gimpboogie

actually they havent paid a penny to train me,
although i have paid tons, more then i care to remember....
athletes need to find their own trainers, gyms, equiptment...
the local clubs let you pay their fees touse their equiptment,but this club didnt have elite boats for paralyzed athletes, so i wrote a grant proposal to the government, they got 14,000 to get equiptment
and i recruited them some rowers.
then i basically hit my had and was banned off the water.
i trained in another sport during that time and went to qualify for the worlds in that sport.

also canada didn't qualify a single womens boat for beijing so they need to qualify for a spot in one more possibility, a world class even this spring.
if i keep training, as a athlete in this program,
(meaning basically they recognize my training and test scores-thats where the coach comes in. he tests me-thats what he does for me as fas as rowing goes.. actually inmy other sport, we even have winter training 3 times a week during the winter and 4 each week in the summers.. plus the other sports i do for fun, which is how i train often.. cross training.)


anyways...
so they did putout an investment
the tickets to try outs=selection camp
and any races which the selected athletes need to go to,then ofcourse to beijing.

other then that,,,its 'row on your own, pay out of your own pocketk, if your injured better get if fixed fast so you can keep up with the training)

does that soundlike i am feeling more like a race horse (who at least is fed for free! now im being stupid)
not a human....


well this converstion HAS been helpful.
because once i wrote that last sentence,
where i realize that i feel more like a in animate object who can be replaced at any moment, and to which you pay attention once a month for a 4 min test... to make sure that the object stil is in high working order...

tht tells me more then i wanted to know
about how i feel about it.

i will follow through with my offer of giving the team my equiptment /rowingmachine etc which i paid for more then i would havve for a main and a container.

live and learn.

very true,
're poor return on an investment.

I think where I may be going wrong,
is thinking that the investment is not much/meaningful or something of that sort,
because of my 'sqewed' sense of $, and what things are worth.

see, the $ they have spent, is $400 in plane tickets.
the training -the coach puts his time in free
he vlunteers (thats another thing about sports like this,'its not just the athletes who give freely and infact it costs them just like anything does)
the coach volunteers to coach me and my partner (I row alone in a single and so does he... so we are not on a 'team' like a double, 4's or 8's. thus there is certainly the thought that the national team must find someone to replace that person in the single boat if i was to be in it, and leave it.
it would in my opinion be worse if i was in a double, or 4, or 8 - i would go to the olympics even if it was my last summer to be alive.
because of what it would do to the others on that boat.
but because i row in my own single,
i keep thinking that the investment is me workiing my butt off alone about 35 hrs/wk.
my coach coming to test me once a month,
(seriously that is how often i see my coach)
he ofcourse volunteers his time... that is to be recognized.
then repeat that for months and months..
during which i look at the winds,
look at the things i like to do
while i do enjoy rowing,
i am training alone, all the time.
many hours a day on the water and many hours off
while my kids do their own stuff (they are 15 and 17)

I do like this discourse, because it does help me to see others see things differently.
there are 3 or 4 women who are ready and compete for,
this single seat that is the womens single in the races for the national team.
each spring there the national team selection,
you make it and follow the rules, or you dont bother.

they spent the $ of 400 to travel me to the selection camp.
and if i was to be selected they fly me to Munich, or beijing or where ever we would need to go,
and there the accomodations and meals
so i do not know of those costs,
but substantial they must be.

yes, if i was to wreck myself sky diving,their
faith in me in the program would be wasted
while i recover
just as it was last yr when i had that concussion on their training camp site
and was banned off rowing for the summer
so i kayaked and won the world sprint trials.
to qualify for sacramento world sprints.


i cannot disagree if some thing i have a scewed view
and even not understand the other view well enough.

i guess i do think about the fact that my terminal 'illness bs' does leave me more serious about doing what i want to do....
leaves me more aware of the temporrily existence of life.
maybe thats why i am so detached from the things that i think are more trivial 9=-like money.
that why we have none.
i'm smart (i think) and could propably have at some ppoint made some $
but i didnt.
i followed my heart,
went to places iwanted to go to
had the kids i wanted to have
brought them to places they wanted to go to,
heck once i was going to write abook
travelling through canada with two kids and a fridge.
because we were homeschooling and explored the country living on money practically.

now that phase is over,
thekids are older and do not want to travel.
the want to do other things.
which do not include me so much.
but i still do not think of $ as that important.
thus we never have any.
we have tons of memories

maybe i am not the right person for the national team at all then,'if i have this attitude.
that what i give up, ]what i invest
what i pay (I pay for therapy etc. out of my nonexistent pocket.. i do not have a job, been disable since 2005)
what the kids give up for me to spend on rowing
is not worth the rowing.
i tink i need to apologize to the national team then,
that they will have to spend the stamp to send it to the next woman in line wanting to be in the program
to row in that single at the worlds.

i DO feel badly for the coach.
he saught me out.
and i brought him a replacement so to speak.
recruited steve the former paratrooper to row for him
and steve just broke the canadian record,
he will be my coaches star-he already is....
thus. i do feel bad for my coach because his role wil be solely on steve, and i think he feels some responsibility to do for me also.. for i was the one who started the local rowing club and found the athletes.

i dont know if that makes sense?
does it?

good questions, ok here goes:
Q. Do you like to row?

yes, and i like to kayak, and vert ramps, and sky diving, and laying it down on downhill tracks in a 4 wheeled mountain wheelchair ....
if they ALL were an Olypic sport,I'd go for the sky diving,
then the vert ramps
then the dowhill cycle cross
then the kayaking
then the rowing.

does that make any impact in the answer?
it just feels to me like it does.

yes, I'd LOVE to have an international level,
olympic perhaps even better
medal.

10 yrs ago in my early 30s and certainly in my 20'
i would have given much about anything to get one.
today,
i feel different.
i'd rather live each day.
like it was possibly my last
and...
it in reality could be
sure i've got some health complications,
which play a big part in that
but ultimately its true for everyone.

if your getting up today to go to a job you dont like
or something else you dont like
then your not living
and if your not living
your dying
that is how it feels inside of me.

maybe that's not the 'norm', and most other people
prioritize differently
but im trying to be as honest as i can.

