zelda

TLC did a program on this about a year ago; I think it was called "Understanding Rist Takers," or something like that. They took about four people who were doing high-risk activities and followed them before, during and after whatever they were doing (there were two guys doing AFF 1) and looked at their physiological/psych changes throughout the process. One of the researchers theorized that people are predisposed to engage in these activities, either genetically and/or because of a brain chemical deficiency, and that those of us to do stuff like this do it because it's the only way we get the dopamine and other natural-happy-brain-drugs--that risk takers only feel pleasure by doing risky stuff. I supposed that may be true for some, but as a sweeping generalization, I have my doubts. I've struggled with depression most of my adult life (as have most of the women on my mother's side of the family), and skydiving made a huge difference to me, but not because of the dopamine/adrenaline/whatever rush. It's such an enormous confidence-builder...people who have never done it will never get it... I remember after my first jump, the cameraflyer gave me a roll of film from my jump, and when I went to a store w/ a one-hour photo to have it developed, I had to just wander around the store killing time....I was so keyed up I could hardly see straight, and I was absolutely struck by how changed my life was--just in that afternoon. Other people in the store were going about their normal business, arguing over soup or whatever, and I'd just had this completely life-altering experience. As a testament to my feeling that there's more to it than just adrenaline, I've had several long periods of not being able to jump, but I'm still not the same person I was pre-skydiving....There's something about a 13,000' jump that rearranges your perspective on life! -zelda

I suspect there are more than eight; I don't need to look it up. The fact that this is being oversimplified is exactly the point I'm trying to make, because in the past few days, the primary reason given is liberation, which I think is kind of a cop-out reason to give in order to make the war more palatable to those who oppose it. -zelda

not according to all the latest rhetoric, especially Bush's recent speeches. I am totally aware of what's going on. My point is that the government keeps saying that we're doing this to give the Iraqis "freedom," which doesn't make sense when we are so rarely interested in liberating other oppresssed people. -zelda

It's interesting to me that the current reasoning for attacking Iraq is so the Iraqi people can be liberated. At any given time, there are dozens of tyrannical dicators running slipshod over the the basic human rights of their people, but we rarely step in to "liberate" them. I'm not going to get in on the debate of whether or not we should be over there, but for the love of god, let's not kid ourselves into believing that that it's all about helping the poor, oppressed Iraqi people when we have such a spotty history on that front! -zelda

It's an ftp site that, I think, he only maintains seasonally, and I can't get into it now. It's ftp://129.2.229.250. Maybe someone more tech savvy than I can get into it. -zelda

Craig Poxon had footage of somone flying a VX46 on his site a year or so; it was pretty terrifying to watch. If the jumper hadn't hadn't used a smoke canister, it would have been hard to track him. I can't imagine what a 21 would be like!! -zelda

Thanks, guys! I had to giggle while reading Holly's numerology report, though--I haven't seen much evidence to suggest that skydivers as a whole (myself included) are very strong on diplomacy!! Not that I think this is a bad thing... Hehe!

Birthday was yesterday...six of my friends, five of whom are whuffos, went in together to buy me a skydive (AFF). I've been grounded due to lack of funds for a while now, so that was pretty cool! Hopefully, will be back in the air come spring... I guess I'm lucky to have whuffo friends who may not understand it, but at least they support it! -zelda

Oregon Food Bank is one...

There's an article about this in Sports Illustrated; not sure which issue, but within the last couple of weeks. It's about Cheryl and the other two who are trying to break Col. Kittinger's record. Cheryl is slated to do it, I think, next year, but she doesn't have the funding yet, so it's anybody's guess. She has a website for it, possibly www.stratquest.com -zelda

....and where the hell is Froggie?! -zelda

Amen, Mr. Pitts... http://www.digi-link.net/message.htm -zelda

Well, that's good to hear!! I think that's what scares me most--that it's been so long that I'll have that whole sensory-overload-brainlock thing...I hope it really is just like riding a bike; my last jump (which was so close to graduating it makes me sick just to think about) was absolutely beautiful until pull time--it was that jump where everything finally clicked, and I felt like I'd been doing it all my life(all fingers, toes and legs are now crossed)... blues, zelda

Hey, all, I have not jumped since November, when I hurt my shoulder and had a reserve ride because I couldn't reach the handle. I was, of course, grounded until my shoulder healed. So, 9 months later, I have a letter from my physical therapist and enough cash to get me most of the way through AFF. I'm going to do the FJC again this Sunday and start at Level 4. I have dreamed about skydiving morning noon and night since my last jump, and couldn't wait to get back! Now that I'm actually committed to going, the jitters are starting in a big way! I don't know why I'm rambling on to all of you like this, except maybe to just get it off my chest. Anyway, after I get off work today, I'm on vacation until the 4th and with the exception of the three days that my mother is sabotaging (coming to visit), I intend to spend my whole vacation at the DZ! So, thanks for listening (reading, whatever); I'll let you know how it went when I get back

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