FlyingRhenquest

I found my notes from AFF ground school, dated July 7, 2012. My AFF log book shows my first jump on the same day. One year, 141 jumps and a B license later, I'm ready to tackle my second year! And yes, beer was provided! My new year's resolutions were to get my own gear, jump at two new dropzones and be ready for wingsuit training by next spring. I think I'm on track for that. My main canopy should arrive any day now and the rest of the system is ready for it. There are several dropzones in the area, but I'm kind of plotting to hit Deland or Phoenix in the winter. And I have a feeling 60 jumps will go pretty fast once I have my gear sorted out! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Probably that. You'd think they'd increment a major version number every so often... I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Yikes! They're really not having much luck with the 777, are they? I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

My guy wasn't very high-pressure at all. He was very up-front that he and the seller's agent both got paid from the seller's commission and he didn't have any particular incentive to get me into any particular place. He was attentive to my needs and didn't put any pressure on me at all. He actually didn't expect me to buy any particular house I was looking at, spotted the ones that were being sold by flippers and noted that the main advantage if I was interested in one of those would be the new appliances. He thought we might have to go through several rounds of going around and looking at places before I'd find something suitable. We looked at several OK properties and one that blew me away. I moved on the one that blew me away it all went off flawlessly. The inspection noted several electrical sockets with the wrong polarity and marginally higher quantities of radon than I would have preferred. I took those back to the seller and had them fixed (Including the installation of a radon mitigation system) as conditions of my offer. We looked at a lot of atrocious houses too -- a lot of people don't seem to be particularly interested in selling their houses. From the one that smelled of mothballs so strongly that I speculated there must be a dead body buried in the basement (My guy said that's not a strong "buy" signal right there) to the foreclosure property that had all of its appliances ripped out and smelled like mold. I might have actually considered that one at about half the price they were asking for it. That one also had what appeared to be a torture room down stairs -- a lockable-from-the-outside door with a glass window in it. So be prepared to not be impressed by a lot of properties when you start looking. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Find an agent you like -- a friend of mine recommended mine and it worked out great. He set me up with a login on zillow.com and I found a bunch of houses in the town I was looking to buy in and the price range I was looking for. Once I had about 10 I was interested in, we went out and looked at them all. Don't be afraid to ask your agent anything. They go through this a few times a month and know all sorts of things to look out for. Most of the places I looked at didn't have an HOA, which wasn't a coincidence, and the house I decided on was in a neighborhood that doesn't have one. Other than that, I'd say as close to the DZ as possible. I'm 10 minutes from mine. I can roll my ass out of bed at 7:15, shower, get coffee on the way and still make an 8am early bird flight I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

GAH! Do NOT talk about FIGHT CLUB with people from DERKADERKASTAN... er... Oz. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

The vast majority of people are sheep. Easily alarmed, prone to hysterics, and living under the illusion that a higher power can keep them safe from danger. Living as they do in a world they think is safe, they are blind to the dangers that surround them. Long before I started skydiving, I was astounded at how many people treat the local national park (and the ocean for that matter) like it's Disneyland. They don't seem to realize that if you fuck up out here, you can die. We have transcended that! Our eyes are open to the truth of the world! The world is not a safe place! The world is actively trying to kill you! Do we cower before death? We do not! Are we paralyzed with fear when we have to act to save our own lives? We are not! We stalk through the herd like predators. The sheep do not understand us. They fear us and our ability to laugh in the face of death! So next time someone tells you you're insane, just give them a big wolfy grin. (Thought I was going to tell you to join Fight Club there, didn't you?) I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Yugh! I'd be hard pressed to think up a definition of "safe" under which I'd consider that to be "safe". It may only be a fraction of the price for a ride, but the idea of getting into that thing is way more scary than AFF ground school I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Are the riders in control of the parasail? You see those things a lot down there. I don't know how much ground schooling they get before going up. Sounds like a storm blew in. I've heard a few accident reports about those boat-towed parasails over the years, and it's usually because a storm blew in. You can see the weather for miles over the ocean, so there's really no excuse for letting that happen. The students don't know any better, but the operators should. Even if the students are in control of the canopy, if they're getting a 30 mile an hour headwind from the ocean, they probably can't steer so well anyway. I would be surprised if the parasail rig didn't have a breakaway cable on it. My hang gliding instructor had a set-up like that for his tow operation. Makes it less likely you'll go nose first into the ground if something goes wrong. So I'm guessing what happened is the operator started a tow operation in questionable weather, the storm blew in faster than they expected it to, and a gust of wind caught the sail and caused the breakaway system to break away, leaving the students trying to land in winds well past their limits. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Ok, but really, how could would it be to get the light, check the spot, and see a jet airliner below you? Or be looking out the window after your jet airliner just did an emergency dive and see skydivers waving at you? One of the DIA approaches from the west goes right over our DZ. A couple times those guys have looked pretty damn low. We usually only go up to about 12K AGL (Which is about 17K MSL) but the other day I told the pilot I wouldn't show him my boobs if he gave us another 1000 feet. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

