made it through week 2, and it has been something. thursday was the maze, which was essentially a wooden apparatus, about two feet wide, and at best two and a half feet high. at certain points the only way to progress was to get as skinny as possible and shimmy your way through. about 10 ft in my air pack got skewed to one side and it seemed everytime i tried to move, it would get hung on something. they also worked in several dead ends where you had to find doors to advance. add to this the fact that it is completely dark and we were on air for the first time, it was intense. several times during our run i had to stop and reassure myself that i was not going to get stuck and suffocate. two people went through at a time, and you were expected to finish with your partner. me and my partner, shane, got separated towards the end and the instructors were not very pleased when i emerged almost empty of air and sans shane. other activities of the day included chopping wood on air for 5 minutes, as well as learning how to don and doff the SCBA, and fill tanks. i made the mistake of skipping lunch and paid for it that afternoon. by 6 o'clock i could barely stand and my vision was starting to go blurry. luckily i made it home with minimal liquid regurgitation, and Beth was waiting to feed and comfort me. the week took its toll on the rest of the class as well; we lost 7 on thursday, which brings our total down to 34. it was quite an emotional day as one of the friends i had made in the class dropped. he was a great guy, he just decided the job was not for him. he will be missed. the instructors have really kicked it up a notch. they are starting to demand a lot more of us, and i anticipate loosing a few more before next weekend. friday was devoted to knots, which thanks to my rich nautical upbringing, i had no problem with. although tying said knots while wearing firefighting gloves is another story. we will be expected to tie the knots in gear next week in under 45 seconds. next week will also be ladder tour, which is supposed to be hell. as best as i can gather, we will be carrying a 50 ft extension ladder around campus in full gear for several hours. should be fun. needless to say i will be enjoying every minute of this weekend. hope everyone is doing well. i look forward to hearing from you. go gators.