vonSanta

Hey, the reason you mention is why I am unemployed now. When there was a shrotage in IT workers our former government set up a program where companies could hire cheap IT labour from 'less wealthy' countries. Now the economy is in the shits - you think they've changed that law yet? Nope. My income is basically whatever freelance I can get. My sis pays for what limited skydiving I can get - or rather she lends me the money. Gonna take years to work that debt off (and I ain't just talking money here). I'll be packing her new Sabre II 135 for YEARS to come . I thought I'd begun to understand how to pack ZP until I tried a NEW ZP canopy, ugh ugh ugh. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Bloody 'ell. There are jobs for IT people in the US. If it wasn't for this immigration thing you have, I would leave so fast the dust wouldn't know whether to settle or stay down. In effect I'd create a paranormal phenomenon all on my own. Ugh. Immigration laws. Ugh. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Ah the 'Cool, Radical Arsekicking Stylish Halfheaddown' swoop. Also known as the CRASH. OUCH Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

The dating game is tedious. The investment in time and resources just isn't worth it. I have some hobbies I can do with friends which leave me feeling alive and good. I am undecided whether I need anything more. This Oh-I-Need-A-Partner-It-Is-A-Human-Need thing is way overrated. One can always get sex - that's a matter of hitting the bars and being stubborn about it and maybe not too critical. And friendship and the rest you can get from others. If you have a sibling who shares you interests - all the better. Am a bachelor and loving it. Total freedom, no NEED to think about 'the atmosphere is now "protect thyself from emotional harm". No need to think about what's cool, nothing to suggest that you should be have in one way or another to better be accepted/liked in a crowd. Fark all of that. I live life on my premises and what comes, comes. And I'm happy about it, too :). Sure beats all the insecurities and stuff that come with the dating game and relationships Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Geekness is inversely proportional to the number of skydives you do, I've found. OS no longer means Operating System to me. OS is Oh Shit procedures. Having said that, I have two computerlike thingies; one with linux (Debian) for the serious stuff, and an XP machine for fun and games. I should sell one of them as I am broke. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Well, the military isn't ignorant about control issues. Having reporters embedded gives the military a *great* deal of control over the journalists. They won't go anywhere unless the military says so. Can always use 'sensitive information' excuse for censorship. And if there's a major CF somewhere, you think they're gonna send some camera crews to document it for the fine folks at home? The 'free' press isn't free when it's controlled to a large extent by the military which naturally has its own agenda. The press in this case is just another tool in the box. Protection is secondary to control. It'd be even worse press if some unfortunate 'incident' was filmed by a cameracrew no one knew was there. Reporters from war zones have always accepted the risk of their job. A lot were killed in the Balkans for instance. They live under many restrictions and if the dominant force in the area sets up hard rules, there's little they can do but follow them if they want *any* news at all to report. Skydivers accept the risks in the sport. Wartime reporters do the same, for many of the same reasons. Their job is part of who they are etc. An embedded reporter is like a freeflier that's forced to fly on his tummie with a parafoil on his back. Sure it's SORTA like freeflying, in that you're skydiving, but it's not the same thing. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

The exchange rate between Euro and dollar has been good to European skydivers who want custom made rigs from the US. If one can avoid the Danish sales tax (25%) by picking it up oneself or having someone else do this, one can save a good amount of money. If only I had the money... Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Well, if the 'free Iraqi people' motive doesn't work out, there's always the possibility of just using 'The Project for a New American Century in its unedited, raw form. Exporting American values through pre-emptive strikes. I mean, it already has the signature of Wolfowitz and Cheney and Jeb Bush and Rumsfield. It's be simpler for everyone if one just accepted this as the current foreign policy paper or FAQ. But maybe the world isn't ready for some old school imperialism yet. I think we'd better call it...let's see...'proactive freedom procurement approach'. I mean, the last few reasons bit us in the arse, and that's because they weren't unclear enough. Vote for Santa von GrossenArsch in the next election. We put the Desp in Despotism and Despair. Oh and on the topic? Point RPG looking thingie at my tank and I'll send something dangerous your way. I'd want to live and take as few chances as possible. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

