1. How much do we really need? Really. It’s a thought that crossed my mind recently whilst doing go-backs late at night at the store and realizing that there are more varieties of pretzels and seltzer water than I could have possibly thought. Among many other products–premixed marinades, breakfast cereals, dog foods, motor oils… I feel like I’m swimming in the excess of our culture for several hours every day when I cashier there. Maybe it’s just the time of year, pre-Halloween, but I’ve rung up literally hundreds of packages of confections and desserts recently… And we have the audacity to wonder why 2\/3 of us are overweight? Yet another reason why every American should spend at least six months in another country. We need to experience the concept of moderation in reference to daily life. But honestly, a lot of my reaction is probably sour grapes on account of my quasi-vow of poverty at the moment–the last sweets I ate were a couple of Krispy Kreme donuts when my dad was in town and we stopped there before he headed back to Chapel Hill. I broke down and bought hummus and pita bread at the store today for the first time in fully two months. I used to live off the stuff. It’s not cheap, and it was wonderful.<\/p>\n
2. Practiced more landings on Tuesday. I can fly the plane perfectly from takeoff, all the way ’round in the pattern and through the approach, until we’re just a dozen feet or so above the runway, in ground effect, and I’m flaring out (raising the nose) to touch the main gear first… That’s the hardest part of the whole landing to judge, and I haven’t had a really good touchdown yet that I don’t attribute to luck (I had a few early ones). The plane inevitably either floats quite a bit further down the runway than I’d like and I have to do a go-around (full power, flaps up, climb out) or the plane stalls 5-6 feet off the ground and settles to the runway with a *thump*. I’ll get it one of these days.<\/p>\n
3. Incidentally, I love it when I’m running, or simply outside, and I hear a plane overhead or I see fresh contrails from a cruising airliner. It’s like a summons to someplace I long for. I want to buy a house under the landing or takeoff path of an airport–real estate nobody really wants, but that I would relish.<\/p>\n