Just an update - yesterday was really incredible. I think the most surprising thing about my first full day of GUE Fundies is that it dispelled SO many myths and misconceptions. I certainly don't know everything yet, but I can say this: I get it now. From a conceptual standpoint, I get what it's all about, and what the point is. I TOTALLY get why so many divers feel so passionate about it. And I also get why so many divers who HAVEN'T taken the training seem to feel and express such disdain for it. They really just don't understand!
"DIR diving" (I know we're trying to get away from that term, but I don't know what else to call it) is not what I thought it was - even after all the detailed responses I received in my original "question" thread. And I don't mean that to come across as "your answers weren't good enough". They were all excellent, and all led me to where I am now. I can't even say I understood a fraction of it, until I actually received this portion of the training. I've now gone back and re-read all those answers, and many of them now mean something completely different than I thought they did, given what I know now.
Steve is a phenomenal instructor. And I say this as a training professional myself (I'm a Training Manager at a large biotech company, and I've taught facilitation skills classes to instructors for years). People learn very differently, and I tend to be a "verbal" learner - I find that I learn better if I can ask a lot of questions, and repeat things back in my own words. This doesn't always work well in a large classroom - I have to muzzle myself so I won't drive everyone else in the room crazy.
(And trust me, students like me drive ME nuts!) But with only two students, and both of us with lots of questions, it gave me the opportunity to really learn at my own pace, in my own style. He made it interactive, not just him talking at us. Steve always moved at a pace that kept me engaged, and seemed able to sense when I was getting bogged down in theories and would back up to clear up the confusion.
The equipment fitting was very helpful, and now I can't WAIT to get in the water! Oh, and Steve used an appropriate amount of disdain to remove the brass clip - apparently he read this thread so he knew exactly what he was supposed to do. :cool2:
It was a full day, that's for sure! I absorbed so much information I feel like I'm bleeding from the ears. And it all still needs to percolate. I actually think this spread-out schedule is going to be a huge benefit, giving us an opportunity to let concepts gel before we have to go out and put them into action.
Oh, and my partner-in-training Tom is awesome, and I can't wait to get in the water and start trying all this team stuff out with him!
I'm still struggling a bit with the math, but I think I picked up some concepts yesterday that will make it easier for me. I'm going to tackle the worksheets again tonight and hopefully will be able to sail through them.
Saturday is in the pool, where I get to try out all those cool kicks. Man, watching those videos was amazing - those are some MAD skills!
Then we'll spend Sunday and the following Saturday at Casino Point. I'm also excited about that because it's been too long since I got to dive our beloved dive park, and I'm happy I'm going to get in there again.
Thanks for all the encouragement everyone!