Life Is Such A Sweet Insanity.

Spirit.

A number of years ago Earl bought me this ornament and delivered it to me at the office. I was working in radio at the time, in fact, it was my last Christmas in radio, and honestly, at that time I wasn’t feeling the Christmas spirit. I wasn’t feeling an holiday spirit at all. I just wanted to get the season over with. I didn’t want to buy any presents, I was sick of writing ad copy that was designed to convince radio listeners that they should be buying cheap junk to give in the name of baby Jesus and frankly, the spirit just wasn’t moving me.

Earl’s gesture that day helped me immensely and as a reminder of what a lucky man I am, this ornament hangs year round on the decorative table next to “my chair” in our great room. I look at this ornament every day and I smile.

Earl told me that he wasn’t feeling the spirit this year. He’s been in pain since he pulled a muscle in his back a while back, a despite the amped up meds the doctor gave him last weekend, he’s still feeling that pulled muscle. A lot. Like everyone else in the country, we have monetary concerns and honestly, company bonuses or raises and such, while always appreciated, just fall at the wrong time of year. Though it’s the 7th, we still have no decorations up around the house.

I brought the ornament to the kitchen table where Earl was sitting when he told me that he isn’t feeling the holiday spirit. I reminded him of the smile this ornament brought to my face 10 years ago and I hoped that he would feel the need to smile as well.

He did. It’s a start.

Before starting this blog entry a few moments ago, I was outside wrestling with decorations that were not put away properly last year (that’s my fault, by the way), so I’m wrangling with wires and extension cords and broken bulbs and lights that just don’t want to cooperate. Earl would love to help me but his sore back is preventing him from doing so. All of these elements in this paragraph are making us a little snappish at one another.

We’re not the snappish type. At least, we never used to be. Where’s the holiday spirit?

Relatives are asking me what I want for Christmas. What I really want is never the right answer. I want nothing. I have all that I want. People never believe me when I say this, because as a dreamer type I tend to dream out loud and make declarations like, “what would you think about a trip to Iceland?” but the truth of the matter is, I’m quite content right here, right now, at home. Honestly, the only thing I want is a “Reduction of Complexity”. I no longer want the biggest house or the baddest Jeep or the fastest Mac on the block. My history betrays this simple need because honestly, I’ve been a complicated person for a long time. Earl tries to keep up with “The Tango J.P.” and no one does this better, but if there’s one thing that’s going to help me find the spirit of the holiday, it’s just keeping the whole thing simple. Gaudy and bright and colorful? Yes! Needlessly over the top to be impressive? Nope.

I want to show Earl the spirit of the holiday with a colorful display of festivity all over our home but more importantly, by keeping life a little more simple that it’s been lately. No amount of presents under the tree on the 25th will ever equal what’s in our hearts, so I guess the best thing to do is just share what’s in my heart with the world and let that manifest itself in simple ways.

Merry Christmas.

7 December 2013 by J.P. Spiritual Stuff. 1

Winter Wonderland.

Once upon there was a place in Oriskany, New York called Trinkaus Manor. I never went there but I drove by at Christmastime every year that Trinkaus Manor was around. They called the display “Winter Wonderland.” It was awesome and so intense that it increased their monthly electric bill by $6000. Follow the link in this paragraph for a bunch of photos or just live with this little tease (I recommend the link).

Image courtesy of trinkausmanor.com

When Trinkaus Manor burned down, many thought it was the end of the Winter Wonderland display. Luckily the decorations survived and were donated to the City of Rome, where they live on year after year. Earl and I just drove by the big “Merry Christmas” sign. It’s installed on the side of the parking garage facing Fort Stanwix. Down the street are a bunch of the other decorations that used to make up the Winter Wonderland.

Here’s a little tease.

Seeing this display year after year always help me get into the festive spirit. I’m “feeling it” now.

6 December 2013 by J.P. Ponderings and Musings 1

Wages.

So I was going to write a blog entry about the fast food workers that were striking in cities across the United States today. I wrapped the blog entry around an anecdote about a Burger King in Acton, Mass. that was self-serve was back in 1989 but the whole thing wasn’t going where I wanted it to so I just bagged the entry.

So what was I trying to say? I don’t know. Work hard. Fight for what you believe in. But always keep in mind that you can always be replaced by automation. Small chunks. Grow in a steady, upward motion.

See? I got nothing.

5 December 2013 by J.P. Ponderings and Musings 1

Wonder?

So this is Gal Gadot, the actress selected to play Wonder Woman in the untitled movie coming out in 2015. Said movie also features Henry Cavill returning as Superman and Ben Affleck as Batman.

I’m sorry, but I don’t see how Ms. Gadot can fill what many have affectionally called the “bullet tits”. Ok, maybe I’m the only one that’s called Wonder Woman’s costume that.

Here’s the thing, a lot of people remember Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman from the 1970s television show. That’s what the general public knows as Wonder Woman. Yes, she’s done a whole lot more in her comics, but when Joe Blow thinks of Wonder Woman, he thinks of Lynda Carter.

Someone needs to give Ms. Gadot directions to the closest Krispy-Kreme. Stat. Personally I don’t think this is a good choice but what do I know? I know that I would rather see Jennifer Lawrence or Lucy Lawless in the role, but again, what do I know?

I’ll probably wait until the end of 2015 when the movie comes out on iTunes.

4 December 2013 by J.P. Ponderings and Musings 1

Home Sweet Home.

Earl and I were scheduled to go away on a four-day weekend starting tomorrow night after work. Our target destination was the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area. Last weekend we decided to cancel the trip for a number of reasons, the primary one being that we just weren’t “feeling it”.

While I would have enjoyed a trip to Dallas to see friends and to explore a bit, the timing felt a bit off. At this time last year Earl and I went to Houston and New Orleans for a week and that was quite lovely, and our trip to Dallas was along that same idea, travel during the holidays just to get into the swing of things. The thing is, we’re already swinging.

I’m starting to feel settled in a bit for the winter months. Our home feels cozy, we are surrounded by friends and family up here and we have some fun meet-ups coming up over the holiday season. The trip to Dallas would have been too short and honestly, probably a little too pricey (even though we were cashing in airline miles all over creation) for the budget right now.

I’ve done a little rearranging of my remaining vacation time so I have two three-day weekends in a row. Not surprisingly, I’ll be using some of that time to go flying again (everyone cross your fingers for good weather!). We’ll also be finishing up our holiday shopping and the like. I think we’ll have to spin the “Mall O’ Choice!” wheel again this year to see what mall deserves our holiday dollars. Last year we ended up at Danbury Fair and met Kevin and Brian in person for the first time. This year, who knows where we’ll go.

I just know that at the end of the day (even if it’s 2 a.m. after a 12 hour drive), we’ll be home as snug as a bug in a rug in our beds.

Home sweet home. Perfection.

3 December 2013 by J.P. Ponderings and Musings 4

Inspiration.

So I’m still flying high (no pun intended) two days after my orientation flight as a student pilot. I have already scheduled my next lesson and I am really looking forward to that (I’m counting the days). I started the self-paced ground school instruction yesterday. It’s amazing what one can do with today’s technology. Imagine where we’ll be in a decade.

For the past couple of nights I’ve woken up in the middle of the night simply from being energized with the idea of becoming a pilot again. This gave me an opportunity to think a little bit while I was trying to get back to sleep.

Out of all the folks that shared the excitement about me pursuing pilot lessons, only one person asked me why I was pursuing this now, at this point in my life. After all, learning to fly in Central New York during the winter months is a challenge all of its own, but there’s never really a wrong time to learn to fly, I guess you just know when it’s time. And for me, it’s definitely time. There are a few things that have inspired me recently.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that during a Delta flight home from Minneapolis we had to do a couple of go-arounds to land due to the windy conditions at the airport. While I had a few moments of nervousness (looking back, I think that was because I didn’t know firsthand what was going on), for the most part I was really intrigued as to how the pilots were handling the plane. While others were nervous, I was more excited because while I didn’t want to be landing that plane in those conditions at that time, I really wanted to be in control of the plane and handling the challenges associated with being pilot. I have no dreams of flying an airliner, but I certainly want to fly for fun and bring friends and family along with me.

When Earl and I went to Oshkosh, Wisconsin earlier this year for their annual EAA AirVenture, I was thrilled beyond belief. On the night of our arrival, when I saw the small planes flying in and out of the airfield, making it obvious that the pilots were having a grand ol’ time, I realized that I really missed that sort of experience. I had only flown once in a small plane since I had flown with my Dad and I missed it very, very much. It’s something that I love to do and I can’t describe the giddiness I feel when I’m in a small plane. I really feel like I’m in a different world and it’s a really good feeling, even behind the controls of the plane on Saturday. It’s a freakin’ amazing feeling. Oshkosh is definitely on the bucket list.

Recently I saw a video of Jeb Corliss, a BASE jumper and wingsuit pilot, who hit some rocks during one of his amazing wingsuit flights. He nearly died. Jeb talked about his accident and the subsequent recovery, and if that guy can fly a wingsuit, crash, recover and get back into the wingsuit, I can certainly learn how to fly a Piper Cherokee. Life is about choices and my choice is to learn to do what I already know I love to do. There’s no reason to wait, there’s no excuse. Honestly, a long time ago I thought that a gay boy could never be man enough to fly. I have since learned that long ago I was a foolish lad.

But I think what really prompted me to contact the flying club and get started on my pilot lessons was coming across this photo:

That’s me, the short one in the front of the group of guys, with the striped shirt. We are all standing in front of a Cessna 150 that had been used to teach all but one of the older gentlemen to fly that day (the one in the yellow shirt is the Flight Instructor). The thing about that photo is that while I didn’t have a lesson that day (nowhere near old enough), I had sat behind the controls of the 150 and I had my hands on the stick for take-off, landing and during flight. While my feet weren’t on the rudder pedals, the instructor handled that, I had the illusion of flying the plane. I remember pulling too hard on the stick and the stall warning alarm sounding in the cockpit. It scared me but the Flight Instructor calmly said, “you might want to ease up on that a bit”. He was in control the whole time, but why would a 12 year old be “flying” a plane? Simple. We wanted to go for a ride and the flight instructor was more comfortable in the co-pilots’ seat. Despite the stall warning, I remember being so excited about my chance to really be the pilot of plane someday and I knew it was something that I wanted to do. Actually, it was something that I had to do.

I gazed at the photo for a long time and wondered: 33 years later, what am I waiting for? I couldn’t come up with an answer. While Earl won’t let me ride a motorcycle, he is fully supportive of me flying a plane.

I have spent many nights “relaxing” in front of a computer screen doing a modified version of what I do during the day for a career. I love what I do at work, but for the betterment of everyone involved, I need to disengage from work-like activities in the interest of recreation and relaxation. This, coupled with my love and need to fly, makes my pilot lessons a no-brainer.

I just can’t wait any longer. This lad needs to fly.

2 December 2013 by J.P. Pilot. 0

Some Things Never Change.

I wrote this blog entry back in 2005, which includes this very descriptive paragraph.

I think I’m becoming a little hostile towards cell phone users. A couple of weeks ago while we were at the State Fair, some moron would walk by, talking away on his cell phone and completely oblivious to the fact that he had just stomped on my foot, knocked an innocent grandma out of her wheelchair and that the cow ahead of him was not his girlfriend and was in fact shitting on his shoe. I would simply proclaim in a very loud, obnoxious, stage presence to the back of the auditorium voice, “OH MY GOD I’M AT THE STATE FAIR AND I MUST MAKE A CELL PHONE CALL RIGHT NOW!”. Then I’d raise my Motorola up like Kunta Kinte and genuflect. I would then proceed to dial random digits and order a pizza for the 10 people around me.

This is something I could have easily written about any interaction with the public today. Some things never change, apparently.

1 December 2013 by J.P. Geek 1

Flight.

This may come as a surprise to some but I am excited beyond belief to type this next sentence:

I had my first student pilot lesson today!

Technically it was my introductory lesson, but after take off of the VERY long runway at Griffiss International Airport in the Piper Cherokee 140, my flight instructor said to me, “Congratulations, you are flying!” And indeed I was, in the pilots’ seat, behind the controls of the Cherokee. My hand was on the throttle, my other hand on the yoke, my feet on the rudder pedals and my eyes on the horizon.

(Taken after we landed).

Starting as a young kid I flew in small planes with my dad and my grandfather and friends of the family over the years and I have always enjoyed every moment of those experiences, even the times I flew with my grandfather (he was a little jerky with his movements in the cockpit in comparison to riding with my dad). While I sat in the pilot seat of a Cessna 150 a few times, my experience has always been as a passenger in the co-pilot seat. Dad said “here, take the stick” quite a few times and I would do just that, but takeoff and landing was always handled by the pilot. Today, I took off and landed and flew around with a whole bunch of instruction from the flight instructor.

I. Loved. Every. Moment. Of. It.

My experience in small planes was always at small airstrips which most of the time amounted to a mowed down section of a hay field, so as we were coming in for a landing at Griffiss, I said to myself, “holy shit that’s a long runway” (Griffiss’ runway clocks in at 11,820 feet). We landed long so we wouldn’t have to taxi forever to get back to the hanger. Wow, that runway is huge.

After talking about the requirements to get my private pilot certification, we went out to the plane and went through the pre-flight checklist and the like. I made a bunch of mental notes and then we went flying. We spent a little less than an hour in the air in the “student practice area” west of the airport. Learning to use visual navigational aids, I did what I thought was a nice turn at 3200′ around the hotel tower at Turning Stone Casino. Just to get a feel for the controls, on the way there I did some turns between the airport and Sylvan Beach on the eastern shore of Oneida Lake. After a few more maneuvers, we headed back to Griffiss and landed on that really long runway. After the plane was fueled and put away in its hanger, we went back to the aviation club room where I met some of the other club members and hung out with the guys for a bit. It was very reminiscent of hanging with the pilots in the picnic area at the airport near my Dad’s house on a Sunday afternoon.

The only thing missing from this experience today was being able to call up Dad and tell him that I became a student pilot today. After sharing the experience with Earl, I called my Mom and told her the news. She could tell by the excitement in my voice that I was very excited about the whole experience and that I was really looking forward to this new adventure in my life.

I am so happy that I took this first step and I am really looking forward to my next lesson. I kept saying, “THAT was awesome!”. I have to admit that I was nervous when we first took off but after a few moments I started calming down and I was starting to feel the beginnings of confidence. The instructor kept saying how much he loved to fly and I couldn’t agree with him more. Looking out over the snowy landscape, with Oneida Lake off in the distance and me actually in the pilots’ seat was like a dream come true.

It’s in my blood. I can’t help it. I love to fly. And that’s what I’m going to do.

30 November 2013 by J.P. Pilot. 3

Thanks.

So today is Thanksgiving in the United States. Today is the day when we take a moment to gather ourselves with those that we call family, enjoy a delicious meal in some manner and give pause to remember what we are thankful for. At least, that is my understanding of the holiday. Judging by some of the behavior observed through various media outlets, today is the day where one sits in the cold and waits for the closest big box store to open up many hours before Friday so customers can maul and punch one another in an effort to get the cheapest laptop on the block.

I am thankful that I am a Mac boy and I am thankful that I have the means to be a Mac boy.

Earl just prepared us a fantastic dinner that the three of enjoyed immensely. I helped with the preparations and I think I might have shocked the others in the house when I went ahead and washed the dishes by hand. Up until now I have always subscribed to one of the many things my mother taught me: “why wash the dishes by hand when you can run another load?”

In the photo shown above you might notice a beautiful centerpiece at the end of the table (because we’re cockeyed like that). The centerpiece is a lovely gift from our neighbor Bradley, who has a certain flair for that sort of thing.

I am thankful for good hearted people in the world.

While Earl and I were shopping at Hannafords last weekend, picking up our Thanksgiving groceries and the like, we ran into our friend Dana and two of her daughters. Dana has always made me smile because she has such a zest for life. It’s been over a decade since we worked in the same place together and our career paths have taken us both in different directions, but Dana still makes me smile. Her positive nature is contagious.

I am thankful for positive people in the world.

I spoke to my Mom and my sister this morning before the dinner preparations were solidly underway. It was very good to talk to them, even if it was a brief conversation. Because of the whirlwind paced life we have been living lately, we haven’t seen them as much as we usually do.

I am thankful for family, both that which we’re born into and that which we choose.

For the first time in a few years I am off from work tomorrow. Work is “BAU”, or Business As Usual tomorrow, but I took a PTO day so that I could enjoy a long weekend for Thanksgiving this year. I’ve seen a couple of Facebook updates from co-workers and it looks like they are enjoying their Thanksgiving holiday.

I am thankful for co-workers that I feel comfortable enough to add as Facebook friends. While I’m at it, I’m thankful for my job as well. It’s a good gig.

All in all I think I’ve found the sweet spot in life. And it is my intention to stay in this sweet spot. After all, I am thankful for recognizing that life is what you make of it.

28 November 2013 by J.P. Ponderings and Musings 3

In Progress.

28 November 2013 by J.P. Fun and Games Dept 1

Spirit.

Winter Wonderland.

Wages.

Wonder?

Home Sweet Home.

Inspiration.

Some Things Never Change.

Flight.

Thanks.

In Progress.

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