Airplanes @ MindSay

It is now 5:01 a.m. PST and I am laying on my (dog) bed after a long "hard" night of work. AKA I just sat in an office by myself for 8 hours doing Yoga, watching two rather shitty Italian films, sipping coffee off the balcony while watching a Police Helicopter hunt down some lunatic running amock in the streets of HWood and taking calls from pissed off security guards who sound like they are munching on a gravel sandwich. "I'm sorry what was your name?......Ahmedyghanyium Hylijuskhmannn? How do you spell that?" Yeah, that pretty much was my night summed up for you. I am debating on whether or not to sleep now or later or both. Decisions, decisions.

 

I went back home to Dirty Jerz last weekend to surprise the friends and family and also to have my Teeth of Wisdom removed. That was a blast, honestly. I came home Saturday did the whole "surprise!" thing and chilled with the fam first and then went over to Fry's graduation party. Go College! I am always proud of people who graduate from College. I couldn't stand that shit for more than 5 weeks I don't know how people do it for years. Monday came and La Dentista told me I had to go to the Oral Surgeon to get the Wizzers out because they were impacted. Yikes! (says Mommy and Daddy's bank accounts) Rock on for no insurance. Yeah that sucks. Although I must say the procedure was rather bitchin'. I sit in the chair, the nurse (who happens to look just like Liz from Nip/Tuck for all you fans out there)  puts the laughing gas mask on me, then I get all giggly and fuzzy and they put the IV in......... ***BAMMMM!***  I wake up an hour later feelin' gooooooooood! The car ride home was a hot mess and I'm sure I sounded just delightful but I felt like a Warehouse Rave circa 1996, sans neon UFO's and glowsticks, and no more agonizing jaw pain every 6 months! Now that is some magical shit right there. If you have wisdom teeth, get them out it is sooooooo worth it.

 

Let's talk Airport. I won't even begin to get into the Asians running around with their Pork Flu masks on because if you watch the news you know what I mean. There is ALWAYS "That Guy" on every flight, I don't care what airline or where you're flying, he is ALWAYS there. And he is ALWAYS sitting next to me. On the bird home to Dirty Jerz I think I am scoring a kick-ass window seat with noone next to me. Cue sweaty, middle-aged businessman, always in a rush, nothing is ever satisfying, everyone is out to get me guy. "Excuse me ma'am but you are in MY seat." Oh fuck no, did he just call me "ma'am." So instead of arguing with the worthless fucktard I just get up and move a seat over. Well the whole flight Dr. Douchebag keeps pushing my elbows off of the arm rest and opening and closing the window everytime I close my eyes. Not only is he pissing me off but he pretends to sleep everytime the Flight Attendants come around with the "Complimentary Beverages" and then hits the button and yells that they skipped right over him. Grrr. At least on the flight back I was sandwiched between another slighty less annoying "That Guy" and an uber cute little hipster boy with guyliner from Williamsburg who kept me plenty distracted. ::Snickers::

 

We have visitors at the Compound this week. Avi, Tom, and Marianne are here and although I don't see very much of them I am enjoying their company. They are all fun and get the humor that runs through this backwards house of ours. They all went to Kimmel tonight I believe but I haven't spoken to anyone being it is now 5:28 a.m. and the house is silent, with the exception of my bed which sounds like a bear cave with the boyz snorin' away. I am totally and completely obsessed with True Blood now. It is fucking brilliant! Seriously HBO knows what's up. I would love to get a gig working on True Blood even for one episode that would be awesome. I have one more episode left of Season One so I am going to slip into a heavily medicated comatose (go Wizzers) and finish it off.  That's all I have left for now.

 

In the future I am going to begin a Recipe/Movie/Beauty Tip of the day. Also I am thinking of doing a random fact or something like that as well. For tonight I will leave you with True Blood. Watch it on HBO!

 

Much Love Killas!

E

 

I was blessed to make a trip to Kentucky to see the graduation of my middle child with her Bachelor's of Education, and was also there to visit with my children and my own mother (and dad) on Mother's day.  I did take a few photos but I must warn you that I am an amateur, these basically being my first, and I did not do a very good job at all keeping my camera still.

But you can get the gist of what my little band looks like after all this time. I think it is the first time I am posting photos of my children.

