What a busy few weeks it has been for me! To start out, right before I graduated from Embry-Riddle I participated in yet another IMAC competition. The competition took place in Jacksonville, Florida during the first weekend in May after finals! I had no practice going into this event mainly due to finals were the week before. I went to the contest just to have fun and ended up placing in second place! I was very surprise and happy with how well I ended up doing.
After returning back to Daytona after the competition I had to clean up and start packing up my apartment before graduation. My parents and family came down the Thursday before graduation to help me pack up. They ended up renting a U-Haul to take all of the furniture back to Georgia where I live. Graduation day was a very big day for me considering I am one of the first in my family to graduate with a college degree. My brother just finished his a few months ago. I had to end up doing degree complete considering I still have two more classes to take, but I am currently taking them at home through the Worldwide campus.
When graduation was over, we all finished packing up and hit the road. My family ended up driving back home while I went up to South Carolina for the whole week to attend the 30th Annual Joe Nall Fly-In. This fly-in is one of the biggest radio control air shows in the world. There are around 1,200 registered pilots with thousands of spectators. This event takes place in Woodruff, South Carolina, which is in the middle of nowhere! I had a blast for the whole week even though I ended up crashing three of my planes! One was my fault, but the other two had mechanical problems causing them to crash. Luckily, now I have replacements and have been busy building planes this past week!
Well now I am finally moved back home in Georgia with my parents. I plan on living with my parents until I can afford to build a house myself. We live on 76 acres and I plan to build my house next door to keep the land in the family. I am hoping to be picked up my FAA for Air Traffic Control in Atlanta this October. As for now I will be working on my CFI rating along with working at one of the local airports as a customer service rep. A few weeks ago I ended up meeting a few of my friends from Embry-Riddle at Stone Mountain, Georgia. It was very nice to see them again. We attended one of Stone Mountain’s Laser Shows. They will graduate this fall.
This month I have two competitions to attend with one being June 9-10 and the other on June 30 – July 1. Both are in Georgia and require just a two-hour drive to attend! So keep a look out for updates on how I do at these competitions! If all goes well I maybe attending the US Nationals Competition in Muncie, Indiana this July!
Six months ago, on April 28 at 12:30 AM, I received a phone call from my Mother saying that a tornado had come through at 12:15 AM. I was sound asleep when I received this phone call because the next day was the last day of my junior year at ERAU. My home, my Grandparents, and Aunt/Uncle’s home were destroyed. Luckily no one was injured and everyone is still with us today.
The end of the 2011 Aerobatic Competition is coming to the end and it all ends at the Southeast Regional’s, which is in Jacksonville, FL. This event is where the top 10 pilots from each of the five classes get invited to compete to see who is the best in the Southeast Region. I ended up finishing 5 th in the Region for the points race, so I was invited to compete against the top pilots in the region. School is still keeping me busy, but I have been able to sneak in a few practice rounds after class!
I’m finally home!!! Finally, after an entire semester, I’m back home in NYC where it’s freezing cold! It feels so good to be able to be with family and friends. It was a really short semester but we had to get a lot done within that time. I accomplished a lot over the past 6 months and got involved with a few clubs on campus and earned 27 credits so far.
When I get back I only have a few flights then my checkride! I can’t wait. But I am concerned that not flying for a few weeks will affect my performance when I get back. I am sure it will all work out, but sometimes being away on break is not completely good.
I’m back in New York. My mom moved from the Queens to Freeport Long Island. I left the wonderful warm weather in Daytona, and now I have to wear layers of clothes and a coat when I go outside. I missed the cold so much while back on campus, but now that I’m in the cold I want to go back to the warmth. 
Since I have been here it snowed, and it should be a lot of wintry weather for the next few days. It’s not too friendly with the weather in New York, but being with friends and family makes it a lot better. Most of my friends aren’t done with their semester yet, so I have to wait a while till they get back. Last week, a friend of mine from back on campus came to NYC to visit me. He lives in Rhode Island and it was his first time in the city. We had so much fun that day, it snowed and we almost froze to death!
OH, back to my trip home, I got to see my puppy!! I was so excited he’s so cute! I have a picture of him for you to see his name is Toto and he is a Yorkie-schnauzer mix. He jumped all over me the second I walked into the door, it was cute. I have a ton of work to do this week, I hope it dies down by the weekend so I can finally get some rest but for now this is all I can write. I will try to get pictures up of the observation flight and write about it as soon as it happens. Besides going study crazy nothing interesting has happened lately. So that’s it for now!!!
