FlyingRhenquest

Well... listen to this! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Airport Mojo: If you're not checking a bag and already have your boarding pass (IE, got it in the mail) you can skip the check-in line, go straight to your gate and check in there. There are two sets of screens prominently placed in every airport, with arrivals and departures. It's a good idea to head to the departures one, find your flight on the board and verify the concourse and gate number haven't changed. Knowing your airport counts for a lot. Up-to-date information also counts for a lot. Like I used to be able to move through Atlanta faster on their moving sidewalks than on their people mover. At the last time I checked at DIA, they had a separate security checkpoint on the bridge between the main hub and concourse A. Since that checkpoint got about a quarter of the traffic that the main one did, I usually went through that. That information's a bit over a decade old though. I'd rather get on the plane last and get off it first than the other way around. Oddly it's the other way around on skydiving planes (High Pulls and Wingsuits get out last.) All airport personnel are required to ask, upon seeing your rig, if you're planning to get out of the plane. Tell them you try to avoid exiting aircraft in a fashion that could result in you getting sucked into an engine. Never, for any reason, travel through Heathrow in the UK. That thing makes Atlanta look well-designed. If you DO travel though Heathrow and have to leave the airport, do try to avoid getting hit by a car as you leave the airport. It seems like this is a problem there. Leave yourself plenty of time to get to the airport, get checked in and get through security. A huge amount of the stress people undergo at the airport is self-inflicted. If you have some extra time there, use it to study their process. Once you understand how the place works, it's much easier to relax and be comfortable there. Avoid children. They're filthy little disease carriers. I swear parents bring their children to the airport just so they can rub the grubby little things on every single surface. You're already pushing the bounds of your immune system by jamming yourself in a sardine can with 80 other random members of your species. How everyone doesn't end up with TB and/or Ebola is beyond me... I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Take a picture BEFORE smooshing it next time! But yeah, your cat will defend you from such things, and mice and cockroaches and birds. I've never met a cat that didn't like the hairbands you can get 50 of for like $4. Mine also likes those little silver puff balls they sell as cat toys, and the fur mice. I stick my fur mice into a container of catnip for a while before giving them to the cat. If you want to see a cat go completely insane, get some valerian root powder and put a little on the floor somewhere. Don't go overboard with the valerian. It'll make your cat go insane, and it smells very strongly of old moldy gym sock. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Jaws is dead? GAAAAAH! *BITES THROUGH THE THREAD* I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

In the USA it's regulated by the FAA. The pilot is licensed by the FAA and must follow airspace guidelines and file a NOTAM. Skydivers need to have a reserve parachute in their container. In other countries your mileage may vary. Around where I live you can't get much more than about 4000 feet AGL due the starting altitude (5000 feet,) air traffic in the area (DIA regional traffic patterns routinely have commercial jets flying over and what doesn't look like much more than 5000 AGL) and him not want to have to require his passengers or himself to use oxygen. Plastic oxygen masks kind of spoil the romance of the hot air balloon flight. Plus, you know, open flame source right there and all. Presumably having three local skydivers get out halfway through the flight doesn't spoil the romance of the hot air balloon flight heh heh heh. The pilot I've worked with seems quite happy to have us along. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Yeah! Flips and barrel rolls are the best! I always thought I had a nice tight little barrel roll in the sky, but have only recently found the courage to actually try it in the tunnel. Turns out I actually do have a nice tight barrel roll. I'll have to see if I can get a good one on video in my next session. First thing I did on my first solo skydive was a ton of flips. I was also looking forward to my first high pull. Now I'm a high pull fiend and will execute one at every opportunity. There's nothing quite like pulling right out of the plane at Sunset and spending 10-15 minutes working your way down (Clear them with your manifest before attempting.) I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Crappy weather in the morning on Saturday and beautiful in the afternoon when I'd made commitments to help someone set a computer up. Beautiful weather in the morning on Sunday while I was running around doing some errands that couldn't wait, turned crappy in the afternoon. Cleared up again so I got on an Otter, but the wind picked up at 5500 feet (right after the hop and pops got out) and we had to ride the plane back down. Left my rig with the riggers for a reserve repack. That's pretty much been my entire summer in a nutshell, too. I think I've done about a quarter of the jumps I did my first summer. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Yeah, if I were unconscious, I'd much rather be under my main at 8000 feet than under my reserve at 600. One of these two gives me a little time to wake up... I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

When you realize there is no spoon, you will be ready! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Back around early jump 20 or so I hit the ground on a 280, THEN flared. Hurt like hell and limped for a couple weeks, but I'd say I technically walked away from it. May have actually fractured some stuff in the balls of my feet, but it didn't seem like particularly important stuff. I mean, I was still able to walk and no bones were sticking out anywhere. Anything you can walk away from with no bones sticking out is a success in my book! I think that was loading around .8-ish. I also didn't do THAT again. Learning works so much better when pain's involved! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I'd add .5 to the wing-loading of my main so I can be sure to swoop and catch my D-Bag on my way down! But isn't there some way you could have combined this with a medical advice questions so I could give you bad advice on two things at the same time? Honestly I wouldn't feel comfortable landing my main if I were unable to unstow the toggles and flare it, much less my (only 10 sqft less) reserve. If that were a criteria to choose by, I'd still be flying a 300. You gotta remember that in the event that you're unconscious, hopefully it'll just drag you along the ground on your face, thus protecting your precious femurs. Yay! There's my medical advice! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

That's why I do all my date/time calculations in seconds. I just work from the One True Epoch (Midnight, Jan 1, 1970 GMT) in the One True Timezone (GMT) and it's all pretty straight forward. If you want to know what time it was on that particular day, just modulo by 86400 (Because there are 86400 seconds in a day, dontcha know?) and convert the result to hours, minutes and seconds. If you need to know when your reserve repack's due, just add thirteen million, eight hundred twenty-four thousand to the seconds-timestamp of your last reserve repack. You don't have to muck about with how long months are, leap years or any of the rest of that crap. Oh and by the way, I'm declaring jihad on UTC. I don't technically have the power to declare jihad, but I'm doing it anyway. Leap seconds are an ABOMINATION! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

What? You stick them on an unrolled clothes hangar, set them on fire, blow them out when they're good and black and wait until they're no longer liquid hot magma before eating them. It's easy! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I'm pretty sloppy about getting my log book signed, but the couple of hot air balloon jumps I did, I made a point of getting the pilot to sign those entries in my log book. My home DZ has all the jumps I've done there in their software and have taken to Emailing me a summary of all the jumps I've done for them whenever I do another one there. Apart from a couple of balloon jumps and a dozen at Eloy, that accounts for all the jumps I've done so far. I thought I'd missed a couple of jumps in my logbook, but the numbers add up. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Yeah yeah. Welcome to my world with every fucking hacking movie ever made I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Ooh, which forum was that, then? Seriously, though, congratulations! Where are you doing your AFF? I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Yeah, but if you ever fall out if it, you're likely to be boned! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Mmm 93%. See my post on that subject I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Um, your math's wrong. If I want to do 10000 jumps in my life, I have a 100% chance of getting killed. Maybe just a 7.5% chance of getting killed while skydiving. Actually I only have a 93% chance of getting killed. I checked. It's estimated that there have been 100 billion humans so far, and currently 7 billion humans alive. Until the last human dies, life doesn't have a 100% mortality rate. Isn't math fun? Realistically though, I know one day I'm going to die, and I'm OK with that. Not that it would change anything if I wasn't. At the end of the road, I'll have been much happier having lived an awesome life (And quite possibly a longer one, too) than I would have been if I'd sat around in my apartment in my underwear playing video games for the entire time. Everyone I've met who I've mentioned I skydive to has said "Ooh, that's always been on my bucket list!" One of them was a DBA who was a co-worker of mine until he fell off a ladder at his house and died. You'd be surprised at how many people that happens to. You know what's on my bucket list? A week of wingsuit flying over Hawaii. Once I'm reasonably comfortable flying the wingsuit, I'm going to go do that. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Heresy! Shun the non-believer! Shun! Shun! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Ah yes, the age old story of "Boy meets girl, boy dates girl, girl says 'we need to talk about how much time you're spending at the dropzone,' boy dumps girl." I'd guess it doesn't always have to be the same, but you do have to be able to do other things together than you both enjoy. I also think she'd have to be at least a little interested in the sport, at least to the point where she's excited to watch the videos. Maybe try screening the next one by showing her your skydiving videos and see how she responds to them. Of course, there's always the chance she runs screaming from the building when you do that... I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

You can still read them, you just have to turn the altimeter so that the polarity doesn't cancel out. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

What the fuck is your problem? Maybe he's Gene Simmons I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Yeah I'm a total caffeine addict, too. I was told that by a psychiatrist once based entirely in the information that I drank Mountain Dew. Kicked the habit for about 3 months and felt great after a couple weeks of nasty withdraw symptoms, then had to stay up late one nice and that was the end of that. I have definitely noticed that if I have caffeine after about 1PM, I'm not going to sleep very well that night. Wellbutrin is really just the tip of the iceberg for meds and there are a lot of other ones you could try. I've never seen anyone respond well to Wellbutrin or Paxil, but they handled older seritonin reuptake inhibitors pretty well. I'm not a doctor, I just hang out with a lot of depressed people. It does sound like there's something else going on though, so while you might find some meds that make the symptoms bearable, you should also work with your doctors to isolate the cause. Maybe get your thyroid checked, have a sleep study done, that sort of thing. I know a lot of folks who didn't even know they had a sleep disorder until they shacked up with a lady and were told that their snoring was REALLY bad. The story's usually the same -- they do a sleep study, get a CPAP machine and sleep like a rock for the first time in their lives. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

There's no quick and easy cure for depression, you just have to keep trying stuff until you find something that works, and whatever you find that works may not continue to work over time. There are a lot of antidepressants you can get but people don't respond the same way to them, so on that front it's just a matter of finding one you respond well to and can tolerate the side effects of. At the same time it's a good time to look for other reasons you might be depressed -- you could have a sleep disorder of some sort and constantly have low energy. It could be a food allergy or imbalance in your diet -- crashing off sugar or caffeine gets a lot of people down. It could be a vitamin deficiency or a need to get more exercise, as other people have mentioned in this thread. It could be PTSD, which therapy and meds seem to help. It can take a while to work through the potential causes, but if you keep plugging away at it you're sure to find something or combination of things that works for you. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?