nimbus

this was my horoscope over the weekend... unfortunately couldn't get to the dz... "There is a great deal of wind beneath your wings at this point, so don't waste time fluttering around on the ground, Larissa. Take to the air and soar high. You might find that you have a couple rough starts this morning, when you are trying to get off the ground but just can't. Don't get discouraged. Have faith that things will work out just fine. Try another takeoff in the evening. By that time you most certainly will be able to catch the breeze." I'm keeping it for next weekend!

telekinesis!

That's fantastic Michele!! You must be so proud of yourself... I only know you through here but I am proud of you too... congratulations! Larissa

... the fairy schnuffled and sputtered into her thimble of vodka as she toddled off, ripped wings trailing behind her. Her mudbrick house had been turned to, well, mud by a scary angel who poked and prodded her with pointy sticks dipped in bird shit. The fairy knew where to find some mushrooms that would make her feel better. And then maybe she'd visit those big hairy Angels from Hell who lived down the road and made special fairy powder in their corrugated iron sheds... mmmm tasty powder... Alienangel... Mills & Boons are not such a bad idea... at approx. US$90 to 100 000 per book (Aus$40 to 50 000) I could live however the f*@k I wanted, and buy a Barbara Cartland pink skydiving ensemble! I don't think the writing you don't like is cheesy.. cheesy implies insincerity... but we all get something different from skydiving and express that in different ways.. I don't think Michele sounds like a 13 year old and I don't think I do either. Maybe it makes jumping into the air less scary for me if I think of the sky as an inviting entity or at the least a friendly environment... I'm still working at the fear... maybe you do have a point in that if I waffle about how nice the sky is and don't jump, well then, I'm not jumping & maybe I do need to be more assertive and less flowery about it to get over the fear. Anyway, I loved your satire/parody of my butterfly post... I'm only a fluffy bunny on the outside.. blue or whatever colour skies you want to you, Larissa

I've got a permanent wince from it! But it was so good, I can't complain! If Alienangel can send me some vodka & drugs I'm sure I'll get over it...

Hi freaksister...I meant ouch! for Alienangel's parody of my post "Catching that butterfly" (note to self: must not be a wanker.. must not be a wanker...), but yes ouch for you too! don't have any piercings myself (apart from ears) ...the museum I work in had an exhibition on piercing, tattooing & body art last year.. beautiful stuff!

ouch!

Good luck to everyone out there... being in another hemisphere I can't make it so have a jump and a drink for me! If I make it to my dz I will have one of each back! (or more, finances and fear permitting!) Larissa

This morning as I leave for work the sky is crisp, clear winter blue. My breath leaves my mouth in tiny clouds. I feel pulled towards the sky. Gravity holds my feet to the ground. I haven't jumped for about a month. Friends have had birthdays, weddings. Now I have a cold. I wonder if these are all excuses to not jump again. I've had nothing go wrong on either my Lvl 1 or Lvl 2 jumps, but fear and a lack of confidence are getting the better of me. I wonder what I fear. Do I fear the freedom of the sky's embrace? The silence and stillness I find inside my mind? Am I scared to trust myself? I have a daydream where I live in a mudbrick house 10 minutes from my dropzone. This daydream can come true as just such a house is currently for sale and I can afford it. 16 acres of bush, mudbrick house with slate floors & oregon pine cathedral ceilings, leadlight windows. It's my dream house. I picture myself living there, maybe growing some grape vines & olive trees, building a run for my cats so they can't kill native animals, watching the universe through a telescope at night, swimming in the sky each weekend. Just like jumping, the only thing that's stopping me is myself. If I jump out of a plane, if I move to the country from the city, I am stepping into the unknown. I am taking steps I can't move back from. But then I think, maybe this is how life should be lived. I never thought I would skydive, but then I did and despite my fear I love it. Skydiving is like a crystallisation of making my dreams into reality. It signifies what I want my life to be. I've just begun to realise my problems with fighting the door demons represent my problems with and fears of taking control of my life and myself. I've started thinking, "Well, what's so scary? You go up in a plane. You jump out the door. You still have people holding onto you at this point. You pull the ripcord. You float. You dream in the sky. You touch the essence of cloud, bird, seed-spore and air. You drink of infinity and gaze in wonder. You take yourself back down to the earth and you know what the earth feels like as it dances around the sun. I know, of course, that it's a serious pursuit, and every single day in my head I go over emergency drills, picture jumps and land on my feet lightly like a fairy. In the time since my last jump I've read and re-read all I can, including dropzone.com posts. I was feeling that I didn't belong here, that I had no right to think of myself as a skydiver, but then I remembered that I am doing this for myself. It doesn't matter how long I take to get through the AFF course. I've decided to re-do Lvl 2 just to maintain my confidence and not worry about someone letting go of me. I see the new people cropping up on these forums and feel their excitement. I read Michele's stories and regain my motivation. I don't want to go away! So if the weather is fine tomorrow and my cold is even more gone than it is today I will take the 1 & 1/2 hour train trip to the dropzone and take that step. Good luck and lots of happiness to everyone here and I hope you all have great jumps this weekend (especially you, Michele!) Larissa "Gonna keep catching that butterfly and that dream of mine" - The Verve.

Michele, I'm so happy for you. I'm really glad you've persevered and you inspire me to do the same. Your writing is enchanting and your wonder at the world is marvellous. I'll be thinking of you graduating and trying to catch up! larissa

Stupid colds! I am planning on doing Lvl 3 this coming weekend, but now have a cold to shake (damn flimsy cocktail dress for friend's wedding on Sat night in the middle of a Melbourne winter!) Here is a friend's cold/flu remedy: take 1 saucepan...fill with cold water to about 1/4 full. add the following; 2 or 3 cloves of garlic - don't need to chop finely, just peel and squash so the goodness can ooze out a big chunk of ginger - peeled and cut into around 1cm chunks 1 really hot chilli - chop finely and add seeds and all - if you don't have fresh chilli, you can use a good tablespoon of dried chilli flakes (but chilli paste doesn't work well - i tried it once and jusy makes the whole thing go red and horribly wrong) you can also put cloves in if you like, but i don't usually do this Bring to the boil, reduce and let it simmer for about 15 minutes (this is the imporant bit - the longer, the better obviously) sieve out all the shit and pour into glass or mug of your desire squeeze juice of 1 lemon into mug add one huge tablespoon of honey sip slowly cause it tastes bloody awful!....but it will make you sweat and feel so much better! Hope you feel better soon! Larissa

You did it all in 2 days! Wow, I'm impressed... well done and many happy flights to you...

A vexation of skydivers!

Found some of these in a dictionary... terms for groups of animals: A fleet.... (of birds) A swarm.... (of bees) A flight... (of doves) A shoal... (of fish) A skein.... (of geese) A seige.... (of herons) An exaltation.... (of larks) A rush.... (of pochards)

Hi Marc, you should be proud of yourself for not only handling your mal fantastically but for getting back up and out! And thanks for your story - it's stories like this that convince me I will be able to recognise what do do if it ever happens to me... larissa

This is a great idea! My name's Larissa, I live in Melbourne, Australia and I work in the Visitor Programs section at Melbourne Museum (admin & project stuff)...so if you're ever in Melbourne come in and say "hello"... I'm also a writer (one short story published in an anthology) and I'm doing postgraduate study in archaeology...

What can I say? Absolutely fantastic jump, landing, story and sentiments. Here's to you, Michele! Blue skies and shooting stars and the flight of birds to you and everyone else here, larissa xo

.... when you walk into a tree because you're looking at the sky!

To mountainman - the AC/DC song with that line is "Long Way to the Top"... My songs... in the morning, before jumping: Here Comes the Sun - The Beatles for freefall: lots of hard trance or techno is good... Killer Whale - Underground Resistance Flight over Jerusalem - The Spiritualist Humanoid - Stakker for canopy flight: Little Fluffy Clouds - The Orb Higher than the Sun - Primal Scream all I can think of for now... (can't think, must work) After jumping - anything you can dance or bliss-out to...

I don't think family or real friends should ask someone to make a decision like choosing between them and something you love... I'm really lucky that my whuffo friends totally support me and think it's fantastic that I'm doing this.... they were as disappointed as I was when I chickened out of my Lvl 3 jump and keep asking me when I'm going back to do it. When my mum and grandmother watched my Lvl 1 video, mum had to walk around the room saying "oh, I feel sick!" Nana watched it and said "I wouldn't do it for a million dollars but if it makes you happy, you keep doing it". I can tell mum is happy when she asks if I've been jumping and I say "no, it was too windy" or "no I wasn't ready"... she's quite an anxious person so I know what an effort it is for her to even have a conversation with me about it. When I dipped out of the Lvl 3 jump due to panic she said "oh well, you probably shouldn't do it if you don't feel right at the time"... I told her how other jumpers on the day had said the same thing to me and she thought that was very sensible of them.. I said "Oh yes, skydivers are all very sensible people", feeling extremely grateful that she hasn't seen them on Saturday nights at the town pub or after the pub back at the dz! My dad was really proud of me and was very impressed with my stand-up landing for Lvl 1 - he wanted to be a pilot when he was young so I think he understands a bit. My brother just calls me crazy, but then he always has ("Weirdo techno hippy sister!" is one of his favourite lines). I think my cats understand. I think a friend who made you choose wouldn't be a real friend, but family is a bit different. Luckily mine don't hassle me about it, they accept it even though they may not like or understand it. At my dz there's a whole family (parents & two teenage boys) who jump - it's fantastic. As for partners, the person who introduced me to skydiving was my boyfriend, now friend, but I'd love to go out with another skydiver, although I'd like to have other common interests as well. It would be terrible to have a skydiving friend die in an accident.... it's terrible to lose anyone and you just never know... I know 5 people who have committed suicide, and several others who overdosed (including my partner who accidentally - I'm sure - overdosed on his psychiatric prescription medication)... losing people in your life due to an accident or tragic circumstance or their own decision is always awful. I feel like I owe it to my partner to get double the amount out of life. Skydiving certainly helps me do that... larissa

(There is no such thing as democracy anyway, anywhere!) I'm glad you deleted those threads... they left a bad taste and seemed inappropriate in this forum... (even though I will always promote feminist/humanist ideals I did throw one insult at Macaulay and tho' I said sorry it was inconsistent with my humanist stance)... "In a world turned to desert, we [thirst] for comradeship: the taste of bread broken among comrades made us accept the values of war. But we do not need war to feel the warmth of neighbouring shoulders as we head for the same goal. War deceives us. Hatred adds nothing to the excitement of the journey. Why hate one another? We stand together, carried along by the same planet, the crew of a single ship." - "Wind, Sand and Stars", Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Hi Donna, so glad to hear you jumped again... and another great story to read! Well done! "I'm gonna live the life I love, I'm gonna love the life I live" - 'Don't fight it, feel it', Primal Scream. larissa

evil christmas crackers! pull the little cardboard bit, cracker goes pop! plastic toy falls out with silly paper hat... maybe cracker pops too loud, or maybe it's a fight over the plastic toys or a different colour hat, or people fall backwards from pulling crackers too hard...

more damned statistics! From the Australian Bureau of Statistics. * 3 people die each year testing if a 9V battery works on their tongue. * 142 people were injured in 1998 by not removing all the pins from new shirts. * 58 people are injured each year by using sharp knives instead of screwdrivers. * 31 people have died since 1996 by watering their Christmas tree while the fairy lights were plugged in. * 19 people have died in the last 3 years by eating Christmas decorations they believed were chocolate. * Hospitals reported 4 broken arms last year after cracker pulling incidents. * 101 people since 1997 have had to have broken parts of plastic toys pulled out of the soles of their feet. * 18 people had serious burns in 1998 trying on a new jumper with a lit cigarette in their mouth. * A massive 543 people were admitted to casualty in the last two years after opening bottles of beer with their teeth or eye socket. * 5 people were injured last year in accidents involving out of control Scalextric cars And Finally: * 8 people cracked their skull in 1997 after falling asleep (passing out) while throwing up into the toilet.

Michele I know how you feel... after not even getting in the plane last time (well, getting in then thinking "uh-oh" and asking the assorted jumpers "Can I chicken out now?" and when they good-humouredly laugh saying "No, really") I seriously doubted whether this was for me, whether maybe I'm just a daydreamer who lives in her head.... it's been the support and attitude of you and others that has helped me to convince myself otherwise... that I can be a skydiver if I really want to, both in my head and outside in the sky... don't be angry with yourself if parts of the jump aren't what you wanted them to be, you are so capable it is amazing... we are all capable of so much more than we think... anger and self-doubt are obstacles to realising that... but like fear they are passing emotions/states of mind... expressions of frustration and uncertainty and you know you can pass through them, acknowledge them and understand the reason they exist is to teach you about yourself... I know you know all this already... I think like life in a big sense, skydiving is a process of unfolding, of accepting each moment as a moment of purity and beauty... the learning and the new challenges will never stop, and that is part of its attraction. (May my ramblings cease now!) Glad you weren't hurt when you landed, good luck with the next jump and keep believing in yourself like I know you do. larissa xo "The skies went on forever when I was young, they were beautiful, the most beautiful skies you've ever seen..." Little Fluffy Clouds, The Orb. p.s. anyone know why I have that "edit" button when I post?