The Art of Flying

"Sometimes, falling feels a lot like flying."

Left base to RWY01 BNE just before sunset

I get that.  And, as I'm a pilot in my spare time, I feel I can reserve the right to use any quote I see fit.  I do have a few favourites.  I also reserve the right to start a sentence with a conjunction as a) it's my blog and b) beer.  PS all the best blogs are written with beer PPS not all PSs have to be at the end (my blog, my rules).

Douglas Adams in the "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" has a good section on flying: there is indeed an art to flying, he surmises, "The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss". 

Learn more at 

http://www.extremelysmart.com/humor/howtofly.php

Or read the book, I dare you.

I'm not sure I've really worked out the missing part.  I guess I need more distractions.

My dog is demanding more Cheese and Bacon shapes.  I think she recognises that once the beer comes out, there is no more Lily-can't-have-anything-more-than-5%-fat rule and Pancreatitis-isn't-a-thing.  -#irresponsiblemother.

I have just finished six days' flying - one was a reserve - and have climbed quite a few Things.  I'd like to call them mountains but I also hesitate to call anything less than 1000m a mountain.  The Glasshouse Hills doesn't really have the same ring to it.  I also want to take Lil up Tiberoowuccum tomorrow but that depends on whether I crack open another beer - but given the amount of food I've eaten today, I should get hiking!

BNE CBD from a little bit south of GLENN.

"Sometimes, falling feels a lot like flying."  

I just thought I'd quote that again.  I really like that quote.  

"I balanced all, brought all to mind.

The years ahead seemed waste of breath

A waste of breath the years behind

In balance with this life, this death."

-W B Yeats

Probably my most favourite poem ever.  Call me morbid but, it's awesome.  

"A lonely impulse of delight 

Drove to this tumult in the clouds!" 

See?  It's not all morbid!

Sometimes you can see the turbulence 

Then there's of course Learning to Fly, by Pink Floyd.

"There’s no sensation to compare with this

Suspended animation, a state of bliss

Can’t keep my mind from the circling sky

Tongue-tied and twisted

Just an earth-bound misfit, I"

It took a long time for me to start feeling lonely.  I think I recognise it now.  I think that having Things Almost Within My Reach has brought on an attack of the Feels.  Maybe the beer is helping, maybe not.  Maybe I will die alone - Lily will only last 10-12 years and I hope I have longer than that - but who knows.  Can I be happy just being me?  Me, and just me, for ever?  My father's father used to say that Forever is a very long time.  I never realised until now how true that was.

"Sometimes, falling feels a lot like flying."

Sunrise, BNE airport 

I have to say that in actual day to day flying, there aren't a whole lot of "state[s] of bliss" or "tumult[s] in the clouds" which, for the benefit of the General Public, is probably a good thing.  But at least flying (and climbing Things) gets me out of the house.

Apparently I was mean in my previous post, commenting about someone being slower at climbing than me.  I disagree.  It's not mean to say what I think on my very own blog.  I tone down a lot of what I really want to say - that maybe I would say, with beer - because of who I know will be reading it.  I don't say what I think because I'm afraid of other people's reactions.  I don't say what I think in Life in General because of Other People.  I don't tell people what I like, what I prefer, what I want to do.  I don't tell people no, I don't say "actually, I don't enjoy this" because I'm afraid I will offend someone.  So yes, someone was slower at climbing than me.  So yes, I was bloody slow when I climbed it the first time.  So yes, I was commenting that she was slower than I would have liked, and I had wanted to climb the whole thing without stopping.  I still want to climb the whole thing without stopping.  Would I take her again?  Yes, of course.  Would I take her again on a day when I wanted to climb without stopping? No, probably not.  Is it okay to say she was slow?  Well, I don't think it would be nice for me to tell her that she was slow, but for me to comment on my very own blog about how I actually feel?  I think that's ok.  In fact, I wish I did it more often.  I don't, because People, and I don't even think that this will make me start: but I do reserve the right to do so.  Maybe that's what got me in trouble in the first place.  You know, with life, the universe, and everything.  Love, marriage, and the non-existent baby carriage.  Not saying how I really felt.  There you have it!  And now, it's me and Lily and if I decide to say something on my blog: so be it! 

Rant over.

And yes, sometimes falling feels very much like flying.

Storm tops 

And sometimes, even drinking all of the leftover beer doesn't mean that one feels any less lonely than one did before.  

And at times like these, friends saying "but I live thirty seconds away, you could hang out with me" really doesn't cut it.  Thanks, and I appreciate it, but wearing my heart on my sleeve and all that, me and Lily just gonna sit here on the couch and continue feeling Lonely.

PS: I'm not an alcoholic

PPS: I plan to hike Tiberoowuccum tomorrow.

PPPS: if it wasn't an enforced day off (day 7) I'd probably volunteer to work.

PPPPS: I'm not an alcoholic Take 2.

Sunset á la Embraer