Eiley

Heh, how cool is this? A few weeks ago, nobody in Australia could give a stuff about the soccer; it wasn't real football, nobody knew the rules, it was 'boring' etc etc etc... ..now we've won a few games, everybody's an expert and 20,000 people go along to watch a match on a big TV in the city square (even though it was being played on free-to-air TV in the comfort of home) at 5:00 am in freezing temperatures! I admit it. My name's Eiley and I'm a bandwagon jumper.

nothing to see here

LOL!!! nothing to see here

Oh, the ironing... nothing to see here

I can't remember where I first saw mine, but it truly struck a chord with me and I've used it for over 10 years now.

Personally, when my partner went in, nothing anybody said made me feel 'better'. But by far the best thing people let me do was talk and talk and talk about him ad nauseum, acting like they were interested, putting their own 2 cents in about him and not making me feel like I was boring them by talking about him again . I also liked it when people let me talk about the accident itself in all its gory detail, without cutting me off just because I got a bit choked up. Since then, I've known a couple of people to lose partners. I had no idea what to say. nothing to see here

"Back when"? nothing to see here

Yes. I went to the US in 2002 as manifest and went with two boys who became packers. We lived on the DZ (bunkhouse) and easily covered our travel, food, sightseeing, jumps etc. with what we earned. It's tough work though. One of the packers did 105 in one day in the middle of summer, but she cleared $US800 for her efforts. Plus you hardly ever get to jump weekends. But if you're at a good DZ, you get staff rates for jumps and a lot of other perks. nothing to see here

I don't use packers. Okay, what if you heard that the manifestor was being paid in jumps and you suspected she wasn't declaring the value of those jumps on her tax return? Rubbish. The vast majority of non-American DZ workers are in America on tourist visas. They are very much 'invited' - I'd go so far as to say 'encouraged'. The typical scenario would go like this: Skydiver arrives in USA for a year of hardcore jumping with $5000 in his pocket. It's not enough, so he supplements it with packing. He spends the money earned on food, travel, accomodation, jumping - in America. America has received a $5000 injection into its economy and the money earned and then re-spent has (more ore less) a nil effect on the economy. America is the net winner. nothing to see here

and a fair share of other DZ staff....I wonder how many of the participants in this thread who are ranting and raving about illegal immigrants would stop jumping at a DZ that knowingly allows illegal immigrants to make money on their premises? Wouldn't leave a whole lot of DZ to jump at. But god forbid all these self righteous ranters and ravers on here would start in their own back yard.... I would have a big problem if a DZ I was jumping at was employing illegal immigrants. Especially if they were paying them less than prevailing wages. A DZO hiring illegals is a slap in the face to the DZO's that try to do things by the law. - I trust you also wouldn't use an American packer who you suspected was not declaring all of their income from packing? What's the difference? nothing to see here

Or half the packing mat at any large DZ... nothing to see here

Because in this case we are specifically talking about a minor. Sometimes kids don't truly understand the consequences of their actions. Also, quite often kids will do things in an effort to please us, not because they really want to do it. I don't think anyone should ever do any type of skydive for any reason but that they truly desire to do it for themselves. nothing to see here

My brother does not 'just blast it'. He's concerned for his son because he has watched me go to numerous funerals of young people over the years, including two people who lived with me, my brother and my nephews. He's actually making a pretty informed decision with the information he has readily available to him. Although my family would not take it out on me, I couldn't live with it myself, especially if I felt he was just jumping because I convinced him to. It's not like I can claim I didn't know it could happen. Ditto. But now I'm in the awkward position of my nephew being about to turn 18 and still wanting to do it, even though I never bring it up any more. He wants a course for his birthday. I'm not going to buy it for him. If he truly wants to do it for himself, he will find a way. nothing to see here

