Trae

in reply to "Is is truth? " ................ Something very close to it. Even though you've passed your AFF you will still need a bit of a refresher after a few months break. No need to worry though..... you'll still have heaps of fun and get let loose soon enough after re-proving yourself. There's no rush when you do things properly.

Any firearm such as the Beretta that has inside moving parts hanging on the outside surely makes questionable military sense especially when used in a dusty desert environment. The whole 9mm thing was to accomodate those who complained about the 45 being too heavy and hard to shoot properly . What sort of warriors are these types.? and who listened to them so big.? It seems amazing that the US forces would adopt any firearm NOT made/designed in the USA. The modern 1911 is so incredibly developed (and so purty )....... what took you's so long. .....of course it was the bean counters not the fighters talking .

Gotta pay for those tax cuts somehow. Sell the ground from under their feet. How much an acre ? The Australian Liberals/Nastionals did something similar by selling huge hunks of OZ to the Japs. Meanwhile the V.Vets and others are still trying to get legal access to tiny parts where they can recover from lingering wartime abuse. They've been forced to trespass on our own land that many died fighting for. Hypocritical?????? just ordinary typical.

in reply to "Quote "On the other hand, a relative of mine was a daily user for almost 10 years and he didn't have them at all.' No doubt one of the rare - and very fortunate - ones? ............................. OR ....s(he) was keeping the "good" stuff and off loading the cut-down dirty shyte to keep the sad little show on the road. Most long term dealers/users who show little effect are either young enough to soak it up or old enough not to be using it. just say NO???? .....try saying JAM IT !

in reply to "how they (especially a novice like me) stayed mentally in the game so they could return at the level they left off. " .......................... You can return at a level above what you left if you continue to educate yourself . There are probably lots of things about skydiving you don't know. As you've only got 3 months out it should be a doddle. You COULD * get hold of some-ones collection of old skydiving magazines/books and fill up on info. * research something of particular interest in the sport eg high altitude jumping , BASE jumping , * work on encouraging others to be more careful by hanging out on the DZ full-time.(most boring/frustrating option ) * develop an interest in another crippled person(s) by hanging out at a volunteer centre where there are people more seriously hurt than yourself. This can be very humbling and rewarding * take an extra job that doesn't require much physical input and save some dollars for your return party. * focus your energy on healing well by learning how to look after yourself better. eg take a short course in some alternative medicine discipline you may be interested in such as massage or aromatherapy. * get creative and learn to paint or draw or make things. * study stuff that you need to know to become a rigger or instructor . * do maintenance on cars if no heavy liftng required. Adding performance parts can be relatively light weight work if you have access to the right gear. There are so many things you could do to occupy your time that will improve your abilities and knowledge when you are fit enough to jump again. If you use this opportunity you may be very thankful that you did get injured because it gave you the time to reassess your life and make some very worthwhile changes. Happy healing

in reply to "What will America under Martial Law be like." ................................. MESSY !

in reply to " Feel free to comment. " ................ I managed to stay on greatly friendly terms with ex's until one served me a cup of tea that tasted like bitter almonds. Now they can stay in the distance and the past.

in reply to "I seriously think they should have posters of that in schools----our culture is so aestically vain----I definitely think it would be effective in deterring a lot of potential experimenters. " .................. This would be better than the fake cool image hard drug users project. Teenagers who are heavy users can have the internal organs of an 80 year old. If internal shots of wasted livers , kidneys lungs and other organs where shown then perhaps a few more potential drug suckers would be saved from finding out the hard way.

in reply to "I wasn't around on dropzones 30years ago " ............. Neither was I but from my current perspective the modern day BASE scene has a lot of simliarities to the older time skydiving scene. Most BASE jumpers appear to exhibit a willingness to share the knowledge hard learnt from hard experience. This is close to how it was in skydiving in the past. Currently in skydiving it seems more like a lot of the information is being quoted from a book rather than from people's personal experience. Of course there are many exceptions to this but perhaps a similar trend will envelope BASE jumping as it gets more highly developed and accepted and safer. ...perhaps not. However, the idea of doing many 100's of jumps without a reserve must create a very different mindset .

