Snowbird

I love threads like this. So cool to see what motivates everyone here. I had lots of little factors. The local dropzone is very close to my house. Watching skydivers made me want to try it. I checked into it, learned what it cost, and chose not to do it. Two years ago I watched a Skyhawks demo and decided that one day, I REALLY had to try it out. 1 1/2 years ago, my dad died. That began a long process of re-evaluating my life and motivations and beliefs. Last year, I turned 30 and decided I had to do something extreme, something no one really believed I'd do - me included. So I told everyone I wanted $ for my birthday, and signed up for my FJC and did it. Did five jumps before winter cut me off. I spent all winter obsessed with being up in the air again. This spring I started up again with the intention of at least getting off student status this year. Did that, already got gear, want my 'A' by winter, hang out at the dz most weekends, and my life has done a 180o change in priorities and values. My only regret is that I didn't do this years ago. Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

4:1:0 My girlfriend is getting married and this was the shower/stagette weekend, so I had 4 events to go to this weekend. (I'm maid of honour and have to go to everything) Did a great coach dive Saturday morning before the bridal shower. Backloops and TRACKING!!!!! Oh yeah I love that! Been looking forward to tracking for many many moons. Wanted to do a second jump to do more tracking, but it took me a fair bit of time to pack and I didn't have time for another. Loving my new-to-me Falcon. She's so much fun. Not much wind on Saturday, though, and she comes in sooo fast. Had to run it out but stayed on my feet. Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

This thread is hilarious! Christoofar, this is me too - auntie though. I have a great time with other people's kids, so long as I can give the little rotters back. Lets see... 1) I love watching bad 'B' grade movies when I'm home alone. 2)I never have, and never will, take/smoke/do any drug. (well except alcohol) 3)I don't like things like motorbikes, waterskiing, fast cars, or mountainbiking, but can't get enough skydiving. Go figure. 4)I know and can do over 40 yoyo tricks. 5)I draw houseplans, for fun. 6)I have my second degree green belt in jiu-jitsu. (4th belt) 7)I'm currently writing a novel about assassins. 8)I still hold my nose when I swim underwater. 9)I married my high school sweetheart and we have a strong, wonderful marriage. How rare is that! 10)I hate beer. Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

Now to me that sounds like a 'skygod' opinion. I guess that puts me 170 short... Just like any jewlery I have, I wear mine for me. Some days when I'm not at the dropzone I start feeling disconected from this amazing thing I've discovered, or sometimes I get a bit guilty over the money and time I'm spending on it. I look at my necklace, or touch it, and it puts me back in the air and gives me perspective. The recognition factor is cool, but secondary. Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

For awhile it was "Carpe Diem" Then it was "Life is uncertain; eat dessert first." These days its "Life is a journey, not a destination. If the road is right the destination can't be wrong." And I really like "I'm here for a good time, not a long time. So have a good time, the sun doesn't shine every day." As well as "Life should not be measured by the breaths we take, but rather by the moments that take our breath away." Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

Hey, Congratulations! That is the sweetest, coolest proposal I've heard of in a looonng time. Sounds like a catch worth keeping. Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

I'll see you that $4000 and raise you another $1000. Somehow, I don't think 'affordable' is a word that will ever describe skydiving. I took a second job to support my new habit. A second crappy job, but it's worth every penny. Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

That's awesome! You'll be jumping it in no time. It sounds purrty.

To help pass a long Friday... *** Nick the Dragon Slayer was an official in King Arthur's court. He had a long-standing obsession with nuzzling the beautiful Queen's voluptuous breasts, but he knew the penalty for this would be death. One day he revealed his secret desire to his colleague, Horatio the Physician, who was the King's chief doctor. Horatio the Physician exclaimed that he could arrange for Nick the Dragon Slayer to satisfy his desire, but it would cost him 1,000 gold coins to arrange it. Without hesitation, Nick the Dragon Slayer readily agreed to the scheme. The next day, Horatio the Physician made a batch of itching powder and poured a little bit into the Queen's brassiere while she bathed. Soon after she dressed, the itching commenced and grew intense. Upon being summoned to the Royal Chambers to address this incident, Horatio the Physician informed the King and Queen that only a special saliva, if applied for four hours, would cure this type of itch, and that tests had shown that only the saliva of Nick the Dragon Slayer would work as the antidote to cure the itch. The King quickly summoned Nick the Dragon Slayer. Horatio the Physician then slipped Nick the Dragon Slayer the antidote for the itching powder, which he quickly put into his mouth, and for the next four hours, Nick worked passionately on the Queen's voluptuous and magnificent breasts. The Queen's itching was eventually relieved, and Nick the Dragon Slayer left satisfied and touted as a hero. Upon returning to his chamber, Nick the Dragon Slayer found Horatio the Physician demanding his payment of 1,000 gold coins. With his obsession now satisfied, Nick the Dragon Slayer could have cared less, and knowing that Horatio the Physician could never report this matter to the King, shooed him away with no payment made. The next day, Horatio the Physician slipped a massive dose of the same itching powder into the King's loincloth. The King quickly summoned Nick the Dragon Slayer... Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

