Road Rage

It was almost dark. The roads were dry, and fairly free of traffic, but for a semi truck on my right. I was southbound on highway 97, 500 metres south of UBC Okanagan. The sweeping right curve of the highway limited my visibility. As I came out of the turn, I realized that I was not alone in my lane. A man in a white Ford Focus was looking to enter southbound from the right, and used the opposing turning lane as a holding position. As he wanted to avoid Northbound traffic, he nosed out about 4 feet into my southbound lane, because I was hidden behind the Semi due to the curve. Being the Good driver that I am, I hit my brakes hard, and held control as I momentarily locked my tires, and came to a stop just feet from his passenger side. The idea came to me in the moments between seeing the vehicle and stopping, that I should just keep going, wreck this idiot's car, and get some free body work done on my truck. I thought better of it, because I try (sometimes more successfully, sometimes less) to be responsible. This man knew that he had made a bad decision, I could see it in his face as I drove by. In my anger I did feel it necessary to send a less than pleasant gesture and a look of disgust his way.
Do I condone Road Rage? Well, when taken to an extreme level (such as feeling it necessary to jam a piece of re-bar through the target of your rage), I do not. Some people may deserve to be stuck by a piece of steel, but to sentence a person to such punishment for possibly a quite innocent lack of common sense or judgment is somewhat extreme in my eyes. I believe people need to be held accountable for foolish actions on the road, and I think this is best done by a simple salute, honking of the horn, and possibly a few words spoken out the window. So next time some Idiot ruins your day with his or her careless driving, feel free to voice your rage, but try hard to contain it before it has you impaling a lung with a piece of steel.

"You have saved up all your spite,
Stoked the flame that keeps the fight,
It's so hard to be objective,
When your reason is defective"
-Reese Roper

Ranger, Fuhrer, Pirate, and Cowboy

R22...This is what I fly. Mine is blue and white, but you get the idea












R44...I'll be flying this after Christmas
















This isn't one of ours, I just dream of doing this.
















My family: Joel, Lindsay, me, Janet















Well, another wednesday, another post. If there is one thing I've learned this week, it is that teachers can be cool. I spent saturday night partying with my teacher...sounds bizarre, I know, but it's true. it was about 9 pm on saturday. My night was quite boring so far, and, being a small town kid who missed the quiet, I decided to go for a drive. I called my friend Nicole, and she came with me up to Big white (to see the snow). On the way up I got a phone call from my flight instructor who apparently had already been having a fun night. after seeing the snow and getting lost in the endless dead end roads at big white, we drove back to town and met up with Chris (my flight instructor), Sheila (his lady friend) and Wade (another student in my class). I suppose being dressed like a cowboy (to kelowna people, anyways) was enough of a costume to fit in with the kokanee ranger (chris) a pirate (sheila) and a semi-intoxicated Hitler (wade, dressed normally, but wearing a fake moustache). Without going into too much detail, I will say that the night was alot of fun, and before I knew it I was walking into my bedroom at 7 am. IT was quite the night to remember.

School continues as normal, aside from the fact that we are down one helicopter (apparently my fault, according to Wade). it is in the show for repairs, because it doesn't want to fly. Turns out a magnito needs replacing, which means that it actually wasn't my fault, because it isn't so much something that I could've done to wreck it, but simply wear and tear. On a more exciting note, I felt the full blast of wake turbulence when passing behind a westjet plane that was on final approach today. Personally, I felt I had full control, but apparently Chris didn't think so, judging by his quick reaction to take the controls away from me.

Yet again I was teased by the promise of a day of work on saturday, but seeing as that has fallen through, I am off to the coast to see Ry, Joe, and whoever else is around that I know. Hopefully I will get a chance to see my older brother, but I won't hold my breath on that one.

Ok...now onto something serious

So here is what has been on my mind the last couple of days. For many, Halloween is a time to be stupid, to have fun, and generally to cause trouble. For me, it is a time to remember. The last real memory I have of my Father is him taking me trick or treating 2 days before he died. For me, this is a time when I feel alone, and it seems to be exaggerated by the fact that everyone is busy, so I literally have been sitting here by myself. I don't seek pity, I'm not looking for a shoulder to cry on, it just makes me wonder about the way we think...or at least the way I think. Why is it that we dwell on that which upsets us, knowing that it will only upset us more to do so? We want so badly to be justified in our situation that we let ourselves slip into our own confirmation...I feel lonely, therefore I am going to use any busy friend, unanswered phone, unreplied email, or solitary day as proof that I truly am alone. In all reality, I am not alone at all, and most days feeling alone doesn't bother me, but losing that which meant most will have a lasting effect on a person. Therefore, Halloween for me it seems will never be more than a time to reflect, remember, miss, and feel alone. I do not wish for this to be true, yet year after year I encounter it. But, in the end, tomorrow is another day to live and pick up and keep going.

And now, because I know you all love the quotes to end the post, here goes again. Mom, I'm sorry if this makes you cry...

"too many times we stand aside
And let the water slip away
'Til What we put off 'til tomorrow
Has now become today
So don't you sit upon the shoreline
And say you're satisfied
Choose to chance the rapids
And dare to dance that tide"

Wednesday, October 24, 2007-Find Girl, Make Out

For anyone other than Tim who reads this, today's title makes no sense. I'm sorry Tim, I failed.


So, i decided to spend money instead of earn it. The decision was made mostly due to the fact that I ended up not having any work on the weekend. I am quite happy about that, however, because the trip to vancouver was awesome. The Lions won, but just as important as that, the GF crew was so intimidating that the Coast boys conceded, and we won the Director's cup yet again. It was a reunion of sorts, seeing all the guys that I grew up with in battalion. I couldn't ask for a better group of friends.

School this week has been fairly eventful. I wrote my test to get my student pilot permit on monday, and got 100%. that was a huge relief, but it only gets harder from here on out. I flew on tuesday and couldn't do anything right, it was horrible, I felt like I was never going to be able to take off or land. On wednesday I figured out what I was mainly doing wrong, and my last 3 flights have been much better. Today was an experience in the air. About 5 minutes after taking off, a fairly strong storm came through from the north, and I was caught right in the middle of it. I thought keeping a helicopter stable in calm conditions was hard, but a 25 Knot wind brings a whole new element of fun to flying. I was told I did really well for the conditions, considering I've only flown for 11 hours, but it sure didn't feel that great to me. I managed not to crash, however, which is about all I could ask for at that point.

Now that I have distracted myself from studying for another half hour, I'm gonna wrap this thing up, and leave you with these words, from the late JC (Johnny Cash)

"Then the father hen will call his chickens home
The wise man will bow down before the throne and at his feet
They will cast the golden crowns
When the man comes around"

Earn or Spend?

It is currently 6:23 pm on Thursday the Eighteenth of October, Two Thousand Seven. I just walked in the door from school, and it is dark outside. This means, of course, that the time is coming when our clocks will move back an hour, and in order to get everyone flying in a day, I will have to get up earlier. I am not looking forward to that. My life has not changed much since last Friday, other than that I have drastically improved on my hover skills, my truck has a front bumper again, and I impressed some people last night by eating 3 "johnny cash" wings (which are ridiculously spicy). It wasn't so much that the wings weren't that hot to me, but rather I felt like showing off, so I managed to contain the fact that my face wanted to cry and my body wanted to sweat, and my tongue wanted to just fall off.
The highlight of my week in ground school so far was today when we saw a video of a "helicopter pioneer" who decided he didn't need a seatbelt. The problem he encountered was a result of 3 main factors: 1. he, as I previously stated, wasn't wearing a seatbelt. 2. he was a "pioneer", meaning the helicopter he was in was new technology for him, and his control of the aircraft was minimal, and 3. this particular helicopter wasn't enclosed, meaning there was no barrier between him and the main rotor above his head. The pilot took off, but as he was new to the machine, lost stability and decided to touch down. His touchdown was rough, causing him to lift collective to go back up, and then he dropped collective again, causing the machine to hit ground again. As the machine hit ground for the second time, the man was bounced out of his seat, and directly into the rotor, which shot him about 30 feet back. the best part of this story is that the man received "only minimal bruising". That is one lucky man, if you ask me. we ended up watching this video clip about 5 times, as our instructor found it quite funny.
And now, to my predicament. Should I spend money this weekend, or make money? I have the opportunity to go to the B.C. Lions Game with a whole bunch of my friends, or I could stay in Kelowna and work. It is Thursday night, and I still haven't decided, because any money would really help me right now. I appreciate any opinions on this matter, so feel free to respond.
Until next time...
"We had ups and downs we got spun around
We held on when the going got a little tough.
It took love and faith and some give and take,
and grace. No, we didn't even see the dust. "

Week 1

Well, here it is, after midnight on friday. "late night on the town?" you might ask. not at all. my evening consisted of watching the canucks lay a solid beating on the oilers, followed by 3 hours of homework (on a friday night, how depressing). After I could no longer read, i decided to watch a movie, The Quick and the Dead, to be specific. I love this movie, because it is set in the old west, a time when arguments were settled usually with a fight, a duel, or a noose. this may sound crude and inhumane to some, but I think that locking a criminal in a cell to rot until he dies is just as inhumane, if not more, than a noose or a bullet. Both are an effective form of punishment, and although people see those days past as crude and primitive, reading a newspaper today would suggest that society hasn't progressed all that much in some regards.

Now, for those of you who didn't come to this site to hear my opinions on justice and society, I shall recap my life since my last (and first) post. I started school on thursday at Okanagan Mountain Helicopters, FTU. I still haven't figured out what the FTU stands for, one of these days I'll look into it. Day 1 was a lot of introduction, as well as a start into ground school. Nothing too exciting.

Thursday (day 2) was more interesting. I started by doing my DI (daily inspection) of the helicopter (R22). after that was complete, the flying started. My instructor did all the hard stuff (obviously), while i watched. He went through the controls individually, and let me try each one out to get a feel for it. we flew over kelowna, from the airport straight towards the bridge, then headed south along the shoreline, and then back to the airport. once at the airport, I was introduced to the art of hovering. I call it an art because it is not something that a person can fake his or her way through. It is somewhat like trying to stand on one of those big exercise balls...not exactly easy. after about 5 attempts at me controlling the hover which resulted in Chris (my instructor) saving us from running into the beautiful grass just east of the runway, we called it a day. ground school was more or less like any other school, except more interesting, and a lot more intense.

Today was day 3. I was supposed to be there at 10:30 for my flight. However, due to the absurd light change procedure at the intersection of Highway 33 and sexsmith/old vernon rd, i wasn't at the airport until 10:40. This didn't matter, however, as my instructor is about as laid back as I am, and he didn't even want to fly until 11:30. so we sat and had coffee, and I learned that he likes video games. We flew more or less the same route as day 2, except extended more, and today, i took full control once we were at altitude, for the good part of an hour, with a few breaks so that he could demonstrate maneuvers. I had a good view of the windows I installed last month, of the house that I poured foundation and stripped forms, the OK park fire devastation, and a few other wonderful sights in the kelowna and surrounding area. More hovering at the airport followed, I was a little bit better, and a little bit more relaxed, which is the key to flying, or so I'm told. In ground school we watched a black and white movie from what had to have been the 50's or early 60's about how a plane flies (same principles apply to helicopter flight). homework was assigned, flight times for monday were designated, and free I was, until 12:30 on monday.

In other Owen news, I'm going to kamloops for the weekend, because Justin Bekker wants to go for a drive. Also, my truck is getting fixed on monday, I am quite happy about that. Well, this has been a very long Post, and I want to again end with a quote...they won't always be from songs, or from Five Iron for that matter, just anything that has inspired me or caught my attention.

" Like autumn leaves
His sense fell from him
An empty glass of himself
Shattered somewhere within
His thoughts like a hundred moths
Trapped in a lampshade
Somewhere within
Their wings banging and burning
On through endless nights
Forever awake he lies shaking and starving
Praying for someone to turn off the light"
-Zack de la Rocha

can I really do something like this?

Well, it has finally happened. If it wasn't enough that I have a facebook account (which is a very strong tool of the devil, I might add), I have now entered the realm of the blog. The thoughts that occupy my brain are too much for me to handle, and yet here I am laying them out for all to see. It was my good friend Tim who suggested I create this blog, so all blame for what you read on these pages can be directed straight to him, and not me.
My goal is to pass on my experiences to those who read this, both from my time in school (where I will be learning how to make a large metal object defy gravity), and also from my day to day life in Kelowna, and wherever else life takes me.
The End is Near. For those of you who recognize it, yes, both my blog name and address come from Five Iron Frenzy. They have been a constant inspiration in my life, musically, spiritually, and also when it comes to my sense of humour and sarcasm."what a disturbing title for a blog," you might say. It is, however, very fitting in my life right now. Many things in my life have come to an end recently, and the future is as uncertain as it ever has been. The end of my career in the lumber industry has come, the end of me living in Grand forks has come, and soon, the end of me being an uneducated laborer will come. as of 9 am this morning, I will be attending Okanagan Mountain Helicopters, where I will learn to be a commercial helicopter pilot. This, again, is where the name for my blog fits. Many say that this is a dangerous profession, and that I am not expected to live more than 10 years of flying. this was made evident to me yesterday, when I said goodbye to my mom as I was leaving Grand Forks. It was as though she was never going to see me again. Well, to all those who think I am going to die, i leave you with these words..."I have lived a good life, and I get to die in a helicopter, how cool is that!" please don't take this as my last words, as I plan to live a full life and be around to play golf and go curling with joe and tim and jer and lance. I believe that a future of accepted misery is no future at all, which is why I have made this decision, and am excited to be learning something interesting and thrilling. Anyone wishing to go for a flight with me should know that the list is long, so don't count on it.
And now, I see it fit to leave you with the words of the extremely talented and underrated poet and lyricist, Reese Roper...
" And everyone will say it's just an accident, like some mishap or a tragedy.
I think that failure has a purpose, and I don't believe it's chance if I fall.
And I know that if I ever do fall, He will catch me.
And if He ever lets me fall down, for the good of those who believe Him,
He will make me into a cannonball. Unblemished, and faultless. A burning luminescence."