aheavenlytiger

When I was still using student gear, I had a lot of problems with bruising also. I think the harness was just too wide as it came over my shoulders and I was getting beat up by it and maybe the risers on deployment. Now that I have a rig made for someone with skinny shoulders its much much better. As far as flare strength, I'm only about 135 pounds as well, and have had very few problems flaring. I have pretty weak, skinny little arms, but can always stop myself, including when i was on ginormous student canopies. If I did more than 5 jumps in a day during my first few months, it started to get difficult, but that was a fatigue issue. Also, make sure you eat and stay hydrated while at the DZ. There were days when I wouldn't eat or drink much while I was there, and I would feel incredibly weak while under canopy. I learned my lesson, eat and drink water during the day while I'm jumping, and all I good

I'm about 135 pounds also, and have always been able to flare whatever canopy I was on. I have skinny little arms that are FAR from what I would call strong, but have always managed to flare, even when I was on some massive canopies. The only times I've had difficulty was when before I got my A and I did 5 jumps in a day and the few days where I hadn't eaten anything all day. As far as the bruising goes, my arms were always bruised when I was a student because the rigs didnt fit right. They were always too wide over the shoulders. Now that I have custom gear, that is all better.

I had some problems with flat spins when I was going through my levels, and after having to repeat some levels here and there, learned the finer art of toe-taps to get my lower body fixed. Because I only had one jumpmaster, he couldnt see the slight asymmetry in my legs that was causing the spin. Once I started doing toetaps when i would start to spin, i stopped spinning and have been fine since.

Welcome!! Lookin' forward to seeing you up at The Ranch. Spring is coming!!!!!

21 I waited to start jumping until I had the money set aside to be able to get my A license and buy gear. I knew once I started I'd want to keep going, so I made sure I'd have the money to do so. Good thing I did, because I ended up getting my A and buying a rig all in one month (April was very expensive for me)

You can remove the visor from the factory diver- it just doesn't flip up. Your options there are ON or OFF. The visor is held in on the sides with velcro, and the rest of it is just held in tight under the edge of the helmet. Its not hard to remove or put back in at all. I've done plenty of jumps with it off, and throw it on when its a little chilly. If you make an effort to breathe out through the vent, I've noticed I can prevent major fogging, and maybe only have a little patch of fog that clears pretty quickly once you're out the door. Not putting on the helmet super early in the plane beofre jump run helps with fogging too, because there is simply less time to fog. Then again, I don't jump when its SUPER cold, just cold. If its below freezing on the ground, I'm probably NOT going to be jumping.

Here's my Sabre2 150 taken on a very pretty sunset load at the ranch by Laszlo Andacs. I had to scan the pic to post it (Sorry Laci!!!!) It's custom, but I didn't design it. I bought it used.

I wish I could have a royal blue and pink main... it would match all of my other gear which is black with royal and neon pink. Alas my main is silver and black. I suppose when I get down to a size that I plan on being at for a while I'll bite the bullet and get a custom main in my colors. I guess its totally ok for me to have pink cuz I'm a girl

It got me pretty dead on- I'm a Long Island girl, and sound like it, I guess. Damn New York accent!

To his credit, Dave has apologized. I accept his apology and don't think that he intended anything malicious from his posts, but I'm still kinda pissed. Considering my bf just got back from Iraq a few days ago, this was not really what I wanted to be having conversations with him about. Such is life, and all will blow over in time. Lets try to avoid any additional circumstances, circumcisions, or kicks to the teeth or genitalia please. Edited for spelling here too... I should really be more careful

I'm sorry to have to post under these circumstances, but I'm the chick in question here. First, let me start off by saying that I resent my business being aired out on a message board because I was doing the right thing by someone I care a lot about. From the very first conversation I had with Dave, he was aware of my boyfriend. Although things weren't super concrete as to what was going to happen with him, I was in no way, shape, or form considering looking elsewhere for anything. I had made it clear that I was planning on waiting for my boyfriend, and in the stress of preparing for the deployment, some things were said that lead to some confusion. It was all cleared up fairly soon, however. When Dave told me how he felt, I first didn't really know what to say other than that I was intent on waiting for my bf and nothing can happen because of that, regardless of how strongly he feels for me, I feel strongly for my bf. My bf and I stayed in as close contact as really possible during the time he was gone, and needless to say I was thrilled when he told me he was getting on a plane to leave Iraq. I guess everything changed when I was happy that my boyfriend had left Iraq to return home, which was a couple days before that 2-day mark Dave has mentioned. The past 7 months have been the most difficult in my life, and I was able to enjoy all the comforts of home. I can only imagine the hell that my boyfriend had to endure (I don't really think I want to know the whole story) and would never ever consider doing anything to make his time in Iraq any more difficult. I've already gotten phone calls asking if I've seen the thread, so there is no reason to pretend that it does not pertain to me. I wanted to try to remain out of it, but I dislike people putting forth information about me that makes me look like a cruel-hearted biotch. Edited for spelling and grammar (sorry I'm a dork and had to)

She should get you back!!! That's what you get for being lazy and utilizing her rig Now stop hijacking other people's threads!!!

Not a problem. I spent a lot of time up there during the week this year, butj I'm sad to say that I will be a weekend only jumper from now on because I got a "real job" and am not waitressing anymore. I only starting jumping in April, so the newbie buzz hasn't totally worn off of my yet either.

