ATTACK OF THE HOBO!!!

Today is the Recruit Training weekend... It was boring until after lunch. So, there we were, doing drill outside in the back alley... We were going through left and right turns, I think. So, it all started  with the far away "Shut up" from two blocks away. Then, it gets closer as we've identified the hobo... Around 4 inches taller than me. We didn't care initially, as that was just annoying, and kept drilling the cadets. The hobo just kept coming near... And got to where we are. So, I knew that hobo just won't let us go peacefully, so I decided to take it up with him. He was babbling about this is a public place, we can't "occupy" this piece of land, blah blah blah. So I argued that we have permission to do that.  He kept ranting on about "occupation", so I kept my face straight as I'm about to burst out laughing, and told him that we have the right to be on public property as well as he. He still keep on babbling about "occupation". OK. I'm getting a little pissed off. Then Cyrus just waved to me and told me to calm down... The hobo talked to Cyrus, and he just responded with, "Yes sir." Then the hobo asked him what he said, and Cyrus answered, "Whatever you said, sir." The hobo turned to the cadets and asked the same question, and Cyrus was making a beer-chugging face which meant that the hobo was drunk. He snapped around and looked at Cyrus... and he was like "huh?" on his face. The rest of the staff decided to take the cadets back in. The hobo followed us and sang "Scotland the Brave" while mimicing the cadets. THAT was hilarious. A regiment person saw him and yelled to him that the things that he did was inappropriate... But he still followed us. So we went back into the Armoury, and a group of regiment guys came and talked to us about what happened and went after the hobo. He was gone. The regiment guys came back in and told us if he shows up again, they will sort him out.

So yeah... That's about it.

OMFG it's LANGMUIR!

Well, this has been an eventful Tuesday... I got three flights done.

So, first thing in the morning, I got up, drove down to Abbotsford. The first flight was a solo... So basically I can do whatever I can after I've done the stuff out of my lesson plan! I went ahead, checked the plane, signed out, took off, and flew to the Practice Area. Guess how many aircrafts can you fit into a valley 6 miles wide? 10! There was 9 other aircrafts, both fixed and rotating wings, flying around like a bunch of flies over food. Oi. I got my stuff done, and started to play around with steep turns! XD I did I think at least 8 of them... When I felt dizzy, I gone back to the airport and land.

LUNCH TIME! After my flight, it was 1130. So, I ate lunch, which are microwavable dinners from home! XD Hey, you got to go with what you got. I ate, studied a bit, and then met up with my primary instructor, Scott. He briefed me on what to do today, which was ADF tracking. We went ahead, and took off. That flight was pretty uneventful, but the damned reciever was being a son-of-a-bitch and kept swinging. So I made the best out of it, and I did pretty damn well. When we come back to Abbotsford, Scott told me to get ready for a simulated instrument approach to Runway 07. I was thinking, "Sweet. This is going to kick ass." So, I tracked outbound from the NDB beacon (If you don't understand, screw it, I don't care anymore.) And did a standard procedure to come back around and inbound for the runway. I thought my approach was quite good. We continued going, and Scott told me to take off the "hood", go visual, and do a circling around to land on Runway 01. So I did. Perfect landing. It was so smooth that a baby can go to sleep while inside the plane (other than the fact that the engine is so damned loud, lol) We debriefed after shutting down the plane, and I started to write my progress test. I was like, whatever, and did all of the questions... Then I took a bit of a break, and prepared the material required for the night flight.

The fun begins. After briefing with my night instructor, Shannon, we head on out. We first went to Chilliwack. We did a couple of landings, which went as smooth as possible. Then we did a couple of upper level airwork... Steep turns at night is fun, lol. Then we headed back... And... Found out that there are, again 6-7 aircrafts in the circuit! Yay! So, we joined downwind as instructed, and guess what... Extended the leg by a lot. A LOT. Turned base, and turned final. Guess how long the final was. IT WAS FIVE NAUTICAL MILES. For those of you who have no idea how long THAT is, I'll show this to you. 5 NM * 1.1 = 5.5 Statue Miles. 5.5 SM * 1.6 =  8.8 KM. WOW. Took me another 5 minutes just to get to the right spot to begin the final approach. God that was long. I got down, got debriefed, and I headed home.

The comment about Langmuir? Yeah, I saw him when I was preparing for my night flight. He was there to finish his hours off. (232 hours, he was supposed to get 250) He didn't talk much as I was busy and he was busy with preperations. Meh.

Computers are extremely hazardous to your health, especially when they're located 10 minutes away from the main campus.

Ok, time for an update... So, there I was, after all my lectures, waiting for my tutorial, which is located in a building called the Multi-Tenant Facility (which will be referenced as MTF from now on). It's a building that hosts laboritory for Computing Science students and for Engineering students. While waiting, I was eating my lunch. Then my friend Andrew showed up. I was supposed to eat lunch alone... He was supposed to be at the MTF for his tutorial session already. I was like... Ok, WTF. He said he got lost on the way when he was trying to get down there when I asked him why isn't he there already. I decided at that time that finding the damn place won't be so easy. So, we set off to find the place. After 5 minutes, it started to rain. But we pressed on regardless. We found the place after another 10 minutes, and actually went inside. At that moment it feel awkward as our only access card (The place, like most faculty-specific resources, have its own security system.) was borrowed from a friend. I then got info on how to get my own access card. We went back to the main campus, as we were walking, I was soaked by the rain, as it was getting heavier. I was getting warm from all the walking also. So, I parted with him when we reached the parking lot so that I can go back to my car to drop off my jacket and grab my umbella. When I went inside, I can tell you this - My hair is completely soaked. It didn't try until 3 hours later, which by then I got home. After taking a short break, I set out to find Campus Security Services (as opposed to the Parking and Security, which I painfully found afterwards)... That took a whole 45 minutes! And the process of getting the card was less than 2! It's pissing! I was completely exhausted by then... I went into the Academic Quadrangle, and found a seat for me to sit down for 20 minutes... Then I went down to MTF to have my tutorial. And after that, I went back to the parking lot, started my car, swearing, and drove off.

A serving of clear ice on plane's windshield and a cup of sake can wrap up the events of these two days.

Yesterday was back to school... As usual, lectures are boring, but my calculus proffessor has a REALLY funny German accent, and that entertained the students for the entire lecture XD. I got two textbooks for a grand total of 243.19.... And found out that I needed another one! That kind of pissed me off, but that's life. Oh well, another 122 dollars well wasted. Then, I went to cadets... Nothing unusual happened other than Alvin's age-out! He was humiliated (it's not like that he's humuliated enough though, lol) in front of the squadron with a happy bday song! (I know it's sweet, but it's sweet AND humuliating at the same time... Isn't Emily evil? ) After that, it was his speech... It wasn't a speech... Well, after he said "stay in cadets.", there were no words audible after... After that, it was the traditional farewell dinner! Fun as it was. Had a cup of sake, even though I was driving, lol. The taste wasn't extraordinary nice, but the hot sake going down to the stomach was a nice experience. The guys went wild as usual, so yeah. That's pretty much it.

Today I went and fly... Well, it started off as maneouvering the plane on snow/ice. Man, it was like driving a car, you can't go fast OR slow. Took off without trouble, then I slipped on the "hood", as it was a radio NAVAID pracitice with a VOR (Variable omni-range) radio. It wasn't as hard as I thought, because the turbulence was low. There I was, flying the plane, and then I went into a hold pattern (if you'd like to know what that is, msg me on MSN) After that, my instructor told me to tune into the Whatcom VOR station (I was tuned into the Vancouver station at that time) and intercept into an inbound course. I was like, hmm... Somthing's going on... Oh well, fly the damn plane first. I kept flying, until my instructor called up to Abbotsford tower and told them we're going to be inbound for a full stop. I then thought it was serious. Was it icing? Turns out that it was. I found out when I got the hood off when my instructor pulled us up to the base leg of the circuit to prepare for landing. Initial thought? "HOLY FUCK." There was a layer of clear ice on the windshield... Serverely obstructing view to the right and left, though for some reason my side, in front, was clear. I was thinking, that's strange. Then I thought of the defrost system on the car and I realize there's one on the plane too! That was a lifesaver... Because if my side of the windshield is blocked, I would have no way of know where the fuck I am, and thus no way to land. We landed, shut down the plane and tied it down, and we debriefed. My instructor said that the defrost system was a lifesaver, and he told me to turn that on when at anytime I expect icing on the windshield is imminent. Also, he told me that we actually finished all the stuff I was required to do today, even though the flight was cut short by half the time, which means that I don't get a blue sheet (a blue sheet is the form that the instructor uses to put into the Pilot Training Record to indicate that I did a flight but did not complete it, with the accessment of the flight and maneouvers conducted) and thus no repeat of the flight! Yay! One down, many more to go. I drove back home, when I encountered a huge jam in Surrey, 6 kilometers (2.4 NM) from the Port Mann Bridge. Man, I hate that bridge so much. lol.

That's about it... Wow, what a long post...