karenmeal

Part of it for me is that I have a lot of DZ-type parties at my place, I certainly hope people respect my stuff, if someone crapped in the holding tank of my toilet or intentionally left rotting food around the house, no way in hell would they ever be allowed over again. Trashing a hotel room is one thing, especially if you're the one footing the bill, but damaging your friends place is not cool. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Tackle spoons! "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I've been in this sport for almost five years. You can guarantee that I've seen and participated in most crazy dropzone activities. I do however draw the line at property damage and party tricks involving human excrement. Hang spaghetti on your nipples and surf around naked on creepers being towed behind trucks, Fine. Make someone clean up your shit, literally, not so Fine. -Karen What can I say? I'm a party pooper. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I like nice, friendly parties with no piss and shit tricks involved.. call me crazy. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Sorry.. I was trying to back you up on your choice of canopies. I was just trying to be on your side. whoops.. It didn't seem like you were asking for advice on your canopy in your first post, it seemed like you were just stating that you liked landing your canopy straight in and that people told you that you should land it differently, but you already enjoyed your landings. If you were asking for advice on how to fly your parachute the way it was designed, then I think that some of the input you got on up-sizing and then learning those skills was very appropriate. Good luck with Brian though.. maybe you should have started by e-mailing him if you didn't want the opinion of people who haven't written books and don't do lectures on canopy controls. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with jumping a cross-braced canopy and not doing hook-turns. As long as you can land it in all types of circumstances that may occur during an emergency-type situation, what's the harm? Are there any emergency situations that require a front riser turn close to the ground? I can't really think of any.... The only thing that I can think of that you may not be practiced at, is landing with the additional speed that you would be used to dealing with from swooping. In the case of having to land downwind for whatever reason, can you handle your canopy with something like a 15 mph tailwind? If the answer is yes, then I say keep jumping your canopy how you see fit! If you don't want to take the extra risks from swooping, but enjoy the way your velo lands straight-in, then that's sweet! I can kinda relate to where you're coming from.. I am a mildly aggressive canopy pilot. I usually do between a 90 and 180 carving front riser turn and maybe 1/3rd of the time I use my rear risers for getting a longer swoop. If conditions aren't perfect for me (gusty winds, too much traffic in the area..) then I am happy to just land my canopy straight in and shoot accuracy. I don't really like pushing the envelope too much. I've got a relatively light wingloading, about 1.5 and I would like to go higher.. but I don't really want to jump a 75. That seems so small to me.. I would rather add weights for hop and pops. Anyways.. enough circumlocuting. I say if that canopy is a safe choice for you, have fun with whatever type of landings you are comfortable with and forget the people who don't understand. Just call them names or something.. that always works for me. Happy skydives. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

...For all the fish! "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I had an eggnog and rum.. mmmm!! Maybe time for another one? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I am amazed everyday by some of the women that are in my classes: raising kids, working, trying to get good grades, being an advocate for a child with a disability, cooking, cleaning, taking their child to various activities, finding time to work out... and doing it all on a small budget!!! Holy cow, I can't believe you working-college mama's stay sane!! You all are amazing. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Sounds like someone sure picked the wrong job. What is it that you do that makes you so bitter and jaded? For those of us working and going to school, it can be pretty hard. Trying to make ends meet when earning only 12k a year.. that is tough. I usually spend about 40-50 hours a week on school, volunteer and have a job. The week before finals, and the week of finals, its time to study every spare moment. I've been in the "real world", it was nice. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

A year ago today I thought that I would be going to a mediocre school getting a degree that I only chose by default. I also hoped that I would be feeling much better about our move to WA (from CA.) Today.. I am going to my dream school, pursuing a degree that I am absolutely giddy about and feeling very proud of myself. And now I love Washington! -Karen Too bad my skydiving skills have de-proved. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I say "Merry Chrismahanukwanzikah!" Wouldn't want to leave anyone out. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

My favorite stupid job was working at the coffee-shop inside of a Border's bookstore. It's an easy job to get, the people that you work with are usually fairly smart and interesting and people who hang out at bookstores tend to be fairly cool. As far as large corporations go, Border's didn't seem to be so evil. And getting to know the dorky regulars who are desperate for a smile from a girl is a bit of an ego boost. Oh, and you get to borrow books for free. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

