We must all be crazy..

[Jabeln79 0]

Are we all really Crazy? I believe that we all live life to the Fullest. We live for the day. But yet I talk to WHuffos and they are just totally convinced something is wrong with us. That we must not be right in the head to jump out of planes, and spend all of our money doing it. To me I think that anyone who hasnt jumped out of a plane at least once in their life is a little bit on the crazy insecure side. And as far as spending money goes. To die a rich man would be a waist. If we have the money to spend make the most of it. Live they way you want.
Blue SKies all
JOe

[n2skdvn 0]

carpie de eim(think thats the spelling)
seize the day!!!!!
its not my fault,my mind was not clear
its all because of the heineken beer......

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

Every man dies - not every man lives.
Support the cause - do a skydive(r)

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[Brokeneagle 0]

Everybody's crazy. We just have more fun.
Brokeneagle.
I'm really very gentle, no matter what my kung-fu teacher says...

[Snowbird 0]

I think it's a Les Brown quote...
'You can die in the bleachers, or die on the field. You may as well go out and have fun.'

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

Saw a good one before - "Stay fit, eat healthy, die anyway".
Support the cause - do a skydive(r)

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[AggieDave 6]

"Charge! Do you bastards want to live forever?"
I think about that one everyonce in a while when I'm climbing out the door...
Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.-General George Patton-

[hooked 0]

I totally agree. I hope that everyone who has ever thought they would like to try skydiving, DOES! I tell everyone, don't wait, if you think you would like to try skydiving, do it, don't wait. People just don't know what they are missing!

[kingbunky 3]

i know what you mean... when i went ofr my first jump, my wife went with me, my brother and sister were going to come, a couple of guys from work were going to come, but when the day arrived, there was me and the missus, all by ourselves! since then, one of my cow-orkers made it out a couple of times, and my sibs might make it next summer... their loss, not mine!
"Jumping out of planes for the thrill of it all."
-J.Geils Band

[NewGuy 0]

It never ceases to amaze me that there are people out there who don't want to skydive. I was under the impression that everybody wanted to do it: those who skydive have the guts to do it; those who don't are too scared.
I've been told I'm wrong, by whuffos of course.... am I? I just can believe it when someone says they don't want to jump.
Cheers,
NewGuy

[freeflir29 0]

I'm perfectly sane......and have the papers to prove it....."I got some beers....Let's Drink em!!!"
Clay

[JumpinJohn 0]

you sumed it up well joe

[fred 0]

Quote

"Charge! Do you bastards want to live forever?"
I think about that one everyonce in a while when I'm climbing out the door...

On one of my first couple jumps, on the ride up to altitude I was looking all terrified (I'm told I do this rather consistently), and one of the more experienced jumpers just looked at me and said, "Hey! What's the worst that could happen?"
Brings a smile to my face every time I think about it.

[scottbre 0]

I was up til 3 am talking to two cute whuffos about skydiving, and they were hanging on my every word. Now I just have to find ones whose boyfriends aren't sitting next to them.
"Can't keep my mind from the circling sky. Tongue-tied & twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I."

[Albatross 0]

My current favorite was during a tracking dive at Eloy. It was a huge group like 18 or so and we put out 7 floaters. All of a sudden one fell off the worst thing that could happen. We all watched her fall away and went right back to the jump. When we got down she was all red and embarassed. That put it in perfect perspective. You fall off so you free fall alone.
God bless us and God Bless America
Albatross

[AggieDave 6]

Something that's funny is screwing up the count and pulling someone off the step...*thats* funny. (sorry Malachi...)
Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.-General George Patton-

[billvon 2,435]

>But yet I talk to WHuffos and they are just totally convinced something is wrong with us. That we must not be
>right in the head to jump out of planes, and spend all of our money doing it. To me I think that anyone who hasnt
> jumped out of a plane at least once in their life is a little bit on the crazy insecure side.
I wrote this about four years ago about this very topic, after someone emailed me to tell me 'I was as nutty as the day was long':
--------------------------------
Once upon a time, in a valley far, far away, there lived two
unlikely friends - a panda and an eagle. The eagle had
built his nest on a cliff high above the eucalyptus grove
that the panda called home. When the mood struck him, the
eagle would fly down and visit his friend on the valley
floor, and for a time the two would talk.
Often the panda would start their conversation.
"I will never understand you, Eagle," the panda would
say. "You spend your days flying around the valley, being
buffeted by the winds, skimming dangerously close to the
rocks, and risking your life in a million ways. Why do you
do it?"
"Because I like to live that way, to call the air my
home" the eagle would reply. "I belong there."
"You belong in the sky no more than I do!" the panda
would exclaim. "You were born on the ground, you catch your
food on the ground, and you will someday die on the ground.
You build your nests on the earth, not on some cloud or some
air pocket. You are a visitor to the sky at best!"
"That may be true. But the sky calls me! Much of my
life is spent up there. I build my nests in places that
only flying creatures can reach, and so protect my children
from danger. I hunt from the sky, and catch my food by
flying down to seize it."
"I have seen you hunt!" the panda would say. "You
hover motionless above the valley, and then fall upon your
prey with no more grace than a falling rock. A leopard can
do as well from a high tree branch."
"And you say you protect your children from danger,"
the panda continued. "Yet I have seen you push them from
the nest, exposing them to the terrors of the air! Why,
just last year I heard of an eagle chick that was dashed to
death on a rock, when he strayed too far on his first
flight!"
"That is true," the eagle conceded. "But that is one
incident among the hundreds of eagles on the continent.
Flying is very safe for us, although we can never eliminate
all the dangers. I do not force my children to fly - I
simply try to help when I see the desire in their eyes
become strong enough to overcome their fear. They are
eagles, like me. They have wings, and any animal with wings
desires the sky."
"Nonsense. The ostrich does quite well for himself
here on the ground, and the penguin wisely stays on the
shores and in the sea. Your desire to fly makes no sense to
the sensible animals of the land."
Thus they would continue, until the eagle tired of
talking and returned to the sky.
Sometimes they would meet and the eagle would begin
their conversation.
"I will never understand you, Panda," the eagle would
say. "Here you sit in this grove, when all around you there
are wonders to be seen. How can you spend all your days
here on the ground, never venturing farther than the edges
of the trees?"
"I am safe here," the panda would say. "I have food,
and we have safety in our numbers against attack from other
animals. I have my panda friends to talk to, and I have the
chittering monkeys in the trees to amuse me. I need not
worry about food, or water, or a safe place to sleep. I
have everything any sane animal could want."
"But what of the rest of the world?" the eagle would
ask. "What of the mountains, and the rivers, and the skies?
What of a glorious sunset, seen from a high peak? Are you
happier, not knowing of these things?"
"The things you speak of are not important. I am a
bear, and I belong here, in my grove. I have neither wings
nor fins, nor do I need them, for I was meant to live here,
and not in some forsaken wild."
"I have seen bears near the tops of high mountains,"
the eagle would explain. "I have seen them sledding down
the icy glacers, and I have seen them swimming beneath the
frozen seas. You could do all these things!"
"Why would anyone want to?" the bear would ask. "Few
animals are as crazy as you are. Here I am safe, and I will
live out my long life in my proper place."
The eagle flew off then, and did not see his panda
friend for several weeks. When he next visited, the panda
seemed eager to talk to him, and began right away.
"Surely you have heard of the eagle that was killed
near the grove several days ago!" the panda exclaimed. "He
flew low along the valley floor at an unreasonable speed,
hit a bump in the air, and broke his back against a rock!
No longer will I listen to you tell me that flying is safe!"
"It is not completely safe as you understand the word"
the eagle explained. "It is as safe as we make it. I can
spend all day circling in a big gentle thermal, or I can
strike out across country, explore the nearby canyons, or
even roll and tumble about in the sky. It can be safe - but
it is our choice to make it that way."
"Then this eagle surely must have been a fool, to do
something so dangerous" the panda said. "Was he trying to
impress the monkeys and the bears of the grove? Was his ego
that big?"
"Probably not. We have no interest in impressing those
who cannot understand what we do. Perhaps he was just
trying to show some of the other animals in the grove what
it could be like, to fly free through the rocks where the
other animals can only crawl.
"You eagles are as nutty as the day is long! Do you
really think his silly stunt and his resulting death
impressed us?"
"No, but perhaps his life did. Those of you who saw
only his death will never understand, but he would not have
traded even an extra ten years of life for his wings. He
spent his life doing things your kind will never dream of,
and for him, the risk was worth it." With that the eagle
flew off.
The panda avoided the crazy eagle after this, their
last meeting. The two animals went about their lives, the
panda safe in his grove, the eagle high in the sky.
One day the panda heard that the eagle had been killed
when he was caught in a summer dust devil. The panda was
not happy to hear this, for he had missed his old friend
occasionally. He had known the crazy animal's days were
numbered, though, and he comforted himself by telling
himself that the eagle had only gotten what he deserved.
A few years later the panda cut his foot on a sharp
rock near the stream. The wound became infected and the
panda grew sick. Before he died, the panda thought about
the eagle one last time, and wondered what the eagle had
seen in flying, and if it really had been worth dying for.
His friends grieved his death for a short time,
remembering the panda with the eagle friend. Then they
returned to their grove with its easy food and its
chattering monkeys, and life in the valley went on.
-bill von

[SkyDekker 1,147]

That's a great story.........
"We cannot do great things, only small things with great love" Mother Theresa

[hooked 0]

Absolutely wonderful! Pretty much sums it up!

[kingbunky 3]

it's hard to soar with the eagles when you work with a bunch of turkeys'. the just don't get it, and until they try, they won't.
"Jumping out of planes for the thrill of it all."
-J.Geils Band

[LittleJumper 0]

Excellent story! I'm told that I'm having a mid-life crisis!! NAH! I'm just living life and having fun doing it!
What you "think" you cannot do ...you CAN if you "think" about it

[Iflyme 0]

Ok, I wanna know how long it took you to type up your post, Bill. It is a great story!

[Emma 0]

Cool post Bill. Maybe I'll save it and show it to whuffos next time I have to listen to their mundane, brain-atrophying crap! Bless the pandas, but don't hope to understand them!
Em