Hope Is A Good Thing

The oatmeal that I consumed in record time before class this morning less resembled breakfast nutrition than the likely contents of my overworked, mushy brain. I'm only four days in and already feel grotesquely overwhelmed with the multitude of information heaped upon me with each ground school lesson. The content itself isn't terribly difficult to grasp, but its quantity is staggering. The trend that's begun to emerge here is that my days will be long and grueling. Each day spills into the next; I've even started dreaming of exams and online learning modules. We're scheduled to have Sunday off; maybe I'll make scrambled eggs to celebrate my cerebrum's new state of existence.

We have begun our flying lessons now as well; after just a couple of days my logbook now has nearly 5 hours of flight time, including my first take-offs and landings. As a commercial passenger these were always my two favorite elements of the flight, save for the beverage and snack service, of course, but as the actual pilot, it is an exhilirating experience for sure. Even in our small Cessna 172's, the amount of power the engine produces is unbelieveable. I wish I could tell you that flying is easy, but the reality is that most of the manuevers are quite difficult to achieve, even after a few attempts. Still, I'm confident that the process of becoming proficient will be a rewarding endeavor. My relentless studying and sifting through material makes me believe that if I had put this much time into my undergrad, maybe I would have actually passed Anatomy & Physiology the first (or second) time!

My schedule is to fly again tomorrow, with the CFI introducing stalls, steep turns, and spins. In the meantime, I'll be sharing dinner tonight with my new girlfriend, the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. PHAK says we'll see what happens...

PB&J Sandwhiches Consumed (to date): 9