What about full-face helmets? Those certainly inhibit the ability to communicate. Not only can you not see facial expressions, but its also hard for someone wearing a full face helmet to hear other people! Should people not wear full face helmets so that they can make certain that they hear impending canopy collisions? I don't put myself in a position where I need to rely on my hearing.. When I am under canopy my head is on a constant swivel, counting and recounting the other canopies in the air. I know the flying styles of the people who share my airspace, and I know what their approximate wing-loading is. I am very assertive in asking the people who share my airspace to give me plenty of room in the air so that I can feel comfortable. I jump with the same group of people most of the time, so my friends know to give me room under canopy. I would not jump with my mp3 player at a new DZ, at a boogie, or when there was much traffic in the air. I agree, it could potentially be distracting. But most of my jumps are out of 182's or out of a caravan, that is usually loaded with tandems. I don't consider the occasional jump with music to be un-safe. I feel like I am an extremely safety conscious skydiver and know when something like music under canopy is appropriate and when it is inappropriate. So that's what I have to say about that. My one jump with music sticks out in my head as one of my favorite skydives. What an awesome jump. I certainly intend to repeat it, and if my friends are also interested in jumping with music, I will help them find a safe way to do it. Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Most of the new toys on the market today suck. So many of them are completely un-imaginative or are geared towards teaching two year olds their multiplication tables or some crap like that. Geez.. give the kids a break, let them be kids and quit worrying about preparing them to do well on their SAT's. I played with sticks and ate worms when I was little, but somehow I managed to become a semi-literate adult. This year we're buying my boyfriends nieces and nephews the classic toys like lincoln logs, k-nex, magnet sets and spirograph. And maybe some seamonkeys.. just so they can learn how to deal with disappointment. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I tried it the other week and loved it. My mp3 player doesn't go very loud, so I could only hear it while I was on the hill and the music faded back in as soon I pitched my pilot chute. As far as not hearing someone who is about to hit me under canopy... Well.. I use other collision avoidance measures which I feel are more effective. So that was no concern. My only concern was that the insert earphones might come lose and start beating me in the face in freefall, but my helmet is tight, and it was all good. I don't think I will make a regular activity of it, but that one jump just brightened my whole day. It would certainly be an awesome thing to enjoy on one of those high altitude sun-set hop and pops with a beer. I hadn't felt that relaxed and skydived so gracefully in a long time. It was soo good.. Oh and it was Phish. Beautiful. -Karen But I wouldn't reccomend it to people with low jump numbers. The distraction issue and all.. Edited to add: Oh, and I had a money swoop too. Nice long, slow carving harness turn, and running it out was graceful and then I started dancing. It's amazing what happens when you're truly relaxed. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

This is what our DZ uses. Was that what you were asking, Eugene? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

My parents are extremely supportive of my skydiving habit. My highschool graduation gift was a brand new cypres. Hwoever, my parents are one of the reasons that I decided BASE wasn't for me. After I'd done my first BASE jump I told my mom about it and that really freaked her out. As much as it scared her though, she asked if she could watch a BASE jump to see what it was like. So I took her to a large bridge that evening and we did ground crew for some buddies who put on a show for my mom. It thrilled her to watch them jump, but she asked me to promise never to do that. I did two more and then agreed with my mom. We decided never to let my dad know that I was hucking myself off of objects. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I think thats a great philosophy. I have a similiar philosophy with food. If there is something like chocolate cake in the house, I will eat it. I will eat it all. Chocolate cake may make me feel good short-term, but too much over the long-term, its bad for you, lets you down, treats you bad. Gives you diabetes. Not like my friend the salad, salad treats me good, gives me something more satisfying than chocolate cake. Helps reduce my risk of about a bajillion types of cancer and helps me look good in a swim suit. Man I love my salad, but if there is chocolate cake around, I will eat that. So my solution.. don't bring chocolate cake around. Beer is my friend too. I was born a rambling.. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Several people tried to give me advice.. I'm not looking for advice, just looking for opinions out of curiosity. Personally, I feel that someone who doesn't respect the boundaries of someone else's relationship scores a big huge Z-E-R-O. Its rude to everyone involved, It's un-ethical, and its just ugly behavior. When I was 18 and had never been in a serious relationship I did this sort of thing, pursuing guys who had girlfriends, and I regret it. But now that I'm in a long-term happy relationship, I would hope that if anyone did have feelings for me that they would ignore them and either remove themselves from my life or be supportive of my relationship. Anyways... Back to school work. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I guess so? Sorry, I've had some drinks. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Can girls make knuckle-children? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

wait.. do I know you? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Say they're engaged and co-habituating, level of wow = high and they are happy. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

WWWWHHHOOOOOOAAAAA!!! DID NOT KNOW THAT!! Sweet! -Karen This will come in handy.... "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham