October]),
■tesday • October 25, 1994
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Mark Woodings, president of the A&M Skydiving Club, navigates through the sky above Coulter Field.
Skydiving Club takes the fall
for breathtaking adventures
By Margaret Claughton
The Battalion
he airplane circled overhead sev
eral times. Its small shape
pierced holes in the low lying
clouds while the buzzing engine’s
noise reverberated off the sur
rounding hangers.
Suddenly there was nothing to hear but the
wind and some faraway traffic. The plane glided
by again, this time, without a sound. Instantly
the azure sky was dotted with colorful figures,
falling gracefully but swiftly toward the green
pasture below.
The three descending bodies stiffened and
seemed to fall more rapidly until each one
landed at a run on the muddy grass.
Mark Woodings, president of the A&M
Skydiving Club, seeming unfazed by the
4,000-foot fall he had just experienced. He
quickly brushed the mud from his feet and
began walking back toward the airport.
With sweat sprinkled faces and slightly
cocky grins, he and his two companions,
Morman Hughes and Tiffany Keller, en
tered the headquarters of the skydiving
club, housed in an unused hanger at Coul
ter field airport.
The three took off their gear and put it
away.
Woodings plopped down on the loveseat
looking tired and dirty, yet refreshed.
The whole experience is a rush, he ex
plained, with many different phases.
“The plane ride is pretty boring,” he said.
“But the cold air up there is 40 to 50 de
grees. That gets you invigorated.”
He said the crew dives from heights be
tween 2,000 and 15,000 feet. After people
jump from the plane, they free-fall at a rate
of one thousand feet per 5 to 6 seconds be
fore pulling the parachute cord.
Woodings said the free fall is one of the
most intense parts of jumping.
“Once you get out, there is a period
where you’re accelerating,” he said. “It feels
like you’ve stuck your head out of a car go
ing 120 miles per hour.”
Woodings said the dive itself cannot be
compared to any other experience.
“It’s like nothing you’ve done before,” he
said. “Kind of like the first time you
touched water as a kid. It’s weird because
you can’t hold on to it.”
Dave Parkerson, vice president of the
club, said the dive is a tranquil, indepen
dent experience.
“The most intense part is seeing what no
one else sees,” he said. “Like passing by
clouds that look close enough to touch.”
Parkerson said the air where they dive is
the most quiet, peaceful place he’s ever
been.
“When you’re under the canopy, flying, it’s so
peaceful,” he said. “Most people think it’s just a
fall but you actually do fly your body.”
Parkerson said skydiving gives the feeling of
invincibility.
“You are the only person that’s going to react,”
he said. “It’s like getting to know yourself and
knowing what you’re capable of. You can see the
earth and everything you’ve ever known beneath
you. You’re in complete control of your life.”
Although the experience of skydiving is tran
quil and peaceful, it can be competitive.
The A&M Skydiving Club is gearing up to
compete in the Collegiate Skydiving Champi
onship to be held in Arizona. Last year, A&M
placed second in the two-way team event and
third in the nation in canopy relative work.
Currently, the club has 25 members. Parker
son said the membership is extremely diverse.
“It’s a bunch of people that are so different,” he
said. “They’re from all walks of life who come to
gether with one thing in common and that’s that
they love skydiving.”
According to Ernie Kirkham, faculty adviser
for the skydivers, the club was formed in the ’60s
but dissolved in the early ’70s from lack of partic
ipation and funds. It was reformed in the early
’80s by Ryszard Zadow, Jan Walker and Steve
Nick Rodnicki / The Bate align
Woodings gathers his parachute after a jump.
Haskett.
Haskett now owns Aggies Over Texas, an inde
pendent skydiving school which furnishes air
plane rides for the skydiving club.
Both the club and Aggies Over Texas work to
promote skydiving to people on campus and in
the community.
Kirkham encourages people to visit Aggies
over Texas and take a dive.
“It’s something everyone should experience,”
he said. “It’s amazing.”
No pain, no gain for
navel piercing experience
By Constance Parten
The Battalion
ody piercing has become extremely popu
lar over the last few years. People are
piercing everything from their noses and
eyebrows to their nipples and genitalia. The
reasons for piercing are varied, but most peo
ple who pierce their bodies agree it has become
a very trendy thing to do.
I finally fell prey to the idea of body piercing
last week after a few of my friends who had
gone through the process said it wasn’t that
bad.
It all started at Double Dave’s a few weeks
ago. Several people were talking about the
woman in the movie “Pulp Fiction” who
pierced 18 parts of her body. That’s when one
of my friends told us she had pierced her navel
almost a month before.
As she told us all about the pain, the cost
and the needle, I became more and more in
trigued. I started talking about the possibility
of piercing my navel.
After reassuring myself that it would only
hurt for a while, I resolved to do it. So, last
Thursday afternoon, entourage in tow, I made
the trek to the piercing mecca of Bryan.
I was calm and poised as we crossed the
street. But when we entered the shop I lost all
composure.
“I want a tatt. . . umm, a. . . I want to get
my belly button pierced,” I stammered ner
vously as the bearded, tattooed man looked at
me.
“Follow me,” he said as he grabbed a needle,
a little silver ring with a ball on it, and a pair
of pliers.
“Pliers? What does he need pliers for?” I
asked my friends as they pushed me into the
little back room. “What does he need pliers
for?”
I wanted out, but my friends wouldn’t let
me.
Drumming my fingers nervously, I watched
as the man wiped down my stomach with alco
hol and prepared the needle. I chose not to
look at the needle.
“Oh my God,” one of my friends said as the
bearded man poked the needle into my flesh.
Lying on the inclined table, I looked down and
saw a three-inch needle about the width of
one- quarter inch drill bit sticking through the
top of my navel.
“I can’t watch,” another friend said as she
ran from the room.
“Does it hurt?” they asked. I gritted my
teeth.
“Not too bad,” I said. “It feels like someone
is pinching my stomach really hard, but it isn’t
too bad.”
He quickly pushed the needle through and
replaced it with the silver ring. With the ring
in place, he screwed the ends together with a
little silver ball. It was over.
After paying the man $46 for his services,
we left. That was it. No life changing revela
tions. Nothing. Just a hole in my stomach
that I have to pour hydrogen peroxide on, and
I have to sleep on my back for a week. But
nothing else.
As for the pain — well, it was bearable. Sit
ting down presented a problem for a few days
afterward, but other than that I’ve had no
problems. In fact, I really like it.
Despite old material, Pumpkins’
Pisces Iscariot’ pulls through
By Rob Clark
The Battalion *
Smashing Pumpkins
“Pisces Iscariot”
Virgin Records
1/2 (out of five)
It’s easy to get excited about a new release
from Smashing Pumpkins. After all, they are
one of the most innovative and creative rock
groups around.
But it’s hard to get excited about an album
that basically says, “These are the songs that
weren’t good enough to make our albums.”
Because, you see, “Pisces Iscariot” is an al
bum made up of old B-sides, demos and unre
leased material. And considering the excel
lence of their first two albums, “Gish” and
“Siamese Dream,” it’s no surprise that
these songs didn’t quite make the cut.
But Billy Corgan and company manage
to pull it off anyway.
The album starts off unlike the Pump
kins’ past efforts, with a timid ballad called
“Soothe.” Corgan’s soft vocals are accom
panied only by an acoustic guitar on the
song. And while it’s not a bad song, it puts
you to sleep, instead of waking you up like
“Siamese Dream’s” lead track “Cherub
Rock.”
“Plume” is a slow grinder of a song with
uncharacteristically carefree lyrics, com
pared to Corgan s seemingly eternal moodi
ness. “Oh yay, another day, gotta play . . .
I just want to have some little fun,” Corgan
sings. Perhaps this is a sign of the band
trying to stop taking themselves so serious
ly. Maybe Corgan and bass guitarist D’Arcy
will learn to laugh, rather than their notorious
whining, when a shoe is so intelligently thrown
on stage during their performances.
And the sound of their live performances
come through in “Hello Kitty Kat.” With it’s
heavy metal rumble and unintelligible lyrics,
one can easily imagine Corgan onstage attack
ing his guitar. A definite far cry from “Soothe”
and “Disarm.”
With the paradox of slow and fast songs,
Corgan delicately dances along the border of
tenderness and madness. It is that balance
that keeps Smashing Pumpkins interesting.
And even though “Pisces Iscariot” contains
old material, Corgan’s brilliance makes it
worthwhile.
Smashing Pumpkins