Wingsuit Dude recovery

[Thatcher II]

Tim, I read the introduction. Liked it. Good writing and ideas. Was that really penned in 1973?? Way ahead if its time if it was.

My take? You were really fucked up from your prior work with the serial killer. That's to be expected. Being close to and inside that sort of evil is a scary place - probably even now in memory. To understand and put yourself in that horror and hear it was a truly awful, haunting - as you say, claustrophobic - experience that was hard to shake.

You identified all of this yourself clearly. But your intro goes on to justify extreme sports in general and I didn't agree with a lot of that. We have an innate ability to handle stress. Some of us, quite brilliantly. Some of us, not so well. I'm not sure we need to experience extreme danger to feel alive or in control. The tranquility afterwards you cite is like someone enjoying the magnificence of taking off a tight pair of shoes. The "control" manufactured through risking life and limb could be better achieved with real action in life. Do what you love, take risks, be true to yourself etc. Rather than feeling impotent and jumping off a cliff a few times a year to compensate. As for transcendence in action in such situations, there's transcendence in helping people, having kids, building, gardening, hunting... No need to manufacture extreme danger.

Having kids changes perspective for most. We speed less. We are less inclined to physical confrontation. We live a little by proxy but it's by choice and a privilege. There's something really tragic about someone manufacturing extreme danger un a modern setting with no payoff other than perceived "buzz" bragging rights. To me, it's unbalanced. It's exhilarating but ultimately disrespectful of the gift of life and the possibilities life holds. It's selfish.

What us truly shocking about all of this is my apparent agreement with a sick fuck like Fat Cat.

[Blaidd Drwg]

excuse...whinge...tears....

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfCR4qQgwFs[/youtube]

[Fat Cat]

What us truly shocking about all of this is my apparent agreement with a sick fuck like Fat Cat.

Like rivers to the sea, sooner or later everyone flows into my watery embrace. Fag.

[Thatcher II]

badass mountain biker y'all....adolescent anger.....failure....kalisthenstical.....closet homo

[Blaidd Drwg]

Oh Man...You so got me there. I'm so Bummed...(plus you missed motocross, blue water sailing and my latent anger towards my father for not sponsoring a switch to road racing)

Just teasing you ya fookin' geezer. Not all of us lost our love of life when we hit 40 and had kids.

[Thatcher II]

Oh Man...You so got me there. I'm so Bummed...

Just teasing you ya fookin' geezer. Not all of us lost our love of life when we hit 40 and had kids.

I have a reputation as a total cunt to uphold round here. Recognize.

[Blaidd Drwg]

Oh Man...You so got me there. I'm so Bummed...

Just teasing you ya fookin' geezer. Not all of us lost our love of life when we hit 40 and had kids.

I have a reputation as a total cunt to uphold round here. Recognize.

i was totally unaware....up your game.

[seeahill]

Gorby,
Thanks for the analysis. I think I wrote that in 1993. But some of the stories in that book were written in '77.

Here's the deal for me. Since it was my job, I could concentrate on the event and mitigate the risk by training and knowing my limits. However, everything I did was a challenge for me. It all got me thinking of Mihály Csíkszentmihályi and his book, The Flow.

Csíkszentmihályi, then a psychologist at the University of Chicago, studied people who worked intensely. He noticed that a composer, working silently writing music, might not hear the door bell ring. A neurosurgeon might experience a seven hour operation as a matter of an hour while a ballerina doing an intricate move might feel time expand. They were all in "the flow." It's about the same as athletes who feel in the zone.

The deal is that these sensations --- the lack of ordinary consciousness, the deep concentration, the feeling of being somehow connected with something beyond oneself --- are, says Csíkszentmihályi, very similar to Eastern meditative states. What I say is, some folks can get there sitting cross legged in a room. Others of us need a little harder bump.

[Batboy2/75]

I have no problems with people living on the edge, so long as you can pay the bills and your activities only involve you.

Want to race motorbikes at 100+ mph without a helmet? Fine by me. However, you pay for your medical bills, not society. Your money runs out? Good night gracie or hope a charity picks up the tab. Decide to do this on a public road or freeway? Fuck you pal, I hope the first person the the scene puts a bullet in your brain.

With that being said.

I can still remember every detail of a airborne jump where I was forced to pull my reserve. Trust me, your mind is a wonderful computer. Time slowed down to a crawl. I used to joke that we where jumping too low & carrying to much gear to ever have enough time to use a reserve chute. How wrong I was. I had tons of time, my mind made sure of it. I even had the split thought pattern the guy in the article talks about. I was kissing my ass goodbye, thinking of all the people I wasn't going to see again and how dying was going to suck. All the while processing the situation, following my training, and pulling my reserve. Jumping 45 minutes later was kind of nerve racking, but I kept telling myself; what are odds this will happen 2 times in a row?

[Fat Cat]

Funny, I was talking to a friend last night about his first skydive. He said his entire life literally flashed before his eyes as he went out the door. You think it's just a saying but no.

[terra]

Risking oneself out of necessity is totally understandable. Doing it for fun is stupid. I also don't gamble.

terra wrote: blah blah blah blah.

Finding meaning in life from danger is childish and self-absorbed. See "Fight Club".

Perhaps my post didn't communicate it well... Or perhaps you didn't get it, or read it (?).
It is not about the danger.

Most climbers laugh behind their hand when people talk about it as an 'extreme' sport.
Working another climb of 5:12d difficulty until you really own that grade might be like having the last stripe on your blue belt and getting to purple. It's a long slog but the actual doing still focuses life into the moment. My pre-frontal cortex knows the climb is 'safer' than the actual drive to the cliff, or the dojo.

From my experience training on the mats is more dangerous to me than climbing.
It is not for me to label it "Childish and self absorbed" as my perception of danger and actual understanding of an activity may be limited.
In fact when discussing shoulder/hip injuries in BJJ practitioners with another practitioner (who has never experienced any MA). He shook his head and said, "I don't know why people keep do that stupid shit and ruining themselves, it's not like they're getting paid to do it". (He surfs and is into fishing - ha, check the stats).

Only time I was forced to take time off clinic and had medical bills was from MA - you can't treat others with a rib fracture.
For me, with motorcycle racing and climbing the inherent dangers are much more within my control (ie the mountain, my challenge, has no ego). Maybe this means I am soft or some other such chest pounding pop meme. My experiences haven't written off MA pursuits and hope to return when a manner presents itself which is within my risk/reward perception.

Again, just using the opinions expressed in this thread to examine what I do...
Started climbing through fear of heights but the actual experiences found less actual danger in climbing at heights than in being 1" off the ground.
In hindsight I guess climbing was pursued in an effort to see the world more as it is and less as I am etc... This is searching for meaning in life, not danger but checking in with perceptions.

Others are welcome to their perception, on this matter. Not challenging it, just checking mine. Using this thread to examine my experiences - as I have actually experienced some so-called 'extreme and dangerous' pursuits and found something else behind the label.

BTW (for me) Fight Club was about seeing behind the portrayed false images that popular culture puts on experiences...

Talking about medical expenses.
The cost to society of lifestyle decisions like poor nutrition, smoking and alcoholism and being a couch potato far far far outway those of other lifestyle decisions such as motorcycle racing, climbing, snow skiing etc. I happily support the later and also do so through extra insurance policies. But I am forced to support the former truly suicidal lifestyle actions directly from my taxes (we have more public healthcare here).

Anyhow... Peace.

[Fat Cat]

I'm not the person you need to convince. That said, you get hurt in BJJ it's popped rib, you fuck up climbing it's over. That's a big difference which you're not acknowledging. But let's put it on someone you care about: would you be happy if your son or daughter was streetracing motorcycles? I wouldn't. Why? Because I don't give a fuck about their transcendence or any of that shit, I want them home in one piece.

[Thatcher II]

I'd like it if you streetraced motorcycles.

[Fat Cat]

But I won't.

[Thatcher II]

PM me your address and I'll send u a wingsuit.

[SAR]

Gotta agree with fatty. I understand and like adrenalin, but having a family means keeping yourself able to provide. Growing up sucks

[SAR]

Gotta agree with fatty. I understand and like adrenalin, but having a family means keeping yourself able to provide. Growing up sucks

[Turdacious]

I ever tell you about how I won the 1962 Wisconsin State High School swimming championships in the 50 and 100 yard freestyle?

You're never too old to take up a new sport Timmah.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKd7FQqPaI0[/youtube]

[Blaidd Drwg]

Gotta agree with fatty. I understand and like adrenalin, but having a family means keeping yourself able to provide. Growing up sucks

I understand the sentiment, kid two definitely had an impact on how I prep for and think about risk..But please...really, Adrenalin has absolutely nothing to do with it. Adrenalin is for the bungey jumping drunk driving, barebacking hookers types. The type and range of stuff I think we're talking about is controlled..hell I'd say the focus is almost relaxing..

[Andy83]

One thing for certain here is that Blaid Dickhead knows everything about everything. Even flying and skydiving. Imagine that still in the throes of his forties!

[Blaidd Drwg]

One thing for certain here is that Blaid Dickhead knows everything about everything. Even flying and skydiving. Imagine that still in the throes of his forties!

I know you're dead inside. It was the smell that gave it away.

[Andy83]

You don't know shit. You only think you do.

[Blaidd Drwg]

the smell...it's the smell.

[Andy83]

Now tell us what's being alive.

[Blaidd Drwg]

I couldn't possibly tell you anything, Andy. I can only wish you well. May your beer be as cold as your dead heart.