Jump Runt

Wow, it's been one year since I did my first tandem.  I  remember thinking "Yeah, like I'm ever doing that again!"
Yet I did do that again. And again.
 Now I'm licensed  and have 48 jumps.  I still can't believe it.
Of course, there's room for improvement.  

I'm still doing Jerry Lewis slob exits.  Yeah, yeah, I know, present to the wind, arch, dive toward the wing tips and so on.  It seems there's a gap between what I intellectually know what to do and what I actually do. 
I get stable once I'm out, but guess who backslides?  Guess who has her legs too far appart?  Guess who knows better than to do all of this... ...but does it anyway?  Maddening!
I'm trying to be a good duck- tunnel training, coaching events, diving with others.  I'm getting better, but guess who isn't the fastest learner at the DZ?
In other news, this happened a few weeks ago:

Holy Mackerel on a Stick! Maybe he as close as he seemed,  but it freaked me.  (No, I wasn't tracking up jump run.  Really!)
On another jump,  the winds got cute.

I'd seen dust devils before, but not when under canopy.  I steered clear of "him", but the wind was still up to tricks.  In the crosswind part of my landing pattern, it sent me straight towards the runway!

Okay, the plane wasn't around, but  runways are like subway tracks:  

 You stay the #^&$ off them.
I somehow got away from the runway and landed.

 

Let's talk about landings.  Guess who still crash lands?  Not horrible bone breaking crashes.  Just trip-over-your-own feet "D'oh!" landings.  I took a canopy class and that helped.. Boy, am I proud when I manage the occasional  stand up landing!

I'm still jumping a  large canopy (220).  I figure I shouldn't downsize to anything smaller until I can land this size reliably.  Of course, even if I do land it reliably, I'm still apt to go for a ride if the canopy re- inflates before I put my weight on it.  And if I don't land it nicely, it can start moving before I can get up to weigh it down.   Pulling down a toggle will rein it in (assuming the toggle isn't wrapped around my head or hung up on the bag,)

There's a lot of people with twenty something jumps who are much better than I am.  They exit, fly and land nicely.   It's embarrassing.

Then again, I've always been slow to learn anything physical.  What I do and what I think I'm doing aren't always correct, and it takes me awhile to fine tune.   If I want to get better, I'll have to stop whining and get to work.