here we are in atlanta! It's a party let me tell you. We drove. Yes, flights here are cheap because it's a hub but driving is still cheaper, plus we were able to take our friend's truck that runs on recycled vegetable oil so driving has been FREE so far.

We set out from wichita at 6am and drove. through KC, St. Louis, Nashville, all day and into the night, and arrived at our friends' house in Atlanta a little after midnight with the time change. We didn't have to stop for gas so that was awesome, but were a little slowed down sometimes for construction. We ate lunch at a KFC and ate dinner at a little mexican place outside chatanooga. I slept a lot and didn't drive at all. I offered to drive but the guys were just switching off and it's a huge truck we took, that apparently doesn't drive like the focus, so our friend who owns it wanted to be the one driving in all urban traffic.

Despite my long hard day of sleeping, I crashed out when we got to a soft bed and slept like a rock. This morning we woke up and marc did some work while I puttered around on the internet, and then we headed out to Six Flags Over Georgia! It was very fun. We pretty much did the roller coasters. I had none fun on the Ninja and the line for the Superman ride was way too long for what we got out of it, but others were great... we rode Goliath twice, MindBender had no line and was incredible so we rode it twice, the batman ride was excellent.

I did really well on all the roller coasters today. I've had problems with some in the past because of an overwhelming fear of heights but today I didn't notice. Someone asked me how I could be afraid of heights while learning to fly airplanes and it's weird, I'd have to say that the heights thing has never bothered me in the least bit while I'm in an airplane. There have been other times in my life where the fear has been paralyzing... once on a powerplant tour, we took an elevator up 11 stories and stepped out onto a grated floor I could see through and I FROZE. They finally coaxed me out by telling me to hang onto a guy in front of me. And on roller coasters in the past, the slow clicking climb upward has been scary enough that I either chickened out or had to close my eyes the whole time and wish it'd end. But airplanes? No problem. Even when I'm flying the airplane... which is irrational, because if I'm going to die by falling the odds of crashing an airplane are much higher than the odds of a roller coaster letting me go. Maybe flying a lot has helped me with the height thing? Or maybe my early fearful lessons were the last few kicks I needed to get over it? Either way we went on some high up roller coasters today and I was fine... looking out, looking down, enjoying the ride. I'm cured.

after my first flying lesson we had nothing but storms for a week and a half, so it wasn't until yesterday that I got to take... my second flying lesson. Yes, I am now a student pilot with 2.7 hours.

I felt much more relaxed this time. Several things helped me. First, it wasn't my first flight.

Second, I had a talk with one of our flight test pilots whose been in some insane situations before. He was telling me about actions in an emergency situation and thinking fast, and I asked him, "Do you have all this stuff planned out?" Like, a pre-checklist in your head? How much am I supposed to plot out? He told me it just sort of all comes together. And then said, "It's like an engineering test, you know, you've taken those. You don't know what they're going to throw at you, could be anything. You just know what resources are in your head, put them together and find an answer." For some reason that really made sense to me. This'll sound crazy, but a sadistic part of me has always loved tests, and engineering tests are among the most noteworthy because they can be absolutely insane. Professors build their entire legend based on what torture they can make students go through on test day. I sort of like it. I'm competitive, and this is my chance to prove what I've got. It's fast and challenging and new. A good test is one that gets my adrenaline going.

So I'm going to think of flying like that... I mean yes the consequences of screwing up are worse than getting a C in a grad-level course, but good motivation doesn't come from fear anyway so what's the safety threat going to do for me? I'm worry about safety and all it does is freak me out. If I remember that I've got bad-ass test taking skills, I might get somewhere. The best pilots are the ones who fly the airplane, in all conditions, with anything terrible going on around them, they can focus and keep a clear head and remember their tasks.

My second flight was still not great. When he said bank 30°, that felt really steep to me and part of me I held back a little. I don't have a good sense at all of how much to adjust the throttle for the different power settings. But I feel like I can capture a heading, fly steadily towards points on the horizon, climb and descend and keep a clear head about it.