peacefuljeffrey

I guess I feel that there are technical problems with the question. I mean, you offer as "choices" what would make one stop jumping, but if one had a bad enough injury, couldn't it very well preclude jumping? I answered that I'll never stop jumping: but that's just the me NOW answering. The me I might be in fifteen or thirty years will be quite different from the me now (if the last 32 years are any indication). And surely I think that if I were in excruciating constant daily pain from some nasty injury, that'd be the end of my "I'll jump til the day I die" claim, wouldn't it?

Anyway, I guess the question really goes to, "Just how much do you love jumping, and how hard would it be to get you to stop it?" Perhaps you should have polled: Which of these things would you allow to stop you from jumping for good?" I don't know if serious injury belongs on that list, because it depends on whether the injury makes it impossible to safely conduct a skydive. I'm sure there are amputee skydivers with prostheses (and I was shocked to learn that there's at least one BLIND skydiver!), but put somebody on a ventilator and it's no longer a choice of whether he'll "let" that keep him from jumping.

I know people who gave up their motorcycle passion because of concern for being there for their kids. These same people could end up dead from a chunk of blue ice falling from an airliner. I say live your life in the way that makes you happy, and gives you the best thrills. If an S.O. tried to stop me from skydiving, I'd say that S.O. does not wish me to be happy, she wishes me to be HERS. I would question the love of someone who would seek to deny me my pleasure, for their own selfish desire to make a futile attempt at removing all risk and danger from my life. Stopping skydiving would not do that, anyway.

---Jeffrey

Yay.
When you get to the point of making a successful fettucini alfredo primavera with chicken, maybe then I'll pat you on the back. Tuna helper? Heaven help ya. That ain't cooking.



---Jeffrey

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Even if everyone had one under their coat for 'defense', the potential carnage from a single incident (as so well illustrated in the media and used to demonize and ban semiautos) with a fully automatic weapon is significant enough to the lives and rights of others that the government should make some effort to control them.

Actually, apart from the hollywood bank robbery -- during which the criminals with full auto weapons killed NOBODY -- I can't remember the last rampage that was seized upon by the media in which full-auto weapons were used.

I realize that you were saying that the media use fear of full auto to fuel fear of SEMI-auto, but usually it's some sheriff's deputy doing a DEMO of full auto fire, spliced into a segment about the renewal of the SEMI-AUTO "assault weapons" ban, that they use to do the fear-mongering. This is probably because actual rampages with full auto are not nearly as common as t.v. would have us think they are.

---Jeffrey

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actually here is the part where i DO agree with you. Despite their usefulness to a militia if required, fully automatic weapons provide far to much opportunity for a single individual to terminate the rights of others.

So does being a bus driver.

---Jeffrey

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I'm lining it up don't worry. It is my fucking mission from god (blues brothers) to get skydiving covered like any other sport. Don't you worry bout it. Someone is working to get that to change. Working Hard too.

Please don't work too hard at that.

I'm sorry, I just do not share the feeling that skydiving must be made to be like every other sport out there, over-exposed, over-marketed, over-popular.

There are a lot of jerkoff idiots out there in the general population. At the current time, I think that those who get into skydiving and stay in it are sort of a "cream of the crop" in a way. If the sport gets overpopulated with too many people doing it, we are bound to increase the idiot-density at our DZs.

I don't mean that I wish skydiving to be unpopular. I just don't think it would serve those who love it to have it become "huge." And I sure as shit don't want Coca Cola and AT&T making skydiving into their whore. That's what happens. I've been concerned with the same thing beginning to happen with Disc Golf.

Those who are interested know that skydiving exists and they will do it if they wish to. I don't think that a few sensationalized snippets of footage on some stupid t.v. shows are enough to drive the sport under. And I think that if people are so stupid that they are able to be scared away by videos of events that are obviously not the norm, they are not the kinds of people we should want to share a potentially dangerous sport with anyway. Ignorant and gullible and impressionable couch potatoes are not the future of this sport, so there is no loss in them not coming out to the DZ.

---Jeffrey

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We even got to go up on the same load, and he landed about 30 secs before me. the best feeling in the world was running up to him after i landed and hugging him, knowing we had just shared the coolest, most amazing thing ever.

That is SO EFFIN' COOL! Both of you doing your first jump on the same load, landing nearby, and hugging!? That is AWESOME! I can barely imagine how amazingly cool that felt.

I gotta think that's probably not the most common thing to happen. You're blessed!

---Jeffrey

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I was reminded to say:

Neener neener neener!!!

"I am so smart! I am so smart!

S - M - R - T !

I mean S - M - A - R - T !"

One of the all-time best Simpsons moments. Thank you for reminding me.

---Jeffrey

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Lately the video guys at SoBe have been using some U2 song that is GREAT, I mean REALLY GREAT for skydiving videos

Was the song Beautiful Day?
That is what they used on my first jump video for the intro and ride to altitude.

Nope, it has a chorus that goes, "I feel like I could fly / so high, elevate my soul..."

I love it.
---Jeffrey

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I am so glad I am buying a cypres this month. I should have it installed by March. That is scary shit! I have been telling myself for a while that I couldn't afford it, or I needed this and that first... but, really, the more I think about, the more unreasonable that sounds.

Glad she's ok. yay cypres!
Angela.

I am gonna be very glad when you have one, Angela. Wanna keep you around for a good long while. You're good people.

BTW does Rory have a Cypres?

---Jeffrey

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Derek,

So very right! Riggers tickets are just like pilot's tickets.

There are several on the forum that indicate they are riggers, instructors, coaches, etc. and they do not have the ratings from the USPA.

Blues,

J.E.

Speaking of which:
how about adding a check-box for "Pilot's license: check rating held"?

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j/k I wasn't holding out the hope of finding that out in this way, but I'm not kidding about my camera being gone. If anyone knows someone who can't explain why they have suddenly acquired a Sony TRV-20, please PM me.

hey, when was it taken? Was it the wknd of the boogie? Someone was missing a protrack that weekend, too! :(

Angela.

It was back in December, I think. I was on Kim's 500th jump - a hybrid, can ya believe they invited me in on a hybrid (which I then screwed up by getting the piece spinning!). I brought the camera out the following weekend to firewire the video. I never got that done, and then forgot I'd brought the camera with me, so I never packed it up to take home with my other stuff. A week later, it was not found around the DZ. This was a $1500-when-new camera that was left to me when my mom died, too. I'm mad at myself for forgetting it, and pissed off that some piece of shit scumbag thought it's just fine to take something like that. It's been suggested that it may have been taken by some tandem's peeps. It's hard for me to imagine a fellow SoBeer would do such a thing, but one never knows...

Then stupid me, I've been so blase about it that I haven't ever put up "Lost...reward" posters about it.

---Jeffrey

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I think that you guys should use packers. You come out to the DZ to relax and have fun.. right???

The more money packers make, the more they can jump, the better skydivers they are, so when you hire a packer, you're also paying to increase the talent of regular jump-bums on the DZ! Hiring a packer is just a really good thing all around. It gets you up in the air quicker, it saves your energy for jumping and drinking, you're directly supporting the local economy, and it helps to increase the talent level at your local dz!

Yes, but if I spend that same money on my OWN jump tickets, I myself become a better jumper -- and that has a little more bearing on my safety than whether other jumpers improve -- not that I don't want other jumpers to continue to learn too. Getting more jumps (via having more money) is a good way for ME to contribute more talent to the level at my local DZ.

---Jeffrey

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learn to pack for yourself - it saves money and - eventually - time. 3 or 4 packjobs = 1 jump. After a few dozen pack jobs you will speed up. After 100, it will be pie.

Not to mention the benefits it brings in knowing/checking your gear as you stated.

if you do use a packer and get good service/friendly advice, tip them. They tend to appreciate that

I have a plan, since I was feeling self-conscious about that very subject. I felt like I was shorting some of the DZ employees who spent time with me packing, but who didn't actually pack for me, and I kept thinking, "Well, this is awkward. Do I give him money now or what?"

I'm gonna just show up with maybe one or two cases and announce that it's in appreciation for all the time and help spent on me in "unofficial" capacity. I'll make sure that before all the crowd get it, that the handful of really appreciated helpers get theirs first.