Q. Is this rowing thing your source of income?
NO --> Quit

No its not.
in a sense i really don't have income...
sure it helped to get a check for $250 (that performance bonus) and have expenses paid
as I did things i needed to do. to go races i needed to go to..
but ultimtely i spent $,
massage therapy twice a month, athletic therapy for an injury from over use from rowing,
that cost me $600 in therapy fees to get better,
which nags me now,

if i smash myself in any of those other sports i like
i either do not have to go to therapy,
no pressure to be ready for another race, train etc.so if
and no costs
or else i get treated in the hospital for free (I hate )

I'd have more prospects to get my E license,
jump into the 2012 opening ceremonies and land in my wheelchair
then making $ rowing.
as soon as you make $ infact, then you cannot row for the national team.
hockey players are really the only ones who are true pros on the olympics.
the rest are like anyone passionate about their sport.
train like a madman, spend all your time for it,
and race for 4 minutes or more to see if you need to do it for another 4 yrs, for another chance at that medal.


i really feel like it was/is a big job,
i love the sport'
i get up at 4:30 am to row on the rowing machine because i want to,
not because they tell me to (because they dont expect us to start till 530 in the morning )

but i do not feel ok with giving up my self it feels like
its not just the sky diving
i would still have to stay out of the vert ramps,
the skate parks,
the kites,
heck i should get a granny wheel chair and turn this titanium sport chair into a hood ornament
until race time,,,
just tke the bus to go train
it feels not like LIFE.
or living.
living feels like sitting on the edge of something,
looking and feeling every hair on your body
every heart beat and hearing nothing but silence in your mind as you are ready to step into the
arena in which you feel alivce.


if one is passionate about playing dominos,
or knitting.. great hope they get to do it daily!
i just don't feel tht passionate about rowing
that i would want to give up everything i gave up last yr
and more.. this yr.
for rowing.



call me crazy... i've heard it before,
along with being stubborn.
i just hate the fact that i cant row for fun even
withut the boat which is at the club
to which i need to belong to use it.
i kayak, race sprint kayaks and our clubs are in the same building i will see my boat every time it is out.
The Minna the rowing club called it
(they said it was because i got them the $ from a grant, to get them the boat and other stuff needed)

i love to kayak and will go kayak in the world championships in outrigger canoe next summer
which is fine enough for me athletic wise.

but, there is.. this underlying feeling of unease.
i wouldl like to row
and i would like to row in a fast racing boat as i was
supposed to, this summer
but IF i have to choose, the choice is not hard to make
i just feel its shitty it has to be made on the basis of the danger, considering their giving medals out to the guy who has the least amount of fear and skill to stay on their feet down a hill in speeds slightly slower then i FF, and certainly faster then under canopy.

maybe I'm naive,
but I feel more comfortable (as in safe) under that canopy then i ever did racing a bike down mountain roads, cyclecross, motorcross, downhill skiing or even hockey.

Quote

you're not the guy that does backflips in his wheelchair BTW!?

that's Aaron,
I do 360's, 720's and generally play
in vert ramps

or on water or snow and ice with 12 M kites

ooh and I'm not a guy

very good question,
had I been a Black Knights member
(respected I am sure.... if I was an Olympic team
member of any sport)
had I been on many national teams
perhaps that snowcross (?)
or slalom downhill, thats pretty
'hard core' inmy eyes,
those guys gals got balls
100mph wearing tights and sharp poles in your hands!

propably the hockey players knock themselves silly
more often then skydivers do.....is the difference because
you have a 'real bad day' if you hit your head on the tail on the way out
rather then on the boards on the way out of the box

quite honestly,
on my first day at the rowing national team camp
i received a concussion which left me with concussion syndrome for weeks,worst injury i ve ever had
outside of any body parts that had to be removed or reattached.


i hate what is happening and wish i had the energy to fight it for the principle but i'd honestly spend minutes of my life in FF then on such a fight,

rowing,
I don't think it can put up with sky diving either
I think the last I looked, my alti doesn't even move
no matter how fast I row,
in fact when i bought an alti with my 'performance bonus'(thats what I call it, but i think they have a fancy word that doesn't sound like their paying any athletes anything)
they said what the heck did i need that?
(in a water sport)
luckily I was able to convince them that the barometer it is, and the compass that it is (after all, if I can't jump through cloud cover, I'm always going know where North is
is always a good tool to have
on any element,
air, earth wind or water


in seriousness...
the more I think about it,
it is more controlled to be on a nationsl team then out on parole.
i think if i was on parole i could just do what ever
as long as i see my parole officer and obey the law etc.
but now as it stands
WADA (world anti doping association)
has a tight hold on all athletes
we are to record like in a larger date book then ive ever used in my life
(i dont write down the exact address of any loction i will ever be at, the times and if anything changes be constantly in touch with my laptop to change the info to my current location-what a relief to not have to report to WADA the sky dives...
i cant imagine in FF with my laptop frantically writing the altitudes and coordiantes of my most present location... it would make a good reserve ADD commercial.. wear my national team uniform,
have Omar do the stunt double and in FF he is typing in the laptop his WADA requirements, not paying attention to this altitude, and have a reserve ride down... commenced by his ADD while he lands perfectly and you see him deleting his last location of 14,000f to .."as he walks away tied to his reporting device)

is it obvious that i feel partly quite bitter' at this moment about this.

my team is very happy to accept my donation of my rowing machine, my everything in relation to training...

i do not care for the value of money, but some do...
they do.
i only use it to watch and see how far they will go,to happily take from me......
coaching is where they would like me to direct my energies..
so i guess as a coach it's ok to skydive
just not if i sit in the boat and row, rather yell into a microphone.
damn them anyways.

rowing is something i like to do,and love the feeling of the early morning on a calm lake..
but im not going to pay $340 for a membership so i can row recreationally
for that morning calm ness.
i could get a lot of jumps with that!

I could get the morning fuel odour at the DZ
and learn to like it just the same...


more importantly,
i could now go sky dive more often
and not be worried of how many training sessions
im missing.

i just hate that something someone else dictates what
is dangerous risky etc.
it is my life


thats what i like about sky divers
certainly we care about each other
certainly we have BSR's
but we allow each individual to assess the risk for themselves.
we do not either push them out the plane door against their will, nor do we keep them in
BASE jumpers are a respected for their skills as a freefaller, or a swooper,
if a person is genuine, is caring and giving to our sport,'if they are the kind of people who

I have signed an athletec ontract with a national sport organization with the national adaptive rowing team program.

for me, it meant last yr when they found out i play in the skateboarding parks, and jump off cliffs with the kites, that they were 'concerned' about my 'risk taking behaviour'.
apparently this does not work with national teams
whose athletes are
groomed' for the international competition.

i stopped doing both, skate parks and kite flights.
for them,
so i could compete.

now, on the eve on Paralympics 08,
they know i sky dive,
yes on one hand the word from some of them is
'it makes me feel good to see you so happy'
when viewing my skydiving photos.
but when it is coming
time to sign the athlete agreement.....
its not about the skate parks
and kiteflights (snowkiting with a 12M takoon or balancing on a surfboard in the summer with the kite)

its about sky diving.
apparently it also thus is risk taking behaviour
..... what kind of world is this?
re:
agreement for this yr.
i have to discontinue rowing competatively
or stop skydiving.

to me strange,
but the claim is that this is a risky behaviour
and national team athletes
have a
code of conduct
to adhere to.
taking 'excessive' risks
is not fullfilling that code

so in the end,
either i adhere to the code of conduct
not take 'excessive risks'
or
i quit rowing.


i told them that i heard the Troll wall is beautiful
3, 2, 1
see yah!


I guess im not too far off in thinking that
i'll be doing very little rowing this summer
and a lot more jumping.

ooh my is it 420 all ready?

mamajumps

thanks a great deal for the hugs our way.

Yes I DO feel sad of my son's current situation, and hope that he truly will find his 'niche' in life.... something he enjoys.. I really do not care if it is collecting the garbage, teaching swimming, skydiving, or brain surgery (I just dont want to go under his knife...heck he still cant tie hhis shoe laces I wont trust him to tie my stiches even if he passes me school :) )
in ALL seriousness,
he has suffered deeply because people never understood the wonderful, beautiful soul he truly is.

my daughter is also autistic but very different then my son, she is sensory avoidant not seeking like mika is.
my daughter is highly artistic, could draw and takes beautiful photos. she has an exceptionally high grade average but she is not athletic.. she has extremely low muscle tone to the point that she had failure to thrive because she didnt have enough strength in her jaw to chew her food so she would suck on it and spit it out after... only swallowing fluids and puree textures.
she was always very anxious, and would cry in the corner during swimming lessons because "someone swam by and brushed against my skin and i HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE TOUCH ME" she would explain.

She too was tormented in school. Kids thought it was funny to grab her by the arm and swing her around, drag her on the ground till she came home with road rash from her chin to her knees.. when asked what hapened she would shrug her shoulders...
:(
she also was homeschooled z(check out unschooling.com that was our method... child led learning... the kids immersed themselves in one topic or another till they had their fill of it and moved on to another...0
my daughter goes through phases... once it was ancient egypt for a few yrs to the point she taught herself hieroglyphs and drove her math teacher crazy writing everything in hieroglyphs.

currently it is japanese.... she walks around with a japanese dictionary and is quite fluent in japanese... I(we are Finnish and english speaking family living i Northern Ontario Canada where her Japanese skills have not yet found a niche :)
this interest cameout of her interest in understanding what her favorite japanese anime characters were saying -she hates the english dubbed versions of it,

she didnt learn to ride a bike until she was almost 14, and learned to skip at 13.
these kids are as oposite as is possible, but yet both are autistic.

that leaves me.
i did not speak until i was 6 but i do remember reading when i was 3 while sitting in the outhouse and reading the newspapers tacked to the walls.

all my life i was 'different' and didn't fit in anywhere.
to this day until i started sports i never had a friend
-not one.
never had a birthday party, or was invited to one.
then, until i started skydiving i never fit in anywhere... not even in university despite my 96.4 average on graduation.... no one came to see me graduate, nor invited me to the parties afterwards.
i didnt care sometimes, and other times i just wished i could be 'ok' in others eyes.

until my skydiving coach became my friend and drove me home one day from the dropzone Z(thats a 5-6 hr drive!) i had not had a visitor in my hoome (he came in Sept 2007!).

BUT, once I started skydiving,
no one yet has told me im wierd or unwanted, or to get lost. they actually like to see me there... they tell me they think i am smart, funny, fun to be with and the most insane and bold person theyve met
some say 'hardcore' which apparently is a compliment at the DZ :)

SO, now that i've told you all that not only are my kids autistic but I am as well.

I DO want to tell you that being autistic is not fun sometimes, but other times it is a great trait.
i've memorized the SIM's almost completely, certainly remember each of my dives, and at what altitude I did what manouver... despite the fact I have not made a dive since Nov 5th 2007. Each nine dives *to date* I can tell you second by second what happened, what the weather was like etc etc.

two days ago my rowing coach raced and wondered who the other two who came in 2st and 2nd place were.
it took me 3 minutes to reseach these guys telling him that the 1st place winner had rowed 2 million 2 hundred thousand seen hundred and fifty meters in the previous 30 days, that he is an air traffic controller (so NOW we know what they do in that tower... they row on their rowing machines!)... bah blah blah.

I think my meticulous attention to detail, great concentration skills and ability to calculate (the cross country flyers like that.... no need for calculators!) are a bonus in sky diving.

my intense 'onsession' to a topic i 'get into' typically allows me to excell at what i want to do.

as long as the ALS stays at a slow progression and does not take my life too soon, i will become a great sky diver and will be able to do anything those of who are not paralyzed can do.... esxcept the stand up landing... but standing is over rated anyways... ;)

now you know more about me then i ever thought to share initially....

BUT IF this helps someone understand themselves, or their loved ones better
then it was all worth it.
and ultimately if you like me, you like me because of the kind of person i am not because i am autistic or not.

-minna

going out on a limb here....
yes we finally figured out what it is that makes Mika so special....
he is autistic.... as it turns out are other members in my home.

autistic is something that people often either do not understand, fear, or just do not know what to say...

but if you have a look at:http://www.tonyattwood.com.au/

there are many ways to be autistic.
My son and daughter are 'labelled' as 'high functioning autistic' or as some call 'aspergers syndrome'.

I like the way Tony speaks of aspergers:

"children and adults with Aspergers Syndrome have a different, not defective, way of thinking.

The person usually has a strong desire to seek knowledge, truth and perfection with a different set of priorities than would be expected with other people. There is also a different perception of situations and sensory experiences."

"The person is usually renowned for being direct, speaking their mind and being honest and determined and having a strong sense of social justice."

"The person may actively seek and enjoy solitude, be a loyal friend and have a distinct sense of humour."

This is the site of a lady who is autistic
(and has a great sense of humor )
http://www.geocities.com/autistry/oddizms.html

and so,
you might be autistic if:
http://www.geocities.com/autistry/YMBAAI.html

and if your really getting into reading about autism try this site;http://www.wrongplanet.net/allarticles.html
you'd probably qualify as autistic if you read it all... that would probably mean that you have a new obsession that you cant stop learning about till you've learned everything you can get your hands on
(how very autistic of you :) )

some of the autistic characteristics that apply well to my son are:
# Difficulty paying attention
# Difficulty shifting attention (stuck on an idea or action)
# Difficulty sharing attention with others
# Difficulty interacting with other people (responding back and forth, turn-taking), making friends, and understanding others
# Difficulty controlling emotion and excitement
# Strong memory and sense of direction
# May not benefit from typical teaching methods
# Intense or unusual activity levels
# Unusual sleep patterns
Difficulty joining other people
No fear of real dangers
Over or under reaction to sight, sound, smell, taste, pain or touch (including being held)


ok enough, if you want to know more after reading those sites from beginning to end....
definitely your intense interest has shifter from skydiving to autism-giving away the secret autistic within you :)


hope that helps someone, who is wondering 'what the heck is going on with me?" (or my kid or my spouse, brother mother etc.... the stats currently show that 1/250 individuals are on the autism spectrum.

autism is a spectrum from highly intelligent and successful individuals such as einstein (if he were alive today it is most likely he would be labelled as autistic),
to individuals who truly do need daily supervision for their lifetime,, who never do learn to speak etc.


remember April is autism awareness month,
and I'll be flying free in the clear blue skies celebrating the autistics in my family.... hhhmm... that would make all of us ;)

the photos:

one is my daughter sitting at the beach, studying a stick... did it for about an hour in that position- not moving still like a statue.

one is my son at 18 months doing headstands in his crib when he was 'supposd' to be sleeping- i am sure he rarely slpet but was active all the time... that time he was hopping himself up into the headstand and back again repeatedly


later on, we had gymnasts rings attached in the house so he can learn. IF he was swinging there upside down he could answer any multiplication question but ask him while telling him to sit still on a chair and he would not be able to answer simple 2x2... he was 13
doing dishes-'mika style'. :) it took 6 months of discussion why it would make sense to put the dishes IN/ON the dish rack... rather then lining them up around the dish rack... here he got a couple of plates in the rack-were making progress after 6 months! while at that time he could recite the periodic table, calculate complex algebraic calculations

bong water for breakfast anyone

Quote

She describes him as a very happy, polite little boy who is full of energy. He is having problems sitting still and paying attention to stories during their second circle time. He doesnt like to write and do the crafts so they are concerned that he might not be able to "graduate" to the next level.

I do not know you or your family,
having said that all I can do is share my experience from the past with my son (who is now almost 18 and counting the days till he can skydive).

1) as a baby he was VERY HAPPY. never had stranger anxiety or seperation anxiety (I didn't know that was 'odd'-he was my first, i was young and thought he was just outgoing).

2) He had (and still does) incredible balance
-he rode a two wheeler without training wheels at the age of 21 months and did headstands without support wall by age 2.

3) he had an incredible talent for video games (back then mario world came out- for his 2nd birthday and I thought 'who the heck buys a 2 yr old a nintendo?" when his father got it).

The strangest thing i noticed is that IF he stood on his head he could play mario world from the beginning to the end in the first 2 1/2 months of having it 9he was so good the 16 yr olds would stop by and ask if mika was playing and if they could watch asking him to unlock the secret star world).
but I just thought he LIKED to play standing on his head (and actually thought it was quite talented since he could fly starfox like a fighter pilot standing on his head while the tv screen was the right way up-I truly thought it was 'talented'). BUT if he didnt stand on his head he refused to play.. hhmm....

3) then came those wooden todler puzzles with the peg to hold onto the piece you place in the proper place which has the cut out for the appropriate piece. He ALWAYS was trying to put them in upside down (in the correct places i.e. the plane in the plane hole but upside down).
I found that 'odd'.

4) In YMCA "kinderkids" program he didn't participate in group games but preferred to run around, be busy kicking balls or slamming himself into the rubber mats for gymnastics stacked against one wall.I thought perhaps he didnt know how to play with other kids because he was an only child at that point and we didnt have family friends with kids.. no exposure to others i discounted it as.
Then the complaints started pouring in. YMCA staff said i needed to pull my son out of the program because as he would run to slam himself into the mats, if there was another kid in the way he would just 'accidentally' knock that kid over as he went along-truly without noticing he did it. once confronted about it, he would be in tears and insist he didnt hurt anyone and would cry "why do you LIE about me?" (he was VERY articulate at a very early age).

4) I thought physical sports would help. so i put him in soccer. he paid no attention to the game (this was starting age 4 until age 6) and did head stands in the middle of the field. iF he happened to notice the ball, he would run with it like a madman scoring on the nearest net he could get to-regardless of whose net it was.
This by the way happened in hockey also. He would spend most of his time slamming himself into the boards, or scoring on any net including his own. He had great aim just no sense of what was happening around him and didn't seem to care either.

5) Kindergarden (junior and senior) teachers would tell me he refused to sit in the circle during story time, could not use the scissors, could not spell his name even copying it or tracing it! He would get up and wander away when ever he felt like it from the task he was supposed to be doing. Yet he was VERY polite, always was the first to run to someone crying, and try to help. Helped other kids get dressed, and if someone was slow at running he would 'help' by grabbing them my the arm run fast regardless if the kid fell and he was dragging the kid along the ground.
Needless to say, LOTS of calls home about his 'aggressive' behaviour to which when confronted he would cry at school and deny ever dragging anyone insisting he was only helping them get to the finish line faster.
He would start to get depressed by gr 2-3 telling me that the teachers didn't understand him, that they think he is a 'bad boy' when he is only trying to help and they 'accuse' him of knocking people over when he insists he didnt do it.
I was baffled!
He also could not use scissors properly, hold the pencil in the proper way and his frustration tolerance was very low and he would give up quickly trying to do these tasks and eventually would use his intelligence to try to argue with the teachers with comments such as "why do I need to learn to glue the flower petals on this paper? do you REALLY think that's going to help me get a job?" (thats coming from a 4 yr old!) or saying "why do you want me to sit at the circle at the mat when your reading, I can hear you just fine from here and I like sitting here because I can rock my chair back and forth" when told he might hurt himself he would reply "I rarely hurt myself, I've jumped off our roof into the snowbanks and i didnt get hurt so why do you think i would get hurt falling off a chair?" (smart -yes, a 'smart ass' yes in society's eyes but he was honestly trying to understand why he had to conform when it didn't make sense to him and he was not afraid to ask the questions.)

6) By grade 3 the teachers told me they had concerns that his writing was totally illegible (although he could read it, I later learned he has photographic memory and would memorize everything so that is how he was actually 'reading' by remembering what he had heard... weeks earlier.. word for word.
The teachers told me "dont worry yet, lets not 'label' a kid this young,'maybe he is just immature' for his age.. etc.
I agreed... not wanting my kid to be pathologized.


7) Grade 5 came, his marks were going down the hill, he excelled in maths and sciences, gym he was said to be talented, athletic and curious but had NO team playing skills, took a fit if he lost in dodge ball etc. was a terribly poor looser.
Finally they suggested testing.scores came out as follows during his grade 5 yr:
-listening comprehension grade 12.8 level (hey my kids ready for college and he's only 9! YAH!)
-WRITING skills were labeled 'untesteable' meaning he did not meet grade one level! OUCH :(
-reading skills were 'exceptional' IF he read something he had seen before but if it was something new his reading skills were tested to be at a grade 2 level (ok lets re think this college thing :()
- his IQ came out as 156 -genius they labelled that.
He was 'labeled' as severely dyslexic.
Along with ADHD (which I did not give him medication for but rather eliminated ALL forms of sugar, food colouring, preservatives, dairy and enriched white flour from his diet-he seemed to calm down).


Further testing was done by an occupational therapist.
He was labeled with "sensory integration disorder" Google that one it fits with his 'sensory seeking' behavious of slamming himself into things, not noticing if he had knocked over someone as he was focusing on where he was headed (he literally would not notice if he knocked over a kid in the hallway as he ran towards the doors as recess bell rang-and these are the things that got him in trouble often and he would cry and say the teachers were lying that he never hit anyone along the way).

Basically his internal system needed extra sensory stimulation in order to feel ok.
so thus the constant moving around...
heck he roller bladed 10 km when he was four and took a fit because we had to stop the even he was registered came to an end.(and was the youngest participant) so we together roller bladed the same route again.. he was 4!


These 'troubles' continued until in grade 8 he became so discouraged with school, with his continual 'failure' with the written format in any way (to this day he cannot spell his whole first and last name)


Now, despite his 156 IQ which many would think he should be well on his way to Harward, he has dropped out of school :( and moved away from home to live with his friends who all sit around playing video games, writing hacks/cracks for these games and he sells his world of warcraft characters online for several hundred dollars after staying up nights and days building his character to the maximum levels/powers (whatever I do not know enough about world of warcraft except that he tells me "I OWN that game, noone can beat me and I sell my characters to make money to live on".)
NO Im not happy his live has turned out this way.
NO I'm not happy that he has no ambition to do anything other then to wait for his 18th BD to get his inheritance and spend it on skydiving (well at least he is spending it on something useful :) )

Seriously,this kid had the warning signs which I never recognized, from the beginning that there was something 'different' about him.
I thought some of his 'talents' were cool i.e the balance his ability to play any game and beat it before the rental period was over, his incredible athletic abilities, i.e the first time i took him to a ski hill I paid for the lessons, he listened to the guy tell him how to stop and he took off.The teacher was alarmed, but Mika took off to the lift, I was told the instructor had to go find him and he was cruising down the hill, went into the halfpipe and got air on his first run down the hill. He never fell once that day.
When he joined swimming lessons he passed 5 levels in 3 months (at the YMCA they typically do one level per session -3 moths). He was asked by the university swim club if he wanted to join their development competative team he replied "not really, but if you have a video playing team let me know I'll join that".

This kid, despite being incredibly smart, has low self esteem from thinking he has no skills that are marketable (that is partly why I am happy he is going to spend his money on sky diving, I know he will be one of those guys who can do a stand up landing on his FJC BUT does he have the focus and concentration for altitude awareness and his surroundings etc.? AND will he not 'hot dog it' and show off swooping of something stupid just because he thinks he can do it... unfortunately i can see him injuring himself also if he takes sky diving as nonchalant as he takes everything else... I HOPE I can instill him that this is a 'you very well might die' sport for him).


SO after this long story, which I would not typically share, since it is very sad for me to think that my son, who is so bright, so loveable, so kind and gentle in his heart
has had a tough time, and will have a tough time.

I kept wondering 'what did I do wrong?".
was it the forcepts delivery that left him with a cone shaped head for months?
was it...? was it...?

propably none of those.
perhaps that genetics dealt him a 'not so perfect deck'
and his life experiences in school left him feeling like he is a failure in society.

i even home schooled him during some of his most difficult times.
At the age of 12, he was SO interested in quantum physics we would spend hours talking about string theory, chaos theory etc.
and I did tell him "son, this is stuff you will never learn in highschool this is university physics"... trying to help him realize he IS SMART.

BUT I MADE A MISTAKE in LISTENING TO THE TEACHERS WHO SAID LETS NOT WORRY YET.... IN GRADE 3.

He lost out on the OT that he could have potentially helped him with the writing.

I fought like a bullfighter to get him identified at school with a disability when he was in grade 6 so he could get a laptop provided by the school board for his writing and a special program called WordQ which helped him write sentences that he was thinking of.

it was too little too late.the damage was done.
8 yrs of school, of kids telling him he was a 'spazz', to 'get away from us', that he 'sucks' in team sports, that his art work 'looks stupid', and him never having his work displayed in the school bulletin boards.... ever!

today, I feel sad....when I write this,
my beautiful smart, kind, sweet kid sits in a dark basement at a friends house, has not seen me since Nov 26th except for showing up 4 hr late for christmas dinner,
and his future is going nowhere....
he is depressed and told me quite perceptively one day:

"mom I like to stay in the fantasy world of world of war craft BECAUSE AT LEAST IM GOOD AT SOMETHING, there I am looked up to, there I OWN that game and everyone wants to be on my team. It makes me forget about what a looser I am in everything else".


please, take an objective look at your sons abilities.
do crafts with him at home and see what he does... can he cut? can he glue the flower petals where they belong, can he do toddler puzzles, can he tolerate frustration, is he able to sit still when he watches tv or does something inteesting to him, when you read to him, watch what he does... if he walks away let him but ask him later what was he thinking about when he took of..... these give clues.

IF there is a learning disability,
hopefully not but if there is....
getting him some help NOW is better then what happened to my son.....



now I cannot write anymore...
for I see not through these tears.

Quote

But if you're going to hang out at the DZ anyway, maybe it's also worth your while to learn to pack?

good advice.
I cannot dive right now,
(tandem progression is not an option in Can. frozen winters)

packing is what I spend my time doing.
I do read the SIMS, Brian Germain's books,
Sky divers handbook, and chat with sky divers.
remembering my coaches words,
that there are often many ways to do things,
and there are some who believe their way is the only way.

Remembering that,
hanging out at the DZ you learn by watching folks land,
start observing their approach to landing,
the time they flare in relation to how low they are,
watch them all, and listen for comments from instructors or the DZ owner
(like when I heard our DZ owner say "someone go kick his a**, I knew this guy did something he should not have=swooping).

those are things that do help in learning,
watching what others are doing
and observing the results
in what you see and comments you hear from reputable knowledgeable people at the DZ.



Have fun, be thrifty, while you save
it goes faster
and then jump to your hearts content!
:)

Hi,

I apologize for my ignorance
but what is a DWR

Were going to FLY Lonnie,
till the sun sets
and then do it again and again!
Maybe it will work out that Russel will come also.
I'm SO stoked about diving with you Lonnie...
YOU re MY inspiration,
you've got guts!

This summer we will take the DZ's over and have gimps dropping out the sky like rain in the spring time.

You can do a Tandem at PST parachute of school of Toronto.

My coach,is one of their tandem masters,
when asked, he replied the largest man he did a tandem with
was 270 lbs (this man also was strong and bulky, not large and flabby, out of shape... i.e. it does make a difference when he lands with a larger passenger- if you look at the first video of mine, in the disabilities forum
you'll see Angus taking me on landing to absorb both of our energy.

Angus is a small guy,propably under 180 lbs WITH his tandem gear!.
Therefore I think it's doable.
'I know we have a couple of students who are well over 6 feet and not small guys...
propably some kind of a BASE or tandem canopy size would give you a place to start....
although meant for different uses,
they manufacture canopies large enough to carry your rigged up weight.

If your fit, and only you know,
then I do not see your size exceptionally as the reason
to stop you from sky diving
-maybe more difficult to find gear...
but life is full of challenges
-minna

Hi Chris,

Gananoque *near Kingston* has a GREAT reputation and excellent instructors (as well, its the home dropzone of my instructor and my second AFF instructor to be.. I totally trust those guys and they certainly have good things to say about Gan.)

As for other places to try.
PST (parachute school of Toronto)
is my home dropzone and the only one in Ontario which is open for the winters! for those who want to get some hop n pops in the winter its the place to go.
Both dropzones have a website:

http://www.dropzone.com/dropzone/Detailed/517.shtml
info on Gananoque and
PST at:
http://www.parachuteschool.com/

Arnprior I do not know anything about.

Skydive Burnaby has a great reputation also:

http://www.skydiveburnaby.com/

Hope this gives you some info to start with.

Welcome to the sport and thanks for the intro.
Hoping to see you around in the Blue Skies...
you'll recognize me pretty much at any DZ, since I'm the short hair chick in a wheelchair who is "wacky" and "crazy" about sky diving.
Currently I need to stick to my home dropzone PST until I've got my A license (hoping to acquire it by the end of 2008 autumn.)

Be well remain strong and Happy New yr,
-minna

I was just about to chime in and say all my landings are on my butt.... it's easy

until I read "advanced" technique...
and decided to just share my experience.

Being a paraplegic I need to get my legs up and out of the way so I can land on my butt each time.

Initially (Im doing tandem progression right now, and after the wind tunnel test to see how stable I am in FF alone I'll start the AFF and hopefully be solo by June)...
my coach told me I tried to flare at 30f -my 4th dive...if it wasn't for him pulling up the toggles I would not be here telling this.

then it got better.. after he gave me a good talking to. and basically told me I'll kill myself if I do not learn the landing part clearly and well.

I learned it... fast after that.
By my 6th dive (onward) I've been flaring properly about 4 feet above ground...
I plan my approach so I have tons of room to
ride out the canopy as long as I can to bring down the speed until I feel it is barely moving forward and by then I usually am about 6 to 4 feet...
then it's just a full brakes and the canopy gently places me on the lap of the Earth like I didn't even come from the sky... as if i just placed myself down onto the grass.
i do not have any bruises, skid marks, burns or marks on my pants either.. no grass slide burns.... nothing.

Only one time (6th dive) I flared so low that my left leg had time to 'catch' some grass on the way by.. digging a bit of a lump of grass n dirt inside my shoe... that was as eventful as the butt landings have been.

Mind you, I;m flying such a docile canopy that when I tried to bury the toggles in one dive, the canopy slowly awoke from her slumber and began to move as a newly awakened bear out of hibernation....
so that could be a reason why the landings on my butt are so easy and simply non-eventful.

I do not know why,
but I'm crying as I read this....
I wish you didn't have to go to Iraq to get $ to sky dive...

I wish for you, the guardians of all souls be beside you, before you and looking out above you....
to keep you from all harm,
to keep your dreams of sky diving alive,
to keep your spirits high, and positive
even when all hell breaks loose around you.

I wish you the happiest day or return,
safely an unharmed.

May your first jump back be more memorable then any you've ever had....
may your sacrifices to your beliefs,
to your desire to help people live in a safe world
bring you great respect and honour you deserve.

be well stay safe to return to us again,
-minna

Welcome to the DZ, and to this exceptional sport.

Sounds like your doing the responsible thing now that your 30
taking the AFF course and getting out there to enjoy life,
every minute of it that you can seems pretty responsible to me.

Too many people end up with a long 'wish list' of what they'd wish the HAD done in life,
when they get older and are on their way out the final exit.

Enjoy your ski diving,
and get on out that door like its the doorway to the rest of your wonderful, beautiful, exceptional life,
(because it is)
and dive into life now that your 30!

Welcome to the sport and to the forums,
-minna

Here is the video of my first tandem sky dive on Aug 6th 2007.
with details of the minimum modifications we made in order for me to be able to do this tandem dive.

Here I am purely a passenger, yet this is the dive that ignited the fire within for my spirit to fly freely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1nm2fOFPYQ

Hi,
I thought to start a thread here so folks who are in similar situation as me and are wanting to sky dive alone eventually (sure I love my tandem instructor dearly but I do not plan on hauling his ass through the blue skies for ever ).

Here is my intro thread where you can get the general idea of whats going on to date:
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2997438;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

I will keep posting the videos as we get them.

But this is my 4th tandem progression sky dive.
We discuss in this video how we secure my legs, and what skills i was working on during that dive,
at the end of the video is the debriefing and the issue that occurred which we needed to correct (these are important aspects ) is discussed.

here is the 4th tandem progression dive:
[url] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdTmmJDjn1o [url]

from there, the next video is my 9th tandem progression dive. By this dive we were to do one back flip exit but ended up doing double back flip exits off the wing of the 206.

I did the work in stabilizing us, and did two 360 turns before deployment.

the landing is completely controlled by me right down to the flare at the appropriate time by riding out my canopy on a NO WIND day.

I feel somewhat self conscious of speaking of this in this manner, (as its like bragging), but I hope people understand that I am trying to share info and explain what is possible with proper instruction and the ability to think outside of the box and try different ways of doing things,

so this is the 9th tandem video:
[url] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWtiQyGVJl4 [url]

Something important to note about the 9th tandem dive is that we did not plan to do two back flips.

Since I was in control of stabilizing us,
I was not able to stop the second back flip but as soon as it started I arched as strong as i could and
did finish with a clean stable arch after the second one.

Of course had I not been able to do so,
my instructor would have worked towards stopping us,
but the idea is to see what I could do alone.

This was my last dive prior to our planned trip to the wind tunnel in Feb 2008 or March 2008 and there we will see how stable I am without anyone attached to me.
That will be the real test of what will happen.
There will be video posted of that experience once we have made the trip.

I'll keep this thread updated with the video links and any info on stuff that we find important to share.
especially if something does not work well, and we need to change aspects of our ideas.

Such as what happened with the 4th dive,
we needed to change some things so the strap with which I was to pull my legs up for landing didnt interfere with pulling the cord which it did in that video (it is visible how the daisychain we used is getting in the way when I try to pull... that time it took me 1000f of altitude to finally be able to pull.

ONE VERY IMPORTANT aspect is TO ALWAYS DEPLOY MUCH HIGHER then able bodied people do.

The students at out DZ deploy at 3,000f
I must commence my wave off at 5,500f and have finished pulling the cord by 5,000f.This gives me time to pull up my legs after checking for upper wind directions, DZ location etc. well before I hit the 3,000f marker where the other students would be ready to start flying their canopy.

I think that this is probably the most important thing I can stress. Is the fact that we quads need extra altitude to do our jobs.

-minna

hey there supercrip,

are you planning to go ahead and do more?
progress towards trying this on your own?
if so, lets talk on here...

I'm a L2 (and also affected with ALS)
and I've done 9 tandem progression dives.
for my info and some links to the 4th and 9th tandem progression dives (the 4th dive video has instruction on how we secure my legs and how I lift them up for landing)

see my intro thread:
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2997438;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

I'd like to encourage everyone to follow along and see
what happens to me as I go into the wind tunnel in Feb. most likely or March 2008.
If all goes well in the wind tunnel I'll be moving on to AFF and going after my A license from there.

Blue skies,
-minna

Its quite possible to tandem with SCI I've done 9 tandems now and am on my way to the wind tunnel with my legs braced at a 60 degree angle (we will need to experiment with the degrees in the tunnel ),
to try to see whats going to happen to me when I plan to move on to AFF next spring.

for more info (and the links to my videos of 2 of my tandem progression dives 4th dive and 9th dive) see my intro thread:
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2997438;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

Quote

To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

Thanks DannyDan and Skyjump11 for the welcome and great greetings.

I just visited my coach Angus, brought him the two leg braces I was able to acquire from Ebay.
They lock into a variety of angles (up to 11 different ones)
We figured around 60% would be a place to start and see how that works in the tunnel.

Then today I found an email from him about our upcoming tunnel trip that he's going to " try to coordinate it so that we are there the same time as the 'Canadian Tunnel Camp'. ....you will get to meet a bunch of your fellow Canadian skydivers, including Rocky and Tana Nash (Stratosphere 4 way team), who organise this event. They are good friends of mine, and a LOT of fun!"

http://www.geocities.com/team_stratosfear/

I can't believe this all!
someone pinch me, kick me, throw me off the roof to make sure I'm not hallucinating!

I'd push myself down to NH if I could go during Stratosphere 4 way team camp even just to watch.

All is set to go now, just have to wait to make sure that the tunnel is going to allow me in there (seeing as there hasn't been too many gimps in those places from what i hear)....
I have faith.
They will allow me to go.

My life is a blast...
I love life.

I was sick there this fall for quite a while, with kidney infection, sinus infection and aspiration pneumonia, until on Nov. 30th I felt so weak I thought I had trouble breathing.
Called he doc and he said to go to the ER.
Well, i almost didn't go, but the dreams of the tunnel made me want to make sure i was going to be healthy.

When I get there, the nurse says:
"why is your heart rate 35?"
(How the heck am I supposed to know.... was my initial thoughts, then my 'ego' kicked in and I said maybe because I'm really physically fit like Lance Armstrong, his resting heart rate is 36".
Wrong answer!
They hook me up to some cardio machines...
heart rate is dropping, were at 20 beats per minute now,
blood pressure is dropping...
cardiologist is called and atropene is administered to increase the heart rate.
OOPS! it had the opposite effect!
sent me into flatline the nurses said.
It was the strangest feeling.
so peaceful, the peripheral vision started to black out and everything looked like it was far away at the end of a long tunnel...
then everything went black...
15 seconds my heart had been stopped until they did the electric loop, or paddles or what ever the heck they had to do to kick start the old ticker again.
Spent Nov 30th to Dec. 12th in critical care hooked up to an 'artline' (like an IV but in my artery)
to monitor each heart beat, oxygen saturation and blood pressure,
on 3 IV medications to try to increase the heart rate which still wanted to hover around 30 to 40 despite these meds.

Ohh but then Angus came to visit!
HE DROVE in a freakn blizzard directly from work for 5 or 6 hrs just to come to my bedside,
and give me a good reminder that the tunnel time is waiting for me...
that the blue skies are there...
that i have a life to live.

Well didnt that kick start the old ticker and the cardiologist to this day has no idea why those medications didnt do the trick, but the adrenaline rush from my own body thinking of sky diving brought back the life into me I know....

2 days after I left the hosp. i went to the dropzone.
the owner was shocked as hell, I was worried wed have to put him on the artline and atropene....

but heck, doctors have been known to be wrong before,
They told me in sept. 2005 that I had 60% chance of dying within 3 yrs and 90% chance of dying within 5 yrs of their 'death sentence' attempt (diagnosed with ALS)
...

now I just go back to see them once a year to remind them that with determination, a strong will, (or is that stubborness?), positive thinking and beautiful dreams of doing wonderful things a persons mind is stronger then anything else.
I refuse to die laying around in a hosp. bed.

This time the infections had turned into sepsis, systemic blood poisoning and thats what grabbed my heart muscle
but just the thoughts of sky diving and watching tons of sky diving and BASE jumping videos each day,
reading Brian Germains books, and having Angus show up at my bedside was enough to remind the old ticker that IM IN CONTROL here.... not the damn infection.

Im still finishing off antibiotics for another week or so,
but stronger, and ready to fly anytime the word comes down that I can get out there to the tunnel.

Blue skies to all,
and remember...
do not let anyone tell you that you cannot do something you want to do, if it is in your heart and mind as a strong desire...
you WILL get there.

I wasnt going to share this lil hosp. side trip story because what the heck does it have to do with sky diving?
but it occurred to me it has EVERYTHING to do with sky diving.
IF I didnt want to get up there to dive so badly,maybe my mind would not have fought every heart beat.

Quote

Yup, that Russel!

If you're ever in Idaho, look me up. You'll get a solid immersion. We have "events" every day!

I'll be at BD...look me up there too.

I'll be SURE to do that Russel,
I've started talking to Lonnie on facebook and we got some plans for next summer for a bit of "immersion" right here in Ontario....
My coach Angus tells me he thinks its truly possible for me to have my A license by the end of next summer season, and with that A, a letter from my DZ (PST) stating anyone can call there anytime to verify that its "real" that I did learn after I got into this freak'n chair, no one should be able to stop me from sky diving at any DZ like anyone else.

So, Lonnie and I are planning a bit of 'gimp freefall'
who knows what will happen when two crazy gimps start jumping out of planes, 'maybe start off as praying mantis and end up as horny gorilla's by the time were ready to deploy...

It will probably be a 'first', two gimps docking in FF and getting "something going on" worth getting your videographer out to follow us around.

Glad to meet you Para_Frog,
I'm certainly going to come find you at BD next yr.!
and well, Idaho, never been there so if there's some "immersion" going on, I'd be willing to do a cross country ultra marathon in my wheelchair to get there

-minna