i thought i should write something cool as my first journal entry. it then occurred to me (thanks to the info on the update page) that i "have no friends. ha ha." on this website, so who fucking cares? i'm in las vegas again. i have been here more this year than my house. i'm sure that there are fun things to do here, but i have yet to be adventurous enough to find them.
so far my best experience in LV was going glider flying a couple of years ago. the video director i was working with is an avid pilot and convinced myself and the lighting designer to try it. at the airport the staff sat me in the cockpit of a two seat glider and started to explain the glider controls. i looked up at the pilot and interrupted him with "why are you telling me all this?" his answer: "oh, everyone flies here!" uh, sure, dude... yikes. the owner towed us up to 4,000 feet using a steerman biplane. fucking bumpy as hell and then they release the cable and... peace. no engine. no wind. no turbulence. beautiful. after a few minutes the pilot instructed me to take the stick. terrified, i kept the glider as straight as i could. he humoured me for a bit and then asked for control back. he said he felt a thermal and wanted to catch it to keep us up longer. what he failed to mention is that he would immediately bank hard right and i would then be looking straight down 4,000 feet to the desert floor. i know my face wasn't pressed up against the glass, but that is how i see it in my mind's eye now. when i finally landed i had a perma-smile for eight hours.
i'm glad someone kicked me in the ass hard enough to make me try an experience that would not have even occurred to me otherwise. brilliant. i wonder who will do that for me next? or is it my adult responsibility to motivate myself?
so far my best experience in LV was going glider flying a couple of years ago. the video director i was working with is an avid pilot and convinced myself and the lighting designer to try it. at the airport the staff sat me in the cockpit of a two seat glider and started to explain the glider controls. i looked up at the pilot and interrupted him with "why are you telling me all this?" his answer: "oh, everyone flies here!" uh, sure, dude... yikes. the owner towed us up to 4,000 feet using a steerman biplane. fucking bumpy as hell and then they release the cable and... peace. no engine. no wind. no turbulence. beautiful. after a few minutes the pilot instructed me to take the stick. terrified, i kept the glider as straight as i could. he humoured me for a bit and then asked for control back. he said he felt a thermal and wanted to catch it to keep us up longer. what he failed to mention is that he would immediately bank hard right and i would then be looking straight down 4,000 feet to the desert floor. i know my face wasn't pressed up against the glass, but that is how i see it in my mind's eye now. when i finally landed i had a perma-smile for eight hours.
i'm glad someone kicked me in the ass hard enough to make me try an experience that would not have even occurred to me otherwise. brilliant. i wonder who will do that for me next? or is it my adult responsibility to motivate myself?