Numero Cinco
If I had to sum up the past two weeks in one negative sentence it would be: I got into a car wreck and totaled my car, my fishes died, I fell off my longboard, and I only got to fly twice in the past week. If I had to sum up the same two weeks in one positive sentence it would be: I still can’t believe that I am really at Riddle having the time of my life! Although this past two weeks has been hectic, I still love it here. I’ll tell you what went down this past two weeks, but first (as usual) a class update:
Speech- I just got done preparing my final speech, which is actually a debate. I am in a group of 4 and we are debating on Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles. I don’t really know much about the UCAVs but I think that I’ll do alright. The debate is our final exam so hopefully I’ll do well.
Physics- Nothing new in this class. I have my 3rd exam coming up and then I have a final. I have an A in the class and I actually enjoy it. The teacher actually teaches, which is good because some teachers don’t actually teach. So I’m happy about that.
Business- Nothing really groundbreaking in here either. Classes are still short and my group has started working on our final which is a presentation that we have to give to our class. We are supposed to present what we have learned in the class and our group is going to try to do something along the lines of Office Space. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Basic Aeronautics- This is still one of my favorite classes because I enjoy what we are learning because I apply it when I fly. I am actually learning things that apply to what I want to do when I’m older. That is something that never happened in high school.
College Success- Good news: Only two more classes than it is done with. We have a class on Thursday and then next Tuesday and then it is over. I must admit, the class had its ups and downs, but overall I am pretty happy that it is done.
Meteorology- Once again . . . nothing really new in this class, but I am starting to work on my term paper. Everyone is required to write a 5-10 page term paper about a weather related subject, and I choose to do it on tornadoes. So come next journal, I will be able to blow your mind with various facts about tornadoes, so stay tuned for that.
Flight- Unfortunately I have only flown twice in the past 2 weeks which is somewhat below average. I am getting ready for my solo by reviewing everything that I have learned so far. It is pretty much all the basics that you learn first like stalls, traffic patterns, basic maneuvers, etc. One of the hardest things to do though is communicate with everyone around you. You have to talk to 10 different people in order to legally fly in Daytona, which is in Class C airspace. It can be stressful at times, but it is still pretty cool to be able to fly all around Central Florida a couple of times a week. I still am trying to grasp the concept of me flying a plane for a living because that sounds like a dream!
So, this past two weeks had its ups and downs and part of the down area is the fact that my car was totaled. A quick background to how it happened: I was driving down the road (imagine that!) and I was in the left lane of two lanes. Up ahead there was a traffic light where people were turning off of their road and onto my road, going in my direction. 3 or 4 cars were turning and right as I went through the traffic light one went from right lane into the left lane, which was my line. I locked my brakes up and honked my horn but I still slammed into him. My airbags didn’t explode out of the dash and I am fine. My car (a 2000 Nissan Maxima) really took all the damage. I was going about 35 when I hit him and my car just folded. So unfortunately my car is totaled, but I am 100% healthy which is a good thing. If you check my pictures album I will put up some before and after pictures of my first true love (sorry Rebecca).
Other than that, all my fishes have died. I started with 5 and just recently I was down to 2. I was cleaning my tank and I put my fish in a small cup. Well one of them jumped out and tried to commit suicide, but I quickly put him back in. So I covered the cup and cleaned the tank. When I was done I went back to see a small hole where the cover started to slide off. Sure enough the other fish managed to find that small hole and completed what the other fish tried to do earlier. I went from 5 to 2 and now I was at one. Well when I looked back in the cup to see the first fish, I saw that he was upside down. I am neither a fish expert nor a marine biologist, but fish don’t usually swim upside down. So I put him in the new tank and he was still upside down, so I banged on the tank and he started swimming around real rapidly like he just consumed all of the world’s coffee and ran right into the side of the tank and floated upside down. He didn’t really move anymore after that. So in one fell swoop, I lost the 2 closest things that I could call pets. So I had a mini ceremony and now I must move on. I can’t live in the past. I must accept the fate that has been chosen for those fishes Rockey and Morris.
On a slightly more positive note, I looked like an idiot in front of 20 or so people on the sidewalk last week. I got the bright idea to hop on my long board and have my friend pull me with his bike. Well everything was going fine until I was going a little fast and someone rapidly changed their course from out of my way to in my way. I snagged the bystander’s ankle and flew off my board to get a little bit of road rash. My legs and arms are healing, but my pride is wounded. I always get made fun of by my friends and my RA, but I guess I deserve it.
Other than that, I have been practicing this new thing called time management which is where you do stuff way before it’s due so you don’t have to do it at the last minute. It’s pretty cool because you feel real productive and your stress level goes way down. I recommend it to anyone who is up real late doing things that were assigned weeks ago and that have a high stress level. It really does feel nice to not wait until the last possible seconds to complete something. However, I have procrastinated all my life so once I started to manage my time more effectively, my brain freaked out. So to make up for it, I spent last weekend doing absolutely nothing, I mean nada, zip, zero. I was doing so well, but then I stopped working and now I am kind of regretting it. Oh well, I was doing good for a while. Hopefully I will start to manage my time a little better and get back into that habit that makes me feel so good.
Well hopefully in two weeks I will have some more positive stories that I can share with all you guys, but for now I must end this journal and do some other work. Maybe next time I’ll do a break down of what goes on hour by hour for a couple of days just to give you some insight on what a typical day looks like. I dunno, we’ll see what happens. I hope that everyone enjoys there time where they give thanks (or more commonly referred to as Thanksgiving) and I will do the same. See you later readers!!!!!!!
-Blake
email: wasteofsoap@yahoo.com
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