Douva

Ummm.....ummm.....ummm.....I'm flashing back to the twenty years I spent there, trying to think of something. When I was about fifteen, exploring the storm sewers and rappelling off of buildings in the middle of the night were fun time killers. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

My guess is that they recreate scenes for the show, the way the producers of Survivor do. Not everything, such as a parachute landing in the wilderness, is easy to catch on video, so they probably recreate whatever they have trouble videoing the first time. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

That's merely because they'd be engaging in a battle of wits with an unarmed person something! Kad, if you have a new perspective or some new information to bring to this debate, by all means post it, and we'll resume this discussion. But if your only motivation for jumping into this thread, four days after it died, is that you got your feelings hurt by something I said and felt some uncontrollable compulsion to toss a couple of weak insults at me, get over it. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

I've only seen three or four episodes of Man vs. Wild, but I found it enjoyable, when viewed as a show about one man taking extreme risks to survive the elements and not as an instructional video on outdoor survival. Anyone who's done any hiking, backpacking, or whatever knows that trekking through the wilderness and risking serious injury are two of the worst mistakes you can make in most outdoor survival situations, but it can be very entertaining watching him pull it off. I've only seen one episode of Survivorman. It was much more realistic, in terms of what you should do if stranded in the wilderness, but the host pretty much stayed put (as one really would if stranded in the wilderness), so it wasn't quite as exciting to watch. Of course, I did read that in some of the shows the host of Man vs. Wild does stunts of questionable credibility, such as capturing a wild horse. That would ruin it for me. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

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.

Don't be so hard on the whuffos. As much as most skydivers would like to think they've found a superior way of life; they've really just traded one set of pros and cons for another. The whuffos don't understand the skydivers' priorities, and the skydivers don't understand the whuffos' priorities. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

If you're jumping every weekend, it's difficult to hang onto friends who aren't. But, at the same time, I think it's worth making the effort, even if that means taking a weekend off from skydiving every now and then. I think it's important for jumpers to hang onto those connections to the outside world. Try to remember that most people, unlike skydivers, don't have the same commitment every weekend. It's difficult for most people to comprehend a skydiver's desire to spend every weekend at the drop zone, so don't read too much into it if they seem annoyed that you're never available. The best you can do is try to compromise and meet them half-way. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Floridadiver81 and ToyMaker, I grow bored with you. Neither of you are capable of engaging me in an intelligent debate; therefore, this thread no longer amuses me. I shall take my capacity for rational thought elsewhere. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Yeah, what can I say? I'm an asshole. Ask anyone who's met me. Are you saying that there's nothing unhealthy about having a hobby or that there's nothing unhealthy about not having the motivation to do anything but mope around the house because you've had to take a month off from your new hobby? I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Said the guy that spent his morning making posts challenging me to reply. Seriously, dude, you're the one who jumped in to try to get the last word in a debate that was clearly over. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

But if I'd used that approach, I wouldn't have had any way to pass my free time for the past two days. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Yes, as in someone saying, "I have a problem with your suggestions." Other ways to phrase it would have been, "If you have a problem with my suggestions, it's your problem, not mine." or "It's of no real concern to me if you have a problem with my suggestions." Does it make sense now? In looking back through the posts in this thread, I see a lot of feel-good rhetoric, a lot of defensive responses to hurt feelings, and a little name calling, but I don't see any intelligent rebuttals to anything I've said. The last rebuttal by floridadiver81 is an incoherent, back peddling mess. That rambling, ellipses heavy disaster fails to make a single valid point in its vain attempt to argue that his original rambling post about the bleakness of his life without skydiving was simply a longwinded way of saying, "I wish I could skydive more often." After all the shit this thread has stirred up, I sure he wishes that's what he'd said, but it's not. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

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

Given your jump numbers and time in the sport, I'd venture to guess you just need a reboot. When I was jumping regularly, I often found that a couple of weekends doing something else was all it took to hit the "reset" button. It's also possible that other events/activities in your life are taking your focus away from jumping. One of the best pieces of advice I got when I started skydiving was from my first DZO. He said, "If you keep skydiving long enough, you'll go through periods when it's the focal point of your life, and you'll go through periods when it takes a backseat to other things." My best experiences in skydiving came after a three year period when I was averaging about twenty-five jumps a year. For three years, I stressed over not being able to jump regularly; but when I'd made it through that period of my life, skydiving was still there waiting for me. Unless your lack of desire is associated with some sort of fear, there's nothing wrong with you. Stop stressing. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

There is nothing wrong with someone who spends years in the sport of skydiving and gradually grows more and more involved in it. Without that natural progression, there would be no instructors, competitors, videographers, DZOs, etc. And if someone at that level of involvement is forced to take an extended break from skydiving, he or she may feel that a piece of the puzzle is missing. That's healthy. What's not healthy is drawing all of your happiness and day-to-day motivation from a hobby, PARTICULARLY a hobby in which you've only been involved for thirty-seven days. There is a difference between an experienced jumper who considers skydiving an important piece of the puzzle and a "newbie" whose puzzle has only one piece. Far too many new jumpers get sucked in by the adrenaline rush and the comradery and immediately expect skydiving to shoulder much too large a burden in their lives. Sure, floridadiver81 may figure out on his own, the way a lot of us did, that skydiving can't fill most of the voids in his life, but he may figure it out only after, as I've seen before, he sacrifices more than he can ever get back. Or he may, as I suspect is the case with a few of the more militant posters in this thread, sacrifice so much that he can't ever accept that skydiving is not the pinnacle of existence because to do so would be to recognize how little return he got for everything he gave up. So I'm suggesting he step back and take a more balanced approach to skydiving. If you disagree with my suggestion, that's your problem, not mine. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

I think skydiving is the greatest sport I've ever had the pleasure of encountering, and I wouldn't trade my experiences as a skydiver for anything in the world. But one of the most important lessons I've learned since August 4, 1998, is that we shouldn't place burdens on skydiving (or any sport, hobby, or activity) that it was never meant to bear. Like your high school basketball team, your college fraternity, or your weekly bowling league, skydiving can be an important, substantial part of your life, but the day you wake up and find that it's the only thing making your world go round, you've crossed into very treacherous waters. If floridadiver81's original post had said, "I haven't jumped in over a month, and I'm going stir crazy waiting to get in the air again," I never would have posted to this thread. I really don't care if someone needs an altitude fix, unless, of course, that someone is me. But his original post wasn't about being anxious to make another jump; it was about how much bleaker his life looks after not making a jump in the last thirty-seven days. Disagree with me all you want, but I stand by my original statement--That is a very unhealthy statement, PARTICULARLY coming from a person with only four jumps. Look at me as the Grinch who tried to steal skydiving, if you like, but what floridadiver81 needs is a hard slap in the face by the cold hand of reality--the same slap a lot of us could have used when we found ourselves in that same situation. I'm trying to use a little tough love to set him on a steadier, less rocky course than many of us traveled, and all I'm getting for my trouble--not surprisingly--is grief from a bunch of deluded cultists who desperately need to keep believing in the only "truth" they know. So, floridadiver81, keep using skydiving as an alternative to Prozac, like a pair of rose colored glasses that makes all your REAL problems "go away," if you like, and see where that gets you in five to ten years. Or change course and try using skydiving as simply an enjoyable weekend retreat, when time and funding allow, and live a life free of the risk that one day you might break your only pair of rose colored glasses. Blue skies, Douva I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Hamlet, Act III, Scene II, Line ~230 I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Pretty much why i started ignoring his posts about halfway down the first page. Most others have been supportive with the replies left...which goes alot further. Even to give constructive critisism...at least do it without insulting the person...sheesh. Are you ignoring my posts because you mistakenly think something I said was meant to insult you or because my posts hit a little too close to home? Receiving responses that are 90% supportive doesn't mean your mental state is healthy--You posted your dilemma in a forum for like-minded people. There are forums online where posters support each other's addictions to drugs, violence, and deviant sexual behavior. Finding the support of a large group of like-minded people doesn't mean the path down which you're traveling is any less dangerous. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Yeah like work, saving for retirement, watching network television, drinking large amounts of beer, and making sure you have a newer more expensive SUV than your neighbors. Last night I was watching a documentary on cults, and one of the points it kept making is how cultists always manage to convince themselves, no matter the circumstances of their own lives, that they have it much better than the people in the outside world. As long as they have a "truth" to which they can cling--some constant that gives their lives perceived meaning--nothing else matters to them. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Know MANY happy couples that call each other at least once a day when apart because they miss each other soooo much. Keeping up with the analogy... I do watch a vid or two on youtube at night before going to sleep, or read a couple of threads in here... thats MY way of giving the "I miss you" call during the week before going to sleep Be safe Any girl who told me after four dates that I was the only thing motivating her to get through each day would DEFINITELY get the "You're creeping me out" talk. As for being a "buzz kill" and "bumming out" people, I'm sorry if interjecting a little reality into this skydiver circle jerk has killed the mood for some of you, but everyone here would do well to temper their love for skydiving with a reminder that it's just a sport. It's not a higher plane of existence or a superior way of life; it's just a sport. That admonition goes double for the "newbies." It's not wise to get more emotionally invested in a new sport than you would in a new relationship. Take it slow until you learn the terrain. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

To expand on another poster's analogy of skydiving being like being in a relationship, I see a lot of jumpers saying, "I love you," on the third date. Honestly, if skydiving was actually a person you were dating, a lot of you would be getting the "You're creeping me out" talk. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

I used to say it was like hitting CTRL-ALT-DELETE on a computer. It rebooted me from life's little quirks. Those life challenges seemed like major hurtles until breathing that fresh air of altitude and coming down refreshed. Come to think of it, over 2,500 jumps later I -still- feel like this.

Said the man with four jumps. Said the man who thinks skysurfing should remain a National event with nothing but the aerial equivalent of a pity fuck for competition. Dude, why in the world would you want to criticize and diminish a newbie's excitement about the sport? Blues, Dave Said the man who (insert condescending remark as irrelevant to this conversation as my 2005 campaign to prevent the removal of skysurfing from Nationals). The "newbie" in question has made all of four skydives, and now he's posting about how he's lost his enthusiasm for life because he's gone thirty days without a jump. He needs to try, very slowly and carefully, to ease back into the real world. And you need to learn the difference between being enthusiastic and being delusional. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

Said the man with four jumps. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

You're looking to skydiving to act as an antidepressant. That's not healthy. You might want to consider counseling or therapy. At the very least, stop expecting jumping out of airplanes to make your life whole. I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.