I always leave mine at home, safe and sound. Other jewelry I wear to the dz, but take off for jumps. I'm just paranoid about my wedding ring getting lost, or worse. Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

Gale, I'm feeling it for ya. I'm a solo jumper at a single Cessna dz, and have waited for HOURS to get on a load. Especially if there are new students/tandems in queue. I've become the squeaky wheel. I had one day when I was still a student, I arrived by 10:30 and waited for the tandems ahead of me. Then a wind came up and I was grounded. Then the weather finally cleared around 6pm, I got manifested with my instructor, and... no other jumpers wanted to go up. They'd been jumping all day despite the wind, and were done for the day. I finally walked out on the patio and loudly said, "Someone MUST get on this load! There's a beer for you if you do!" Worked like a charm. So far I've had no trouble getting on loads as a solo jumper. I make a convenient load-filler. It'll all even out, just hang tough. And take special glee when you get to bump one of them. Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

Uh oh... Just a little? Eventually? Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

Awhile back he said... ...and he was so right! On Saturday I did two jumps from the top, just me and my own rig alone in the sky for the first time, and they were the absolutely best jumps yet. No instructors to 'perform' for, no skills I HAD to do to pass to the next level. I chose what I wanted to do and just enjoyed and savoured the entire trip so much I wanted to burst with euphoria by the time I landed... and both times I stood up the landing under my beautiful Falcon. Yup, I'm completely hooked. Someone haul me down from the clouds, my brain is still up there. Good thing my work is very involving and distracting, or I wouldn't get anything done. All I can think about is the last jump and the next jump. When does the obsession ease off a bit, though? I really need to get a few other things done sometimes. Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

Good words to live by, oh yeah! How about feeling guilty about not feeling guilty that skydiving is taking over my life? Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

Michele, you rock! OH yeah, with your determination, there was no doubt you'd nail it. And thanks for the story! Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

Best of luck holding yourself to that plan. This spring I just wanted to get through my student progression this year, and maybe plan on buying gear next year. I got my solo certification two weeks ago, and got my own gear the next day. So much for good intentions and financial planning About the hot tub, maybe you can take it back... Have fun! Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

at least 600:2:1 # of times I pet, touched, and stroked my new-to-me gear. Beer owed for first time packing and then jumping my own pack job. Talk about nerve racking. She opened a bit briskly, but what a sweet sight! Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

When you are hanging in the sky - under canopy or in freefall - and realise that everything else you do in life is so that you can get here again, and again, and again. Maybe that perception will change with time, but damn it's strong right now! I can't say just when I stopped being a whuffo, but I started thinking of myself as a skydiver around my 20 second delays. After a lousy tumbling door dive, when I got stable and realised that I can get stable and fall kinda properly. And then I looked around and realised that life was perfect at that moment. Perfect.

Doesn't this just rock?! Woohoo! You go! I'm at about the same stage and I can hear your excitement and almost taste the adrenaline in your post. I can't imagine it getting better than this, but it just keeps improving. Congratulations!

Would you please try and have some fun? It sounds so boring! Don't be such sticks in the mud... (she says jealously) Actually I'm not jealous. Did two rocking jumps right here at home today. So HA! on you. HA! Do I sound convincing? Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

Is that not the BEST kind of b-day present? Jump money is the only thing on my list, I can tell ya. Have fun! Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

Then who am I to mess with tradition? Alas, my beauty is not a young chickie, and I may very well be her last companion. As for those zp tarts, my eyes may stray, but my heart will be with my beauty for a long, long time. No matter what, she'll always be my First Love Now I think I'll go and touch her again, maybe wear her around the house... I'm still in shock that I have her. Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

Jason, that was like reading my own words a year ago. I was 29, house-poor and in debt, my dad had died recently, my job was fizzling away, my education wouldn't get me the kind of employment I wanted, and 'looking ahead' meant looking into an abyss. I've fought with the same demon, and still do in some ways. It will get clearer and easier, and you have lots of time. I used to define myself by my job. Who I was depended on what I did. In the last year, I've changed my perception and now I define myself by who I am, not what I am. My passions, my values, my relationships, they make me who I am and the rest is just details. Maybe that will help, maybe not. It's your journey; don't let other peoples expectations shape what you expect of yourself. And when in doubt... Go jump out of an airplane!!! Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

That just proves that I haven't been to your website The site I got it at is apparantly the original creator. It was a free graphic, so no worries about 'ripping it off'. Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein

Hey, this cutie is from OSDN postcardmaker. My brother found it and sent it my way. It's at http://www.postcardmaker.com/index.html Wow, I have my own gear AND my own icon.Now I'm a REAL skydiver... Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein