Emmie

I got Wings, how did you ever guess?

Oh my god you're right...Here I am again

Congrats! I've never heared of them before, do you know if they make RW suits?

I have never met Roy in person, but I talk to him at least once a week. He's really great to deal with, and he has tons of patience. I got my gear from him, and being an obnoxious brat I called him every week to check if he got it already. I'm gonna miss harassing him though, since he told me today that he finally shipped my rig off. Woohooooo!!!! ok, I'm really gonna log off now and write my paper

Since I have 4 six-page papers due next Tuesday, and I haven't started any of them yet I decided to dedicate my entire day to doing homework. I started at 9am, it's now 5:30, and I only have 2 paragraphs down, neither of which makes any sense at all. Instead of writing, I spent the past 7 hours reading posts on dropzone.com, checking my email, browsing skydiving websites, and harassing Roy from Rigs and Things. Could it be that I have ADD? Every time I start there seems like there's always better that I can be doing, like right now for example I have to go watch King of the Hill. I know it's sad.

I just took a whole bunch of those tests, and so far I found out that I can communicate with animals, I prefer a mountain man and I used to be a monkey in my past life.

The dropzone is Skydive New England in Maine. So you guys have to come visit me if I end up getting the job. I loved it there, its right in the woods, and you can see the ocean in freefall. It must be beautiful in the summer. The dzo's were super nice to me, and I had a really good feeling about the place right away. Now I just have to hold tight and hope that they hire me. This would really be a dreamjob if I got it. Who knew Mondays could be so great!

Those of you who read my past posts may be aware that I am not the luckiest person in the world. But today my luck finally turned around. I went for an interview at a local dropzone to work in manifest, and I think that they might hire me. The place is awesome, great people, and great location, plus I get to live at the dz. This of course means that I get to tell all the assholes at my current job to kiss my ass! I've been looking forward to doing that for two years! Then I get home and my tickets for Florida are in the mail. And now I find out that Pammi finished my necklace. I love days like these!

First responce is always that I'm crazy, although alot of people follow that with "thats so cool". Another stereotype is the whole death wish thing. My dad is still half convinced that I have a freudean death wish.

I just got home, and I see my post got quite a responce. So let me begin by saying that the reason for my outrage was the cruelty of the act. I try to cut meat out of my diet, but I'm by no means a vegetarian. I realize that the hamburger I ate today used to be a big brown eyed cow. It's sad, but its part of life. However, the reason that that cow died was because it served a purpose in feeding others. It wasn't killed out of cruelty. Noone slowly tortured it to death. It suffered when it died, but its suffering was minimized. It's not a perfect answer, but we don't live in a perfect world. That doesn't mean we should try to improve it. I am not saying that human life is less important than that of an animal, but I do believe that there are some people out there that are simply taking up space. Anyone who enjoys inflicting pain and suffering on animal or a human fits into that category. That dog was that poor man's friend. He loved it, probably the same way one loves a child, can you imagine what he felt when he saw it hanging of a tree? Or try to imagine yourself hanging of a branch slowly suffocating to death, trying to claw your way out of the noose. So yes I value human life, but the people that did this lost their humanity somewhere along the way, and so forfeited the privilage of being treated like ones. So fuck em, if I had it my way I would be dropping them out of a plane without a parachute.

Just watched the news and had to vent. They just showed a story where some sick fucks hung a dog by its own leash from a tree. I had tears in my eyes. The dog belonged to a disabled elderly man, and ran off when taking a walk, well someone found it and just killed it, hung it off a branch by it's own leash and watched it suffocate to death. The tree had claw marks from its trying to free itself. Earlier this year in the same town someone tied another dog's legs with duck tape, and threw it in the river. I can't even comprehend how a human being can do something so aweful. People like that should have been shot at birth.

Thanks Skymonkey

I just bought a used time-out. It doesn't have an owners manual, and the last owner forgot how to set it. Can anyone with any experience with this thing help me out?

It's SkydiveNewEngland. I've never been there before, but I've heared nothing but good things about it, so I might as well give it a shot.

I just got an interview with a dzo of a local dropzone to see if I can work in manifest for the summer. The dropzone is right on the beach, surrounded by woods, plus I get to live right on site. It's like the prefect job for me. I will get payed for hanging out at a dropzone, something that I do for free almost everyday. I'm kind of nervous that they might not hire me since I'm still on student status. Does anyone have any experience working at manifest? Any advice on how I can convince them to hire me will be greatly appreciated.

For an average driver it would take about an hour to get to my dz from home. It takes me about 30 mins. Its a wonder that I haven't gotten pulled over driving there yet.

I would have to agree with everyone here. I needed sunrise to finish mine a week earlier than they were supposed to, and they did everything they could to help me out. They really do have have unbeleivable custumer service.

Hi I have alot of experience with failure in AFF

Congradulations, and thank you for writing this. Reading about your experience just made me realize how much I miss skydiving.

I see someone had too much beer tonight...

I see skydiving as a personal responsibility, so I would never blame the instructor for my own mistakes. I do agree that some people are just incompatible. But sometimes instructors should have some tact. I know that a jm must be dissapinted to some extent when a student screws up, but they have to take into concideration the fact that the student probably fells 10 times worse. AFF is stressfull enough without all the extra shit. I had so much confidence when I started out, and I lost it not because I had to repeat a level but because of the negative attitude. I'm not gonna give up because of it, but it does suck to know that your jm sees you as hopeless.

I just saw that too. What were the crazy japanese thinking?

Thanks alot you guys. I needed the encouragement. I'm gonna book tickets for the end of March, get my ass to Florida, and come back a skygodess. Hey, if Steven Baldvin could do it so can I right? Seriously thought, I think that jm's job is to encourage the student, and not to give them shit, especially when they themselves screw up on the jumps. I think that since I was his 1st student, he felt like it would reflect bad on him when I did anything wrong, so that put the pressure on me to do it for his sake. It's a long weird story, but thanks so much for making me feel better.

(This is kind of long, sorry) I just talked to a friend who came back from Florida. I mentioned that since I got sick, and had to cancel my sebastian trip I might as well finish up AFF at our home DZ. He started telling me that unless I get to a windtunnel I'll never graduate, because the jm he talked to says that I'm really bad. He made it sound that i'm completely inadequate, and said that they would probably not even let me jump back home. That pisses me off. I made it up to level 5 without ever repeating a jump. Then I got a new instructor, and thats when things just got bad. I'm not blaming him, but its wrong to just totally discourage people like that. Different people learn differently, it doesn't meen you write them off as completely hopeless.

I would call them and explain the situation. I needed mine a week earlier then the date it was suposed to be finished, so I called and talked to Heather, and she said that they would try to help me out. It ended up being ready even before I needed it. So just be honest and beg alot.