What... if we could combine laser tag AND skydiving? I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Well that was kind of the point of smoking a pipe! It make smoking inconvenient! When I was stressed out I might smoke a couple times a week, most of the time it was more like a couple times a month. I'd sit outside a coffee shop in Raleigh and people would come by and complement the smell of the tobacco I was smoking. You never get that with cigarettes! If you want to quit, just quit. My sister's been smoking a pack a day since she was 13. She's tried to quit, but she can't. I'm pretty sure it's because she doesn't want to. I find it's damn near impossible to make me do something I don't want to do. Like Mencia says, quit or be happy with your vice. Don't be eating ice cream and crying at the same time. Why would I quit smoking right now? If I got lung cancer, I'd get less time to spend in my life skydiving. I quit coffee once. That's my vice. I had the worst headache for two weeks straight going off caffeine. Headaches, hot flashes, and nightmares. Then I felt great. A few months later I needed to stay up late one day and that was the end of that. I don't know why you'd take lozenges if you're not a smoker, this guy was just like that. Really bright guy, but stranger than me (And I feel like that's saying a lot.) I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I had a friend get addicted to those things without ever smoking! You should try my apathy method of quitting smoking! I can't be bothered to go to the store to buy a pack of smokes! I never really smoked cigarettes though; I said to myself that if I had a habit that was going to kill me, it should be as difficult as possible. So I smoked a pipe (YES, with tobacco, you guys!) That's a huge pain in the ass. A full bowl will last an hour, you can suck burning hot coals into the back of your throat (And I also refused to use a pipe screen for the same reason I smoked a pipe in the first place) and you had to clean it out before and after every smoke or it'd start tasting foul. I never actually technically quit, I just haven't smoked in about 10 years. Since I only smoked a couple times a week, I quickly realized that I'd get a headache the day after smoking. That was my body telling me it wanted more nicotine in the most obnoxious way possible. So I just decided to cut back, and cut way, way back. I will carry pipe and tobacco if I travel to a country where smoking is prevalent -- last one was Romania. The air over there would give you lung cancer anyway, so I figured may as well enjoy it... Since I started on a pipe, I never could transition to cigarettes. They don't taste like anything. You smoke a pipe, you taste the tobacco! Back when I was smoking, you could get an ounce of pipe tobacco for around $3 and it'd last me a couple of months. Hmm. Well I don't know much about nicotine lozenges, but it kind of sounds like I'm advising you to switch to a pipe! Heh heh heh. Statement not evaluated by the FDA yadda yadda. If you do that, remember to not inhale. That got one of my co-workers in Romania when he asked if he could try my pipe. I specifically told him not to, too, and he still did. Despite usually smoking unfiltered camels, he still turned green and started coughing. I was never really psychologically addicted to nicotine though. I can take one puff on a cigarette and hand it back. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Welcome to the forums! Given your career info, I suspect you're no stranger to acting in spite of nerves. Just relax, smile, pay close attention to your instructors and ride that adrenaline wave. I never realized until much later how much your instructors help out on that first jump. My first solo exit without their help still makes me laugh whenever I watch it. These guys are there to help you out and save your life if the need arises. Every one that I've met takes those responsibilities very seriously. Whatever nerves you're feeling that day, know that you can trust your instructors to take care of you. Are you planning to hit a vertical wind tunnel before you go? I feel like if I'd put 10-15 minutes in at one, it might have saved me a couple of AFF repeats. I guess there's no way to tell for sure. Let us know how you do! Good luck! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I nearly stepped in a prairie dog hole walking back to the DZ trailer the other day. Good thing I noticed at the last second, would have sucked to survive the skydive unscathed and then break my ankle in some varmint hole! But at least I'd have been at the DZ when it happened! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

I assume you guys have a similar jump requirement to a lot of the rest of the world -- 200 skydives before you get into a wingsuit? I started skydiving in July of last year and am on track to make my first wingsuit jump before the end of the year. So yeah, you can do it. I'm not sure I'm ever going to do a base proximity jump like you see in those videos -- you have to be really good at flying your wingsuit to get away with that, and the sport's claimed a lot of lives of people who tried it before they were ready (And no few people who tried it when they were ready, too.) I'll be quite content to fly from the local DZ's planes for the time being. Skydiving's an interesting enough journey itself -- there's a lot to learn in the sport. It's a lot more than just falling out of a plane. The minimum jump requirement before you fly a wingsuit gives you time to learn how to fly your body. That's absolutely a skill you'll need before you add wings. Good luck on your quest. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

If that part of your toilet smells bad, I think you're using it wrong Wendy P. Oh, I suppose next you'll be telling us it shouldn't be growing hair either! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Yeah, it takes a while to get the hang of exits. I was watching a canopy course with a bunch of the students on coach status today and about half of them dove out toward the tail. I'm pretty sure I was doing that early on, too. Having your ass to the relative wind makes it LOT harder to do a stable exit -- 130 jumps in I still have trouble staying stable when I exit that way as well. Face the prop, it works much better. Eventually you get to the point where you start to understand the wind and your relationship to it, and then a lot of that stuff just starts to click into place. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Cool. You'll stand up when you're ready. I was in my mid 30s before I had a really stable exit and after that all my exits have been stable, and in my mid 50s before I had a really good stand up landing. Once it clicks, it seems easy. Before that, not so much. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Oh yeah, you're hooked. Better get used to giving the DZ huge briefcases full of cash! Welcome to the forums! I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

She actually lives out in Gunbarrel, which is a few miles away from the airport. I figure she's probably going to have an aneurysm and die when the runway expansion finishes up and the first big jet lands there. The otter's pretty distinctive, but it's not the loudest thing that flies out of that airport. I find the trains that go through at 3AM (And which are apparently compelled to blow their horns all through town) and my neighbor's dog to be much more annoying. Apparently she has some sort of beef with the hot air balloons that fly around the area, too. I reckon she probably just thinks she owns the sky, but I spend a lot more time there. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

They're not that sticky. I can break 'em loose like the rear tires of the Nismo when I want to. Even landing on asphalt, the profile's not radically different than sneakers. I figure I don't see people jumping on them for the same reason I don't see people wearing them. Most people don't even know they exist. Whether on a mission to kill a Chinese emperor or just lounging around the house, I've always found them to be superior footwear I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Yah, the rubber soles stick to dry surfaces better than my sneakers do. Ummm...you DO understand that's not necessarily a GOOD thing right? It's not like some spiderman shit, dude! I can't walk around on the outside of the plane with ninja shoes! They're just a little more grippy than sneakers on surfaces I want them to be a little more grippy on. A lot of that is simply that I can feel surfaces better through the soles than I can sneakers. They give me more control for things like climbing. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

Yah, the rubber soles stick to dry surfaces better than my sneakers do. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

i'm assuming hooks like these http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jika-tabi.jpg Yep, just like that. They go about halfway to my knee, so they're actually less likely to come off (being under my jumpsuit and all and secured by the jumpsuit velcor) than my sneakers. I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?