Zennie

Yeah, that one's pretty important. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

No shit. Once was enough for me. You must be a glutton for punishment Rhino. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Likewise! Hope you have a speedy recovery!

I think he was making a joke over your "my doc tore my ass up" statement. I don't think it was meant in any negative way. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Ah yes, my special moving talents are irreplaceable. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Ah I'm sure you can run to the Galleria, bat your eyes at a couple of big guys and get all the help you need. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Well, therein lies our disagreement. I know you won't change my opinion and I'm pretty confident I won't change yours. Such is life. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Cool! A Birdman demo! This is gonna be fun. I'll be in on the freefly demos. C'ya there! BTW, think I'll be able to con one of those balloon fliers into letting me on with my BASE rig? "C'mon man, all I need is 300 feet!" - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I know you're out on this thread, but I'mlate in so I'll just add my $0.02 as someone who once felt like you... until an event sent me into a true clinical depression. The problem with depression is that you CAN'T control it. Not because your mind is weak or that you can't see it. While I was depressed and unmedicated I KNEW that my thinking was distorted. I KNEW I needed to break out of it. But I couldn't. No amount of rational thinking allowed me to sleep at night. No amount of rational thinking got me eating again, or focusing at work, or caring whether I lived or died. And that's the really scary and frustrating thing about true depression. You KNOW what's going on, but you have absolutely no control over it. Do you have any idea how maddening that is? It's why a lot of depressed people kill themselves. Besides the general feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, you just want it to STOP. OK, so why do I say it can't be controlled? Because it's a brain chemistry thing. That's where meds come in. Now, to get where I am today (which is better, but by no means "cured", I'm not sure I ever will be) I went on meds AND did extensive cognitive therapy. You do need both. Meds alone won't help you cope once you get the brain chemistry somewhat back into line. And I guess that's really where I'm coming from. Meds alone aren't the answer, and cognitive exercises aren't the answer. You need both. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

BSBD - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Yep. That look sort of captures the essence of it, doesn't it? - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Maybe I'm the guinea pig. I have major depression and ADHD. I've been on Wellbutrin + Adderall. Got rid of the depression and allowed me to focus more, but I annoyed the crap out of everone around me. Went off Adderall and just took Wellbutrin (supplemented with massive amounts of caffeine). Still not depressed, but couldn't focus as much and had bad anxiety. Now I'm on Wellbutrin + Ritalin. I can focus fairly well, I'm not as "edgy", but I do notice that I have a propensity toward anxiety spells and more "down" depression days. Based on the research, I'm wondering if taking an MAO inhibitor is the wrong approach. I'm thinking of asking my doc to try an SSRI (such as Zoloft) + Ritalin and see if that helps smooth things out. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Clicky fixed. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I'd also not that researchers have found a genetic link between traumatic life events and one's propensity to slip into major depression (which is what happened to me). - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

The point we're trying to make is that more altitude does not make a BASE jump necessarily safer. Take the cliffs in Norway and Italy. Many, many fatalities have occurred there notwithstanding the fact that those cliffs are 3000+ feet in height. That's because the structure of those objects is such that the risk of object strike exists no matter how high they are. Wingloading, experience and, ironically enough, altitude, are all factors in swooping. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

In BASE low altitude is a given. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

2 - Rigging error 10 - Inexperience/Poor Equipment Choice 15 - Poor equipment choice 17 - Excessive Delay 21 - Equipment problem 22 - Equipment problem/Poor Equipment Choice 30 - Inexperience/Poor Equipment Choice 31 - Rigging error 33 - Excessive Delay 36 - Excessive Delay/Inexperience 37 - Excessive Delay/Inexperience 48 - Excessive Delay 49 - Unknown (note parachute was deployed) 51 - Inexperience/Poor Equipment Choice 52 - Poor Equipment Choice 53 - Pilot Error 56 - Excessive Delay 57 - Equipment Problem (possibly) 60 - Excessive Delay 61 - Equipment Problem (possible rigging error) 67 - Equipment Problem 69 - Equipment Problem 71 - Rigging Error I only count 6 that could arguably be due strictly to a malfunction of some sort (i.e. no rigging errors and proper gear selection). That's 1/12 of the incidents. Of the ones you listed, 7 were excessive delays, which have nothing to do with equipment failure. Another 6 were caused by inexperience or selection of equipment totally inappropriate for the jump. I wouldn't classify those as malfuctions or failures. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Define what "gear failure" is in your mind. What you may consider to be a gear failure may not be in the eyes of others. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I'm sending a comedian right over. I think we need to make you laugh several times. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

The more important question is whether it's at someplace jumpable. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I believe in karma from a cause & effect perspective. You benefit from, or are harmed by, the environment that you create. Juju... hmmmm.... that's more of a vibe thing. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Sort of. To me Zen is seeing things as they are. And like you mention, truly being in the present moment. Acceptance is one way of looking at it. You may or may not want it, and you may or may not like it. But that's the way it is. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Dude. We have EXACTLY the same taste in music. I wasn't into the hair band stuff either (Poison? Ugh) but I have always told people, and they look at me like I'm crazy, that Cinderella actually rocked. If you get past the stupid name and the hairspray, they were actually very talented musicians. Oh, and my first album? AC/DC's "If You Want Blood, You Got It". Bought every AC/DC album through "For Those About To Rock" after that. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

OW! Sorry Ann! Hope you heal quickly! - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Jesus, I forgot the biggest band of them all back then... Van Halen (WITH David Lee Roth). - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon