FlyingRhenquest

I wish my DZO would read this. OMG, are the RW suits @my DZ obscenely smelly. They remind me of a high school locker room... I think they like you smelling like AFF student, a piquant boquet of fear, sweat and urine that makes you want to take a shower after every jump! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

It's not so bad, really. Fortunately our organs absorb most of the OH MY GOD I THINK MY SPLEEN IS THAWING OUT! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

It would never occur to me to presume that a monotheistic deity would prefer one musical style to another of a given nation-state's national song. Silly humans. If the dolphins cared, they'd be laughing. They sound like they're laughing. And they're still trying to get dolphin-centric questions on the SATs. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Awesome dude! I've got my A license and 52 jumps and I'm just getting around to trying to book some time with an instructor I know to do back flying! It'll be funny for you to go back into AFF with mad freeflying skills. The biggest difference in the sky is the need to maintain altitude awareness, but as long as the change in scenery doesn't faze you, I'd expect you to breeze through AFF now. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

She couldn't possibly have been worse than Roseanne Barr. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkhbpeL-8sY Or Jimi Hendrix! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMhq1L0cJf0 Anyone remember that performance personally? It was a year before I was born... I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Ha HA! The Babylon Freefly video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvjsDRrCox8 I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Congrats! Our DZ just got the ol' Cessna up and running again. Can't wait to jump out of it, though the jumpers who have tell me it's kind of a pain in the ass getting in and out of it. Otter's really nice for exiting. You can dive from the door or climb out. I've seen a solid half the load climb out a couple of times. King Air's kind of nice for exiting. You can dive from the door or climb out, but it's windier and the door is pretty thin once you get used to the Otter. This complicates early AFF levels and stuff. I've also seen a solid three quarters of the load (8 or 9 way) climb out of that thing. That was actually a bit scary and took forever! If you want to see a lot of climb out exits from the Otter and a few from the King Air, Google around for Patrickskydiver's youtube channel. He's an instructor out there and posts all his videos up on youtube. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I'd take your time with it, if I were you. Rushing downsizing leads to unnecessary injuries. Go a size at a time, 20 square feet at a time or so, and get comfortable with that canopy size before downsizing again. I'm getting pretty close to a 1:1 wing loading now, and plan to stop once I get to 1:1. I enjoy the canopy ride and am not planning to get into swooping anytime in the next couple of years. My choice for gear is basically the size I'm currently on now or one size smaller if I decide I like that. If you plan to keep downsizing, you can buy secondhand gear pretty reasonably, and that's the route you should go. This kind of depends on how easy it is for you to find gear in the sizes you're looking for, though. I'm a big guy and it's pretty hard to find stuff in my size range. Since I'm not planning to downsize beyond that point, I'll probably end up dropping the tax refund and a big extra wad of cash on new gear. I'll probably be jumping the same gear for several years. The other benefit of sticking with rental gear early on is that if you switch out rigs a lot you can start seeing features of the rig you like. My home DZ has a good selection and I've already decided that I really like the Vector rigs with the magnetic riser covers. The ones with tuck tabs are always popping the tuck tabs out prematurely. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I was going to get one at work but when I stopped by the line was out the door. You wouldn't think it would take that long. So now I'm going to need to slide by the grocery store and get it there. Maybe I'll do that today, actually... Herd immunity and all that. I've got one the last few years. I usually get the flu or some cold anyway, but it's milder than it would have been otherwise. My room mate got the flu last year and was miserable for about a month. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Sweet! Did you get your A license before your driver's license? That would be epic! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Well I once had a co-worker who was so fat he had moobies on his back. If you happened to be a gay man who was curious what a woman might be like, you could just shave the back of his head and draw a smiley face on it and you'd just about be there! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Just get a jump and let it run for a few minutes (in a well ventilated NOT A GARAGE) so the alternator can get to charging it. You can also buy a battery charger that plugs into AC and charge your battery. Which is a rather handy thing to have around if your alternator starts to go. They're not that expensive. Or yeah, I'd think any auto parts store would have a batery charger they could use to charge it for you. I'd at least try turning it over prior to going to all that effort, might work. I'd also suggest checking your fluids and gasoline level while you're at it. Don't want to get 'er running dry. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I was just thinking the other day that the next time I go on a commercial flight, I should volunteer to quote the FAA regulations on seatbelt use during the safety briefing, complete with chapter and section numbers. I now feel odd about my prior flights, where it never occurred to me to check what those regulations were. But it would not be quite as interesting, since I am not a hobbit. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

They're actually pretty neat. I like how they have the same tone as those films they used to show you in school to scare you away from having sex, or drinking and driving. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

OK dude, seriously, interacting with your family shouldn't be as frightening as jumping out of an airplane! The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Heh well whatever problems you had with stability before, the shouldn't be so much of a problem after this! That's pretty close to exactly the amount of time I've had in freefall to date! I'm actually trying to book some more tunnel time in the next couple of weeks to learn how to back-fly. It'd be funny if you went into your next AFF jump and did some sitflying with the instructor, or something... Once you get out of AFF, go through the canopy course and you should be in really good shape! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Yeah, the door's pretty intimidating, until it's not. You see so many Hollywood movies where people get sucked out of the plane, you kind of get that mental picture stuck in your head. So what's the worst possible thing you can imagine happening there? That somehow your strength completely fails and you fall out? Then what? You have a parachute on and you were about to do that anyway! Once you're confident that the parachute will save your life, so what if you fall out? At any point where the door is open, you'd have plenty of time to deploy your parachute! Of course, your conscious mind can realize that and you can still be nervous -- your subconscious has to realize this is true and that it doesn't need to try to save your life by freaking you out in those situations. Once all levels of your mind are on the same page, it'll be a lot easier to relax, smile and breathe. I'm not sure there's anything you can do to hurry the process along other than to demonstrate that you just did another jump and turned out fine! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

It... Ah... looks like a guy trying to solve a Rubik's Cube while a demon offers everyone... pleasure toast... I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I'm pretty sure I did my first 3 AFF jumps entirely without breathing. From, like, the moment I got on the plane. Could also be you're just not used to that altitude. Personally I find breathing to be a lot easier once they open the door. Speaking of which, I need to be very careful this week not to eat any of my current batch of "death chili" within a couple of days of my next jump. Hmm. Which might be Thursday if this weather holds... I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Pretty much the only advice needed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9euSKXOe7c I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Ah yeah, well in that case I suppose you could try talking it out, or maybe even hire a councilor if she's like, completely psychotic. Might work. Otherwise I guess you'd just have to deal with it and keep her out of your life as much as you possibly can. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Sweet! That sounds like a blast! Is it coaching time? Be sure to spring for the video -- it's usually not that much more, you can export to youtube pretty easily and it's very easy to see what you're doing that needs improvement when watching yourself on video. How far are you looking to get? You can probably get reasonably adept at back or sit flying in that amount of time! Maybe even both. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

My mom's like that, though not to the degree you describe. I've told her twice in the last decade that if she couldn't bring anything positive to the party, the two of us never needed to speak again. She settled right down each time after that. Thing is, if you go nuclear you have to be ready to back it up. Because there's no way to know how anyone is going to take that sort of thing. I also have a very strict "need to know" policy with my parents. Most of the time, they don't. If I'm going somewhere and want to invite them, I'll tell them. Otherwise they're in the dark about my life. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I saw this on The Venture Brothers and had to share. In the spirit of Halloween! And... stuff! http://video.adultswim.com/the-venture-bros/my-pleasure-toast.html I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I remember bits of it. Wish I'd thought to snag the video. I thought time was supposed to slow down in periods of stress like that but wow did it ever speed up! My brain was rocketing a mile a minute trying to remember the dive flow. I did get through my COA and practice touches. That first opening was like being grabbed by the scruff of my neck by God Himself. Them talking me down was pretty uneventful, though in those early jumps they were always telling me to turn when I didn't think it was such a good idea. I do remember the massive surge of adrenaline and noticing on the ground that every little ache and pain that usually bothers me were just gone. I saw a video of another early one I did (Don't think it was my first) and I looked terrified at the door. I don't remember feeling that terrified, but I sure did look it. I'm pretty sure the debriefing is to get it while it's fresh and see how much the student was actually there. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?