Sinkster

Personally, I'm glad I can drive what I want and pay almost nothing for gas. Arguably, natural volcanic eruptions exceed the damage to the atmosphere compared to automobile emissions anyway. Let's hear it for freedom. :) Sinkster BTW, about the other countries laughing thing... The only result of using less fuel would be giving them less money but then they could simply change the supply to raise costs and keep profit similar. It's not like using less would increase our supply any more anyway. It's an on or off thing. I say we keep using more and just let them run out first! Then we'll see who's laughing. ;-)

yeah good idea, or at least call on the phone. that's a no brainer and I plan to do it. I guess I just have to go see how professional they are and then make a judgement from that. just what i knew but i;m lazy so i had to ask in case i could get some instant gratification somehow. i also dont know how to judge a DZ aside from common sense and inspecting the equipment etc. they are USPA members though. this was a crap shoot to see if anyone might know anything and because all i can think about is the next jump hehe "The greatest risk in life is to risk nothing; The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing."

Because I am still waiting to finish my AFF progression, I thought I'd ask some of your experienced cats what you think about a certain DZ dilemma! Living in Baton Rouge, I really only have 2 choices (that I know of, correct me if I;m wrong) of DZ's to jump at. The first is Gold Coast Skydivers in Moss Point, MS. Awesome place... did first jump there. The only problem is it's 160 miles away or 2.5 hour drive. Aircraft = twin otter 15k yay. The only other option is some small place like Aero Resources LLC renamed recently to Tom and Jerry's Skydiving (yikes! that's scary) which is 100 miles or 1.5 hours away to the east. They also AFF according to dropzone.com and aircraft = a king air and cessna. So based on your experiences at different drop zones, do you think I could get by with a mom n pop DZ so I don't have to drive the extra 60 miles each way or should I really just make the drive to the 'proven' good DZ? Comments appreciated. Sinkster "The greatest risk in life is to risk nothing; The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing."

No to sound bitter but I'm sure I'm not the only guy to notice that sometimes a girl is more responsive when they DON'T get treated with respect. In other words, nice guys usually finish last in the dating scene. Anyone else know what I'm talking about? "The greatest risk in life is to risk nothing; The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing."

"This instructor thinks you should study tomorrow and wait until next month to complete your AFF." Yeah, that's what I'm going to do. I actually did show up at the DZ today (2.5 hr drive heh) and sign up but it was too cold and windy to get any studying done and I doubted that I would even get to jump b/c of the wind plus I was in the middle of the list for AFF students when I signed up so I left to be sure to get something done. It was kind of disappointing to drive for so long and accomplish nothing but at least I tried and got to think about things for a while. I know I will love to skydive, but I hope I'm able to meet more people and make some friends at the DZ without too much trouble. Anyone else go it alone into the world of skydiving? "The greatest risk in life is to risk nothing; The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing."

"Next: How to make student loans pay for things other than school..." lol, good idea! To answer your question I am a senior on my 4th year (but not last semester ;-) ) in computer science and philosophy (I will probably ditch the compter science once I graduate and choose the 'poor' philosophy graduate student route (money is overrated and you only live once!)) so them 'terms are kinda tough. Tis' true that many people can usually cram the night before, but by now I know when I can't. Probably smarter to suffer a short while so I don't end up with bad marks that might haunt me for long time. (but whoever wants to do the "smartest" thing in these cases right! :) ) So I will probably just to follow the recommendations from both skyhawk's and your post to wait until I can get a bunch of jumps all together. So until things die down a little bit I'm just gonna pinch every penny I can. I guess worst case they might want me to take the FJC again, but I doubt it. Plus, it would be a lot worse to have wait times between the more advanced jumps instead of just lvl 2 when it doesn't matter. Nonetheless, I am going to set my alarm for early tommorow and when it goes off, if I feel the mind to, call the DZO and ask his opinion about the weather and/or my training in general. If the weather looks good, then I will decide whether or not to go based on my mood at the time and just study at the drop zone between loads like you guys are saying. I don't know how I'm going to concentrate on my work b.c of the anticipation but I'll try! Ugh, why do I always end up pulling all-nighters before exams?! sheesh. =) -Sinkster "The greatest risk in life is to risk nothing; The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing."

Hi, I am new here although I have lurked a lot reading all I can because I completed my first jump ever (yehaa!) which was AFF lvl 1 and I've been wanting to go up again so bad but haven't and won't be able to for a couple more weekends more at least due to weather and midterms. My jump was not last weekend but the weekend before. So 2 weeks ago. Anyways, my question is do you think I should do my best to try to jump tommorow even though I should study for midterms, or do you think it will be ok to wait 2 more weeks (next available time) to make the 2nd AFF jump? In other words, MUST I jump tommorow just to jump (currency), or is it acceptable to have about 1 month in between my first and 2nd jump? Also, should I try to wait until I can jump multiple weekends in a row (summer) to complete AFF, or do you think I can complete it just fine only jumping every couple weeks or once a month? Any and all opinions appreciated. -Sinkster BTW, I will be jumping at Gold Coast Skydivers in Moss Point, MS. Mad props to Kevin, Luis, and Lynette (awesome videographer not only jump skill wise imho but also with video editing) for a truly memorable first jump! (i owe some beer too for throwing the rip cord) =) P.S. Anyone else jump or learning to jump at Gold Coast and live near the Baton Rouge area OR have anything to comment on it or tips or whatever? I thought it was great how their twin otter got us up to 15,000 (logged 65 secs of FF time hehe!) unlike the typical 13.5k I hear about alot. I only wish it was a closer drive!

Who is Clay and what is post whoring? Btw, I type real fast so it doesn't take much time for it to get long. =)

hehe, you ain't lieing `bout high school. sheesh. That place was a prison!

Dude, I just have to say for your sake that the whole vote is probably horribly skewed with no possibility of determining the true accuracy of how women feel about you by appearance alone. You got to remember that posssibly only 15% of skydivers are women so dropzone.com probably has a disproportionate number of women frequenting it. However, even if that were not the case there is still probably a disproportionate amount of women due to the demographics of the internet itself. Still, just for the sake of argument let's say that the split is 50/50. In that case half of the votes on your picture are going to be "NO" by default unless some kind soul for pity's sake decided to put "YES", but I doubt that happened. (Hell, even I voted "NO"! ;-) hehe) This does not even consider the funky face you are making. :) I just have to assume this whole thing is meant to be a joke , in that case good job cuz it is kinda funny. heh -Sinkster

Also I just want to say that for anyone who is still young that at your age fortunes can be lost and soulmates taken away. But you can always get those back. What you cannot get back is TIME! So please make the best of your time! Take any risk to pursue your dreams whatever it is. Seek knowledge. Take chances. Put it all on the line for your dreams if need be. I applaud everyone seeking to better themselves in any way! You only get so much time so make the best of it, BUT do live with no regrets because obviously you can only make the best of the moment you are living in RIGHT NOW so there is no point in fretting over the past so don't or I will have to hurt you. :-) (I know I have regretted so many things but I still have right now! yahoo! hehe) I think this ties in perfectly with the skydiving philosophy which I define as follows: "living your life to the fullest every day--whatever that may be and at whatever cost." For some skydiving may not be living to the fullest but in any case go for it whatever it is! :-) Thanks for listening.

BTW, I need to say something just because this is my first post here. I don't mean to come off like some pompous a-hole (if it seems like that) who is trying to wield his 'education' as a weapon to make myself feel better or promote any kind of superiority. I'm just used to writing like that. Anyways, it's unfortunate that so many so-called educated people do that because it makes anyone who posts with a similar flavor seem to be of the same ilk. So feel free to take issue with anything and know that I will try not to be a snob about it. We are definately all subject to the same frail human nature! -Sinkster P.S. For you psych people out there I know you are thinking that I am projecting my own snobbishness out by writing this criticism of it on my own post but I assure you thats not the case here. :-) Of course, how can I really know because it would be subconscious so I guess I'm stuck (lol) but at least I can say that I am trying to be as sincere as my nature will consciously allow. I would give anything to be able to divine the true intent of my heart but alas that is just not possible!!!! lol

I am going to have to take issue with your assertion that "the only thing you learn at school is to memorize." For some people this may certainly be the case, however any University worth it's salt will sharpen your mind and intellect to the degree that you learn how to think with supreme clarity such that you gain an understanding of the nature of the world and ideas that is irreplaceable. The point of a university is to learn not only from a selected area such as computer science but also to gain knowledge of the arts, humanities, literature, philosophy, and other liberal arts. In other words, universities are not trade schools where you learn some simple task that has no apparent application outside of itself. You learn how to be a well rounded individual and these skills do travel with you the rest of your life. I can tell, for example, that my ability to reason has been sharpened by the study of philosophy which has consequently augmented my ability to develop software for computer systems even though those things are not seemingly related. However, even if these were not the case I would not trade my education for anything, not even any amount of money. Truly you are right in the sense that the classes that are worthless are the ones where you simply assimilate and regurgiate data (memorize). Of course memorization is often a part of most classes in some form or another. But memorization is only a means not an ends in most cases. Any monkey or computer can regurgitate data--it is a trivial task. What makes us human is rather our ability to reason. Why do you think the best candidates for law school (according to GRE scores) are Philosophy graduates? Because they learn how to think, not memorize. (although lawyers can be so evil! ;-) ) In any case, I hope you get my point and decide to try to get the most of your university experience because it will positively affect every aspect of your life. Not only will it help you earn more money (which is unfortunately why most people get an education to the detriment of many universities), but it will enhance your life in ways you can't even imagine because you will be able to better appreciate beauty and the arts and literature, or judge the soundness of moral and scientific claims, and highten your sensibilities to be more deeply satisfied than previously possible. It will even change the way you hold a girls hand. Therefore, I compel anyone contemplating higher education who has any amount of passion for it to take the plunge whatever the cost. It is worth it and it will change who you are. Blue skies, Sinkster "Better Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied." P.S. This is not meant as a personal attack but rather to compel people think about education in a different way so please do not be offended. Many people feel the same way about school that you do and for good reason because most schools are horribly deficient when it comes to providing a real education--so I don't blame you. I also realize that there is much more to life than just "learning", and that some things (like skydiving) cannot possibly be understood without experiencing them.