MagicGuy

I've been wanting to learn how to play the guitar for a while now. I was talking about it with some friends at the DZ a couple weekends ago and to my surprise, a good friend had a guitar that she hadn't used in years and she asked me if I wanted it. So, she brought it with her this weekend and I've been attempting to learn some stuff for the past couple days. Wow! Playing this thing is harder than it looks.. which is an understatement. It didn't help that the thing was out of tune and some of the strings have little rust marks on it. But I found a video on YouTube explaining a technique called relative tuning and to my surprise, I actually got it to work and it seems (I really don't know for sure) to be in tune, or at least a lot better than it had been. I've been watching a lot of tutorial type videos on YouTube, mostly explaining songs in 'tab' form. Boy, I was wrong thinking I could watch a video and be able to play the song quickly. It is NOT easy. I find myself muting strings when I'm not even trying to, mostly because the fingers on the neck are accidentally laying on top of other strings. It's a bit frustrating, and my left hand is killing me from holding down the strings, but it's pretty cool just to see even the littlest bit of progression. I'm pretty much too stubborn to take lessons, so I'm just going to keep trying to teach myself. Probably not the best way, but hey, I'm only doing it for fun. Plus teaching myself doesn't cost anything, except for maybe a bad habit or two. But it's much more gratifying in the end. Rock on!

Although I didn't really care for Carly's performance on Tuesday, she should NOT have gone home. Brooke should've been gone a few weeks ago and she's still here. As much as I hate Smiley Boy, Brooke is starting to take his place as this year's Sanjaya. Dreadlocks sucked on Tuesday, and if he keeps it up, he should get the boot. Emo boy actually pulled it off on Tuesday. He has been surprising me a lot. And once again.. Forgettable Black Chick.. wait.. who are we talking about?

So I just went to check the oil under the hood of my car.. pulled the release to open the hood, NOTHING. Fuck. Try again, nothing. Tried pulling the hood up, thought maybe the release worked and I didn't realize it.. NOTHING. WTF.. I checked out the release itself.. the cord did pull loose of the handle. I replaced it, but still, nothing. Tried pulling just the cable itself, and once again, nothing. What the hell should I do? I have to bring it in for an oil change and don't want the mechanic fucking around and possibly making things worse. Any ideas?

Butters, I love that rig and would gladly copy your design any day! I could care less if someone copied the design of my rig. I'd be flattered that someone appreciated my style.

Don't you LOVE that? I know for me, I went into my FJC having previously done a ton of research on gear. I knew what all of the handles did, I knew what a 3 ring system was and how it worked, and I knew what an RSL is. I do agree that there are some people out there who should care more about how things work. You mentioned taking apart a rig and putting it back together. I know that to get my A License I had to cutaway the main while it was unpacked and correctly re-assemble it. There's really not much more (practically) that you can do. I mean, you can't really have a newbie start screwing around with a reserve, especially if it involved taking one off and re-assembling. I don't think that any skydiver should be in the air if 1.) They can't pack their parachute. Knowing how to pack educates you (well, kind of) at how the parachute opens and works. 2.) If they don't know how their handles work (what the hell? I can't believe that anyone wouldn't know this, but OK), and 3.) Knowing how to do gear checks, both for themselves and other skydivers. I know personally, I am looking at everyone's gear that I am on the plane with and have caught things many times (usually something like a pilot chute hanging out more than I would be comfortable with). The RSL debate is weird. At our DZ, the AFF instructors as well as the DZ manager and BOD have decided not to go into too much detail about the RSL in the FJC. They tell them what it is, but basically that's as far as it goes. They've found that too much discussion about it just overwhelms students, so they decided to discuss it further later on in their progression. I think the biggest reason they don't really discuss it too much is because they don't want students RELYING on it. It is not failproof, and there are skydivers out there (not at my DZ) who have gone in because they cutaway and expected the RSL to deploy their reserve. Anyways, I don't think you can ever know too much about your gear. However, I do think that it is mainly up to the instructors to make sure that the student they are graduating knows what is on their back and more importantly, how and why it works.

You're fine, man. A little bit of fear.. especially when you are still pretty new to the sport is a GOOD thing. It keeps you on your toes and doesn't allow you to become complacent. You are well on your way, but 21 jumps isn't a whole lot, ya know. The fear will subside a little bit each jump. For me.. I wasn't fully 'fearless' until probably close to 100 jumps. For me it was the door fear. Once I was out of the plane, the fear usually subsided. Have fun, man. That's the bottom line. You'll be fine!

HATE those commercials. I have 3 dogs and every time I see the commercial I have to go give them hugs. I feel so bad for those little guys.. especially the ones that actually look like they are crying.

That's amazing. I never imagined that a Porsche would survive that well. Makes me have faith that if I ever smash into someone in my SLK230 that I may have a chance... it can't weigh 3900 pounds for nothing!

I'd watch it.. but have no idea how to work those torrent things. What the hell do you do with it after you download it? I have a Mac, btw, and am one of the most computer illiterate people you will ever meet! I heard the movie was awesome.

Ferrari all day. The Lambo looks sweet, too, but after watching what goes into building a Ferrari, I have to go with the 360 Modena.

And me! Wish I knew about them earlier..

I live in Rhode Island.. can't get closer to seaside than that. Looking forward to trying them soon!

I agree here 100%. I have yet to come across a rigger who wouldn't let me watch them pack my reserve. If they had said no, I would've been taking my rig elsewhere. It's your rig - you have every right to watch what they are doing, even if you/them say absolutely nothing during the whole process.

Eh, I wouldn't put all of the blame on Ryan. I'm sure a lot of his jokes and 'fucking with people' sarcasm is highly suggested by the producers and/or directors of the show. However, I do agree that it was pretty shitty how he booted MJ, to say the least. You're not sure what AggieDreads is going to do with Mariah? How about Smiley Boy? Him and his ballads.. I can't imagine him rocking out to Mariah at all. I have a feeling it's going to be a pretty interesting show..

One of the first times I ever got drunk it was on "Sicilian Kisses". I believe it was Amaretto and SoCo. Ruined my whole outlook on SoCo.. but I'll still drink Amaretto! As far as brands, I've yet to have one that has taken the cake over Disaronno.

WOW! I never thought I would get this much response about raw oysters. I had no idea that so many people liked them. Oh, by the way, I'm trying them raw - no cooking around here, folks. Thanks for all of the responses and suggestions, guys. Hopefully I can try them soon so I don't have to wait until September. I liked the idea of putting an oyster on a cracker to add some texture. I think that will be the best bet for the first one. That, or the shooter idea! Nothing like some vodka to wash the little guy down... although I'd prefer a beer or two!

Who's had them before? I love the show Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. It has been inspiring me to venture outside my comfort zone when it comes to food. I have just started trying different types of seafood again lately, since I hated it as a kid. I have had this really crazy craving to try raw oysters. I'm big on texture - and it seems that these probably have a pretty funky texture. So besides the obvious, how do they taste? Are they too extreme for a beginner seafood eater?

I've never been addicted to anything so take my post for what it's worth. The biggest problem it seems with opiates is that once addiction has started, your body physically needs the drug so bad that you go through really bad withdrawals. Getting really physically sick, aching badly.. I've seen it 100 times on the show Intervention. The people with the opiate addictions always seem like they are in the worst shape. Cocaine, while still really addictive, doesn't get to the point where you wake up in the morning and need it just to feel normal. Sure, you may feel like you need it, but in reality your mind just makes you think that way. This may be different with crack cocaine, as it is a much more concentrated substance. I'd have to say opiates.

Hey Terry.. it's Corey from Jumptown. There are a few key factors that make a rig freefly friendly. Good bridal protection, secure riser covers and really secure flaps are the main things. Next time you're at Jumptown, ask Brian Grady to show you the deal. It's easier to show you in person than it is to explain through a post. Hope to see you soon, man!

And that is the biggest difference. Magicians and entertainers use it for entertainment. These so-called psychics and mediums are using it to cheat their customers into thinking they are getting closure on very sensitive subjects, at the very minimum. Never mind charging them an arm and a leg during the process.

"In San Francisco, hookers are not required to carry bills on their person larger than $50 in order to make change."

I don't think so, but I believe you can watch episodes of it on Lifetime's website. Yeah, Lifetime. My mother watches the channel religiously and when I caught her watching an episode of this, I'm not gonna lie, I was intrigued. I always caught bad vibes about John Edwards. Something about him I just never liked. It's wild that cold reading can get to a point with someone that doesn't realize they are doing it.. where they end up believing they are psychic. That's crazy!!

Great post, airtwardo. Listen to him AKCrash!

Very interesting. I'm not familiar at all with hot reading, but your post makes complete sense. Being a magician, as much as I'm a skeptic with anything like that, I have that other side of me that wants so badly to believe that there is some supernatural stuff out there. I guess some people are just better actors than others. Have you seen any episodes of the show "America's Psychic Challenge"?

Reminds me of that scumbag Peter Popoff. He was the so-called "healer of God" who would hold seminars where he would touch the person that was suffering from a disease and they would collapse, supposedly healed of all of their illnesses in that instant. There was a show that completely debunked all of his antics. He would have everyone fill out 'prayer cards' prior to the show, which included but was not limited to the disease they had, what areas hurt etc. He had a little transmitter in his ear and I believe his wife would transmit the information to him. Everything else was a lot of hype and acting, and people that wanted so badly to believe that they were being healed so they would collapse to the ground, as they had seen done by previously healed people. The really fucked up part about Peter Popoff is the fact that he was claiming to heal people of their life threatening illnesses. Some of those people then refused to get any further medical treatment, thus letting their disease progress even further. The things that some people will do for a dollar is really frightening.