ladyskydiver

Tonto, No offense intended, but the ranting and raving is going on in all the other threads. Go there to rant and rave and bitch that all Americans suck, etc!, ok? Damn! I have already stated in an earlier post that I didn't want to get the whole political and war B.S. going in this thread. There are enough US sucks threads! Let this one be a "Hey...maybe they aren't all bad." or is that too much to ask? Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

Agreed...that isn't the point of me posting that article. The point is people scream about how the US sucks, etc., and don't stop and take into account that we're, also, the country that has people giving away free medical care for people, giving money away to countries, etc. Yeah...war sucks...people do wrong things...there is, also, good that happens. Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

Yeah...war sucks and there are some really crappy things that have happened. (And I'm not getting into that whole thing.) However, it's time a little perspective was tossed into the mix. Iraqi baby Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

Good luck. Hope your day is much smoother than expected.

Happy birthday! Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

And, this is one of the rare times, I'm going to enjoy being a girl and say "I'm a girl!!! No way on the gross stuff." Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

I would...if it was "Fear Factor". While it's "Gross Factor," no I wouldn't. Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

Ok...I have now decided that I'm officially NUTS! I just booked an appointment for Tuesday with a counselor at USF to talk to them about going back to school for my veterinary medicine degree (technically called Biomedical Science). UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

But then, we'll just keep putting links up to these posts when you're being too mean. Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

Try again as I was just able to pull them up.

Well...I had a dream. Yeah...I know.

You're welcome. We had a blast as well. I'll look forward to the pictures. And, of course, look us up. We'll drag BRaff and you up on a dive (or two or...). Well...I'd say that you're no longer a Dancing Spider virgin. Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

**Not directed at anyone in particular.** You know what really fascinates me about all of this? Martin Luther King Dr./Blvd/St. (etc...as these are all names that I have seen) as well as Black History Month. I am not racist - I don't pay attention to what a person's skin color is or their religion or sexual preference or.... I pay attention to how someone treats me and others. Turn the MLK (Dr./Blvd./St.) and Black History Month into a White History Month or **insert white man's name here** Dr./Blvd./St. and talk about an uproar! Yesh! Racism won't go away until people learn to look at how an individual acts and treats others instead of their skin color. There will always be a way to insult someone - using the color of their skin, their heritage, etc. as a way to get under their skin. As far as ZHills suffering a lack of tourism, honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that Skydive City and Keith (JmpnKramer) are in ZHills, I would have never set foot in ZHills. There is nothing here except cows and blue hairs - more blue hairs during the winter. Not even good shops or a good coffee shop or... Florida tourism for me would be the beaches, Orlando, Tampa - not ZHills. ZHills is country - pure and simple - not a tourist area. Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

Congrats and welcome back to the skies!

1 beautiful memorial attended: 2: some Was at Raeford this weekend. Beautiful DZ...nice people...even got to give some grief to some DZ.commer's - some I'd met prior to this weekend...others I met this weekend. "Some" due to pre-second time at Raeford, and meeting Zulu and CoconutMonkey. ZULU OWES BEER!!!! Ask him about the "Dancing Spider." Got to meet CoconutMonkey for the pre-second time despite having given him grief tons of time on the phone. Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

I disagree. My first jump was AFF. My original goal: Go up. Make 1 (count 'em 1 ) skydive. Land safely. Cross skydiving off of my list of things to do before I die. Go on to next item on list. Now, I had no clue that I would love skydiving. But, when I was looking into it, I looked at a tandem and AFF and decided AFF. Why? Because, if I was going to experience skydiving, I wanted it to be as close of a true skydiving experience as possible, and I did not feel that a tandem would give me that experience. I, also, did not want to rely on someone else saving my life. If I was going to go in (and it was a momentary thought when I was preparing to throw myself out of a plane at the ground), I wanted to know that I did everything possible to save my life - and not worry that someone else may not do something right (the whole perceived control or lack thereof issue ). I did not do a tandem until my 12th jump and have done a total of 3 tandems. 2 of them were recurrency ones for friends of mine, and 1 was because I couldn't try and talk someone into doing a tandem if I hadn't done one. There are certain people that if I were able to talk them into trying out skydiving, I would recommend a tandem...there are others that I would recommend AFF. Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

Healing vibes sent. Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

Is that not the truth? I still remember the time that I heard this really strange rustling in my bedroom curtains in the middle of the night. Didn't stop and think of what it could be...just reach over and grabbed what was there. Imagine my surprise when I grabbed one of my snakes that had been locked into it's cage just a few hours ago. OMG!!! That was sooo funny to wake up to. Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

Happy Birthday! Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

I'm in Zephyrhills.

Yes, JP's a sweetie. He helped me get a hot pink weight belt for a decent price and is a ton of fun to jump with. He's even gone on high alti hop 'n' pops and played in the sky with me to show me the area and helped me with my fear with my first night jump. Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

Hey, Vinny, my friend!

Hey, guys...what about the leather jumpsuits that I've seen? That way, you can get the chick in leather as well as skydive with her. Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

Fear keeps you alive. I still get butterflies definitely before the first jump of the day and sometimes every jump. The day I stop feeling the butterflies at all....I'm stopping jumping. I had some massive fear to get over twice (so far) in my jumping career. The first time was for my 2nd jump. I had taken 9 months off from jumping between my first and second jump due to surgery on my leg (non-skydiving related). The 2nd jump was tough because I knew more and understood more of what I was going to be doing. The 2nd time I had massive fear that almost stopped me from jumping ever again was after my dad passed away. I had taken 10 months off from jumping to spend time with him while he was ill. Spent some weekends at the DZ during that time but did not jump. After my dad passed away, I decided to start jumping again - 1 week exactly after he passed away. The fear that time was horrible! Not only did I know what I was going to do - throw myself out of a plane - but I kept thinking...what would mom do if she had to bury me 1 week after she just buried my dad? It took me over 2 hours being at the DZ before I decided that I was ready to jump. I had friends holding my hands while riding up in the Casa to altitude and friends who were told - push me out the tailgate if I won't go. Got to the tailgate and was facing sideways...terrified...didn't want to go out the plane...didn't want to stay in the plane...almost frozen in fear. But, I made myself do it. Why? Because I wasn't going to let fear control me. If I did the jump and got down and decided that jumping was no longer for me - cool. But, I absolutely refused to not re-test the waters. Got out of the plane....breathed a deep, relaxing breath, and grinned. I was home! So, fear is a natural - sometimes due to your injury, illness, sometimes just because, sometimes due to things you see/hear happen to other people. Ultimately, how you deal with your fear is up to you. If you want to jump - go for it. If you need time before you jump - take it. If you don't ever jump again - that's cool to. It is your life...your body...your fear...you decide. All we can do is be your sounding board, give you advice, encouragement, discouragement (if need be), and wish you the best in your decision - whatever it is. Good luck. Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

Possible. Right now, I'm still getting settled into Florida life. Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.