FlyingRhenquest

No, but I wasn't going to go anyway. I'm not planning to jump off of anything affixed to the ground anytime soon. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Canopy course, if you haven't done one yet. It's a great investment in your skydiving career. If you're interested in taking all three of the ones you mentioned, I'd say go for it! There's only so far you can go on your own, and having feedback from a coach is an excellent way to focus on improving your weak areas. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

You could just tell her to learn to freefly so she can go head down and you can stay on your belly. I did a hybrid belly/sit with a couple guys at the DZ last year that worked pretty well. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Ahem "I just flew over the Grand Canyon and boy are my arms tired!" I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

No problem. I was on a pipe-smoker's forum back in the CompuServe days and picked up a lot of my pipe know-how there. It would definitely have been intimidating to try to pick all that up on my own. I never did care for all the special merschaum handling instructions. If you want to preserve the pipe's resale value then never smoke it, but if you're going to smoke it you may as well enjoy the feel of the pipe in your hand. Mine never seemed to get discolored from me handling it. I think we're pretty much past the point of handing something like that down from generation to generation. "Hey son, have this stinky old pipe I've been smoking for the last 20 years!" Yeech... I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Yeah. This was back in the 90's before all the public smoking laws and I could sit outside my favorite coffee shop and have some coffee and smoke my pipe. On several occasions passers-by would say they liked the smell of the smoke. I never did get any of the hate that cigarette and cigar smokers talk about. It tastes better, too. Which is to say, it actually tastes like something. I had a cigarette a couple times with a couple of different friends and they never tasted like anything to me. Funnily enough, one of the times I was in Romania, one of my co-workers asked me if he could try my pipe. Unfiltered Camels seemed to be the preferred choice of the group there. So I told him he could help himself but that he shouldn't inhale. So naturally he has to put his thumb over the bowl and toke the shit out of it. Then he turned green and started coughing. Heh heh heh. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I used to smoke a pipe from time to time. As someone else mentioned, don't inhale the smoke. It's got a lot more kick than cigarette smoke and you'll get all the nicotine you can handle just absorbing it through your mouth. Once you get used to it, you learn how much you can inhale without making yourself queasy. They're a huge pain in the ass to keep clean. You'll always want to have a lot of pipe cleaners on hand, and run a couple through it after every time you use it. Otherwise they start tasting like crap pretty quickly. You'll also need a metal tamper to tamp down the coals. The tobacco burns best when it's a bit compressed. You end up tamping it down several times during the process of smoking it. At the end, you need to scrape all the ash out of the bowl. Speaking of which, smoking a pipe is not something that's done quickly. You're going to want to be able to spend a good half hour at it. I think I usually went somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour. I'd only smoke it a couple times a month, but probably spent more time actually smoking than a lot of cigarette smokers do. You'll want a decent pipe too. The brand of the pipe affects the flavor of the tobacco in a significant way. Merschaum (the white bone looking ones) are pretty much the ultimate in pipes but I tended to prefer a good briar pipe. Peterson makes a nice one, too. Look to spend $100-$150 for a decent pipe. Once you get a decent pipe, you'll need some good tobacco. You can get loose pipe tobacco by the ounce. Apple or cherry tobaccos are nice, and often got me compliments on how good it smelled. Tobacco in tins from Europe was always kind of nice, too. I'd also smoke black latikia straight and rather liked the stuff but I'm weird that way. Most people would mix it in with something else. You need to keep your tobacco moist between smoking if you don't smoke that often. You could buy little clay things that you could soak in water and then put in your tobacco that seemed to work reasonably well. An ounce of tobacco would last me a good long time. You really do taste the tobacco a lot when you're smoking it. Once you get used to smoking a pipe, cigarettes don't taste like anything. Pipe places usually sell pipe screens too, but I found the usually weren't worth messing with. It's not that hard to learn to not suck scorching hot coals into the back of your throat. You really have to be working the last dregs of your bowl to do that on a regular basis. Just dump them out and start a fresh bowl if you really want more smoke. I eventually quit for two reasons. One was I just couldn't be arsed to go buy tobacco. Other one was I noticed I'd get a huge headache the day after smoking it. I never actually officially quit, but I also haven't smoked in over a decade and don't even have a pipe at the moment. Every once in a while I do still miss it, nice bowl of cherry tobacco at the end of a day is nice every so often. Just not worth the headache. Have you considered one of those E-Cigarette things? They seem like they might have similar rituals and flavor selections, but might be less of an overall maintenance hassle than a pipe would be. You're also more likely to be able to get away with smoking one of those in public these days. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I've noticed the straps from the rig seem to make me want to keep my legs farther apart. That may be why that's happening to you. Not much you can do about it, though, just gotta get used to it. I always get a bit amped up for my first couple minutes in the tunnel, as I automatically check my emergency handles, and they're not there. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I did toe taps for leg position awareness. If I go back and watch my early tunnel videos, I can see that I'm doing them in several of the videos. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I don't think aspiringwriter ever said skydiving was on their bucket list, so I don't think we hassle them for not wanting to do a tandem. No excuse is required. I'm impressed with the amount of research the original poster is putting into this project. If aspiringwrite happen to be near Los Anglese in mid-March it might be worth stopping by Perris on March 14 for the Sisters in Skydiving event. The type of woman that would wingsuit across Niagara Falls would also be at an event like this. True, but I bet if you were chilling and they happened to overhear you were a skydiver, they probably would say something like that! Anywhoo, I don't harass people for not wanting to do tandem jumps. I don't want to do a tandem jump. That's scary as hell! What I harass people for is saying they want to make a tandem jump and then immediately coming up with an excuse to put it off. And I don't actually harass them even then, I just point out that it sounds like an excuse. When I was doing early jumps, I talked myself out of going to the DZ several times. Initially I didn't realize what I was doing. It's not always easy to realize you're making an excuse. I still talk myself out of making wingsuit jumps on a fairly regular basis. I'd like to at least be honest with myself if I'm going to do that. Otherwise, how would I ever overcome my fear? So I might come across as a bit in-your-face when it sounds to me like someone's making an excuse, but if they didn't realize they were doing it and are able to be a bit more honest with themselves after I point it out, perhaps that's OK. One thing's certain, and that's that the skydiving forum definitely has an odd cast of characters. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Heh heh, is that just an excuse? I've gotten much better at spotting them since I started jumping. I still catch myself making them pretty regularly. When I tell people I skydive, they almost universally tell me it's on their bucket list. Two of the people who've told me that died in 2013. What that's taught me is it's not a good idea to wait around to have potentially life-changing experiences. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Not so good. I was diagnosed as a caffeine addict by a psychiatrist once based entirely on the information that I drank mountain dew. I've kicked the mountain dew and can't stand it anymore, but I still needs me my coffee. I did kick the caffeine habit once for a few months, but had to stay up late one night and that was the end of that. I'd probably feel much better without it, but I don't think I could spare the couple of weeks of massive headaches and narcolepsy it'd take to get there again. by the way, this is by far the best coffee I've ever had. Guy at the coffee shop gave me a sample and when I heard an order was coming in I told him to put me down for a kilogram. I think that was about 20% of his entire order, and completely worth it. I've just about worked through it all now and am keeping an eye out to see if they get any more in. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

