6-16-04

Howdy. Today was a beautiful day. Ashley and I slept in till 9:30 or 10:00 and then laid around and talked (no, really... talked) till I was late for my noon intro flight. I have to admit that I was less than excited to leave her to go give what would probably be a free airplane ride (CFI's don't get paid for intro flights, but we do them knowing that a percentage will turn into actual students. We call those who do not continue "rides"). I was only about ten minutes late and when I got there Chris (flight school asst manager) was taking the older doctor and his younger wife (nurse) on a tour of KCAC's facilities. phew.
I was bleeding under my right ear. Cut myself shaving. Wouldn't stop. I'd been using a pair of boxer shorts that happened to be in the passenger seat of my car to keep the blood from dripping off my jaw bone and onto my shirt, but I didn't figure I ought to take those into the flight school. So I continued bleeding till just before the couple returned with Chris.
The couple seemed pleasant, but not too interested in actually learning to fly. yep. ride. oh, well. They both had certificates for intro lessons, so after a half hour with the doctor (who seemed really afraid of the controls) I greased on a landing for them and we busted out a little Chinese Firedrill on the ramp. The nurse actually flew a little. I guess she had some experience in sailplanes quite some time ago in Cali. After I told her that the pedals turned the nose wheel, she still wanted to know why the ailerons didn't turn the airplane on the ground. I love being a flight instructor. I had wanted to take them over the city but there was a pretty heavy looking cell a few miles to the north of OJC. It was dumping rain and cutting visibility to what looked like nil. I didn't figure that would be a pleasant introduction to the world of general aviation for the happy couple, so we went back out to the south. Another cell chased us back to the airport from Paola. Kinda fun. Very beautiful.
After we landed (dropped it in a bit that time), they told me how nice it would be to be able to fly themselves to their house in Colorado or to see their kids. I gave them my card and told them to call me when they wanted to go up for another lesson. They laughed and said something about paying for kids' college. I wanted to tell him, "Gimme a break, you're a respiratory effing therapist..." but I just smiled and assured them that I know how expensive college is. Real reason: Guy had no cajones. Whatever.
Then, I left the airport and went to my favorite chinese restaurant- The New Bao Shing in Stanley. Kung Bao chicken kicked ass as usual. Went from there to Borders. Sat and read "What Color Is Your Parachute" for a while. Still don't know the meaning of life. Oh, well. Got a Mocha and Adrienne called. We tried for a while to discover the meaning of life, to no avail. Oh, well. When my dad's brother started showing symptoms of paranoid phsychosis, dad told me that uncle Dan had "always had a fair amount of existencial angst." Who are you? Who told you to read this? Leave me alone.