Sprung

I tried not to laugh, but I can't help it. That's just funny, there.

I really need to catch up my logbook again. *sigh* Today was a 1.1 flight in the 172 doing checkride prep, tols. Then another flight for an hour in a Cherokee 235, airplane checkout. Nice handling airplane...it's a 180 on steroids or a baby Cherokee Six, whichever you prefer, but it's a good airplane. :) It was again a beautiful day to fly, although bumpy and gusty a little. I'll still take the sun, thank you.

Yesterday I finished up a Stephen King book that had to do with alternate realities, harmonies in those alternate realities, etc. It was pretty interesting and even a little thought provoking, as Stephen King often is, which is something most people wouldn't associate with a "horror" author. This one wasn't scary or horror in the least, but about a guy who found a bubble in time through which he could change past events...or so he thought. But the past didn't want to be changed, the realities didn't want to be moved, and things would happen in one timeline that had happened in the other. He called them harmonies. The same car, the same guy, different names but similar personalities, etc. He also found that even when he did something good, managed to stop bad things from happening to good people, stopped bad people before they could harm good people, etc., the ripple effect, the butterfly effect on the world was never good, and in the end, the way things were, even though bad for some individuals, was still the best outcome, the way it needed to be. For example, he stopped the Kennedy assassination, to stop Vietnam, etc., and the consequences were widespread and devastating in another way. The storyline made me think of how we can't see the whole picture like God can, how we can't see why it's okay to let good people be put in harm's way, can't see the alternatives or all the "strings" or outcomes or whys, but that doesn't mean that there might not be an order to the seeming chaos...

Speaking of harmonies, I have another book to read called "Faith and Flying", written by a highly accomplished test pilot for Skunkworks, who didn't even graduate from high school, was a well-respected Christian and a heck of a pilot. I'm only a few chapters in, but I already had to nod and relate to a couple of his stories, and ironically enough, here is a paragraph he had to say about faith and God's hand in his affairs.

"I wondered about my good luck at being at the exact right altitude and distance to glide back safely to the airport (after engine quit at night). I also wondered about lightning appearing at the right time to guide me through the mountain pass. Luck favored me in the moments of need, and with fantastic accuracy. But if luck is strictly by chance, without timing or purpose, it is powerless to affect conditions for good or bad. It seems more reasonable to me that an omnipresent, helpful and caring hand prevails in the careless affairs of men. God may choose to untangle the errors we make, perhaps within a second of time, and change that which is termed bad into something good. Also, who is to say that even occasions of death are not carefully and mercifully permitted at the exact moment most beneficial for all concerned?"

He had a comment about panic that I liked:

"Panic disables the body and mind during times when they are needed most. It is totally void of optimism and will turn otherwise controllable situations into disasters. However, panic can be suppressed by the will. No matter how impossible a situation may appear, panic can be replaced with faith, optimism, and a refusal to accept the prevailing discouraging circumstances as final."

Last but not least, I had to laugh because when he was a kid, he kept goofing up at the airport, breaking things, falling over things, busting up airplanes he was just trying to fuel up, etc., and finally his boss told him "I know you want to become an aviator, but you're just not cut out for it! You're rattle-brained! You'll kill yourself in an airplane! I'm sorry, but you have to go, I can't have you around here any longer!" So the kid rides off on his bicycle, crying and crushed, and then about halfway home, he felt what he called "hot flames of purposeful anger", furious at the suggestion that he could not become a safe and competent aviator. He started over then at another airport, and like I said, became one of the premier test pilots out there, wrote the book on stall/spin aerodynamics, etc. I can relate a little to how he felt back when he was a kid, as I may have been told something similar at one time and had a similar reaction to it. That's where the similarity ends--I'll never be a famous test pilot or anything else, but I can relate to the feelings. :)

Last but not least...I'm guessing this got long enough to lose most anybody who reads this, most of whom are skimmers, which is probably for the best. ;) But there's one thing in particular that I'm really bad at. I grew up where you took care of yourself, you did what you needed to do and you didn't rely on other people to do it for you. This comes in handy in a lot of ways. Don't get me wrong-- I'm happy to help other people where I can, but when it comes to me, I just prefer to rely on myself. I realize that can be dumb or a flaw at times, but I can't hardly help it after this long. :) We joke about me being a princess, about the guys pulling planes out for me and such, but I don't ask them to do that and I'd rather do it myself than ask 99% of the time. I didn't even like asking someone to start the 340 tug for me when my knuckle was all bruised up and it kept kicking back on my hand and hurting me. Back when I was learning to fly and more than a few students and instructors made it clear that I didn't "belong" there, it didn't matter, because I didn't need them. I could study on my own, pay my money like everybody else, and pass the same test as anybody else. I had one goal, and I could-and did-accomplish it just fine myself, even a rating with an instructor who was pretty...unhelpful, let's say, whose contempt of and goal to wash out students was not exactly hidden. So, relying on yourself sounds fine in theory...but you know what you positively cannot do by yourself? You can't be four airplanes all together all at once all by yourself. And that's why I like the formation clinics designed for people who don't know each other but all have the same goal, to get together and get a job done, and they do, efficiently, with no muss or fuss. No having to ask for favors, no politics, no games, no wrangling. But that simply ain't reality here, something I will finally stop fighting and complaining about, and just concede. It will likely still take some time, but favors and politics and wrangling it is. And so be it.

(That's another area I'm lucky to have Steve. He's so good at wrangling and planning and organizing.) :)

As I type this, it's officially the first day of Spring! Warm breezes, blooming trees and flowers, bright sun, record-breaking temperatures...how I love thee...