I live out in Suffolk, but usually jump at The Ranch, not SDLI. Its farther from me, but I make the trip quite a bit, and really don't mind doing it. I've met some cool people from SDLI as well, but just don't seem to get out there too frequently.

I feel so bright compared to a lot of these I love my pink and blue baby though!!!

I'm O positive... I've tried to donate a few times, but they all went pretty badly. I have very small deep veins, that tend to collapse easily, so getting into them is tough and getting enough blood out of them seems to be equally difficult. The first time I tried was at a blood drive and they didn't have any of the little tiny needles, which I told them they would need to use. The idiot tried with the big needle, couldn't make it work and then pretty much just poked around in my arm randomly... I got pissed and made her stop when my arm started to bruise while I was sitting there. The bruises I had from that stayed for like 4 weeks. The most recent time, the vein collapsed when I had just a little bit more to go to make the minimum donation and no blood would go through the needle. Even though I'd like to donate, I don't think that I will be trying to again.

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was your first thought? Crap my hair is a wreck. 2. What rhymes with the word "DUCK"? Buck 3. Favorite planet? Mars 4. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your mobile? I don't know- never saw the number before and they didn't leave a voicemail. 5. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone? The Gorillaz Feel Good Inc 6. What shirt are you wearing? Grey cami 7. Do you "label" yourself? I'm a self-proclaimed dork 8. Name the brand of shoes you're currently wearing? barefoot, as I usually am at home 9. What is the closest holiday to your birthday? Mother's day, and I always share my birthday with my grandpa 10. Bright or Dark Room? bright 11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you? i dunno 12. If you're in a room with two beds, which one do you sleep on? the better one 13. What were you doing around midnight last night? umm, sending text messages and trying to figure out when I had to go to work today 14. What did your last text message you received on your mobile say? " grr " 15. How do you like your eggs? in an egg sandwich, scrambled 16. What's a word/words that you say a lot? shit 17.Who told you he/she loved you last? umm, no one in a really really long time 18. Last furry thing you touched? my cat 19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days? none other than migraine medication 20. Do you love yourself? yup! 21. Favorite age you have been so far? I'm a pretty big fan of where I am right now, 22 22. Your worst enemy? Professor Kerber, my Organic Chemistry professor from when I was in college. He was pure EVIL 23. What is your current desktop picture? really pretty pic from Hawaii 24. What was the last thing you said to someone? guess we're not going to the beach 25. Least favorite color? olive green 26. The last song you listened to? Feel Good Inc- my phone just rang 27. Do you like someone? I like a lot of people, really really dislike very few 28. If the last person you spoke to was about to get shot at, what would you do? tell them 29. If you could punch 1 person in the face right now, who would it be? um, some sneaky bastard 30. What is the closest object to your left foot? my right foot and the desk

I'm pretty competitive too, as the bruises from fight night would be evidence too. I'd like to go get some tunnel time once i have the time and money to go to a tunnel and I usually fly belly with the occasional attempt at sitflying thrown in. I'm sure there are plenty of other, better fliers who would be looking for a spot on a team, so keep looking and I'm sure you'll find one, or three...

I'd be down for the cause if I didn't still kinda suck and made more money, but I've only got 69 jumps and haven't started my new job yet, so putting me on a 4-way team probably isn't ideal. I plan on having many more jumps and $$ by the end if the season, and since I just started IAF April 1st, I guess I'm not doing that badly...

I used to LOVE tailspin when I was a kid... I was born in 1984 though, so I was really a kid... I was also a fan of Darkwing Duck

Shadow's whiskers used to be black. For some reason, they started turning white one by one a couple years ago and now they are all white. The best is watching her attempt to hunt. She will stalk whatever bird or small animal she sees, but when she gets about 4-5 feet away, she meows at it. She's cute, but I do believe that there is a continuum in the intelligence of cats as well, and shes really not at the top of her class. Missy, the grey and white, is like a little kitty genius, on the otherhand.

Charlotte's face looks like she could very well be Shadow's sister. They are even about the same age. She's quite possibly the most verbal cat that I've even met. You can say anything to her, and she will meow back, usually a long drawnout multiple toned sentence of a meow.

Thanks! It was pretty rough waking up every two hours to feed her, but if I didn't she started to nibble on whatever exposed skin should could find. She wasn't a big fan of my having to pull apart the scar tissue that had formed over her eye. The vet wasn't even too sure that there was going to be an eye underneath there it was so bad, but now all shes got is a slightly drippier eye than normal because the third lid doesn't work as well. Nikki is still pretty small, tough as nails though. During the summer, shes like 6 pounds, winter a little heavier. I love this thread! Its so nice to see so many people who really love their pets as opposed to the sucky people who abandon theirs. All 4 of our cats were rescues, one of which was declawed and then left at my job. My sister and he have developed quite the bond...

These two pics didn't want to upload the first time, so here they are now.

Nikki is my little fur-child, and I'm pretty much the only person she will listen to. She was found wandering around the side of a main road pretty sick when she was around 2 weeks old, and I nursed her back to health. She is definitely a good match for me, because she is a bit of a daredevil as well, and decided that the motorcycle helmet would be a good place to make her own to sleep in. Missy is like Nikki's adopted mom, and they were extremely cute to watch during the hunting lessons in the back yard. The first time Nikki heard a mouse squeek, she ran to the other side of the property. Shadow is my mom's, and Rynx and my sister share a brain I think...