I really really want to get blogging again because I like how I can express feelings, discuss touchy subjects and complain a little every now and then. It is like having a Journal! I'm sure that all of the Gentlemen are thinking "what kind of guy writes in a journal!" Try it sometime guys, it is extremely helpful especially if you need to vent a little!
I'll try to pick up where I left off. After spending spring break at Disneyland with my friends I finished out the semester with less than pleasing grades.... Ok, really awful grades. I failed my math class and my Aircraft Systems Maintenance class. I suck at math, always have. I was bummed though, I actually did study hard for the final and I thought I did great on it! But of course as is my luck, every time I think I do good on a math test I actually do horrible, I cannot explain why. So I got a 50% on the final and I am back in the class this semester, with a horrible teacher and a ton of freshmen I might add.. My other class was such a roller coaster. I have a lot that I could say about the class and the teacher and how horrible he and the class where but im not. Ill just say this. The average test score on any test in his class was around 48% with a HUGE curve and I usually scored above that. As for the final, the majority of the material was not ever taught in class or included in the study guide. I am also certain that some of his test questions had incorrect answers seeing as some of them conflicted with what was taught in my other Aviation Classes. I walked out of the class with a group of people and one of turned to the rest of us and said "well, i'll see you all next spring in this class again," I was not the only person who failed the class Ill stop there though as it would not be fair for me to continue on a pointless rant.. Whatever though I was ready to get that semester done. It was a long, depressing, and cold semester and I wanted it to be behind me.
I hung around Utah for 2 more weeks so that I could finish my Private Pilots license... And I did... Sorta. I flew home (back to Colorado) on the 19th of May and my check ride was the 18th. I was so ready to get done, but of course on the day of my check ride it was raining. Well, the check airman and I decided to finish the ground portion of the exam and since I had to come back to Logan for a week for my Greek Ambassador duties at the beginning of June we would finish the flight portion of the exam then. While I was bummed that I didn't finish before I went back to Colorado it was very nice to be home! The plus was that I got to look forward to visiting my friends in Utah in a few weeks! June rolled around and I flew back to Utah to finish my check ride. It was such a fun week and to top it all off I passed the test with flying colors! It was such a breeze and I actually had fun doing it! The best part was when we landed, the check airman turned to me and said "I have one last question for and it is the one that will determine whether or not you pass, so park here and take a second to relax and clear your mind because it is a very difficult question." After shutting down he turned to me and asked "how does it feel to be Private Pilot!" I laughed and said "damn good!" I didn't want to leave my friends in Logan but I was excited to get back to CO and get back to work!
I work at a place called Cave of the Winds in the mountains above Manitou Springs, Colorado. It is a big cave in which we give tours! At the beginning of the summer I was promoted to Head Guide which was really cool and I really looked forward to doing that for the rest of the summer! At the end of June I got a big suprise! One of the Assistant Supervisors had stepped down and the job was offered to me! I was super super excited for the job! Of course life has its way of being cruel.. About a half an hour after I was promoted, we received a call that a wildfire had started in the canyon next to us and the it was headed right for our property. The other Head Guides and I had always joked about how cool it would be to evacuate the Cave but of course we never thought it would happen. As a side note, I worked there for 2 years previously! Well, we had an hour before we where in any real danger so we slowly began to take people out of the cave, refund as many people as we could, and evacuate the property. Well we where almost done when suddenly the winds began to really pick up and the fire marshal called up and told us to get out ASAP. We quickly rounded up the last few visitors, and got them out. We moved all of the computers and money into the cave and then proceeded down the mountain ourselves. As Head Guide I was one of the last people out. I shook hands with the owner who had come up to help out and wished him good luck and walked out thinking full well that I would not have job in the morning. The fire was getting really close as I got in my car and drove off. It was a very surreal day for sure..
My poor mom had called to check up on me because she could see the smoke from where we live and from there it looked like exactly where I worked and really it was. I couldn't answer though because I was very busy. When I had a second to spare I called her really quick and said "hey I can't talk but im ok, we are evacuating right now, ill call you when I get down the mountain, I love you." Waited for her to say ok and hung up. So im sure she was freaking out! I went through the list of texts and missed calls and let everyone know I was ok! I got home and a co worker sent me this picture. The red arrow is the approximate location of Cave of the Winds..
Yeah, it didn't look good. Some friends of mine who work at a camp not far from the fire where also evacuated. We met up and talked about how it felt to be jobless.. Little did we know it was about to come alot more than just jobless.. More to come.
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