in reply to "anyone else drunk right noe? " ................. I come here so I won't drink. ....and all I get are very sleepy yanks and pissed europeans. Where are all those english speaking asians ??? It must be friggin freezin over there...........

in reply to "Rather, in the catholic mindset, the veil of death is not something that seperates the body of believers, the church militant (those living on earth) from the church triumphant (those in heaven). Catholics believe that saints possess an intercessory power. Just as you could ask your sweet grandmother to pray for you if you were sick, so can the faithful here ask a saint in heaven for prayers. But the understanding is that the saint in heaven has no power of their own, it all comes from the same Source, who is God. " .................. I'll try and remember this . It's more spiritual than religious for me. Appealing to a higher power for guidance feels much better than blind worship. As this is a thread about saying good things about muslims ....perhaps a majority of them think similarly to what you've described. Hope so .

in reply to "How do you know when it's just not worth it anymore? If you are an instructor...if you had to stop jumping with students would your answer change? ............................. Everyone's an instructor in this sport although only some are actually qualified Doing 100 jumps in a year over say a six month period can still be very rewarding. You may not be at the same intensity level as before but you see a whole lot more than when you've got your head down working hard. Veteran skydivers are an asset to any operation whether they are employed or not. Just by you being there and sharing your experience others will learn from you . You may be surprised just how much direct contact with students still happens especially if the FT instructors have less time in sport than you. It's especially rewarding to be able to indirectly assist students /novices/(& any-one ) with a quiet word or two after they've approached you. They appreciate it and remember what you say and get to see you practice what you preach. Every-one wins if our most experience skydivers are still hanging around and remain approachable.

in reply to "Can some of ya'll give me some ideas on how you keep yourself slow and in control?" ...................... Tai Chi. Isometrics. Slow push ups /chin ups. These can teach your body to be incontrol and be slow and when required you can speed up with power and control intact.

Shine that healing light . Them's incandescence not angels Calvin. happy getting betterer

in reply to "After going through the incident reports on this very website,would that really be a bad thing? " ...................... I sometimes think it could improve things safety related if newbies had to work their way up from the beginning rather than start at the top as most do these days.( they'd certainly have more respect for our pioneers.) That way at least they'd also have a chance to learn the basics at a measured pace rather than.......... just add money..phoof! .....instant skydiver.

in reply to "How Can I Keep Deer Off My Property?" ................ Not sure what frequency for deer but ultra-sound works on most wildlife/vermin. Kero puts off most animals with sensitive noses. otherwise try tiger/big cat piss if you can get some from a circus or zoo ....it works on most things (except other tigers)

in reply to "Let's post good things about Muslims" ................ They know how to treat a thief.

Extract wasp DNA combine with common mosquito, dung beetle and rabid dog and we have the new earth dominant species. mankind ??? what was that flicker on the screen .

in reply to "What do you do to pay for the hobby?" ....................... Packed parachutes on the weekend(from the weekend after my first jump ) Got a 2nd/3rd job during the week. Filled supermarket shelves at night and milled steel during the day. (1 hr = 1 jump at the time a jump cost $6 ) Didn't eat when hungry. Lived on cheap food eg potatoes rice fruit Saved up for training camps. Got good enough to do team camera jumps . Got instructor /TM rating Got paid to jump . Found other cheaper ways to get adrenaline eg rock climbing , spear fishing . hunting. Now back to saving and do wingsuit cause it's more than twice the fun for the same money .....and every-one doesn't seem to be in a mad rush to get back on the ground.

in reply to " it`s pretty strange that anyone lived through it. " ............................. Agreed. Those old rigs were amazing and the people who jumped them with smiles on their faces even more so. We're all so lucky to have such great gear today . My guess is most modern skydivers wouldn't even consider going skydiving if the old rigs were still the only option.

in reply to "Oh where, oh where has my helmet gone..." ............................. Looks like the sort of thing a motorcyclist or pillion passenger would fancy. ......might pass it on the freeway Hope it turns up .