You've seen this, haven't you? I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Excellent! Have a safe jump and don't forget to smile! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Yeah... you stop getting that after you turn 40. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Well if that's true, a mouse would work very well! Just put a mouse in the trap! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Sorry - I was on the piercing comment. circumcision has at least arguments (true or not in today's world) that would be used as a medical procedure. That's the thread here I guess piercing, body ornamentation - not at all medical I'm wondering if we are pointing out the same thing but from different directions. I've seen women arguing vigorously against circumcision while holding their toddler daughter who has holes punched in their ears. I find it very at odds to say the least. Take those earrings out and the holes will grow over. It's kind of hard to grow your foreskin back. Of course, in my fascist regime, children would be removed from their parents at birth and raised in clean state-run facilities where they would be uniformly educated, vaccinated and indoctrinated into the mandatory state religion, which involves Smurfs. This is entirely because someone cut a piece of my dick off without so much as a by-your-leave when I was an infant. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I suspect you might have trouble finding a DZ that would let you do it all freelance like that, at least in the USA. They usually seem to be pretty hung up on liability issues. Maybe one of the ones that are structured as clubs might be more willing to do something like that. However, you don't technically need a DZ to skydive. All you need is a willing pilot who knows how to file a NOTAM. Well, that and a plane you can skydive out of. And another AFF instructor for at least 3 jumps. And an extra rig. Sure that would be a huge pain the ass, but it'd probably be kind of fun to get all that crap together. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Hmm. Wolfram alpha says 5.95 people in 100000 die of cancer every year. The 6th person was apparently only mostly dead. In skydiving roughly 1 in 100000 jumps results in a fatality (Actually those stats are a bit old IIRC, I think it's closer to 1 in 150K right now) Now if everyone would very nicely just do one jump a year while I'm doing my statistics, this would be easy! Hey! I see you trying to do another jump! Quit it! Ahem. Anywhoo, most people don't seem to get through AFF before quitting -- of 13 people in my class, I'm the only one who seems to have stuck with it. On average if you do go on to get your license you're going to get bored of it and quit within around 200 jumps. The skydivers with 10000 jumps are pretty rare. If one skydive is all it takes for you to be a "skydiver", I'd still go with "Cancer." It also depends on what you consider "Skydiving." BASE seems to be significantly more risky. Seems like every time someone's telling me about some guy they knew who died, it's usually "Yeah, he decided to give BASE a try..." I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

A lot's happened since 1985. You could go hop in a wind tunnel somewhere and see if you still like freefall. I suspect that even if you do want to do a jump, you don't want to dust off your old gear... I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I've seen some hawks at around 1500 on my way down. Usually I think they're mocking me since they can stay up and I can't. Even if I try to sit in their thermal. You can encounter birds higher, but it's statistically improbable. Sky's a big place. You're much more likely to hit another skydiver than a bird. I'm a bit surprised we don't seem to have any collisions here between those damn Canadian geese that plague us all winter long and our swoopers. I've seen a flock of those things take off near the dropzone quite a few times. And there's goose shit all over the landing area. You definitely don't want to face plant your landing out there this time of year, that's for sure! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Nope. I can't do anything 'til I get the W2 forms from the company, and they always wait until the end of January. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Yeah couple people 'round here still have lights up. The local grocery store has already moved on to Valentine's day, though. They already have a bunch of Valentine's stuff up in the "Seasonal" aisle. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

How do you know? Or are you just supposing? I reckon the only way one could would be to have it done as an adult. I gather it's a bit more of a bother to keep an uncircumcised one clean, but don't have any first-hand experience in that area. Now I know you're thinking "what the hell could he have possibly linked there?" Do ya feel lucky, huh, well do ya? Heh heh heh. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Especially when it's been pierced 5 times and tattooed I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?