Mikhail

Maybe if your mind spoke English, you would make more sense. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codswallop Would you prefer balderdash? Whatever the terminology, there was no bullshit intended. I looked at the material, picked out things that I thought were relevant, and made some comments. Take it or leave it.

I've read the books multiple times. :) Transcending Fear focuses on reducing arousal when it is harmful (e.g. emergency situation).

Hey everyone, Care for some psychology? I've spent most of my free time this past week plowing through a bunch of material on something called "reversal theory," a psychology theory that has particular application to risk sports. I hope some of you may find this interesting. Feedback & comments are much appreciated! Without futher adieu: clicky Blue skies, Mikhail P.S. I have no formal background in psychology whatsoever; this is an entirely amateur effort.

http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/142/14225550/vids_1.html

I, like, totally, like, wear a rig in the tunnel, man...

I spent a few hours last night trying to organize my thoughts on this and here's what I came up with: http://shut-up-and-jump.blogspot.com/2008/01/why-jump.html

Priceless.

Awesome, nice find!

According to their web site, Skydive Burnaby (map) allows 16/17 year olds with parental consent.

Watched and much appreciated.

And you can't forget their rush order timing. For an extra $200, I had a container in 2 weeks!!!

"Ok! Ok! I must have, I must have put a decimal point in the wrong place or something. Shit. I always do that. I always mess up some mundane detail." - Michael Bolton

Hello all, While doing a 4-way with Mad John from 4.3K this past Sunday (aren't we the bright bunch?) I wound up opening very low. Worse, the opening was accompanied by a solid set of line twists. Before attempting to deal with the line twists (the canopy was flying straight), I glanced at my altimeter which showed 1300ft. I cut away immediately. As a student, I learned that cutting away below a 1000ft was a serious gamble. This was the root of my decision making process. I did not know if the situation would improve if I was to fight the line twists, so I pushed the reset button before I was too deep in the red. The flaw in my decision process, in hindsight, was a lack of explicit knowledge of where I was. Though I knew where I was going in my track, I did not know if I was over the nearby hills after opening. I would like to ask you for a brutally honest opinion of my decision to cut away. If, in your experience, I blatantly pushed my luck, please tell me so. I got myself in a world of shit and did what I thought was going to maximize my chances of walking away. Some extra bits of info & random thoughts: - This was my 209th jump. I've averaged 10 jumps per weekend for the last 3 months. - This jump was a second such 4-way, but we had less altitude and got an extra point. Stupid. - I do have an RSL, which beat me to the reserve (left a dent in the cable). - I recently caught myself fighting line twists without checking my altimeter. I made an effort to change this behaviour and I believe this paid off. - This was not my first cutaway, so I was confident in my gear (although this particular rig was essentially brand new). - I've found myself being more afraid of mid-air collision on opening than opening lower. Yes, I did hear my audible on this jump. Lesson learned the hard way. Stay Safe, Mikhail

Come on down! Very fun place.

Exactly that.

Really cool... haven't felt an earthquake since Japan...

Jose @ Byron mentioned the boogie to me today. I wanted to jump at San Diego so this sounds like a cool opportunity. To avoid taking a day off, I'm thinking of flying from either SFO or SJC. If anyone else in the Bay Area wants to go, please speak up. Mikhail

Hey, Leah, glad you're doing well. I still think it was a good jump up to the landing. Heal fast...

Just noticed that the video now has a skydiving clip! Who did it?

Haha, show up in speedos on my first day? Riiiiiight. ;) Moving into apartment on Saturday...

The wait is over! I'm finally making my way down to Silicon Valley for a fall internship! I'll probably be at Byron this Sunday! Jumping out of my skin from excitement, pun most definitely intended. Can't wait to meet all you local dropzone.commers! Woohoo!

Internship in Silicon Valley. :P

And what the fuck happens to people that can't swim?

At 70 jumps right now, I find myself oddly calm psychologically. I know I am nervous on the ride up because my body goes haywire (stomach feels like a cement mixer). Mentally though, it seems that I know that I've done it before and that I've done my best to prepare for the jump. I should mention, however, that the last few jumps I've made have been purely fun jumps. I find that I get a real kick out of a successful dive that I've worked hard to achieve. That, and of course, events that push your comfort level, like no-wind landings (at first I used to get scared shitless by the horizontal speed, but after figuring out the cause I've started to enjoy it more). ... my 2 cents worth of random babbling...

"And wow! Hey! What's this thing suddenly coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like ... ow ... ound ... round ... ground! That's it! That's a good name - ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me?"