Ah, thank you for enlightening me, sick parrot. But your answer raises more questions. Such as, isn't it kind of mean-spirited to impose the label of 'sinner' on someone due to an accident of their birth, something over which they had no control, something which did not involve abusing the free will that good ole God so kindly bestowed upon us? Pretty good gig God's got there. If you are a sinner, your only hope of salvation is to fawn all over him, sing is praises and stick him to the top of the pile your entire life (and don't forget that collection plate to make his houses look prettier). But then he doesn't give you the option not to be a sinner. How is that fair? nothing to see here

Am I reading this right? If someone's great great great great great great great grandfather was born out of wedlock, they are wasting a great deal of energy by believing in God because they ain't gettting into heaven anyhow? Bummer. That's one mean, unforgiving motherfucker of a deity to choose nothing to see here

Changed in the opposite way. My Mum doesn't want to know when I go jumping and is constantly asking when I'll grow up and give it away. My brother refuses to sign for a tandem for my nephew, who I've lived with all his life. He's disgusted I encourage my nephew's interest, because of the number of funerals I've attended in the past 17 years (two of which he also attended, having known the victims). I've stopped bringing it up, but nephew turns 18 next year and so far is still keen. nothing to see here

You might find he comes from a country where waitstaff are actually paid a good wage... [Beer] for Firsts = worldwide thing (and a good thing at that, especially when you move beyond the first few years of buying mega beer to enjoying other people's beer

Just a thought... in the past you have needed a B Licence to jump there. They use the Pre-Nox week to get people up to speed. You should be able to get 40 jumps out of the way by October though.

Half of Australia? And me. I'm in. fergs See ya there! nothing to see here

A well thought out, intellectual post from someone who obviously knows nothing about international law. I don't know much about international law either, but isn't soveriegnty of states one of the most basic tenets of it? Also, has Iraq consented to be bound by any of the conventions covering rules of war? IIRC, the rules are only binding on those states that agree to be bound. Honest questions. nothing to see here

Pardon? nothing to see here

Made perfect sense, thanks for sharing. What he said.

Little story on the perils of DZ partying... A few years ago, when I was part of the committee running the social club at my DZ we awoke after a massive night (involving shots, absinthe and goodness-knows what else) to find that all the money in the bar was gone. All of it, except for a few coins. Gone. We were so distressed. We ran that bar voluntarily and on a non-profit basis. We couldn't believe one of our own would do something like that. Well, the day became a bit of a witch-hunt. We were determined to track down the thief. We thought about all the people who'd been there the night before we didn't know very well. We looked askance at those who were a little 'odd'. All to no avail. We didn't find the bar money. That night I went home and I was clearing out my bag - there in one of those funny little side pockets that latch up securely was a MASSIVE WAD OF CASH. Little by little, hazy recollections started filtering into my brain. A drunken conversation amongst the committee members about the safety overnight of the cash... and it was decided I should put it somewhere 'safe'. And not one of us remembered it the next day. You wouldn't believe how embarassing it was to make the phone calls to everybody explaining what had happened. I'm just glad I didn't accuse, or even question, anybody about it at the time. But I still feel bad about having dark thoughts about certain people. I really, reallly hope that the same thing happened here - one of your well-meaning but very drunk friends hid the laptop somewhere 'safe'... and a very confused cleaner will find it in the freezer or something during the week... It does sound like "that" kind of party... nothing to see here

I can understand the above scenarios, but what about in my example, where it's husband and wife, or boyfriend and girlfriend? Girl: 'Pleeeaaase, will you put up my ceiling fan for me?' Guy: 'I'll do it if you give me some'. Is that prostitution? What if they're married or in a committed relationship? Or even: "I'll give you head if you give me head"? This is "I will give you something of value" (a blowjob, which I could sell on the street for $20) "if you give me a sexual favour" (not quite such a liquid commodity, so to speak). nothing to see here

I wish! No, but I'll definitely be at Nox, and quite possibly Detox. 199 sleeps to go, you know! nothing to see here