Open Mic - Recap

The Open Mic at Timmy T's Pizzeria was a great success!! The best turn out thus far. All thanks greatly to the sponsorship of Divine Appointment Guitars. The place was pretty well packed and we had a variety of talented performers. If you happen to find yourself in the North County, you should definitely come check it out. If not for the music, definitely for the pizza. I'm not a huge pizza lover myself, but I could hardly wait to sink my teeth into the thin, chewy & crispy crust.

Highlight of the evening: Lloyd Madansky performing on an instrument of his own making:

Portrait: The Ultimate Rebel

When I was growing up, I believed James Dean was my soul mate (so did many other teens, I'm sure!). He was an artist, sculpturer, poet, and photographer. Growing up, I really felt disconnected from everyone, friends and family. I attribute it to a lack of self esteem. In my teenage awkward geeky years, filled with angst and emotional volitility, I found his recklessness and commitment to living his life to the fullest appealing. Although, I still feel disconnected, I have outlets to express myself now.

Here is my attempt to paint James Dean. I've been studying value, color and a method used by the old master called grisaille. The process starts off with an underpainting of just shades of gray to establish value before color is added. It involves building colors up with layers. This style is new to me as I have been painting more in the style of Alla Prima - direct painting, usually done in one setting while paint is still wet. Mostly with soft pastel.

I don't really have a preference just yet as I am still learning. However, I find I lean more towards abstract than photorealism and I hate cleaning brushes.

In the interim, I have been scouring disappointedly on the internet for "Planes of the Head" by John Asaro. It is a cast of the human head depicting the various planes. It is an invaluable tool for any artists wanting to paint or sculpt the human head. 3-D Modelers reference this cast also. Great for studying value. I MUST HAVE THIS!! I start sculpturing next week, so maybe I could cast my own. :(

But if anyone knows anything about this cast, please let me know. I've already contacted a couple of schools about the cast in hopes that they may still be selling the cast.

Landings

I flew again this afternoon. The winds were about 18 kts but very gusty. Fortunately, it was a straight headwind. We stayed in the pattern to practice touch and go's and the wind proved quite challenging.

My problem is not with the approach although it was quite rusty after two months of not flying. The flare is the problem. My CFI was hands off today as he coaxed me through the landings. The hardest part of landing is the transition from nose down attitude to level. Then as the speed is reduced, the nose is slightly raised (holding off). I have a tendency to balloon - pulling back on the yoke too rapidly and too soon. I am beginning to have anxiety about landing. :(

Apres Vous

This morning, I found myself right back up Bishop's Peak. Beautiful day in San Luis Obispo. I've been meaning to make the hike back up here again. It's a great workout.


This evening, I watched "Apres Vous" ("After You") at the Palm Theatre. Very enjoyable foreign film. I enjoyed it very much and was humming the theme song "Allo Charley, Tango Papa" throughout the whole movie.


I am going back to The Palm Theatre to see "Saving Face" tomorrow. Joan Chen is a favorite actress of mine.

I checked out two new places in SLO that I thought was worth mentioning. Had dinner at Grappolo's friday night. Great food and live Jazz music downstairs. They played one familiar jazz piece - "All Blues". Tonight, I had coffee at Linnaea's Cafe and listened to live Blues music. There's a lot of great places for dining/music in SLO other than the local pubs. I'm just now taking the time to seek them out.

Laguna Lake

This evening, we flew to Paso Robles to practice landings. Landing was quite challenging at Paso Robles. We had to deal with a slight cross wind.

Above is a picture of our approach into San Luis Obispo from Paso Robles that I took for landmark references. We usually report abeam Laguna Lake. You can see runway two-niner up ahead.

Plague of crimes

The plague of crimes against children has to stop. My heart grieves for The Groene family and other families who had to suffer similiar tragedies.

This morning on the way to work, I heard a broadcasts on the children of Northern Uganda on NPR and I had to pull over. It broke my heart.

Children as young as eight years old are kidnapped, tortured, raped, enslaved, forced to inflict violence on others and sometimes killed by the rebel group Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) since 1988. The child soldiers are more obedient, easier to manipulate, require little food, expendable and do not question orders than the adult solders. A whole generation of children -- lost.

The children "night commuters", to escape abduction from the LRA, have to leave their homes at dusk and travel to distant towns for safety with little food and only a blanket.

Child soldiers are being used in more than thirty countries around the world.

Thousands of children abducted by rebel forces witnessed and participated in horrible atrocities against civilians, including beheadings, amputations, rape, and burning people alive.

Children forced to take part in atrocities were often given drugs to overcome their fear or reluctance to fight.

"..God, come down
If you're really there
Well, you're the one who claims to care..."

Ahh..Back in the saddle again...

It's been over 2 months!! This weekend, I had to make up for lost time. I went flying over the weekend and this afternoon. Bit of a right crosswind when taxiing down the runway!!

We flew over Pismo Beach and I took some pics of the dunes. Today, we were practicing emergency procedure over the dunes. Not as crowded as over the weekend. Good thing - in case we had to make an emergency landing. I like to try riding in the dunes. It looks like a lot of fun. I might give it shot this weekend. Although, I might have to find someone a little more experienced to go with me or I might get toppled over by one of those dune buggies. Wow, they start out at an average of $90/hr. OUCH! the ATV's are a lot less expensive. Sharron, girl, where are you when I need you??

My landings are still shaky. I need more practice! I also went under the hood and practiced flying by instruments for a while. I did better than I thought I would. Our next flight, we will probably practice touch and go's at the Paso Robles Airport - less wind activity.

Total Hours to Date: 20.0