K-Blog

2 movies you have to see

The Kings Speech - Great acting by Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and one of my fave actresses Helena Bonham Carter (I would love to have a drink with that woman!).

The premise: Man (a Duke, who later becomes King) has stutter, has tried everything, comes across an unqualified speech therapist with unusual methods and after a shitload of hard work, triumphs..

Message: Do a shitload of hard work and you will triumph, even when you think it cannot be done :)

The Black Swan -  Natalie Portman and yummy French Actor Vincent Cassel. See it!!

Have you ever have such negative thoughts that you couldn’t even voice them to someone else? Thoughts that made you feel guilty even thinking them? Society wants us all to be happy conforming people. Sweet people. I know I was raised that way. Don’t cause trouble, don’t make a fuss, just get on with it.

What if you had the chance to be that alter ego (lest we say evil person) for a while. Would you be able to summon up the courage to let it out?

The Black Swan that deals with exactly this topic.

A sweet, fragile girl who is a perfectionist in her craft (ballet). She auditions for the role of The Swan Queen which requires her to play not only the beautiful and delicate White Swan but the evil destructive Black Swan.

She plays the While Swan to perfection but has trouble channelling the darkness within her to make the Black Swan performance realistic. The movie is about her devastating journey to let this dark side out…something that is within her but she has learned to control, up to now.

 Turns out she is obsessed with ballet and has total OCD, but she played it so well it was believable and she got me thinking for a long time afterwards.

Message (for me anyway): Be a little naughty every now and again, let go, let loose because keeping it inside will only end up destroying the one person you are trying to protect. Youself.

Sometimes you learn more by not flying

Waiting on Lake George, watching the others launch, and seeing some long runs and some 'interesting' launching in really cross wind, I thought to myself...is it really worth it? It really made me think about what I feel I am capable of.

Even Trent waited for ages to launch, and that alone made me nervous. I still do not have a lot of confidence in nil wind or cross wind in my glider. The A-frame is swimming on me and my head hits to keel post when I try to hold it on my shoulders, showing that my shoulders are just not broad enough at the top of the frame. All this adds to my nervousness about my control when I launch. Need to shorten my speedbar, have no doubt it will help.

My launch technique could probably be better too. If you do not have 100% confidence in your own launches then how do you think you would feel in sub-standard launch conditions? I found myself wishing I could aerotow. But that's not what I want going on in my head. I want to be able to launch in x-wind, light wind, nil wind and know exactly what i am capable of.

I know I just need a lot more practice, like anything, this will build my confidence no end. Like Jonathan who, even though has had most of his hours in Stanwell, he has done countless launches in all different conditions. You could see he was pretty OK with the conditions yesterday.

I want the glider to feel like it's a part of me, an extension of my body...not something I fear in any way. How can you fear your arms, your leg, your toes? :) You just accept they are there and use them automatically without thinking.

Storms coming through near the lake yesterday

The 'out of towners' waiting for the locals to show us the way.

So my aim? To make my wings my arms. Wish me luck :)

Playing the waiting game

Waiting on the north launch at Lake George. Stunning day but its proving tricky to get off. Too cross. Trent, dave and jono went for it but they are braver than i. Now the rest of us wait for some change, anything ..well some east would be nice!
just heard on radio dave is 20Km heading east and trent has gone 10km south west.

Steve Hocking Challenge Day 5 - Too Windy

20 knots on the ground. A clear cut decision not to fly today :( :( :(

Means we have to party a bit earlier than expected :)

Presentation and dinner tonight with the pilots that have stayed on....

Still deciding....

Looks good to the North, but the wind is more from the East bringing a rain front. We waited an hour in the field and they finally cancelled.

Steve hocking challenge - day 4

Its raining now,are but we are coming back at 12 if weather conditions improve.

Task still on...

Jonny setup and launched, he had no choice really or he would lose his #1 spot. There was no major concern with the towing operations, even though in the beginning there was some really strong wind.

The reason I did not launch was a mixture of the towing conditions, landing in such gusty conditions and the pretty strong possibility of a shit flight. Wind was 25knots at 4000 feet, and low cloudbase so it would be a struggle.I didn't feel like I had anything to gain except a few points, and that doesn't really concern me.

other non-flyers today included Atilla, Lukas and Gerolf.

It's ONLY 113kms today so they should be back early enough, especially in this wind!

 

Interesting day...

Task is still on but some including me jamie, Gerolf, Zhenya, lukas, grant have packed up...I don't think Jonny is even setup. Carl has just launched. Wierd strategically day...

Steve hocking challenge day 3 - uncertain

Task set 113km wsw. Cloudbase 4 to 5 grand. 35 knot winds at base. Its half an hour to launch start and nobody is here yet!

Steve Hocking Day 2 - bumpy air, lowish cloudbase, slippery thermals

Couldn't get the hang of it again today. The air was not pleasant at all...little bubbles of rising air everywhere, but nothing consistent...well not for me in the first 50kms anyway. I'm sure the guns thought it was OK.

Seems like I don't have the patience to stick with this air

Zhenya was ahead of me for some of the way and she seemed to thermal just fine, topping up in front of me everytime. I just could not get the hang of it.

Guess it's all learning!

Not sure how many made goal, but it looks like Carl and Blenky did along with a good few others. How do they do it !! :)

This was the rainstorm when I hitched back to Forbes...

When we drive through it we could not see out the windscreen.

Not sure what will happen tomorrow...will have to see if the front passes...

Meanwhile...time for food!