If you know me and are gonna be around my DZ, don't blow the surprise. I'm also gonna probably make a big pot of chili for this weekend.

---Jeffrey

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One song always makes me think of skydiving: "Crazy" by Seal...because of this line (which I have always thought of as the perfect rebuttal for whuffos who think I'm nuts):
"In a world full of people, only some want to fly. Isn't that crazy?"

FallRate

That song works for me. This thread, to me, is more about what songs apply to skydiving now for me, not when I did my first jump. I wasn't thinking of music then, and I didn't get video of that jump so there was no song associated. When I did AFF I back in '91, after the jump we got into the car and Van Halen's "Jump" was on.

Lenny Kravitz' "Fly Away" is a great song for skydiving. Lately the video guys at SoBe have been using some U2 song that is GREAT, I mean REALLY GREAT for skydiving videos. I have to get the CD it's on, if just for that song.

I posted a thread about a local Florida band called Boxelder. They have a great song called, simply, "Fly." I am trying to recall the opening lyrics but can't get 'em right. One line says something about

"Peering off that ledge inside your mind...
stepping off to Fly...!"

www.boxelder.com Amazing band, excellent live shows, excellent CDs available here. Check out their site!
---Jeffrey

Prepare to VIBE...

VIBE HO!!!

(That's sailing talk, but it translates okay.)

I don't know divingduck but I know if she's a skydiver, she's alright by me. Best wishes for a return to full health!
---Jeffrey

Well said.

---Jeffrey

I appreciate the info, but I'm the last guy you'd find who didn't know that stuff.
I'm just sayin' I'm glad I don't live in NY anymore.

Did you all know that even as out-of-staters, you can obtain a Florida CCW permit? It's not very expensive and lasts five years. Plus, I think that it entitles you to the reciprocity that Florida permits enjoy with other states. You should check into it.

---Jeffrey

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"The World I Know" - Collective Soul

Edited to add: That was just off the top of my head. I'm sure between now and the morning, I'll come up with about a dozen more, equally valid.

I don't know if it applies to my first skydive -- that was long ago and far away -- but that song you mentioned is GREAT.

It's too bad Collective Soul lost that guitarist (forgot his name). They made music with a sound no one else had.

---Jeffrey

I think it's odd that NY is still lagging on Right-To-Carry legislation. There are 37 states with such laws now, and it seems like most of the others have legislation sponsored or pending. Having moved from there years ago I am not current on what's been going on. The state is a hodgepodge of county regulations on permits. Many do not allow concealed carry in general. I lived in Suffolk County. The police commissioner there is a piece of shit.

True story:

A Suffolk County legislator went to the SCPD to get his paperwork started for his permit. Suffolk requires a background check, names of three non-related references, big fees, etc. and a SIX MONTH WAIT until you get your permit -- and they can deny it for just about anything they wish.

This legislator was aghast at all the bullshit legal hoops to jump through only to get a permit that did NOT even allow concealed carry! So he wrote a county law, which got passed. It said that the SCPD, when it issues permits, must issue them with only those restrictions provided for in the STATE law -- which allows concealed carry.

The legislator's name and the commissioner's name both escape me. This was in '95, remember. The commissioner REFUSED to comply with the law. That was the last I heard of it. Don't know if the legislator got recourse. The commish just said NO, I'm not gonna issue carry permits like the law says. He continues to issue permits, I imagine, but they have the same old "only to and from the range, in a locked box" restrictions.

Of course, a permit holder IS licensed to have the weapon, so if someone with a permit was carrying concealed, it is not a CRIME, just an administrative no-no, and he might lose his permit (and therefore his legal ability to keep his handguns) but not be charged and tried with any kind of felony or misdemeanor. And yes, you read that right: you can't even OWN a handgun in NY without first getting a permit.

You want to talk about restrictions on liberties? This is not a case of you can buy a gun but simply can't carry it like you want to. This is a case of they won't let you BUY one until they make you wait six months for a permit they don't even have to give you. It's a fuckin' sick situation, compounded by a shitwad police commissioner who won't even obey the fuckin' county laws he is sworn to enforce.

---Jeffrey

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body art?-- 1st. pic attatched, I consider beauty body art- I designed my tattoo and luv it
not into body piercing except for my ears...

SMiles

Wow, Smiles. That is actually very tasteful and pretty. You done good with that design. I like it a lot.

---Jeffrey

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maybe its the antibiotics, how about seeing if the Dentist chan change them? If this still persists then maybe get a checkout with the Dr. Hope your feeling better soon.

I'm hesitant about doing that because she just switched me from another antibiotic. (I finished all of them, and my swollen lymph node wasn't going away.) I'm gonna try to tough it out through this antibiotic since it's actually getting the swelling down considerably. But, if I still feel like crap, I guess I can call the dentist tomorrow or something.

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Try taking some herbs (not that other stuff) or energy stuff. Are you getting a decent night sleep

I went to bed really early the past two nights, but I didn't sleep well. I keep tossing and turning (especially last night.)

It sucks. I can't sleep well because I'm sick. I'm getting sicker because I can't sleep! I can't eat because my stomach doesn't like it. I'm getting sicker because I can't eat!

Sorry you feel sick.
I don't know what the original cause was -- you had dental work or something, and now are on antibiotics for infection control? What's this about a swollen lymph node?

If I were you, I'd put my doctor and dentist in touch and make sure each knows what's going on. I wouldn't want a dentist being the only one treating an infection that had caused swollen lymph nodes.

Feel better soon.

---Jeffrey

-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

That reminds me. My AFP instructor, Dave Cole (realllly cool guy) has a tattoo I rarely see (he's not pretentious about showing it off, though it's there): it's on his shoulder blade, a freeflyer in a steep track, with a devil with a pitchfork standing on his back.

It looks wicked cool.

---Jeffrey

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I just have one tat so far. It took me 12 years to get it after first considering one. It has a pretty deep meaning to me. It had to in order to be on my skin permanently.

See, that is exactly why I don't have a tattoo.
When I was a kid, I LOVED the idea of a tattoo. I loved to get them in a Cracker Jack box. I thought it was tough and cool and expressive.

Two things prevent me from getting a tattoo. First, I tend to view it as a trend/craze, and I typically prefer to run the other way than to run with the crowd. (I mean, there are newspaper articles lately about just how fashionable tattoos now are. Sorry, too popular to me.)

Second is the fact that since it's sooo personal to have this ink in me for the rest of my life, I don't like the idea of anyone but ME putting it in me. That means I can't accept the tattoo from just "some guy" who runs a tattoo shop. Any tattoo I would get would have to be put on by either ME, or my WIFE. And since I am not a tattoo artist, and am not even married, I won't have one any time soon. And that's not to say that I would not want one! I actually would like to have one. Choosing a design is another story. My tattoo would have to be one that no one else had used, and for damn sure it wouldn't be selected right off the wall of the shop, no matter how cool-looking.

In the meantime, I have my left ear pierced. Got it done July 13, 1989. I wear a silver hoop there. I have toyed with the idea of getting pierced "down there," but I have yet another ideosyncracy: I like the idea of having ONE "mystical" piercing. Add even one more, and then NEITHER one is that mystical "one" to me. So I won't get more (at least not at this point. Maybe I'll change my mind.)
Also, I would prefer that someone near and dear to me do that particular piercing. I don't know anyone suitable right now.

There's this chick at work who is really cute. She's married to a guy with a bad drug problem and their marriage is on the rocks. (She's not with him lately.) She has a 2-year-old son. She's so hot, and she's told me that she has various piercings since her old housemate used to do them. She has it "down there" and my curiousity is SCREAMING to wanna check it out! I find myself fantasizing a bit about her just because of that! But she's not a likely prospect, so what are ya gonna do. I seriously do wanna get oral on a chick with a clit-ring...just for the crazy newness of the experience.
Uh oh, is that TMI???

---Jeffrey

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That was funny. Here is a little glimpse into the future for SW Ohio.

National Weather Service Forecast

"The future, Conan?"
"That's right... All the way to the year 2000!"

Me, I miss winter. Been living in Florida without it for 7 years now. I used to snowboard but now I had to skydive to make up for the lost fun.

Hey, I guess I have no reason to be too upset.

---Jeffrey

Maybe one day I shall. If I do, I'll come back here and let you know how it went.

---Jeffrey