In reply to "How long can you leave a main packed?" .............. There is talk of extending the reserve repack period to 12 months as little difference can be discerned from the 6month repack period ...IF the rig is kept in good order and stored well. This is because it would save some of us a bit of bother and $$$ paying the riggers. If your rig gets wet or is subjected to extremes of weather eg frozen to tropical or stored badly then a shorter repack period would be recommended. A rigger/ manufacturer once gave me a rig to jump and was having a good laugh when I walked back in afterwards. The main hadn't been dumped for more than 2 years and when it came out of the bag it stuck together a bit. It was like a bag lock without the bag. Whether this was due to the heat or static electricity or because it'd been squashed for a couple of years or the lot together ?????? don't know . It did open but a bit messily and slow....not like you'd prefer a reserve to open . For reserves there's little reason to take chances if you don't have to . If you stay in the sport any length of time it's worthwhile learning to pack your own reserve. Feels real good when you save your own life. And you can repack it anytime you like .

in reply to "Shame on you for not doing anything about it. I don't care how young you were. If the cops wouldn't do anything you should have got some of your boys together and taken care of that shit. " ................ What I'm getting at is that it was " the boys" but not mine so much as I was one of them ..sort of ...at the time. I did what I could to soften the blows. That DZ and the area in general sucked so bad that I left it to stew in it's own mysoginist backward shyte. They left a bounce trail in the time thereafter and two or three nasties bit the dust....others are carrying the scars.......some are still pretending like it didn't happen ..... good Karma bad karma? but back to the droog shyte. Stratostar has a nice way of keeping this in perspective. Sure most people are too busy skydiving on DZ's to blow themselves away all day & night. The heavy drug users do tend to stick out even thought they may think they're invisible ( more self delusionating )and over time they fall by the wayside as well cause they just can't keep up with the au naturals. I suppose my point with all this is that as a safety/ethical/secret thing we're all better off if the secrets that affect our safety are in the open ...then we can all make our own decisions based on a bit of truth however unpopular such stuff is with the general skydiving crowd. I've noticed that serious errors of judgement from experienced skydivers are often due to unusually high substance use whether it's alchohol or whatever. Safety while skydiving for me has been and is largely about trust and faith in other people and our equipment. Bad behaviour that reduces the level of expertise in our sport may not affect all but it does have its victims. Becoming less tolerant of negative trends however small or invisible to some is just another leaf in the safety book or long term survival guide. Shame on me ?????? more shoot the messenger I don't give a flying #@^& who does what drugs or how much or for that matter if they don't maintain their own aircraft properly ...why should any-one if it only hurts the perps? but if such behaviour interferes with my skydiving or endangers those I care about then I'm gonna notice and at least have a go at changing it for the better. We've all got our own karma I'll take mine as it comes . So far so good. Some of us out here like to at least try for 100%. Ok it may be in the high '90's already Not runnin' & not hidin' but dodgin' can be fun and talkin' about it ?....well that's somethin' else altogether.

in reply to "What did the police say when you reported these incidents? " ............................... Good question Eiley , I found out that the requirement for evidence is even higher with the police than it is here at DZ.com. Perhaps you can share with us all what is the most effective thing to do if you see these guys still operating .? and still getting away with it ?? Find another place to skydive????? As for illegal drug use in the sport being worse 15 years ago ..........perhaps but I think not . No matter some are trying real hard to make up for any lost time. What I'd prefer to see is a lot less chemical BS from some of the drug fueled pace setters especially at the bigger boogies and a bit more true excellence and airmanship on display . Hearing newbies boast about their previous nights excesses has changed from ...." I finished the bourbon and half that carton and my mull's all gone " to " @$#*$$ (insert drug dealers name ) took twice as many eccies as me and three times the goey and he's been trippin' for a week and HE'S jumping so why can't I?." Such displays look very trashy and watching the very ordinary displays of skydiving and safety awareness by these users makes it awesomely dangerous as well....

n reply to "It may not be filet mignon, but it is LIFE-SUSTAINING. " ................. Many an old age pensioner has proved this. I've known quite a few people whose pets ate better than they did. Cat food in particular appears very nutricious and tasty especially the sea food ones. The dog biscuits I've been forced to eat out of hunger on the rare occassion were fine. The food that gets wasted in this world is a disgrace on us all. Good on the Kiwis for at least trying.