If I had to write down my weird dreams, I could do about 500 pages in a week

Broke and happy or rich and miserable? Easy choice :) Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Oh well The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Sixth Level of Hell - The City of Dis! Here is how you matched up against all the levels: Level | Score Purgatory | Very Low Level 1 - Limbo | Very Low Level 2 | Very High Level 3 | Moderate Level 4 | Very High Level 5 | Very High Level 6 - The City of Dis | Very High Level 7 | High Level 8- the Malebolge | Very High Level 9 - Cocytus | High Level 6: Heretics ou approach Satan's wretched city where you behold a wide plain surrounded by iron walls. Before you are fields full of distress and torment terrible. Burning tombs are littered about the landscape. Inside these flaming sepulchers suffer the heretics, failing to believe in God and the afterlife, who make themselves audible by doleful sighs. You will join the wicked that lie here, and will be offered no respite. The three infernal Furies stained with blood, with limbs of women and hair of serpents, dwell in this circle of Hell. I guess treating people nicely doesn't score points. So, I shall for the foreseeable future return to the world of major WasteDisposalOrifice. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Was supposed to go skydiving today, but for some reason there was no one at the club, despite the clandar clearly being update recently and clearly saying 'wooh'. Anyway, got home, tired, disappointed. Fell asleep in the sofa. Then dreamed I jumped with a bunch of people I never have known - big group exit outta a Herc. They kept forming formation and my wee bit of body kept falling faster than them, bumping each and every group despite my best efforts. This is just an example. I get these weird dreams after skydiving about skydiving almost 100% of the time. Now also when I was supposed to have gone. Is this a common thing? Am sure the unconscious parts of my brain are using megaphones to get some sort of message across, but am I the only one - surely not? And can I LOG the freefall time? If I ever work out the mathematics of Dream-Time, that is. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Here there's a pretty big turnaround rate on students. manya re one jump wonders and the certified members of the club I am in seem to only invest time in others if they know they'll stay in the sport. This could be taken as hostility. That being said, for me I've found entry into this sport a bit newbie-unfriendly. Am an introverted person, so I'll talk to people who wish to talk to me, keep my eyes and ears open and identify the 'easy goers'. The club thing is pretty hard to get ahold of too. Everyone has already formed small groups and although there seems to be a lot of interaction between them, newbies are left out, or can feel left out. But that's just the group dynamics of this culture, nothing skydiving specific. Those Sierra Hotel groups of SkyGods who look upon contempt on students I do my best to simply ignore. It took FunkFlyz three years from they started til they won the WC IIRC, so the SkyGods will eat their attitude sooner or later. When everyone seems to want to haze/ignore/hate me, I go into 'oh well' mode, carry on and follow through. Sooner or later it's bound to work out, one way or another. Ugh no skydiving this weekend. How visible it is in a post like this Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

MY instructor upon asked if he had a certificate for something: "Oh, I have LOTS of certificates" Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

I find that girls are worse when it comes to teasing men after a no-go. My brother dinnae go on his second go. Everyone was really supportive and told him 'takes guts to say no'. He's determined to go again. Anyway, everyone was very supportive - all the *males* that was. The females said things like "what, you didn't JUMP? WTF, you wasted your money, you should have put ME on the load instead" :). To be fair, he had only one SL jump before this and really was only driving me and my sis to the DZ when there was aspace on the lift and my sis suggested he'd take it - so he wasn't prepared mentally and stuff. It's easy to forget just how scared one was the first few times. MY Level 1 AFF was very weird. Plane ride - scared shitless. Door opens. 'Oh SHIT, no WAY I am going out there. If I leave the plane, I'll be like...FALLING'. Nowaynowaynowaynoway YES when the 'are ya ready to skydive?' question came. 'Where'd that come from, I am not jumping out of this plane' I consciously thought, somehow overlooking that I was now climbing out on the landing gear and holding on to the wingstrut. 'Uhm, how'd I get here? How do I get back. Why am I checking in and out. I better tell them that I want to get do...what's with this up down motion? I didn't ask my body to do thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii "Unngh." "Err. "WTF" "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!" I was a good deal scared til after I had done the stabilization test. Now there's some nervousness, but it disappates as soon as I am on the way out :) And YES, the girls were on my case about my fear too. Especially my sis and her 'nice' friends. Guys were cool enough and supportive. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Price for theory and level 1-7 at my club: $260 for the theory and a first SL jump $63 per level for level 1-3 $41 per level 4-7. Around $610 or so if I am not mistaken. Then you need a level 8 hop 'n pop. Then naturally level 9-10 which are stability/track tests. A 4000 meter ticket in the C-182 is around $20. You Yanks really should learn not to whine about ticket prices; the $20 is about the cheapest you can get in Denmark

Just you wait. You'll get soooo much more hooked it is ridiculous. Selling TV as soon as teh cable company acknowledges that they've received my 'need it no more' note. It's a life changer dude Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Was exiting from seeing T3 with my sister. Put on my backpack as we were talking along. Checked for leg straps and began to feel something was wrong. Unconsciously reached back to check handles before I caught myself. Sis just smiled. 'Been there, done that' sorta look. Whenever it's windy and you're walking somewhere, you go into tracking position to get better speed. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

I do need money tho, and a lifestyle where I can go jumping when the weather is good. Any ideas? because I haven't! G (PRV) That's an easy one. Marry a rich woman. Or go back in time, make sure you get a sister, bully her and stuff when she's a kid so she'll grow character and become a doc and then when you're an adult she'll sorta lend you money when you're broke. That's the idea. The flip side is that she'd want those money back some day. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

The key is balance? Look at that sentence again bud.

Phew. I thought I had a sick obsession with it, and I am still a newbie. Either all of us have a sick obsession or none of us has that. If the former is true, I couldn't be in better company. All i want to do relates to skydiving. All I want to talk about is skydiving. It takes a conscious effort me not to talk about skydiving given the slightest chance. 'And then the wind took hold of her skirt' 'Oh yeah. Well, if she'd carrying her chute, she'd.

My condolenses. Mere words are not enough. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

I'll see if I can get hold of him (he's somewhere abroad doing 'life enhancement fuel procurement' (read: working). It's on VHS though, so I'll need to find a way to digitize it. Will work on it as it's a superb video. Starts off with some skydivers on their knees, then cuts straight to the action, and the first verse is just perfect :D: You got to weep You got to wail You got to drag yourself on hands and knees bleeding Another mile along the trail You got to laugh in the face of the devil When he's hanging on to your shirt tail You got to hold down the lid of the coffin And hammer in the last nail My baby's gone so far away She's never coming back to me Laughed til I hurt when I saw it. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

The good thing is you don't need a Phd to go skydiving Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst