I Flew a Plane Today!!!!

EDIT: Pictures now available!

Yes, I did! I really, really did! With a little help, of course...

For my last birthday, Gibson had gotten me a gift certificate to the East Hill Flying Club, and I hadn't cashed it in until now... good thing it was good for a full year! But man, it was fun!

We had a quick ground lesson, did the walk-around and pre-flight checklist, then up we went. I got to taxi around first, which was slightly embarrassing (the rudder pedals are counter-intuitive on the ground, okay?), then hold things together while we were in the air. Basically, the instructor talked me through everything, but I was in control for just about everything except the landing. We took off, then flew over Taughannock Falls, then turned out over the city and did some circles over Cornell University. Man, things look cool from the air! Especially the gorges around Ithaca... they were really amazing to see from above!

Am I going to go back for more lessons? Well... I don't know if I can afford it, or if I have the time or energy, but I would really like to! Anyone want to donate to the "get Schwang his wings" fund??? :-)

Seriously, that would be very cool. As I mentioned in this old entry, I've always wanted to learn to fly, ever since I learned my grandfather was a pilot, so this would be pretty cool.

Anyway, life continues to be confusing. I'm not sure what to do about the job at Target. Some days, I'm miserable because I don't get to sleep, or I can't hang out with the few friends I do have, or I can't go to Evensong like I want to. So I want to quit. In fact, I submitted a resumé to First Presbyterian -- they're looking for a new secretary -- the other day, in hopes that I could get a job with better hours and get a social life again. Then I went to work and I felt bad for wanting to leave the team. They really are overworked -- we never seem to get through everything that's shipped to the store in a night. For me to leave the team just as I'm figuring it all out would be a bit annoying to everyone else there -- especially so soon after I started.

Actually, they just moved me into the back room for training. It's kind of fun, although I wasn't trained especially well. It was one of those, "here, you take the LRT and you do this..." *beepbeepbeep* "...and you're ready" kind of trainings. Gee, thanks -- now, could you let me actually learn how to do this stuff myself, instead of you just doing it for me? Anyway, once I got a hang of things and figured out the LRT (no idea what it stands for, but it's one of the nifty laser/computer gun thingies), things went very well. I kind of liked working the one stockroom. It's kind of appealing to carry around a "gun" in a holster at your hip all night long. I know, weird, sorry. Anyway, I also feel like I'm finally starting to settle in with the other team members there, so I don't feel good about leaving it all. Plus, I just got paid. It's pretty decent money. Although, the church might be better (yeah, believe it or not, a church that does pay well)... but my 10% team member discount at Target is nothing to sneeze at... if I could only get the energy to go back during business hours...