I rode on three planes for the first time, and finally got over my fear of flying, since I just had to!  The third plane was a little Cessna seven seater, and I geared up to panic, but found that it was most pleasant!  The rain was pounding on us on the way there, but it was truly not scary and on the way home, it was clear and I got to see what was going on under us the whole time!

This is my middle child, Liza Anne, who graduated, and is being interviewed for jobs for the fall.  Please say a prayer that she will be suitably accommodated with the job she wishes for.

Next is a picture of her with her future husband, my son and his fiance, my eldest daughter and her family (see my little granddaughter) and then some of us on Mother's day in the new outfit my son bought me.

I had a wonderful time, but was equally happy to be back to my little apartment in the beautiful little city of Brigham City, Utah; I am definitely happy here.

When I was younger, and had some "spare change", I pursued a private pilot's license.  I was alway into airplanes and space, but as probably everyone thinks to themselves, that can't be me.

One day, out on a ride on my motorcycle in the country outside of Austin, I spied a weird looking plane in the sky.  It was white, with 2 sets of wings - small ones in the front, and delta shaped in rear.  The propeller was in the back, and it had a bubble canopy.  I watched it get lower and lower - readying to land.  I follow the plane to a small airport.

Now, we Texans are (mostly) a friendly bunch of folks - we do have signs that say "Private Property", "Keep out", and such, but if you are nice and cordial and can find someone who lives/works/owns it there, you can usually get in.  So, I followed the plane to the hanger where it was parking.  Inside was another one of those planes being worked on by a couple of old men - retired.

The planes were call Long-EZ:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutan_Long-EZ



I got to talking to the men, about the costs, amount of time to make these planes and such.  I expressed a great desire to fly with one of the - if possible, since I had only done simulators and big jumbo jet.  Well, one of the men said that since "these" planes were experimental, only one person can fly at a time.  BUT, if I came back the next day, he'd bring his cessna and take me up.  I stayed around trying to soak up the stuff the guys were doing, lending a hand where I could.  I thanked everyone, and took off for the evening.

Well, of course I was there the next day with bells on.  We met and he walked me around plane, pointing out the equipment.  He gave me a pair of headphones and I got in the "passengers" seat.  There are two sets of control in front of both seat.  Main difference is that the key is on the "driver's" seat side.  He walked me through the gauges - I had known about most of them through my sim experience.  We plugged in headphones, gave a "Testing 1 2 3" to make sure we could hear each other.  CONTACT!  and the engine roared to life.  Taxied over to the runway - making sure it was clear.  Onto the runway, full power, and we started to race down toward the end.

These planes are very light and it doesn't take too much space to get airborne.  But see, here comes the problem.  Today was a hot day, and with hot days comes something called "thermals".  These are those pockets of air that are unstable and toss the plane around, making for a bumpy ride.  Almost immediately my thoughts of flying turned into horror, with all the bouncing around.  I love to ride rollercoasters, but the deal with them, is that you can SEE the bumps and prepare yourself.  NOT with flying - every one is invisible.

I didn't get sick (I don't), but just could not really enjoy the flight.  We flew away from the airport, and we climbed to 4000 feet.  We did some circles, banking the plane left and right, and I got some amazing views out the window.  He turned it over to me, I did a little bit of controlling the plane, and then back to the airport for the landing.

I was hooked, but with the bumpy ride, really re-evaluated my desires of flying.  Right on the airport was a flight school, so went and talked with the instructor - price, time, materials, etc.

And, I started taking lessons.  Once a month.

This morning I showed the documentary, One Six Right, to my students and as we watched it, I actually got a little misty watching the planes soar through the clouds. I was so excited that the students were actively engaged in watching it, too, since many of them probably couldn’t understand the English dialogs. The movie is just so beautifully filmed that it doesn’t matter. The pictures speak for themselves. The scariest part - I am beginning to recognize the makes and models of the airplanes!

I've been working as a teacher of Aviation English for over a year now. I've said before that it was never a field that particularly interested me; I just sort of fell into it.

I am not quite sure how it happened, but I've officially become an aviation nerd. It was verified today when I successfully acquired a documentary about general aviation at Van Nuys airport in California. It is called One Six Right and is a beautifully filmed tribute to the airport and the history of general aviation. I was giddy over the film and couldn't wait to watch it and show it to my students. An hour and a half of airplanes flying around. I know there is no going back now. I'm probably gonna start watching Discovery Wings channel, too, (if I had it).

Try to find the movie. You'll enjoy it if you are also an aviation nerd.