Well, I think the cautionary tale was Steve's description of the difference between what we did and Tech 1, which really rocked me back on my haunches.
He said we were pushed in this class, but gently. We were asked to rise to the occasion, but there was no intention to push us to the wall, and he actually asked me if I had ever felt overstressed, and the answer was no. Frustrated and angry with myself, yes; but overstressed and wanting out, no.
Apparently one of the goals of the technical classes is to make sure you reach the point where you want OUT. You need to know where it is, and you need to know how to cope with it, because the environment into which you have put yourself is unforgiving, and you cannot afford the gut-level I-need-to-surface reaction we will all reach if sufficiently stressed.
Coming out of what we did in this class, I am VERY happy that we don't have Cave planned until next year. I need to be much more solid in a lot of ways before anybody tries to find out where my limits are.
I find it a bit amusing that, a year or so ago, when I asked a stupid question about cave diving, one of the instructors who's periodically here on Scubaboard told me he thought one should have about 500 dives before getting cave training. I was chagrined and said that would mean I'd have to postpone it beyond where I had planned.
As it turns out, by the time Kirk and I head for Mexico next year, I will have just about 500 dives. Matt was right.
