karenmeal

Some signs and symptoms of schizophrenia: Confusion Inability to make decisions Hallucinations Changes in eating or sleeping habits, energy level, or weight Delusions Nervousness Strange statements or behavior Withdrawal from friends, work, or school Neglect of personal hygiene Anger Indifference to the opinions of others A tendency to argue A conviction that you are better than others, or that people are out to get you "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

oh.. and here is my picture. I call this my "I-am-going-to-eat-you" look. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Holy shit! I'm in the picture with the dude throwing the shocker, one of those heads in there is mine... Didn't Don take that picture on a disposable on one of his hop and pops at smith mountain lake? -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I can still get pretty nervous sometimes. I have this routine while I've got my goggles and helmet on and am waiting for door to be called. I just touch my handles over and over and over and check and re-check my chest-strap and the chest-straps and 3-ring routing and RSL routing of those around me. It calms me down because I feel like I'm kinda doing something constructive with my anxiety. Usually when the pilot calls door I'm ready to go and don't give it a second thought. Sometimes, if the exit takes a while and I am hanging from a strut or way back on the camera step or something I get to thinking about the absurdity of what I am doing. But since I know all of my friends would laugh at me if I held on through exit and climbed back into the plane, I just go ahead with it. But then I am relaxed and happy until pull time. Bottom line, its normal. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I wish I could come Ryan! We miss you guys! -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Pork Tenderloin rubbed with chopped up herbs, lemon zest, garlic and olive oil baked in a dish with apple and yam wedges which have been sprinkled with cinnamon. Yum! I like my salmon with some dill, lemon juice, stone ground mustard and salt and pepper on a bed of wilted greens with some corn on the cob or some steamed and seasoned zuchini to go with it. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Hey, Now I am a real college jumper starting at University of Washington in the fall. No more of this community-college-jumper crap... -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I've always dug the cool scars you get from micro-line crew. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Well what d'ya know, I had someone with their back against a big huge beam we have at the dz last night practicing turns, going forward and backward, sidesliding and fall rate! I never use the chair. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I watched some of the drop tests for the r-max, I would get one and not ever worry about my reserve blowing up. I was impressed by how overloaded the reserves were and how they were still opening fine when being dropped at very high speeds. I have a tempo in my rig now, but only because I inherited it from a friend. My preferences would be r-max or pd-r. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

This one is funny! Was that from personal experience.. and was she a skydiver? I want to paint our ceilings blue someday too! -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I had Shark for dinner last night! I prefer salmon, but something feels nice about eating such a big huge scary monster of an animal. I'm on the passive aggressive diet. "Sharks.. they only bite when you touch their private parts." -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Sorry.. what does FMC stand for? And LO? As far as the coached jumps I have done in the past.. I try to do as much as I can. The experience level of freeflyers at my DZ is fairly limited (its hard to learn to freefly from 10k with your buddies who are also learning), and most of the people with experience are busy doing tandems, working at their real jobs or whatever. This means that a lot of people have not gotten coached jumps before, don't really have video of them actually focusing on their skills and what not. To me, this seems to mean that each coached jump with a new person is a completely fresh start. So that I don't necessarily know where they are at. If I were jumping at a large DZ in California or Florida.. I probably wouldn't want to do coaching. I am still constantly learning new things but am very comfortable with my flying abilities. There are so many people at my DZ that want to really learn to freefly, and have someone to work on their headdown with that I feel like I kinda have to step up to the plate and give it a shot. Anyways, thanks for the input, any additional input would be much appreciated, and specific info would be very appreciated. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

If you've never jumped with the person coaching you before... How long do you expect the pre-jump briefing should take? I have trouble with this part if I haven't jumped with the person. Its hard to assess where they are at from their description of themselves. Some people think they are horrible when they are doing really awesome, and vice versa. I guess the pre-jump briefing with a new student should basically contain general freeflying and safety information and typical mistakes in body position and what not... ? How long should the post-jump briefing take? For coached freefly jumps I wouldn't charge more than slot + 5 or 10. (My slot is only 16). -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I'm starting to get into some casual freefly coaching at my DZ. So I'm wondering, those of you who have sought out freefly coaching, what made for a good freefly coached jump? What tidbits helped you out the most? What made it both enjoyable and a positive learning experience for you? What things could your coach have done better? If you are a freefly coach.. what advice do you have? Thanks guys, -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

http://www.fabrica.it/flipbook/flipbook_player.php?id=1121357818-71112215 Here is mine!!! This is fun! -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Sure, keep skysurfing... But lets not ruin the sport by linking it to the (hopefully) dying genre of reality tv. Thats just silly. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Now they should do a cross-cultural comparison (Comparing the western DZ's and the southeastern DZ's) and figure out what is more of a turn-on to a female skydiver... a skilled freeflyer or a skilled bellyflyer.. Hmmm.. freeflyer. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Jeff and I won't be able to come to LP now due to a recent family emergency. Drink extra beer for us and try and bring me back video of the cypres fires. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I like head-down much better because it feels so graceful and relaxing.. its like you're working with the air, not against it. I can fly fine on my feet and my head, I just love the zen-ed out feeling of relaxing on my head. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Those types of canopies that you mentioned are pretty solid canopies for a beginner. To be honest, I would recommend any of them. Each canopy (even the same make and model) can vary on openings and flying characteristics; much has to do with the pilot. But there are definitely general trends among the brands out there as far as being known for hard openings or soft openings. Of course there are always exceptions... I would recommend that if you find a particular canopy or set-up that you are interested in, post a question (or do a search) about that specific canopy and you will get many views from people who have jumped or own that canopy. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

It looks like she has butt implants or something. Yuck! Enough re-posting this! -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Personally I like to talk about things like string theory and eastern philosophy. Sometimes you may hear an atheist moaning, panting or screaming... but that is merely an evolutionary adaptation. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I didn't read the rest of the thread... But... How did Jaleesa like it?

283 jump... about 10 months into the sport. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham