've got 20 years in the sport to get my skydiving related tattoo (assuming that I can still jump 3 years from now). That's about when I feel it will have been a part of my life long enough to warrant having a representation of it on my body.

[bozo 0]

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[replyI know... what a bunch of dumbasses! I've never gotten a tattoo. Probably never will,

pussy

Yeah, but if I get one, then quit the next year, I WILL be a dumbass! Call me a pussy all you want...

[kelel01 1]

Yeah, I'm one of those people. But I don't regret it. Even if I never do another skydive, skydiving was (and still is) a huge part of my life - not just the jumps, but the friends I made and the good times after hours.

I don't regret having that as a part of me forever, not one bit.

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[airtwardo 6]

That's about when I feel it will have been a part of my life long enough to warrant having a representation of it on my body.

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I went with the old Pins, Plates & Surgery Scars instead!



Besides, if I'd gotten ink back when I started, it would be a ROUND parachute..how uncool would THAT be today!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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[L.O. 0]

It's not the people who say they will be in it forever and aren't. It's the people who get out after a few years but still talk and act as if they are full timers. That makes me mad. If your done be done don't try to act the part if your not going to play it as well.

HPDBs, I hate those guys.
AFB, charter member.

[BillyVance 34]

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[replyI know... what a bunch of dumbasses! I've never gotten a tattoo. Probably never will,

pussy

Yeah, but if I get one, then quit the next year, I WILL be a dumbass! Call me a pussy all you want...

Billy ole buddy....if youre gonna quit this is the year for you to do it. You know 13 is bad luck dont you ?

[bozo 0]

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[replyI know... what a bunch of dumbasses! I've never gotten a tattoo. Probably never will,

pussy

Yeah, but if I get one, then quit the next year, I WILL be a dumbass! Call me a pussy all you want...

Billy ole buddy....if youre gonna quit this is the year for you to do it. You know 13 is bad luck dont you ?

Hmmm, you did have something bad happen in your 13th year, eh?

[skybytch 259]

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I went with the old Pins, Plates & Surgery Scars instead!

Hmm.. didn't think of it that way. I don't have the pins or plates but I do have the surgery scar. Thought about putting the tat over the scar but I've already sworn that I won't get a tat in the slut spot.

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Besides, if I'd gotten ink back when I started, it would be a ROUND parachute..how uncool would THAT be today!

imho, that'd be really cool. I gots nuttin' but respect for those of you who started on rounds and are still jumping today.

[lawrocket 3]

I fell by the wayside - it's been almost four years since I've jumped. Sometimes things happen in life that just change your priorities.

Look at Chris Cowden. He wrote exactly what I fell. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2258476#2258476

There are other things that are far more important to me now. I'd rather spend time with my family than anything. Riding a bike or rollerblading or going for walks while pushing or pulling my kids brings far better joys and kicks than skydiving ever gave.

I miss it. Don't get me wrong, I miss it. But not nearly enough.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[moodyskydiver 0]

Yeah...me.I injured myself shortly after AFF and the doctors said to hang it up.Now my hubby has done his first tandem and is all fired up wanting to do AFF and keep jumping.He keeps talking about getting me back in the sport but I know I'm done.

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

[skydiver30960 0]

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Besides, if I'd gotten ink back when I started, it would be a ROUND parachute..how uncool would THAT be today!

But if you had gotten it way back then by now it would have faded and blurred so badly that it would look square!



Elvisio "jus kiddin" Rodriguez

[ladydyver 0]

Lots of people think they'll stay, but don't. I think a lot more people fall in love with telling people they are a skydiver more than they fall in love with skydiving itself.

t

[ladydyver 0]

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Vskydiver made/begged me to sell my motorcycles after we got married. Another thing to thank her for. She probably saved my life.

Yeah, well... I only got into the sport because I wanted to date the jumpmaster. He was/is a hottie! I never wanted to actually skydive! Who would have thought I'd still be doing something I never wanted to do in the first place 23+ years later!

{{{No, John! You still can't have a motorcycle! Quit asking!}}}

You two crack me up!! Can i be like you when i grow up V?

DPH # 2
"I am not sure what you are suppose to do with that, but I don't think it is suppose to flop around like that." ~Skootz~
I have a strong regard for the rules.......doc!

[Sebazz1 2]

I did my first jump in 8/97 with a group of 4 people via AFF.

-Meg left then came back then left again but I think she may come back again. She still has her gear.

-Laura quit after level 4, too broke never came back.

-Jaime went at it pretty good for 5 years then quit.

Then there were a couple other close people that started jumping around the same time that still Jump and there were my mentors too at the time and a few of them still jump. There are some folks that quit, some that died but all of them will always be skydivers.

Me? I'm still jumping but not nearly as committed as I used to be. Couple tandems and AFF here and there, local boogies and looking like I might pick up the pace in Davis this summer with the little RW explosion they are promoting. I was always told 10 years and your no longer a tourist. I'm in my 9th year and I'm gonna shed that tourist label fo sure!

I made some of my best friends at the DZ over the years and those that have quit are still phenominal friends. I am over pressuring and pushing people to jump. I do it for myself at my own pace these days.

Heck after 9 years I am finally assembling my very first custom bought for me rig

I think I am in it forever.
Blues!

[fueler 0]

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I laugh at the people that have ~100 jump or less and decide to go get a tattoo of something skydiving related. In 2-3 years odds are they will have quit the sport and are now left with a tattoo that in noway relates to something they are still involved in.

its not about where ya are...its where ya been.

ive got a little bit of ink. each piece is a reminder of where i once was...you know, bouncing along through life. ive only been jumping for 2.5 years, dont have any skydive related ink.

skydiving has dominated a large portion of my life for these last years. ive met some of the greatest people i ever could have met. you bet your ass that ill have some sort of large piece of artwork drilled into me at some point that tells a tale of falling out of planes and off stuff. even if i do hang it up some years down the line. ive got some pretty crazy shit tattooed on myself, but i dont regret any of it.

ok, im done.

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what!?

[JohnMitchell 14]

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Rice burner was wrecked anyway, but selling the Harley was a real kick in the....


Took a decade, but finally got another putt-putt, so KEEP TRYIN' John!

( I can tell, she's weakening!)

I just tell her if she ever makes me quit jumping, I'm buying another bike and will start drag racing it again. I'm serious on this one.

[JohnMitchell 14]

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{{{No, John! You still can't have a motorcycle! Quit asking!}}}

How about if I just try the big puppy eyes?

[SwampThing 0]

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its not about where ya are...its where ya been.

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My wife says that A LOT!

The Pessimist says: "It can't possibly get any worse!"
The Optimist says: "Sure it can!"

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[Nightingale 0]

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I laugh at the people that have ~100 jump or less and decide to go get a tattoo of something skydiving related. In 2-3 years odds are they will have quit the sport and are now left with a tattoo that in noway relates to something they are still involved in.

I think that anyone who has ever made a skydive has been touched by it in some way. Skydiving is an experience that isn't easily forgotten, even if someone only jumps a few times. The tattoo will always be a reflection of that. Not sure why you'd laugh at them for it.

[2fat2fly 0]

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Took a decade, but finally got another putt-putt, so KEEP TRYIN' John!

I don't know if you can really count this

I am not the man. But the man knows my name...and he's worried

[airtwardo 6]

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Took a decade, but finally got another putt-putt, so KEEP TRYIN' John!

I don't know if you can really count this

Yeah...yeah...yeah...and FAT people shouldn't skydive NUDE!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Rainbo 0]

Hey I can still skydive nude, cause I still have that svelte six pack man-boy body, at leasty in my own mind.

None of the folks that I started with are are around today, at least from the skydive perspective. And now as I understand it from the previous posts I am no longer a tourist, so I am wondering just what the hell I would be considered

Rainbo
TheSpeedTriple - Speed is everything
"Blessed are those who can give without remembering, and take without forgetting."

[Douva 0]

Of all the people I met when I first started jumping in August of 1998, I can think of maybe two who still jump regularly. I know three or four, including myself, who occasionally come out of hiding for a boogie or event, but almost everybody I know from those days has slowed down or quit completely.

For the first two years I was jumping, skydiving was a huge part of my life. I bought a travel trailer, parked it at the DZ, and made it my weekend home. After two years in the sport and about two hundred fifty jumps, my work situation changed, and I moved to a new city, four hundred miles away. For the next three years, my inconsistent work/income situation only allowed me to make about twenty-five jumps a year, not really enough to become a "regular" jumper at my new home drop zone. When, at the end of those three slow years, my work/income situation stabilized, I came back with a vengeance. In my first year of regular jumping at my new home drop zone--my sixth year in the sport--I made about four hundred jumps, started a skysurfing team, and earned my AFF Instructor rating. Then, about mid-way through the next year--my seventh year in the sport--my enthusiasm started to wane. Skydiving started feeling more and more like another job. For a while, my waning enthusiasm for skydiving was masked by my continued enthusiasm for being around my skydiving friends, but when a change in drop zone ownership and a lot of drop zone drama broke up the band, I decided the time had come to focus my energy on other pursuits, namely my career. Three months into my eighth year in the sport, I retired from instructing and competing. I could have stuck it out for another two months and made my one thousandth jump, but I didn't see the point of making a milestone jump I probably wouldn't enjoy. Now I don't instruct, I don't compete, and I only make about fifteen jumps a year. But I enjoy the jumps I do make, and when, eventually, I make my one thousandth jump, I know I'm going to appreciate it.

As long as I can afford it, my plan is to continue owning and maintaining gear so that I can make a few jumps whenever the urge hits me. I'd like to stay current, and I'm open to coaching skysurfing to anyone who wants to learn. But I don't think I'll ever be a regular jumper again.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[sunshine 2]

I think there was a group of about 10-15 of us that were all new at the same time 6 years ago. Of those, 3 of us still jump.

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meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

[wmw999 2,123]

Nobody in my first jump class made more than a couple of jumps as far as I know. Obviously, there aren't a whole lot of people around who are still jumping in Houston that were jumping when I started (well, at least that I remember).

But WTF. I've been a skydiver, either active or inactive, for quite awhile. If I had time and a skydiving-shaped hole in my life, that doesn't mean much about other people. Just about me.

Wendy W.

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)