lurch

OOF. Did you, hypothetically, fall off the aircraft clutching your hypothetical crotch or did you manage to stay in the plane, curl up wait for the pain to die down and ask for a go-around, hypothetically? I'm trying to imagine freefall 2 seconds after being kicked in the nuts by a cessna. Not good. Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Sadly enough I think we're screwed no matter what we do with Iraq. If we impose a modern, grown-up government, They'll hate us for it and probably wind up overthrowing it themselves, fired up by some islamic cleric whacko. But their culture is like a prepubescent teenager, doesn't know its not mature enough to make these decisions for itself. If we let them install whatever they want, they'll happily "vote" themselves yet another religious dictatorship like pretty much every other culture around there, and then they'll blame us for letting them do that to themselves, and hate us for THAT too. Catch-22. I think America is going to discover being the mature parental unit watching over all the immature cultures is a loser's job. Are we an empire or global day-care? Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Get used to that delirium, friend, because if what happened to me happens to you, the rest of your life will kinda fade to insignificance, you'll put skydiving stickers and stuff all over everything, drive all your friends coworkers and family nuts talking about it, giggle every time you look up, spend all your money on training, jumps, gear and stuff, and vanish off the face of the earth as far as whuffo society goes, lost forever in a world of blue sky fresh air puffy clouds happy grinning laughing people and brightly colored nylon aircraft. Not a bad fate, eh? Who the hell wants to wake up from THIS dream? Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Yeah and I have NO idea what I did to earn them either. I'm just some asshole showed up got an A license and jumps a lot. Not part of any clique, too inexperienced to get into the more involved events, too light to keep up with the RW dawgs.... Trying to make this last load of the day happen I had so much help from so many people I don't know where to start...from them holding the plane till I was ready to Tom and Mary taking over my repack and Tom shooting the video on the house. You people RULE! Tom simply told me when it's my turn, just pass it on and do the same for another up-and-climbing jumper. You have my word on it Tom, I will. guaranteed. I brought two cases of corona longnecks. They were well received and vanished promptly. Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Hmmm. Would this be regarded as an interesting weekend? Friday: 3 jumps, second jump being First totally successful standfly and First reserve ride due to stuck p.c... Third jump of the day was First time on a zero-p canopy the size of a barn (230- I'm 135 lbs)...a student rig I borrowed just because I couldn't stand being grounded with no rig. Saturday was just a lot of water falling and no people. Sunday started out overcast and ended with 4 more jumps, First time I ever did 4 jumps in one day, First attempt at a basic 8-way on my 100th jump, and First pieing caught on video. The bastards succeeded in getting me so far off my guard, after the 8-way went so wacky I'd forgotten about the incoming pie.... pretty euphoric right now. I still smell of whipped cream and could happily spend the rest of my life jumping as often as possible. I suck at RW and I flail and cork freeflying. My canopy control is average. So why do I feel like king of the world right about now? Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

and absolutely nothing above that. Did my checks, and landed my big slider in the pit. ROTFLMAO I don't know why but that struck me as incredibly funny. I've had two myself...one where I had a bad lineover, went for the chop, chopped, went for the reserve, pulled it, and woke up right then, sitting up straight with my left arm held straight out in a gripping fist. My first slightly confused thought was looking at my fist knowing I hadn't let go, thinking "where the hell did the handle go?" The other was this dream where I just knew that if I got REALLY wide I could not just slow down to minimum speed, but reach a dead stop at will. It seemed perfectly normal to be able to do so. Proceeded to do so and buzz the dz a couple times. I was annoyed because I knew if I landed I wouldn't be able to get back up again and I wanted to just fly home at a couple hundred feet altitude and come back for the car later. I was also a bit worried about people seeing me do it and sending the police to chase me and arrest me when I landed for flying over the highway and causing a hazard by distracting motorists. So after I DID land I drove home anyway just so I wouldn't attract attention. Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

God that is gross. Every time I see some 318 pound human carrying half their weight in Crisco under their skin I wonder how the hell you can go through life wearing this enormous lard suit.... Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

I'm wondering has anyone ever tried to make a variable-size canopy? Something with like a second set of brakes which when pulled, collapses your last two or four cells and makes a faster 7-cell or 5-cell out of it? Maybe have the center 5 cells be airlocked and the rest not? What kind of sick flight characteristics could you get out of something like that? Dive with it in "fast" mode and snap out your "extra" cells for psycho glide time? I'm guessing someone's already thought of this and probably developed/tested/rejected the notion, but I AM curious. Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

also, does anybody else notice their pulse racing when they start thinking about their exits? Hell yeah. In fact I'm giggling and jamming (bobbing head up and down from unrestrainable excitement, also known as "the happy dance") just thinking about the great moment. That split-split second of total determination and wonder makes life bright. It's like an orgasm, but less messy and somewhat more elegant...and can be done with half a dozen total strangers without risk of diseases..... Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

You haven't been paying attention. She just did it. Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

First reserve ride today. Monkey fisted pc on the first store bought packjob I've bought in 6 months. Whoa. Interesting. Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.