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skreamer

skydiving and smoking

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Put the health issues aside...the thing that ticks me off is when people smoke around rigs or unpacked parachutes. I smoke, but I think that we should have some common sense about other people and their equipment...how pissed would you be if you found a hole in your rig due to ash?!?!
Slut

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I suspect that skydivers smoke for the same reason they skydive: they have addictive type personalities and crave a variety of drugs. Some smoke just before jumping to calm their nerves. Some smoke after jumping to calm their nerves. Some smoke while jumping even though they know it makes them hypoxic.
Speaking of flying instructors smoking in the airplane ... back when I was a student pilot, I did a less than perfect check ride and then chewed out the examiner when he started to light up in the plane. Surprise, surprise, he signed me off!

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I agree that smoking is dumb, smokers smell and we usually have yucky yellow teeth.
WE REALIZE THIS! WE ARE THE ONES SMOKING AFTER ALL!
But if you have never smoked and
quit then you have NO idea how difficult it is to stop and IMHO you really have no place saying anything about it.
pull, flare, huff and puff back to the landing area,
lisa
sorry about the caps lock before. i havent learned how to use the last post in my post.. but anyway, lisas right. We realize that this is a disgusting habit. but its a hard one to break. Is there anything in your life that you have done EVERY DAY for the past four years? cause for me there is, smoking. I dont like that I smoke. I dont like that smell. I dont like that smoking is the only thing that, to use a word loosely, is regular in my life. I have changed so much (for the better) in the past few years that the fact that i still smoke isnt a big deal. It doesnt make who i am, it is just an aspect of me. The truth of the matter is, we smokers reach for a cigarette all the time, when were stressed, bored, anxious, doing something we always do (like playing on the computer. I would like to quit, but the aniety and bitchiness that boils up when im without my nicotine is just too extreme. Im actually hoping to quit after i start working at the dz, cause right now, a cigarette is the only way that I get a break at my current job. SO, instead of bashing us, why dont you try to support us in quitting? we need the support, we need friends to tell us not to smoke.
by the way "i love ya grogs. And if you get fat cause youre eating so much more, then go get fat! youre doing great without cigarretes. I want you to quit, do it for you, do it for all of us that havent found the willpower to quit yet!
froggie

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Skydiving attracts and holds people with addictive personalities. Me thinks this is why there seem to be a lot of skydivers who smoke.

I completely agree. Myself, I am not acquaited with the word moderation....I either do something LOTS or I don't do it at all. :)

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Screamer and Mav, you guys just don't have a clue about the skygoddess, but yes, I was entertaining and yes, I even quit smoking this weekend but only cigarettes. Everything else was on fire and smoking like you wouldn't believe. Tee-hee. And I'm still on my cloud so ya can't possibly rile me up for at least a week. Nice try though.

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It is hard to quit, I understand that totally. At one point I used to smoke atleast a pack a day for about three years or so. I decided I was going to quit, so I did. Cold turkey, just like that. Wow, that was hard, I even shook but luck me I still had my insane amounts of caffine available to me so I was able to pull through it. Goodluck if you're trying, it CAN be done. :)AggieDave '02
-------------
Blue Skies and Gig'em Ags!
BTHO t.u.

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Aggiedave,
WAY TO GO! it gives me a feeling of pride to hear that somebody quit smoking and has been succesful in thier attempts. The shaking and horrible feelings of being without nicotine really scares me. And the regularity of it...well, nobody likes change. Im trying to quit, thanks for the wish of good luck.
froggie

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Face it Froggie - the tobacco compaines have you right where they want you. This isn't about YOUR needs - it's about billions of dollars of profit for a few big companies. They are the one who add addictive substances to the cigarettes they sell you. They don't want you to quit! Neither does your health care provider. They make bags of money off you smokers. If you were all to quit suddenly, then there would be 80% fewer people in the hospitals. At the cost of your health, you are lining the pockets of those who happily profit from this plague on society. I hope you can quit, Froggie, before the cancer, or one of the many other smoking related illnesses catches up with you and steals your life away.
Frank (who has had too many relatives die from cancer)

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I smoked a pack of Marlboro Reds every day for five years (age fifteen until twenty). I quit almost five years ago, cold turkey. Women can do that easier than men. I also have an addictive personality. In the past, I have been addicted to cocaine twice and prescription drugs also. I quit all that cold turkey also. I am now addicted to skydiving (but that is OK right?!!) Anyway, it CAN be done! I tried over and over again and could not do it, then one day it was like BAM! I just quit and had no problem. Maybe timing is important. Pay attention to your body's clues...it will tell you a lot if you are listening. I know that sounds corny, but I truly believe it!
Sis

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Wow! All those smokers out there - I'd never have thought it! If any of you smokers want to feel good about smoking - and I mean REALLY good - then move to the Netherlands! OK there's the wacky baccy but that's a different story... I've been here working for 5 months and I've never seen SO many people who smoke in my life! (Well, maybe in Asia).
It's a national past time here. If you don't smoke, you're in the minority! I'm in the minority and if you bitch about it, you get these funny looks that say "what? You mean you DON'T actually smoke????". Wierd but true!
Happy smoking!
B.

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Frank is right
The tobacco companies are still actively try to encourage youngsters to smoke. They know most people who don't smoke by their mid-twenties are unlikely to start. Why do you really think Camel sponsors the Camel trophy or Marlboro the Ferrarri F1 team? It is really ironic that in South Africa the biggest private medical company is owned by a tobacco company - they'll make money off you while you're smoking and then some more while you're dying. The bitter-sweet irony!
I never started this thread to *bash* anybody, but if this thread makes youngsters like skyhawk and Omri think twice about how *cool* smoking is, then that is good. I got to spend time in cancer wards as a kid (as a visitor not a patient), maybe if some of you smokers had seen people with tracheas lighting up, you would have thought better of starting.
As for this 'we've got an addiction and you just wouldn't understand' attitude, that's just crap. I had been taking Ecstacy regularly for quite a long time - I stopped last year August (using bungi jumping and skydiving as incentives). I 'lost' my whole social life, didn't fit in at the raves and clubs anymore and found that my old *friends* and I didn't have much in common anymore. Now I find I don't even enjoy going to *normal* clubs anymore and watching drunk idiots get agressive and make fools of themselves. Or maybe it's just that I'm getting older...
I am really glad I started this thread, remember this conference is 'whether skydiving related or not' so let's try and keep this discussion rational and objective (no matter how pro or anti you are). I would hate for this thread to be locked down.
/s

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but if this thread makes youngsters like skyhawk and Omri think twice about how *cool* smoking is, then that is good.


I cant agree more. It stuff like this that is needed, cause simply telling them doesnt work. Thanks for the thread.
Quote

As for this 'we've got an addiction and you just wouldn't understand' attitude, that's just crap. I had been taking Ecstacy regularly for quite a long time - I stopped last year August (using bungi jumping and skydiving as incentives). I 'lost' my whole social life....,


Smoking is an addiction. and if were not dead set to quit, then we cant quit. Being someone who has dealt with multiple addictions at once, and was forced to quit cold turkey, the smoking is the only thing that stayed. But ya know what? I didnt mind at the time. Everything else is my life was so much more important/relivant/critical. Smoking didnt effect me.
But this is a good thing, that smoking is the biggest issue in my life right now. Because to think about what was, and what now is, Ive come a long way. It only took going downhill for an eternity to realize that. So, Im glad that Im okay with my past, i never regret it because if what it has taught me. SO, im hoping smoking ends up like that
Frank,
thankyou for the reality check. you couldnt me more dead on. they do benifit from my addiction to nicotine. And i dont want them to benifit.
froggie

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hey skreamer, you know all my friends are ravers. old school xers who took x back in the day (like 6 years ago) and we listened to people like moby and prodigy before anyone knew who they were. we all still love dance/techno music and a bunch of my friends are excellent DJs who play at clubs in dallas and san francisco. thing is, now none of us take x or really anything else. we drink but that is about it. none of them are skydivers, but they all stuck with me as close as before, and TOTALLY tolerate my "eyes glazed over skydiving soapbox" i get on. they watch all the skydiving videos and i think most of them will do tandems...but i have been waiting for 9 months for them to do it and they haven't yet, so we'll see. anyway, point being that real friends are stronger than drugs, and you don't need to do x or anything else to still fit in the club scene...at least not over here in the US you don't. of course, we don't even have the stuff available to us anymore so that sort of shuts you down right there. its all about the MUSIC man...definitely!

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yo Sis
Add in Faithless and Danny Tenaglia and we could be on the same wave-length - :)Now I look at my friends still on the scene, and I look at what skydiving has done for me, and you know what? I don't envy them, I feel sorry for them - they are missing out on the best drug in the world - freely available from 14 grand, with the sweetest *come-down* ever!
/s
PS glad to hear I'm not the only ex *junkie* on this ng! :)

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I know where you're coming from tho Skreamer. I sometimes feel 'old' going back to my old haunts now that I've decided jumps are a better way to have your fun. I still drink, but not to the excesses that I used to, which isn't so bad. But I also have very little to say to one old 'friend' whom I used to hang out with a lot because we just don't have a lot in common now. At least he also trying to straighten up finally. Another I lost touch with completely because she WON'T and really needs to...it hurt me too much to see what she was doing to herself and to make matters worse, never seems to believe that I'm done with it all and I don't need that temptation lurking.
Anyway, I think you're right, it's growing up. I just am just leary of growing 'old' :)
Pammi

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Pammi
From reading Merrick's posts, somehow I don't think you are going to be getting *old* at any stage in the next 50 years or so... Apart from the shared passion (no, FFF, I meant skydiving) you guys come across as a very secure relaxed couple, I think quite a few of us envy the two of you. And if Merrick ever gives you any crap, you can simply remind him that only 1 out of every 5 skydivers is a woman - and you are therefore a priceless and highly sought after commodity. ;)
/s

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HMPH!!! >:( Who knows... I may just cut her loose sooner than you think if she keeps talking about 'looking people up.'
LOL - Ahhh I'm just kidding baby... I know there's nobody better than me, cuz if there was, you'd be with them! :)"Pull High.... It's lower than you think!"

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